𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 | 𝘑𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘒𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘯

✰ 33 ✰

Joost immersed in the last soundcheck of the Eurovision journey. The settled decision, if he could perform at the final, had yet to be announced. He was beside himself in wavering anticipation.

The solitary dispute he had presented, was his narrative of the state of affairs. No physical, clear evidence laid in his hands. The Dutch contestant had to bear the risk.

Simultaneously, his team behind the scenes awaited a verdict impatiently. Teun, Stuntje and Jeroen distracted themselves with wannabe-scientific questions as Evie and Alanis were deeply engrossed in the backstage film. They couldn't agree on the ideal shots.

Maeve proposed to come back to it later and move onto the following section. The second she uploaded the footage, a freeze frame caught her attention. She frowned, opening the scene.

The video played and she recognised the surroundings immediately. When the girl expected the tape to cut, it continued.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?", Evie queried her best friend with wide eyes,"Ali, I thought I turned off the camera."

"But you didn't...", she gasped.

The Irish girl extricated the storage disk from her laptop and exited the greenroom. Her helter-skelter disappearance caused the men to search Alanis' face for any information. She didn't acknowledge them, instead following her best friend.

Maeve bursted into the head department's space as she stumbled to the security guards. She panted, trying to explain why she had to talk to the officials.

After the broad-shouldered blokes knocked vigorously against the office door, briefly clarifying the last-minute approach, they motioned for her to step in.

"Ms. Verhoeven, isn't it?", the blonde woman in the center chair quizzed.

"That's me, yes", she nodded nervously,"I wanted to give you this."

Maeve held the small device of proof in her hand, raising it to their fields of vision before placing it in front of her.

One of her sidekicks, a bald male chuckled: "A disk? Thank you, but we have more than enough of those."

"Let her continue", she ordered, to which the man retreated.

"This disk has evidence of the incident on it, proving Joost Klein is innocent. I recorded our way backstage for our planned post-Eurovision film and I assumed, I had stopped when the press woman approached us. When I went through the footage, I found out that I filmed it."

Evie's exposition spread unease across the office. The three head executives exchanged stares of ambiguity.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Verhoeven", the woman sighed,"Unfortunately, we have already concurred that the Netherlands' representative will be disqualified from the competition."

"You can't do this, I have concrete evidence right here. Please, review your report", the photographer pleaded.

"Yes, we can. We set a deadline for proof, which ended yesterday. There is nothing we can do for you."

She bit her lip anxiously, once contemplating on accepting her fate. But she remembered why she was facing the officials. This was not for her, it was for Joost.

"If you won't review the videos that are stored on this disk, I will publish it before the final starts. You know most of your viewers this year are rooting for him and would be highly disappointed in his dismissal. I wonder what they would say about shots of his incorruption."

Maeve's words came out more threatening than intended, but she spoke her mind. The Irish girl turned on her heels and began darting toward the exit. She felt defeated, and delirious.