With The Boys

After the contracts are signed and the managers are done discussing the technicalities with you briefly, you nod with disinterest and turn to the boys who were eyeing you unabashedly. The three band members to YongHwa’s left still seemed to be getting used to your appearance, their expressions crossed between ones of friendly smiles and open mouthed stupor. When you caught each of their eyes they lowered their gaze with shy smiles, but it didn’t take them long to return to their absent-minded, curious glances. YongHwa’s attention was elsewhere, he was glaring at his band members with a harshness you could not place with reason. “Yah!” he snapped at them, looking a little lost and surprised at himself when the boys turned their attention to him, bewildered. He mentioned something about getting lunch and continuing their work as soon as possible. It didn’t really sound so important to you, but what did you know what plans and pressures they had on their shoulders. YongHwa was the band leader so it was especially his responsibility to keep everyone on top of things, keep the work running. Perhaps he was mulling over how lazy his band mates were, and that was why his mood seemed a little off right now. You wondered if you would be similarly stressed like that any time soon. It was, after all, just you on your own. You didn’t have a band to share your stresses with, but then again, you also didn’t have a band to keep track of an manage. It must be a lot to think about. Or perhaps YongHwa was just a naturally grumpy, stressed and/or demanding kind of person. You almost laughed out loud at the thought, but at that moment his eyes darted to you. Their intensity caught your breath. Your mind went blank, and so the two of you just held each other’s gaze for a moment, unmoving. In the end, you remembered yourself and gave the band leader a conniving grin. He broke the stare first, just as you expected. You couldn’t forget to keep your cool. Others could not forget your cool either. It was still stamping the identity time, laying down the law. YongHwa had to learn he wasn’t going to be the one to bend you in any way whatsoever, if there was to be any bending going on here, then you would be the one to do it. You didn’t care what his reputation was, how powerful his personality was. It didn’t matter if he was grumpy stressed or demanding. He’d have to hold himself in check when he was around you, you made a mental note of that. Nobody was to mess with the new rock chick on the block. The only rock chick on the block for that matter. His eyes flashed back to you and you knew it wasn’t going to be easy, for he was all those things. And at the end of the day, deep down there tucked in a pocket for another day, was your usual self, the girl that was actually timid and shy and impressionable, and most dangerous of all, one of CN BLUE’s fans.

“Well that seems to be everything,” smiled the CN BLUE manager as he clasped his hands together happily. “______, please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I will always have an open ear ready for you, you can depend on that.”

“Thank you, Manager.” You bowed to him respectfully, and went back to chewing your gum, shoving your hands in your pockets. You heard YongHwa scoff, but you ignored him.

CN BLUE’s manager beamed at you, turned to your manager and had a quick few final words then bid everyone farewell as he had some further business to attend to. “We’ll continue that discussion later, YongHwa! I’ll mull over what you said and come to you with an answer by morning. Just keep working on that song! Find some inspiration, boys! We need that song as soon as you can get it to us, it doesn’t need to be polished just get it flowing!” With those final words he had called over his shoulder he disappeared again around the corner behind you.

“Nice guy really” commented your manager as the six of you watched him leave. “I knew he was the one to get us on a roll with this. He dreams big, just like me.” Your manager looked over at you and gave you a reassuring smile as nobody was looking, “He’ll take good care of you, ______. You can be sure of that. I wouldn’t trust you in the hands of anyone else.”

YongHwa’s gaze swung back to the two of you, he seemed to be calculating something. Your manager hadn’t given anything away, but he was treating you like he thought you actually cared about his opinion, like you were actually anxious. You weren’t going to let your act get questioned that easily. And under the gaze of CN BLUE you remained that calm and collected, disinterested and distant kind of character. You rolled your eyes at your manager’s words and chewed your gum noisily. “You think I need taking care of, Manager? Oh that’s sweet of you,” you said sarcastically. It was okay, your manager wanted you to behave like this to him. “Really you don’t need to worry about me, I’m not a little princess.”

The four boys of CN BLUE were amused at your answer. JungShin and MinHyuk openly sniggered whereas JongHyun and YongHwa smiled at you. You wondered what they were actually thinking. Korean guys seemed to like cute little helpless princess types, that was the main go here. Not only were you not one of them naturally, but now you were certainly the furthest thing from it, like a statement against such behaviour, such weakness. You were going to be the idol of girls empowerment through rock and roll music. Girls can take the lead, not just in Western countries but here too. Although these boys just seemed to find your attitude funny. They better not be finding it cute... You shot them a questioning glance. Challenging them.

“How old are you, ______-ssi?” asked MinHyuk suddenly.

You pursed your lips as all CN BLUE boys watched you expectantly. They were all curious.

You took a moment to think about how you should begin to play these boys. Cold and aloof, or cheeky and sassy? Perhaps a mixture of both. You were feeling confident enough for anything. “Hmm,” you took a step closer to MinHyuk and he almost stepped back in surprise at the sudden close proximity. “How old do you think I am?”

MinHyuk blinked at you, he was quite tall, so he regarded you from above, his head and neck craned downwards. It seemed he wasn’t sure how to react to your closeness, your reaction, turning the question back on him and in such a way.

The other three CN BLUE boys looked on, just as baffled. None of them were expecting you to behave like this. Even for a Westerner, you seemed quite confident indeed.

“I-I didn’t mean to be rude,” stammered MinHyuk quickly, “It’s just good for us to know so that we all know how to address each other.”

You grinned at his adorable face, his stammering. “Arraso,” you said slowly, still grinning up at him. You your lips in thought, exaggerating the movement. You then turned back to him, a glint in your eye. “I was born in 1990, how old does that make me in Korea?”

The boys did not answer at first, they were still standing dumfounded, mesmerised at your demeanour, the seductive turn in which you had taken. As if the way you were dressed wasn’t enough, as if they weren’t already recovering from that, now they had to wrap their heads around your behaviour. You weren’t just a rebellious carefree rocker like they had initially thought; you were also feisty, sassy. It made them a little uncomfortable as it was something they were not used to around this company.

JungShin was the first to recover enough to answer you. “In Korean age that would make you 25?” he started off his reply with enough certainty but seemed to lose it towards the end so that his answer became a question. He looked to the other band members for approval.

“Yah, Shin-ah,” JongHyun laughed, “Have you suddenly forgotten how to count?” he gave his friend a jab in the ribs and the mood lightened instantly as the boys regained their composure. Such composure that you had seemed to push out of place albeit momentarily. Noticing the change you commended yourself inwardly. So it was working then. Your manager seemed to pick up on this too and offered you a secret wink.

“That’s right, Shin-ah!” YongHwa reached up to ruffle the hair on the tall boy’s head, treating him like a child and making him pout. YongHwa then looked at you, “Koreans calculate age differently because we count the pregnancy period.” He faltered at what he was saying, and you swore there was a slight tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks but it could have been the light changing. “In your country, you must be 23 but here you have aged by two years.”

You smiled at him appreciatively for explaining, you had heard of this before but it had never actually been explained to you. “So I have become old,” you said with mock sorrow, “I guess I should hop on the next plane and head home again so I can be young again!” You had made your joke without thinking and the boys all laughed at your unexpected humour. Oops. Hey, rockers could be jokers too. They were fun types of people, they weren’t all glum and serious.

“Don’t worry you are the same age as me, and YongHwa-hyung is a year older than the both of us,” JongHyun said with encouragement. He seemed like a very sweet kind of guy, you were already starting to like him.

“And to me and Shin-ah, you are our noona!” MinHyuk exclaimed excitedly. “I think you will be a really cool noona!”He rolled on his heels and although he was taller than you, he was so much like a child you just couldn’t help but adore him.

“Neh! You are such a cool noona!” added JungShin, and it looked even more strange coming from him, as he was the tallest. “Who wouldn’t want a cool rock chick noona like you?”

Wow all the compliments were gushing out now. Did they really like you that much? You had to keep your head, whatever you do, whatever they say. Oh that could be easy, it was natural for them to adore them, as it was you after all. Everyone should adore you, because you were just that kind of character. You nodded at them approvingly and waved your hand to make them stop. You didn’t say much else, to put it into words would ruin it. You merely stood there in acceptance of their admiration, though not being grateful, not being thankful, not giving them the satisfaction of your words. Just stand and be adored. You moved your hands into your back pockets and puffed out your chest, an action which certainly didn’t go unnoticed among the group of young males. Your jacket zipper was forced to zip down a touch more. This only made you smile wider as you noticed the boys avert their gaze quickly.

YongHwa had his stern gaze back on his band members again. His mood swings were starting to pique your interest. He must be such a passionate kind of person, to change so quickly, so intensely. Then again he was the member of the band dubbed Emotional was he not? He cleared his throat to grab their attention. “Well, now that you’ve gained a new noona, and you seem quite happy with her. Do you think it’s time we got things done?”

The three boys looked a little more glum at the thought of getting back to work after having such an enjoyable chat with the latest addition to FNC, being you. Their smiles slipped slightly on their faces and they scuffed their feet or nodded only slightly. “Neh, Yong-ah hyung!” “Neh.” “Arraso, hyung.”

YongHwa nodded in satisfaction, he in his breath and looked at you casually. “I guess we will be seeing you around the company. You can come to us if you need anything. We wish you luck.” His words were emotionless, his expression too casual. It didn’t match with his previous expressions, his interest and curiosity only moments ago. Was he really going to dismiss you just like that? You felt a strange pang somewhere in your stomach, a light twist of indignation at being addressed so casually. Was he really that eager to get back to work? What a workaholic. You supposed the novelty had worn off, and it was far too quick. His band members were still smiling at you, still trailing you up and down with enthusiasm. You guessed their band leader was too much above that. You weren’t that impressive to him. He was Jung YongHwa. You returned the smiles of the three boys and nodded absently at YongHwa.

“Thanks, but I’m not one to ask just anybody for help,” you said coolly, with just the right amount of sass.

The three band members looked appalled. “Noona! You must come to us! Don’t you want to be our noona? We like rock and roll too! And we can help you with many things. You are only new here!” exclaimed MinHyuk as the other two pouted and nodded at his words.

You glanced at YongHwa pointedly, “Not if your leader isn’t in the mood,” you crooned, almost like a whisper. Seeking a reaction, a rise from the suddenly stoic front man.

“It’s not that I’m not in the mood,” said YongHwa, slightly bristly. “It’s just that right now we have a song to finish. So we really need to start getting to work on that, I’m really not satisfied with it so far.”

“Oh but hyunnnng! You said we were finally getting somewhere last night!” whinged JungShin.

YongHwa’s jaw muscle twitched. “That was last night.”

“You change your mind so quickly,” said JongHyun with a sigh. “But regardless, I know we still have lots of work to do. I still don’t have a guitar solo for the song.”

“That’s right,” said YongHwa smugly. He turned to your manager. “Well it was a pleasure to meet you. We will be on our way now.”

“Ah, chumkummanyo (just a moment),”your manager started, he pushed you forward. “Actually I was just about to leave. Now that I have signed ______ over to the FNC there is no reason for me to hang around much longer for today. She does not actually start any work until next week. I was hoping the four of you would take her into your capable hands just for the rest of the day at least. Show her around a little?”

YongHwa hesitated for a moment, beside him his band members re-gained their enthusiasm. At a nudge from JongHyun YongHwa relented. “Ah, kreyo (well then),” he looked at you with a spark of uncertainty, and that calculating look was back in his eyes. At least he had lost his air of casual indifference. Something seemed to be bothering him however, you guessed it was because he had a lot of work to do, and having someone else tag along when you had that kind of pressure was never an appealing thought. What was your manager thinking? “If you are leaving, it would probably be best for ______ to come-”

You cut him off before he could finish. You didn’t want him accepting your company and the pain of showing you around if he wasn’t interested or if he was busy. Your pride wouldn’t allow it. “Ah kwenchanayo (it’s okay),”you replied smoothly. “Clearly Mr Jung YongHwa has better things to do than to waste his time showing a newbie around.” Using the term ‘Mr” and his last name was seen as rude in Korea. ‘Mr’ should only go with first names. You knew this, and you had done it purposely.

YongHwa frowned at you. As MinHyuk and JungShin exclaimed “Noona!” quietly from beside him. JongHyun looked at you with a puzzled expression. “No trouble at all,” said YongHwa through gritted teeth, “I insist that you come with us. Actually we were going to grab some lunch first. Then you are free to watch us collaborate over our work in progress.”

You looked him up and down and he shifted uncomfortably. You knew you were putting on one of your best seductively quizzical expressions. Curious how he was so insistent on keeping up appearances. He didn’t want it to look like he was a bad sunbae, that’s what you assumed anyway. You were going to make that tricky for him, and at this you grinned. It was going to be fun, testing the barriers of CN BLUE’s leader. “Are you sure it’s not a problem?” you slurred at him lazily, running your finger across your bottom lip. He swallowed but his eyes remained on yours, he was refusing to look at your lips. Hmm, interesting. Was he trying that hard?

“Aniyo, I insist,” he confirmed, steel in his voice.

Your manager clapped his hands suddenly, surprising the both of you. “Right then! So it’s settled! ______, I can leave you behind with a clear conscience,” he chuckled to himself, and with that he bade his farewells and strolled merrily back through the admin area and out the big glass doors you had both entered through together earlier. You were officially on your own. It had begun. You felt a weight pressing you down suddenly, as if the stakes had been raised. As if you would be tested for your abilities now that you had been left like a lone wolf. You pushed the feeling aside, this was CN BLUE, from what you could see so far, they weren’t like that. They were like putty in your hands. Well, most of them were. You eyed YongHwa as you thought this, this one was a tougher kind of putty, but all putty could be manipulated with the right warmth and strength. Which was it going to take? Warmth or strength?

Once your manager left the four CN BLUE boys turned to each other. “So what should we do with noona?” MinHyuk asked, “We should go and eat somewhere nice with her. Are you hungry, noona?” He looked at you with those sparkling cute eyes.

Although your stomach had been churning all morning from the nerves, now that it had been mentioned, you could feel an underlying sense of hunger in there somewhere. Deciding it was probably best to eat since you had been unable to touch your breakfast, you nodded. “Neh.”

“We should take her somewhere other than the caf,” JongHyun agreed, turning to YongHwa as if asking permission. “I don’t think she’d enjoy our usual quick meal choice on her first day.”JongHyun shot you a kind smile and looked back to YongHwa.

YongHwa was looking at you, his face unreadable. “Neh,” he agreed finally. “We’ll go somewhere nice this time. There will be plenty of other times we will have to rush to the caf but I suppose we do have some time, considering the circumstances.”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” you chipped in, casually as the leader checked his watch. “Really I don’t mind where I eat. If you guys are pushed for time, since you have to finish your new song. I’m cool with it.”

JungShin grinned, “Eyy, noona is such a cool noona! We wouldn’t expect anything less!” He stuck out his bottom lip slightly, “But we don’t want to put you off thinking eating with us is boring.”

Their consideration for you was heart-warming, it was difficult not to become overwhelmed with gratitude. “How could I ever think that of you boys?” you cooed in conjunction with your character. Three of them looked at you brightly, the fourth in his teeth and looked around over his shoulder.

“Ka ja!” YongHwa abruptly ordered, turning on his heel to lead the group of you through the front glass doors of the building. “We don’t have time to stand around talking all day. Let’s go eat.” His three band members bounded after him but you made a point of taking a little more time. You couldn’t just be rushed like that, as much as you wanted to. You heard them quibbling over where to take you for lunch and suppressed a giggle. MinHyuk’s and Jungshin’s voices were whining, pleading with their suggestions, JongHyun was calmly adding his own thoughts whilst YongHwa was quietly agreeing or disagreeing in a serious tone. You caught a flash of his smile as he joked around with his band members, his imperfect yet adorably positioned teeth, and almost missed a step as you walked with them. He was a lot more playful with his band members outside the building, when he didn’t think you were listening. A small smile was on your lips as you followed the posse to their chosen destination, and although they talked the most, including you where they could, you were content just to look on and watch their boyish charms. For the time being, their stresses, particularly YongHwa’s, had melted away.

After a pleasant lunch at a rather classy Italian restaurant, which was also empty so none of you had to worry about fans. (“You have to always be on the lookout, we’re lucky today,” JongHyun had said.) The five of you made your way swiftly back to the FNC building and climbed three levels in the elevator until you came to CN BLUE’s practice room floor. They lead you down the corridor, still laughing and joking, though growing a little more serious as they all silently realise their work is approaching them. JongHyun and MinHyuk hold you back as you approach the door, and JungShin creeps forward with a finger on his lips. “Are you ready?” they asked you and you nodded, confused as to why they were making a fuss. “You are about to enter the sacred space of CN BLUE’s creative masterpiece origins!” JungShin pushed open the door slowly as the boys went, “Jahnng!!” And you glimpsed the drum kit and some guitars before YongHwa walked right ahead of you and strolled into the room thoughtlessly.

“Hyung!” whined two voices, “Eyyyshhh,” added JongHyun quietly and looked at you kindly, pushing you forward. “In you go.”

You cautiously stepped into the room, part of you giddy, part of you self aware. You chuckled inwardly at the antics of the boys, and glared at YongHwa’s back as he took a seat in the centre of the room, picked up the guitar resting in the stand next to his seat and started to tune it.

MinHyuk came up from behind you and pulled your arm, “Noona! Come and take a look at my drum kit!” he brought you to the back of the room where the impressive set of drums was sitting. It was so shiny and impressive to look at. You had no idea about the drums, but you could tell that this particular set was expensive. “Do you know how to play the drums, noona?” MinHyuk asked brightly as you the cymbals appreciatively.

“Aniyo, not really,” you admitted, “I only know a beat or two but they’re really simple and I couldn’t tell you what everything is.”

MinHyuk took a seat behind the drums, grinning broadly and twisting a drumstick through his fingers with skill only a practiced drummer could have. He didn’t even seem to realise he was doing it, it was effortless. “Would you like me to show you, noona?”

You looked at him excitedly just when someone interrupted you. “Let’s pick up where we left off,” YongHwa called over his shoulder, as he had apparently finished tuning his guitar. “MinHyuk, give us the beat.”

JongHyun slipped his guitar over his shoulder and adjusted the strap to suit his position, “Ah, Yong-ah can’t you wait a bit? MinHyuk is showing _______ how to play the drums.”

“He can do that while he’s playing, she can watch us work through the song,” came the steely reply.

JongHyun came over to the back of the room as MinHyuk started with a simple beat, pouting unhappily at the back of YongHwa’s head. He stuck out his tongue. You and JongHyun laughed, and you turned in surprise as JongHyun touched your elbow. You looked at him and he gave you that irresistibly warm smile you were starting to realise was his thing. “______, since we are starting our practice would you like to take a seat over here?” He gestured to the other side of the room, where there were some chairs facing the front of the band. You would be directly facing YongHwa, but you looked back at JongHyun’s smiling face and realised you couldn’t really make a fuss. You allowed him to lead you over to the chairs and he took up his position to the right of YongHwa, quickly giving his own guitar a quick tune whilst standing. JungShin was already standing at the other side of YongHwa, running over a few notes on the bass, seemingly off in his own world.

YongHwa was standing now, he had his back turned to you as you made yourself comfortable, and seemed to be giving MinHyuk some advice on the beat tempo. He turned back around and noticed you sitting in the seat right opposite him. He cleared his throat, looking away, and launched into a pretty finger picking chord solo which lead the drums in and started the song with a delicate intro. JungShin and JongHyun also joined into the song so all four elements were blended together, and you sat back in your seat, watching their obvious skill and perfect collaboration.

_____________________________________________________

YONGHWA P.O.V.

The band leader felt a rush in his veins as the song really kicked off. It was unfinished, a work in progress and he was not yet very happy with it. Yet here he was faced with an audience at this point in time, and he felt compelled to make it more exciting. The song was originally slow-to medium paced, but he had instructed MinHyuk to make the beat a bit faster. After their shared intro, and his finger picking to lead the song in, he surprised his band members by improvising a sudden rock feel and changed his guitar resonation on his amp so that it gave more of a grinding grungy sound. Surprised at the change but being professional artists the other two went along with the style changes with ease, allowing YongHwa to fully explore his new mood with enthusiastic and skilful ad lib (improvisation). He closed his eyes, feeling the music running through his body, the vibrations directing him, making his mind clear and wild. He was feeling that wild rock emotion and he hadn’t had that inspiration for a song in quite some time. He was starting to wonder what was going on with his creative flow lately. But here he was, rocking it out in the way he had always most enjoyed his music. His band members bopped along to the feeling of the music, also getting into the mood and giving each other knowing looks as YongHwa dived into an unexpected guitar solo but they quickly changed their knowing glances to ones of surprise, raising their eyebrows. When YongHwa had opened his eyes and glanced in your direction, noticing that you were dancing in your chair in a way that appealed to his inner masculine hunger, a hunger that he mostly kept under control, something in him tipped over the edge. Your movements gave him that extra push that he was already unknowingly feeling, which was caused by your very presence in the room, your steady gaze boring like heat onto his skin. He lunged to the floor in full force, utterly losing himself, his fingers flicking and sliding over the fret board of the guitar like some kind of finger marathon. The sound was amazing, the feeling was amazing. He basked in the inspiration that was pulsing through him like billions of miniscule explosions within his bloodstream. The source of his inspiration? He opened his eyes slowly as he finished his solo and the other band members faded off and stared at him kneeling on the floor in front of you.

End Chapter Two