Fact: January 26/27, 2013 -- Special Live 2013: Here I Am ; January 26, 2013 -- Gwanghwamun Sonata

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She was trembling. Beads of perspiration was forming around her temples. She wiped it again as she stood up, straining to hear the crowds voice outside. It wasn't that hard. In fact, she could hear them chanting her name repeatedly, with streaming vigor reverberating in the four corners of her dressing room.

Today marked the second day event of her first Korean concert and like yesterday, she was still overwhelmed with gratitude for all the love she's getting.

It took her so long.

It's been this long...

But the comfort knowing that everyone was still there, shouting her name in support after all these years, was very reassuring and she wouldn't dare ask for more.

Actually, there's still one more thing I wanted...

BoA shook her head, erasing the thought from her head immediately.

No.

She should be content and happy. How many times does she have to say that to herself.

'BoA,' the stage director called out from the door, his head popping out just enough for her to see him, 'two minutes.'

She nodded in acknowledgement before taking a deep breath. She donned her game face and exited the room to face all of them.

'Here I am...'



Juggling several songs in three different languages, complete with full choreography and new arrangements, BoA was able to wrap up her first official concert in Seoul. It was exhilarating. Yesterday was fantastic but today was even more eventful.

'BoA unnie!' Tiffany and Jessica called out in chorus. They approached her with big smiles on their faces. YoonA and Sunny was trailing behind the two, equally ecstatic. It was great seeing her little sisters after the show.

Tiffany s her arms around the little giant's as she tilted her head closer to her idol. 'We loved the show!' She exclaimed, her eyes smiling. It was no secret that Tiffany has always been BoA's fan but it never failed to give the older lady a tingling feeling inside.

'Thank you for coming girls. I know you already bought your tickets for Big Bang's concert for today but--'

'Oh no! We're glad you added another concert date,' YoonA beamed. 'We almost missed the chance to see you perform live!'

'We were in Japan when the ticket sale opened. it's not our fault that your concert was sold out before we made it back home!' Sunny added with the same enthusiasm and then giggled.

'The other girls wanted to come, too but they weren't lucky enough,' Jessica offered with a little pout.

BoA kept on smiling. She knew that these girls loves her just as much as she loves them and the support they have for her was very reassuring.

Soon, Changmin and Ara arrived at the backstage. Surprisingly, the evil maknae even has a bouquet of flowers in his arms to give to BoA. BoA scanned the hallway briefly, waiting for Yunho and was very disappointed when she saw no one.

Ara caught on easy and smiled in understanding.

'You're looking for Yunho?' Ara asked quietly, surprising BoA. Changmin's eyes drifted on both ladies, feeling something very off between them. He had this strange feeling around them for a while now but he was reminded by just how much it bothered him only after seeing them face to face for himself. It was hard for him to comment on stuff when no one ever tells him anything.

He tried once though.

Changmin once asked Yunho why he stopped seeing BoA when in the past, it was everything he had to live for. He didn't push the topic further in the end as a way of respect for his hyung who always fall silent whenever this topic came up. Anyway, he seemed busy meeting up with Ara and she kept him company in place of BoA.

But there was a limit to his patience and Changmin will try to gather as much information tonight to feed his curiosity even if it kills him.

'Hyung's not here but he got you these flowers,' Changmin said mischievously. Ara felt like he just said that to prove something (even if it's true) and before she could stop him, BoA's face already gave her away. Her face brightened up and even if she tried to tone down her smile to a minimum, almost to a casual, anyone could feel just how much that simple statement alone affected her.

Jessica was a silent observer and she knew immediately that more than the concert itself, the night would be much more memorable than what any of them expected.

Sighing, Jessica called out for BoA's attention and told the little giant that they were leaving. Tiffany protested a little bit but after seeing  Jessica's serious feature, she knew better than argue with her. All four ended up leaving right away.

'What's wrong?' YoonA asked.

Jessica looked at her with a wistful smile. 'Everything.' YoonA's beautiful face was suddenly overtaken by concern. 'Don't worry, she'll get past it soon,' she continued very cryptically, offering no more than a mere nod. Just like how it was for me in the past...


 

'That evil maknae! I swear to god I'm going to kill him!' BoA roared as she sat across Ara.

After the concert, her staff organized a mini late night dinner and reserved a cozy restaurant near the venue where they can celebrate. She would have invited her juniors but the girls left early on and she was too mad at Changmin to invite him to tag along. (Actually she did, but she had a murderous intent seeping through her voice and Changmin was smart enough to declined the invitation instead).

She glanced at the bouquet of sunflowers sitting on the table and again, her face turned sour. The irritating encounter with him flashed in her mind one more time.

He had said, 'These sunflowers have become something sort of a reminder of him, huh?' His tone was teasing, a purr ready to lure a lost mouse to it's  dangerous trap. 'It's unfortunate it was all that could ever represent him now. I don't even recall the last time he had talked about you...'

BoA bit her lip and remembered how she felt that moment as if she was reliving it in slow motion. She remembered that she was shaking. She had clenched her fists tightly together, trying her best not to hit Changmin square in the face.

'But come to think of it, he was busy meeting up with you,' he continued gesturing towards Ara who by then, looked equally irritated. Changmin's sinister voice echoed in her head and BoA could almost feel an impending headache.

When she heard those words, BoA's mouth hanged open, not believing she's hearing all this crap from him.

'Calm down,' Ara moaned in the hopes that BoA would forget about what happened earlier. If the young actress didn't intervene back in the concert hall, the event would have escalated terribly. For sure, Changmin didn't intend to stop with just that but he was so surprised by Ara's unexpected sharp statement that he had to. Ara could vividly picture the moment. Changmin had blinked a couple of times trying to process everything when a staff came to tell BoA to prepare for dinner. All three focused their attention towards the staff as a short distraction.

The little giant rolled her eyes. What great timing for a reminder. BoA tried to squeeze her words out, 'D-do you want to join us for dinner?' She asked, trying her best to sound nonchalant for the sake of being polite.

Changmin looked at the little giant, with her brows still furrowed together. She didn't look good, almost biting, ready to pounce on him if he had said the wrong thing. 'No, thank you,' he replied and then scurried away immediately leaving the conversation hanging. That might have just saved his life.

'Ah... I'm sorry Ara. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable,' BoA sighed, controlling her voice. She was evidently still pissed off but Ara didn't deserve to be lashed at. It wasn't her fault. And she's with her right now. She can't keep her mind wandering in the past.

But she vowed to get back at Changmin. She's already making a mental note of ways she could have her revenge.

Oh you know, coz we're mature people after all. She thought evilly and fought the urge to laugh at her own evil scheme.

Regaining her composure, BoA finally smiled.

'Yunho's in Japan right now acting in a musical,' The younger lady offered without warning, seeing as to how BoA was fighting the urge to ask since earlier. Her smile dropped by just a tad and then pouted as she waved her hand in the air in dismay.

'And after I visited them for their Japan concert, he just have to schedule something on this day.' She let out a long sigh and sank deeper into her chair. She realized that she was more serious about her statement when she meant it as a joke. Her face started to flush. 'It's not like I don't understand, okay? Just that...'

BoA wasn't able to finish what she was about to say and automatically pursed her lips together. It wasn't right for her to expect something from him to begin with, and to whine in front of Ara was just unforgivable. She had to remind herself that her companion was not just her regular friend now. She's also a very special person to Yunho.

'So... How are the both of you?' The little giant asked in a small voice, surprised how natural she sounded despite that. She sincerely wanted to know even if it scared her.

'I...' Ara began, 'we haven't been talking.'

BoA's eyes widened as her jaw dropped open. That was the last thing she was expecting to hear. The urge to ask her for more details was unbearable but she had to restrain herself.

'I see...'

Ara held BoA's gaze evenly but the little giant had to look away. She was feeling guilty. BoA could feel her heartbeat racing and her palms were starting to sweat. It was an uncomfortable silence and she would rather go back to talking about Changmin instead of this. She was sure how transparent she looked through Ara's eyes and that needed to be fixed.

'C-changmin--'

'I love Yunho,' Ara said quietly.

BoA stared at her in complete shock as she held her breath. She knew they were going to talk about this unique relationship all three of them have but to suddenly say it outright was still stunning.

It took her a couple of minutes before she was able to compose herself. She took a deep breath and sighed.

'I know.'

BoA found herself relaxing on her chair and loosening up her tense muscle. She was however concerned because Ara was still looking at her intently, with sadness welling in her eyes. It made her sick.

There was another vast silence that enveloped them.

'You are too kind.' Ara's voice was so quiet, BoA almost missed it.

'What do you mean?' BoA finally asked after a while.

'You're supposed to hate me.'

BoA was so shocked that she grabbed Ara's trembling hands in between hers. 'Ara... Don't ever say something like that. Why would you even think I would hate my very bestfried?' The little giant was now close to crying, not believing what she was hearing. Tonight wasn't supposed to end this way.

'And... That's exactly why you should hate me even more,' she moaned bitterly. Ara pulled her hands and rested both of them on her lap. She bit her lip, unable to face the older woman in front of her. 'I... I tried to steal him away from you, don't you understand?!' she spat with crushing agony inside her chest.

'That's not true, Ara... Nobody can help what they're feeling. It was nobody's fault,' she paused by just a bit and pleaded, 'Please... Don't ever apologize for loving Yunho.'

Ara didn't know what to say. She was getting all this kindness when she's such a despicable person. She didn't deserve any of it. She started crying and buried her face in her palms. Overwhelmed, BoA wrapped her arms around Ara's shoulders hoping that eventually, her friend would calm down.

'I feel horrible because even though I knew you two were in love, I became an obstacle between the two of you.' Ara's voice was muffled but she didn't care. It was time to be completely honest and free her heart.

'That's not true and it's definitely not your fault. I pushed him away. Multiple times. I brought this to myself.'

'And so you regretted it.'

BoA's eyes widened and she was silenced. Because it's true. She regretted pushing Yunho away when all she ever wanted right now was to be with him.

'Nobody's blaming you, Ara...' BoA replied quietly.

'And nobody's stopping you,' Ara followed with a kind smile. 'We both know you can't let go of him. And you should not have. So...'

Ara grabbed her purse and pulled out an envelop. She pushed it towards BoA who was then looking at her quizzically.

'What--'

'Here's your ticket to Japan. You leave first thing in the morning,' she explained urging the older lady to take it. 'Follow your heart. Follow Yunho to Japan.'

*

Author's Note:

It's embarrassing to say this with my own mouth but sometimes, I really am amazed with myself whenever I'm able to piece together fiction with non-fiction. Like, who would have thought that YoonSica would meld so perfectly in this story! And the timing, too! It's almost believable... Well, at least for me. Ahh... The power of research, LOL!

Welp, with this new development in the story, expect another rollercoaster ride coming your way! LOL! Just like you, I'm also anticipating the ending to this epic fic. HAHA! 'Til then!

[Also, this story is now a year old! Can you imagine?! HAHA! At least my updates are constant somehow. LOL! Thanks for reading all this time <3]