P'Erin checked the number of announced guests again. There was a large group of fans from Europe missing and they still hadn't arrived. Gemini and Fourth were almost ready, P'Tong was putting the finishing touches on NuNew's makeup, behind whom stood a formally dressed Professor Zee. Dr. Khaotung continued to accompany First, not leaving him even for a moment.
It was a huge concert that had been planned and prepared for over half a year, and yet unforeseen difficulties arose. First, the sound equipment broke down, then it turned out that some of the artists' costumes had not arrived, and finally, Nanon's sister, Nonnie, called P'Th, informing him that her brother had caught some nasty virus and would not be able to attend the performance.
“Listen everyone, we need to change the plan a bit”. P'Tha informed them in a calm voice, calling all the artists and their personal managers (P'Erin was taking care of Gemini and Fourth and Joong and Pond, who now became official ship, P'Somsom took care of First, and the others also had their own managers).
“Why, boss? Did something happen?” Gemini, who has always been the boss's favorite, blurted out a question. Fourth slapped himself on the forehead with his hand in amusement. Since the morning, Gemini has been doing something every now and then that causes Fourth to laugh joyfully and with amusement.
Everyone was excited and in a good mood. The plan was simple: the concert was to be started by Joong, who with Pond was to ride onto the stage on horseback (P'Tha didn't want to approve this idea for a long time, as it required additional reinforcements for the stage), singing a song from their own series, which was scheduled to premiere at the end of this month. Then it was the turn of the other participants until the climax, NuNew's performance with Fourth and Nanon, followed by a short break, long enough for Fourth to change his clothes.
All three were considered the biggest stars of this concert.
But now Nanon was absent.
“Unfortunately, your colleague and our main artist, Nanon, fell ill. For this reason, we have to change the program of our performance slightly”.
All the artists began to whisper among themselves, exchanging comments. P'Tha waited patiently until all chatter had died down and continued his speech.
“For this reason, we must choose someone to replace Nanon”.
“But boss, that will be a problem”.
“Why?”
“Each of us has already been assigned a role, we have every minute planned. It could be me, but I perform right after NuNew and Fourt along with Pond” Gemini explained. Only he knew that Nanon was fine and not sick at all. This was the next step in P'Singto's plan.
“In turn, I perform in front of the boys”. First also justified himself. First, as a temporarily unemployed Formula 1 driver, was one of several special guests whose appearance was not previously announced to the audience. This was supposed to be one of the surprises.
“I can do it. Everyone loves me, they'll be very happy to see me performing one more time”. NuNew said, believing that he can be choosen even tho he was also one of those who already got their parts. P'Off and P'Tha exchanged worried looks and P'Off shaken his head.
“I'm sorry nong New, we know how great you are but I think we need something bigger, something more unexpected, something our fans never seen before and it really has to be someone who knows Nanon's part...”
Suddenly all eyes fell on one man who had always been present at all rehearsals and who knew Nanon's performance by heart. For him, the only thing planned was to go on stage accompanied by First at the right moment. He did not plan to sing and was only supposed to perform one choreography. Nothing particularly complicated. He didn't expect that P'Singto, First and nong Gemini had already thought everything out.
Dr. Khaotung, bewildered, pointed at himself.
“You thought it to be me?! How can I do it?”
“Of course you! You know all the lyrics, it's no big deal. We practiced it and you will see that everything will definitely work out”.
Doc wasn't at all sure about that. He also couldn't hide one little thing...: that he had never performed in public before, and here he was expected to perform in front of 40,000 strangers. Working in the hospital was stressful enough for him. First already knew him very well and knew how to convince him. Holding Khaotung's hand, he led him aside and talked to him briefly until Khao reluctantly agreed.
“Excellent!”. P'Tha was happy. “Then the concert was saved. Anything else?”
“Yes sir. I have just been informed that the flight from Europe has been delayed for a full three hours due to weather conditions. We are not sure whether fans who have already purchased tickets and are still on the plane will make it on time”.
P'Erin was a professional, it wasn't difficult to get this information. P'Tha thought for a moment. Joong, who accidentally overheard the conversation, suggested:
“Let's wait for them. Surely nothing bad will happen if we delay our concert by half an hour? When does this plane land?”
“About 5:20 p.m., which is twenty minutes, but you also have to add the time needed for fans to get to their accommodations, leave their luggage and freshen up. You know how terrible one feels after such a long flight”.
“I know, I know, P'Erin. We will wait for them. Me, Pond, Phu and Gem can even send a special buses to the airport”.
“No, it's not necessary, but I appreciate the willingness to help”. P'Erin smiled warmly at the artist she was taking care of. She was proud of him.
There were still two hours left until the concert, which everyone devoted to a dress rehearsal, the last one before the big event and the first one in which Khaotung was to play one of the main roles. His nervousness was clearly visible. P'First, wanting to relax him a bit, approached him from behind as Khao sat in Nanon's seat in the center of the stage and began rubbing his back.
“P'First, are you sure this is a good idea? I usually don't sing, I can't sing”.
“You can. Don't tell yourself anything else, I've heard you sing in the shower several times. You'll do great. Plus you have a great voice, Nanon will be proud of you”.
“But I'm not a musician, I'm a doctor!”
“I know, honey, but you can also be a singing doctor. What do you think? I'm sure that after such a performance, patients will only want to be treated by you”. First winked at him and kissed him on the cheek.
“But...” Khaotung tried to protest, but First silenced him with a brave, although a bit too short (according to the doctor) kiss on the lips.
“It'll be fine, don't stress unnecessarily. If you want, take my photo with you on stage and look at it if you get nervous. Then I will be closer to you, I will be in your thoughts and behind the scenes, supporting you”.
NuNew, hearing this, gave them a dirty look, which Professor Zee caught him doing.
Two weeks had passed since the shooting at the abandoned school building, and Dunk still hadn't fully recovered, but he was feeling much better. Prim and her assistant were sent to prison, and Gemini, with the help of Dr. Khaotung, easily escaped from the hospital, where the previous night he had been connected to drips that were supposed to remove the rest of the toxin from his body that was responsible for his paralysis. Fourth was completely cleared of charges that were never officially brought against him, and for the sake of his career, the entire arrest story was hidden from fans. After all, no one needed to know that for just two days, Fourth wasn't the real Fourth, but his twin brother, Gun.
Professor Zee asked his friends not to reveal his spy cover yet. Phuwin was the first to understand why and explained it to the others. The point was that the person responsible for the attempted hijacking of the airliner still hadn't been caught, and the boys still hadn't solved the mystery of Heart and LiMing's death. Phuwin, like the others, didn't know Gemini's secret or the reason for Nanon's sudden disappearance. Gemini understood perfectly well that P'Singto's plan was to arouse NuNew's envy, irritation and disappointment: after all, NuNew considered himself an almost perfect artist, he was always full of self-confidence, sometimes even conceited. He was certainly hurt by the fact that someone so worthless (in NuNew's opinion) in an artistic sense as doctor Khaotung was chosen for the main performance, treated as the most important point of the program. P'Singto rightly believed that NuNew would feel cheated and insulted. After all, he was the star here and much more recognizable than Nanon!
If Joong had known what a scandal he would cause by reaching out to European fans who were late for the concert, he might never have done it.
The hour of the concert was approaching inexorably. Joong looked impatiently at the hands of the large, gray clock on the wall in the dressing room, waiting for information about the arrival of a large group of fans from Europe. Unfortunately, these messages did not arrive. The actors began to get impatient.
“Well, we can't wait any longer. We have to get started”. P'Off tapped his finger on the dial of his big Rolex wristwatch.
“Let's wait another fifteen minutes”. Joong asked and took off the white blanket he was wearing on his back, putting it on the free chair next to him.
Gemini straightened Fourth's few unruly strands of hair that kept falling on his forehead as if out of spite. First sat on the couch, holding Khaotung on his lap, as if there were suddenly no chairs available. The lovers bantered with each other to pass the time. LYKN, the group that was scheduled to perform second, was waiting in the second dressing room. The stands of the great national stadium were filling up, but empty seats were still conspicuous.
“I'll wait for them outside, you can start now. If I don't make it to my show, pretend it was never on the agenda, but I'll try to make it”.
Joong suggested, as nervous as ever. After all, his and Pond's future could depend on this concert. If they do well, they will get more jobs, if they fail, they will only be able to play in TV series. Joong liked it, but it wasn't the height of his ambition. Moreover, he was once in a similar situation.
Archen Aydin thought back to the past.
He was 13 years old then and for the first time in his life he was getting ready for a concert where his favorite music band was to perform. Young Joong was very excited. He and several other fans boarded the bus that would take them to the venue. Unfortunately, he never got there. About halfway there was a tragic accident in which a woman driving a passenger car, which crashed into the back of their bus, died. Two days later it turned out that the woman had a heart attack. That day, young Archen was very disappointed and angry at the whole world. Such an opportunity might never come again, as this musical group was not from Thailand, but from the UK. How surprised the boy was when he was taken to the hospital for tests (Joong was sitting in the back, his injuries were quite serious, and he still insisted that he would be able to go to the concert, which was his huge dream [he had been saving money for tickets for over half a year, living very frugally and denying themselves all luxuries]), when a few hours later the patients were visited by famous artists.
This music band learned about the accident and that their fans who had already bought tickets were traveling on the bus. The musicians decided to visit their fans after the concert. They talked the longest with Joong, who had a lot of questions for them, and left him their poster with signatures.
That day, Joong promised himself that he would always wait patiently for his fans, no matter what. In this way, he wanted to repay the debt that, according to him, he owed to those musicians, who did not have to visit them at all, could ignore them and leave them with nothing, putting themselves first.
Someone tugged on Joong's arm, waking him from his thoughts.
“What? Where? How? I don't sleep at all! I was just thinking!”
Joong looked around for the source of the tugging on his arm and saw someone completely unexpected behind him.
“Don't worry, no one is accusing you of sleeping at such an important moment, although I have the impression that you are a little sleep deprived. Did you sleep at all today?”
“Dunk!” Joong grabbed his new old friend in his arms.
Pond ruffled Phuwin's hair in front of him as he said with amusement.
“I told you there would be no love triangle, Chen has been crazy about your brother for a long time, I was just a replacement, but I promised to never tell anyone”.
“Hmm, I see now. But you still deserve a good spanking”.
“Do I really deserve a good spanking? What for? What have I done?”
“Don't pretend to be innocent, it won't work, you hot badboy-looking asshole”.
“When I really don't know! Explain to me what I did!”
“Mhm,” Phuwin just snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his head to the side. He actually wanted to laugh. Pond, when he was unconscious, was so cruelly funny that it was hard not to laugh.
“What are you laughing at, asshole?” Pond decided to get back at him by grabbing Phuwin by the white T-shirt he was supposed to wear. Yes, Gemini didn't forget even about his brothers, he persuaded Phuwin and managed to bribe Dunk, who immediately stipulated that he would not be able to dance.
“I'm not laughing at all,” he denied, still not looking at his boyfriend.
“Oh, okay, then I'm offended. I'm going to...”
Pond looked around the room dramatically and was devastated to discover that he had no one to go to. Everyone was busy with something. Fourth read all the lyrics again, afraid that he would forget something, Gem was still playing with Fourth's hand. Zee was arguing with someone on the phone, NuNew was wearily examining his own nails, First and Khaotung had disappeared to somewhere, and Joong with Dunk were talking about the absence of fans whose flight was late. Pond sighed heavily and finished. “I'm going to the toilet”.
Pond left without almost no one noticing. Khaotung and First returned mysteriously blushing. Gemini gave them a brief, all-knowing look, to which First responded by giving him the middle finger. Gemini laughed. There were sounds coming from everywhere, but they didn't notice them, they were too used to them. Gemini felt especially good. He loved performing, and today he had a surprise for his fans. He was so excited that he couldn't sit still. He was always walking somewhere, playing with something (usually with his hands or Fourth's hair).
P'Off asked for everyone's attention by clapping his hands.
“Four minutes to go, is everyone ready?”
“READY!!!” The artists shouted back in unison. Gemini squeezed Fourth's hand one last time, giving him a pointed look. He silently uttered a short, "Good luck!" and then they dispersed in two different directions. The others also moved to their previously designated places.
“Wait a minute, where are Archen and Naravit?!” P'Off's loud scream caught the attention of everyone who stopped suddenly.
“Joong and Pond went outside to wait for those European fans who were late” Gun Atthaphan appeared among them out of nowhere. Gemini's eyes widened. He was sure Gun wasn't here a moment ago. Or maybe he just missed it? In this chaos, everything was possible. He gave a tight hug to his idol and mentor in the world of actors. Gun was always his role model and favorite person in their agency.
“God's punishment with such stars” P'Off wrung his hands. “For what sins, God, for what sins did you punish me with such good-natured artists?”
Still furious with them, he ordered the others to take their places and set out to search for the missing people, accompanied by a cheerfully chattering Gun, who was trying to cheer up Off with his chatter.
As he expected, he found them at the main entrance. They welcomed the last, late arriving fans. Dunk accompanied them.
“What the hell are you doing?! The concert is already delayed, fans are starting to complain on Twitter and Instagram. Go back inside right now and get ready!”
“We're sorry”. The three of them meekly apologized to their boss and ran towards the changing room to finish the final preparations. P'Tong fixed their makeup and when he felt everything was perfect, he sent them on stage.
To everyone's delight, the fans arrived at their seats, leaving not a single chair vacant. The entire largest stadium in Thailand was filled to capacity, and adrenaline pulsed in their veins to the rhythm of joyful music.
Only Gemini, First and Singto knew that this was merely the calm before the storm.