Kaija’s brow twitched slightly. "Isn’t that a little... negative to perform at the festival?"
That wasn’t even her biggest problem.
How was she supposed to sing it in front of Antony and have him produce it, if the song was basically aid at him? And seriously, just how bad was the fallout between those two guys that Karl had to write an entire song about it?
Karl rely shrugged at her concern. "Wouldn’t it hype the festival up? And think of it as the bomb you’re throwing at Liisi for stealing your song. It fits your anger perfectly. I bet that girl’s hair will shoot straight up when she hears you sing my shady lyrics."
Her brow shot up, tone dry. "Oh really? The way I see it, you just want to throw a bomb at Antony and you’re borrowing my hand for it. Or in this case, my voice."
Karl burst out laughing. "You’re damn right, little birdie," he gloated, smacking the sofa. "I wish I could see AK’s face when he hears you sing it." Then his tone dropped. "But seriously, if it weren’t you, I wouldn’t give this song to anyone else. Not even a male singer out there can sing the songs I write myself, and you’re a girl. The way you sang my Sociopath, that was truly impressive."
Her cheeks tingled, just slightly. There he went again, making the air between them awkward with those weirdly sincere complints that didn’t sound like him at all.
"Thanks, I guess," she muttered, turning away and pretending to sip her chocolate until the awkwardness died down. Then she turned back to Karl, her tone serious, "What exactly happened between you and Antony?"
"It’s a long story," Karl snorted, irritation tightening his voice as mories ca back to him. "I first t AK here at KE ten years ago, when I was just a trainee like you. I was eighteen, he was twenty-two.
"You have no idea, his music was insane. Back then, he almost broke the industry. Multi-instruntal producer, crazy young, winning awards left and right. He had his own unique sound.
"Everyone knew his na. Everyone wanted his na credited on their songs. I looked up to him, you know? And he liked my raspy voice, so we got really close. We worked together, drank together, wrote bangers together. He produced all of my first albums."
Kaija’s brow tightened. Turns out Antony wasn’t just good. He was even better than all the god-tier producers currently sitting in the Production building? Antony was basically a... legend?
Her curiosity surged. "If you guys were close friends, then how co...?"
"It was all that bastard’s fault!" Karl grumbled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "One day he just switched to writing pop songs, you know? Trashy pop songs! Sure, they were still better than most of what other producers put out nowadays, but compared to what he used to do? Absolute garbage. And he kept shoving that garbage at while rejecting every song I wrote myself!"
Realization clicked in Kaija’s mind. Now she understood why Karl had switched from hip-hop to pop, and why she’d lost interest in his music. It was Antony who had forced him onto that path. "And you guys just... fell out?"
"Heck, we did!" he snarled. "I got so fed up one day I threw a punch at that bastard’s smug face. We tried to kill each other for like half an hour, but then so stupid punk stopped us."
Kaija sighed, long and heavy. The air was getting a little too aggressive now. She better save the topic for another day and stir the focus back to work. "You know what, Karl. Why don’t you sing a demo of your song? Then we’ll see if I can actually nail it or not."
"Sure, birdie, just wait..." Karl pulled out his phone, setting his chocolate on the coffee table as he scrolled for the lyrics.
Next to him, Kaija stole a glance at Karl’s focused face over the rim of her cup. Her heart was already beating wildly.
Though she’d once been his fan, she’d never heard him sing live — and right now, she knew it was a one-in-a-millionchance to hear his deep, raspy voice in all its glory, at such close distance, singing a song he hadn’t even released yet. A song he’d entrusted her to sing for him.
A soul that only writes words they don’t believe in will one day rot.
A voice that only sings soone else’s songs will one day fade.
My gift is burnt and my ti is wasted.
The world takes for my glory, not what I’m made with.
...
Before Karl started singing, he rose from the couch. The song demanded it. It was intense and explosive right from the intro.
It wasn’t just built on deep, rapid-fire rap verses that could easily make any singer trip over their own tongue – it also had soaring, blistering high choruses that burst out of nowhere, like long-buried anger finally erupting into a volcano.
And yet Karl delivered it all, switching from his hellish deep voice to his heavenly vocals flawlessly. Kaija could tell this was going to be way more challenging than Sociopath, but if she pulled it off, it would be nothing short of sensational.
When the performance ended and his senses slowly returned, he ran a hand through his hair, eyes still closed as if savoring the emotions he’d just unleashed. The mont his eyes turned toward at her again, his breath hitched.
Her sapphire blue eyes were wide open, steady and unblinking as they gazed up at him. In their depth, deep admiration and longing held, as if her entire focus was on him alone, that only he existed in those eyes.
In the seven long years of his glorious career, he’d grown way too used to seeing that look in people’s eyes whenever he took the stage. He’d stand tall above them all, looking down at countless screaming faces, their hands desperately reaching up to him like he was so kind of god.
All those tis, all he felt was contempt, sotis even disgust. And yet seeing that yearning in her blue eyes now, what filled up his heart right now was a strange sense of... gratefulness.
"Do you like the song?" Karl murmured, his deep voice filling the quiet space.
"I love it," Kaija said softly, almost absently, still captivated by the man before her.
"How does it make you feel?" he pressed, though he wasn’t even sure why he cared. He was supposed to just demonstrate the song, not fish for her thoughts on lyrics he’d poured his soul into.
Her eyes remained just as steady, her voice small yet unwavering. "Like a bird held captive inside an ugly cage for so long, it no longer knows what it feels like to sing or fly on its own will."
Without thinking, Karl closed the distance between them in a single step. In the next, he was already bending down toward those blue eyes, his eyes closing as his lips landed on her soft, peachy ones.
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