WebNovels

Chapter 11 - CHAPTER ELEVEN - A SOFTENING EDGE

The rehearsal room was bright, sterile, and loud.

Adrian's voice filled the space sharp, powerful, commanding but underneath it, there was strain.

Clara stood near the sound console, her tablet in hand, trying to keep up with the chaos. Assistants ran back and forth, stylists shouted over music, and the director barked notes about camera angles. But all Clara saw was Adrian, pacing the floor like a caged animal.

He'd been at it since dawn. No breaks. No food. Just raw, relentless energy the kind that looked like passion to everyone else but to her, looked like punishment.

"Again!" Adrian snapped, voice rough. "The tempo's off."

The band exchanged weary glances. Clara stepped forward. "Adrian, maybe take five minutes"

"I said again!" His tone was sharp enough to slice through the air.

The music started once more, but he barely got two lines in before his voice cracked not from emotion this time, but from sheer exhaustion. He froze. The room went silent.

"Everyone out," he said quietly.

The director hesitated. "Adrian, we"

"I said out!"

Within seconds, the room emptied, leaving only Clara standing near the door, watching him. His back was turned, shoulders tight, fists trembling at his sides.

She took a step closer. "Adrian…"

"Don't." His voice was hoarse. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you pity me." He turned then, and she saw it the vulnerability, raw and unguarded. Sweat beaded on his temples, his eyes dark and hollow. "You think because I can fill stadiums, I don't get tired? That I don't feel… anything?"

Clara's breath caught. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to." He ran a hand through his hair, pacing again. "They all think I'm this this machine that doesn't stop. I have to be. Because the second I'm not perfect, they'll find someone else who is."

There it was the truth behind the arrogance. The fear of being forgotten.

Clara approached him slowly, her voice soft but steady. "Perfection isn't what people love you for, Adrian."

He scoffed. "You think you know what people love? They love the idea. The illusion. Not me."

"Then maybe it's time you let someone love you, not the illusion."

Her words hung in the air. Adrian looked at her as if she'd said something dangerous. Maybe she had.

For a heartbeat, neither moved. The world outside the rehearsal room fell away no cameras, no screaming fans, just two people standing in the wreckage of all the walls he'd built.

Then, as if surrendering to gravity, he sat on the edge of the stage. "You don't understand," he murmured. "Everything I am depends on people believing I'm untouchable. The second I let someone in, it all falls apart."

Clara hesitated, then joined him, sitting beside him but not too close. "Maybe that's not a bad thing," she said. "Maybe falling apart is how you find what's real."

He let out a shaky laugh. "You talk like you've got it all figured out."

"I don't," she said simply. "But I do know what it feels like to hide behind a version of yourself that the world expects."

Adrian turned to her, curiosity flickering in his eyes. "And what version is that?"

"The one who's always calm, always composed. The one who doesn't get hurt." She gave a small, sad smile. "But it's exhausting, isn't it?"

For the first time, Adrian didn't have a comeback. He just looked at her really looked and in that silence, something shifted.

The harsh edges between them blurred. The distance, the tension, the unspoken longing it all melted into the quiet hum of understanding.

Without thinking, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face. His touch lingered, unsure, then pulled away. "You shouldn't stay," he said softly. "People will start talking again."

Clara stood, her heart pounding. "Let them talk," she whispered.

She walked to the door, leaving him sitting there alone, but not quite as alone as before.

When the door closed behind her, Adrian pressed his hands over his face. For the first time in years, he didn't know whether he was breaking down… or finally breaking free.

More Chapters