A drum roll starts in the background and the entire stadium is plunged into darkness, with only sparkles of indigo light lightening up the place. Everyone has their eyes glued to the middle spot of the big stage, where a lone figure stands under the white spotlight. There is a smile on his face and confidence in his eyes. The music starts and the entire stadium explodes into loud cheers, welcoming the arrival of today’s main character.

 

The minute Taehyun’s voice soars throughout the stadium, waves after waves of emotions washes over Mino. There is joy and pride of course as he realizes that the nervous young man from years ago is now standing on that huge stage, singing with so much confidence in his voice, cheered on by many. But, there is this tingling sensation inside of him that is eating him from the inside.

 

Envy and also jealousy. 

 

Mino can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy towards the singer and he hates himself for thinking that way. No matter how hard he tries to reiterate to himself that this was a decision that he had made two years ago, there is this tiny selfish part of him screaming in the back of his mind that it could have been him up there on that stage right now if Fate hadn't decided to play a joke on him.

 

 

xxxx

 

 

-Flashback-

 

Taehyun had hugged Mino so tightly that he thought that he was going to be crushed. He could feel hot air breathing down his neck and Taehyun’s distinct sweet scent was muddling up his senses.

 

"This is not the end, right? You’d promise? Call me when you reach there, alright?"

 

Taehyun had wanted so many reassurances from Mino that he would not forget him and all Mino could do was to nod silently.

 

“Of course I will”, he replied softly but he can hear his own voice shouting back at him at the back of his mind, Damn Mino, how many times are you lying to him?

 

“I’ll always be watching you. So, make sure you do your best, Taehyun-nie.” Mino ruffled up his hair again, for what he thought was the very last time.

 

That was their final embrace before Mino moved out of the dorm and out of Taehyun’s life. To Taehyun’s knowledge, the older man was going to pursue his education in a university in England. Of course, Mino would spare Taehyun from the honest bare truth. A simple white lie was enough to set both of them free, at least for Taehyun’s sake.

 

Mino kept his eyes glued on Taehyun even as the image of him began to shrink as the car moved even farther away from the dorm.

 

You deserve to fly high, Taehyun. Not shackled to the ground.

 

 

-Flashback Ends-

 

 

xxxx

 

 

A familiar piano-driven piece abruptly disrupts Mino’s trip down the memory lane. The song that is playing right now is composed by Taehyun as part of his debut album. This is a song that has a special meaning to him. Mino remembers the difficult times where he had fallen into a deep dark hole, unable to crawl out no matter how hard he tries. And yet, he was finally able to do so, thanks to the owner of this voice.

 

 

 

xxxx

 

-Flashback-

 

 

Did someone lock me into this dark, empty room and forgotten to switch on the light?

 

That was the thought that had run through Mino’s head almost every day as he tried very hard to look for the road in front of him. It had been almost 1 year since he had left the company. 1 year since he had heard from him. Since then, he had been unable to write any decent lyrics, which was depressing because he had always been proud of his own lyrics-writing skills. He had felt lost and close to the point of giving up as his condition worsened. Alcohol was his best companion nowadays. He had wanted so badly to wake up from this nightmare but all that was left for him in the morning was a terrible hangover.

 

Then, one day, a phone call from Kwang Soo came, explaining the details of a demo tape. Taehyun had finished the composition of the song but was unable to finalize the lyrics. Many other producers were already pulled in into the production of the song to complete it to no avail. Taehyun had rejected each of their lyrics, saying that “This is not the right one”. Everyone was flustered of course, for it was delaying the release of his debut album.

 

 “Listen to it, Mino, and maybe you can try to write something?”

 

He put on his headphones and pressed the Play button reluctantly. His heart panged when Taehyun’s voice came in like a sweet enchantment, pulling his strings of emotions. He had not realized how much he has missed him until he heard his voice for the first time since moving into this new foreign place. Unknowingly, tears fell off his face like how pearls fall off a broken string. The melody was haunting and the lyrics that Taehyun had used were simple. Mino could understand why they wanted to rework the lyrics to give it a stronger impact. However, it might be his delusions speaking but he had felt that the song was meant for him. It told of frustrations of being left alone and of how despite feeling lonely himself, he hopes the other will find happiness.  He didn’t sleep, not even a wink, he just spent the whole night, listening to the song, drowning himself in the voice that he had missed so much.

 

At one point of time, even Mino was not aware of when, he took out his pen and started writing. The lyrics flowed from his heart and his hands moved swiftly across the large white paper. Soon, he had the entire lyrics written for the song. He leaned back against his chair and let out a cry of relief. It was as if someone had finally lifted away the huge stones on his shoulders.  The lyrics writing session had helped him release all the feelings that he had kept suppressed inside of him. He had been in a rut for some time, not knowing what to do with his life.  But after today, it dawned on him that maybe, just maybe he still has a chance on living his dream to become the world’s best lyricist.

 

-Flashback Ends-

 

xxxx

 

At this very moment, he finds another reason to keep going on because there is no amount of words that are sufficient to describe the joy and satisfaction in Mino as he hears the voices in the stadium coming together as one, singing along to the lyrics that he had penned down himself. 

 

It is for a moment like this that makes Mino strongly wants to continue to pour his heart and soul into writing lyrics that can touch people’s hearts. Far-fetched maybe, but it is not impossible. He had lost in a game of Fate once and had thought that he had lost the chance to stand in the limelight. But Mino is not going to let that defeat him. He might not be able to stand on a stage like Taehyun’s , but he will create his own stage, a stage where he is able to pull and pick at people’s emotions and evoke different kind of feelings with mere of the pen.

 

 

xxxx

 

 

 

Mino is glad that he has insisted with wearing his sunglasses indoor despite the nagging from his friend. This way, not even Seungyoon will know that he has been crying since the start of the concert. Songs after songs fly past him as he walks down memory lane. He has used up almost the duration of 2 songs to pull himself together. It is only now that he finally realizes that they are in the middle of the fan games session, thanks to the loud buzz of excitement from the people in the stadium.

 

Seungyoon quickly explains to Mino about what is happening right now as he hears shrieks of excitement coming from fans that are lucky enough to get chosen to join Taehyun on the stage and also groans from fans that didn’t make the cut.

 

Meanwhile, Taehyun who is up on the stage looks at the huge white screen where he sees the excited faces of his fans reflected on it. All eyes are on the screen now because 4 persons have already been chosen and this is the final chance for another one to join him up on the stage.  The camera slowly pans across the stadium, waiting for the signal from the MC to yell stop so that he can focus the camera on the lucky winner.

 

 “Wait..hold on."

 

Taehyun’s hand tightens his grip on to the mic and says, “Go back to the right.”

 

The cameraman follows his command and pans to zone J, which is at the farther back of the stadium.

 

“Ohhh, I think we found two handsome fanboys today”, the MC blurted out.

 

Taehyun can hear his own heart beats faster as he stares at that familiar face on the screen. The man is wearing a pair of sunglasses covering his upper part of the face but Taehyun can recognize that face anywhere.  His hands tremble as he tries to search for that face amidst the sea of people in front of him.

 

Where are you?

 

 

 

---

p.s. : Thanks for reading. I realized that the transitions are messy as hell. So sorry for that T.T. Thank you once again for reading