The concert had flown by in a flash and now, at the second to the last song before they rang in the new year, Kyuhyun finally had the chance to speak to their fans at some length.  “Hello!”  He shouted and waited for the audience to greet him back.

            “Happy New Year!”  Ryeowook hollered and the crowd went wild.

            A little bit of violin music began to play, a lengthy lead up of melody before they gave the signal to start up the song.  Kyuhyun smiled at the crowd and over at Yesung and Ryeowook, just a short distance away. 

           “I have a little story to tell you before we begin to sing,” Kyuhyun said, walking along the stage, holding his mic up to his mouth.  “About seven years ago, I had a falling out with someone I cared about very much, someone I was very close to.  And although I regretted not having that person in my life almost immediately, I let pride and self-doubt get the better of me and didn’t try to contact them to mend our relationship.  Thankfully, just a few days ago, I met up with this individual once again and realized that I’d been such a fool for letting it go on this long and we managed to reconcile our differences.

            “This song we’re about to sing, Serenade, reminds me so much of my own situation and I wanted to share this with you so that you don’t make the mistake of not reaching out to someone you love and letting them know how you feel, especially on a night like tonight when we most think about our past and try to make serious plans for our future, when we remember friends who’ve come and gone and those who are still in our lives.  And I personally resolve, from here on out, never to make that same mistake again and to always hold those I love close to me and never let them go.”

            When he glanced over, there were tears in Ryeowook’s eyes as he clapped along with the audience and he knew better than to try to make his boyfriend speak just then and instead signaled for the orchestra to begin playing the romantic ballad.

            As they neared the end of the song, the trio came together.  Ryeowook came up on Kyuhyun’s right side and wrapped his arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulders and Kyuhyun wrapped his free arm around Ryeowook while Yesung came up to him on his left and wrapped his arm around Kyuhyun’s back.  Being surrounded by those he cared most for and listening to the fans clap as they sang the last note of the song, he felt his eyes begin to water as well and then kissed Ryeowook’s cheek as the music began to end. 

            “I missed you too, Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook said into the mic, laughing lightly as he hugged his boyfriend.

            Yesung, leaning his head against Kyuhyun’s shoulder, sighed into his mic.  “Our wish for you, this year, is that you can be as happy as we are, surrounded by your friends and loved ones.  Be sure to hold them near when the clock strikes midnight.”

            The lights went out and the trio snuck off the stage as fast as they could in order to get changed for the next song.  Thankfully, there was a slight break in between as Donghae and Eunhyuk, everyone’s favorite pairing, took the stage to talk to the audience in a little comedic act they’d put together for the occasion.

            Sungmin watched as the three ran into the dressing room to quickly change clothes and smiled to himself as Yesung emerged first and headed in his direction.  He was still trying to tuck his microphone pack into his back pocket and Sungmin signaled for him to turn around.  Yesung turned his back to Sungmin so he could adjust the pack securely to him and then pinched his when he was done.  Yesung smirked as he turned back to face Sungmin, slipping his earpiece on as one of the backstage crew members cut a piece of clear tape and attached the mic to his cheek.

            When they moved on to Ryeowook, Yesung wrapped an arm