Chapter 21

“Am I the only one that’s not ecstatic about this?” Shinae groaned into her coffee mug on a Monday morning. She laid her face on the kitchen counter, watching MiEun and MinRin make breakfast out of cereals and milk.

HyeSu chuckled and patted the leader on the back. “You’re the one who should be the least worried today unni.” She said, eating oatmeal on the kitchen counter beside Minah. “And besides, Jay’ the one training you today right?” she said, peering over the schedule posted on their fridge.

Then all of a sudden the doorbell rang. Minah immediately stood up and walked towards the stairs, “Clean up you guys, it might be some of the boys.” She said before heading down to open the door. She was immediately greeted by JiYong, Hoya, DongWoo, SungJong, Sunggyu and L.Joe who was unfamiliar to Minah. “Hello boys, come on in. We were just having breakfast.” She said.

Minah came back up with the boys trailing behind her and going into the kitchen. Shinae just looked up from her phone then said hello to the visitors. “Well, since everyone else is going to rap training and Jay’s dropping by late in the afternoon, I will go and do the laundry.” She said, getting off her chair.

“I’ll help!” Sunggyu perked up, raising his hand.

“Me too!” SungJong added. “Everyone had a schedule but me and Sunggyu hyung that’s why we came.” He said.

Shinae stifled a yawn and nodded. “Come on, let’s get the clothing racks upstairs.” She said. The two boys nodded and followed her.

Sunggyu and SungJong watched as Shinae sorted out the laundry. She turned to the two boys and laughed lightly as she tossed the clothes in the washing machine filled with water, pouring a bit of soap and starting the cycle.

“Come on you two.” She said, leading towards the patio. She sat down with a sigh. “So much for helping me.” She said, smirking at Sunggyu and SungJong.

Sunggyu laughed a little. “We usually wash clothes in a different way outside our house.” Sunggyu explained.

“I saw that.” Shinae replied with a small laugh. “So, what are we going to do while waiting for the clothes to finish spinning?” she asked.

The three of them decided to go back inside the house and hanged out by the studio. SungJong sat down at the grand piano and started playing a song. Sunggyu laughed and joined him and the two of them started singing to Nothing’s Over with Shinae singing Hoya and DongWoo’s parts.

After a while, SungJong excused himself to get some water leaving Shinae and Sunggyu. “So, how’s the training going? You looked stressed out this morning.” Sunggyu asked, as he played another tune.

Shinae laughed. “It’s all good. It’s not the training that’s stressing me out actually.” She explained, pressing some random keys on the piano. Sunggyu looked at her with his brows furrowing. “Don’t worry about it.” She said, waving a dismissing hand.

***

JiYong and Minah decided to use the recording room with permission from Dok2 since JiYong knew how to use the tools. “Ah finally, the genre that I am most confident in.” JiYong said which made Minah smile. “For this, as far as Dok2 told me, you don’t need to perform live but to produce a cover song.” He said.

Minah nodded. “I was thinking of covering CL and Minzy’s Please Don’t Go.” She told JiYong who nodded in reply. “I mean, I’ve already memorized the song and I can definitely rap to it.” She said with a smug smile.

JiYong chuckled. “Aigoo~ That’s what I like most about you.” He told her. Minah blushed a little from his comment. “You know, I’m going to be honest, I felt bothered that SeungHyun hyung was going to be your other trainer.” He confessed.

Minah’s heartbeat increased. “Why?” she asked curiously, but she already knew the answer to her question. It was pretty obvious.

JiYong took Minah’s hand and gave it a light kiss. “I thought it was quite obvious that I like you a lot.” He explained bluntly.  He noticed Minah froze and stared at him. He only chuckled in reply and let go of her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not rushing you.” He said, letting go of her hand then turning towards the tools in front of him.

***

MinRin sat quietly as she watched L.Joe get things out of his bag. He turned to the girl and laughed a little. He fully turned to her and flashed her one of his famous smiles. “Hi. This is the first time we’ve met, my name is L.Joe from Teen Top, you can also call me ByungHun.”

MinRin bowed to him. “I’m Kim MinRin. You can call me Minnie or MinRin.” She replied, smiling a bit to him. “I’m a big fan.” She said sheepishly.

L.Joe grimaced. “Thank you.” He said. “I heard you are Kim Myungsoo’s sister?” he asked and MinRin nodded in reply.  “I see, the genes are very evident.” He said which made MinRin blush a little. “And I was also told that you’re the main vocals?”

“Yeah, but the Illionaire oppas wanted me to learn to rap too.” She replied nodding with a pout on her face. “I really have no experience or confidence in rapping at all.” She told him, sighing.

L.Joe placed a hand on her shoulder to which she flinched a bit at the sudden contact. “Don’t worry, when I’m done with you, you’ll be as good as Dok2 hyung and TheQuiett hyung.” He said, smiling at her.

MinRin could barely hold eye contact with him and just looked down shyly and nodded. “Okay L.Joe oppa. I believe in you.” She said with a shy smile.

“Alright well, do you listen to any hiphop music at all?” L.Joe asked conversationally.

MinRin nodded. “I listen to Epik High, Mighty Mouth, Big Bang, Supreme Team.” She enumerated a few to begin with.

L.Joe nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, those groups are kind of difficult to follow to so we’re going to start with Untouchable, you do know them right?” he asked and MinRin nodded. L.Joe started looking for a song on his ipod. “Download this song that I’m going to play and look for the lyrics, memorize it. It’s My Boo by Untouchable featuring HyoSung and SunHwa of Secret. It’s a mellow song.” He said and started playing the song.

MinRin smiled as she watched L.Joe lipsync to the song, finding the lyrics very sweet.

***

Hoya sat in front of MiEun, facing her with a smile on his face. “Why are you smiling like that oppa?” she asked Hoya with a small pout.

He waved his head in reply. “It’s nothing. No wonder our SungJong has a crush on you.” He said almost whisperingly.

“What?” MiEun asked, her eyes widening.

Hoya laughed. “Yeah, our maknae has a crush on you. I think it started when you guys went to the beach house. He always talks about you.” He told the girl with a small chuckle. “Aside from not having a schedule today, he wanted to come with us so he can see you.”

A small smile played on MiEun’s lips. “Why are you telling me this, Hoya oppa?” she asked him. “I mean, aren’t celebrities discouraged from dating?”

Hoya chuckled again and rubbed her head affectionately. “You’re so naïve.” He said. “So, rap training. Since I was told that you’re also a rapper in the group, I’m assuming you’re good and you can battle right?” he asked.

MiEun nodded enthusiastically. “how about we rap battle with a little wager?” she asked with a small grin on her face.

“What’s the wager?” he asked in reply.

“If I win, you buy me ice cream. If you win, I’ll buy you ice cream.” She said with a grin.

Hoya nodded, “you’re on.” He said.

***

DongWoo was figuring out how to get the stereo to open while HyeSu got some stuff in her room. She was walking down the stairs when she saw the confused look on DongWoo’s face. She stifled a giggle and quickly walked towards him.

“is there a problem?” she asked him.

DongWoo looked at HyeSu and smiled while scratching the back of his head. “I can’t figure out how to plug these in?” he said, holding up a wire to HyeSu.

The girl chuckled as she took the cord from DongWoo and plugged it in on the back of the sound system and clicked a button on the remote control on her hand.

DongWoo laughed audibly which made HyeSu smile. “Sorry, there are some days that I’m not myself.” He said shyly.

“That’s fine DongWoo oppa.” She replied with a smile.

“So, rap training. I guess we have to pick out some rap songs we can practice on then find some points of improvement.” He said, writing down on a piece of paper.

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe we can use We Belong Together by Big Bang and also The Leaders by JiYong oppa.” HyeSu said and DongWoo nodded, jotting down the titles. “You can also suggest some other good songs oppa.”

Hyesu watched him as his eyebrows furrowed while writing and talking at the same time. She found it adorable for some reason and had to bite her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling so much. DongWoo would casually smile and look at her which took her breath away.

She couldn’t admit it just yet, but it seems as if she’s crushing on Dongwoo.