Frank frowned but did not argue with Mandy, and instead reached for the jug of water, pouring himself a glass.
Mandy snorted. “Can’t even afford to buy himself a drink, and trying to freeload off Soren. Despicable.”
Frank used the dim light and deafening beats to pretend not to hear Mandy, not even looking her way.
It took a while until Dragondawn finished, and everyone in the bar including Tilda applauded.
She turned toward Frank, her cheeks flushed as she smiled and asked, “What do you think? Don’t you think they’re just so cool?”
“I don’t know much about music,” Frank admitted. “But I thought they were a little noisy.”
“Hah! You really are a bumpkin.” Mandy promptly jumped in to mock him. “You can’t even understand new age rock. Honestly, what are you doing here?”
At that point, Frank realized that Mandy was on Soren’s side.
She could see that Soren hated Frank and therefore repeatedly insulted Frank to curry Soren’s favor.
Her hard work clearly paid off too, as Soren smiled faintly and shrugged. “Don’t say that, Mandy. The arts are just too advanced for backwater folks—it’s normal if they don’t understand it.”
He was clearly referring to Frank, but Frank was not upset at all.
Frank had no cause to get petty with students, and they could say whatever they wanted to as long as it pleased them.
Naturally, Soren was grimacing when he saw that Frank was unfazed, realizing immediately that Frank was completely ignoring him as if he were just an angry ant.
No matter how an ant flailed around, insulted, or harassed an elephant, the elephant would not even bother to look its way.
It only left Soren exponentially humiliated.
He just happened to follow Frank’s gaze just then and realized Frank was staring at a man in the front row.
Narrowing his eyes, Soren soon recognized the man—he was Willy Sorano, Emilio Sorano’s second son.
Frank was frowning in turn. “Did Willy’s company invite The Spades to put on a live show for them?”
He knew Willy’s style all too well—the casting couch was inevitable for Kat and the others if they joined Willy’s company.
Considering that even a nation’s top actress like Noel York was not spared and was coerced by the Soranos in every way, mere students like Kat and the others would not stand a chance!
Frank felt stung when he remembered Lily’s naive smile, and he was suddenly restless.
And through sheer coincidence, it was The Spades’ turn to take the stage.
“Hehe.” Kat was even grinning smugly at Frank.
He now saw why she had dressed up like that before leaving home—she was the bassist, handily plucking the strings to a low hum.
Lily was holding a guitar, standing at the forefront since she was the lead singer.
There was another guitarist, along with a drummer and the keyboardist.
They matched each other perfectly in turn and could communicate with just a glance.
They started tuning for a moment, and soon, Lily cleared her throat before she began to sing.
Her voice was strong and permeating, and the bar quickly turned quiet as everyone listened.
