It was 7.30pm. I leaned on the counter behind me while I stared at the ticket that I put on the fridge last night. The ticket to Battle of The Band and it will start at 8pm. I had a glass of water in my hand. I took a sirp as I kept on staring at the ticket, wondering if I really should come and watch the battle. I thought of coming but that was before I met Junyoung yesterday and the argument that I had with him yesterday. It kept playing inside my head no matter how hard I tried to take it out.

The look on his face when I explained to him what really happened. He looked at me as if he was disgust with me. He looked at me as if I was not deserved to be look at as a human. Plus, everything that came out from his mouth really hurt me because whatever he said or believed was not the truth. I was there. I was in the situation so I know the truth. I didn't know how to make him believe me anymore.

Suddenly I felt a vibration inside my pocket followed by my ringtone. I fished out my phone from my pants and answered it quickly without even bother to look who was calling.

"Hello, my little darling. How are you?" a man with a husky voice asked. 

I frowned for a moment and I looked at my phone, it was Sir Scott, the founder of the illegal tournament and also the owner. Sir Scott was a British man around 45 years old. He moved here 15 years ago. He was a businessman in London and he did the same business as he is doing now. He went to prison twice in London because of this illegal tournament business. He knew that the police will not stop finding him if he continue this business in London. So he decided to move here and started the same business at a new place. At least, that was I heard from other boxers and he had been calling all the girl boxers little darling and the boy boxers tough guy.

I put back the phone to my ear and answered, "I'm doing great. How about you, sir?" 

"I'm doing great too" he sighed on the line. "But not so great these days because your fans have been asking where are you"

I scoffed. "Don't bluff sir. It's only been a week since my last match and there will be no match this week"

"Who said that? There will be a match this week. I decided to make weekly match instead of twice every month. The fans are growing and I cannot disappoint them. You know how much I hate to disappoint people right?" he asked. I didn't say anything but just slightly nodded my head even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Anyway, I wonder if my little darling will join this week's match."

"I can't" I quickly answered. "Someone leaked the video of me in the ring to the school so I am actually in my suspension period. Yesterday was my last day, so I can come back to school this coming Monday"

"Well, it is okay if you can't join this week's match but you can join next week's match right?" 

"Negative. I promised everyone around me that I am not coming back to the arena. Plus, I am busy practicing for other tournament which is legal because it will be against other schools"

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You sound like you were forced to promise everyone. When is that legal tournament anyway?"

I shrugged. "I am not sure maybe next week. I will let you know when the day comes. Why are you asking? Are you trying to recruit people?"

"No. I don't recruit people. People who join my tournament are not forced to join. I mean they willingly join it without recruiting or anything because we will not responsible to any of their injuries or death. You know what I mean right?"

I slightly nodded my head. "Of course. I used to be one of them and I joined because I want to"

"Good girl. Talking about recruitment, there is a gang made a fake recruitment saying that they are from our organization. They even made flyers for it. They aim for high school girls. They are not recruiting for fighters. They are actually recruiting for ion. Those bastards. I am so going to kill them if I get them"

I chuckled to the way Sir Scott said it. He was a really tough man and his voice was very manly but somehow he sounded like a lady boy at the last sentence but I won't be honest to him though. "Don't kill them because I believe you don't want to be in prison again"

"Yeah. Anyway, don't fall for their tricks okay? We never make any recruitment. Tell your friends as well"

"I don't have friends who are into boxing. Thanks for the information anyway Sir Scott" I smiled to myself.

"I would do anything to make sure my little darling safe. Just so you know, I respect your decision for not joining us anymore but you are always welcome whenever you want to join the match again."

I was touched to hear that. Sir Scott was the nicest and the most understandable person I've ever met. "Thank you Sir Scott. Talk to you later. Bye" I said as I hung up the phone.

I was still staring at the ticket on the fridge when I suddenly felt a vibration in my hand. It came from my phone. It was a message from Kyuwan. I opened the message and read it. 

"Tell me if you are coming. I'm waiting at the main entrance" 

I sighed. I tapped my forehead with my phone few times before I took a deep breath. I walked closer to the fridge and touched the ticket. I took the ticket off the fridge and stared at it. I don't know how but I could only see Junyoung's face on the ticket. I took a deep breath. "I'm going for Kyuwan's sake and not Moon Junyoung’s" I told myself as I walked to the front door and replied to Kyuwan’s text.

“Wait for me. I’m coming”

----------------

I paid the taxi driver and hopped off the taxi. The competition was held at a public hall that is situated in the middle of the town. It took around 30 minutes from my place by taking taxi. I walked to the main entrance. I let my hair down and rested on my shoulders because I want to be free tonight. I was wearing a black baggy hoodie and a pair of black jeans. I matched it with a pair of high-kneels boots. Luckily these boots didn't have any heels or I would be struggling to walk in it. I had my phone and my wallet inside my jeans pocket because I didn't feel like holding onto anything. I want to be free.

I raised my hand up high and waved as soon as I saw Kyuwan at the main entrance. She waved back at me when she saw me. I slow jogged towards her and stopped in front of her. "I'm here" I said, smiling as widely as I could. 

"I know you will come" she said as she slightly punched me on my shoulder. "Come, let's go or we will have to stand at the back" she said as she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the hall. "Just so you know, Battle of The Band is kind of like a concert. We will stand near the stage just like at rock zone area"

I frowned at her. "Why are you telling me this?" I asked as we turned at a corner and entered the hall.

"Just so you know the reason why we have to be quick is to get a good spot" she explained as she dragged me into the crowd. 

The hall was huge and so was the crowd. Fans from every school came and unfortunately, the official fan clubs would be chanting for them from the upper seats, which was in the second floor. Why I said unfortunate? Because I saw Minji with other ZE:A4U fans upstairs. They were shouting for the members' name even though it had not started yet. While in the rock zone, the fans were random. Some of them were not even high school students probably students from local college, trying to enjoy themselves.

Kyuwan gripped on my wrist tighter as she dragged me deeper into the crowd. Kyuwan was thinner than me so it was easy for her to slip between people but it wasn't easy for me. Suddenly, Kyuwan lost her grip on my wrist and someone bumped me from my back. That bumped was strong enough to make me fall on the ground. The guy who bumped me helped me to get up.

"Yah Lee Junka. What are you doing? Hurry up. It will start in any minute" Kyuwan shouted because the hall had become noisy and she grabbed my hand. She was so in hurry I couldn't even say thank you to that guy and we were lost in the crowd again. 

She pulled me as we went through the crowd. We stopped when we were close enough to the front stage. There were about 2 or 3 more lines in front of us. Since it was already packed and we couldn't go through the crowd anymore, we just stayed there. Our spot was still nice though. We were at the right side since there was the stage aisle in the middle. And from our spot, I still could see the center of the stage. If the performers happened to reach out their hands just to high-five the audiences, I still could high-five them. 

Suddenly the light inside the hall went off and a spotlight shone the center of the stage. There was a man standing there and he was the MC. Everyone started screaming when we saw him because, he was quite good looking. 

"Good evening everyone" the MC said through his mic and the crowd were shouting and cheering including Kyuwan. "My name is Kim Heechul and I'll be the MC for this year's Battle of The Band." The crowd was shouting again when he said his name. "Okay. Please settle down everyone. I know all of you are excited to see such handsome man to be MC for this year Battle of The Band but all of you are more excited to see this year's contestants right?." Everyone in the hall was shouting again and it was louder than before. "So first, let me explain how Battle of The Band works. Tonight will only be the preliminary round so all band from every school that participated will have a battle. The judges will only pick 7 bands out of 15 bands to advance to semi-final round which is in 2 weeks. Best 3 bands out of 7 will compete in the final round which is in 4 weeks from tonight. So before we start the battle, I will introduce the judges...."

Kyuwan turned to me. "Please enjoy yourself Lee Junka. Just scream all you want. It helps you to relieve some stress" 

"Yeah sure. I will. Don't worry" I responded. "Anyway Kyuwan, I will go home after ZE:A4U perform. I've got early training tomorrow morning"

Kyuwan just nodded her head. "Sure. No problem, as long as you enjoy yourself". I didn't say anything but just smiled to her.

We turned back to the stage when the MC announced something. "As for tonight, every band is requested to perform their original song that they submitted before. So let's not waste any more time. Let's welcome the first band to perform. It's a girl group band. AOA!!"

The crowd was cheering. The boys were shouting louder than the girls since it was a girl group. Kyuwan and I enjoyed their performance. I screamed their names even though I don't really know them. I just heard someone else shouted their name and I followed them. They finished performed. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. Someone was handing out a flashlight probably the supporter from the next group. I didn't really pay attention when the MC announced the next group's name. 

They started their performance with a solo from their bassist and guitarist. After that, a rock melody followed. Kyuwan and I were literally jumping at our spot as we enjoyed the song so much even though it was our first time listening to it. We screamed their names and we also did some inaudible screaming because nobody really paid attention to us. Kyuwan was right. This really helped me to forget some things that have been crowding inside my head.

We enjoyed the third and fourth group as how much we enjoyed the first and the second. I bet the judges must be having a pretty hard time in deciding who will advance to the semi-final round. 

"Now, let's welcome the fifth contestant. This is a flower boy group, ZE:A4U" the MC announced and he ran to the backstage.

I looked at Kyuwan and Kyuwan looked back at me. We both laughed because we knew they were not flower boys. Yeah, they were good looking but they were definitely not flower boys. Then we heard screaming from the second floor. We saw Minji and her friends were cheering for them with banners and some kind of light stick. We looked at each other and we focused back on the performance.

Taehun was already sitting behind the drums while Heechul and Kwanghee sunbae was tuning their bass and guitar. I saw Junyoung was sitting behind the keyboard. It looks like he already had master the keyboard since he was brave enough to play the keyboard at this competition. He was warming up his fingers against the key on the keyboard when suddenly he lifted up his head to fix the mic in front of him. That was when our eyes met. 

I didn't know if he saw me because I was in the middle of the crowd but I was pretty sure that he was looking at my direction. I looked at him, without even bothering to look at other place. He turned his face to Kwanghee sunbae when he received a nod from him, a sign that they were ready. Junyoung nodded back and he said something through the mic. "This song is for our fans especially our managers who worked so hard"

That was when we heard Minji shouted, "I love you too Moon Junyoung"

Kyuwan turned to me and mouthed to me, "Is he joking?" I just shook my head and slightly turned her head back to the stage with my hand.

Junyoung started pressing the keys on keyboard. The melody was slow at the beginning and he started singing. I've heard this song before when they were practicing. 

"You're the light that shines my day

You're the light that shines my night

You're the girl that shines me everyday

If you're not here, my night will be dark, darker than the bottom of the sea

I am missing you............................NOT!"

Then Taehun started playing the drums followed by the sound of the bass and the guitar. It was a rock melody this time. Junyoung stood up from his seat behind the keyboard and headed to the mic stand at the middle and front of the stage. He started to sing to the song. I don't really remember the lyrics but I still remember what the song was about. It was about a guy who got fed up with his girlfriend who cheated on him but she still acts innocent. The song was rock song but it also had catchy melody which it makes you addicted to it. The lyrics were easy too as they kept repeating the chorus part over and over again. 

I didn't jump or shout like Kyuwan did this time. My eyes were fixed on Moon Junyoung. He looked so charming and cool like he always did in the practice room. His hair was waving and his face was dripping with sweat. He looks gorgeous. How I wish I could touch that hair and that face again but how can I. He never let me touch him ever again. Not even his hand. 

Their song was almost at the end. Junyoung took off the mic from the stand and walk at the aisle. He was so close to me and I just stared at him while gripping tight on the flashlight. I didn’t know how I felt. I really wished that he would turn and looked at me. I really wished that he would only look at me because I loved him and he loved me too. I really wished that by looking at me, he would feel confidence and brave to be on stage.

But he didn’t. He was just focusing on the audience around him and he kept winking and waving to his fans at the upper seats.

I was jealous and being selfish.

The song ended with Junyoung kneeling on the stage aisle. He got up and he didn’t even look at me. He just walked back to his other band mates and they were hugging each other. They turned to the audience again and gave their last bow. Junyoung looked at my direction but he just gave a sharp glare. Not the stare that he always gave to me when he wanted to kiss me. Not the stare that he always gave to me when he wanted to be lovey dovey to me. It was the stare that is full of hatred and disgust.

I turned to Kyuwan. She looked at me with a worried face. I smiled to her, trying to hide this upset feelings deep in my heart.

“They’ve performed so I think I should go now.” I shouted as it was very noisy inside the hall.

“Are you sure?” she shouted back. “Do you want me to call a taxi for you?”

I shook my head as I put my hands on her shoulders. I stared into her eyes because I really didn’t want to make her worry. “I’ll get a taxi by myself. Don’t worry about me. How about you? Are you okay screaming and jumping here alone?”

She nodded her head. “I actually came here with Park Hyungshik but he had to work on backstage with the members”

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. “You’re dating him now?” I asked. She didn’t answer but put a naughty smile on her face. “You jerk” I smirked. “I should go now but you owe me a freaking story on Monday. I want to hear everything okay?” I asked. She just nodded her head before she put herself closer to me and squeezed me into a hug.  “I’ll see you on Monday” I shouted before I turned away.

I tried to squeeze myself so I could get through the crowd. It was packed and I had to go under everyone’s armpits to get through it. Luckily I didn’t bump into anyone like I did earlier. I got out the hall safely.

I quickly headed to the nearest bus stop to get a taxi. I stood at the curb and there was no taxi that passed by so I decided to sit at the bench provided at the bus stop. My eyes were still fixed on the road, looking for the taxi but none was passing by.

There was a guy sat next to me. I ignored him because I didn’t know him or recognized him. He turned to me and said, “Hey”

I looked at him. He was taller than me probably the same height as Junyoung. His hair was short and it was blonde. His eyes were dark brown instead of black and his cheeks were puffy. He had cute and obvious canine tooth. Then I looked behind me just in case he was talking to someone else instead of me but there was no one there.

I frowned to him and I pointed to myself using my finger. “Are you talking to me?” I asked. Surprisingly, he nodded his head. My eyes widened and I put an innocent smile on my face. “Do I know you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You seem not to know me when you are supposed to”

“Huh?” I frowned while waiting for him to continue.

He shrugged. “Yeah. I helped you to get up when you fell inside the hall. I accidentally hit you. That’s why you fell”

I just slightly nodded my head. I forgot that I fell inside the hall and I just let it pass because it really didn’t bother me. I didn’t expect for this guy to come after me just to say that. “Okay. Thanks for helping me” I said while smiling and trying to hide my expression from saying that he’s weird.

“Anyway, that’s not really matter. I really know you. I mean, you are Lee Junka right? The boxer right?” he asked.

I nodded and put an awkward smile on my face. “Yes that’s me” I answered.

“Wow! I couldn’t believe I finally get to meet you personally” he said as he reached out his hand to shake hand with me.

I reached out my hand and shook his hand but I pulled it quickly because he started to scare me. “I am not that famous or good though. Don’t exaggerate things” I replied. I really wanted to get away from this creepy guy as quickly as possible and the luck was on my side. I saw a taxi passed by so I quickly stood up from the bench and stood at the curb. I reached out my hand to stop the taxi.

He stood up and walked to me. I was opening the taxi door when he stopped me from getting on the taxi by slipping his body in between me and the taxi. I frowned at him. “What are you doing?” I asked and my voice certainly showed how annoyed I was with him.

“Are you going to join tomorrow’s match? I will come early to watch your match” he smiled to me. I had to admit that was a cute smile from him even though his canines tooth sometimes were creeping me out. 

“I’m sorry to disappoint but I will never join that illegal match again. Now can you please step away?” I said as I pushed him away. As what I expected, I was stronger than him. Thank to these muscles that I had from training every day.

I pulled the taxi door open. I was about to slip in and closed the door when a force stopped me from closing it. I looked up to see the guy was still there. “I know this is kind of rude but I wonder if I can see you again?” he asked.

“Look dude. Listen. I don’t know you and I don’t know your name. But if you truly are my fan, we could meet again on the street. Maybe. I don’t know. I cannot promise you anything” I explained.

He was shocked to listen to my explanation but he still managed to put a smile on his face. “Do you know that I am actually hitting on you?”

I shook my head. “Sorry but I’m taken” Obviously I lied.

He smirked at me as if he knew that I was lying. “You lied” he said. My eyes widened but I tried to remain my expression as natural as possible.

“I’m not lying. It’s true” I said.

He shrugged. “Okay then. Have a safe journey back home. I will make sure that we get to meet on the streets” he said. Then he leaned forward to me. I thought he was going to kiss me so I avoided it but he was actually aiming for my ear. He whispered, “So you know, I have a sister who goes to the same school as yours so I know you are lying but let’s just say for tonight, that you are taken”