The thing about being under the spotlight is, there are so many things you can't do. So many restrictions and rules, limiting your move and actions.

And one wrong move will ensure a nasty judgement from the whole world.

Sneaking out will never be Asha Porterfield's forte, she knows the fact really well and thus, never once try to sneak out on anyone else before. So, this is probably one of those days when she accidentally cuts one of her brain wire short and becomes temporarily crazy.

Or stupid.

Looking around to make sure that nobody is following her, Asha let out a relief sigh when she caught nobody within her vicinity before proceeding to enter the small coffee shop. She orders a frappe despite the cold weather and a sandwich, before picking up her tray in search for a familiar face.

She can feel a wide smile gracing her face when she spot a man with round, half-framed glasses. Said man waves excitedly from the small corner next to the window, overlooking the 'still empty' street.

The happiness that consumes her entire being right now is so surreal, it's hard to contain the smile.

"Hi," Asha said as she slids to the seat in front of the man, an equally wide smile adorned his face.

"Hello to you, too!" the smile morphed into a grin in Harry's face. Asha shakes her head.

She loves the man no matter what the world says about him.

Well, not that the world knows about this relationship or something.

She sips her frappe little by little, unable to find a word to say to the man in front of her. She can see Harry mirrors her action with his coffee. His eyes never leaving hers, observing her intently. The two feel pretty content with the other's company that they feel absolutely no need to say anything.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Harry cleared his throat.

"Ash..." a deep uncertainty can be heard.

"Yes?"

"Will you be okay?"

Her brows furrowed into a confused scowl.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Harry sighs, frowning deeply. "You sneak around, trying not to be caught off guard by anyone."

Asha move to protest but Harry stops her before she could say anything.

"It's obvious Ash, you'll never wear that oversized hoodie unless you don't want anyone to notice you. You're the one who said that you dislike that hoodie because it engulfs half of your face."

"But-"

"And should I mention the fact that you're still wearing the hoodie cap right now, even when you know that you don't have to?"

Asha bites her lower lip, a day to day nervous gesture. Harry chuckles, finding his answer right in front of his face.

She's aware that he knows her too well that it doesn't take words to get an answer.

His disappointed 'I knew it' is what snap her out of her nervousness.

"You don't get it."

"I don't get what?" He scoffed. "I don't get the way you try to sneak around in that ugly oversized hoodie because you don't want to be caught spending your precious time with someone like me? Trust me Ash, I get it."

"No, Harry..."

"Dillon recently spoke to me about your problem, Ash," Harry put his glasses down, folding them neatly in the table. "The fans are still crazy over that photo."

She chuckles when he mentioned the way her fans had gone viral over her photo booth picture with Lucas, sending the mass into a crazy shipping frenzy.

"I know, Harry," Asha leaned back into the sofa seat. "But Lucas have cleared out the mess. Making his relationship with Brenda public."

"He sacrificed Brenda's privacy?"

"Brenda sacrificed her own privacy," she sighs. "She sees how the rumor has a bad impact towards me and Luke's friendship and she told us that it's okay to drag their relationship into the spotlight."

"And how did the mass react?"

"I'm not really sure, to be honest."

Both of Harry's eyebrows shot up.

"How?"

"Some people loves 'Lunda', that's their ship name, by the way. But the 'Lusha' shipper can't stop saying that I look better with Lucas."

Harry chuckles. "Your fans and their ship thing is crazy sometimes."

"I know, right? Do you remember the time when the crazy fangirls actually made up some delusional rumor about Dillon and Bruce being in a secret relationship?"

Harry let out a full blown laughter.

"Of course! I feel sooooo bad for Bruce and Dillon," Harry wipes a gleeful tear that slipped from his eyes with the back of his hand.

"If only those people know the truth about Dillon. Him and Bruce is 100 percent straight, alright."

"Right. None of 'The Masked' member are gay, after all."

Asha laughs a little, nodding her head vigorously. The rumors that spreads out there are beyond hilarious sometimes.

After a few moment of awkward silence, she can hear a loud sigh coming from Harry's direction.

The next thing he uttered permanently drills the cold, hard truth into her head. The one Dillon is trying to talk about a few hours prior.

"What will your fans think if someone spilled the details of our relationship?"

She knows the answer.

There will be lots and lots of unwanted judgement. People will talk badly about her taste in men. More fans will play matchmaker and pick whom they think suits her the most, so will the media.

Harry swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, using her silence to finish his breakfast. She sighs, scratching the tip of her nose; shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"You don't need to answer that," Harry said as he sips his coffee from the mug.

"But-"

"Your fans will be mad, Ash. People will judge your decision. Dillon got his point across when he texted me through your phone last night."

Asha can't find an answer to that.

"Which is why..."

She shuts her eyes, waiting for the inevitable separation that will soon follow.

"I want you to tell the media about us so that we can go through the judgement phase quicker."

Asha Porterfield never knew that there's something scarier than breaking up with her boyfriend up until that very moment.

___

"He... what?"

Asha leaned her back towards the long sofa, flicking through the tv channel mindlessly. The gesture earned her a groan from the people in the tv room.

"You heard me, Bruce," Asha replies as she yawn loudly. Lucas used the moment to snatch the tv remote from Asha's hand, which earned him a frown from her and a loud 'finally' from the occupant of the room.

But as soon as Lucas stops flicking through as it lands on discovery channel, everybody groans louder than before.

Asha can't help the laughter that escapes her lips as she watch her friends fighting over the remote.

"Give me the remote," Keysha said, scowling at the moaning rhinos on display. Lucas point his tongue out at her, hiding the remote under his armpit.

Asha raised her eyebrow when Valerie finally snatch the tv remote from Lucas' armpit by tickling him, making the guy laughed so hard while flailing his arms out wildly, losing the grip he had over the remote.

To say that she's amused is an understatement.

Asha let out a loud 'ouch' when Bruce flicked her forehead to get her attention back to the topic. She scowled at him.

"Ash, we're not done talking here."

She rubs her forehead gently, "That hurts, Bruce!"

"Anyway, you heard me. He wants me to open up about the relationship to the media."

"But, that's impossible!" Keysha interjected, butting into the conversation. Asha can clearly see the frown that slowly forms in her face. "You know how much impact it'll have towards the future of our career."

A sigh came from her side as Bruce look up at her with a serious expression. "Keysha is right. It's impossible. The majority of our fans look up to you and Dillon. But most of the young girls look up to you. Can you imagine their reaction if they know that their princess is dating someone like Harry? It'll definitely do some damage to our career if you spill it to the media, Ash."

"Well, in my case, it's easier," Lucas add. "Brenda is beautiful. And the fans, sans the 'Lusha' shipper, immediately loves her the moment we speak of our relationship. But in your case..." he trailed, deciding to butt into the conversation just like others did.

"I know," She rest her head in the sofa pillow. "Harry is ugly."

"Yes," the corner of Lucas' lips turns up. "I wonder if you'd rather risks all of our career or your relationship with Harry..."

"Why should she define our careers, anyway?" Valerie snaps, shocking the occupants of the room.

The blonde girl stand up. Asha has no doubt that Valerie did the gesture to give her more sense of 'authority'. "It's not like she's the only member of this band!"

"But, most of our fans-"

"Yeah... yeah. I get it, Bruce. Most of our fans loves her. But it annoys the hell out of me! How can you guys keep saying that without feeling bothered by the fact?"

Bruce scowled, a clear disbelief gracing his face. "Are you jealous of her, Val?"

Valerie scoffed. "Why on earth would I be jealous over this immature girl?"

Asha said nothing.

"Well? I don't know... tell us," Bruce shakes his head, a scowl attached to his face.

"As I said earlier, I'm not jealous. I get it if you guys doesn't feel bothered by the fact, but, the girls? Us girls feel like the fans doesn't appreciate us enough by worshiping her," Valerie points her thumb at Asha. All the while, Asha keeps her mouth shut. "Right, Lea? Keys?

Lea stops munching on her potato chips the moment her name shows up. Asha watch her with caution.

She never knew that her friends feel that way about her.

"I don't think this fact bothers me, to be honest. Asha is beautiful. Also, me and Keysha is a little too old to care about fame and looks, Valley."

Lea drops the subject as soon as she voiced her thoughts. Choosing to head out to get some fresh air instead, a bag of potato chips in one hand.

"Lea is right. We don't really care about fame because we're a little too old for it," Keysha adds.

Valerie's frown deepened to the point it might rip her face in two. The girl switch her gaze to the side to get a better view of Asha.

"And I've been wanting to throw this fact out to crush that big head of yours, Ash. You know that Mr. Mariano wants me to be his in-law, right? The leaders in our record label also favors me because of that. And that includes Mr. Bartholomeus Sullivan. Your daddy figure. He favors me instead of you, Asha."

Asha finally snaps the moment Valerie mentioned her father figure's name.

Asha clenched her fist. "I don't know why you feel the need to flaunt that stupid fact in front of me, Val, but I don't care. And that one bit you said about Bart isn't true. I know him better than some of you and I know that Bart will never show a certain favoritism, not even to me."

Asha storms out of the room, unable to keep up with Valerie's ridiculous jealousy. She's half way towards the elevator when Valerie's loud scream met her ears.

"But he shows a certain favoritism in you!"

A tired sigh escapes her lips the moment she entered the elevator. She slides her fingers through her phone, smiling when she finds the right name.

The person on the other side of the line immediately pick up, even before the first dial tone ends.

"Asha?"

"Are you busy? Can I see you right now?"

Asha can hear the man sigh, and by that sigh alone she knew that the man will give her some of his precious time.

"The usual place, then."

The thing about being under the spotlight is, there's bound to be some sort of competition and a form of jealousy.

One that will probably ruin a long-term friendship.

*****

Yaaaassshhh! I'm finally done with the second chapter. I'm sorry for the pending update. I have a major writer's block but now I think it's gone for good.

So what do you think about the chapter? What will Asha do with Harry's request? Did you hate Valerie? (P.S I hope not! Valley is Asha's best friend, after all!)

Last but not least, if you like this chapter...

VOTE VOTE VOTE AWAY!

Thank you for reading.

XOXO,

S.