| CHAPTER 2 |

“Don’t be sorry,
that makes me more pitiful.
With your pretty red lips
please hurry, kill me and go.
I’m all right”

Ailee sang softly to herself as her stylists did the final touches to her outfit and make up before her stage on mcountdown.

“Eyes nose lips again? You’ve been singing Taeyang’s album’s songs since they came out. It's about time you stop,” her stylist commented.

Ailee pouted, “Unnie, good music is always good. There’s nothing wrong with me singing his songs.”

“That’s true, but you have your own songs to sing.”

“That-” Ailee stuttered, “That’s because this is just a…a warm up! That’s right.”

She bit her lower lip as she blushed.

“Yejin ah!”

Ailee’s manager, Manager Park, swung into the room and called out.

“Yes?”

“Are you ready? You’ve got 15 minutes left.”

She nodded, “I’m ready. 15 minutes is quite a lot of time to spare.”

Ailee, as an idol, was used to rushing for schedules to and fro, making 15 minutes a fairly long time for her.

Taking out her phone from her purse, she decided checked her twitter feed.

A smile spread across her face as she read the fans’ sweet comments of encouragement.

Scrolling and scrolling, she stopped as her eyes widened, fixing her gaze on a tweet.

She couldn’t believe who it was from.

Ailee’s jaw dropped.

“What’s wrong?” Managaer Park asked.

When Ailee didn’t respond to his question, unlike her usual talkative self, he came up beside her to see what was on her phone.

“Ahh, it’s a tweet from Taeyang? You should be happy, why are you like this?” he nudged Ailee.

Finally coming to her senses, Ailee let out a shriek of excitement.

“My cover- He liked it! He thanked me for it!”

Repeating it to her stylists and manager again and again, Ailee was unable to get over the fact that Taeyang listened to her cover that was dedicated to him.

“Yah, Yejin, are you seriously crying tears of joy over that?” Manager Park blinked in surprise when she finally settled down, calm enough to listen to him.

Ailee laughed in embarrassment and wiped her teary eyes, still overwhelmed from being noticed by her idol.

“You’re not going to reply to him? You’re going to go on stage soon,” her stylist added, touching up on her eye makeup after it was slightly smudged from Ailee's tears.

“Of course I am!” Ailee replied, determined, as she typed on her phone.

Manager Park peered over her shoulder and saw what Ailee typed.

“Don’t you think you sound a little desperate?” he joked, "Don't forget you two are idols. You wouldn't want any scandals to happen, do you?"

Ailee titled her head and thought for a moment.

Although she secretly didn't mind a dating scandal with Taeyang, her hopes were dashed when she realised that it would be a burden to Taeyang and even ruin her hopes of being his girlfriend collaborating with him.

“You’re right...” she mumbled sadly after much thought.

Taking her manager’s casual advice seriously, she decided to rewrite her tweet.

“Ailee shi, you’re up next after one more performance, please get ready!” A staff member suddenly came into the waiting room to remind her.

Distracted for a moment, Ailee accidentally pressed the ‘tweet’ button instead of the ‘back’ one.

“!”

Ailee’s fingers fumbled over her phone screen as she panicked, trying to delete the tweet.

She mentally scolded herself for being so careless when she saw that the tweet already had multiple retweets and favourites in such a short time.

Ailee hastily pressed the ‘delete’ button multiple times, but it didn’t work.

Just as if fate was playing a joke on her, her phone hanged.

She groaned, “Aish! What a great time for my phone to hang! What am I going to do now?”

Instead of sympathising with her, Manager Park chuckled when he saw Ailee's growing frustration over what happened.

“Just go on stage now, it’ll be interesting to see how netizens react anyway!”

Ailee threw a glare at him, “Oppa! I’m serious here! What if Taeyang sunbaenim sees it…”

Manager Park shrugged, “You don’t have a choice anyway.”

“I do! Lend me your phone, please!”

She put out her hand in front of him with irresistible puppy eyes.

Manager Park shook his head, seemingly used to Ailee's little tricks and tactics. 

Firmly, he replied, “It’s time for you to perform now. Don’t delay the show. Go on now!”

Ailee stamped her feet like a child throwing a tantrum, devastated at the though of Taeyang viewing her negatively if he saw her tweet.

I should at least put it to the back of my mind for now and do well on stage for my fans, she thought, sighing as she stood up, then keeping her phone that has failed her.

Putting on her in ear monitor, Ailee headed for the stage. 

Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as she thought. After all, she was going to see her fans on stage, where she felt was happiest at.

ღ

Being the last performer for the show, Ailee crossed her fingers as the MCs came back on stage to announce the winner of the week.

She was already deeply grateful in her heart to be nominated through votes by her fans.

“This week’s number one is…Ailee! Congratulations!”

The votes tallied and the MCs of show champion announced as confetti rained from above.

Taking the trophy into her hands, Ailee bowed and thanked her fans.

In her mind, she contemplated about whether she should mention about the twitter issue, but she decided it would be better to keep a low profile on it.

“I would like to thank all the seniors for making great songs and giving me inspiration! I will continue working hard!” Ailee added as a blush crept up her cheeks, thanking the seniors on the surface but also indirectly thanking Taeyang in her heart.

She decided that this trophy would not only be dedicated to her fans, but also to Taeyang.

Today, Taeyang’s juniors, WINNER, performed as well...would he, by any chance, be watching?

Ailee shook her head in embarrassment at her own thought and reminded herself, whether or not Taeyang was watching, she would be doing this for him!

She turned to look straight at the camera with confidence.

"Just like Taeyang sunbaenim,” Ailee continued through the mic as she smiled the brightest she could, “rather than becoming the best, I want to be a singer with meaning!”

| END |