Ari: ಠ_ಠ
At the sudden topic of advice instead of details on how James Jones II planned on paying him back for lost intellectual property and time wasted, Ari could only bite his tongue as he waited for the man to get to his point before retorting.
After taking several cigarette puffs, James Jones II finally started speaking in a slow country drawl.
"You know my kid James is quite talented. More talented than all my other sons put together. He's been singing and playing country music since he was yee high." James Jones II held his hand lightly below his knee.
"He's the one who's finally going to break this no-win Grammy nomination curse in our family and get the accolades we finally deserve for putting our all into creating and contributing to the legacy of true music. That's country music to a fancy city boy like you."
Ari:"..."
James Jones III continued, as if he didn't expect a response. "Which is why I refuse to let him ruin his future by joining some pansy music show where he'll be singing and dancing to the tune of some fake music rather than focusing on making the real stuff with his talent."
"It's his talent and his skills, and you don't get to dictate how it's used. You can't 'refuse to let him do something' or force him to do anything. He's already auditioned for the program and made it, and from what I've seen of his singing skills, he'll continue to make it past the next round."
"If I paid to have it nurtured and provided him the skills and opportunity to do so, I have a say in what my son does with those skills. What he wants and plans to do doesn't matter because he will never succeed on that show. I won't allow it."
At the sheer confidence in Jamie's father's voice, Ari narrowed his eyes.
"….what do you mean by that?"
Jamie's father began laughing, "You know this industry is quite small. Everybody knows everybody."
"…and so? Is there a point to all of this, or are you talking just to talk?"
Was this stupidly long story going somewhere?
"Hold your horses, young fella. There's a purpose in the journey as well as the destination."
"Since this doesn't seem like advice and I don't like speaking in parables, I'll just leave. I'm quite busy thanks to SOMEBODY."
"All you youngsters are always in a rush. Well then, mask face, riddle me this: Whoho did you think I was talking to when you walked by?"
Ari stared at him blankly.
"All that I'm saying is that all it takes is one call to make sure James doesn't move on past this round. That this foolish fancy of his ends here." James Jones II spat to the side in disgust, as if the thought of the show made him sick.
Ari stared at the man in shock before speaking, "You're joking. You called the program to get your son kicked out! Are you crazy?"
"Kick him out? Not at all. The next round involves the audience vote, and the judge votes, with the judges having priority. I know the little task they gave him, and even if he does an amazing performance, I've asked them to fail him if his song has even the barest hint of country music to it. Once he fails spectacularly in front of his peers, industry professionals, and the general public, he'll finally quit this nonsensical behavior and focus solely on the true music. The music that's been in his blood since he was born."
Ari could only stare at Jamie's father in sheer disbelief.
One of the things he couldn't stand the most were pretentious people, and personally, Ari thought one of the most stupid things you could be pretentious about was music.
Whether it was made for fun or was meaningful, had soulful lyrics or just random words, it didn't matter as long as the creator of the music and the listener enjoyed it.
Why would you bother putting one genre above another, especially in a global world where people live and experience different things? It was stupid.
The fact that this man would go this far for his 'true music' was insane.
Especially when it meant degrading the talent and effort of your own kid, and trying to block his dreams just to prove your own thoughts about music was right.
And to top it off, this man planned on using his connections to try to eliminate Jamie even if he performed amazingly?
Not on his watch!
Originally, Ari had no plans to get involved in Jamie's family drama, but this was a step too far.
Ari narrowed his eyes, taking a deep breath so he was calm before speaking.
Truly, he was trying his best not to blow up.
"Is that the advice of someone near the top of the industry? That anybody with a little bit of power can make one call to cancel someone's dream? Or are you threatening to do that to me as well? What makes you think I won't tell Jamie you said this?"
"Tell him. He knows how I feel about it. And me threatening you? Not at all, you're not worth me wasting a favor on. My advice to you would be to give up. Based on that garbage song you wrote, I can tell you have no talent and I don't see you passing even the next round of even that pansy show with all the talent they gathered. And I don't know if that mask of yours is a gimmick to attract attention, but you'll never get far in this industry with those kinds of things."
James Jones II paused before turning to stare at Ari, "And although James seems quite attached to you, I'd appreciate it if you stayed away from my son. You're clearly a bad influence, and I need my son to focus on the path I've chosen for him instead of whatever it is you plan on doing with your life."
Ari stared at Jamie's father in silence before suddenly pulling out the Post-it notes and pen from his pocket and holding them out.
"What?"
"Autograph."
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
"I heard it, I'd still like the signature. I'm not a fan, but you're famous or at least popular to some people, so it should be worth a lot of money, right? Sign here and label it To Ari."
Ari gave the man a polite smile while holding out his sticky notes, even though internally he was cursing him out.
As soon as Jamie's father signed the sticky note and Ari saw the 'Ding!' that indicated that a mission was complete, he stood up and glared at Jamie's father.
"Firstly, you can't decide whether Jamie and I are friends; that's between him and me. Secondly, if you're judging my talent based on my appearance, I could say the same about you - a middle-aged man who flexes his industry muscles based on his past glory. After all, wasn't your Grammy nomination 20 years ago? Well before Jamie was born? You had all that time and still couldn't achieve it. How sad."
"You rude little punk!"
"Congratulations, you have eyes. I am rude and a little punk and take great pride in it."
Ari smiled wildly to restrain the anger bubbling inside of him before continuing, "Third and finally, those words of yours? I'll make you choke on them, so make sure you tune in to see my untalented gimmicky punk self and your brilliant son both pass the next round of that pansy music show with the 'garbage songs' that we created."
RIP-
While James Jones II was glaring at him, Ari shredded the post-it note with the autograph on it and tossed it at the man's face like confetti.
"This autograph is as worthless as your opinion to me. Make sure you're watching your son continue to chase his dream with or without your approval you damn old man."
And without waiting for a response, Ari ran back into Jamie's studio, slamming the door shut.
"You're back. Why did you go to buy drinks? The fridge is full of them." Jamie asked with a much more composed expression as he sat on the chair with the icepack still held to his cheek.
"James Jones the third!"
"Y-yes, sir!" For some reason, Jamie immediately stood at attention, saluting Ari like a soldier and holding the makeshift icepack to his face with one hand.
"…why are you saluting me?"
"Whenever somebody calls my full name in that tone, it just feels like I should do so. My older brothers used to do this to me all the time."
"You are so odd. Whatever anyways. I hope you're prepared to stay awake and live in the studio for the next two days. Forget leaving, forget showering, forget that you have a home or a family, this is our war room now."
"What? Why?" Jamie looked completely confused as he halfway saluted and sat down.
"Why else? We're remaking my song, then I'm going to help you strip every bit of country from your music until you make a song for the program and prove your dad wrong. I hope you're ready."
"Ready?"
As Jamie stared at Ari in confusion, Ari just gave him an innocent smile as he messaged Granny Choi and Priest Steven Choi that he would be missing for the next two days, so he wouldn't be able to clean or help at the bathhouse.
In his mind, Ari was already planning the schedule, including singing practice, the Repeat Missions, and performance details, including the previously scrapped trumpet portion.
He meant what he said about shoving a fantastic performance with 'garbage music' down Jamie's father's throat.
Other skilled contestants?
Who cared?
He would focus on preparing the most amazing stage that he could with what he had now.
He thought the song they had made was good, and he just had to remake it and make that performance shine fully so the audience and the judges loved it.
And since Ari didn't believe in suffering alone, he would naturally include Jamie in the suffering—he meant bonding together.
'All of your music has a country sound in it? I'll strip it all out and make you make it again and again until you're sick of it.'
"A-ari? W-why are you smiling like that?"
"This? It's my 'I want to beat somebody up but I can't' grin. It means we're going to compose and then practice until we die. You and I both are definitely going to make it into the top 100 and prove that damn father of yours completely wrong."
"My pops? Did you talk to him? Are you okay? I hope he wasn't mean to you."
Despite Jamie's worried questions. Ari just patted his cheek gently.
"Don't you worry about him. Let's get started."