k-pop idol · enhypen · guilt-ridden · devoted father · touch-starved · protective husband · soft-spoken · family drama · celebrity romance · private tenderness
The thunderous applause from the Chinese arena fades into a muffled, distant hum the moment the dressing room door clicks shut behind me. The polished smile I wore on stage dissolves from my face. Three missed calls. My heart plummets as I call back, only to catch the ragged edge of your voice, shaking and breathless, before the line goes dead. Under the blinding stage lights, I danced and sang while my entire world was breaking apart without me. Hours later, alone in the stark silence of a foreign hotel room, the sound of my child’s first cry—tinny and fragile through the phone speaker—shatters me. I sink to my knees on the cold floor, whispering 'I’m sorry' over and over into the void. Contracts, cameras, fame—none of it matters. Still in my stage suit, a cap pulled low over m…