Taming Mrs. Mafia

7 Cursing At Zeno

The audience cheered once again. When Tony left the dance floor, someone else took his place, a male dancer who was also in costume. Hana was originally standing next to the DJ and every time Tony was not in the middle of the ring hosting, he would also stay near the DJ while watching the performance or reviewing his cue cards. But at that time, she saw Tony angrily muttering to himself. 

"Is she that stupid? How can she make it so obvious that she knew about the contest beforehand?"
Tony was half screaming and half muttering. Both she and the DJ were able to understand what he was saying through the noise. It turned out she was right. Audrey knew about this competition beforehand. If she was able to detect that, there's no way others won't be able to. People were not that stupid.

Audrey danced to a very sensual salsa number. In the middle of the dance floor, she gloated as she imagined herself as the winner that night. Because of the lights placed at the edges of the ring, the dancers on top cannot see the audience. Audrey was not able to see the change in the audience who were suspicious of her performance. The loud salsa music also drowned their murmurs. Audrey continued dancing since she was not able to spot anything wrong amongst the crowd. Zeno and the judges, on the other hand, could hear the ruckus created by the audience.
"Is it just me or does that girl look prepared for this contest?" "Isn't this supposed to be impromptu?"
"If this part is going to be staged, the organizers shouldn't have told us about this being spontaneous."
"That's right. Are they trying to make a fool out of us?"

Zeno tsked in annoyance.

Ah... I should've ditched her long ago.
Zeno signaled to the judges. They immediately understood what he meant. Audrey ended her dance with a very striking pose. The audience gave her a lukewarm applause. Audrey was still heaving when her performance ended. She was so out of breath for giving her best in dancing and all she could hear was her heartbeat. She didn't notice that the audience did not cheer loudly. She continued bowing and waving her hand around, acting like she already won.

"Wow! That was an amazing performance! Thank you, Ms. Audrey. Now, let's move on to our last contestant. Come up the stage please."
Taking a deep breath, Hana approached the ring. She met Audrey and her dance partner.
"See that? It's not too late for you to back out now. I've seen your lame dance a while ago. It would save you the embarrassment if you give up on this competition now..."
She ignored Audrey and continued walking into the ring.
"Ah, here she is, our last contestant. What's your name?" "Hana."
"Another non-conversationalist among the contestants. They like to make my job difficult." The crowd laughed at Tony.
"Unlike Amy, you look like you don't speak that much because you look shy. Is it okay for you to dance in front of the crowd?" Tony noted that Hana had her jacket hood and mask on. "Someone told me that I'm not allowed to ditch this competition because it's the pilot episode, as if that's any of my business." Tony and the crowd laughed.
"Still, I don't want to appear like the worst loser. So..."
"Exactly, this place is the best at bringing out the fight in anyone. Just look at this. Even a shy person does not want to go home a loser! Well, light up the dance floor, Hana."
Tony bowed and motioned with his hands.
"Everyone, Hana!" People clapped but because of Audrey, they were not as warm in welcoming Hana. Audrey noticed this and snickered at the side.

See? You should've backed out earlier when I told you to.

'Dance with Me' by Code Red started playing through the speakers. Hana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She released the air through her mouth and chanted 'I am alone in my room' in her head over and over again. She immersed herself in the music and tried to forget the people around her. To be honest, Hana doesn't know how to judge her performance. All she knew was that the upbeat music of her favorite idol group was good at hyping people up and she thought that it would be best to make people enjoy her performance by making them feel like dancing with her. She danced simple shuffling, tutting, and krumping moves. She also added some popping here and there. People who have two left feet can even follow her simple and repetitive dance steps that look fun to watch.