Chapter 29: Her Worth

Aurora

My worst fear came true.

As soon as the first teaser of the series was released, the fans of B4U started calling me Nora Nova's replacement—more like accusing me. They were saying I wasn't suitable to be part of the band, least of all Davian's love interest in the series.

Someone even commented that Nora was forced to leave the band because of me. I was an evil person in their eyes.

I didn't wipe the tears that slid through my eyes. Rather, I wanted to cry my heart out. It all hurt so much.

I stood up from the couch abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Davian asked as soon as he felt me getting up and opened his eyes. He was a light sleeper, after all. When I didn't turn to look at him, he called out softly, "Aura?"

Hearing him call me so gently with concern made me want to cry more. Davian thought of me as Nora's replacement in the beginning, but he accepted me eventually because he saw me closely. But what about the hate I was receiving from the people? How would that be removed? I couldn't possibly go to all of the haters and tell them to get to know me closely.

I was about to head to my room, but a hand grabbed mine. By the touch, I knew it was Davian. When I still didn't turn to look at him, he got up from the couch and stood in front of me.

He scanned my face, and when I still stayed quiet, he pulled me into his warm embrace. I couldn't control myself anymore, so I ended up bursting into more tears as I hugged him back tightly.

He caressed my back, assuring me silently that he was there for me.

We stayed in that position for a while until a familiar voice spoke, "Woah, I didn't realize I would wake up to this sight in front of me," Declan commented. "Though, I don't mind. Hey, Jax, wake up and see this."

I broke apart from the hug and looked at Declan, who was shaking Jaxon by his shoulder so that he would wake up.

"Get up, idiot," Declan uttered, making Jaxon groan.

"What's your problem, dude?" Jaxon mumbled, slowly opening his eyes. He looked at me and immediately his eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Why are you crying?"

"Huh?" Declan's eyes shifted to me once Jaxon asked me that question. "I thought it was a romantic hug, but now it seems like I was wrong. What happened, Aura?"

Knowing I had nowhere to run away from them, I sucked in a deep breath and started narrating, "The first teaser of the series is out already and..."

"And...?" Davian asked, getting impatient.

"And people are already hating me," I managed to choke out after closing my eyes.

The three of them took out their phones and started to check the comments of the people.

"Why are you focusing on the negative comments? Look at the positive ones," Declan told me.

I furrowed my brows. "Positive ones? Are there any positive comments?"

"Yes, there are a lot of those," Jaxon informed me and showed me his phone.

Indeed, some people gave good comments a few minutes ago.

"Well, when I checked, it was all negative. I guess a few people took pity on me." I chuckled humorlessly.

"The only negative comments you are getting are from the B4U fanbase," Declan said as if it would make me feel better.

"Dee, the B4U fanbase is huge. And if I am a member of B4U, then I dream to get the same kind of love from fans like you guys," my voice was trembling as I spoke.

"Even we have haters," Jaxon pointed out. They were trying so hard to make me feel better, but it wasn't helping me. Rather, it broke me more.

Davian sighed and made me sit back on the couch. He looked straight into my eyes and said, "We chose you because you proved us your worth. And it's time for us to show your worth to the world."

"They will see it in the series," said Jaxon.

"No," Declan interrupted him. "We have to do something as well instead of waiting for the series to launch. We can't let Aura face the hatred for such a long period. It will be too late by then."

"But how will I prove my worth?" I asked them.

Davian twitched his lips and answered, "Leave it to me."

"But—" I was interrupted by him as he leaned closer to me.

"Just trust me, Aura."

Not being able to answer him due to the closeness, I just gave a slight nod.

He smiled at me in return.

###

"How are you, Nancy?" one of my dads asked me through FaceTime. "Have you been eating properly?"

"Of course, Dad," I answered, putting a smile on my lips. "Jax made sure I eat every time he eats something, and trust me, he eats a lot."

My other dad took the phone and asked, "Did Davian do anything yet? It has been three days."

"I trust him, Dad. He has something going on in his mind, and he is busy doing that. I asked him once what he was planning, but he told me to just wait till he was done arranging everything," I said confidently.

I trusted Davian a lot, after all.

I have been receiving the negative comments more, but I was also focusing on the small positive comments. It made me feel better.

"Aura, can you come out? We have somewhere to go!" Declan hollered from the door.

"Talk to you later, Dads. Bye," with that, I cut the call and put on a purple hoodie over my tank top.

I opened the door of my room, only to find Declan still standing outside.

"Let's go," he mumbled.

"Where's Davian and Jax? Where are we going?" I inquired as the two of us started walking towards the garage where LM gave B4U four cars—each car for a bandmate.

We got into Declan's car, and he started driving outside the LM territory.

"Dee, why aren't you saying anything? Why are we leaving the LM territory? Did you take permission?" We weren't allowed to leave without permission from our manager.

"Aura, we are going to Davian and Jax. Also, yes, we have permission, but I can't tell you where we are going right now," he answered at last.

I heaved a sigh in relief and leaned my head back against the headrest, waiting to reach the destination. Declan put on some music to fill in the ten-minutes silence.

Soon, we reached an open field, and the sky was already dark with the barest hints of sunlight from the horizon. Before I could say anything, Declan put a blindfold over my eyes.

"Just trust us," Declan whispered, and I nodded my head.

He held my hand as we started walking. I had no idea where he was taking me, but there were a few stairs I had to climb onto.

Once we reached a place and didn't walk anymore, I felt Declan's hand leaving mine.

"Dee?" I called out, but I didn't hear a response.

An unusual feeling crept into my heart. I was about to open my blindfold, but someone else did it before me.

As soon as the blindfold left my eyes, I looked in front of me, only to find plenty of pairs of eyes looking at me, making me avert my gaze at that instant.

I scanned my surroundings and almost had a heart attack.

The stage I was standing on was even bigger than I had ever imagined, and standing on it, under the bright purple spotlights directed at me, I felt more intimidated than ever.

Even though I was so scared, I had to look up at the audience again. As expected, their judgemental eyes were scrutinizing me, whispering among each other and snickering.

When I turned back, I found Davian standing with a big smile on his face. So he was the one who opened my blindfold.

"I told you to trust me," he said.

"And I did," I replied to him. "But what is all this?"

"A surprise concert for you so that you can prove your worth," he stated, and this time, I realized he had a mic with him so our conversation was being heard by all the people here.

When I was surprised to hear him, he further spoke, "I know you are confused, but this is what I planned."

"To confuse me?" I couldn't help but ask.

Davian chuckled and stroked my right cheek. "Wrong." He started explaining, "To prove your worth, I arranged this concert for you, and I have complete permission from LM."

"Then, why didn't you just tell me about it?"

"If I had told you, then the B4U fans would think that you forced us to organize this concert for you. So to make B4U fans accept you, they need to realize your worth just like we did."

"Yes, Aura," Jaxon spoke up. He was standing with his bass in one corner. "Fans need to see that despite not knowing about this concert, how nicely you can handle everything."

"And the fans need to know," Declan started speaking through the mic while he was sitting in front of the drums, "Aurora Eugene doesn't need B4U, rather B4U needs her."

Gasps were heard from the crowd, but I didn't care about it. My eyes were watery seeing the support my bandmates were giving. It proved how much faith they had in me.

"So Aura—er, Aurora will sing a song now, and y'all can decide whether she's worthy enough or not. Though we know her true worth, she still wants the fans of B4U to know as well," Davian announced. "Today, she will be the only lead singer while I'll sing the chorus when needed."

He handed me a mic and mumbled, "Best of luck. You got this."

"Thank you, but which song shall I sing, Davian?"

"Walk Through The Dusk."

I looked at him in confusion. "But I can't sing that. Remember we prepared it for the series?"

Seeing my perplexed expression, he chuckled. "We can always write new songs. Now, go steal the spotlight you have always been worthy of having."

Butterflies danced around in my belly at his sweet, encouraging words. I gave him a curt nod and turned on the mic he handed me.

Davian picked up his guitar and looked at me.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked over at the audience in front of me. I had to do this for B4U, so I looked to my sides where Davian and Jaxon were standing, then over my shoulder at Declan, giving them—the people I adore—a final look.

Then, I started singing.

🎶

Standing on the rooftop
Watching you walk alone
Wanting to hold your hand
Though I can't
I don't wanna walk through dusk without you
Everything seems empty
And I know you feel it too

Is this the end of the world I have ever dreamt of
Do I have to leave you
Can't I make it stop?

If living here means I can't have you
Then I wish you knew

I dream of
Climbing on the stage
With you
Solving the maze
With you

Oh...

Every time I close my eyes
I feel the love of us rise
Nothing can stop us now
We will walk through the dusk
Oh...
Walk through the dusk...

Hand in hand
On the sand
With our glam

If loving you is a crime
I don't want to shine

I dream of
Climbing on the stage
With you
Solving the maze
With you

Loving you means losing it all
But for you, I will let it crawl
Cause we will walk through the dusk
Oh...
Walk through the dusk...

With you
(I just need your side)
With you
(I just need your love)
With you
(I can face everything)
Without you
(I don't want to live my life)

I just want to be with you
Only you

🎶

As soon as I finished singing the song, the crowd cheered and started saying, "Once more!"

Did that mean they liked it?

Oh, my God! They liked my song!

"Congratulations, Aura. You finally proved it to them," Declan praised from behind.

"You did just as great as we expected you to," Davian said, giving me a warm, proud smile.

"Finally, we will have mutual haters now," Jaxon exclaimed in excitement. "Because there will always be haters; not everyone loves B4U."

"I am willing to accept every hatred I get if you guys are there too," I replied with a smile.

"Time for a group hug!" Jaxon engulfed us in a hug, making all of us laugh.

Thank you, Davian. Trusting you was the best decision I have ever made.