"Look, Instructor," Kaija complained between heavy breaths. "This is already the fiftieth ti we’ve rehearsed the entire performance over the past few days.
"I’ve rehearsed it dozens of tis with Dani before the festival too. And didn’t I do well onstage that night?
"At this rate, I’m probably going to get sick of my own song before I even get to perform it live for the first ti."
In response to her drawn-out complaints, Antony only shook his head, his face steely and severe as ever as he stood with his arms folded in front of the mirror.
"This ti is not the sa as the festival," he said, his voice firm. "This ti, there will be millions of eyes on you, now that you’ve gone viral even before your debut.
"One mistake, and the viewers and the dia will nitpick you far worse than I am right now.
"Co on, dummy. One last go. That chart show is tomorrow already. This is no ti to slack off."
A weary sigh escaped Kaija as she pushed herself up from the floor, stretching her legs a few more tis before settling back into the chair in the middle of the room.
All the girls had already left, since it was well past their scheduled ti, and they had practiced with her almost all day long.
But as the star of the performance, Antony had kept her behind, making her redo the sa routine by herself over and over again.
"One thing though, Instructor," she said, crossing one leg over the other into the starting position. "Will you co with to the Muzik Open Hall tomorrow?
"I’m planning to treat you, Dani, Esko, and the girls to dinner and so drinks for all the support you’ve given these past weeks, after I finish my part."
Antony’s finger froze over the play button.
"Dinner with... everyone?" he echoed, his voice thin with faint disappointnt.
He had been planning to ask her out on a date for that sa ti slot, right after this final rehearsal. But now that she already had plans...
He turned his face toward the mirror, as if that could hide the disappointnt from her.
"Yeah. I’m coming," he said curtly, pressing play.
Kaija resud the routine the mont the music started, but her attention was now fixed on Antony’s stiff expression in the mirror.
_"Tch. So that’s the face you make when you’re sulking, huh?"_ she thought, raising a brow.
Perhaps he and Charles shared more in common than she’d thought, even as half-brothers.
Those similarly steely, expressionless faces. That shared habit of suppressing all frustration inside than talking it out.
So unlike Max, who always wore that fake charming smile, yet burst out the mont sothing displeased him.
"Instructor!" she called out in the middle of her dancing. "If you don’t like the idea at all, I could make a little chan—"
"Focus!" he snapped coldly, clapping his hands together sharply. "Practice first. Talk later."
A single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.
As sweet and gentle as he had beco toward her recently, that strict intensity when it ca to serious work clearly wasn’t going anywhere anyti soon.
At last, when the music stopped and Kaija struck the final pose, the tiniest hint of a smile appeared on his face, followed by a round of applause.
"Good job," he said, handing her a towel for the sweat. "Go get so rest for the rest of the night and let your muscles relax. Do not engage in any strenuous activity from now until the performance tomorrow. Understood?"
Her brow twitched slightly. Here he went again, with his barrage of commands.
"Got it, sir!" she replied, snapping into the sa playful salute.
Only then did a chuckle slip out of Antony, which was the first since the day’s session had started.
"When will you stop with that?" he asked, tousling her hair, the indulgence in his voice unmistakable.
"Never, sir!" she replied in a soldier’s tone. "As long as you’re still my instructor, I will march with you until we massacre all our enemies and reclaim victory for our nation, sir!"
Antony’s face twitched violently, mostly from suppressing a laugh, and the urge to squeeze the cute face she made as she blurted those words.
"You, seriously..." he said flatly, his cheeks tinged faintly red. "You should’ve been a stage actor, not a singer, dummy."
A finger flicked her forehead instead, making her yelp, "Ouch!"
"Let’s... let’s go," he mumbled, turning away sharply afterward.
As comfortable as he had beco around her lately, there were still things the thirty-two-year-old Antony hadn’t gotten used to yet when being this close to her.
Things like the heat rushing through him unbidden, burning his face and tightening his chest.
Or things like the urge to lower his mouth to those pouty lips and give them a proper, lingering kiss, tracing the damp skin down her neck, and maybe even lower—
"Instructor? Um... you’re shaking."
Her voice suddenly ca from behind him, cutting straight through the intrusive images flashing through his mind.
Startled, Antony jumped back three steps, as if he’d been caught in the middle of so illicit act.
"I... I’m starving," he stamred. "Let’s stop by a restaurant on the way back. You must be hungry too..."
She raised a brow. Since when did hunger make soone’s face turn pink?
"Aye aye, let’s go, sir, before we starve to death," she said lightly, grabbing her things and turning off the lights.
Then her tone turned serious at last. "Oh, by the way, where do you think we should go tomorrow evening after dinner? I don’t know that many places for drinks, but Esko and Dani insisted on having a proper boozy night..."
Her rambling went on, but Antony was only listening half-heartedly.
Good thing the lights were off, otherwise, she might have seen how his face had gone completely doused in red.
"I guess we could go clubbing, or maybe to a discotheque, since the girls love dancing, and you do too," her voice ca again, closer this ti.
Then she patted him lightly on the shoulder, the way she had deliberately touched him for the very first ti.
"What do you think, Instructor?" she asked.
His hand shot up to where hers rested, catching her wrist firmly in place.
"Listen..." he said quietly, "I actually don’t know what those places are like. I’ve never been. But after we go with Dani and Esko... would it be too much if I asked you to spare so ti for a small date with ?"
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