Shadows of the Spotlight

Chapter 40

The past few days had been nothing short of exhausting. A packed schedule filled with talk show appearances, back-to-back music recordings, and even a shoot for the new music video had kept everyone on their toes. Each day blurred into the next, leaving little time for anything but work. Yet despite the chaos, Arc had kept his usual composure—or at least what he allowed people to see.

Today, however, was different. It marked the last event scheduled in LA, a prestigious awards show that Arc was expected to attend this evening. The staff had already left for South America ahead of us, eager to prepare for the next leg of the tour. That left me, Arc, Jihoon, and the security team here in Los Angeles.

Originally, Jihoon was to accompany Arc, but the past few days had been particularly rough on him. Despite being in the same city, he'd barely had any time to spend with Jessica. I could see how torn Jihoon had been about it, juggling his professional responsibilities with his personal life. In the end, he decided to take the night off to be with her, leaving me to accompany Arc to the event instead.

It wasn't exactly what I'd planned for my evening. To be honest, I hadn't given much thought to what attending an awards show alongside a global superstar would entail, but I knew it was bound to be overwhelming. Still, Jihoon had assured me that the security team would handle everything, and my role would simply be to stay by Arc's side, translating when needed and helping him navigate the night.

I had no illusions about what that would mean. Even just walking through the venue's doors would place me under the scrutiny of thousands—possibly millions—of fans and media. After the fiasco of my face being revealed to the public, I'd tried to stay as far out of the spotlight as possible. But tonight, there would be no avoiding it.

"You'll do fine," Jihoon had said earlier in the morning when he broke the news to me. "It's just one evening. Arc doesn't need much hand-holding. You'll mostly be there for the formalities."

I wasn't so sure. If there was one thing I'd learned over the past few weeks, it was that nothing about Arc's world was as simple as it seemed.

We made our way to a designer's studio, the one who was working on Arc's outfit for the award show. The room was buzzing with activity, fabric swatches and sketches sprawled across tables. Arc, looking more radiant than ever, turned to me with a slight frown.

"행사에 입을 드레스가 있나요?(Do you have a dress for the event?)" he asked.

I couldn't help but smile at his casual tone. "내 드레스 컬렉션을 본 적 있지 않나요? 당신은 나에게 말해 (You've seen my collection of dresses, haven't you? You tell me.)"

Arc shook his head in exasperation, his eyes scanning the room as he approached the designer, speaking in broken sentences with a few grammatical errors, but it was clear he was trying. "My translator need dress... you have any?"

The teacher in me couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at how much he had learned in just a few days. He was making an effort, even if it wasn't perfect. The designer nodded, sizing me up before speaking,"We have a few dresses that might fit her. Let's try them on."

I followed the designer to a fitting room, trying on several cocktail dresses, each more beautiful than the last, but none of them seemed to satisfy Arc's exacting taste. He examined each dress carefully, his brow furrowed, then he turned to the designer and said something with a lot of hand movement. They were speaking too far away for me to catch their conversation, but whatever he said caused the designer's eyes to widen in surprise. She quickly pulled up her iPad, showing Arc a picture of a dress, he gave her a thumbs-up in approval, and I couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

The designer turned to me and said, "It'll take some time for the dress to arrive, but please go ahead and proceed with your makeup."

Arc agreed, heading into the changing room to get ready while I waited in the lobby. The minutes ticked by slowly, the hum of the studio filling the silence. I could hear Arc's voice in the distance, his occasional laugh echoing through the walls. The usual sense of professional detachment I had cultivated began to fray around the edges. I couldn't deny that I was still affected by his presence.