The Devil's Matchmaker

As soon as the song was done, I gave Max and Michael some breathing space to tweak their instruments for the next song. In the meantime, I decided to interact with the crowd who were still cheering. I gave them all a smile.

"Thank you for coming, all of you, my precious knights, none of this would be possible without your help. I can never thank you guys enough for giving my songs a chance." They were beaming and I felt happy. This is what made it all worth it.

I was trying to see each and everyone of them, trying to hold eye contact to show them how much I appreciated their presence. When I turned to the left side of the platform, that's when I saw him, Dante, looking like he was stunned. The moment our eyes met, I saw him turn his head the other way avoiding my gaze. He was seated with Chino and Tony, both looked happy to be recognized when I waved at them. Dante gave me a rueful smile, as if saying look what your song did to me. I winked at him and gave him finger-hearts.

I could hear the playful laughter coming from the other patrons.

"What about us?" I heard a girl in the backrow scream. I found the girl in question, Angela, putting up a sad face. I pointed at her direction and gave her finger-hearts as well. I ended up doing the same thing for everyone within the venue and we all ended up laughing.

When Michael and Max were done tuning, we continued playing.

**

When the set ended, I could barely hear myself while thanking them all for coming. I could see Anita and Nica taking pictures of everyone and giving me the thumbs-up sign. Annie looked like a stage mom screaming my name and waving a lightstick she brought for the occasion.

We went towards the backroom lounge inside the cafe where I was in for another surprise.

Ana was holding a bouquet and as soon as she saw me, she handed them to me. "You were so beautiful tonight, every song was breathtaking."

"I didn't see you in the crowd, where were you?" I hugged her and she giggled like a little kid.

"Well, I didn't want to be recognized so I put on a disguise." She pointed to a bunch of clothing and a face mask on the couch.

Before I could get a word out, she handed me a card, rather four cards. "Everyone wanted to come but they had other important business stuff to do, you know how it is. But they made sure to write you these."

The cards were from Lina, Emilia and Flora and they all said more or less the same thing. Do your best and good luck.

"I also have a voice recording with the three of them. I'll let you listen to it later. Why don't you sit down?" Ana sat besides me and I noticed that she looked more beautiful last I've seen her.

"The dark concept looks really good on you." I commented. "It brings the s.e.xy in you."

That made her blush and I laughed.

"Stop flirting with me, otherwise I might really fall for you." She took my hand and playfully kissed my fingers.

It was then that the door opened and the rest of the band along with my manager and Nica entered the room with a bunch of food and drinks with them.

Max covered his eyes and muttered. "Is this something that we should not be seeing?"

I picked up a comforter and chucked it at him.

"Oh come on seriously? The two of you?" Anita took the comforter and threw it back at us. "Men will be heartbroken when they find out that the visual of Night Prowlers and Caroline King are dating."

"Are you sure it'll just be men?" Michael said. "Look at Nica, she looks like she's going to faint."

Nica who was staring intently at me and Ana the moment she entered the room, snapped out of her daydream and laughed. "Well, I could always write fanfiction."

That got us all laughing.

**

I was on my way home with Ana beside me, she wanted to sleepover at my place, says she missed sleeping with me, a phrase which made me laugh.

"What?" Her smile was truly seductive, no wonder boys were tripping on their feet whenever they see her.

"So you wanna sleep with me?" It was my first attempt at being s.e.xy in a long while and it worked. Ana covered her face with her hands and acted as if she was shaking all over. It was something she did whenever she felt happy, it also made her irresistibly cute.

When we arrived, we headed straight for bed but first we grabbed some milktea and some biscuits. We ate and drank them in my room.

"I met a fan of yours earlier at the mall while I was grabbing dinner." Ana told me while sipping milktea.

"What'd they have to say? Do I know them?" I asked her.

"Hmm, I think he helped out in setting up the venue."

There were only three people I knew who helped Nica prepare for the gig.

"What's his name?" I asked my curiosity got the better of me.

"Dante I think? I dunno about the last name though."

"Dante Caulfield. That's his name." I told her.

"You know him?" She looked surprised so I told her about how we met yesterday.

"So he told you a story." Ana looked as if she was deep in thought.

"Yeah, a story about a man named Borgia and Machiavelli, why?" I asked her.

"That's so unlike you." She was smiling at me as if she was in on a secret.

"What?"

"Just a feeling." Then she said no more. I bugged her about it all the way to bed and when she wouldn't tell me I tackled and pinned her down.

Finally, she resented when I started to playfully kiss her on the forehead and on the cheeks. "I know he's just a fan and you love your fans but the way you talk about him, there's something different, I just can't say what."

"He reminds me of my father, the way he told stories. His voice seems to paint a vivid picture of the whole story, it was just like how my father would tell me stories when I was young." I confessed.

When she heard this, she looked concerned and embraced me. Then she was on the other side of the bed and we were staring at each other. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad."

"You didn't, silly. And besides I'm happy you're here with me." And we held each other like that for some time until we fell asleep.