Smile
Into the New World
I don’t know if it was because of our managers going out together awhile ago, or SM riding off the great response of us being together on variety shows, I mean our episode of Imagination + was a hit. Fans were talking about it almost nonstop on the social networking sites. Unfortunately though it mostly just kept the rumors about Tiffany and I coming. We’re we dating? Should we be dating?
Whatever, I can’t focus on that right now. We were going to be in a big photo shoot for SPAO with SNSD today and I couldn’t be more excited.
It was early in the morning when hyung called to tell us that he was in the lobby waiting for us. As we groggily headed down in the elevator I could only notice how silent we all were being. I guess we all were still pretty tired from our shoot last night though. I mean we only had about three hours of sleep. We had filmed the last scenes of a cellphone commercial very late last night. I finally heard someone speak.
“What is this shoot even for?”
That’s actually a very good question. I was crossing my fingers for swimsuits, but I knew that was probably not the case. A guy could dream though right? Gah, Tiffany in a bikini though, I couldn’t even imagine. Okay I totally could and it was amaz-
“I think Hyung said jeans? Don’t hold me to it though,” Yuri said from beside me interrupting my very, very pleasant thoughts.
A few minutes later we had met up with Hyung and then made our way to the van waiting outside. I could tell our manager was even more nervous than we were right now and that was very strange. He was the one usually telling us to calm down.
“Hyung, what’s wrong?”
“Oh it’s noth-“
“Aish, don’t lie to us,” I said cutting him off.
He turned to look at us once before actually answering. “Fine. Nothing is necessarily wrong. It’s just that there are so many things we have to do today.”
“Like what,” Yuri asked. I was confused too. I thought we had just the shoot?
“Well the photo shoot here in a bit, you have lessons, Sooyoung has to go to the studio with Hyuna, and Taeyeon has to prepare a song to present to the producers.”
Whoa whoa whoa, hold up one minute. I guess I did know about the first two things, Yuri was starting to take acting lessons for he wanted to try to branch out a little and Soo was going to feature on Hyuna’s solo debut song, but that last one there…
“Wait, what do I have to do?”
“Didn’t I te-“ He must have seen us all shaking our heads at him. We had no idea what he was talking about. “Aish, I meant to. See this is what I was-“
“Hyung!” I would have thanked Soo for that if I wasn’t so caught up in what our manager was about to say.
“The president wants us record a single here soon, he says we need to stay relevant until we are big enough to take longer breaks in between albums.”
Which I thought made perfect sense, but…
“And Taeyeon before you ask, yes. He wants it to be a song that you wrote. Given that ‘Beautiful Stranger’ did so well, he thinks the next one we release will be even bigger since your fan base numbers have increased exponentially.”
Ugh. I guess that made sense as well, but did it have to be me? Can’t Yuri or Sooyoung write a song? This is stressful.
“So you’ll need to write one within the week, or if you already have a few written Soo, Yul, or I can help sort through and decide the best one to show them.” I did have a few already done, but I had no idea which was the better one. Hell I didn’t even think ‘Beautiful Stranger’ was going to do as well as it has, so I was clearly in no place to judge.
“Ne,” I said finally accepting my fate.. “I have about three or four finished. You’ll all have to help pick though, okay?”
“Yeah, no problem Taeng!”
“Are they about Noona again this time,” Sooyoung asked from behind us. I smiled at just the thought of her before I answered.
“What else would they be about?”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
We had just arrived at the studio and hyung was leading us to where we needed to go when a man stopped us and had us follow him. He brought us to what seemed to be some sort of meeting room. I could see a large table with many chairs around it, some were already full. The door closed loudly behind us and a few heads turned in our direction.
“Great, you’re here. Have a seat, let’s get started,” the man at the end of the table had said causing four more heads to turn in our direction. I specifically kept an eye on a certain one.
As she turned and looked at me her face made the most magical transformation. I watched as began to spread in to a wide smile as we locked eyes. Her eyes quickly followed suit and became almost half their original size. I really don’t know why they weren’t taking pictures right now. I would be buying all of whatever she was selling with that smile. That’s all they needed a picture of really.
She unfortunately broke our gaze after a quick nudge from Jessica. Right! Focus.
We sat at the table and then listened to the man, which I knew now had to be the PD of today’s shoot.
“Alright, we’ll start with the group shots since Jessica-ssi and Sooyoung-ssi have to leave for other schedules. After that we’ll do their individual shots, followed by pairs and trios. By the time they have to leave we should just have everyone else’s individuals. Everyone understand?”
I nodded and was then quickly rushed by another woman, who I guessed was a stylist, into a smaller room that happened to be our changing room for today.
“The clothes are in order to coincide with the respective shoots. Change in to the first set and then please come to the studio for hair and makeup. Any questions?”
“Aniyo! Thank you,” Sooyoung said and bowed to the lady before she closed the door.
I don’t know about them but I was especially nervous. We’ve done photo shoots before, but nothing on this scale. SPAO was huge. I remember the ads that SNSD had done with them before with our label mates Super Junior, and they were everywhere. As I started thing, the only real photo shoots we had really done were for our album covers and smaller things like that. Nothing ever this, uh important? I don’t think the commercials we have filmed were even this nerve racking for me.
I made my way to the rack of clothing that had my name on it and quickly took the first outfit. It was nothing too special. They had me in a pair of faded light blue jeans with a white t-shirt and a blue-ish button up. I put it on and then reached for the white tennis shoes they gave me to wear as well.
I looked over to see Soo and Yul now putting their shoes on as well. Yuri was wearing a simple light gray t-shirt and a pair of darker destroyed jeans, which looked very fitting on him. Soo was wearing a bright blue polo and a pair of jeans that were made to seem worn in. He looked pretty sharp as well.
“Ready,” Sooyoung announced.
As we walked out to where we once were I was beginning to particularly feel the nerves. What if we couldn’t do a good job? What if we mess up big time? Scratch that. What if I couldn’t do a good job, is the real question. I have no doubts about Yuri’s ability. I mean he already has done plenty more commercials and photo shoots than Sooyoung and I combined. I knew Sooyoung would do well too, he does great at everything he tries. It’s probably his can-do attitude. It didn’t hurt either that he was very confident in himself as well. I on the other hand…
“Have a seat,” the makeup lady said as I shook my head, pulling myself back to reality. We then sat in three of the provided chairs. I didn’t even know we made it that far from our room. “We’re just going to do it lightly today. We’re going for a natural look.”
I closed my eyes so that she could do her work until a few seconds later when I heard her speak again.
“Ladies, have a seat we’ll be done in a couple minutes.”
I opened my eyes quickly and tried to look around as best as I could before I was told by the lady in front of me not to move. A minute or so later she was done and I could finally move to see the others.
“Next, come on,” the makeup lady said before I even got out of the chair. Jeesh. I stood up and turned around only to see Jessica walking straight at me. She looked nice in her outfit as I could now guess that the theme of the first photoset was definitely blue. I looked to the other girls to confirm my suspicion, but then stopped as I saw who I was really looking for.
I walked to where the two girls were sitting and joined in beside them. “You look be-“
“Tiffany-ssi, you’re up,” the makeup lady who was working on Sooyoung had said interrupting me.
She gave me an apologetic smile just before she stood up. Aish, seriously the worst timing ever.
“Boys let’s get out there, let’s give them space,” our manager had said causing us all to stand up. “We can go ahead and get started.” We did as he suggested and followed him into the area filled with cameras and equipment.
“Oh great! We’ll take some shots of just the three of you now,” the PD said as he then started telling us how to stand and giving us other directions.
A few minutes later we stopped, for the girls had just arrived to the set.
“Okay boys, we need you to come off and the girls will go on, we need to get a few group shots of them.”
We did as directed. I really could not feel more nervous right now. I don’t even know what my problem is. I’ve done things like this before, well kind of. I’ve also performed in front of thousands of people, on live television, but I couldn't take a few pictures? Aish, I need to think about something else, this was only making me more frustrated.
I looked at the girls and watched them as they posed so confidently. My eyes stopped at Tiffany. She was wearing a light blue blouse and a pair of tight dark blue jeans, and she looked very good. She would turn slightly and stop so the camera could capture it and then repeat it again. What she did next had to have been a gift from god.
She turned around so that the camera could capture the back side of her jeans as she seductively looked over her shoulder. Oh my god. I know she was just posing, but good lord.
“Alright, good! Let’s bring you all in.”
We went to join them as my nerves were sent to an all-time high. How could I be that close to her and not want to touch her? Especially after that.
I quickly made my way up to where the girls were. After listening to some directions from the photographer, we all lined up just like he had asked. I was unfortunately positioned right between Tiffany and Seohyun. Of all the times I wanted to be next to Tiffany, this was not one of them.
I quickly tried to pull myself together so I could look at least normal for the picture.
After about ten minutes the PD had told us that we now had go change in to the next outfit. I headed back to the room in silence. Soo and Yuri were doing great, but I could not get myself in gear. I really didn’t want to let them down, but I don’t know what was wrong with me. It must be an off day.
We changed in to the next outfit, which was for me a white button up shirt along with a dark pair of jeans that were slightly rolled up to over my ankles. Our outfits this time were almost identical. Slight variations here and there, but all in all we matched.
We exited the room and just as I started closing the door I felt myself being pushed right back in.
“What in the he-“ I suddenly dropped my sentence. “Ti-Tiffany, what are you doing in here?” I was so confused. There were probably a hundred people out there that could have seen us.
“Taeyeon what is the matter?” She took a step closer, closing in the gap between us.
Seriously? “Tiffany, there are like a hundred pe-“
“No pabo-yah. I know that. What is wrong with you? You’re shaking like a leaf out there.” I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped. I really didn’t know what was wrong with me today.
“I don’t know Fany-ah.”
I watched her face soften as a small smile came to her lips. “Well don’t be nervous, you’re doing a good job,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me. I let out a deep breath. Maybe this was what I needed… “Plus you’re the cutest one out there.”
I laughed at that comment. “Psht,” I scoffed. “Did you take a look at yourself there Miss Hwang? I’d say you’re the cutest.”
She gave me one last squeeze before she separated from me. Her hands were resting on my waist. “Seriously though, what is wrong Tae? You’ve done shoots before right?”
“Yeah I have, just not for anything on such a big scale,” I explained. “I don’t want to mess it up.”
“Ahh, that’s what it is then.” My brows furrowed from trying to understand what she meant by that. Seeing my confusion, she thankfully continued on. “Trying to not screw up is the only guaranteed way to screw up Taetae. Relax and don’t try as hard. Just go with the flow, okay?”
I don’t think I could find a single hint of sense behind her logic, but she seemed 100% serious about it.
“Just, ugh. When you’re on stage preforming you don’t think ‘oh what’s my next step, what’s my next step’ right? Because you’ve rehearsed so many times it has become natural right?”
I nodded still not fully understanding where she was going with this.
“Right, so when you’re in front of the camera act natural.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tiffany I can’t just act natural. Posing in front of a camera for me isn’t natural.”
“That’s not what I meant Tae,” she whined. “Like when the photographer says to laugh, laugh like Soo has just told a joke or something. Don’t try to overdo it.”
I guess she did have a point with what she was saying. I still don’t think it was as easy as she says, but it was worth a shot to try. Nothing could go worse than that last session. Act natural. Be natural.
“And when they ask you to smile, you can think about this,” she said as she quickly pulled me in for a kiss. It deepened as the time elapsed. Her arms moved from my waist to behind my neck moving her tongue further in my mouth as she pulled me even closer.
Abruptly stopping about a minute or so in to it, she placed one more quick kiss on my lips and turned to leave without a word. I was completely dumbfounded, but as I came to my senses I only had one thought.
They better ask us to smile the whole time.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Sooyoung had just finished up his individual shots, Jess was up next.
“Jessica fighting,” I called to her as she made her way up. “Good job Soo! You looked good!”
“Ah thank you,” he said as he looked around. “Hey where is Taengo?”
“Oh, there was a problem with the jeans he had on. I think they’re making him change,” I explained. I don’t know why, but they didn’t like the look, which I couldn’t understand. Taeyeon looks good in everything.
“Ahh good! I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Oh god. Please don’t be about Jessica again. It was hard enough the fi-
“Taeyeon’s birthday is in a week, what are we doing?”
Oh my god. I am a horrible girlfriend. Holy crap, how did I not realize this!
“You forgot didn’t you?”
“Ani! Ani, I didn’t forget the date, I just didn’t realize that it was so soon,” I explained, which was the truth. Oh my god though, it’s already March?
“Ahh, right. It is pretty crazy huh?” I hummed. “But what do you want to do?”
I really didn’t know. I mean I had a few ideas, but nothing to go off for sure.
“I have no idea Soo.”
“About what Fany-ah?” Oh crap. How long has he been there?
“I just asked her who she thinks is going to go next,” Sooyoung replied thankfully. It looked like he bought it too. Whew.
“Ah. They’re splitting us up next, remember?”
“Oh, right! I knew that.”
“I need Taeyeon-ssi, Yuri-ssi, and Jessica-ssi you stay up there,” the PD called. Looks like Jess was done with her individuals. I watched Taeyeon then head up to the set.
Why don’t I get to pose with him? I wanted to pose with him too. We would clearly be the cutest ones. Ugh, calm down Tiffany! ‘Don’t worry, there are plenty more shots left’, I repeated in my head before Sooyoung started talking again.
“Good, now that he’s gone let’s figure things out.” Omo! He was right! This was a perfect opportunity. “I’ll make sure we don’t have any schedules the night of the 9th, just make sure you do too.”
“Good idea, I’ll tell Oppa tonight. Hmm, who should we invite? Everyone that was at yours?”
“I wouldn’t do that.” I turned to see Sunny looking at both of us. Seriously how is everyone so good at sneaking up on me?
“And why not? I thought everyone had fun,” I asked. I mean I did at least.
“Well, what Taeyeon really wants is to be with you,” she smirked. I had an idea of where she was trying to go with this.
“Sunny don’t you even say it,” I warned, it was one thing to talk about that when it was just her and I, but with Soo here it was a big no.
“Ahh,” she cheered as she brought her hands together. “I wasn’t even going to say that, but it’s nice knowing that’s where your mind is,” she devilishly grinned.
I could feel my face start to heat up so I needed to change the subject. Quick. “Yah, just get to your point.”
Sooyoung and Sunny were still laughing at me when she finally spoke. “Alright, what I was going to say is that since he wants to be with you, you should only invite people that know, so you can be.”
That was a great idea, but I didn’t want him to not have fun. Shouldn’t there be more than just us there? I know f(x) nearly doubles our numbers, but…
“Do you think he’d be mad though? If it were only us?” Sooyoung busted out laughing at that. I stared at him in confusion. Did I mispronounce something? Man, and I had thought that I was over those days.
“What? Seriously? Noona, if he had his choice it would be only the two of you on his birthday. He would throw Yuri and I under a bus in less than a second for you.”
Ahh, I was glad I didn’t say anything wrong, but I couldn’t help but smile after hearing that. “Well thankfully there will be no busses,” I teased. “So that’d be fine? Just us and f(x)?”
“Yeah it seems fine to me. I’ll text Amber right now.”
“Thanks Soo, I-“
“Hey can Hyomin come this time? He was pretty mad we went to their dorm without him,” Sunny said from beside me. I internally sighed, I really did not like him, but I couldn’t say no to Sunny.
“We need Sunny-ssi and Seohyun-ssi. Taeyeon-ssi please stay up here. You two are free to go for now,” the director called toward us with his microphone.
“Sure Sunny, he can come,” I said before she walked away. “Ugh,” I voiced louder than I should have.
“What’s the matter Tiff?” I looked up to see a reappearing Jessica.
“We’re planning a birthday party for Tae, Sunny is inviting Hyomin,” I explained.
“Oh ugh is right then,” she took the seat next to me.
“Wait, what is wrong with Hyomin hyung?” “Yeah he seemed nice to me,” the boys beside us asked.
Right. They didn’t know about him. Crap and we probably shouldn’t have let on about him either. I looked at Soo and Yuri who were now looking at Jessica and I. I looked at Jess.
“Nope, you brought it up, you tell them.”
“Fine,” I turned toward them. “He’s…he’s not a good guy.” They continued the stare. Oh god here goes nothing. “He kind of…sleepsaround.”
“Jinjja?” I nodded. “Does Sunny know?”
“She doesn’t think it’s true,” Jessica replied dryly from beside me.
“Wow, wait. How do you know it’s true?”
“Well we don’t for sure, but we’ve heard rumors from other idols, and-“
“And I’ve seen him blatantly hitting on staff before,” Jessica finished my sentence. It was true though. Even though I didn’t know 100% myself, I totally believed the rumors. There was just something off about him. I never got a great feeling from the guy. He was great at first, but as the time moved on, so did my appreciation for him.
“Wow, I feel bad for Sunny,” Yuri said.
“Me too. She’s so amazing, she doesn’t deserve that,” Sooyoung added. He sounded a little angry too. Well I guess I was as well. I don’t like people messing with my Sunny bunny.
“I know,” I agreed. “But whatever, Hyomin will be in attendance.”
“Hyoyeon hyung isn’t like that too is he? Taengo would be devastated.” That was a good question.
“I have no idea about Hyoyeo- oh my god Soo. You just gave me the best idea.”
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