Rise To Stardom - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Inspiration
A month and a few weeks had passed by since Kyle had returned back to his cozy apartment in Canada.

During that entire period, the young man had been hard at work, mostly focusing on his singing.

Gigs, upon gigs, upon gigs.

Kyle simply kept jumping from one gig to the other like the workaholic that he was.

Despite Oliver trying to cajole him to rest a little more, he had stubbornly refused, something his agent couldn’t help but sigh in resignation at.

Even if he loved Kyle’s dedication to his craft and his habit of always wanting to move forward, at times, even he felt like the young man was overdoing it.

But not wanting to hinder his growth, especially because he more than anyone knew that the young man progressed at an alarming rate, Oliver eventually gave in to him.

And so, Kyle was now back to mostly singing at bars and clubs, whiling away his days as he also tried to write and compose a new song.

As usual, there were many ideas in his head but it was just a matter of finding the right inspiration and fully settling on that which he thought was the best.

It also didn’t help that he was usually quite tired a lot of the time as most of his singing gigs took place either in the evenings or at night.

He hadn’t also leveled up or gotten any system notifications in a fairly long while but if Kyle was being honest, he wasn’t particularly disturbed by it.

The system did inform him that leveling up, after reaching Level 10, would be very hard after all and he just couldn’t help but feel that he’d need to do some serious work to reach the next one.

Coming back home to his cozy apartment though, Kyle would usually struggle to take a bath and then slump onto his bed until he got whisked away to dreamland.

That had been his routine for the entire month now.

Today however, the exact opposite was the case.

1:53 am and yet, he was still awake.

Completely, wide awake.

It was almost as if the young man was far too tired to fall asleep.

The stress, instead of making slumber a breeze, was quite, literally, counteracting his need for it.

And so, with blank, tired eyes gazing at the ceiling, he just laid there on his bed like a log of wood.

‘One hundred and one sheep. One hundred and two sheep. One hundre-‘ he stopped, blinking his tired eyes a few times.

“This isn’t working…” he muttered as he slowly got off the bed with a tired sigh.

Moving over to the kitchen to drink some water, Kyle’s eyes lingered on his piano from across the small counter.

‘Might as well mess around with that if I can’t sleep…’ he thought to himself and a few seconds later, found himself sitting on the piano stool.

Mindlessly playing a few small tunes here and there, his thoughts still lingering on why he was finding it hard to sleep, Kyle played a certain tune that suddenly brought him back to earth.

The tune, upon retracing his steps and playing it again, felt very… dreamy…

Finding the musical tune intriguing, Kyle played it again, but this time, he tried to add a bit of whimsicality to it.

Not sure of where he was going with this, he continued messing around with the tune as he got more and more into it.

His previously tired sapphire eyes, soon brightened up like twinkling stars and he sat up straight from his previously tired posture.

This, certain, melodic tune, was getting infectious to him and he seemed to be having a lot of fun as he continued playing around with it.

Kyle hadn’t realized it yet, but he had spent roughly two hours simply dallying around with said tune.

Smiling now, his senses fully awake and tingling, Kyle continued playing the tune, messing around with it until it became a mixture of dreamy, whimsical and somewhat… ethereal.

And then, as if the stars truly aligned for him at that exact moment, Kyle thought about all the weird things he loved to ask himself when he tried to fall asleep, both as a kid and even as an adult.

All those thoughts, coupled with a strong wave of nostalgia, caused a few verses to leave his mouth in synchronization with the dreamy tune;

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Why do the stars twinkle at night?

Galaxies and exploding suns?

Why’s the milky way so complex?

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Pausing the lyrics in between whilst playing the tune, still just winging it as he went along, Kyle completed the other half of the first verse.

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Shouldn’t I be counting sheep?

Well I’m too tired to fall asleep,

Guess I’ll stay awake in the quiet of the night…

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Stopping the tune for a split moment, realizing that he had composed a whole verse in under just a minute, Kyle continued with his shenanigans.

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

What a strange canvas of thoughts…

Why aren’t the waves of slumber whisking me away?

Please take me away to a corridor of dreams,

Or I might just stay up all night…

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

That was the chorus of the song and at this point, Kyle was far too deep in to stop.

So, he continued.

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

2 a.m. thoughts are wild,

Do bears know how to smile?

Do fireflies have festivals?

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

‘Cause I’d like to fall asleep,

But my thoughts have turned sentient,

And now it’s 5 a.m. …

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Having composed the second verse, now a bonafide song that was almost completed, Kyle sang the chorus again.

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

What a strange canvas of thoughts…

Why have the waves of slumber eluded me?

Please take me away to a corridor of dreams,

Or I might just stay up all night…

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Changing choruses to fit a narrative, a subconscious skill that had become synonymous to Kyle’s style of lyrical composing, also dipped its thumb into the second chorus of the song.

Slowly playing the whimsically ethereal tune that had ensnared him from the very beginning, Kyle sang the outro with a gentle tone that mirrored the current lingering tune.

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

Wished the quiet of the night enveloped me…

Then maybe I wouldn’t be having these strange canvas of thoughts…

~ 🎹 🎶 🎼 🎶 ~

-Ding!

| You have composed and sang an original song in one night! |

| A truly remarkable feat has been achieved! |

| Massive bonus will be applied! |

| You have obtained a massive amount of exp. points! |

| 5000 exp. points have been awarded! |

| Total exp. points available (10,400) |

| Instrument Mastery (Piano) has advanced from level 8 to level 9! |

| Singing has advanced from level 10 to level 11! |

| Composing has advanced from level 10 to level 11! |

| Advancement in singing and composing will become even much harder from here on out! |

| Keep singing and composing to improve your skills! |

Pulled out of his trance due to the system’s notifications, a tired Kyle had a fulfilled smile on his face as he slumped onto the tiles of the piano, the sleep he had been begging for, finally granting him his wish.

It was already 6 a.m. in the morning.

…

…

…

Knocking on the apartment to Kyle’s door, worried because he had been unable to reach him all day, Oliver got even more wary when Kyle didn’t respond.

‘Did something bad happen to him?’ the usually composed man, panicked, afraid that maybe Kyle really had been overdoing it this past month.

Fearful of the effects of the stress on his wards’ health and also feeling very guilty for being the cause of it to a certain extent, Oliver took in a deep breath.

If anything terrible ever happened to Kyle, he wouldn’t be able to live it down because for the first time in a very, very long while, he met a young chap who truly had so much to give the world.

Add that to the fact that he had grown very fond of him, not just as business partners but as someone whom he could refer to as a very close friend, Oliver needed to make sure he was alright.

Not bothering to knock again after having tried it over and over again for the past three minutes, the agent muttered an apology and then, with tremendous force, bust open the door!

Stepping into the apartment whilst also alerting nearby neighbors, Oliver blinked his eyes a few times in disbelief when he saw Kyle, gently and peacefully snoring away on his piano.

Checking the time on his wristwatch and ensuring that he wasn’t seeing things wrong, Oliver just stood there, baffled.

It was already 2:00pm in the afternoon and yet, Kyle, a morning person, hadn’t gotten up?

That wasn’t normal at all.

And why the hell was he sleeping on the piano?

Those were all questions the agent had no answers too.

Gazing at the sight before him in befuddled silence, Oliver couldn’t help but mutter in unresolved perplexity after a short while;

“What sorcery is this?”