A few other waiters who had taken the others’ plates heard and I noticed them trying to suppress their smiles. Jaejoong on the other hand went pink and became a little flustered by the confession. Joon became a little uneasy once Jae Kyung blurted such a statement out of . Everyone was practically wide-eyed.

  “Uh . . . Thank you, miss.” Jaejoong said and made a small bow.

  “Other than serving us,” Jae Kyung said while looking at her nails, “With such great hospitality I might add, do you have any other talents well-kept in that uniform?”

  Jaejoong was silent. He didn’t say a word about Jae Kyung’s words and said, “I’ll take that, sir.”

  He had placed Simon D’s plate on his tray when suddenly Jae Kyung said, “Can I make a request?”

  Jaejoong didn’t seem to pay much attention now and shoot away, “Of course.”       

  “Since there’re some instruments up there you can use, and it’s my birthday-” Jae Kyung said but I cut her off.

  “It’s your birthday?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

  She scowled and said through clenched teeth, “Yes, it is.” Jae Kyung flipped a strand of loose hair in her face and continued, “Anyways, I was wondering if you could sing for me?”

  Just hearing the word sing, Jaejoong’s tray seemed to have gone off-balance and nearly crashed to the floor if it wasn’t for Hong Ki helping him support his hold on it. Jaejoong let out a shaky sigh and got his balance back. He held the tray with both hands instead of one and looked to Jae Kyung with a disbelieved expression.

  “You,” he started, “You want me to sing?” Jaejoong asked nervously.

  “Yup,” Jae Kyung said brightly and took a sip of her drink.

  “Uh . . . our band isn’t in tonight so there might be a problem to get the stage light up tonight.” Jaejoong said apologetically with a guilty smile.

  Jae Kyung sat up in her seat and her smile seemed to have turned cold, “Oh really?” she first asked. She pressed her lips into a thin line before saying in an icy tone, “If you can’t perform for me, then it looks like we’ll be leaving.”

  Everyone at the table looked to Jae Kyung as if she had lost her marbles. Hong Ki and I especially since it was Hong Ki who was paying for the whole thing. I was about to intercept the silent debate Jaejoong had with Jae Kyung with their eyes when Jaejoong said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Jaejoong looked around and raked his fingers through his hair after placing his tray on the table. He called out a fellow waiter and gave the waiter his tray. In fact he shoved it into the guy’s hands and ran off. Jae Kyung took another sip of her drink and smiled in satisfaction as if she had won him over.

  I couldn’t stand her so I pulled my shawl up to cover my shoulders and told Hong Ki I had to excuse myself to go to the ladies’ room so to prevent myself from doing anything irrational like dump my water in her face. I wanted to know where Jaejoong was going but I had lost him when he disappeared behind the wall to a hallway I didn’t know that led to where. I swerved myself past other round tables of people having their dinners and asked someone near the bar for the ladies’ room. I had used the guy’s directions but I got lost and had to ask a waitress who was on her way back to send the orders of new customers. She was kind enough to even lead me the way. Embarrass I was to be lost in a restaurant looking for the bathroom and gave her a low bow for her kindness.

  I pushed open the door and looked at myself in the mirror. I rinsed my hands and used a tissue paper to wipe it dry. I took another and wiped the mascara that had run. After that, I gave myself a good look up and down and thought, ‘I don’t look half bad.’ After that, I went out and was headed to my table when I overheard yelling close by.

  On my right was a door and when I came close, the yelling seemed to have become louder. I leaned my ear on the door and listened carefully as I try to make out the words that my ears could detect.

  “But sir,” said a man’s voice. His voice wasn’t deep and almost cautious as if not to upset the person he’s talking to.

  “No!!” boomed a much deeper voice and I had to jerk away from the door once the voice was accompanied by a ‘BANG!’ The big voice continued, “You will do as the customer requests whether you like it or not!” Now this guy’s voice sounded big, real deep, almost like he was in his fifties or sixties. He was probably the manager of the restaurant, talking to one of the employees.

  “But sir, I can’t. I have customers and the band is off-duty tonight.” said the employee.

  The manager then said, “Don’t give me excuses! We have more than a hundred employees working tonight. Having a pair of hands out of the stock wouldn’t be that bad. I need you to use those hands to handle the instruments on stage. It’s still considered as work. You’ll still be paid for your hours. There’s nothing to worry about!” said the manager with a chuckle as if the employee’s nervousness was something to snicker about. “You have a background in music don’t you?” asked the manager.

  It was silent. The employee didn’t seem to answer the question. I had a feeling this manager is having a conversation with Jaejoong and their discussing about that request Jae Kyung made. Jaejoong must be trying to find a way to not perform on stage. I wonder why he didn’t want to. I thought he loved to sing. Could it be he’s different now?

  “Well, Jaejoong?” said the manager. “What are you going to do after this?”

  Jaejoong let out a sigh and said, “I’m going to perform on stage the song the customer requested.”

  “Make sure you ask what song to perform alright because we want them to come again,” added the manager in a bright tone. “Now get out of my sight.”

  Quickly, I rushed back to my table and when I got close enough I walked as if I was in no rush. Hong Ki gave me a smile and I replied it with mine. Not long after, Jaejoong came and stood near Jae Kyung to ask, “It seems the band will not make an exception tonight even if a customer requested it.” Jae Kyung didn’t seem too happy about it and had thrown her napkin onto the table. She was about to stand up when, “But,” Jaejoong started again and she halted. “As a request of an honorable customer,” Jaejoong said and looked to Hong Ki who nodded, “I will be performing for you tonight.”

  “Wonderful!” Jae Kyung said with a bright smile plastered onto her face. If I had a cloth to wipe it off I would’ve done it in a heartbeat.

  “What song would you like me to sing?” Jaejoong asked.

  “Hmm,” Jae Kyung said. It was hard to believe this woman sitting opposite of me was cold and icy towards Jaejoong a moment ago. Now, she’s all giddy and excited asking Joon and the others around for a good song for him to sing. She had curled her arm around Joon when she said to Jaejoong, “How about a ballad?”

  Jaejoong let out a sigh as if he felt reluctant and said, “Any specifics?”

  “Umm . . .” Jae Kyung thought hard.

  Seeing everyone was giving suggestions, I thought I might be entitled to suggest too. I said aloud, “What about ‘Forgotten Season’?”

  Everyone went silent at my sudden suggestion. They all looked to me as if I had lost it. Jaejoong too looked at me, like as if the song I recommended meant something to him. I looked down to my hands that were on my lap and went back to being silent.

  “Are you crazy?” Jae Kyung finally said as if headed towards me.

  I looked up and said, “Why?”

  “‘Forgotten Season’ is like so an oldies song.” Han Byeol answered.

  “It’s a ballad isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Ugh!” Jae Kyung cursed and said, “Whatever! Anyone else can suggest a better song than the one she recommended?” Jae Kyung asked around and no one seemed to be able to come up with anything.

  “I take it you have come to a decision.” Jaejoong said once the silence was taking too long. Jae Kyung wanted to protest but Jaejoong said before running off to the stage to set it up, “‘Forgotten Season’ it is.”

  Jae Kyung said, “But, but I . . . but, but . . . I . . .” but it was too late and he was already far from ear-shot. She gave me a glare and said, “I hate you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I said under my breath and smiled to myself.

  It took a few minutes before we heard the sound of a microphone adjusting from the speakers in front. We were at the front so we were able to hear the speakers the loudest. Jaejoong had gotten on stage and tapped on the microphone to see of it was working or not. He even gave it a blow and realized everyone in the restaurant had heard him do so.

  He smiled shyly and cleared his throat before saying, “Hi, my name is Kim Jaejoong and I will be performing a song as it is a special request made by a customer for a special occasion.”

  He took the microphone from the microphone stand and stuck it onto another stand on the piano. He made a few warming up and tried out the piano. He started playing the piano and maybe one of his friends helped play the background music. I was surprised when he sang; his voice didn’t seem to change. It still had that calming affect where you could sway to the melody and it soothes you to the core. It also had an emotion I always admired every time I listened to it.

  Everyone in the restaurant listened intently to the song and some would smile as the lyrics and notes soften their hearts. I saw an elderly couple swaying to the song and eventually looked to each other before holding each other’s hands in an embrace. As I paid my attention back to Jaejoong, it had come to the part of the chorus where he had to raise the note a little and extended it. Amazing as ever I’d say; especially the ending once it had all slowed down and the music died down as he soothed the ending with his deep, silk voice. I was so moved by the performance, I hadn’t given it a second thought at what I was about to do once the music had subsided.

  I immediately stood up and clapped loudly at the performance he had given. I hadn’t realized I was the only one standing up and clapping for him. Jaejoong just looked at me and back to the piano as if my act embarrassed him. It was when suddenly, Hong Ki too stood up and chimed in the sound of my applause that a few people sitting at the table beside us stood up and clapped too. We were all soon joined by the whole restaurant, including the waiters and we all gave him a standing ovation for his performance.

  Jaejoong was a little sad in the beginning because of the silence he got after the performance but little by little as the number of people standing up and applauding for his performance increase, his smile slowly widens. His smile seemed brighter and much happier. He stood up and gave a perfect 90-degree bow as the applause became thunderous.

  I had always wondered how it would feel like to go to their concert and sit in the front seat, watching them perform maybe a beautiful ballad or an upbeat track as they danced. Now, only did I know the feeling is really just plain exhilarating. To be standing in front of the person you’ve always dreamed of meeting and watch them perform what they love and do best is just an extraordinary experience. If only it were all five on that stage, the performance would’ve been absolutely magnificent. Not magnificent – perfect.

  Jaejoong left the stage once the applause had died down and headed back to serving our table. We didn’t order any deserts seeing how full we were with the main course, Joon just asked for the bill. Despite Jaejoong gave a good performance, none of the people of our table gave him any compliments. Instead, their aura told me the atmosphere had turned cold once he was around, as if there was an aura of jealousy floating in the air.