Rise To Stardom - Chapter 192

Chapter 192: Calm And Reasonable
“You.”

Calmly levelling his gaze at a clearly intoxicated Justin, Kyle maintained an unperturbed expression on his visage as Justin hatefully glared at him.

He knew the rising artist had a deep disdain for him for some reason or the other so he was extra composed as he listened to him speak again.

“Yooou… must be feeling like the world, revolves around you, huh?” Justin pointed in his direction, his hands swaying a bit.

“Kyle’s this. Kyle’s that.”

“Wellll, to me, Kyle’s a ffffucking, bastard who keeps getting in my way!” he walked towards the young man while tapping him on the chest with a finger;

“And guess what? Who’s to say you aren’t really a bastaaard, you orphan.” Justin sneered with a mocking laughter that echoed and bounced off the marbled walls of the lavish restroom.

Knowing fully well that the young man before him was obviously drunk, Kyle smiled and tapped him on the shoulder gently in response instead;

“It was nice meeting you too, Justin.”

“Just, don’t, pass out here in the restroom, yeah.” he advised in addition, his tone genuine.

Having expected some sort of retaliation from Kyle despite knowing fully well his words had been a cheap attempt to enrage the young man, Justin’s clouded clarity took control.

He geared up to sock Kyle a punch from behind.

Having casually walked past him though, Kyle sighed briefly and then side-stepped, simultaneously also catching Justin, just before his face went splat on the marbled flooring.

And then Kyle casually dropped him, enough that he landed with a soft thud and a small groan.

Squatting over as the young man turned over to face the ceiling, Kyle spoke;

“Well, even though I tried, I don’t exactly expect you to be calm and reasonable in this state…”

“But, just for good measure…” Kyle held a finger up and tapped the marbled flooring with so much force, the singular tile cracked and almost shattered like a priceless porcelain vase!

Instantly, Justin’s eyes widened in a mix of shock, apprehension and immense fear, all of the intoxication within his physiology vanishing in an instant!

“All sobered up? Good.” Kyle smiled at him as he continued speaking;

“Word of advice. Always, pick your fights, wisely.”

“That could’ve been your face.” the young man slowly got up whilst pointing to the cracked flooring.

“But with a well clenched fist, instead.” Kyle casually added with another light smile, leaving his words to linger on in the restroom with his assailant.

Justin on the other hand, glanced over to the marbled floor and gulped.

At first, no words came to mind.

And for a good minute or two, none, actually did.

But when it did…

‘Yeah…’

‘Let’s stay away from him from now on…’ Justin kept staring at the cracked flooring, realizing that Kyle, even before today, had more or less been leaving him purposely to his shenanigans.

The rising star, had been wrongly confusing Kyle’s calmness for weakness.

But now, the young star had made it very clear that he was extremely formidable.

And a formidable man, is a man who is completely capable of violence and also, extremely dangerous.

However, a formidable man, also knows, not to use violence to resolve things…

Because then, there’d be no morality to his self-restraint and control.

Kyle, more than anyone else, knew this.

He knew, clearly, that his core virtues of being reserved, calm, reasonable and overall, being as humane of a human being as he possibly could, came from his capacity to be dangerous, and his capacity to effectively control it.

Making his way back into the grand hall though, the first person Kyle ended up running into was Nick himself, the party monster.

He too, just like Justin, was intoxicated, albeit slightly.

It seemed the man could hold his alcohol well.

“Kyle!” the ginger-haired artist called out with an inviting grin while nonchalantly slinging his arms across Kyle’s shoulder, a few other celebrities around them laughing at Nick’s joviality.

“Hey Nick. You seem to be having a blast.”

“That said, should I, perhaps, be concerned?” Kyle responded with a light smile, gently nudging his head in the direction of the wine bottle in his hands.

“This?! Pfft! Kyle, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Nick laughed boisterously, his exuberance on full display as the other male celebs around pitched in.

“He’s just getting started Kyle!” one toasted in amusement.

“Wait till you see him at 12. He’ll be absolutely wasted by then.” another chuckled in anticipation.

“He isn’t ranked top 10 among Hollywood’s party monsters just for show!” the last guy, just after taking a huge gulp of his own cup of wine, added.

Laughing a bit at their words, Kyle then listened to Nick whose boisterous laughter had died down, his tone a bit serious;

“Partying aside though, I have a little nugget of advice for you Kyle.”

“Please, from someone who’s been in your shoes in the past, unbelievable as it may seem, do not let the ‘Best New Artist’ curse, shackle or bog you down.” he pointed at the young man who simply nodded in response.

“Trust me, it’s never easy to escape it once you’re in it so take this fame of yours and make even bigger waves this year, okay?” Nick concluded and Kyle replied with an appreciative smile.

“I will. Thank you, Nick. Thank you for the advice.”

…

…

…

“Tired?” Oliver asked, his fingers dozily fiddling with the keys to his hotel room while Kyle casually opened his which was opposite the agent’s.

“Nope. You look like you need to crash onto a bed, though. Pronto.” the young man added with a light chuckle, one Oliver sighed in agreement to.

“The Award Ceremony’s a treasure trove of connections so I just wanted to make the best use of it.” he explained, his voice exhausted.

“Safe to say, I achieved my goals of making even more… though I am also paying the price for it.” the agent yawned tiredly, the lock of his door clicking open.

“I understand. Don’t worry. We’ll discuss in detail about it tomorrow.” Kyle nodded in consideration and then waved his agent goodnight as he closed the door behind him.

Obviously not tired, Kyle still walked over to and plopped onto his bed, his gaze aimlessly trained on the modern ceiling of his room.

The rest of the after party had been fun.

Really fun.

But, for the most part, Kyle already had his mind somewhere else.

And maybe to a certain extent, it was due to him, feeling even more pressure due to the two awards he had received tonight and Nick’s words that had stayed with him, long after the well-known celebrity was back to partying about again.

“Best New Artist curse huh…” he mused out loud to which he then added;

“Not a curse really… just, heightened pressure from overwhelming expectations, I guess…”

That, really, was how Kyle saw it.

And maybe that was why he was confident.

Confident in what he had weaved into creation.

Kaleidoscopes, his album, would be coming out in a week and a few days and Kyle, couldn’t wait to share with the world, what he had created.

He hoped, that they’d enjoy listening to it, just as much as he enjoyed, making it.

That said, the very next morning, Kyle woke up to the news that the Hollywood Actor’s and Writer’s Guild had announced a seven-month long strike.

Oliver’s information on the rumors of such happening last month, ended up being true.

* * *

(A week and a few days later…)

Typically, when an artist is awarded a Grammie, they don’t directly take home with them the trophy which was given to them on-stage the very same day.

Rather, due to the large number of awards, and the need for proper presentation and efficiency, a single, smaller replica of the award was recycled and handed to every winning artist on-stage for their acceptance speeches.

However, in roughly about a few weeks, sometimes shorter, the actual trophies with the proper engravings would be mailed to their respective winners after the ceremony.

And that, exactly, was why, Kyle’s two trophies, arrived at his office just a day before the release of his album.

That said, for his team, all of whom had never seen the real deal in their years of existence on the planet earth, they were currently scrutinizing every nook and corner of the award itself.

Owen on the other hand, was practically, living out his fantasies at the moment;

“Wow, thank you so much! Thank you so much!”

“First, I’d like to thank the committee for confirming what I’ve secretly known all along––that I’m amazing.”

“Owen for God’s sake, put the trophy down!” Jennie exclaimed in amusement while Stuart burst into a hearty dose of laughter!

However, as if he could care less, Owen doubled down on his appreciation speech instead;

“To my supporters, thank you for always believing in me, even when my Wi-Fi didn’t! To my detractors and haters… well, joke’s on you, you little shits, because here I am!”

“This is ridiculous…” Camille chuckled with an amused gaze of interest as she sipped on her cup of coffee.

“This moment is proof that hard work, a ton of caffeine, sheer stubbornness, can and will pay off.” Owen angled the trophy in Gwen and Miguel’s direction, both of whom laughed in synchrony as the Social Media Manger played along;

“Preach Owen! Preach.”

“And to those of you who doubted me—don’t worry, I’ll still sign autographs later.” Owen swiveled to face Oliver who waved him off with a light hearted laughter.

“Thank you, once again! I’ll treasure this moment forever—or at least until I lose the trophy during spring cleaning.” he concluded with a gesture of his arms and an over-exaggerated bow.

“It’s all fun and games until you actually lose it, Owen. Then you’re gonna have a long time for reflection behind evenly spaced rods and four cornered walls.” Kyle casually quipped with a deadpan.

In response to his boss’s words, Owen spoke while holding his chest in mock horror.

“You… you monster!”

Another round of laughter erupted in the office!

Having humored his assistant though, Kyle laughed along for a few more seconds, after which Owen himself then spoke with an excited yet slightly nervous expression.

“Tomorrow’s the D-day huh…”

“Yeah.” Kyle replied with a relaxed smile.

The young star’s debut album, would finally be released.

And alongside its release, were the high-quality music videos they had shot which would simultaneously be dropped on ViewTube.

In fact, just a few days back, the team had come to a decision and opted to release a thirty-second, visual teaser mashup of the top five songs in the album.

The reception to it had been wild… to say the least, the hype for Kaleidoscopes renewed with fervor, especially since Kyle had recently just won two Grammies.

Still, there was a noticeable hint of nervousness in the gazes of everyone in the room, save for Kyle himself and Oliver whom was casually scrolling through his feed at the moment.

Sure they had all listened to the songs in the album and knew they were absolute bangers but… even then… the fact that the music industry was such a volatile market that could make or break even the greatest of songs, had them quite concerned.

Did they promote it enough?

Would it be to the taste of the audience?

What would critics say about it?

All these thoughts and more, swirled in their minds from time to time and at some point, Stuart broke the silence and questioned their boss who showed no signs of being ruffled whatsoever;

“You aren’t the least bit nervous?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t but…”

“I’m confident.” Kyle replied, his tone of choice motivating as he continued;

“We’ve given it our best these past few months… right from last year too, might I add… all to make the album a resounding success.”

“If anything at all, I trust that our efforts won’t betray us.”

“That’s why I need you guys to be confident too.” Kyle leaned forward, his gaze travelling over to each and every one of them in the office.

To that, they all individually gave brief nods in response, after which Kyle then concluded with a light smile;

“That’s the spirit. Godspeed to us.”