Siwoo, who had stopped walking in one corner of the waiting room, stood facing the corner and closed both eyes. Then he began to draw the stage movement lines and choreography in his head.
After starting activities with the music video reaction. Honestly, even he couldn’t tell what state of mind he was enduring with. He didn’t remember how he ate lunch after the reaction ended, or what he ate for dinner even after checking the final group dance together in the practice room.
As soon as he returned to the dorm, he took his sleep inducer. Ignoring even Evan’s gaze looking at him, he entered his room and pulled the blanket over himself.
And when he opened his eyes this morning, Evan was beside him. He saw him sleeping soundly in the spot next to him, but even that didn’t come as a big shock.
In a half-asleep state of mind, he arrived at the shop and it took 2 hours just to create the makeup and hair.
The pre-recording would start shortly. And after resting briefly, the live broadcast.
His heart was pounding, and everything felt hazy. With his eyes closed, he muttered the song with his mouth and both fingertips moved bit by bit according to the choreography points.
It was truly a stage after a long time for Siwoo.
If he thought of it as a group rather than a solo artist, it was even more distant. A place where he could hear the fans’ voices, though small compared to other singers. Heavy makeup and similarly coordinated outfits. The atmosphere of the waiting room bustling with members and staff approached him unfamiliarly.
Everything was ambiguous whether this was reality or the past.
“Haa……”
Even though he had practiced so much, even though it was choreography completely ingrained in his body, his whole body trembled with anxiety that he might forget it. His one small mistake would affect all the team members. His fingertips, which had been moving while recalling the choreography, gathered together, and before he knew it, his two hands were clenched into fists with great force.
The rehearsal just now had been successful too. Since it was a pre-recording, if a big problem occurred, they could film again.
So it’s okay. He can do well. He just needs to do it like he has been until now.
It’s okay. It’s okay. Everything will be okay. He won’t slip, his feet won’t get tangled.
“Dummy.”
While thinking of numerous variables that could occur in his head and repeating to himself that all of it would be okay, Siwoo stopped the words he had been muttering into his mouth at the warmth embracing him.
“Just be honest, you can do well. If you make a mistake, you can do it again. The most important thing is not getting hurt. You just need to not get hurt.”
At Evan’s voice whispering affectionately while embracing him from behind, the trembling gradually subsided. The negative thoughts that had filled his head also gradually faded. When he was with him, everything seemed like it would be okay. He didn’t know for what reason or what belief, but he really felt like he could do everything well just as Evan said.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on stage……”
When he slowly breathed in, the peppermint scent approached thickly. Then when he naturally breathed out, the thick scent subsided.
“I’ll say it again, you just need to not get hurt. If it seems dangerous, stop the choreography anytime.”
At Evan’s touch embracing him from behind, Siwoo had to slowly turn his body, and faced Evan instead of the wall.
“I will.”
“Be careful not to lose your balance in the intro part.”
“Yeah.”
“Come down the stairs carefully.”
“Got it.”
“At the ending, definitely release the strength from your body.”
At Evan’s words, who had slightly lowered his upper body to match eye level with Siwoo, Siwoo nodded his head and sometimes answered while closing his eyes long and opening them.
Strangely, Evan seemed to read his emotions. Just by hearing his voice, just by feeling his scent, Siwoo could find his composure.
“Our Coco listens well, I’ll have to give you a reward later.”
At the words as if soothing a young child, a bright smile appeared on Siwoo’s face that had been completely stiff, and finally a chuckling laugh flowed out.
“Siwoo. Did you put in your in-ear?”
At the voice of someone looking for him from afar, Siwoo raised both hands and lightly pushed the shoulders of Evan, who was right in front of him.
Who’s treating whom like a child? If you knew the time I’ve lived, you absolutely wouldn’t be like this.
Though he pushed while thinking inwardly, at Evan’s appearance not budging at all, Siwoo’s eyebrows twitched.
“Move. They’re looking for me.”
Saying that and pushing again, but as expected, Evan didn’t move aside from in front of him. One side of the spacious waiting room. Since it was a wall corner behind a partition, it was a space not easily noticeable.
Evan, who had been bending his body to match eye level until just now and then straightened up, was looking down at Siwoo with a displeased expression. It didn’t seem like he would easily move aside either.
“Where did Siwoo go? Did anyone see Siwoo?”
Among the murmuring people, a voice looking for Siwoo was heard.
Siwoo slightly raised his head to look up at Evan, then lightly grabbed the black shirt he was wearing. And pulled him lightly toward himself.
His body, which hadn’t moved an inch when pushed, moved easily, and now his proud face was right in front of his nose.
Siwoo’s smiling lips lightly touched Evan’s lips and then separated.
“You still won’t move aside even with this?”
When Siwoo deliberately exaggeratedly blinked his eyes and pushed his face in more, Evan hesitated and stepped back. And through the gap created that way, Siwoo’s small body slipped out.
“I’m here!”
Before Evan could catch Siwoo again, Siwoo, who answered loudly, disappeared beyond the partition. And Evan, left alone, pressed his forehead with one hand. Honestly speaking, Siwoo wasn’t the affectionate type. He wasn’t that friendly either.
It was Evan who spoke first and approached, and Siwoo, who was always in that place or stepping back little by little, only received him. When he came at him like this, Evan couldn’t do anything.
“Because of you, I won’t live out my natural lifespan.”
Though it wouldn’t reach Siwoo, Evan brought his forehead to the cold wall and muttered. He needed time for himself, whose body had heated up at a kiss as light as a feather, not even a deep kiss.
“I won’t live out my natural lifespan. You crazy bastard.”
With his forehead against the wall, Evan, who had been falling into self-loathing, couldn’t give any answer to Chan’s action of striking his back and saying harsh words without hesitation. Because he knew all too well why he was like that now.
“The members all know and turn a blind eye, but what are you going to do if you do this even outside?”
“Hyung knows too. That it can’t be controlled.”
“I’ll also subtly cover it on Sangjun on the way out.”
“I thought you’d say something, but you’re not.”
At Evan’s words, Chan snorted. How could he not know when they were showing it off like that? Siwoo seemed to be careful and didn’t express it, but Evan didn’t hide it at all. If you looked without knowing, they just seemed like close members, but if you knew about those thick pheromones buried on Siwoo, you absolutely couldn’t say that.
How could he not know when he’d openly marked him as mine? Even if Sangjun was a beta so he wouldn’t know, seeing that innocent Yechan had run to him in surprise, there was nothing to say.
Not somewhere else, but in the entertainment industry where there were many alphas and omegas. Though everyone inside the waiting room now was beta, there was also an alpha right in the waiting room next door. He thought the PD was also an alpha, and anyway, just one step outside the waiting room and they could be caught by someone.
Or the moment an alpha or omega passing by this place felt the pheromones Evan had now buried on Siwoo, where was the secret? It would be a scandal that very day. So Chan and Yechan had to layer their pheromones on Siwoo, who was walking around ignorantly. And naturally they also buried their pheromones on Sangjun.
If they did this, they could at least hide in plain sight by thinking it must be the pheromones of fellow group members. It would be a bit easier to hide if it wasn’t only on Siwoo but also on Sangjun.
“At least it’s not one-way, right?”
“Does it look one-way to hyung’s eyes?”
The moment Chan saw Evan’s grinning face, he clenched his fist and tapped his shoulder. Look at this guy. Well, he’d even seen the two embracing and sleeping, so it was something he couldn’t mistake even if he tried. It was Siwoo and Evan who had absolutely never shared a bed with anyone since their trainee days.
Those two had been spending much longer time stuck together, and he had nothing to say since he had even encouraged them with ‘Hope to Get Close.’
“I don’t know.”
“Hyung. It’s a secret from Siwoo.”
“What?”
He was dumbfounded at Evan’s action of bringing his finger to his lips and going “shh.”
“Siwoo said he wants to secretly date, so please pretend not to know.”
“A secret relationship while showing it all off like this? Are you kidding? Even Yechan with his naive eyes knows everything now.”
“It’s fine as long as Siwoo doesn’t catch on that other people know. It’ll just be a public relationship that only Siwoo thinks is secret.”
“Ah… So noisy. If it affects our activities, I’ll kill you, so know that. And pheromones. A. Bit. A bit! Be careful. You hurry up and come out too and prepare to go on stage. The pre-recording starts soon.”
Chan, who had growled threateningly in a lowered voice, hit Evan’s forearm once more, but Evan only grinned cheekily.
Siwoo, touching the in-ear he was wearing after a long time, stepped on the stairs going up to the stage. And he climbed onto the platform in the center of the stage, and stood in front of the wings boasting an enormous size. Then the hands of the staff who came up following him quickened. He slipped his arms into the black, long jacket with wings attached. Siwoo’s stage costume was all covered by the jacket.
At first, he had to be wearing the wings. After all preparations were finished, Siwoo closed his eyes.
When he felt the space filled with small noises, his heart gradually began to beat faster.
It was the most nerve-wracking yet exciting time. That unique stillness right before the stage begins.
A strong spotlight brightened what was in front of his eyes.
And at the cheers bursting out simultaneously, Siwoo slowly opened his eyes. He spread wide open the two arms that had been wrapping his upper body. And as he slowly descended the stairs, the black jacket he was wearing ripped and Siwoo’s proper stage costume was revealed.
Black leather pants fitting tightly to his body and a fluttering white shirt of see-through material fluttered following Siwoo’s movements.
The moment he’d always dreamed of.
The clear song heard through the in-ear and the cheers layered behind it. A vibrant stage.
A smile gradually appeared on Siwoo’s mouth, which had been completely stiff.
