JR and I were finally making good progress with our duet. We had to do a piece for the talent show, another exam duet piece and then a solo each. We were going to be doing the duets on the same night, the night of the talent show and then the solo pieces at a later date.

On Saturday, bright and early, JR and I came to the studio to work on our First Kiss routine. We had the beginning down well. The routine started off slow, almost lazy, with me walking around JR behind him, and then running a hand down his chest while he ran a hand up the side of my body. Then I did a body roll to the left of him and then the right, slowly sinking to the floor with JR afterwards. As L.Joe and C.A.P, started rapping, we jumped up and into a carefully thought out routine, side by side, full of punches and slides. During the bridge, there was a part where I pointed to JR’s arm, chest, shoulder and leg and he body popped them in time to the beat. At the end of the bridge we’d incorporated a risky movement that involved me doing a running jump into his arms, lifting a leg over his head and doing a risky somersault to the ground.

It was going well. All except for the last chorus. JR said something special had to happen for the finale and I totally agreed. I just couldn’t think what.

After dancing for a while, I dropped to the floor, exhausted.

“Why are you so un fit.” JR said, nudging me with his foot.

“Me?” I panted. “Unfit? Never?”

“Yeah tell it to me when you get your breath back Halmoni.” He laughed.

“Shut up and go practice on your solo or something.”

JR knelt down between my legs and slowly leant forward.

“No,” He whispered, looking at my lips while his fingers caressed my face. “I think I’d rather work on my duet with you.”

He ducked his head down until our lips met in a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. I was already breathless from dancing and he wasn’t helping the situation. His tongue dominated my mouth as his hands grasped my waist and pulled my body hard against his crotch. I moaned into his mouth as he slowly flexed his hips, and I slowly became hotter and hotter.

“Ah my eyes, they’re burning.” Said a dry voice from the doorway. JR sat up and cast me a regretful glance.

“Go away annoying little girl!” I called.

“Seriously though, your room is right down the corridor, what if I really was a young little girl.” HyeSu said, coming in to the room. “You would have traumatised me for life.”

“Bleh bleh blah blah,” I stuck my tongue out at her and she mimicked me.

“I brought you some food anyhow.” She chucked me a baguette and one at JR. “Since you were working so hard.” She raised an eyebrow.

“We were!” I protested.

“Honest HyeSu!” JR grinned. “I need to be going anyway.” He pulled HyeSu’s pony tail and kissed my forehead before leaving the room.

“So what’s up er.” I said to HyeSu as I did some stretches.

“Not much er, and I mean that in more ways then one.”

I hit her on the head and rolled my eyes.

“Me and JR haven’t done anything!”

“Oh SURE! I don’t want to hear the excuses horndog.  How’s the practicing going?”

“It’s going well actually. How’s it going for you?”

“It’s going good! My singing partner is L.Joe, but he’s a rapper, so we’ hoping to do a remix of a song.”

“Sounds cool, can’t wait to heart it! Have you decided on the song?”

HyeSu shook her head and shrugged.

“The talent show is 1 month away!” I bent down to touch my toes. “Don’t leave it too late.”

“Don’t worry me and L.Joe have it all figured out.”

“Evidently not.” I snorted, standing up. My vision went blurry and my head swam.

“Minjae? Are you okay?” HyeSu clutched my arm as I staggered around. I closed my eyes and waited for the overwhelming feeling of nausea to go away.

“Yeah…I’m fine.”

“You’ve been practicing to hard!” HyeSu said firmly.

“You’ve changed your tune.” I mumbled.

“Never mind that, you need food and liquid in your system.”

HyeSu made me eat every last bite of the baguette and then marched me over to the water fountain. She made me drink water for two minutes straight.

“How do you feel now?” She asked, still concerned.

“I feel fine! I felt fine before, I just stood up quickly.

“Huh,” HyeSu folded her arms. “That’s what they all say and then-”

“HyeSu! Minjae!” Baekho came sprinting towards us, looking haggard.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already feeling worried.

“Ren’s ill!”

-----------------

We rushed to NU’EST’s room and clattered in through the door.

Ren was lying on the sofa with the rest of the boys gathered around him. He was delirious with fever, his head was rocking from side to side and he kept mumbling and .

“What happened?” HyeSu whispered.

“He’s been acting weird all week, feeling dizzy, not eating and he said his throat was hurting.” Baekho rambled anxiously.

“And then today he collapsed a few metres from the doorway.” Minhyun continued. “Luckily JR saw him and carried him inside.”

“Have you called the nurse?” I asked. Aron nodded, chewing his lip.

“Ren?” I whispered, looking into his bloodshot eyes. “Can you hear us?”

He nodded and brought up hand to rub his neck.

“My throat,” He croaked pitifully.

“Don’t try and talk Minki.” Baekho said.

The door to the room burst open and a nurse waltzed in. She was chubby with black hair tied in a bun at her neck, glasses the wobbled on her nose and squinty eyes.

“Let’s have a look at him then.” She demanded, single handly brushing us all out of the way.

We peered over her shoulder as she prodded and poked Ren. Taking out a stethoscope, looking inside his mouth, taking his temperature, inspecting his neck.

Finally she stood up.

“Glandular fever.” She announced briskly. “Also known as kissing disease.”

We all stared at her. She sighed as if we were simpletons.

“It’s a contagious virus passed on through kissing and sneezing. This young man is showing all the classic symptoms of it.”

“Is it serious?” JR asked. The nurse shook her head.

“The symptoms get worse before it gets better I’m afraid. The fatigue can last for up to six months afterwards. He’ll have to spend some time in the hospital ward.”

We all looked at Ren, his face flushed red from the fever.

“How do you know if it’s passed on through kissing or sneezing?” HyeSu asked.

“When passed on through kissing, the couple normally falls ill around the same time. When it’s passed on through sneezing, the virus stays in the body for quite a while, doing nothing, before making the person ill. Sometimes it can be in the body for many many months”

Flashback

Ahead of us I noticed a girl sniffing hard, her eyes streaming. She was obviously ill.

AITCHOO!

HyeSu and I jumped back. Ren received the full blast of the girls sneeze.

“Oh yuck.” I said.

“Ever heard of catch it bin it kill it?” Said HyeSu incredulously.

“Aish, I’m so sorry,” The girl apologised, horrified. “I’ve not been feeling well.”

Ren stood there, eyes wide as the girl tried to dab the mess of his face. Her faced turned green and I managed to quickly twist her round in to the bushes. She vomited nosily.

“Be so thankful I just saved you from one hell of a mess.” I said to Ren, holding the girls hair back. Ren winked. “Kamsahamnida.”

“I’ll go and get the nurse.” HyeSu ran off.

“Whatever it is I just hope it’s not infectious.” I muttered.

So that’s how he had caught it. All those months ago, when things were so different.

“Has he kissed anyone? In the last week or two?” The nurse asked. We shook our heads.

“Not that we know of,” JR said, biting his lip and looking at Ren worriedly.

“Well,” The nurse clapped her hands and walked over to the door. “I’ll get him moved to the hospital ward.”

“What if he has kissed someone.” HyeSu said. “How would we find out?”

The nurse rolled her eyes.

“Well obviously, they’ll fall ill within a week or two.” And with that, she left the room.

Flashback

JR and I were lying in bed after the bathroom session. The question came out of the blue.

“When’s the last time you and Ren got together.”

“What do you mean by got together?” I asked.

“Like you know, kissed or something.”

My mind whirled back to that night, when Ren had kissed me goodbye. I could hardly tell that to JR could I? It just didn’t feel right. Maybe he would think I was some sort of for kissing Ren and then kissing him. It wasn’t like that.

“Oh not for ages.” I lied. “We haven’t kissed for weeks and weeks.”

“At least it’s not serious. Ren will get better soon with their help.” JR said, putting his arm around me. “And you don’t need to worry about catching it as you said you haven’t kissed for ages.”