The show they attended was only for three days and two nights. During off-cams, Cain and Rain would get the chance to rest for a little bit in the villa they were staying in.
On the first night, Cain hurriedly turned off all cameras in the room and soon after curled up in pain on the bed.
It was his habit of skipping meals catching up to him. It wasn't the first, nor was it the second, third or fourth, still, the searing pain made him tremble and his ears to buzz static.
It was a burning pain in his abdomen that hits harder and more painful each time he breaths.
Although this was not the first time nor the fifth time, he was still unable to numb himself.
With the trembling of his hand and the sweat that covered his palms, the prepared pitcher of water in his room slipped under his hand and shattered loudly. He flinched at the way the sound resonated and thought if the others noticed. But no one came to his bedroom and the moment when the pain became bearable, Cain immediately fell asleep.
And then he'd wake up in the morning with the pain gone.
The second night came. As usual, the cameras were turned off and after it hit 9pm, Cain was awakened with pain in his lower stomach.
It was the same from the first night, yet was a bit more painful and harder to tolerate. He was nauseas, he was dizzy, he was having a hard time breathing. And as he writhed on the floor from the pain, the door of his room was forcibly opened from the outside.
It was a scent that he'd never forget of a night painfully blissful.
Ironically, Rain carried with him the scent of a summer afternoon in a flower field.
The pain made it harder for him to recognize his surroundings. He wasn't aware that the staff had installed another camera the second day. He didn't know that Rain heard him crying the first night.
He was hugged, he was comforted. In the embrace of Rain's cold body, the pain in his abdomen somewhat lightened.
Cain heard Rain say to him with his clear and deep voice. "It's okay, breath. Don't forget to breathe. Cain, I'm here, listen to my voice. "
He held him. Rain held him. When the pain somewhat became bearable, Cain once again chased sleep and fell unconscious on Rain's arms.
When he woke up, he was already in the hospital.
Dozing off on one of the chairs was Rain, still in his pajamas.
Cain remembered what happened that night. He remembered the way he was embraced. He quite liked it. He pulled out the IV in his wrist, drops of blood staining the icy tiled floor. He went to Rain's side and straddled his sleeping form.
And then he hugged him.
Rain's body was cold, just like his appearance. He had a pair of sharp and slender brown eyes, high cheekbones and wavy dark hair that stopped above his eyebrows. He was tall, taller than Cain.
His body was cold but his heart was warmer than a fireplace on a winter night.
Cain's body fits just right in his arms.
Rain woke up immediately. But he didn't push Cain away. Instead, he brought Cain who was clinging to him to the bed. He held him silently, and then went back to sleep, still with Cain tightly embraced by him.
Cain felt his heart throb and the next second, tears fell from his eyes one after another. They soaked the sheets as well as the clothes Rain was wearing. He weeped silently that day.
His mouth didn't let out a sound nor did his body tremble from sobs. He blankly stared off to space, his tears gushing out of his eyes.
He cried for a long, long time that night.
That's when he realized that he actually regretted being an idol. He regretted the fame, the money, he regretted his achievements. He was a simple person after all. Unambitious and lazy in nature. He just likes basking in the sun and hiding in his blankets.
He didn't understand why he wanted to be an idol. It was probably a momentary impulse. When he became a trainee, he thought that since he was already training, he might as well train hard.
Cain was a very passive person. He thought, if he was to become an idol, then he'd have plenty of money to spend and a stage to show off his talents.
In the end, he actually just wanted to be nothing.
He just wanted to disappear in the end.
But thinking of losing the arms that were holding him so tightly, unwillingness surged up from the bottom of his heart.
Cain thought that he might as well stay.
He stayed. And in the duration of his stay, he fell in love over and over again with Rain.
Rain became his bridge to the other members. And after three months, he finally got along with Noah and Silian.
While Rain was cold outside but burning hot inside, Noah was a gentle breeze in the autumn morning and Silian was like a cat that scratches you with his soft paws.
They were people that Cain came to love.
And in the next two years, he would continue loving them.
Noah was like a younger brother, Silian was like a haughty yet adorable best friend and Rain, to him, was the unrequited love that he had let go from the very beginning.
During two years of being a group, Cain had written approximately twenty songs for them. Excluding the ones he wrote with Silian and the producer of the company, twenty of Tempest's songs were made by him alone.
And five were written for Rain, though no one really knew about it except for him.
What was funny was that Cain was usually paired up with Silian. And as much as he was in love with Rain, being exposed to Silian's adoring whims, Cain slowly forgot the comfortable embrace of Rain.
And when their third anniversary came, Cain's feelings were no longer as prominent as before.
He no longer gets jealous of Noah and Rain being always a duo. He no longer gets irritated by the sight of Rain holding the small Noah to his arms, and he no longer hates the fact that Rain always gets shipped with Noah.
He learned to enjoy the presence of the other members, not just Rain.
It was the most passive love he had come to experience yet. The most simple one.
A love that he killed the moment it was born.
Still, every night, he would wake up crying from the piercing pain in his chest. It was more painful than his stomach problems, the most troublesome too because it had no medicine and no amount of pain reliever could numb it.
And as he woke up once again with tears streaming down his eyes for the nth, he saw something that made him pause in his cries.
Hovering over the air was a semi - translucent green panel.
On the panel, the words - "[ Universal Cupid Service Mission 0422 : Cain Reia ]" - was written in white and simple italic font.