Chapter 234: Tour Preparations (1)
<🎧 Song Recommendation: Time To Be Free by Kodak Black>
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"Von, meet David," Emily said, gesturing to the older man sitting across from them in the penthouse living room.
"He is one of the most experienced tour directors in the industry. He’s going to be handling everything on the ground."
David smiled and offered his hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Von. Emily has told me a lot about your vision."
Von shook his hand and sat back on the plush couch. He had never been on a music tour before, so he honestly had no clue how the actual logistics worked. He only knew the creative side. "So, how exactly does this play out? What’s the plan?"
David pulled out his tablet and placed it on the coffee table. "Emily and I have been crunching the numbers all morning. We have a five-million-dollar budget to work with. That covers the stage design, the lighting rigs, the sound engineers, the dancers, and the tour buses. The tour will last for about two months. We will be wrapping up right before December."
"Where are we heading?" Von asked, leaning forward to look at the screen. "Is it worldwide?"
"Just North America for this run," Emily jumped in to explain. "The US and a few major stops in Canada. Since this is your very first tour, we want to keep the routing tight and guarantee that we sell out every single arena. We don’t want to stretch the five million too thin by flying all the cargo and crew overseas just yet."
Von nodded slowly, taking in the information. "That makes sense. Build the hype here first, I guess."
"Exactly," David said. "The first show is right here in Miami in exactly three days. That means your stage rehearsals start tomorrow morning. Your agent already made the calls for everyone joining you in your tour, so they’ll all be available to practice with you and make sure everything is perfect."
"Wow, three days." Von was both surprised and impressed with how fast Emily was moving. He had only given her a list of names he wanted on the tour two days ago. It wasn’t any joke for them to have arrived already.
They spent the next hour agreeing on the setlist, the stage layout, and the travel schedule. Von absorbed all the information Emily and David gave him.
Once everything was finalized and signed off, David stood up, packed his tablet, and shook Von’s hand again.
Emily walked David to the door. The lock clicked shut, leaving Von and Emily completely alone in the spacious living room.
Emily let out a long sigh of relief and kicked off her shoes. She walked over to the couch, straddled Von’s lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Finally," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him softly.
Von wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. He kissed her deeply, feeling the tension of the past week begin to melt away.
"I can’t even remember the last time we had each other to ourselves," Emily murmured between kisses, her hands running through his hair.
"You’ve been so busy, and rightfully so. But it won’t get any better in the coming days."
"I’m here now," Von shushed her with his finger. He stood up, carrying her effortlessly with him up the stairs and into his bedroom.
They fell onto the soft mattress together and made love with each other.
Later, as they lay tangled in the bedsheets, the room was dimly lit and peaceful. Emily rested her head on his chest, her fingers lazily tracing circles on his skin.
"Emily?" Von asked, staring up at the ceiling.
"Yeah?"
"What happens after the tour?"
Emily shifted slightly, looking up at him. "It’s really up to you and what you feel like doing. You have to remember that Perfect Ruins will premiere in cinemas right around the time the tour ends. You will be very occupied with press runs, interviews, and red carpets for that. And if you want, you could always head back to the studio and release more songs to keep the momentum going."
Von thought about it for a second. The movie had gone well, but his best moments came towards its end. Von felt like he could do better, and truly conquer the acting industry like he’s doing with music.
"Maybe I could get another acting gig. I actually enjoyed being on set."
Hearing those words, Emily was quiet for a second. Her mind immediately flashed back to her private meeting with Rayan and a wave of guilt washed over her chest.
She had hidden the truth about Rayan’s offers and his hidden intentions from Von.
She knew she had to tell him eventually. But looking at Von now, looking so relaxed and happy, she couldn’t bring herself to bring her personal problems up.
’I will tell him later. Just not tonight,’ she promised herself.
She quickly composed her face and smiled softly, hiding the guilt.
"If that’s what you want, I’m sure you will get a lot of scripts once Perfect Ruins premieres in cinemas. Everyone is going to see how talented you are on the big screen."
Von smiled, satisfied with the answer.
"But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves," Emily added, her voice dropping to a teasing whisper to change the subject.
"Your tour begins in just three days. Rehearsals start tomorrow, and David is not going to go easy on you."
"I’ll be ready," Von smirked, pulling her on top of him again. They didn’t talk about work, movies, or tours anymore after that, letting their passion take over the rest of the night.
Hours later, the mansion was completely silent.
Emily was fast asleep. Von, however, was wide awake. He turned his head and looked at her peaceful face in the dim light of the room. He reached out, gently caressing her forehead, careful not to wake her up.
His mind was racing with thoughts. The tour was coming up fast. Three days was barely enough time to prepare for an arena show, especially for someone who had never actually performed a solo tour before.
He couldn’t afford to not do something phenomenal.
It was time to guarantee his success.
He looked at his accumulated EXP points hovering on the system interface. He had been saving them up.
Now, it was finally time to use them to make sure he put out one of the greatest stage performance the world will see.