“Thank you! Thank you!” Youngjae expressed his gratitude to the audience as he took a few bows. He walked off the stage, beaming, and ran straight to Daehyun to share his joy. “Did you see that?! I knew I’d at least get a pass in this round of the competition!” He won the hearts of the judges after performing his own rendition of John Legend’s Ordinary People. Upon hearing that, Daehyun shrunk inwards over his best friend’s self-confidence, knowing that he had a lack of it.

He finally broke his silence with a loud sigh. Youngjae tilted his head and frowned in concern. “Hey, loosen up a little, Dae! I’m sure you’ll pull this off. I’ve heard you sing a gazillion times and I know you’ll nail it! Come out of your shell and show them what you’ve got, alright?” He patted Daehyun’s back in attempt to boost his confidence. Daehyun only gave him a nod in response. He hadn’t uttered a word since they joined in the queue with other hopefuls. Although Youngjae noticed his strange behaviour, he brushed it off, assuming Daehyun was just being nervous.

Daehyun was up next. He took a deep breath as he braced himself to get up on stage and face the large audience. He walked carefully to the centre of the stage, holding tightly onto his mic. “I-I’m Jung Daehyun, t-twenty years old,” He spoke shakily.

Right after his introduction, the instrumental of his choice of song started playing. Youngjae was on the phone with his mother when some unintelligible chattering in the audience caught his attention. He looked out to the crowd and then to Daehyun, who was standing on the stage, frozen. *What? Why isn’t he singing?* Youngjae wondered as he began to worry.

“I’m sorry,” Daehyun left an apology to the spectators and walked off the stage. He couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to perform in front of a huge crowd anymore. He regretted even agreeing with Youngjae to give it a try. Demoralized, he held his head low as he walked over to Youngjae.

“What happened back there? Were you that nervous?” Youngjae asked.

Daehyun remained silent and walked out of the venue. Youngjae followed after him, thinking of the possible causes for what happened earlier. He recollected some of Daehyun’s peculiar behaviour earlier on before it finally hit him. He wondered for a while and whispered his thoughts to himself. “Don’t tell me… Dae has stage fright?”

-----

He took a deep breath as he tilted his chin up to face the sky. Refreshed, he smiled a drunken smile. “For the last time, Kim Himchan. Breathe. For the last…time…” The smile he had slowly faded. He slumped on the ground and began to cry. The overwhelming grief he had for the past week slowly took over again as he downed more bitter juice to match up with the bitterness he felt.

It took him the whole week to convince himself that he would do it. But there he was, sitting helplessly by the rails of Namsan Bridge, having second thoughts to end his life. “No! Kim Himchan! You promised yourself to do this!” He mustered courage and stood up.

He lifted one leg over the edge of the bridge nervously. The moment he had the thought of wanting to turn back, images of Sojin and him together occurred in his mind. “If I die right now, I’ll be able to meet my Sojin in heaven…right?” He spoke to someone above the skies. As though he got convinced, he nodded and slowly lifted his body to climb over.

“LEE BYUNGHUN YOU BASTARD! YOU’LL REGRET THIS ONE DAY!”

Himchan almost carried himself over the ledge when he heard the yell. He got a shock from it and and fell over backwards, ending up on the ground again. “What the hell was that?” He grunted, at the same time rubbing his back in pain.

He slowly looked up to find a petite figure attempting to do what he had tried to do himself earlier. In panic, he swiftly got up and rushed towards her. “STOP! DON’T DO IT!”