A month has gone by and Johnny still hasn’t talked to me. He only acknowledges me if the others in his group do so. My leg has healed and I thanked James for letting me taking those few days off by cleaning the entire apartment. And I mean like a deep clean like you see in movie montages. Greg seonbae has not really talked to me since the getting lost incident. I barely have seen Chanyeol too. EXO is going through some things right now. Actually a lot has been happening in SM. Not all of them are good things. A couple weeks ago Jessica officially cut off ties with SM and got rid of her contract with them. Also there are rumors flying around that Tao from EXO is going to actually leave EXO. From the little bit I have seen of Tao I wouldn’t think so. But if he is as hurt as everyone says who knows what will happen. The sasaeng fans have been extra passionately lately. I take an extra long way to SM now to try and avoid them at all cost. As I enter work today I notice that everyone is rushing around and I even see interns running around like their heads are chopped off. Hyun Ah passes me and I grab her arm.

“Where is the fire?”

“Tao officially filed a lawsuit against SM.”

My eyes grew wide. “What?!”

“This has to be the worst month for SM ever. I mean first Jessica and now Tao.”

“Well why is everyone running around like crazy people?”

“To try and defuse the situation they are trying to figure which artist they can make have a comeback. So interns are running around sending flash drives to the head ups. I don’t get it, wouldn’t it be easier to you know email. Well anyways you should get to BD seonbae. He will need your help today for sure.” I nod and head downstairs.

The hallway is a sea of red. All the rooms are being used and I look through the windows to see where James is. I find him and we I go in there Amber is working with him on a song and Luna is in there as well. I assume that this is going to be for the new f(x) album. When I walk in James hands me a paper and all it says on it is, “Make sure I drink water and I eat in a timely manner.” I head back out and go to the convenient store and buy a case of water as well as a couple of energy drinks. The trip back wasn’t the best. The idea of getting a case of water and bringing it back sounded good at the time. Who knew water was so heavy? I make my way back to the studio finally and I start handing out water to everyone. I put two water bottles in front of James along with the energy drinks. He looks up at me and without a word I know he is saying “Thank you”.

The rest of the day was filled with no homework being done. Me running around making sure that James doesn’t die and that the artist in his studio also didn’t die or ruin their voices. I’ve never seen the dungeon this active. I would see Hyun Ah once in awhile, but obviously we would only have enough time to acknowledge. If this was anyone’s first day, god bless them. They would think that this place is a mad house. This was also the most SM artists I have ever met. I didn’t have time to ohh and ahh over them. As soon as they were done recording with us they either had to go into a different recording room or we would have to stop the session early because of another schedule. Towards the end of the night I was also starting to feel tired. Towards the end of the day word was delivered that Red Velvet was going to be the next artist to make a comeback. All the songs that James worked on that were Red Velvet had been sent in and finished. He informed me that his song was not picked to be the title track, but it was Greg’s song. At the end of the night we sat in the studio just the two of us and we were completely exhausted.

“Is this how it is whenever scandals occur?”

“Yep.”

“Does it ever feel normal after a while?”

“Nope.”

“Are you still happy being here?”

“Yes.” He turned his head and smile. “This is what I live for. I always have a ton of songs that I say I will get around to writing, but when a moment like this happens I am forced to use every single creative cell in my body to make something amazing. I also enjoy when it gets calm like this because then I can go back and listen to what I made and decide; what is good? What is garbage? And how can I do better.”

“You must either really love your job or you’re insane.”

“You’ll become like me one day. Just you wait.”

“Whatever. Hey are the showers open for regular employees?”

James checks his watch. “Yeah I think so. Once you’re done you can go home. You deserve it today. Thanks for making sure I didn’t die.”

“It’s part of the job.” I hug James from behind. “Don’t stay too late.”

“Yes ma’am.” He salutes me as I walk away. As I leave I only see one studio light on. I guess everyone else had the same thought to go home.

 

I just walk by the door with the light on when the door opens.

“Eun Mi!” I turn around and see Greg.

“Greg seonbae. What are you doing so late?”

“I just got a spark of creativity for some songs. Mind helping me with one?” Oh dear lord am I about to insult Jonghyun’s songs?

“Sure I guess.” I walk in and there is no one else there. This gives mey vibes for some reason.

“I’m working on a song and it’s suppose to be from the point of view from a guy, but I can’t find the right male singer. So I am thinking maybe I just need a female’s voice for it.”

This is not what I expected. “Me? But I’m not a singer.”

“You’re not a professional singer. Anyone can be a regular singer. And extreme talented people can be inspirational singers. Besides this is only for a demo. For the final product your voice wouldn’t be on it.”

“I am flattered, but I don’t think I am the girl for you.”

“How about this. We run through the song and if after you try it and you hate it then we will stop.” He sticks his hand out. “Deal?”

I hesitate for a moment and shake his hand. “Deal.”

“Great! Now good thing for you is that obviously I am from England. So for my demos I do them in English since it is easier for me to write. I heard you are from America so I assume your English is really well.” We sat there and started going over the melody and the lyrics. The song was actually really good. It was catchy and it had a nice beat that made me want to groove to. In all honesty this song is better than most of the songs that James writes. I understand why Greg’s was chosen for Red Velvet’s album. I got into the recording booth and start singing the song. I even start dancing in the booth and Greg starts laughing his off. Once we laid down the basic melody down we go back and work on adding some overlays and harmonies at different parts. I really like the song and I can’t wait for it to come out officially. Greg hands me a flash drive. “This is part of my payment.” He turns in his chair. “I know you are primarily James’ intern, but I would love for you to lay more vocals for demos. Don’t worry I will only ask you to help me when you are not on the clock with him. I will also pay you for lending your talented voice. I will also give you the mp3 of the song when we finish it. My only condition is that you can’t leak out the audio. And also don’t play it in public.” I stand there for a few moments contemplating.

“Thank you so much for the offer. I am in school right now so I use my one day off for school work. I will think about it will let you know my decision.”

“And by think you mean talk to James about it?”

“Well I will be working my schedule with you and James if I accept.”

“I won’t need you every day. I will probably need you 2 or 3 times a month. Just a long recording session just like we just did.” Greg leans back in his chair. “I know you are loyal to James. But also think this as getting to understand different sides to the song making process. Just think about it.” I bow and leave the studio without a word. I reach the elevator and start thinking about what should I do. Should I accept Greg’s offer? Will James be mad at me? Will he think I am being unloyal to him?

 

The elevator arrives and I shake my head trying to forget about it. When I get to the floor with the showers there is a sign saying that the 4th floor showers are out of order. It says to go to the 5th floor to use the showers there. Since I got off the elevator already I decide to walk down the hall and use the stairs to get up to the 5th floor. I get about half way down and I hear a crash. I think to myself that if this was a horror movie the smart movie would be to turn around and just take the elevator to the 5th floor. I am going to be the idiot in the horror movie and see what the cause of the noise is. The crashing noise continues to happen and I see the door where it is coming from. I walk up to the door slowly and I look through the small window and see Chanyeol huffing and puffing. Chanyeol? What is doing? At that moment he let out a scream and picks up a chair and prepares to throws it. I don’t know what comes over me, but I run in there and grab his arms.

“Stop! What are you doing?!”

“Let go!” He shoves me and I fall onto the floor. He turns around and sees that it’s me. I look in his eyes and he has a mixture of anger, sorrow, regret, and exhaustion on his face. His eyes were also bloodshot like he had been crying earlier. I slowly get up and try to treat the situation like I got trapped in a tiger exhibit.

“Chanyeol seonbae. What is going on?”

Still holding the chair Chanyeol look around skittishly. After a few seconds he looks back at me. The anger has disappeared and tears start welling up. “I’m so tired.”

I walk to him slowly so he doesn’t lash out. “I know.” I got one hand on the chair and like a magical spell Chanyeol lets go of it. He let out a sigh of relief as I took the chair away. I walk back over to him and I try to think of what I should say next. Suho will know what to do. He is Chanyeol’s leader after all. “Do you want me to get Suho?” Chanyeol shook his head. Well that didn’t work. I know Chanyeol is close with Greg. “Do you want me to get Greg?” He shook his head even more furiously. So definitely not him. “Who would you like me to get?” Without another word Chanyeol put his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I was caught off guard so I let out a little squeak.

“Just stay here.” I nod and put my arms around him. I pat his back, my mom would do that to me when I was upset. And like a switch Chanyeol broke down crying. He gripped onto shirt more and just let out all of his tears. I think all the energy in his legs left him because he starts to fall to the floor. I do my best to make sure he doesn’t fall hard. I sit down on the floor with him while we are still hugging.

As I continue to pat his back I whisper, “It’s okay. Let it out. You are safe.” After a few minutes Chanyeol’s tears start to not be as heavy and his breathing returns to normal. He release his hold of my shirt and leans away. I see his face fully and it’s covered in tears and he even has some snot coming from his nose. I put my hand in my pocket and luckily I have a small packet of tissues on hand. I hand them to him and with no words he takes them and starts wiping away the tears and the snot. I am still in a state of shock because I am not use to Chanyeol like this. Chanyeol to the EXO fans is happy and bubbly. The Chanyeol I’ve met has been cold and I thought he truly hated me. This Chanyeol before me is vulnerable and unsure of everything around him. “Would you like some water?” It’s the only thing I could think of. He nods his head and I get up and get him some water from the water station in the room. I walk back with the cup and hand it to him.

He takes a sip and looks up. “Thank you.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“It is to me. Thank you for being here.”

“You’re welcome. And don’t worry I won’t tell anyone about what happened. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Is it?” He puts the cup down and leans against the mirror.

“Yes it is. I promise on my life.”

“You won’t tell even James hyung?”

“I won’t even tell him. I won’t tell a single soul.” I sit next to him and lean against the mirror as well.

“Eun Mi?”

I turn my head and look at him, “Yeah?”

“What do you do when you don’t know who you can trust?”

I think about this for a few moments. “I guess you have to see who has trust in you. And in the end you just have to know that you have each others backs.”

“What if you trusted a bunch of people and one by one they start stabbing you in the back. How can you make sure you don’t get stabbed again.”

“I would say if there is anyone who you think would do that then you should talk to them. And I don’t mean yell and lose control of your emotions. I mean an honest sit down conversation and talk about how you are feeling and then they talk about how they are feeling. Nothing is ever going to get better if there is no communication.”

Chanyeol nods his head. “How come you know exactly what to say?”

“I don’t really know. I guess I just try to put myself in the situation. What would I think would help.”

Chanyeol stands up and I get up as well. “Thanks for stopping me from destroying the place. I could of made a big mess.”

“No worries. I’m just glad that I was at the right place at the right time.”

There is an awkward silence between us. “Well I guess I will get going. My members are probably wondering where I am.”

“Yeah and I need to finish up here before my roommate wonders why I am getting back so late.”

“You mean James hyung?”

“How do you know about that?”

“James hyung is a really cool dude. He does keep his circle of people he trust small. I guess you are part of that circle too.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Don’t worry you have one of my secrets and I have one of yours. I guess this makes us even.” He pats me on the back. “I’ll get going first. I’ll see ya around sometime.” He walks away out of the room. How can someone be so multidimensional? I can never get a full reading on him. I walk away and make sure that the room is all locked up before heading to the fifth floor. Before I take a shower I get a text from James.

“Where r u? R u lost somewhere?”

I smile a little and reply, “No, I’ll explain everything l8r.” I decide to tell him I was late because I was working with Greg the rest of the night. This way I can work in the possibility of working with him as well. Hopefully things go well for everyone.