Five Years of Marriage to Mr. Bradford (by Koi Fish) novel Chapter 528

Chapter 528

Every member of the troupe was only about 20 years old, but they had all spent more than a decade training. They understood the sweat, the injuries, and the deep respect the stage demanded.

The performance would be happening tomorrow, but the leads were still not there. Everyone knew what that meant.

If they couldn’t run the show properly today, how were they supposed to perform tomorrow on a new stage without messing up the blocking?

These were the leads. In the worst-case scenario, they would be letting down the entire troupe after all the hard work and injuries everyone had endured.

But no one spelled it out since Desmond was the coach’s boyfriend. This was the last run-through, and for a moment, all eyes were on her.

Rebecca looked at the anxious faces in front of her and made a hard decision. Turning to the understudy, she said, “You’ll be on tomorrow’s show. You ready?”

The young man froze in shock.

“Are you ready?” Rebecca asked again, louder this time.

He hesitated for half a second, then answered loudly, “Yes!”

Rebecca nodded, secretly deciding to let him take the role from now on.

But what about the female lead? The troupe was still new, and they hadn’t found a solid female understudy yet. They had pinned a lot of hope on Willow-at least for this Edinburgh performance.

Rebecca had planned to start training a proper female understudy after this show. But now…

“Coach, why don’t you do it?” one dancer suggested quietly.

“Yeah, Coach. You choreographed the whole thing. No one knows it better. And you’ve recovered well lately.”

“Plus, you’ve been walking the part in every rehearsal.”

Rebecca nodded. “All right. Let’s do one final run-through.”

She was nervous because she had only walked the blocking so far and had not danced the full piece at performance level. She had always thought of herself as the temporary stand-in, assuming Willow would show up.

If today’s run-through went badly, tomorrow’s show would be a disaster. So, she gave it everything she had.

Thanks to all the relentless practice she had kept up and thanks to every ache, every drop of sweat, and every hardship she had endured, she managed to dance the entire piece flawlessly.

When the run-through finished, the whole troupe erupted in enthusiastic applause. Rebecca stood there drenched in sweat. Memories of Desmond training with her flashed through her mind, and a sharp pang of bitterness rose in her chest.

Yes, she could do it. But why did things have to end up like this? Was it so hard for two people to simply be together?

The next day was the actual performance. In the afternoon, they arrived at the theater, did their makeup, and got ready.

12

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Desmond and Willow still hadn’t shown up. But everyone was so focused on the final preparations that they pushed the issue to the back of their minds.

Right now, the performance was everything. This was the first time their dance drama was being shown to the world.

In fact, Desmond and Willow had already arrived. They were waiting just outside the hall, expecting Rebecca to come beg them one last time.

Willow started to panic. “The coach still hasn’t sent anyone to get us. What if she doesn’t let us perform?”

“No way,” Desmond said confidently. “She’ll come. Can anyone in the troupe replace us? Does my understudy dance half as well as I do? If he did, he wouldn’t be the understudy. And you? They still haven’t even found a female understudy. You’re irreplaceable.”