Chapter 29: Breach of contract?

"Why were you carrying her around?" Milly asked curiously. It was rare to have insider information from the entertainment industry, especially from a person that was directly involved.

"Didn't you see that she was obviously unconscious?" Marcel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why did she faint?" Milly asked. Of course, she knew what happened as the company had to explain the incident since it had garnered so much attention, but she wanted to hear what really happened from Marcel himself.

"She's dieting and on top of group activities she has to work on her own single-"

"She's releasing a single?" Milly asked.

"You didn't know?" Marcel asked.

"It hasn't been announced. Are you serious?" Milly asked.

Marcel was confounded. Was it supposed to be a secret? Isn't it a bit too close the making of the music video to not have announced a comeback? He decisively shut his mouth and didn't say another word.

"Do you know what song she's releasing?" Milly asked but received no response from Marcel. Truly felt that silence was the best answer in that situation.

He was racking his brains whether what he did was a breach of contract or not.

"Can you pretend that the last five minutes did not happen?" Marcel asked both Milly and Paul.

Milly held herself back from asking why. She was familiar with how the industry normally worked since she had been following different artists around when she was younger. If his slip of the tongue would cost his livelihood then she would stay silent. Even though she was excited.

As Marcel was calming himself down, he heard the notification sound from his phone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that he had received a message from the bank.

When he opened it, he saw that 50,000 dollars had been deposited in his account. Not long after, he received a message from Sherry's manager.

{The rest will be deposited once you complete the job}

Marcel was satisfied with the amount he had received. It was more than enough to sustain him, and since he had received so timely, he can at least fix his wardrobe and buy Liam a few clothes as well.

He was worried before but now his mood had completely improved, he even wired the money for his portfolio to Paul.

He hung out at Monochrome for some time until he remembered that he had to go and pick Liam up from school.

He said his goodbyes to both Milly and Paul before he left the studio. He didn't rush as he was walking there and had automatically found himself practising the walk that he had been instructed to do by Avian.

<How much of this do I have to do?> Marcel asked. Even though his body had gotten accustomed to the movements that he was pretty much doing it automatically.

[You have twenty more hours] Avian said.

<Why does it feel like I'm being scammed?>. Marcel asked.

[You only started doing something about practising two days ago. If you didn't have so many errands to run yesterday you would have been lucky if you were about to make five hours worth of progress,]

<Does this include today?> Marcel asked. It really didn't feel like it was just two days ago.

[Yes, the results are realtime] Avian answered.

Marcel diligently practised on his way to Liam's school and he finally arrived there thirty minutes later. He stood outside the gates with the other parents, mostly mothers as they waited for the classes to end while leaning on the wall next to the school gate.

He heard the notification tone from his phone once more and pulled it out of his pocket to check on it. He saw that he had received a message from Sherry which both surprised him and reminded him of how she literally passed out from exhaustion.

{Thanks for yesterday} she had texted.

{It's alright, are you feeling better?} Marcel asked.

{Mmh didn't wake up until this morning at the hospital. I would have called but I'm doing promotions with group members} she replied.

{It's alright. You should rest more later since we won't be practising today} Marcel texted back.

{Mmh, I'll call you later to thank you properly} Sherry said.

{That's really not necessary, you don't have to} Marcel typed and sent the message but did not receive a response.

Her silence could mean that she had seen it and decided to ignore his protests, or she had not really seen his message. His lips curved into a frown before putting the phone back into his pocket. As cute as she was, he didn't think it would be wise to get too close to her.

He had already met her fans, he didn't want to imagine the commotion that would probably arise when people start speculating on their relationship. He was still not sure how to navigate the entertainment scene of this time so he wanted to play it safe.