Always Been Yours (Tessa and Nicholas) novel Chapter 419

Chapter 419 Hathaway Philharmonic 20th Anniversary
“Thank you, Miss Hathaway!” Tessa thanked her in excitement the moment she got over the moment of surprise.
Hathaway smiled faintly. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves now. Although I’ve permitted you to perform on stage, I’ll be much more demanding of you and will increase the number of things you’ll need to practice from now on.”
“I don’t mind. I know you’re doing it for my sake, which is why I’ll do my best to keep up!” Tessa did not think of it as a bother at all.
She felt that Miss Hathaway increasing her practice tasks and becoming much more demanding was her mentor’s way of showing that she had expectations of her.
Furthermore, she was extremely appreciative of every opportunity to be on stage and hoped that she would be in peak condition when performing on stage.
On that same night, Tessa shared the good news with Nicholas and Gregory when she went back home.
“Miss Tessa, you’re amazing!” Gregory hugged Tessa while singing her praises.
Nicholas, though standing at the side, also had a smile on his face at the good news.
And so, over the next few days, Tessa’s schedule was filled to the brim. She would leave the house at the break of dawn and would only come home when the sun was gone. Even so, she still desperately wished that there would be more than 24 hours in a day.
Although Nicholas felt sorry for Tessa being so busy, he knew that she was doing everything she could to chase her dreams, which was why he stayed silent and had instead requested his family’s nanny to prepare nutritious meals for Tessa every day as support.
While Tessa was busy practicing, Hayley had met Duane once more. After knowing that he would be making his move at the end of the month, she decided to book a ticket back to Southend.
She could not afford to leave any trace of suspicion to lead back to her.
In a blink of an eye, the Hathaway Philharmonic’s 20th anniversary was upon them.
That night, inside that majestic hotel, the tycoons of the performing arts industry had gathered and mingled about with cheerful expressions.
Amid the bustling crowd, Tessa—dressed in a white off-shoulder gown—was following Miss Hathaway. Though Tessa merely applied some simple makeup, her elegance still shone through. Her seaweed-like hair was tied into a half ponytail hairstyle, revealing her fair and slender swan-like neck.
Her silver tassel earrings added another touch of femininity to her overall look tonight.
The guests were full of praises after Hathaway had introduced Tessa to them.
“Hathaway, looks like this protégé of yours would certainly surpass your achievements in the future.”
“I’m tempted to take in another protégé now that I see you have such a good protégé under you.”
“Will your protégé be performing for us tonight?”
“So, who is the better one between your daughter and your protégé?”
Regardless of sincere praises or those with hidden bitterness tucked on, Tessa had gained respect from the guests as she handled herself well and responded appropriately.
Just then, the guests near the entrance were making a commotion.
Tessa and the others turned their attention over to where the commotion was and realized that the reason for it was the arrival of that man—Scott Brooks.
Tonight, Scott was dressed in a perfectly fitted white suit. His standing posture—tall and upright—gave off a gentle and graceful elegance. He was remarkably mesmerizing, as though he was a prince from a fairy tale.
Many young ladies of note were smitten by Scott as they continued to shoot loving glances at him.
However, Scott did not bother with them. Instead, his eyes—like a star in the night sky—went around the room and sparkled upon the sight of Tessa.
The Tessa he saw tonight, who was much more beautiful than usual, had tugged on his heartstrings.
Just as he was about to walk over to greet Tessa, an irksome person came over and stopped him in his tracks.
“Scott, you’re stunningly handsome tonight!”
Kathleen grabbed Scott by the arm in a cheerful attitude, but the gaze in her eyes betrayed her intentions—that she was showing off to the people around that Scott was hers. “Since you’re so handsome tonight, you’ll have to perform a number with me. I won’t take no for an answer.”
The people around them gave a benevolent smile upon Kathleen’s words.
“A duet between the concertmasters of both Berlin Philharmonic and Hathaway Philharmonic would surely be a feast to our ears.”
“Not only for our ears, but even for our eyes. Truly the orchestra’s very own Juliet and Romeo.”
“If this keeps up, we’ll be hearing some good news from the two philharmonics soon.”
As she listened to the crowd joking around, Kathleen’s face grew red, yet she had no plans to retort.
She then turned her attention to Scott with her face full of expectations.
Though Scott had some reservations about the situation, he could only nod as acceptance to her request, for he couldn’t reject Kathleen in front of an audience.
“Hehe, I knew you’d agree to my request.” Kathleen was over the moon with Scott’s answer and continued clinging to him.
When the show was about to begin, she dragged Scott backstage to get ready for the performance.