Chapter 258: Can’t back out.

[Edward POV]

"Well this is awkward." Vanessa suddenly said as we entered the recording studio together. 

The recording studio feels cozy, with sound-dampening panels lining the walls to create an optimal acoustic environment. Several isolated vocal booths with glass partitions sit along the perimeter. 

In the center of the room, a large mixing console dominates, its numerous knobs and faders ready to be adjusted by the skilled hands of a sound engineer.

"What is?" I asked, confused as I sat at the sound synthesizer. 

"Being alone, just the two of us." She explained while crossing her arms, standing by my side.

I nodded in acknowledgement and said, "It is weird." She nodded too, but her face froze as I said, "I just realized that I had never seen you perform live before. Consider this an audition."

"A-A-Audition?" She stammered panicky. "Yeah, go inside and sing a song you have a great confidence in. I want to hear if your vocal is suitable for the song I have right now."

Her eyes still shook for a bit, but she agreed, "Alright then. Just– Give me a second to warm up my vocals alright?"

"Sure. You can tell me when you're ready." I replied casually. She asked, her eyes lit up for a second, "Aren't you going to create the songs?" The concept of the audition terrified her that she needed a bit more time to prepare herself.

"I had finished the beat at home." I said, disappointing Vanessa. 

Entering the other side of the glass, Vanessa started with doing some vocal warmups. She wore headphones and stood in front of the microphone. I waited for a while, but since she wasn't ready– and I presumed not going to be in a short amount of time, I contacted SunHee to come to the recording studio.

To my surprise, it wasn't SunHee who was first to come there. Renaldo, whom I haven't seen for so long, and Randall came into the recording studio to bring some coffee and sandwiches.

"Edward! The golden boy!" Renaldo greeted me cheerfully. I chuckled and said, "I didn't know you're back from Europe."

"Yes, I finally got back here today. There's a lot of venues that want you to perform there. We had finally narrowed it all down."

I nodded and turned to Randall. "Aren't you supposed to be in Vegas?"

Taken aback, Randall said, "No, there's a gas leak in the venue, so Taylor's concert had to be postponed. So we came back here."

Renaldo teased, "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Your ex is not coming here. She went to search for her bestie."

Breathing in relief secretly, I replied, "I'm wearing boxers today. Not panties."

Randall rolled his eyes while Renaldo chuckled. Renaldo pointed behind the glass partition, "And why is she blubbering like a baby."

"Vocal training," I replied as I turned to Vanessa. Suddenly, she gave me a thumbs up, signaling that she's ready. Then, I pressed the intercom to talk to her, as it was the only way for someone to talk with someone inside the soundproof area, "What are you singing?"

"A Moment Like This, By Kelly Clarkson," Vanessa said with a raspy voice.

I raised my eyebrow and said, "Drink some water. You're too tense right now. Relax a little."

"I'm trying," She mumbled as she looked around, trying to search for the bottle. "WHERE IS THE WATER BOTTLE?!" She exclaimed anxiously, on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

Renaldo quickly ran into the studio, bringing a bottle of water with him. He shouted quickly, "Here! HERE!"

But, as he gave the bottle to Vanessa, she tried to open the new bottle, but couldn't do it. She sobbed, "It's not opening."

Renaldo took the bottle from her, "Let me help." But as he tried to unscrew the lid, he had difficulty doing so too. "Wait here a moment." Renaldo rushed back out with the bottle and handed it to Randall, who struggled too because the lid was too oily.

"For god's sake," I snatched the bottle from Randall and unscrewed the cap easily before handing it to Renaldo.

After Vanessa drank the water and calmed herself down, I asked her, "Would you feel more comfortable if there's no one else here?"

"Maybe," She replied. I snapped my fingers at the duo, "Out. And guard the door, please. SunHee is coming here, so hold her back for a minute. I'll call you back in when she's ready."

"Okay. It's our fault too. We came here unannounced," Randall muttered. I shook my head and said, "No. She's just too broken.." It saddened me a bit to see she completely lost her confidence after life pinned her to the corner in a boxing match. 

"Be gentle with her, okay?" Renaldo asked me for a favor. I sighed and said, "At the very least, I won't be rough with her."

"That's…enough," Renaldo smiled and went outside with Randall.

"Want some suggestions?" I asked Vanessa. Wiping down her clammy hand on her dress, she replied, "I'll take any suggestions right now. But don't tell me to imagine the audience naked. That won't work with me."

"The only audience here is me. So I guess it'd be quite dangerous if you imagined it. You won't be able to sleep at night as it'll be imprinted in your brain." I said jokingly.

She scoffed slightly, her lips were curling up with disbelief. Her nerves relaxed a bit, and I finally gave my suggestion, "Alright. I'll show you a trick. See that button near the microphone."

"This button?" She asked with confusion. "Yup." I nodded. "Press it and it'll turn the mic off. Turn it off, sing a few lines, when you think it's up to your standards, then you can turn it on again."

"Ah!" Vanessa's eyes lit up. "Alright. I'll do that."

I lied to her a bit. That button didn't really do anything except for fixing echoes. 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQuWI1IS02I&ab_channel=VanessaHudgensBrasil Vanessa Hudgens - A Moment Like This (Kelly Clarkson Cover) [Live from The Masked Singer])

As she thought no one could hear her, she sang with emotions. Impressive vocal range, moving effortlessly between rich, powerful belts and delicate, airy head voice with seamless control and emotional expression, proof that she was trained to sing since she was a young kid.

"♫♪ What if I told you it was all meant to be?...Would you believe me? Would you agree?♫♪ 

♫♪ So, tell me that you don't think I'm crazy

When I tell you, love has come here and noooow♫♪"

♫♪ A moment like this, some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this

Some people search forever for that one special kiss♫♪"

I nodded in satisfaction as I listened to her. Still oblivious, Vanessa's knees bend a bit as she continues.

♫♪ Oh, I can't believe it's happening to me

Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this~~~♫♪"

Stopping abruptly, she had a satisfied look on her face and pressed the button again. "I'm ready now. Truly." She said to me again with a huge grin on her face.

I grinned and said, "Too bad. I had already listened to your voice."

"WHAT?!" She exclaimed with disbelief. "But I pressed the button!"

"That doesn't really do anything. Don't worry. You did really well."

Frozen in her spot for a while, she finally breaks her silence, "I feel… betrayed."

"Don't be melodramatic. Come out here and learn the song!" I rolled my eyes and scolded her.

…

Time passed by quickly inside the recording studio. Vanessa and I both recorded one song each after a thorough discussion with SunHee and the marketing department for the game launch. 

(Song will be revealed during the launch)

"I'll get money for this, right?" Vanessa asked as we finalized the songs.

I turned to her slowly with a stoic expression. Her heart beat anxiously and she held her breath.

"Right?" She hesitated.

"Yeah. Of course." I replied casually, which made her breath in relief. SunHee caught my grin and teased, "Oppa, you did that on purpose to trip her up."

"What's good about being the boss if you can't play mind games with your workers?" I grinned and focused back on the music console. Vanessa was flabbergasted and SunHee laughed. 

Vanessa smiled softly and tried to create conversation, "Why are you so serious in this launch event anyway? It's just for a video game."

I stopped what I was doing and turned towards her. SunHee and Vanessa were both startled by my expression. SunHee quickly hit Vanessa's arm lightly, "Take it back. Take it back."

Furrowing my eyebrow, I touched my face, "Did I look scary there? Sorry, not doing that on purpose."

"Answer me honestly, what kind of people do you think usually play video games?" I asked Vanessa.

"It's a trap!" SunHee mumbled.

"Just– you know…some loners…" Vanessa hesitated, "geek and weirdos…"

I chuckled a bit and said, "I won't deny that. A lot of people who play video games do fit into that category."

"Video games are popular amongst the outsider who feel like they don't fit into this world. But what people fail to account for is the sheer numbers of people who feel like that. Video games become an escape. For some, it's their only way to get acknowledgement."

"Huh? How so?"

"You know, that little message on the screen that says, "You're doing great!"

"That's an exaggeration." She scoffed a bit, thinking that I was playing her.

I shook my head and said, "I'm telling the truth."

We didn't talk about the matter further than that. Vanessa went to meet with Maggie, and SunHee went to work on the launch with the other department employees. I went to the CEO's office to meet with Pepper, but he wasn't there.

Harvey explained, "He left a while ago to meet with Mitch and Cam." 

"Oh, alright. Wait, just them?" I asked with confusion.

"Sal, maybe there?" Harvey replied, unsure. "But now that I got you here, I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure." I replied as I sat down on the office couch. Harvey took out the agreement document and said, "We're at the final stage of finalizing the negotiations. However, their representatives want to sign it on Wednesday. It clashes with your launch party, so I'm getting your opinion on this first before I move further."

"You and my dad will be my representative in signing the document. So there won't be any problem with me not being there. Or is there a reason for me to be there?"

"Some government representatives want to meet with you. But I guess that can be postponed."

"Hmm? Federal or State?"

"State government."

I was stunned after hearing what Harvey said. "Damn. They caught wind of it huh." I mumbled with some dissatisfaction. Harvey smiled wryly and said, "It's been all over the news. So they'll definitely smell the money."

I chuckled and said, "Who knows, maybe I can even meet the Terminator."

Referring to the Governor of the State of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He took office in 2003, and it has been 6 years for him in the office. During that time, the state of California didn't have that much of a great yearly track. 

This year was particularly bad because California has a 60 billion dollars deficit on their budget. The deficit was particularly bad because of the 2008 economic bubble burst, and they were in a recession age. They had to give out IOUs to their employees, and even had to get a short term loan to fix their issues. 

"It wouldn't be such a bad thing to listen to them." Harvey said as she sipped her whiskey. "They are really desperate. We… might get a lot of benefits."

"I'll leave that to you. Oh, Harvey. I just realized…we forgot about something very important."

"What?" Harvey asked, confused.

"Did you tell Eve that we'll move forward the agreement with the government instead of the consortium?"

Harvey blanked out and then she cursed as she slammed the table, "SHIT!"

…

At the seaside home, I was lying on the couch in the living room, holding a guitar in my hand, strumming and singing as I took a little break from my work. Vader lied on top of my head, her cat engine going overdrive with her purring.

My dad and Frankie walked into the house together, which made me sit up to greet them. "Meow!" Vader meows loudly as she was startled by the sudden movement. 

"Hello you lovebirds." I smirked as I greeted them. 

Frankie and my dad glanced at each other, but their expression wasn't that good.

"Oh, did you guys have a fight? Or is currently fighting?" I asked teasingly as I held my guitar.

"So Frankie, what stupid thing did my dad do?" I asked. My dad was dumbfounded, "Why do you think I was the one who did the dumb thing?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" I looked at him disdainfully. Frankie smiled awkwardly and said, "He didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh, so you guys are not fighting?" I asked. "I was wrong then. Have you had dinner yet? I still have some lasagna left."

"We had already eaten." My dad replied. He thought of something and asked, "Anyway, Ed, what did you do today?"

"Hmm?" I was confused, but I answered, "A lot of stuff as usual."

"Good good." My dad muttered. Frankie and I looked at him weirdly before Frankie said, "I should get going now. By the way Ted, if you want to end it with me and pursue that Texas girl, I'll give you my blessing. She seems really nice, and is a better fit for you compared to myself."

"WHAT?" Both my dad and I exclaimed at the same time. "Texas girl?" I looked at my dad with accusatory eyes. "What did you do that– Wait, Texas…Did you meet with Mary?! Oh my god, you and Mary?!"

"No. Missy." Frankie corrected me.

"I don't– Wait Frankie, did I seem like I was flirting with her, because I really am not." My dad held Frankie's hand as he explained himself.

"Dad you met with Missy?" I asked with confusion. "Why?"

"Just to get to know who you're meeting with." My dad answered casually before turning to Missy. 

My lip curled downward in a pensive acknowledgement before I placed the guitar to the side and stood up. It made sense to me that he wanted to meet Missy and Mary. He had never met them before after all, and since I flew them out here freely, he's bound to get curious.

I ignored their arguments because it bore me. Not because they didn't have any drama, but because it was handled in such a rational way, I couldn't even get invested in the arguments before it was settled.

By the time I was back to the living room with a glass of water in my hand, they were already kissing– a light peck on the lip and making up from their 'arguments'.

"You guys are phenomenal." I said sarcastically. "Frankie, when are you moving in?"

"What?" Frankie widened her eyes, confused.

"It's been a couple of months." I turned to my dad. "Be a man and ask her already. You know she's living alone here."

"That's…something that we should talk about, all of us together–" My dad tried to involve me in this, but I curled my lips and said, "You can proceed with the ease that I have no problems at all with her living here. It's better than she kept sneaking out at night, or pretending that she came here for breakfast in the morning."

Frankie blushed a bit. My dad smirked and said, "You caught that huh."

I shrugged and said, "Genius. Remember? I just kept quiet because I didn't want to jinx it. Sometimes, the thrill of not getting caught helps."

"Now that you have exposed it, I'm sorry, I've lost all interest in continuing this relationship with your dad." Frankie said apologetically.

"Too bad. But I understand. My dad's a dork." I nodded apologetically to Frankie.

"Excuse me. I'm still here." He whined. "For goodness sake– Oh right. Ed. When are we going to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving?"

"We're going there? But I had already invited Max to come here." I was surprised when dad suddenly asked me that.

"Max can come too. No problem." Dad replied casually. "Alright then. She'll love riding the horses around." I agreed with him. "We'll fly there on the 27th. I have a lot to do here, so I can't go there earlier." I added.

As we talked about Thanksgiving, I suddenly remembered that Luke's birthday is around Thanksgiving. I've never checked for the actual date before, but it wouldn't be a problem for Robin to find out about it. 

"What birthday present should I prepare for him?" I muttered as I fell into deep thoughts.

…

[General POV]

In Pasadena, Sheldon's Cooper's apartment. Sheldon rushed out of his room, wearing his robe, to open the door as someone was knocking on it loudly, "Coming!"

Missy and Penny, both drunk, giggled as they saw Sheldon opened the door. "Shelly!" Both of them cheered at the same time. Sheldon was confused and he asked, "Are you both drunk?"

"Are we drunk?" Missy turned to Penny. Penny replied with some intelligible reply, in which no one could understand it but Missy. Both of them cackled loudly before Penny said, "Shelly, why are you in my apartment?"

"Excuse me. This is my apartment. Your apartment is over there." 

Missy suddenly grabbed Sheldon's robe threateningly, "You!!! What did you do to Paige?"

"What?" Sheldon was confused.

"You must've done something. Otherwise why would she not want to meet you?!"

"What did I do to her? I didn't even meet her!" Sheldon defended himself.

In the meantime, Paige was at home, balancing her pen on her lip as she stared at the blank screen. Then, she dropped her head right on the table.

"What am I supposed to do! I have nothing~~~" She groaned as she laid there motionlessly.