"Hey, have you heard from ZANE, lately?" a girl asked her friend as they lounged around in the cafe. The cafe was well known by now, its brand reaching all over the country, with multiple branches being built up and run. All thanks to a celebrity's decision to publicly sponsor it. The business had been booming since then.
"No," answered the friend, scrolling through their phone's social media app, releasing an annoyed huff. "Twitter's been going off the rails trying to figure out what happened to him, but they all sound like conspiracies and whatnot. No reasonable conclusions."
"Bummer," said the first friend. She sipped more of her drink while pondering. "Do you think he's okay?"
The other was silent for a moment, before sighing deeply. "I don't think so," they said. "The hiatus length is worrying enough. Must be pretty serious for a celebrity as dedicated as him."
The celebrity they'd been talking about, ZANE, was a popular dancing icon who started out as a street dancer. Then, he took the internet by storm as he appeared all around the globe, starting a trend with social media platforms to go find and hunt him down for a chance to record his amazing dancing.
There were surely more amazing dancers than ZANE himself, the man admitted as much, but his fans couldn't deny there was something special and alluring about ZANE himself that made them go crazy over his presence. None of them could tell if it was the way he hyped the crowd or the passion and professionalism he put into his dancing, but they all knew there'd be something missing if he hadn't risen to fame as he had.
One of the most endearing things about ZANE, to his fans, was the fact that he was genuinely, sincerely open about his feelings and emotions. Sure, professionalism had him hiding a few personal things for his rightful safety, but aside from that, he was an open book.
His attitude, as well, was a charm point to a dedicated part of his fans. He was sincere, yeah, sincere enough to let his fans know when he was mad, happy, sad, or pissed off, as opposed to many celebrities who always put on a smiley mask.
ZANE was just incredibly honest and expressive.
He was subject to criticism because of it, but ZANE had told them off in an interview one day, about his reasons for not hiding behind a facade like many other of his fellow celebrities.
"It feels disingenuous," ZANE had explained, "to put all my passion into my profession and not when I'm having an open discussion with my audience. So what if they throw me hate? I'll just assume it's coming from a genuine desire to see me do better. If I couldn't handle the heat, why would I even be standing here?"
There were a lot less critical videos of how he conducted himself, after that.
ZANE continued to be a rising dance idol in the world, having several world tours under his belt and having performed for various pop artists and bands. He was always offered to work with groups, but for some reason, while he accepted collaborators, he stood as his own brand and never joined with any official dance troupe.
However, during one of his homecoming world tours, traveling from place to place until he reached his hometown...ZANE suddenly disappeared. No one knew where he was. His manager, known friends, and family all kept quiet and stone-faced. Rumors sprang from the depths, and theories speculated such as ZANE having been caught with a girlfriend, which was quickly shut down because everyone remembered ZANE admitting to being gay.
Fans then speculated a boyfriend, but nothing incriminating came up.
Soon, ZANE's official account posted something truly peculiar, something odd.
[@ZANEofficial - 1d ago]
ZANE is, as of now, officially on hiatus. He's been dealing with personal matters lately and extends his apologies to his fans for not only disappearing but doing so without notice. The matter was urgent and he had no time to lose. We are hoping for your patience and understanding. #ZANEhiatus
Fans went wild. Again, practically no one knew what ZANE was going through. Asking his celebrity acquaintances resulted in negative answers.
It was a hotpot of screaming, crying, speculations, and conspiracy theories, get well soon wishes and wishes of luck.
As for ZANE himself...
Well, ZANE was dying.
And he couldn't do anything to stop it.
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"You good, kiddo?"
"Ma..."
"Oh, let an old woman worry about your dumb ass. You just collapsed for the fifth time this week, you little shit!"
A laugh. "Were you keeping count, lady?"
Emma clenched her fist and raised it at her baby boy. "Why you little..."
"Please refrain from hitting my patient, Ms. Greyhound," called a person from the hospital room door. He was a doctor wearing a pristine white lab coat, glasses, and chestnut hair tied back and kept neat.
Emma Greyhound pulled a face and sat down heavily next to her son, the famous ZANE, or Zane Greyhound, rolling his eyes and placing his hand on hers.
"C'mon mom, I'm gonna be fine."
"Ya don't know that kiddo," Emma sent Zane a strained smile, and looked at the doctor. "Well, doc? How is he? Is my baby gonna get through this year?"
Dr. Oscar did not let his expression slip once but motioned for Emma to follow him outside. Zane felt his stomach drop as Emma squeezed his hand once and followed Dr. Oscar out the door.
"No way," he whispered, the quiet of the room getting to him after a few minutes. "There's just no way, right?" Zane clenched the bed sheets tightly as if he might throw them out the window any second. "I can't die. No no no, not yet, I'm sure it'll be fine. Dr. Oscar just doesn't want me to be annoying while he tries to do his job." Zane nodded to himself. "Yeah, that must be it!"
Feeling a little bit better about himself, Zane waited patiently for his mom to return with good news. Maybe Dr. Oscar was just suggesting new treatments to speed up the process. Yeah, that was it.
It has to be.
He can't die. Not yet.
He refused to.