The Celebrity's Return

"Good evening everyone and welcome back to 'Melanie's Talk Live!' where we do nothing but talk all night long." Applause and cheers erupted from outside the studio of Talk Live. The radio show's host, Melanie, covered her smile with her cue sheet and giggled. "Oh my! Oh my! As you can see everyone, our studio tonight is on F.I.R.E.-- FIYAAAH! Can you guess why?"

"Yeeeeeesss!!!" The audience outside the booth answered in unison.

Thanks to the audience's energy filling the studio, the host got her tension back up despite shooting three straight hours until late in the evening. "That's right! It's all because our last guest for tonight is the one that every one of you has been waiting for…" The door to the studio opened and revealed a hundred and eighty-seven centimeters of pure handsomeness. An epitome of mouth-watering and panty-dropping visuals with his dark hair and a smile that could light up the entire room. "Craige Clinton!"

The camera focused on Craige as he shook hands with the host before taking a seat across from her. He was feeling really shy because of the unexpected warm welcome that the live viewers were giving him. 

"Good evening everyone. I'm, actor and model, Craige Clinton. Nice to meet you again." Then he turned to Melanie with a polite bow. "Thank you for inviting me tonight, Ms. Melanie."

"Oh my! Don't be too formal with me and just call me Melanie." Melanie playfully waved her cue card at him and gave him a wink. Craige rubbed his shoulder, the awkwardness was killing him. But he told himself that he should start getting used to this atmosphere as soon as possible. "Everyone has been IMpatiently waiting for your return ever since you enlisted two years ago; me included. What is it like, now that you're finally done with your compulsory military service and back in the limelight again?"

"To be honest, I feel very nervous right now. Since earlier in the waiting room, I've been worried about making mistakes during the live broadcast." His lips felt dry so he licked them which made even the staff in the studio go wild. And Craige could only chuckle because he didn't know how to react to this. 

It's been more than a month since he's been in front of the cameras. 

Except for that short interview that he had as soon as he got out of the camp, he practically stayed inside his room or played bartender at Bryan's bar while in disguise for a couple of weeks. 

A disguise that didn't seem to be that effective since someone recognized him recently.

That or that mysterious lady was really telling the truth about purposely finding him to ask him about 'the wedding'.

"Aihooo! You don't have to worry about that and just be yourself, darling. This sister will take care of you. And all the ladies and ladies at heart here will still adore you no matter what, won't you Dears?" Melanie assured him and so did the other girls with their fervent response.

"Thank you so much." He bowed his head once again and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Now let's begin our first corner: I'm So Curious!" Melanie turned to Craige and kindly explained the mechanics to him. "For this corner, we have randomly selected 100 questions that have been posted in our webpage and we will pick 10 questions tonight for you to answer. You can skip on some questions if you want to and we will pick another paper then." 

Craige nodded with a practised smile, skillfully concealing his nervousness.

"You don't have to worry about running out of questions because we have over a thousand questions posted on our show's webpage. Your fans have been so enthusiastic about this to the point that they crashed our server." Melanie assured in a false-whisper manner which made the audience laugh because they could hear her loud and clear from the speakers outside the booth.

Melanie picked a question from the board filled with overlapping post-it notes beside her. "Our first question for tonight is from @DubbyLuv…

'Kyaaa! Fafa Craige! I heard that you will be starring in Producer Laurenzo's drama adaptation of Rogue and that you've known each other since you were kids. Please say yes!'

...Hahahaha! I haven't heard that endearment for a long time, Fafa Craige."

'DubbyLuv??' Craige's head tilted to one side. 'Ey… it can't be, right?'

"It's true that I've been friends with Producer Laurenzo since High School. Even back then, he's always filled with passion for his work." He scratched the side of his chin, telling himself that there was no way that it was really Joshua who sent that trap-like question.

Producer Joshua Lorenzo has been pressuring him to accept this project even before he got released from service. Joshua even went out of his way to pay Craige a visit at the camp just to deliver the script in person.

"Really? It's my first time hearing that! But I heard that you played the younger version of the male lead in this movie ten years ago. Can we get our hopes up for this remake?" Melanie looked at him with puppy dog eyes which made him chuckle and helped lessen his uneasiness.

"Honestly, I don't know yet. I'll have to discuss it with my agency first." He apologetically said, feeling guilty for making false promises.

The negotiations for the renewal of his contract with VolumeUp Entertainment was falling apart. The company has been insisting on making him transfer to a larger agency ever since he finished his service in the military. That's also why it took a couple of weeks before they confirmed the schedule for this radio show. They were saying things like they feel guilty for not being able to do a better job in handling his career and that he would be better off signing with a larger agency, like ZEnt.

That's why thinking about Joshua's project was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

"Aw! We hope to hear good news soon." Melanie was grinning from ear to ear then she took another paper from the board. "Oh, this username is quite familiar: @AdrenalineRussian... 

'Thank you for coming back to us Fafa Craige! If you could have a superpower, what would it be?' 

...As expected from your fans, they ask the most interesting questions. So, Craige, what superpower do you want to have?"

"Superpower, huh?" Craige thought about it for a while and the first thing that came to his mind was, "Mind Reading."

Although he believed that his answer was not something to wow about, he felt grateful because the audience responded as if he said something really impressive. Melanie clapped her hands with a shake of her head. "That's the Prince of Historical Dramas for you. Your answer is very...how do I put it? ...Scholarly? Can you explain why you chose it over the most popular choices which are elemental command, immortality and telekinesis?"

"I know, right. Why did I think of that?" He chuckled, surprised by his own answer. "I guess, it's because I wanted to be a better actor. I want to read the minds of our dear writers and directors so that it will be easier to figure out how they want me to deliver my roles more effectively."

That's right. That was the reason why he chose that answer. It's not because there was a particular person whose mind he wished to have been able to read recently. 'Nope. It's definitely not because of that lady.'

"You are indeed very passionate about your work." Melanie flashed a meaningful smile towards the crowd. "And here I was thinking that it was because you wanted to read the minds of your fans and find out how you can make them fall harder for you."

He chuckled at the cheesiness of the thought. "That could work too. Thanks for the idea."

"KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The audience shrieked in unison.

Then one lady shouted above the rest. "There's no need! I'm all yours for eternity!" 

"Oh dear! Please calm down everyone. Haha! Make sure that you don't faint until the end of the shooting. None of us would want to cut this precious interview short." Melanie quickly picked another paper. "This one is from @MyLifeLongDreamIsToBeYours... 

'Congratulations Fafa Craige for coming back to the outside world! Thank you for serving our country! Are you dating right now? Please go out with me!'

...Rejected! Just kidding. Please answer this, Craige."

He couldn't help but laugh and this time it's because he's heard the same question many times before. And hearing it now made him feel that he really was back from the military. "I'm not dating anyone at the moment but I'm in the market. I've been thinking lately that maybe it's about time to settle down."

"Aaaahhhhhhhhh!" The audience went wild again. 

A lady shouted at the top of her lungs. "Marry me!!!"

"Oh my! Ladies please submit your resumes to VUE before proposing on live broadcast. Haha!" Melanie's comment made the audience erupt in laughter and dismay at the same time. "This question is from @ILoveMoo... 

'You've become popular for your roles in The Scholar's Comeback and Prince with A Thousand Swords. Both are action packed historical dramas which swept all the awards in their respective years. Will you consider starring in a modern-romance drama this time?' 

...That's an interesting question. We've never really seen you play a role for a romance drama before."

"Hmmm. Now that you mention it, that's true. I haven't really thought about it because romance has always been my weakness. It was never my forte. But if the fans want to see me in a romance drama then maybe I'll try considering it." He answered honestly.

"WEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The girls said in unison.

Melanie chuckled. "I guess you'll have to choose at least one romance project soon."

"Seems like it." Craige could only smile when an idea, which he didn't consider entertaining before, now crossed his mind. 'Looks like I'll really have to give Joshua a chance.'