CEO Of My Heart 293 294 What Happened To Ellie

Standing on his tip toes, the CEO of Wong Industries felt so anxious that the ridiculousness of a six foot man standing was beyond his care. Henry tried to see what was going on, but his view was obstructed by a gigantic man holding heavy camera equipment while he was trying to do his job. It would be a bit much to ask the boulder barricading his view to move. Everyone other than him had a job to do as he was just here for moral support or that's what he was supposed to have been . . . Henry looked at his watched and sighed. He was so late that he couldn't kiss his wife and rea.s.sure her like he'd wanted to. 

Today was all about her triumph and he was missing it. The guilt hit him hard, he never felt like he was doing enough for her. Missing this was dark. Well almost missed it as he did manage to get into the building. He could start his excuse by saying that he made it. 

Henry Wong couldn't make excuses. 

He groaned and resigned himself that unless he physically ran across the stage to where she was recording with a live audience, that this matter was basically done. The backstage was closed to everyone but essential personnel needed for the broadcast. There was no more he could do. Today unusually, he would take a backseat. She was going to be the face for the two of them and he didn't doubt that she would do a good job. Ellie was always genuine and the camera would pick that up. She was easy on the eyes and truthful to a fault. Henry hoped that after all of their practice from the past couple of weeks that she wouldn't get too tongue tied like he would have if he were in the same situation. G.o.d forbid that the interviewer do anything that would take away from what she had done. 

The media company was reputable enough. Her outfit and makeup were the best as well as people she knew. The interviewer was supposed to go gentle on her as per their agreement. Everything should be perfect if the network had not insisted on doing everything live. Live was going to make it open for mistakes. Interviews like this were like a hair in the mouth--unflinchingly annoying until they were over with.

Henry was redirected by a sound producer to Ellie's dressing room. He expected that it would be a mess so he just s.h.i.+fted some of the manicurist's luggage to get a clean spot on the leather couch. He turned on the TV opposite and tried not to bite his tongue. Henry hoped that nothing could get messed up as they had all the questions agreed upon. Nothing should go wrong. Nothing could . . . even though it was all outside of his control now. His phone was open to the producer's phone lines as he waited with baited breath.

His misery was just watching.

=//=

On a blurred TV monitor the audio glitched as it replayed the moment while the lighting was adjusted. Ellie tried not to blink rapidly as Henry had scolded her again and again that it was a trick to make her look nervous. She was caught off guard as the announcer blared with sudden stereo as he pointed at a video playing on the giant projection behind them. "And here we have it folks, BARONESS LADY Ellie Chen-Braye crosses the finis.h.i.+ng line here again in first place to win the Grand Prix. You know she's a native of Rochester even though she was born in the United Kingdom. I'd like to say that she's a close friend of the queen."

Ellie watched with a thin smile as the moment had been a moment of pure serotonin. It never got old to see it again as the chemical always fired back up again to bring with it a feeling of excitement. On that day she looked horrible with sweat and dirt and motor oil slicking her hair back as the helmet was removed from her head. But still the expression on her face was there. Screaming with the crowd was such a one in a lifetime goal of hers. Even now, she longed to return to that moment to relive it.

The video ended with the click of a remote as the announcer switched gears. He was a smarmy man with circular gla.s.ses whose look of reverence was so fake that Ellie held back a laugh. True Hollywood at its worst, no wonder his current profession was to be interviewing.

"I'm Jim Flow so you know. But let's get to the star herself whom is with us this evening. How were you feeling in that moment, watching it back now I'm sure it's not missed to the viewer the feeling of triumph was.h.i.+ng over your face yet again."

"I would use the word joy."

"Joy? What a fantastic word, ladies and gentlemen. I would say joy from what? Joy from winning such a prestigious event? Joy from being the first woman to win the prix? I'm sure that you felt a lot of joy from holding such a big trophy for the first time."

Ellie nodded as she was given a pause to give a soundbite. "Sure. Those are all things where someone would feel joy."

"I hear another thing that brought you a lot of joy is your secret marriage to multimillionaire New York's previous Most Eligible Bachelor Henry Wong. I know it's a personal question, but this was the number one question which was emailed in by our viewers. What would you like to say to the sayers that you're the perfect true match to the man of every woman's wet dreams? Why are you better than all of them?"

There was an awkward silence as Ellie was shocked to hear the question. She suddenly felt very hot. The audience started to murmur to one another and Ellie felt stuck.