{Chapter 14}

Livia stood up and walked off the stage, guitar in hand. She bowed and greeted anyone that she passed, but she really didn’t know who she was greeting. Rehearsals were the hardest part of promoting for her. There were days she didn’t want to do them but had to, wanted to do them but wasn’t given the time, or there were even days when the rehearsals made her want to just go home and crawl into bed without filming the actual show.

She was tired and sweaty, even though all she needed to do was sit on a stool, play a guitar, and sing a song that she had written herself. It was much less stressful than what some of the other performers had to go through, dancing around on stage, remembering lyrics to a song they didn’t write, and being in sync with the other dancers or group members.

But still, rehearsals tired Livia completely. Knowing where cameras are, starting and restarting, making sure the sound was right for her and for the audience—all of it was just tiring.

Livia finally managed to get to her dressing room. Today, she hadn’t been forced to share with anyone else, because there were a smaller number of artists today. It wasn’t a problem with Livia usually. She liked watching other artists get ready. There was even one time she got to share with a rookie group on the day of their first ever stage, and watching them and the emotions they went through led Livia through her own memories of being their age and performing professionally for the first time.

Today though, there were no excitable rookies, no divas, no ridiculous sets of clothing on racks that Livia had to navigate through.

Instead, once Livia made it to the dressing room, she put the guitar back in its case and laid down on the couch, fully prepared to stay there and sleep until her manager woke her up before she had to go on stage.

But of course, that didn’t happen.

Instead, she woke up to the smell of something cooking.

Livia, suddenly conscious, rolled over and immediately wanted to think she was dreaming.

The entire We Got Married team was here, filming her while she slept. There were cameras were trained on her, but the cameramen were all preoccupied with other business, so they hadn’t noticed her wake up.

Just as Livia was going to roll over and try to figure out the most graceful way to get up for the cameras’ benefits, something suddenly popped up from the foot of the couch, making Livia squeak in surprise.

After the initial shock, she immediately recognized the spots. She sighed and reached out to pat the dog on his side, which was now right in front of her face.

“Oh, she’s up!” she heard one of the producers comment. Because Bbangku was blocking her view, Livia couldn’t see what was going on, but she heard scrambling being done from the other side of the Dalmatian.

She quickly smoothed what hair she could and did her best without a mirror to make sure the minimal make up she had on wasn’t smudged all over face before sitting back up, and into the sight of the cameras.

She nodded slightly in greeting out of habit, but was more distracted trying to figure out why they were even here. This was the first time the We Got Married crew had ever come to where she was working, though, as Livia thought about it, she really shouldn’t be so surprised by their presence, since they had already managed to infiltrate her home once.

Livia began looking around from where she sat, marveling at how much they had been able to get in or move around without waking her up. But one glance around reminded her of the reason she woke up in the first place: she had smelled food.

On the counter furthest from her, a large array of foods had been laid out and arranged, and all of it smelled amazing, and reminded Livia that she hadn’t eaten since last night.

She groaned slightly, eyeing the food.

Her eyes landed on the person setting all of it up, and nearly gasped, though she really shouldn’t have been surprised to see Day Day here in the first place, since the We Got Married crew was here, not to mention Bbangku’s presence.

Livia managed to contain a gasp, but she still felt surprised, as well as a little nervous. She hadn’t expected a visit.

She managed to get up off the couch without seeming too uncoordinated, and walked over to the counter where Day Day was silently placing bottles of water. She surveyed the food, wondering how he had managed to get all of it here.

But the best part was that every dish was…

“American,” Day Day said finally, satisfied with the set up. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said, turning to look at Livia and her reaction.

“Hamburgers…” she sighed, her eyes landing on a plate full of them.

“Turkey burgers,” Day Day corrected. “I was pretty sure that I had read somewhere that you didn’t eat beef, so I tried to find a really good alternate…”

Livia gaped at Day Day, amused and shocked. Not only had he read up on her before trying to feed her, but he had remembered something that she was still trying to get her parents to remember, even after more than two years.

“Is that not right…?” Day day questioned, misinterpreting her stare.

“No, no, no, you got it right,” Livia assured him. “I’m just surprised you would bother looking up what I like to eat. I feel bad now, since when I cooked for you and your band, I really just made whatever…” Livia trailed off, still looking around the food.

“It’s fine,” Day Day said. “We’ll typically eat anyth—”

He was cut off by a squeal from Livia, making everyone look to where she stood, now a little way away from Day Day, pointing at a casserole dish. She was looking at Day Day, a huge grin on her face. “Macaroni and cheese!”

Day Day stopped talking, and forgot about even finishing his sentence. If he had known that simple macaroni and cheese would make his on-screen wife this happy, he would have brought it to their first meeting.

“Try it,” he said, handing her a plate.

“This is the real stuff,” Livia said quietly as she scooped out a good sized portion onto her plate. To Day Day, she said, “I’ve always hated powdered macaroni and cheese. The casserole version is the only kind I’ll eat.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Day Day answered quietly, watching Livia fill her plate with food.

When she was finished, she pinched a little bit of her macaroni and cheese off of her plate, and motioned to Bbangku, who had watched the proceedings from a safe distance away. “May I?” she asked Day Day.

“Sure.” He shrugged, and again was left delighted at how Livia’s face brightened, even if it was just because she got to feed his dog a little food.

After letting Bbangku her finger clean, Livia turned her attention back to her husband. “I’m going to go wash my hands really quickly. Why don’t you eat something too?” she asked as she walked out of the dressing room and towards the bathroom.

Once she had left, Day Day looked around with a sigh. He was tired, but all the work was definitely worth it. One thing though: he certainly wouldn’t be getting portioning advice from Daniel again. There was so much food, and there was no way he and Livia could finish it all by themselves.

“Do you guys want to eat?” Day Day asked the filming crew.

“You eat first,” Livia said, announcing her return. She walked back over to the stack of plates and handed Day Day one.

“Let’s eat,” she said with a grin.

Thanks for reading/subscribing~!

Thank you all for your outstanding patience. my semester is nearly at its end, so hopefully I'll be able to write more often over the break.

Have an idea for a date?

Let me know!

:D