Rise To Stardom - Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Payday
Oliver sighed.

Having walked into the apartment, the agent heard a certain, almost hypnotic yet haunting piano riff that he had become familiar with, playing on loop.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but stare at the bin, watching as a crumpled piece of paper, effortlessly landed into it from right across a corner of the room.

‘And it swishes in…’ the man inwardly commented, impressed by the throw.

Yet, it fell onto the ground, the bin, full of other crumpled lyric sheets.

‘How long has this been going on for now? A week? Two weeks?’ Oliver rhetorically questioned, moving forward to pick the crumpled sheet and unfurling it.

–

Spinnin’ around…? (Yep. Wrong. Second verse.)

An endless run towards… (First verse would be better. Should review this verse.)

Chasing shadows in the… (Needs tweaking. Move to first too.)

–

‘A song about time, the inner turmoil of wanting to be someone and the acceptance that came with it…’

“Paradox, huh…” Oliver mused aloud this time, remembering what Kyle had told him a week back regarding the new song he was working on.

The young man had also told him that he wanted the song to have a sort of urgency to it, one that would mostly be incorporated into its tune.

“Well, I think he’s gotten the baseline for that at least.” Oliver muttered to himself, listening to the familiar tune as he crumpled the sheet back and placed it atop the pile.

Considering the amount of brain-wracking, hair-pulling, messing around on the piano that Kyle had done, just to get this specific tune for the past two weeks now, Oliver couldn’t help but sigh as he turned around the corner.

And right there, sitting in the middle of the living room, his fingers constantly repeating the piano riff as he played on the electronic piano, his ward was surrounded by lyrics sheet upon lyric sheets.

Oliver even had a video recording of Kyle in this same exact state, one that he had taken when he came around last week.

In fact, he even sent it to Kyle himself, to give him an idea of just how crazy he looked whilst writing the song, one that had earned a hearty chuckle from the young man.

Halting for a split moment, Kyle on the other hand, picked up the most recent lyric sheet he had been using and scribbled down a few lyrics, one that he then played a few seconds after.

🎹 🎶 ♪ 🎶 🎹

Who… am I?

Who… am I?

🎹 🎶 ♪ 🎶 🎹

“Perfect!” Kyle grinned, finally settling on what he wanted the chorus to be.

It didn’t need to be a standard chorus as he had previously been trying to do.

Just a simple, introspective, question in the form of the chorus was enough.

“Hello Oliver. What’s up?” he said immediately after, staring at the completed lyric sheet in his hands whilst appraising it.

___________________________

{Unnamed Song Lyrics Sheet} – (91%)

Penned and written by Kyle Kestis, the lyrics to the unnamed song, explores themes of time, uncertainty, existential longing and acceptance, one that strikes a perfect balance between easily relatable yet thought-provoking.

___________________________

Gazing at his ward, his hair a bit unruly and thin dark circles under his eyes, Oliver soon responded with another sigh;

“Hello Kyle. Figured you’d still be at it.”

To that, Kyle simply smiled, glancing up to stare at Oliver whom then asked with a gesture of his hand;

“So, have you settled on that?”

Placing the completed lyric sheet asides, separate from all the others, Kyle then removed his glasses from his visage whilst carefully placing it in its case as he replied;

“Yes. I have.”

* * *

[1st of October, 2019]

Payday had come.

Finally, [Epoch One’s] theatrical run, was over.

Having accumulated a sum total of $276 million, the actors, all of whom invested heavily into the movie, were getting their well-earned cuts.

As for Kyle, despite having only being paid $30,000 originally for the movie, now, with the 6% cut from the box office earnings, he was getting a whopping $16.5 million.

This was money, most people could only dream of earning in a lifetime.

Yet, for Kyle, it was something he felt he had too much of.

He was exceedingly happy, yes.

Grateful for such a whopping amount even but still…

The gargantuan sum…

It felt… burdensome, that he had so much.

And so, with that in mind, there were three things he had decided to do.

Walking into the living room with his contract in hand, Oliver had a slight wave of fear cascade over him as he watched a serious expression grace Kyle’s face.

Sure he trusted his ward and he knew that Kyle wouldn’t just terminate their contract but still, he had experienced this, way too many times to not be concerned or wary.

Yet, the next words from Kyle, was beyond anything he could’ve ever expected.

“10% is rubbish. 20%. I want you to start getting a 20% cut from my earnings from now on.”

Shell-shocked, Oliver’s cup of coffee, hung in the air.

10% cut from an artist’s pay, was already quite a lot, especially if said artist earns very little, or a whole lot.

That said, for an artist to bump that percentage cut by another 10%, was quite frankly, something that’s usually unheard of.

It was either said agent had requested for it, or the artist, had willingly decided to bump it up out of a necessity.

Yet, in Kyle’s case, neither of it was the case.

Unable to gather the words to say, Oliver just stared at his ward, the noticeable expression of shock on his usually composed features, never leaving his face.

Seeing this, Kyle warmly smiled and then, gently placed the contract on the table whilst speaking;

“How will I ever repay Oliver’s kindness?”

“I’ve been asking myself… thinking about that question for a long, long time now…” the young man added, a genuine expression of admiration in his eyes as he stared at the man.

“You, literally, took me, a nobody, under your wing and decided, to invest, in said nobody…” Kyle continued;

“That’s not something just anyone does, Oliver. A Hollywood Agent no less. Truly, I am always, always appreciative of that.”

“Still, I don’t feel I’ve repaid an inkling of your kindness with this decision of mine and neither are you allowed to refuse it.” he stated, not even allowing Oliver to get a word in as he continued;

“But at least, I’m glad I’m doing something, anything at all in my power to repay that kindness.” Kyle smiled genuinely after which he then added casually;

“I’ll wire you the extra 10% from [Epoch One’s] pay.”

No sooner had he said that, he walked out of the room, leaving a still dazed Oliver, hanging with his cup of coffee.

A few seconds later, after having processed his words fully, the agent simply placed the mug down and slowly leaned back into the couch.

Staring at the ceiling with an introspective expression, one that slowly morphed into an appreciative one, Oliver covered his face with his palms.

“I really, really struck diamond, didn’t I?” the agent said to himself, his eyes a bit misty as he felt a wave of emotions overwhelm him.

…

…

…

At a certain orphanage in Gem Lake, Minnesota, a certain Director, kept staring at his phone, gazing at the orphanage’s bank account with a dumbfounded gaze.

Considering he had been struggling with getting funds here and there all year round for the past few years now, even going into a $250,000 debt to maintain said orphanage and also pay all his workers, seeing a whopping credit alert of $2,500,000, shocked him to his absolute core.

At first he had thought that it had been a mistake of sorts, promptly trying to get any info of the sender and returning the hefty sum, back to them.

However, upon seeing the memo attached to the credit alert that wrote; From someone who cares, to Goodwill’s Orphanage Home, Minnesota; the Director understood, clearly, that the funds had been a donation from an anonymous individual.

Staring at the hefty sum, realizing just how much it would keep the orphanage well above stable for a very long time, the Director offered a heartfelt prayer, one that he hoped would reach whomever the anonymous philanthropist was.

* * *

The filming crew of Dot Productions, along with the extras and stunt-actors, couldn’t believe their eyes when they suddenly started receiving extra alerts in the form of $25,000.

Quickly, most of them had started sending words of appreciation and thanks to Hank, Mark and Bruce, only to later find out, that it was Kyle whom had sent it.

Just yesterday, the young man had contacted Hank, asking for everyone’s bank account details, one that Hank had been curious yet pleasantly surprised by once he heard what Kyle was up to.

For the recipients of the gesture though, they were all, quite shocked, most of them, unable to wrap their head around that sort of kindness.

Yet, seeing the memo attached to the payment, one that simply read; A Small Token of Appreciation; warmed their hearts to no end.

Though they had all interacted with Kyle a few times on set here and there, the fact that he remembered them, even after filming had been long completed, was a thing of amazement to them.

It was something Hollywood actors, rarely ever did.

Some of them even, despite having also earned quite a lot from the movie, were still struggling in various aspects of their lives so the amount, despite how small it might’ve seemed to Kyle himself, was a godsend for them.

As a result, for the entirety of that day, Kyle just kept on receiving messages and calls of appreciations here and there, all of which he was more than happy to respond to.

That said, Bruce, Mark and Hank, weren’t exempted from his kindness as he had gifts, specially prepared for them; an expensive, luxury brand watch that went by the name Colex Pearlmaster, each gold-plated and with a hefty price tag of $95,000.

Even Oliver, ended up receiving one from Kyle, one that Kyle had forced him into accepting despite his initial rejections.

As for Jeffrey, his gift was a special case for the young man, one that he wanted to present to the old star in person as a gesture of respect.

That, exactly, was why, both Kyle and Oliver, were driving over to see him at his home in Brooklyn, New York.