55 Chapter 55: The Little Mermaid

On the day of the event, Su Ning was understandably nervous and excited. This was her first performance since the A City's Interschool Singing Competition (ACISC) several years ago. Since early morning, the costume and makeup department had been hard at work dressing up Su Ning and using hair chalk to turn her hair into Ariel's striking red color. The end result is a beautiful purple cropped bustier top paired with a high waisted fishtail maxi skirt that was long enough to cover Su Ning's Mansur Gabriel rosa colored ballerina flats for her opening costume. Meanwhile the male lead Lin JinYan, donned his white button down shirt, red waistband, blue slim fitted slacks and calf high black boots. After the application of stage make-up, the two looked like a pair right out of a live-action Disney movie. 

............….

Not wanting to be a hindrance to the rest of the cast waiting in line for makeup as well as the crew doing their last checks on the stage setup, Su Ning stepped out for a bit to video call Gu YuChen.

[Su Ning]: YuChen-ge~ Per your request, Princess Ariel is here to provide you with a personal greeting.

Su Ning said sweetly as she showed herself in full makeup and costume. 

[Gu YuChen]: En.Very pretty. Is the show starting soon?

[Su Ning]: In half an hour. Are you at the library today?

Su Ning asked, noticing the different background on Gu YuChen's video chat.

[Gu YuChen]: En.It's for a group project. 

[Su Ning]: Ooh then I won't bother you for much longer.Wish me luck.

[Gu YuChen]: Mm. I wish my lovely NingNing goodluck.

These sweet words coming from the normally blank faced Gu YuChen evoked a peal of laughter from the young girl. Subsequently, the sound caught the attention of a few people sitting nearby Gu YuChen in the library quiet room.

They quickly determined the source of the sound was from their friend Chris' cellphone. 

"Chris is this your girlfriend? She's pretty! Hi there! I'm Julia, a friend of Chris."

"Oi, let me see as well! Hey, cutie! I'm Thomas! I never knew my boy Chris had a girlfriend," Thomas said, grabbing the phone out of Gu YuChen's hand.

"Isn't it obvious? Look how happy he looks!" Julia commented.

"Happy? Which part of his face looks happy? I'm Ed by the way. What's your name pretty lady?"

As usual, Gu YuChen was in high spirits whenever he spoke with Su Ning which was evidenced by his slightly upturned lips. However, the sudden intrusion of his British friends followed by their barrage of questions began to irk Gu YuChen. Perhaps he was just being especially possessive but he preferred if his Cambridge friends weren't acquainted with Su Ning.

"Hello. I'm Su Ning." she spoke in a soft lyrical voice.

"Are you performing today? Is that why you are dressed as Ariel?" the blonde girl named Julia asked. 'Are asian girls typically this lovely? Goodness, I don't believe I've ever seen a cuter 'Little Mermaid.'

"Yes. We have a musical today." Su Ning answered tentatively. In fact, M Academy had mandatory daily English lectures; however, to suddenly be thrust in the middle of several native English speakers Su Ning realized that actual conversations were a bit more difficult to follow along. 'I should watch more episodes of Simpsons,' she thought.

Gu YuChen finally managed to retrieve his phone from Thomas and gave his friends a dirty look causing them to retreat while muttering disappointedly.

"Well no wonder Chris was so protective of his girlfriend," Ed said out loud.

"If my girl looked like Ning, I'd make sure none of you guys ever saw her too," Thomas guffawed, earning himself a smack on the shoulder from Julia. 

............….

Finally, it was time for the main event, the whole auditorium was packed with an audience full of anticipation. The beginning of the musical was signaled by the dimming of the stage lights and soon after the red curtains were raised as sounds of ocean waves played. The first act opened and Prince Eric and his trusted advisor Grimsby are aboard a ship at sea, discussing the mythical merfolk.

…..**the little mermaid**….

In the closing act, Ariel and Prince Eric are finally reunited at the beach and King Triton gives his blessing for them to marry. The King declares peace between humans and merfolk and bids goodbye to his daughter. Ariel accepts Prince Eric's proposal and the couple sail away, living happily ever after.

..............

The audience were completely enthralled by the 2 hour performance. For an outsider, it was quite unbelievable to think that a musical of such caliber was carried out by mere senior high students. Everything, from the background sets, costumes, lighting, music, singing and acting looked like they are all done by professionals. There were also crew who were filming the entire performance with Canon XA40 Professional UHD camcorders. Character focused clips as well as behind the scenes will be uploaded to the M Academy official website once the event is over. As expected, students of M Academy were of a different level all together.

Majority of the audience knew of the music genius Lin JinYan yet they were also pleasantly surprised by the beautiful young girl cast as Princess Ariel who possessed exceptional abilities and charisma. It appears the rumors of 'rigged auditions' were merely spread by jealous rivals who felt threatened by the newcomer's beauty and talent.

At the final curtain call, Lin JinYan gazed at Su Ning with a sweet and tender smile which cemented him in the hearts of the audience as the gentle prince of M Academy. With a graceful movement, Lin JinYan lifted his arm and faced his outstretched palm to Su Ning who turned to look at him with slightly widened eyes.

'This kid really knows how to work the crowd,' Su Ning thought as she placed her fingers onto the bare skin of Lin JinYan's palm. A round of applause erupted from the audience from such a minute act of intimacy from Lin JinYan. And in that moment when Su Ning was preoccupied with the reaction of the crowd, the Lin JinYan who was a master at the 'honey trap,' softly placed a kiss on Su Ning's cheek.

What resulted thereafter was pandemonium. Amidst all the screaming and shrieking from the audience, she felt like she was at a BTS concert rather than a school musical, 

'This much fan service should be okay bah?' Su Ning worriedly thought.