All I could hear were my heavy breaths and the soft ringing in my ears. A few seconds later, the scream from the audience started as a whisper before it slowly turned louder until it had completely overpowered my loud breathing. Even from my position at the very back of the stage, it felt like I’m up front because of how the screams had reached me.

I moved the microphone to the side away from me. Then I placed my sticks on my snare drum before I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand as I reached for the bottle of water on the floor. I opened the bottle before I placed the bottle’s mouth to my lips and tilted my head up. I squeezed the bottle and took huge gulps of water, running water down to my throat to quench my thirst from the hours of singing and playing the drum. I could feel sweat all over my body while my shirt has already stuck to me like my second skin.

“This will be our last song for tonight” Yonghoon, our frontman, said, earning loud screams from the audience for us to stay and sing some more.

I smiled and dropped the empty bottle on the floor. I wiped my lips with the back of my arm before I moved the microphone close to me again. I picked up my sticks, wiggling my arms to stretch them before starting with our next song.

“Don’t worry. We’ll always come back until the owner decides to throw us away!” Yonghoon shouted, which erupted loud claps and screams of delight from the audience. “Mr. Kang! We love you so much!”

Mr. Kang is the owner of the bar we’re currently playing at. Every night we came here to play our own songs. Since we started singing here, some bar and restaurant owners have invited us to sing as well because we don’t just sing rock and pop, but we also have ballads too. A couple of producers and scouts have discovered us already but we haven’t signed any contract yet because of how our artistic freedom would be suppressed by those agencies.

“Once again, this is MAS! Have a fun night everyone!” Yonghoon shouted and the bar was filled by the screams from the audience again.

I looked towards Kanghyun, our guitarist, and waited for him to meet my gaze. Our eyes locked before he nodded at me. I hit my sticks with each other three times, starting the countdown, before Kanghyun started strumming the guitar.

The first few seconds was just Kanghyun’s guitar and Cya’s bass so I took the opportunity to clear my throat. After a few notes, I started playing my drums and harmonized with Yonghoon and Dongmyeong who plays the piano.

My body was slowly filled up with adrenaline again. I closed my eyes, letting my muscle memory take control as I played the drums. I started gently banging my head to the rhythm of our music. I’m tired and drained but there’s something about music that would quickly recharge my body. I would easily get lost when we’re playing and singing. It just felt like I’m on stage with me and my bandmates only. There’s no audience screaming the lyrics to our song out loud. It’s just us and our music.

I’m abruptly pulled out of my dreamland when I suddenly broke one of my sticks. Again. I got too enthusiastic again that I hit my sticks on my drums harder than necessary. My eyes widened as I panicked. I continued to step the pedals of the bass and the hi hat while I hurriedly picked up the other half of my broken stick. I pouted at it and sighed before I continued playing the drums. It’s a little bit awkward since one of my sticks was really short but I have to continue until the end of the song. Luckily, this would be our last song for the night or else our music would suffer by how poorly I would play tonight.

I raised my head up and met Cya’s eyes. He raised his eyebrows at me while I pouted at him. I quickly raised my broken stick before I continued playing. He laughed out loud and shook his head before he faced the audience again.

I sighed heavily and glanced at the audience. I hope they’re too lost in the music as well that they didn’t notice there was a few seconds of nothing but the hi hat and bass on my end.

One member from the audience caught my attention. Actually, this person has been under my radar for the past few nights that we’ve been playing in Mr. Kang’s bar. I could recognize familiar faces in the crowd but this guy has been watching and listening to us for two consecutive weeks now. And every time I’d see him in the crowd, I could always see his gaze was on me. It’s intimidating but when our eyes meet, he’d smile at me, softening the intense gaze in his eyes.

I instantly looked away and trained my eyes on my drums. I bit my bottom lip and groaned from frustration when I missed a beat when that guy smiled at me. I’m not good at interacting with people that I don’t know. When an attention was thrown towards me, it would always make me panic and nervous.

When the song ended, I stood up from my stool and bowed together with my bandmates. Then I pocketed my sticks, even the broken ones, and picked up the empty bottles of water I dropped on the floor. I walked down the stage to throw them all in the trash bin. The moment I was out of the stage though, a lot of people were complimenting me and going towards my direction, swarming over me. I could only bow my head and mumble my thanks, heat rushing up to my face, while I tried to find a way but they have trapped me now. I have no way out.

Thankfully, the staff from the bar helped part the crowd around me so I could go out. I brought the empty bottles with me back to the stage and just lined them up by the wall.

“The crowd always loves you. Men and women. They all love you”

I glanced behind me and saw Yonghoon start packing up my drumset. I pouted at him and helped him pack my kit. “They don’t” I mumbled while he just chuckled at me.

“All four of us are in front of you. We almost blocked you by how small you are and the stage is. Yet the people would either shout the lyrics to our song or your name”

I pouted harder while I blushed hard from the thought of it. I like staying behind all of them. I don’t like the spotlight that much but I do like to play and sing. I love how the music would run in my veins and spread all over my body. It’s like a drug, but a good kind of drug that energizes me.

“That’s not true” I mumbled at him.

“Wheein… Wheein… Wheein” Dongmyeong whisper-shouted as he walked towards me and Yonghoon, raising both his arms up as he chanted my name.

“I love you, Wheein” Cya said teasingly, blowing kisses to my direction to tease me more.

“Wheein, marry me please” Kanghyun shouted as he suddenly knelt down beside me and presented me with a bottle cap for a ring.

“Shut up,” I said, playfully pushing Kanghyun and Cya before I went back to packing my drum kit. My blush just worsened when all my bandmates teamed up to tease me while constantly laughing at me.

They all helped me carry a part of my drumset while carrying their own instruments as well as we exited the stage. Yonghoon carried the bass and the floor tom since he doesn’t have any instruments to carry. We all walked by the bar stand where Mr. Kang was. I walked behind Yonghoon to hide myself when I could hear the crowd calling my name.

I know my bandmates weren’t making things up when they teased me earlier. I might not hear it from where I’m sitting behind my kit but when we go down the stage and there’s no music anymore, I could hear people shouting confessions towards me. There are people calling my other bandmates’ names as well. But in every person that shouted a name of one of my bandmates, I could hear four or five different voices calling my name. Probably even more. I do not consider myself famous, but I appreciate it wh