The Love Scandal ♪ Nishimura Riki

4 ♪ should've stayed faceless

Chapter four

The day of the concert comes around sooner than expected. The weather was warm throughout the day but had gradually gotten chilly towards the sunset as usual during the spring. Normally, everyone is relaxed and content during the day, but today was different. It was different for many, including Jihyun. It was D-Day, concert day.

She was standing still, looking around so that she could find her seat but places like these were always confusing, especially for those who have never been to concerts or have gone to them often. And now, the decision to wear neon was borderline regretful. Nobody liked being caught lost when at places like schools because of the determination to not look stupid. That rang true now as well.

But since she was wearing neon, it was as if everyone was looking her way for some unfortunate reason. Though it was her choice, so she had to deal with it. She decides to go through any doorway with the same numbers as her row and seat, if anything, she would eventually find her seat anyway, even if it took the entire show. Jihyun did not want to ask someone, not when she decided to be bold enough to wear neon.

Luckily, Jihyun maneuvers around to find her spot in the front row. She secured herself a ticket for a chair in the front when the tickets dropped and it was pretty costly, but fortunately, she was taking college on a student loan so she found herself in her seat after ushering past effervescent fans already screaming at the intermission.

She didn't blame them, it was a concert, Shiru's first-ever concert. But at the same time, the guy didn't even step out yet, they were just screaming at a screen. That was a bit much. But again, the artist would feel a lot better if they heard screams prior to them stepping out on the stage too.

She brushes her hair back and checks the lightstick over just to make sure it is connected. She didn't want to look like a fool by the time the show started and not have her lightstick working like the others. That'd be awkward, too awkward. Then one thing would lead to the next, and she'd struggle to fix it—missing the show—and Shiru would see her in the way she didn't want.

Jihyun finally gets it to work and by then, the intermission was coming to a close. That means Shiru would be stepping out any minute now. Then, the adrenaline hit her. She was about to see Shiru, her favorite artist, perform. It's time to get up and scream.

The bright lights fade into dim brightness in seconds and the audience gets louder with anticipation. The question remains unanswered if he was going to perform with a mask or have his long-awaited face revealed today in front of all of these people. It's an exciting prospect that makes Jihyun remain on her feet.

The stage lights turn off one by one, and a dark abyss before her just inches away. With her vision sense shut, she could only focus on the rapid pounding of her heat and the pressure against her ears because of it. The crowd grows silent and when the screen lights up again, everyone screams.

The main screen raises slowly, inch by inch. Everyone screams, waving their lightsticks and shouting. A domino effect occurs when one light comes on, and the other flickers to life as well. Fake fog emits from below the rising screen, layering over the stage floor steadily and mysteriously.

Shiru is about to be right there. Right in front of her.

Jihyun clutches tighter onto her lightstick and focuses her eyes on the figure behind the screen. She doesn't say anything because she's so concentrated. Her mind ran endlessly. The stage is loud with music. The atmosphere is unclear yet lively. Anticipation seeped into her pores like ink to a cloth. She wanted to be the first one to have the realization. The realization that that was Shiru. The guy who will either reveal himself finally or have a mask over his face. Who will it be?

An 808.

The beat of his most recent song yet his arguably most popular one at the same time. It was happening. She was really here at his concert.

"Oh my gosh," she whispers, not able to hear her own voice above the others. Her heart is racing so much. Shiru is about to perform for the first time and there are so many things to anticipate. Songs. Amazing performances. Choreography perhaps. Encores. A mask or maybe a face reveal. Front-row fan interactions.

This is her reality. Jihyun, Bae Jihyun, is about to witness her favorite artist holding his first stage and his first concert.

The screen rises over his tall statue, willowy and idol-esque. It's only his silhouette first, that is until the lights in front of the stage come alive and welcome not a mask, but his face.

Jihyun halts and waits for the guy to say that he is about to announce Shiru. But the earpiece, the mic, the clothes, the hair. There was no way that this wasn't Shiru. But if this was Shiru, then that would mean that Shiru is Riki, and Riki and Shiru.

He says the first verse. Jihyun makes the belated correlation between his tone and Riki's. They're the same person. Riki and Shiru. The same stubborn Riki on her debate team is the Shiru that she had fallen in love with—music-wise. This has to be a joke. Someone else from their college must be here, seeing the same thing she was, coming to the same exact realization.

Jihyun wore neon. Her arms fall to her side, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Shiru was Riki, Riki didn't know that she liked Shiru, and she wore neon. A perfect recipe for disaster. The song transforms just like that, from the tune she loved to the melody she despised.

No. No way.

Jihyun's mind feels heavy all of a sudden. It was too much, too much revelation. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say that she was going to pass out, but maybe she was. There was no way.

Shiru—no, Riki, steps forward, waving at fans with a free hand, slowly making his way down the side of the stage. As long as he doesn't come here, to Jihyun's side, then that will be fine. And for a moment it was fine. He maneuvered along the stage, using intermission to swap his style before returning and Jihyun would hear the people beside her chime about how handsome he was.

It felt surreal but not in a positive way at all.

Mid-show, probably just barely getting to that mark, Riki approaches the front row, the more narrow section that gets wider as it extends. She wishes for him to skip over her, for her to not get noticed. It would be embarrassing and impossible to live down. Her stomach twists uncomfortably.

But one step closer would ruin her life. Her choice of wearing neon would be the worst decision she ever made. (In hindsight it's a bit odd how he didn't notice her way earlier because nobody else in her row was wearing neon anyway.) The light follows him, and suddenly, tall, fairly handsome—she supposes—sharp eyes and a timbre a part of her still liked. All in front of her.

Riki falters. They make eye contact, and it's the respectful artist in him that makes him not pull away when he recognizes her. It's a brief stare, and Riki gets up from his crouching position to catch up on the line he nearly missed, and he pulls away from the front row for the rest of the night.

And what happens when a mainstream artist gets into a situation like this?

It's obvious.

A scandal.