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Chapter 12: Dress Rehearsals

"Next up, we have—"

"Wait, just a moment, Mr. Moon!" Crystal comes from the theater's entrance with another person in tow.

Moon was confused, but didn't let that slow his opinions, "Crystal, how pleasant to see you've brought... a guest. I thought you were backstage already. Is something wrong? If you're going to ask if you could re-audition, then I'm sorry to tell you we have no more slots left for the competition," he tells the last sentence to Aeon, who's having a weird expression on his face right now.

"Actually, we're here to ask if I could take this guy as a dance partner for the song," the girl answered quickly before Aeon could speak up, "He's an old dance partner, and we've dance through this song before—"

"Well, unfortunately this is not a dance competition," he cuts in.

Crystal zipped her malicious lips shut to give way for a more sensible argument, "...We know. I'll sing while dancing, he's just going to be a backup. To spice things up a bit."

"Spice it up, eh? Looks like we'll have a competition, Rositta," Gunther bumps his body to the woman next to him in excitement.

Before Mr. Moon could argue with the idea, she continues, "It's just for today... Please? If you don't like what we'll show you, then I'll stick to singing only, maybe even practice to sing a much more impactful song. Hells, I'd even risk doing Queen of the Night even if lose my voice."

"Okay, okay, stop. We don't want anyone here losing their voices," he turns to his assistant to reassure his final decisions in his mind before turning back to the two, "So he's temporarily gonna be your partner, right? He'll won't add up to the number or anything?"

"I'll won't, Mr. Moon. I'll just be her support," Aeon finally speaks up, placing an arm over her shoulder, "We promise to give you a worthwhile performance."

"Uhuh. Alright. You two, off to the stage and do your thing. Everyone at the back, I'm gonna be letting these two perform first, is that alright with you?"

"Yeah"
"Sure, alright."
"That's a relief."

And they were indeed relieved to have an extended time to prepare themselves. No one was 100% sure ready for all of this, not since it's Nana Noodleman that they'll have to please for tomorrow. Good thing Mike had already performed ahead of them, he's so damn impatient.

Crystal and Aeon walks right up the stage, the former handing the phone to Meena, who's also still being a stagehand even after getting a chance to re-audition for the show.

"Are you sure about this?" Aeon asks what's been lingering in his mind ever since she dragged him in here.

She smirks, but still kept most of her pride, "We've got no choice here now. This either succeeds or fails. As soon as it's over, then we're outta here."

When Meena gives the signal, her and Aeon begins at an all too familiar position.

Despite changing partners that day, they were still in sync like they've been dancing with each other throughout their whole life. As the scene unfolds, Mr. Moon's expression turns from troubled to an interest. He thought they'd only do something that will easily help her breathe while singing, turns out she could do both, along with a last minute partner who's right on the act and can play well throughout the song.

"Remember those walls I built? Well, baby, they're tumblin' down. And they didn't even put up a fight, they didn't even make a sound. I found a way to let you in, but I never really had a doubt. Standin' in the light of your halo, I got my angel now."

Every time he tries to get dangerously closer, Crystal lightly pushes her way out of his hold, feeling disgusted with herself. Has she given him a glimmer of hope just for admitting she needs him for this? To ease her own nervousness of performing again? Crystal cannot let him get any ideas out of this. Still, she's glad he had let him. Singing this would've been a lot more nerve wracking while standing frozen on the stage.

"It's like I've been awakened. Every rule I had you breakin'. It's the risk that I'm takin'. I ain't never gonna shut you out.

Everywhere I'm lookin' now, I'm surrounded by your embrace. Baby, I can see your halo. You know you're my savin' grace. You're everything I need and more, It's written all over your face. Baby, I can feel your halo, pray it won't fade away."

Johnny arrived, almost out of breath. He was downright terrified to have missed the dress rehearsals, but hearing Crystal sing in there made it ten times relieving for him. Rositta and Gunther are both over Ash's figure, trying to stop her from crying about whatever it was. Mike, standing out with his violet tux despite his size, stood by the side and watched the show, and Meena standing nearby and was in charge of the music this whole time. Everything was very normal and none had seem to miss his presence, which was a great scenario ever possible.

"I can feel your...halo! I can see your... halo! Ooohh!"

And yet he had walked in to a very surprising performance. Whoever Crystal's partner is in her performance, is looking very intimate with her. Longing eyes, gentle yet quick touch, his way of dancing fitted her like a glove. He looked at nothing other than her, not even a glance sideways towards any other performers, not even noticing his own attention that he'd grabbed out of surprise and a hint of newfound jealousy.

They actually looked like they've danced together in preparation for this. Not even Johnny had seen her dance before. Just who is this that showed in the picture?