It was time for THESUN to shine and I couldn't hog him to myself as I wanted.

For a whole month, our relationship was maintained by instant messaging and video calls while he traveled around promoting his solo debut single. From the coolest TV shows during day and nighttime, and even abroad, his face was plastered in newspapers, magazines, ads online and on mainstream media.

A late show interviewer asked him once, "Up to now, you've been used to sharing the spotlight with your bandmates from Casual Friday Funeral. How are you coping with all this attention only on yourself?"

Tae Yang, or Link, as everyone else knew him, looked on as the audience exploded in cheers and screams loud enough to shatter glass. Even despite the makeup he wore for the cameras, his cheeks grew red like streetlights.

Once the audience calmed down, he cleared his throat and faced the interviewer again. "It's kind of shocking, actually."

"Really?" the interviewer leaned forward. "I'd be basking in all of this euphoria!"

Tae Yang looked down for a second, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, well I've sort of always been happy in the background, just quietly doing my thing. I even had long hair to hide behind."

Someone shouted that they missed his hair, so loud and clear the studio microphones caught it.

Tae Yang chuckled. "It had to go for my military service. And actually once I was discharged, I didn't miss it because that way people didn't recognize me for a good while. I even got to go around on dates with my girlfriend in public with no one being the wiser."

"I bet that was fun," the interviewer said with a laugh.

Yeah, it was. If we wanted to go on a random Walmart date in the middle of the night now, it wouldn't be possible at all. Not even if he wore a paper bag on his head.

"But I have to admit I wasn't expecting all this commotion," Tae Yang continued saying, glancing at an audience growing more animated the more attention he gave them. "For a South Korean kid to grow into a mainstream artist in America? No way."

That had been the dream he'd once told me about, after he'd played me a piano song that turned out to be the basis for his debut single. Now that song permeated the lives of millions of people across the globe and his music video broke records.

And that guy was my boyfriend.

"Mierda, mierda," I said as Leyna drove us to the Amway Center.

"Why are you so nervous?" she asked, shaking her head.

I grabbed onto my seatbelt for dear life."This is going to sound crazy, but-"

"Yes, it absolutely will."

I ignored her. "But this past month has taught me just how amazing my boyfriend is and now we're headed to his band's concert and I'm afraid he's going to look even more incredible before my eyes."

Leyna gave me a quick look that absolutely read as WTF. "Why are you making it sound like it'd be a bad thing?"

"Because my heart's hammering so fast in my chest I'm afraid I may vomit it out of my mouth." I took several deep breaths. "And I think if I see him in action I'm going to keel over and die."

Or worse, fall in love even harder.

"Meanwhile," I continued saying, my voice trembling. "I'm just going to be just one more faceless person in the crowd."

"De qué hablas?" She grunted. "Didn't he give us VIP tickets so we would be super close to the stage?"

"That's not what I mean."

"Then what?"

I took a deep breath and looked out the window. The streets narrowed the closer we drew into the downtown area and traffic grew progressively slower and more packed. The whole town, and beyond, was turning out to see their favorite rock band reunite after two years of hiatus. It would be the first show out of a short tour designed to promote Tae Yang's debut single, before he built up enough of a discography that he could fill up arenas by himself.

Even the Miss Venezuela, the biggest event of the year in my home country, didn't draw in crowds this size.

"I feel inadequate, okay?" I finally admitted to my friend, blinking back moisture from my eyes.

She groaned. "What the fuck are you talking about? The guy has even said on national television how you were the muse for his mega hit and how much he can't wait to see you again. How's that for inadequate?"

I sunk in my seat. "I can't help it, okay? That's how I feel."

"Does he know about this?"

"Yes." I mumbled the answer because, sure enough, it sent her in a rant about how awesome I was. Which was exactly the same Tae Yang had done when I'd told him how I felt.

It didn't negate the fact I wanted to be better. Smarter. More accomplished. I couldn't let him be the only remarkable one in this couple, damn it.

Speaking of, almost by magic, Tae Yang called me at the exact time Leyna found a parking spot at a jam-packed garage. Even with the spotty reception, his voice in my ear sounded like a song.

"I'm sending Mickey and Steve to meet you and your friend."

"Oh, that's not necessary," I started to say, except as soon as Leyna and I got out of the car and found our way out of the parking garage, seeing the throngs of people heading to the arena changed my mind. "Huh, okay I see what you mean."

"Send me your location so they can find you," he said.

His bodyguards must have been nearby because only a few minutes after I sent Tae Yang our coordinates, two massive guys parted the sea of people as they headed our way.

"Wow, I feel so special," Leyna said. "First time I'm getting escorted anywhere."

I wished I could enjoy the whole experience as she did. The way Leyna saw it, her friend had scored VIP concert tickets saving her hundreds of dollars, including a backstage pass to meet one of the hottest bands of our generation. It was a dream come true.

Meanwhile, I was glad I hadn't been able to eat anything in a day because I'd have puked my guts out by now. At least this time, I rode in Tae Yang's bodyguards' van without risking the upholstery.

"We're going to bring you in from the personnel area," Mickey said from the driver's seat. "We'll go straight through backstage to where the band is."

"No lines?" Leyna asked.

The other guy, Steve, chuckled from the passenger's seat. "And no waiting at all."

Sure enough, with their badges they got us through the back of the arena, where countless people moved equipment and massive chests containing who knew what. People came and went, each one with a fire lit under their butt like what they were doing was the most important task in the planet.

Steve and Mickey maneuvered Leyna and I so smoothly, they looked like graceful ballerinas in the middle of the chaos despite each of them being mountains of muscle.

My eyes strayed every which way, half expecting Tae Yang to pop out of nowhere. But finally, the bodyguards pointed at a door with a paper sign that read BAND.

"Ready?" Mickey asked us.

Leyna had built up so much energy along the way she exploded out with a loud, "Yes!"

So Mickey opened the door and...

There he was.

Sitting at a chair, getting his hair done. Eyes closed and head back. Snoring.

My lips trembled but were unable to hold back my cackle. I didn't know what I'd expected from this moment. Opening the door to find him on his knees, offering me a bouquet of flowers? Or him bounding over to me like a lost puppy who had been reunited with his owner?

Every other person turned to me. Vera. Ashton. Madison. Quinn. Their stylists and other employees. Except for my boyfriend, who would continue snoring even through an earthquake.

The amusement abated with a sigh. I walked into the dressing room, my eyes only on him as I said, "He must be exhausted."

His stylist, a woman around my mom's age, gave me a smile. "He was so excited waiting for you, but he's jet lagged."

"Oh. My. God," Leyna said behind me. "It's everybody. Oh my God. Can I have all your autographs? Also, can we take a few selfies?"

"Behave," I told her as I sat beside Tae Yang.

"Pay up," Madison said to her boyfriend, extending her hand towards him. "I told you it was Coromoto's daughter who was Link's girlfriend."

Quinn groaned. "But they weren't together when we met her and made this bet."

She narrowed her eyes, clenching and unclenching her hand. Her boyfriend reached for his pocket to take out his wallet.

"Never mind them." The girl who could be no other than Vera, the lead singer of the biggest rock band on earth, stuck her hand out to me. "Nice to meet you, Cee. I'm a huge fan of yours."

"What?" I asked, although it sounded more like a babble because here I was, shaking a huge celebrity's hand who claimed to be my fan? What the-

"Anyone who can make Link happy is a big deal in my books," she said with a grin.

Behind her, Ashton nodded. "Yeap, I've never seen the cranky bastard happier."

As if on cue, Tae Yang let out a snort resembling a roar and sent us all into a fit of giggles.

Someone burst into the room right there and said, "Five minutes to start!"

"Anyway, I hope we can catch up properly in the afterparty," Vera said, offering me a hug as though we hadn't just met. As she pulled away, she winked and said, "There's so much dirt we can share about your boyfriend."

I grinned. "Oh, I can't wait."

"Link," Quinn called out, loud enough to break Tae Yang's eardrum. "We're almost up, bro."

"Let me help," I said, grabbing fistfuls of Tae Yang's black hoodie. Using all my strength, I lifted up his torso and rattled him.

As though it had been nothing but a morning kiss, Tae Yang's eyes fluttered open and settled on me. Slowly, his lips stretched into a broad smile.

"You're here."

"And they're calling for you to get on stage," I said.

"Let them wait."

Holding my neck, Tae Yang pulled me down for a kiss long overdue. Even as people cheered and whistled around us, I forgot everything about where we were, consumed by the feeling of his lips. My hands craved running through his hair, but I settled for splaying them on his chest. His heart beat against my hand with the same strength as mine did in my chest.

At that moment, nothing else mattered. Not who we were, why we were there or what had happened. We were just two people in love.

"C'mon, it's showtime!"

Tae Yang groaned and said something in his native language, before facing away. "Mickey?"

"Yes?" the bodyguard called out from somewhere behind me.

"Keep her and her friend safe, okay?"

"Absolutely."

Tae Yang looked amazing in all black, ripped jeans so tight they were probably applied via a spray can, a hoodie over a sleeveless shirt of those with wide side openings, held together by oversized pins. They matched the myriad piercings in his ears. The patent combat boots he wore also had safety pins as decoration. It was the kind of outfit only he could pull off.

But even the thick makeup they'd put on him to favor him under the stage spotlight couldn't hide his drawn cheeks, the sunken circles around his red eyes. He must be exhausted, and this was only the beginning.

I grabbed onto his hand. "Are you going to be okay?"

Tae Yang blinked, as if waking up from a dream and seeing me again for the first time. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

I brushed his hair away from his forehead. "Mi vida, you look exhausted."

"What does that mean?" he asked, ignoring most of what I said to focus on two words. "Mee... Something."

"Mi vida," I repeated, clearing my throat. "It means my life."

Even as a clerk called out for Tae Yang again, he stood there before me for another moment. Tilting his head, he gave me a sweet little kiss on one cheek, then the other, then my forehead and finally my lips.

"To answer your previous question," he said, smiling. "How can I be exhausted when you give me so much energy?"

"Link, don't make me drag you out!" someone who sounded suspiciously like the band's bassist said.

"You should go," I said, squeezing his hand tighter.

"Will you watch me?" Tae Yang asked, his brow creased as if he were worried about what I might think.

And in that moment, I realized I hadn't been the only one nervous about this moment.

I gave him a peck on his lips. "I will, like your biggest fan."

But a fan who was in love with the man others saw as a mega star.

I watched him leave the backstage area and go onto the stage. Mickey and Steve gave Leyna and I a pair of earbuds each, which helped against the deafening roar of the crowd once the full band was on stage.

It turned out the VIP experience Tae Yang had prepared for us included a pair of seats right beside the stage, by the side where his DJ console and instruments were set up. And for the first time in my life, up close, I got to see what my boyfriend really did for a living.

SONG OF THE DAY: Salserin - Una Fan Enamorada

hehehehehe they are so in love