Chapter 27 INTERVIEW
A week has passed so quickly.
My team is confident that our upcoming cover will break the sales record after getting all the positive responses from the fans. Three days after we uploaded the song cover of the band, we uploaded our first vlog collaboration with them. We got another record-breaking views. Fashion Challenge with Allison Band got seventy million views in one day.
Today is the much-awaited interview with the band.
“Last week, they became the most trending band after they played a cover song. We have with us, Allison band.”
Andrew, Lieo, and Vince smiled at me, while Lance and Mike clap their hand and chant.
I chuckled and smiled at them. “I’m so proud of you boys! You don’t know how happy I am that finally, people have seen your innate musical talent.” I said not planning to hide my genuine happiness for them.
“No biggie,” Mike said in a playful tone.
The staff can’t help but laugh at his short remarks.
“You are aware that you are trending for a whole week on Twitter and not just in the Philippines but worldwide, right?!”
Vince nodded. “Yes, my handler is giving updates about it.”
“Same with me,” Andrew answered.
“Unlike these two celebrities beside me, we don’t have a handler who could give us updates regarding the trending thingy. But we have DJ Iya, who’s so willing to give updates about it. She even sends us screenshots as proof. That’s crazy because for us it’s just a normal thing.” Lance said.
I understand my cousin’s reaction. Playing music with his friends is just a normal thing for him so to hear that what they usually do became a trending topic is unbelievable. Also, they are not aware of how the entertainment industry works. Vince never talks about his industry to them, same with everyone else on their respective businesses.
“I understand your point, Lance. It may be a normal thing to you but not to the people. Watching you guys play, feels like they found a hidden gem that’s why they are eager to watch you more.”
Now that we are done with the introduction part, I began to ask them questions about themselves. I’m sure people want to know more about them.
“Can you share with us, how you guys became friends?”
Vince was the one who answered the question. “Andrew and I were neighbors. Since we are the same age, our parents wanted us to be friends. Then when we were in grade school we met Mike, Lieo, and Lance. Lance and Mike are already close on the first day of school since they both have similar personalities. Lieo and Andrew were seatmates, so naturally, they became close. And since Andrew and I were friends, he introduce me to Lieo.”
“How did you become friends with Lance and Mike? I mean those two are extroverts while the three of you are introverts. That’s always been a mystery for me.” I can’t help but ask.
“That’s an interesting one. Andrew never likes Mike and Lance because they are too active and noisy.”
My eyes widen from the shock of his revelation. I never heard of that!
“What happened? OMG! That’s a revelation to me.” I said to my utter amazement.
“Andrew got bullied by a higher grade. You know, this friend of mine is a bit snobbish.”
I nodded in agreement which gain a glare from Andrew. I just gave him my sweet sheepish smile.
“Since he was a bit snobbish, many from the higher grade hates him. One group keeps on bullying him.” Vince continued the story.
“What are those bullied guys do to him?” I asked a bit curious and angry towards those bullies.
“They are calling him names, sometimes they hit him or they will get his bag and throw it on the trash can.”
I never heard of it! I didn’t know that he got bullied. If I were there I will definitely punch those bullies!Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
“One time, Lance saw them throwing Andrew’s bag on the trash can. He approaches those bullies and stops them from throwing the bag. The bullies got angry at Lance for meddling with their business. The next day, they bullied not only Andrew but also Lance.”
“What did you guys do?” I asked.
“We chose to ignore them. But they just don’t stop. One day, one of our girl schoolmates approach us and told us that we shouldn’t tolerate those bullies. So she was the one who did a plan on how to get back at those bullies. We follow her plant fight back to them, then the fight became a huge issue in the school. The principal called us and our parents because of the issue. We explain everything that happened and that schoolmate of ours volunteer as a witness of our claims.”
“What happens to them?” I asked.
“They should only be suspended but our parents demanded to expel those bullies. They don’t have any choice but to abide by the request of our parents since they’re the major sponsor of the school. Since then, we became the closest friends until now.” Vince ended his story.
“Wow! That’s a very interesting story. You didn’t share that with me.” I said.
“You never asked us that’s why.” It was Mike who answered.
I just rolled my eyes. “But it’s was all thanks to your schoolmate. If it wasn’t for her, you guys will be bullied until they graduate. How is she by the way? Did you become friends with her?” I curiously asked.
“We would want to but she suddenly transfer from another school. We were not able to have her contact number. But we are always grateful for her.” Lance sincerely said.
After that, I asked them what kept them busy. They shared all their businesses. Vince as everyone knows is busy not only with his acting career but also in familiarizing himself with the whole organization of their TV Network. That is the reason why he rarely had a project on television. He told them the possibility of his early retirement as an actor to focus on managing the TV Network.
Andrew on the other hand shared his driving school and car shop, as well as their Hotels and Resorts which is the core business of their family. Though they have their own hotels, they chose to celebrate Liah’s birthday in LHI because they wanted to experience how the rival does their business. Since LHI is expanding in Asia which their hotels dominated, they are also planning to expand their business in Europe and America.
Mike is the new CEO of one of the biggest shopping malls in the country. He also opened his own company and launched an app where people could do their shopping online.
While Lieo owns one of the biggest telecom networks here in the country. Like Mike, he also launched an app where every Filipino, whether a celebrity or not can do a live stream and earn money thru it. It has a great response in the Filipino market.
Lance inherited his parent’s real estate company. It was managed by my dad when he was still studying. It was passed on to him after he got familiar with the whole organization. It was his idea to start at the bottom. He became the President and CEO of the company after two years. Lance now belong to the top 3 property tycoon in the country.
The group also shared how they came up with the name Allison. In this part of the interview, we already gave a little bit of my story to the viewers. Andrew also revealed that aside from that, Allison was the name of the schoolgirl that help them to overcome the bullies. As per him, it’s their way of appreciating what she did for them. And also, she was the reason why the five of them got closer.
“Are you guys happy hearing all the positive responses about your band?” I asked as my last question.
“Can I be honest?” Lance asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“Some of us are a bit worried about all this. People wanted us to pursue this career which is impossible for us to do. I’ll be very honest. Vince’s management is offering us a contract and we already declined it because we have so much on our plate right now. I don’t know how Andrew manages it, because boy, this guy has many businesses of his own and he also manages their family business. Maybe he was able to do all these things because of love. Everything became possible when you are in love.” Lance said in his no filter answer.
I got nervous at the latter part of his answer. Surely, people will be curious about the person Lance is referring to.