One Less Star in the Night Sky

Chapter 19: The Sound of Spring Music Festival (2)

Chapter 19: The Sound of Spring Music Festival (2) 

I stood against the wall of the hotel lounge, quietly observing the flurry of activities happening around me. There were queues forming in front of a row of dining tables with dinner bento boxes neatly stacked on them. A few people wearing lanyards with tags that said 'Staff' or 'Volunteer' were handing out the packed food to those in line. I watched as a young man at the front of one of the queues reported that he was a staff of Zhao Boying's team before a volunteer hoisted up a red plastic bag of bento boxes from under the table and handed it over to him. As the man carried the food away and left the lounge area, I moved from my spot towards the start of the shortest looking queue.

Keeping my head down and eyes glued onto my phone screen, I followed along with the fast moving queue. Although I had many years of training in different performing arts and public speaking, it was still uncomfortable being on my own in a foreign place, carrying out unfamiliar tasks, and having to interact with strangers. Ever since I agreed to become Mobius Band's assistant-for-the-weekend, I found myself having to communicate on a professional level with the organisers non-stop. After coordinating the timing for Mobius Band's rehearsal last night, I had to travel along with the band to the performance venue—which was a park about a twenty-minute drive away—to video the their rehearsal, coordinate further with the crew on-site, and discuss with the backstage crew on the preparation process backstage for today's performance. After returning to the hotel, I had to sit through a long debriefing session for the staff and volunteers of the organisers as well as the staff members of the performers, which only concluded half past one in the morning.

Yawning, I tapped on the notification of a message from Liu Haowen. His message read: Can you get six packets of food?

I looked up at the queue which had only one person in front of me. Good thing that his message didn't come too late.

"I'm collecting six packets of food on behalf of Mobius Band," I informed the staff member while gesturing with my hand the number "six".

She gave me a once-over before her gaze landed on my event tag. As she packed six boxes of food into a plastic bag, she pointed to a clipboard in front of her and told me to write down which team I belonged to and the quantity of food collected. After signing off on the list, I picked up the bag of food and hurried off towards the lift lobby. Walking past the crowded lobby, I made a beeline for the stairs. Glancing up at the unending flight of stairs above me, I took a deep breath. Thankfully, the lounge was on the fourth floor and the band members' rooms were on the sixth floor.

Emerging from the stairwell on the sixth floor, I leaned against the wall of the hallway while catching my breath. Only when my heart calmed down did I continue on my way towards Room 605 where everyone was gathered for a rest before the concert this evening.

When I entered the room, Tao Xiang, Gao Yi and Cheng Yujin were busily playing a game on their phones, and Liu Haowen was out of sight. Behind me, the bathroom door rolled open and Chen Zhanwei stepped out while drying his hands on his pants. Seeing me, a sheepish smile formed on his pale face as he tried to take the bag of food from me.

"No need to thank me," I said, avoiding his hands and placed the bag on the countertop instead. "Hope you are feeling better."

Assisting to unpack the dinner boxes, Chen Zhanwei nodded. "Yes, much better. I'll be able to join you guys live at the festival tonight. There's no change to the schedule, right?"

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and checked the WeChat group chat comprised of all the managers and assistants of the various artistes and groups performing at the music festival. "No new updates since this morning. We're performing at 7.25pm, so we need to report to the venue before 6pm."