Don't // kazuscara

1

"I don't need your favor,

I don't have much patience,

I can only see it as a temptation."

"Beidou, who's this caller?" Kazuha was scrolling mindlessly through Instagram after his recent solo performance before a phone call suddenly rang, forcibly dragging him back to reality from autopilot.

He flipped the phone screen towards the driver's seat, where Beidou was busy fixing her make-up to go see her girlfriend who had just come to visit Seoul for a business trip. Beidou wasn't good at handling make-up, so drawing her eye line had already taken her about half an hour.

She turned around, curious at Kazuha's question.

"I don't know, never seen this number before." She shrugged, flipping back towards the mirror to draw her eye line.

"Huh," Kazuha breathed, "might be a scam, but I'll save it."

"You save every number, Kazuha."

Kazuha let out a bitter laugh, "That's the downside about being an idol. You never know if your phone call is a scam or a hidden gem under a masquerade of numbers."

"Sure, kiddo. Keep talking in flowers." Beidou rolled her eyes, abruptly cursing after ruining her perfect eye line. She fondled everywhere for her make-up removal.

What should he save the number as? It's currently 4 P.M. in the evening in spring, fresh out of winter. It's cold.

He typed something into his phone,

Who is this? It's cold.

Contact Saved.

The number eventually got automatically hung up, he sighed as he scrolled through the countless contacts saved starting with 'Who is this?', because you never know what each number called you for. Most of them – he guesses – were scams, but some might be a mouthwatering deal that he can't afford to lose.

His thumb hovered over the Instagram app but decided to shut his phone off. After all, scrolling mindlessly through Instagram wasn't doing his craving for dopamine any favor. He dropped his head onto the seat pillow, staring blankly at the car ceiling. He wonders how long it'll take Beidou to finally finish her make-up and drive him home.

Drills of ringing blasted from his phone again, he wonders who it could be, for the second time.

Who is this? It's cold.

The username would flash across the screen.

Again? Is this a persistent scammer or a genuine phone call? He risks between the two.

"Beidou, the same number called again." He laughed nervously, finger hovering over the pick-up button.

"Maybe you should answer it?" Beidou suggested, finally closing the cap of her eyeliner. She dug in her makeup purse for something else.

"Um... maybe. Yeah." He convinced himself, tapping lightly on the green pick-up button.

He should expect an automated voice convincing him that his credit card had gotten leaked, or the crazy screams of a fan paying countless amounts of won just to get their hands on his number, or a delusional and desperate music company CEO inviting him to join their company.

"Um... hi," the stranger greeted, followed by breathy giggles.

"Oh, hi?" Kazuha replied, putting on his façade of politeness.

"Hello, I'm... um, The Balladeer."

The Balladeer? There had to be no way. It must be some crazy fan, pretending to be the Balladeer. It wasn't the first time he had replied to phone calls like this, most of them were from paranoid fans who were shipping him and the Balladeer to an unhealthy extent. He never minded the shipping happening around them, though. After all, he and the Balladeer had never met. Why, he even bets that the Balladeer had never acknowledged his existence in the K-pop industry.

"Pardon?"

"I'm the Balladeer. Well, nice to meet you, Kazuha." He chuckled.

His breathy voice, his sexy tone, his raspy vocals. Every single detail about his voice roared 'the Balladeer', his iconic singsong hum was like a sweet lollipop, a characteristic not even the best voice imitator could copy.

This was the Balladeer.

"O-oh! Um... hi, Balladeer!" he awkwardly greeted, sitting up straighter in his car seat.

"I was... wondering if you would like to work with me! On a song, that is!"

"A song?"

"Yes, yes! Actually, I had been invited to go on a show called 'The Hyena on The Keyboard', a show where you are given 2 weeks to produce a song. They explained I could invite an artist to the show, or I could do a solo." He explained, "I chose to invite an artist."

"And... you chose, me?" Kazuha's eyes widened in surprise; he pointed a finger toward himself.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," the Balladeer apologized, leaving Kazuha confused.

The Balladeer cleared his throat, "Dear Kaedehara Kazuha, I, the Balladeer, would like to humbly invite you to collaborate with me on the show 'The Hyena on The Keyboard'. You have an extraordinary voice and I think our voice would fit together very well."

There is NO WAY. There had to be a mistake or something. What type of mistake? He doesn't know. All he knows is that he's not actually invited by the great Balladeer to collaborate on a song, it might just be a sore prank or something. They might be doing another show where you prank idols by calling them, he just doesn't know what show that'd be.

There must've been a mistake.

"...sure, Balladeer."

"Amazing!" the Balladeer exclaimed, "I will meet you a week from now, please be at Black Key Studios at noon."

"Oh, ok-"

The beeping of the line hanging up pierced his ears.

Who is this? It's cold.

He erased the name, and typed 'The Balladeer' instead.

He slumped back on his car seat, smiling stupidly to himself.

"Ooh, who was that, kiddo?" Beidou smirked, "You should've seen your expression."

"The Balladeer, Beidou. Not what it looks like." Kazuha scoffed, "He invited me to collaborate on a song with him."

"Oh my, The Balladeer! That's grand! Your idol career is going to skyrocket!" Beidou chuckled merrily to herself, humming a joyful tune. Kazuha recognizes that tune, it was one of his songs.

"Well, I'm less worried about my career..." he whispered quietly.

"What was that, kiddo?"

"...nothing." He smiled.

They still have a long way to go, he guesses.