THE man who just entered had long aquamarine hair that was softly hanging over his shoulder.  His eyes were like pairs of big pale amethyst jewels.  His skin looked like translucent pearls.  His lips were as red as a fresh rose.  The style of the clothes he was wearing was very gender neutral which only added to his beauty.

Growing up, Astrid had been used to people telling him how ‘beautiful’ he was.  But at this moment, he felt like that word was more accurate to describe this man.  It’s like he was the embodiment of it.  Even the way he walked was extremely graceful.

He seemed to be someone in his 20s.  But in this era, one couldn’t really be sure of one’s age.  The only time it was easy to figure out one’s age was during their childhood and teenage years.  In case of teenagers nearing their 20s, just like Astrid, they still had some baby fats on their faces that showed their youth.  Although there were cases like Reas who quickly shed all his baby fats the moment his period of puberty ended. 

Astrid stared once again at the man and then suddenly felt that the other actually looked familiar.  And then as if a lightbulb inside his head turned on, he finally remembered where he had seen him.  It was when he was looking at the Star List.  The other was one of the two very prominent figures in that list. 

Shir Atkins – the number two on the Empire’s Star List.

He was part of Sonare.  The only entertainment company that could rival Kaleido in terms of size, number of talents, and influence.  They were known to produce a lot of good singers.  And that included this guy here.

Shir Atkins was currently known as the ‘god of music’ of this generation.  He was not only a singer but a composer as well.  All his songs were composed by him.  His songs were known to have wonderful and meaningful lyrics.  Add that with a wonderful melody and it’s a perfect ingredient for a hit song. 

As evidence, he held the record of highest album sale.  It’s not just the sales, his songs always topped the charts and won music awards.  There’s probably no other singer in the Empire more popular than him.

But in recent years, he hadn’t released a new album.  Astrid heard he had been working behind the scenes, producing music.  And sometimes, even composing for other artists.  But the latter one was a rare occurrence.  That’s why it had never crossed Astrid that the composer/producer they were going to meet today was him. 

Wow.  Director Trevane must have a lot of connections and pulls if he managed to get him to compose the theme song for the movie.  But the problem now was that things just became more difficult.

Astrid had read from articles that Shir Atkins was not exactly the easiest person to get along with.  He’s very perfectionist.  He also had a sharp tongue which often caused him to be at odds with other artists. 

He definitely wouldn’t be the type to be moved by a person’s appearance.  So, Astrid’s chance of getting this gig all depended on whether he fit the image that Shir had for this music video.

He wished he had asked Miria who the composer they were meeting was today.  Maybe he could have prepared beforehand.  But then again, if Shi didn’t like him, no matter how much he prepared himself, he still wouldn’t get this job.

All of them stood up to greet him.  Even Reas was forced to begrudgingly stand up.  After all, he didn’t want his presence there to be the cause on why this guy, whoever he was, would have a bad impression on his brother.

Shir nodded to them and sat down on one of the empty seats.  They also followed.

“Mr. Atkins, this is Astrid Townsend.  He’s the one Miria recommended to be part of the music video with her,” Miria’s agent, Jenny, introduced Astrid.

Astrid turned to Shir and said respectfully, “It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Atkins.”

Shir glanced at him.  He looked at him from head to toe and then his gaze stayed at his face.  There was no admiration in his light purple eyes.  It was a huge contrast from the way the agent looked at him earlier.  Shir looked at him critically.  As if he was judging whether he was indeed the right person for the job.  Then he took back his gaze and looked at the agent. 

“He won’t do,” Shir said, his voice sounded like a beautiful musical note.  Just by hearing him speak, one could immediately see how good his singing voice was.  “He’s too pretty.  He doesn’t fit the song.  If he acts with Miria here, she would definitely be drowned by his presence.  And that’s certainly not good for any singer.  After all, the star of a music video should always be the singer and not anyone else.”

Jenny felt awkward hearing that.  Although she was aware of how straightforward this person could be, she didn’t expect that he would give one look at Astrid and decide that he was unsuitable. 

Miria was already kind of expecting this.  But she still believed that Astrid could turn this around.  If he truly wanted this, then he would fight for it.  She could see that he had enough ambition to back that up. 

She looked at Astrid and just as she expected, he didn’t look discouraged by what Shir said.  Instead, there was a fire of determination in those black eyes.  As if he just accepted a challenge instead of just hearing a rejection.

“Since we are already here, we might as well have a meal,” Shir said.  “Just take it as my treat.”

He was about to order when he heard the black-haired teenager speaking.

“Mr. Atkins, if I say I can fit the image of the song and that I can promise that I will never ‘drown’ Miria by my presence, as you put it, will you give me a chance?”

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