Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 133.2
Baek Jae-heon looked at me and laughed softly. As if to say it was okay, that it was truly okay. Then, he lowered his head and kissed me briefly. At that moment, the words I heard in the dream crossed my mind again. The words that the me back then, and the me right now, are both happy. Whether in my past life or right now, the fact that I ultimately made the choice to wait for someone and return to someone like this, even amidst the many times I wavered countless times, settled deep inside my heart. At least for this moment, any anxiety or fear was meaningless. Because I had already waited sufficiently, and I was being loved sufficiently.
“You waited, right?”
“I waited.”
***
Right before stepping onto the stage, my breath was rougher than I thought. Even though it was a moment I had experienced countless times, this comeback stage made my heart beat right next to my ears so noisily, and the tips of my fingers trembled minutely. Even though I had comforted myself several times saying it was okay, the tension seldom subsided. In the end, I opened my mouth first. Asking what I should do, saying that I am strangely so tense, and that my hands are trembling. I thought that if I brought it out into words, it would become a little lighter. Because it was like that in the past. However, this time it was different. While the words hovered in the air, far from disappearing, that tension weighed down on my body as if it had a physical form instead. Ah, I am truly trembling. It wasn’t that I wanted to run away, but the fact that the moment I cross this door, I must stand in the middle of everyone’s gazes again weighed down heavily.
“Ji Myeong-hyeon is cute?”
Right then, Joo I-rip approached while laughing with a face full of playfulness. He deliberately raised the end of his words lightly and nudged my shoulder as if swaggering, and somehow, my shoulders which had been stiff with tension seemed to relax at that single remark.
“Who said you could call him cute.”
However, before that composure could completely settle in, Baek Jae-heon immediately cut in from the side. His tone of voice was close to a grumble, and his expression was not particularly angry, nor was he laughing either. Baek Jae-heon playfully pushed Joo I-rip’s chest. An ambiguous gesture that was not hard, yet not completely devoid of strength either. Within the words telling him not to call me cute carelessly, something like wariness and jealousy was strangely mixed. It wasn’t serious, nor was it completely a joke either, it was a manner exactly like Baek Jae-heon.
Joo I-rip and I looked at Baek Jae-heon almost at the same time. Without a word, with the exact same expression. To the point where I wondered if a word like ‘disgust’ could suit anything better than this. Neither of us said anything, but that single expression was enough. A thought like ‘He’s starting again’ must have crossed both of our minds simultaneously. Even while receiving that gaze, Baek Jae-heon shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care at all. While that appearance was absurd, it strangely made my heart flutter a little. And whether he noticed that gaze of mine, Joo I-rip immediately turned that arrow of disgust toward me. He scans me with a somewhat mischievous look that was different from earlier. As if he saw everything, as if he knows everything. I became a bit embarrassed and avoided his gaze.
“YEARZ, going up now!”
Right then, the voice of a staff member was heard. Words asking us to step onto the stage. At that single remark, the surrounding air changed completely. The time that flowed like a joke ended, and reality became vivid once more. We naturally checked each other’s positions and headed toward the stage. The more we moved our steps, the louder our hearts beat, and the light at the entrance of the stage gradually drew closer.
And the moment we stepped onto the stage, the pouring cheers rushed in like a tidal wave. Rather than a noise that struck the ears, it was close to a vibration that wrapped around the entire body. I stopped in my tracks blankly. Because that shouting was so loud, and so familiar, reality became blurred for a split second instead. Even though it was a spot I had stood on countless times, at that flash where the lights turned on all at once and the sounds overlapped, I even forgot for a moment where I was standing right now, and the fact that I had stepped onto the stage again.
“Let’s go.”
Baek Jae-heon, who stood next to me, whispered to me, placing his hand on my back and nudging me forward slightly. Just like back then in the practice room when we were confirmed as members of YEARZ. At that single remark, my senses returned, and I nodded my head while smiling.
“Yeah!”
The moment I spat out that answer, a deep breath came in. As if flinging open a single door that had been locked for a long time, the inside of my chest brightened up. I was no longer stopped. Because I knew clearly where I was standing, and why I came all the way here.
If this were the end, it was a very good conclusion. However, strangely, it didn’t feel like the end. Rather, it felt as if it had only just properly begun now.
<End of Main Story>
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