CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Pondering Thoughts

Once he was done packing whatever that is left for the night, Soonyoung bids his goodbyes to his fellow department members. Accompanying him was a tired smile before skipping down the stairs, heading straight to backstage or the male’s dressing area to be precise. He figures when he did not see her silhouette in the audiences’ area like the last remaining crew, she is probably at the back area.

And he guesses right. But instead of being greeted by her bright optimistic self, Shinyoung managed to shut off on one of the chair right in front of the make-up space. Her face was planted on the empty table and good news, it is clean. Soonyoung knows how sensitive Shinyoung’s skin is towards random make-up products.

“Poor girl must be drained.” Soonyoung spoke to no one in particular. He begins to recall her job scope for the night and remembered her voice occupying the walkie-talkie during the second act until the end of the performance. Instead of getting signals from Junhui, it was Shinyoung who took the task. Unofficially, she had become the production’s stage manager, technical aspect as the main focus.

“Did she pass out or something?” Someone questioned and Soonyoung registers the voice quick enough to ignore the fellow. The grudge is still there, somewhere in his system. It will take time to accept his apology. That is if Wonwoo ever make one.

“It’s none of your business?”

“It is now that we’re friends.” He defended and switches his view from Soonyoung to Shinyoung’s sleeping figure. If the choreographer is not there, smiling is the best reaction he wants to muster upon seeing her in such manner. Really, it is amusing to watch her so calm after a chaotic night. Nonetheless, Wonwoo opts for the default blank expression.

“Are you not going to bring her home? I know that it’s her habit camping here but after eavesdropping Sungjae’s conversation with Seungcheol and Yanan, I don’t think it’s safe to be here.” He offered his piece of information. It is not much but it sounds intriguing.

“What’s wrong? Is there a ghost taking over the place?” Soonyoung’s eyes widen upon recalling a famous story going around within the RQS Production. Stories on how there are voices, chilly encounters, and so on always goes around. There has yet to be any coming from the Night & Rain team though.

Wonwoo does not know nor did he listen fully to the discussion since he was busy with the last minutes pre-production work. Perhaps if he came in early and actually searched for Seungcheol in the morning, he might get more input to the production’s situation. He did not understand why the trio decided to keep it a secret, even from him, the assistant director.

He tried connecting the dots from a new found fact from hours ago. During Soonyoung’s outburst, he pettily leaves Shinyoung hanging in the backstage area. He needed the night air to clear his head. He would not mind getting on Soonyoung’s nerve because he knew it would be difficult to get the same result but from Shinyoung? For an unknown reason, it hurt him to see her defending Soonyoung without hesitation.

Wonwoo sighed as he ruffled his hair. He was that close to ditch the night’s play after feeling slightly betrayed by the theatre director for keeping a secret from him. He was annoyed witnessing Shinyoung’s happy chatter with Minghao. And then there was him and Soonyoung fighting over his lighting design. Part of him was admittedly his fault. But he did not want to say them aloud.

That is not the case however.

Even with the lack of glasses perching on his nose, Wonwoo could make out movement in the dark right by Taehyung’s car. He would want to ignore it, figuring it might be Taehyung himself but there was uneasiness lingered in his gut. Without any delay, he tried to approach the figure but before he even reached the spot, the figure disappeared.

“That’s not it. Mere ghost doesn’t scare me.” The assistant director finally spoke to the dancer after much thought. He chose not to tell the fellow about his discovery. He simply hopes that Taehyung and Jiyeon are alright on their way to their respective homes. From what he saw, Jungkook was tagging along as well because he was too lazy and tired to walk home.

“Of course ghosts don’t scare you. You’re scared about Shinyoung rejecting you more than anything. Is that not what Night & Rain about, Shin Minseo?” Soonyoung stated, lacing sarcasm in between his words. Tension naturally builds up among them and it surprises a new figure that the boys remain unbothered.

Hidden behind the slightly gapped door to the male’s dressing room is the actor who carried the mentioned character for the night. He has been there for the past ten minutes. A short amount yet there are plenty interesting facts gained. Now, he is resisting the urge of barging into the room, wanting the two of them know about his existence. There is something holding him back from heading straight home.

Before he manages to finalise a decision, the door swings open and Wonwoo pauses, genuinely shock to see Minghao standing there. Soonyoung who is curious as to why the fellow does not leave the place yet sneaks up and the same reaction comes from him.

“Uh, I left my phone here.” The Chinese boy uttered awkwardly, rubbing his arm to ease the goose-bumps standing on his skin. The older fellows step to the side to make space for him to enter and they quietly follow his movement with their eyes. It is obvious that they are wondering if he overheard their tense conversation. He can feel a drilling sensation on the back of his head as he retrieves his phone, inconveniently not far from where the girl is dozing off on.

“I’ll make my leave n-”

“Just so you know, I will not give up without a fight.” Minghao halted by the door when he heard Soonyoung’s bold words. Unconsciously eyeing on them from the corner of his eyes, he finds Wonwoo’s slumped shoulders first before meeting with the older male smiling? It takes a moment too long for Minghao to realise what they are talking about.

It is going to be a tight competition between the assistant director, choreographer, and lead actor. Too bad they do not know that the girl they are fighting for is awake.

She is too shaken from the episode happened back at the Silver Diamond Hall backstage. The conversation started badly, obviously because it was between Soonyoung and Wonwoo. If it was not for Minghao dropping by, they would probably continue and she did not have any idea how long would it take for them to be fully aware that she is awake from their bicker.

Shinyoung turns her body and her eyes find her phone’s screen black. It has long past midnight. Once she and Soonyoung walked home with nothing but stillness in the air, she is planning to continue sleeping on her bed after a long day. Nevertheless, her mind has another plan, apparently.

So she instantly gets out of her room to search for anything that will tire her system and puts it to sleep. Noticing the kitchen lights are on, Shinyoung pauses midway. Since there are only two occupants in the house, she is aware her friend is also awake. His elongated sigh confirms her assumption seconds after. After much thought, she chooses to make a u-turn to her bed before forcing herself to shut down.

For a reason unbeknownst to Soonyoung, he feels a little bit too thirsty for the night. It is almost two in the morning yet the heat is getting on his nerves, causing his eyes to remain open for the past two hours.

He felt stupid for a moment, thinking how strangely bold of him to start a competition between the three of them. Maybe there is fire within his system, waiting to burst. That and also how Minghao answered the random declaration of war. Wonwoo? He knew how the fellow will respond already.

“I’m sure I’m already ahead of you two. So for that, I’ll leave first.”

“What is that suppose to mean?” Soonyoung pondered hard against the fridge with a glass of water swirls in his hand. Minghao is already planning to confess? Is that it? But why do his final words disturbs him more than the lines before? It is only logic for him to leave. Even he and Shinyoung left the hall minutes after that.

Unlike Wonwoo who decided to camp out with Seungcheol and Junhui. It is their first time forming a production together under RQS. Working together with them is interesting to say the least. He figures there are a lot more that can be done. It is almost a perfect team, he admits to himself from the beginning of Night & Rain. He might actually realise that far back from the first time they held the production meeting.

The girl was a stuttering mess and the only expression Wonwoo could muster was a smirk because smiling properly would produce unnecessary questions from his friends and Soonyoung. They already planted a negative seed so he let it continued growing. That is the only way for them to communicate so he let it be. Her apologising first was not a part of the plan or expectation at all.

“Why are you not asleep yet? Aren’t you tired?” The fellow captured Seungcheol’s drained voice coming from somewhere within the second floor seating area. Right behind the lighting and audio department’s station is indeed more spaces for audiences but they did not aim to have anyone up there as they are planning to make it their resting area.

“How do you know?” Wonwoo lifts his body off the padded seats to find the older male’s figure. Since it is partly dark already, it takes him a minute to land his eyes on Seungcheol’s sleeping position – a couple of rows above from him. “Intuition.”

“Of course,” The younger fellow muttered at the one worded replied before returning to his original position. “I can’t sleep. My brain hurts.” He easily said as drowsiness slowly kicking in. It is a miracle he can maintain his eyes wide open after a yawn.

“What are you thinking about?”

It is the same thing that has been bothering Soonyoung. Naturally, Wonwoo does not know that. He has been trying to decipher the weird vibe projected by Minghao for awhile now. Contrasting to Soonyoung however, Wonwoo senses the vibe for the past few days before the backstage confrontation.

Remember how Soonyoung mentioned the assistant director would frown every time the Chinese boy acted during the practice sessions? Well, it is because of the vibe Wonwoo was getting from him. It was not him being his unkind self or unsatisfied by the fellow.

There is hunch within him telling him to observe the young actor’s actions. Zero – that is the number of things he knew about the boy. Aside from his name, age, courses taken, and typical subjects, Wonwoo knew nothing about Minghao. It does not help the fact Minghao tends to answer shortly to his questions. Let alone a genuine conversation. That is harder to come by.

Can it be Wonwoo and Soonyoung are simply over-thinking or the strange feeling will remain until… until when exactly?

There are a lot of uncanny scenario going around the Silver Diamond Hall once the bright morning rolls in, shaking the three boys to wake up. Sungjae who swings by early merely shakes his head when he sees Wonwoo’s dishevelled morning hair after sitting properly on the seat. Seungcheol’s sleeping figure is interesting too but he rather not explains his tangled limbs in great detail.

“Tell Junhui that someone is coming in later to fix the door for the male’s restroom. I already told Yanan about it too.” Sungjae gently pats Wonwoo on his back and the boy nods understandingly. “Is there anything else I need to tell him?”

“Well, if he actually reads the group chat, he might already know that Taehyung and Jiyeon will come a little bit late. He just realised one of the tires on his car was out of air. He said he might run onto a nail or something from last night.”

Somewhere in Wonwoo’s mind brightens in realisation. The statement puts his system on full drive and he is thrown onto a trip down the memory tube. Among many of the blue, green, and occasional yellow coloured spheres is a single purple coloured one. Worries immediately grow on him and he quickly asks Sungjae if the couple and Jungkook are alright.

“They’re fine. Since Jungkook lives nearby, he probably too tired to notice a flat tire in the middle of the night after Taehyung dropped him.” Yet it is amazing how Taehyung was able to drive with a tire in such condition. “I’ll get going. I’ll come back at 2. Thank goodness it’s Friday.”

“It’s a half-day or something at BBE?” Sungjae bobs his head before bidding his short goodbyes to a half awaken director and Wonwoo himself. As soon as he leaves, the assistant director catches the sight of the stage manager walking and taking a seat by his side.

“Oh, Jun. Sungjae told me to tell you that someone will come to fix the door at the backstage area.” Junhui who appears fresh after washing up gaps an ‘ah’, nodding his head a couple of times.  “Where is everyone anyway? What is the call-time?”

“I don’t know, Jun. Isn’t that your job to remember the production’s call-time?” Wonwoo snickers playfully when he sees Junhui blanks at his own question. “Gosh, I’m so tired that my brain is fried.”

That makes all of them.

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