157 Pre-Showtime

The quest for a dinner meal brought us to a pretty high-end hotel in Palim where we were then led to one of the private rooms in order to enjoy the meal at our leisure. When the staff was leading us there though, I was initially stopped by them as they had thought of me as someone random who was trying to sneak in. It was only when Irina came to my rescue that I was able to head up the elevator with the others to the private room with a large dining table for our dinner meal.

Like I had expected of this luxurious restaurant, it was extremely expensive. The cheapest dish was half of my monthly allowance, so when I first opened the menu, I was actually in quite a shock. I did my best to conceal my astonished expression and tried to maintain a poker face. Irina seemed to have noticed my peril as I saw her begin to lean in my direction to whisper something to me, maybe attempting to tell me that she will pay for me, but it was Henvle who really pulled me out of my situation. I can tell that he has a high E.Q. as he didn't really even need to observe me for too long before he announced to the others that the meal will be on him. This then initiated a bidding war between the older Boro as well as Shol, and in the end, Boro won out of the group and became the one responsible for the bill. Based on what was ordered, I think the meal cannot simply be below 100000 Vil in price, but maybe for them, for these celebrities, this is the norm?

All in all, the dinner was quite awkward, but the food was nice though. Once we finished eating, which was about an hour later, the six of us took the elevators down to the parking lot and left immediately for the SBS building as it was almost time for the live stream. Since it was still early and there was still some traffic on the city streets, we weren't able to speed out way back to the SBS building, but we were still on time and even with some extra time left to spare.

I walked with the group back to the dressing room as I was still unsure as to what to do. I guess I could technically leave already, but I find it kind of disrespectful to Irina's father if I just left without saying anything. Therefore, I opted to go with them back to the dressing room to say goodbye to him directly.

At the dressing room, Irina smiled and waved to me as she walked over to a chair and sat down. Then, a young woman in her mid-twenties stepped before her and started applying makeup on her face while another woman started styling her hair. I decided to watch for a bit before leaving and a reason why I chose to stay behind and watch was Irina's father was still in the process of negotiating with the director. It was only when Irina had finished applying makeup that he emerged from the director's resting room along with Irina's assistant, the director, and the vice director.

"It's all taken care of," Irina's father smiled as he saw his daughter.

"We don't have much time so leave this for later," the director said after he checked his phone for the time. "Alright everyone, get to Studio 3-C immediately. The livestream will start in approximately twenty minutes."

Then, the celebrities, as well as the production crew, immediately started mobilizing, streaming towards the door, leaving myself and the agents of the other celebrities in the dressing room as we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere. I looked over towards Irina's father and approached him. Just as I was about to dismiss myself, he started speaking and made me place my words on hold.

"Thank you, Alevian," he lowered his head towards me. "If it weren't for you, then I don't know how low I would've sipped to..."

"I didn't do much," I responded. "All I did was help put on that performance..."

"No..." Irina's father shook his head. "You did plenty to influence me. Your words... they just dragged me out of that greed driven vessel and allowed me to see the situation from a clearer point of view."

I really didn't do anything as special like he had said. All I did was simply appeal to the very extreme of his mental state, which is greed. I simply portrayed myself as an extremist in regards of having the intent of making a profit using Irina's body. I was simply banking on the fact that within her father's greed-corrupted heart still existed love for his daughter. And it would appear that my guess was correct.

"Please," her father said. "Please continue to be friends with Irina. Because of me, she's never had the opportunity to make friends with people her age. So please... don't stop being friends with her."

The man then lowered his head, exposing to me the very top of his brown hair where part of which was turning gray. In response to his words, I simply stared at him. What he had said was simply what I had originally planned to do: I plan to remain friends with Irina, but I do not think we will be anything above it. Like I've stated earlier, her feelings for me, I believe, are mostly admiration and gratitude. If it cannot be genuinely love, then there's really no point in it. I do not want to take advantage of her as well.

"Alevian," her father then started speaking once again, this time lowering his head as well. "I will offer you compensation but please... allow me to ask you a favor."

[Irina's Perspective]

I followed the others into Studio 3-C which is where I assumed to be the location where we shall begin the livestream. Henvle, Lindsy, and the others quickly assumed their positions on the stage as they readied themselves like the professionals that they were for the upcoming live broadcasting of the show. I also quickly prepared myself both mentally and physically for this performance that will have to take place in a few minutes.

"So there's eight of you," the director started speaking to us. "Each of you will have your own dedicated channel on television, meaning you will be on screen for a hundred percent of the time but different channels will be focused on one person. Everyone will have their own dedicated team that will add effects such as background music once the broadcast begins so do not worry about having to shoulder the entirety of the load on entertaining the viewers. If you are all ready, then we can begin in a few minutes."

When the few minutes came close to an end, the director began counting down the time it was until the start of the livestream. I was quite nervous as I stood on the stage, looking over at the open area before us that was populated with the large production crew with its high-tech cameras and other equipment. My eyes went over to the small red light on the camera, gazing at it so that I can see first hand when the light turns green signaling the start of the broadcast.

"Hello everybody and good evening!" Boro said out loud in an energetic voice as the lights turned green in unison on the many cameras. "Welcome to this special holiday livestream of Go Running!"

"Hello everyone," another regular MC whose name was Leiry greeted them. This middle-aged man was known for his role in many movies as well as being a director himself. "Man, it sure is weird being live instead of recording."

"It is," Shol nodded in agreement. "We can't say anything we're not supposed to now."

"What is it that you usually say then?" Boro laughed.

"I never said anything that can't be shown on television, man," Shol quickly exclaimed himself, laughing so as to ease everyone into the atmosphere.

"Alright, alright," the oldest oldest member of the regular MC's named Yordan said out loud in order to reign in the situation. "Y'all just over there ignoring our guests."

"Please introduce yourselves," the youngest member of the regular MC's named Yrel said, clapping a bit as he urned his gaze over at Lindsy, Henvle, and I.

"Hello everyone," Lindsy smiles and waved at the camera and also to the group of MC's. "I'm Lindsy Wendle."

"There's really no need for you to introduce yourself," Shol commented. "Everybody in Vilheim knows who you are. They've probably seen you in plenty of movies."

"Since you've mentioned it, I remember seeing Lindsy recently in a movie trailer," Boro then turned towards Lindsy with a look of as if he was trying to recall something. "What was it called?"

"It's called The Forbidden Lotus," she smiled and took the opportunity given to her to advertise about her upcoming movie. "It'll be in theaters starting January 5th so please come out and support it."

"Alright, thank you Lindsy," Boro smiled. "And next, we have the two voted by the entire country as the best and cutest celebrity couple!"

"Hello everyone," Henvle smiles and bowed slightly. "I'm Henvle."

"Good evening," I did the same and smiled. "I'm Irina."

"So are the two of you actually dating?" Leiry then asked.

"Hey!" Yordan interjected. "That's rude to ask." Then, he turned towards Henvle and I. "Are the two of you going out?"

"What's the difference between what you've asked and what I asked?" Leiry complained.

"No," Henvle chuckled. "We're just friends."

"Really?" Yrel sounded quite surprised.

"The two of you look super cute together," Lindsy commented.

"Alright," the director started speaking to explain the rules for the evening's game so as to progress the show into its next stage. "So tonight, the theme is Experiencing the Holidays."

Once the director started speaking, everyone quieted down so as to listen to what the director was saying. However, none of the cameras panned away since it is often that the director explains the games during the initial recording session in order for the audience to familiarize themselves with the rules.

"Tonight," The director continued, "there are different stations set up throughout Palisia. Once you head to one, you must complete the challenge there in order to acquire these Holiday Orbs—"

"That sounds kinda lame," Shol commented which led to a burst of laughter from the others.

"Shol," The director's voice was also trembling somewhat from trying to suppress his own laughter. "Listen please. These Holiday Orbs will play a major role in the ending sequence of the show today. Now, what is the holidays all about? It is to spend time with family and friends. Therefore, a rule for today is that you must be with a non-celebrity friend to complete the objective together."

"What?" Sounds if surprise came from everyone including me.

"So please phone a friend and see if they can come to your rescue," the director said. "If no one is able to come, then I'm sorry but you're out and done for the night."

"That means no screen time?" Shol asked with wide eyes.

"That's right," the director nodded. "You will have to head home."

"Ay!" Shol exclaimed happily. "We get to get off work early!"

"But your compensation will also be deducted accordingly," the director added.

"Aw man..." Shol sighed.

"I guess we'll need to start calling our friends," Yordan announced.

Then came the segment where everybody started phoning their friends. It started in order going from left to right with Leiry, who was standing the furthest left, having to call someone first. Then, it was Boro's turn since he was standing next to Leiry. The pattern continued on and each person was ultimately successful in having a friend agree to head immediately for the SBS building.

"Thank you," Henvle said into the phone with a relieved expression on his face. "Sorry for making you come out this late."

"No worries," the boy on the other end of the call said. "See ya."

"Now that's a true friend," Shol nodded and clapped his hands.

"Alright," Yordan then said as he looked over at Irina. "Your turn, Irina."

"A-Alright."

My hands trembled slightly as I reached into the pockets of my winter coat and for my phone. Then, I started scrolling through my contact list for someone that I can call and rely on. However, there's really not that many options for me.

"Having trouble finding someone?" Leiry asked.

"It is late and I don't want to bother any of them," I laughed and explained.

Even though I was pretending to be calm, on the inside I was extremely nervous. There's really not that many people in this world that I can truly depend on to answer my call except for him. But... he wouldn't want to do this. He wouldn't want to be on a live broadcast. But... there's no one else that I can truly count on to make the journey to Palim this late at night. Unlike the others, my friends are all in high school so they can't just leave their house at will without the consent of their parents...

With my hands trembling a somewhat, I called Alevian. It wasn't long until he finally picked up and thus began my desperate plea for him to come and aid me.

"Alevian, where are you?" I asked. "Are you still at PBS?"

"I'm headed home," he responded. Upon hearing his voice though, I felt as if I was less nervous.

"I'm uh... doing a live broadcast and I need to find someone who will partner with me for the entirety of the broadcast. Can you help me?"

"Irina..." he sighed.

Please Alevian, I held my breath and waited, praying in my heart that he will ultimately accept and help me out.

"Fine," I heard him finally say. Then, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the entrance of Studio 3-C and looking up, I saw that he was standing there. "I'll do it since I'm already here."