Chapter Two

Breathe.

You stared at yourself in the mirror as your stylist and make-up artist did some last-minute retouching. You were backstage preparing for a variety show. Spotlight was the biggest music show in South Korea, airing in almost every area of the country and watched by many people not only here but abroad, as well. Which was why this show was the perfect opener for your media tour.

Unlocking your phone, you opened the Twitter app and scrolled through your mentions, a smile lighting up your face as you read tweets tagging your account. Your appearance on the show was currently trending. You always loved reading messages from the fans. It never failed to make your day as they were the reason why you're even here in the first place. They were the reason you do what you do—

The reason.

A sudden thought dawned on you and you suddenly felt anxious. Loud music sounded, making you jump and upon looking up at the monitor in your dressing room, you realized that the show had just started and the MC was doing his welcoming spiel.

"You okay, sweetie?" Nana, your make-up artist, asked. You nodded as you closed your eyes so she could work on your eye shadow.

"I'm fine."

"Did you miss Korea?" She asked and you gave her a smile.

"Of course."

"What did you miss the most?"

You chuckled slightly at her question and pursed your lips in thought. "Well, there's the food for sure. The places, the people—”

"Oh nice. Any friends you're meeting up with while you're here?"

You paused at the question, contemplating. You didn't have much friends here as you were never social and was very much introverted. Although you did have a couple: Dara, who was your best friend since middle school and was now working as a travel agent in Italy. And there’s Minji who was a close family friend. The last time you heard about her was that she moved to New Zealand with her husband last year. And then there’s…

"No friends." You answered, immediately dismissing the thought, not wanting to dive into the past too deeply. "They don’t live here anymore. Most of them work abroad.”

“Oh.” Nana frowned slightly. “Jinja? Not one still lives here?”

You shook your head and she gave you a comforting smile. Somehow that made you feel a little guilty. "Then we'll go around Seoul together and I'll take you too all the restaurants where we can eat lots of our favorite dishes." She cheered, her voice thick with an accent. You smiled at her gratefully just as the door opened, revealing your manager, Jordan.

"Hey. You're on in a few minutes."

You nodded at him and hopped off the seat, bowing a thank you to Nana before following him out the door.

~~~

"So, you're going to sing your single and after that there’s a brief interview with the hosts and we're off to the next recording which is…” Jordan scrolled through his phone screen. “An interview for a K-Sound magazine. And then there's—" Jordan continued to talk about your schedule and although you were listening, he didn’t exactly have your 100% attention.

Your eyes wandered around the place as he led you towards the stage. Production people were busily running back and forth yelling for the next performers, fellow idols bowed in greeting as you made your way through, and stylists ran holding hairbrushes and hairspray bottles, pushing wardrobe hampers through the hallways like the apocalypse was coming after them. You always found the things that happened backstage to be amusing and you almost wrote a song about it once. You snickered at the thought, making Jordan stop.

"What?"

"Nothing." You said with a smile and he shook his head before going back to his phone and saying something about a performance for an event in Busan. Passing by another hallway, you spotted the elevator at the far end and you walked as you fixed the strap of your dress, your heels clicking against the tiled floors.

"Girl let me know! Girl let me know! Imi da kkeutnan geon algo issjiman miryeonirado namji anhgeman—"

You stopped dead in your tracks as the sound hit you; the voice filing your ears and making you shiver. The lyrics spun through your head like a whirlpool, your blood running cold as you continued to listen. The longer you stayed, the more familiar it sounded.

It can’t be…

Your eyes slowly glanced towards your right, towards the door where the beautiful voice was coming from.

“Miryeoni machimpyo apeseo beotigo isseo. Geureoni mworado naege malhaejwo… Girl let me know!”

The voice stopped and was replaced by another, unfamiliar this time, and no longer singing but rapping instead. You suddenly found yourself lifting your hand towards the doorknob, but before you could even take a step, a voice called out to you. “Y/N!”

You jumped in surprise, seeing Jordan already inside the elevator and giving you a half-expectant, half-concerned gaze. “Let’s go.” He tapped his watch. “You’re on in five!”

Pursing your lips, you nodded and walked briskly towards the elevator. Inside, you stared at the door in the hall, wondering if what you heard was true or not.

I swore I heard… you shook your head at the thought and sighed heavily, willing yourself to forget it.

But your eyes never left the door until the elevator doors closed.

~~~

Guk took a swig from his bottled water right after the vocal exercise. He hated having to practice all the time but knew that it was essential to his performances. He sat down beside Jay, one of his band members, on the couch, making himself comfortable.

“Rough night?” The older asked.

“Just sleepy.”

“You’re always sleepy!” Jay chuckled. “You should really try to get more sleep at night, Guk. It’s going to bite you in the ass in the long run, buddy.”

“I know, I know. I’m trying.” Guk sighed. They were currently preparing for a concert tour and they had done nothing but practice, sleep, eat, and practice some more until their bodies gave in. They woke up early in the morning and finished late at night. During the time that he should have been sleeping, Guk was up writing songs are just thinking, wide awake in his own bed. Although Guk loved performing and being an idol, there were times when things got a little too much.

He was only human, after all. And sometimes, it gets tiring. Unfortunately, today was one of those days. Guk laid back on the couch and covered his eyes with his arms, sleep pulling him down almost instantly.

“Turn it up!” a yell pierced the room, which he recognized as Hyun’s, another band member of his, followed by running footsteps. Guk felt a dip to his left, which was probably Hyun plopping down clumsily beside him.

“Why?” Jay grabbed the remote, turning up the volume of the television screen above them. The show was happening live in a studio a few floors down.

“Jane Lou’s performing today.”

“Who’s that?” Jay asked and Hyun gave him a have-you-been-living-under-a-rock? look. “Jane Lou’s a famous singer in the US. She’s Korean and she’s nominated for a Grammy!” He said, and Guk grinned. It seemed that he really idolized this singer.

“Yeah?” Jay said. “Is she good?”

Hyun nodded. “She’s pretty too.”

Guk snorted without lifting his arm from his eyes. “I knew it. You only like her cause she’s hot, hyung.”

“You would too when you see her.” Hyun said then jumped slightly as the MC announced the next performer. “Omo! She’s on!”

Guk sighed as he sat up a bit but only to connect his earphones to his phone. He plugged in the pods to his ears, yawning as he scrolled through his playlist, searching for a good song—

Clapping sounded from the TV screen along with Hyun’s enthusiastic giggles, which was then followed by a girl’s singing:

~

A day without you is like a year…

~

Guk never got to play a song.