Play some music.

Ben gulped in a large quantity of beer down his throat also, he hadn't touched his bottle of beer for minutes now, he was engulfed by Mark's explanation. He glanced at Mark and noticed he was drinking his beer hastily, he emptied the bottle in one go.

"Why the rush? is it because of the mes..."

"Yeah, it's because of the message Henry sent to me, rethinking about it just seem to spoil my mood once again, that message really pierced deep into my heart". Mark said abruptly cutting Ben's word short as he expressed what he was feeling inside.

Ben wrapped his left hand around Mark's shoulder as he patted it a bit before saying,

"Those two past friends of yours have hurt you in many ways. First of all, they abandoned you when you needed their help the most, they made fun of your music career not even feeling remorse for their previous actions, now Henry sent a disheartening message to you 'cause of the song you recorded about them. Can you ever forgive them if they ever feel remorse for their wrongdoings towards you?".

"I don't think so, but if I do forgive them, am not sure I would be able to forget". Mark expressed.

"Hmmm, that exactly how I'll d feel also if I were you, it would be very difficult to forgive them, but when I eventually do, it would be extremely hard to forget 'cause they f**ked up big time". Ben said expressing how he would react if he was in Mark's shoe.

"Yeah, they f**ked up big time, people that saw how close we were back then would think our friendship would have become much stronger by now not knowing that it is in complete shambles".

"I used your experience to know that even the best of friends could later separate in bad ways due to one thing or the other". Ben said.

Mark nodded his head with an unpleasant smile on his face, "That's true, the main reason why our friendship shattered into pieces was because of fame. The moment John and Henry attained fame as artistes, they felt on top of the world. How could a popular artiste like them be talking to an upcoming artiste like me? let's make fun of him instead. Yeah, that's what their reasoning would have been like. The worst part of it is that they forgot the promise we made to each other, to always be there for each other even after attaining fame, they forgot it all. Reflecting on those events would just make me more sad and downhearted, lets change the topic please".

"Surely, let's change the topic". Ben uttered, he doesn't want to be part of any discussion that would dishearten Mark or weigh him down.

"Your mum and dad aren't present at this get-together party, they should be here to celebrate with you, or is anything wrong?" Mark inquired with concern in his tone of voice and facial expression.

"There is no problem, everything is cool, the reason why they aren't here is that they are far away from here, they aren't living anywhere close at the moment". Ben explained.

"But they are aware that you purchased a car right?" Mark inquired.

"Yeah, they are aware of it, I sent a direct message to almost everyone am close to both in the past and present about the good news".

"That's cool.....what of your wife? she isn't here".

"My wife isn't back yet, she traveled for over weeks now, she travels a lot due to the nature of her job, when she comes back, we gonna spend the best possible time together?".

"Is she aware of the car already?"

"Yeah, she is among the first set of people I messaged about it".

"Ok".

They kept silent for a while as Mark took another bottle of beer and began drinking, he drank moderately this time.

"The studio is gonna be filled up with people tomorrow". Ben stated lighting up the conversation once again.

"Why?" Mark asked inquisitively.

"I am gonna be producing some of the songs that are gonna featured on Harry's upcoming studio album, so he and some other people are gonna be present at the studio tomorrow". Ben explained.

"Apart from Harry, which other people are to be present at the studio tomorrow?". Mark queried.

"His manager, some sound engineers, some of his close friends, and some pretty girls".

Mark scratched his head in confusion before throwing a question at Ben,

"Why do those set of people have to be present in the studio just because you and Harry want to record songs that would be featured in his album?"

"The album is gonna be really special, I am the third producer that is gonna be working on two of the songs in the album, two other producers have created some songs that are to be in the album. So those people that are gonna be present in the studio tomorrow have their different parts to play. The sound engineers are gonna be assisting in the mixing of the two songs, his manager would be present there to advise him in some things regarding the recording. His friends are gonna play the part of boosting his morale while he is recording, as for the pretty girls, I don't know their roles". Ben elucidated gulping his beer.

"Ohhh! I understand now, I would like to be there also, I want to get along with Harry and know more about him. We've crossed part severally in different shows and concerts, but we don't talk". Mark uttered as his face gleamed with a bit of excitement.

A sudden smile plastered unto Ben's face also as he said, "That would be so nice, you guys could get acquainted with each other and a collaboration could spark off from there. And the song could drop alongside one of the ten songs we recorded back then according to your label's schedule".

"Harry isn't much of a famous artiste, he is an underground artiste and everybody knows that. So collaborating with him wouldn't add much to the improvement of my music career". Mark expressed.

"But at least, he is enjoying fame to a certain degree, and his streaming numbers and video views are up to a million and above. Collaborating with him could even attain you fame as an artiste".

Those last words that flowed out of Ben's mouth prompted Mark to stare at him unpleasantly. He couldn't even comprehend if Ben meant what he just said or he was joking. How could he say collaborating with Harry could attain him fame?

"You don't mean it, how could you say collaborating with Harry could attain me fame, I couldn't even achieve that after collaborating with Arnold, a legend in the music industry". Mark blurted still with that unpleasant expression on his face.

"You don't know, anything can happen, the impossibles can become possible, this world is full of wonders. Anyway, just try to be present at the studio tomorrow as early as possible".

With that last statement from Ben, they both kept mute as they focused more on finishing their bottles of beer. The get-together party at Ben's house was still ongoing, the crates of beers and drinks had reduced immensely, everyone had drunk to their satisfaction. The party was flowing smoothly as everyone could be seen drinking, laughing and conversing with each other.....It was a happy moment. But even with how well the party was flowing, something was missing that could make the party livelier....it was music.

Yeah, music had been missing from the very commencement of the party, and it was making things a bit dull for some people. But no one wanted to ask to not disrupt the peace of the party, but Ben's uncle couldn't keep mute anymore, he wanted music so he stood up and voiced out,

"Ben, isn't it possible to play some music, at least to make this party livelier?"

"Sure, it totally skipped my mind all this while". Ben uttered as he squeezed himself through to get to his home theater and play some cool music.

The first song that played was a slow burner type of music, it was slow-paced and very pleasant to the ears. The vibe and calmness of the song filled the whole room and it was evident that everyone in the room was feeling the song. The party became much livelier as different genres of music played, both the old school type of music and current hip hop kind of music, all soothing to the ears. It was already late in the night, the time was about 9:01 pm, people were already leaving the party as each of them congratulated Ben once again before departing from his house.

His uncle, aunts, cousins, friends and some other people left the party as it was only Mark and few other people that remained. Mark spent a few minutes more before standing up to take his leave,

"Promise you gonna be present at the studio tomorrow, you meeting and getting acquainted with Harry just seem important to me all of a sudden". Ben stated.

"Sure, I promise, I'm gonna be at the studio tomorrow". Mark said giving his words.

"Ok, I trust you on that".

With that final words from Ben, Mark departed from his edifice. The snow hadn't started plummeting once again, but the cold was still extreme. Mark got to the main road to board a taxi that would drive him straight to his dwelling, but he couldn't find any, the road was free of taxis. The only vehicles that were passing by were public buses, Mark was tired of waiting for a cab already, so he decided to board public transport instead.

Before he could do so, he sighted a taxi coming in his direction and he halted it right away,

"Can you drive me to my apartment located at the savage estate very close to the 'Huron street'?". Mark inquired of the cabman.

"Sure". The cabman retorted.

With that, Mark hopped into the backseat of the taxi as the cabman sped off.