Chapter 22: Fatigue

Ben returned to the practice room with Rain and Sherry's manager after twenty minutes. Marcel hadn't even felt the time pass because he was busy reading articles ad remembering people's faces on the internet.

In contrast, Sherry was laying on a towel on the wood floor of the practice room and had managed to nap for a couple of minutes.

Both Ben and the manager frowned when they were met by the sight. The two really looked like they were slacking off, especially Sherry who was resting as she was told to.

"Have you discussed the routine?" Ben asked Marcel since he was the one that was awake.

"Mmh" Marcel answered but did not look up from his phone.

"How long has she been that way?" Sherry's manager asked as he looked at the girl sprawled on the floor. He figured that the towel that was covering her was actually put on by Marcel.

"About ten minutes, when you two decided to come late," Marcel said and finally looked at the two men. They couldn't even scold them since it wasn't like they did something good.

"Ahem, anyways, show me what you've worked on," Ben said deciding to let the situation go. Marcel placed his phone on the chair and went to wake Sherry up.

Sherry didn't fuss and actually woke up immediately and started to pat her face so that she wasn't so drowsy. She actually recovered quicker than Marcel anticipated and so the two of them were standing in the middle of the practice room.

"Remember what I told you?" Marcel asked while at the same time he was checking to see how awake she actually was. When she nodded he smiled in satisfaction.

"Let's start," Marcel said and Ben played the music.

Ben stood at the side and looked at the two of them with a smile on his face. He saw the change in the atmosphere almost immediately and what he had been envisioning, unfolded in front of him perfectly, if not better.

He kept on nodding and his smile grew wider as the dance progressed. Sherry's manager, on the other hand, had a very uncomfortable expression on his face.

He had never seen Sherry like that before. Fortunately the flirting was one-sided for most of the dance, otherwise, he would have been even more unsettled if Marcel was the one being aggressive.

He finally understood why the choreography was harder for Sherry since she was the one that acted as the aggressor in that scenario.

After the four-minute song ended Sherry looked thoroughly exhausted and even collapsed on top of Marcel who was already beneath her.

"Are you okay?" Marcel asked worriedly. Both Ben and her manager rushed up to them.

"I just want to sleep. I'm so tired" Sherry complained but didn't even have the strength to lift herself off of him.

Marcel placed one of his arms under her shoulder and the other one behind her knees and stood up lifting her up with him.

"We're done for the day right?" Marcel asked Ben who also carried a worried expression on his face.

If Ben said no wouldn't he just be a psychopath? Ben nodded and Marcel turned to walk out of the practice room but paused when he noticed something was amiss.

"Why are you still standing there? Aren't you her manager?" Marcel asked the short man who still looked dazed.

"Oh right. Let's go" the manager said but was stopped by Marcel's gaze.

"What?" the manager asked wondering what was wrong this time.

"My phone," Marcel said and pointed at the phone that was where he was sitting with his chin. The manager picked up his phone and the three of them walked out of the room.

"How is she so tired?" Marcel asked once they were in the elevator.

"Her group is still doing promotions that she has to attend, she's also dieting all that with the practise really doesn't give her much time to rest." the manager said.

He really felt sorry for these girls. Even though the company doesn't force them to diet, the negative comments on the internet that start to bombard them whenever they gained weight forced them to watch what they eat.

"If you're going to shoot tomorrow postpone it to the day after," Marcel said and walked out of the elevator while the manager trailed closely behind Marcel.

"But the schedule-"

"According to schedule we were supposed to shoot the day after, so we'll shoot the day after. Let her rest. She should at least look good for her music video" Marcel said cutting off her manager.

"But-"

"I won't do it tomorrow. Besides, when do you plan on wiring me the money?" Marcel asked stopping in front of the doors to look at the manager.

"You haven't sent the account details." the manager explained.

"I'll definitely send it later," Marcel said and indicated for the manager to help him with the door.

What Marcel was not anticipating and Sherry's manager had forgotten about, were the fans that were waiting outside the building. The road manager had parked the van as close to the entrance as he could which was not exactly close because of the stairs that were in front of the building.

At first, the fans had not thought that something was unusual until they realised that the person that was being carried had bright red hair.

"Isn't that Sherry?!" one of the fans cried out and almost in unison, they all turned to look in Marcel's direction and that was when chaos ensued.