Chapter 15 – Scene of the Gala

What if Fang Juexia was gay?

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Xiao Pei held his cellphone and let out a string of "fucks", and as he panicked, he ended up kicking his shin against the table. It hurt so bad that it made him feel as though he was going to die. He quickly bent over and clutched his leg, unable to even let a cry out.

Coincidentally, the door of the small practice room was suddenly opened at this time. Ling Yi appeared, carrying a bag of oversized yam slices, and was followed by a camera. Ling Yi didn't even glance at him and said, "Xiao Pei, Huohuo said to ask if you have any lyrics written on hand to discuss…" He saw Pei Tingsong sitting with his large stature all huddled up on his chair and asked curiously, "What are you doing? Doing yoga on the chair ah?" Then he went over and offered, "Do you want to eat yam slices?"

When Pei Tingsong raised his head, Ling Yi looked at him and was startled. "Oh, why are you shedding tears, if you didn't write lyrics, then you didn't write them bei, what are you crying for ya?"

Pei Tingsong gnashed his teeth and said, "I hit my leg…"

"Oh it's like that ah, silly." Ling Yi laughingly patted him on the back. "It's fine as long as you didn't break it, or else it would affect our comeback~"

"You have the heart and lungs of a dog."

Ling Yi grinned. "Yes ah, you are a Siberian wolf, while I am an adorably cute Chihuahua."

"You're pretty good." Pei Tingsong finally managed to knead his leg a few times before placing it down slowly. Ling Yi then led him to He Ziyan's workshop, after saying that the composer had also arrived.

Pei Tingsong didn't expect that as soon as he entered the workshop, he would catch sight of Fang Juexia, with whom he had just parted ways not too long ago, as he sat next to He Ziyan. They seemed to have been discussing something, and when they heard someone coming into the room, they naturally raised their heads. However, as soon as he saw that it was Pei Tingsong, Fang Juexia lowered his head again.

This unnatural behavior reminded Pei Tingsong—he still hadn't cleared up that misunderstanding with Fang Juexia.

Pei Tingsong coughed twice and walked over, then called out, "Um, Juexia Ge…"

"Ah?" Ling Yi's ears were miraculously sharp, and he disrupted the conversation mercilessly by asking, "How come the words coming from our youngest son today are so sweet, calling someone Ge?"

He Ziyan also followed along in interrupting, "Could it be that something of our Xiao Pei's has landed in Juexia's hands?"

Fang Juexia guessed that Pei Tingsong wanted him to hide the fact that he had come out to him on WeChat today. It seemed that everyone didn't know about this. Although he didn't understand why Pei Tingsong would suddenly tell him such a private matter, when he thought about it carefully, he understood that since Pei Tingsong had grown up in a foreign country, he was used to being free and open, and it was very normal for him to have awakened to his true self early on.

Since this logic seemed to be consistent, Fang Juexia also succeeded in persuading himself about it.

Since Pei Tingsong hadn't told any of the others about this, it would be better if he came up a lie for him and changed the subject. With such a kind thought in mind, Fang Juexia said, "He's actually…"

Just after he said those few words, his mouth was suddenly covered. The perpetrator was Pei Tingsong, who was now standing behind him.

"Actually what?" Pei Tingsong forced himself to smile as he stated, "I am a Didi, and Didis should call their seniors Gege."

He Ziyan laughed and agreed, "Well founded, completely unable to refute."

Ling Yi felt that something was strange and wanted to stretch out his paws to push Pei Tingsong's hands aside, but his hands were covering Fang Juexia's mouth quite tightly, and did not let go even a bit.

"Do you guys share some small secret you haven't told us?" Ling Yi's face was full of suspicion. "The post-production little Jiejie remembered to give me a complete set of Detective Conan manga ah. There is only one truth…"

"There is only one," Pei Tingsong barreled in to interrupt, "It's that we have a little secret we don't want to tell you. Don't try to pry into things you don't oversee, or you'll already not be my most loved Ling Xiao Yi."

He Ziyan applauded, "It rhymes, awesome."

Pei Tingsong let go, pulled up a chair, and sat in front of Fang Juexia. He raised an eyebrow at him, his warning obvious.

I didn't want to say anything anyway. Fang Juexia thought that saying anything more at this point would be superfluous, so he just didn't say anything. His skin was very pale and delicate, and Pei Tingsong's ten fingers clasping him had left a red mark.

"Tch, tch, tch…" Ling Yi, with a sad face, went over to the camera and mimed out being a blubbery mess of snot and tears. "This section must not be cut. Ling Yi is now already an abandoned wife, having been replaced by another one. Barrage, spam for me, Pei Tingsong is an unfaithful lover, and needs to give his abandoned wife some face!"

Even the composer, who had been watching the whole time, couldn't help laughing as he said, "It's really a waste to have Yiyi as the main singer, he should have gone to the acting department."

Fang Juexia was also amused by Ling Yi, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved up slightly. The icy layer on this eternally cold face broke, and emotions rippled through it—seeing it made Pei Tingsong feel strange. His outstretched feet quietly kicked against Fang Juexia's, and he saw the other person return to his senses as he turned his face slightly to look at him, still not saying anything, but having just taken his smile off his face.

"Was it funny?" While everyone else was chatting in a lively manner, Pei Tingsong asked him this in a low voice.

His voice was special, possessing a deep tone that didn't match his richly youthful face. It was probably because people who grew up speaking English had a stronger chest resonance. Normally speaking, in a noisy environment, bass sounds were the ones most easily covered up, but the three words Pei Tingsong had spoken fell directly into Fang Juexia's ear. He wasn't sure whether he heard him first or whether his eyes saw the irrepressible bantering smile at the corner of Pei Tingsong's mouth.

Fang Juexia pursed his mouth and turned his head back around while wielding a cold shield of indifference. He had been calm for a long time, and had long become accustomed to feeling no waves of emotion, but would often still get flustered by Pei Tingsong.

No one had taught him how to get along with people like Pei Tingsong.

Jiang Miao and Lu Yuan also hurried back, after which, the whole group and the staff started the first round of demo selection. Fang Juexia's cellphone vibrated. He looked down to check it and found that it was a message from Pei Tingsong.

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: I mistyped that message. It was supposed to be "notice", not "gay". Sexual orientation may be the only physiological thing in my life that I have to cater to the public with.]

At the moment he sent that message out, a thought appeared in Pei Tingsong's mind— What if Fang Juexia was gay, otherwise how could such rumors exist, even if they were fake…

Fang Juexia stared at the screen and then scrolled up to look at the message he had sent about a notice before. Thinking about it, this kind of mistyping logic made more sense than Pei Tingsong suddenly coming out of the closet, so he naturally accepted it. Just as he was ready to reply, a second item popped up on the chat screen.

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: Of course, I have no objections towards gay people. Love is love. I'm just purely explaining what happened.]

Fang Juexia's mind wasn't as delicate as Pei Tingsong's. His way of thinking was straightforward and simple, so he didn't read anything into this sentence, and since He Ziyan was talking to him again, he could only reply with a brief message.

[Just a pretty face: Okay.]

Okay?

Okay???

Pei Tingsong was getting worked up even more and more. What straight as steel man, this guy was the definition of real steel. He was completely unaware of the amount of empathy that had gone into the editing of the message for him.

He threw his cellphone into his pocket and ignored it.

The discussion of the new album lasted the whole afternoon. Originally, it would have been time for them to return to the dormitory for a rest, but the temporarily assigned evening livestream show had disrupted their schedule, and having a live stage to perform on was very rare, so they all desperately practiced until 3 in the morning.

Ever since Pei Tingsong and Fang Juexia had appeared on the Hot Search, the online discussion about Kaleido had become polarized. Besides their fans, those who had been sucked in or passersby who didn't care, everyone else still looked down on them, cursing them out as selling rot, and cursing them out as not having any real ability and just selling hype, along with hating them and wishing that they could trample this group, that had just become a bit more popular, under their feet.

This was all very normal. Fang Juexia was especially clear-headed about that.

They were a boy band. Their strength on the stage would be the thing that could make all these people settle down, not their popularity.

They practiced non-stop for two days in a row. Besides their debut at the end of the year award ceremony, this occasion would count as Kaleido's second large-scale gala since their debut. CloudTV was the largest video website platform in China. Everyone took this job very seriously, even though they were just the backup option.

It was only on the 29th day of the New Year, that is, the day of the formal performance, that they found out that the stylists they had always been complaining about weren't there anymore, and that the company had specially switched in a new stylist team for them.

The stage makeup for Fang Juexia also changed now. In the past, most of his birthmark would be covered up with concealer, but the new makeup artist used a red eye shadow, similar in colour to his birthmark, to outline his eyes and then link his birthmark to the corner of his eye. The eyeshadow was applied lightly, being only a bit heavier and more obvious at the corner of his left eye. His brown hair was curled a bit, so that his bangs fluttered down on his forehead, and when paired with the gray satin shirt he was wearing, he looked like a kind of decadent beauty.

Fang Juexia didn't have any high requirements for his style, but he thought that this time, he looked quite special. He glanced at the others through the mirror. The group leader's blow-dried, temporarily dyed blue hair was eye-catching, and He Ziyan's red hair also looked very cool. His eyes finally fell on Pei Tingsong's new style. Usually, all of Pei Tingsong's stage clothes were selected while aiming for a more youthful look, but this time, his hair had been styled by being blown clean and tidy, with his bangs framing his forehead like commas, and after adding on a pair of gold wire glasses with a narrow frame, he gave off the impression of being an ambitious professional, which suited his dark gray suit coat very well.

"You guys are now hanging on the Hot Search, and in addition to the fact that you've attracted new fans, there must be a lot of people out there who are questioning your abilities, which is rather normal." Cheng Qiang began his daily counselling speech in the dressing room. "This is a rare opportunity, and with regards to your strength, Ge is at ease. As long as you perform at your normal level, you'll all be really great!"

Ling Yi had, for once, gotten the stylist to give him a wolf head hairstyle, and was so happy that he almost completely ignored Cheng Qiang's words and chimed in, "Ah, I like this hairstyle, it makes me five centimeters taller!"

"Five centimeters is still not enough ba." Pei Tingsong was chewing bubblegum and blew a bubble.

"You shut up!"

"Strong Ge, when this is done, can we go get kebabs?" Lu Yuan looked up at Cheng Qiang and asked, his smoothed-out hair making him give off the impression of being clever and well-behaved, a look seldomly seen.

"Yes, it's no problem. Let's give a good performance, and Qiang Ge will treat you all tonight!"

Due to the sudden change in the original schedule, and the fact that Kaleido wasn't a heavyweight among the many other guests performing tonight, the fan-allotted seats that could be won by their fans were also very limited. However, the Dominoes present on the scene also tried their best to help out their idols. Each little girl carried a heavy Kaleidoscope lamp and a Klein Blue lightboard as they patiently waited for the six big boys to appear act after act during the whole performance.

The gala hadn't pressed for any rigid requirements for the singing portion during the event, and so, many of the groups or individuals who went before them had performed by only singing live for half of their performance duration, or by lip-syncing the whole time. However, the Kaleido team had insisted that they would sing and perform their song live, with the background vocals being played so lightly that it would be as if they were literally not there.

During the rehearsal, Fang Juexia kept feeling that things were not quite right. The earbuds provided by the organizers were not effective, and the sound coming through them was poor. Cheng Qiang, in the end, had simply taken out the six handheld mics that the company had bought at a high price.

They knew very clearly where their own strengths lay.

This was an occasion where they could use their strengths to clinch the outcome in their favour.

"I'm so nervous, so nervous." Based on the gala program's schedule, there were two other performances left before it would be their turn. Ling Yi kept trilling his vocal notes in front of the group camera they had brought along with them. "I feel like I haven't sung live in a long time. What are we going to do if my voice cracks later?"

Lu Yuan pinched his shoulder and said, "If you crack, me and Shuishui will each take over one of your parts."

"You won't be able to continue with his three high notes," Jiang Miao laughed.

He Ziyan said, "He can do three bass notes instead."

"Then let Juexia do it." Lu Yuan winked at Juexia and said, "Juexia singing those three lines will sound like water being sprinkled down la."

Everyone chatted and played games backstage as they waited, and soon, they were summoned via their earpieces. They cheered each other on and then went onto the stage.

"Let's welcome the new, popular idol group, Kaleido!" The two hosts welcomed them to the middle of the stage, and then announced, "Welcome, welcome, this is Kaleido's first time coming to the CloudTV gala, right? Greet the audience friends on the scene ba."

The captain looked left and right, at his group members standing beside him, and said, "One, two, three—Hello everyone!"

"We are Kaleido!" All six men neatly made a K using their hands and then bowed to the audience.

"Wow, this gesture is really cool." The hostess imitated them, adding, "Then Kaleido, do you want to take this opportunity to offer a New Year's greetings to the audience offstage, and to the ones on the livestream? Everyone is really looking forward to it."

"Everyone, say one sentence ba." Jiang Miao glanced at He Ziyan, who was standing at the leftmost side. After understanding what he was indicating at, He Ziyan picked up the microphone and greeted, "Happy New Year, I wish you all to make a fortune throughout this new year."

There was a burst of laughter from the audience. No one had thought that this group would be so sincere.

Next was Lu Yuan. "Be happy and smile often."

Jiang Miao said with a smile, "I hope everyone and their families can get together like this and be happy in the new year."

Ling Yi said, "Those who want to stop being single, will stop being single, and those who want to stay single, will make a lot of money!"

Then came Fang Juexia's turn. He thought carefully and finally offered a very plain wish, "I wish everyone success in their work and progress in their studies."

In fact, he was a little curious about what Pei Tingsong would say. After all, taking just one look at his personality, anyone could tell that he had not been a child who would behave himself and give New Year's wishes to adults.

He even seriously imagined this scene in his head.

Looking sideways at the boy beside him, Pei Tingsong smiled and held up his microphone. "I hope everyone can realize their dreams."

Fang Juexia found this sentence unexpected, but then realized that it was also reasonable.

It really was very Pei Tingsong.

After this brief interaction, their performance officially began. As the lights changed, the six of them quickly got into their proper positions. The original song had been edited heavily due to time restrictions and during their rehearsals, it had been adjusted to become their debut song of the same name—"Kaleido."

It had been a long time since they had stepped onto a real stage, and so Fang Juexia took a deep breath when he grasped the microphone. His heart was beating very fast; those past few days of intensive practice had been just for this moment, and this event was too important for them, this was the deciding moment they had all been really waiting for.

They could only succeed, not fail.

The lights came on again, and the familiar opening notes of their song sounded on the stage.

Not right.

Not right.

Fang Juexia squinted. Standing at the starting position of the two main dancers, he quickly exchanged glances with Lu Yuan who was next to him. He raised his finger and pointed to his ear, and Lu Yuan also quickly nodded.

There was something wrong with the earpieces; they were full of background noise, almost exceeding the volume of the accompaniment that should have been transmitting through. They weren't working at all. The fans were very close to the stage, and although there weren't many people, their screams made it clear that they were very enthusiastic. They could hardly hear the background sound being played on the stage.

Such a large open-air venue, with a teeming crowd, and there was no playback coming from the earpieces.

His heart sank.