She was among the first ones to perform tonight; thus, had the chance to take a break for a while before the show totally ends for the night. And yet Ellie feels exhausted as ever.
The results has already been announced. And as much as she tried not to give her coach and the listeners the kind of song they want, she still managed to get chosen to continue for next week.
Even when the show has ended, Ellie has not gone home and patiently waits at their dressing room as instructed by Joy. Her coach had specifically ordered for her to stay and wait while the Broadway star wraps up everything on her end. While the others had already left, she sat there waiting alone in the room.
El could not help but feel nervous as she kind of expects what her coach might want to do with her. "She will reprimand me for sure." she thought. She could not think of any excuses she could say later on once Lea speaks with her. Though she does not regret going against her choice, she felt totally defeated as she did not get the outcome she was hoping for.
Her nervousness was somehow lessened when someone approached and talked to her. It was Nicole, her coach's only daughter. The teenager sat beside her and congratulated her on her advancement for the next round.
Over the course of weeks that Nix has been joining them during their rehearsals, she has come to love and adore Ellie. She looks up to her as her older sister. Aside from being her mom's favorite artist on her team, she finds her cool and awesome; having to share the same hobbies with her and being an intelligent person at the same time.
There were times that Nix would bring over her summer school assignments during their rehearsals and she often get help from El. Lea does not mind her daughter asking assistance from her artists as long as they're okay with it. And besides, El is actually a good tutor. She graduated as a Magna Cum Laude in college so that just proves how smart she is. They even play together with their Nintendo Switch.
But tonight, Nicole did not ask her to get help in anything nor to play a game in her console. She instead took out her phone and took selfies with El. It was not just one, not two but plenty more.
The teenager urged her to have different poses; wacky, formal, candid and some with funny effects. Nicole is fully enjoying all of this. This moment was helpful for El as it reduced her feeling of uneasiness. But that shall not pass for long.
Around twenty minutes later, Lea; together with her mother and her assistant Cleo entered the dressing room. Ligaya then took Nicole for them to go home while Cleo grabbed things that Lea asked her to take and left.
As she looks onto her coach, El noticed that Lea had already changed into her casual clothes. Her hair and make up are still intact though. Out of her nerves trembling, she was not able to stand up and greet her coach properly as she came inside the room.
Lea then instead took the seat that her daughter had vacated. There were only the two of them. When the others left the room, Lea locked the door to make sure that nobody from the staff would be able to hear or to interrupt their conversation.
She gave the young artist a stern look as their eyes meet. She could feel El's trembling as she could see her left knee shaking. She waited to see if El would say something first.
But when she looked at her protege's eyes, it only showed a reflection of guilt and conviction. Not wanting to have dead silence on that empty room, the Broadway star then initiated the conversation.
"So, wouldn't you say something first?"
"I-I'm sorry coach."
"What for?" Lea asks even though both of them clearly knows the answer.
"You must have been angry with me.."
"Really? Why would that be?" there was a bit of sarcasm coming from the Broadway star's responses that Ellie caught up.
"I.. I chose to sing a different song from the one we practiced before." El lowered down her head as she feels bad about what she did.
"I guess as a coach, it will be perfectly normal not to feel good about that. But the word angry is a bit much. I don't think that's the appropriate word for it. And since you've actually done good, I could just say that I'm discontented right now."
El looked up as she stares at her coach's face. This is the face that she admired so much, the face she followed on her dreams, and the face she's fallen in love with. She does not have any regrets in the actions she's done for tonight. But somehow, looking at Lea's serious and disappointed face hurts her.
"So why? Why have you changed it the last minute? Have you planned for this since the beginning? Do you really want to be out of the show that much?!"
Lea didn't mean to raise her voice as she questions El, but she has lost her control as she wanted answers out from her. She was taken aback when tears started to roll down from the young woman's face. She felt a little guilty but her ego as a coach was hurt with El sabotaging her song choice.
The young woman wiped her tears with her hands as she looks back to face Lea who awaits for her answer.
"I.. I don't have anything to say coach. I don't want to make up any excuses. It's all my fault. I'm sorry."
And once again tears burst out from Ellie's appealing eyes.
Lea couldn't help but hug the girl in front of her. She doesn't want to see this person cry. She knew Ellie had her own purpose for doing what she did earlier. Lea felt that the main reason was more hurtful for El than it did to her. She tried to hush her but her crying just continued for few minutes more.
When Ellie's crying stopped, Lea let go of the hug and stared at her face. Despite the mark of tears, Ellie still looks charming. Her rounded eyes, her moistened dry lips, her straight-edge nose, all perfectly fits on her oval face. Ellie is such a beautiful woman that looks so angelic.
Lea holds her protege's face with both of her hands and looks at her eyes deeply as if sending a message to her telepathically.
She could feel El's body trembling but not because of fear. She could hear the woman's heartbeat run so fast. As their eyes meet, Lea could feel a strong force of gravity pulling her much closer to Ellie.
"I don't want you to quit this competition. Not ever."
She moved her head further to El's face as she closes the gap between them. She could feel Ellie's breath as it touches her own smooth skin. It felt warm yet so refreshing.
Lea then closed her eyes and kissed the young woman in the lips.