It wasn't until Joanna joined her group that she realised that half of her group members were staring towards the entrance instead of rehearsing.
She was about to follow their line of sight when she heard Lia mumble, " Whose aunt is that?" She whispered.
She also stopped walking and stared at where the others' attention was.
"Mrs Parker!" Joanna blurted out in shock the moment she looked towards the door and saw the woman in a silk red dress still peeping at them although she had long been caught.
"Guys, give me a minute or two. I will be back soon," Joanna announced and rushed towards the door.
"You aren't supposed to be here, Mrs Parker," Joanna grumbled. She held the elderly woman's hands and tried to pull her along but Mrs Parker refused to move an inch.
"I just want to take a few glimpses at how far you guys have gone with the rehearsal because I can't seems to stop my anxious heart..."
"You will see the main performance on stage in a few hours but not here," Joanna asserted. She continued with her struggle to get the older woman away from there despite her resistance.
"Also visitors are prohibited here. Those who are allowed here are only parents and guardians of the students so how on Earth did you manage to get here without being noticed?" Joanna inquired.
"Of course, I am aware of this and that is why I lied that I had a child here..."
"How could you lie about that huh?" Joanna scolded. She continued to pull the hands of the woman who wouldn't stop stretching her neck to get a peep into the rehearsal hall.
"We can't possibly rehearse with you here, so will you come with me already?" Joanna pleaded.
Getting Mrs Parker out of there with her level of strength wouldn't have been difficult but she didn't want to be rude or hurt the woman who has been nothing but good to her and that is why she didn't apply too much strength to her pull.
"Since you don't wanna leave, so be it. I won't force you anymore..."
"Really?" Mrs Parker remarked. Her eyes sparkled as a sweet smile crawled onto her beautiful face.
Mrs Parker acted more like an excited child at the moment instead of the sophisticated adult that Joanna knew her to be.
"Yeah, but you will have to take responsibility if our group messes up on stage because we couldn't rehearse properly..."
"Hey!" the excited Mrs Parker yelled, her index finger pointed at Joanna's face.
Her group members who had turned to continue with their practice diverted their focus to where they stood again after Mrs Parker's annoyed remark.
"Why did you give me hope in the first place if this is what you were gonna say next?" Mrs Parker grumbled.
She turned and stomped away but Joanna ran after her.
"Mrs Parker," Joanna called out to her but she wouldn't stop walking.
"Mrs Parker," Joanna tried her luck again but this time around she grabbed the angry woman's hand and made her halt.
"I am sorry I didn't mean to get you excited only to ruin your excitement," Joanna was quick to apologise since she knew she must have hurt her feelings.
"I promise I wouldn't have asked you to leave if I was the only one practising," Joanna started in a calm tone. She let go of Mrs Parker's hand so others passing by won't be inconvenienced.
"But the others are really tense because of the upcoming performance. Having you watch us will only make their anxiety worse. And believe me, none of them will be able to rehearse properly in such a condition," Joanna explained in case Mrs Parker had misunderstood her intentions.
"Mrs Parker," Joanna called. She turned and stood in front of the woman who avoided looking in her direction.
She lifted her hands and held her shoulders gently. Joanna made sure that their eyeballs were locked before she started talking.
"Give us a few hours more and I promise you that we will give you a mind-blowing performance that you and the other audiences will be satisfied with, hmm," Joanna said.
Joanna made a funny face just to put a smile on the frowning woman's face but Mrs Parker didn't smile.
"Are you still mad at me even after my explanation..."
"When you climb on stage I will be your biggest cheerleader and you can't complain or nag at me for being childish ok?" Mrs Parker said, her lips pouted like that of a jealous child.
If not that Joanna held herself back, she would have burst out in deafening laughter seeing the elderly woman act this way.
[All my life I have never met an adult who loves and supports me as much as she does. I guess I must have really done a lot of good deeds in my past life and that is why the goddess made our paths cross in this lifetime]
Joanna, who felt so overwhelmed, stared at Mrs Parker's face in silence.
"That is cool with me. And I am sure the others will be thrilled to hear that they already had a fan even before the performance took place," Joanna replied jovially just to meet the excited woman's spirit.
"Go on now. I will see you and the others on stage later," Mrs Parker pushed her gently towards the rehearsal room.
"Also, try not to get too nervous because I trust and know that you can do this," Mrs Parker who had started strolling away beamed at her.
Joanna watched as the distance between them grew wider as second ticks.
She returned to the rehearsal hall after she had made sure that Mrs Parker was gone.
"She is so beautiful and playful. Almost all the adults I know are super grumpy. Without a doubt, she is the most jovial adult I have come across," one of the girls commented after they had taken their respective positions on the runway.
"She is the nicest adult I have ever come across in my eighteen years of living..." Joanna trailed. She tilted her head and gazed at the exact spot Mrs Parker hid earlier.
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om