Beautiful Affection

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19

Two years passed and a lot of things had changed among STARISH.

First of all, due to his extremely hard work, the already famous Tokiya eventually shot to stardom. When it meant stardom, he basically epitomized his group and be the exemplar among the idols. His standing was way higher than his teammates. While Masato was the second one in terms of popularity, he still had time to spend on group activities so he still could maintain his relationship with everyone. For Tokiya, it was almost impossible unless it was for a grand event like STARISH's concert.

"We should limit your appearance in variety shows since you're too popular for that. Idols attend variety shows when they want to gain attention but you already gained that from your acting. But, if you do attend it once in a while, it will surely skyrocket the rating. We should make the audience always anticipates you," was what Saotome said.

If truth be told, being a guest for variety shows was never easy for an introvert like Tokiya. Idols were expected to have fun, be all cute and witty while at the same time, always winning at whatever games they were assigned to. The only time when he felt confident was when his teammates were around. Times passed and since they managed to soothe his nervousness, he silently anticipated attending one with any of his teammates.

And yet, Saotome had always been Saotome. He insisted to promote Tokiya as the Stripper who was superb in acting rather than a regular idol who tried their luck at various fields. As always, the blue head did not have any choice. After all, it was his goal to make money as much as Saotome wanted and single-handedly beat Raging Entertainment so that he would never meet Yuna, Kouda or any 'animal' out there. He could read Saotome's mind perfectly thanks to their regular encounter. Once he reached the target profit, the president would stop 'renting' him.

Yet, in order to achieve his fame, Tokiya had lost so many important parts in his life. Of course, sacrificing his sleep until he got physically sick was not a big deal. He had suffered from it since he debuted as STARISH member so he could always endure it. Yet, when his mental disorders obstructed him from working properly, he decided that he had to consult a psychiatrist who would not be in cahoots with Saotome and falsely claimed that his mental health was just fine. He had to seek treatment from other hospital but at the same time, he could not let his friends know his secret.

That was when he decided to buy a house and move out of the dorm. It caused an uproar among his teammates who could not accept his sudden decision.

"Do you really have to move out, Tokiya?" Otoya asked. His red eyes cast worry and sadness. Syo and Cecil also wore the similar expression, especially when Tokiya's room side was already empty and he just needed to pack his clothes. They wished the other three could cancel their works at that moment so that they could talk this out together.

"And why are you even asking? It's bound to happen, right? You guys will get married eventually and you can't expect me to live here forever," Tokiya said coldly. His emotion instability led him to get easily annoyed with how caring his teammates were no matter how many times he asked them to mind their own business.

"Still, you can't just move out so sudden," Syo said. His mind was desperately coaxing him not to yell right away. He really wanted to be as collected as his other friends but so far it was to no avail.

"It's not even sudden. I already told Otoya since two weeks ago but he didn't let me told you guys. I really don't understand this guy," Tokiya said. "What's he? Four? He acted like a kid who can't sleep alone."

Cecil swore he could see that Otoya felt insulted by his roommate's words, judging from how he suddenly lowered his head and his hands were balled into fists. The only foreign member in STARISH always had a soft spot for the redhead. He could not stand the most if such a sweet person like Otoya got hurt especially by a seemingly insensitive person like Tokiya.