III.

The starting rays of the day had only just filtered into your room but you were already wide awake in bed, your nerves tightly strung together. You had spent all night tossing and turning, all attempts of riding Jae from your thought ultimately proving futile.

Seeing no further point in trying to fall back asleep, you dragged your tired body out of bed and into the shower, letting the scalding water run over your body until your skin was tingling and raw. Whilst dressing, you unconsciously picked a pair of yellow earrings, which also happened to be Jae’s favourite colour. Knocking back a strong cup of black coffee and purposefully scalding your tongue on it in a last-ditch attempt to wake your senses up, you set off to the concert venue and began to steel your nerves for the intense 24 hours ahead.

Not because work will be tough, but because you’d be spending the next 24 hours figuring out whether to evade Jae.

Or not.

When you got the concert venue at 8am, the crew was already there in full force, the backstage bustling with people trying to get ready for the grand show tonight. You greeted familiar faces before making yourself busy all morning, checking in with the light and sound crew to make sure the entire system is running smoothly.

As part of a mandatory check, the sound crew ran through the entire set-list of songs.

You, however, were not ready to hear his voice.

It felt surreal to hear his voice through the speakers, sounding as clear as dew on a fresh morning. You only ever his voice up close when he sang only for you on private occasions, but to hear his voice mixed in with other instruments and sounding so much more stable with proper training evoked another sort of response from you and you got so emotional a few tears streaked down your face, in which you hastily wiped to erase any trace of them.

When the last notes of the song faded and the lights dimmed, you stood from your seat at the hall and made your way outside of the building for some fresh air.

Stepping out, you