CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Show Time

“Time check: 8.25 pm. We’ll start at 8.30.” Junhui’s voice reaches every single one walkie-talkie in existence within the Silver Diamond Hall. A wave of responses comes after that with the similar positive replies like yes, roger, and alright. “Are the audiences all seated?” The stage manager asked the front of house member which conveniently held smoothly under Sungjae’s command.

“There are still three of them and that’s it.”

Junhui can feel his hands shaking in nervousness. Supposedly, he should get used to the job yet he still frighten. Scared to mess up the entire play on the first night, he takes a little peek from the left side of the stage. It is a bad idea because it only increases the level since he does not expect a full house on the first show. Turning back to his spot, he quickly stabilises his breathing and does his time check once again.

“It’s show time. Dim the lights, Soonyoung.” The fellow nods his head at the instruction and he immediately puts his hands to work, fading the light, putting the stage into complete darkness. They wait again for their stage manager’s next lines.

“Directors, ready?”

“Yes.” Seungcheol stated with Wonwoo showing an okay sign although Junhui is not able to see them.

“Stage right, ready?”

“The team’s ready.” Yerin spoke in a hush through the walkie-talkie.

“Lighting and Audio?”

“We’re good.” Vernon assured.

“Musicians?”

“All set.” Jihoon shortly answered.

“Shinyoung, activate the fog now. MC will appear from stage right, Yerin.”

“Fog machine activated.” The girl informed and the other stage manager lands her eyes on the person who will do the honour of starting the show for the night.

With every members and cast ready…

“Wow! It’s a wonderful night, isn’t it?” The audiences cheers once the lights slowly fill the stage with a single follow-spot shines on Jung Ilhoon who offered to make the grand introduction.

“The sky is dotted with pretty stars tonight.” The former director pointed up. “At this kind of time, I will just stop all my work and enjoy them. Here is how I do them. Firstly, I’ll put my phone on silent mode. That way no one can disturb me.”

Wonwoo did nicely for the theatre etiquette session. It is very creative of him to create a character to deliver the message instead of using a formal announcement. Amused by how Ilhoon presents himself, everyone puts their focus on him.

“Oh, what’s that? A lot of people are around you? Let them know so they can limit their movement so they’ll not disturb the others. You’re a mother with children? Keep a close eye on them will you? If they’re interrupting, try telling them cute stories under the pretty night sky. Kids love a good story. Anyway, as fancy as it is to talk to everyone tonight, I’ve a place to go. Enjoy the night-”

There is a roar of thunder from a distant and the production members are well aware it is man-made. Glancing up to what appears to be the imaginary starry night sky, Ilhoon frowns. “I guess it’s going to rain soon. Well, enjoy the night and rain!”

“And lights fade out.” Yein whispered, giving cue to Soonyoung as he is in full control of the board for the night. “First song, I’m Willing. Musician standby. Myungho, Sujeong standby on stage right. Seungkwan standby on stage left. In 3, 2, 1…”

For you, I’d be willing to be banished into the further corner of the skies

As long as you’re true to me and love me back with sincerity

I’d be willing to do anything for you

“It’s night again. It’s raining again. It’s the same repetitive scenario, blaring loud in the back of my mind. This episode only pains me as it reminds me how we met,” Minseo monologue was clear unlike the dark sky he happens to witness beyond the glass window. Looking forward, far out into the darkness, he ends, “and how we separated.”

The knock stops him from diving deeper into the vivid memory of the past. He shakes his head for a second before trudging towards the door with heavy steps. He has long ditched the work he is doing for a good fifteen minutes just from the sudden change of weather. To top off his emotion, he managed to get a glance of the calendar.

“Oh, it’s just you, Soohyun. What do you want?” Soohyun (Seungkwan) merely smiles at the question before lifting the black plastic bag higher for his friend to see. “I just thought you would want company. What were you doing anyway?” The fellow steps into the comfort of Minseo’s apartment and instantly notices the mess.

Scattered papers are understandable to see on the floor, seeing that his friend is a full-time journalist at a famous publishing agency. Yet when one stood closer to one of the papers, one may see anything but latest article for any magazine. Concerned of the older friend’s head, the younger one approaches him.

“You’re still working on that novel of yours.” Soohyun shortly stated and when he gets zero reply from Minseo, he adds, “How long has it been? One, two?”

“Three years.” Minseo answered, monotonously remaining on the same spot by his desk where the mess is worse than the entire apartment’s living space. He walks around the area as if he finally notices the amount of waste he has done throughout the aforementioned number of years. His friend scowls.

“Are you sure this is the only way for you to cope? You do know you can always-”

“I know, Soohyun! I know! I can just head down to her apartment complex and deal with this straight. But what you don’t know is that it is easier said than done. I can’t do it, Soohyun. It’s too much. It’s too much!” Minseo haphazardly kicks the papers within his sight, screaming and pulling his hair to further showcase the thing he is dealing with.

Both of them look up, meeting in the centre of the space where it is less horrendous when a flicker of lightning enters the room. Follows after is a ring of thunder and more rain begin to pour, hitting the window. He is tired. How come fate seems to play around him instead of staying with him? Legs giving out, Soohyun captures his friend who turns into a sobbing mess.

“All I wanted to do is her to accept my apology.” Minseo uttered in between his chokes and the same sentence is repeated until the boy slowly drifted into a disturb sleep. Nightmare is all he has to continue and accompany the rainy night.

There is the same pattern in weather for the next few days and additional drizzle often passes by in the morning as a girl waits for the bus to pick her up. No other person in the right mind would wait in the rain even with an umbrella to prevent the pouring water landing on their heads. Sejeong (Sujeong) is an exception. Unlike an old friend, she adores the rain.

“I wonder why does this station doesn’t have a roof on it. It’s quite a popular stop too.” She jolts in surprise when a male’s voice suddenly pops into her consciousness. Upon taking a glance to her side, a small smile appears on her face. Even with the rain, his voice is still loud and crystal clear. “I wonder about that too. Aren’t you always- forget it. It’s a stupid question.”

“You must be thinking, why is Soohyun here and not using his typical mode of transportation today? Well, it’s raining and it’s a bad idea to ride a bike now, isn’t?” Soohyun good-naturedly answers which makes Sejeong chuckles when she realises how much of an idiot she might actually sound.

“How long will it be?” The boy spoke. A very vague statement. Everyone answers it differently mainly due to the fact nobody knows which situation is he mentioning. Even she has a hard time figuring out the right answer. Since they are waiting for the bus, she replies, “It’ll probably come in ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes too late.” Another vague statement and if it happens again, she might actually ignore him. But he saves the moment when he hold out his hand, far out of the boundary provided by the umbrella and he catches the rain into his hand.

“Yet it’s never too late to make a change, right?”

“Sure.” Sejeong replied after much hesitation. She is very sure that there is something Soohyun hides behind his confusing choice of words. “Anyway,” He drags her back to reality when he stops talking for a brief second, “You should do it too before it’s indeed too late.”

Once he said that, the scene fades out with the sound of bus coming to pick them up from the unroofed bus station.

“You did great on the first part there, Myungho.”

The lead actor sits on a chair assigned for him at the backstage. When he is able to get a break after an intense scene, he figures it is the best to get all the rest he can. Interlude is running to give the entire play a rest and reenergise for the second act. Supporting him throughout the break is Mingyu who conveniently passing by to check on his costume crew. Since he is the Wardrobe Master, s tend to seek for him to ask if it is the right outfit for the cast especially the ensembles.

“Did you even watch or you’re just being kind?” Minghao managed to crack a tired smile and chugs a bottle of mineral water down to ease his thirst. Even with a full blown air-con blasting in the hall, the heat coming from the spotlights installed by the Lighting Department melts him.

“I caught some. You can act, sing and dance. Have you ever wondered about joining the production full time as an actor next time?” Mingyu gently pats the fellow on the arm and can see him laughing it off as a joke. “Seungcheol said the same thing. I don’t know if I can.” He answered, genuinely ponders if that is the right thing to do when his final semester is predicted to be a lot more chaotic.

“Well, you should. It’s not like you’ll be gone. I don’t think anyone will let you go that easily.”

Mingyu’s head snaps upwards upon hearing his name being yelled through the walkie-talkie. He truly forgotten the fact he had his earphone attached to the device so he can hear Jiyeon’s voice calling him. Judging on the noisiness, she is probably in the male’s dressing room. “I have to go.”

Minghao waves at his friend’s disappearing figure. Once Mingyu is gone out of his sight, he opts to close his eyes and recalls his script for the next scene. That is until more darkness consumes him. So he lets his eyes open only to see the assistant director staring back at him with a questionable expression.

Is he mad? Is he confused? Is he tired? Minghao cannot seem to pin on an emotion just by looking at Wonwoo’s face alone. Blinking a couple of times, he follows and finds Wonwoo throws his body on a vacant seat on his left.

“Are you alright?” The younger boy asked, concerned of the older fellow. “I would be lying if I answer that positively.” He said. No one in the right mind will be doing fine with that look plastered.

“Jeon Wonwoo!” His name is screamed by another male and quickly a row of people hush him to lower his voice projects across the hallway. The same-age fellow appears furious at Wonwoo and the fellow is growling in the exchange. And it happens to occur right in front of his resting space.

“You can’t just do that, okay?! Did you realise you almost mess up the plan I have? They have to wait for my lighting cue not yours!” If it is not obvious yet, Soonyoung fires at the assistant director. No one bothers him more than someone who tried to meddle with his work that is already aligned in the cue sheet.

Minghao can read the problem that is laid between the two. This is probably the incident that they ran into in one of his scenes. Two scenes after bus stop station was a scene with him and Sujeong passing by, doing a solo monologue each as the character tried to think if it is a good idea to confront the other. Instead of facing each other, Sujeong should has a light focusing on her alone.

That would work like how they did during the full dressed rehearsal if someone did not turn a follow-spot on Minghao, who did freeze for a quick second. It was not a part of the rehearsal or the plan. Salvaging the sudden light, he went with the flow by simply admiring Sujeong’s singing from his spot on front-right stage.

“I’m glad Yein was quick enough to run over and smart to turn it off when the musicians’ beat became faster. Myungho was not the centre of attention during that part too! Oh my goodness, this is a mess.” Soonyoung shot again with more and more words and Minghao becoming more uncomfortable at the situation.

Wonwoo is quiet in this however. He does not move nor does he make any word to stop Soonyoung. So Minghao steps up to interrupt. “At least it’s not for a long time. It doesn’t sway the entire plot, right?” He said softly and tries to land his hand on the older male’s shoulder but he pushes the hand off before he can. Soonyoung’s stomping can be heard by the other crew members and surely enough he is stopped for only a second before ignoring anyone who called for him.

“You do know Soonyoung hates it if anyone disturbs his design, right?” This time Shinyoung appears to back up. This only makes Wonwoo frowns deeper. In his mind, it is obvious she will come to shine some light into the matter. He did interrupted her expertise after all and there is no other person that understands Soonyoung’s feelings more than Shinyoung herself.

“Suddenly everyone is on Soonyoung’s side. Suddenly it is my fault to make adjustment to my own story. Is that it?” Wonwoo uttered and that sure shuts a lot of mouths because if one is to understand the situation, one might say, ‘tea’.

“You’re not wrong…” Shinyoung quietly replied but still he can just let Soonyoung or herself know if he is planning to pull out that stunt. She is sure Minghao is very surprised by the sudden focus on him. She can see him stiffen from where she is standing: behind the curtain on stage left.

“I’ll just leave the hall if that’s what you want.” Wonwoo muttered and Minghao is taken aback by his statement. Shinyoung too is too shock to stop him from walking out of the backstage area, heading straight to the exit. The loud thud brings puzzlement to many before Seungcheol pops in as well.

“It wasn’t that bad, right?” The director questioned and the scenographer simply nods. The least she wants is to have the theatre director worry about his assistant when they hear Junhui’s voice on the walkie-talkie, informing all cast and crew to be ready for second act.

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