Dominate Showbiz: Media Tycoon Discovered My Talent-Chapter 85: Birds of Paradise

"So you’re saying you went back to your flat after you had a mocha at the Production building through the old parking garage?" Charles’s voice filled the backstage dressing room, his tone flat and low.

The room was now empty, with no one but him sitting on a chair and the blonde girl standing in front of him, her blue eyes lowered, her hands folded behind her back.

"Yes," Kaija replied quietly.

"And you fell asleep and only woke up fifteen minutes ago, before rushing here?"

"Yes."

"Do you really expect me to believe something like that?"

Her gaze lifted to him. "What do you mean?"

"How did you even get the key card, then?" he asked. The parking garage had been closed long before she ever came to KE.

"I got it from Antony," she said simply.

The room returned to a suffocating silence as they stared at each other, eye to eye.

"Why are you lying to me?" he asked at last, disappointment slipping into his tone. "What are you trying to hide? Or..." his gaze sharpened, "is it who?"

"I’m not lying," she replied calmly. "That’s what happened, and I apologize for delaying the announcement. I believe we should stop keeping everyone waiting and head back outside, Mr. Kosonen. I’ve already made them wait enough."

Charles’s face tightened slightly, then his mouth curled into a faint smirk. "Mr. Kosonen," he repeated. His own last name, paired with that distant title felt bitter on his tongue.

The only time she had ever lied to him was when she’d miraculously returned from the kidnapping, unharmed. She’d lied about how she escaped, and who helped her.

Now, she was lying again, while Juho Maley had suddenly disappeared into thin air and none of the gate security had seen him leave. Both events coincidentally tied to that photographer punk.

Without another word, Charles rose from his chair and left the room, not without slamming the door shut in a harsh, final bang.

The sound alone told Kaija just how much she had infuriated him. But compared to how Dani and Antony had given her a thorough lecturing speech before coming here, Charles’s reaction was perhaps much less extreme.

Kaija calmly walked to the mirror, staring at her own reflection. Her blue eyes were now dulled with loss, thinking of the stunned look on Charles’s face when she called him Mr. Kosonen.

"I’m sorry, Charles," she murmured to herself.

Although she’d wished their first conversation after one month and a half of mere silence and distance could’ve gone more differently than this, Juho had risked his own life getting her out of that mansion and setting her free. Even when he was the one who put her there in the first place, had he not changed his mind, for reasons still unknown to her, she probably wouldn’t even be standing here looking at herself in the mirror.

Although Juho had told her Charles’s men were looking for her, she could tell they were looking for Juho as well, given the way Charles had just interrogated her earlier.

With this small return of favor, she was now free of that debt to Juho.

She forced brightness back into her face as she reapplied the faded lipstick, took one last check over her makeup and dress, then headed outside toward the stage.

When Kaija made it to the back of the stage, Liisi was already standing by the steps, waiting to be called up.

The MC was still onstage, gathering everyone in the room for the announcement. The audience had just spent the past thirty minutes burning in screams and excitement from Karl’s surprise performance, and they still hadn’t calmed down.

Soon, the MC would introduce both Kaija and Liisi onto the stage before Charles named the final winner.

Seeing Kaija approaching, Liisi’s face had already arranged itself into the bright, cheerful smile she always kept ready.

"My goodness, sister! I love the dress you’re wearing tonight!" Liisi exclaimed. "It must be insanely expensive! I’m not even sure I’d have the heart to spend that much on a performance outfit for just one night! Which brand is it, sis?"

Kaija’s face twitched slightly at the cheery tone. She was still not ready to engage in even a tasteless small talk with this two-faced girl. She searched her memory, then replied curtly, "I don’t know. Birds of Paradise or something?"

Liisi’s smile vanished at once. She stuttered, "Wh... what? You... you’re wearing Birds of Paradise?" Then her voice suddenly shot up. "Don’t tell me your family is rich?! How could you even afford Birds of Paradise being a trainee, huh?"

Kaija’s expression flattened in surprise at the shouting. She didn’t feel like explaining how she got the dress from some mysterious benefactor, so she brushed it off instead. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Eh... I mean, we all got that huge stipend, don’t we?" she said, "I... bought this with that money."

Liisi’s face twisted further. "What stipend?"

"The S$10,000 stipend?" Kaija shrugged. "I bet you make even more than that now that you’re not even a trainee anymore. What’s the fuss?"

Liisi’s face darkened in horror. "You... you have a stipend?"

Kaija’s brow furrowed. "You don’t?" Now she was starting to sense something was not right.

Liisi’s mouth curled into a dark, bitter smile. She drew in a deep, heavy breath before exploding at Kaija in full force. "Are you fucking kidding me, sister? No one — no trainee on this entire campus, or any label in this country — has ever received a single penny for our training!

"In fact, we all have to pay KE for the training fees! Why? Because not all trainees get to debut, don’t you know that?! Why on earth would KE pay us anything, let alone a stipend?

"So stop fucking with me, sister! And that dress you’re wearing is definitely not Birds of Paradise because there isn’t a single dress they make that costs less than S$40,000!"

At Liisi’s outburst, Kaija could only blink, completely frozen.

Before she could respond, the MC’s voice rang out:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage — our top two artists of the night! Liisi Grant and Kaija Sepala!"

With no time left to process the questions circling her mind, Kaija walked past Liisi and stepped onto the stage, while the pink-haired girl was still fuming, her contorted face making her look like some devilish swan queen in her black performance outfit.

"How come that bitch always gets special treatment? First, she gets to live in Building S. Now she gets stipends? For her training?" Liisi screamed internally.

Her teeth ground together as she forced her expression into something presentable before storming onto the stage.

When Kaija and Liisi stepped into the lights, the audience erupted once more into thunderous applause.

They each took their marked spot on the stage while the MC retreated backstage, giving the central spotlight back to Charles, now walking up from the judges’ table. The envelope containing the winner’s name was ready in his hand.