Chapter 3.WE ARE SIX

⇨December 1996⇦

The sound of the alarm clock made Hyesung furrowed his eyebrows as he groaned trying to switch off the alarm near his bed.

After few tries he finally got up and pulled out the battery from the clock. It was 6:00 in the morning. He pulled out an envelope which contains his visa and passport from the drawer as he sighed heavily. He was schedule to go back to Korea to start his training as SM Entertainment artist. He recalled how shocked he was when he unfolded the piece of paper and saw the schedule for his VTR and final interview.

Flashback November 5 1996:◀◀◀

He was at L.A Center Mall for his final interview and VTR . He couldn’t help but feel lonely as he looked around and noticed everyone seems unfamiliar to him. He sat in the corner of the waiting room playing some games in mobile phone.

Suddenly he felt someone sat beside him but he chose to ignore it as he continued pressing keys on his mobile phone.

“Excuse me” The person beside him tried to catch his attention and he succeeded. Hyesung looked at him and was surprised to see this familiar guy.

“Sunho shi” Hyesung said with his blank expression.

“Please call me Andy” Andy said while smiling, “It’s great to see you here. We were batchmates during audition.”

“Yeah I remember” Hyesung answered while trying to avoid eye contacts. He doesn’t like eye contacts. He doesn’t know why but he feels awkward whenever someone’s trying to look at his eyes.

“I think we’re the only ones who passed in our batch.”Andy said while pouting. Hyesung didn’t answer and continued to stare on the ground

. There was a minute of silence when Andy tried to talk to him again, “Umm.. May I know what year were you born?” Hyesung was about to answer but he stopped when he saw Eric walking towards them.

“Eric hyung!” Andy beamed at sight of his precious hyung . He pulled Eric and pointed at Hyesung, “Hyung, this is…”

Andy stopped as he realized that he forgot Hyesung’s name.

“Steve” Eric said while smiling. Hyesung was surprised that Eric knew his name. “I met him during audition”

Hyesung shyly nodded his head and again he avoided looking at these specific big doe eyes infront of him.

Eric noticed how Hyesung kept on staring at the ground and knew that the guy was too shy to even look at them so he walked towards Hyesung and put his arm around his shoulder, “So you passed too.. Congratulations”

Hyesung froze on the spot thinking why was he behaving this way whenever Eric was around. It’s not like he wanted his body to freeze like that or his heart to pound like it’s going to jump off his chest soon. He really doesn’t know why.

Seeing Hyesung didn’t respond, Eric grabbed his shoulder tighter trying to make friends with this new guy, “Wish they could put us three in a band. Right Steve?”

Hyesung smiled and shrugged his shoulder, “That would be great”

He looked at Andy who was smiling innocently at him and suddenly he felt guilty that he didn’t like the guy during the audition.

“What year were you born?” Andy asked Hyesung again trying to make the guy comfortable.

“1979” Hyesung simply answered and got shocked even more when Eric patted his head saying, “Really?? Me too!”

“Chingu!” Andy said while pointing at Eric and Hyesung.

Their conversation was interrupted when a woman shouted their names, “Mun Junghuk. Lee Sun Ho. Please raise your hands”

Eric and Andy quickly threw their hand in the air. They were waiting for the instruction but the woman was having difficulty reading the next person’s name, “What’s this? Jung Feelgyo??”

Hyesung shut his eyes as he felt the heat on his cheeks, Aish! This is so embarrassing. He slowly raised his hand.

“Are you Jung Feelgyo?”

“It’s Pilgyo Ma’am” Hyesung answered and noticed how Eric and Andy secretly snickered beside him.

“Please prepare for the interview and VTR. We’ll start in 5 minutes. If you think you need to use the bathroom, do it now. You’re not going to have chance later once we started.” The woman said and turned her back on them.

Hyesung watched the woman walking back inside of the office as he tried to ignore Eric and Andy’s boisterous laughter but her couldn’t.No one makes fun of him without getting hurt!

So he turned to Eric and smacked his broad shoulder, “Ya! I have never been offended like this bef-”

“Now I know why you want us to call you Steve” Eric interrupted him while scratching his shoulder. “My grand father’s name is even cooler than yours!”

Eric continued to laugh shamelessly while Andy could feel his tears on his cheek because he was laughing too much.

“Aish! Stop it!” Hyesung shouted and everyone looked at them. He looked at Eric from head to toe thinking how could a handsome person be this playful and childish.▶ End of flashback.

Hyesung smiled as he remembered how Eric and Andy laughed like Hyenas during their final interview and VTR. He couldn’t help but wish to see them in Korea. He grabbed his luggage and for the last time he looked around his room. He will definitely miss his room, his family , his friends and most specially his freedom.

SEOUL KOREA✈

He dropped his bags and luggage on the floor as soon as he stepped inside of the dorm. He pushed his forehead with his index finger trying to ease his headache due to jet lag.

“Just sit for awhile. The two other trainees will be here soon” The manager said while pointing at the sofa. Hyesung quickly threw himself on the sofa.

He couldn’t help but groan as he felt his head throbbing, in just few minutes he fell asleep.

“Pilgyo!” A loud voice woke him up. He quickly got up and saw the manager looking at him, “Are you alright? We were trying to wake you up for almost an hour”

Hyesung bit his lower lip as he shook his head, “No I’m okay”

“Hey!” He heard a familiar voice in the kitchen, “Long time no see!”

Hyesung smiled widely and ran towards Andy excitedly. “What’s this?? Are you my board mate?”

“We’re not only boardmates.” Andy whispered , “I think we’re gonna be band mates soon”

His eyes widened at the news. He didn’t expect to be a member of a band. He didn’t even think of it. He felt giddy and excited at the news , he couldn’t help but hug Andy tightly. “Really?? Where are the other members?”

“Here” A low husky voice was heard. Hyesung turned around and saw Eric behind him.

Surprise surprise!! Hyesung was totally overwhelmed by what was happening around him. He couldn’t believe that Eric is going to be his bandmate and the most important was this handsome guy will live in the same house with him.

“What?” Eric said while punching Hyesung’s shoulder, “No hugs? No reaction at all? You even almost jumped when Andy told you he’s going to be your bandmate. Aren’t you being unfair?”

Hyesung shook his head as he punched Eric playfully, “No.. I was just surprised”

▷▷December 13 , 1996

Hyesung pulled out a thick notebook from his drawer while pouting. He grabbed his pen and started to write.

Dear Diary,

It has been a week since I started living with him. Remember when I told you , I think I like him? No. It was a mistake. I would never ever like someone like him. He’s not a human! He’s from the outer space. He’s an alien stuck inside of an inhumanly gorgeous man’s body. Aish! I really hate him. Do you know what he did to me this morning? He put some glue on my hair! No, he didn’t do it. I did it…. He removed the shampoo from the container and replaced it with glue! It’s my hair! We’re talking about my hair here!! Damn this bastard! Yesterday he gave me a glass of soy sauce telling me it’s a cola! He even put some ice in it! I swear I’m gonna kill this person soon! During our dance practice he would always sneak out of the training room with this girl named Eugene. She’s a trainee too.

Hyesung’s vein on his forehead was visible as he writes on his diary angrily.

When he’s done he put it back in his drawer and went outside of his room only to find a huge crab crawling infront of his door.

“OMOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He quickly ran back to his room while holding his chest. He groaned desperately, “Aish you ing bastard! ERIC!!!!!!!!!!”

He could hear a laughter outside of his room and he was sure this handsome guy was enjoying this moment. “Get this ing crab right now! Or I’ll beat your right now!”

No one responded to him but he could still hear his laughter

“YA!!!!!!!” Suddenly the door bell rang and it stopped him from yelling.He waited for few minutes expecting Eric or Andy to greet the visitor.

When he heard footsteps infront of his room and saw a shadow picking the crab on the floor ,he quickly opened the door and sent a flying kick to Eric.

But it was not Eric.

“Ouch!” The guy said while holding his stomach. It was a new face and It was his first time to meet this stranger.

“What the actual was that for??” Hyesung’s eyes widened as he stared at this new guy who was holding his stomach with his left hand and the crab on his right.

“Eh? Who are you?”

The guy didn’t answer first but he was handing the crab to Hyesung, “Is this your pet?”

Hyesung quickly shook his head saying, “There’s no way I would have a pet crab! Eric put it there”

“Eric? Who?” The guy said still insisting Hyesung to get the crab from him.

“It’s me” Eric said while laughing. He was actually watching them from the other room. He walked towards the guy and said , “Ah! That’s my Pilgyo!”

Er