Superstar

You were sitting a few rows away from the stage at the MAMA Awards. Your body trembled in fear as you awaited the category. You had been nominated for an award for your latest single release.

For the night, you decided to bring your entourage for support. Your manager sat on your right, seemingly occupied with his phone more than the show. On the opposite side, you had brought your closest friend. She spent most of the night gushing away about most of the male idols as they passed your row on the way to receive their awards.

“Next up, we have the award for Best Female Idol – Solo category…” the presenter announced. You felt your muscles clench and your heart felt as if it were about to come pounding out of your chest. Instinctively, you looked at your support group. Your manager looked up from his phone and offered you a small smile, mumbling “good luck” in a professional whisper. You turned to your friend, who sensed your heightened nervousness and gripped your hand supportively. “You worked your butt off on your music this year, Y/N. You are sure to win!” With her other hand, she made a small fist and smiled lovingly.

“I hope you’re right,” you replied. As the presenters went through each of the names for the other women in the category, you felt your breath getting caught tighter in your chest. The competition was fierce; could you win?

“And the award goes to…” They ripped open the envelope and studied the result. You leaned forward, all senses alerted, waiting.

“Y/N!” chorused the presenters together. All three of you jumped out of your seats, your bodies running purely off the satisfaction that you had won. Your manager pulled you back into a death grip like hug, shaking you about from all the excitement. He seemed to pull away and return to his professional demeanor almost immediately after hearing the metallic clang of his phone dropping to the ground. You turned around and quickly hugged your friend, who too took to a hulk-like grip like your manager and jumped wildly.

You made your way up to the stage to accept your award. After taking your award, you approached the microphone for your ten-second speech. Your hand closed itself over your mouth, unable to find the words. By the time the crowd quieted down, the words seemed to reappear.

“I will keep this very brief. I’d like to thank my entertainment family, my manager, my friends, family…and most of all; I’d like to thank my fans. Without any of you, I would not have made it to this stage tonight. So, again, thank you.” You bowed. You allowed yourself to be escorted off stage by the presenters and behind the stage.

Almost as soon as you were surrounded by the covertness of the backstage, you felt tears spurting from your eyes. It seemed the shock of winning had not set in until then.

“Y/N,” one of the presenters said to you, “It’s time for your congratulatory photo.”

You held up a finger at them kindly, speaking weakly. “Can I have a moment?”

Seeming to sense your nervousness, they nodded. “Two minutes.”

You rushed off to the nearest bathroom to fix yourself. After a few minutes of giving yourself a pep talk about how hard you worked to get there and reminder about how beautiful you looked tonight, the tears stopped. Exiting the bathroom covertly, you went to find the presenters.

Darkness seemed to stretch vastly across the backstage and as you wandered. You were clueless about the never-ending lines of cable strung across the floor. Heels also weren’t your forte. You and the trophy fell to the ground as you tripped over wire.

The pain did not seemed to hurt you as much as the embarrassment that flooded your face, hoping no one saw. You searched for your award.

“Are you ok?” It was a soft melodic voice that asked the question. You looked up and could see his short, yet tailored form outlined by a few of the work lights; he was looking at you.

You nodded small-like, but then remembered that he probably couldn’t see you as well in the darkness. You answered “ne” in reply.

He held out his hand; you took it. As he pulled you up, you felt something of a sharp jolt in your right ankle as you moved to fully stand. Your weight suddenly dropped. Almost like a superhero, his other arm reached around you, locking your bodies in an embrace.

Close to his chest, his cologne teased your senses. He smelled like fresh linen and pine; innocent, yet powerful. You could also hear his heartbeat and…it was hammering?

Seeming to sense your questioning mind, he pulled you up all the way until you reached that standing position again. That was when you were able to get a good look at one another and realized.

“You’re Kyungsoo.” Your voice came out hardly above a whisper.

“Y/N.” His answer was almost as breathy as yours and his lips apart grew ten miles wide, showing his wolfish smile.

He bowed surprising you. “Congratulations.”

You had almost questioned him, but then quickly sobered. “Thank you.” You quickly rushed to offer him something in return. Noticing he was dressed in what appeared to be the outfit from EXO’s most recent release, you realized he was about to perform. “Good luck on your performance.”

He replied with a breathy “thank you,” before that gleaming smile of his returned. You felt stupid standing there, studying his features as your tried to think also of a topic of conversation to talk to him more.

“So, what are you doing after the show?” You felt the overcoming urge to smack yourself at that question; way to not seem like a stalker.

He laughed from shyness. “The guys and I having a congratulatory dinner.”

“Cool.” You pushed a strand of hair behind your ear and pretended to look elsewhere, not wanting to seem weird for staring at him so much.

D.O. seemed to mimic your shyness before asking about your plans. You told him about the after party that your company would most likely have for all their idols tonight and how you would most likely have to make an appearance or else your manager would blow up your phone wondering where you were.

“Would you like to maybe join me—I mean, us—after? After you make your appearance?” The way he stumbled over his words made your heart melt. You were working your way up to spurting out a “yes” to the dinner invite when you heard your name being called. It was the photographer; D.O.’s group mates were calling him too.

You signaled one more minute from the photographer, then turned back to D.O. who was waiting expectantly for an answer. “I’d love to,” you replied. Thinking the beam on his face couldn’t get any wider; it did at your acceptance. His spontaneous hug also took you by surprise as he pressed you close to his warm body. You could feel his thundering heart again.

“I’ll see you after the show then,” he said before jogging past you to the rest of EXO who were spilling out onto the stage for their song.

Thankfully this time, your body did not succumb to tears after the shock of D.O.’s affection. You felt the urge to clap your hands and shout, however you only did the former.

“Y/N,” called the photographer once again, bringing you back to reality. You remembered your award. Picking it up from the floor, you managed to make your way over to him and flash an authentic smile for your photo; all while thinking of the dinner invite and D.O.’s flashing smile.