Chapter 5 MINI-CONCERT

Every time they need to go overseas or out of town, Inah and Sarah's excuse is Andrea's family. Andrea's mom will always call their families to ask permission to bring them on vacation with their daughter.

In the beginning, since they were all still in school, Charlie made sure that their out-of-town tour and concerts would fall on their semestral break. Any other appearances will be on a day where all of them have short classes. It's not hard for Charlie to do that since they were classmates. They took a performing arts degree in music and graduated with flying colors last year.

"Well, at least we can," Sarah cheered her up. Inah is proud of her beautiful face and wanted to show the world that they are pretty and not ugly ducklings like their anti-freesia group spreading on the web.

Sarah and Andrea always shrugged those negative comments off, but not Inah. She created an account in every microblog that mentioned their group and became the leader of FreeSIA defenders. At first, they did not know anything about it, but when they've noticed that she's always busy on her phone, they sneak behind her, and that's when they've found out about it.

"Let's go, I'm starving," Andrea said, pulling Inah and Sarah to the elevator.

Charlie was about to give one of them a call when the elevator opened. The girls were grinning at her when they arrived.

"Charlie, where are we going to eat?" Asked Inah. Among the three, Inah is the one who loves to eat. Sarah and Andrea shook their heads at the same time.

Inah was annoyed a little while ago because of their anti-fans, but suddenly, her mood lightens up as soon as she sees Charlie in the lobby.

"Italian Restaurant," she said while looking at Andrea. It was her favorite, and she was the one who picked it.

"Aww, lucky bee!" Inah said, giggling. It is their routine to have a raffle-like way of choosing a place to eat each time they're together. Charlie is the one doing the raffle, and one of them will take turns to select one. A few days ago, it was Andrea's turn to pick one.

They opted to do that because they had a hard time choosing where to eat and ended up losing their appetite when they were out of town a few years back.

When they were seated, Charlie took the initiative to look at the menu and ordered all their specialties.

"Whoah, are you sure about it Charlie?" Asked Inah. She loves to eat, but it doesn't mean that she can eat a lot! Even Andrea cannot do that. They both love eating.

"Eat what you can," Charlie was amused with their reactions. These girls are like triplets, and she is their older sister. "You guys need it."

"Yes, we do!" Sarah agreed. Before heading to their signing event, they have to practice for a couple of hours for their mini-concert. So, they need to fill their stomachs for a long day.

U & R Talent Agency has a three-story building in City A and other cities. They ensured that their artists have a place to go for practice and employees to take care of their artists when they have an event in any city. They don't need to call the main office unless it is necessary.

Charlie made sure that no one is inside the music room aside from them. She then let the girls remove their masks to relax and practice comfortably.

Sarah got the drums in their last music video and guitar before that, so she played the piano this time. Andrea would be playing the guitar and Inah on the drums.

Their songs are primarily pop music. They decided to stick to pop because of its broad audience. The younger generation loves listening to this kind of music, and it is their agency's target audience.

Their practice went well as usual. After resting for thirty minutes, Charlie led them out of their room with their masks back on. Charlie got a call that the venue for the signing event is all set and just waiting for FreeSIA to arrive.

They won't be changing their clothes until later for their mini-concert. So, they went directly to the venue. Sarah's face wasn't looking forward to that because she has to write a lot as punishment. Usually, all of them will only need to sign their names on whatever the fans have. Charlie always helps them by writing the fans' names, but she has to do that on today's signing event as her punishment for waking up late.

The signing event stopped at precisely six in the evening. There's still a lot of fans lining up, but they have to stop after three hours. It is supposed to be only two hours of signing, but many fans show up. So, they decided to extend it for an hour.

Now, they only have an hour to get ready for their mini-concert. The fans were saddened, but they are very understanding and cooperated well with the organizers.

Sarah, Inah, and Andrea were escorted to their tent to change their clothes and touch up their make-up. Sarah's hands were tired from writing, so she massaged them and did finger exercises to prepare herself later. Andrea and Inah did the same.

"Ladies, you will be called in ten minutes." Charlie's voice echoed in the walkie-talkie that was lying on the dresser.

"Got it!" They replied in chorus.

"FreeSIA, you're free!" The three cheered together. They all inhaled and exhaled to relax. They've been in the entertainment industry for a long time, but they still get nervous each time they do a concert, whether small or big. For them, it always feels like their first time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?!" The emcee asked and pointed his microphone to the crowd.

"Yes!" The crowd replied excitedly.

Sarah, Inah, and Andrea left their tent and went backstage. The organizer gave the emcee a thumbs up when they appeared in the back.

"Here they are... FreeeeSIA!" The fans went crazy while screaming their initials. The stage was dark, and you could only see the emcee. The three walked to their respective instruments and positioned themselves comfortably. The cheering of their fans touched their hearts.

"I love you S!"

"I love you I!"

"I love you A!"

"We love you FreeSIA!"

The fans screamed altogether.

They nodded at each other, and Sarah did the intro. The light focuses on Sarah while she's playing the piano. She smiled sweetly and winked at the camera-Andrea strum the guitar, and the light on Sarah became bigger and enveloped Andrea. A few seconds later, Inah played the drums, and the light enveloped her as well.

Their fans screamed when they'd seen them all on the stage. Some fans were jumping for joy; others were about to cry, some were all smiles, and others stood in admiration.

For others who weren't able to attend the mini-concert, they subscribed for live streaming. Lucas belongs to that group.