West Aurora, in an apartment unit near the other university in the city.
Two girls dressed in sleeveless shirts and short shorts could be seen huddling on the sofa, one of them squealing like a dying pig. The slightly fatter between the two held the tablet with one hand while her free hand kept slapping her roommate.
'I'll endure the damn fat hand for the sake of my husband,' thought the aggrieved long-haired freckled girl, biting her lower lip but not moving her eyes away from the screen.
"Aaaaahhh!!! It finally started!!!! Rou Rou!!!"
The freckled face girl suppressed her excitement and faked lack of interest as she answered, "It's just a few good-looking idols. You said the band you'll introduce to me is just a newly debuted one. What are you being so excited for?"
Jiang Rou was living in this apartment together with two more people. One of her housemates was the slightly fatty girl next to her.
Recently both of them became fans of a band which hailed from the other university. However, while her friend openly broadcasted her fanaticism of those impossibly handsome guys, she, on the other hand, kept a low profile and even acted as if she could not understand why everyone around her was enamored with those pretty boys. Heck, she even told people she didn't know the members!
That's how faithful she was in keeping her 'low-profile' fan image!
She even remarked with a contorted expression, "I don't really understand why they are popular. True, they have an above-average face value. Still, I don't understand."
"Gosh, Rou Rou. Just keep watching and you'll know why. Waaaahhhhhh, they're so dreamy..."
Jiang Rou faked scratching her hair in frustration. "What's so dreamy with the name Pesticide? It sounds stupid! I'm suspecting the person who came up with that is from a family that runs a pest-control business."
Tao Ping, the one holding the tablet, angrily slapped Jiang Rou's arm. "Hey, you mean girl! Don't speak ill of their band name! It's chosen by the cool blonde pianist, Su Xuefeng. But what's important is that my dearest He Chen is its lead vocalist! Scorning anything about Pesticide equals scorning my dearest, I simply can't allow you to continue!"
"Tch. Whatever!"
Jiang Rou clicked her tongue even though deep inside, the little her in her heart was jumping and screaming, 'Aaahhhh, my hubby's the one who chose that cool name. He's really super awesome! I'm so so so in love with him!'. Simply just like a real fan.
She was an impossible person. What she felt was sometimes completely different from what she showed outwardly.
As if a carnage occurred inside the house, Tao Ping's screams and the sounds of her hitting Jiang Rou's back, arm, or shoulder echoed together with the latter's coughing. The latter once again faked being aggrieved, "Just because of that Pesticide you'll murder your best friend?"
It was so tiring controlling her cheeks muscle and lips so that her face wouldn't show a crazy grin at the sight of a certain blonde rascal. Thank God her effort paid off. Though actually even if she let her teeth show, the college lady next to her was too preoccupied to care. Too preoccupied with the blinding visuals displayed on her screen and the amazing music drowning her senses!
"Knock! Knock! Knock!"
'Ah, ignore the damn door. My eyes can't bear to part from my hubby's glittering face,' they both thought.
However, the knocking noises rang several times, annoying the girls and disturbing their hearing. When the knob got twisted and the creaking of the door resounded, their eyes automatically turned to that direction. They watched as a beautiful face belonging to their other roommate's cousin appeared from there.
"Hello. Cousin said she will go home late and ask me to deliver this here." The woman who entered was Tang Lan. She marched into the living room and while receiving unfriendly gazes from her cousin's normally caring friends, she dropped the bag of dried fishes on the table.
"Did I come at a bad time?" Tang Lan cautiously asked.
Jiang Rou hurriedly buried her semi-murderous gaze somewhere and cleared her throat, "Not really. Anyway, thanks for dropping by."
Meanwhile, Tao Ping narrowed her eyes. A second later, remembering something crucial, the latter's eyes brightened. "Xiao Lan, you're from Aurora University, right? Are you a classmate of He Chen, the vocalist of the band Pesticide?"
Immediately, discomfort showed on Tang Lan's face. Why was that ex of her suddenly mentioned by somebody from another university? "If it's the He Chen that I know, Sis Ping, sorry, no. We're from different departments."
Tang Lan was very busy juggling between her studies, writing, internship and love life. It was already amazing she knew her ex's band's weird name and that they were skyrocketing in fame. But regarding them being signed artists and reaching the point of releasing their own songs, the information did not reach her yet.
"A pity then." The fatter of the two pouted. "Hey, since you two are still from the same university, can you help me get He Chen's signature? Pretty please! I'm a die-hard fan of him!"
Tang Lan was taken aback by the stubby paw that suddenly grabbed hers. "This..."
"You'll help me, right?"
'Why would I?' The female lead felt irritated inside, yet had no choice but say, "O-okay. I'll try."
Tao Ping's eyes almost disappeared as she laughed, "Thanks, girl! I forgive you now for disrupting me from watching He Chen's singing!"
'My cousin's housemates are weird.'
Tang Lan felt that the other's smile was too blinding so she looked down. She also did that to hide her spasming cheeks and stiff smile. As a result, her eyes landed in the screen frozen at her ex's handsome face.
Aside from the surprise, something foreign flickered in her heart seeing He Chen's serious expression in front of the camera. Her eyes got glued to it and her mind subconsciously recorded every detail of the beautiful image, especially his eyes gleaming like the silver glitters scattered sparsely on the half of his face and neck.
'So handsome...'
'Has he always been like this? Has my previous dislike of him made me unable to see anything good from him so I'm only discovering how charismatic and handsome he could be this late?'
'No no no. Tang Lan, you're a popular web novelist! Get a grip of yourself! A person's eyes should only hold one individual. Gu Feng is the most good-looking and the best for you!'
A second later, the woman successfully recovered from her stupor. Then again, it was hard to tell if it was a better result since she got downhearted remembering how ambiguous her relationship with that cold handsome policeman was.
...
Pesticide's fandom grew to a staggering number, more or less a million if roughly estimated.
For a band who had yet to debut, it was almost an impossible feat, unless backed by major recording label. However, for He Chen and the rest, all they had before signing an exclusive contract was their faces and their covers' accomplishments. The rest of the publicity was done by Na Yu, with some occasional help from her friend and Aurora University's admin.
In short, minus Jiang Li's secret manipulation to maintain the average view counts of their videos, their sudden skyrocketing to fame was actually very shocking!
"It's hard not to feel emotional..." Several minutes after the performance, Cheng Du told the other four. He was wiping the beads of sweat on his face.
While cleaning his eyeglasses' lenses using a handkerchief, Xie Delan replied, "Yeah. It's unbelievable. I never imagined that in just less than two months we can release an album of our own. I thought we would have to invest at least a few more months in this before gaining enough popularity."
"I wonder if what you said can be summarized as 'we don't have to worry about graduating anymore'..."
Nian Xiwen tapped the laughing guy on the shoulder.
"Oh please, Rascal Su. That fat prof will gladly hand over your diploma after this day. Given the number of fans who attended our stage performance, I doubt we won't be eligible for that radio award."
Na Yu, the manager who had become familiar to both her job and her talents, walked into the break room inside the company building's second floor. She was holding a notebook. After taking her seat she gave each present member a glance. He Chen was not around which made her expression soured. It didn't take long for her to recover her calm though. After teasing the boys a bit and keeping them in suspense, she broke into a beautiful smile and announced that their title track entered the top ten of all major rankings in the country.
"Where's He Chen?" The rest of the gang were busy jumping, laughing, and hugging each other, so she approached Nangong Xue. The girl was also around since the rehearsals until they went back to the company.
"He went out through the other door a couple of minutes ago. He said he needs to take a phone call."
"Oh. Thanks for informing me."
"Haha. Small matter. By the way, are we allowed to go home already? Or is there going to be a celebration?"
Na Yu shook her head. "It's quite late and there's a meeting with the team leader tomorrow so I requested an early leave."
Nangong Xue giggled. "Wow, a meeting. The higher-ups must be considering this as a success already. But I have a hunch their songs will not just settle for top ten."
"Come what may. We've done our part so leave the rest to the capable people from the marketing and PR side."
Once done saying that, she left her friend and headed to the backdoor. Since the man had a striking presence, even in the darkness she didn't have any difficulty locating him.
There he was at the lowest step of the stairs. He held his phone against his right ear and spoke in a low tone. The gentleness in his voice was so foreign yet captivating for her. A pity the conversation was already at its end since she could hear him saying his goodbye to whoever was on the other line.
'The one who called must be his family,' she concluded, her silent steps stopping a step above where he was sitting.
He Chen hung up the call then stared at his phone's LCD. The young man hadn't noticed her presence behind him yet. From her angle, Na Yu saw an FB message came in which he promptly clicked. It was not her intention, but since she could see everything, she accidentally read the text.
'This message asking for a meetup came from someone named Tang Lan. I remember it was the girl he tried to win back for a whole year. Don't tell me just because that girl texted him, he'd really go and meet her?'
A few seconds later, he fiddled with his phone and then pocketed it. As she watched him stand up and walk away, her forehead creased. She hated the inexplicable feeling that rose from within her so as if possessed by a ghost, she took a deep breath and quietly followed after him...