"I''m afraid I might not have that much time left."


    Jasper immediately cut in, "Rachel, don''t say things like that. Wasn''t that medicine from the old doctor helping you? Just hang in there, you''ll get better-I know it."


    Despite his reassurance, Jasper and Haynes were still quietly looking for renowned specialists for Rachel. They weren''t putting all their hopes on Ste; they were keeping their options open.


    Rachel managed a faint, forced smile. "If this concert can''t happen the way it''s meant to—if it can''t be something truly special-I''d rather not hold it at all. I don''t want to cheat the audience with something rushed and half-hearted."


    Haynes suggested, "Why not rent a studio that''s already set up, just as a temporary fix? After the concert, you can move to a better ce."


    For now, that seemed like the only practical solution. Rachel nodded gently.


    Jasper scoffed, "Some people will stoop to anything just to steal the spotlight and get more attention. It''s unbelievable! Haynes, I heard Ste''s concert is also scheduled for three months from now. She''s obviously doing it to go head-to-head with Rachel!"


    Haynes couldn''t be bothered with Jasper''sints. He turned to Rachel instead. "By the way, has anyone found Star?"


    Rachel shook her head. "No. For years now, Star haspletely disappeared- no trace, no news at all."


    Star was a legendary figure in the music world, aposer who rose to fame eight years ago. Novaris had grown rapidly in economy and technology, but for a decade, it''s music scene had stagnated. There hadn''t been a single new ssic, nor aposer with true brilliance, not since the golden years fifteen years ago.


    It got so bad that, at one international songwritingpetition, a foreign contestant openly mocked theposers of Novaris. He imed their work was nothing but tired clichés, with zero originality.


    And honestly, after Madam Nora


    passed away, the country''sposers had run out of


    inspiration; their work barely


    deserved to be called original


    The


    foreigner''s words caused a storm of public outrage back home. He


    eventually caved under pressure and apologized in public, but he still


    posted about his contempt for


    Novaris''s songwriters on his social media.


    The truth was, he wasn''t entirely wrong: Novaris''s original music was in a slump.


    It had been years since anyone had written a piece that truly dazzled.


    Then, out of nowhere, aposer known only as Star emerged. Star''s violin piece, "White Moonlight," stunned the world, beating those arrogant foreignposers and winning the grand prize at an internationalpetition. "White Moonlight" became an overnight sensation, performed and sung everywhere. For a while, Star''s fame eclipsed that of the biggest celebrities-she was a national hero. Yet, no one knew who she really was. Star could have been a man or a woman, young or old-her identity was aplete mystery.


    She never tried to cash in on her fame; instead, she waited until the excitement, died down before quietly releasing a new piece every few months. Even so, every time she published a new work, it shot to the top of the charts and became the talk of the town. The more mysterious she remained, the more obsessed people became, and Star''s legend only grew.


    But five years ago, she suddenly vanished. No new songs, no news-nothing. Just like her name, she was a brilliant shooting star, dazzling and fleeting, gone before anyone could catch her.