Chapter 9

Jae

My fingers are the only confident thing about me. As I warm up, every other cell in my body shakes with nerves. President Hong and Unnie sit on the other side of the glass, watching and waiting for us to begin. Saela quickly copied the song for me to look at and I sight read it, wondering why I thought this would work in the first place. I get the chords down and decide I’ll leave the rest of the bridge to Saela. I only look at my guitar, the one thing that can calm the anxious thoughts bouncing off around in my head. What if he doesn’t like it? One makes its way to my conscious and I almost flinch. I can’t worry about that now. I play another random song to warm up, forcing myself to think about my hands moving.

“You ready?” Saela asks from the keyboard next to me. I look up at her and nod. “We’re starting now!” she calls to the listeners and receives the ok from the president. She looks back at me and counts off to start us. Getting past the first repetition of chords, I’m able to slip into the pattern and focus on the lyrics. Since we wrote them, we remember them easily. The harmonies are the same, the note feeling natural before it comes out. I can’t help but hold my breath when the bridge comes, my eyes focusing on the chords scribbled on the paper and my ears listening to what Saela and Woohyun wrote. When she reaches the last line of it where she told me to harmonize as well as I could and improvise it, I do it. Our voices fill the room when the pitches fit and I smile at her. She smiles back; obviously satisfied with it, and we finish the song. I’m ecstatic that neither of us messed up, as far as I notice, until Saela hits a blatantly wrong note on the piano on the very last chord. She groans and her head falls onto the keyboard, more obviously wrong notes grinding on my nerves. I look over nervously at the glass and see that President Hong and Unnie are both laughing. I kick Saela discretely under the keyboard and she sits up right away. She gives me a glare, but I remind her that we have an audience. We both stand and go to meet them outside of the sound booth. Saela looks back over her shoulder at me before we go in, showing me a face only I would get. She thinks she did terribly. I resist the urge to smack her for thinking it and follow her out. We both stand awkwardly in the doorway, watching as Unnie, the president and a few other people continue talking. When the finish, they all turn towards us, someone starts to clap. My eyes go wide with embarrassment and I bow because I don’t know what else to do.

“Thank you,” Saela laughs, bowing next to me.

“Wow,” President stands up and comes over to us. He extends his hand to me, shaking it firmly. “You did a great job,” he shakes Saela’s hand and we both thank him again. “I think this song is the best one ever written by a newly debuted group. The bridge made it seems like master’s work. Do you write together often?” he asks, searching for an explanation. When we shake our head he smiles and claps once. “This is great! I think this is going to be a big hit.”

“They really put a lot of hard work into it,” Unnie nods, giving us both a knowing look. Mostly directed at Saela, who couldn’t completely hide the dark circle under her eyes. We smile, agreeing with her.

“Is that right?” he says, sounding more excited than I had ever heard him. “In that case, I want to change something. What do you think about doing this song for the music video instead?”

“What?” Saela stutters, unable to keep a polite smile on her face. My mouth drops as well. We had all just accepted that our first music video would be a fun dance number with bright colors and lots of dancers. We had even started revamping the choreography for Drop Dead Gorgeous’ music video.

“I think the story in this song deserves a video,” he smiles and I want to hug him. Well I want to, but I’d never do it.  I just stare with my mouth open, probably looking like an idiot.

“Is it not too late to change it?” Saela asks her tone high and excited.

“I think I can pull a few string,” he winks at us and we look at each other. That would have been creepy to us if we both weren’t so thrilled. We hug each other, sighing with relief. He likes it, I think, the pressure leaving my body completely. After we hug each other and thank a few other people who compliment the song, we go back into the sound box to create the final draft of the sheet music with the writers from the company. Walking back to the president’s office with a copy of the finished and just printed song in my hands, I feel like skipping down the halls. The words on the page are mine and Saela’s. Thanks to Sunggyu, something reminds me and I smile to myself.

We listen as President Hong solidifies the deal with the producers over the phone and we even get to talk to him. We thank him for understanding and tell him we’re excited to work with him. He sounds like a nice man; telling us he wouldn’t mind doing two music videos with us because he had the script for the other one already made. We laugh, but the offer is makes both of us raise our eyebrows. What more could we ask for than a dance MV and a drama MV? The president finishes the call and we’re able to leave. Back in the van, we’re ecstatic.

“How come you two didn’t tell me you were so brilliant?” Unnie asks, slightly teasing us as we freak out. Saela mines screaming and I laugh because that’s exactly what I feel like doing.

“How did you not notice?” “We’ve been like this the whole time,” Saela laughs, jokingly flipping her long hair over her shoulder. Unfortunately for her, it’s so long that the ends gut stuck in between her and the seat and it just makes her look dumb. I shake my head at her.

“And we had help,” I remind her, thinking of Sunggyu. She makes a face and I know she’s not thinking of the same help I am. She still hasn’t had time to tell me what happened when she wrote it, but I know it’s not the time. As I listened to the lyrics in there, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of those lyrics were Woohyun’s.

“I could have done it on my own,” she folds her arms across her chest and pouts. “I didn’t really need the help.” I give her a look, calling her a liar without speaking and she sticks her tongue out at me. Then she proceeds to ignore me, singing along to the radio. She’s obviously determined not to admit she needed him and I laugh at her childishness, pulling out my phone.

I need to thank him, I think staring at the blank message addressed to Sunggyu. I start to type, but then delete it, start again, and then delete that too. I’ve probably deleted the same thing 80 times before we reach the dance studio and I have to put my phone away. I keep the blank message in the back of my mind as I dance, trying to think of just the right words.

“You’ve been quiet,” Saela says, flicking my head after we finish with lessons and go to meet Unnie. “What’s on your mind? Are you really that jealous of my bridge writing skills?” She laughs and I know she doesn’t believe her own words. I shake my head, pulling out my phone and type up a message so I can rightfully say nothing.

She watches me as I send it and then looks thoroughly confused when I smile, link arms with her, and walk us out to the van. She asks what that was, but I use her tactic from earlier today and ignore her, singing along. My phone buzzes, deep in the pocket of my sweat, but I resist the almost unbearable urge to pull it out and read the message. Saela wouldn’t miss my reaction. I wait until we get home and she goes to shower, before diving onto bed, fully clothed, and covering myself with the blanket.

“Thank you for the advice the other day. It helped me a lot.” I read my message by accident and hurriedly click his.

“It’s nothing. How did it go today?” I smile like an idiot, even though he didn’t say anything abnormal for usual conversation. I think for a couple minutes before replying. By the time Saela returns to our room with a towel on her head, I explained what happened to Sunggyu. Including the music video changes.

“I’m tired,” Saela says, collapsing on the bed next to me and passing out in a few minutes. I shake my head at her ability to fall asleep so quickly and get up to turn off the light. My phone buzzes in my hand as I slide back into the covers. I face my phone away from Saela self consciously before opening the message and even though she’s asleep, I feel safer that way.

“I knew you’d write a great song. You’ll have to play it for me sometime soon. Talk to you tomorrow, so sleep well Jae.” I lock the screen quickly, not wanting anyone to see it. I want to keep it to myself. I plug in my phone, and lay in the dark for a minute. My head is full of thoughts of Sunggyu which make it nearly impossible. I wish I was Saela so I could fall asleep no matter what, but eventually fall asleep and feel that it’s definitely ok for me to be Jae because Sunggyu’s voice fills my dreams.

“The music video script has been written,” President Hong says, handing Unnie the script first, then Saela and I each our own copy. This time Saela and I both eye it greedily instead of snatching it out of Unnie’s hands. I feel like we’ve started to learn that he gives us our own copies too. Took us long enough though. “I think it was a great idea on my part to switch it to this song. The story is very well written and I think you’ll both be able to play the parts sincerely.” I flip quickly through the pages, scanning the detail. My mind zeros in on the parts that say my name, vaguely figuring out the story line. “The shoot is scheduled to start next week so study the script and practice your song. I’m looking forward to the end result already.” Saela and I nod our agreement, barely taking our eyes away from the script to say goodbye and get in the elevator. Back in the car, we’re both still reading silently. Only the buzz of my phone in my pocket snaps me out of my focus. I know it’s Sunggyu before I unlock the phone, and I’m already smiling before I read it.

We’ve been talking for the past four days, updating each other on things that happen and planning when to have our next English lessons. Actually I just used that as an excuse to text him first. Then we just continued to talk. Even though we see each other at lessons, it’s nice to tell him things when they happen. That’s one annoying thing about living with your best friend; everything you do, you’re with her. You can’t tell her about it when she was there. After our first radio show he was the first one I talked to. Saela asks me constantly why I seem so happy even though she knows it’s because of him. Thankfully, she only teases me when we aren’t with Infinite. We have all become a lot closer, I’ve learned a lot from all of them and probably gained a six pack from laughing so much. English lessons are always the highlight of my days. The guys are progressing quickly at it and Saela and I will have to look for new books soon. Sunggyu’s gotten a lot better too, but his accent is still adorably bad. Whenever I try to help him, I just start laughing and Saela has to step in. Those lessons are the highlights of my days, but Sunggyu is the best part. I feel myself slowly becoming attached to his smile and his laugh and his eyes; I can’t help but want to stay with him even after lessons are over.

“I’ve been practicing my accent,” the text from Sunggyu says and I laugh, knowing it probably didn’t do any good.

“Do you sound just like Saela and I now?” I reply, going back to the script to wait for the response. Halfway through reading Saela’s part, the phone buzzes again.

“Yes! You should come today so I can show you. ^_^” To my surprise, he adds a smiley face. I almost laugh because the face shows how he smiles; with his eyes just barely open.

“Sunggyu again?” Saela asks, leaning towards me intrudingly. I pull my phone closer to me, stick my tongue out at her and ignore her question. She doesn’t need me to answer anyway, she already knows. “Aigoo, you never talk to me anymore,” she whines. “Always texting Sunggyu. I feel so lonely,” she leans on the arm rest and pouts. “I guess I’ll have to go solo after you two get married,” she sighs and I reach over to hit her. She laughs and Unnie tells her that she shouldn’t pick on me just because she has no one else. Saela stutters that she can talk to all the guys if she wants but Unnie just laughs. I ask her if we’re free after lessons and she says we can go for an hour or two. Dance practice and lessons pass quickly for me, with the thought of seeing them all pushing me forward.

Before I know it, Saela and I are entering the Woolim building and being greeted by the usual people. In the conference room, they’re already starting to speak in English, laughing at each other even though they all sound funny.

“Hey!” Sungjong says in English, waving as we come in. “How are you?”

“Tired,” Saela says, throwing her back in her seat next to Woohyun. I take my usual seat next to Sunggyu and smile at him; hoping for one in return. I get one and my night’s already complete. “How are you?” Saela asks Sungjong and I turn to watch them so I don’t stare too long or blush.

“Good,” Sungjong smiles and Saela messes up his hair.

“Wow,” she says, “Have you been practicing?” Sungjong nods, pouting a little as he fixes his hair. Saela hugs him before going to sit down; Saela and Sungjong have become close already.

“I have practicing,” Dongwoo says his accent not bad at all. He has the best pronunciation, but he always mixes up the conjugations of verbs. Woohyun starts clapping sarcastically and Saela hits his arm lightly. We all know Woohyun’s pretty bad at that too, along with other stuff.

“It sounds really good,” I tell him in Korean, giving him two thumbs up. “But you messed up the verb again.” He laughs and covers his face.

“I should have known something would be wrong,” he sighs and Hoya pats his arm sympathetically.

“Ready to start the hard stuff now?” I ask, taking out the book they hate the most, spelling and grammar. They all groan and protest, the ones that usually complain do, and the ones that typically do it even though they hate it act normally too. They all like to correct each other, so when anyone makes a mistake, the whole room erupts. But then the loudest chastiser makes the same mistake two minutes later and we’re all dying of laughter again. I don’t think it helps that Saela and I laugh with them, but they still learn. When they start to work from their own books, I turn to Sunggyu still waiting to hear the result of his practice.

“So,” I say and he looks up from his book. “Are you going to show me the reason I came here?” I ask and he smiles.

“I thought you came for all the attention,” he jokes and I shake my head. I only come for specific attention, I think, so I’m not lying entirely. He stands up and I wonder what he’s doing. I’m about to ask what he’s doing when he starts to walk towards the door. “It’s time to show them!” he calls and the other members stand up, leaving Saela and I looking confused. “Follow us,” he smiles and leads the group back to the practice room. Saela asks me if I know what’s going on and I shake my head, just as confused as she is.

“Look, Saela,” Woohyun laughs when we’re all inside the practice room, “We’re home!” As he laughs, she rolls her eyes. He’s always teasing her, but it’s great because she’s always teasing me. So I can’t help but encourage him. “It’s a good thing they have the air conditioning on during the day,” he says to her, earning confused looks from everyone in the room besides her. I admit that I have no idea what that means, but I can guess it’s not something Saela wants to remember. She punches his arm again and he retreats to the piano bench.

“So what are we doing in here?” I ask, looking at Sunggyu. He smiles as Myungsoo picks up the guitar from the corner of the room and he sits down at the piano. Woohyun stands up and goes to the center of the room where the other members have gathered. I’m still confused, but my heart is beating so fast I can’t ask any more questions. Myungsoo counts off and then starts playing. The first second gives it away and my eyes widen. They’re playing this song for us, I realize and as they begin to sing, my mouth drops.

“It’s crazy. I can’t stand this pain anymore,” Myungsoo sings in English. I’m speechless as they continue, singing the whole song in English. It doesn’t fit as well as the Korean lyrics, but it’s amazing that they’ve done it in the first place. When the chorus comes along, Sungjong pulls us both over to fill in Myungsoo and Sunggyu’s parts of the dance. Even though I’ve danced that dance so many times before and sang the lyrics even more times, it feels so much more fun. Sunggyu laughs from the piano as Woohyun and Saela both belt out his part, both not hesitating to take charge of it and then laughing at the other one. They proceed to fight over it until Sungjong kicks Saela in the and tell her to keep the form. We almost die of laughter seeing him order her around, but his little giggle that comes after gives him away.

When the song ends, Dongwoo attacks us all, trying to hug us all at once and forcing us all into a huge clump in the middle of the room. Sunggyu and Myungsoo, feeling left out, come to join us. Sunggyu slips under my arm that’s around Sungyeol and I almost recoil from the shock. His arms around my waist and now for a different reason than laughing, I can’t breathe. Dongwoo starts jumping for some reason and pretty soon all of us are falling all over the place, tripping each other and dragging someone else down with us. Hoya is the only one still standing at the end, sending us into fits of laughter as he looks down at us all on the floor. They don’t get much English practice done before Saela and I have to leave since Sungjong asks Saela to translate every song that comes to his mind, but neither of us cares. Both of us let out an exhausted sigh when we slump into our seats in the van.

“Why are they so much fun?” Saela asks, looking at me with a sad expression. “They make it hard to leave.” I laugh and agree fully, the time passes way too quickly when we’re with them. There’s never enough time to begin with. In the car Unnie tells us that because of our music video we won’t be able to see them as often and I frown. She also reminds us that they have a schedule too so we shouldn’t try to monopolize them too much. She’s really starting to sound like a mom, I think while listening to her nag us about our messy room and remind us to look through the script again before bed. She has all sorts of things to remind us about in the car and she finally finishes when we reach home. We tell her we will do everything she told us before she goes into room muttering about how we probably won’t.

“At least she knows,” Saela shrugs and I laugh, feeling a twinge in my abs. They’re tired from laughing too much. My face is also tired form smiling so much. Lastly, my whole body is fried from the twinges I get from Sunggyu. Saela and I talk before bed and then she passes out on me again before even turning out the light. I check my phone before I close my eyes, unconsciously hoping for a message from him. There isn’t one. So I fall asleep, wondering what they all do after we leave and what it would be like if we hadn’t left. I'd ask him right now, I think as my eyes fall shut, but I dont have any excuse to text him besides that I like him. I definitely need more excuses.

            So I realize that nothing really happened in this chapter but they next one will be better!! Anyway thank you for reading :) I really appreciate my subscribers. It makes me extrememely happy.

That's the Woohyun I love. It's ok though, he only takes advantage of those he truly loves. Sunggyu should just feel very loved, right? I would *.* cause that means I would be eating with him.