Tour other countries.

Mark arrived at his apartment, and thank goodness, Ben and Dylan hadn't arrived yet. He sat on one of his couches and checked the watch on his wrist, the time was already 2:51 pm, if Ben and Dylan don't arrive within the remaining nine minutes, they were late already. The scheduled meeting time was 3 pm, nine more minutes to go. It wasn't long before he heard a knock on his door, surely, it must be one of them.

He stood up from the couch and headed straight to his door and opened it. Dylan was standing at the front of the door directly facing Mark. He arrived six minutes before 3 pm, at least, he wasn't late.

"Hmm, you looking cool". Mark said complimenting Dylan's dressing and freshness.

"Yeah, we gotta look cool and fresh always". Dylan uttered with a type of swaggy body posture, a smile was on his face also.

"Come in". Mark stated paving way for Dylan to enter.

Dylan stepped feet into Mark's apartment, and the next thing that came from him was a question.

"Ben isn't here yet?".

"Yeah, he hasn't arrived yet, he will surely come. Remember he said that he was gonna be producing songs for two upcoming artistes, maybe, that took a lot of his time". Mark responded.

"He shouldn't come late 'cause he was the one that scheduled the meeting time that would be best suitable for him. But there is no problem if he doesn't keep to time anyway".

"He is gonna come, let's be patient, sit down and make yourself comfortable". Mark uttered permitting Dylan to sit, Dylan would have sat anyway even if Mark doesn't permit him.

Dylan made himself comfortable on one of the couches, so as Mark also. Exactly at the time of 3 pm, a knock was heard on Mark's door once again, if it wasn't Ben, who would it be?

"That should be Ben, he has arrived". Mark quickly said to Dylan before dashing to his door to open it.

Mark's statement was accurate, it was Ben, he was the one knocking on the door. Mark threw a lovely smile at him before saying,

"Come in, Dylan is here already".

Ben stepped into Mark's apartment, and immediately, he strolled to where Dylan was sitting and shook hands with him as a sign of greeting.

"Am ain't late right? I was really occupied producing songs for those two artistes and I couldn't monitor time 'cause I forgot my wristwatch at home. I kept to time right?".

"We heard your knock on the door exactly at the time of 3 pm, so you kept to time". Dylan stated.

"Though I wasn't with my wristwatch, I still managed to keep to time even with how occupied I was.....that's so cool of me".

"Yeah...yeah...yeah, Mr cool guy, make yourself comfortable on one of the couches". Mark uttered, he wasn't feeling Ben's talk of being cool and all that.

Ben sat on one of the sofas, Mark sat also, now, all three of them were sitting comfortably on three different sofas. It was about time for Mark to find out if both of them were interested in drinking something, so he asked them.

"Should I bring something for you guys to drink? I've got some packs of juice available in my fridge".

"I don't think that would be necessary, the stuff I wanna discuss with you guys is really important. Well, I shouldn't decide for Ben also, you can serve him a pack of juice if he is interested". Dylan declared.

At this point, Ben was also gonna reject the offer of drinking something 'cause of what Dylan said, "Hmm, since he said the stuff he wants to discuss with us is really important, I don't think it's necessary to serve us something to drink. Hundred percent focus is needed".

"Okay then, if that's the case". Mark said, they've rejected his offer, there was nothing he could do about it, "So Dylan, what is it that you want to discuss with us?".

"Is it another of your ideas? Ideas you think could make Mark famous?". Ben inquired of Dylan, he wanted to be sure.

Dylan didn't reply to Ben's question, he kept mute, now the look on his face was getting serious.

"Dylan, what's with the serious look on your face? You didn't even reply to Ben's question. Is the stuff you wanna discuss with us that serious and important?". Mark questioned, he was getting all confused as to why Dylan's facial expression suddenly became serious.

Dylan cleared his throat and began speaking, "Yeah, it's that serious and important. I've been voicing out ideas I thought could raise Mark to stardom if applied well. And yeah, we executed all the ideas one by one carefully and effectively, but none of them worked out, they weren't just strong enough to raise Mark to stardom. And to tell you guys, I've more ideas stacked up in my brain that we could execute, but am ain't gonna let them out 'cause the possibility of them not working out is high. In replacement of those ideas, I am gonna voice out the biggest idea I came up with that could raise Mark to stardom. It's completely different and lots of sacrifices would be made for it to be implemented,

I did a lot of research yesterday concerning this idea of mine, the time I could have used to sleep, I spent on doing research. Mark, have you performed at shows and concerts in other cities apart from Chicago?".

"Yeah, but that's some two years ago after the release of my first album under the 'Cool Boiz' record label. That was the last time I got bookings to perform in other cities in the USA. As we all know, I rarely get bookings to perform at shows and concerts". Mark retorted.

Dylan rubbed his jaw with his fingers and stated, "You rarely get bookings to perform at shows and concerts in this city of Chicago. Getting bookings to perform in other cities in the USA is a lot worse. Then what of touring other countries in other continents for album performances and so on?".

Mark laughed a little and said, "That is completely impossible, how can I tour other countries for performances when am not even close to being a famous artiste? Popular and big artistes are the ones that do that mostly, they can tour other countries for performances and album promotions 'cause they are famous, things would be easier for them".

"I think you are wrong Mark, you can choose to tour other countries as an artiste if you wish to, the only disadvantage is that you are still an upcoming artiste. Now, please, the both of you should listen to me carefully. Mark has done his very best for his country as an artiste, he has dropped lots of vibeful and cool songs, he has performed in concerts and shows, he has done his best as an artiste in the USA, but his efforts aren't yielding great results,

Now, isn't it time for you to tour other countries? isn't it time for you to advertise yourself as an artiste in other countries? Lots of artistes are emerging into the music industry year in year out in the USA, and some of them are attaining fame immediately. Mark, you've done your best, we've implemented my ideas, but they didn't work out. You said you can't tour other countries 'cause you ain't famous as an artiste, well, I think it's best you try it out,

Travel to another country, advertise yourself as an artiste, perform in their shows and concerts, show them how talented you are.....who knows, something could spark off from there". Dylan let out.

After hearing Dylan's statement, Mark and Ben didn't even know what to say. All the words that just flowed out of Dylan's mouth were really powerful to them, they didn't expect it. Dylan was expecting a reaction from them, but they weren't saying anything, so he inquired of them,

"Ain't you guys gonna say something? This is supposed to be like a conversation".

"That statement of yours was unexpected to me, this is the greatest of all the ideas you've voiced out". Mark expressed.

"I agree with Mark, this idea of yours is really strong". Ben added.

"That shows that the possibility of it working out is high, it's a great idea. Let's give it a try even though lots of sacrifices would be made to implement it. Remember, we are doing all these for Mark to attain the fame he deserves as an artiste, he is too talented to remain an upcoming artiste". Dylan uttered.

Mark rubbed his jaw with his fingers, now, this was really tough, "This is really tough, I've never toured another country before as an artiste. And I don't even know if my label boss would consent to this".

"He would have to, you would sit him down and have a deep conversation with him. And I don't think he would really care about it, I mean, he has a rapper signed to his label that is making lots of money for him, you guys should know who I'm referring to". Said Dylan.

"Speaking of traveling to another country, which country do you think is best to travel to?". Mark inquired of Dylan.

Dylan glanced directly into Mark's eyes and provided an answer to his question, "According to my research, I think it's best to travel to a country in the continent of Africa...that's South Africa".