Wilford Forbes took a deep breath before turning to the PD, who was recording everything with an amused expression.

"Cut the cameras. Now."

"Aye aye, Mr. Forbes, sir." Laughing to herself, PD Emily signed the camera crew to stop recording, and almost all of the cameras turned off.

It was nice to see things not going his way, especially after he barged into her show and took over.

She hoped Jamie and Ari would continue giving him hell.

"We’re good to go." PD Emily gave Wilford Forbes a thumbs-up.

"Could all of the contestants take a 10-minute water break. I’d like to have a brief talk with contestant James. I feel like we’re misunderstanding each other. Severely. The judges and camera crew as well." Wilford forced out through gritted teeth.

- Hmmm.

- ...I’m not thirsty though.

As the contestants began reluctantly filtering out of their seats and off the stage, several of them, including Benjamin, looking back worriedly, Ari stayed seated right where he was.

"Did you not hear me?" Wilford Forbes turned his cold expression on him, and Ari shrugged.

"I’m not thirsty."

"Then go use the bathroom."

"My bladder is empty."

Wilford Forbes: ಠ_ಠ

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"I’m asking you to leave because I want to have a private conversation with James."

"He told you he wanted to be called Jamie, not James, and I know. You can just treat me as if I’m a background character or air." Ari shot Wilford’s own words right back at him and made himself comfortable.

While he was extremely proud of Jamie’s newfound rebellious streak and found it very funny to see Wilford get angry, he didn’t trust anyone in the Forbes family and had no plans to leave Jamie alone with Wilford.

Especially with the cameras off and all the adults out of the room.

He would be staying right here unless he was dragged away, and even then, he would kick and scream on his way out.

"You think you’re being funny? I’m telling you to leave."

"I don’t think I’m funny. I do think I’m mostly annoying, with moments that are occasionally hilarious, but that’s neither here nor there. Why should I leave? Jamie doesn’t mind me staying right, Jamie?"

"Right. I want him to stay. Anything you tell me, you can tell him." Jamie replied resolutely.

"See. Treat me as air. Or as Jamie’s conjoined twin."

"If we’re conjoined twins, who gets to control the body?" Jamie asked curiously as he began thinking of the details of how that would work.

"Me."

"Why?"

"’Cause I said so."

"That’s not how that works! I want to control the conjoined body!"

"You’d have to pry it from my thin, bony hands. Or is it hand since I can only control one?"

"If that’s the case, then wouldn’t I win since my arm strength is stronger? Between the two of us, I actually work out every day."

"Then I’d recruit Levi, so we could be conjoined triplets, and he could overpower you."

"Levi’s not stronger than me."

"Remember his house?"

"Ugh..."

As he took in the unbelievably stupid and meaningless conversation taking place in front of him, Wilford Forbes truly couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

Children!

He was dealing with bratty children who were lashing out because they didn’t understand how the business world worked, and thought that their youth would protect them, and figured that if they complained loudly enough, they would get their way.

Well, they were wrong!!

Pinching his nose and taking a deep breath, Wilford Forbes quickly regulated his emotions before speaking in a stern tone while staring only at Jamie.

"James, I want you to understand that you’re wasting not only your own time but also the other contestants’ time. No matter how much you protest, the decision has been made, and William will not be leaving. So this childish protest of yours is very unbecoming and quite frankly makes me disappointed in you. I thought you were better than that."

"The feelings are mutual. I expected this kind of behavior from the producers, since they’re only concerned with making good TV, but I thought the person in charge of the future debut group would have much more integrity, especially in the music industry. I can see that I was wrong about that. It makes me quite worried about the future of the group and quite sad if these kinds of things are condoned in private." Jamie said calmly, the smile he had when speaking to Ari disappearing.

"Well, why don’t you make sure you make the group before making a nuisance of yourself. Because if you think that you’re safe just because you’re in 3rd place, or you’re irreplaceable just because you’re talented or have a family backing you, I want you to know that talented kids are being born and found every day. Nobody is bigger than the program, and if you don’t fall in line and stop being a nuisance so we can finish what we need to record today, you’ll be removed from the program entirely. Do you understand me, James?"

As Wilford brought out the threatening lines, his smile completely gone, Ari elbowed Jamie in the side once more.

He’d pushed him far enough, and now was the time to stop, since the argument wasn’t going anywhere.

But to Wilford’s surprise, instead of looking afraid, Jamie smiled a familiar cheeky smile before responding.

"Maybe? We’ll see."

"James. Jones." Wilford called out through gritted teeth.

"Oh, look. Seems like everyone is back. Howdy y’all." Jamie waved at the returning contestants and judges, completely ignoring Wilford Forbes.

When everyone was seated, and the cameras began rolling once more, Wilford Forbes forced a smile and started speaking.

"We’ll begin the team selection once more with Contestant James going first and Contestant William going second. Each of you will select 1 contestant at a time. I highly recommend that you each get an even number of contestants in the top and both 7. If you don’t, the selection will restart. Am I clear?"

"Yes," William responded confidently while Jamie smiled noncommittally regardless of how Wilford glared at him.

"Then let’s get started."

Tired of wasting time, Wilford called the two of them to stand on either side before handing the microphone over to the MC, who pretended that the past 30 minutes didn’t exist.

With the practiced smile of a seasoned MC, Ryan Leary began his spiel. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Contestant Jamie. Who is your first pick for your team?"

"Ariel," Jamie said with no hesitation, his blue eyes burning with a motivated fire.

"Ah, you sound very fired up. May I ask why you chose contestant Ariel? Is it because of your close friendship or-"

"Ari always puts up a good performance, and he’s the best person for the job I’m trying to do, and we have a lot of rapport built up," Jamie said

"Ohhh? And what job are you trying to do? Please share the secret with the rest of us." Ryan Leary replied curiously since he had never seen Jamie act like this before.

If he could get a good sound clip or quote, he was sure the production team would be very excited about it.

"I’m trying to prove a point to a lot of people, and I need his help to do it," Jamie said cryptically.

"Whoa! Mr. Jones, you sounded a bit cool there. Contestant Ariel, please come up and tell us how you feel after finally being picked first by contestant Jamie. I feel that you two have missed out on being on the same team for almost the entirety of the competition, so how do you feel now that it’s finally happened? And please, no one-word answers. Let’s continue the trend from your ranking speech and speak a lot, okay?"

Laughing at the MC’s dramatic expression, Ari ran up, high-fived Jamie, and took the microphone.

"I feel good about it."

"5 words this time. It seems you and contestant Levi are in a competition to see who speaks the least. Now, do you have any idea about what contestant Jamie is trying to prove?"

"No, but let me ask him."

Moving the microphone away, Ari gestured for Jamie to whisper in his ear.

And hearing his thoughts, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

"Ohhh. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree, let’s do it! That will be really fun, and it will prove a point! I know exactly who to select, leave it to me!"

Looking back at the MC who was staring at him expectantly, Ari cackled evilly.

"I won’t tell you because it’s a secret, but all I’ll say is that you should never disrespect music in front of our music genius. Look forward to the song he makes."

"Ohhh, I really want to know! Mind sharing?" Ryan Leary stomped his foot childishly, but Ari shook his head while making an X with his arms.

"No!"

"Fine, fine. Then let’s move on. Contestant William, who is your choice?"

"I choose Carlos," William announced confidently.

There was a polite round of applause as Carlos stood up and nodded politely at William instead of shaking his hand.

Noting the awkwardness, Ryan Leary quickly spoke up, "Carlos. Our resident vocal angel. How are you feeling about being chosen?"

"I’m looking forward to performing in the final in front of our fans, and I hope that we can perform something created from our hard work that we won’t be embarrassed about later."

Although Carlos didn’t call any names, everyone knew exactly who and what he was talking about, including William, whose face turned almost as red as his hair.

"Thank you, Carlos. Jamie, it’s back to you. Who’s your choice?"

Jamie glanced at Ari, who immediately pointed in a particular direction.

"I choose Benjamin Jamie as my next teammate."

Ahem.

At Wilford Forbes’ pointed cough, Jamie doubled down.

"Yes, Benjamin is my choice."

"Oh ho? Big Ben, make your way up here. How are you feeling? I recall you mentioning you wanted to be on Ari’s team earlier?"

"Yessir. I’m happy to have been chosen and to be on Ari and Jamie’s team for the finals. Based on their expressions, they’re cooking up something mad, and I can’t wait to be a part of it." Benjamin laughed as he spoke, though he was sighing in relief internally.

Being on a team with William? By default, his stock would go down immediately, and more importantly, everything around that blonde, no red-haired demon, was toxic, including his uncle.

He wanted to continue avoiding him by any means necessary.

"Thank you, Benjamin. William, it’s your pick. Who do you want?" Ryan Leary asked William.

"I’ll choose Levi." William quickly responded as he picked the only person who could match Benjamin in rap skills.

"Alright, Levi, please come up."

As Levi stood up, giving Ari a death glare as he walked by, Ari glanced up to avoid eye contact.

"What do you have to say, Levi?"

"Traitor," Levi responded coldly and then stepped away from the microphone.

"Aha~ trouble in paradise. Contestant Ariel, Levi seems upset with you. Your response?"

"Sorry?"

Oops?At the accusation, Ari actually felt a bit bad.

How was he supposed to know that William would pick up Levi next?

He fully expected William to pick his friend Jerome Tyler, who was also a rapper, instead of Levi, who had drifted away from him.

Besides, it wasn’t like he told Jamie to choose Benjamin because he thought he was a better rapper than Levi; he chose him because one of his skills would be perfect for the type of performance Jamie wanted to make at the end.

"Alright, back to Jamie, who do you want?"

"Daniel," Jamie said quickly as he was already mapping out the song details in his head.

"Excellent. William?"

"I choose Mathew."

"Jamie?"

....

Within minutes, the remaining 14 boys were picked, with the teams looking like this.

Team 1: Jamie (L), Ari, Benjamin, Daniel, Rei, Justin, Vishal

Team 2: William (L), Carlos, Levi, Mathew, Rex, In-su, Jerome

And despite Wilford trying to pressure him from the side, Jamie stuck to his decision.

After the team selection, since they had wasted too much time, the rest of the finals schedule was summarized, and they quickly entered the bus back to the dorms, with William going in a separate vehicle with his uncle.

As soon as the bus began moving, Benjamin immediately turned around in his seat and began questioning Jamie.

"Big man. What was going on back there? I expect that sort of reckless behavior from the French one-"

"Hey!"

"You know it’s true. Anyways, fully expected from this one but not from you. Wagwan?"

"Nothing much. I just really hate people who don’t respect the art of music and the effort it takes. And I really, really hate that people are comparing me to William and claiming that I cheated to make my song just because William did. I worked really hard, Ari worked really hard, and it’s not fair that people look down on the genre because of one person." Jamie explained quietly.

As someone who had been in the music industry for a while, he understood the nuances.

Lots of singers couldn’t produce, write, or even sing, and depended on others and certain tools to do it.

That was fine as long as those who worked on it got fairly compensated monetarily and with credits.

But Williams’ song theft and his attempt to cover it up really rubbed him the wrong way.

Especially because fans now thought that what he did applied to him and Ari, and their efforts to make their songs were fabricated.

It was annoying, and Jamie hated it.

And even if it wasn’t the right way to show it, he wanted it to be known that he didn’t support this one single bit and wouldn’t entertain working with somebody who did that.

Which is why he planned on showing off a bit during the finals.

There’s a difference between that guy and me, and I’ll prove it.

Since Ari always called him a music genius, he should do something genius, right?

As Jamie closed his eyes, the melody to the song already weaving through his mind, he began separating the music into simple parts.

La la la la~, la la la la~