"It won't be our work without all of us." Shi Weiwei said.
Xuan looked around in exasperation, she looked at Kio's sour face, Weiwei still deep in thought, Shaoyan's furrowed brows, and Jingyu's lips set in a thin line. 'Come on guys! We worked so hard to make this play a success. We can't back down now because of Ying Xi.' Xuan signed, trying to persuade them.
"Easy for you to say, you won't have to work with her. What about us? I'm positive I'll go mad if I have to hear her annoying voice for more than a few minutes." Su Shaoyan snapped. "And what about Wei Jingyu," he continued, "I'm sure he'll hate it."
Upon hearing this, all the heads turned towards Jingyu and four pair of eyes stared at him. He looked at each one of them in turn and said, "I don't like it. But I would hate to do anything to sabotage the play."
Xuan's eyes lit up as she smiled at him. Wei Jingyu looked at her once before dropping his gaze. "But I won't be doing her make-up. And hell will freeze over before I'll let her wear the princess Marylene dress!!!" Su Shaoyan swore before he got up and walked away.
As Ying Xuan watched his retreating back, wondering if she really was asking a bit too much from all of them, a deep voice rung out, "I think I need a walk too."
Before any of them could give a reaction, Wei Jingyu stood up and walked in the opposite direction of Shaoyan with large steps.
"I've made everything worse, haven't I?" Xuan wondered to herself as she signed, 'I'll go talk to him.' "I think that would be best." Shi Weiwei replied, holding her head in her hands.
Once they were all alone, Mo Kio gently put a hand on Weiwei's shoulder and asked, "How are you holding up?' Weiwei only shook her head and pulled her knees closer to her chest. She buried her face between her knees and Kio stroked her back, wishing very desperately that he could do something to take away Shi Weiwei's hurt.
He was beginning to get very worried about Weiwei when she spoke, head still between her knees. "Do you think I was too hasty in telling Mr. Yang that I refuse to replace Xuan?"
Kio thought for a minute before he spoke, "Honestly? I've no idea. But what I do know is that your heart can never be wrong. So I myself try to listen to it's advice as much as possible."
Weiwei looked up with a sad smile. "That's great advice. But what do you do when your heart itself is conflicted?" she asked, and continued when Kio tilted his head, "On one hand, this play is like my kid. How do you box up your kid and put him in a corner? But on the other hand, I hate to have to replace Xuan. She didn't even want to act in the first place! I forced her to, and I've seen her struggle with her social anxiety and stage fear since then, but never give up. How can I tell her that all her efforts were for nothing and I'll be using her own sister, who's destroyed every good thing Xuan had in her life?"