Rise To Stardom - Chapter 131

Chapter 131: Crème Brûlée
“Hmm~ hmm~…”

“Hmmm~ hmmm~… hmmhmm~…”

As Kyle hummed happily, he carefully moved about the kitchen of his apartment in Greenwich Village, New York in an effort not to bump into Christina who had volunteered to help out.

The lady had been the first to arrive today.

No sooner had she arrived though, she had opted to aid Kyle in his preparation of the dessert for today’s get together.

As of the moment, drying her hands after doing the dishes, the lady was taking off her apron.

Kyle on the other hand, after retrieving the evenly spaced, ramekin-filled tray from the oven a few seconds later, a rich yet subtle, enticing waft of vanilla which had previously been filling up the entire apartment, became even more pronounced.

Adding finishing touches onto it, the young man, sprinkled thin layers of sugar on top each of ramekin of custard, after which he then caramelized it with a kitchen torch.

Satisfied with his final product, Kyle couldn’t help but audibly complement himself as he picked up the tray;

“Perfect.”

<You should probably open a restaurant at this point.> Christina signed to him, the pupils of her ever-green irises dilating a bit as she gazed at the crème brûlée.

Its perfectly crisp and golden-brown crust was a literal eye-catcher to say the least.

“Maybe I should…” Kyle, unable to sign due to his hands full, responded to the lady with a light smile.

<I’d probably go bankrupt if you did.> Christina chuckled in response, eliciting a similarly heartwarming chuckle from Kyle.

“Good lord! I’m gonna need that recipe!” Jasmine who had been the second to arrive today, alongside Lily, walked up to him with excitement in their eyes.

“Same here! I’ll pay any price.” the dark-blonde haired lady chipped in.

Both had just finished setting up the table in the living room, all manners of drinks and snacks, all of which they individually brought, completely occupying its fairly wide expanse.

“I don’t want any competition when I open my chain of restaurants so no. I’m keeping my super-secret, special recipe to myself.” the young man, using his height to his advantage, raised the tray far above their reach instead.

A certain need to be petty had wriggled his way into his mind.

However, both ladies, almost as if coming to a certain realization once again, soon stated in synchrony;

“Oh~… you’re quite tall, aren’t you Sapphire/Dreamboat?”

A bit taken aback by their words, Kyle couldn’t help but asked in amused curiosity;

“Do both of you, perhaps share the same brain cells?”

“Who’s to say we don’t- Oooh~!” Lily and Jasmine, glanced over at each other in genuine amusement, their words similar once more!

To this, Christina whom had been watching their entire interaction, chuckled once more as she signed to Kyle;

“<I think they do…>”

“You do realize the trailer will be released in about a minute?” Tiana whom had been in the living room with Oliver, casually called out to all four.

She had been the last guest to arrive today.

“Coming!” Kyle responded, the ladies, swiftly making their way out of the kitchen alongside him.

Four days had passed by since filming of the 10th season of The Curator had rounded up.

During that time period, only a few kinks and issues were being sorted out, the trailer been one of them.

As for the episodes themselves, the first five had already being edited by the necessary editors, brought up to the level at which an episode of a series should be.

Tiana, even though she only had rudimentary knowledge about editing in general, had still being heavily involved in the process to ensure that none of the episodes were butchered at the final stretch.

The same had happened with the trailer…

Or trailers, in fact.

They had planned to shoot one originally but, after Kyle’s insight at the marketing meeting, they had decided to make two, both of which were then merged together in one mid-lengthened trailer of around 6 minutes.

It was a pretty interesting idea that had then gone on to become brilliant the more they worked on it.

As a result, all six, Kyle and Jasmine especially, couldn’t wait to watch the completed product as they had been way too busy to find time to check back on it while shooting.

As for Tiana, she had already watched the trailer before it was released and she was frankly, more than impressed.

So was Jon and Barry.

Added to that, the 10th season would also begin airing at the end of the month.

This too, was going to come as a surprise to the fans because, usually, the trailer which typically, should’ve been released a month earlier, was purposely stalled to get as much audience retention as possible.

This too, was also a business and marketing tactic that Jon and Barry had decided upon after conversing over it with the marketing team.

All that remained now, was the audience’s reaction to it.

So, with everyone seated on the wide couch in the living room, staring at the wide, Oled screen of the Smart TV, Oliver navigated over to DreamLand Inc’s. ViewTube channel with the remote.

* * *

Adam had been a long-time fan of [The Curator].

Okay…

Maybe long-time fan alone was a big understatement…

Adam, was an absolute die-hard fan of the show!

From limited editions of the comics that DreamLand Inc. had produced for the 5th Curator, to figurines of the 1st to 5th Curator, Adam collected them all.

Even his room, was full of posters of the show, something he took great pride in.

That was why, even when the show had started deteriorating in quality, he had persisted, believing that the show would eventually get its groove back in due time.

He was even one of those individuals who had defended the show when it started getting flamed on the internet for being ‘gold-plated, dumpster fire garbage’ by the 7th season.

However, Adam was human through and through…

And humans, disliked being disappointed over and over again.

So, after the 8th season of the show, he had decided to stop watching the show altogether.

That didn’t mean he didn’t try watching the 9th season though…

But, after watching the first episode of that season alone, he had switched off his laptop, calling the current show the exact same thing he had defended it from.

Gold-plated, dumpster fire garbage.

That said, a year had passed by since then and Adam, had better things to do with his time than watch a show that had lost its soul.

Today, the young man aged 22, after asking out his crush at work out, was all dressed up and ready to make today’s date, one to remember.

Having prepared an hour ahead of time, Adam was now seating at a park bench thirty minutes earlier, waiting for his date to come around.

She had texted him that she was already on her way so the young man, simply decided to pass the time by scrolling through his ViewTube feed.

As he kept scrolling though, his eyes soon caught sight of; ‘The Curator – 10th Season Trailer.’

Not even willing to give it a try, especially with all the mostly negative reception around it, Adam was about to scroll past when his eyes, locked onto the view count.

Shock!

Complete, unadulterated, genuine shock!

That was the current expression on Adam’s visage.

“One million views in twenty minutes…”

Wondering what sort of sorcery was going on here, Adam, even as his curiosity kept ramping up, was still reluctant to watch the video.

Was the trailer really that good?

Or were people just watching it because it was extremely terrible and felt the need to bash it again?

Adam couldn’t really say.

But for the most part, the young man believed that it was probably the latter.

So, with curiosity eventually getting the best of him, Adam clicked on the video.

Watching as his phone’s screen stayed dark for a few seconds, the video brightened up to reveal a room, showing a fairly popular actor he had seen a few times over the years, seemingly auditioning for something.

“Wait… it can’t be…” Adam, realizing that said actor was auditioning for the role of The Curator, had his interest, instantly piqued.

This, was a very interesting yet unconventional way to start a trailer.

Yet, as the audition went on, Adam was dissatisfied as he inwardly commented;

‘Yeah… just another clone of The 5th Curator.’

And as if to agree with him, the actor soon walked out and almost instantaneously, another actor came in.

It was obvious that the video was edited to make it seem like that.

Yet, as his audition also went on, Adam wasn’t too impressed by the new actor either.

‘Too samey… Not that different from the last…’ he inwardly commented with a slight frown as the new actor, soon left for another to come in.

And just like that, in short, thirty second auditions, Adam, despite not being impressed by any of the past six actors, didn’t realize just how engaged he had been!

Sure he wasn’t happy that all the actors whom had auditioned, didn’t really get the essence of why The Curator was such a complex character but, regardless of his thoughts, his attention had been solely on the trailer, he didn’t even realize someone’s shadow hovering over him.

By the three minutes, thirty second mark though, a new actor walked in and his entire attire, was the first thing that grabbed Adam’s attention.

Slightly sitting up properly on the bench as Kyle Kestis’s face, came into view, Adam realized that this was the actor whom had been casted as the 10th Curator.

Even if he hadn’t planned to watch the new season, his TweetTalk feed, definitely kept him up to date on all the controversy that had been going on regarding his casting.

That said, watching as the young actor, spoke the lines;

-Ah~… there it is…

-There’s that, familiar expression…

Adam, felt a small, excited chill run up his spine as Kyle’s eyes, gazed at him like he was his grandkid from the phone’s screen.

The fact that someone his age, could pull off that sort of a gaze, was genuinely puzzling yet interesting to him, enough to get him invested as he properly sat upright.

Now completely sucked in by that gaze, Adam listened in curiosity, waiting for the rest of the audition to go on.

However, just as Kyle was about to open his mouth to speak again, the video, suddenly paused!

The moment this occurred, Adam wondered what had happened.

Did he mistakenly pause the video?

Or was the park’s wi-fi malfunctioning?

Or, quite possibly, was it even his ViewTube app randomly bugging out?

Unrealistically, maybe due to the traffic on the video?

The young man, really couldn’t say as those slew of questions, arose in his mind.

However, as if to brush all those thoughts away, the video that was paused, had Kyle himself, with his newly-styled hair, walk into frame.

This, genuinely, caught Adam off-guard.

Trailers, obviously, weren’t done like this yet…

Yet…

The exact same gaze that was in the paused audition video, was the exact same expression the current Kyle was giving him, causing a stronger chill to run down his spine this time!

The current video, now offering a side by side comparison to Adam, showed practically, not a single difference between both gazes!

Both paused and current!

‘How could he pull off a gaze like that so effortlessly?!’

That was the current question in Adam’s mind but, as if to break him out of the trance, the current Kyle, soon chuckled with a slightly smug expression as he spoke, a hint of amusement in his tone;

“Spoilers.”

No sooner had he said that, the video ended… seemingly…

And just as it ‘ended’, Adam kept staring at his screen, stunned to oblivion as Kyle’s gaze was etched into his mind.

‘Damn you Kestis! Spoilers my ass?! Let me watch the rest of your fuggin’ audition!!’ Adam simultaneously complained in his mind, feeling as if he had been duped!

Yet, it didn’t even take a second before the screen switched up to the interior of The Index, Jasmine walking in as she spoke;

–

“From the very first moment I met him, he was, impossible.” Kiera gently traced her fingers across the length of one of the bookshelves.

“Yet, he was also brilliant, funny, disoriented, chaotic and most especially, mad!” she added with a bit of a concerned expression, only to chuckle lightly afterwards.

“But beneath all that, is the interesting part…” Kiera kept walking, the camera following her from the front till it panned around to her field of view to reveal The Curator, standing still and frozen in time like a statue before his Horologium, a mysterious smile on his lips.

“The mystery…” the lady, finally stated, her eyes, gazing at a frozen Curator with interest, almost as if trying to prod deeper into his very being.

Crossing her arms before her chest, she then spoke again, her words curious;

“Though, after a while of running and travelling together, you begin to forget, slowly…”

“And you really, just stop asking, all the important questions…” Kiera contemplated a bit before asking the next slew of questions to the temporally frozen man;

“Who are you, really?

“Where did you come from?”

“What set you on this journey of yours and where exactly, are you going?” the lady asked, a gaze of wonder and curiosity in her eyes as she moved closer to him, her arms now placed on her hips.

“Also, what is your name? Your actual, name?” she threw in at the last minute, after which she then added with a sigh of resignation in response to her last question;

“Well… I’m used to not knowing…”

“Never thought I would…” Kiera’s expression of interest, suddenly switched into one of acceptance.

“But now I know…” she slowly walked backwards with a determined expression…

“And I’ll make sure, it dies with me.” she concluded, her expression, resolute.

–

And just like that, the video faded to black, showing the date 30th of May, 2020, after which it then ended.

Staring at the replay icon, Adam could only gaze at the phone in complete, utter shock!

From the inception of the series, the name of The Curator had been a total mystery!

But now, finally, they were going to reveal it?!

And added to that, almost as if to add icing to the cake, the first episode was going to be released this weekend?!

Adam, was unequivocally, excited for it!

So much that he instantly discarded his ideas about not watching the tenth season anymore and immediately dropped a comment after liking the video.

The first half of the trailer already had him invested in watching the 10th season of the show once again but the second, completely tipped him over the richter scale!

“Gold-plated, dumpster fire garbage my ass! I’m gonna freaking watch this!” Adam declared to himself with a genuine grin.

“Looks fun. Wanna watch the first episode together?” Gabriella, his date, whom had been watching the trailer over his shoulder alongside him for the past few minutes, asked in genuine interest.

A bit shocked by her sudden arrival, especially since he had expected for her to come far later, Adam, after composing himself, replied with a genuine grin;

“I would love that!”