Chapter 45

160915

***

Star is currently in Incheon, the place where she lives before entering the entertainment industry. Her hometown is Gangwondo, but she, together with her brother, decided to live in Incheon for a better living. They unwantedly left their mother in Gangwondo, who has to stay there because she has to take care of their house and a small vegetable farm.

Their father died because of an accident while driving home from work. He was a driver of a livestock company.

They live a simple life, with simple dreams, that will soon completely change them.

Star smiled while staring at the picture frames hanging on their wooden wall. Each frame showing memories of her early life. One shows little Cheonsa, sitting on her father's lap, who is beside her short-haired mother, who is carrying his infant brother on her arms. They're on a bench with a lake on the background, probably a park.

Another one is a picture of little Star during her song performance in a Christmas party when she was in Grade 3. She's wearing a star costume and she's holding a mic. She laughed at the picture.

"Funny. So I am really destined to be a singer..." she touched the other picture frames and smiled.

She heard a noise coming from outside of the house. Looks like someone entered the house.

Star's eyes widened in dither. She gulped and slowly walked towards the center table of the living room and reached for the vase placed on it.

She don't remember inviting anyone to their housea and no one is living there right now. Her mother is in Gangwondo while her brother is... ehem... he's also training to be an artist in Seoul. And you won't believe in under what agency he is now. Life played them well.

"Oh goodness, what shall I do?" She asked herself.

The house went very silent. She can clearly hear her heart beating loudly. She slowly went to the door but she froze when she heard footsteps nearing her.

"Omo! Omo! Omo! What am I going to dooooo?"

She silently prayed. She knows no one in Incheon anymore. Their neighbors before went somewhere for good. If she will ask for help from someone from Seoul, they won't come on time. They might just see her dead body as they arrive in here.

She heaved a sigh and held the vase tightly. "I have to fight." But when she heard the footsteps again, "No! No! I have to hide!"

She was about to run away when a lad showed up from the door.

"Noona?"

Star blinked twice. And then blinked again. And finally processed what just happened.

"Chanwoo?" She looked at her brother who is holding a metal pipe, as if he's on a physical battle.

"Oh my God!" Chanwoo exclaimed, "I thought a burglar  broke into our house! Oh my! My heart!" He clutched his chest in nervousness.

Star's knees folded in nervousness as well. "Oh gosh, I thought I'm going to die today. Oh my..." she cupped her cheeks and tried not to cry.

"Noonaaaaaa!" Chanwoo rushed towards her and hugged her from behind. "Waaah! You scared me."

"We scared each other. Goodness!" She sighed and stood. She hugged her brother and smiled, "I missed you, kid."

"Me too!"

"Please, inform me if you are going to visit our house. Aigoo, I really thought this is my last day."

"I thought I'll be sent to jail after killing a burglar today."

"Hahahaha!" She pulled off the hug, leaving her hands placed on her brother's shoulders and looked at him, "You grew well, huh."

"You look beautiful today, noona."

Star frowned, "Today only?"

"Definitely."

Her brother did not change. He's still humorous, foolish and cute. He has a pair of narrow eyes, a nose as thin as hers, pinkish lips, fair skin, bangs reaching his eyes and a cheerful smile.

"Why are you here anyway?" Star placed the vase back to the center table. She sat on the couch and rested her back.

Chanwoo sat on the longer couch and laid, "I heard from Yuta hyung that you will visit our house here so I went to see you. But I thought you will be coming later so I thought someone broke in." He sighed.

Star nodded, "You two really look close already."

"We really are. He's helping me a lot. Even Ten hyung."

He looked at her brother and he's flashing an irritating smirk.

"Whatever."

"You know, he's really hardworking. And cute. You have some similarities too. You two look good together, noona." He teased.

"Are you here to tease me or what?"

"I'm here to help in resuming the delayed love story of a star and a number." Then he winked at her.

"Yah!" She threw the pillow from her couch to him.

"You two must settle down. Seriously." He said coolly with his hands underneath his head.

"Yah, you know too much for a fifteen year old!"

"I like him for you, noona. He's good."

"Stop it, you kid!" She shouted.

"Cheonsa Leechaiyapornkul. Wow." He smiled then nodded in agreement with what he just said.

"Oh gosh! You did not grow well. You grew badly! Ugh!"

**

Today is Star's debut stage in M! Countdown. Star is the main vocalist of their group, Spade.

"Ok! We're done!" The PD said after recording their stage.

"You girls worked hard!" Their manager oppa said and walked towards them.

"I made a little mistake at the bridge part. I'm sorry." Sara, their leader and a vocalist too, said with the a tone of being sorry. She has wide eyes that has single eye lids, a prominent forehead, pointed nose and thin lips.

"Yah, unnie, it's fine. It's alright." Hyoah, rapper, said. She has a bit resemblance to rapper Heize's facial features. She has a reddish brown hair.

"Star, water?" Jez, a Thai member, offered Star a bottled water as she noticed her panting.

"Gomawo." She accepted the water and drank it immediately.

"Wipe your sweats off. Let's go now so that you can have rest." The manager said and went to the backstage first. The other three members followed and Star followed lastly.

Before she could totally enter the backstage, some fans suddenly roared. She then saw Taeyong and Jaehyun approaching her.

"Star!" Jaehyun greeted with a wide smile.

"O-oh, annyeonghaseyo!" She greeted back.

"Congratulations on your debut!" They said in unison.

"Thank you!" She said happily.

"It's so nice to see you again. It's such a pity that you're no longer in SM. Anyway, your brother is doing well on his trainings." Taeyong said.

"I see. Hihi." She giggled. "How's your preparation for your comeback?"

"We worked very hard and we will work even harder!" Jaehyun said with a fist of determination.

"Ooooh! Haha! That's the spirit. I heard your song already. It's a very unique song!" She said.

"Oh thank you." They said in unison.

"Jaehyun! Taeyong!" They looked at the person that called them and it was their manager.

"Sorry but we have to go now." Taeyong said.

"See you next time around!" Jaehyun said.

"Ne!" She watched them walk away and she then turned her back.

She balled her hands and closed her eyes intently.

"So he's already around." She said in her mind. She then prayed that she won't bump, see or meet him on her way or anywhere.

She sighed then continued going. But as soon as she walked along the corridor, she saw the least person she wanted to see, Ten.

She automatically froze when their eyes met. She felt her whole system trembling and rumbling. She felt her stomach and brain knotted and she thinks she literally froze in there for she can feel how cold she is at this time.

She's facing Ten, for the first time after a year. She's looking at Ten in person after a long time. She misses him very much.

She felt weak by then but managed to stand still. She wanted to just pass by but she can't walk. She really feel stiff, but she melted when he smiled at her.

He smiled. The smile that NCT fans love. That smile that she loves.

And to make it even more helpless for her, he even spoke to her.

"Star..."

He called her name. And it's like a beautiful melody in her ears.

She don't know what to do anymore. The first thing that came out from her mind is to run, which her body followed.

She ran and passed Ten by, but Ten grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him.

And after a long time, after a year, they once again felt having their bodies next to each other, locked with a warm embrace and feeling the same rhythm of their heartbeats that they felt before.

***

A/N: I will be very busy so I might be updating this slowly again. I'm also editing the previous chapters because we all know that those have may flaws, typographical errors, wrong grammars and unclear ideas. So please, bear with me. Please continue supporting this story. We're a few chapters away before the ending.

Thank you!