25

"Everything is ready, malady..."

The maid dismisses herself. I smile, looking at the coffee table full of crafty items; stationery, colored papers, glitter pens, mounting board, and...

I open the silver-colored box. The shine almost blinded my eyes. I grab a wiping towel and take out the item.

It's a light stick. Essential items for a fandom. According to the history, the lightstick was first introduced to K Pop fans by none other than G Dragon; the most iconic rapper, singer, and leader of the legendary boy group, Big Bang.

I wipe the folded bunny ear with care. Hope Boys' lightstick is a bunny head with one ear folded inside. It can change color with the motion shake feature. If you shake it to the front one time, it will turn red. One time at the back, it will turn into a silver grey. To the right, gold. To the left, aquamarine blue. That color is their official color.

Tomorrow is their first concert, which also will be streamed live on YouTube and Hope Boys' official fan page. I bought the VIP ticket a few months ago when Jun told me that they would hold a concert in Osaka. But, due to our circumstances, he asked the management to switch the ticket into an e-ticket so I could watch the live stream and interact with them using the video stream.

"You're not starting yet?" I turn back and see Khittan leaning against the door frame. He wears a white shirt and black slack with a bit of messed up hair. He probably just came back from his work.

"Come here! I need your help!" I drag him into the room. His footsteps follow me without any objection.

"Here, this is my design for the banner. All you need to do is to help me cut these papers and stick them on this board," I give Khittan scissors. He watches the scissors in amazement.

"Err. But like how?"

"You never do handcraft?" Khittan shakes his head a bit. Gosh, I know I can't count on him!

"Aish, come! Let me teach you!"

I grab a pack of colored paper and trace some alphabet in each of the papers. I ask him to follow the line and continue with the rest. We spent the evening making a mini banner, setting up the space that I will use to watch the concert, setting up the video conference appliances, and audio test.

Spending my time preparing for the Hope Boys concert with Khittan is fun. He channels all the creativity that he has and his suggestion is always the best. Looks like he knew this thing well.

After all is done, we have dinner together.

"Okay, it's your turn to wash the dishes!" I hop down from the chair.

"Wait, since when do we have such a rule?"

"Sorry, but there's no free wheelie here okay!"

"Seriously? I even cook for you!" Khittan gushes at me. I laugh when I see his sulking face.

"Sorry, but my fingers were tired of snipping and pasting,"

"Excuse me, malady. I did the same task as well..."

"Ah, come on Khit! It's one chance of a lifetime. I mean, I don't know if I get a chance to be pampered like this in the future!" I playfully smack his shoulder.

"You will if you marry me..."

"Very funny, sir..." I give him a snarky look. He gushes over and starts doing dishes after I gave him a cold shoulder just now.

I was about to leave him alone, but I guess I teased him enough. Looking at him doing dishes alone makes me chuckle a bit. He looks awkward.

"Here here, let me help you!" I push him to the side a bit, take the clean plate, and wipe it before arranging the plate on the plate shelf which is above my head.

"That's more likely," Khittan smiles in joy.

:::

"Do we need to paste all of these stars?"

I heard a complaint from Khittan. He must be tired after the house chores. I laugh as I pick a small blue star and paste it on a mounting board.

"Yes. Every star matters,"

"My eyes and my finger also matter!"

I coo him, pinching his cheek while his pouting mouth compliments his overall cuteness overload. This is the other side of Khittan that most people haven't seen. At all.

"Now you make me hate Jun. Even more,"

"So, all this time you hate him for real?"

"Yes!"

"Kay, that's too straightforward..." I roll up my eyes. Annoyed by his blunt reaction.

"I have one crucial reason to hate Jun..." Khittan suddenly grips my wrist. "I hate him for being around you before me,"

Our gaze pierced each other. Khittan looks deadly serious when I just wanna joke around about his choice of hating Jun.

"Fine. Suits yourself. Don't gimme such a reason to escape. You have to help me with this," I jokingly push him to the side. I can hear his gush over the demand by me.

"You're lucky that I love you..."

I sheepishly laugh, pretending that I didn't hear those words. I mean, his confession and that I love you words are common from him. He will just casually use those three words on me. Sometimes, I wonder if those words have significant meaning to him or not. Or, is he just bluntly using them since we are close friends now?

I dare not to inquire him.

"I'm sleepy..." Khittan suddenly whines.

"Sleep then. It's not like the concert is tonight or tomorrow morning..." I continue my work while watching Khittan slowly drift into the dreamland.

I finish up more before I feel drowsy myself. Slowly, my eyelid drops and before I even finish the banner, I flop onto the table and....

Sleep.