Audition (Part 6)

As Veronica drowned in jealousy the audition was ongoing.

Nicole at this point was too caught up in her acting. She was losing control slowly. The tear was just the first sign, and she couldn't pull herself out. At this point, the despair of being betrayed by the people closest to her had finally hit her hard in the face.

The hurt she was feeling was beginning to take her over. It gripped her tightly and made her feel as if she kept sinking deeper into the quicksand that was her emotions.

Just before the last bit of rationality was lost on her, she saw a light sparkle.

It was the black diamond.

The small sparkle though weak and faint now held a resplendent shine reminding Nicole of her promise. She had to protect her family. She had to avenge herself. She couldn't stop now!

As she reaffirmed this her eyes slightly hardened.

Her eyes drifted back to the lone petal. Suddenly, she gripped her hand again drawing the attention back to it. Something so fragile you would think that it would be easily destroyed by such a grip but when Nicole relax her palm, the petal was fine. It laid on her palm tranquil as if nothing could bother it carrying a fragile but strong beauty.

Fragile as it was, it didn't fold.

Nicole looked at it again before letting out a smile. It was enchanting. As she stood there surrounded by rose petals, between her fingers a single petal and on her lips a breath-taking smile.

This was Nicole; this was a queen, a truly unbend-able queen.

Just like the branches on her head, though all others had wither, even if she was the last petal on the rose, she would be there standing tall, and full of pride.

The image matched perfectly with the wreath on her head, beautiful and strong. The sparkle coming off the golden flower carvings only made the image more dignified and gorgeous.

Finally, Nicole allowed the petal in her hand to fall.

With that, her audition came to an end.

Nicole lightly bowed to the judges and exited on her own leaving behind a room full of speechless people. The judges turned and gave each other wry smile after Nicole had left. It looks like they were wrong about the girl.

It seems they had truly uncovered a gem.

Nicole left the room satisfied. With this her journey to become a great star that can protect her family was on track.

Soon she reached the dressing room and she spotted her sister outside wardrobe.

Veronica still had a pout on her lips as she was looking at Nicole in distaste and jealousy. It was as if she couldn't stand anyone in the world being better than her. Nicole directly ignored her before heading back to wardrobe to get changed.

After that whole fiasco, Nicole wasn't feeling too great about seeing Veronica either, so if she was going to ignore her, Nicole would be more than happy to comply.

As she was getting changed the crew was showering her with praises even more than they had to her sister in their last life. But of course, this was natural as Nicole's performance was truly moving. Even their manager who was quite scarce with words said, "Well done" to her, surprising both her and her sister.

Seeing Nicole get praised by even their manager who hadn't said one word of praise to her, Veronica was even more peeved.

With a huff, she directly exited the dressing room.

Their manager watched her leave without much care and when the rest of the crew saw this they also just let it pass.

After Nicole had finished Veronica still hadn't returned so Nicole volunteer to go search for her. Exiting the room Nicole turned the corner and bumped into someone.

Nicole stumbled a little before regaining her balance and looked towards the person she had knocked to the ground. Turns out it was her sister.

Seeing this, Nicole's eyes narrowed.