Paige stared at the people in the audience, observing the different expressions on their faces. Some felt pity for her, some laughed at her, while others booed and gestured with their thumbs down.
As tears streamed down her face, the other girls continued to sing, and no one waited for her. After Candy; the fourth person, finished singing, the first girl resumed.Paige's microphone had already been rolled away from where she stood. Unable to bear the shame any longer, she turned around and ran away from the stage.Candy smiled, feeling victorious, and said inwardly, "Now let me see how you will be among the top two."Paige did not stop running until she reached outside. Fearing that people might notice her and start pointing fingers at her, she searched for a quiet and hidden spot, finding solace leaning on a pillar.She covered her face with her hands and continued to cry, recalling how she had assured Mr. Zachary that she would not fail him. She felt even more disappointed in herself. She knew without a doubt that what happened was not an accident, but she couldn't understand why she was so unfortunate.Before the show began, Mr. Zachary had called his assistant, Luke to come to the venue. When Luke arrived, he helped Mr. Zachary find a spot where no one would recognize him.Mr. Zachary didn't want anyone to be aware of his presence, except a few organizers who needed to know.Upon seeing Paige run out of the hall, he shook his head and sent a text to Luke, saying, "Check on Paige and let me know where she went."Luke quietly followed Paige, saw how she hid by a pillar, crying, and informed Zachary.Zach walked up to her, still ensuring that no one was able to recognize him as he wore a hat to disguise his appearance.When he got to where she was, Zach asked, "Why are you crying?"Hearing his voice, Paige looked up to see him. She instantly got up, still clutching the torn gown in her hand as she struggled to cover her bra top."I asked you why you're crying," Zachary said, repeating himself as he noticed how the short gown revealed too much of her fair skin."I'm very sorry, Mr. Zachary," she said, sobbing. "Something went wrong with the clothes. I... I don't know... I don't know how it snapped.""You should not have left the stage," Zachary said coldly."I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I disappointed you. Everyone was staring at me, and I felt... I felt like a failure.""Interesting," Zachary said.Folding his arms, he asked, "Are you a failure, Paige?"She looked at him in surprise, and he asked again, "Tell me, Paige, are you a failure? If you believe that you're a failure, then let's go back home. You can go back to being my maid, it's not such a bad fate. But if you're not a failure...""I'm not a failure," Paige replied, interrupting him. "I never expected what happened today to happen, but I promise you, Mr. Zach, that I'm not a failure.""How can you prove to me that you're not a failure?" Zach asked.Paige remained silent, not knowing what to say. She didn't know how she was going to answer his question. And for the third time, Zach repeated a question, "Tell me, Paige, how can you prove to me that you're not a failure?"Paige shook her head, wanting to tell him that she had no idea. But then Zach asked, "Do you want a second chance?""Sir, I," Paige began, but then loud cheers and claps from inside the hall diverted her attention. She listened intently as she heard the crowd cheering and screaming, knowing that the Spark Girls were done singing. At this point, Paige lost all hope and said sadly, "They are done singing already, no one would.....""Do you like me repeating myself, Paige?" he asked sternly.Paige shook her head. "No, sir.""Then why do I have to ask you a question more than once to get a reply? I asked you a question, Paige. Do you want a second chance?""Yes, sir, yes, sir, I want a second chance," Paige said firmly.Zachary observed her for a while, took out his phone, and called his assistant."What I asked you to do, get it done right now," he said."Okay, boss, I'll do that right away," Luke replied.In one of the changing rooms, Barbie, a twenty-two-year-old artist who was waiting to perform, sat in front of a wide mirror as a makeup artist worked on her face.After a while, she pushed the makeup artist to the side and stared at herself in the mirror."What is this? What do you think you're doing? Why did you ruin my face?" she exclaimed."What are you saying?" the makeup artist asked, feeling offended. "What I'm doing on your face is what is trendy. This is what I do for other singers.""Oh, shut up! Shut the hell up! What do you know? Look at how you've ruined my face. Is this how I'm supposed to look for my show?"Her assistant interjected, "Miss. Bee, actually..."The words had barely left her assistant's mouth when Barbie got up and slapped her so hard, "Shut the hell up, you loser! How dare you bring me this incompetent fool? And now you're trying to justify her actions? Do you know I can get you fired?""I'm sorry," her assistant said, crying.At this point, the makeup artist lost it and said, "What do you think of yourself, Barbie, or whatever your name is? You're not even a star yet, and you will most likely never be one. You're just a third-grade singer, struggling to get noticed by everyone. There's nothing special about you, and yet, you're so full of yourself.""Get out of this room!" Barbie yelled. "Get lost right now!""I'm leaving," the makeup artist said and angrily left with her box.Her assistant, Julie, placed her hand on her cheek where Barbie had slapped her. It wasn't the first time, but her cheek burned with pain, and more tears fell from her eyes."What are you crying for now?" Barbie asked. "If you don't want me to hit you, why do you bring such useless people to me? I asked you to get in touch with a professional makeup artist, and you brought me that piece of trash. Now look at my face. I am supposed to go out there in thirty minutes, and now I'm going to spend the whole time trying to fix my face up instead of getting ready for my show.""I'm sorry. I'm very sorry," Julie, said.Barbie angrily took out things from her bag and wiped off the makeup the artist had done on her face. She began to do her makeup herself, and at that moment, there was a knock on the door."Open the door," she ordered her assistant, who nodded and went to open the door. The moment the door opened, Julie stared at the man standing outside the shop."Sir?""Can I come in?" Zachary's assistant asked."Of course, sir. You can come in," Julie replied.She stood at the side while Luke walked in. Just as he entered the room, Barbie turned and saw him. At that moment, she got up and smiled, "Hi, sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"Everyone knew who Zachary's assistant was because Zach rarely gave people an audience in public. Luke was the one who normally spoke, so most people were familiar with his face, and Barbie was one of them. She showed him much respect, putting aside the haughty attitude she had shown earlier."Do you know Mr. Zachary Fletcher?" Luke asked.She smiled shyly, "Of course. Who doesn't know Mr. Zachary Fletcher?""Hmm, that's nice. I'm aware that you'll be performing in thirty minutes," Luke said.Barbie nodded, "Yes, I will.""That's nice. Mr. Zachary wants a favor from you.""Me?" Barbie was surprised, "Mr. Zachary knows me?""Yes, he knows you. I mean, you sing pretty well. Why wouldn't he know you? He needs a favor from you." Luke replied."What is it? Just tell me. What do I need to do? Whatever it is, I'll do it."Luke nodded, "I know that you are to sing a song to end the show.""Yes," she replied. "Can you give it up?" Luke asked."Give what up?" Barbie could not understandLuke folded his arms, "Mr. Zachary wants you to give up your spot to sing. He wants someone else to sing in your stead.""Mr. Zachary doesn't want me to sing? Why?" Barbie suddenly lost her enthusiasm and the earlier smile she had put on disappeared.Luke continued, "If you can agree to his request, he'll give you the opportunity to perform the closing song at an international event. What do you say? Will you give up this performance for one at the international event?"Barbie's eyes widened in shock, "Me?"Seeing that Paige was still crying, Zachary dipped his hand into his pocket, took out his handkerchief, and offered it to her. She stared at his hand, hesitating to take it from him, but he said, "Go ahead, take it.""Thank you, sir," she replied as she accepted the handkerchief and wiped her tears.When she was done wiping, Zach said, "If you break down so easily, how can you get to the top? How can you become a star if it's so easy to turn you into a crying vegetable? And what's up with your dress?""Well, I... I think someone cut off the rope," Paige sniffled."It's your fault," Zachary said, "it's no one else's fault but yours."Paige was surprised; she could not understand how it was her fault that someone plotted against her.Zachary saw the look on her face and knew that she did not understand his words, so he began to explain. "You should know that people try to one-up each other at events like this. That's how the world of showbiz is. So you should always be prepared. I look
As Paige entered the room, two of the girls turned to stare at her and began to laugh.Candy was the one who laughed the loudest; she folded her arms and said, "Aww, her eyes are puffy. Has the crybaby been crying tonight?""You were the one who sabotaged my dress, weren't you?" Paige asked Candy.Candy shook her head and retorted, "Wait, you're not satisfied with being a failure; now you're going to embarrass yourself here by accusing me of things I know nothing about?"The other girls in the room joined in laughing, and one even said to Candy, "Come on, why are you entertaining her? Don't bother with her, Candy; she's beneath us. From the very start, she wasn't supposed to be among us. We worked hard to get to this stage, and only God knows who she slept with in order to sneak in. But she has learned her place, so you shouldn't waste your breath on her."Paige stared at all of them without saying another word, holding her clothes tightly to herself. She remembered what Zachary had sa
Zach didn't want to believe that Paige was a thief. Although the information he had gathered showed she had been accused of theft many times by her family, he knew how families like that worked, so he didn't want to hold on to that. However, the look on her face at this point left him unsure of what to believe.It wasn't possible for her to be the one who stole from him because the CCTV footage of last night had been wiped off.The first thing he did was to check the CCTV room when he realized his jade necklace was missing. It was the only thing he had left of his mother, the only thing that reminded him of her. The fact that the footage had been wiped off showed that whoever stole from him was someone who knew his house perfectly.Paige had just turned eighteen and was the youngest person in his house. So how could she have stolen that bracelet when she didn't really know how everything worked in the house?Seeing that Paige was quiet, he became worried as he desperately hoped that
One hour later, Paige stopped crying and thought about what the future held for her. No matter how she thought about it, someone must have set her up.The jade necklace could not have miraculously ended up in her room since she knew that she never took it. It had to be one of the maids.Who else could it be? The one person she held as a suspect was the housekeeper. She was the only one who hated her enough to plot something so big.However, she couldn't point her finger at her because she had no evidence. It would seem as though she was trying to push the blame for her crime onto someone innocent.What hurt her the most was the way Zachary had stared at her as though she was a thief. He had shown trust in her just a few minutes ago, but now everything was ruined.She tried to focus her mind on other things because she didn't want to keep crying. She suddenly remembered that the judges of the event she performed at the previous night had said they'd send a reply to her the next day.Sh
After Paige left, Candy went back into the house with her parents. Her mom said, "Just imagine, this Paige. She's so fearless. How dare she come here and try to speak at the top of her voice? This is what I've been going through in her hands."Anthony shook his head, "I can't believe how insolent she is. It's a good thing I threw her out. If I hadn't stopped by to pick up something, I wouldn't have known that she could speak so disrespectfully.""That's how she is, Dad," Candy replied. "But, um, Dad, did you see that Paige also performed at the Spark girls' show? I mean, for some reason, she was suddenly among the Spark Girls. Normally, spark girls are only four, and one is picked out as the best at the end. But she came out of nowhere, and for the first time, the Spark Girls were five. Dad, I don't want Paige to beat me."Her mom scoffed, "How will she beat you? You're more beautiful and more talented. You'll surely win over her.""I know that when it comes to talent, I'm much better
After leaving the police station, Paige went back to Zach's home. She remained in the room, thinking about everything Matilda had told her. In the end, she told herself not to pay attention to such nonsense. It was probably an excuse to justify her wrongs.When Zach got back home, he went straight to his room without stopping to ask Paige about her meeting with Matilda.When it was morning, Paige woke up and checked her mail. She knew that the information from Spark Entertainment Agency would arrive on that day, but she didn't know the time. However, she decided to still check her mail, and when she did, she saw that a mail had been sent, citing her as one of the candidates who had been selected.She got up and screamed, jumping for joy. "I can't believe it, I can't believe this," she exclaimed.She wanted to hurry to Zach to tell him the good news she had received, but she realized that she hadn't taken her bath. So she rushed to the bathroom, took her bath, brushed her teeth, and p
As Zach drove back to the office, he recalled how Paige had said she couldn't call him "sir" because it was disrespectful.He smiled, "Foolish girl, can't you tell that I don't want you to get so formal around me? So you can call Williams by his name but not me?""What is going on here?" The director who caught Candy before she could fall and pushed her forward asked.Candy pointed accusing fingers at Paige as she sounded aggrieved, "I don't know what I did to her. Perhaps she's jealous of me. I just came in here and saw her sitting down. I asked her if you were not in your office, and then she got up and slapped me. How can someone be so uncouth? Why would she do that? I am not going to spare her; this is unacceptable. No one has ever hit me before."As the director listened to Candy's accusation, the man stared at Paige, who was silent. She had an air of composure about her and did not show any signs of anger. He recalled what the top judge had said when he gave him Paige's name.H
The crowd was bustling with excitement as it was the fifteenth edition of the Spark Girls, and everyone was eager for the different performances. As usual, Zach wore a cap and a T-shirt to conceal his appearance, and sat at the back of the audience, waiting for Paige's performance.As both Paige and Candy listened to the director's new arrangements, Paige accepted them, saying, "Okay sir, it's fine by me."However, Candy refused, "No, I will not share a stage with her. Let each of us perform separately; I do not agree to this."The director scoffed, "Stop being so picky. It's not up to you. As I told you before, you can leave if you're not comfortable with the arrangements we have made. That way, Paige can become the automatic winner."The director was already fed up with Candy's attitude, considering that the Spark girls were just newbies, and the Spark agency was a platform to help them begin their careers. Candy was just starting but was already full of herself, which annoyed him.