Chapter 8

Eric and Dino arrived at the mall approximately thirty minutes before the start of the fan meeting.

"Okay, come on, Eric!" Dino declared excitedly before turning to run at the direction of the venue for the fan meeting.

"Hey, Dino, wait for me!" Eric called while following from behind as he tried his best to not lose sight of Dino.

It did not take that long before Eric and Dino reached the venue of the fan meeting. Just as they had expected, many people were lined up there already.

"Oh man...There are many people here already," Dino complained. "But it's a good thing that we came even before the event started."

"Yeah!" Eric replied merrily. "If we had come even a few minutes later, who knows how many people would be lined up here now?"

"Thank goodness we're here now," Dino answered while smiling innocently. "Anyway, do you have your notebook or wherever you plan Ivan to sign?"

"Yeah, I do," Eric responded with a nod. "What about you, man?"

"Don't worry, man," Dino replied. "I have it with me too."

"Great!" Eric exclaimed happily.

[I can't wait to meet Ivan again.] Dino thought while trembling in excitement. [I already have his contact number and social media account details, so I guess I'm somehow special to Ivan compared to the other fans here. Another thing, he said that he likes me, which made me feel so happy! And I haven't told Eric about that yet. I'll tell him some other time.]

Several minutes later, Eric and Dino were fortunate enough to be able to have their own seats. The people who were not able to get seats needed to stand. In front of the audience, there was a stage, meaning that there was a possibility that Ivan will also be performing.

"Alright! We can sit down while we're waiting!" Dino declared cheerfully.

"Yeah, man!" Eric responded merrily. "Anyway, I've brought some snacks here, Dino. Want some?"

"Yeah! Thanks, Eric!" Dino replied while wearing his innocent smile.

"You're welcome! Here you go, man!" Eric exclaimed while grinning from ear to ear before handing over a pack of Skyflakes Crackers to his best friend.

Several minutes passed before a female host holding a wireless microphone appeared on the stage and, while holding the wireless microphone close to her mouth, announced, "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the fan meeting event with Ivan Sadovsky! May I hear your shouts and claps, please?"

The audience cheered, including Dino and Eric.

[Oh well...The host pronounced Ivan's name wrong.] Dino thought, having learned the correct pronunciation of Ivan's name yesterday. [It's 'ee-van', not 'eye-van'. Anyway, that's the pronunciation that we're used to in the Philippines, so it can't be helped.]

"Okay, nice to meet you all, everyone!" the female host continued. "So within a few minutes, Ivan will come here to meet you all. Please get your autograph signing materials ready as well. Thank you, everyone!"

The audience cheered again, with each person trembling with excitement as the time to meet Ivan Sadosky was drawing near.

"Dino, I can't wait to meet him!" Eric declared in excitement.

"Same here, dude!" Dino answered just as excitedly as Eric.

A few minutes later, Ivan came out on the stage while holding a wireless microphone. He was wearing a long-sleeved polo and casual pants together with a nice pair of laced shoes.

"Good evening, everyone!" Ivan announced as lively as he could.

The audience cheered as loud as they could, including Dino and Eric.

"Okay, everyone!" Ivan announced merrily while holding the microphone. "I would like to thank you all for taking your time and effort in coming to this event to meet me. So, I would like to sing a song for all of you. Everyone, is that okay with you?"

The whole audience cheered out loud, with each person feeling very eager to hear Ivan's singing voice.

[Oh my goodness! He's going to sing!] Dino thought excitedly. [I've never heard him sing before!]

"Alright! I'll be singing for you all!" Ivan declared, making the audience cheer out loud again. "So what I'm going to sing is an English song that was composed by the Filipino band named South Border. I heard this song a week ago before coming here to the Philippines. Its title is 'Rainbow'," Ivan announced before the audience cheered in excitement.

The instrumental for the song began to play before Ivan said, "Everyone, please sing along with me."

Dino, who was snapping and grooving to the music, turned to Eric and said, "I like this song! And he's going to sing it too!"

"Same here, Dino!" Eric, who was also swaying to the music, responded while smiling from ear to ear.

The moment Ivan sang the first words of the song, the audience cheered upon hearing his nice baritone singing voice. Then each person in the audience started singing along with the Russian swimmer.

"Wow! He sings so well!" Dino commented merrily.

"Yeah! I didn't expect that he's this good!" Eric blurted out. "He's good at both swimming and singing!"

"I agree!" Dino responded while continuing to sway and sing along.

Ivan's performance went on, with his singing voice pleasing the audience and the audience continuing to sing along with him and either swaying or dancing to the beat. In some parts of the song, Ivan would let the audience sing the parts by directing the mouthpiece of the microphone at them. A few minutes later, Ivan had finished the song.

"Okay! Thank you, everyone!" Ivan announced.

"One more!" the audience said out loud.

"What?" Ivan asked while holding the microphone.

"One more!" the audience repeated.

[Just as expected. Many people would want him to sing again.] Dino thought.

"Okay, I expected this to happen," Ivan announced cheerfully. "So, in preparation for this, I also practiced another English song that was composed by another Filipino band. I'm also in love with this song called 'Forevermore' by Side A," Ivan declared, making the audience cheer in excitement. "But for this song, I want to pick someone from the audience to sing this together with me."

[Oh yeah...Dino should be here.] Ivan thought while looking for Dino among the audience. [I should find him and pick him for this duet with me.]

[Ivan...is he looking for me?] Dino thought before also raising his hand just like some of the audience members who were doing the same thing.

It took some moments for Ivan to spot Dino who was seated at the third row of the audience, making the former smile brightly.

"You over there!" Ivan declared while pointing at Dino. "That boy wearing a red jacket, please come here and sing the song with me."

"Dino, are you the one he's referring to?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, looks like it," Dino answered. "I'll be going then."

"Go on, man!" Eric declared happily. "Do your best! I'll be taking a video of you and Ivan too!"

"Thanks, man!" Dino answered while smiling innocently before proceeding to get up to the stage to sing together with Ivan.