At the ocean-view bar on White Horse Island, every guest eagerly awaited Tawana’s arrival.
The hotel had prepared cocktails for everyone, and as guests sipped their drinks, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement.
Many held phones with video recording on, lenses pointed at the bar’s entrance, anxious not to miss capturing Tawana’s grand entrance.
Soon, the resident band members took the stage. Several Filipino musicians with brown skin stepped onto the small central platform, picking up their instruments, ready to perform.
The crowd didn’t pay them much attention, as most guests had visited the bar before and knew it featured nightly performances.
But to everyone’s surprise, the band began playing the prelude to Tawana’s iconic “Love Story.”
This song, her breakthrough hit and most famous track, had a melody her fans knew by heart.
The crowd assumed the band was covering Tawana’s song to liven up the atmosphere.
Yet, as the prelude ended, Tawana’s voice suddenly filled the room.
The audience was stunned. If the resident band was covering her song, the voice couldn’t sound so identical.
The band’s female singer was happily shaking a tambourine, swaying to the rhythm, not singing at all. So where was this voice coming from?
Was it a CD playing?
But that didn’t make sense, the band was performing live, they wouldn’t just play a CD of Tawana’s song, would they?
As confusion spread, a tall, blonde, blue-eyed woman in a Chinese qipao emerged from the backstage passage used by performers, holding a microphone and singing as she walked.
Someone in the crowd instantly recognised her, shouting, “Oh! It’s Tawana! It’s really Tawana!”
The room erupted in piercing screams. Those who knew the song couldn’t help but jump, scream, and sing along with Tawana, the atmosphere instantly electric!
Even Ma Lan, caught up in the excitement, jumped up and down. She didn’t know Tawana’s songs but raised her phone to record, quickly posting to her social media with the caption, “At the Maldives’ top-tier White Horse Island, the hotel specially invited international superstar Tawana to perform for us elite guests! Others pay big money chasing her concerts, but here, Tawana came to sing for us. This treatment is simply unmatched!”
Tawana, before taking the stage, had imagined countless public reactions but never someone like Ma Lan, portraying her as some hired act who came to White Horse Island just to perform for them.
Ye Chen, scrolling on his phone in the hotel room, stumbled across Ma Lan’s post and was utterly speechless. His mother-in-law was something else, always finding ways to boost her own image, even if it meant belittling others.
A top international star like Tawana had been reduced to a bar singer in her words, a testament to her audacity.
Xiao Churan also saw her mother’s post. Unlike Ye Chen, who found it amusing, she felt embarrassed, especially since Ye Chen could see it too, amplifying her shame.
Soon, both received a push notification from a video platform, “Top singer Tawana Swift sings live at a Maldives bar during her holiday! Watch the live stream now!”
Ye Chen was puzzled, how was it streaming so fast?
Curious, he muted his phone and clicked in, finding a guest streaming live from the audience. The stream quickly drew over a million viewers, with comments and bullet chats flooding the screen.
Xiao Churan, seemingly intrigued, slipped on her Bluetooth earphones. Ye Chen, with his sharp hearing, caught the faint sound leaking from them, confirming she was watching the live stream.
Inside the bar, Tawana finished “Love Story,” and the room exploded with applause, cheers, screams, and whistles.
The guests were ecstatic, never dreaming they’d not only see Tawana in person but hear her sing live, so close. Even front-row concert tickets couldn’t match this proximity and privilege.
