"Please?" Baekhyun said softly.
He stared into Chanyeol's eyes earnestly.
"I know I could ask anyone in the audience..." Baekhyun interrupted.
"Ask someone else then," Chanyeol stated bristling.
''Why was he asking this of him? Why? The likelihood that there was someone else out there who played and knew all of Baekhyun's songs was high. Really high! So why him?'
Baekhyun looked taken aback.
"Why??? You were going to perform it with someone else in the first place. I... I don't think I can."
"Sorry I lied, I was going to perform a different song. Once Daehyun said she was bringing you back I wanted to perform this one instead... Please, I promise you will like the song. It's easy I know you will know it, just let me get the sheet..."
"Stop! I said no!" Chanyeol snapped, flustered. The heat in the back of his neck warming him.
"But... I need it to be you." Baekhyun's voice lilted unhappily.
Chanyeol looked at him confused. 'He really couldn't do this! Couldn't Baekhyun see that? Didn't he remember in the field... How he can't play in front of other people?'
"How can you ask me to do this?" Chanyeol turned and started to head for the curtain when he felt a tug on his jacket sleeve.
"I can't perform this without you," Baekhyun said softly. Almost a whisper.
And Chanyeol felt his heart pinch. He wanted to help him. But when he thought about the people out there staring at him.
Judging him.
Creating their own opinions of him in their head in that one instant. Opinions of what kinda person he was, things he had done, what right he had to be there. He could feel the bile rising in the back of his throat and he could feel his heartbeat in his neck, throbbing away uncontrollably.
He didn't even have to look down at his smartwatch to know his heart was beating at over one hundred. His palms were clammy and he wanted to clutch onto something tightly while the feeling of anxiety made his ears block and his breath catch.
"Then you're never going to perform this song." He said.
He saw Baekhyun's face fall, his eyes widen and his lips turn down. There was a quiver and his eyes turned wet. As if he were crushed that his request wasn't going to be accepted.
And slowly his hand slipped releasing Chanyeol's cuff.
Chanyeol walked away, unable to bear looking back. Knowing that if he did he wouldn't be able to handle the sight of Baekhyun crushed.
He pushed the curtain aside. Just as he heard Baekhyun call for a song change.
Daehyun saw Chanyeol exit the stage and looked at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Oh, I thought you were going to help Baekhyun with a special so..."
"NOPE," He said curtly cutting her off. "Never" and he headed back towards his seat.
He didn't even give the bouncers a second glance. When he reached his spot. The girl looked at him and gave him a big grin. He plopped back into his chair. The girl leaned in conspiratorially.
"Did you get to meet him? What did they need? Is he as handsome in person?" She whispered excitedly.
"Yeah, he is beautiful..." He answered
"Mesmerizing..." He added, dejectedly.
Then the curtain lifted and the large band started a slow to high rise. In the tune of Universe.
Baekhyun appeared from a small hole in the center of the stage and the whole crowd erupted then hushed as he belted out the first notes and they carried into the audience. A still hush, all you could hear was Baekhyun's beautiful tenor, while your eyes feasted on the warm brown of his long overcoat, and the twinkling sea of lights that bobbed softly to the song. Their glow ebbed calmly, on the new setting and it felt as if someone were trying to lull him to sleep.
An eerie moment that seemed to be spun from the emotion that poured out of BAekhyun himself.
His singing felt different, much different from the energetic performances he had before. And as he finished the one song and moved into the next, the energy still seemed to be almost a pace to slow. By his fourth act and closing, even the upbeat songs felt slightly off. And Chanyeol wondered how this sunshine energy had seemed to have faded slightly.
'Did he really get that upset over me saying no?'
***