What a Feeling

Anyone who works for Marie To knows that she never backs out on her word, if she makes up her mind, it's final. This time Bang Kieu have taken up the challenge to change that by refused to performed the opening of their talent show without Minh Tuyet by his side. It's too late for her to change singers since most of them are already booked for other shows. Bang Kieu's demands were simple: he only wanted Minh Tuyet to sing with him and everything else is fair game. Seeing that the clock was ticking and she can't afford to make last minute changes, she grabbed the phone and dialed Minh Tuyet's number which Bang Kieu conveniently provided for her. She sat there tapping impatiently until she heard Minh Tuyet's voice. Marie wasted no time, telling her that she needed Minh Tuyet to perform a long with Bang Kieu for the upcoming Paris By Night show. There was a long pause after Marie finished. She knew it was useless sucking up to her and was ready to kick herself for taking that chance but Minh Tuyet said yes after much consideration. Marie To was so happy that she thanked her and told her to report to the rehearsals quickly. Although Minh Tuyet was placed at the last minute, Marie was confident that she can do it.

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(Luong Tung Quang)
LTQ, once again, was standing in front of Marie's house. He won't come back to the place he was 3 years ago—a nobody—just because of one stupid little mistake. No way. This time, however, there was no need to ring the bell since Marie was just coming out of the house. She noticed him and asked annoyingly, "What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you can give me another try….”
"As if your voice will change my mind. Right." She walked on, in the direction of her car. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to leave now."
"Ms. To…" She slammed the door close in his face, which is burning red with anger.
As the car was about to move, he ran right in front of it, making Marie stop suddenly.
"Are you crazy?" She yelled. "Move aside!"
"Not until you give me my chance..."
Marie sighed. “Fine with me then…” She said and backed her car toward the other driveway and onto the main street. She was a good driver. The only thing LTQ could do was to run after the car by foot. Lucky for him, it wasn't very far away and the streets were crowded with cars. Just when he thought he could follow her no more, the car stopped—right in front of Franklin’s Theatre. He stopped to catch his breathe and apparently, Marie thought she had lost him. She showed a smile and walked inside. LTQ followed, keeping his distance.
Inside the theatre it was dark and there were many people. It was clear that they’re putting up a show. He was suddenly stopped by a security guard.
“You! Where’s your nametag?”
He knew he was in trouble. “Um...”
“Sir, I’m going to ask you to leave.”
“What’s the big deal? I forgot it!”
The guard made no reply but simply pulled him by his jacket and walked toward the exit.
“Let me go!” LTQ said but the guard didn’t seem to care. He kept on walking.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Said a familiar voice. The two men looked up to see that it was Bang Kieu.
“You’re that judge!”
“Oh it’s you.” Bang Kieu exclaimed as he finally remembered. He turned to the guard, “You can let him go.”
“Thank you.” LTQ said, straightening his clothes.
“Marie said no again?” The guy was reading his mind.
“Yea.”
“Come,” Bang Kieu said and gestured for him to follow. They walked down to where Marie was sitting along with her crews.
“Hey Marie, I found your 14th contestant.”
“It’s Ms. To.” She said, turning around to see who it was. Disappointment filled her face and she let out a sigh. “Next time I see you I’ll report to the police”
“C’mon, Marie…I mean, Ms. To. You’ve been complaining all days about how we’ve only got 13 contestants and that it was a bad number. At least you can let him have a try.”
“Kieu, just yesterday it was Minh Tuyet. Now it’s him. How many people will you keep on bringing to this show?”
“I promise he’s the last.”
Marie thought for several minutes then sighed again—she loved to sigh. Bang Kieu is the only person on earth that can talk her into things like this. The only reason she would listen to him now is because of their once-upon-a-time-friendship and the number 13. “Alright. I’ll call out the judges and if we all agree on it, he’ll be the additional “Producer’s Choice”
LTQ could not believe his luck. The audition went well.

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(Nhu Loan)
Nhu Loan hurried over to the final rehearsals; she was late again for the fifth time in a row. She had spent all night with her boyfriend and didn't get to sleep until 2 A.M. in the morning. Of course Marie wouldn't be pleased to hear that. She woke up around noontime thinking she can catch some more zzz's after a few minutes of wandering around her apartment. She came to realized that she was late to rehearsals. She rushed to the shower and got out still dripping wet, she quickly tried to dry herself while getting dressed and raced out the door. She pulled the roof of her car down so that the wind would dry her hair faster. When she got to the venue, everybody was already and had started without her. She gave a weak smile as she passed the row of angry faces to Marie, who was shaking her head.

That night...

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(Bang Kieu)
Bang Kieu was sitting among the many singers and contestants in the backstage area. LTQ was still trying to memorize his lyrics and practicing in front of the mirror. It was, obviously, unfair for him because he only had less than a day to practice whereas the other contestants had a week since the audition. “Well, it was the price he had to pay,” Marie said to him, “it would only be more interesting for the audience if he messes up. Something to talk about.”
Nhu Loan was once again late and was still putting on her make-up. She was late and the talk Marie had for her slowed things down even more. It seemed like Marie could tolerate Nhu Loan no more, which is a very bad news.
Bang Kieu looked at his watch. Where is Minh Tuyet, he wondered. The audiences are coming in already. He decided to call her.
“Hey, where are you?”
“Right here” And just then, someone taped on his shoulder. He turned around, and there stood Minh Tuyet, smiling sheepishly.

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(Minh Tuyet)
Minh Tuyet was nervous, she stood there at the side of the stage while the crew were doing last minute touch ups. The contestants were standing in one line, all of them sweating and shaking like crazy and talking about exciting yet nerve raking it is. She can understand because she is experiencing it at the moment. She look across the stage and she saw Bang Kieu getting re-touched as well, he looked up and gave her one of his adorable smiles, he's such a cutie.
"Minh Tuyet! One minute till curtain call! Please get in your position!"
She walked up the stairs and stood on her mark, a crew member was counting down, every count made her heart beat faster and faster, she can hear the crowd outside, although she can see them, she can feel their anticipation, suddenly the crew shouted "Go!" and she felt herself forced on to stage, hearing the music playing and when she stepped out, she can hear thousands of screaming fans and realized how much she had missed the stage and with a very dear friend by her side. What a feeling it is.

What a feeling.mp3