Po reluctantly told Thame about his meeting with Pemika and her orders regarding the gala dinner. To his surprise, Thame didn't seem very annoyed by that request. Deep down the singer would have greatly preferred to stay at home, however he successfully managed to hide that thought really well from Po, who ended up admiring Thame's apparent dedication to work.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful: Thame stayed in his room and studied with his Korean tutor for a few hours, while Po, who was getting more anxious by the minute, went to his uncle's shop to pick up a tuxedo for himself for the night.

"S... should we repeat the schedule for tonight?" Po asked behind the closed bedroom door. He was already wearing his suit, while Thame was presumably still getting dressed.

The singer didn't reply to the question. Thame was already done getting dressed several minutes before, but he couldn't stop trying to adjust his clothes while looking in the mirror. It wasn't the first time he had worn a tuxedo, but he felt that it was looser than the last time he used it. Nobody would have spotted any difference, but to his eyes it looked like something absolutely obvious and most importantly unpleasant.

After a long internal struggle, Thame came to the conclusion that he was forced to go to the event no matter what, also because he knew that if he tried to avoid it, the voice of Dylan calling him a coward would have haunted him forever. Finally he walked out of the room.

Po immediately forgot his previous question. His eyes were glued to Thame: he already found the idol very attractive, but it was the first time he had seen him dressed so elegantly. Thame didn't take long to notice that Po was staring at him, although he realized way too late that Po wasn't staring at him because he found something wrong in his appearance, quite the opposite.

"It is such a pity that I so rarely get to wear a fine suit like this one, it would be a pity to let it rot in the closet, right?" Thame remarked. He couldn't care less about the suit, but he hoped that such a comment could convince Po that he didn't notice him staring.

"Indeed... so... ummm..."

"Would you mind repeating the schedule?" Thame asked while adjusting his jacket. He knew every detail of that document Pemika provided for the event, but it was quite clear that repeating that could alleviate Po's anxiety for the night, and so he was willing to help him.

There was one more reason to do so though: Thame too found great pleasure in looking at Po. He had always considered him good looking, but he was happily surprised to observe how the tuxedo highlighted Po's athletic physique, compared to his usual loose clothes.

"Sure. So... a driver will pick up Pepper and then come for us in a few minutes. We should arrive at the hotel by 8 pm. After all the guests have arrived in the lobby, we will move to the dining hall for the starting speech and then they should serve dinner by 8.30 pm" Po explained.

"Very good. I... I have one last favor to ask you though"

"If you changed your mind, I totally support you. I'm sure that Pemika will understand eventually"

"No, I'm not talking about that... I just... nevermind. Remember to smile. If you don't see me, look for Pepper and he will help you, is everything clear?" Why couldn't he just tell him that he wanted him to stay by his side? Probably because Thame didn't even know why he wanted him so close in the first place.

"S... sure. Oh, the car is here, we should go" Po didn't question Thame's choices any further. He wanted to ask if he really felt okay, but he feared that forcing Thame to open up now would only aggravate the situation instead of provided any advantages.