Free Web NovelChapter 28: Laying It All Out
"Uh,"
Emma slowly opened her eyes after sleeping for a bit, a nap that had left Eric completely pinned in place. She blinked, waking up, and sat up right next to him while still clinging to his side. She tilted her head up to look at Eric’s face as he stared at the direct message from Trinity Studio on his smartphone. Emma glanced at his screen and read the text.
"Huh... an invitation from Trinity Studio? Wow... you just got an invite from a total industry giant," Emma said, completely shocked.
"Um... yeah, but... I don’t want it," Eric replied.
Emma instantly snapped her head around to look at him, her eyes closely studying his calm, expressionless face. Eric then turned off the screen and carefully reached over to set his smartphone back on the coffee table, moving gently since Emma was still leaning all her weight against his body.
"Why don’t you want it? Isn’t that a massive opportunity?" Emma asked, totally confused.
"To me, it’s not a big opportunity. Like I said, I want to focus on bringing my grandfather’s production house back to life and reopening the basement venue... plus college. Even if I want to release music, I’m going to do it through my own label," Eric answered.
Emma simply observed his face without saying a word. She leaned back against him, resting her head on his shoulder while looking toward the television, which was still playing.
Meanwhile, all Eric could think about was a musical rhythm looping over and over in his head, a melody he was composing himself. He hadn’t written it down yet because it still felt like something was missing, and he couldn’t fully concentrate with Emma pressed so close against him.
"Ding...ding...ding."
Suddenly, a rapid string of notifications flooded Eric’s smartphone. He leaned forward again to grab the phone off the table and checked the alerts. Every single one of them was a direct message from the app, sent by talent scouts, record labels, and a few invitations to join established bands.
"Whoa... so many people want to recruit you. Let me check your video," Emma said.
She scrambled up and grabbed her smartphone, opening the app to check the clip. Both Emma and Eric instantly froze. The stats on the video had skyrocketed, showing 12,118 subscribers, 1,090,026 views, 204,527 likes, and 778,015 shares worldwide. The two of them immediately locked eyes in sheer disbelief.
"When we were having breakfast at the diner... it was only at around two hundred thousand, right? How did it cross a million in just half a day?" Eric asked, completely bewildered.
"Wow... you’ve officially gone totally viral now, and people on other apps are already using your video as a sound clip... let me read some of the comments," Emma replied.
They quickly scrolled through the comment section, which already had over 3,000 entries. Tons of talent scouts had left messages, dropping links to their studios and leaving phone numbers or Discord tags.
On top of that, there were countless comments from people wanting to get to know Eric personally and judging by the usernames and profile icons, the vast majority of them were women. Emma abruptly turned off her screen and slammed her smartphone down hard onto the coffee table.
"Um... what’s wrong?" Eric asked, totally confused as he watched Emma suddenly cross her arms and pout. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Nothing. Don’t ask," Emma snapped.
Eric instantly shut his mouth. He had absolutely no idea why Emma had suddenly gotten so angry and sullen, but she was now turning her head to look the other way. Ultimately, he just stayed quiet, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
Eric reached over and grabbed Emma’s smartphone off the table again. He turned it on, and since she hadn’t locked the screen, he could immediately see the comment section she had been looking at before closing it. One particular comment caught Eric’s eye, posted by a generic username, Rflower0102.
"Hi, I love your song and I think I know who you are... I’m so proud to have a brother like you. When are you coming home? I miss you. Why did you block me? Please unblock me, I need to talk to you... I’m sorry."
Eric obviously knew exactly who was behind that username, but the comment didn’t make him feel anything at all. He turned to look at Emma, who was still pouting right next to him.
"Did you read this comment?" Eric asked, showing her the screen.
Emma glanced at her own phone and pouted even harder, snapping her head away like a little kid throwing a tantrum. "Sigh," Eric let out a breath, feeling a slight pang in his chest seeing Emma act so upset, even though he still didn’t quite get why she was reacting this way. Ultimately, Eric just looked straight ahead, grabbed the remote, and shut off the television.
"The person who wrote that comment... is my sister, Ruby. The R stands for Ruby. She always uses ’flower’ in all her usernames, and 0102 is her birthday," Eric said, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Hearing Eric’s words, Emma instantly turned around to look at him, her pout completely vanishing.
"Your sister?" Emma asked, staring intently at Eric’s face.
Eric turned to her and nodded. Then he looked back ahead, lowering his head slightly. Emma shifted over, pressing herself close against his side again.
"Um... sorry for asking, but is there something you want to talk about?" Emma asked slowly, choosing her words carefully.
Eric turned to look back at Emma. This time, her face was filled with genuine concern. Eric let out another deep breath to steady himself. A powerful, overwhelming urge welled up inside him, he wanted to be completely open and tell Emma everything right from the start, even though he knew there was a chance she might not want to be anywhere near him after this.
He leaned back against the cushions and looked at Emma, who was still turned toward him, waiting.
"If I tell you, will you actually listen?" Eric asked.
"Of course I will," Emma answered, leaning back as well and keeping her eyes on him.
"And if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore after I tell you, that’s fine too," Eric said.
Without waiting for Emma to respond, Eric just laid everything out. He explained that he didn’t really know his grandfather or his biological father all that well. He went on to reveal that his dad was actually the third party in his parents’ marriage, that he had been raised by that couple, and he described exactly how they had treated him growing up. Emma just kept listening, never interrupting once.
After that, Eric also told her everything about Vivian and Jason, what he had gone through, how he ended up getting kicked out, and how his own sister had immediately turned her back on him without ever bothering to hear his side of the story. As he spoke, a rush of trapped emotions finally broke free, and he completely poured his heart out.
Once Eric finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the room. The space became so completely quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. Eric braced himself for the worst, fully convinced that Emma wouldn’t want anything to do with him anymore.
He figured she would think he was a total fraud, someone who didn’t even know his own grandfather or biological father, yet had the nerve to inherit everything and talk big about bringing his grandfather’s business back to life.
But completely catching Eric off guard, Emma suddenly reached out and took his hand, causing him to turn and look at her. He was genuinely surprised to see her smiling softly at him, her eyes sharp yet warm, completely devoid of any pity. Catching the stunned look on his face, Emma spoke up.
"That just means I should thank your parents, your older brother, your sister, your cousin, and your ex-girlfriend. Because without them, I never would have met you, and we wouldn’t be sitting here right now," Emma said.
Hearing her words, Eric’s brain felt like it instantly short-circuited, going completely blank for about five seconds. Then Emma raised her hand to his cheek, making him flinch slightly.
"You have me now, along with my mom and Kevin, so you don’t ever have to worry about that again, okay?" Emma said gently.
Without Eric even realizing it, a single tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek. Then, just as unconsciously, he caught Emma’s hand against his face and closed his eyes. A suffocating weight, heavy as a boulder, that had been sitting on his chest and holding him back for as long as he could remember, suddenly shattered into pieces.
It left a wide-open space in his heart, one that was immediately filled by the girl sitting right in front of him. He let his head drop onto Emma’s shoulder and wept silently, while Emma simply held him close, without saying a single word.
