You sure you couldn’t make it tonight?

I’m sorry, love but Jess-unnie’s gonna have my kicked if I don’t attend this meeting.

I’ll make it up to you though.

But you promised :(

I know. I know. But this deal would be huge for Blanc.

I hope you understand.

I miss you, bear.

Do your best out there tonight, yeah?

For me? :)

Read 12:37 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Is anyone free right now? I feel like stuffing my face with street food,” Seulgi said as she pocketed her phone, her lips pouting with her hands snuggly in her hoodie pocket.

The members were gathered backstage, tired from their 3-hour concert rehearsal for tonight’s show. It was their biggest one yet as they have managed to fill every seat in the famous Tokyo Dome, even managing to book a second day at the arena due to the fan’s demands. And for a group like them, selling out Tokyo Dome was definitely a huge milestone, especially if your company barely promotes you. It was the fruit of their labour.

The staff were running around the arena to check if everything was in place. A bigger concert venue meant a lot of adjustments in terms of the stage size, security, and safety of all those working on the site. The atmosphere in the arena was a mixture of excitement and anxiousness as it was the last show for their World Tour.

Backstage, Yeri was busy doing a live on Instagram, updating their fans on their current disposition and sharing cute stories about their concert tour. Joy was doing an eye-contact cam for their YouTube account, which was, again, due to the fan’s demands. Irene and Wendy were talking with their managers, reviewing the setlist and locations for each performance, with Irene emphasizing the importance of safety tapes throughout the venue.

“No one?” Seulgi said with a huff as Yeri laughed at the comments she read from luvies commenting how they’d sell their limbs just to be able to see Red Velvet live.

“Fine,” Seulgi got up and picked her wallet from the bag beside Joy who is preoccupied with sharing stories on how she missed her dog, Haetnim, who she was able to call through FaceTime, not a few moments before she started filming. “More food for me,” Seulgi mumbled as she headed out the dressing room with her face mask and cap on, concealing her identity pretty well. Too well that the security team assigned to the group didn’t notice her leaving the venue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About halfway around the world, about 37,000 feet above the ground, a long-haired brunette sat back on the plush, leather seats as she placed her phone on the flimsy aeroplane table. So much for being in first class, the lady thought, taking the complimentary glass of champagne, the golden liquid swirling around the thin glass. 

She knew that tonight was the last night of her girlfriend’s tour, and at the biggest venue any idol could dream of. Of course, she had left that life a long time ago, focusing on other business ventures such as helping her older sister run her self-built company. It was a miracle that her sister approved of her short-notice leave, and without a price to pay. Her sister even gave one of her platinum credit cards for allowance, saying that the younger one deserved the break.

The phone screen lit up, showing a candid selfie of her beloved girlfriend, hiding behind a surgical white K94 surgical mask and beige cap. To her disappointment, it was only a message from her sister, asking for a limited edition scarf from a luxury brand as a souvenir.

“More champagne, miss?” The stewardess raised the familiar emerald bottle, waiting for permission to pour the contents. Krystal nodded her head and raised her glass. “Thanks.”

Nothing but clouds and the clear pale blue sky could be seen for miles through the window pane.

I hope I don’t mess this one up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in Tokyo, some fans have already gathered outside the concert venue, dancing along to a few of the group’s songs playing from a huge speaker in the middle of the yard. Probably one of those random dance events, Seulgi thought as she stealthily walked past a group of Luvies who were jamming along to the beat of Red Flavor.

Tokyo was a concrete jungle, similar to the streets of New York, though it was a lot cleaner and safer than the American city. Office workers, clad in their tight black and grey suits, briskly walked past her, rushing to get back to their offices as the lunch hour was dwindling down. A lot of foreigners also roamed the streets, camera in hand, ready to make memories of their hard-earned trip. 

She saw a couple, one holding a camera while the other was munching on something that smelled heavenly for the poor bear. Approaching the two, she stopped mid-way, remembering that she was not simply a tourist in the country, nor was she a simple person. The life of an idol, she thought.

She went further down the road, going with the flow of the people that walked along with her, and to her surprise, she found a street filled with various vendors that entranced both her mind and stomach.

“Finally!”

She walked to the nearest stall, a takoyaki booth manned by an elderly woman and a younger man, Probably the woman’s grandson, Seulgi thought as she looked over the counter.

“Sumimasen,” Seulgi said with a shy voice. “Takoyaki wo sanko kudasai.” She held up three fingers to make her order even clearer. 

“Hai,” the elderly woman replied as she readied the boxes for the order. Strangely, there weren’t a lot of people lining up for the stall despite its enticing smell.

“300 Yen,” the younger man said as he handed over the boxes to Seulgi. 

“Hai, arigatou-gozaimasu,” Seulgi said as she paid for her food. “Koko de tabetemo īdesu ka?”

The man simply nodded and pointed to a small table beside their stall. The neighboring stall owner looked at her curiously, eyeing the boxes she had on hand. Seulgi bowed to them and proceeded to fill her tummy with the blobs. In the end, she downed each of the twenty-four blobs she ordered, just as her phone rang a unique tone, indicating that it might be one of her members.

She cleaned the table before bowing to the stall owners. “Sugoi. Oishi. Arigatou-gozaimasu.”

As she walked back to the concert venue, her phone continuously rang the same unique tone non-stop. There weren’t a lot of office workers in the streets anymore as it was already half an hour after the end of their lunch break. She happily hummed the melody of the song they were working on for their upcoming album and she passed by the growing number of fans in front of the venue.

Before she could reach the back entrance of the venue, her stomach started to rumble, as if there were snakes fighting inside, none of them back down. A small pang crept from the area, catching her off guard, and making her kneel on the ground which caught the attention of a few security agents.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” One of the guards asked, kneeling beside her.

But before she could answer, another wave of pain hit her hard, causing her to scream in pain. 

“What’s going on?” One of the concert staff asked the security team as she hastily stopped to check the area. 

“Some lady suddenly kneeled by the door,” he said with a deep voice.

The staff member looked and saw the familiar cap and hoodie from the practice earlier. “.” The staff pulled the walkie-talkie hanging from her neck. “I found her. I found her.”

The staff sprinted to the woman, slightly pushing one of the three guards surrounding her. She saw Seulgi crouched on the ground, clutching her stomach area and yelping in pain. “What is your location,” a voice from the radio said but was left ignored.

“Seulgi-ssi, can you get up for me?”

But Seulgi couldn’t answer. She could barely move. “Please help me bring her to the dressing room,” the staff said to the security agents surrounding them. 

The other staff members parted as the buff security agent followed the person in front of him, carefully looking at Seulgi every now and then. “Right through here,” the staff member said as they pointed to the dressing room currently occupied by the group.

They were greeted with worried looks from the members of the group as well as their managers. Seulgi could only moan in pain as her stomach felt like it was going to burst. She could barely see anything as her eyes watered. 

“Where the hell have you been!” One of the managers asked as he assisted Seulgi to the couch. “We’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Oppa,” Irene said in a low voice. “We can handle this.”

The rest of the members pushed their managers out of the room, each trying to hide the worry. A loud scream broke the tensed air as Seulgi bent to a fetal position, sobbing as she clutched her stomach. Wendy immediately ran to her best friend and knelt by the sofa, caressing the hair of the older one.

“Seul, can you tell us what happened?” Wendy said in a soft voice.

Seulgi shook her head, pain consuming her body. Their hearts broke at the sight of the bear. “Went out to eat. You guys were busy.” 

The rest of the members looked at Seulgi with apologetic faces. They had all been too preoccupied to eat due to the demand of their scheduled concert today. There were still some things that needed to be polished, choreographies and lyrics that were to be memorized and positions on stages that needed to be finalized.

Irene went to her bag and fetched a familiar pink medicine for her beloved member. “Here, Seul,” the elder said, unscrewing the cap of the bottle. “This might help ease the pain for a few hours.”

Seulgi lifted herself off the couch, barely making a change in her position and gulped the thick liquid, wincing as it hit the back of .

“You guys can go back to practice. I’ll just rest for a bit,” Seulgi said as she closed her eyes, clutching her still aching stomach.

“We can stay—”

“I’ll be fine guys.” A small smile appeared on the bear’s face, eyes still closed.

Not long after, Seulgi was woken up by their stylist, saying that they had to get her ready for the concert as the rest of the members were already halfway through make-up. She got up, still clutching her stomach. A few moments later, she rushed to the bathroom, puking her guts out as the rest of the members looked at the half-open door with concerned eyes. One of their managers went to her aide, carefully holding her hair up as she went on.

The staff members fixed her up carefully, their manager firmly by her side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Arigatou-gozaimasu Japan!” 

The crowd cheered loudly as the five women on stage bowed, ending their last show for their world tour. The girls stood straight after and waved at the adoring crowd who were throwing paper aeroplanes with the message ‘Always with Red Velvet’ plus heart emojis in the members’ respective colours.

“Red Velvet! Red Velvet! Red Velvet!” 

The girls bowed once again before exiting the stage and were greeted by their lovely staff members who were a huge part of their tour’s success. All the members smiled genuinely as the crew gave them bouquets as a congratulatory gift. Everywhere they looked, they were greeted with smiles. Obligatory post-concert photos were also taken, which were to be posted on their official social media accounts.

 

 

In one of the middle seats of the dome, just above the VIP area, a woman clad in a dark, thick fleece jacket, navy blue baseball cap of a US Baseball team, and the infamous surgical mask, cheered with her friends, who were kind enough to be her chauffeurs in exchange for the concert tickets. They happily waved their lightsticks as the huge LED screens displayed the tour logo. La Vida Roja.

“That was so cool!”

“Did you see how Wendy belted the roof off?”

“And Joy, just,” Krystal’s friend proceeded to do a chef’s kiss. “Yeri really improved vocally. Her rap parts were just amazing!”

“Hey! Give some love to leader-Bae! She practically owned the concert,” the other friend said, playfully shoving the other.

Krystal looked at the two. “And how about my bear?”

“Well, we didn’t wanna say anything---”

“Given that you’re hella possessive.”

“You almost threw your lightstick at one of her fangirls earlier. The one with the banner upfront.” The two pointed at the fan, who was still visibly recovering from the enchanting experience that is Red Velvet’s concert.

“At least give her some credit,” Krystal scoffed. “She barely messaged me today because of her hard work.”

“Let us fangirl in peace and maybe we will.” The other friend nodded