25th May 2015, New York City

"I'm finally back!"

Aiden exhaled as he stared at the apartment in front of him. This apartment was his home for over a year now, and he was back here after two months.

His flight had tired him a bit, but Aiden still felt like he was full of energy. His failure to stay in X-Star had motivated him to give everything towards his dream.

The apartment he lived in was significantly away from the bustling area with bars, clubs and theatres. It had a soothing air about it, and he had enjoyed living here in his time, even though it was one of the most normal apartments in the metropolitan city.

And even if his roommate would often cause problems for him, life wasn't too bad.

'I wonder what James is up to? It's been two months since I saw him.'

James, his roommate, was like him, a struggling actor and both of them rented the apartment together as it was cheaper for people in their line of work. Even if they didn't have much in common, they were quite passionate about movies and acting.

Thinking how he would react seeing him back, Aiden climbed the stairs and moved towards his room. Suddenly, he saw the room door adjacent to his pushed open, and an old lady stepped out of the room.

She was Valerie Hudson, his landlady.

"Aiden? You are back?" She voiced, surprised to see him here. She wasn't expecting him to come back so soon and was sure that she wouldn't see him again for some more months.

"Valerie, how are you?"

"I'm fine, but I thought you were shooting for your show? What happened to it? Is it finished? Did you win?"

She asked. Ever since Aiden had first met her, Valerie has always treated him right, like he was her grandson.

"No, I didn't. The judges eliminated me, so I came back home."

Aiden scratched the back of his head and said while Valerie sighed after hearing his words.

"That's awful. Did the ears of those judges stop working during your turn? I was rooting for you to win."

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Aiden smiled, "Thanks for the support, Mrs Hudson, but what's done is done, and I am sure the judges were impartial; it was I who was lacking." He smiled weakly, then asked. "Anyway, it's great to meet you. Now let's see James' reaction when he sees me, haha."

Valerie turned silent at these words and carefully thought of what to say before shaking her head.

"Actually, James got a role in a TV series." As Aiden's steps came to a halt, she continued. "He left the apartment, saying he's going to Australia for the shooting and would get a better apartment from the movie he got from the role."

'Oh, if he's getting a new apartment, he must have gotten a good role.'

Aiden thought inwardly, feeling a bit dejected. Not because of James' success but because he himself was still on the same spot. Trying not to focus on these thoughts, he smiled.

"That's good for him. So, I guess I will be living alone for a while."

"Yeah."

Valerie nodded her head slowly. She could see that Aiden didn't look good from hearing the news since he had been eliminated and James had gotten a role. Hesitating a bit, she asked.

"Aiden, what are you going to do next?'

That was the question he had thought a lot about. There were some ideas in his mind, but he needed to first do something to earn money. The program team took care of his living and food expenses for the last two months, but he can't survive for long without money.

"I don't think I will drive the taxi again. It's not a job I like. I can do night shifts at the bar, but I'm going to try to get some singing gigs till then while trying to get myself a role. Now that I was on TV, chances of getting a gig are higher."

What he said was true, but Aiden will also need to hurry. People might remember his face currently because X-Star is the trend, but this was just his five minutes of fame, and he will soon fade away from people's memory after a few months.

Because of that, he needed to find something in just the next two to three months.

Somehow try to move up in his career.

"Actually, if it's a singing job, I think I can get you one." Valerie suddenly said, attracting his full attention. "My friend is looking for a singer for her wedding. Maybe you can fill in there. Though, the pay won't be a lot."

"Thank you, Valerie. I will do the job no matter how much the pay is." Aiden quickly replied.

He needed a job, no matter what it was. A singing job at a wedding was pretty nice. At least he can eat free food after his job finishes.

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"Okay, ask your friend and notify me. I'm free these days. I will go see what stuff James had taken with him while leaving."

He said and walked towards his door, bidding Valerie goodbye.

Opening it, he saw that the apartment looked new. It seems like Valerie has hired people to clean it after James has left.

Quickly, he checked some stuff he had left in the apartment, and everything was there. On his bed, a stack of books was placed as he didn't have a bookshelf.

Books on topics like 'How to be an actor and 'Reasons people aren't successful'. Other than that, there were also some fantasy books and light novels.

'I'm tired.'

Putting up the books aside, he laid down on his bed and thought of everything that had happened in the past months. Getting into the audition of X-Star to make a group in the second. From there, he became a part of Star Week but couldn't go very far.

At least, the competition signified one thing to him, and that was that he had talent, and with the help of his system, he could grow that talent at a pace that no one could fathom.

'I feel like the next months will be very significant for me.'

It was the first time in his life that Aiden would leave everything like his day job and focus on just his career. He saw this as his last chance to do something.

If he can't get a breakthrough in these months, he doesn't know what he will do.

While thinking about this, he didn't know when he fell asleep.

***

It's been two hours since he had woken up, and currently, he was sitting in front of his laptop.

'These terms aren't bad.'

Aiden thought as he read through the legal terms about how Melody, an online digital music streaming platform, worked for a singer like him. In this age, it was easy for an indie musician to get his song distributed through platforms like Melody and MeTube.

Social media had made all this very easy compared to the old times when large record labels monopolised the distribution channels, so the only thing a musician could do was send his tapes to these labels.

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Now, they could just upload their song on MeTube and Melody.

There was no need to get professional and advanced recording equipment as one could just record songs in their garage by just putting egg trays like panels to use as a soundproofing effect.

Aiden was also going to get help from these platforms to see if his songs could garner some views. The more views he gets, the more money he will earn.

One thing that had become clear to him was that his songs weren't bad. He had gotten a good response from them, making him more confident about them.

'I should record 'I can't seem to forget' and 'Life is a story'. Maybe a MeTube video would be nice too. I did get a fair amount of followers due to X-Star.'

He thought as he searched for good recording software on his laptop. There were a few that he was able to download easily.

After that, he needed to think about how to promote these songs. Aside from putting it on his Sparrow account and other stuff, he could also pay to get more promotions from Melody.

But it was very costly, and Aiden couldn't afford it for now.

'Leave it, I can just hope luck shines upon me, and I have made some fans during X-Star.'

As he thought that, his phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, he saw that it was a text from the owner of the bar he worked at.

Abraham Dickson - He was a pretty wealthy man, having his own bar, and Aiden had heard that he even had some connections in Hollywood.

[Mr. Dickson: Aiden, I heard you are back in town.]

It was a short and simple text, and he quickly replied back.

[Aiden: Yes, I was going to come to the bar tomorrow to talk about continuing in the night shift.]

[Mr Dickson: It's alright, we will talk about your job tomorrow. I have something else to tell you.]

[Aiden: What is that?]

[Mr. Dickson: An audition. Come to the bar; I will explain the details.]

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...

//DreamNote//

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