Rise To Stardom - Chapter 221

Chapter 221: Veil
Kyle was right.

An Armageddon did happen at night.

Almost every ticketing website that sold tickets to the Your Odyssey tour, experienced an ungodly surge of netizens, flocking to their sites.

And within one minute, across all ticketing websites, all one million tour tickets were sold out for the day.

It wasn’t even funny because no sooner had it happened, a good chunk of these same netizens who were unable to get themselves a ticket, took to twitter to cry out in utter shock at what they had just witnessed.

One particular tweet that had gone viral, came from a random TweetTalk account that belonged to a particularly frustrated teenage girl.

She whom had been unable to purchase the tickets and would have to wait till the next day, made a post with a compiled picture of all the Sold Out! tickets on various ticketing sites of the Your Odyssey tour reading;

ONE MINUTE?! ONE FUGGIN’ MINUTE?!! FOR CHRIST’S SAKE KESTIANS!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!! #YourOdysseyTour

Yet, instead of sympathizing with her, TweetTalk denizens, renowned for their nature of catching cruises, cyberbullying and an overall a lack of sympathy half the time, did just that.

–

Just A Chill Girl: So we’re sticking with Kestians eh? Alright, cool.

Bandana Gamer: Git gud scrub. GGs.

Bully Mcguire: Gonna cry?

Hehehe­_Boi: You like what you see?! You like what you see?!!

Afro Man: We getting out of the 0.1% with this one!

Sass Is Everything: Sorry, not sorry sweetie.

RatedEForEveryone: This fingers were locked and loaded to purchase those tickets.

Rob The Bomb: Better luck next time, pumpkin.

Part-Time Witch: Awww. Best get on to buckling those shoes and tying those laces for tomorrow’s round of ticket sales, sugar plum.

Take_Thy_L: Winners win, Losers lose.

–

Like that, more and more taunting comments kept piling up in the tweet’s comment section, everyone itching to get in on a piece of the action.

That said, the ticketing situation shouldn’t have been this bad… or good?

Either way, it was a matter of perspective, though most people would argue for the latter.

That said, asides from his immense fame, one that some people were claiming was practically verging on superstar status, Kyle’s Super Bowl Headlining, definitely had a hand in all this.

Even his album sales which had slowed down a bit, suddenly spiked in sales by about a 1000% after the Super Bowl.

Safe to say, the Halftime Show had done wonders to say the least, further propelling this crazy situation into the stratosphere.

Still, considering he and Stuart had been in charge of all the proceedings for the tour, as well as informing all the ticketing sites a month earlier, even the duly-informed websites, never expected this ridiculous feat with how well-prepared they had been.

Kyle was literally the first, independent artist to have achieved this feat in years… and with his very first tour nonetheless!

All that, really just went to show how immense the hype for his tour was.

* * *

(A few days later…)

“Are we done?” Kyle tiredly asked with a desperately hopeful expression.

“Please be done. My sanity begs of you!” he pleaded with a similarly desperate crack in his voice.

All he got in response though, was a light wave of chuckles and laughter from his team, all of whom were seated a few meters away on the showroom’s, plush couches.

Currently on ground at a high-end clothing boutique, they all watched in amusement as their Boss begged of the Fashion Designer and the Lead Costume Designer respectively.

“Oh we’re just getting started, Sugar.” Khiote, a renowned fashion designer that Stuart had recommended for Kyle’s tour, one that Oliver had promptly hired, responded sweetly as she studied the current outfit he was wearing while making mental adjustments of how it would better fit him in her head.

As for the costume designer, Calvin, he bluntly commented as he took another measurement of Kyle;

“Well unless you want the exosuit to be all wishy-washy…”

“B-but, we’ve been at it for hours!” Kyle grumbled underneath his breath as Calvin, caught onto his words and fixed him with a deathly glare that had the young star shift uncomfortably.

“I’ll cooperate.” he quickly faked a smile and Calvin let out a small sigh as he resumed taking measurements.

Considering the Kyle didn’t exactly have a free schedule leading all the way up to his tour, his team had arranged for both a Conventional Fashion Designer and the Lead Costume Designer for [Tech Wiz: Year One] to take his measurements on the same day.

And yes, they had booked most of the entire day off. Kyle after all, had somewhere pretty important he had to be later in the day.

Still, even they could argue that trying out fits since 7:00am in the morning, up till 12:00pm in the afternoon, would chip away at anyone’s sanity, Kyle included.

But then…

“It’s rare to see him complain.” Jennie audibly stated out loud, her tone full of amusement to which Gwen responded similarly;

“Makes his predicament all that funnier though.”

“Wonder if we should get him some ice-cream after this.” Camille took her own dig at their boss who instantly countered, his frustration evident;

“I can hear you!”

“We’re still getting the ice-cream. Bills on me.” Oliver playfully ignored his ward’s predicament, earning a look of betrayal from Kyle and another wave of mischievous giggles from the ladies.

As for Owen, never one to pass up an opportunity for payback, especially since Kyle had now made it one of his pastimes to mess with him, leaned back in his seat with a smirk and casually remarked;

“Oh, quit whining, Boss. You’re a quadruple-threat superstar, CEO, and Hollywood’s Cinnamon Roll–– but five hours in a boutique, and suddenly, you’re one bad outfit away from a full-blown existential crisis?”

Laughter erupted from the team as Kyle shot him a tired glare, after which he then commented sarcastically with a dramatic groan;

“Et tu, Owen? Shouldn’t watching me changing in and out of outfits be extremely boring for you?”

“Hey, I suffer daily at your hands. Me watching you right now though? Absolute Justice.” Owen shrugged with a cheeky grin.

Chuckling at their interaction once again, Miguel whom was holding onto a stack of A4 papers that contained concept arts of [Tech Wiz]’s very first exosuit, one that had a mix of homemade yet high-tech feel to it, commented curiously;

“I’m still baffled that you’re also great at drawing though, Kyle.”

“Since when have you been making concept arts for the suit?” Stuart followed up with an even stronger hint of curiosity in his tone.

This time, everyone except Oliver, seemed genuinely curious as they similarly stared at the other concept arts once more.

They really were amazing to look at, especially with how ridiculously detailed they were.

“Well, I do have a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering so learning how to draw was something I had to pick up along the way…” Kyle responded first to Miguel, after which he then placed a finger on his chin thoughtfully in response to Stuart’s question;

“As for the concept arts, well its been years…”

Calvin gently dropped Kyle’s raised arm down to get another measurement as the young star concluded;

“Around my first years in college to be precise. Just kinda doodled it whenever I needed an outlet to relieve some stress.”

To that, everyone except Oliver who was well aware of that fact, had a light of understanding in their eyes.

“Alright Kyle. Let’s try out another.” Khiote whom had rummaged through the wardrobe nearby, handed over a new fit to Kyle.

With another tired sigh, the young man willed himself and received the fit by the hangar, apologized to Calvin who took no offense and then walked over to the changing room.

…

…

…

<Thank you for reading! Hope to see you at the next reading.> Christina, having signed a copy of [Evergarden] with her pen, signed in appreciation to the reader whom was a big fan of her book.

Thankfully, she had a translator nearby to help relay her words to the young lady who beamed happily in response.

An Author Event.

One that Paramount Publications had hosted for the lady after the magnificent success of her book which had sold over a million copies in roughly seven months.

It had combined a Reading, Q&A and Signing into one event, and safe to say, it had been quite the success, especially for a new author like Christina.

That said, as the lady kept signing more and more copies of [Evergarden] while giving her thanks, she soon encountered two, very familiar, masculine hands, extending a copy of his book, towards her.

Not a moment wasted, her evergreen irises gleamed in delight as they darted upwards to rest on the visage of a masked Kyle who placed a finger on his lips with a light wink.

Then he signed;

<Told you I wouldn’t miss your first Author Event for the world.>

A blissfully warm smile adorned Christina’s lips in response to that as she received Kyle’s copy of her book and penned her signature onto it.

…

…

…

Having rounded up the author event, Christina and Kyle, had met up outside the publications building, the orange sun slowly setting below the horizon.

Considering the lady had come to the venue, not with her vehicle, but by subway due to her car being a bit faulty, Kyle had opted to drive her home.

And after about a twenty-something minute drive, both were in her new neighborhood and soon, in her apartment.

Compared to the smaller one she had before, the lady had now moved over to a new three-bed room apartment, its atmosphere warm and homely.

“Well as soon as the tour’s over, I’m pretty much going to begin shooting for [Tech Wiz: Year One] in New York.” Kyle explained as Christina, walked into the room with a tray of snacks and some orange juice.

Gently setting the tray on the table and relaxing into the sofa beside him, Christina signed in response;

<Your schedule’s pretty packed then.>

“Yeah. It might even take roughly four to five months in total before I’m back here at Canada, especially since the more CGI intensive scenes will be shot at the Studio.” Kyle replied casually, leaning over to pick up a muffin.

Taking a bite, a moan of satisfaction escaped his lips as he complimented with a full mouth;

“This is delicious! Mind sharing me your recipe?”

Chuckling a bit at his puffed cheeks, Christina signed in response;

<Sure.>

<But in return, I want the recipe for your Crème Brûlée.> she demanded.

“Deal.” Kyle extended a handshake with his free hand.

Receiving it with a cheeky smile, both, simply moved on to other mundane conversations.

And then, about an hour later, Kyle whom had been mentally drained from all the measurements and all the many outfits he had to try out today, soon began to doze off.

In fact, it was rather safe to assume, that it was literally weeks’ worth of stress, which had gradually been piling up due to everything he was juggling between the tour and the movie prep that had finally snuck up on him.

Catching onto this mid-signing though, Christina couldn’t help but giggle amusedly as she watched him struggle to stay awake and pay attention to what she was saying.

‘How cute…’ she inwardly commented as Kyle massaged his temples while apologizing;

“Sorry blondie. Dozed off a bit there. What… were you… saying… again…?” he once again dozed off mid-speech, earning a lighthearted chuckle from her.

Getting off the sofa, the lady instead, made her way into her room and walked out a few seconds later with a large blanket and a pillow.

‘I don’t think he’s in any state to drive home tonight.’ she reasoned to herself as she propped the pillow against the couch and gently pushed him onto it.

And then, covering him up with the blanket, she watched as his chest peacefully, heaved up and down in slumber.

Heading over to her room once more, Christina came out about a minute later this time.

In her hands was a carefully folded sheet of paper, one that she neatly tucked away into the pockets of his field jacket which he hung by the door.

Having done that, satisfied with herself, the lady then returned to the sofa, simply staring at a sleeping Kyle, her evergreen irises full of warmth and support as she inwardly spoke;

‘Good luck on your tour Kyle. I’ll be cheering for you, all the way.’

It only took about a few minutes after she had made that statement to herself.

Christina herself, due to all the stress of today’s Author Event, similarly dozed off, her head gently leaning against his shoulder.

And that itself, seemed to subconsciously jolt Kyle awake as he noticed the lady, softly breathing as she leaned on him.

Yet, instead of gently pushing her away or carrying her to her room, the young man instead, used the large blanket to cover both of them and then promptly, went back to sleep a few seconds later, not the least bit conscious of what he had just done.

It was curious.

The relationship between Kyle and Christina.

It was also a bit hard to lay a finger on.

Sure they both supported each other immensely but, categorically, one couldn’t just out-rightly call them friends or lovers despite elements of the two, being a staple in their interactions.

Rather, there was something a bit more interesting there.

To be precise, it was almost like a thin veil of sorts that gently tickled them, gradually pushing them ever closer towards a realization that they would come to face in the not-so-far future.

But that…

That’s a story for another time.

…

…

…

Kyle woke up early the next morning, feeling completely refreshed.

Blinking his bleary eyes a few times though, he soon noticed a sleeping Christina whom was still leaning on his shoulder.

Noticing the blankets and the pillows, the young man quickly pieced together what must’ve happened;

‘Must’ve dozed off mid-covo…’

Smiling a bit as he watched Christina sleep, thankful for all the efforts the lady had put into ensuring he had a good night’s rest, Kyle then took the initiative to also let her down on the sofa gently.

Tucking her in quietly, not wanting to wake her up, Kyle then moved over to the kitchen, made some steaming hot coffee and then, taking a sticky note off the refrigerator, attached a note to the lidded mug while also giving his thanks for yesternight.

No sooner had he done that, he grabbed his field jacket off the hanger by the door and proceeded to leave the lady’s apartment.

And upon reaching his vehicle, Kyle, just as he reached for his keys in his jacket’s pocket, felt a sheet of paper.

Retrieving it alongside the car keys and neatly unfurling it as he settled into the driver’s seat, Kyle read its contents;

Thank you for the coffee.

Chuckling a bit at that, amused that the lady had accurately predicted his thought process as far back as yesterday night, Kyle replied with a warm smile;

“You’re welcome, blondie.”

Angling another glance at the lady’s apartment complex, Kyle’s warm smile widened further and then, with an ignition of the car’s engine, he drove off to sort out today’s busy schedule that revolved around his tour.

After all, it was in a few weeks’ time.

One that would come, sooner, rather than later.