Anecdotes

A man wearing a suit adjusted his spectacles and navy blue tie and offered a seat to his guests before he spoke “As you know, our magazine is doing a special coverage on Xiah Junsu, and we are hoping we can quote a few statements from the people around him, which is why all we ask for is for you all to say something, anything about Xiah Junsu”

The interviewer smiled with satisfaction as everyone else returned his enthusiastic smile “Well, I’m sure you all know each other, but just for formalities sake,” the nearly bald interviewer points to his left and goes across, introducing each guest “Junsu’s parents, mother and father, his brother Junho, his best friend Eunhyuk from Super Junior” the host ignores Eunhyuk’s scoff and continues “and Xiah Junsu’s group members: U-Know Yunho, Micky Yoochun, Youngwoong Jaejoong and Choikang Changmin from Dong Bang Shin Ki”

Taking a sip of water, the interviewer looked towards the parents first “why don’t we hear from his parents first?”

“Our Su is synonymous with the word clumsy.” The father began before the mother politely interrupted “Our sons are gifted, but he’s just much clumsier”

“Please elaborate” the host kindly prompted

“When did we first notice?” Junsu’s mother asks no one in particular

“The trampoline accident, wasn’t it?” the father states hesitantly

“That must’ve been it” the mother agrees with a fond smile.

“What happened?” The interviewer asked, intrigued.

“How old was he? Barely six I think, whilst he was jumping, he slipped, probably because he lost his balance...and he fell off the trampoline and broke his arm.” Junsu’s father answered with a nostalgic expression

“We’ve never allowed him to go near another trampoline again” the mother smiled sadly “we could never quite understand why our Junsu was so carelessly clumsy.”

Small chuckles flitted throughout the room as the host diligently took down notes before he looked towards Junho “What about his twin brother? What do you have to say?”

“There really is too much to say about Junsu” Junho contemplated, tapping his chin lightly “You all know his habit of covering his face when he’s embarrassed right?”

A murmur of agreement rang across the small room

“Not a lot of people know this but, when Junsu is embarrassed, his cheeks flushes as red as ripe strawberries. And he’d get so shy and even more embarrassed over his embarrassment, he’d cover his face, and he still does.” Junho tapped his chin lightly “he says that he feels like his hands can shield him from the world during those times” Junho takes a sip of water before he continues “It’s actually a really common and ordinary habit, it’s just, the way he does it makes you want to even more”

The interviewer nodded, before he gestured towards Super Junior’s Hyukjae and asked “What does his best friend have to say?”

Eunhyuk sighs “firstly, we’re not friends, we’re mere..I don’t even know what we are”

The four DBSK members roll their eyes at Hyukjae who ignores their behaviour by giving the interviewer a serious look “Junsu bites”

“Bites?” the interviewer questions, puzzled

“When we get into arguments and fight, he bites when there’s nothing else he can do.” Eunhyuk explained casually before wincing at memories “it is always so painful as well”

The guests in the room could not help but attempt to stifle their laughter.

“Once, I even pinned him down and pried open his lips with my bare hands till I could see the roof of his mouth just to check if his fangs were as sharp as the fangs of a vampire.”

“And?”

“Well,” Eunhyuk gives the host a placid look “he bites really hard”

Giving Eunhyuk a smile filled with pity and understanding, the interviewer turned to look at the four DBSK members “You guys would have a handful of stories right?”

Everyone looked towards the maknae, Changmin.

“Eh? Me first?” Changmin looks a little surprised, pointing at himself “well, there is this one strange habit he has...”Changmin begins, thinking about how best to word his phrases “we actually don’t eat this snack a lot, but when we do, Junsu-hyung eats it-“

“May I ask what snack you’re referring to?” The interviewer asks before Changmin can continue with his story.

“Ah, pocky, I’m talking about pocky” Changmin answers, a little embarrassed “anyway, Junsu-hyung likes to eat all the chocolate off first before he bites into the biscuit stick.”

“Oh, I’ve seen him do that before” the DBSK members nodded knowingly.

“When I asked him why he does that” Changmin continued “he just told me that it was a nice way to pass time when games and soccer aren’t an option”

“I heard Xiah Junsu is someone who really loves soccer?” the host asked

“Yeah, he is” Yoochun agreed “talking about soccer, I don’t know if he just does it when he’s around us, but, he’s a real fan.” Yoochun shakes his head a little “all you need to do is mention ‘soccer’ and he has a smile on his face, if you keep talking about ‘soccer’ he’ll give you a giddy smile, that boy is so intoxicated by soccer.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that is there?” Eunhyuk asks “soccer is fun after all”

“Ah, personally, soccer isn’t my thing, but there’s only so much enthusiasm you can have for it” Yoochun tries to explain “Junsu, he’s obsessed with it, the way he counts down the years, months, weeks and days to the next world cup...”

“It’s actually kind of scary” Jaejoong added “I know he likes to keep a couple of soccer balls under his bed for good measure”

“He hasn’t changed” Eunhyuk chuckled happily.

“He’s still as hyperactive over soccer as he was back in the days” Yunho added.

“Haha, what does the eldest in DBSK have to say about this soccer loving member?” The host asks, already holding his pen steady so he can take down notes.

“I actually really envy his enthusiasm.” Jaejoong smiled wryly “I think it’s a beautiful thing when you don’t think too much of it” Jaejoong sighed before he took a sip of water “when there’s no one there to guide Junsu, he can’t see the forest for the trees”

There was an awkward silence as everyone merely stared at Jaejoong blankly.

“I’m not saying he’s always like that” Jaejoong tried to justify “it’s just, sometimes, he’s a bit too quirky with the finest details, wanting to make every little thing perfect and it takes a while for him to realise by himself that if he looks away from the borders he’s drawn for himself and at the big picture, everything is perfect already.”

“I don’t think he’s like that” Eunhyuk nonchalantly commented.

“Neither” Yoochun agreed, curious as to why Jaejoong would even think so.

Jaejoong rolled his eyes at the two, wanting to tell Eunhyuk that he was just as stingy as Junsu, but instead held his tongue and refocused on what he was trying to say “It’s just sometimes, not always, like with things like food, cooking, on the rare occasions Junsu would cook, he’d always insist on following the recipe precisely, intently, and sometimes, he just forgets that he’s not cooking for 2 or 4, but cooking for 5 starving members.”

Carefully, Jaejoong folded his arms “there’s one thing I can think of in which Junsu never loses his sight on.”
“Oh? And what is this?” the host asks, interested

“Music” Jaejoong answered simply “he loves it. More than anything. There hasn’t been a time where he doesn’t recognise the importance of music to him. It’s, personally, I think we’re all like that” Jaejoong glances at all the members “but for Junsu, everything he does, small details or not, music, singing is still his priority.”

Changmin placed a hand on Jaejoong shoulder “we understand what you’re saying”

“Okay, lucky last, leader-sshi, what would you like to tell us about Xiah Junsu-sshi?”

Yunho tapped his chin lightly before he a small smile formed on his lips, most likely from fond memories. “Well, I’m not quite sure what kind of story you’re really looking for, but if we’re talking about Junsu, he’s really sentimental”

DBSK’s leader looks over towards Junho and Eunhyuk “do you remember that rubber duck we got him for one of his birthdays?”

Smiling, Junho nodded “don’t tell me he actually used it”

“It was supposed to be just a joke...” Eunhyuk added, already smiling widely, wondering what Yunho was going to tell them.

“Well” Yunho began, “before we debuted as Dong Bang Shin Ki, the three of us,” Yunho gestures towards Junho, Eunhyuk and himself “we bought a rubber duck for Junsu, as a joke, we thought he’d never use it, but I caught him this one time, he was sitting in the bathtub, singing to the very same rubber duck we had bought for him.”

Junsu’s parents chuckled softly.

“So I asked him what he was doing with the rubber duck and Junsu told me he was singing to it” Yunho gave himself another smile before he continued on with his anecdote “he told me that the duck had become his singing partner ever since he received it on his birthday. He says he’s attached and doesn’t want to let go of it.”

“No wonder Junsu-hyung always goes to the bathroom with a rubber duck” Changmin speculated, remembering.

“I told him he and the duck were very similar.” Yunho added “I really didn’t expect him to agree with me”

Laughing quietly, the interviewer straightened his tie again and thanked his guests politely before he took a hasty leave, smiling at the notes he had jotted down.

--

Junsu pressed his ear harder against the wooden door, listening intently to what the people around him had to say about him. Too focused on trying to listen to the small chatter inside of the room, Junsu did not hear the tapping of approaching footsteps. It was too late as the door flung open, the talented singer finding himself cradling his most likely bruised head.

His head was spinning and he was seeing stars as he tried to stand up straight, which was particularly hard as he was disorientated. However, DBSK’s smiling angel was able to re-orient himself as he caught sight of the interviewer, giving the man with spectacles a sheepish smile.

“Ah, Xiah Junsu-sshi, have you got a couple of words to say about yourself?” the host asks, cheerful as he adjusts his glasses which have slipped down the bridge of his nose

Junsu blinks and gives the interviewer his angelic smile with the accompanying pose of an angel “I’m perfect, don’t you think?”