14 Her voice left them in awe

Ella held her gaze as he looked into her eyes. She found herself admiring his dark beauty. She wondered how a guy could be so handsome. His hypnotizing eyes were piercing her. Her fingers itched to touch him. But she was scared to even start up something.

I would just hold his other hand. She said with conviction and lifted her hands from her lap and placed it on his right hand, her eyes still lingering on his, searching for a reaction. She noticed his smile broaden and she smiled shyly.

"Let's go now," his voice boomed through the still air.

She was jolted back to reality on hearing him speak. She felt disappointed but concealed it and got up after him.

They opened the door to leave the house the scorching sun had gone down a little. Ella waited at the porch as William locked his door.

"Can you play my song?" she asked politely as they got into his car.

"Yeah, sure."

She opened her cross-shoulder bag to bring out a CD and inserted it into the CD plate of the car. It was her EP.

The song started playing and she sang in sync with it while William charmingly looked at her, he could see she was feeling the song.

He listened to it and enjoyed the lyrics and the rhythm. "Your E.P sounds great," he said smiling, then continue laughing and swaying their body to the rhythm.

They arrived at a large luxurious building. It was a three-story building. The down floor was tiled all around with red bricks while the top story was painted white. Tall palm trees were planted at the front of the building, they added shade and more beauty to the building. The company logo was inscribed on the wall of the building. There were two flags in front, one was a Californian flag and the other had the logo HJK inscribed on it. It was a new company but popular within its vicinity.

They got inside and spoke to the receptionist. The receptionist called the CEO to inform him that he had visitors and he ordered them to go to his office on the top floor. They were directed to take the elevator up by the receptionist.

They arrived at the top floor and saw a corner where a young lady was seated with a computer in her front and a telephone by the side of his desk. They thought she would be the secretary. They greeted and introduced themselves and the secretary made a call to her boss to know if she would let them in.

"You can go in," she said.

It was a glass door. William took the lead and turned the knob of the door to the right before pushing it.

Ella was nervous and she looked around, with anxiety in her eyes. William looked at her and saw she was scared and he placed her hand in his to calm her down. "Calm down Ella, you'll be fine" " I trust you'd be great in there."

His encouraging words calmed her a bit and made her smile.

Henry lifted his gaze after dropping his call with the secretary and he smiled when he saw Williams.

"Bro, what's up?" William greeted as he shook hands with Henry. He was excited to see his friend and was in awe of how big the company was because it was his first time visiting.

Ella who just walked in was taken aback when she looked up to the CEO. She recognized his face to be familiar but was at a loss as to where she knew him from. She racked her brain and quickly had a flashback of Valentine's day.

She remembered she bumped into a guy when she was about to enter a restaurant. And how she insulted him that day. Her heart was filled with guilt and she struggled to hide her face. Ella greeted when her gaze met with Henry.

"Hello Mr. Henry, I'm Ella Andrew," she said with a tinge of guilt in her tone.

Henry looked at her and he recognized her face too. An expression of surprise attacked his face immediately. I have seen her before he said in his thoughts. She called me blind that day. As he tried to recall their first encounter.

"Hello," he replied bluntly and faced William. "Is she the artist?" He asked as if he had expected someone else.

"Yeah bro," William replied looking at Ella. He was surprised at the distressing looks on their faces and asked. "Have you two met before now?"

Ella hurriedly replied in the negative, hoping to God Henry wouldn't bring up the topic, and to her relief, he didn't.

"Okay, have your seat," He said to Ella.

Her heart thumped within her chest as she became scared of what next would happen there. Should I apologize for that day? Or maybe he wouldn't recognize me, I would just stay calm. "She thought."

William's phone rang and he excused himself and walked out the door to receive the call.

She kept wondering if she should apologize, so without thinking, she did so.

"I am sorry for the other day we met…" she said trying to apologize when he cut her off.

"This isn't the place to talk about that," Henry said trying to act professionally.

"Well, I'm sure William must have told you I listened to your song and they're cool, but you'll have to sing one of them here in my studio. Ask the secretary to direct you to the studio," he said. "I'll be right behind you," he added in a bossy tone.

She was headed to the studio when she saw William.

"Where are you going?" he asked moving toward her. "The studio, he wants to audition me." She said making a prayer in her heart.

"Okay, I'll like to come along," he said, smiling following her.

They got into the studio and met some guys seated there. They were recording music and paused when they walked it. The guys seated included a recording engineer and another producer. The recording engineer was huge, dark-skinned, and had scattered beards, he looked like he was in his late thirties. They were seated in the control room where computers were laid on the table in front of them and other sound production instruments. Fresh air from the air conditioner filled the room. The producer looked much younger, he was light-skinned and had messy spiky hair and neatly shaved beards.

There was a large live room in the studio filled with many musical instruments where the instrumentalists played. The rooms were all together in one room but demarcated by a glass wall.

"Let her in," a loud voice boomed from behind them. It was Henry.

She got inside the isolation booth and became tensed, She fidgeted seriously and hoped it wouldn't turn into a panic attack. All eyes were on her and she was quiet not knowing where to start from. The isolation booth was small and soundproofed.

"Ella sing, or are you here to waste our time? There are other people here to use the studio." Henry spoke in a very harsh tone.

She put on the headphone placed on the microphone stand in the isolation booth. The recording engineer played only the beat of her song. She kicked off feeling the vibe and courage came upon her. Ella sang slowly and immediately went to her world, that you wouldn't believe she had been scared earlier. The audience in the studio were marveled at her voice. Henry too was impressed but he acted as cool as possible, his facial expression, unchanging. When she was done, they all applauded, asides from Henry.

"That's a nice performance," Henry said bluntly and whispered something into the ears of a guy who stood close to him. He was the A & R of the company.

"You nailed it, Ell," William said proudly.

Her voice was sweetly harmonious, and so was the song. And she sang it perfectly like the one in her E.P.

She came out of the room and hugged William. "You did great in there," he commended again with a smile.

Henry stood up from his seat and looked in Ella's direction. "Wait for me in my office," he ordered. Then he walked to William, "I must say I'm impressed, you found a great talent." He said with a broad smile at him.

Ella walked to his office, what would he say next? She was scared and at the same time confused because she was kept in suspense and didn't know her fate.

Henry talked with William briefly and told him he wanted to discuss business with Ella. So William had to wait behind in the secretary's corner where he sat.