An Indian Gift

After working together solidly for two days since YongHwa had been assigned to your debut song, both of you felt good about how the song was sounding. A teaser had been released of your new song, part of the chorus and a sneak of a verse that only lasted a few seconds, most of the teaser just featuring you modelling a few storyline shots with a glimpse of YongHwa towards the end. Everyone was already talking about it, the hits on the internet were huge, bordering a million already. You knew it was due mostly to YongHwa's fame that had gained you interest this quickly, but you were grateful, and undoubtedly nervous at the quick and enthusiastic reception. Now you just had to deliver what everyone was expecting. However with YongHwa at your side there really was nothing to worry about, he had kept you steady over the past couple of days. He had walked you slowly through the process of polishing up the song, testing the sounds in the recording studio and  editing parts here and there before the final product was to be ready and released. Any time you lost yourself in all that was happening, your humble little existence at the brink of being obliterated into limelight, stardom and false smiles, YongHwa was quick to calm you down again. Like right now, as you began hyperventilating at the soundboard before you had even realised where your thoughts had taken you once more.

A reassuring arm came around your shoulder, warming your shoulders and neck with a comforting presence. "Kwenchana? You're looking pale," a large strong hand brushed some hair out of your face, and YongHwa's concerned expression came into view as he curved his head around to face you and peer at you more closely.

"I'm fine, komowo" (thankyou) you said bravely, meeting his eyes with a small laugh. At the feeling of his hand rubbing at the smooth skin behind your ear, you felt a tingle and some colour returned to your cheeks. Fighting the urge to cover it up you shrugged off the weight building up inside your chest and let out a sigh, hoping YongHwa didn't get the wrong idea at your sudden heavy sigh you whipped your head back around to face him with a smile but you whacked him in the face with your hair as you did so.

"Yah," YongHwa complained, his face screwed up as the hair dragged away from his face again. Some stuck in his mouth and he pulled it dramatically out from his lips, opening his eyes to give you a disgusted look. "I don't know why girls always do that," he muttered, and looked at you pointedly. "I get it if I said something offensive, then you can do that hair flick thing and I wouldn't mind! But why now? Aiiiish."

"I didn't mean to!" you hissed at him, hunching your shoulders.

YongHwa narrowed his eyes at you, paused for a moment, simply regarding you. He then leaned in a little closer and said darkly, "That's what they all say."

You your teeth. "Well just who are all these girls you speak of?" you countered, not really understanding why you two seemed to be arguing all of a sudden. It was just an accident. You had knocked him out before, what was a hair flick to him now?

"Oh, I bet you would love to know," YongHwa drawled now. He gave you an infuriatingly mysterious look and tilted his head away, looking somewhat coy. "There's just too many, ________. Do I really have to go through them for you?" he sighed as if this was too much effort, and you were asking too much of him.

You flashed your eyes at him. "Tell me what exactly and who exactly you are talking about, Mr Jung YongHwa." Why was he bringing up other girls at a time like this? Your jealous side was threatening to come out, if he didn't explain himself quickly.

He turned back to face you seriously, holding your hard gaze with his own powerful one. Ever since you had first met YongHwa, his clear-cut deep brown gaze had always challenged you, made you want to look away first. He just had that power in them, his bold and confident personality radiating from that very stare. One of the best ways to ignore all that pressure in those eyes however, you had learned through practice, was to focus on the pure beauty of them. His eyes were so big, so brown, whether his lids were present or not, they were always worth marvelling at, those impossibly irresistible pools of melted chocolate which had melted you in turn so many times before. After a while of staring at each other like this, YongHwa's face unexpectedly broke into a childish grin. He began chuckling, and brought his fist up to bump the side of your jaw gently and playfully. "You pabbo (fool).Why do you always fall for things so easily?"

You frowned at him questioningly. "Moh?"

He wrinkled his nose at you. "Eyyyyy, it's actually kind of insulting you don't trust me. Of course there are no other girls, _______. Just you, you're my only angel." He pouted. "I just don't see why I have to keep telling you that."

You threw your hands into the air, "Because you are Jung YongHwa! You're an icon! Billions of girls wish they had you, with all those fans...  And there are even some cases of celebrities chasing you! Of course I stress about it, you don't need to keep reminding me!"

"It's because I'm too irresistible, right?" He leaned back in self satisfaction and let out a rolling crackling sigh through his mouth, something a lot of Koreans seem to do when they're faced with something unbelievable. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do about that."

You glared at his self satisfied attitude and said nothing.

"Maybe I should shave my hair," he said suddenly, straightening back up in his chair to face you excitedly again. "Girls won't like me if I'm bald right?" He nodded approvingly at his own bright idea.

You burst his bubble when you gave him a dead-pan stare and said, "I won't even like you if you're bald," in a monotone voice.

"Yah!" YongHwa gave you an exaggeratedly hurt look. "You're supposed to love me whatever I look like! I'd still love you if you..." he trailed off, trying to think of how ugly and unappealing he could make you in his imagination, and questioning himself as to whether or not he would still love you if you looked like that. He took too long to come up with something so you folded your arms grumpily as his romantic declaration fell flat. "Yah, yah, yah, wait, I'm trying to come up with something really terribly disgusting!" he exclaimed earnestly.

You rolled your eyes and shook your head. YongHwa scratched the corner of his mouth then leaned forward and clicked his fingers to get your attention again. "Ah! ________," he cleared his throat and sat up straight as if he were about to recite to you some poetry. "I would still love you if you turned blue and blew up into a ball like the girl in Willy Wonka, I would still love you if you grew up to look like Patty and Selma from The Simpsons, and I would still love you if... you had a beard, got a face full of boils, lost an eye or became a zombie!" He clapped his hands together in satisfaction, "Ha! I would still love you through all of those things but you can't even love me if I went bald?" He shook his head at you, clicking his teeth. "What kind of girlfriend are you?"

You burst out laughing at his choice of scenarios. Trying not to react to the fact he had just outwardly called you his girlfriend. "Well, I don't think most of them are even possible, so it's easy to say that!"

YongHwa shrugged innocently. "It's the thought that counts," he stated simply, then chuckled. He then patted your hand and rolled away in his wheeled desk chair to fiddle with a few buttons on the soundboard like he had been doing earlier. "So," he ventured, looking at you from the corner of his eye with what you thought was a smug kind of expression. "Did your amazing oppa do a good job?"

"Neh?" you widened your eyes at him, wheeling up beside him and looking from him, to the soundboard, to the sheet music of your debut song, looking for what he could be referring to.

YongHwa pulled back to look at you and tutted in disbelief, he clicked his fingers at you. "Yah! Are you really such an airhead?" He smiled at you sweetly when you swung your head to glare at him. "I mean, you're not feeling as anxious as you were before, are you?" He smirked and looked down, dimples appearing in his cheeks. "I'm the perfect distraction, huh?" he added, looking up at you through a thick fringe of jet black hair.

Your heart faltered and then went on beating again, staggeringly so. Why did he have to be so cute with you? Then your mouth popped open in a perfect "O" shape when you realised what he was talking about. He had been messing around like that on purpose, to shake you out of the nervous state you had worked yourself into. "You...?"

YongHwa raised his eyebrows up and down, nodding. "Oh yeah, baby. Me," he said seductively, and wheeled a bit closer to you, stopping directly in front of you and tapped his right cheek with his pointer finger expectantly. He smacked his lips together to further his point of suggestion.

He wanted you to kiss him there? He was too much of a trickster for you to ever truly trust him when he made suggestions like this. However, you decided to give him the benefit of the doubt as he seemed to be watching you with a serious enough expression right now. You were just about to lean in and plant the kiss that he wanted on his cheek when the door suddenly flew open and you reached past him instead for your sheet music hurriedly. YongHwa's hand flew to the biggest knob on the soundboard and a horrible screeching sound echoed through the speakers in the four corners of the pokey little room.

You, YongHwa, and the five people who had entered the room so suddenly all cowered where you were, with your hands over your ears. When the sound finally died down, leaving your ears still ringing, you turned to punch YongHwa in the arm automatically without thinking that you had company. Only then did you look up to see who the newcomers were, following YongHwa's innocent gaze the direction of the doorway where the line of people were standing.

"Yah, YongHwa-ah, don't you know how to use the soundboard properly by now?" teased JungShin as he skirted around the others to get further into the room and stand beside your chair. He waved at you, "Annyeong, ______!"

"Producer Yong your standards are slipping," added JongHyun with a grin and he bowed to you, as polite as he always was. "Hi, _______. How is the work coming along on your debut song?"

"Oh great, kamsahabnida, JongHyun," you replied with a smile. YongHwa was making faces at the two of them having made comments about his soundboard skills. "Yah, you guys startled me," he said to them defensively.

"A musician should never be so easily distracted hyung," quipped JungShin. "You're always the one to tell me that."

JongHyun laughed, "I guess if I was working together with ________, I would probably be easily distracted too." He gave you a wink and you avoided his twinkling eyes, clearing your throat.

"Yah, stop flirting with, ________! She's got enough to worry about without you guys coming in to gawk at her!" YongHwa went to reprimand his lead guitarist when the other three visitors edged deeper into the pokey little room that wasn't really meant to hold this many people at once.

A bark of laughter startled the four of you and you each turned to CN BLUE's manager who had seemed to arrive with your manager, MinHyuk beaming behind them. He pattered around the back of them so he could get a better place in the room and see everyone equally, nudging JungShin out the way so he could stand nearer to you. The two boys pushed at each other in a silent subtle battle as their manager went on to speak. "It seems like you and _______-ssi are getting along so much better now that you have had something to work on together, YongHwa-ah. I'm glad to see it! I was hoping out little arrangement would work to this outcome," his eyes were lost into thin little slits as he smiled happily at the two of you. You and YongHwa shifted uncomfortably under this scrutiny.

To make things all the more embarrassing, your manager seemed to join in the feel-good, admiring the young idols getting along so well kind of sentiment. "It's so great to see _______ making friends around here. I think she's gotten quite close to the CN BLUE boys, as to be expected of course. They have similar styles in the company," your manager observed.

You cleared your throat loudly and looked at your manager in annoyance. "Is there a reason for your visit, manager? Or can I get back to preparations for my song? YongHwa and I were actually making very good progress before your interruption." Talking this way to your manager had become second nature to you now, though you still felt a bit bad when you were speaking in front of others.

"Ah, _______ of course we have a reason for interrupting you," your manager looked nervously at CN BLUE's manager and stepped back to let the other man take the lead with whatever else they had come to say. MinHyuk was bouncing on his heels and you wondered as to what he was so happy about. You and the rest of CN BLUE waited curiously for the punch line. Manager Kim breathed in a deep breath, clasping his hands together in front of himself, "Well, your manager and myself have just been in a meeting with the shareholders of the company, and some other important people in relation to your debut." You waited impatiently, not liking how this had started. It was making you apprehensive. "In light of MinHyuk's latest interview, in which we asked him to mention you just to get a bit more publicity for your debut, the media and the fans have been going crazy - in a good way! Haven't you read the latest headlines? They are loving you and MinHyuk as a pair and are begging a collaboration between the two of you rather than you and YongHwa."

Everyone stared at Manager Kim as what he was saying dawned on them. Your mouth fell open and all you could do was stare as you couldn't believe what you were hearing. "B-but I thought I was already getting a great reception, and that YongHwa was helping me achieve that," you managed to pipe up. The last time you checked, everyone was looking forward to your debut enough as it was. Sure YongHwa had only been shown in a glimpse, but many people were commenting on it, they couldn't wait to see what was in store for you and the already loved idol. What could possibly have shifted that to wanting you to pair with MinHyuk instead? You were starting to get very confused by this industry, it seemed things followed a trend you did not expect, there was nothing constant to rely upon. The industry wanted to please the masses of course... so that meant...

"So in this meeting we were talking about the pros and cons," continued Manager Kim, his eyes still such little narrow slits you couldn't really gage where he was looking. "The pros far outweighed the cons. The only cons being that you have already begun working with YongHwa, and he has done some great work on your song we must admit. He can still continue as your producer of course. Also the teaser with YongHwa has already been released, so we can't make it a false advertisement and go against what it portrays. However, there is not much of YongHwa shown, he can still have some glimpse scenes in the MV - that is easy. Which leads us to the pros, well the main one which is that the public wants you and MinHyuk together!"

"Yah! Isn't that great! I can work with noona!" MinHyuk rocked in his spot and laughed, he looked back at you jovially but his smile faltered a little when he noticed you did not seem as enthusiastic as he was. His rocking stilled and he rubbed his elbow, unsure why this wasn't great news to you. He wondered if you had really gotten that close to YongHwa that you didn't like to be shifted now. Sneaking a look at YongHwa, his leader's face was impassive, but he was clenching onto his knee like someone trying to hide their true feelings on a scary ride. Huh. That made two unexpected reactions. Usually his hyung would be happy for him, he always encouraged MinHyuk to get out there and take on more extra roles alongside his work with CN BLUE. In fact, he had told him one of the best ways was to collaborate with another artist if he ever got the chance. Well it was his chance now. Wasn't YongHwa hyung happy for him? It would be one less job on the very long list of his leader's endless responsibilities after all. Where was that carefree smile he was so used to seeing on his hyung's face. He was half expecting a slap on the back or a noogie. That was what would usually happen between the brothers as they encouraged each other. JungShin was giving him the thumbs up sign, and JongHyun was looking off distantly with a puzzled expression. Seems there were some mixed reactions going on here, and MinHyuk didn't understand why. He returned the thumbs up to JungShin, and turned back to their manager.

"So, if you two have any valid cons that we haven't already thought about, please let us know," said Manager Kim cheerfully, "Otherwise, we shall begin the changed collaboration preparations right away! There is still some time before your debut, _______. I hope this doesn't worry you in any way. The only change will be that MinHyuk will be taking YongHwa's place. Everything will still run the same way. And YongHwa, now you will have more free time so you can make another appearance on those reality shows we were discussing. Running Man want you back for their next episode, so I've freed you up! Talk about killing two birds with one stone! MinHyuk is happy to continue if you are, _______?"

You felt at a loss of what to say, you knew at the end of the day this wasn't really in your hands. Manager Kim was just being polite in asking how you felt about it, but you weren't so slow as not to know that what the company wanted, the company would get. And what the company wanted had already been expressed, it wanted to please the fans and team you up with MinHyuk. Just what exactly MinHyuk had said in this interview you were burning to know, if it had shifted everything on its head like this so quickly. Of course you had nothing against the friendly, sweet drummer. But really... your dream had come true when you were put with YongHwa on this. It had seemed too good to be true, now you realised it was. It was like an Indian gift, given, and then taken away just like that. This all felt very unfair, but if you kicked up a fuss because you wanted to stay with YongHwa, things would look very suspicious indeed. It seemed that YongHwa had not come to this final conclusion, or he didn't care. He chose to speak against it before you barely opened your mouth.

"I don't think it's a good idea," said YongHwa loudly, he was looking coldly at his manager who seemed surprised at his reaction. YongHwa leaned back in his chair, moving it from side to side as it was a swivel chair. Everyone's eyes were on him now, except yours. You kept yours straight ahead, cringing and hoping he wouldn't take this too far for both your sakes."________ and I have worked on this song together, it's become our thing now. I put a lot of hard work into this, and a lot of time. I wanted to make it the very best, you know what I'm like with my music."

"Of course we understand that YongHwa, which is why we will keep you on as the producer, having done most of that work already, your name will still be on the album. But we know you are not the type of person to worry about things like that, you have always been a very humble guy," replied the CN BLUE manager, looking at YongHwa strangely. No doubt he was wondering why YongHwa was bothered about this. He'd produced many other artist's songs before, he had even written songs for other artists. It wasn't like him to demand attention in this way.

YongHwa's eyes swept the room lazily and came back to rest on his manager. "I just feel that my efforts might have been wasted. Also, isn't ________ in need of my guidance? The debut is a big thing for her, she's been rather anxious." You gave him an irritated look but didn't interrupt him as he went on. "So even if it's just to support her, since I know her song the best, and I know her limits the best. I also have a lot of faith in her, so I can be the best one to encourage and guide her."

Your manager chose to speak up now, straightened his collar and looking over the young idol in admiration for his loyalty to you. "That's very touching YongHwa-ssi, really. I admire your strong sense of duty in regards to my client. But it has all been decided, and as much as you might feel _______ will be lost without you, I think you will actually find she is a very capable and strong young lady." He looked at you as if asking you to prove his point, put forth some of that rocker rebellion. You weren't really in the mood for it right now and just ignored him.

"But-" YongHwa went to argue but his manager cut him short.

"That's enough, YongHwa," said Manager Kim sternly, exercising his authority over the young star now, "It's already been decided by the higher ups, it's what the public wants, it's out of our hands."

With that the two managers made some basic conversation with the rest of the band members and swiftly departed as if they half expected YongHwa to argue with them some more. He had been staring at them moodily the entire time, which probably contributed to their quick departure. They were right too probably, the longer they stayed the more antsy YongHwa would get. You were also about to corner your manager quietly while the others spoke with their own manager, but he recognised your movements and skirted towards the bigger conversation. You sighed as they left, and looked towards YongHwa who was glaring at the door as it closed behind them.

The rest of CN BLUE were still with you though, so you sat back in your chair and gestured for the others to do the same. Everyone found their own seat. There was a strange feeling to the room, it seemed the boys were eyeing their leader with thoughts of their own. They barely noticed you now, as YongHwa breathed deeply and distractedly, turning back to the soundboard and fidgeting with some buttons as if he didn't notice the others sitting looking at him.

"Hyung, you really don't like the idea?" asked MinHyuk eventually, rolling his chair forwards so he could bring it next to YongHwa. His famous eye smile was nowhere to be seen as he regarded his leader with a worried, confused expression. YongHwa donned his headphones and made out that he couldn't hear anything.

You squirmed at his sudden dark mood, it was obvious he didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Or perhaps it was just MinHyuk that he was feeling hard feelings towards. After all, it was MinHyuk that had replaced him. The other CN BLUE members recognised their leader's mood and after a short forced exchange with you, in which MinHyuk mostly hung his head and barely spoke, they left the room so that you and YongHwa were alone again. YongHwa still wasn't in the mood to talk, so the two of you silently finished what you had started before the interruption, for the time being everything seeming as if it hadn't changed. However after today, there really wouldn't be any reason for the two of you to meet like this anymore. When it began to darken outside, YongHwa finally took off his headphones and rolled his chair closer to yours. You were engrossed in marking some footnotes on your manuscript and barely noticed until you felt a warm arm around your waist. Without a word, YongHwa pulled you into his arms, the two of you sitting in your wheeled chairs in the tiny quiet room, holding each other and focusing on nothing else other than the pure comfort and warmth that embracing each other could bring. Nothing felt so right as this.

"Sometimes I really hate this industry," he mumbled into your hair.

You his cheek, laying your head on his chest. "It'll be fine," you told him. "Just because we're not performing one song together anymore, it's not like we can't see each other anymore."

"You're right," he laughed, and the sound lightened your heart again. "You're always right."

You snorted. "Did someone put something in your coffee? You never admit when I'm right."

He kissed the top of your head. "Ah but there are times when a man must admit his girl is right."

You rolled your eyes and made a small disgruntled sound. The two of you sat like this a while longer, and when you pulled apart, YongHwa was looking much perkier.

________________________________________________________________________________

YONGHWA P.O.V.

When YongHwa got back to the group's dormitory, MinHyuk was the only one still up. It seemed he had been waiting for his leader's return, and bounded around from the other side of the dining table as YongHwa took off his shoes and left them at the door.

"Hyung, are you mad with me?" MinHyuk pouted as YongHwa bypassed him without looking at him and went to rummage in the fridge.

YongHwa made a face into the fridge so MinHyuk didn't see, "Ani, I'm not mad."

"But hyuuuung," MinHyuk whinged, doing a childish whiney dance on the spot. "Why won't you look at me?"

YongHwa composed his face and popped it out from the fridge to give MinHyuk an expressionless stare. "I am looking at you. What are we lovers or something? Do I have to gaze into your eyes when you're talking to me?" He grabbed a carton of milk and poured himself a glass.

MinHyuk huffed, putting his hands on his hips as he watched YongHwa drink from the glass. "Don't be funny!" he scolded. "I can tell you're annoyed because I'm replacing you as the male duet collaboration." YongHwa stopped drinking, looking straight ahead. So MinHyuk went on, "You always encouraged me to do something like this hyung. And it will be really nice for me to do it with noona, it's like it's perfect. You know what a great girl she is. I couldn't have hoped for a better opportunity."

YongHwa took a deep breath and turned around to look at MinHyuk, he smiled and there didn't seem to be an ounce of spite there at all. "Arraso, MinHyuk-ah. It's not that I disapprove of you being selected at the match for ________. It's just that... what I said earlier. I worked so hard on this song with her, it just annoys me sometimes when the company changes things around when you think you're onto a good thing and suddenly you get called off. You know, like a detective must feel when he's on a really good case and then his boss takes him off the job. In the movies, the cops always chase their case even when they're taken off it. That's kind of like how I'm feeling right now." YongHwa was babbling to cover up his real feelings. Some of the problem was that, but it wasn't even a quarter of the real problem.

"I understand, hyung," replied MinHyuk, looking guilty. He joined YongHwa at the kitchen bench stools, propping his head up on his elbows glumly. YongHwa rubbed his back, but his hand stopped moving at MinHyuk's next words. "I was worried that maybe you had feelings for ________, and that's why you didn't want to be removed from the duet with her. That would have been pretty awkward," MinHyuk laughed. He then let out a wistful sigh. "________, I think she is any guy's type of girl. It's only natural to be attracted to her."

YongHwa blinked at his donsaeng. "MinHyuk-ah... just what did you say in that interview...? Did you perhaps... say that you liked ________?"

MinHyuk grinned dreamily out the window, he turned to YongHwa and tapped the side of his nose. Without warning he then reached swiftly into his pocket and fished out his smart phone. "Hyung, do you want to watch the interview with me? I think you should be brought up to speed with the situation."

End Chapter Fourteen