CHAPTER 8

     We all walked back down the hall to the living room and stood around, not sure of what to do next.

“Well, since you didn’t eat the other night,” I said to Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yunho. “How about I cook you all something now?”

“Your first meal here!” Changmin seemed to like the idea very much.

“Practice is good.” Yoochun agreed.

“And you can tell me if you like my cooking.” I added.

“It’ll be good.” Junsu sounded sure.

“To the kitchen!” Jaejoong declared, and we all filed into the kitchen.

I hadn’t expected them to follow me and watch my every move, but I guessed it would be alright.

So that the silence wouldn’t be awkward, I started a conversation. “So tell me about yourselves.” I chuckled. “Tell me what I’m getting myself into.” They laughed too.

“Nothing bad.” Yunho assured me.

“Hm, I hope so. In my spare time yesterday, I looked you up on the internet. You have an awful lot of names. How come?”

“Different names for different countries.” Yunho explained. “Here in Korea, we are Dong Bang Shin Ki. Abbreviated DBSK. In Japan, we’re known as Tohoshinki, a.k.a. THSK. And in China, we’re called Tong Vfang Xien Qi, or TVXQ.”

I nodded. “Ohhh, I see. And you’re the leader, correct?”

He nodded. I expected his head to become ten times bigger with hot air, but it didn’t. He didn’t look prideful at all. His expression was very meaningful. He took his responsibility as leader very seriously.

“And you debuted as a group…December 26^th? 200…3, correct? With the song Hug?” They all nodded. “I remember I liked the name of that song… The day after Christmas, that’s nice. That must’ve been the best Christmas present ever!”

I could just imagine getting one of my books published for Christmas…

“Yes, it’s a very special day for all of us.” Yoochun said. 

I made a mental note to do something special for them on that day.

“I looked at your websites, but I didn’t get to look long. From what I saw… You guys are really popular. I mean, I hear about you everywhere anyway, but I never paid that much attention before. Do you have fan clubs or anything like that?”

“Yes.” Yoochun answered. “Our Japanese fan club is Big East. And our Korean fan club—which is especially precious to us—is called Cassiopeia. All of our fans are very important to us. Very close to our hearts.”

The others agreed.

“Hmm… Cassiopeia… that sounds pretty. Alright, so, let me see if I’ve got this right. You,” I took one hand off of the pot I was mixing in and pointed at Yunho. “Are the bass vocals of the group, as well as being the leader. And you,” I pointed to Changmin next. “Are the high vocals…what else?”

“He’s the Maknae.” Jaejoong said, messing up Changmin’s hair playfully.

Changmin ducked away and tried to fix his hair. I smiled at him. Oh yes, the youngest. So he’s the tallest and the youngest… interesting.

“Which would make you,” I point to Jaejoong. “The lead vocal and—as far as I’ve heard and observed—the mother.”

“Not anymore.” He said. “You’ll be the “mother” now.”

I pretended to be very concentrated on what I was doing then. It still felt strange thinking of it that way. I still thought of it as being a maid.

“Okay… So then, you,” The I pointed to Yoochun. “Are mid-low vocals. And someone told me you’re mediator of the group.”

Yoochun grinned like he thought it was funny. “Ya, I guess I am…”

“Which I guess is why you were trying to pry Junsu off of Yunho before in the bedroom?” We laughed and I went on. “And…Junsu, you,” I pointed to him. “Are mid-high vocals, right? And…something else. I read something else somewhere about you, but I can’t remember…”

I squinted as if the answer was in front of me but I couldn’t see it clearly.

“He’s the mood maker of the group.”

I looked at Changmin. “Really?” He didn’t seem like it to me. “Okay then… So you guys must be pretty busy. But it’s very neat here. I don’t see why you think you need me.”

“It’s neat because Jaejoong cleans when he could be doing other stuff.” Junsu said.

Everyone seemed to be ragging on Jaejoong for being the motherly type and picking up after them. They playfully for a minute until I spoke again.

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to anything. I just typed in your name and a million things came up! It was hard to sift through it all. I didn’t have time…but I’ll listen tonight, I promise.”

“Well, you can listen now.” Jaejoong offered. “We can put a CD in and you can hear from the kitchen while you’re cooking.”

“Okay, that would be good.” I said.

“I’ll go put in a CD.” Changmin said before anyone had the chance to tell him to. “What should I put in?” He called from the living room.

“What do you want to listen to?” Jaejoong asked.

I thought about it. I wasn’t sure. It was a tossup between their most recent or their very first.

“How about your first album?” I said finally.

“Put in Tri-Angel.” Jaejoong called back.

“Okay!” Changmin put the CD in, pressed play, and turned up to volume.

It was so unexpectedly loud, I let go of the spoon in my hands reflexively and covered my ears with my hands.

“Not that loud, Changmin! What do you think you’re doing?” Yunho scolded.

“What?” Changmin shouted.

“Turn it down!” Yoochun tried to yell over the music.

“Huh?”

“Turn it down!” We all shouted in unison.

“Oh! Right! Sorry!” Changmin turned it down a bit and came back into the kitchen.

I looked around for the spoon I’d dropped and then realized Jaejoong was holding it out for me.

“Oh, thank you…”

I went back to cutting, stirring, and cooking as we listened to the first song. It all sounded very good and I was impressed. I wondered then why I didn’t really listen to Korean music when I was from Korea. I’d always been fascinated with American music. Then I went on a study abroad trip there. I went on a second trip to Japan and that was when I got into Japanese music. But Korean music never caught my attention like that. Until now. That was how I started really listening to Korean music.

“You know…” I turned away from the stove. “Come to think of it, I really have heard a lot more about you than I remembered before. Something about being the first foreign artist in Japan to be so successful. And that you’re the best group in Asia. Is that true?”

They seemed very happy to hear this.

“That’s not for us to say.” Yunho answered modestly.

I thought that was a very good answer. I stalled when the food was done, pretending that it need stirring or something. I wanted to finish listening to the CD before we sat down to eat…and I was nervous about them tasting my food. What if wasn’t good? What if they didn’t like it? Finally the CD ended.

“I like your music very much.” I said. Maybe if I started a conversation, we could wait even longer. “It’s sounds amazing.”

They all bowed to me like I was an audience and said, “Thank you very much!”