Hualing leaned back in her chair and bent her neck. "If I could have put a fourth question on that list, that would have been it."

"If you don't want to answer, I totally understand. I'm not trying to get an interview for a magazine. Just trying to get a little friendly chit-chat going, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it." The woman sat herself upright. "I better get used to answering that question anyway. I'm going to be hearing it a lot now that I'm going to be working here." 

"Really?" Selene said with enthusiasm. 

"Yes. Really. Now you can tell everyone you know that you work with the one and only Hualing," she replied with sarcasm that was more obvious.

"They must pay a lot if that's the case!"

"Don't know why you assumed that. The reason I'm here is because my record label ditched me." Hualing placed both of her arms on the table and slumped her head over. "Please. Before you say anything, just know that your pity will only make things worse."

"What?" Selene stood up from her seat. "But Passion and Patience was an international hit! How could your label just drop you after giving them such an amazing song?"

Hualing's head popped back up. She gave Selene a brief stare, cocking one eyebrow upwards. "You really don't know much about the music industry, do you?"

"I know what I listen to on the radio and TV."

"That's just surface level. There's a lot more to it going on behind the scenes. Passion and Patience was recorded three years ago back when I was seventeen. That's a lifetime when it comes to music."

"But you've got talent! Everyone I know likes your voice on that track."

"Talented girls are a dime a dozen. Having a nice voice just isn't enough to cut anymore." Hualing took her empty cup and tossed it towards the corner of the room. It bounced off the wall then off the rim of the rim of the trash can before landing on the ground. "And according to my old manager..." The singer made a pair of air quotations with her hands. "I didn't have that spark."

"That's absurd!" Selene put her hands on her hips. "I'm sure there are plenty of other producers that would kill to have you singing for them!"

"That's what I thought too. But I've faced rejection after rejection. Nobody wants to hire me... Miss..."

"Call me Selene."

"Selene. You don't think I've tried going to other labels already? Why would some glorified karaoke bar be my first pick in trying to rebuild my career?"

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh.' It's like I've been blacklisted. I've gone around applying for other producers only to receive the same polite 'no thanks' every single time."

Selene lowered herself and sat back down in the chair. "That's harsh, Hualing." There was a silence as Hualing rested against the back of her chair with her arms across her chest. She continued to stare at the wall in front of her, keeping a frustrated look on her face. 

"So..." Selene said, dragging out the syllable. "How do you like working here?"

The singer's eyes cut in her direction. "Take a guess."

"Not too fond of it I assume?"

"I went from selling out concerts on Saturday and Friday nights to performing in front of half a bar of drunkards on a Wednesday afternoon. How do you think I feel?"

"I'm sorry, Hualing. If there was something I could do to help out, I would be more than willing to do it."

"What did I say about pity, Selene? I'm against the idea of 'it's the thought that counts.' All it does is reinforce how much of a rut I'm in."

"I was just trying to be friendly."

"Yeah, well I don't need someone to be friendly now, all right? I just need a drink. Now I can see why people come here and stay all night and try to forget their problems while reaching the bottom of a bottle."

"Are you even old enough to drink in the US?"

"You think I care? After all that I've been through, I more than deserver a few beers."

"So you've just given up, huh?" Selene's friendly demeanor turned into one annoyance. "Already resided to be an alcoholic before you're even legally allowed to drink?"

"You don't know me Selene!" Hualing slammed a hand on the table and pointed at the woman in front of her. "You're just like everyone else who gets a moment to chat with me. Either wanting to talk to me so they can tell their family and friends a funny story or they want to tell me how to live my life because they think they know what I need more than I do!"

"Fine!" Stood up again and pushed her seat underneath the table, making the wood of the chair scrape against the tile of the floor. "So much for making small talk. Should have expected a celebrity like yourself would be so stuck up."

"I am not stuck up!" Hualing declared. "Now managers and agents? They're the stuck-up ones! They don't care how much money you've brought in for them. Once you stop turning them a profit, they kick you to the curb! But do you know what I am, Selene?"

"Tell me!” She replied with her hands on her hips.

"Frustrated! That's what I am!" Hualing shot up from her seat again. Her hand panned in front and around her body. "All of the promises I was given when I signed that deal back when I was still a teenager! All that work I put into being a star for them and look where I end up! A dingy bar in the middle of one of the lousiest cities of the West Coast!"

Selene remained silent as her eyes locked with the deep brown pupils of Hualing. The singer's breathing intensified as she maintained her stance with one hand pressing down on one end of the table while the other held onto her hip. 

"See?" Selene said calmly. "Was that so hard?"

“Was what so hard?”

“Telling someone else how you really feel.”

Hualing's face transformed from angered to irked in a fraction of a second. "Hmm. Guess not. But don't think this means that I'm going to start talking to you like you're my psychiatrist or something."

"I won't.” Selene winked. “Besides, if you're working here, you wouldn't be earning enough to pay me anyway."

"I hate your sense of humor."

"I get that sometimes." Selene put a hand on Hualing's back. "You know what you need? And... I mean like... for real. I'm not trying to give you some career advice."

"A full case of beer?" Hualing replied sternly.

"No. But that couldn't hurt. What you need is a friend." Selene pulled Hualing closer by tugging her shoulder as she stood on the singer's other side. "A legitimate one. I'm sure you get people trying to be your bud all the time. But I bet you most of them are just trying to get into your good graces because they think you've got money." She then patted her chest. "What you need is someone that's willing to listen to what you want to say."

"And you're somehow that person, right?" Hualing remarked with narrow eyes. "A random woman looking for a waitress position."

"If there's thing I've learned here in Isla Lucrecia, it's that you can make friends in places where you least expect it." 

"Did you hear that from a cartoon or something?" 

"No. But I wouldn't be surprised if that was a message in something I watched growing up."

Hualing stretched one arm across her chest as she took her other hand to rub the other shoulder muscle. "You're quite the character, Selene. I'll admit, you're different from that last girl that worked here. She was too shy to say anything to me. Made for awkward breaks."

"Yeah, I heard that she didn't last too long here."

"Although, I will say I did prefer her over the patrons that get too close and talkative. Nothing worse than trying to tell a story to someone wasted out of their mind. Everyone else that works here is too old and miserable. Always complaining. Maybe some of that negativity has rubbed off on me." Hualing took in a breath through her nostrils and exhaled through the mouth. "I think you might bring a pleasant change of pace here."

"Aww, thanks!"

"That is... if you get hired."