Behind The Scene

"It's Chris... He is... breaking up with me"

This sentence, voiced by Kai about a minute ago, is still resonating in the silence of the dressing room. Chris has been—I mean, was—Kai's boyfriend for the past three years.

Before jumping right into the heart-breaking moment that might follow, let me give you a bit of backstory about those two former lovers. Not so surprisingly, they met in their first year of high school, when Chris moved to the island. And, to be honest, they haven't really parted ways since. In fact, this trip to Korea is the longest and farthest away they have ever been since they got together. After a year as best friends, their relationship evolved without much problem; words were not needed between them. Well, at least that's what the Hawaiian thought.

Now, you might recall me saying that none of the group of five ever had a fulfilling relationship of any sort. Well, I obviously lied. But please understand that it was a needed lie for the sake of this huge reveal (irony).

But anyway, back to our not-so-lovebirds. Kai had always had problems with his overprotective family, and Chris was the only one who could convince his mom to allow him to go on that exchange program. They were like soulmates, even though their personalities were almost polar opposites. Kai the ENFP, and Chris the ENFJ, often had a hard time agreeing on moral questions. The brown-haired has always been the type to go with the flow, and that was far from being the case for his boyfriend. But this couldn't be the reason for him to end their relationship, right? Right?

"- Do you want to call him? I can cover for you, Arya asks, interrupting the train of thoughts of the short-haired.

- I'd be grateful if you could yes"

Not giving time for anyone to answer back, Kai disappears behind the curtains. Left alone with the three singers, Arya tries her best not to let her anxiety shows. She has to stay professional no matter what, while convincing the young men not to report her friend's break.

"- I'm sorry for all of this

- It's okay, don't worry; answers Heesung right away."

Seeing the troubled look on the Indian's face, he adds

"We won't say anything, I promise. Right guys?"

Jake and Sunoo, on the other side of the room, nod with a smile, allowing Arya to relax.

"- Thank you guys, I owe you one.

- I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to repay. Let's pick up where we left off, should we ?"

The black-haired smirk not reassuring her at all, the young woman chooses to ignore this last sentence and focus on the costume she still has to put on him.

"Please don't move, or else I'll be helping Sunoo first. It's getting really frustrating."

_________________________________________________________________________

Going back and forth in the small storage room, Kai has been trying to call his now-ex-boyfriend for the past five minutes in vain. After another three minutes of restlessly clicking on the "call" button on his phone, the long-awaited Chris finally answers.

"- Hello Kai

- "Hello Kai?" That's all you have to say to me, Bain Christopher?"

The Hawaiian's only answer is the silence on top of the quiet breath of his interlocutor. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally hears the man.

"- Listen, I wanted to wait for you to come back here to talk it out, but I don't think I can do it anymore.

- We can still talk about it, Chris. What is the matter? What should I do? Please don't leave me...

- We are just too different Kai. I have tried to understand you for the past three years, but I have come to the conclusion that the two of us can't be a thing in the long run. We always fight over trivial matters, and I am just too tired for this.

- Don't say that; I'm sure we can make it work. I promise to do everything in my power to make it work.

- You know it isn't that easy. You just can't change for the life of you, and I just can't put up with it.

- ...

- You will find someone one day; you're a nice guy. Goodbye Kai."

Beep Beep

"Chris..."

Letting himself fall next to the wall, he starts to cry. His only reason to keep going in life is now gone, and nothing means anything anymore. He might as well stay in this small room forever; people might not even notice that he is missing.

________________________________________

Still busy with the three idols, Arya can't seem to focus as she takes a look at her watch. Almost half an hour has gone by already, and Kai is still not back. A nanosecond away from going to look for her friend, her eyes meet Jake's. The latter, who has been waiting since his turn was done, simply nods and disappears behind the curtains, just as the Hawaiians did thirty minutes ago.

Now the hard part is to find Kai in the immensity of the building. He could be anywhere. Thinking as hard as possible as to where he would go if he needed some time alone, he first heads to the parking lot right behind the fashion area. No one.

"Think better than that, Jake, for God's sake."

He finally realizes that the storage room might be the perfect place. When he opens the door, here he is, sitting down, his head on his knees, tears falling down his cheeks. Trying not to scare the young man away, he slowly makes his way next to him and sits down as well. Not saying anything; he just slowly and quietly puts a hand on the brown-haired's shoulders. Kai raises his head, startled by the sudden contact, his eyes directly in front of Jake's ones.

"- What are you doing here? he asks, wiping his tears away.

- Arya was worried, so I came to look for you. And it looks like I was right to do. Are you okay ?

- You can go back; I need to be alone."

The Australian responds with a soft smile before standing up.

"I understand. If you need to talk, you know where to find me."

He then walks slowly to the door, and as he pulls it open, he hears behind him.

"Wait ! You... You can stay if you want."

Closing the door he just opened, Jake goes back to where he was sitting a few seconds ago. He doesn't have time to say anything before Kai begins to explain everything that occurred between Chris and him.

The brown-haired, whose hand went back to the other brown-haired's shoulder, listens religiously, asking questions here and there to be sure to understand everything.

After more than twenty minutes of telling his story, Kai stops, staring into the void. Against his will, his eyes get watery again, and tears start falling as if he wasn't dehydrated enough. Not sure as to what he should do in this situation, Jake instinctively opens his arms in a gesture to hug the young man sitting beside him. And so they just sit here, hugging each other, not saying anything; not having to.

____________________

Now left alone with Heesung as Sunoo left right after he was done(as expected, the former wasn't able to stop moving so the pink-haired went first) and Jake & Kai are still nowhere to be seen, Arya feels like the dark-haired is testing her patience.

"What exactly are you trying to achieve by annoying the shit out of me like this?"

Heesung simply shrugs his shoulders as an answer, not giving our protagonist any room to breath.

"- I swear to God, you're a kid. Now you better stay still before I send you out. We'll see if you still smile like this if your clothes don't fit you on the day of the filming.

- Everything always suit me, I don't think you need to worry about that"

After sighing for the umpteenth time, Arya simply points to the way out, making the Korean understand that he has reached the limits. Looking back and forth at the curtains and the young woman, he quickly runs next to her, taking her arm in his hand with a playful, implorant smile.

"- I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I will not move anymore, I promise.

- You better" 

Hello and welcome back to "Behind the Scene" 

In this chapter (short yes I know, I told you to give up on longer ones) a little of backstory for one of our MC ! 

Hope you liked it and see you next time  ~