After Iris Long finished warming up her vocal cords, she and Enrique Valdez headed to the other dressing room where her musicians stayed. The other dressing room was not really a dressing room but a makeshift private area along a hallway instead. This was because there were too many musicians to fit inside a single dressing room.
Nevertheless, nobody complained because the program staff already did their best to make the musicians comfortable. If not for Iris Long and Enrique Valdez’s status, these musicians wouldn’t even enjoy this kind of special treatnt. If the lead singer that they were working with didn’t have such a special status, then they would have to fend for themselves.
Everyone stood up and greeted Iris Long and Enrique Valdez as soon as they saw the two.
Jin Liwei, Dom, and Iris’ entourage followed behind.
After everyone greeted each other, Iris continued pacing around the makeshift dressing. At the sa ti, everyone watched tonight’s live broadcast on the TV hanging on the wall.
There was a newly debuted boyband performing. It was obvious that they were all pretty young—teenagers, in fact.
Iris couldn’t help but stop her pacing as she watched the boys doing their best to perform live on stage.
It was clear that they were all still nervous. Their voices cracked in so places, and their dancing felt stiff in so steps. However, the hopeful enthusiasm in their eyes and their youthful energy made up for all the little mistakes in their performance.
She sighed as the new boyband’s performance resonated with the original Long Xiulan’s mories that she had.
The original Long Xiulan had also been an enthusiastic pop singer filled with youthful energy. Although she hadn’t been considered a newbie in showbiz as she had started out as a child comrcial model, her transition to the music industry felt natural due to her gifted voice.
It was only because of a bad choice of songs, bad managent, her pushy stage mother (a.k.a. Wei Lan), her destructive antics, and her own self-centred, main character/princess syndro that the original Long Xiulan had such a terrible public persona. The dia and anti-fans loved to hate her.
Iris sighed again. Now that she was a mother, she wished that she could have had a chance to help the original Long Xiulan to straighten her ways.
But that was impossible.
If it weren’t for the original Long Xiulan’s death, then she, Evelina Vetrova, wouldn’t have had a chance to be reborn after her death during the total annihilation of the Vetrov criminal empire.
For this, Iris (Evelina) would always be grateful to the original Long Xiulan.
Iris couldn’t help but sigh again at the direction of her thoughts. Being a mother had indeed changed her perspective. She had beco more introspective than ever before.
A warm hug pulled her out of her reverie.
"What’s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei whispered in her ear.
She smiled and allowed herself to lt in his arms.
"Nervous?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Excited?"
She nodded. "Extrely excited."
His eyes softened. "You’ll do great, love. Just like always."
"Get a room, you disgustingly sweet couple!" JJ’s voice interrupted the good atmosphere.
The musicians once again all stood up to greet the producer.
Iris rolled her eyes while Jin Liwei tightened his arms around her.
JJ made an exaggerated scoff at the married couple before greeting Enrique Valdez and chatting with him.
The musicians looked at each other and did their best to hide their smiles. They were already used to seeing Iris Long and JJ butting heads all the ti. Those who didn’t know them enough would think that the two had a bad relationship, but that was far from the truth.
Both Iris Long and JJ had extrely strong personalities. They also had the sa streak of perfectionism, so they drove each other crazy trying to fight for their own idea of perfection.
Then add Enrique Valdez, the legendary hitmaker, to the mix.
The musicians always felt like they were in a warzone whenever they worked with the three of them. Despite this, they all treasured this precious opportunity to be working with the three. The musicians felt like their craft had improved by leaps and bounds ever since they started working with the trio.
After chatting with the taciturn Enrique—it was mostly JJ speaking and Enrique giving one-word replies—JJ returned to face Iris again. Once again, he scoffed upon seeing her in the arms of her husband.
"Aren’t you embarrassed acting like a pair of clingy teenage lovers in front of everyone?"
Jin Liwei ignored him and continued hugging his wife.
Iris smirked on purpose and twisted her body so that her back pressed on Jin Liwei’s front instead. "What’s wrong with hugging my own husband? Liwei and I are legally married. We have every right to hug each other whenever we want. If you’re so envious of us, why don’t you find yourself a wife? It would be nice to have an auntie to help llow out an old man like you."
JJ clicked his tongue. He looked like he wanted to remove his shoe and throw it at her. "I dare you to say that to again, you brat!"
The musicians had already lost interest in Iris and JJ’s childish bickering. They had gotten used to it long ago. Instead, they polished and tuned their instrunts while chatting with each other.
Enrique Valdez also found a seat for himself and tuned his electric guitar while watching the program’s live broadcast on TV.
Throughout the program, other artists ca to greet Iris Long’s group.
Of course, Iris knew that most of these artists ca for Enrique Valdez and JJ, not her.
If they caught the attention of an international legendary hitmaker like Enrique Valdez and a renowned producer like JJ, then their careers would be set for life.
Iris also caught the looks of envy in so of the artists who ca. Fortunately, she didn’t sense any blatant hostility from anyone.
Then a staff mber ca to announce that Iris Long would be up after two more performances.
The atmosphere imdiately turned serious. There was a palpable tension in the air.
Iris Long loved this kind of atmosphere.
She thrived on it.
It felt like electricity coursing through her veins, charging her up until she released all she had when she stood on stage later.
Dom and her glam team started moving, flying around her like butterflies, touching up her makeup, hair, and outfit, and making sure that she looked as perfect as could be.
The staff mber returned to call Iris and her group.
After the current perforr, she would be up next as the final performance.
She led her group to the backstage.
Staff mbers made sure that their in-ears were all hooked and working properly. After the final checks, Iris dragged Jin Liwei, Dom, and her glam team to huddle in a circle with Enrique Valdez, JJ, and the musicians.
"Let’s have the best performance tonight!" she said.
"Yes!"
All of them threw their hands up in the air.
Jin Liwei wrapped an arm around Iris’ waist. He didn’t pull her into a hug to avoid ssing up her appearance.
"Go show everyone how incredible my wife is," he said. "I’ll be waiting for you here at the back and cheering for you."
She bead at him. It was obvious that she was already raring to go.
Not caring that other people were watching, she raised herself and pecked at his lips.
"Watch , darling," she said.
"En. Always."
Finally, the current performance had finished. The two emcees called for a comrcial break.
The staff mbers then began ushering the musicians.
Iris gave Jin Liwei a final peck on the lips before following the staff mbers who were guiding everyone to the stage in the darkness.
The audience already knew who the final perforr of the night was after the surprise announcent earlier in the morning.
The Black Stars were already cheering at the top of their lungs.
"Boss Iris, we love you!!!"
"Welco back, Boss Iris!"
"We missed you so much, Boss Iris!!!"
"Enrique Valdez, I want to give birth to your babies!!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!! I can’t wait for Boss Iris’ live performance after so long!"
Ming Li (LittlePhoenix) shook the arm of Zhou i’er (CaptainBlackStar). "Big Sis, is Boss Iris up on the stage yet? I can’t wait!"
Zhou i’er couldn’t wait either. But as the president of the Black Stars, she needed to keep her wits about her in order not to sha their Boss Iris to the other fan clubs present.
"Boss Iris should be ready on stage now," Zhou i’er said in a deceptively calm voice. "It’s so dark in the studio now. The staff should be helping Boss Iris’ group to position themselves on stage."
"Why is the comrcial break taking so long?" Ming Li asked.
Another Black Star replied, "Exactly! There are too many comrcials tonight!"
"It should be because companies started scrambling to have their TV comrcials air during tonight’s program after hearing about Boss Iris’ performance," another said.
"This just proves our Boss Iris’ high comrcial value!" Zhou i’er said, feeling proud.
A mber from another fan club interjected from behind them, "What are you saying? The companies are after Enrique Valdez, not Iris Long!"
All the Black Stars present turned their heads to the person who said these words.
"W-what? I didn’t say anything wrong…." The other fan club mber felt flustered after being glared at by so many people at the sa ti.
Her companion pulled her away, "What are you doing? Daring to go against the Black Stars! Do you have a death wish? Once their Slippers Army target you, you won’t be able to use the internet in peace anymore!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)