CH 17: July 3, 2013

“So it's just an SM broadcast?” I repeated.

“Yes, Lani, I told you,” Jaesung groaned from the driver’s seat.

“Shouldn't we be preparing for our comeback?” Hyerin asked from the seat behind me. Jia, Emika, and I echoed a “yeah”.

“This is preparing for your comeback,” Jaesung explained, making a somewhat sharp turn. “Sorry. But this helps your comeback. Nyx is getting famous, EXO is, too. Broadcasts help with fans, you know that. Who's going to listen to your comeback?”

“But why are we doing it with EXO?” Sixiao asked.

“So many questions,” Jaesung groaned as he put the car in park. He undid his seatbelt and turned around to look at us, minus Ahra, who was next to him in the passenger seat. “Listen up. You know who Park Young Min is, yes? SM’s director? Yes, well, he thinks it would be good to have two SM groups to promote side by side, like counterpart groups. And guess which two groups are the easiest to make counterpart groups?”

“Us?” Emika answered.

“Exactly, because you both just debuted and it's easy to… mold you two.”

“Do you mean counterpart groups like BigBang and 2NE1?” Ahra questioned.

“Yes, just like that,” he answered, sounding bitter. “Now get out, we're here.” He got out of the car, slamming the door and making us jump.

“Did he just say ‘f**king YG’ as he got out?” Emika said, mouth agape.

I giggled, undoing my belt and opening the door, the rest doing the same.

***

We filed into the salon, bowing to some makeup artists. This salon was new, and apparently where we would be going for a long time.

The spacious room had about 14 makeup tables, seven on each side.

“The rest aren't here yet?” I heard someone say to Jaesung.

“They're on the way. Just start with them.”

We stood awkwardly in a sort of a circle in the middle of the room before some unnies called us to their tables.

One of them called me over and I settled into the chair, trying to make myself comfortable.

“Annyeonghaseyo!” She exclaimed, smiling at me. “I'm Cho Hee, and I guess I'm your new makeup artist!”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What about Jinae? I mean, my stylist.”

“Oh, she's still your stylist, just not your makeup artist. She'll do touch ups, and pick out your clothes. I'll do your makeup in the morning, make sense?”

I nodded.

“Good. Now shall we start?”

***

Some 10 minutes later, I sat on my phone, texting my sister as Chohee fluttered around me, occasionally telling me to “look down” or turn my head.

“Annyeonghaseyo!” The greeting was echoed by others as the door opened, with a slight bang.

“Oh, oops,” Xiumin said as he entered. “Hi, you guys!”

“Hi,” we chorused back.

“You guys come here, too?” Jia questioned him.

“We've been coming here,” Luhan answered in Mandarin as he came to stand next to her. “And you're in my spot.”

“Well, you're gonna have to wait.” She scowled back at him and he mocked her expression. The boys filed in, all of them except Luhan, Kris, and Tao, whose seats we had apparently taken.

“Sorry, Tao,” I said to him as he perched himself next to me.

“It's okay,” he replied. “I'll just wait.” He settled himself down and watched Chohee work her magic.

She finished faster than Jinae had before, taking only some two hours, which was quick from my perspective. Jinae would take usually an entire three hours, sometimes passing that mark.

I pattered over to the couple of couches in the back once I finished, still in the hoodie and shorts I had come in. Junmyeon, Emika, Jongdae, Kris, Xiumin, Sixiao, and Chanyeol were already finished with their makeup, and were sitting on the couch, talking about something intently, their voices low.

I perched myself next to Jongdae in an empty spot. “What's up?” I chirped. They all looked up at me simultaneously, their eyes surprised and wide.

“Oh, it's just you,” Junmyeon breathed.

“Wow,” I commented. “‘Just you’. I'm gonna take that as a compliment. Anyhow, why are you guys so hush hush?”

“Apparently,” Junmyeon started. “The reason why they want us to do this is because someone close to Lee Soo Man told him that YG is better than SM, and when he asked why, they said that the agency is more like a family and that that's the way all companies should be.”

“Yeah,” Xiumin confirmed. “So Lee Soo Man came and yelled at Park Young Min about why the groups aren't close and all, then Park Young Min yelled at all the staff and stuff, then they decided to shove us together so we would seem more like a family.”

“Us? Why? What about, like, Super Junior and SNSD, or SHINee and f(x)?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Lani,” Jia huffed. “Our manager even told us in the car. We just debuted, so it's easier to make us closer.”

“You talk like that to your unnie?”

“Sorry,” she murmured sheepishly.

Jongdae added even more input. “They might even make us do promotions together!” I scoffed at this.

“No, they won't,” I rolled my eyes. “And how do you guys even know this?”

“Our manager told us,” Chanyeol announced. I looked over at him.

“Oh,” I said it pointedly, sarcastically, flatly.

I'm a very nice person, honestly. I never get annoyed at people pointlessly, but at the same time, I was a petty person by nature. Whenever someone was rude to me, I'd be even ruder. It's not that Chanyeol had been rude to me, but our last… encounter had been quite cold. And since I had been given so much time to think about it, I had made it out to be something bigger than it probably was.

His brows turned down, only a fraction before I looked away from him.

“So EXO and Nyx is going to be an actual thing?” I questioned the general group.

“I'm guessing as much,” Chanyeol answered, with an eager undertone. “There’s-”

“I didn't ask you.” My answer to him was sharp. Chanyeol was taken aback, and I melted a bit at his surprised eyes. “Sorry.” I could feel him staring at me even as I looked away, and my conscience started yelling at me for being so rude to such a puppy