Elara stared at the microphone in her hand for a long mont. Her heart was still beating fast. Then, as if she wanted to confirm what she was thinking, she slowly brought the microphone closer to her mouth again. She opened her mouth and sang the high note once more.
This ti it was not a crack. It was a loud, sharp screech that cut through the hall in an embarrassing ugly sound.
A few people in the audience winced and covered their ears. Elara lowered the microphone slowly. Now she understood clearly what had gone wrong.
It was not her voice. The microphone had been tampered with. But only soone paying very close attention would understand that. Most of the people in this hall would think sothing was wrong with her voice. They would think she had failed at the most important mont of her performance.
The murmuring in the hall continued. Elara knew she had only a short ti before the room made a decision about her performance, a decision she would not be able to undo.
She looked out at the audience. The judges were already moving their hands slightly, signaling for her to leave the stage.
Elara did not respond. She still had ti, and she had to use it. Her mind moved quickly. None of the singers before her had experienced this problem. That ant this was not an accident. It ant soone had done this on purpose. And that person had targeted her.
Her eyes moved slowly across the hall until they stopped on one of the special seats near the front.
Livienne was sitting there. A strange smile rested on her face as she looked at Elara. It was the kind of smile that did not try to hide anything. It almost looked like she was curious, like she was waiting to see how Elara would deal with this situation.
Elara’s lips curved into a small smirk. Livienne lifted her wine glass calmly and took a sip.
Elara looked away from her. Just then her eyes caught another familiar figure standing among the people near the side of the hall.
Ziva.
She was making small gestures with her hands, trying to signal sothing to Elara. From the stage it was hard to understand what exactly she ant. But suddenly Ziva’s voice from earlier returned clearly in Elara’s mind.
Your own voice is enough.
At once Elara understood what Ziva had been trying to say. She looked toward Ziva again and gave her a quick wink.
Then she made her decision in one breath. Elara reached up and removed the small earpiece from her ear. She placed it carefully on top of the microphone stand. Her movents were calm and unhurried. Then she looked out at the audience again. She did not apologize or try to explain what had gone wrong.
Instead she tilted the microphone stand slightly to the side, moving it away from her. Then she stepped back. She took a deep breath. And she began singing again. From the beginning. Not from the place where she had stopped earlier. From the very first line.
As if the last few minutes had only been practice and this was the real performance. There was no microphone or ear piece with her now. All she has is only her voice.
When she opened her mouth and sang, the murmuring stopped instantly. No one had expected her to sing without any equipnt.
Her voice filled the large hall. It was not louder than before, but it carried a different impression. It felt real and natural.
Sotis amplified sound felt distant or artificial, but this voice was direct and clear.
Elara sang the entire song. This ti without a single mistake.
The mont she finished the final line, the applause ca like thunder, as if they had been waiting for the second after she reached the end. The sound was so sudden and loud that even Elara looked surprised. She stood there for a second in a slight daze, staring at the audience as people clapped and cheered.
The head judge had placed his pen down on the table. He was not writing anything. He was simply looking at her.
In the audience so people had already stood up without even realizing it.
Among them, near the middle of the room and slightly away from the main industry guests, another group of people were reacting even more stronger than the others. They were waving their hands excitedly as if trying to get her attention.
Elara looked around at the faces in the crowd, and without noticing it herself, a small smile slowly appeared on her face.
Seeing people who truly appreciated what she had just done felt warm and strange at the sa ti.
Livienne, however, was sitting perfectly still.
Elara’s gaze settled on her across the hall. Her hands rested calmly in her lap. They were completely motionless. She was not clapping.
After a mont she seed to realize this and began clapping with the rest of the audience. But Elara had already noticed everything. She also noticed the way Livienne avoided eting her eyes afterward.
Then Elara’s gaze moved again through the hall until it found Ziva. She was standing quietly among the crowd, watching her. There was admiration in her expression.
And sothing else Elara could not quite understand...
–
Back in the lounge in the other part of the venue, the two n were still there. But the first man was no longer sitting. He was standing now near the small table. The paper cup he had been drinking from earlier was still there, forgotten where he had left it.
The second man sat in his chair, watching him with curiosity.
For a mont, the voice coming in from the wall had stopped and everywhere had fell into a strange silence. Then, after a short while, the voice drifted in again. This ti, it was lower and it sounded different. But it was still the sa voice.
The first man stood still and listened carefully. His attention was fully on the sound coming through the wall. The song ended not long after. A loud applause burst out from the hall, much louder than before.
"Lio," the second man called in a soft voice.
The first man turned his head slightly to look at him.
"What’s wrong with you? You’ve been standing since..." the second man said with a confused tone.
Lioren glanced down at his own feet for a mont. Then he looked back at the wall where the sound had co from. "I know," he said quietly.
He reached back and picked up his jacket from the back of the chair.
"Where are you going?" the second man asked.
Lioren did not answer right away. He slipped his arms into the jacket and then took out his phone. He stared at the screen for a long second, as if he was thinking about sothing. Then he put the phone away. He walked toward the door and pulled it open.
"Lio," the second man called after him with a laugh. "I asked where you’re off to."
Lioren paused at the doorway. "I want to go check sothing out," he said.
Then he stepped out and closed the door behind him...
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