You're My Melody

Chapter 30: The US Concert

1 year later…

She must have gone crazy. She’s in the middle of a crowd of fans waiting for JYJ’s concert to start. She heard it going to be a free concert because they had visa issues and since they didn’t want to cancel the concert, they used their own money to pay for everything. The venue was full of fans and even if it isn’t a free concert she was definitely sure it’s going to be packed with people.

She saw a girl holding a banner with Korean characters saying, “Jaejoong saranghae.” she wondered if the girl knew other words besides saranghae and she smiled. She liked it when foreigners tried to learn Korean. She imagined herself holding the same banner and she chuckled from the absurdity of it. Although the words are true (yes, she’s still in love with him even after a year had passed… more so now than it was before) she couldn’t let Jaejoong see her holding a banner and declaring her love for him. He would die laughing and she would die from embarrassment. So while everyone else is wearing JYJ saranghae shirts, holding banners and waving light sticks, she on the other hand went to the concert with nothing but herself.

A few days earlier Hayley told Mika and Seohyun, “Common let’s go watch JYJ’s showcase. It’s going to be fun.” Mika and Seohyun met Hayley at school. She was the first one to approach them. If it was because they were Koreans (Mika being half Korean) that she developed a liking to them they weren’t so sure. Hayley is a fan of kpop and her favorite happened to be, unfortunately, JYJ. It was unfortunate because for one she's really passionate about her fandom. She was the one who tells Seohyun all the news about them. She's even the one who made her come to the concert. She couldn’t tell her about Jaejoong though. She just couldn’t. It was the same with Mika a year ago.

“Ok. I’ll go.” Seohyun told Hayley.

“Are you sure?" Mika asked worriedly and she nodded.

So now they are at the concert venue, preparing to watch JYJ’s performance which is about to start any minute. Mika couldn’t come with them because she had to go back to Japan right after graduation. Their restaurant business is becoming hard to handle and her parents needed her.

Seohyun went to the concert partly because she wanted to see Jaejoong even from afar. There would be a lot of people and therefore the probability that Jaejoong would spot her among the crowd is almost zero. Seohyun wanted to take that little amount of risk for the sake of seeing Jaejoong. It would be really impossible for him to notice wouldn’t it?

Apparently not…

In the middle of singing Chajatta (Found You) Jaejoong noticed Seohyun among the crowd of people. She knew he noticed her at that exact moment when they met eyes. Her heartbeat was fast and she couldn’t seem to breathe. Now she’s beginning to wish she also have a signboard with her so she can cover her face with it.

When she finally gained her sanity back, she looked away and told Hayley, "I have to go."

“What? Why?” Hayley looked confused but she doesn’t have the time to explain things.

“I just have to. I’ll wait for you outside. I’m sorry." she walked away without waiting for her friend's reply. She excused herself among the crowd but it was hard to get away faster than she wanted to. She can feel Jaejoong’s gaze on her and she wanted to disappear.

He stopped singing the moment he saw her. She was just too beautiful to miss. Even though she was surrounded by a crowd of people she always stood out. Oh, how he missed her. When she walked away, he knew he had to do something. Junsu and Yoochun were alternately singing his part. He will just thank them afterwards. Right now he had something really important to do.

"Wait," he said not realizing he still had a mic on.

Junsu and Yoochun were thinking ‘does Jaejoong hyung really have to ruin our performance? It was bad enough that he had to stop singing in the middle of the song now he had to shout 'wait' and make the music stop altogether.’

They both stared at the departing figure in the middle of the crowd who was also surprised by Jaejoong's outburst. When she stopped and turned, they both stared in surprise. They finally understood what was going on.

Jaejoong ran down the stage towards where she was standing. Thankfully the crowd was preventing her from going further. He could hear murmurs coming from the crowd and he can almost hear their thoughts. He didn’t mind though because there is nothing more important than getting to where she is. God help him he could kiss her with all those people watching and he wouldn't even care.

When he reached her side, he grabbed her arm to stop her from getting away. Cameras flashed and he could tell she was in a panic. He suddenly wanted to tell those people to get lost and mind their own business. But then he realized it was partly his fault.

He held her hand and he could feel she was trying to break free but he tightened his grip and led her backstage where they could disappear from the prying eyes of the crowd. Before they left Jaejoong glanced towards Junsu and Yoochun. He saw them nod in understanding. He reminded himself to thank them later when he gets the chance.

“Oppa please let me go," she begged but Jaejoong wouldn’t let go afraid that she would disappear any instant.

“Where the heck have you been?” The last time he saw her they were both in Tokyo and she was telling him things that didn’t make sense. It isn’t just once when he tried to meet her. When they arrived in Seoul he tried to look for her. He went to their house but he was told she doesn’t accept visitors. Then he heard she left to study abroad. Even after hearing news about her upcoming wedding, he still couldn’t believe a word of it. He had to hear it from her for him to believe everything.

“I-I shouldn’t be here… I’m sorry I have to go,” she tried to pull her hands away from his tight grip but it was useless.

“No, Seohyun. You’re staying with me.” He’s going to demand answers from her now whether she likes it or not.

“Jaejoong-shi! You have to get out of there,” the director was calling his name but Jaejoong ignored all of them. Nothing and no one else matters besides Seohyun.

“T-this is a mistake,” he could tell she was nervous by the way she stutters and her hand shakes.

“Then why are you here?” he demanded.

She wanted to say ‘because I missed you’ because it was the truth but instead she said, “Because I couldn’t say no to a friend.” Then frustratingly she said, “Why am I even trying to explain to you? You weren’t supposed to notice me.”

“If you don’t want to be noticed, then try not to stand out for once.”

“I wasn’t trying to stand out. It’s your fault for noticing me and will you please let me go. You're hurting me,” she complained. He let her go but his eyes never left her for a second.

“If you leave now, then it really is goodbye. But if you think there is any chance that we could still be the same as before… stay.” The look on his face almost seemed like he was begging for her to stay. And god how she desperately wanted to.

“Seohyun,” someone called and they both stared at the figure by the door. It was Yonghwa.

She pulled her hand away from Jaejoong’s grip and this time she was successful. "Goodbye, oppa… I-I'm sorry." She walked towards Yonghwa’s side and accepted the hand that he was offering as support. Without it she probably wouldn’t have made it to the door.

Seohyun left knowing it really is goodbye and this time its forever.