"He's always been into women," Tianyu says with a grin that splits his face in half. "Too much, if you ask me. Tell me, Kai, how did one manage to lock you all the way down?"
I forget I'm pretending not to be in a relationship. "She's perfect. Why would I want anything else when she's everything I ever wanted?"
"Aha! Itoldyou he had a girlfriend." Dima grimaces as Tianyu holds his hand out and gestures rudely at him. "Pay up, sucker."
The fact that they're betting on my love life shouldn't surprise me, but I assumed that they'd grown up some while I was gone. I see some things never change.
"Hey, you guys, ten minutes to stage," Somchai reminds us, just as his stylist puts the finishing touches on his uniform. We all look like the old us, kings of the stage from a foreign land who worked damn hard to get where we are now. "Hurry up and get ready."
Jihoon perks up as he falls in line beside his leader, ever the eager puppy. "Hey, why don't we all go out after the show for a meal, catch up? It's been so long?—"
Somchai glares at him, and it silences the man, making him curl in on himself. I don't think he's against a family meal after the performance, so much as he's against the idea of me being there, too. He won't say it, though.
I will, though. "I dunno if I still qualify as a real part of this family, Jihoon."
Before he can get an answer out to that, we're being whisked onstage, and just like that, it's all muscle memory and flashing abs and the roar of the crowd.
I search the crowd for my girl, and I find her front and center, wearing a smile to rival the brightest rays of the sun. She wags her fingers at me, from her lap, and then she's out of sight as the choreography takes me to the other side of the stage.
For now.
"Wow, man! I can't believe you actuallydidit! The upside-down hang in the cage? You used to refuse to do that move, but tonight? Wow. Just wow."
Jihoon pats me on the back as we all shuffle out of the dressing room once more, wearing the attire we came in. Everyone's riding the high of the performance, and I'm no different. But unlike the others, the only thing it makes me want to do is find Denali and celebrate. Not drag the night out with the others.
Somchai pulls me off to the side as the others walk ahead, oblivious to the two of us falling behind. His glare is still sharp and unhappy, but he's maybe less unhappy than before, and I start to realize it's a mask. He's playing hardass, just like I used to, to keep from cracking and saying something to show his true feelings.
"You did good out there on the stage," he admits, poking his tongue into the inside of his cheek as he works up the words he wants to say. "I know I said some things over the years that made you feel like I wasn't happy with you, and I wasn't, but I was justupset that you could leave us like that and never look back. It felt like you didn't care about the others at all."
He has no idea the real reason behind my abrupt departure and career change all those years ago, mostly because I never told him. "You know, there was a scandal. It wasn't anything special, but it was big enough that the company didn't want it to taint the group and damage their chances of hitting it big with us. So they told me I had two choices—get married, which was the demand the blackmailer made, or leave the group. And I'll be damned if I give in to someone else's demands. So I did what was best for the group, trying to give you all your best shot, and the company helped launch me in Japan with some talent agencies looking for actors." It's not my proudest moment, and until now I've never told anyone the story behind leaving, but if anyone deserves to hear the truth, it's Somchai.
After all, he's the one who begged me not to go, and the one I hurt the most when I left.
"Was she pregnant?" She meaning the blackmailer.
"I think so. But I never slept with her. She ended up roping in some other idol two years later with a new baby, but I doubt it was his, either. Or if it was, he got really unlucky. Her first wasn't mine; they tested her, but by then it was too late. I'd already made the shift, and the company had already taken my resignation." It was a shame, too. They actually came back to me and asked me to rejoin the group, said they'd make something up, but there was no way something like that wouldn't have destroyed what little credibility the group had overall.
"You've always been a part of this family, I hope you know that," he says with a hand on my shoulder, his face dropping the mask he's worn since I walked in. I assume he didn't want me there, and I would have sworn I was right, but now? Now it feels like there was more to it, that maybe he just wasn't ready to see me again and face his own feelings about it. "Jihoon won't shutup about how much he misses the good old days, when we were all together all the time. Why don't you come to the team dinner, with us, as a family again?"
The offer is tempting, but I've got Denali waiting for me. "I—shit, that's a hell of an offer, Sommy," I break out his old nickname, testing it out on my tongue as he grimaces like he always has when I use it. "But I've got a girl waiting on me."
In fact, she's right there at the end of the hallway, and with a wave and a smile, she heads my way, her feet flying as she launches herself at me with a giggle of pure joy.
I catch her, because I'd be a fool not to, and plant a kiss on her lips—a brief one, so my bandmates don't tease me too hard for it.
"You guys wereamazing!"She's seen me perform so many times it's hard to believe she'd think this one time was any more special than the last, but the way her eyes sparkle as she looks up at me and grins has my heart beating a little faster. "Thecages!Oh, my god, it was wild. You should have heard the crowd?—"
"They always do like the cage performance. It's one of our most demanded shows of all time," Tianyu tells her, appearing over her left shoulder like a sentinel. "And who areyou?"
I shoot him a warning glare, but he ignores it as she spins in my embrace and offers him her hand. "Oh, I'm Denali. I'm Kai's assistant—er, ah, his girlfriend."
She's still working on the titles thing. It's cute to watch her fuck it up sometimes.
Tianyu doesn't give her any quarter just because she's mine or she's a girl. "Oh, so it's like that, huh? What was it about this fool that convinced you to give him a shot? Did you have to brain him with a skillet to get him to listen, and maybe shook some of his brain cells back into place?"
Her laughter is contagious. "Oh, nothing like that. I just bossed him around. Apparently, Kai likes that sort of thing."
This starts up a whole new round of teasing at my expense. I'm thrilled that they like her, but I can't wait to get her alone. A plan that's dashed against the rocks the minute Johoon opens his mouth and asks about the team dinner.
