Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
I am not the only one she should be staring at.
I am not the only one she should be singing to.
So why hasn't any of the others called her out for it?
I've been waiting for months for someone to reprimand her.
But no one has, and it's making me think I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots.
How the hell do they not see what she's doing?
How do they not know she's been doing this from the very start?
Damn her. Damn her. Damn her.
She's still looking at me as she sings, and it's driving me crazy.
What the hell does this girl want?
I still remember the first time we've been introduced, and I remember it with the kind of vivid clarity that privately pisses me off.
Why can't she just leave me in peace?
It was the first day of auditions, and I had made time to join the others as a show of support.
It was one thing for them to know they had my financial backing.
It was another thing entirely when they saw me attending their auditions.
It made all the difference in the world, and it was why some people only worked to get paid while others worked with all their heart and soul.
That was the reason why I had come the first time.
But all the other times after that?
Damn her.
It was her voice that first captured my attention.
Sultry and powerful one moment.
Angelic and poignant the next.
A voice that belonged to someone who sang with all her heart and soul.
But because the auditions had been done blind, all we knew of her was that she was Voice #24.
The penultimate name on the list in fact.
But the moment we heard her, we all knew.
She was the one we were looking for.
I remember having to excuse myself to take a phone call and rejoining the others when they had already moved to the faculty hall for a celebratory dinner. The panelists had already made their selection, and it was an evening for crew and cast members to get to know each other.
Dean Garrison had called out to me as soon as I arrived. "This is our most promising pupil," the older man had enthusiastically introduced her at that time, and I remembered simply nodding because it was the polite thing to do.
But privately, I was thinking it was all B.S.
The student he had singled out was a tiny blonde thing whose features were neither beautiful nor unattractive. The only thing she had going for her was her admittedly remarkable curves, but countless other women had that, too.
She hadn't any personality, hadn't anything that I found particularly interesting. And that was enough for me to dismiss her except for the dean's last words.
"She's also Voice #24."
What the fuck?
When my gaze had snapped back to her, it was then I had seen the gleam of mischief in her doe-like eyes.
Damn her.
And that was it.
Every time I dropped by to attend rehearsals, everyone assumed it was my way of honoring my late great-grandmother. That the love for arts still ran passionately in my blood. And while it was true that those things did play a role---
They wouldn't have been enough to make me rearrange my entire work schedule just to fit in rehearsals.
As much as I hated admitting it even to myself---
Damn her, damn her, damn her.
She was the reason I kept coming back.
And every damn time I was in the audience---
She would always look straight into my eyes.
Always.
And the moment she started to sing, it was as if the whole damn world had melted away, and she would sing like she was making love to me.
Always.
Seducing me without ever touching me.
Teasing me.
Taunting me.
And today wasn't any different.
Damn her. Damn her. Damn her.
Just remembering how she had me fooled made me grit my teeth.
Damn her.
I can't believe I once thought she was someone without a spark of personality.
Damn her.
She may still have the others buying her act as this prim and proper thing.
But I'm on to her this time, and I'm no idiot to let her deceive me again.
It's so fucking clear now that her quiet ways are nothing but a sham.
And I know what she's trying to do.
Damn her, damn her, damn her.
I'm not going to let her win.
No matter how much she tries to tempt me.
She may have convinced herself this is all a game we can play and walk away from.
But I'm older and I know better.
One mistake is all it takes.
And so for both her sake and mine---
I'd rather destroy the idea of us rather than have us destroy each other.
Riri
He's not here.
I allow myself a second of the most intense despair when my gaze searches the auditorium one last time, and I find it empty of his presence.
It's been two weeks, and this is the longest he's been gone.
I miss him so much.
But I can only afford to miss him for that one second of indulgence.