Chapter three— Hopeless Dreamer

“So what do you think of your new job?” Yongguk asked as we all ate our meal.

I looked up, “I don’t think it’ll be too bad.”

“Hopefully not,” Seukhye butted in. I glared at her so she could get the clue that I didn’t want her making things worse for me. “Remember the first day we were hired and you got the microphone job?”

“No, I don’t want to talk about-”

“Oh yeah!” Yongguk chuckled, “I remember that.”

“What happened?” Daehyun asked.

I swear, if she doesn’t shut her front door, I will chop her head- my thoughts vanished once Yongguk started telling my story, “Do you remember when BEAST performed at our venue?” Daehyun nodded, “Their main vocalist was singing and his mic suddenly stopped working. It turned out that Yeonjoo had forgotten to replace his batteries with new ones.” I’m starting to think that Seukhye and Yongguk were meant to humiliate me, not end up together...

Seukhye giggled before adding, “When their concert ended and all the fans were leaving the venue, Yeonjoo forgot to turn the microphones off and started cussing at herself.” Do you see what I mean?

“Hahaha!” Daehyun and Yongguk laughed as I sunk in my seat while covering my face.

“Thank god there was music playing in the background or everyone would’ve heard her.”

“Oh and-” I quickly interjected Yongguk.

“AND maybe we should finish our food before it gets cold.” I stared at Seukhye and then at Yongguk.

“Hahaha, okay we’ll stop talking about it.” Seukhye’s wink made me want to- okay maybe my mind is getting a little violent, so I’m just going to ignore these ‘friends’ and finish my lunch.

Once we finished eating, we headed back to the venue and began setting up for the concert with the rest of the staff that had arrived a few minutes before us. “Whose concert is it, anyways?” I asked as Seukhye and I walked through a hallway towards the venue.

Seukhye pointed to the walls as we walked by them and couldn’t believe I missed them; they were literally ALL over the walls.

I pulled one off and scanned the paper, “Oh its Jiyeon?”

“I thought you knew it was her.”

I shook my head, “I didn’t know.” I looked at her picture on the poster and I could barely recognize her. I don’t know if it’s the hair and make-up, or if she did something to her face but she looked different. “When’s her rehearsal?”

“Yongguk is hoping that we’ll finish setting up by Wednesday so she can come and rehearse on Thursday.” She explained.

“Oh I see.”

“You don’t have to come on Thursday if you don’t want to..?”

“I’m fine. It’s not like she did anything to hurt me.”

“She basically left you hanging and snatched the opportunity to become a celebrity. She broke her own promise.” Seukhye is right, but maybe it’s the memories I’ve had with her that won’t allow me to hate her.

“I’ll bump into her one way or the other so I might as well start getting used to seeing her now.”

Seukhye and I entered the venue, “If you’re okay with it, then I am too.” She said with a smile. “Well, good luck with your new job.”

“Just so you know you’re not off the hook yet.” I stuck my tongue and began walking up the stairs to the control booth. In case you’re wondering who this Jiyeon person is, she was the first and only friend I made when I was in elementary school. I was introduced to her by my parents, who were friends with her parents. Whether I was at her house or she was at mine, we would sit in front of the TV and watch famous people sing on stage. We were fascinated by the way each singer glowed on stage and how they would get a standing ovation at the end of their performance. We loved it so much that Jiyeon and I promised to audition and train hard so we can stand on that stage together.

I think we had just graduated middle school and we were determined to audition for a famous entertainment. I still get nervous thinking about the day we auditioned. I don’t know what happened, but a month after the audition, Jiyeon never answered her phone and no one told me where she had disappeared to. I’ve tried calling her many times, but I would end up at her voicemail. The next time I saw her was on TV and if my mom hadn’t pointed it out, I wouldn’t have noticed her.

To this day, I’m just a hopeless dreamer. The promise we made may have broken, but I still want to stand on a stage and sing in front of a large audience. It really to admit, but I can’t help feeling envious of Jiyeon. She became one of the biggest stars in Korea and I’m here planning concerts and setting up stage equipment’s.

“Yeonjoo?” My thoughts were interrupted by Daehyun, “Are you okay?”

“Oh sorry, were you saying something?”

He shook his head, “You just seemed a little dazed. Need help with anything?”

I smiled to assure him I was okay, “No thank you.” I looked down at the notes I previously took but I couldn’t concentrate. The thought of seeing Jiyeon after all those years made me feel nervous. What if she doesn’t remember me?

“You’re doing it again...” I heard Daehyun speak.

“Huh?” I turned towards him.

“I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

I hesitated at first, but what the heck; it won’t hurt to have a small conversation with him, right? “Uhm... I have this friend and I haven’t seen her in a long time, but I think I might run into her soon and I’m a bit frightened to see her again.”

He sat on the table across from me, “Why is that?”

I shrugged, “I guess it’s because she left without saying anything and it makes me wonder if I did something to drive her away. I can’t decide whether or not I want to talk to her when I see her.”

“I know it’s not Seukhye... Can I ask who this is?”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to expose Jiyeon because she is famous and I didn’t want to ruin her ‘nation’s-little-sister’ image. “I think I’ll feel a little more comfortable if you didn’t know. Sorry...”

“Haha no need to be sorry,” He replied. “I’m sure she has a reason why she left without telling you. Talk to her whenever you get the chance.” He’s absolutely right. I should ask her why she left so suddenly and talk out any misunderstandings. Who knows? I might regret not confronting her in the future.

“Thanks that really helped.” This may sound strange but I didn’t look at his face when I first met him. I guess I was too embarrassed to look at him, but now that I’m talking to him about something that isn’t related to humiliating me, I felt a bit more comfortable looking at him.

“Do I have something on my face?” Okay maybe I looked at his face a little too long...

“Oh, sorry I-” Yeonjoo, don’t embarrass yourself again and shut up, “No you don’t.” I turned my eyes to his notebook and continued studying the different keys and settings. “Oh crap!” I accidentally turned all the lights in the venue off. I panicked as people working on the stage started shouting for the lights. I randomly started clicking keys hoping one of these will turn them back on.

From behind, Daehyun leaned over me and turned the lights back on. “There you go.”

I crossed my arms and hid my face, “I’m so sorry...”

“Hahaha, I did worse on my first day so don’t worry about it.”

I looked up, “What did you do?”

“When I first got the job, I turned all the lights in this building on and half of Seoul lost power for almost two hours.”

My jaw dropped, “Really? What happened then?”

“As you can see, I didn’t get fired, but I suffered a lot from the director. He was the one person you did not want to mess with.”

“Is he the same director we have right now?”

He shook his head, “No, he got an offer in the States and left.”

“Oh I see.”

“I heard the new director is worse though.” He smirked, “He may be on his way up here right now.”

I froze, “Are you serious?”

“Hahaha, you’re so easy to prank,” He chuckled before continuing, “No wonder Yongguk and Seukhye always tease you.”

“It’s not funny.” I pouted. I just wanted to find a corner and forever hide.

“I’m just kidding~”

The door opened and Seukhye’s head peeped inside, gesturing me to come out. I turned to Daehyun and excused myself. “What is it?” I followed her down the stairs, but she didn’t reply until we were in the hall away from the venue.

“I know I told you that Jiyeon was coming on Thursday but she’s here right now...”

“Oh...”

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Hello everyone~ I hope you enjoyed chapter three! ^^