## Chapter 125: The King's New Flame

"Paul! Catch the ball!"

"Ah! Link, can you spike the ball a bit lighter? We're playing volleyball, not a boxing match. You nearly knocked me out."

In Los Angeles, on Santa Monica Beach, a group of scantily clad men and women were playing beach volleyball. Most of the men were shirtless, wearing athletic shorts.

The women were all in bikinis—red, black, pink—jiggling as they ran.

These people were in their twenties and thirties, all with very sexy and hot bodies.

Mrs. Anna Farrell came to the edge of the beach court, adjusted her glasses, and scanned the group of men until she saw the man in khaki sports shorts, Link Baker.

He still had that spirited black short hair, exposing his strong back, with bronze skin. His muscles were not as exaggerated as a bodybuilder's but were well-proportioned and well-defined, each just the right size.

Like the genetic soldiers trained with high-tech equipment in the sci-fi movie "Soldier," he was very sexy.

Every time Anna saw him, she felt like she was dreaming. Recently, when Link Music was hiring new staff, she submitted a resume. After several rounds of selection, she was retained by the company.

She used to be an editor at a men's fashion magazine publisher and thought she would stay in the company as a secretary. She didn't expect to be assigned to be Link's assistant.

Facing such a handsome man every day, even though she was married and had children, she couldn't help but feel excited.

Bang!

On the beach, Link leaped over a meter into the air, raised his right arm, and slammed it heavily onto the red volleyball. The ball was forcefully hit down, landing on the sand with a bang, kicking up a plume of golden fine sand.

Paul Walker and another teammate dived to save the ball, nearly colliding.

"11:5, Paul, you're treating us today," Link said with a laugh, leaning on his waist.

"Damn! You're a boxer. How are you so good at racing, volleyball, and tennis? Next time, I want to challenge you in ping pong. I don't believe a boxer can play ping pong," Paul Walker said, jumping up from the ground.

"Haha, you can try," Link said, seeing his assistant Anna coming over. He called for a break and walked to the edge of the beach court.

Anna was his newly hired assistant. He initially wanted James to come over, but James was reluctant to leave Baker's little shop. Plus, he recently got a girlfriend and was even more unwilling to leave Miami.

"Anna, what's up?" Link asked, taking a sip of water from his bottle.

"Miss Thompson called and said she needed to talk to you. She hopes you can call her back when you have time," Anna said, handing over his phone.

Link nodded, lay down on the beach chair, and dialed Eva's number.

After finishing recording his new album, Link came to Los Angeles to audition for "The Fighter" and successfully landed the role. Due to the requirements of the crew, he temporarily stayed in Los Angeles to coach several main characters in boxing.

"Eva, do you miss me?" Link joked when he heard the phone connect.

"Hmph, do you know what day it is today?" Eva asked coldly.

Link rubbed his forehead and thought for a moment. "We met for the first time in early June, not a year yet. Also, your birthday is in October, so today shouldn't be a special day."

"Don't joke around. I'm talking about serious business. Today is the day your album's first-week sales results are released. Don't you want to know the sales and chart position of your first album?"

"Oh, really? If you didn't say it, I would've forgotten. Tell me the sales," Link said, sitting up straight.

At the end of the year and early January, he and Graham and other Link Music staff spent over a month in the recording studio, finally completing the 14 songs of the first album "The Fighter."

After hearing that the album was successfully recorded, Eva found over twenty professional musicians to listen and evaluate.

Everyone gave high ratings for this album, averaging an A-, indicating it had great potential for success.

With a positive reception from the preview, Eva and the Link Music marketing team began large-scale promotion, and the album was released nationwide last week.

Today was the day to announce the first-week results, and Link was also quite looking forward to the sales of his first album.

"Nationwide sales are 97,651 copies."

Eva suppressed her breath, speaking calmly, but if you listened closely, you could hear a slight tremble.

"Only over 90,000 copies?" Link was a bit disappointed. Taylor's second album sold 650,000 copies in the first week and topped the Billboard 200 chart. His album sales were only one-seventh of hers, which was disheartening.

"Are you not satisfied with selling nearly 100,000 copies of your first album?" Eva asked in surprise.

"Taylor's last album sold 650,000 copies. I only have one-seventh of hers," Link said.

"That's Taylor's second album, with an existing fan base. She also released singles six months in advance to test the waters and ran extensive promotions everywhere. We didn't release any singles in advance, and you were too lazy to promote. Selling this well in the first week is already impressive," Eva said.

When she first saw the data, she couldn't help but shout with joy and immediately called Link to share the good news. But Link, upon hearing the numbers, wasn't surprised and seemed dissatisfied.

However, considering Link knew even less about the music industry than she did, she wasn't too angry.

"Link, do you know the first-week sales of last year's hit newcomers Lady Gaga and Katy Perry?"

Hearing these two big names, Link's ears perked up. When he was in Miami, he had heard their songs and thought they had been out for a while. He didn't expect them to be contemporaries.

"How much?" he asked.

Eva told him that in June last year, Katy Perry's first album "One of the Boys" sold 47,000 copies in the first week.

In October, Lady Gaga's debut album "The Fame" sold 24,000 copies in the first week.

Katy Perry was last year's pop music rookie king.

"Now do you understand how impressive 97,000 copies are?" Eva asked.

Link nodded. His first album's sales were higher than those of superstars like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. It wasn't bad at all.

However, considering he was the world boxing champion with a fan base, and before the album release, the video for "Despacito" had over 10 million views on YouTube, ranking among the top 20 most-watched music videos.

Plus, the wildly popular song "Dream It Possible," which topped the singles chart for three consecutive weeks, credited him as the songwriter.

These two singles had built a lot of anticipation for his album.

So, in the music industry, he wasn't considered a complete newcomer.

"Link, guess what rank 'The Fighter' is on the Billboard 200 album chart?" Eva's voice became cheerful again, as if she was teasing him.

"Just tell me. Don't make me guess," Link said, as Paul was calling him to play volleyball. He waved, indicating he was on the phone.

"It's fifth!"

First place was Kanye West, who released his fourth studio album "808's & Heartbreak" on January 3rd, selling 452,000 copies in the first week. This week, it sold 375,000 copies.

Second was Britney Spears, who released her sixth studio album "Circus" on December 12th last year, featuring 13 songs including "Womanizer," "Out From Under," and "Kill The Lights." It sold 505,000 copies in the first week and 175,000 this week.

Third was Taylor's "Fearless," with 137,000 copies sold this week, accumulating 3.2 million copies in the US.

Fourth was Rihanna's reissue album "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded," also released at the beginning of the year, selling 102,000 copies in the third week.

Sixth place was Christina Aguilera's first greatest hits album "Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits," with 73,000 copies sold this week.

Seventh was Usher's fifth album "Here I Stand," with 68,000 copies sold.

Hearing these big names on the same chart, Link suddenly felt that fifth place wasn't so bad.

"Among all the contemporaries, you're ranked first. How do you feel now?" Eva asked with a smile.

"Pretty good," Link said with a stretch and a smile. "How about the singles chart? How many made it?"

"There are three songs in the top ten, and one is the number one single. Guess which one?" Eva seemed to be in a good mood, smiling lightly.

"A number one single?" Link was surprised. In his memory, there weren't many inspiring songs, and he hadn't copied many good ones, so he didn't expect to have a number one single.

"Is it 'Never Say Never' or 'Chasing the Sun'?"

"Neither," Eva laughed. "'Unstoppable' debuted at number one, 'Chasing the Sun' is sixth, and 'Fire' is tenth. The one you had the highest expectations for, 'Never Say Never,' is only at 97th."

"Unstoppable" is number one? Link was a bit surprised. This song was added on the spot.

Because the songs Graham arranged were relatively mediocre, he worried the first album sales would be dismal, so he racked his brains and came up with a few more songs, including "Un

stoppable," "Fire," and "American Dream."

"Unstoppable" was the NBA theme song for 2015-2016, originally sung by a female singer with a relatively neutral voice.

He had heard it a few times back then and thought it was pretty good, so he included it in the album. He didn't expect it to become a number one single, rather than the ones he favored more like "Never Say Never" or "Chasing the Sun."

He suddenly understood what Graham meant when he said that to become a top singer, personal ability alone wasn't enough; one also needed to align with societal and market trends.

The United States was still under the influence of the financial crisis, from the country to individuals feeling low. This song "Unstoppable," with its positive and uplifting lyrics and tune, managed to be pushed to the top of the singles chart, partly due to luck.

"How many songs from 'The Fighter' made it into the top 100?" Link asked.

"Seven songs, all of which are your works," Eva paused, then gently said, "Link, you're amazing."

Link smiled lightly, accepting only 50% of her praise because he did a good job interpreting the songs. The songs carried his unique style and emotions, no worse than the originals, maybe even better in some cases like "Unstoppable" and "Chasing the Sun."

He saved the other 50% of the praise for the original songwriters.

"Eva, anything else? I'm playing volleyball right now," Link asked.

“Of course, there’s something going on. Your debut album is selling like crazy, and your single is topping the charts. Do you think there wouldn’t be any news? But the rest will be handled by Mandy; I won’t interfere. However, Yahoo News is reporting that you’ve got a new girlfriend named Amber Heard, and that you broke up with Taylor Swift?” Ivanka suddenly asked.

“Yes, she’s busy, I’m busy. We’ve only seen each other once in the past three months. It’s better for us to be just friends, that way neither of us will feel guilty,” Link shrugged as he replied.

“Did she agree?”

“No, but I think she’ll understand eventually.”

“So, she hasn’t agreed to break up, and you’re already fooling around with another woman? You’re such a damn scumbag,” Ivanka scolded him bluntly.

Link wiped the sweat off his forehead. He wanted to argue his case but thought better of it. He didn’t believe he was wrong in breaking up with Taylor.

(End of the chapter)