Page 73 of A World Apart
“Rude.”
“Right? Oh, here it is!” Excitedly, I selected the captioned video − it was only two hours long. “They must have cut all the ads out.”
“Very considerate,” Becka said again, nodding her appreciation.
“Vibers.” I grinned.
Together, we watched the show, carefully looking out for when the cameras panned to the talent section, which they did frequently. GVibes certainly got their fair share of air time.
“Handsome SOB’s,” Becka muttered, sipping a glass of wine.
I just nodded, because there was no denying it. All five members were dressed in a manner similar to that of the music video for ‘Work Harder,’ black suits cut in various styles that suited each member perfectly. Their hair and makeup was flawless. Their eyes were shadowed and lined, giving them mysterious, moody vibes. Thirstily, I took a gulp of my wine.
Finally, “Here they are!” I pointed at the TV as the first few bars of ‘Work Harder’ were played to an immediate and thunderous roar from the crowd, the lights in the auditorium dimming as the stage lighting flared. Silhouettes artfully played against a white back-drop as lights strobed across the stage, drumming up the excitement to a near fever-pitch that the other performers just hadn’t managed.
Then, just as the beats from the extended song’s intro began to pound through the speakers, all sound cut off and five figures shot up into the middle of the stage from hidden trapdoors and a camera raced forward to focus solely on Jihoon, now undeniably Baek Ji-Hoon, main vocalist and ‘the visual’ of GVibes.
He began to sing a cappella, no backing-track, just the clear, confident opening lines of the song, turning his head side-on as he tilted his head back. The view of the muscles in his neck flexing as he sang was undeniably sexy.
And then the music flooded back in and GVibes burst into motion − in perfect sync, a single, living entity. Their movements were graceful yet edgy. Impossible to look away from.
The cameras swooped around them, each vying for the best angle and yet still capturing the whole.
When the song transitioned into ‘Make Some Noise,’ the crowd near exploded with screams and chants. My feet were tapping away of their own volition and I found I was somehow anxious for Becka to also admire the skill, the catchiness of the song, the outfits and overall performance. Like I was anxious for her approval, which was ridiculous.
I tried to put it aside, and when the performance finally ended, I tried to pretend I wasn’t as hyped as I really felt − like my heart wasn’t fit to bursting.
As the house-lights raised, replacing the strobing stage lights, the cameras panned in close as the five of them clustered together, raising their hands and bowing to the audience, all of them smiling widely and shouting words of thanks. I could see the sheen of sweat glistening on their faces; they’d worked hard. I hoped they had gotten some rest and good food before the show.
Not long after GVibes left the stage, a podium was carried on, followed by the two hosts. It was time for the awards ceremony.
GVibes wasn’t nominated for the first handful of categories: things like Best Male and Female Acts, Best Solo, Best Newcomer and Best International Tour, but when the MC called out − and Becka and I read the caption for − Listener’s Choice, GVibes were one of four groups nominated. I clasped Becka’s hand and together we waited until…
“GVibes!” The camera panned to where GVibes was sitting in the performers area, capturing the moment where their faces changed from polite blankness to surprised and then delighted, clapping each other on the shoulders.
Minjae, the leader, got up first and lead the group back to the main stage as various other idols and groups watched them pass, some standing to cheer them on.
Minjae accepted the award graciously and they all huddled around the microphone grinning. They thanked their fans first and foremost, their management and their friends and family for their unwavering support. Or, at least that’s what I gathered from the captions. I began to feel the first twinges of annoyance at not being able to understand even a single word− more so when Jihoon spoke, again reinforcing how grateful they were for their fans.
Theywent on to win three other awards: Best Music Video for 'Make Some Noise', Best Collaboration for 'Fall in Love', which they’d collab’d with Haley for and Fan’s Choice, which I think was one of the online polls.
By the end of the show, I was weirdly exhausted, my emotions feeling so strung out that I felt the need for a relaxing bath.
“You know where the nice oils are,” Becka just said in response, already flicking through episodes of Supernatural.
Even though the bathroom was fairly compact, Becka and I had made the effort to make it as spa-like as we could. Ben, her ex, had kept promising to re-grout the tiles, but he never had, so when I moved in, one of the first things we did was go to a Lowe’s and pick out some rental-friendly peel-and-stick floor tiles, a new shower curtain and one of those fancy, slatted, bamboo floor mats. We couldn’t do anything about the small bath/shower, but with the addition of a few scented candles, the room felt 'more yuppy, less guppy' − as Becka had put it.
Still feeling a bit off-kilter, I lit a couple candles, turned only the over-mirror light on and liberally dosed the bath with essence of ylang ylang. I slid down into the bath as far as I could, bubbles and warm, scented water tickling my collar bones as I tilted my head back and sighed. Bliss.
That was exactly when my phone vibrated in the bath caddy, the noise echoing around the small room.
It took me a moment to get to it though, as I had to dry my hands off on a hand towel first, and then when I saw Jihoon’s face on the screen with an incoming video call, I nearly dropped it.
For a hot second, my finger hovered above the ‘voice call’ button, but then a wild, impulsive and somewhat devilish side of me nudged my finger to the side and hit ‘video’ instead.
I held the phone quite close to my face as Jihoon lit up the screen, greeting me with that smile of his that crinkled his eyes, and made my heart squeeze in my chest.
“Hi,” I said, shy again now.
