BEYOND THE CAMERA (Alien Stage)

Just Trust Me, You'll Be Fine.

Mizi wasn't insecure about her voice, in fact, it's her pride and joy about herself. She liked the sound of herself singing up on stage or in a studio, she liked mixing her own songs and hearing how good her vocals turned out.

So it was unusual how she's getting that feeling again, the feeling of doubt and anxiety she tried to leave in the past where her world revolved and belonged to only one person and when that person left she felt as if she was no one. Her voice was lost but she started to work harder on loving herself so that when she comes back, she can show her universe a better version of herself.

Why was she feeling it again? Right before a recording of a song that she knew Till had worked hard on making lyrics and musical composition for. She felt happy for Till, how he was singing alongside Ivan for his parts while she had her solo lines. Then, if she's happy, why is she feeling this way? As if something bad is about to happen..

When it was finally her turn to sing, her hands trembled against the microphone as she forced that angelic voice of hers to come out but not even a full line in she started to tremble so bad that Till stopped recording and went into the room with her.

“Are you alright? You're shaking…badly..”

Till said, trying to sound comforting but Mizi couldn't stand someone pointing out that they noticed how panicked she was. Ivan looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face as he left the room. Did she make a bad impression on Ivan when they had just recently started to get to know each other after years of not being together?

“Hey, Mizi."

Till said again, waving at hand in front of her face as she looked at him with sad eyes. Till felt hurt, both by Ivan leaving the room so suddenly and how Mizi is getting reminded of the bad moments in her life. Till opened his arms wide, implying Mizi could hug him and Mizi did not have second thoughts on embracing him with unshed tears.

“You'll be fine…you…sounded good as usual, you know?”

" I know..I know…I just felt.."

Till shushed Mizi as she let herself cry. Mizi had never felt anything romantic for Till but the comfort he gave her made her swell up inside. Especially when he was the one there for her when Sua left to study abroad and grow there.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Till lifted his head up and tapped on Mizi’s shoulder.

“I'm sorry but uh…”

" Mizi?”

A familiar voice called out her name, the pink haired girl looked up to see the clematis that flew away from her hands years ago.

" S-Sua ?”

Her voice broke down as she tried to stop the tears but stopped when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, the person leaned to her with a smile .

“Don't try to stop your tears, it'll be bad if you don't let it all out."

Sua spoke in a soft-spoken manner that immediately reassured Mizi. Her voice was as gentle as her strokes against her back as Mizi cried her heart out. The heart that was always meant for Sua, not Till.

Till long accepted it as he bowed his head and as gently as possible,he closed the door. The negative thoughts that were cleansed from Mizi turned to him but when he went out of the studio, a person held his hand and led him to a brighter place.

Like how Mizi had Sua, Till now had Ivan.
And he can't even stop himself from falling for the black haired man in front of him leading him to the rooftop where the sky was clear and the breeze was calming.

“Is Mizi okay?”

Ivan asked, in their first meetings, Till thought Ivan was purposely trying to sound pissed off so they went away but when he learnt from Luka, (unfortunately) Ivan was just having a hard time after getting up from a rocky time.

“As long as Sua is there, she'd be…fine.”

Ivan couldn't help but feel a pang of ugly jealousy when Till sounded hurt by the way Mizi would choose Sua over him.

“Cheer up."

Ivan said and at that moment,he wanted nothing more but to hug Till as Till had to Mizi.

Mizi on the other hand was finally calming down from her unexpected breakdown, with Sua’s encouragement and reassuring words, the thoughts were driven away. They were now holding hands, caressing each other's fingers as Sua started to tell her about why she had to go abroad and how sorry she was for leaving Mizi along with everyone behind.

“I needed to go if I wanted to star as the main female lead for a movie…I heard that..you have an album now, can I listen to it sometime?”

Mizi felt overjoyed at Sua’s words as she smiled while saying yes over and over while Sua laughed at how flustered Mizi suddenly became.

"Sometimes I just think about how I'm still at step 1 even when I'm already becoming a known singer.”

Mizi confessed quietly, like she was embarrassed to even say that she thinks like that only for Sua to come closer to her face,as if observing her before leaning back with an innocent smile.

"It happens, but.. you have to remember that you've already grown so much from back then. Your hair is so much longer now.."

Sua said, holding onto a bundle of Mizi’s hair as Mizi but her lip nervously as she felt a little awkward with Sua admiring her so suddenly.

“Your hair is shorter."

“I like keeping it short, it saves me time for baths."

Sua jokes as Mizi giggled, her love for her reigniting in small sparks as she looked at the love of her life so fondly.

“Can I stay with you this time?"

Mizi blurted out in which Sua widened her eyes in shock at the sudden confession.

“I mean, like, I… want us to see each other growing..”

Mizi started to explain herself but it wasn't making her case any better with how her face is getting increasingly red.

" Of course,I want to see you bloom too, Mizi.”

Sua confessed too, as Mizi squealed when Sua chuckled at her reactions. She remembers now why she wanted to star as main leads in all of her movies.

It's because she wanted Mizi to look at her.