Chapter 3!          They Can Appear, I Can Disappear

The lights dimmed, dramatic music played, a single spotlight on the stage. But it was empty. Stagehands began pushing boxes out, showing that they were empty to the audience, before stacking them one on top the other. When the boxes were stacked, the stagehands turned the boxes a full round, and the box opened on one side to reveal… Philippart! The magician gave a crazy laugh, as he stepped out of the boxes, holding on to a doll’s head. He was decked in colourful clothes and had so much makeup on he looked like an evil clown.

The audience cheered, BEAST shouted in amazement, Nicolette just smiled as she looked at them. She could guess the trick. Too much The Masked Magician: Magic’s Greatest Secrets Revealed. As much as she loved watching magic shows, her focus was more on the six boys in the theater than the performance shown.

The music increased its pace, raising the excitement in the air. A metal frame covered in thin material was pushed out. Lights were placed on three sides, except the one facing the audience. The magician gave a crazy laugh as he hanged the doll’s head in the metal frame. The lights surrounding the frame lit up, showing the doll’s head by its shadows. The magician played a few tricks with the light and shadows, when the shadows started moving by their own accord. The doll’s head disappeared, and suddenly, the lights went off, and when it came back on, the figure of a girl appeared. The girl burst through the thin material, and it was none other than Anja, the magician’s helper, also dressed in colourful clothes and crazy makeup.

The two fooled around on stage, amusing the audience, doing tricks along the way. The girl was cut up and put back together again… the girl’s head was twisted so much her body was twisted as well… and finally, it was audience participation time.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready to play some games?” the MC asked, as the crowd cheered. “All you have to do is guess where the bag of gold coins is hidden! The price for this round is one free bottle of champagne!” the crowd shouted in excitement as Philippart began his game.

“Hopla, hopla, hopla, hopla, hopla~!” Philippart grinned, shuffling the three containers, as the MC went down to the audience to pick a volunteer.

A volunteer was picked, and she called the number the bag was under, but it was not! Philippart gave his evil grin and revealed the bag under another container! After which, he went back to his “Hopla! Hopla!” again. Again the audience was asked, and the container was lifted… to reveal the bag! The lucky participant got a ticket to a free bottle of champagne. The game continued again, with three bottles as the price. Again the container was turned. But this time, instead of the bag of gold coins, Anja’s head was underneath! The girl grinned, with a “Hello!” The price was raised once again to 5 bottles of champagne, and the crazy magician went back to his “Hopla!”

“Yah! Why don’t we try participating! I think this is fun!” Doojoon said, carefully watching the magician shuffle the containers as he went “Hopla!” every time he swapped the containers.

“Don’t worry, hyung, I’m gonna get this!” Yoseob replied, his eyes never leaving the container covering Anja’s head now.

“HOPLA~!” the magician whooped, as he did a final swap.

Yoseob immediately raised his hand, waving it frantically, almost jumping out of his seat as he did so. Doojoon did the same, while Hyunseung just raised his hand calmly. Lucky for them, the MC walked over to their area.

“I’m sorry, sir, I might have a problem giving you the free champagne unless you show some identification, but it seems like you’re already high enough without the alcohol,” the MC said to Yoseob (who didn’t really understand what she said), causing the audience to laugh, “so I’ll give the chance to your friend here.” She finished, indicating for Hyunseung to stand.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Hyunseung!” he answered.

“And you are from?”

“Korea!”

“So what number do you think Anja’s head is in?”

“Number One!” he replied confidently.

Philippart gave a wide grin as he lifted the first container to reveal, nothing! Hyunseung was half-stunned, very sure that the head should have been under that number while the rest of BEAST just laughed.

“Aww… seems like you got it wrong… Philippart, why don’t you show us the correct answer?” the MC said, as Hyunseung took his seat.

The magician gave an evil laugh as he opened the second container to reveal… nothing. His face dropped as he stared at the empty table in confusion. Moving his hands to indicate the movement of the containers, he muttered “hopla, hopla…” trying to figure where he had placed the head. Finally done, he gave a sheepish grin as he realized it should be under number Three. Smiling confidently now, he lifted the last container to reveal… NOTHING! In shock now, the magician quickly pulled off the cloth surrounding the table to show absolutely nothing underneath! Philippart stood there in confusion and shock, as the audience was stunned with the sudden turn of events. Suddenly, an excited yell filled the theatre, attracting everyone’s attention. The spotlight swerved to light up the owner, none other than Anja! And carrying the bag of gold coins triumphantly too! As she made her way down to the stage again, she happily threw handfuls of the chocolate gold coins to the audience.

With that, the show continued.

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“Why do I feel like someone’s staring at us…” I muttered to myself, as Hyunseung was invited to stand.

“Hyung just got picked, of course the whole theatre is eyeing us now!” Dongwoon replied.

Trust the maknae to listen in on me talking to myself.

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The theatre resounded with applause as the curtains closed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, another round of applause for Philippart and Anja! Wasn’t it a wonderful performance? If you want to catch more of Philippart’s magic, we invite you to come back here at the Lido tomorrow night, as Philippart goes mental! For those eighteen and above, we have a special show just for you as well. Come and see our handsome and beautiful dancers at the Casanova! Tickets for sale at the activity room and outside the Lido theatre. That’s it for tonight, have a great evening!”

“Let’s just wait for more people to go out first.” Mrs Lin said.

Nicolette nodded, standing up and pretending to stretch so she could still see BEAST above the crowd of people moving out of the theatre.  They were slowly exiting through the front, laughing and joking amongst themselves, probably talking about the show. When they disappeared from view, she sat back down in her seat again in slight disappointment. Finally, the theatre was quite cleared of people.

“Ma, let’s go now.” Mrs Lin said, helping her mother to stand.

“Mom, it’s okay if I wander around first before going back to the room, right?” Nicolette asked, feeling the urge to go visit her favourite places for the first time on this trip.

“Okay.”

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“Omo… that was so fun!”

“I liked the part seungie hyung was so confident of the answer but in the end it was all a trick!”

BEAST laughed, as they exited the theatre.

“Wah, but now everyone knows there’s a Hyunseung from Korea here.”

“Hyung, if we get mobbed by fans now, it’s your fault!”

“Yah! It was Doojoon’s idea to participate anyway!”

“Aish… no need to worry. I’m sure Joonkun hyung is right. The possibility of meeting a BEAUTY is close to nil.” Doojoon said, imitating their manager.

They giggled at the imitation.

“But hyung, he’s wrong. We already met a fan!” Yoseob laughed.

They were now outside the theatre, at the lift lobby.

“Yah, let’s go all the way up! I bet there’s an open deck on top!” Kikwang suggested.

“That sounds good. Let’s go!”

They reached the 12^th floor, climbing a flight of stairs to reach the highest floor. Pushing the heavy glass doors open, a heavy gust of wind greeted them. Battling past the wind entering the room, they pushed past the door and out on the open deck to find themselves on the rear of the ship. There, the pressure of the wind wasn’t as strong, but it was strong enough to totally mess up their hair. Laughing at each other’s appearances, they made their way to the front of the ship.

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Nicolette watched through the glass lift as the lobby got further and further from view. The floors above the lobby were decorated to look like vintage windows. At the 12^th floor, glass panels revealed an outdoor pool area on the deck outside. Just as she reached the highest floor, six figures walking along the deck caught her eye.

No way…

Pushing the thick glass door open, she quickly exited the doors, closing it so the pressure returned to normal and the wind stopped battling with her. That is, until she stepped out of the glass panels placed to break the wind. With the wind blowing in her face, her short hair didn’t cause her any problems as she made her way a distance behind the six guys, watching them the whole time, but on the guard in case they turn around and saw her. Soon, they reached the bow of the ship. BEAST climbed up the steps to the raised platform right at the front of the ship, while Nicolette stayed below. Just then, one of the guys turned, and Nicolette quickly turned to face the sea.

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I swear, there’s someone watching us, following us. When we were on the open deck the feeling just got stronger. Just as I climbed up the stairs at the front of the ship, I turned. Sure enough, I saw a familiar person stalking us. When she saw me looking at her, she quickly turned to face the sea, pretending that she never saw me. Like that’s going to work on me.

Turning to face the guys, I told them, “Yah, don’t all turn at the same time, but the fan’s behind us, stalking us.”

I mentally slapped myself as all five guys turned immediately, looking for the girl. How babo can they get!

“Where? Where? I don’t see her!” they asked.

Sighing in frustration, I turned pointing to where she was, “there she is-” Shoot! Where did she go?

“Yah! You must be imagining things!” the rest of them said, turning back to enjoy the wind and the view again.

I stood there in frustration and confusion. The spot she was standing was empty. Looking around, I can’t see her at all. She’d disappeared. Damn.

and the real chapter's up! thanks for the comments so far! <3

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