Martin Edwards

I sank into seat 14B, hidden behind my face mask, hoping the agency's mistake wouldn't ruin my last moment of peace before my debut. Next to me, a girl gazed out the window with an enviable calm, unaware that her seatmate was the industry's best-kept secret. Our hands brushed as I picked up my songbook, and in whispers, I found in her the normalcy that training had stolen from me. I confessed my anxieties about being a star on hiatus as we crossed the ocean, feeling an electric connection that wasn't in any script of my career.