Baekho’s POV

After standing inside of the sound recording booth for hours with Jason and JB sitting in the mixing room on the other side of the glass, I had barely even recorded the first four verses of the comeback song that had been written for me. No matter what my best effort was, they were an impossible team to work with. Neither one of them were satisfied at the same time. When JB was happy with a take, Jason scrapped it. When Jason was actually impressed, JB wasn’t. The two bickered like an old married couple and it was beginning to drive me insane. But I didn’t want to lose my temper on them because both had put forth so much effort on my behalf, even going so far as to risk their jobs just to get me back on stage. I couldn’t be mad at them. If they were going to act like a couple of children then I just had to deal with it. But at this point my throat was beginning to feel raw and numb. I abandoned the music stand and approached the glass and knocked on it to get their attention. They both glanced up from the desk with questioning looks on their faces.

“Can I get a break?” I asked. JB nodded.

“You may go.”

“Thank god…” I replied then removed my headphones, placing them back down on the music stand before exiting the recording booth and briefly entering the mixing room before stepping out into the hallway and texting Ren.

‘I want 2 C U. Where R U?’

Ren instantly replied. ‘Where else would I be? Class.’

I silently pouted. JB and Jason were working on my nerves right now and I just wanted the comfort of Ren’s presence around me, but it was no use. He was working. I suppose I had gotten too used to having him around during the summer. I missed him. I sighed then leaned my back against the wall, still holding my phone in my hand. ‘Get off UR phone, Teacher Choi.’

‘Ha! It’s lunch time. I’ll do what I want, ‘Schnookums.’’ Ren texted back, taunting me. A smirk spread across my lips as I read his message. I hadn’t been expecting for him, of all people, to call me that. I hoped to god that didn’t become a regular nickname that stuck to me. Jason… you’re such a headache.

‘Want 2 die?’

‘Can it at least wait until after your comeback?’

I laughed. ‘I suppose.’

‘Awesome.’ Ren texted back. I paused for a moment.

‘UR student. Any good news?’

There was a long period of silence while waiting for Ren’s response. ‘She came back to class, but… she has bruises on her neck and hands.’

My heart sunk. ‘That’s terrible.’ I replied. Disappointment and anger started to rise within me. I couldn’t believe someone in this world would purposely try to hurt and possibly take advantage of a young girl who couldn’t speak or hear. She was completely incapable of speaking and standing up for herself.

‘It is, but at least we have proof now. I can contact the police and end this nightmare.’

‘Will you?’ I asked.

‘I already spoke to her. She agreed to go down to the police station with me after class to file a report.’

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. ‘That’s really good news, Ren. Thank god she has a teacher like U.’

‘I just want it to stop. I care about all my students.’

I paused as a sudden idea came to mind. ‘Have U given her the ticket?’

‘Not yet. Why?’

‘Don’t. And what time will you be at the station?’

‘Around 3 PM. Why?’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ I replied then entered back into the mixing room where Jason was listening to a few recordings and bobbing his head to the beat while JB played around with buttons and dials on the mixing pad. I stopped by JB’s side. “Can we wrap this up by 3? There’s somewhere I need to be.”

JB glanced up at me with a raised brow. “But you have dance practice-”

“It’ll only take an hour. Please, this is something I need to do. It’s important.” I pleaded, taking JB by surprise. He had never seen this type of behavior from me until now. I had to break away from this place for at least a little while. I wanted to be the one to personally hand Ren’s student her ticket to the performance. There was not a doubt in my mind that she had been going through a nightmare for who knew how long. I wanted to at least try to make her day by surprising her with an appearance and give her confidence and strength again. JB took note of the serious expression written on my face then pursed his lips together. I could tell he didn’t like the idea of letting me go when we were so close to the comeback stage performance. So many things still had to be done that there wasn’t a moment to spare. But he could see the importance of the situation on my expression and he nodded in defeat.

“Alright,” He raised his index finger to scold me. “But only one hour! Understand? Then you’re back in that practice room.”

I nodded enthusiastically. “Thank you, JB!”

A small smile spread across JB’s lips before he arrogantly held his head up and pointed back to the recording booth. “Back to work. It’s only 1. You still have two hours before you’re free.” I quickly nodded then nearly tore the door from off its hinges as I dashed back into the recording booth. I carefully placed the headphones back on my head, making sure not to hit my hearing aid attached to the left side. Jason started to play the music again and it swiftly poured out of the speakers and into my ears. I enthusiastically began to pour my heart and soul into recording the track again with a smile on my face. I couldn’t wait to meet her.

A couple of hours later, as promised, JB had let me go outside for a brief moment. After making my way out from headquarters, I immediately went down to the Seoul Police Station. Before exiting my car I adjusted my beanie over my head and placed my heavy hoodie on, despite the warm weather. With my best effort I tried my best not to stick out and not look like an idol… which wasn’t extremely difficult. On my own I had no taste. I had always relied on the help of the stylists back when I worked for Pledis. In fact, I was often being scolded for how little effort I put into my appearance. It wasn’t that I was lazy. I was just clueless about fashion. It wasn’t something that I ever really focused on, despite my rich upbringing. I inconspicuously entered the police station to find, true to his word, Ren sitting in front of a police officer’s desk with a timid female student sitting by his left side. I leaned against the wall and continued to watch from a distance at the scene unfold out.

“She’s been missing classes for days. When I grew worried, I called her home and her mother’s boyfriend picked up and gave me startling responses. When I merely asked about her, he acted very defensively and couldn’t keep his story straight. Nearly a week later she finally returns back to class and she’s covered in bruises… Sir, something not right is going on inside of that home and I beg you, I plead with you that you take a look into this. Please!” Ren leaned forward in his chair with his hands clasped together, shaking. The police officer glanced over at the girl who was shamefully gazing down into her lap.

“Is that true? Are you being abused?” He asked, not noticing that she was deaf. Ren immediately tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention. She glanced up at him and Ren started signing away, translating the officer’s words. She hesitantly nodded. A surprised look washed over the unknowing officer’s face as he realized what he was dealing with. The girl slowly raised her hands and started signing with a distressed look on her face. Ren spoke out and translated the girl’s words as she signed.

“He’s been hurting me whenever she is away. The moment she leaves for work, the pain begins. He hits me, beats me with whatever he can find, he touches me-” Ren very suddenly and abruptly stopped, his eyes widening in horror as the girl continued to sign. Ren’s eyes began to grow teary. The police officer looked at Ren.

“Please continue.” He urged as he quickly began typing up a report.

Ren shook his head, trembling.

“Sir, we can’t file a report without the information.”

Ren gave him a petrified look. “…He took advantage of her…” His voice trailed off. “Dammit. She’s just a kid. She’s deaf… He touched her because he knew she couldn’t say anything… That bastard…” Ren gritted his teeth angrily. I felt my heart sink as I watched the two of them sitting before the police officer. My heart felt for both of them. No one should go through something as devastating as being taken advantage of. No one should ever be forced to do things against their will. That man who touched her… could he even call himself a man? A true man never took things that wasn’t his. I thought back to when Ren belonged to JR and how I almost kissed him that one time I found him sleeping on the porch. It took every fiber in in my being not to kiss him. To do something like that, especially when he was asleep, was wrong. And even then when our feelings had been put out in the open, I never, not once touched Ren. A true man knows what the right thing to do is, as well as the wrong thing. To touch a minor was indeed the wrong thing to do. What made it even worse was the fact that he did it because he knew she couldn’t say anything about it to the authorities. Even though it was hard on Ren, it was a good thing he had been looking out for her. Ren was a person that could be her voice. He had a natural sense of justice within him that he just automatically wanted to help anyone and everyone out. Thank god, Ren… if it wasn’t for you, who knew what would have happened to this innocent young girl whose only crime was being born into this world full of cruel, heartless people. The girl stopped signing and glanced over at Ren. She patted him on his shoulder and signed a message that I couldn’t understand. Ren slowly nodded then lifelessly faced the officer. “He her.”

A stunned look washed over the officer’s face. I felt my entire body go numb. The officer quickly typed into his computer before glancing back over at the girl. “Was it recent?” Ren signed to her. She nodded. “We will take photos of your bruises and then send you over to the hospital for DNA testing… Young lady, I’m sorry.” He gave her a painful, apologetic look. Ren quickly signed to her.

“What will happen to him?” She asked. Ren translated.

“He will go away for a very long time.” The officer replied. As soon as Ren signed his words the girl burst into tears, placing both of her hands over her face. Ren rubbed his hand on her back to console her but even I could see the tears that threatened to fall in the corners of his eyes. I turned my back to them and shifted my gaze to the ground. My thoughts were interrupted by the side commentary of other civilians who had come into the station to file reports but had gotten caught up watching Ren and his student sign. Sign language wasn’t something people saw very often; I suppose it would naturally draw attention. But the comments I was hearing was just devastating. The worst was from a woman standing not too far away from me.

“Poor thing. She can’t hear. How unfortunate. I feel sorry for her.”

I shifted my gaze up from off the floor and narrowed my eyes at her, feeling anger boil up in my veins. Poor? Unfortunate? She felt sorry for her? I thought back to the moment I first lost a significant portion of my hearing and remembered feeling like it was the end of the world. But then I remembered the amazing breakthroughs and the things I learned about an earnest, hardworking group of people. What made us so different from her? I say ‘us’ because I recognized myself as part of the deaf and hard of hearing community. It might be harder and take us longer to do something that she could do, but we could still do it. A person who tries and never gives up is an admirable person, more so than a person who never does because of a terrible social stigma. This girl was probably the bravest, strongest person I had ever come across. Ren had told me of her history of being bullied for her deafness and she still had the strength and courage to come to class. Having to go through something like this… that would be unfortunate for anyone. But being unfortunate just because she couldn’t hear? Since when was being deaf a shameful thing? It wasn’t. It isn’t us who should be ashamed, it’s the world. Society was ugly and scary. And it’s about time for a change…

I took a few steps forward and stopped by the woman’s side for a brief second. “You should be ashamed of yourself.” I muttered under my breath so only she could hear. She gave me a startled look and took a step away from me as I angrily shoved the doors open to the front of the station and stepped outside. I gave off a loud, frustrated sigh and grabbed both sides of my head. I couldn’t shake that woman’s words from my mind. If society were to change, they’d need to be educated and informed wisely and I knew I’d have to be the one to do it. People would listen to me, wouldn’t they? I couldn’t wait to take a stand and show the world who I really was: Kang Baekho, a famous Korean idol who was also hard of hearing. I could still dance and I could still sing. The only difference was that without the hearing aid, I entered into a world of silence. And to be honest, living in a world of silence was a lot better than living in a world where one was forced to hear ugly words like those.

I continued to wait outside for Ren and his student. About twenty minutes later the two of them slowly emerged from the station, Ren with his hand on his student’s shoulder. As I was about to step forward and make my presence known, I was stopped by a woman who came running to the front steps of the station. She threw her arms around the girl; I took it that this woman was the girl’s mother. The woman was sobbing into her daughter’s shoulder as Ren quietly took a step back. She pulled away from the girl and slowly rose her hands and hesitantly signed something to her. Comparing her signing skills to what I had seen from Ren, this woman was probably new to signing and was very messy. When she grew frustrated of her inability to sign, the woman began to speak.

“I’m sorry. Your mother is sorry for being so blind, Suri.” A touched, hurt look flashed across the girl’s face before she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her mother and began to sob. The woman glanced up at Ren. “Thank you, thank you so much Mr. Choi for looking out for her. I didn’t know what was going on inside my own home…”

Ren stared at her with stunned eyes. “You… started learning sign language?”

The woman paused then nodded. “What you said to me that one time on the phone, I didn’t like it. You were right; I couldn’t communicate with my own daughter because I didn’t want to take the time to do it. It was like giving up on her. Suri has come this far… I’ll never give up on her. I might not be the best parent in the world… I’m the worst, actually… but I’ll always love my daughter and that’s why I started to learn… I’m sorry for involving you in this, Mr. Choi. I should have known something was going on but I was just so blinded… I didn’t want to believe something like this could happen… I’m so sorry…” The woman knelt down on her knees and bowed down in front of Ren. Ren stared down at her with big eyes before shaking his head.

“My students are never a burden on me. You do things because they’re right, not because you feel like you have to. I’m just glad… no, relieved that it’s over now and that she’ll be safe.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Choi.” She replied, slowly standing back up on her feet. I took this moment to awkwardly step forward and stop in front of the three of them. Ren glanced up and his eyes widened in shock as he immediately recognized me. It took both Suri and her mother about a minute longer to realize who I was and when they did they stared at me with equally as matching large eyes.

“B-Baekho, what are you doing here…?” Ren quietly asked as he nervously glanced around. I reached into my back pocket and dug out a pair of tickets to the Music Core performance and leaned forward to give them to Suri. She shakily took them in both of her hands, still staring at me with wide eyes.

“Take them.” I slowly said. I could feel her eyes staring intently at my lips as she was trying to read them as I spoke. Her mother gave me a questioning glance.

“Why are you giving these to her?” She asked, stunned. I took Suri’s left hand in my own, taking her by surprise and slowly lifted it up to my left ear where I placed it on top of my hearing aid that was hidden underneath my beanie. As her fingers lightly swept over the device her eyes grew bigger with shock. When I released her hand she pointed at me with her index finger and began to sign. Ren whispered as she signed.

“You’re… just like me, aren’t you?”

Her mother gasped and placed her right hand over as she stared at me with matching wide eyes. I nodded. “Will you come and support me?” I asked and Ren quickly signed my message to her. I held my hand out to Ren to stop him as I wanted to try for myself. I scoured the back of my mind trying to recall the bits and pieces of sign language that I had learned and picked up from Ren and Minseok. I placed both of my hands in front of me and slowly began to make the signs for ‘love,’ ‘me’ and ‘you’ towards her to form the message ‘I love you.’ She silently stared at me with a shocked look on her face before her eyes began to water with tears. She placed her hands in front of her and slowly signed back to me.

“You love me…?” Ren translated out loud. I smiled and placed my hand on her shoulder and nodded. Her bottom lip began to tremble. “I love Kang Baekho too.” She signed back to me.

“Can I count on my number one fan’s support?” I asked. She quickly nodded her head up and down before placing both hands in front of her eyes and wiping the tears away. I held my hand out to her. “Can I see your cellphone?” I asked. Ren signed to her. She gave me a surprised look but clumsily dug into her bag and held it back out to me. I turned it on and opened the camera app and knelt down beside her, extending the phone out in front of us. When she realized that I wanted to take a picture with her, she had to suppress her tears from falling again. She froze as stiff as a board beside me. I chuckled then slung my left arm behind her and placed my hand on her shoulder, leaning into her as if we were longtime friends. We both smiled for the camera and I shot the picture, quickly pulling it away and handing it to her. When she received it back she stared at the photo in disbelief.

“Oh my god…” Her mother’s voice trailed off. I glanced up at her. “Kang Baekho… thank you…” She replied, her voice breaking. “Thank you for what you did for my daughter… she… she has your poster on her wall… she loves you… Just… thank you.”

I shook my head. “It’s because of her that I got to where I was. And I’m hoping that she’ll help me get back to that place soon. I can only do it with her support.”

Her mother smiled back at me. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“Baekho,” Ren tapped me on my shoulder. I glanced back at him. “Suri wants to ask you something.” He said, pointing back at his student. I smiled and glanced down at her. She shyly and slowly began to sign.

“Can I hug you?” Ren chuckled as he translated her words. A big smile spread across my face and I nodded. As I began to spread my arms open she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around my waist tightly. I chuckled then wrapped my arms around the much shorter girl’s shoulders, giving her a snug hug in return. It made my heart ache to know that she had been through the worst. This girl… I didn’t even know her, but somehow it felt like I did. I took a random guess that she had been one of my fans and it turned out to be right. She and I were one of the same; we belonged to the same group of people that shared one thing in common, which was that we couldn’t hear. When I learned of what happened to her, I wanted to protect her. It wasn’t just because she was a deaf child, but because she was also my fan. To me, she was a cherished person. To learn that anyone was causing harm to those I cherished… it broke my heart. I wanted to heal her. I wanted to take away the pain of the world and make her smile, even if for just one minute.

Suri slowly pulled away after a while and I released her. As she pulled back I noticed the vibrant smile spread across her lips. I smiled back at her and patted her on the head. “See you soon, kiddo.” I said to her and Ren quickly signed back. She smiled and nodded before reaching for her mother’s hand and the two of them waved goodbye before slowly walking away from the station together. Ren and I watched as they finally disappeared from the station. Once they were gone I started to walk away when Ren suddenly called out to me.

“If someone had told me that the Kang Baekho I knew when we first met would become the person he is today, I would have never believed them.”

I glanced down at the concrete ground and smiled. “Who would have thought, huh?”

“That was probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen you do, you know that? Baekho… you didn’t have to do that… so why did you? Was it for me…?” Ren asked, just trying to figure out why I did what I did. I hadn’t informed him of my plans or intentions and had left him in the dark this entire time.

I shook my head. “I did it… for her.”

“You did?”  

“That girl… she’s probably not even fourteen, and yet today she was inside of a police station reporting a crime. It’s scary for anyone, especially more so for a young girl her age… When you told me you would be accompanying her to the police station after classes today, my heart sunk. Even if you hadn’t of told me, I probably could have guessed what had happened to her. I just… I wanted to turn one of the most miserable days of her life into one of the best. I just wanted to show her that someone still cares about her.”

Ren quickly walked up from behind me and stood directly at my side. He grabbed a hold of my right arm. “You really care…?” He asked in disbelief. Ren was used to defending those kids of his alone by himself. To hear that someone else, especially someone like me, actually wanted to stand by his side and help him probably surprised him.

“I really care, Ren. I’m no different from her, hearing loss or not. She’s my fan and I just wanted to make her smile. I want her and the rest of your students to be there to support me. Their presence would mean the world to me. I think I can find the strength and courage to reveal myself to the world if I know that they’re holding my hand.”

Ren released my arm and brought the back of his hand up to his eyes, wiping the tears that threatened to fall. He shifted his gaze up into the sky. “Okay.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I’ll tell you what you told me several times before: you’re not alone in this.”

Ren forced a smile on his lips even though I could tell he was fighting back the urge to cry. “I know. I have your support…” His voice trailed off.

“But?” I asked, waiting for him to finish. Ren shook his head and glanced at me.

“It’s nothing.” He laughed. “I just keep finding myself falling more in love with you.”

I took his hand in mine and caressed his fingers before slowly letting go. “I have to get back now. I’ll be making my comeback really soon.”

“I understand. When will I see you?” Ren asked with hope in his voice. I nodded.

“Soon enough.” I replied, not sure myself when the next time I got to spend time with him would be.

“See you then.” Ren replied. He understood that I was busy and he didn’t hold it against me. Instead he accepted it and supported me. I waved and then forced myself back to my car. As I pulled out of the parking lot I glanced back at Ren’s reflection in the rearview mirror, my heart aching. I wanted to stay with him a bit longer if it were at all possible, but I knew I was lucky enough to have gotten an hour off of work when I did. My comeback was just around the corner and I would have to give it everything I had in order for it to be a success. I missed Ren but unfortunately work had to come first. But once the comeback stage was over, Ren was all mine. Both of the best things to ever occur in my life were about to return to me again: music and love. And I couldn’t wait.

Minhyun’s POV

Aron and I had literally spent the entire day locked in JB and Jason’s dance studio practicing with JR to the choreography that was to be used for DREAM’s comeback. By the time nightfall came, the both of us were lying in exhaustion on the floor while JR still continued to bark orders at us, just like he had in the past. He had worked us to the point that every muscle in our body ached and whenever we did try to stand and reattempt the choreography our limbs would shake from the strain. Aron and I both locked gazes as we laid on our backs on the wooden dance floor.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want Jason…” I pouted. JR was too difficult to work with. Of course Jason pushed us, but at least he wasn’t as power hungry as JR was. Jason actually gave us breaks and words of encouragement. JR made us work until we dropped and insulted us, thinking that it would somehow motivate us when of course it only made us resent him even more.

“Me too…” Aron whined.

JR scoffed. “Jason? You want Jason?”

“Why are you so offended? You’re dating him, aren’t you?” I asked. JR folded his arms across his chest, turning red.

“No personal questions!”

“I thought you were a dancer now, not a dance instructor!” Aron exclaimed, forcing himself to sit up. He began to rub his calf muscles in his legs and wince in pain.

“Jason asked me to fill in for today. He was busy with other preparations.” JR replied then glanced up as he heard the back door to the studio burst open. He rolled his eyes. “Speak of the devil.”

“Bestie~! Beautiful! JR!” Jason exclaimed as he excitedly joined us in the dance studio.

“Wait, who’s ‘Beautiful’?” I asked as both Aron and I locked glances. Jason smirked then pointed at Aron. Aron childishly pointed at me and laughed as I scowled. “Why does he get a nickname like ‘Beautiful’ when I’m stuck with ‘Bestie’?”

“Be grateful,” JB suddenly emerged inside the dance studio behind Jason. “He calls Baekho ‘Schnookums.’” I grinned in amusement. I couldn’t imagine Baekho taking that nickname well.

“How come JR doesn’t get a nickname?” Aron asked. JR immediately glanced over at Jason and shot him a death glare.

“Don’t you dare.” He warned.

Jason smiled. “Isn’t ‘JR’ already a nickname for something?”

“Junior Royale.” JR replied.

“Ohhhh. I thought it stood for ‘Jolly Rancher.’ I love those candies. Yum~!” Jason replied. JR stepped forward, about to charge at Jason until he decided to let it go. He folded his arms across his chest again and leaned back against the mirror on the wall. “Anyways, guys, so Schnookums finally completed his recording today, which means ta~da! The song is complete.”

I stared at him in amazement. “Really? It’s finished?”

Jason nodded. “Want to hear the finalized track?”

“Hell yeah, man. Put it in.” Aron replied and the four of us watched as Jason approached the stereo with a CD in his hand. As soon as he inserted it the familiar background music that we had become accustomed to dancing to for the past several months began to pour out from the speakers, among that, the addition of Baekho’s voice. My eyes widened in shock as Baekho’s voice reached my ears for the first time in a long time. He had been absent from the music scene for almost a year, but yet, his voice still sounded as smooth and flawless as it always had been. I shot Aron a prideful smile.

“He’s still got it.” I replied. Aron nodded.

“Yes he does.” He replied. The sound of my voice joining in the background in accompaniment to Baekho’s voice started pouring out from the speakers, soon followed by Aron’s rapping towards the middle of the song. As I heard the three of our voices together in the same song for the first time in just about a year, my eyes started to tear up and my heart strained. I missed this. Hell, I missed Baekho. I missed the three of us just being together. It didn’t matter the fallout that happened between us. I was ready to be a team again. We couldn’t do this without him.

Jason suddenly stopped the music. “This is the real version of the song,” Jason clicked the next track on the stereo. The same background music but strictly with Baekho’s vocals began to pour out from the speakers. “And this is the version that Baekho has heard.”

“You created two different versions of the song?” Aron asked.

JB nodded. “As far as Baekho knows, this is his song and he will be performing it on stage with the backup dancers.”

“I can’t believe the amount of effort everyone has put into this comeback stage for Baekho.” I replied in awe.

Jason shook his head. “It’s not just for Baekho; it’s for all of you. It’s for DREAM. You reached the top once. Let’s do it again.” He smiled at me. I nodded.

“Let’s do it.”

[Two weeks later]

Ren’s POV

After class had let out I madly dashed all the way down to the Music Core stage to meet up with the guys. Although my internship had fallen through with Pledis, Jason and JB had both managed to secure me a new one through their company JA&JB Media. I had become the stylist for DREAM again, and like always, I was running late. I had improved in my driving skills; I had been continuing the lessons with Minseok. Even though there were times where I became so frustrated and wanted to quit, I held on. Whenever I felt like quitting, I thought about Baekho and how far he had come. Also, I had made a promise to him, hadn’t I? That I would successfully learn to drive if he made a comeback? Well, Baekho, I have good news. I did it. I finally passed the test! I had already taken the picture for my license, which would be coming in the mail shortly. Since it had been a while since I last saw him, I still had yet to tell Baekho the good news. I figured I would tell him after his comeback performance. I didn’t want to distract him. But in the meantime, since I still didn’t have a car, I had no choice but to run everywhere like usual.

When I arrived at Music Core, I arrived huffing and puffing and out of breath. I showed my event badge to security and they let me in and took me backstage where Minhyun and Aron were already anxiously waiting in their own room far away from Baekho’s as to not ruin the surprise for him. When I tore through the door, both Minhyun and Aron shot to their feet and approached me. Aron grabbed me by my upper arms and shook me.

“I’m so nervous I can’t feel my feet!” Aron exclaimed. I smiled at him.

“Don’t be. I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“I can’t do this, I can’t do this…” I overheard Minhyun whisper to himself.

“You can do it. I believe in you guys.”

“Baekho’s out there… what if… what if he gets mad that we barged in on his performance? He already hates me-”

“Min, he doesn’t hate you. Trust me, he misses you guys just as much as you miss him. He won’t be mad.” I replied then placed my briefcase from school on the ground and marched over to the clothing rack, pulling off a dressy designer suit that I had managed to score from Versace and holding it out in front of him. Minhyun held the hanger in his hands while I ped the protector bag. “Just go out there and do your best.”

Minhyun nodded. “I’ll trust in you then…”

“I’M FREAKING OUT!” Aron exclaimed as he began to walk around us in circles. His skin was a pale shade of white. “Oh my god… did I remember to feed Mel? When did Mel last eat? Mel-”

“He’s fine, he was with Jason earlier this morning before I left.” I replied.

“MEL!” Aron cried out loud as he leaned into Minhyun’s chest. I smirked evilly, knowing full and well the relationship between Jason and Mel. Although Jason had once claimed the dog was a ‘gift from above,’ there were still a couple of times I walked into the house and caught him trying to prepare Mel for his evening meal.

“I’m kidding. You fed him this morning. He’s fine.”

Aron breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Thank god…” He replied. As Minhyun slowly began to undress I grabbed Aron’s suit from off the rack and helped him dress. As Aron pulled his shirt off, I handed him a crisp white dress shirt. Aron pulled each arm through the shirt and I began to button it down. “Is he… is he really okay to perform? Baekho, I mean… his condition… can he do it?” He finally asked for the first time, taking me by surprise. I could feel Minhyun’s eyes on me as he asked this question.

I paused for a moment before smiling and continuing to button down Aron’s shirt. “Baekho is just fine. He’s strong; he’ll persevere. He’s not going to let his condition hold him down anymore. He’s spent all this time practicing and recording with Jason. He’s got this. The three of you… you’re going to be great. I just know it.”

Aron slowly nodded. “I’m glad that he’s okay.”

I smiled back at him. “Me too.” As I said this the door swung open and the previous hairstylist and makeup artist from Pledis walked inside holding their kits. Both Minhyun and Aron had already finished dressing and were led by the two women over towards a couple of chairs where they began to do their work. My work was done here for now. I grabbed my briefcase and turned back to Aron and Minhyun, giving them a thumbs-up sign. “Good luck out there, guys.” I cheered for them and they both returned with smiles on their faces. I quickly slipped out from their dressing room and then finally made my way towards Baekho’s in the far corner of the hallway. I knocked on the door before pushing it open and peering inside. Baekho stood nervously in front of the mirror, staring down at his clasped hands that were shaking. His knuckles had turned white. When he noticed the door had opened he glanced up at my reflection in the mirror. As he recognized me his eyes went wide and he immediately turned around.

“Ren!” He exclaimed then quickly approached me, spreading his arms and wrapping them around my frame. I smiled.

“Long time no see, stranger.” I replied, happy to be inside of his arms again at last. Baekho slowly pulled away from me.

“Is everyone here?”

I nodded. “My students rushed here with me as soon as class let out. They’re all outside waiting for your performance. Minseok said that he’ll get here as soon as he gets out of work and U-ie said that although Pledis was giving her hell about coming, she’ll be here as well and nothing could stop her. Are you ready, Baekho?” I asked. His hair and makeup had already been done. All that he had been waiting on was for me to arrive so that he could get dressed and get to the stage when his name was called on the performance list.

Baekho nervously nodded. “I think so. It’s now or never, right?”

I smirked at him. “Where’s the ever-so-confident Kang Baekho I know?”

“I’m nervous. I haven’t performed in at least a year-”

“And they’re still going to love you.” I replied, taking his suit and ping it from its bag. “Just go out there like you own that stage. You’ve got the support of everyone out there in that audience, remember?”

“Do you think…” Baekho’s voice sadly trailed off. I blinked.

“Do I think what?”

Baekho nervously laughed. “It’s a longshot, but do you possibly think that maybe Minhyun and Aron might be watching tonight?”

I had to fight back my grin. Oh, I think they’ll be doing more than just watching. I suppressed my smile and kept a straight look on my face. “Anything’s possible when you dream.” I replied, grabbing the bottom hem of his shirt and giving him a hungry look. Baekho turned red.

“Not now… I’d look terrible if I went on stage with a raging bulge in my pants…” Baekho placed his hands on top of mine and fought them off.

“I guess you’re right.” I pouted.

“Tonight.” Baekho reassured me. “We’ll pick up where we left off tonight.”

I smiled then planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll hold you to it then. Come on, let’s get you changed, Mr. Kang Baekho.” I replied, trying to sound professional. Baekho smiled back at me and then nodded, pulling off his shirt in front of me. I caught myself staring at his toned chest and abs, completely forgetting about the reason why I was here again. It was almost like the first time I had tried to style Baekho, except that time he fought me because he hated me and I had to practically tear his shirt off. Regardless of how much time had passed since then and how many times I had seen his bare chest, I was still as flushed as I was that day.

Baekho cleared his throat. “Ahem, Stylist Choi?”

I jumped and quickly averted my gaze. “Sorry! Sorry!” I reached for the white dress shirt and handed it to him. Baekho laughed in amusement at my fidgety reaction and then pulled his arms through the white dress shirt. Leaving the shirt ed and exposing his bare chest, he dropped his jeans and let them hit the floor as I handed him a pair of black suit pants. He stepped into them and pulled them up to his waist. As he reached for the zipper I placed my hands on top of his to stop him, zipping them up and buttoning them myself before pressing my body against his and bringing him into a kiss. Baekho didn’t fight me and tumbled backwards over the counter, hitting his back against the makeup vanity mirror. I couldn’t help myself. I was undeniably attracted to him and with Baekho having been busy this whole past month, my body missed him. After returning the kiss Baekho slightly pulled away, glancing down on me.

“Later.” He reminded me. I could tell by the serious look on his face that he wanted to remain a hundred percent focused on tonight’s performance and well, I couldn’t blame him. I’d hate myself if I was the reason that caused Baekho to mess up. I needed to behave myself. I nodded then began to help him button up his shirt.

“Good luck out there, Baekho.” I wished him luck with all of my heart. I knew the struggles and triumphs he went through to get this far. He had come a long way from that shell of a man that had pretty much given up on life that I had spotted downstairs in his attic. Kang Baekho was a completely different person now. He dreamed again. He got past his fears and insecurities enough to get to Music Core tonight, not only that, but he embraced a whole different community while doing so. I hoped from the very bottom of my heart that Baekho would be successful and become the voice for several other people out there like him. Kang Baekho, stand up, be strong and become their voice. Help others just like you learn to dream again, or possibly even for the first time. I know you can do it. You’ve come this far and you’ll continue to go farther. Kang Baekho, I believe in you.

Baekho climbed off of the counter and smiled at me. “I wouldn’t even be standing here if it weren’t for you. You’re the one that persisted on getting me up out of that slump and learning to love life again. And I do… I’ve experienced a new side of life that I never thought I would before, and I don’t regret it. Not for a longshot.”

“Has anyone ever told you how amazing you are?” I asked, touched by his words. Baekho arrogantly grinned while folding his arms across his chest.

“Well…” He teased.

“Baekho!” I laughed, pulling a black fedora hat over the side of his head where his hearing aid was located. I attached several hair pins to ensure that the hat wouldn’t fall off during his performance.

“Several people have, but want to know the truth? It means the most whenever I hear it coming from you.” Baekho replied, melting my heart strings. I turned a deep shade of red and glanced off to the side. Baekho caressed the side of my cheek and then pulled me into a kiss again. After it briefly ended Baekho pulled away and glanced down at me. “Ren… I’m not sure if my performance will win an award tonight. But if I do, I need to ask one more favor of you.”

I blinked. “Hmm? Yeah, sure. What is it?”

“If I win, can you come on stage and sign my message out to the audience? Several people in attendance tonight I believe will be deaf or hard of hearing and I want them to understand my words.”

I stared at him with wide eyes. “You want… me? On stage? Me? But I…” I started to panic. I had extreme stage fright. There was no way I could stand on stage in front of a crowd of hundreds and calmly sign Baekho’s words. I simply didn’t have the confidence in myself not to mess up.

“That’s if I win, of course.”

“I don’t know…” My voice trailed off as I shifted my gaze to the ground. Baekho lightly grabbed me by the chin and lifted my head up. Our eyes met.

“I’ll tell you what you’ve told me several times before: be confident. I believe in you.”

“Dammit…” I cursed.

Baekho gave me a wide eyed stare. “What?”

“Now it’s impossible not to do it.” I pouted. “Why are you so unbelievably perfect? You’re handsome and have a way with words.” I replied, receiving a wide grin in return from Baekho. Suddenly our thoughts were both distracted when-

BANG!

The dressing room door madly swung open to reveal everyone’s favorite redhead, only tonight he actually had his red tips spiked up in a clean fashion. I glanced down at his outfit that matched with the other outfits I had picked out for the background dancers. He was dressed in all black and decked out in silver accessories. Jason looked very suave, considering his personality.

“I thought I heard someone talking about me inside this room!” Jason happily declared with a smile on his face. I playfully narrowed my eyes.

“Wrong. I was talking about Baekho.”

Jason sighed. “Yeah, Schnookums is quite perfect, isn’t he?” He said. I practically hissed at him when I caught Jason’s eyes traveling down to sneak a peek at Baekho’s bottom.

“He’s mine.”

“Share?”

“No.”

“Not even a little?” Jason persisted. I placed the palm of my hand on his forehead and pushed him away. Jason pouted. “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Anyways, Schnookums, are you ready? You’re up next!”

Baekho nervously nodded. “I think I am.”

“Tcht. What kind of weak answer was that? I asked ARE YOU READY???” Jason placed both hands to the sides of his mouth and leaned forward as he shouted.

Baekho rolled his eyes and grinned. “I’m ready!” He played along with Jason.

“Awesome! I’m sure you’ll do great, but if you don’t, remember that important lesson I taught you.”

Baekho paused. “What lesson?”

“When in doubt, twerk it out.”

I slapped my palm across my face. Baekho had to restrain himself from lunging at him. “For the love of god, I absolutely will not twerk! What is wrong with you?”

“Heh, many things, but today’s not my appointment with my psychiatrist; that’s tomorrow. Ha ha! I’m just kidding. Not really. Maybe. But no, seriously, I’m sure you’ll do great out there. Just give ‘em what you got and if you get nervous, pretend like you’re practicing inside of the studio. Remember, I’ll be right there behind you.”

Baekho nervously nodded. “Alright.”

“We’ve done this a million times, now let’s go out there and make this performance number one million and one!” Jason pumped his fist into the air and began to march like a soldier outside of Baekho’s dressing room. Baekho followed him but paused and gave me one last final glance before stepping outside. I smiled back at him and nodded. He was going to do just fine. He had the support of all of us, not to mention practically my entire school. Kang Baekho, we all love you, no matter what.

Baekho’s POV

I nervously stood waiting behind the curtains, waiting for the band ahead of me to finish so that I could finally go out on stage. Meanwhile, I felt like I had a school of butterflies floating around my stomach. I was so jittery with nerves that I clasped my hands together and tightly held them up to my chest. Breathe, Baekho. Just breathe. Everything is going to be just fine. You’re going to go out there and do your best. You’ve done this hundreds of times before and this time is no different. Just believe in yourself. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment as I continued to wait for my name to be called. Finally, after what felt like ages, the band ahead of me walked backstage after finishing up their performance. I could hear them returning sounding exhausted after wearing themselves up on stage. Suddenly my eyes snapped open when the stage managers grabbed me by my shoulders and forced me forward.

“Kang Baekho, you’re on next!” One of them urged, still pushing me forward. I quickly took my place on stage and turned my back to the crowd of hundreds. I kept my gaze focused on the floor in front of me as I spotted the feet of the backup dancers as they took their positions facing me. I paid no attention to them, not recognizing which pair of feet belonged to Jason, and keeping my mind strictly focused on waiting for the MC to announce my name and for the sound of the music to start. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, the sound of the MC’s voice finally poured out from the speakers.

“After nearly a year of musical hiatus, Music Core is proud to announce the long awaited return of the pop sensation act, DREAM~!” The MC’s voice carried out in excitement across the stadium. My eyes widened as I thought I had heard wrong. What did he just say…? Did he say DREAM? Did he make a mistake? As these thoughts ran through my head, I realized I didn’t have time to further question it as the music began to play. Mistake or not, the show had to go on. With my left elbow raised in the air, I swiftly spun around to face the front as the first few beats began to pour into the stadium. I brought my right hand in front of my face and waved it as I took a step forward, bringing my left hand out and holding it to the side.

“The red light – in this stopped time, only your scent remains. Like a dream I’m not waking from, I’m falling more and more into you.” I held my stance in place as a background dancer moved his body to the beat beside me. I took a step forward and leaned in front of me before quickly standing up and swinging my left leg forward and continuing the choreography. I thought back to when I had finished recording the vocals for the song. There were pieces missing in the audio track, but Jason had reassured me that he was working on getting another popular idol to collaborate with me and so he left them empty. To this day, the day of my comeback, I still wasn’t sure of who he had gotten to sing for me and so I had been rehearsing to simply the music. It was sloppy work on the behalf of both Jason and JB for waiting until the absolute last minute to get someone to feature in my song, but that was the reality of working for the entertainment industry and it wasn’t uncommon. Producing a single was difficult work. Regardless, I was curious to hear who it was that Jason had gotten to- I paused when I heard an all too familiar voice coming directly from behind me. 

“The green light – I have gone crazy, should I rush to you? My heart sounds like it’ll burst, it races only for you.” It felt like my heart stopped as I realized whose voice this was. Out of the corner of my eyes I sharply glanced behind me to see none other than Hwang Minhyun. My eyes grew wide out of shock. I couldn’t believe it… No, Baekho, don’t get sidetracked. You have a performance to do. I took a step backwards with my right foot behind my left and spread my arms out wide, swinging my right foot back out in front of me and bringing both of my arms up and waving my wrists out to the sides, matching to the beat.

“Like satellites and shooting stars, like a star that has seen the sun. I revolve around you, though you’re hot, I approach you. Finally, I hold you (holding your heart) and dazzle as I burn up.” I sang as I spun around to join the background dancers. My eyes grew wide as I spotted not only Minhyun standing there, taking the place of one of the previous dancers, but Aron and JR as well. What in the world- I spun around and faced the front of the audience, carrying on flawlessly with the choreography. I stood at the front of the dance group with my legs spread out and my hands on my hips, rocking my shoulders to the beat of the music. As the chorus started up, both Aron and Minhyun joined me.

“We live for this love (nanana nana nanana), we live for this love (nanana nana nanana), we live for this love.”

I suddenly felt tears form in the corners of my eyes. Aron and Minhyun were here performing with me just like the old times. I became over swept with a series of emotions. I was both thrilled and shocked that they were here with me once again. We had spent so much time apart that I thought… I didn’t dare to think of the day that DREAM would reunite on the stage as one ever again. My relationship was strained with the both of them. I had been a heartless jerk towards Min and even went so far as to threaten to kill him because I had been so hurt and jealous when Pledis kicked me out and replaced me with him. I realized now, far too late, that Minhyun had never intended nor wanted my place as leader and that’s just what was decided. It was a decision that was far from his own hands. And Aron, well, Aron might not have ever hated me, but I knew he grew tired of my immature diva ways. Needless to say, I had messed up with everyone inside of that house. And then there was JR, possibly the absolute last person I expected to ever see up on stage with me. Deep down, I still felt guilty over what I had done to him while he was gone. Falling for Ren wasn’t on purpose. I tried so, so damn hard to fight it but I couldn’t. Those feelings only grew stronger when I realized Ren felt the same way back. I felt sorry to JR for having a part in destroying his relationship with Ren, even though he came to me on good terms and gave us his blessing for us to be together. But the fact that he was here supporting me when, knowing his background credentials as a Broadway dancer, he could be somewhere else… it just… it meant a lot to me. JR surely was a bigger man than I had first initially thought he was and I was glad that he had proved me wrong about him. All of them… they were just incredible for being here with me today.

“The firelight – the moment I’m trapped in your burning eyes. One kiss from you will wake me up, I feel like I can have the whole world.” Minhyun sang out and he slid to his right in front of the entire group. He outstretched his arms then brought both his index and middle fingers towards his face and rocked his head to the side. He paused for a moment before leaning and reaching forward. Everyone suddenly crouched down, leaving me as the only one remaining standing. I waved my hands at each individual in front of me and they crouched down to the beat. The choreography was set to maintain the illusion that I was playing an invisible piano and they were my keys.

“Like satellites and shooting stars, like a bee that has seen a flower petal, I revolve around you. I approach you without hesitation. Finally, I hold you (holding your heart) and fly up high.” I sang as everyone stood up and in a zig zag crouched down beside me. I held my right hand over my face as I rolled my body in the shape of an ‘S.’ I faced back towards the audience and extended my right arm up into the sky as if reaching for the stars as I continued to walk forward with the rest of the guys following closely behind. As the beat quickly picked up we all jumped, spread our legs out again and placed our hands on our hips, rocking our shoulders out to the main chorus with Aron and Minhyun joining me again.

“We live for this love (nanana nana nanana), we live for this love (nanana nana nanana), we live for this love.”

I felt like I was seconds away from completely losing it. My heart was aching so much because of how touched I was that I just wanted to bawl my eyes out. I just couldn’t believe it. Everyone was here. Aron, Minhyun, JR, Jason, Ren, Ren’s students with Minseok and even U-ie out there in the audience… I just… What did I ever do to deserve such great people in my life? I wasn’t anything great. I was just Kang Baekho, a guy that could sing and was lucky enough to have once been an idol and even luckier to have been given the chance to do it again. I didn’t save some nation or create a cure for cancer. I wasn’t someone that deserved all of the enormous hard work and dedication that the people around put in for me to ensure that this day, this performance was a success. It was true that I didn’t deserve it, but by all means I damn sure was grateful for it. None of this; absolutely none of this would have been possible without any of them. The people that mattered most to me… they were all here, and they were all here to share my proudest moment and shine with me.

The group broke apart as Aron walked forward with his left hand extended as he swung his right hand around in the air. “I can’t get enough, I can’t get off of your love. I can’t live without your love, I am addicted. In a blink of an eye, I’m by your side. When we kiss, I feel so high.”

“We live for this love.” Minhyun and I both sang together in unison as we walked off to the side while Aron stood at the front of the dance group consisting of both Jason and JR and two other dancers. Aron led the group as he stepped and hunched forward, extending his left arm out as he continued to rap. He swung his head to the left and spun around, forming a straight diagonal line to his side in which Jason, JR, Minhyun and I all joined in. One by one we each took turns stepping forward to the beat while Aron led the rap.

“I’m a shooting star inside a solar system called you. I am pulled to you, you’re a black hole that I can’t deny. It’s automatic, systematic, in this universe. I am pulled to you, you’re a black hole that I can’t deny.” Aron jumped forward, landing on his left leg. He quickly stood up straight and extended his arms to his right before pointing straight up into the sky and then back to his left. “Every time I Count 1, 2, 3. The world around us stops. Follow the pounding beat.” The five of us formed a line on stage and began dancing together with smiles on our faces. It was almost as if we weren’t performing at all and were simply just having fun. I certainly was. Performing with DREAM again, well… it was like a dream come true. Literally. And I was having the time of my life. I suddenly paused as I recalled the conversation I shared with Ren before it was time for my performance.

“It’s a longshot, but do you possibly think that maybe Minhyun and Aron might be watching tonight?”

“Anything’s possible when you dream.”

I fought back the urge to grin. Ren, you clever little sneak. Of course you must had known all about tonight’s surprise performance by DREAM, didn’t you? I remembered him saying something really inspirational like always, but I hadn’t realized that he was actually giving me a clue. Everyone must have known except me. At the time I had really been hoping that Aron and Minhyun might be out in the audience watching over me, but I got something a thousand times better instead. Everything about tonight… it was perfect. The song was seconds away from ending and so far we had executed it flawlessly. To my luck, I wasn’t having any problems with my hearing aid and the hat that Ren had secured over it stuck even with all of my movement on stage. To me, I had did it. I did what I sought out to do, which was perform on the stage once again. It didn’t matter to me if we won this stage or if this was my last performance or not. I proved not only to myself, but to Pledis and the entire world that I, Kang Baekho, who has a hearing loss, can sing again. I am not broken. I am not handicapped. I am a strong, resilient human being that refuses to stay down despite what others think, and I… I am amazing.

“We live for this love (Everytime I Count 1 2 3), we live for this love (We dream of love endlessly), we live for this love.” Minhyun and I sang as Aron continued to rap in the background. The music suddenly came to a standstill and the dancers all turned their backs to the audience with only Minhyun, Aron and I facing forward. I rose my hands again, pretending to play the imaginary piano and I flailed my hands at each of the dancers who knelt down to the ground as I waved at them.

“In my dreams, when I’m awake, always be by my side. Don’t be afraid, hold my hand, I’ll protect you.” I sang and spun and danced my way back to the front of the stage, still flailing my hands at each of the dancers. I waved my hands at Aron on my right who brought his hands in front of his face and froze before turning and waving them at Minhyun on my left who slowly crossed his arms in front of him and crouched down while I wrapped my own hands in front of my face and turned to my side. The music finally stopped. DREAM’s first reunion performance had just been completed and the stadium was bursting with screams. As soon as the song stopped I dropped my hands to my sides and turned back to face both Minhyun and Aron who stared back at me with cautious looks on their faces.

“Guys…” I tried my best to suppress the tears that threatened to fall. Without words I extended both of my arms and embraced them into a group hug. Both Aron and Minhyun began to chuckle with tears in the corners of their eyes as well. They both returned the embrace as the three of us stood in the center of the Music Core stage with the entire world watching and cheering for us.

“GROUP HUG!” The three of us were suddenly attacked by a hyperactive Jason who literally threw himself on us like how a football player would tackle another player on the field.

“Well if everyone’s doing it…” JR gave in and joined in the group hug. The Music Core MC suddenly walked on stage and congratulated us.

“As expected, a performance well done from DREAM! Could we expect any less from singing legend Kang Baekho, rap master Aron Kwak and angelic voice, Prince Hwang Minhyun? Everyone did their best, but there can only be one winner! The fate of today’s bands are in you, the audiences hands! Who will it be? We’ll find out after commercial break!”

The TV cameras cut off and the rest of tonight’s performing bands were led on stage to await the results of the voting during the commercial break. As we waited, Aron suddenly turned to me.

“It’s great to see you again, man. You look great.” He extended his knuckles at me, waiting for me to tap him with mine. I smiled and complied with him.

“Thanks. So do you. You look much happier.” I replied, noticing a more positive glow to him than what I had last remembered. Before I had left the mansion, I remembered Aron as being quiet and almost robotic. He had more of a tint to him now and a livelier personality. I wondered what that could have been about.

“Really?” Aron asked, surprised. I nodded. He grinned. “Well, I owe it to Mel- OUCH!” Aron exclaimed as Minhyun elbowed him in the stomach. “I mean Minhyun.” I gave them a surprised look. So I had been right. Briefly before the accident I had noticed the two of them acting rather strangely. Those two had finally hooked up while I was gone? I remembered Minhyun having a crush on the guy for the longest time but I was shocked to discover that the two of them were finally together. Well, as long as they were happy. I cautiously shifted my gaze over towards Minhyun.

“Min…” My voice trailed off as I was unsure of how to speak to him. I was still deeply ashamed of my past behavior towards him. Minhyun smiled brightly at me and surprised me by extending his hand out, waiting for me to take it. I stared at him with wide eyes.

“Forget it. It’s all in the past, right?” Minhyun replied, still smiling at me and waiting for me to take his hand and shake it.

“But how can you just-”

“You weren’t yourself, were you? You were in a dark place and needed someone to vent all that anger and frustration out on. For all that you’ve done for DREAM and for us, I didn’t mind being that person for you. Baekho, we’re a team. We’re a family. Family members argue and bicker, but at the end of the day they still all come back together and reunite. I… I missed you.” Minhyun sheepishly glanced off to the side, embarrassed.

I threw my head back and blinked a few times to clear my eyes of any tears that still threatened to fall. I glanced back at Minhyun and gave him a teary eyed smile. “I missed you guys too. I’m sorry about all the awful things I’ve done to the both of you.”

Minhyun wiped away a tear that managed to roll down his cheek. “Hey, I said forget it. Come on. Let bygones be bygones.” He chuckled. I finally took his hand and shook it. Minhyun smiled back at me. “Welcome back, leader. We’ve been waiting a long time for your return.”

Dammit. Minhyun’s words almost brought me to tears. I nodded. “It’s good to be back.”

“And we are back from commercial break! Welcome back, everyone! The votes have been tallied. Who did you pick? Artists, please line up!” The MC loudly announced on the speakers. I walked to the center of the stage beside the other groups with Aron standing on my left side and Minhyun on my right. The lights dimmed and the air grew quiet as the MC opened up the envelope he held in his hands. I nervously shifted my gaze down to the ground, biting my lower lip. I felt both Aron and Minhyun grab each side of my arms as they focused their attention on the ground as well, standing stiff as boards as we waited for the announcement of who won. The MC paused for dramatic effect before finally reading the names of the bands that scored in the ranking. “In third place we have… BtoB!”

The three of us took a deep breath, all a bundle of nerves. It didn’t matter to me if we won or not. I just wanted to place. Even if we didn’t place, I still counted this performance as a win in my books. I did what everyone had been hoping for, which was to finally return to the stage. I didn’t give up. Although there were several times where I wanted to lose hope, I kept going even when it felt impossible. I pushed myself to learn my limits. I was here. I could feel Aron and Minhyun’s hands squeezing into my lower arms as they nervously awaited the announcement for second place.

“In second place we have… VIXX!”

My heart was beating erratically. We had one more chance to score a place, and that place being number one. Aron and Minhyun both tightly clung onto me. I could hear the nervousness in the air behind me from Jason, JR and the rest of our dancers as we waited for the result. Jason kept his head down low as he rubbed his hands together while JR stood stiff and motionless. The MC paused for a brief moment as if to make the rest of the bands on stage more nervous than they already were. I took a deep breath. Remember, Baekho. It’s not about winning…

“And in first place we have…” The MC paused again, glancing back at the remaining bands waiting to be placed. He slowly began walking down the line of bands. As he passed each one, they one by one began to look down in disappointment. I kept my gaze fixated on the ground as I spotted his white shoes slowly approaching in our direction. I was mere seconds away from cardiac arrest when I noticed that the MC’s feet had come to a stop in front of us. Aron and Minhyun’s holds on me tightened. I began to feel dizzy. Why did he stop…? Did that mean that- “DREAM!!!!”

My eyes widened in shock as my jaw slightly dropped. Did I hear right? Did they make a mistake? Did they really say DREAM? The stage lights flashed down on us and bursts of silver confetti began to stream out and rain on stage. Minhyun released my arm and balled his hands into fists as he threw his head back and cheered while Aron jumped up and down in a ball of energy with Jason from behind me. I glanced out into the audience and spotted several young faces from Ren’s classroom all waving their hands in the air. It was because of them, wasn’t it? I paused when I suddenly spotted the faces of both Minseok and U-ie discretely standing in the aisle. U-ie was clapping her hands together as Minseok folded his arms across his chest and smirked at me. I silently mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him. His smirk grew wider and he shook his head. I glanced backstage to see Ren enthusiastically jumping up and down as he clapped his hands. He looked like a rabid fanboy. JR roughly patted me on the back and nodded, silently congratulating me. The rest of the dancers were cheering behind me and dancing in the streams of confetti, throwing it everywhere. It was thanks to all of these people that we were standing here, wasn’t it?

The MC suddenly handed me the Music Core trophy. I graciously took it in my arms and bowed, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I glanced back at Jason who I had spoken to before the performance about wanting Ren to come on stage and translate for me. We won, which meant I had a promise to keep. It was time to reveal myself to the world. I was terrified, but at the same time I knew I was ready. I had already proved myself to everyone by performing. Now it was time to surprise them by showing them that I had done all of it with a hearing loss. Jason nodded then quickly ran back off stage to grab Ren, dragging him back with him as he returned and placing him right by my side. Ren turned a pale shade of white and rigidly stood still as the silver confetti continued to rain down on him. Several of his students in the audience spotted him and started waving at him, snapping him out of his fear induced state of catatonia and making him warm up and smile. The MC handed me a microphone and the confetti finally stopped pouring. The stadium came to a silence as they all waited to hear my acceptance speech. I took a deep breath before glancing at Ren who nodded at me reassuringly. He raised his hands up to chest level as he prepared himself to sign out my words, receiving a strange stare from the MC and several producers on the stage.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, ‘Dreamers’?” I asked, referring to the fan club’s nickname. The audience cheered out in response. I smiled at them as Ren began to sign my message. I could already see the several confused looks on the audience members faces. “We’re sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. You see, so much has happened. You remember the accident, don’t you?” I asked, handing the trophy over to Minhyun.

“You have three minutes.” The MC whispered to me as he covered his microphone to prevent the audience from hearing his comment. I nodded.

“The accident took something very precious from me.” I slowly raised my hands and brought them around the hat that Ren had previously pinned down on me. I unclipped it and removed it from my head, revealing my hearing aid to the world. There was a loud audible gasp sounding off from the audience and several cameras zoomed in on my left side. “It wasn’t my hearing that I lost, but my family. When it was determined that I could not hear, DREAM went on permanent hiatus. It was the saddest day of my life. I wanted to give up. I felt like without the use of my ears, I could not go on to be the singer you guys expected of me. I hid myself away from the world.” I felt tears trickle down my face as I struggled to keep my voice from cracking.

“Baekho!!!!” Several audience members cheered my name to give me support. I chuckled through my tears and sniffled. I waved over in the direction that I had managed to hear the sound coming from, receiving more screams from the audience.

“But then, something happened that woke me up and shook me to my senses. I learned that you don’t have to have ears to be something great. I still have a voice; the only difference is that I need a little help to hear and there’s nothing wrong with that. Deaf and hard of hearing people are no different from any of us, I learned that now. When I was told that I couldn’t sing anymore because of the accident, I believed I couldn’t. Society forced me to believe that I was worthless… I based my self-worth off of what other people thought of me and my limitations, and I was wrong. If I’m capable of coming on stage and performing the way I did just now, winning an award with DREAM, just imagine the possibilities you can expect from others out there like me. If it wasn’t for the support of my manager, the people around me, and most importantly the Dreamers, hearing and non-hearing, none of this would have been possible. I would still be sitting in my room, trying to cope with something that there really is no need to be ashamed of…” I had to stop and wipe the tears from my face.

Aron suddenly stepped forward, pulling the microphone in my hand towards him. “We’re still the same old DREAM. The only thing that has changed about us is our management.” He glanced at me. “I don’t see anything wrong with Kang Baekho,” he glanced back out into the audience. “Do you?”

The crowd roared with screams. I smiled back at Aron.

“Thanks.” I replied, glancing back out into the audience. “Dreamers… it’s nice to dream, isn’t it? But I don’t want for you to spend the rest of your lives dreaming. I want you to live your dream, like I am doing. When I was down and out, I dreamt of nothing more than returning to the stage and I’ve done it. If I can do it, there’s no reason why any of you can’t reach yours… Dreamers, it’s up to you and the rest of the world whether or not we get to perform again. In either case…” I brought my hands out and signed with Ren as I spoke. “I love you.”

The crowd erupted with screams and cheers as Aron, Minhyun and I took a bow together. I reached over and patted Ren on the back, rocking him back and forth as he looked up at me and smiled widely. Everyone walked backstage as the music show ended. Jason excitedly collided with me, almost knocking me down. As I struggled to retain my balance, Aron jumped on me as well. Minhyun handed the trophy over towards JR and was the final added weight to successfully topple me over. I crashed to the ground in tears and laughter.

“You did it! You did it!” Jason exclaimed.

“We did it.” I corrected. Ren stared down at us and smiled before jumping on top of the pile. Several of us moaned and groaned as he landed on top of us. JR suddenly shrugged.

“Oh, what the hell?” He smirked and quietly handed the trophy to one of the dancers before taking a step backwards and then leaping on top of Ren. The five of us exclaimed loudly as his final weight was added to the pile. With a big smile spread across my lips, I brought both hands on top of my eyes, tears rolling down the sides of my face and onto the floor. I had realized something just now. Despite all that we had all been through, this was probably the first time that everyone was laughing and smiling together. We had never been as close as we were now. It only took much drama, heartbreak, pain and struggle to get to where were at now. But it was those things that made us stronger than we were before. Through the separation of DREAM, we all grew and became better people. Aron become as less of a recluse and warmed up, Minhyun seemed to have developed a newfound sense of confidence about him, and I? I finally grew up. I finally opened my eyes to a broader field of vision and it transformed my world. I was rightly knocked off of my pedestal. I truly believed and understood now what Ren and Jason had been telling me all along: when one door closes, another one opens. Me? I’m exactly where I needed to be; that place just so happened to be at the bottom of a DREAM dogpile at the moment. Heh.

JB stopped beside us and stared down at us on the floor. “In honor of DREAM’s return and first win, dinner’s on me-”

“FOOD!!!” Jason screamed then used all of his might to roll out from underneath four different bodies, causing the pyramid to collapse. JR and Ren rolled off of Aron and Minhyun and off to the side. Minhyun scowled as he sat up.

“Jason, what the hell?” He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head after being elbowed by Ren when he had fallen off of him.

“That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Aron replied.

I turned to Ren. “Are you hungry?”

Ren nodded. “Famished. I was so nervous out there.” I smiled back at him and rubbed his shoulder.

“You did great out there, Ren.”

Ren smiled back at me. “Thanks, Baekho.”

Minhyun glanced up at JB. “What are we going to have?” He asked curiously. I wondered how Minhyun was doing about the whole eating and food situation. Had he gotten better? Jason suddenly extended and raised his arm while still sitting, jumping up and down on his .

“I vote we eat Aron’s dog!”

“WILL YOU STOP!?” Minhyun scolded.

“Mel…!” Aron cried as Minhyun patted him on the back. I couldn’t help but laugh at the three of them. It seemed like everyone got along so well. Jason seemed to fit right into our heavily dysfunctional unit. JB shrugged his shoulders; that poor guy. He had to be used to it by now though. Although Aron, Minhyun and I had made his job a living hell back when we did, if he didn’t love it, he wouldn’t still be here with us. JB was an amazing person.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

About an hour later the seven of us, along with Jason’s dance crew, arrived at a large buffet restaurant that offered karaoke and served alcohol. Everyone was having a good time stuffing their faces, drinking, and talking amongst themselves. Both Minseok and U-ie joined us later at our little after-party at separate times. Minhyun and Aron were practically attached to the hip, flirting while Jason talked up Ren, throwing his left arm around his neck and coercing him into drinking. I smiled and sat back in amusement as Ren tried to reject Jason’s offers with little to no luck. Minseok sat beside me and watched the spectacle with equal amusement written on his face. I curiously glanced at him.

“Aren’t you even slightly worried about him?” I asked as Jason successfully managed to shove a shot down Ren’s throat. A small smirk escaped Minseok’s lips and he shook his head, folding his arms across his chest as he sat back.

“Why would I? It’s about to get interesting.”

I paused. “What makes you say that?”

Minseok grinned. “Because our Minki is a fun drunk.”

Jason, already heavily buzzed, slammed the shot glass down on the table before turning to Ren and placing both hands on his shoulders, shaking him like a ragdoll. “OHMYGOD, REN, WE SHOULD TOTALLY GO SING KARAOKE!”

“OHMYGOD, WE TOTALLY SHOULD!” Ren drunkenly exclaimed. Well… that didn’t take long. That’s right; Ren was a lightweight. The last time he drank, he somehow ended up in my bed that night and caused me a national scandal because of Aron and that camera-happy finger of his. Jason drunkenly pointed at the small stage in front of us.

“YOU SHOULD GO, AND UH, I’LL PICK THE UH… SONG.”

“ME? GO FIRST?” Ren pointed at himself. I winced as it sounded like Ren and Jason were having a shouting match to see who could speak the loudest. Minseok suddenly unfolded his arms and leaned forward, slowly clapping his hands.

“Go Choi Ren, go Choi Ren, go Choi Ren!” He started a small chant that quickly caught on amongst our large group. It wasn’t long before everyone was peer pressuring Ren into going onstage. Minhyun and Aron both shared evil grins before standing up, each taking Ren by an arm and helping him climb the stairs to get onstage. They clapped their hands and continued to cheer him on as they climbed off. I silently shook my head before glancing at Minseok.

“What are you doing there?” I asked, wondering why he was taunting his younger brother.

Minseok smirked. “Just watch.” He replied as we watched Ren stand on the small stage with a blank expression written on his face.

I sighed. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to make your little brother’s life miserable?”

Minseok smugly grinned. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”

Jason finally selected a song and hit ‘play.’ Suddenly the intro music to Kahi’s ‘It’s Me’ started to pour out from the speakers in the restaurant. The once shy and self-conscious Ren suddenly stuck his right arm out up in the air and placed his left hand on his hip, snapping his fingers along to the catchy piano melody at the beginning of the song. U-ie smiled widely, throwing her head back in laughter before lifting it back up and placing both hands on the sides of her face as she cheered out for Ren. Ren continued to rock his hips with possibly the most confidence I had ever seen in a person in all of my life. He acted as if he owned the song. I knew Kahi, whose song he was rocking out to. I knew her very well. But judging by Ren’s superior level of attitude, the sad thing was that he was actually performing it better. And I wasn’t just saying that because I was in love with the guy. Ren was actually good. As Ren very dramatically placed both hands on his hips and sang the first verse, Aron was the first to burst out into a hysterical fit of laughter. Ren continued to dance and sing at the same time in a comedic fashion.

Minseok turned to me with the same grin plastered across his lips. “Smile… you know you want to.” He taunted me, leaning over to elbow me in the arm. I fought it back. It wouldn’t be right to laugh at Ren even though everyone else in the group was. Be a good boyfriend, Baekho, be a good boyfriend and support-

“I’M SO BAD GIRL, I’M SO COOL GIRL, I’M SO Y, Y, Y GIRL~~~!” Ren hoarsely and very drunkenly screamed out into the microphone. That did it. I burst out into an insane fit of laughter along with everyone else, Minseok included. I laughed so hard it hurt to breath and I cried tears of laughter.

Minhyun stood up and grabbed a seat closer to the stage to watch, leaving Aron with the rest of us. “You go, girl!” He teased Ren.

Minseok snapped his fingers at Aron. “You, YouTube, Instagram. Now.”

Aron grinned. “On it!” Aron said, grabbing his cellphone out from his pocket. As soon as he glanced at the screen he paused, a wide eyed and stunned look suddenly appearing over his face. I watched as he swept his finger across the screen and he held the phone up to his ear as he stood up and climbed his way out of the booth the rest of us were sitting at. I furrowed my brows. What was all of that about…? I glanced back at everyone else whose attention was still up on my boyfriend making a drunken fool out of himself onstage. No one else had noticed this strange event, had they? I shook it off. It was probably nothing. Aron was probably fine… No, I had a feeling in the bottom of my gut that something else was up. Several minutes later after Aron’s absence, growing worried, I stood up and climbed my way out of the booth over Jason who was erratically cheering and encouraging Ren on, and followed the path that Aron had taken. It wasn’t long before I noticed that he had exited the restaurant and was crouching down on the ground in front of the building, holding his phone in both of his hands. Apparently his phone call had already ended. As I stepped outside I called out to him.

“Aron-”

Aron abruptly stood up and began marching forward towards the company van where he tore the passenger door open and reached into the glove compartment, either ignoring me or he hadn’t heard me. I followed and stood behind him, watching to see what he was searching for. He practically tore the entire compartment contents apart looking for something, stopping when he finally found it. He pulled back a bottle of pills that I instantly recognized as his anti-depressants that he had used to take back when I lived with them at the mansion. His hands shook as he struggled to open the bottle. When he did, he poured several into his hand without counting and then threw his head back, popping them in. My eyes widened in horror and I grabbed him by the shoulders from behind, turning him to face me before I slapped him across the side of his face and forcing him to spit the several pills out. He stared at me through teary red eyes after he recovered from the impact.

“Baekho…” His voice trembled as he spoke. “What am I supposed to do…?”

I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I watched Aron, a complete, devastated mess. I took a deep breath before finally gathering the courage to ask. “Aron, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve waited for news of her all this time…” Silent tears began to trickle down his face. I paused as I suddenly realized he was talking about the mystery girl behind the phone.

“Aron-”

Aron stared at me with wide eyes full of disbelief. “She’s… dead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note

Hey guys! Sorry for the interruption! I just wanted to spread a bit of news about TSOYH! Oh my god, can you believe it? There’s only one more chapter left! With that said, you may or may not have heard, but in celebration of TSOYH becoming my biggest and most successful story, I’m going to try to give back to you guys. Starting now, I’m accepting artwork submissions to place at the end of chapter 25 (you will be fully credited). It can be anything; the sky is the limit! Submissions are open to everyone, regardless of talent. If you can’t draw, don’t worry. It can be photo manipulations, videos, etc. Whatever TSOYH related art you want to send in, I’ll put it in! So don’t be shy and send me your work through a private message! It’s your chance for your name to be given credit in one of my stories! ^^ The deadline is August 1^st! Once again, guys, thanks for turning TSOYH into such a great hit! Fighting! –Loveliest_Ren