Chapter 4: It's clear for everyone to see..

Music by: Stephen Speaks- What'll She Look Like

"Five six seven eight...slide...slide..."

Jill stopped mid-count and raised her hands up in apology.

"Sorry Wade!I got lost!Lets do it again!" she said.

Oh boy!
I think her brain went flying out to Taiwan the moment we found out about Kenny and his career.
I know she memorized the steps that even if she had her eyes closed, she can do it.
Damn!She was even hyper last night and was dancing around the place, now she's like someone gave her downers and she's totally not into the beat.

But then, of course, this is her childhood friend we were talking about.
Just the thought of Kenny slows her down.I cant imagine what it might do to her when the thought of probably seeing him again comes up in her mind.

And even though she's claimed she's moved on and stopped thinking about him, with the recent development, i doubt if she can still look at us straight in the eye and confidently say she's moved on.

All i know right now is we have to experience a lot of weirdness when it comes to her behavior.
Angela and i could stand that, i just dont know how the others will deal.

Just this morning, we were eating breakfast and she had this silly grin on her face.
Its hard to wake Jill up in the morning, and its even harder to put her in the mood, so that grin at 6 in the morning was new to us.

Angela claims she's not sure if she's going to be happy for Jill about the development.
"After all the efforts and the convincing to make her move on, now she's going to do a major step in her career and then we find out Kenny may have a part in her endeavors in Asia!That's going to mess things up!" she said to me earlier that morning when we were waiting for Jill to wake up.
Both of us werent able to get any sleep that night, we were scared Jill was going to chicken out from the tour and run away, so we stayed in the living room and woke each other up by talking about anything.
I dont think we were even talking that night, we were just blabbering
I guess the lack of sleep got into our heads when we started talking sense already.
She started to think about Jill's mind condition when we arrive in Taiwan and i was thinking about what might happen next.

"Either its going to mess things up, or she's finally getting some peace of mind, now that she knows Kenny is ok.Depends on how he'll look at him when we arrive.If he's going to be a distraction or an inspiration.It all depends on how they deal with each other when they meet up." I answered Angela.

The way we were analyzing the situation, you would think Jill was a boxer who had to be properly conditioned and void of any distractions.

Angela sighed."Why didnt we even think of looking them up on the internet?"

"Remember, Jill was about to do that but she stopped herself, so we just agreed not to do it too.To help her out." I said.

"Oh yeah, that time she was ranting about Destiny and Fate having something to do with their story" she chuckled.

I smiled."Well, look what's happening.If this isnt Fate, then i dont know what it is!"

"Serendipity?"Bubbles quipped."We're in New York anyway, its Kenny thats not."

We both snorted, then laughed out loud, shushing ourselves a little later when we remembered Jill was already sleeping.

We just broke out into giggles when we started thinking of how they will meet and the possibilities that could happen.DMX not included in the picture.

Oh man!I cant wait till we arrive in Taiwan!

"I think this time we'll finally see if these 2 are meant for each other!'I said as i looked up the ceiling.

Angela nodded. "I think we're about to witness a lovestory develop right before our very eyes in Taiwan."

"But what about DMX?"I asked seriously.

Suddenly DMX became a nuisance, than our savior.
Well thats just my opinion though, since i was a witness to what Kenny and Jill had.

"Well...lets just wait and see what happens!"Angela said.. "And we're going to learn about it three days from now!That is if she signed the contract for Coke Light already!"

"Huh?"

She turned on the computer monitor and showed me the page that she saved.
It was Coke Light's web ad.
Kenny was in the picture!

"Those are the people she's going to work with for the ad!"Angela exlaimed."See the blank space...thats going to be her space when she finally agrees."

"Oh.My.God!" I blurted out.

My thoughts were interrupted when i saw Sean and Phil coming in.They pulled Jill aside and showed her a folder.
I was trying to lip read what Sean was saying and it looked like they were talking about that ad Angela and I were talking about.

A little later, the three of them went to the conference room and a few people i didnt recognized came in the conference room.

I called over Jason, Sean's right hand man and asked him who they were.

"Coke executives!Blade finally agreed to do the ad."he said.

Uh-oh!That was the contract!What if she see's Kenny's name.Angela and i agreed not to tell her about that minor detail until we arrived in Taiwan, but the executives were already and for sure she was going to know about it.

I was waiting anxiously at the media room while trying to make myself busy by sending out press kits to New York media people for the early morning press conference Jill was going to do before she left.

Jason came in and he gave me another piece of paper.

"Fax that to all media sources!"he ordered.

I almost fell off the chair when i read the opening line.

"Blade agrees to do Coke Light Asia Advertisement."
***
Kenny was in the middle of an interview at the Machi Entertainment office when someone called me over and gave me the phone.

It was Jae, relaying the news that Blade had agreed to to the ad already.It was no longer a wait and see situation.She was really doing the ad.

As if the call wasnt enough, one of our staff was browsing the internet and it was the headline on one of the Asian entertainment sites.

"Whats with the smirk, Jeffrey?"

I looked up to see Nicky and Edward eyeing me curiously.

I directed them to the computer monitor.

"Does Kenny know about this already?" Edward asked.

"Weeellll...Joan told him Blade was included in the list, but she immediately followed it up that Blade's appearance was still a wait and see situation." I answered.

"You going to tell him now about this?" Nicky asked. "Dude, he looked really disappointed when he got that second SMS from Joan. He was hyper when we met up at Luxy that night, then he just suddenly wasnt in the mood."

I shook my head, "I think I'd rather give him all the news in one blow. Just to see how he would react."

"There's more???"Nicky and Ed both asked.

I nodded, I was close to revealing to the guys that Blade was going to be under Aziatix management when we noticed that the interview was over and Kenny had gone out of the media room already.

"Remember, let me tell him!" I sternly reminded the two as I retreated back to my office.

It's been a while since I last saw Kenny genuinely happy. Of course, I know he's happy about what's happening to his career and what can be more fun than living your dream and living it with the people who you built the dream with. Your own family.
But living his dream had a price to pay.

His relationship with Jill.

Now I think it's time for the two of them to see each other again. Call me a matchmaker, I wouldn't really care right now. This was a couple who deserves a second chance.

I didn't plan for this to happen.
The Bad Boy Deal...it was Diddy who approached us.
The Coke Light ad...I was surprised about that
Let's just say it just fell straight into our laps.

Oh boy! If only V was here, he would start talking about Fate and Destiny again!

Kenny barged into the room holding a piece of paper.

"Jeff!!! Did you hear the news yet???" he asked. I could sense in his voice that he was excited.

"What about?" I asked.

"Blade signing the contract!" Kenny said.

"Oh yeah!" I said."They showed me this morning, I presumed you knew already."

He knew now, I guess I should tell him about the other news.

On second thought, I think it would be more fun to see his reaction when we pick up Aziatix newest artist at the airport.

I cant wait!

"Kenny!!! Phone call! It's Vickie!"Joan called.

"Coming!" Kenny said, hey, it was Vickie and he wasn't running for the phone just like he did the first few times she called him.

Oh man!Somebody has a lot on his mind right now!
***
Damn!I gotta get used to this!

The sun hasnt risen yet, but I'm already blinded by the lights. Not that I wasn't used to photographers and journalists trailing us wherever Jill would go, but when you lack sleep, and you get out of the house when it's pitch black, you would understand how I'm feeling now.

I knew Sean had a little eccentricity in him but this was too much.Going to the airport at 2 am, to make the 5:30 am flight to Taiwan, I would understand if we were riding on a commercial flight, but we were using his own plane for heaven's sake.

Good thing we were immediately whisked off to the VIP lounge.
I was able to take a catnap.
"Ange!Ange!" Kirsten hissed as she shook me awake.
"Huh? Huh? What? Are we going?" I asked.
"No!Look!"
She was pointing to the area where Sean and Jill were, and DMX and Jin were there!
"Oh my gosh!What is he doing here?" I asked.
Kirsten rolled her eyes, "He claims he's missing her already, and he promised to her that he'll be following her there."
I snorted. Even though between the two of us, I was the one who wanted Jill to get close to DMX, I was also anticipating the Kenny-Jill reunion.
"Well, when we thought things were going to be interesting, now it's going to be more interesting when he arrives," I said.
"I know!" Kirsten said as she plopped down on the couch.
"Hey you two! It's sure going to be lonely out here when all of you are gone!" Jin told us when he approached the two of us.
I could see Kirsten discreetly roll her eyes, "Oh really? How come? You don't really hang out with us after all."
Jin laughed nervously, "Ey, even though we don't really hang out that much, it sure is no fun just being left with D when we go out at night."
I nodded, "Well yeah..."

I think he felt we were pretty incomfortable when he tried to make small talk. He rarely does that. To the two of us, he's just DMX shadow, the one who diverts our attention when DMX wants to have some alone time with Jill.

"Yo Jin! We gotta go!" DMX hollered while waving at the two of us.
"Alright!" he said. He fished out something from his back pocket, "Here, some more information on the Asian scene. I already translated that for you guys." He winked at us and followed DMX out.
Kirsten looked really pissed, "What the heck? Doesn't he even realize that Jill is half Chinese? She could translate this for us."
I was scanning through the pages and laughed, "What is he talking about!!! This is an English paper! Only the classified ads are in Mandarin!"

We tried to cool down ourselves when we saw Jill and Sean approaching us. No need to upset her on trivial matters when we feel that she's treating this trip as the journey of her life.

"Guys time to go!" Sean said

We all boarded his plane and made ourselves comfortable.

Later on in the flight, Jill approached us while we were busy making small talk with Sean's kids

"Hey did you guys see the paper Jin gave you? It has Andrew on it!" Jill raved.
"Andrew?" I asked.
"Andrew? As in Kenny's brother Andrew?" Kirsten asked.
I wanted to pinch Kirsten. We do not say his name in front of her!
I just glared at her and she gave an apologetic grin.
Surprisingly, the rap princess didn't say anything.

She nodded, " The kid's a rap sensation! Man, I hope he's in Taiwan right now, I'm excited to see him again. Look he's grown up already."
"He looks like him when he was that age!" Kirsten gushed.
"I know! I even have a picture of him at that age." Jill said.

No, no, not that picture.That was the picture that opened the floodgates of Jill's eyes.
Can we just look at DMX's baby pictures. Even Sean's!
Just don't look at Kenny's baby pics!

Why am I even fussing about this, when one of her suitcases is filled with Kenny's memories.
She's practically cleared out one of her drawers. You would think she's moving out and not going on a tour.

"Yo Angela!"Sean said."Why don't you join those two back there, they said they were going to watch some of the CD's Jin gave them. I'll take care of this two!"

I was so deep into thought that I havent even realized that those two left me.
I excused myself and followed them at the back, I was surprised to see the both of them gawking like some macho dancer mooned them.

I looked at the monitor.

It was Kenny, rapping with some guys!

Shirtless!

***

Edward, Jeff, Jae and I were cooped up at the recording studio as we set the final touches on my album.
We were expecting Kenny to arrive anytime soon since he was gonna lay down some hooks on one of my songs.

We were trying to calm ourselves down before he arrived.
It was a day before Blade was coming to town, and we were all excited, but we didn't wanna show Kenny that emotion.
He's been trying to be stoic about it lately/ I think he's thinking too much about her that he can't react anymore to all the news that he's getting.

"You know what, we're practically done for the day, all we're waiting for is Kenny. I say we relax and watch TV now!" I proposed

Edward raised his index finger, "I'm with you on that one."
"Same here!" Jae and Jeff said.

I reached out for the TV remote control on the console table.
Just in time. Entertainment news and I see the faces of Blade and P.Diddy on the screen.
She's not even here yet and it's Blade overload already.
Suddenly the door opened and Kenny came in with Luke and Hiro in tow.
I didn't even bother to turn off the tv for his sake, he saw it already, no need to hide it.

He made a face.
"Not again!" he groaned."She's been all over the place and her plane hasn't landed yet."

Jeff ignored the comment and just continued watching the news clip. Jae, on the other hand looked at his schedule book.

"You're free tomorrow right?" he asked Kenny.
Kenny nodded. "I'm just going to the gym tomorrow morning. Why? What's up?"
"Nothing really! Something might just come up, so be ready!" Jae nonchalantly said.

Since he was used to the impromptu gigs we usually do, he just shrugged his shoulders and joined us in watching the news clip.

Reporter: Rapper DMX was not around when their entourage arrived, but an hour before their flight was set to leave, he arrived with Asian rapper Jin in tow and although he didn't grant us an interview, ET got some footage outside of the VIP lounge

My eyes shifted from Kenny to the TV.
There it was, proof that Kenny's childhood sweetheart was indeed playing sweet music with DMX.
DMX arriving and hugging Blade, kissing her on the forehead, and talking intently to her. Jin and DMX sending air kisses as they went out of the VIP lounge and carefully dodging away mediamen.

Kenny looked away and fished out his cellphone.

"Hey Vickie, you home now? Uhuh....uhuh....Yeah I just got here at the recording studio, I'm with the crew.Gonna lay down some tracks in a while."

Distraction at it's finest!
He's been pretty good with distracting himself lately, even though we're practically spoonfeeding Blade news to him.
Jeff told us it was better than making him veer away from her presence. Besides she was going to be here anyway and no matter what happens, they were going to see each other anyway.

Of course, we did that without V knowing, coz we knew he was the one behind the moving on plan.
We felt it was pretty premature for him to move on when the girl is just around and they haven't had any closure yet.
Kinda weird coming from us who are currently not involved in serious relationships huh, and the one we're defying is someone who's seriously into a relationship even if he doesn't admit it to the public.

Haiz! What is happening to us! We're turning into matchmakers.

"Yo! Are we working or what?" Kenny hollered. "Im dying to go home!"

I turned off the tv and let Jae and Jeff do their work, while Ed and I went outside thinking of what might happen tomorrow.