59 A Kiss for Show

“Alternative rock love songs aren’t bad, I guess...” EROS whispered into my ear and my body trembled.

It felt like years had passed until the song came to an end. EROS let go of me and I breathed a long sigh of relief.

“Come this way,” he said as he took my hand in his once again.

He led me around and we ended up backstage. After walking through a narrow hallway, we entered a room. To my surprise the band that had just sung the love song was there. I could remember the lead singer and her outfit quite well from just now.

“Wow! Max! Didn’t think you could make it,” the girl cried out in excitement when she saw EROS enter the room.

“I got here just in time for your performance. The song was great,” EROS replied casually.

Did she just call him ‘Max’?

The girl was probably in late teens or early twenties and the way that she was beaming at EROS told me more than I needed to know about how she felt about him. She looks cute and with a lot of professional help, she might look passable in the higher circles. Right now, she’s just that...cute.

“And this is...?” the girl asked as she turned her attention to me with narrowed eyes.

.....

Relax girl, I’m not here to snag your guy.

“This is my friend, Elena. Elena, this is Sasha,” EROS introduced me smoothly.

“Hi. Your performance was amazing,” I quickly complimented her to extinguish any unnecessary fire.

“I tried adjusting some of the chords that you chose and some words in your lyrics. I hope you don’t mind. Most of it is still pretty much like the original lyrics that you wrote though,” the girl spoke to EROS with sparkling eyes.

Her band members gathered around EROS as well as they reviewed some music scores and the lyrics together. If I understood correctly, EROS wrote the lyrics to the love song that this band performed just now?

The way they worked with him while he’s still in disguised made me wonder if they even knew who he really was. His real name is Sean so if he’s going with Max then there was a high probability that he’s keeping his real identify hidden and also the fact that he is the famous superstar, EROS.

“I’ll see you guys around; I want to check in with the other bands. Keep up the good work!” Max said encouragingly before he gestured for me to follow him out of the room.

“You wrote the lyrics to that love song?” I asked the moment we were alone in the narrow hallway.

“So, you were listening,” EROS said instead of directly replying to my question.

“Of course, I was listening. So, you wrote it?” I asked, still in disbelief.

He didn’t reply but I was certain that he did. Why would EROS have problems writing a love song for the producer if he could write love songs? I mean, he did write the lyrics of that whole song that the girl sang just now.

That evening with EROS was full of surprises. I stood by him as he spent almost an hour talking backstage to the other bands. He didn’t write any songs for them like he did for that girl, but he gave the bands a lot of advice from composition, dance to performance. It was like he was training them and educating them. Honestly, I never expected that EROS had this side to him. He’s so casual and down-to-earth with everyone and they all seemed to take his advice to heart.

When he was done, he held my hand and we started walking towards the station from the way that we came. There were many things that I wanted to say to him that I didn’t know where to start.

“I think what you did back there is very impressive,” I said as glanced over at his face.

“How so?” EROS asked like he truly didn’t understand.

“I don’t know. You’re like a music guru or coach or something...” I tried to explain.

I felt like EROS was thinking about something but before he could give me a reply, a voice called out to him.

“Max!”

Oh, it’s the girl from before. I turned my head slightly and saw Sasha happily running towards us from afar. She probably wants to speak to EROS and I’m probably in the way.

“I should go...” I told him softly.

“Close your eyes,” EROS whispered as he came closer to me.

I was confused but for some reason, I found myself doing exactly what he told me to. Just when my eyes closed, I felt his arm around my waist as he pulled me towards him. His hand held the back of my head and then the warmth of his lips were on mine.

My eyes shot open in shock. The sight of his handsome face right in front of mine and the forceful pressure of his lips crushing against mine was enough confirmation for me.

EROS is kissing me...why?

His arm around my waist pulled me closer to him as his kiss became more passionate and demanding. His tongue thrusted firmly into my mouth as our kiss quickly got wetter. He kissed me deeply, his tongue swirling around against my own as he tasted me. I whimpered into his kiss as he proceeded to change the angle of our kiss. EROS kissed me ardently over and over again until I was breathless. By that time, I had already forgotten about our lone spectator.

I was breathless and panting by the time that he broke our kiss. My face and my entire body felt hot. My lips felt bruised from his aggressive kiss. I turned to see Sasha running away from us and I closed my eyes in slight guilt before letting out a depressed sigh.

How did I get myself involved in this mess of his?

“Why did you do that? Is it because of that girl?” I snapped at him as I demanded for answers.

“Let’s go...” EROS said, completely ignoring me.

“No. You listen. You know that she’s in love with you, right?” I asked accusingly.

–To be continued...