A week has passed and we are starting to run out of time since we only have 3 more weeks left. Jiyong and I have finally finished the song completely now which means we got the rest of the weeks to practice. We have started practicing since 3 days ago and we are still working out on our performance plan. So far, we have only been practicing inside his studio or at the karaoke room in Jiyong’s house. I did a well performance… well, that’s what Jiyong said and he decided to take this a step further which is starting to practice on a real stage.

“Don’t you think we should start practicing on a real stage noona? We could get use to performing on stage by doing that” he suggested while popping a grape into his mouth.

We’re both now inside the school cafeteria having lunch together. Actually I wanted to have lunch with Dara but suddenly he showed up and Dara being a very ‘good friend’, left me alone with Jiyong and now here I am, having lunch with him.

“Well… that is a good idea…” I said nervously.

To be honest, I haven’t been performing on a real stage in front of everyone in my entire life. This music project’s performance is the first big performance that Chaerin, our music teacher, had created which means it will have real stage in the school auditorium instead of just performing in front of the class like how we used to do and it will have real audiences instead of music students only. The thought of these suddenly makes me very nervous to perform...

What if I get nervous on stage??

What if I forgot the lyrics??

What if I failed to perform well? All our hard works will only be a waste of time…

What if I faint on the stage?!

I kept asking myself all the ‘what if’ questions inside my head and it’s seriously driving me nuts...

“Hello? Earth to noona?” Jiyong said while snapping his finger in front of my face.

“Huh? What?” I said, snapping out from my thoughts.

“I was talking to you but you were spacing out just now noona and you keep shaking your head as if you were disagreeing with something… what’s going on? Are you okay?” he said with concerned face.

“Yeah… I’m fine, don’t worry. What is it that you said?” I said.

“I said that maybe we should start practicing on real stage, I know a place where we can try performing on a stage. How’s that sound to you noona?” he said.

“That… sounds great to me” I smiled while trying my best to hide my nervousness.

“Okay then. I’ll try to book a show for us noona, I’ll let you know soon” he said.

-----

I was in the middle of a math class where I suddenly received a text from Jiyong that made my level of nervousness rises up so high…

‘Noona, I got the place for our performance. Let’s go check it out after school’ he texted.

How could he book us for a show this fast…? I thought.

I wasn’t that ready to actually perform on stage but I have to act like a professional so here I am, checking out the stage where we will perform on the show that Jiyong booked for us. It is located inside one of the famous café in town and our show is in couple of days. I got up on to the stage and stand facing the empty audience’s seats while Jiyong is talking to a guy which is probably the manager of this café, they are probably talking about our performance. I take a look of the stage while waiting for Jiyong, the stage isn’t very big but it is enough for our performance. Jiyong said earlier that this café looks like a normal café during day but at night, it turned to be some kind of jazz café with different people performing every night. I really wonder how it feels like to perform in front of many people…

“You like the stage noona?” Jiyong said, snapping me out from my thoughts.

“Yeah… is that the manager?” I asked.

“No, that’s the owner noona” he replied.

“But he looked young to be an owner… how did you manage to book us a show that fast?” I said.

“Well, let’s just say that I knew the owner of this café, we’re pretty close to the point where I could book us a show this fast” he said and winked.

“Are you sure we need to do this? Like… why can’t we just wait until the real performance in the school auditorium?” I said, starting to feel nervous.

“Yeah, why noona? Is it a problem?” he asked, raising one of his eyebrow.

“N-no problem at all” I stuttered.

“Wait… are you nervous noona?” he asked curiously.

“No I’m not, what are you talking about” I said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

“You haven’t performed on any stage before noona?” he said.

“Well…” I said, biting my lower lips.

“You obviously haven’t performed on any stage yet. You could’ve told me though, so I can help you” he said.

“Help me? How?” I asked curiously.

“Come with me noona” he said while pulling my hand to follow him.

-----

“What is this place Ji?” I asked.

He has been taking me to a place which is unfamiliar with me. We took the bus and a little bit of walking in order to get here. This place looked like a medium-sized garage from the outside but it has a better design than a basic garage.

“This is where I’m going to help you experience performing on stage and get through your stage fright” he said.

I keep following him towards the garage with lots of question inside my head that demands to be answered. Once we are both in front of the garage door, Jiyong knocked on the door a few times before finally someone opened the door.

“Yo Ji! What a surprise!” a guy who looked like he’s on the same age with Jiyong appeared behind the door and immediately greeted Jiyong when he saw him. They then did a high five and fist bump.

Looks like they know each other already… I thought.

“Long time no see Ji, what brings you back here? And who is this beautiful lady you bring here?” the guy said which made me blush a little.

“Well I need a help from you guys and this is Park Bom noona, she’s my friend from school. May I come in?” Jiyong said.

“Yeah sure, come in both of you” the guy said while opening the door wider for us to enter.

Once we entered the garage, I was surprised that the space inside was actually very wide, wide enough to actually have a stage inside it and it has a unique design for the building. I don’t know why they decided to put a stage inside this garage. I take a look around and I found many big speakers and sound systems installed somewhere near the stage. There are also many microphone stands beside the stage. I assume that this place is some kind of a place to practice for performance or even a place to held one.

After we went inside this place, that guy who opened the door called for the rest of the people who are inside the garage with him. A few minutes later, I can see that a few other guys started to come out from a room inside the garage and joined us. There are now 4 guys in front of me and I assumed they are all friends with Jiyong because once they saw each other, all they did was giving each other the same high fives and fist bumps that Jiyong did earlier with the guy who opened the door. There were also all those ‘long time no see’ conversations they had together which looked like a reunion to me. I looked at the guys, they all looked like they have the same age like Jiyong except for one guy which looked a bit older, maybe he has the same age like me? Jiyong then seemed to caught my gaze and maybe he finally remembered that he brought me with him here.

“Oh right guys, I almost forgot, let me introduce you to Park Bom noona right here. Bom, these are my friends” Jiyong introduced me.

“Hello! I’m Lee Seunghyun, you can call me Seungri, I’m the youngest here. Nice to meet you noona!” a baby-faced guy came up to me first and introduced himself cheerfully.

“Hi, I’m Dong Youngbae, you can call me Youngbae” the guy who opened the door before came up to me next and introduced himself. He is wearing a sleeveless shirt which showed his buff body and he has a black Mohawk hair. He also flashed me his eye smile which I found it adorable.

“I’m Kang Daesung, you can call me Daesung. Nice to meet you noona” the next guy came up to me. He has a small eyes and a same hair color with Jiyong which is blonde except this guy’s color is whiter.

“I’m Choi Seunghyun, call me Seunghyun. I’m the oldest here” the guy who looked a bit older that I mentioned before came up to me last. He is also the tallest out of all the guys and he looked a bit quiet than the others and he looked like he goes with the cool look.

“I’m Park Bom but call me Bom, nice to meet you all” I said with a smile while shaking all of their hands.

“Why did you come here hyung?” Seungri asked.

“Well, I need a help from you guys. You see, Bom noona here has never performed on a real stage before and she is quite nervous about it. I want you guys to help her cure her nervousness and stage fright” Jiyong said.

“If that’s it, then both of you came to the right place” Youngbae said.

“Yeah! We will help you noona!” Seungri said cheerfully.

-----

I ended up practicing with them on the stage inside the garage. All of Jiyong’s friends turns out to be musicians too, they set up the stage just like we were about to have a performance. They set up the drums, guitars and even gave me and Jiyong a microphone. All of them are in charge of playing those instruments, Daesung is playing the drums, Seungri and Seunghyun are in charge of the guitars while Youngbae plays the keyboard. They all looked like professional musicians which makes me wonder if Jiyong and his friends are one group of band before…

“Are you ready noona?” Jiyong asked.

“Yes” I said.

Jiyong gave a signal to the rest of his friends and they started playing the song that we agreed on for practice. It is a duet song and I started singing when my part came, it does feel different singing up from the stage but surprisingly, I didn’t feel very nervous. I thought it was not really bad singing from the stage in front of many people when suddenly I realized that maybe I was not nervous because of the stage but I was nervous because of the people who will watch me perform later. My nervousness and stage fright started to hit me when I imagined that the empty space in front of me are now filled with many people staring at me. I started to lose my concentration and confident, my heartbeat is getting faster to the point where it affects my breathing and I could also feel cold sweats on my palms. I think Jiyong noticed my sudden change that he signaled his friends to stop playing the music.

“What happened noona? You seemed disturbed” Jiyong asked, concerned.

“I don’t know… I suddenly felt very nervous after I imagined that there are many people down there watching us. I think it’s not the stage that made me nervous Ji, it’s the audiences” I said.

“Noona, let me teach you a few things about performing in front of audiences” Seungri came up to me.

“First, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale a few times to calm yourself and adjusts your breathing. Second, try not to overthink about how the audience think of you and just be confident. Third, focus more on you not the audience and try to do your best. And last but not least, just relax and have fun on the stage as if you were about to play” Seungri lectures me with his tips.

“That’s right noona. Use those steps and you will be fine trust me” Youngbae said.

“Alright… I’ll try” I said.

For the next few hours, I spent it with them for practice and also joking around. I have to admit that those steps that Seungri told me really worked well. I managed to properly sing without losing my concentration and confident even though I imagined many people watching me. Jiyong’s friend were all really funny and friendly too and they sure know the meaning of ‘have fun on the stage’. They literally could make performing, which is supposed to feel intense, perfect and full of nervousness, felt like we are actually having fun and fooling around on stage while still looking like a professional.

After practice, I stayed for dinner with Jiyong at the garage with all his friends. We ordered a take out food for dinner and we eat while talking about many things. I learned that Jiyong and his friends were once in a group band together just like I thought earlier and they were called Bigbang. They also told me that they have performed in many places including the café that Jiyong booked for our show earlier, so that’s why Jiyong knew the owner of the café. They were also well known on Jiyong’s previous school but sadly they have to disband due to Jiyong who moves into another school. They also told me that this garage used to be their basecamp everyday for practice and even they held few mini concerts here. They also rent this garage a few times for their school’s festival because their garage is quite big and it is not far from the school. Jiyong’s friend also keeps on telling jokes and acts silly which made me laugh so much today. I think I have never laughed so hard and feel so happy for a very long time already because today, I feel like I’m alive again...

----

“We’ll get going first, thank you for today guys, see you tomorrow!” I said cheerfully and bid goodbye to Jiyong’s friends.

“Goodnight! Thank you for visiting us both of you” they said.

It was finally time for me and Jiyong to go home because it’s getting late and we were afraid that we could not catch any more bus. After bidding goodbye to Jiyong’s friend, both Jiyong and I walked towards the nearest bus station where we got off the bus this afternoon. Thank God that we arrived here on time because this is the last bus on the schedule, if we are just a minute late then we won’t be able to go home. We get on the bus and pick an empty seat which is at the middle of the bus. The bus is pretty empty, there were only a few people inside the bus since it’s already the last bus and mostly they are people who just got back from their offices. I requested to Jiyong that I wanted to have the window seat because I just love sitting near the window so that I look out to the road.

“You seemed to love window seats noona? It’s already dark, why do you still want to have the window seat? You can’t barely see anything” he chuckled.

“Well, I just love window seats and well maybe I could see the cars that passed by on the road” I said.

“You’re weird sometimes noona” he chuckled again.

“Oh, by the way thanks for helping me today Ji, your friends are very friendly and funny. I like them” I smiled.

“You’re welcome noona and I know you like them because this was the first time I saw you laugh happily like that” he said which surprised me a little.

So he noticed my happiness today… I thought.

“May I ask you a question Ji?” I said.

“You’re already asking one noona” he chuckled.

“Why did you move school?” I asked.

“Why are you suddenly curious about me noona?” he asked back.

“Hull! Just answer my question” I pouted.

“Okay, okay. Well… my dad got a new job in a new area which made me and my family moved to a new residence which requires me to switch into a new school too” he explained.

“What does it feel like when you are going to be apart with your friends and the fact that Bigbang have to disband?” I asked again.

“Why do I have the feeling that you’re interrogating me noona?” he said and I shrugged.

“Well… it was really heartbreaking… I remember getting angry with my dad for a few weeks after he told me that we are going to move to a new residence. I have a hard time thinking of what I should say to my friends and what will happen to Bigbang if I’m gone. But I ended up telling them the truth anyway, and we broke down, cried together like a baby” he stops and chuckled at his own silliness.

“We then decided to disband because we could not continue the band longer without me because I’m the vocalist and they don’t want to replace me with a new vocalist even though I insist them to replace me. Then we did a last performance together as Bigbang on our school festival. It was a big festival and we performed for the closing, it was a very memorable and touching performing that we ever had, it just felt very different that day compared to our previous performances. After that, I moved away to my new house and left everything behind including my friends. We did contact each other often at first but as time flew by, we got busier with our own school and we hardly contact each other anymore…” he said

I noticed that his eyes were already teary and a drop of tears run down his cheek. I don’t know why but I automatically raise my hand to wipe his tears. He looked a bit surprised by my action.

“I’m sorry, I got a bit too emotional” he said wiping his tears.

“It’s okay” I smiled.

We stayed silent for a few minutes and suddenly I felt sleepy and unconsciously I yawned.

“Are you tired noona?” he asked.

“Mmhm” I nodded while rubbing my eyes.

“Come here, I’ll let you borrow my shoulder to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we arrived” he said while placing my head on his shoulder. I wanted to resists but I was too sleepy and when my head landed on his shoulder, it felt so comfortable as if I was sleeping on the best pillow in the world.

“Thank you noona” he said suddenly.

“For what?” I said, half closing my eyes.

“Well, technically thanks to you and your stage fright that I get to visit my friends and even practice together with them again. I really miss them so much, so thank you noona for reuniting us again” he said.

“You’re welcome Ji” I said and after that I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep comfortably on his shoulder…