Dominate Showbiz: Media Tycoon Discovered My Talent-Chapter 46: No Practice Today

The look on Niklas’s face when he recognized her was priceless. His mouth fell open as his expression blank with total astonishment, as if he had just been hit by a freight train.

Behind him, the face of the dear friend she’d just thought of minutes ago wasn’t any better. Her sapphire-blue eyes were wide and unmoving, her pink lips parted, completely speechless.

"Let go!" she yelled at Niklas’s dumbstruck face and yanked her shoulder away from his loosening grip.

"You... you dyed your hair," he stuttered, still unable to close his mouth. His amber eyes glinted as he looked her up and down in disbelief. "You’re... wearing skirts too?"

"Just a different hair color and a skirt and you couldn’t recognize me anymore?" Kaija scoffed, readjusting her sweatshirt where his grip had tugged it out of place. Then her gaze drifted to Marja standing behind him, still stunned into silence.

Marja must’ve been more than three months pregnant by now, and yet she still looked gorgeous just standing there in that white midi dress.

"Long time no see," she said to Marja, totally ignoring Niklas’s existence. "Well, I hope you two are happy together. Now I’ve gotta go. I’m with my friend. I don’t wanna keep her waiting."

"I see..." Marja murmured, her face falling with disappointment. Her gaze locked on Kaija, then darted to Dani, who’d been standing quietly by Kaija’s side this whole time.

Dani was confused by everything she’d just witnessed, yet her hand was still holding Kaija’s.

Suddenly, Dani’s voice rose, her words burning with a fury even more intense than the bright orange of her hair.

"’I see’ my damn ass! Have you even apologized yet? I’m not sure I’ve heard that from the two of you. Don’t you have some basic manners, huh? Didn’t your parents teach you how to behave?"

Niklas’s face tightened with anger at Dani’s rage. But the moment his gaze drifted to Kaija, that anger evaporated almost instantly.

"I’m very sorry, Kaija," he said, his voice dropping to a soft murmur.

Marja’s gaze sharpened at once at the sudden change in Niklas’s tone, her face drowning in shock again.

Even Kaija was shocked. She didn’t expect he’d say that so easily, especially not in that tone.

"Fiiiiiinally, gods, that took you looooong enough," Dani drawled, still dripping with contempt. She turned and dragged me out of there before either of them could say another word.

Once they were out of the busy street, Dani held her still and frantically checked her over. Dani’s gaze darkened the moment it landed on her knees.

"Kaija! You’re bleeding!" Dani shouted, horrified. "How could you possibly stay so calm with that couple? You knew those rude people?!"

Kaija sighed, facepalming. "Yeah. That guy would be my ex-boyfriend. The girl... I’ve known her since elementary school, but two months ago I found out the two of them were together behind my back."

Dani’s face twisted with wrath, her topaz eyes burning with a cold blue fire. "And yet! You let those two go so easily with just a sorry? After they made you a mess like this?!"

"Yo... girl, easy," Kaija said, holding both hands up to calm Dani down. "I was just unlucky. He stepped on my shoe so I fell, it’s not like he pushed me. Besides, I really couldn’t stand seeing their faces for too long, you know?"

Dani let out a sharp exhale, finally calming a bit, though her tone stayed serious. "Fine. Stay here. I’ll get something to clean and patch you up. Then we’ll get you back to KE."

With that, Dani pushed her down onto a bench with a stern face and ran off into the convenient store nearby.

Left alone on the bench, Kaija sighed. Given Dani’s current mood, she knew better than disobey her. Dani might just burst into another wrath.

The next morning, when Kaija walked into the studio like a broken robot, wearing a pair of shorts instead of her usual sweatpants, the first thing that greeted her was Antony’s darkened face.

The girls hadn’t arrived yet. It was just her and Antony, and she was wondering whether he’d recovered from that extra bad mood Dani had mentioned yesterday, or if it had evolved into something else.

"What the hell are those?" he asked, tone icy, gaze tight with concern as it landed on the two white square patches covering her knees.

She gave him a sly smile. "Well, it’s just... an accident. I went out with Dani yesterday, then I got unlucky and fell on my knees. Luckily it wasn’t my face that met the ground, though."

Her attempt to lighten the mood didn’t work. Antony’s face only tightened. "And how do you plan to dance with knees like that?"

Sweat trickled down her temple at his tone. "I can totally practice, let me show you!" she exclaimed, wobbling to the front of the mirror and starting a sequence of steps they practiced yesterday.

Antony stood to the side, shaking his head and palming his face with a sigh at her attempt to dance with patched-up knees.

The girls walked in just in time to witness her tragic knee-shuffle. Their hands flew to their mouths with great effort, and Dani was the first to lose it and burst into laughter.

Antony didn’t spare a single smile. He folded his arms tightly, face stern, and declared coldly, "No practice today. None for this week either. This session is cleared until I say otherwise. Go do something else. Sleep. Eat. Gossip. Whatever."

All five girls were left dumbfounded. They exchanged terrified glances. Then Kaija winked aggressively and flipped her hand at them in a way that meant, "Run now while you still can, my comrades".

Luckily, by now, the girls had mastered the skill of reading her telepathic messages, so one by one, they said goodbye to Antony, despite not even saying hello yet, and disappeared out the door.

Once they were gone, she turned to Antony. "If so, then... I’ll excuse myself too."

He frowned, tone dry. "Who said you’re allowed to go?"