SONG ABOUT US || Lee Juyeon || Singer AU

Chapter 31; That day

"Ming? That sounds good?" He nodded at me. "Right then," I said, reaching for the door handle. "I'll see you in a bit. Stay out of trouble, Ming!"

Avoiding Hyunjae's stare, I slipped from the dressing room and closed the door behind. Juyeon's last message had told me, he was, for some reason, upon the roof of the building...how do I get up there?

There were no maps on the wall, no signs to guide my way. Standing in the dark, I looked both ways for an exit,

while through the walls, I could hear Younghoon warming up his vocals. This would surely be too much for Changmin. If he started dancing, there was every chance he might drop dead on the spot.

"Wait, Yoona!" I swiveled around to find Hyunjae standing behind me, lit by a single spotlight.

"He's not in a good place tonight."
"Juyeon? What do you mean?"

I might have sounded surprised to Hyunjae, but I wasn't. After Juyeon's cryptic message the day before, I'd half expected something like this.

Hyunjae glanced over his shoulder.
"I don't know what it is but I've never seen him like this. Just... I don't want you to get hurt, Yoona. Watch your back, please!"

Silence lingered in the air between us. Weirdly, I feel kind of ashamed.
"Do you know how I get onto the roof?"

"The roof...? Seriously?"
"It's fine, Hyunjae. I'll be fine." He sighed and threaded a hand through his hair.

"Yeah. Sure. There's a little staircase at the end of the hallway. Follow it up."

As I climbed the metal stairs to the top floor, I chewed over Hyunjae's words in my head. He seemed genuinely worried about me, and I always trust his intentions

but what Younghoon had said to me last weekend on the tour bus, Hyunjae and Juyeon... they're always competing over something.

I could believe that I thought, I just never imagined that something would be me.

At the top of the stairs, I pushed opened a small door and found myself in a musty boiler room that was dark and smelt of wet metal.

After fumbling for a light switch for a while, I noticed an exterior door, nudged it open, and stepped out into the cold. The wind clung instantly to my cheeks.

Directly in front of me was a wrought-iron ladder, so I clambered up it and emerged onto the main section of the roof.

Stretching out in every direction was the rooftops of Gangnam, the chimney stacks, and the construction cranes.

And standing right in the middle of it all, his tall, lithe figure framed against the burning city lights, was Juyeon.

"Juyeon... Juyeon! Christ, what are you doing?" He spun around when he heard my voice, and I saw that his face was ravaged with cold tears. There was a half-finished bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"What's going on? Why are you up here?"
I took hold of his arm, and he stared back at me. His eyes were ringed with dark circles.

"Kang Yoona."
"Are you ok? What happened?"
Juyeon shook his head, confused, and took a swig from the can. He stumbled, and I grabbed him by the wrist.

"It's not safe up here," I said, trying not to think about how high up we were. "Come inside- you need to sober up."

"This wasn't supposed to happen," he said in a low voice, more at the rest of the world than me. "This...wasn't... supposed...to happen."

"Juyeon... please. Talk to me." I pushed him toward me to block out the wind. Even though he was only in a t-shirt up here, his skin felt warm and soft.