The Project 'Buddy'

~18~

And just like that, Jake ended with his part. Cheers and whoops could be heard the moment the last lyric left Jake's lips, and there was even whistling.
Jungwon panted slightly, maintaining his gaze at the audience until the lights went down. Just before it did though, he caught Jay staring at him, and his heart flipped.

Oh wait, was it supposed to be his stomach?

He couldn't think at the moment, with Jay's intense stare and the overwhelming adrenaline passing through him. Finally, when the lights darkened, they headed backstage and all of them cheered in celebration.

"Oh my god my legs almost gave me away!" Daniel complained, slumping down to the floor. The rest sat with him, forming a circle as they cooled down and drank some water. That was something indeed.

"Thank goodness the people loved it. That song was a good choice, Niki," Jake praised, and Niki grinned.

"Of course! I'm a dancer, I definitely know songs you guys don't!" Niki boasted and Jake just rolled his eyes. As they headed out from backstage, people around there cheered for them and they humbly thanked them back.

Soon, they were met face to face with Jay and his friends.

Nicholas approached them first. "WOWOWOWOWO you guys killed it out there! I didn't know you were performing! Is this why you guys never told us anyting?"

"Surprise?" Jake said, and Nicholas cracked up.

"Yeah, surprise indeed. My friends here had their jaws slacked open," he teased, looking over at specifically two oldest men. Both of them blushed immediately and looked away.

"Eyyy," Sunoo whispered to both Jungwon and Jake. Jake just smiled slightly while Jungwon smacked Sunoo.

"We're not done though. I think some of them have other things going on," Niki chimed in, raising an eyebrow at his friends. Jungwon didn't say anything because he knew what Niki was talking about.

He was going to sing.

Like, again, on stage. But this time, alone, without any company and most definitely no dancing to distract him.

Aish.

At least now he could have a break first. He would be singing at around 9pm so he had about 30 minutes to chill.
Yeah, chill and panic.

Jay must've noticed him go quiet, because he tapped him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "you were great back there."

Jungwon stilled at the warmth he got from Jay's breath at his ear. He blushed at the contact and Jay smirked, hugging his shoulder, pulling him closer.
"You look different," Jay suddenly claimed, and Jungwon's head snapped up to face him.

"How so?"

Jay gazed down at his face and the two make eye contact. "Your eyes. They're so pretty....you should start wearing contacts more."

Jungwon looked away, unable to manage eye contact. How could this hot man himself say that? He looked different yeah, but was his eyes that pretty like people say?

Sunoo did do some eye makeup on him. Maybe that was it. Jungwon knew his natural beauty never reached the standards. That's why he didn't bother trying to look good.

Still, getting a compliment like that from Jay wasn't that bad. In fact, Jungwon liked it a little. Still, he spent the rest of their time together not looking at Jay directly, afraid he'll start blurting out nonsense.

That was when he realised that he needed to go. It was almost time from his next segment of the performance.
He separated from Jay and headed over to Sunoo, leaned in a whispered, "Sunoo. I need to go."