JC looked at his watch, it was 6.50pm. He knew he was early but he still increased his pace. He wanted to avoid being recognized by his fans because he knew that it was not the appropriate time to sign autograph and chat with his fans. He needed to get to the restaurant as fast as possible because he knew the group was in the danger of going on their separate way and he doesn’t want that to happen.
He crossed the road and saw Jocie and Hope and ran over to them.
“JOCIE.” He shouted.
Jocie turned back and saw JC.
JC stood there trying to catch his breath. Hope looked at him and joked, “JC, why are you running so fast? Are you taking part in some running competition?”
“Nope.” He said.
The girls laughed and walked towards the entrance of the restaurant.
They walked in and were stopped by someone.
“Hi Madam, may I know table for how many people?”
JC said, “We are together and we have…” He started counting.
“Oh Mr Chasez, are you guys dining with Mr Fatone? The waitress asked.
“Yes. Are they here?” JC asked.
The waitress nodded her hand and directed them to the table.
Three of them walked towards the table. Joey, Amanda, Chris and Lance were there.
“Hey guys.” They greeted.
Chris looked at JC and asked, “Where is Justin? He said he is with you?”
JC was getting a bit confused, “With me? No, I didn’t even see him for the whole day.”
The rest of them looked at each other, they knew Justin was lying. Why would he be with JC while he had his girlfriend with him?
“Am I suppose to meet him before this dinner?” JC stretched his head.
“Nope.” Jocie replied, “Don’t you get it? Justin is with that Veronica and he doesn’t want us to know.
Veronica Mya Will was Justin girlfriend and they had been dating each other since 1998 which was 4 years back. None of the guys were in talking term with her because she was nasty and always thought that she was the best. However even though she had many clashes with the guys, she was the perfect girl for Justin. She cared and loved him and would almost do anything for him. Justin knew about this and he loved her a lot too so in order to reduce the conflicts between the guys and Veronica, he tried not to talk about her in front of the guys and vice versa.
The whole atmosphere was getting more and more awkward. The guys were usually very chatty but at that time, they were all so quiet.
Jocie was feeling uneasy and decided to break the ice, “I met Anna today.” She looked around and trying to get some response from any of the guys. But she was wrong, none of them reacted.
Jocie decided that she had enough of all these, she needed to know what had happened.
“She said about personal commitment,” she paused and looked around, “Is there anything I should know? She asked.
The guys were still quiet and they refused to say anything.
Jocie was getting fed up. She increased her voice a bit but try not to shout because they were in the public.
“You guys are suppose to start preparing for your new album and I wrote a few songs for you guys and so, I do have the right to know what is going on, right Lance?” She looked at Lance who was sitting beside her. She knew Lance would respond to her.
Lance looked up, “Okay, yeah something is wrong here.”
Jocie and Hope looked at Lance and they both gave him a look, which means please continued.
Lance had no choice but to tell the truth, “Justin wants to go solo.”
The girls opened their mouth, “WHAT?” Hope said.
“Yes, because Veronica wants him to do so.” Lance added.
Jocie couldn’t believe what she heard. Well she knew that one day the guys would split and go separate way but not at the moment when NSYNC was the world biggest pop act. Justin was the lead singer and she knew that if Justin was to leave the group, the group might split and even if the rest of the guys continued, the group would never be the same.
“What is he thinking? Can’t he make his own decision?” Jocie raised her voice.
JC looked at Lance, “How about you, Lance? Didn’t you say that you wanted to spend more time on FreeLance?”
Jocie and Hope were getting confused, “Wait a minute!” Jocie said, “You are going to leave the group too?”
JC looked at Jocie and said, “Not only him and Justin.” He said and looked at Chris, “Chris too.” He said.
“WHAT?” Jocie and Hope were shocked.
