"Lee Changhyuk, no.." Whispering, she desperately stretched her hand to reach for the mic. Lee Changhyuk giggled and caught her palm. The music was playing. As soon as he started singing, all eyes fell on him.
He changed his vocal technique so that it sounded heavier. He could hit any note so effortlessly- to him singing was just like breathing.
"Doesn't he sound like DazzLing's main vocalist?"
"Ah yes! He sounds like Kang Yeon!"
Shizu didn't blink an eye as she tried to digest the situation. Just because he always sang powerful notes, it didn't mean he couldn't rock lower range. And with the breathing techniques that he changed, his voice was completely different! Wait, did that mean he would not be found out?
Everybody was dancing and singing along with Lee Changhyuk. Shizu could not believe that she was watching THE Lee Changhyuk sang LIVE, right in front of her!
The music was loud and his voice was beautiful. More people went on the dance floor. The atmosphere was joyous and full of laughter. She was looking to the right and left to study the situation. Observing the reaction of the people around them, Shizu squinted her eyes and went full hawk-eyes mode as if she was preying on suspicious people. Then she could feel a small movement trying to comfort her.
Shizu lowered her lids to peek at her hand. Lee Changhyuk was indeed singing but he didn't let go of her hand. Holding it dearly, his thumb was caressing the back of her palm, as if he was trying to make her relax and ease all of her worriness away.
Lee Changhyuk was having so much fun, especially when it's been awhile since he got a hold of a mic. Remained seated, like a true performer, he interracted with the partygoers in between the singing. She knew that he loved singing more than anything, his bright face could not hide it. He even refused to drink alcohol to protect his throat.
His confidence was completely in another level. Look at this crowd. Even without revealing his identity, people were having so much fun thanks to him. How could he be this good? Well, what did she expect.. He was the man considered to be the King of the Kings in the entertainment industry.
"Why don't you stand up and join them?" Hesitating, she referred to the people on the dancefloor who'd been calling him to join them.
"I feel that you'll really cry, if I join them." Whispering back to her ear, he grinned then continued singing.
Shizu locked her gaze to the guy who was sitting beside her. How was it very easy for him to read her? Yes, she was worried to death that she'd get cooked by GreenEast's faithful fandom. But Lee Changhyuk... This mischievous evil magnae...
"I am sorry for not trusting you. I will not cry! Go join the others. Look, they are having so much fun!" Trying to convince him, she pointed her hand to the dancefloor.
"What are you talking about? I am having fun right now, I am not giving up my seat." He shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly, and winked at her.
"Unless, you want to have a dance with me?"
Meanwhile, in the other table. Moreno was pouting to Kira. He regretted passing the mic to Lee Yuki.
"Kira - chan! Don't let him take the spotlight! Show him the famous angel-voice of Kumo Bell!" Moreno nagged.
"Sing, Kira - chan! Should I seize the mic from Mr Shigeoka? Goddamn it, he hasn't let go of the mic! I'll knock him out, he's drunk. He'll forget about it tomorrow." - Kuran folded his sleeves up to his elbow. He rose from his seat and glared at Mr. Shigeoka.
"Go, go brother!!"
Kira rolled his eyes. That night he promised himself not to drink in front of Shizu, but now he couldn't stop himself from chugging the bloody mary in front of him. It took his entire self control to distance himself from alcohol, but he completely lost it after witnessing the girl he loved the most was secretly holding hands with some stranger. What else could he do? He was addicted to the effect that alcohol gave to his mind. Right now he felt like he could die from suffocating.
"Kira - chan, that's mine! Only ice tea for you, remember?" Kuran watched in horror. He went back to his seat.
"Put that vodka juice down orrr.... We'll strip you naked in front of her!"
"Kira chaan... Stoooooop~" Kuran grabbed the glass by force and had the red-colored cocktail splashed all over his white shirt.
Ignoring the triplets, Sano and Ritsuo were clapping their hands as they were sincerely enjoying Lee Yuki's voice. Wondering how a nobody like him possesed an excellent technique and beautiful voice.
Natsu, Kumo Bell's manager, stared at Lee Changhyuk with his arms crossed on his chest. The twins were right. Eventhough he had a very bad fashion style, Lee Yuki had the body and face that made women fantasize about him. They just needed to fix those ridiculous beards and hairstyle, dress him up, put contact lenses on him and he would be a perfect star!
And this constant chill that his voice was giving him, it was one of the same caliber as DazzLing's most popular vocalist, Kang Yeon. However, Lee Yuki was hitting it without showing any sign of struggle! He should check if Lee Yuki had signed with any labels and approach him so that Jivex Entertainment could have him.
The song ended and another song started playing. Again, it was Mr Shigeoka who picked that song. In fact, 90% of the songs on queue were chosen by Mr. Shigeoka. He had a terrible voice but he was a big fan of karaoke.
Changhyuk eyed the mic, quietly offered the milk girl to sing. Shizu's pale face blushed instantly. She shook her head in panic and crossed her hands to say 'NO'. If she had to rate her ability to sing.... Well, she was slightly better than Yui Shidoh? And that was a really bad comparison.
"What's your favorite song? I'll sing for you." He lowered his head then whispered to her ear.
"Can you fall in love with me?" She answered without thinking much but then blushed instantly. It was a GreenEast song.
Lee Changhyuk looked her in the eye, his eyes were beaming with excitement.
"I can't sing that song here, but hey did you know that I wrote it?"
Shizu squinted her eyes with disbelief. She took her phone out, quickly looked it up on the internet and his name really showed up!
"How did you write that song? Have you ever been in love before?" She asked blatantly.
That song was a ballad about a guy who was desperately asking for the love of a girl. The girl, however, never returned that love. So the guy begged the universe, so that he could be reborn a thousand times and have 1000 lifetimes to chase her love.
It was the last song they promoted before GreenEast went on hiatus. It was a song so beautiful- It was played everywhere you could not escape it; radio, coffe shops, stores, restaurants... The song was released in 3 versions: Korean, Japanese and Chinese.
Lee Changhyuk shook his head.
"It's for our anti-fans. We have a lot of haters, you know? 'Can you fall in love with me?' If our haters could come to love us, life would be so much easier." He cupped his sharp chin.
Love? Lee Changhyuk never fell in love with anyone. He joined StarLord Entertainment when he was 14 and debuted after 1 year of intense training. After debut he had been constantly working and rarely had any downtime. Even during their hiatus, they were practicing like crazy and constantly moving from one place to another place to sort a lot of things.
"Why did you ask?"
"The song is beautiful. I thought it was a love song."
"It is a love song. I love our fans so much! I hope those haters could love us too! Don't you think I did a good job?"
Shizu scoffed as she looked at that innocent face in disbelief. He didn't write that for a girl? But for the haters? He didn't seem like he was lying.
Shizu had heard of GreenEast antifans. They were terrible! One day during a fan-meeting, an Anti gave an orange juice to Ryeowook. The leader drank it without thinking too much and he was admitted to the hospital after vomitting blood. The juice contained rat poison. StarLord Entertainment wanted to sue the girl but Han Ryeowook stopped them.
Some other examples: Someone hit Lee Changhyuk and Son Kangyu in the head with a bag while screaming offensive words. Kim Yoonjae received a bottle of animal blood and a letter to bash his plastic surgeries. Also, Baek Woochan received some death threats that made them cancel an entire concert.
If you looked it up online there were series of awful things that the Antis did to GreenEast. And this guy wrote a love song for them? To ask for their love?
This evil magnae.. He could be impulsive and bold at times but the more she knew Lee Changhyuk, the more she realized that he was more than just a mega star. No wonder he was always shining so bright, even without a trail designer clothes.. That pure heart of him...
"Yes, you did a very good job. Well done." Her lips curled up. She nodded her head and gave a thumbs up to acknowledge him.
"Thank you, I'll work even harder."
He must have heard that a lot, right? Especially when that song went 3x Platinum? She just gave him a simple compliment. Yet, that smile radiated pure joy as if he was the happiest boy on the planet.