The applause faded slowly, but the adrenaline remained.

Jang Geun-suk stood just off-stage, the warmth of the lights still clinging to his skin like static. His chest rose and fell with the rhythm of spent effort, but his eyes—his eyes stayed fixed on one person.

You.

You were standing a few feet away, not facing him, your profile cut in half by the dim side lighting. Someone handed you a water bottle. You nodded, polite, expression unreadable.

He licked his lips, almost smiled, then took a breath and walked toward you.

He stopped close—but not too close. Enough that you’d hear him clearly. Enough that no one else would.

“I wasn’t lying when I said you were distracting,” he murmured, voice still low and textured from singing. “I forgot a line on the second verse. Blamed it on the mix in my in-ear. But it was you.”

He looked at you sideways. You didn’t respond, but you didn’t move away either.

“I’ve done shows like this for years. Staged tension. Scripted ‘chemistry.’ But that…” He let out a short breath, almost a laugh. “That was something else.”

You turned slightly, meeting his eyes, just for a second. It was enough.

He hesitated. Then:

“I don’t know what it looked like on camera, but... on stage, it felt like we were the only two people in the room.”

A stagehand passed behind him, breaking the moment briefly. Geun-suk stepped aside, but didn’t look away from you.

“Maybe it was just nostalgia. I don’t know. But I remembered the last time I saw you sing. Small venue. Bare bulbs. You didn’t even see me.”

His smile turned inward.

“I remember thinking: ‘There’s no way that voice stays in small places.’”

Silence settled again, heavier than before. The kind that begged for something to be said—but only by him.

“I wanted to ask you to do this show with me since day one.” A pause. His voice dropped, quieter now. “But I didn’t. Thought it might… complicate things.”

A producer called from across the room, asking for a quick exit interview.

Geun-suk didn’t move.

Instead, he leaned just slightly closer. Not enough to break boundaries—but enough to lower his voice to almost nothing.

“If this had been the last performance of my career... I would’ve been okay with that. Just to have done it with you.”