Hongki pulled his hair out of frustration. In less than ten hours they may be meeting up with Myungsoo, yet, they haven’t formulated anything proper to show him. Exhausted and musty, Hongki began joking around to lighten the atmosphere, “How about we tell Myungsoo that we’ve broken up? That what we had was a fling?”

Unfavored by Hongki’s mean jest, Jaejin immediately makes him regret it, “I know it’s getting late but say something worthwhile or go to bed, will you?” The dullness and non-amusement in his tone had Hongki lowering his head.

“I was only joking,” he mumbled.

“Yeah? Then should I tell him it was a one-sided relationship on your part?” Jaejin questioned.

Annoyed by Jaejin’s seriousness Hongki waved him off, “Alright, alright I got it. I’m sorry. Gosh, did you really have to kill the mood?”

“I killed the mood?” Jaejin asked, offended. Instantly Hongki heaved a sharp sigh and stood up from his seat, then with a short glare he left Jaejin’s side. At one corner of the room, Hongki fell onto the bed back-first. He spread out his arms and studied the dirty ceiling. Surprisingly it was calming and it sort of reminded him of Jaejin. Hongki chuckled mentally, recalling the first time he met Jaejin.

It was late in the year when a representative at the company, Hongki auditioned for and pass, took him out. Apparently, just two blocks down, from the company, was a grassy field where the current trainees gather to play ball. (Since the company believed teamwork can only be enhanced through sports and activities) It was muddy as the grasses had just been watered that morning. And Jaejin, who was about to start the game off with the first goal, happened to dive into a puddle right by the goalpost while trying to avoid any steals all at the same time.

Hongki smiled internally, remembering when a wild, dirty Jaejin came over to greet him. To confuse Hongki, the trainees played a prank on him and introduced themselves as a “friend of that friend”. Jaejin’s line specifically was “Hi, I’m the friend of the friend of that friend, Choi Minhwan.”

Thinking of the line-up back then, Hongki still hasn’t forgiven Minhwan; the fourth and last member to be included in 4G.

“What’s your favorite word?” Jaejin’s voice ultimately brought Hongki back, though he failed to hear the other completely.

“Say what this time?”

Jaejin gave it a few seconds before he explained himself, “It will be easier if you start with something you like. For instances, what you like or perhaps your favorite word,”

With a hard frown, Hongki propped himself up their bed using his elbows, as he observed Jaejin carefully, “I don’t know. What’s your favorite word?”

The other didn’t hesitate as he answered, “Us. My favorite word is ‘us’.”

Jaejin’s words had Hongki’s heart pumping. He was moved and in awe. Though Jaejin wasn’t the type to express his affection on a regular basis, he was no doubt understanding and opened to the idea in a cool way. Once Jaejin turned toward Hongki, the lad blushed a little. Thankfully Jaejin was blind. Hongki hated being seen flustered.

“Well?” Jaejin pushed. Hongki on his lower lip for a second before uttering a shy response.

“My favorite word is…,” Hongki took a deep breath before finishing, “Jaejin….”

His response brought a smile to Jaejin’s handsome face, but the lad wasn’t going to entertain his answer, “That’s not a word though,”

“I know that…,” Hongki whispered as he looked away. Right there and then he noticed something, “Wait! We shouldn’t feed off of the idea of what we like because obviously someone won’t be a fan of it!”

Despite the volume of his argument, Jaejin ignored his point, “Before he’s homophobic, Myungsoo is an artist, musician, and producer. What he’s not is a teacher,”

Hongki imitate Jaejin’s last statement by mouthing it in a mockery manner, then he heaved a helpless sigh, “Okay well I don’t have a favorite word so you can just do it,”

Jaejin waved his hand in front of his eyes, “You really think I can?”

His partner flattened his eyes and groaned, “Man, using your blindness as an excuse is getting old,”

“You try being blind, too, then,” Jaejin said in a stern tone, which kicked Hongki out of bed almost immediately.

The man walked over to Jaejin to obtain the paper and pen from off the coffee table.

“Fine, I’ll just work on it alone. Don’t bother me,” Hongki ordered as he returned to the bed.

Jaejin sighed, loud enough for Hongki to hear, “Quit acting like a child,”

“I said don’t bother me!”

The blinded shook his head as he leaned back against the couch. Slowly he played with the texture of his pants as Hongki grew quieter by the second. With the end of the pen pressing up against Hongki’s chin, the lad tried to think of his favorite word. What word would go well with ‘us’?

Six hours, two pencils, and more than fifty papers later Hongki finally finished. Though he could barely keep his eyes open. “I’m done!” He shouted jumping up from the bed, as he gazed over he noticed Jaejin looking right at him. Hongki wondered if Jaejin had slept a wink at all because he had forgotten all about the male. “I’m done Jaejin!”

Jaejin straightened himself up and sat closer to the edge of the couch, “Well bring it over and read it to me.”

Excited, Hongki kicked the rolled-up-paper-balls scattered all over the bed as he hurried over to Jaejin. Quickly he plopped down beside the blind and explained away, “So the song title is ‘Together with us’ yes I used your favorite word, please don’t kill me. Moving on, lyrically it’s an upbeat song but the melody can be more..hm..flowy or colorful. Whichever one you or Myungsoo like better,”

“What’s the gist of the song?”

“Well, the idea of when we first met sort of came to me,”

Jaejin arched a brow. It felt like a lifetime since he has met and known Hongki. “Trainees?”

The other chuckled, “Well close. But more of a friendlier event we shared,”

“Soccer?”

Hongki gave up, “Sure, soccer. No~ more like the idea of making another individual comfortable despite him or her being new. Like not being interested - wait, actually, let me backtrack - more of not judging that person based on his or her interests and lifestyle,”

“So you’re saying now that we’re re-entering the market, let’s call out everyone who didn’t support our relationship?” the stern and bluntness in Jaejin’s voice irritated Hongki a little.

“I didn’t say we should make the song about us, Jaejin,”

“Yeah well, neither did you say the song isn’t about us, Hongki,”

The latter scoffed before he shot up from his seat. “Do you really want to argue right now? When I wrote this, I didn’t even consider our relationship. You’re the one interpreting it that way. Plus, why does it matter if it was about us? Now that we’re in a relationship shunned by the public I can’t write anything in the same category as it, otherwise it would be interpreted as me writing about it?! So anything about love, boyfriends, husbands, men, human, religion, breathing is all out?!”

“Now you’re over exaggerating,” Jaejin commented in a low voice. He tried to be careful but realized the wording he used was wrong. He had just triggered his partner. 

“Oh! So now I’m the one over exaggerating?”

Jaejin raised both hands in surrender, “Just read the lyrics,”

“Read it yourself!” Hongki crumbled up the paper and toss it to Jaejin, then he stormed over to the bed and fell on top of it. Racing against time he wrapped himself up in the blanket as fast as he could, then quickly shut his eyes. Jaejin left him alone, hoping a quick nap would do the trick with Hongki’s moodiness.

» » » » » » » » » » »

In the small, yet, spacious salon a handsome man was checking out his cosmetologist in the mirror. The female worker was his type; long straight black hair with dusky make-up, technically someone he finds in Hispanic magazines and models. The woman, in particular, reminded him of his ex back in Spain. Someone he dumped because he couldn’t handle long distance relationship.

“When does your shift end?” he asked aloud.

“Normally I work double shifts since my boss is my aunt, but in the afternoon I have to fly down to New York for an interview so,”

“Oh,” the man commented, “what’s going on in New York?”

“My oldest sister is getting married on Monday, I’ll be doing her hair and makeup for her wedding.”

“And are you taken?” the man directly asked, flustering the pretty woman.

“Not yet, I just got out of a relationship, to be honest,”

“Was it because you’re too good for him?”

The woman chuckled, “How did you know?”

“Because it’s true. You’re out of his league,” the male wore a flirty grin as he noticed the woman pushing her hair behind one ear.

“Like how you’re out of my league?” She came back and had him excited. Gently he arrested her wrist and brought her hand to his lips, then softly he pecked them.

“I knew it, even your hands smell good,” he complimented, which made her turn red.

“Myungsoo,” a third person spoke this time and shattered their little moment. The man looked into the mirror and saw his manager running to his side, “Fans leaked your location online and right now there’s a large gathering outside the front door. What should I do? We have to be at the audition in an hour! What if the group only gets bigger?!”

The man calmly sighed, “Manager Oh, cancel the event. Book a flight to New York later this afternoon instead,”

Horrified and astonished the shorter, stubbier man’s jaw couldn’t close, “W-what do you mean? W-why New York all of a sudden?”

Myungsoo showed the questioner the woman’s hand that was still clasped in his, “You should know by now how I feel about tardiness. Tell them I had to make an emergency trip overboard. They’ll understand, after all, aren’t I a world star?”

The other gritted his teeth and forced his nods, “S-sure. I’ll make a few phone calls outside and be right back,” then quickly he leaned into the celebrity’s ear, “please don’t do anything reckless. If a paparazzi get in and a scandal began to circle around, CEO Park would be unhappy with you again,”

Rather than answering, Myungsoo teased the lad by waving his and the woman’s hand-holding again. With a stink eye, the manager left the room while pulling his cell phone out from his jacket. Once the door close behind him, Myungsoo turned to the woman.

“Darling, is there a secret exit around here somewhere?”

The woman smiled, “I’ll show you the way, handsome,”