As the evening continued, Jae-Hyun realized that, despite everything, this night would not mark the end of their story. He felt more than ever torn between what he wanted, what he felt, and what she was denying him. Maybe destiny would reserve more meetings for them, but every moment with her felt like an unfinished promise, a promise he couldn't forget.
Finally, he returned to his table where his friends were.
The evening was in full swing. The Grammy Awards were in full swing, and the hall was a whirlwind of light, celebrities, and journalists. The flashes from cameras created a sea of blinding sparks, and the red carpet stretched out like a runway for the biggest figures in the music world. People mingled in a dance of appearances, exchanging calculated smiles, handshakes, and laughs that sounded more fake than authentic.
For Jae-Hyun, all of this now seemed… distant. He stood there, surrounded by his friends, but the atmosphere felt foreign to his own feelings. His bandmates were as enthusiastic as usual, but he couldn't keep up with them.
— "So, Jae-Hyun, aren't you a little tired of all the recognition?" Min-Jae asked, his amused smile cutting through the crowd. "You seem like you've got something on your mind tonight. You know, it looks like you're totally off-track!"
Jae-Hyun gave a polite smile, but he couldn't even muster the strength to pull it off. Min-Jae, as always, wouldn't leave him alone.
— "Did you see the dress Inés is wearing? It's so bling-bling, it looks like a Christmas tree!"
The others burst into laughter, but Jae-Hyun simply stared at their faces without really seeing them. This wasn't the huge party he had imagined. It was a whirlpool of noise and images swallowing him whole. His friends, though they tried to remind him of the fun of the night, didn't understand that something was wrong.
In the distance, he saw Exsy with Maxim, sitting at a far table surrounded by producers and journalists. She looked so distant, like a spectator of the chaos unfolding around her. Jae-Hyun, despite the brilliance of the décor and the deafening music, couldn't detach her from his mind.
Maxim Sora seemed indifferent, as usual, but Exsy, she seemed to be in another world. It was almost as if she didn't belong to this universe, as if every move she made was calculated, every smile measured. There was a distance he couldn't understand, a form of control he couldn't break.
Around him, the conversations were in full swing. Journalists questioned him, fans shouted his name, and producers patted him on the back, but Jae-Hyun felt detached. He was no longer the laid-back, sociable, happy Jae-Hyun he had always been. He was lost in his thoughts, and Exsy was the cause of it all.
The Lost Gazes
His friends, however, were beginning to notice. It wasn't like him to be so overwhelmed. Dung-woo, the most observant member of the group, approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
— "Hey, Jae-Hyun, are you okay? You're totally off tonight. This isn't like you." Sung-Joo scrutinized him a bit more seriously. "Is something bothering you?"
Jae-Hyun quickly turned his gaze away and tried to smile.
— "I'm just tired. A lot of things to manage, you know."
But the words sounded hollow, even to his own ears. Dung-woo looked at him skeptically but didn't press further. There was a distance in Jae-Hyun's voice that didn't escape him.
However, Min-Jae, always carefree, made a joke to lighten the mood. The whole group burst into laughter, and for a moment, Jae-Hyun felt a bit more at ease. But as soon as he looked away again, he saw Exsy, who had just stood up and was moving away with Maxim. He felt as though he had seen her not as a mere escort, but as a woman who could have far more control over her own life than he had ever had.
A Moment of Frustration
The journalists continued to take pictures, shouting their names, bombarding them with questions, but Jae-Hyun no longer paid attention. He felt invisible among all the celebrities and the gazes. He felt like a stranger in a world where he was supposed to belong. And it was even more accentuated by the fact that Exsy seemed just as perfectly at ease in this environment, but not him.
Suddenly, a flash of light made him freeze. He instinctively turned his head and saw Exsy in the middle of a conversation with a group of journalists. Most of them didn't know who she was, but they all seemed captivated by her allure, her cold beauty, and her detachment. She was the mystery everyone wanted to crack, yet she remained out of reach.
Jae-Hyun clenched his fists, a little more frustrated. What he felt for her went far beyond simple attraction. It was a compulsion, a need to understand her, to break down that barrier she had erected. But, with every passing moment, she seemed to move further away from him.
The Void of a Meeting
As he tried to refocus his thoughts, Min-Jae turned toward him with an intrigued look.
— "You know, I think they're giving you a special award tonight. You're way too busy thinking about your…," he stopped when he saw Jae-Hyun flinch at the mention of Exsy. "Got a problem with attention tonight, Jae-Hyun, or do you want to talk about something more interesting?"
Jae-Hyun shook his head, realizing that he was so out of it that he had forgotten about his commitments. His friends, the team, all of that now seemed secondary compared to Exsy. But he had to maintain a facade, not give in to the temptation to drop everything and run to her.
He forced a smile. But it was an empty smile. And deep down, he knew that all of this was just an illusion. He was at a socialite party, surrounded by celebrities, but the only place he wanted to be was elsewhere. And that "elsewhere" was called Exsy Dewy.