Getting A Rise

It was dark by the time you finished your practice and took a seat at the desk with the computer, finishing your last drops of water in the bottle you had purchased earlier through a vending machine and wiping the sweat from your brow. After that workout you were sure you didn't have to hit the gym later. Dancing sure did take a lot of energy, you wondered how those other groups, the pop icons that mostly sung and danced for hours every day, nonstop and through their concerts too, how did they manage... you winced and felt a small pulled muscle in your calf. It was alright, you could walk it off. Those kinds of tiny niggles and pains never lasted too long, it probably only happened because you hadn't thought to stretch before running through the selected dance routines. You would remember to do that next time. It was basically a cardio workout, take note ______.

Startling you, the phone in the corner of the room made a shrill ring out of nowhere. You stared at it for a few seconds, not making sense of why the phone in the room was ringing when there was nobody else here but you... and who would possibly know that? Oh of course, administration knew that because you had to book the room. Your lips twitched as you realised how easy it was for people to find you really, whereas you had assumed you could be all but lost in this empty room, on this empty floor, with nothing but your guitar for company. Well those fantasies soon disappeared. You crossed the room and picked up the receiver, the curly cord dangling against your wrist. What an old fashioned style of phone for this overly modern building. "Yobsayo?"

"Noona!" a loud voice exclaimed through the phone, causing you to jerk your head back as a sharp pain shot through your ear hole. You frowned at the phone then found yourself smiling despite yourself, and bringing it back towards your ear, gingerly, and not quite completely against it. "Noona? It's me, MinHyuk-ah! That's _______, right? Annyeoonggg!"

You stifled a giggle as you heard someone in the background scolding MinHyuk for not using honorifics. MinHyuk argued back and you were forced to move the receiver away from your ear once more. His tone quietened only slightly as you heard his voice speak directly into the receiver again, "Noona? You don't mind do you? Oh that better be noona! You haven't even said anything yet! Annyeong...hasayo!" he sounded slightly panicked.

"It is me, MinHyuk-ah," you found yourself laughing, "Kwenchanayo." You sat on the stool that was placed just under the phone, smiling at the wall opposite you.

"Yah, noona! We don't have to speak like that to each other, people will think we don't know each other very well!" There were more comments on MinHyuk's side but you couldn't make them out.

"Well we only met yesterday, MinHyuk-ah," you cooed into the receiver. You liked saying his name like that, and personally you did prefer the idea of dropping the honorifics, but you were always taught to use them throughout your Korean classes. However there was something addictive in calling the band members in this manner.

"Eyyyyy," said MinHyuk aspiratedly to more laughter on his side. "We'll discuss this later. Anyway! You have been summoned by your CN BLUE oppas! Hyung's song is complete and he's dying for you to hear it!"

You could hear a protest shouted across the room and you knew it to be YongHwa's voice. "Yah! You don't have to say it like that... We had an agreement! It's not like it was a big deal. It makes no difference to me..." His protest was met with various teasing remarks. Apparently YongHwa had taken the agreement very seriously, and didn't have such a great night because of it.

Pressing your lips together so you wouldn't laugh out loud, you composed yourself again before answering, "Good timing. I just finished my practice. Whereabouts are you guys?"

"In the practice room directly above yours!" said MinHyuk cheerfully, "See you when you get here!" And with that he didn't wait for a response but clattered the receiver back onto the hook causing a loud series of grinding and scratching sounds so you stiffly took the phone back from your ear and placed it carefully back onto its own hook.

With a sigh you looked around your personal practice space that had been your comfortable dwelling for the day. You felt a peaceful sense of satisfaction with the work you had accomplished this afternoon, and began packing up your things. Closing the sturdy door behind you, you rearranged your booklets and sheet music under your arm and placed a more secure grip on the purple stringed guitar you were holding. You regarded it for a moment, wondering whether to return it to the instrument room or to bring it with you. Titling your head, you opted with the latter. You thought the CN BLUE boys might appreciate hearing a song or two from you, perhaps you could even play together. You knew the other boys would certainly be interested, and you remembered YongHwa suggesting it yesterday. However, your brow creased slightly, that was not the friendliest of invitations. Taking a breath you puffed out your chest, so be it, you walked to the elevator and went up to the next floor.

The corridor that was revealed as the elevator doors opened was exactly the same as the last floor. You shook your head, wondering if you were ever going to learn how to tell everything apart and stepped out, heading towards the left and made your way to the practice room that would have been yours if it was still your floor. It was quite a bit bigger than yours however. Yours had been a small little cosy box that you had felt comfortable in. This one was more of a rectangular shape, you could tell by how the doors were spaced on either side. Then again, your practice room was designed for solo artists, and CN BLUE's must have been designed for trios and above. They must have really known this place inside out if they could tell exactly where you were just by calling the correct code on the phone card. Professionals.... Of course they could.

A quick burst of nervousness caught you by surprise in your chest and your fingers tingled as you touched the door knob of CN BLUE's practice room. It hadn't been there as you took MinHyuk's call, it didn't start as you boarded the elevator or entered the corridor, but now it flooded through you and quickened your pulse in a way in which you couldn't brush away. What were you worried about? You were comfortable with the boys, they were good to you. Was it because of Jung YongHwa? Were you worried what mood he was going to be in tonight? Come to think of it, you were second guessing if you could pick up where you left off with your attitude last night. You had been with them all afternoon yesterday, and you had become brave. How were you to approach them now? You swallowed hard and steadied yourself. You were an actor, a performer. Hurry up and get into character, march in there and provide that rocker girl image you had spend so long building up. With this inner pep talk you drew yourself up to your full height, which wasn't very tall mind you, and proceeded to open the door. Your nervousness dissipated almost instantly.

"Jahnng!" you were greeted with the CN BLUE boys standing in the middle of the room in a semi circle, sipping coffees and snacking on pastries. "Noona is here!" and "Hey _______, what's going on?" JongHyun waved you over and you were at his side in three quick strides. You grinned at him and his eyes sparkled back at you, though up this close you noticed he had some icing sugar on his cheeks from the donut he was eating. You gestured to it on his face subtly and his eyes widened and he was quick to wipe it away, blushing slightly. He seemed less enthusiastic about taking another bite from his donut after that.

"Noona, do you want some?" MinHyuk pulled you over to the table behind them and showed you the box of assorted pastries that lay open there. Four had already been taken and eight remained. They all looked delicious and you found yourself your lips. You reached out a hand when another knocked yours out the way. You looked up in surprise to find YongHwa stuffing his face with the donut he already had, and reaching to grab another one, the same one you were going for.

"Hyung! Noona wanted that one!" JungShin called from behind the three of you.

You glared at YongHwa as he took a bite out of your chosen donut before he had even finished the mouthful from his last donut. His cheeks were ridiculously big and he seemed to be having trouble chewing it all. He gazed back at you expressionlessly as both you and the others watched him silently, waiting for him to finish. When he did finally finish, and had to take a large, hard swallow to get it all down his throat, he brushed off the sugar on his hands and went for his coffee. He was still gazing at you, void of any noticeable emotion.

MinHyuk had his hands on his hips, his expression comical. "Yong-ah hyung... What about that diet you were talking about? You've been working so hard at the gym lately. If you have any more donuts it's going to ruin your results!"

At this YongHwa's face flushed and he turned hard eyes on MinHyuk. "I'm not on a diet!" he retorted, as if it was something to be embarrassed about. He then looked back at you, and sipped at his coffee. "But these donuts were given to us by fans, they're not for anyone else to eat. Isn't that disrespecting our fans wishes?"

JongHyun came over to the table, feeling his face self consciously as he did so, "Since when do you think sharing the love from our fans is being disrespectful? You're always the first one to offer visitors when we open a package of sweets."

You crossed your arms at this and looked over YongHwa quizzically. "Or is it just because it's me?" you quipped icily.

YongHwa gave you an irritatingly careless expression, his shoulders rising in a slight shrug and dropping again with his eyebrows. "Do you think I would base my decisions around you?"

You turned pink and felt a surge of tainted dignity, so you aggressively reached out and snapped up a pastry before he could even react. You raised your eyebrows in a challenge as you bit into the pastry and a satisfying drizzle of strawberry jam dripped from its middle. "Mmmm, jam filled... my favourite."

JungShin started laughing, shaking his head at you. "Yah noona, you're not one of those girls that need guys to protect you are you?" MinHyuk and JongHyun also chuckled at this and watched in amusement as you and YongHwa continued your silent stare-off.

"It must be the ego of the West," commented YongHwa darkly.

You finished your mouthful before retorting, "Are you being racist right now Mr Jung YongHwa?"

"Ani," came the reply, in the most simplest and impolite form. "Merely exploring the evident cultural characteristics often but not always perceived in differing backgrounds." He was using difficult Korean, and while you struggled to completely understand him you knew enough to be irritated all the same.

You decided the best course of action now was to ignore him completely and turned to the others. You gave them a sickly sweet smile which they readily returned, albeit a little shyly. "And how have you boys been today?" You finished your pastry and the jam from your fingertips indulgently.

"Please excuse our hyung," JongHyun replied first, "he's just a bit grouchy and tired after working us so hard today and not sleeping at all last night." The other two grinned broadly and their eyes darted towards their leader expectantly.

YongHwa's head snapped in their direction and he mouthed something at them threateningly, his eyes flashing with meaning.

Intrigued you went on, "Oh why was it that Mr YongHwa had such a difficult sleep last night?" you enquired with a hint of pleasure, not addressing this question towards the man himself, in fact not even looking at him at all.

"Our hyung spent all night working on the song!" MinHyuk piped up proudly. "He especially wanted to get that solo right after you left, noona."

"We think he's really trying hard to impress you," JungShin put in, and he shot a cheeky look towards YongHwa and quickly moved behind MinHyuk. He was of course too tall to hide properly behind his band members. The result was laughable.

YongHwa moved towards them purposely shaking his fist, "Yah! How many times do I have to tell you? Our song needed to be finished today anyway! Our manager wants it finished by midnight tonight!"

You your bottom lip so you wouldn't succumb to the unbearable tickle inside you. "And I hear it's all finished? Do you mind if I hear it then?" you asked casually.

YongHwa grunted and moved back towards the middle of the room where his guitar was perched in a stand. He slung it over his shoulder and gestured for the rest of the band to do the same. He checked his strings for the tuning and then glanced up at you through his fringe of jet black hair. His eyes were large and fiery, his full lips parted... You blinked. He was looking really good right now. Annoyed at yourself you pushed this observation aside. But he was wearing a t-shirt today... and now that you saw him supporting his guitar, the muscles in his upper arms were standing out a lot more. They were so toned... and thick veins ran from his forearms into his wrist and hands. He looked so... macho and strong. It didn't help that he was watching you now with such an intense expression. Your brain was starting to get a bit fuddled and you knew if you were asked any questions right now your reply probably wouldn't make much sense. Becoming increasingly annoyed at this sudden effect you forced your mind to clear itself. You matched his intense stare and lifted your chin defiantly. No, he was NOT going to have this affect on you. Instead you looked hard at his face and focused on his eye bags which were darker than usual. He was tired, you could see it now. His working night had taken its toll on him, and it was showing through his face. Although, for someone so tired he still looked really good. No. Wrong train of thought. No. You wondered why his expression was so intense anyway. Was it because he was about to prove something to you? You already knew he would keep his word, and you weren't worried about being proven wrong. It was all just a bit of teasing gone heated, in any case you would enjoy whatever he had to show you. Of course, you would never admit that to his face, and since you met him, you even found it hard to admit to yourself. To be honest he was a little more arrogant than you had expected.

"One... two... three... four," YongHwa finally turned away from you and moved his head back and forth as he counted his band members into the song. As before, MinHyuk started with the drums in an upbeat tempo, it was slightly faster than before and you could tell this song was going to be just as if not more loaded with grungy feel and high energy. Your foot had already started tapping, and as the band members each smiled at you, you allowed more of yourself to move with the song, feeling more comfortable. You were slightly taken aback as you also caught a small smile from YongHwa as he looked at you, there was no animosity, no attitude in that smile just pure... genuine warmth. It was quick, and he soon turned back to play his guitar against JongHyun's as if allowing their guitars to have a conversation with each other in the song. You were left wondering if he really had smiled at you or if his lips were just curled that way or he was smiling about something else and just happened to be looking at you. Disturbed you decided not to even give it any more thought. JungShin had his moment on the bass, both guitars stopping so he could bust some bass note runs in between the beats from MinHyuk's drums. It was a cool addition to the song that must have been made after you had last listened as you did not remember it. You felt goose bumps run up your back and shoulders as the guitars started up again pulsing some beautiful fast moving chords and JongHyun took the lead on his guitar, bending the strings at his will and hammering the fret board like he was at a crucial point in a video game, button mashing the console. YongHwa bobbed away from him and stood with JungShin as JongHyun continued the solo and you realised that it was the very same solo YongHwa had improvised last night. He had given it to JongHyun, and it sounded more or less the same, yet a little more controlled, more purposeful than the first moment of its birth. Instead of the song ending with JongHyun on his knees clutching the last note to his chest like YongHwa had done, he spun around and the song seemed to bridge to the end section of the song, continuing on with even more power than it had been up until now, and then ending on a fadeout from all sides. YongHwa was pushing his tongue against the inside of his mouth as he held the last note, and whipped his head back when the fadeout had ended, releasing his fingers with relief. His fingers were probably screaming from being overworked all through the night and all through today. You noticed him shake his hand at his side as he set down his guitar back on its stand and his eyes sought you out through his fringe again. Oh. It was terrible when he looked at you like that.

As everyone lay their instruments aside you sprang from your chair and applauded enthusiastically, faltering as you remembered yourself and turning your applause into something a little more casual. The boys grinned at you, all four of them. JongHyun walked to the pastry box and selected a miniature croissant, "So what did you think?"

"It is a really great piece! Everything fell together so beautifully, it sounded great yesterday don't get me wrong. But today it was like..." you trailed off as you noticed YongHwa unable to hide his grin as he looked down at his guitar. "It was even better, but I didn't even think that was possible. Well done to all of you."

"Even hyung?" asked JungShin playfully.

You gave a knowing smile, "Yes, even your hyung. He kept his word and he made a great solo out of his exploration yesterday."

YongHwa looked up at you, "You accept it pretty easily," he commented suspiciously.

You stuck your tongue out at him. "Actually, I knew you would do it. I was just looking for a rise out of you last night."

The three other band members regarded you with a newfound inquisitiveness. You were goading their band leader? Were you really that brave for a newcomer? You hadn't ceased to amaze them so far. Their eyes moved back to their leader. He had taken the bait very seriously, without a doubt. Going so far as to stay in the company building all night despite the urgency of the song not being very high. Their manager was always requesting songs get done by a certain time, but it was never that high of a priority that sleep must be lost just to complete it. This song wasn't even meant for immediate use, it was going through the producers and then coming back again if it meets their standards so they could then put lyrics to it. So there was no way YongHwa could make excuses for treating it like something more important than that. He had to admit, this new girl had indeed gotten a rise out of their cool leader with quite an ease.

All this seemed to be working through YongHwa's head as well, and he just stared at you. You hadn't meant those words that you had said to him last night? Cringe-worthy? Childish? Showing off? Thoughtless? You were just... playing with him? Well, you were quite the actress he had to admit that. Those words had cut through his skin last night and sent him into a working frenzy. He had to prove you wrong. He had to make this song brilliant, and put his solo to great use. In the end he had spent all night obsessing over a song that wasn't even a high priority. His eyes felt all the more tired as he realised it was all in vain. His lack of sleep and the fact that he hadn't stopped all day was all catching up to him all of a sudden. His limbs felt like lead, his fingers ached and he needed to have a sit down. He realised then that he had been running on pure adrenalin up until now. Adrenalin that had been fuelled by your mind games. "You... didn't mean what you said about the song last night? About my guitar playing? Everything?"

You felt a twinge of guilt at the look on YongHwa's face. He looked exhausted, defeated. Something in him had left his body, like the spirit leaving the physical form in a cartoon. You could just see a puff of ghostly smoke separate from him and dissipate into the room. It really had made such an effect on him. It was too late to be sorry about it now though. "I meant everything positive that I said. But I might have left out what a great job I thought you did too." As his face dropped you said quickly. "But look what came of it! You did an even greater job on your song than you might have done otherwise!" You put up your thumbs, like HanJu had done earlier in encouragement. "Great job! Your manager will be so pleased with you."

There was a strange change in YongHwa's expression as he saw you put up your thumbs to your face in that encouraging gesture. He studied you for a moment, and you assumed he was just having hard feelings about your words. In a flash you were given whiplash however as YongHwa's face unexpectedly broke out into a smile, displaying all his imperfectly adorable teeth. "You rebel," he said, leaving the rest of the room to stand dumbly, taken aback at his sudden change in mood. "Why couldn't you just tell me you liked my playing?" he followed JongHyun into the middle of the room and perused the remaining pastries. "Do you want another one? They'll get stale if we leave them out like this. Everybody has to finish them, arraso?"

JongHyun lowered his head slightly to gaze into YongHwa's face. "You sure you're okay, hyung? You look beat. It's okay if you're tired..."

YongHwa flicked a pastry away at the last moment. "Eyyyyy... I've already had too many of these... And all the good flavours are gone." He winked at JongHyun as if in answer to his friend's concern and looked around at you. "Come on, you haven't had that many yet. Why don't you come and help finish them off? I think I'll be sick if I have another one."

Feeling somewhat uncertain, you masked your caution and strode over to them with a thoughtful expression on your face. "What flavours are there? I just like that jam ones."

YongHwa picked out a jam one and held it out for you. You studied his face a moment before you took it from him with a stiff thanks. All eyes were on YongHwa, but he didn't seem to notice. He nodded at you and then picked up a set of documents that were laying on the table beside the pastry box. Realising what they were you quickly snatched them from him reflexively. You weren't sure why you felt defensive the moment you realised YongHwa was holding your projects. Perhaps you were frightened he would find a way to get you back, using your own work. Perhaps he would tease the scribbles and comments you had made on the pages inside. You were open game now. You didn't want him knowing more about you or your agenda than he already did.

"What are those, noona?" MinHyuk asked, his curiosity no doubt peaked by your actions.

You couldn't lie, and now you felt safer that you were holding them. "My first assignments from the company," you replied noncommittally and took a bite out of your jam donut.

"Ah how exciting! What did they give you to work on? May I see?" enquired JongHyun, he was so sincere you couldn't say no. He moved beside you and peered over your shoulder as you flipped through the manuscripts. "They want you to... dance?" he said with surprise as you flicked quickly past the dance routines and he stopped you with a gentle finger.

"Just to be prepared for anything I guess," you laughed weakly as the boys all exchanged confused glances. "It's not like I'm going to perform any dance routines. I play rock music after all, I am a singer and a guitar player. The most dancing I am going to do is jumping off amplifiers and run around the stage, maybe a bit of crowd surfing."

"Even we don't get to do all that," laughed JongHyun, and he pulled away from your booklet, to your hidden relief. "This company tends to keep a hard thumb on presentation. Behaving like that on stage, like a true rocker, that's the kind of rebellious nature the company is frightened of seeing. With that they think comes all the other problems a rock star is thought to have. The drugs, the alcohol, the scandals... the lawsuits. They don't want that kind of pressure, you see."

YongHwa was watching you closely as you listened to JongHyun explain this to you. Once again, his expression was unreadable. But he looked like he knew something that wasn't being said. He couldn't possibly know about you and your manager's plans to challenge the industry. No, he must be thinking of something else. You made an aspirated face at the boys and rolled your eyes. "Do they have to be so controlling?" you complained.

"Nehhhh," came the reply in unison and everyone laughed at the perfect timing as if it had been rehearsed.

_________________________________________________________________________

YONGHWA P.O.V.

YongHwa was first looking at you quietly because he was remembering your dancing while you thought nobody was watching you in your practice room earlier. He felt a little ashamed at watching you without you knowing, especially since you were showing a side of yourself you probably wouldn't have allowed him to see so readily if you had the choice. His thoughts then moved with the change in the conversation as to what JongHyun was telling you about rock and roll and this industry. In particular this company. He wondered if you really were going to go along with the contracts, or if you really were as strong willed as you were making out to be. Now it wouldn't surprise him so much. He was starting to get accustomed to your character. You were stubborn, you were mouthy, you had an irritating attitude and carelessness or a kind of disregard for others that others just saw as cute. You were also painfully ignorant. You had only just arrived in this company and already you were blatantly moving to the beat of your own drum, but that drum didn't sound like a beat that would sit well with the higher people of the company. That worry he had first felt for you, a strange sense of protectiveness maybe, if he could call it that, it was only continuing if not even stronger now that he was noticing your strong will and your hard head were sure signs of making waves. Were you going to make things difficult for yourself? For everyone around you?

He was watching you closely, lost in his own thoughts. When you asked some kind of question and he found himself agreeing with the rest of his band members automatically, broken out of his reverie. Why was he feeling so serious lately? He needed to lighten up, but when you were around his moods only seemed to intensify. Worrisome thoughts seemed to clog in his mind although he wasn't really sure what was causing it. Worry for you or worry for the company? Or worry for himself and his band? He knew that if he even tried helping you, you would probably laugh and throw his offer in his face. You just didn't have that understanding, you had only just begun here. Deciding to push his dark thoughts aside for now and deal with them later, he searched his mind for something brighter. Ah that's right. He wanted to hear you play. Yesterday he had been dreadfully curious to hear your style, to watch you at work. However after watching you this afternoon he had unintentionally grasped a taste of it already. He wanted more... The sound of your voice, the way you had delivered, and moved... He coughed. Everyone looked at him expectantly as if he had coughed to get their attention. He followed through, not wanting them to suspect anything that was ticking through his mind. Those confusing thoughts. He couldn't voice them aloud, not to his band members, certainly not to you. "Kuromeoyon," he scratched the back of his neck and caught your eye. "______, I see you brought your guitar?" It was a nice choice of guitar, he complimented you internally. Well made, a good brand, and with unique purple strings. Why would you have selected anything less? "Should we all play together?"

His suggestion appealed to everyone in the room and a happy buzz filled the air as everyone replied at once, even though he had directed his question at you. His band members seemed so delighted with the idea that they all started chattering their excitement and approval. Everyone went to grab their instrument of choice and settled on the chairs at the side of the room, the boys bringing them into a better formation so everyone could see each other properly from where they were sitting. MinHyuk grabbed his drumsticks and brought one drum with him, for the simple purpose of the collaboration, a small drum he could rest on his lap. And so the five of you jammed. It was a wonderful experience, everyone was supportive of each other and for once there was no bickering or no banter, particularly between you and YongHwa. He and MinHyuk shared a few tips for you and you accepted their suggestions with gratitude. When you sung along with the boys, they all stopped momentarily at the power and the resonance in your voice as if they were all surprised that sound was coming from you. YongHwa felt himself grinning stupidly, it had only been a few hours but he was dying to hear the sound of your voice again. He pretended it was the first time he had heard it, and complimented you like the others. Nobody noticed the time flying by until there was an unexpected knock at the door.

End Chapter Four