"Welcome back, Miss Selene," Lorenzo said. He stood behind the bar counter again, wiping away at the inside of a shot glass. Hualing sat at one of the tables, flipping through the pages of a magazine. "Ready to start your training?"

An awkward smile appeared on Selene's face. "Sure. But I did have one question though."

"Absolutely." The bartender placed the now-clean glass on the shelf behind him. "What is it?"

"Would it... be okay if some of my friends stayed here while I went through my training?"

Lorenzo looked up, bobbing his head as he pondered the request. "We are closed at the moment. As long as they understand that there's no one in the kitchen right now to make any meals, they should be fine. They're not... rowdy, are they?" The bartender's face suddenly became extra serious.

"Rowdy?" Selene forced out a laugh and brushed back some of the hairs that had gotten in the front of her face. "No, no. Of course not!"

"Then I see no harm in them sticking around for a bit."

"Wonderful..." Selene left the bar. A few minutes passed and she returned, the long grin she wore had reversed as she annoyedly held the door to the diner open.

"Shouldn't you go in first?" Quang asked, standing in the middle of the doorway.

"What? Does it matter?" Selene shot back.

"It'd be kind of weird if a girl held the door open for a guy."

"Just get in there Quang!" Selene grabbed him by his arm and guided him in. He staggered towards one of the vacant tables and sat himself down. Vic walked to the door next, his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he eyed the room with a bored look.

"Yeah. Just as lame as I remembered it."

"Vic!" Selene blurted out.

"What?"

"You promised!"

"Oh. Right. My bad." Vic kept his hands stashed away and leisurely walked over to Quang's table and sat in the seat in front of him. Once he was seated, Selene brushed the wrinkles out of her jacket and walked to the bartender.

"Okay. Now I'm ready for training."

"Good. Come with me to the backroom. I'll get you acquainted with what goes on in the kitchen." Lorenzo left the bar and pushed through the swing doors that led into the kitchen. Selene darted behind him, pausing in front of the entrance to give one last look to her friends before going into the kitchen.

"Behave!" she mouthed out silently, pointing her finger in Quang and Vic’s direction. She then quickly disappeared into the kitchen, letting the swing doors swivel back from the excess momentum.

With Selene gone, Quang and Vic looked at each other in silence. Only the long and mechanical hum of the air conditioner made any sound. Vic tapped his finger on the surface of the table, creating a makeshift beat. Having quickly grown tired of Vic's instrumental, he turned his head to look at the lone woman sitting at the table adjacent to him. He watched her turn a page of the magazine, her eyes focusing on the colorful pictures.

He squinted, keeping his head tilted to the side to be discreet. He stared at her for a moment before quickly turned his head to face Vic. Quang placed one hand over Vic's dancing fingers, making him stop abruptly.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Huh?"

Quang nudged his head in the direction of the pop star. "Is that..." he said in a voice that was almost inaudible.

"What did you say dude?" Vic said loud and clear. Quang's eyes quickly moved to the side. The woman remained focused on what was written on the pages of her magazine, too distracted to notice the conversation. "You'll have to speak up."

"Never mind," Quang replied while making a shooing motion with his hands.

"No, tell me!" Vic looked over at the person sitting next to him. He gestured in her direction with his thumb. "You talking about the chick over there?"

The woman lifted her head from the magazine, looking at both men sitting beside her with borderline disgust. She shook her head and went back to flipping through the pages of her reading material.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Thanks Vic."

"What about her, man? What were you going to say?"

"I..." Quang stumbled on his sentence when he saw the person at the adjacent table shut her magazine.

"I've got a feeling I know what he was going to say," she replied. The magazine remained closed as she rested her arms on top. "Let me guess." The woman formed a pair of quotation marks with her hands. "That's Hualing," she said in a mockingly deep voice.

"Yeah. You'd be right,” Quang said with disappointment.

"Oh," Vic replied.

"You don't recognize Hualing?"

"You know I don't follow new music. Never cared for that butchered version of Passion and Patience anyway."

"Oh! So, I butchered it?" Hualing placed her right hand against her heart as her body darted backwards. "Is that what you think of my singing?"

"It was mostly the instrumentation. But I'm sure they used some computer tech to make your voice sound better."

Hualing chuckled. "That's the first time I've been accused of that. I'll have you know that what you hear in that song is one hundred percent authentic!"

"Doubt it. All these modern singers rely too much on dubbing over tracks and having their producers fine-tune the flaws in their voice. Nothing against you personally. That's just how the music biz is nowadays."

"I can tell that you know what you're talking about," Hualing said with a big smile.

"Thanks! I've been listening to music all my life, so I know—"

"I was being sarcastic. Do you really think I care about what some..." Hualing stood up, looking down at Vic from her higher vantage point. "Some bum thinks about me? I've sold more singles than you've got braincells!"

"Did you sell 'em though?" Vic retorted with narrowed eyes. "You don't play an instrument. You didn't write the song. All you did was get lucky enough to get picked out of a lineup of a dime-a-dozen wannabes to perform on stage. Any other girl could have done what you did! The original artists made a timeless classic and you just profited from it."

"You don't know anything about me!"

"Trust me. I've known your type before. They come by Isla Lucrecia all the time. Flaunting their money. Their groupies. Acting like they're hot stuff because a bunch of boring and desperate people get excited whenever they see anyone with even just a shred of fame." Vic leaned back in his chair, resting his arms behind his head as he kicked his feet up on the table. "You're nothing special."

The singer clenched her fists. Her arms trembled as she gave Vic the meanest scowl she could muster. Quang's eyes jumped between the two before he thrust his hands forward, gabbing the heel of Vic's foot.

"What's your problem, man?" Quang blurted. "Why are you trying to cause a stir?"

"I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just stating facts. Not my fault not everyone can handle the truth."

"Right. The guy that's wearing a ratty jacket older than him and a pair of jeans that looks like they were used in place of a bulletproof vest knows everything."

"I'm smarter than I look."

"That's not saying much."

"Aren't you the one working at a glorified karaoke bar?" Vic shot back, keeping his eyes shut as he continued to recline in his chair.

"Oh yeah? And what's your job? Scrounging for scraps at every cafe you come across?"

"Nah. That's my hobby."

Hualing pressed her hands against her hips as she squinted at Vic. "The worst part is that I can't tell if you're being serious or not."

Quang got up from his seat. "Unfortunately, he's being completely truthful. And I apologize on behalf of my friend. He's not... the most adept when it comes to talking to people."

"And by the looks of it, hygiene isn't one of his strengths either!"

"You're not wrong," Quang muttered. "But again, I apologize. You see, I'm Selene's ride. I didn't want her hanging out in this part of town by herself. So, I thought we'd just wait here until her training was done.

Hualing looked at Quang from the bottom up, maintaining her irked glare. "Are you her boyfriend or something?"

"No, no." Quang flailed his hands in front of his face and turned his head away from the singer. "Not all. Just good friends."

"Uh-huh. He's not her boyfriend either, right?"

"Nope."

"Good. That means Selene at least has some standards."

"Not when it comes to music," Vic barked. "Said that she prefers your version of Passion and Patience. Don't know how anyone could prefer it over the original by the Groovestand."

Hualing forced a smile. "She probably lives in this current decade. Maybe that's why."

"Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's bad."

"Well, my cover’s better. I've got the sales to prove it."

"That's because the Groovestand’s version was one of their earlier hits. They were still working their way up the ladder. Not to mention that you had one of the biggest producers in the country marketing for you!"

"Keep telling yourself that. Maybe if you complain about it enough, your grandma might remember the original version!"

"Hey!" Vic darted up from his seat, bringing his legs off the table and onto the ground. He pointed at Selene with a vicious stare. "Don't you talk about Slick and the Groovestand like that!"

"Or else what?" Hualing shot back.

"Stop it Vic! You're embarrassing both of us!" Quang walked around to the other side of the table and gave him a slap upside the head with the palm of his hand. "You promised both of us you'd behave!"

Vic settled down, rubbing the spot where he had been struck. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit hungry."

"That's why you were acting like a total jerk?" Hualing said. "No wonder Selene wanted you two to stay in the car. This is a bar, not a circus. Maybe I should put in a word with Lorenzo that the new hire has some ‘baggage.’"

"You're going to ruin Selene's new job because of me?" Vic gestured towards himself with one thumb.

"You're unkempt. You're rude. And you look like you don't have two nickels to rub together! You'll be scaring away all the customers before they even show up!"

"If your singing doesn't get them running out the door first!"

With a flash, Hualing reached into her back pocket. Her hand blurred as she threw something forward. A metallic streak soared through the air, grazing past Vic's face and making his hair flow with the wind. The projectile travelled behind him, driving straight into the wall with a thump. Both men looked behind them in silence and saw a metal fan stuck into the wall by a metal tip on its edge. On it was a series of Chinese characters amid a decorated background.

"I think we're done here," Hualing said as she clapped her hands. "Unless you want to keep pressing your luck."