The Songwriter and The Singer

For Pete's Sake, Paulo!

Paulo stormed into the room and plopped on the sofa with exhaustion, he closed eyes and began massaging the bridge of his nose.

Vester, his friend and manager, followed behind and planted himself in front of him, hands on his hips and looked down at him with a frown.

"You can't keep doing that, Paulo. That's the 3rd one that cried running away from you."

"Where do you find those dummies anyway?" He answered back.

"Watch it, Paulo". He warned.

"I don't care, Vester." Standing up and looking at him straight in the eye. "They're not good enough."

"Nobody's good enough for you, that's the problem."

"No, they're the problem!" He yelled, obviously frustrated as he paced across the condo/studio apartment they owned. "I give them a simple instruction, and they still won't get it."

"But must you be so hard on them? The last one looked like she wanted the earth to swallow her." He looked at Paulo pleadingly, and with a softer tone he said, "Please, just be considerate with your words."

"I can't help it." Paulo shrugged dismissively. "If that's how they take critiquing, then they're not for the job."

Vester looked at his friend in disbelief, shaking his head. "We need to start this project or we'd lose everything we've worked hard for, why are you being so difficult?"

Paulo said nothing, looking out the window and deep in his thoughts. Vester sighed and poured himself a drink, he handed a glass to Paulo as well.

"Pau, you do understand why we're doing this, right?"

"I know. But art can't be forced from a rock, else things will get worse than better."

Vester quietly downed his drink and turned away.
"I do hope you know what you're doing."

———-

Paulo heard the door closed, and let out a sigh. He massage the bridge of his nose again, and tried to organize his thoughts.

A few weeks back, they received a big backslash from one of their sponsors. They've been talking about an album concept for months now, and eventually planned out for the whole year with the promotion and tours. But they came into a wall when the daughter of one of their sponsors started making a move on him, and he, in his most respectful way, rejected her. He said he don't want to mix business with personal matters.

Short story, she didn't take it all too well and proceeded to try to ruin his career by making up stories and angering her father so much he pulled out from the project.

With the project halfway and almost all of their savings invested in the album, they were in a bind and in a very difficult position with the rest of their sponsors.

Maybe it was a good thing Vester did his charm in convincing the rest to take a risk with them, but he feels that this is a make or break moment for them.

The reason why he is so adamant in finding the right singer for his songs.

Only, the world seems to be running out of it.

Paulo finally finished his drink and turned away from the window, his thoughts with him as he entered his studio.

After a few moments, Vester returned and heard guitar playing inside.

He sighed and went in to his room, adjacent to Paulo's studio.

Vester trust his friend, but also can't help but be anxious of what's in store for them in near future.