I can't believe how close this story is to over! Only one more chapter after this! I'm aiming to finish this by the end of the month if all goes well, before I start my summer job :) This is definitely more delayed than I wanted, but my regular job was so busy with the end of the school year that I just did not have any time to type much up. This update's a little shorter than usual, but it's still 14 pages so I hope that makes up for it! Let me know what you think!

Also, going to put a mild trigger warning for this chapter for eating disorder discussion: if you don't want to read it, skip Stella's part, which is up first and go to the second page break where it picks up with Avari. It won't affect the story for you. Finally, thank you Starling Cosmos for your review! Always appreciated :D

I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade.

Stella glanced in the mirror and sighed. She didn't bother jumping on the scale next to her; she already knew what it would say.

The other girls were out. Avari had mysteriously disappeared again. She thought Christina and Ninel might be in a practice room, but it was still early for that. Gin was probably out with Kyoya.

Last night had been amazing, but this morning Stella found herself feeling more worn than usual, with the bags under her eyes to prove it. She wasn't sure where the others got the energy.

A knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie and forced her to perk up.

"Coming!" she called.

Stella plodded out of the bathroom, wondering who it could possibly be. It wasn't that early, but she noticed that given the opportunity, most of the residents liked to sleep in. Maybe one of the other girls had lost her key.

Stella was not expecting to see King when she opened the door, and immediately wished she was wearing something better than the black yoga pants and lime green tank top she'd gone to bed in.

"Hey, King," she greeted. "What's up?"

King didn't waste time and sped into the room a blur. "Stella, we need to talk."

She knitted her eyebrows together. Her heart sped up, the way it always did when he was around. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure; you tell me. I'm really worried about you, Stella?"

Her frown deepened. "What- why? I'm fine, see?"

"I know you haven't been eating."

Stella stiffened. "I have no clue what you're talking about," she said coolly. She lied, "Besides, I was just about to make breakfast."

"Don't lie to me. I saw the last time we got dinner together. I watched you move your salad around so it looked eaten. I've seen you with your friends, eating as little as you can without drawing attention. Please, Stella."

She was surprised to see the fear reflecting in his eyes. "King, it's not like that, I promise-"

"It is. We both know it." His cerulean eyes were round and scared. "Every time we go to the gym, you push yourself. You constantly look tired, and I know it's not because of the stress, so don't try that. Your body isn't getting enough energy. You're hurting yourself."

Stella felt sick, unsure what to say. "How do you know all that?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Because it's happened here before. Two weeks after we arrived, one of the other musicians went to the hospital for an eating disorder. She came back a few weeks later."

"What happened to her?"

"She died, Stella." King's face was grim. "They thought she'd be okay so they released her, but they were wrong. She'd lied. She'd only pretended she wanted to get better. She thought she was fine, too. After that, DNMM held a mandatory workshop so we could learn about it and recognize the signs."

Stella was silent.

"I know I'm not imagining them. I'm seeing those same signs with you." King's tone was pleading. "This can't happen again. You've come so far. If you keep this up, you might get lucky and not end up like the other girl, but DNMM isn't going to take any more chances. They can't risk it again and won't keep you around if they don't think you're healthy enough."

"King, I-"

"I know this is a really bad time to bring it up and it's incredibly selfish, but you have to know I like you, Stella. And the thought of you not being here hurts. So it's not just for you I want you to be better, but for me, too. Because it hurts watching you do this to yourself. There're people here who care about you and I know your bandmates would feel the same way if they found out. None of us want to lose you. Whatever it takes, I swear I'll help you. You don't have to go through this alone."

She hadn't known King could be so serious, let alone this serious, but his usually cheerful face held no sign of joking. It was surreal, like she was an outsider peering in on their conversation. Her throat was dry.

"I-I'm not doing my best," Stella conceded in a whisper, finding herself unable to lie to him any longer, especially as those jewel-toned eyes pierced through her. "But… I don't think I'm as bad as you think."

As the words tumbled out, the last few weeks flashed before her. Hours of hiding in her room while she avoided being around the others when they ate, going to the gym as much as possible, obsessively checking fan sites to see what they said about her.

King had a point. She might not be as bad as he feared, but if she kept going at the rate she was, she'd get there eventually. No, she wasn't that bad, yet. A couple skipped meals, counting calories every time she ate out, avoiding her favorite snacks. She wasn't that bad yet, only beginning her descent into darkness. But it wouldn't take long. Part of her furiously tried to deny it all, arguing he was just nosy and didn't know anything, but in her heart she knew that wasn't the case. She needed to stop now, while the choice was hers.

This was an issue with her, and it wouldn't be easy, but King was right. If she kept going, the people around her would be affected, too. She couldn't let that happen. There was still time for her to take back the power she was quickly losing over herself.

Everyone would want her to get better. That was a given. The real question was, did she want to get better?

"I'm scared," she admitted.

"Me, too," King confided, taking her hand. "But you can do this."

Her future was on the line. She'd miss out on so much- tours, recording, everything- if she didn't take back control now.

King had her back. Her bandmates had her back. She had the best support system possible. Her friends would be with her every step of the way. She could do this. The last few weeks had been hard, but she could undo the damage. King's arms around her, she already felt stronger, more confident.

She did want to get better. Stella was tired of the constant exhaustion, tired of feeling like what she did was never enough. She couldn't keep living this way, and she wasn't going to. Part of her resisted, the part that demanded she keep counting calories and live by the scale, but she refused to let it take control.

She gave King a tiny smile. She'd made her decision.

She'd never let another trashy tabloid tear down her self-esteem again.

Avari took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Her insides churned. After everything the last few days, this was still what scared her most.

There was no response. Avari tentatively turned the knob and peered inside. The room was empty.

Avari walked in. Ryuto's office was nothing more than a glorified custodial closet outfitted with the bare minimum to make it a work space. There was a small bookcase piled with unorganized papers and a desk and accompanying chair crammed in a corner. There were no windows, only a small, empty frame that hung on the back wall.

It'd been pretty much identical the last time she'd been in here. Ryuto was one of the lowest workers on the totem pole, hence his tiny, windowless room. It didn't seem to matter, though, considering how infrequently he actually used it for its intended purpose. More often than not, he tended to be running errands all over the building. Of course, the office had been a convenient place to sneak in some stolen kisses back when everything was perfect between them. Now, alone, the office just seemed sad. She used to get so excited slipping over here while the others were busy in the middle of their recording sessions.

There was still time to back out of this. Ryuto wasn't here and she could be gone before he even knew she'd-

"What are you doing here?" The tone was flat, but almost resigned.

Avari wanted to cry as she spun around and took Ryuto in, but she held herself together. She couldn't fall apart now.

It really hurt, looking at him after everything. It was hard to believe she'd hardly known him three months when it felt like years had already passed between them. They'd had a lot of rough patches in those times, and she winced knowing she'd played an ugly role in most of them. Why couldn't things have been as easy and carefree as the night they'd first met?

From their awkward encounter that first day shopping in the city and at DNMM, to their fights during DNMM's probation of Midnight embrace, to their latest clash over that stupid, stupid article and the secrets Ryuto was keeping, Avari was finally ready to accept her place in all of it and take the blame, but she didn't know how Ryuto would take it. Maybe he'd finally had enough of the drama and was done. If so, she couldn't exactly fault him for it. It was more than most people would have put up with.

She hoped that wasn't the case. She couldn't lose him now, and she was finally going to prove it by being the girlfriend he deserved, if he'd take her back.

"Just thought I'd pop in for a visit," she said airily. "I've missed you."

Ryuto mumbled something she couldn't quite understand, but Avari thought she caught a "missed you, too" in there. She kept going, hopeful. He hadn't kicked her out immediately, so that had to be a good sign.

"Look… I realize our relationship has been… kind of crazy since the start."

Ryuto snorted. "That's an understatement."

Avari chose to ignore the comment. "And I know I'm responsible for a lot of what went wrong between us. And I'm sorry."

"Avari…"

"No, please let me finish. I've definitely been overreacting to a lot of things. A lot of it is because of all the pressure, which is way more than I've ever experienced or anticipated, but I'm also making a bigger deal of some things than I should be, like that article."

Ryuto exhaled. "I should apologize for that, too. I could've been more sympathetic. I forget what it's like. A lot of people are the same way when they start and find out someone wrote something degrading about them. Most people around here are desensitized with it, so I'm just used to it. But, no one's written much about me, so I guess I can't relate." Ryuto's face held the ghost of a tiny, mischievous smile.

Avari barked a laugh. "Right? How dare you be so insensitive." Her face turned serious again. "Regardless, I still turned this into a problem I took out on you. I shouldn't have freaked out when I found out who your brother was. I'm sure you have your reasons for keeping it quiet."

"Not necessarily good ones," Ryuto admitted. "A lot of people… expect things from me because I'm Ryuga's brother. They think I must be talented, too, or maybe I'm not because I'm not famous like him and they pity me. Or they think I should be able to get them autographs or something, but of course it's not that simple. It's just refreshing when people don't know who I am and I can pretend I'm from a regular family. But that's maybe not something I should've been keeping from someone important to me. It would've come out eventually, and me being honest from the start could've prevented it."

"Oh," Avari mulled it over. "Well, screw 'em, right? Who cares what they think. It's not just that, though, and I really do appreciate you telling me. But before that, when we were on probation, I was hard on you then, too."

"You've already apologized for that," Ryuto reminded her gently.

"It still needs to be said again. I'm really trying to work on myself. It's not a good look for the band if their lead singer is a total diva, and maybe more importantly, I'm not happy with myself for who I've been lately either. I've been acting really…"

"Immature?" Ryuto said playfully.

Avari rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. Immature. But I'm doing the best I can. I'm done running from my problems, and I'm done with getting so plastered every night I can't keep my life together. I regret a lot of the stupid things I've done since I got here, but I've never regretted meeting you and everything that brought us together. So I'm just hoping we can move past this, and go back to the way things were."

"Vari, I know it's only been three months and we've been through more than most. I don't want to lose you." Avari's face lit up with a small, hopeful smile. "I don't want to break up. But I think a big part of our problem is we both have a lot going on, and we're still learning how to handle it."

"So what do you think we should do?" Avari's lower lip trembled. She felt so close to crying, so overwhelmed with emotion. She'd had plenty of boyfriends before, but none like Ryuto. There was no one else she could so freely be herself with.

"We need to slow down. You might be going on tour soon. I'm not going anywhere, but there's a chance I could move up in the company in a few months, and that's going to take some adjusting. If we keep going the way we have been, this'll just happen all over again and we'll crash. Neither of us want that."

Avari swallowed. "I understand."

"As much fun as it is, let's stop sneaking around offices and shows. Let's go on actual dates and take our time."

Avari nodded. "So we'll really be going public."

"Completely. And if the press or anyone else takes issue with it, that's their problem."

Avari's eyes felt watery. Ryuto pulled her into a hug and with the final piece in place, she felt at peace again. She was going to do everything she could to make sure she and Ryuto never needed to have that conversation again.

They'd been expecting it all along, but when DNMM summoned them back to headquarters a day after their reunion, the girls were filled with an unavoidable sense of dread.

"When will this end?" Avari muttered. The others nodded in solidarity. They had to hold the record for most number of times called in. None of the other bands were constantly dealing with this. Midnight Embrace was the misbehaving student, always sent to the office.

It felt like standard procedure by now. They were greeted at the desk, then rode the elevator toward the top of the skyscraper. One of the executives would meet them at the door, then they would wait until they were brought in.

"Do you think the Garcias are coming, too?" Gin whispered.

Ninel wondered the same thing herself. They were standing outside a different office than usual. When the door had been open as the exec excused himself to go inside, they'd gotten a quick glimpse at what lay beyond the doors. The room looked bigger than most at first glance.

As if on cue, the Garcias swaggered into the hall. They wore grim expressions, which turned to smirks the moment they laid eyes on Midnight Embrace.

Ninel tensed. She figured the record label had a good reason for wanting them to meet together, but it was bound to get ugly.

"Perfect," Selen sneered. "We get watch them finally kick you out." Ninel noted Selen was still sporting a heavily bruised black eye with satisfaction. Christina had done her job well. Christina maintained her cool, but took a slight step forward. Selen's eyes widened the tiniest bit, much to Ninel's amusement. Selen wasn't as tough as she claimed to be after all.

The girls didn't bother engaging. This definitely wasn't the time, but they were over constantly fighting a band whose sole purpose seemed to be to harass them.

Selen tried to slip in a few more snide remarks, but there wasn't time. The office door opened, both bands whisked inside.

It was bigger inside, though not as much as Ninel had suspected. There was only one desk, occupied by Doji. Two other executives flanked him on each side. The room had no tables, no chairs, leaving Midnight Embrace and the Garcias to remain standing. Somehow, it cast an even more ominous mood over an already serious meeting.

Ninel felt Gin grab her hand. Ninel took Avari's in response. Whatever happened here, they were together, linked as one. Ninel stared at Doji defiantly, unruffled, daring him with her eyes to kick them out. They'd rise again.

Doji's tone was silky, not giving away anything. "We all know what took place at the show three days ago. Going forward, such behavior will not be tolerated. We are not tolerating it now. Dark Nebula Music Media has a highly respected reputation to uphold and we will not allow our musicians to run around ruining it with petty squabbles and trivial fighting. I hope you all fully understand just how replaceable you are as newly signed bands. There are hundreds of others who would kill to simply have a chance at your spot. There is always someone waiting to take your place. Nothing is guaranteed in this business."

Ninel flinched. He had a point, but it was uncomfortable hearing him say it out loud.

"We have struggled the past two days debating whether either of you are ready to accept the challenging demands of an upcoming tour. We easily could choose from another of our established bands, despite this being an excellent opportunity to prove yourselves to the world."

Ninel peered over at her bandmates out of the corner of her eyes. Most of them were looking down. She squeezed Gin's hand and silently motioned for her to make eye contact with the executives. They needed to appear strong. The other girls lifted their heads and followed suit.

"Ultimately, we came to a decision we felt was best for all. This is not a reward for poor behavior, but rather us putting our trust in you that you will improve going forward and respectably represent your label while traveling. Midnight Embrace, you will be going on tour with Dauntless Inferno this fall."

The silence in the room was palpable as Doji's words sank in. Finally,

Selen had the first outburst.

"What?" she cried. "Are you freaking kidding me? This is a joke!"

"No, Ms. Garcia, I'm afraid it is not. We have made our decision, and it is final."

"Oh my god, what the hell? This bitched punched me in the face and you're sending her on tour? She broke my nose! This majorly impacts my singing career! She cannot control herself. This is a terrible idea. We deserve that touring spot!"

Doji frowned. "Frankly, Ms. Garcia, I'm not so sure you do. After reviewing the incident, we have several witnesses reporting seeing you provoke Ms. Cadelle prior to the altercation. Moreover, this is not the first record of you or your brothers antagonizing another band, Midnight Embrace particularly."

"That's garbage!" Argo yelled. "You think these dumb girls are better than us?"

They simply watched as the Garcias all began yelling and shrieking over each other, trying to make themselves heard. The girls didn't need to defend themselves; the Garcias were digging their own grave.

Doji remained unperturbed as the chaos died down. "As you just demonstrated, you lack the maturity to handle touring at this time." His eyes hardened. "Furthermore, certain details regarding your band and its origins have recently come to light that bear immediate discussion."

The Garcias shrank back. Ninel watched, confused, wondering what possible secret could have revealed itself that would scare them so much. What could they be hiding now?

"Midnight Embrace, you are dismissed. We will contact you regarding tour details and setting you up with an official manager soon. Congratulations." Doji's tone remained professional as he gestured toward the door.

Leaving the room in the triumph of their victory, the mood was subdued as they solemnly nodded respectfully at the executives. The door locked behind them.

"Wonder what they're in for," Christina whispered conspiratorially.

As before, they kept calm while leaving the building, careful not to give anything away or appear unprofessional. Even when they got to their car though, it wasn't the same as when they'd been signed. They exchanged smiles and high-fives all around, but there was no excessive cheering. This time, they just felt they'd finally earned what was theirs all along, and despite some bumps in the road, everything had finally fallen into place.

"Touring," Gin marveled as they scrambled into the car.

"This is gonna be so much better than that mini one we did last winter," Stella said excitedly.

"Not to mention we've got some great touring partners," Avari winked at the others.

"I can't wait until they show us the touring schedule," Ninel put in.

"Maybe you'll finally have the opportunity to put your multilingual skills to the test," Christina noted. "I just wanna start working on the set list and meeting all the crew members. This is gonna be insane!"

"At least this time we'll have a manager to keep it all organized for us," Avari added. "That was such a disaster."

"That's because we put you in charge of logistics," Stella reminded her dryly.

"Hey!"

Gin laughed. "Why did we even do that? Ninel, you probably would've been a much better choice."

"Ninel was in charge of merch, remember? I was managing the money, you were in charge of managing communications with venues, and Stella was keeping tabs on the equipment." Christina listed off on her fingers. "So we let Vari handle everything else. Why did we do that?" A bewildered look crossed her face.

"Well at least none of that's our problem anymore," Avari said peevishly.

"True, we won't have to sleep in the van because someone forgot to book the hotel that night," Ninel deadpanned.

"Oh come on, it was one time. I thought you guys had gotten over that by now."

"Nineteen degrees!" The others shouted in unison, having flashbacks remembering the unpleasant frigid night.

They burst out laughing as they drove off toward home, knowing that this major victory was only the beginning. In less than a month, their careers would really take off.

"Chips!" King cried gleefully as he jumped over the couch, knocking into Kyoya and Bao to get to the snacks Avari had just placed on the table.

Avari blinked. "Wow, dude." She sauntered into the kitchen, where she and Ryuto were busy mixing everyone drinks. Avari herself sipped from a fruity mocktail. She'd given herself an allowance of one shot and one drink for the entire party and wanted to save them for later.

Ninel had to admit she was impressed. Avari really had taken a big step forward since coming back. The other girls were under strict orders to take away any extra drinks if she tried to sneak one, but from what Ninel was seeing, that wouldn't be a problem. Avari's headstrong determination could overcome anything when she put her mind to it, even her own drinking habits.

They'd decided they wanted to celebrate, now that the tour lineup had been officially finalized. When it came down to picking a place to go, none of them could agree, and the two bands realized what they really wanted was nothing more than a night in.

Dauntless Inferno had taken care of getting food and drinks while Midnight Embrace quickly made their apartment party-ready, with Ryuto's help. Their apartment was at least salvageable; Dauntless Inferno had been doing so much packing and tour prep work, their space had completely gotten out of control the last few days.

Music blasted from the radio, and all anybody could talk about was the upcoming tour.

"How are they even going to have time to teach us everything?" Gin laughed as Kyoya finished telling her about their latest practice session. "The tour's almost here and you guys have been going through training for it for months!"

"You'll be fine," Dashan said kindly.

At the same time, Bao said, "Don't worry, any mistakes you make will be forgotten as soon as the crowd watches us." Mischief gleamed in his eye. Christina swatted him playfully after the remark. "Nah, I wouldn't stress."

"A lot of it is things you don't always think about," Kyoya informed them. "The crowds are significantly larger, so it's a lot of exercises to combat stage fright. It can be a real shock the first time you play a huge show."

"They've also been going over stage awareness," Dashan explained further. "Every stage is different and you need to be able to adapt to that night after night. Some nights you'll have less space than the night before so we've been practicing within different squares that have been set up for us to prepare. Even with soundchecks, there's not much time to familiarize yourself with the stage. It's a lot of learning to balance how big you can go to demand presence while still working within the confines of your space and not being concentrated to one area."

"Or you'll fall off the stage," King supplied.

"Good thing you're behind a drum set, King, 'cause I get the feeling you'd be the one falling off," Stella giggled.

"Stella, you can't talk, you'd be the same," Avari pointed out, accidentally squirting Ryuto with the lime garnish she'd been holding. Stella reddened.

The conversation quickly devolved into a cheerful argument from there, everyone fighting over who was the most and least likely to fall from the stage during a performance.

Ninel caught Dashan eyeing her and she nodded before taking a sip of the fruity margarita Avari had whipped up for her. They'd slip away from the others for a bit soon.

Before they had a chance, "Christina asked, "Hey. So does anyone know what's going on with the Garcias?"

"I might," Bao smirked.

The room quieted as everyone quickly crowded around him, other than the sound of King munching on chips.

"Sounds like we need popcorn," Kyoya said dryly.

"On it," Gin jumped up from the couch.

A few minutes later, everyone had a bowl in their hand, with more on the way.

"Bao, how is it you always seem to know everything that happens here?" Ninel wondered.

Bao shrugged. "Guess I'm just in the right place at the right time."

"He's just good at eavesdropping," Kyoya rolled his eyes.

"Spying," Bao amended. "Long story short, they're really not happy about the fight after the show, although they're really happy the media wasn't around to publicize it, so word didn't get around. But more dirt came out when they started interviewing the witnesses. Not only did they tell DNMM about Selen starting it, but some of the other bands came forward with their stories of Selen pushing them either right before or after a performance to mess with their confidence. Moral of the story, don't be a jerk to other bands, because it will come out eventually. No one wanted to stick up for them. And, it turns out Gin isn't the only girl Argo's been pushy with to get a headline." Gin grimaced at the memory. "Apparently, he tried to get a photo-op with Hikaru."

Ryuto snorted so loud his drink came out his nose and Avari burst into laughter next to him.

"As you can imagine, did not go over well. They're also really not happy about Selen going to the press whenever she feels like it. They feel like it makes her untrustworthy, not to mention a liability."

"Sounds like they're just digging a deeper and deeper hole," Stella commented happily.

"I just can't believe these conversations are happening where anyone can hear," Gin brought up.

"They're not, Bao's just pressing his ear up against every door he comes across hoping to hear something good." Kyoya's delivery was so flat and matter-of-fact it was impossible not to explode into laughter.

When every finally calmed down a second time, Ryuto spoke. "That's not the only reason they're on the rocks with headquarters."

Nine sets of eyes glued themselves to him. Ryuto continued.

"Turns out, way early on when DNMM first reached out to them the Garcias had falsified some information the label's just now finding out about. They faked their followers."

A collective gasp and disbelief echoed the room.

"How?" Avari breathed.

"They bought bots to follow them. Fake accounts, so they'd look more popular. Bands sometimes do it to get better venues, or labels to notice them faster, but it always backfires in the end. The Garcias just got away with it for longer than normal."

"They have real fans now, though," King mentioned, confused.

"They do, and that's complicating things even further, because it puts the label in a tough spot. It explains why the first month the Garcias were here they didn't bring in the anticipated numbers for their shows. DNMM had to do a lot of extra promoting on their behalf, 'cause the Garcias claimed it was due to most of their fans being centralized near their hometown."

"That could apply to any local band," Stella pointed out. "So how is this just now coming up?"

"DNMM constantly keeps tabs on the online presence of their signed acts. I guess someone dug deep enough and found an old forum post where they were asking about it. That combined with the stats from streaming sites confirmed it. The Garcias had to hand over control of their streaming accounts when they were officially signed same as you. Early data showed minimal streams for the number of followers they claimed to have, plus the number shot up by the thousands in a single day when they looked at the breakdown from last year. They probably weren't even thinking about the followers they'd bought months ago, but it's out now."

Kyoya was disgusted. "And that's why you don't try to pull that crap. I'm sure DNMM only went after them because of that fake following."

"Entirely," Ninel agreed. "What happens now? Like King said, they do have real followers now. What is DNMM supposed to do?"

Ryuto's smile held an edge. "Let's just say it's heavily up for debate whether they'll still be here when you get back from touring. They're still new enough to the scene that it won't make a big splash if they suddenly go off the radar. All DNMM has to do is a simple press release, and that'll be the end of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they make an example of them to deter other bands from doing the same."

Christina cheered. "The Garcias finally gone? I am so glad I punched Selen when I did."

"Please, you should've given her two black eyes for what she's done," Avari said snarkily.

"Fair point. I probably didn't hit her hard enough, all things considered. Still, you're welcome."

With the news that their least favorite band might be leaving soon, the mood brightened considerably, and it didn't take long before the party was in full swing. Snacks and drinks were being passed around, appetizers were cooking in the oven, and a movie had been turned on, though it was impossible to hear over the music and general clamor.

NInel motioned silently for Dashan to follow her out to the small balcony and the two slipped outside unnoticed.

The balcony exuded a sense of peace. Muffled sounds could be heard from inside, but mostly they were surrounded by the tranquility of late summer. At times like this, Ninel sometimes forgot they lived right on the outskirts of a major city.

"Congratulations," Dashan sincerity was obvious and his energy infectious. "It's an honor to tour alongside you."

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Ninel raised an eyebrow. "You're the headliner, not to mention your following grows by the day. Our first album hasn't even come out."

"True, but Midnight Embrace has come up against far more adversity than most. I can't think of a better band to open for us."

"It helps that you like me, too," Ninel teased.

A rare blush escaped Dashan as she caught him off guard. "Yes, there is that," he admitted.

"What are you most looking forward to about touring?" NInel closed the distance between them.

Dashan's eyes gleamed. "Everything," he replied. "Getting out there and seeing the world, and seeing people who connect with our music. It's going to be an incredible experience."

"I can't wait, either."

She felt so serene then as she turned and placed her hands on the railing of the balcony to gaze outward with Dashan's arm wrapped around her waist. She was sure there would be plenty more challenges to come, but for now it seemed everything in all aspects of her life were falling into place, and she was going to enjoy it.

"We could go back inside," she murmured, not meaning a word of what she said.

Dashan shook his head. She leaned in. As always, his kisses were so sweet and gentle, but somehow strong. She didn't understand it, but she loved it.

A few weeks from now, less even, things would be changing. It didn't matter; she was ready for it.

She melted into Dashan, kissing him over and over again, wishing the moment would never end this hot humid summer night.