by J. S. Lee
I stopped in front of Youngbin to give him the last bottle. His hands briefly wrapped around mine as he took it from me. “Thank you,” he said, softly.
Tempted as I was to lecture him on going easy on everyone, I refrained. Instead I bobbed my head, then returned to the other side of the room. Sungmin hurried over, looking worried. “You can’t do things like that,” he told me.
“Look at them,” I said. “I don’t know what was asked in that last interview, but the mood changed – for the worse. Before that, they were upbeat and lively, despite how hard they had been working this morning. All I did was give them a sugar boost. A natural sugar boost.”
“What you did was act too familiar with them.”
“I what?” I asked, tilting my head as I stared at Sungmin in disbelief.
“You have to understand, at places like this, where people can see you, you must maintain a distance.”
I continued staring at him. He was acting like I’d been all over them.
Well, I had, but I’d at least had the sense to do that behind a closed door.
“Interaction should be minimal. It’s far too easy for someone to misunderstand and there’s enough going on with Onyx at the moment,” he instructed me. He didn’t give me an opportunity to respond as he strode away to supervise the interview more closely. Then again, I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
I also hadn’t had the opportunity to ask him what the question had been, and why everyone had seemed distressed about it. They’d been asked about CX joining the group in Japan. An announcement had gone out about Xiao and his visa – so why the discomfort? I sighed, pushing the thoughts from my mind and returned my attention to taking photographs.
The afternoon passed quickly. A light snack was provided to us about an hour before the show, and then it was time for the guys to get changed and have their makeup touched up. Remembering Sungmin’s warning, I decided being back there was not a good idea, and instead went out front to the stage.
I was getting a weird vibe again. There were about twenty minutes before the show started, and the venue didn’t seem as lively as the other two had been.
“It’s China,” I said to myself as I started taking photographs of the crowd. “They’re probably just more reserved.”
And then the lights dimmed, and my gut told me this show wasn’t going to be anything like the previous ones.
제 13 장
Shock
The crowd erupted into a half-assed cheer. Instead of focusing on the stage, my attention was on the audience. With the lights on the audience off, it was easier to see the crowd with their light sticks. At both the Seoul and Osaka concerts, almost everyone in the venue had one. Here, the numbers were halved. I wasn’t concerned about that, seeing as they weren’t cheap and nor were the tickets.
What concerned me was that there were less of them because there was less of an audience. I tried to remain rational. The tickets were expensive. It was just before Chinese New Year. Both factors were enough for it not to be a sold-out venue.
But the audience was reacting differently. The seated section at the back seemed the most enthusiastic. They were cheering and dancing, holding hand-made signs in the air. It was the standing section that was… off. Their screams, especially in front of where I was, seemed forced. It was hard to put my finger on it.
I climbed up onto a slight raised area: they were all around the stage and were for security to use to assess the crowd, but I’d been using them to help with my angles. That was when I realized what was off. This section, and it was maybe forty people only, weren’t participating in the fan chants.
It still didn’t seem enough that I should be worrying about it, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in my belly.
I moved to the other side of the stage. There was a similar group of fans doing the same thing there too…
I turned back to Onyx. As far as I could tell, they hadn’t noticed. Like Osaka, you couldn’t tell they had been practicing for all hours. They looked amazing, even if Xiao wasn’t there. Even Youngbin and JongB were getting the moves correct, and they didn’t seem quite so awkward.
Onyx finished the song they had been performing, grabbed a bottle of water, then congregated in the center of the stage to address the audience. Starting with the group greeting, they moved onto individual introductions, each doing it in Chinese. Whatever weirdness the audience had been showing disappeared as they screamed loudly at each member.
Until they got to CX.
The group in front of me booed.
It wasn’t the whole stadium, and I could still hear way more cheers and screams than boos, but it was still loud enough to be noticeable from the stage.
My mouth fell open, and I looked straight at CX as he faltered over his name.
MinMin, who was right beside him, draped his arm around him, giving him a reassuring squeeze, but it was Jiwon who reacted first with a “Ya!”
Youngbin quickly jumped in. “This is our younger brother. Please show him some love!” The two small groups booed once more as the translator did his job.
It was a good thing there was a barrier between me and them, but I was so close to doing a flying leap off it into the crowd. They were making my blood boil.
MinMin, still with his arm around CX, raised his mic and asked the group of ‘fans’ a question. I had no idea what it was as it was asked in Chinese, but whatever the response was, he looked furious. He turned to the others, translating it back to them. Then, after responding to the group ‘fans’ with a look of disgust, he stepped in front of CX, facing him as he placed both of his hands on CX’s shoulders. If I had to guess, he was telling the maknae to ignore them.
I could see Youngbin nodding his approval at him, then he turned his back to the audience to address his group without the audience seeing. Only when the rest of Onyx nodded did he return to his spot on the end. After that, they continued like nothing was wrong.
Or most of them did. I could tell CX was still upset. His eyes were full of hurt, even though he was doing his best to seem unaffected. He was also giving very short, brief answers.
As the concert progressed, things were getting more tense on stage. Three of Onyx’s songs had fan chants where the members names were called out, and in each one, because that small group of ‘fans’ close to the stage were shouting so loudly, there was a noticeable drop in volume when it came to CX’s name.
CX, to give him his credit, never missed a cue, note, or step. He had lost his smile completely, but the grim determination on his face was there. On the few conversations they had, CX kept his attention on the back of the room.
The one who did fuck up, surprisingly, was Youngbin.
There was a moment during one of the ballads where CX was singing, and someone in the crowd screamed something at him. It took me a second to process it was Korean they had been shouting, and if my translation was correct (and given the expression on Youngbin’s face, I was right), that person had yelled “I hate you!” at him.
CX carried on, never missing a second of the song, but Youngbin had looked like he was going to dive into the crowd and fight someone. Because his attention was on trying to see who had shouted, he missed a step, defaulting to the routine for when Xiao was there. He only just avoided punching MinMin in the face.
After that, it went downhill for Youngbin. Somehow, he managed to never mess the singing up, but every dance after that, he was wrong at least three times in each. I’d realized pretty quickly that Youngbin always had an intense expression when he danced. It was focused, but he was also carrying the tone of the song. Today, the only thing I saw was anger.
He wasn’t alone. Every single one of the other members were showing signs of stress during the whole of the performance. MinMin was upset. Jiwon was disappointed. JongB was hovering somewhere between shock and disbelief, as though he couldn’t understand how the audience could be so negative.
And CX?
CX had a blank
expression for most of it. He had the ability to hide his feelings with a poker face.
I could also tell that they were all trying their utmost to ignore the assholes, because they were still carrying on with the show, trying to put on the best concert they could for everyone else who had come to see and support them.
I admired them for that.
I mean, I wanted to dive into those two small groups and rip out their throats. Aside from it forever ruining my career and landing me in a Chinese prison, I refrained from doing that because I was sure Youngbin would be right behind me.
By the end of the show, I could see that Onyx wanted to get out of there. They plastered smiles on their faces, waving at the fans at the back, but I could tell they were forced when it came to those at the front.
I didn’t stick around. As soon as Onyx left the stage, so did I, hurrying into the back and to the green room. Everyone was gathering their things in an unnerving silence. Before I could step inside, Sungmin stepped in front of me, leading me back to the corridor.
“We’re going straight to the airport,” Sungmin informed me. “During the show, I switched us out to an earlier flight.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” I agreed. Frankly, I’d have spent six hours at the airport, waiting, if it meant that we could avoid the ‘fans’ who were behaving like dicks, and spare some pain for the guys.
“Holly said I should trust you,” Sungmin continued. “And I need to ask a favor of you.”
I nodded slowly, concerned as to why he thought he couldn’t. “Of course.”
“I need to stay here. There are still things I need to clear up, and I could only get seven seats on the earlier flight. Can you go with Onyx and Won Ina and get Onyx to the airport? You speak better English than Ina.”
Ina was the makeup artist and she didn’t speak a word of English. She was, however, excellent at rounding up Onyx. “I can do that,” I agreed. “When do we need to leave.”
“As soon as they are ready. I can guarantee you they will not be long.”
I didn’t doubt that for one moment.
Sungmin hurried off. He had been gone maybe only ten minutes before Youngbin opened the door, his expression grim. I took one look at him, and the rest of the group behind him, before I shook my head. “No,” I said, firmly. I put my hands on his chest, pushing him backwards.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
I managed to get him back in the room, and stood in front of the door, my arms folded as I blocked them from leaving.
“Kate, we just want to get out of here,” JongB said. He sounded exhausted, but he looked defeated.
“And I get that. I know Sungmin has changed the flights and we need to go to the airport soon, but you guys can’t go out looking like that. You’re still in the same outfits you were wearing on stage.”
“So?” Youngbin said, folding his arms and glowering back at me. “There is one shower and we don’t all have the time to use it.”
“I know,” I said, nodding my agreement. “And that’s not my concern.” OK, that wasn’t completely my concern. The idea of five sweaty men sitting around in those clothes, while being trapped in a bus, plane, and a bus again, for around five or six hours was not appealing. However… “It doesn’t matter if we leave now or in a few hours’ time like originally planned. You are going to get photographed. If you go out wearing the clothes you performed in, you’re either going to look like you’re trying to run away, or that you’re upset, or both. Or worse,” I shrugged. “You had clothes that you wore to get here. At the very least throw them on, then walk out with your heads held high, because that concert was not an easy one, but all of you did such an amazing job. None of you should even begin to hint that you feel otherwise.”
Youngbin stared at me, then he turned to the others. “She’s right.” He turned back to me, and I gave him a small smile. He arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to stand there and watch us undress?”
If that had been JongB, I would have had a very different response to the one I gave Youngbin. “I’ll be right outside,” I informed him, before exiting the dressing room.
But not without one sneaky peak at Jiwon who was already pulling his top off. Judge all you want, I was not missing that opportunity!
I stared at the closed door, wondering if it was too late to offer Youngbin money to stay in that room with them.
A few minutes passed, and the door reopened. Sadly, all five of them were changed. “Let’s get to the airport,” I said.
We hurried outside to where Ina was loading some of the cases onto the minibus. She started babbling at me, and I stared at her blankly. She was going far too fast, and there was more vocabulary in there than I had learned.
“She has repacked our cases so that we have some clothes for all of us. Because there’s only two of you, she wants to keep the baggage down to carry-on only, so we don’t have to wait at the other side,” JongB said, swooping in and helping me out.
That made sense. I nodded my approval and helped her load the few smaller cases onto the minibus as she explained the situation to Onyx. After making sure someone would put the other cases on the second minibus, I focused on getting us out of there.
There were a few fans waiting for us outside of the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, but they all seemed nice enough. Onyx waved at them, but their interaction was limited as Ina and I ushered them into the minibus.
The drive to the airport was awful. Outside of the minibus wasn’t the problem. Despite the rain, it was late enough at night that the trip to the airport was smooth and we didn’t hit any traffic. Inside the minibus, the atmosphere was palpable. No one was talking. No one was smiling. No one was even looking at their phones. Instead, everyone seemed to be staring sullenly out of the window.
I was in the same boat. Despite the fact my fingers were itching to check social media, I resisted. If I came across one bad post, I knew I was going to react explosively, and everyone was already upset enough if they were avoiding it. Instead I tried to distract myself by paying attention to the Chinese drivers. So far, I’d learned that, when in China, if you didn’t want to have a nervous breakdown, you didn’t pay any attention to the other crazy, crazy drivers on the road.
Things improved slightly at the airport. There was only a small group of fans waiting and they reacted to Onyx both politely and positively. Nonetheless, Ina and I checked in and got us through security as quickly as possible. On the other side, I could feel the tension lift as myself, Ina and Onyx seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
By the time we had done with security and immigration – checking out of the country – we only had an hour to spare. Unfortunately, because it was now nearly two in the morning, most places were closed. On the flip side, it seemed much quieter than when we had landed.
The airline we were flying with had a private waiting room (for those prepared to pay, and thankfully, Sungmin had paid), so we went in there. My stomach was already complaining, so I was surprised that none of Onyx seemed to be hungry considering how much energy they had used on the stage. Then again, they were all slumped against each other on the comfortable seats.
I sank into a chair and rubbed my face wearily. I was looking forward to a shower and my bed. The best thing about getting the earlier flight was that we might actually get some sleep tonight. The concert in Hong Kong was in less than eighteen hours.
An announcement that boarding was beginning brought me out of my trance. We’d only been sitting for half an hour, and already all of us seemed exhausted. Forget Hong Kong – I was sleeping on the plane!
We all stood and started to walk to the gate when Youngbin said something which made my heart skip a beat. And not in a good way.
“Where’s CX?”
We stopped and looked at each other, then the immediate vicinity. I couldn’t see him anywhere. “Call him,” I said.
MinMin was already on the phone, but he shook his head. “It keeps going to voicemai
l.”
Ina looked like she was going to cry.
I sucked in a deep breath. “MinMin, you and Jiwon go to the bathroom. I’m sure he went to use the facilities and is on his way back. We have twenty minutes before the gate closes. It’s plenty of time. There’s no need to worry.” I gave them all a reassuring smile. “I wouldn’t answer my phone on the toilet either. Just, don’t turn yours off,” I added.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Youngbin asked as MinMin and Jiwon disappeared.
“I’d offer to go myself, or send Ina, but we’d have a problem as soon as we got to the bathroom. Besides, I sent them together. They seem responsible enough not to get lost,” I said, winking at JongB. I was trying to make light of the situation, but I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wasn’t going to end well.
It didn’t take long for MinMin and Jiwon to return – without CX.
“Now what?” Youngbin demanded.
제 14 장
M.I.A
I looked at the gate. They had made good time in boarding people. Then I turned my attention to the surrounding area. We had lucked out with no fans watching us, but I had a feeling that luck wasn’t going to last for long either.
“You guys get on the plane. At least there, you can’t be photographed. I’ll go look for CX, and we’ll meet you on there.” Ina looked mortified at that when JongB translated for me. “Four of you on the flight is better than five missing it. If we don’t get on in time, we will get the next flight, or we will wait for Sungmin and the others to arrive,” I shrugged. “CX is probably just worse than JongB for getting lost.”
“Give me your phone,” JongB said, holding his hand out. I did as requested and he typed a number in, then his phone rang. “I have your number and you have mine.” He glanced down at his. “You have ten minutes. Just call with an update.”