Secret Two: Seeing Him Again

“Next, number nine please!”

That was your cue to step out on stage, you stole quick glances at your girlfriends, who eagerly smiled back and gave you a thumbs up for encouragement. You were very nervous, but you kept your cool, took a few breaths and headed out onto the stage. One of the judges shuffled their papers, pushing up his glasses as he glances up at you.

“You are, uh...” He looked back at his paper, “Brenda Lim?”

You nodded, smiling brightly.

“Why did you sign up for this audition?”

His words struck your body as you hesitated for an answer. You already had an answer in mind, but insecure to reveal it.

“I have a childhood friend who moved to Taiwan at a young age. I want to meet him again, because I miss him and I know he's popular and a celebrity in the entertainment world, so I want to become a celebrity. But that's not the real reason,”

You looked into his eyes. “I enjoy singing, and I'd like to be an actress and a singer, just like him.”

He froze, not knowing what to say.

A few seconds later, he cleared his throat, taking a sip of his water.

“So...excuse me...which role do you want?”

“Chen Qiu Mei, also known as Echo, the cousin of Zhan Shi De.”

One of the judges, seated at the far right, nodded.

“Recite the first few lines, starting from the breakup scene.”

He nudged at the judge sitting in the middle, who wore glasses, and quickly whispered, “Hey, go help her out.”

The adult groaned, and appeared on stage in a matter of seconds. He reluctantly stood next to you.

“I don't have any lines, so just go for it, okay?”

You grinned and shot him a thumbs up. “Alright, let's do this.”

You both were in your respective positions as the judges cued you in.

“Hold it right there, Zhan Shi De! What do you mean you've got no relation with me? Who the hell is that girl? Is she your girlfriend?”

He turned to you, gazing coldly into your eyes as he kept silent and nodded slowly.

“Tell me, is she more important to you than I am?”

He opened his mouth, then shut it, turning away as you hugged him tightly from behind.

“I won't let her steal you away from me, because you belong to me and no one else. I'll make sure it stays that way..forever.”

“CUT!”

You quickly released him as he wheezed a bit, pinching his nose as he catches some air.

“Sorry! I really didn't mean to squeeze you that hard!”

“Nah, it's fine. I'm already used to it. You did great!”

“Thanks! Oops, I gotta go. See ya!”

You dashed backstage and out of earshot as the judges dropped their disguise for a moment.

“Do you think she knew we're the judges?” Calvin asked skeptically.

Jiro scowled. “Pssh. I highly doubt it, since the other contestants didn't recognize us with these glasses and wigs on.”

He glanced sideways to WuZun. “Who do you think the lucky girl gonna be?”

WuZun averted his eyes towards Arron.

“I think we both share the same answer. Except he explains it better than I do, right AhBu?”

Arron jumped down, clapping the dust off himself.

“Most likely number nine. There's something fishy about her.”

“Like what?”

“Her name, it sounds similar to the one I knew back then. And her necklace..”

He fished out his M&M candy and popped the lid.

“..looks exactly like the one I gave to her.”

“So..you think it's not a coincidence?”

Arron shut the candy's lid and slowly nodded.

“Exactly.”

Jiro cocked an eyebrow, utterly confused by his two brothers.

“Wait a minute, who's the 'her' you're talking about?”

Calvin nudged him hard in the ribs, adding with a firm cough.

“Ow! What was that for?”

Calvin rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Ohh..her.”

Snap.

“You guys can come out now, or rather, girls.”

Janice and Cindy revealed themselves shyly, hanging their heads in shame.

“How much did you hear? Everything?”

They nodded as Arron sighed.

“Keep this a secret from her. Pretend that you don't anything when she asks you where you've been. Alright?”

“Sure thing. We'll be leaving now.”

“Wait!”

All five people turned to WuZun.

“Let's include them in our plan to surprise her.”

“Why not? Sounds good to me. Besides, it's better than just the four of us doing it.”

“Alright then, here's the plan..”

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

“Jeez, just where are those two? It's been like hours since I last saw them!”

You notice them approaching.

“So..what took you guys so long?”

“Nothing much, got lost while finding the audition results.”

“Oh.”

“It's not just 'oh', little missy. You owe us some lunch for dragging us with you, and before you ask that question because I know you're dying to ask us, you're the winner of that contest.”

You began shaking Janice like a wild madman, er, woman; until Cindy struggled to finally pry you off the now-choking-on-the-floor Janice, who backed away from you and hurriedly hid behind Cindy and pointed a shaking finger at you.

“W-what t-the h-hell was that for?! Trying to strangle me to death or something?”

“Hey, hey, calm down OK? Brenda didn't mean it, she's just, you know too excited. Since this is, of course her only chance to get together with Arron.”

“Uh..yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving! Let's get some lunch!”

You happily lead the way to a fast food restaurant as the two girls tailed behind, sighed as they shook their heads.

“What are we ever gonna do with you?”