CHAPTER FOUR
Practicality
"Gradually falling deeper..."
Ideas for Trouble Maker's Comeback 2012.
A quiet, regular string of dull thumps fill the room as Hyuna absentmindedly drums her feet against the light wood floor of the rehearsal room, dark eyes staring blankly at the notebook sitting silenty in front of her.
"...do everything yourselves..."
At the thought of CEO Hong's instructions, a frustrated sigh slips from her lips, which are then punished with a furious series of taps with the end of her ballpoint pen, urging her brain to focus upon the task at hand. Come on, Hyuna -- think of something to write!
Total time left: one month.
She bursts out into a small smile as her hand etches the words neatly into the bright white page of the notebook, feeling pleased at successfully coaxing her brain into doing something other than just drawing a blank. Her temporary happiness fades rapidly, however, upon her realisation of what she had just written.
One month?!
"Ah...jinjja!" groans Hyuna, banging her head lightly against the thick notebook, "How am I supposed to do this?"
"Well, for one, you certainly can't do everything yourself."
She sputters out a soft 'huh' at the sound of the voice, not needing to look up to know who it was. They've known each other for way too long, anyway.
"Don't say that," grumbles Hyuna, without moving, her eyes continuing to stare at the pointless words and idea-less page in front of her nose, "It's been haunting me non-stop ever since sajangnim tattooed them into my brain yesterday." Junhyung chuckles softly before settling down beside her in a cross-legged stance.
"Ah, you're not even going to greet your senior properly?" He says, with a slight teasing undertone, "How very rude."
"Annyeonghaseyo, oppa," she mumbles obediently, instinctively sitting up from her previous sprawling position on the floor. Seeing her naiveté, Junhyung breaks out into one of his rare smiles and ruffles his dongsaeng's hair a little. "Aiii!"
"So you haven't got any concepts or music ideas, hm?" He asks, ignoring Hyuna's whines about her mussed hair as he does. She coughs out a 'hmph' in reply, her hands busy tidying her dark auburn locks, "What do you have to do, exactly?"
"Hyunseung oppa and I have to write and compose our own track, choreograph our own dance, co-direct our own music video and album cover photo shoot, and choose our own clothing concept," She lists exasperatedly whilst counting on her fingers, her body slumping down towards the floor again, "Ah, jinjja! Just thinking about it makes me feel tired."
"It's okay. Calm down first. Think positive," Junhyung says, earnestly advising his despondent junior, "It's not that hard, really. Cube's staff deal with this kind of stuff everyday after all."
"Easy for you to say," she harrumphs, staring at the reflection of her own disconsolate expression in the mirror behind him, "You don't have an extra million things to do in this one month."
Both sit in a comfortable, soothing silence in the following moments, lost in the colourful savannah that was their mind and the thoughts fluttering through it. Junhyung's eyes travel down his arm, across the smooth surface of the floor and onto Hyuna's Nike-clad feet, before involuntarily skittering along the sultry curves of her legs in an invisible caress, admiring the landscape of her well-toned limbs.
Her foot suddenly lifts upwards a little in an absent-minded quirk -- and he is hurtling back to reality, his secret tour of her legs translating to hot ears and bright red cheeks. His eyes cautiously dart over to her face, which consequently relaxes upon realising that she was busy jotting something in her notebook.
Junhyung's nostrils flare slightly as he takes in an inconspicuous, but deep, breath in to compose himself, and his throat instinctively clears itself to make sure his voicebox was still working.
"Did you say you needed to write and compose for your comeback?" he asks, trying to appear nonchalant as he did so.
"Mhmm," Hyuna nods in reply, before releasing a soft sigh, "I'm worried about--"
"Well...if you and Hyunseung are both nice, I'll help you do that." he says quickly. Why am I so nervous about this?
"What?"
Her head whips around and she blinks once -- twice, at Junhyung before repeating her question with a slightly hesitant undertone. Did I just imagine him say that?
"I'll help you."
"Oh my God, seriously?" Hyuna shoots up straight in an instant, gaping wide-eyed with happiness, "You mean that?"
"Yeap."
"Ah, kamsahamnida, oppa! Uwa, Yong Junhyung jjang!"
A sequence of soft, calming synth chords saturates the studio room, creating a serene atmosphere, before being gently interrupted by a few quiet drum hits and a simple electronic sounding loop of chords. A bright, addictive, uptempo synth melody kicks in after a while, its energetic and powerful feel soaking into the aura of the room.
Hyuna taps her foot to the beat of the track against the carpet on the floor, listening intently to the music wandering out of the speaker beside her. Her eyes stroll over to the person on her right: Junhyung, bent over a book in front of him, scribbling meticulous notes as usual. Her dark, carefully-outlined eyes widen a little as they sweep over his jottings, surprised at how conscientious they are and the precision of his musical vocabulary.
"Want to read it?"
Hyuna jolts slightly, startled by the rapper's unexpected utterance, and shakes her head in reply before leaning against the back of her own seat.
"It's okay," she says, "I like the music as it is now, to be honest. Really energetic and fun. House electro pop, right?"
"Yeah," Junhyung answers, scanning his notes and pausing for a second before looking up again, "Hm. Since you're satisfied with it, I'll refrain from making too many changes," he smiles.
She couldn't stop an humorous laugh from bubbling up . "Oppa, you're such a perfectionist."
"Only with my music though," he chuckles, "Nevertheless, this is my first time being almost fully responsible for someone else's song, so it makes sense that I'm more careful than usual."
Hyuna's face contorts to form a sheepish expression and her head drops to face the floor. How could she simply take advantage of Junhyung like that? He has more than enough work to do on his own: variety shows to record, interviews to attend, radio shows to turn up to, photoshoots to avoid looking tired for, his own songs to produce, a family to visit and -- she gasps quietly as she remembers -- a girlfriend to care for!
Her teeth latches onto her bottom lip in guilt. "I'm really sorry for making you do this," she says, talking to the navy Converse on her left foot, "On top of your usual schedule, too."
Junhyung simply waves her rueful statement aside. "Aish, it's okay -- really. I like doing this stuff anyway. Helping you will actually increase my knowledge for the future."
"Thank you," she smiles at his words but it gradually fades away as she continues: "But seriously, I don't want this to be another burden on you. You've already got--"
"Hyuna," he says, eyes addressing her warmly though his face remains devoid of emotion, "I said it's okay. I like doing this, and I'm always here to help you, alright?"
She slowly bursts out into a childlike grin at his response, and immediately pounces upon her satchel for her notebook to start thinking up lyrics to go with the song. Her hand dives into it, followed by her eyes while she fishes around for the book, and her knuckles bump into a piece of cold, thin plastic. The glowing numbers on the bright screen of her phone catches her eye and she notes the time, her perfectly arched eyebrows furrowing as she does.
"Oppa, have you seen Hyunseung today?"
"Not since he refused to wake up this morning. Said he was ill -- down with a cold or something. Why?"
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering."
A familiar sharp, ear-splitting yelp jolts Hyunseung wide awake, his eyes bloodshot and head spinning from the suddenness of the action. His throat lets out a deep moan, and his hand flies up to soothe the side of his forehead. It turned out he had bumped his head against the wood frame of his bed in the process of abruptly returning to reality. He moans again, this time in frustration, palm clasped firmly against his throbbing injury.
WHOOP! The sound reverberated for a second time around his bedroom, and he flinches in reponse.
"YE, ANNYEONGHASEYO, HYUNSEUNG-SSI -- GOOD MORNING. IT SEEMS IT'S TIME TO GET UP NOW."
The lead vocalist groans loudly at the sound of the amplified voice and shoves his head back into the safety of his soft duvet. Why today?
"HYUNSEUNG-SSI! WAKE UP NOW PLEASE. JUNHYUNG'S BEEN OUT FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR NOW," Yoseob shuffles into the room, a packet of cookies in one hand and a megaphone in the other. He aims the cone-shaped contraption towards his senior as it lets loose another high-pitched mechanic scream.
"Okay, okay, you got me," Hyunseung says, voice raspy as he puts a hand up in surrender, "Please stop whooping."
"And please wake up," His junior repeats, crunching away at a chocolate chip cookie, "It's, like, afternoon already."
"I would've slept on until tomorrow if I could," mumbles Hyunseung into the covers.
"Don't you have to prepare for that deathtrap of a comeback of yours with Miss Bubble Pop?" asks the now donut-munching Yoseob, "You've got less than a month left now, and you actually want to play sick."
"Aii, don't remind me of it anymore. I haven't got any ideas for it anyway," says Hyunseung, getting up to sift through his wardrobe, "What's to do when you've got nothing to work with?"
"I can't help but feel bad for Hyuna, having a partner like you," remarks Yoseob, before dodging a flurry of pillows thrown at him.
"Go on, get out of here," chuckles Hyunseung lightly, expertly aiming another pillow at his junior, before his attention is snatched away by the ringing of his phone. He gazes with an expression of both surprise and curiosity at the name on the screen for a moment, then composes himself, and answers the call.
"Yeoboseyo? Ne, hyung..."
His eyebrows raise a little.
"Mworago? Now?"
"Uwah, I'm so hungry. I want to eat ramen," Hyuna whines, shuffling noisily around 4minute's dorm kitchen as she rummages in the pantry for something to eat. Her stomach gurgles loudly as if to agree with its owner's statement.
"Cook it, eat it and wash the plate as well," says Gayoon plainly without looking up from her computer screen, habouring no pity for the young rapper.
"I will, I-- aish! Can you believe we're all out?" Hyuna sighs, shutting the pantry door with an ostentatious bang, "Guess I'm going to have to go out and buy some..."
"Buy some milk while you're at it, will you?"
"Aww, you're not going to help me?"
"Nope."
"Even though I've been working hard all morning?"
"Nope."
"On a comeback I have to plan almost all by myself?"
"Nope."
"Aish. Eonni, you ."
"What did you say?!"
Hyuna lets out a playful laugh at Gayoon's response, slipping on her shoes quickly and running out of the door just before her senior could pounce on her.
"That will be 700 won, please."
"Ne, here you go."
"Here's your 300 won change, and your groceries."
"Ne, kamsahamnida."
Hyuna flashes an alluring expression and makes quick eye contact with the whispering fanboys at the back of the store as she turned to leave, popping her Gucci sunglasses back on her face.
Like a natural superstar? She thinks nervously. She had never truly felt confident about herself, even after she so-called 'made it' through 4minute on to the brightly-lit stages of Korea, Japan, Brazil, England, America and more. Hyuna was just another girl with her own flaws.
She plasters a cover-worthy simper on her face and with an expert flick of her hair and slight swish of her hips, she's out of the shop and onto the streets.
It was around the time of the year where bright sunny days and sopoforic heat, the epitome of summer, mingle with the signs of early autumn, bringing in an unusual, contrasting kind of weather. The sun shines rather fiercely, leaving hot burning kisses on her skin, but the cool breeze, blowing gently against her body as she strolls down the street, alleviates its discomfort like cold milk does to a spice-scorched tongue.
Her soft, baby pink frosted lips curves up into one of her rare smiles at the weather, and the sight of the street stretching out before her. It's been a long time since she last went out for a walk by herself, and on such a good day. Her eyes flutter close as a light gust of wind blows against her again, savoring the lovely feel as it swept past her skin.
"Hyuna!"
She snaps violently back into reality at the sound of a few unfamiliar voices calling her name, hazel orbs flitting around in confusion. She comes face-to-face with a small group of schoolgirls holding small notepads, beaming eagerly, hopes high for a picture or an autograph.
"Hyuna-ssi, can we please have your autograph or a picture? Please?" asks a tall one with long black hair, holding out her notepad and a thin marker pen.
The rapper smiles amiably and writes out her name in a rapid, cursive swish of the pen, her hand flying across the page, before moving on to the next girl. On her face, however, is her usual professional smile, one that matches her forced hallyu star demeanour and is one reserved only for work. Her stomach twists a little as she marks page after page with her autograph, reminding her of the numerous times she had wished she could live a normal, media-coverage-free life.
But that's not possible -- you know that, Hyuna asserts to herself in her head.
"Jwesonghamnida," she says to the girls before she turns to leave, "but I'm not allowed to take pictures. It was nice meeting you all though. Please continue to give 4minute more love!"
Just be happy you got the career you always dreamed of.
Her eyes slowly widen as she processed the thought, and a spark went off in her head. She plunges her hand into her pocket to pull out her mobile phone.
Career. Dreams. Being happy.
A grin spreads across her slim face as her fingers tapped away at the touch screen keyboard of the device, recording her ideas down for later. Finally! Something I might be able to work with! Her heart leaps in her chest, feeling overly excited to go home and tell the rest of the members, Junhyung and--
Hyunseung?
Her feet abruptly stop in their tracks the minute her eyes note the man sitting in the corner of the coffee shop. Though most of him is obscured by a marble pillar, his face remains visible through the glass window of the wall as he sips on his coffee, but his head soon disappeared back behind the pillar.
Hyuna shakes her head a little, before she quickly starts to head back to the dorm. It can't have been Hyunseung.
After all, he's ill, isn't he?
Ah jinjja! (아 진짜!) = Ah, seriously! / For God's sake! / Oh my God!
~ Jjang! (짱!) = ~ awesome / ~ the best / ~ rock(s)
Uwa (우와) = wow / whoa
yeoboseyo (여보세요) = hello [normally used in the context of answering a call]
mworago (뭐라고) = what / what did you say? / huh?
Hey guys!
Oh dear, Hyuna and Hyunseung didn't get much time together again?!
EEEK! I'm so sorry! I promise like crazy that the next chapter will include lots of 2HYUN interaction!!
But at least here you can see Hyuna's close relationship with Junhyung, and maybe even the start of
a little one-way crush? I don't know ;)
To be honest I was super hesitant to make Junhyung even a little bit interested in Hyuna because, as I'm sure
most of you will know, he's currently dating the gorgeous Goo Hara of KARA.
But, you know, anything can happen in the quirky world of fanfiction xD
Sooo...I wonder what Hyuna's reaction will be when she finds out the truth.
Or will she never find out and just get tricked?
Hmm...
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