(Wooyoung)

“Welcome to Music Core! I’m your host, Yoonchun, or if you like, Mickey.” Mickey announced.

“And I’m Xiah Junsu,” Junsu smiled. “Today, we have a special treat for you guys. Our guests today are 2AM and 2PM!” I heard the audience go wild and the camera zoomed in on our faces. All of us waved to the camera and gave them our smiles; sure to please the crowd in some way. It’d been awhile since we were together on a show with our 2AM buds. It was nice to see them again. The camera turned back to the MC’s.

“Now,” Mickey said. “There has been much debate on who is the better band between 2AM and 2PM.”

“Indeed,” answered Junsu. “And today, we are going to find out who is truly the best part of One Day.”

“So today, we are going to have a little music competition between 2AM and 2PM. The competition will let us all know who is truly the best boy band out there!” The audience went wild. A competition eh? That seemed interesting indeed. We all knew that 2AM had the voices but we had the dance moves. But the competition wasn’t really on my mind right now. It was that girl…that girl at our debut. She kept invading my thoughts and it was hard to focus on anything else but her…

“But, Junsu,” Mickey interjected. “Don’t you think there’s something missing to our competition today?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Junsu answered with a smirk.

“I believe these idols need a bit of assistance in order to truly tell who is the best of the best. Why don’t we introduce the idols who will be joining One Day in their contest?” Mickey winked.

“GIVE IT UP FOR Y+C and 5star!” Junsu yelled out. And right on cue, out came seven girls. All of us knew the five girls who walked out first. It was 5star and they were our female counterparts. Hannah and Kum-ji were the first girls to walk out, sporting nearly identical outfits with their long, brown hair. Bou-chan and Mi-hyun followed suit, smiling and waving to the audience. Suh-jin was the last girl we knew to enter the stage and she merely bowed. But the two girls…I didn’t know them. It was probably Y+C. We had heard of their debut, but didn’t actually go to it. But 2AM filled us in on what we missed. Apparently their debut hadn’t started out fine. The music they were supposed to sing to, was all jumbled and out of tune. 2AM told us that the audience began booing them and their manager was frantically trying to fix the problems. 2AM, of course being their counterparts, were worried and hoped that their debut didn’t end in Y+C being booed off stage. But the girls had somehow managed to calm the audience. I believe the leader of the group spoke to audience and apologized for the mishap, but assured the crowd that they would still perform, and if needed, acapella style. And according to 2AM, that’s what they did. The guys said it was mind blowing and that the audience fell in love with their voices and their talents. After their debut, Y+C even got a standing ovation. Even with their success, I had no idea which girl was which and who was exactly Y and who was C.

After Suh-jin took her seat, the two remaining girls came onto the stage. The first girl to exit was pretty. She had long layered hair with a light hazelnut color. Her eyes were somewhat serious and soul piercing. She sort of scared me a bit. After the first girl entered, the last girl followed. As she stepped into the light, my heart began to pound. IT WAS HER. The girl who’d been occupying my every thought for the last three months; she was there. Right in front of my eyes and not even five feet away from me. I felt incredibly thirsty and every thought concerning anything else but this girl was gone. My palms began to sweat and I felt incredibly nervous. Every time I saw this girl, these sort of things would happen to me. The first time I saw her was at our debut. She had entered with Khun’s little sisters. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. There was something about her that just grabbed my attention. She had short, frayed brown hair that accented her features, almond shaped eyes that sported a dark chocolate color, and a smile that left me breathless. I couldn’t stop staring. When everyone else was associating with the two new girls, I just stared like an idiot. What could I do? I hadn’t felt this way before. It was completely new and I couldn’t say anything or if I did, it would come out as a stutter. It wasn’t until after the girls left that I found my voice back. After that meeting with HER, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. All I could think about was her and that smile…Even the guys seemed to notice I was spacing out a lot.

“Wooyoung-ah, what’s up with you?” Taec asked me. “You keep daydreaming…”

I merely shrugged and told him it was nothing. What was I supposed to tell him? That my mind was being ambushed by the image of a girl we’d just met? And that I didn’t even know her name? They’d ridicule me to no end. But after that, I just knew…I had to see this girl again. I knew she was a trainee and she was under contract with JYP, so I figured I would see her sometime in the JYP building. I began looking around, in hopes of finding her or seeing her again. Any hopes of seeing her occupied every thought and it made me feel obsessed. I didn’t even know this girl! But…I don’t know, I just had to see her again. I guess I became desperate and began asking around, asking if anyone knew or seen a girl with short, brown hair and dark chocolate eyes. I got close to seeing her one day. REALLY CLOSE TOO.

I was in one of the newer hallways of the building and I had stopped to ask one of the janitors if they had seen this girl.

“She’s about this high,” I indicated, raising my hand about five feet and few inches above the ground. “She has short, brown hair. Dark brown eyes, dimples when she smiles. She rehearses with another girl, who is much shorter and has long brown hair…” I felt someone brush past me, knocking into my arm. I heard a short apology and I merely nodded. I was too absorbed into finding this girl to even glance at the person. The janitor I was interviewing pointed to the person who just bumped into me.

“You mean her?” I swiveled around to where he was pointing to, and lo and behold! It was HER! I HAD FOUND HER. I grabbed onto the janitor and began spewing questions at him.

“IS THAT REALLY HER?! DO YOU KNOW HER?! WHAT’S HER NAME?! DOES SHE COME HERE EVERYDAY?! DO YOU KNOW?!” I shook the janitor and screamed at him.

Poor guy, he probably thought I was crazy or something. He furiously shook his head no, but told me if I wanted to know, I should follow her and find out. I released him and dashed after the mysterious girl. I ran out of the entrance of the building and squinted, trying to find her in the sea of people. When I finally spotted her, she was entering the back seat of a car with the other girl she was always with. I sprinted towards them, hoping to catch up with them. I even screamed at the car. Telling the driver to stop the car so I could finally meet this girl. But I was too late. The moment I reached their parking spot, they were drifting to wherever it was they were going. After that close encounter, I made a point to wait in that hallway. That same hallway where she passed by me and I didn’t even know it. Yes, I know… How could I have waited in a hallway for some girl I didn’t know? But what could I do? I was desperate. I NEEDED TO SEE HER AGAIN.

After rehearsals, I’d rush to that hallway, hoping I didn’t miss her. I’d sit there for hours or until someone came to fetch me to leave, waiting, hoping, that maybe, she would appear again. Some of the guys wondered why I would wait in that hallway. One day, Chansung followed me to the hallway. I didn’t even know he was stalking me that day. All I cared about was making it in time to hopefully see that girl. When I reached the hallway, I frantically looked around, trying to see if she was there. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I yelped and whipped around and came face to face with Chansung.

“AH! Chansung…what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I could ask you that question, Hyung. What are you doing here?”
“Uh…” I didn’t know how to answer him. I didn’t want to say I was here looking for a girl I’ve only met once. “I was just looking around.”

“Looking around for what? I know you’ve been here for the past two weeks. You should’ve found it by now.”

“Uh…I actually haven’t found what I’m looking for…Kinda hard to find…”

“What are you looking for, Wooyoung-ah?”

I realized I wouldn’t be able to wiggle myself out of this. Chansung wouldn’t stop bothering me until he found out what I was doing in the hallway. I decided I’d just tell him and hope he wouldn’t laugh at me…too much.

“Uh…I’m…looking for someone.” I whispered.

“Someone? Who are you looking for?” Chansung gave me an inquiring look.

“…Remember those girls who came to our debut?” He thought about it, then slowly shook his head. “The ones who bowed to us backstage? Well, I’m looking for one of them…”

“Oh,” Chansung interjected. “The ones who came in with Khun’s sisters?” I nodded. “Oh yeah, those girls. Why are you looking for one of them?”

“I…I don’t know. I just have to…”

“Ah, I know why,” Chansung smirked. “You like one of them don’t you?”

I blanked and felt the heat start to rise into my face. “No! I mean, c’mon! I just met the girl! How could I like someone I just met?!”

“You keep coming into this hallway, hoping to see her. And you expect me to believe that you don’t like her?”

Hmmm, Chansung did have a point…but did I really like this girl? I mean I just met her. Yes, she was extremely attractive and I definitely couldn’t get her image out of my head but still…did I have feelings for her? I didn’t even know her name.

But what Chansung said, had me thinking. That girl invaded my mind almost every moment of the day. If I even spaced out just a bit, the guys would torment me and laugh at how affected I was just by one look at some girl. But she wasn’t some girl to me…she was that girl. The girl I just had to see again. Even after a month of not seeing her after that, I still waited in that hallway. I got close to giving up, but my luck was changing. For here she was. She was less than five feet away from me and she looked as amazing as she did when I first saw her.

“Welcome girls!” Junsu said, bowing to each of them. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Hannah answered first. “To help our sunbaes, of course!” Everyone else merely nodded.

“Indeed,” Mickey confirmed. “You seven will be helping us decide who is truly the best subgroup in One Day: 2AM or 2PM?”

“Now first, we would like to separate you with your counterparts,” Junsu announced. “So if you would please, head over to your sunbaes.”

When 5star came over to us, they merely stood by us and gave us mini waves, but Y+C, they were a completely different story. They rushed over to 2AM and began giving them bear hugs. 2AM and Y+C seemed undoubtedly close. We all felt awkward just watching them. Even 5star and us weren’t even that close. Sure, we all hung out and had fun, but we didn’t bear hug them every time we saw them.

After their friendly greetings, 2AM and Y+C joined hands and began dancing around, laughing and talking about how great it was being in a competition and working together again. However, their little happy circle was cut short.

“Ah,” Mickey announced. “But it seems our groups are uneven, Junsu.”

“You’re right…the groups are uneven,” Junsu replied with a sly smile. “We’ll have to fix that won’t we?”

“Yes, now here is the twist to our little competition today! Instead of 5star working with 2PM and Y+C working with 2AM, it’ll be a switch. It’s a test to see whether our amazing idols can work with other groups and blend their sounds to create wonderful music. What do you think audience? Great idea or what?!” The crowd went wild, yet again.

“So it’s settled!” Junsu grinned. “2AM shall work with 5star and 2PM shall work with Y+C. Let us see if they work together well!”

At the new information, it was hard to tell who was more disappointed: Y+C or 2AM. As Y+C and 5star switched places, Y+C waved goodbyes to 2AM and wore melancholy smiles as they approached us.

(Yoo-mi)

To say we were disappointed to not be able to work with 2AM was an understatement. We hardly had time to spend with our sunbaes anymore. Our debut brought us some success but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that 2AM was gaining immense popularity and they never had time to hang out with me and Christine anymore. It was slightly depressing.

But when we found out we’d be on Music Core with them, Christi and I were more than excited. So it wasn’t a surprise when we rushed towards our best friends and formed a little dance circle, something we always did whenever we were given the chance to all hang out. We could notice the awkward glances from the audience and 2PM and 5star. The audience was probably happy that 2AM and us were really close but I bet 2PM and 5star were just jealous that they weren’t as close as we were. So when Junsu and Mickey announced we’d be working with 2PM instead of 2AM, it was just like a punch to the gut or even a dumping of water on a person enjoying a sweet dream. It . BIG TIME. And to make matters worse, the moment we entered the room with 2PM, the air was just stifling. Christi and I didn’t want to work with them and I knew for a fact 2PM didn’t want to work with us. Well…the guy with the awkward face and the Rain look-alike didn’t want to for sure. Though, I had to admit, the guy who looked like Rain, he had a really nice looking . I have a thing for guys with nice butts.

We all just stared at each other, glancing nervously with scowls on our faces. I sighed heavily. This was going nowhere. If only we were working with 2AM, we’d win the competition for sure, but now, that notion was just dead. Thirty minutes had already passed and we were all still just standing around, staring. This was starting to annoy me. Someone had to break the ice.

Suddenly, one of the two guys who had chased after us during their debut stood up. It was the one who Christi thought resembled a rat. I had to agree with her on that description. He walked over to us and stuck out his hand.

“Hey, I’m afraid we didn’t introduce ourselves last time,” he said. “I’m Park Jaebom. I’m leader of 2PM. But you can call me Jay.”

I nodded and shook his hand. “I’m Yoo-mi.”

“Nice to meet you, Yoo-mi.”

“Likewise, Jay.” We stood there for a long time just shaking hands. I pulled away. “Do you think we should get started on working on the competition? It’d be embarrassing to go out there with nothing prepared.”

“You’re right.” He replied. He called to the others and told them it was time to get working. But of course, awkward one and nice person had to be jerks.

“What?” Awkward one said. “How can we work with them? From what we heard, they don’t have any dancing talent. How can we possibly incorporate them?”

I felt my face flush and I noticed Christi tense when she heard his words. She stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, not to sound rude, but excuse me? Since when does dancing decide whether we can work together or not?” She interjected.

I nodded. “We are willing to cooperate with you guys, but if that’s how you feel…you’re making this competition idea hard to do.”

Rain answered this time. “Well how can we incorporate you two in? You guys can’t dance and sing at the same time. We heard from 5star about your problem.”

I fumed. I was tired of all the harsh treatment and none of the other guys were stopping these two jerks from insulting us. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “But being able to dance and sing at the same time isn’t the only talent and it isn’t the most important either. But we do want to try our best with this, so please, can we all just cooperate?!” They were silent. “If you guys want proof of our abilities, we are more than willing to show you.”

Awkward one smirked. “Fine. Show us what you guys have, then we’ll see if you two have the talent.”

I nodded and turned towards Christi. I knew the perfect song to sing for them. When she saw me smirk, Christi knew which song as well. We’d blow them away. I decided to open the song first. I took a deep breath and began to sing.

Listen, to the song here in my heart

A melody I start but can’t complete

I noticed that as I began singing, all of 2PM had stopped and was fixated on me and Christi. After my cue, Christi began her part. She stepped forward and right on time, picked up the next part.

Listen, to the sound from deep within

It’s only beginning to find release

Oh, the time has come for my dreams to be heard

They will not be pushed aside and turned

Into your own all ‘cause you won’t

Listen

As Christi began to crescendo, I peered at the two doubters. The awkward one’s smirk had completely disappeared and he was just staring. Rain was speechless and his jaw was probably dragging on the floor as he came closer. I nodded for Christine to take the first part of the chorus. She continued:

Listen, I am alone at a crossroads

I’m not at home in my own home

And I’ve tried to say what’ on my mind

You should have known

 

Oh, now I’m done believing you

You don’t know what I’m feeling

I’m more than what you made of me

I followed the voice you gave to me

But now I’ve got to find my own

I smiled at Christine. Her voice had definitely improved since training. Before, she had regarded her voice as the low registered one and the one that tended to be more husky, but now, she was able to reach those high notes. I was proud of her.

She turned to me and nodded for me to take the reins of the song. I acknowledged it and began singing again.

You should have listened, there is someone here inside

Someone I thought had died so long ago

Oh, I’m screaming out and my dreams will be heard

They will not be pushed aside on words

Into your own all ‘cause you won’t

Listen

 

Listen, I am alone at a crossroads

I’m not at home in my own home

I’ve tried and tried to say what’s on my mind

You should have known

 

Oh, now I’m done believing you

You don’t know what I’m feeling

I’m more than what you made of me

I followed the voice you gave to me

But now I’ve got to find my own

 

Christine and I turned to each other. This is where we would definitely blow 2PM away. We began to sing together, merging our voices and adjusting them to create a perfect balance. We were in sync with each other. Manager had always regarded our ability to mesh our voices together as our true talent. Individually, Christine and I could make it solo, but together we were amazing.

 

I don’t know where I belong

But I’ll be moving on

If you don’t, if you won’t

 

Listen to the song here in my heart

A melody I start but I will complete

 

Oh, now I’m done believing you

You don’t know what I’m feeling

I’m more than what you made of me

I followed the voice you think you gave to me

But now I’ve got to find my own

My own

As we belted out the last vestiges of the song, we turned to the 2PM members. Jay and the guy with the humongous teeth were smiling. The other three, besides awkward one and Rain, were just staring, nodding their heads in approval. But the looks on the awkward panda and the emperor were satisfying. The awkward one looked like he just himself and Rain’s mouth hung open in shock. Christine and I merely smiled and bowed, hoping we had proven ourselves. Next thing we knew, the awkward one came racing over, grabbing our hands, shaking them violently and speaking incoherently.

“That was-that was- Oh MY GOODNESS! That was amazing! We have to do a collab together. You promise right? We’ll do a collab?! I’m so sorry for what I said. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. I’m Junsu by the way. Not Xiah Junsu but Kim Junsu. We can do a collab right? Right? Right?”

Christine and I merely stared at him blankly. This guy was definitely awkward beyond all reason. We didn’t think he’d be that awe inspired by our singing.

“Um thank you,” I replied. “But we don’t know about the collab idea…You may need to ask our manager about that.”

Awkward Junsu nodded eagerly. He was obviously excited. emperor approached us next.

“We’re sorry for insulting you and doubting you guys,” he apologized. “5star were obviously lying when they said you guys have no talent. You guys are seriously amazing.”

I blushed this time. Despite the rudeness from earlier, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was mildly attracted to the Rain look alike. “Thank you and we thank you for apologizing. Hopefully this means we can all work together?”

“YES!” screamed Junsu. “Of course! We’ll definitely win the competition with you two working with us.”

“Calm down, Junsu,” Jay laughed. “We’ll definitely kick on stage. So I guess we better start working then?”

I nodded. “But first, I think we need to properly introduce ourselves. I feel like our last introduction was just…awkward. We didn’t even exchange names.”

Jay nodded. “Well you know who I am, but if not, I’m Park Jaebom.”

“I’m Kim Junsu,” Junsu smiled.

“Lee Junho,” emperor winked. (I won’t deny I blushed when I saw that.)

The guy with the humongous teeth and ears walked up. “I’m Ok Taecyeon.”

Next, came the guy with a turnip for hair. It was a nice looking turnip, but Christine told me it reminded her of a doorknob. “I’m Hwang Chansung.”

Then, came Yanin and Sherleen’s brother, though Christine and I already knew his name.
“I’m Nichkhun. My last name isn’t important.”

“And I’m…” the Tibet fox piped in. “Jang Wooyoung.”

Christine and I nodded. We bowed and introduced ourselves.

“I’m Yoo-mi.” I replied. Christi followed.

“And I am Christine. Nice to meet you all.”

(Jay)

We were all finally done with the competition for Music Core. 2AM and 5star won mostly because Kwon ended up doing his kkab dancing and the audience loved that. Plus, Jinwoon flashed his arms, earning screams from the hormone crazed teenagers in the audience. Even my shirt ripping couldn’t beat that. But still, I thought we should have won. With Y+C’s vocals assisting our dance moves we were sure we were going to blow the audience out of the water, but who knew Kwon and Jinwoon would do something like that? I knew we should have all ripped our shirts at the end of the song. But of course, Junsu and the girls opposed the idea. Though I wouldn’t have minded seeing Yoo-mi rip her shirt off.

She seemed extremely nice and not to mention, she was pretty hot. I spied her across the room talking to Kwon. They were laughing and messing around about something. Kwon was making his usual word faces as Yoo-mi laughed. As I continued to watch them, I was slightly jealous. What if Yoo-mi and Kwon had something going on between them? It wouldn’t be unexpected. Y+C and 2AM were obviously very close. So I guess I was a bit jealous since I had been interested in Yoo-mi for a while now. I mean, I wanted to be the one flirting with Yoo-mi not Kwon. I decided I’d have to work my magic flirting skills in order to get Yoo-mi’s attention. The mission at hand: Get Yoo-mi’s number. And once I got her number, I’d make her like me.

As Kwon walked away to talk to Changmin, I approached Yoo-mi. Now was my chance. I popped up in front of her and she merely stared at me.

“Hi,” I smiled.

“Hi,” she replied.

“So…” I started. “The competition…”

“What about it?”

I scratched my head. “It went well I think.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I guess so?”

“Too bad we didn’t win. It would’ve been nice right?”

“Maybe? But winning isn’t everything. We did our best.”

“That we did. So…” I hesitated.

“So…?”

“So,” I took a deep breath and leaned in closer. “Can I have your number?”

Yoo-mi merely blinked and stared at me. “Why?”

“Because I like you,” I replied. “We can be friends and friends do give each other their numbers. So can I have yours?”

Yoo-mi laughed. “I’m sorry. But no.”

I blanked. “What? Why not?”

“I don’t have a phone. So it’d be impossible for me to give you a number that is non-existent.”

I made a face. This plan to get Yoo-mi to like me was going downhill already. But I had an idea in mind. I smirked. “What if I can get you a phone? Not just you, but your friend as well.”

“My friend has a name. Her name’s Christine. Plus I doubt it. Manager’s strict about those things.” She replied.

“But if I got you a phone, would you give me your number?”

Yoo-mi smiled. “Maybe. But let’s see if you can get me and Christine the phones first. Then we’ll discuss the matter of my number being in your possession.”

I smiled. “Consider it done.” I turned around and searched for Y+C’s manager. I was confident I’d be able to persuade their manager to get them phones. Once I managed that, contact between me and Yoo-mi would be easy. I found Y+C’s manager talking on the phone in the corner. I strolled over and smiled, waiting for her conversation to end. Their manager turned to look at me and gave me an inquiring look. She ended her call and spoke to me.

“Yes? Can I help you?” she inquired.

“Yes, I believe you can,” I replied. “You’re Y+C’s manager correct?”

She nodded. “I believe you are 2PM’s leader. What is it you need, Jaebom?”

“I was wondering…”I started. “If it was possible-“

“No.” their manager stated abruptly.

“What?” I pouted. “But you didn’t even hear what I was going to ask.”

“I know what you were going to ask.” She replied. “I saw you trying to pull the moves on Yoo-mi and the answer is NO.”

“But-“ I protested.

(Nichkhun)

There I was, just standing there minding my own business. So how did I end up being the guinea pig to persuade Y+C’s manager to give them phones? Jay owed me big time. He had approached me, asking for a favor. I’m a nice guy so I didn’t mind doing whatever Jay asked of me…if it was reasonable. But when he told me what he wanted me to do, I wasn’t feeling that generous anymore.

“No, Hyung. No way. I’m not going to seduce a woman at least twenty years older than me so you can flirt with Yoo-mi.”

Jay gave me a look. “C’mon, Khun. You can do it. Everyone falls for your charms. You can do it. If you do this for me, I’ll never ask you for another favor again.”

“Yeah right,” I answered. “You always make me use my aegyo for your own benefits.”

Jay glared. “I do not. I am just asking my brother and friend to help me out and yet you’re not even bending to help me out.”

“I always help you out though.”

Jay sighed. So he decided to play the Hyung/leader card. “I’m your leader and Hyung!” He announced. “So, go make sure Yoo-mi and Christine get phones!” He pushed me in the direction of Y+C’s manager. I made a face at him. I wasn’t comfortable with doing this at all. I sighed. I didn’t like this one bet.

As I walked up to Y+C’s manager, I noticed that she was talking to Christine. She was the girl my sisters had introduced me to. It seemed like their manager was informing her of something, since she just stood there and nodded her head the whole time. I stood in front of them and waited for them to notice me. I cleared my throat.

“Um, excuse me,” Both of them turned their glances towards me. Their manager smiled.

“Hello Nichkhun. How can we help you?”

I sighed. I guess I would have to do what I was sent here to do. I flashed her my most charming smile. “I was wondering, Noona…”

Christine’s manager giggled. “No need to be so formal, Nichkhun.” I smiled. This was going to be easy. Though I noticed from out of the corner of my eye, Christine was somewhat cringing and making weird faces at me and her manager.

“Is it possible if Yoo-mi and Christine get phones? We enjoyed working with them a lot and we would like to hang out with them and become close friends. But without any form of communication, it’d be hard to do that. A gorgeous Noona like yourself should understand right?” I watched as their manager nearly swooned while Christine nearly gagged. Christine turned to her manager.

“Manager,” she started. “Please tell me you’re not falling for this guy’s creepy comments and weird charms. It’s sickening.” She turned to me. “No offense.”

I merely blinked. No girl had ever called my charms creepy before… As I just stood there, her manager scolded Christine.
“Christine! Apologize to Nichkhun! He is trying to help you out and be friends with you and yet you insult him. That gets you a work out day tomorrow.” I watched as Christine glowered. She was obviously not pleased. Her manager turned back to me. “I’m sorry for that, but the girls aren’t exactly allowed phones yet.”

I gave her a sad smile. “I see, well if it can’t be helped then-“

“But!” their manager interjected. “I can see what I can do. I’m sure I can pull a few strings.”

I winked at their manager and thanked her. I watched as Christine’s manager nearly died of embarrassment and excused herself, leaving me and Christine alone. Christine turned to me, though she looked embarrassed and flushed herself. I sighed. She was probably like the other girls, about to declare how adorable or how handsome I was. The constant fawning was something I was used to already. But what Christine said threw me completely off base.

“Um, Nichkhun, can I tell you something?” she asked me cautiously.

I nodded. “Sure, what is it?” I prepared myself for her declaration of eternal love.

(Christine)

I felt somewhat bad and y for telling Nichkhun I found him creepy. But hey, it was constructive criticism! It would prepare him for the life of an idol, even though I shouldn’t be one to talk considering he debuted before me and I was probably weirder than him. But still, I was being nice and considerate, right?

I shrugged off the guilt; though I promised I would be nicer to him the next time…I had to find Yoo-mi. I had to tell her the good news. We’d be getting phones! I grinned. It was all thanks to Nichkhun’s creepy, yet effective, charms. We’d finally be able to contact our sunbaes whenever we wanted.

I searched around the backstage looking for her. But I couldn’t find her. Where could she have gone? Unless she already left with manager leaving me behind…I wouldn’t put it past manager to leave me. She’d probably make me run back to the apartment in these killer heels. I decided I’d check our dressing room. I had an inkling that she would be there.

I entered our petite dressing room. Though it was small and not as elaborate as the one we had at our debut, it was cute. It had two vanity sets set adjacent to each other. I liked how the lights on the mirrors didn’t blind you, making you chinkier than ever. But it was comfortable.

Aha! There she was. Yoo-mi was seated on the loveseat sofa that seemed out of place in our dressing room, although it was pretty relaxing to just sit on it. She was talking to our coordinator about her style. I approached them.

“Hey,” I squeaked.

“Hey yourself,” Yoo-mi answered. “Where have you been?”

I laughed. “I should be asking you that question. But I was with manager. She was talking to me about our competition. She said we did well, but of course she wanted to point out my flaws…”

Coodi smacked me. “Girl, you’re just fine. As far as I can tell, you have no flaws.” I laughed at coodi. “Thanks, coodi. You know how to make me feel better.”

Yoo-mi smiled. “Yeah, coodi’s right. You’re great. I don’t know why manager always treats you like that.”

“Yeah, me neither. I love manager but sometimes…I HATE HER.”

Yoo-mi laughed. “So do you think we can leave now? Kwon mentioned something about a celebratory dinner at their apartment.”

I quirked my eyebrow. “Hm? I wasn’t aware of this…But yeah, sure. Let’s go. We haven’t hung out with them in forever.” Yoo-mi nodded. She jumped up and headed out of the door. I bowed to coodi and told him we’d see him tomorrow. He nodded and told me to get out of the room and go have fun. Though, he whispered into my ear and told me to win Jinwoon’s heart while I was at their apartment. I blushed and shooed him away. I ran out of the dressing and caught up with Yoo-mi. We began to chatter about how much fun it would be to hang out with 2AM again. They were our best friends after all. They supported us through all the doubts and hardships. They encouraged us despite all the bad blood that 5star dished out. So it was really disappointing not being able to work with them for the competition, although 2PM wasn’t so bad either.

“Hm, I wonder if Changmin Oppa is going to cook today…” Yoo-mi wondered. I nudged her and gave her a look.

“Of course he will,” I responded. “It’s Changmin. If he doesn’t cook, then the rest of the dinner falls apart.”

Yoo-mi nodded in agreement. We walked in silence for a while. Then I remembered I had forgotten to tell Yoo-mi the news. I grabbed her arm.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” She glanced at me inquisitively. “Wait for it…BUT WE’RE GETTING PHONES!” I announced.

Yoo-mi just stared at me. I was slightly peeved at her reaction. I expected her to jump up at the news of receiving technology that provided communication with the outside world but instead she just stood there. She was bumming me out a bit.

“Hey,” I nudged her. “Aren’t you glad we’re getting phones?”

She didn’t respond but merely started mumbling. “I can’t believe it…the rat managed to get them…….now I don’t have an excuse…GOD DAMMIT.”

I glanced at her nervously. “What are you mumbling about?”

She turned to me and smiled. “Uh…nothing. But I’m really glad we’re getting phones but I’m just shocked…”

I was positive whatever Yoo-mi was mumbling about, it wasn’t nothing. But I’d bug her later about it; I’d make her spill the beans. But for now, it was time to celebrate our new phone possessions.

“I know. But Nichkhun convinced manager to get us phones. I don’t know why he would bother doing us a favor, but it was really nice of him…despite his creepiness.”

“Creepiness?” Yoo-mi gave me a skeptical look. “Are you trying to tell me you find him creepy looking?” I nodded and she laughed at me. “Why?”

“You should have heard the way he was talking to manager. It was unbelievably gross. I nearly barfed.”

“That doesn’t explain why you think he’s creepy looking.”

I shrugged. “I can’t help it if that’s my opinion. I mean he’s good looking; I’ll give him that. But I don’t know…there’s just something about that smile…” I cringed just thinking about it.

Yoo-mi laughed. “You have the weirdest ideas of creepy. But speaking of creepy, didn’t you find it odd that one of the guys from 2PM was staring at you?”

I laughed. “What? There wasn’t a guy staring at me. I didn’t even notice.”

Yoo-mi rolled her eyes at me. “Of course you didn’t notice. You were busy drooling over Jinwoon’s arms.”

“Hey!” I replied. “His arms are amazing and you know how much I love his arms.”

Yoo-mi sighed. “I know, I know, I know. You’ve told me a million times how nice his arms are and how nice his face is and how nice his smile is. I’ve heard it all.”

I made a face. “Do I really talk about Jinwoon that much?” Yoo-mi nodded. I sighed. “Well I can’t help it if I’m attracted to him. I like what I like.” Yoo-mi laughed. “So anyways, who was staring at me again?”

“That one guy from 2PM. His eyes were glued to you the moment we entered the rehearsal studio to the moment we performed on stage and his gaze never left your face.”

“Who though?”

Yoo-mi paused. “I don’t remember his name…But he had these cheeks…”

“Oh! You mean Wooyoung?” I asked.

“Yeah! That’s him.” Yoo-mi answered. “Him. It was really odd. He just kept staring. I assumed you noticed.”

I shook my head. “No…I didn’t notice. But that’s insane. Why would Wooyoung stare at me?”

Yoo-mi shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think he likes you since he kept drooling over you.”

“He was not drooling,” I replied. “And I doubt it. I just met the guy. How could he possibly like me?”

“You never know,” she chided. “Ever heard of love at first sight?”

I scoffed. “Please, as if that could happen. There’s no such thing.”

“Fine, be a pessimist,” Yoo-mi teased. “But I’m pretty confident that he likes you.”

“Whatever, I don’t believe you. He was probably just focusing on the competition and not me.”

Yoo-mi laughed. “Whatever you say, Christi. But if you don’t believe me, why don’t you ask him yourself?” She nodded to something behind me. I was confused. What the hell was she nodding at? Then I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I swiveled around and came face to face with Wooyoung. I was a bit surprised to see him.

“Hi,” I greeted.

“He-he-hello…” he stuttered.

“Can I help you?” I asked him.  He nodded.

“Uh…uh…well…me…m-my name…I-I-is…uh…crap…uh-me...” He pointed to himself. “I-I am…Woo-woo…gah…uh…”

I stared at him and smiled. “Um…you’re Wooyoung right?” He nodded eccentrically.

He pointed to me and began stuttering again.

“Uh…uh…you-your…uh…you…is…name?”

I laughed. “Oh, I’m Christine.”

“Chris-t-e…” He mumbled.

I shook my head and laughed. “No, my name is Christine. With a tine at the end. Like TEEN? Chris-TEEN.”

He tried again. “Uh…Chris-e?”

I sighed and laughed. It was obvious he couldn’t understand my Korean since it still balls. Plus his pronunciation of my name was actually quite adorable.

“It’s okay,” I replied. “You can call me Chris-e.” He smiled and nodded enthusiastically. I stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you…again.” I laughed.

He cautiously pulled his hand out and gripped mine. We ended up shaking hands for some time. Just awkwardly standing there, pumping our arms up and down. My arm was getting tired so I pulled away and laughed awkwardly.

“Um, well…it was nice meeting you, Wooyoung,” I smiled. “I have to go…so…um…I’ll see you later then?” He nodded.

(Wooyoung)

I watched her run out the doors and I felt like shooting myself in the face. I couldn’t believe I couldn’t utter a single complete sentence when I was talking to her. The moment I could work my way into her favor and wow her, I fail and shoot myself in the foot by talking like an idiot. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, that’s what I was. I even forgot my own name. I sulked off and began banging my head against the wall. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I speak right in front of Christine? STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. After a few minutes, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and it was Chansung.

“Wooyoung,” he asked worriedly, “What’s wrong? Why are you banging your head against the wall?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t speak…What is wrong with me, Chansung?”

Chansung gave a worried look. “What are you talking about? You’re talking right now.”

“I know that,” I announced. “But…I COULDN’T SPEAK WHEN SHE WAS RIGHT THERE.” I continued to bang my head against the wall. “STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.”

Chansung pulled me away from the wall. “You’re going to get stupid if you keep banging your head against the wall. And what do you mean by ‘her’? You mean that girl you’ve been waiting in that hallway for?”

I felt my face turn red. I nodded. “Yeah…her…She was here and I screwed up by sounding like a complete idiot.”

Chansung laughed. “That’s because you’re inexperienced. When have you ever spoken to a girl by yourself?”

I glared at him. “For your information, I have spoken to a girl by myself!”

“Who isn’t your sister or your mom?”

I blanked. Chansung laughed even more. “Exactly, and you wanted to talk to a girl, a girl you’ve never spoken to until today? And to top it off, a girl who you’ve been stalking since the moment you met her? What did you think would happen?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered. “I expected that I’d be able to speak at least a coherent sentence not stutter like an idiot. And I have not been stalking her!”

“Yeah, right, so you haven’t been waiting in that hallway for the past month or so?”

I scowled. “It’s not stalking…It’s patiently waiting for someone in hopes of seeing them.”

Chansung laughed. “You have a weird definition of stalking. Who is this girl anyways? She must be pretty amazing if she’s making you go through such lengths just to see her.”

“It’s Christine,” I smiled, thinking about her. “She’s part of Y+C.”

“Huh? The girl with the short brown hair?” I nodded. “You mean that’s the girl you’ve been searching for?”

“Yeah, so? What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing, it’s just…eh, she’s average to me.”

“She is not average! Are you blind or something, Chansung?! She’s beautiful. She has these eyes…Dark chocolate that sparkle when she laughs. And man, when she laughs, she has this smile that brightens up the whole room. Not to mention, she has a smoking body and a voice to match. And during the competition, she was so down to earth and kind and-“

Chansung laughed. “Alright, I get it. Geeze, I thought you just liked the girl. I didn’t know you fell in love with her.”

“I do not love her! I mean, c’mon. I just met her.”

“Yeah, you just did. Yet you talk about her like she’s the love of your life.”

I stared at Chansung. “No, there’s no way. I just…like her, you know?”