บท 30: 30 - Love in the Air
I was late. The back hallways were devoid of people. No dancers in tutu strutted towards the front door, and no one giggled with their fellow friends. I was so late Samira is not even doing her makeup anymore.
Damn you, Wei! Look at all the mess you put me in!
No need to check for the hour and doing nothing. I dashed toward my room to dress. I was in a rush, so I spilled the content of my bag on the floor.
I donned my hosiery, strapped on my bra, put on my ankle-floor tutu, and tied my pointe shoes.
I knew it's only been a week since I last wore them but... It felt like forever. I took my time to sigh and stroke them softly.
I only had one accessory left: a leaf crown.
Finally dressed, I checked on my outfit in the mirror. Wei won't have any problem thinking I'm a woman...
But he will recognize my face. Fuck!
Wei already annoyed me to death without knowing anything about my condition. If his loud mouth informed all members that I danced here...
I put on some makeup and added a carnival mask. The mask was anachronistic but essential to me right now!
Finally ready, I opened the door to the stage. A bluish light shone on Henriette and the other girls. They didn't' chat like usual. Instead, they kept quiet in front of a scary-looking woman sitting in front of them.
When I arrived on the stage, she glared at me with a confused look. The other girls too.
Henriette came near me and whispered in my ear, "The fuck is that mask, Song?"
She tried to remove it from my face but I diverted myself to stop her, "No! Let's say I'm a little too nervous. Showing my face will make me feel naked." I glanced at the judge, who didn't seem to care about the appearance of my face.
We, then, began our routine. I knew it by heart, and I think my moves would be on the next level if that one little thing didn't bother me that much.
Wei Xiaojian. The only spectator of the Sylphide. He was yawning, meaning the number of spectators would soon drop to zero. He began to look around the opérette, searching for someone.
Wait a minute. He was searching for...me?
He stood from his seat and walked towards the door.
If he notices I'm not outside, he will surely understand that I'm here! On the stage! My muscles froze in panic. I had to act. Quick!
The dancers and I began a series of pirouettes.
Wei approached his hands to the door handle.
No, stop!
I stomped my foot on the stage, stopping after the first pirouette. I felt Henriette's heavy gaze, and the judge's, and Coach's.
"What the hell are you doing" whispered Deborah.
To be the center of attention has always been anxiety-inducing for me. Since I came to France, that fear slowly disappeared. I began to find it normal to have people review my dancing. Today was the same. I wanted desperately to be the center of attention. Of his attention.
The noise I made earlier only managed to stop Wei from touching that door. He was a curious guy, of course, he would stop to see what happen next.
When our eyes met, I made sure to grab him and 'ever let him go. I made a split, even if that had nothing to do with our current dance routine. I could only think of Wei, and what he would love me to do for him. Clowns loved splits, didn't they?
Wei let the door handle alone and watched me.
I turned cartwheel and he applauded.
Perfect.
That wasn't the Sylphide anymore. That was an improv inspired by every single trick I could do. Falling, Grand Jetés, arabesques and adagios. And I did every single of those things in sync with the music playing.
The judge, that I completely forgot about, stood and raised her hand. The music stopped, and my heart clenched in my chest. Didn't I just ruin everything?
I panted, tired from all the tricks I did for that one spectator in the back. I couldn't look away from the judge's gaze either, and of course, she was only looking at me. The traitor. The egoist dancer.
I froze on stage and prepared for the worst.
The judge put away a pile of sheets, "I've seen enough."
Behind me, I could hear the girls holding their breaths.
The judge chuckled, "This was great! When you called me to take a look at you, I thought you were going to follow the Opéra strict rules you too. Boy, I was wrong. You were way lore brilliant than that. The little one is very creative, I love it. You level up to the rank of quadridge, little missy. You deserve it." She looked at the girls now, "Watch out for her!" She then talked with Coach Isabelle to probably praise our dancing skills.
I wanted to scream and to jump in excitement. I did it! And here I thought I ruined everything! Everyone looked at me, including the man in the back of the opérette.
"Song! You stupid bitch!" Henriette jumped on me while chuckling. Charlotte and Bienvenue added themselves to the big hugging mess.
"I thought you turned crazy, but I was wrong. You were amazing." Charlotte said, "you looked like a peacock in his famous seductive dance!"
"You have weird ways to express yourself..." I said.
When they finally decided to let me go, Wei came near me. He licked his fingers and slid them through his salmon hair.
For a second, I wanted to run away on the spot. But a thought stopped me from it: maybe he didn't understand it was me behind my mask. I couldn't know.
Was he coming for the dancer? Or for Song-ho?
He accelerated. As his face became clearer and clearer, he scared off the girls. He had a particular face. Samira and Charlotte frown at this sight while Henriette stared at him with curious eyes.
"Bonjour mademoiselle." He said.
He was coming for the dancer.
I stuttered in my best 'mademoiselle' voice, "Hi."
He was literally shocked to see me. I couldn't understand why, because I was just a stranger with a mask to him. Wei watched me intensely, and I couldn't tell if he was going to say something after "bonjour". That was quite displeasing. I played with my fingers to escape his gaze.
He agitated his arms, "Your performance just now was... A magnificent show! I thought about running away when you made all of this...hum..."
"Thank you."
He stopped talking all of a sudden, his gaze focused on my face. Was my makeup bad? Did I put on my bra in the wrong way?
He took my hands in his warm ones. He's going to recognize my boy's hands for sure!
"I admire you."
"Thank you," I repeated. Why wasn't he let me go?
Henriette, instead of helping me out of this stressful situation, was winking at me and making hearts with her hands.
Stupid Henriette, why was she jocking at a time like this?
I looked at Wei again. He was looking at me weirdly. It was a look I already saw before. This was the look of someone desiring something strongly. The look... Henriette gave it to Boss. The look of love.
Oh.
Fuck. That wasn't part of the plan.
I blushed, "I have to...toilets!"
He let me go at once and I ran to my room. In a flash, I dressed as a mobster again and wiped my makeup before exiting the building.
Outside, I found Wei, taking all his time to open the front door, walk for a bit, close it, and notice I was actually in front of him this whole time.
"Hey, Song-ho, you missed something great. You could find yourself a cute girl too."
"A cute girl, huh?"
He had a wide smile, and declared, all proud, "I feel so great now. I'm ready for this mission. Let's go, shall we?"
I nodded. Maybe, if I had a little bit of luck, he would soon forget his 'cute girl'.
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