The first day of the SMTOWN concert in Tokyo started. After the performances of Super Junior, SNSD, TVXQ, EXO, f(x), SHINee, and the rookie group, Red Velvet, the solo artists Kangta, BoA, J-min and Zhang Li Yin started their performance. Behind the stage, Krystal, Sulli and Victoria were waiting with Lay and Baekhyun for their combined-stage.

Kai was getting his make-up touched up, so he would join later, and Sehun was out on the stage, dancing with the senior entertainer, BoA. Well, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was also the reason why Sulli was watching the performance from backstage, eyes filled with envy.

“I wish we could be so close like that in the dance later on too…,” Sulli mumbled with a pout, causing Victoria to snicker beside her, since the older girl was the only one who heard her mumbling. Sulli made a face at her group mate before turning to the scene where Kai was walking towards Krystal, the girl greeting him with a small smile and the guy giving a smirk in return.

Sulli sighed when she saw how the couple seemed to have some silent greeting, with each other understanding what the other person meant without having to speak a word. She jutted her lower lip out, “I wish I could be like that with Sehun too…”

Sure, she may be someone who would probably expect a greeting with cheesy words and a kiss when she and her boyfriend meets up. However, all her fantasies of such a clichéd romance story were shattered when she realized that she fell in love with Sehun.

That guy was quiet, and he definitely didn’t seem like someone who would do such corny things for his girlfriend on every short greeting. So when Sulli saw the simple exchange between her friend and the boyfriend, she realized something – even if it was just a small smile and “hello” without words, she would be contended already, as long as it was with Sehun.

The next few minutes happened in a blur, where Sehun was rushing backstage to change before he rushed back to take the place beside Baekhyun and Lay. It was only when the loud voice ordering the seven of them to separate to their two different girl and boy groups did Sulli snap out of her trance.

Hurriedly, she took careless steps forward, trailing behind Krystal and Victoria. The performance started and ended as glamorous as it should be. Everyone was doing their best, dancing until they were sweating from head to toe. And among everyone on stage, Sulli was the weakest in dancing, no doubt.

She didn’t even know why she was assigned to a combined-stage, when Luna would usually be the one to do it, since the latter had been improving a lot since their debut. However, Sulli was thankful for this chance – it was one of the rare times when she could be so close to Sehun in front of thousands.

And as for Krystal and Kai, they did not show any physical intimacy and avoided looking at each other, only looking at the sea of fans in front. The both of them did not even seem like a couple; Kai danced as if Krystal wasn’t even on the stage, and Krystal danced as if she hadn’t realized that the main person of this performance was EXO’s dancing machine, aka Kai, her boyfriend.

You may wonder why, but it was all a plan of the CEO again. They were told to be like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, being in an on-off relationship and not seem serious. Of course, this was to tell everyone that they were dating each other for the sake of it, and weren’t in a relationship with a mindset of marriage.

And because of this, the public wouldn’t think that Kai was tied down to Krystal or the latter was stuck to the former, so the amount of fans still remain as though the both of them were never in a relationship. But there were people who supports them after all, so the name “KaiStal” stayed there as a ship name.

Oh yeah, and they were supposed to un-follow each other on Instagram three days later, post some quotes about a broken relationship before waiting for the public to make a big issue out of it, saying that they’ve most likely broken up and post an intimate selfie together two weeks later to show that they’ve made up again. 

So, you see, things are complicated sometimes, when they have to do all sorts of publicity stunts. But the couple was grateful that they have the chance to be together publicly, and not have an underground relationship before getting discovered by the nosy paparazzi.

When the seven of them stood together at the end and posed, Sulli was standing beside Sehun, and she could hear his heavy breathing and see the droplets of sweat roll down his neck. She secretly smiled herself at the mild iness the guy was showing without himself knowing, before they retreated to the backstage.

The whole concert ended one two hours later, after each group or solo artist had performed at least twice and some collaboration stages had taken place. The whole concert was reaching its end, with all the performers singing “Hope”, a song by the most senior group of SM Entertainment, H.O.T.

And when it reached 10:30PM, the whole concert had finally ended. Everyone was exhausted and had only reached the hotel with much difficulty at 1PM, because of all the fans following them and causing the traffic. But even when they’ve reached the hotel, more than hundreds of people were outside, shouting and screaming at the top of their lungs.

The security guards struggled to make space for the idols to get through with all those fans screaming at the top of their lungs. Everyone was tired already, their eye bags getting heavier and heavier, but they still managed at least a small smile and wave while struggling to get inside the building. 

*****

“Oh man… Can I just not bathe and sleep now?” Sulli asked aloud, lying flat on her stomach on the bed she was supposed to share with Amber. Krystal was sharing the same room too, while Victoria and Luna slept in another hotel room. “No, you lazy bum! Ugh, you’re making my bed smelly with your body! Go shower!” Amber barked.

Sulli pouted and rolled to the other side of the bed. “Aww…,” she mumbled and sat up, eyes closed and sleep being the only thing in her mind now. Krystal came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel as she yawned. “Look, Soojung’s out now. You, go shower!”

Amber pulled Sulli up of the bed and pushed her into the bathroom before throwing the latter’s clothes at her. She then went to the bed and used the bolster to hit it, flaring her arms about, as if to “disperse” the smell of Sulli’s un-bathed body. Krystal chortled lightly at the childish scene before heaving a sigh and plopping onto her single bed.

She picked up the hairdryer and was about to on it, before her phone beeped, signaling a new message being sent to her. Krystal blinked, picking up her mobile and wondering who would message her at such a late timing.

Kai [Received: 1:42AM]

Asleep already? Call me if you’re not!

The girl smiled at the message, her heart fluttering a little although it certainly wasn’t the first time her boyfriend did this to her. Tapping on his saved contact, Krystal rolled over the bed to the other side and lay down with her eyes closed. “You’re tired now?” That came to be his first question.

“Yeah…,” Krystal mumbled groggily, yawning. “Really? Need me to hang up now?” the person on the other line asked with a tinge of playfulness in his voice. “Hmm, maybe?” Krystal replied, grinning at how Kai surely thought that she would perhaps shout out a “no” almost immediately, but she wasn’t going to do that.

“AMBER! HOW DO YOU REMOVE THIS EYELASH?!” A shout came out of the bathroom, which obviously belonged to Sulli. Krystal pulled away her phone in shock, turning to see what happened over her shoulder. Amber was blowing her bangs before she waved a hand at Krystal and went into the bathroom.

“Wow, what was that?” Kai chuckled before continuing, “It was Sulli, wasn’t it?” Krystal giggled a little, “Yeah, she didn’t know how to remove her fake eyelash. Anyway, why did you want me to call you?”

“Just wanted to remind you that school starts next week; remember to rearrange the whole assignment pr