Chapter 227

From an outsider’s point of view, she didn’t seem to be affected by Sammy at all.

But only Alarieka herself knew that her palms were already a little sweaty.

The sudden appearance of Sammy messed up the order at the scene. There were roars, crashes, and the audience talking—all of them disturbed the piano music.

The sound of the piano itself should just be listened to quietly, and the judges also needed a quiet environment to score her performance.

After what happened with Sammy, no matter how steady her piano playing was, how carefully the judges listened to her performance, or how fair and just they were, these noises always affected them and ended up influencing her score.

And that’s exactly why Paloma’s face looked so serious.

Alarieka understood, so her palms got sweaty.

It got to this point, so the original plan couldn’t go on anymore.

But even though Alarieka was quickly thinking of ways to deal with it in her head, she didn’t show it on her face or in her actions. To everyone else, she always looked calm and composed, like she didn’t care about Sammy at all.

When Alarieka heard Sammy’s roar again, she looked up, her eyes calm, staring into the air.

Paloma looked up at Alaricka, sighed in her heart, and shook her head a little.

No one expected Sammy to show up here and make such a big scene.

She really wanted to give Alaricka a fair game environment.

But she had just listened to Alaricka’s piece; it was pretty ordinary, nothing special.

A standard performance could only get a standard score.

An average score was also based on a quiet environment where the judges could focus on listening to the performance.

Even though Sammy was already held by security, what Sammy did definitely affected the judges’ decisions, and the score would only get lower.

Alarieka’s result in the semifinals probably wasn’t ideal.

Probably couldn’t get into the finals.

What a shame; if Sammy hadn’t shown up, Alarieka’s skills could’ve made it to the finals.

Paloma picked up her pen and was just about to give a not-so-high score in the first column of the grading sheet when there was a subtle change in the performance on stage.

Although subtle, it was shocking enough.

She suddenly looked up, her eyes surprised.

On stage, Alaricka’s face still looked calm, and her movements weren’t much different from before.

Paloma had a good ear, so even the slightest change, she could tell.

This piece by Alaricka was really easy to learn, but playing it beautifully and perfectly was super hard—hardly anyone could do it.

Looking at Alaricka, Paloma’s eyes had already changed.

She could tell that the piano music coming from Alarieka’s hands had changed.

Although it still looked the same on the surface, Alarieka played out every detail and every subtlety that needed to be expressed, almost perfectly.

It was like the surface of the sea looked calm, but underneath, big waves were already rising.

The waves were way too pretty.

Alarieka played way too well.

This kind of change wasn’t just felt by Paloma, but also by the other judges and the contestants below who were just watching the show.

The way they looked at Alaricka changed.

Alaricka sat on the piano bench, her mind clearly putting her thoughts into her hands, and onto the piano keys.

She was planning to show her real strength in the second half, but things happened so suddenly. If she had stuck to her original plan, there was a ninety percent chance she wouldn’t have made it to the finals.

Could only change the plan for now.

Except for the parts she had already played, she didn’t hold back her skills for almost four-fifths of the rest.

Alarieka closed her eyes.

She didn’t need to look at the piano keys; she just felt the strength and speed of her fingers and could play an almost perfect piano piece.

Sammy, who was making trouble at the back of the audience, was already taken away by security.

The contestants below the stage, who had just been gloating, lost their smiles. Their faces froze. They didn’t look down on Alarieka like they used to, and there was even a bit of embarrassment in their eyes.

They claimed they were super talented, claimed they were better than Alarieka.

But now, the piece Alarieka played was no doubt like a slap in their faces.

They looked at each other and saw the wariness and uncertainty in each other’s eyes.

They all knew this song.

But they couldn’t play like Alarieka did.

Roschelle was still sitting in her seat, with a gentle smile on her lips.

Hearing the noise outside and everyone talking, she laughed at them in her heart.

Chapter 228