chapter thirteen
〈 ♞ 〉NIGHT CIRCUS01 NOVEMBER 2015
07:32 PM KST
07:32 PM KST
THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER
There aren’t very many things Hyemi is fond of– Well, wait. There are very many things Hyemi isn’t fond of. She isn’t fond of slow things–really, come on, you can speed up buying produce if the cashier isn’t taking so long staring at cabbages like it’s going to change her life–, she isn’t fond of rude people–because, yeah, just be a decent human being, you scumbag–, and she isn’t fond of asking for favors–because ‘I should be able to do this, why can’t I rap in Chinese better, Min is already doing too much and Jiwool-unnie is no help’–, but, of course, all three things happen at the same time in the one place Hyemi hasn’t stepped one foot in her entire life.
The airport.
She considers it a blessing that there are barely any people waiting for them outside the airport. They can take their time getting their luggage out from the back of their van and they can take their time making sure everything is in order before entering the premises. She can check to make sure Min doesn’t forget her headphones–who knew her ear canals were so small that anything that’s not the Apple ear buds or custom-made doesn’t fit in her ears?–and that Jaesun actually has his chargers and cell phone–because, of course, he thinks he puts it in his pocket when it actually isn’t going anywhere but the seat underneath his . But everything else other than this, yeah, she could probably live without.
It doesn’t take much time checking in, but it’s the security checkpoints that feel like it’s taking forever to finish. Jiwool always goes first, recently decided that morning by the team due to the fact she flies back and forth from South Korea to Canada, and then it’s Jaesun because he can keep an eye on her and the rest of them to make sure they don’t get separated. In the middle is where the rest of them lie but for today, Hyemi makes sure Seungheon stays with Sookhyun and Suhwan since he travels to Thailand as well and she can keep an eye on them, and then Min rounds up the rest of them.
“Just go in front,” Min would say before any of them stepped foot away from the van, giving her a smile as she pushes her to walk ahead. She would look behind her to the managers and artists, where they’re carrying all the suitcases, and frown before looking back to her. “I like to make sure I can keep track of all of you and you should all be able to see Jaesun.”
But now they’re all on the other side of the checkpoint, and Hyemi watches as Min and the rest of the managers and artists make their way through. They all have their shoes and most accessories off, but the woman waves the wand all over Min anyways because she makes the sensors go off with her rings and bracelets.
Hyemi sighs, in quiet relief, when the lady finally lets Min through and she grabs her belongings to join them at the benches. Min isn’t even wearing much jewelry to begin with, but whatever. She’s through. She turns when Min sits next to her, trying very consciously not to cross her arms in front of her chest. Instead, she looks to Sunyoung, who makes it through next, and chooses to sit across from them and next to Suhwan who’s watching her slip on her shoes.
“What time is boarding?” Hyemi asks, before looking to see the other four members standing off to the side and talking. They all look so comfortable.
“I think it’s at nine-thirty,” Min murmurs, finally tying her shoe up and standing. She heaves a sigh as she does so, grabbing her own bag that has some of their stuff in it. She looks to Sunyoung when she does, both of them waiting for an accurate answer.
Hyunchul hums as he makes his way for them. “Sounds about right. Terminal E4.”
“E4?” Hyemi looks to the labels hanging from the ceiling, searching for any indication where the terminal may be located. It seems logical, right? They should be near it if it’s the letter E–beginning of the alphabet.
Next to her, Min is quiet as she walks past her, calling out a simple, soft “hey” to get the other members’ attention, before she’s tilting her head to the left. “It’s this way.”
The rest follow her with ease, though Jaesun, Seungheon, and Jiwool look up instinctively to check where they’re going, and Hyemi can’t help following their actions as she does so too even though she doesn’t really know where to look. She catches Suhwan smiling as Sookhyun waits for him and she smiles as she waits for them to go first before following after them. Oh. There’s the sign–a little ahead of them.
“Have you ever flown on a plane before?” Hyunchul asks, coming up to her.
Hyemi looks over to him to see Sunyoung walking with the stylists and counting out the visible heads of their team. “No,” she answers, watching as Hyunchul nods.
“Right. Neither have I.”
Hyemi hums as she turns back to the group ahead of her. “Yeah.”
Then Hyunchul sighs and Hyemi glances at him to see his normal nonchalant attitude slipping. “Right,” he repeats, causing her to laugh.
“What’s wrong, oppa? Scared of an airplane?”
“Not so much the airplane,” Hyunchul murmurs, eyes closing and making an anguished expression. “Just… the overall traveling, lifting off, landing thing.”
Hyemi stares at him. “So, everything the plane does to get us from one place to another.”
Hyunchul groans, “Pretty much.”
Hyemi bursts into laughter, reaching up to gently pat her manager on the shoulder. “There, there,” she consoles, laughing when Sunyoung, Jeanne, and Yongha give them curious looks. She waves them off with a bow and a smile. “It’s going to be a quick trip,” she reassures, even though she honestly has no idea how long this flight will last. She hasn’t even ridden on a plane before. She only knows they’re going to be there for three days, leave the morning of the fifth to make the M!Countdown music show, and then rehearse and perform for the rest of their promotions.
“Hey, oppa,” she says, looking over to see Hyunchul’s entire expression change to resume his role as manager for them. “It’s not really a quick trip, is it? What are we doing for three whole days?”
Hyunchul gives her a stare before looking away, and then he hums. “Aren’t you curious?”
Hyemi gives him a stare back. “I actually am,” she deadpans, “Hence, why I asked you.”
At that, Hyunchul breaks into awkward laughter, looking embarrassed. “Right,” he says, before he’s tilting his head in the direction of Min. Hyemi looks to her too, to see her laughing and talking with Jiwool. “Well, it’s Min’s hometown. We’re going to try and help promote all of you while we’re there. I would say you should think of this as a mini-vacation, but it might not be one after all.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Get your camera faces ready. Or not. We prefer you to have camera faces this early in your debut.”
Hyemi frowns at him. “We literally debuted three days ago.”
“Exactly.” Hyunchul nods.
Sighing, all Hyemi can do is follow the rest of her group into the terminal section and watch as they all pair or group off and find their own spots to rest in. Seungheon and Jaesun are sitting on some linked chairs off to the side while Sookhyun and Suhwan sit on the ground next to the windows to watch the airplanes land and take off. They technically don’t have any fans yet and when she looks around, nobody is paying attention to them. It’s probably why Sunyoung and Hyunchul stare at the two youngest briefly before leaving them alone.
What catches her off-guard though, is when Jiwool leaves Min’s side right when the co-leader sits and goes over to Jaesun and Seungheon instead. They’re all sitting relatively close together but Min has chosen a spot farther away. She stares at her, concerned.
“If you want to go sit with her, then sit with her,” Jeanne suddenly says, coming up to nudge her arm in the direction of her co-leader. “We all know she doesn’t bite much.”
Hyemi scoffs. “Yeah, unless you catch her waking up from a bad sleep.”
Jeanne shrugs with a smile before walking over to Yongha and sitting next to him with the managers. She winks at her and Hyemi rolls her eyes before making her way over to Min instead.
Far away, Min doesn’t even appear bothered that she’s sitting by herself. She’s on her phone, typing and scrolling through something, and Hyemi remains quiet as she slips into the seat next to her, not wanting to disturb her. Technically, they’re not supposed to be on their phones in public, but she guesses there’s an exception. She jumps when Min suddenly leans over and rests her head on her shoulder.
“I’m tired,” Min mumbles, her Korean enunciation slipping. She puts her phone to sleep and Hyemi catches a glimpse of her locked screen when she immediately checks the time after. It lingers on the screen: a picture of a younger her, Lu Han, and Minseok together.
“You’re already tired?” Hyemi says back lightly, a smile tugging on her lips when Min laughs softly. “We haven’t even debuted for more than a week.”
“Yeah,” Min assents. “That’s true. Maybe I’m just too old.”
“The oldest in the team,” Hyemi jokes, her shoulders shaking with her laughter. She can feel Min’s head bobbing against her, but she hopes it doesn’t bother her. She guesses it doesn’t though, because Min only links their arms together for a more comfortable position.
They fall silent after that and Hyemi continues to let Min rest against her. She’s considerably small compared to the rest of them but from what she’s heard, Min is leading them through the entirety of their trip in China. It makes sense, considering she’s Chinese, but what doesn’t make sense is why she’s so tired all of a sudden. Sure, they recently finished performing for Inkigayo, but the rest of their team looks okay, even Suhwan is continually pointing out planes with Sookhyun. They’re used to staying up until two in the morning and only getting about four to five hours of sleep a night.
Suddenly, Min’s phone lights up on her lap. It draws Hyemi’s attention and she waits for Min to respond to it, but she realizes a second too late she’s already dozed off.
Han now
Let’s meet at that café after you get here. When are you free?
Hyemi stares at the message some more until the screen fades back to black. Nothing shows on the phone screen for quite some time and she wonders when Min will have enough time to go meet him, though she’s lucky. Minho still hasn’t responded back to her message from last week. The jerk.
“I keep dozing off,” Min mumbles sleepily, suddenly, and Hyemi’s heart almost jumps out of her chest at her words. It’s beating rapidly but she wills it to calm down when she sees Min blindly feel around on her lap for her phone again. “I’m sorry, Hyemi. I’m using you as a pillow.”
“It’s okay, unnie,” she murmurs, trying not to watch when Min wakes her phone up to see if she has any messages. Apparently, she does, and Min sighs as she finally lifts herself up off of Hyemi’s shoulder before sitting up in her seat. She stretches a little, her back arching against her chair, and Min releases a soft sigh as she finally relaxes again in it.
It doesn’t take more than a push against her home screen button to unlock her phone, watching as it goes to the homepage, before she clicks on her messages and on the one for Han. There are unread messages from Baekhyun and Minseok, even one from Jongdae and Yixing, and Min wonders when she suddenly became friends with half of EXO. She should probably invest in more female friends other than Jiwool and Hyemi. Speaking of…
“Has Minho ever texted you back?” Min asks, looking over to her side to see Hyemi glancing around the airport terminal again. According to the time on her cell phone, they really should be boarding soon.
Next to her, Hyemi scowls, though she quickly covers it up with a shake of her head. “No.” She pouts, shifting around in her seat for another comfortable position. There really isn’t much on standardized airport lounge seats. “Not sure why, but I really shouldn’t care.”
Min hums, a smile tugging on her lips unbidden, before she looks back to her phone and types back her own message. She’s memorized their group’s schedule by now: arrival to Beijing is close to one in the morning, arrival to the hotel shortly after, some much needed sleep, and then there’s supposed to be filming tomorrow. She’s supposed to take out the group to some nice restaurant or walk through the streets and get some street food, but it’s getting colder every day and she doesn’t want to stay out in the freezing weather too long.
There are a few minutes where she sees Lu Han has read her message before the thought bubble finally shows up.
Min smiles, swipes back to look at her messages from the rest of her friends without actually reading them, before clicking on Lu Han’s chat again.
It’s been a while
And it has, but Min doesn’t admit it. Instead, she types back another message, simpler, doesn’t really tell much, but she doesn’t want to tell him her schedules through text.
Hey, we’re about to board soon. I’ll text you after we land
She sighs as she sends it off, before finally looking to her other messages. She doesn’t even know where Minseok and the rest are. Are they still in Japan?
Oppaaaaaa
Min is surprised that, within minutes, she gets another response back.
Minseok now
Minnnnnnnn hi
“Sometimes, guys just don’t understand what they need to do,” Min offers Hyemi, albeit belatedly. She shrugs then, turning to her side to look at her. “I’m not trying to make excuses but sometimes it’s typical, huh?” She watches as Hyemi shrugs in return, frowns, then appears impassive as she looks to the rest of their group. “He’s going to message you soon. I haven’t seen a time where you two have gone without texting each other for more than a week.”
“Yeah,” Hyemi murmurs, before she’s leaning over herself to place her head on Min’s shoulder. Min shifts immediately, sitting up straighter and trying to accommodate her friend. “I guess.”
“Watch, it’s going to be okay.” Min smiles as she pats Hyemi’s knee, watching as Hyemi sighs and nods again. She lets the conversation die after that and returns to her texts. She responds back to Minseok and the rest, taking the time to let her friends know she’s alive, before she puts her phone to sleep again.
Within minutes, an announcement is calling throughout the airport saying their terminal is about to board soon. Min watches as everyone perks up, literally her entire band, managers, and staff and she thinks it’s cute how excited some of them look, except for Hyunchul. He looks sick to his stomach.
Next to her, Hyemi is getting up too. She’s looking around, staring at everybody else, and moves to get up before Min places a hand on her arm. She gives her a smile before she starts rifling through her bag. For any trips on the plane, it’s been decided she’s in charge of their passports while their managers are in charge of their tickets. She finds Hyemi’s before giving it to her.
“Sunyoung should have all our tickets,” she says to her, before Hyemi is off to get her ticket.
Min hums as she gathers the rest of their passports, opening each one and getting up to give it to the right member. Almost immediately, Jiwool latches onto her arm and Min laughs.
“Remember the last time we were doing this?” Jiwool asks, tugging her along to fall in line. Min can’t help but look over her shoulder and make sure all of their belongings are collected and nothing is left behind. “We were rushing and tired and trying to make a secret appearance.”
Min laughs as Jiwool whispers the last couple words. “Yes, I remember,” she says, receiving her ticket from Sunyoung and comparing her seat with Jiwool’s to see where they’re located. They’re on opposite sides of each other and they frown, immediately looking over their shoulder to Suhwan and Sookhyun to see where their seats are.
“Leaders are sitting together,” Jaesun pipes up from behind them. “The rest, I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s helpful,” Min comments in return, smiling as Jiwool lets go of her and shows her ticket to the lady first.
It takes about fifteen minutes until they’re walking through the aisle in the plane, trying to find their seats near the back. They’re scattered about, paired off with Sunyoung sitting by herself, and they quickly settle themselves before the plane is filled and they take off.
Min takes the chance to do a quick run-through of their schedules for the upcoming days. She takes out the small stack of papers folded in her bag and sighs, staring down at what’s to come. Next to her, Jaesun is getting comfortable and she lets him be.
They have filming tomorrow for a makeshift video for Light, with a scheduled ‘spontaneous’ self-camera filming in-between the regular filming, which she still doesn’t know what it’s for, but the self-camera should be fun and will be uploaded to their YouTube channel as part of their debut promotion. The next day should be more relaxed, with only an interview with Sina and another magazine shoot to do, so she’s really hoping they’re going to have some time to maybe get some good home-based snacks or meals to eat before rehearsals and the performance for the Korea-China Song Festival.
“Hey, so,” Jaesun suddenly says, messing with his ear buds before putting one in his ear. He switches languages, trying to practice his Mandarin more, which Min appreciates. “Hello, everyone.”
“Good,” Min answers in Chinese, trying to see how far Jaesun can converse with her. “How are you today?”
“We are fine. Thank you.” Min laughs when Jaesun keeps nodding and smiling. “What is that?”
Min tilts the pages over to him, lets him try and read off of it because it’s in Chinese characters. Honestly, he and the rest of Night Circus have been trying to learn the language as efficiently as possible and she hums in encouragement when she hears him try to say all the words he can read.
“If this whole overseas trip goes smoothly,” Jaesun suddenly says, leaning back over in his seat. He’s looking around them, probably seeing how the rest of their group is doing, before he’s staring back at her with a bright smile on his face. “How about you be the official leader from now on?”
At the words, Min gapes at him. “What?” she murmurs, still stuck in Mandarin, before she shakes herself out of it and shoves him on the shoulder, switching back to Korean. “Wait, I agreed to becoming the leader for this trip only on the basis we get to eat anything we want tomorrow.”
“And that,” Jaesun says, with a pat to her shoulder, “is a noble sacrifice.”
By the time they land and arrive, it’s close to two in the morning, well, Min thinks so anyways. Maybe it’s closer to three in the morning. She’s always been confused with time zones and time differences and she has to make sure they arrive to the right hotel and make sure they get the correct rooms and enough towels and beds to house all of them. They’re not in the most fancy hotel but it’s pretty wonderful and she sighs when she gets a room all to herself. The bed is soft and the room is small but it’s all she needs. It’s all she’s used to.
She turns as she stares up at the ceiling. She really needs to order some dinner or snacks for the rest of her group, but her managers told them all to settle in and sleep if they would rather skip dinner instead. And really, it’s been a while since she’s been back. She doesn’t know if the same places near this hotel are still there and open at this time. It’s probably only the convenience store at this rate.
She grabs her phone from her pocket, finally taking it off of airplane mode, and watches as messages come in. She waits for it to stop lighting up before she unlocks her phone and searches for her friend’s name to call.
“You got in late” comes Lu Han’s greeting. He sounds tired, maybe a little out of breath. “Settled into your hotel room now, rookie? Or are you still out?”
“You’re so rude,” Min laughs back, caught off-guard. “For your information, I’m trying to figure out food.” She waits to hear his hum before she continues. “We’re in the Park Plaza hotel. I remember seeing a couple of restaurants near here but I doubt they’re open at this time. Are there any other places open for food?”
There’s a laugh and Min sighs, knows what’s coming. “I’m pretty sure the only places that are open at this time are convenience stores, Min. Is it just you that’s hungry or the rest of your group?”
Min actually isn’t sure. Usually by this time, Jiwool is coming over and bothering her with Hyemi in tow. “Well, I could probably use some sleep but I’m not sleepy anymore.”
“That tired, huh?”
“Yeah,” Min sighs. She closes her eyes, wondering if the emptiness in her stomach qualifies for being hungry. “Still meeting up later?”
Lu Han hums and it’s soothing to her ears. “Yeah, it’s been a while. Only if you can though.”
“I should be able to,” Min agrees, suddenly hearing a set of knocks on her door. She opens her eyes and stares at it, wondering if it’s worth seeing who it is, but then the knocks sound again and she sighs, pulling herself up from her bed. “Nobody recognizes us. There weren’t really anybody waiting for us at the airport, so it should be calm and everything.”
“Are you kidding me?” Lu Han asks, and Min is confused as she opens the door and, ah yes, Jiwool is standing there with Hyemi right beside her. Jiwool has a bright smile on her face and Hyemi looks annoyed, though she gives her a curious stare when she spots her phone to her ear. “Your concept is fun and you look like you’re enjoying yourself. I’m not going to be surprised if all of you skyrocket to fame.”
Min mouths Lu Han to them and they nod in understanding before they’re invading her room.
“Plus, I’ve seen you’re becoming a bit popular overseas.”
“What?” Min asks, eyes widening in surprise.
“Yeah, like in North America and everything. They like the co-ed deal. They say you’re cute.”
Min pauses in stopping Jiwool from rummaging through her bag, probably looking for a charger, at his words. “They think I’m cute?” she asks back, immediately catching Jiwool and Hyemi’s attention, but then there’s another knock and Hyemi goes to answer it. “My image isn’t supposed to be cute.”
Lu Han scoffs. “Have you seen you? You’re as cute as Minseok. Um.”
“Han?” Min calls, looking over her shoulder to see Jaesun and Suhwan entering her room too. She rolls her eyes at them, knowing Seungheon and Sookhyun are just going to follow soon.
“What is your image supposed to be?”
Min frowns. “I don’t know. I just know it’s not supposed to be cute.” She watches as Hyemi opens the door again and, yes, there is the rest of her group. She sighs exasperatedly, listening as the noise in her room increases with every second that passes. “I have to go. I think everybody wants food at this point.” She blanches when her phone is suddenly taken away from her, looking over to see Jaesun putting her phone up to his ear.
“Hey, we’re hungry,” he says, without so much as a proper greeting. “Recommend us something good since Min has taken it upon herself to starve the rest of us.”
“Hey!” Min shouts, trying to wrestle her phone away from him. It doesn’t work though, considering height differences and all. “I am not starving you.”
Arms suddenly wrap themselves around her waist and she looks over her shoulder to see Sookhyun smiling down at her before placing his chin on her shoulder. He has to hunch forward a little bit but it’s not an unwelcome weight. Min groans as he keeps her in place, Jiwool laughing as she takes the phone away from Jaesun to speak into it next.
“Hey, who’s ‘they’ unnie was talking about earlier?”
There’s amused laughter and unrelated conversations going on around them and Jiwool smiles at her friends when Jaesun lightly pushes her in retaliation.
“North America,” Lu Han repeats in Korean, now sounding very amused. “Something keeping Min?”
“North America?” Jiwool echoes, confused, before she’s looking to Min who shrugs in response, Sookhyun still attached to her to keep her in place. “North America thinks Min-unnie is cute?”
“Overseas likes the idea of your group.”
“Really?”
Lu Han hums. “I told Jaesun of some places to eat around this time. It’s mostly pizza, but it’s food. Right? I’ll talk to you later. I have an early day.”
Within minutes, Jiwool and Lu Han are hanging up and she’s staring at the rest of her group shocked. She isn’t sure what she expected when she debuted in a co-ed group, but being popular overseas really isn’t it. They’ve been instructed and demanded to refuse opening up Pann or any other sites like that, for more of a psyche preservation or whatever, so hearing it from Lu Han was something else entirely. She frowns then, looking to Min next. “I thought almost everything related to social media is banned in Beijing.”
In front of her, Min shrugs again, tries to turn with Sookhyun letting her. “We’ve found ways around it before.”
Well, Jiwool has some news for the rest of the group.
Pizza is a gift from the gods and Suhwan groans in delight as he takes another slice and fills his stomach with it. It’s getting close to four-thirty in the morning and they should all be sleeping, but food is a wonderful necessity even if Min’s already fallen asleep, half-draped across Seungheon. Even Hyemi is already falling asleep on Min’s bed.
“So,” Jaesun says quietly, catching the rest of their attentions. Hyemi hums sleepily, dragging herself to the end of the bed to where she can rest her head near Sookhyun, sitting on the floor with his back against the mattress. “I know it’s late, but we need to be up by eight in the morning. We need to be prepared for when we film our Light music video and we need to be able to pronounce all the words to the Mandarin version. Our debut song in Korea was a simple practice video, but Panny-noona says this will be nice for our, uh, I don’t know, I guess our Chinese debut.”
Suhwan hums as he continues to eat, trying to listen attentively to him. He looks over to Min again, where Seungheon has shifted to try and make her more comfortable. She didn’t eat more than one slice.
“It’s not really going to be a big debut,” Jaesun elaborates with a shrug, looking at his own papers that are in Korean instead of Chinese. “I think she just wanted to get some songs into the Chinese market. See how that goes.” He looks to Jiwool next, who’s sitting next to Suhwan and drinking her water. “But apparently, our debut is going well overseas. So, after filming that, we get to have some fun with filming whatever we want that we’re going to post on our YouTube page when we get back to Korea.”
“That sounds like fun,” Seungheon comments, finishing off his vegetable pizza. “We get to explore Beijing for the first time before the big rehearsal and show.”
“Yeah,” Jaesun adds, nodding. “So, after we’re done eating and washing up, it’s time for sleep.”
Suhwan hums again, jolting when Sookhyun reaches over and pokes his side. “What?” he asks, looking to the other who only gives him an amused smile.
“Don’t eat too much,” Sookhyun reminds him.
Suhwan nods obediently, because he’s found out the hard way that he can’t eat as much pizza as he used to. It causes his face to swell overnight if he eats it for dinner and he can’t really have that. It takes at least half the day for the swelling to go down.
“Okay,” Sookhyun says slowly, before he’s reaching over and taking one of the last pieces. “Because I’m gonna eat another slice.”
“Hey!” Suhwan gapes at him before he pouts. “Fine. It’s good.”
Sookhyun nods in agreement before the rest are talking about something else, something that sounds like more schedules, and Suhwan has to smile when they all end up falling asleep somewhere in Min’s room. He pretends to not notice when their managers visit them in the morning and gives them fond smiles like his mother does when she caught him sleeping in his desk at home. Though, he does wince when each of them get scolded for their actions and choice of food.
The airport.
She considers it a blessing that there are barely any people waiting for them outside the airport. They can take their time getting their luggage out from the back of their van and they can take their time making sure everything is in order before entering the premises. She can check to make sure Min doesn’t forget her headphones–who knew her ear canals were so small that anything that’s not the Apple ear buds or custom-made doesn’t fit in her ears?–and that Jaesun actually has his chargers and cell phone–because, of course, he thinks he puts it in his pocket when it actually isn’t going anywhere but the seat underneath his . But everything else other than this, yeah, she could probably live without.
It doesn’t take much time checking in, but it’s the security checkpoints that feel like it’s taking forever to finish. Jiwool always goes first, recently decided that morning by the team due to the fact she flies back and forth from South Korea to Canada, and then it’s Jaesun because he can keep an eye on her and the rest of them to make sure they don’t get separated. In the middle is where the rest of them lie but for today, Hyemi makes sure Seungheon stays with Sookhyun and Suhwan since he travels to Thailand as well and she can keep an eye on them, and then Min rounds up the rest of them.
“Just go in front,” Min would say before any of them stepped foot away from the van, giving her a smile as she pushes her to walk ahead. She would look behind her to the managers and artists, where they’re carrying all the suitcases, and frown before looking back to her. “I like to make sure I can keep track of all of you and you should all be able to see Jaesun.”
But now they’re all on the other side of the checkpoint, and Hyemi watches as Min and the rest of the managers and artists make their way through. They all have their shoes and most accessories off, but the woman waves the wand all over Min anyways because she makes the sensors go off with her rings and bracelets.
Hyemi sighs, in quiet relief, when the lady finally lets Min through and she grabs her belongings to join them at the benches. Min isn’t even wearing much jewelry to begin with, but whatever. She’s through. She turns when Min sits next to her, trying very consciously not to cross her arms in front of her chest. Instead, she looks to Sunyoung, who makes it through next, and chooses to sit across from them and next to Suhwan who’s watching her slip on her shoes.
“What time is boarding?” Hyemi asks, before looking to see the other four members standing off to the side and talking. They all look so comfortable.
“I think it’s at nine-thirty,” Min murmurs, finally tying her shoe up and standing. She heaves a sigh as she does so, grabbing her own bag that has some of their stuff in it. She looks to Sunyoung when she does, both of them waiting for an accurate answer.
Hyunchul hums as he makes his way for them. “Sounds about right. Terminal E4.”
“E4?” Hyemi looks to the labels hanging from the ceiling, searching for any indication where the terminal may be located. It seems logical, right? They should be near it if it’s the letter E–beginning of the alphabet.
Next to her, Min is quiet as she walks past her, calling out a simple, soft “hey” to get the other members’ attention, before she’s tilting her head to the left. “It’s this way.”
The rest follow her with ease, though Jaesun, Seungheon, and Jiwool look up instinctively to check where they’re going, and Hyemi can’t help following their actions as she does so too even though she doesn’t really know where to look. She catches Suhwan smiling as Sookhyun waits for him and she smiles as she waits for them to go first before following after them. Oh. There’s the sign–a little ahead of them.
“Have you ever flown on a plane before?” Hyunchul asks, coming up to her.
Hyemi looks over to him to see Sunyoung walking with the stylists and counting out the visible heads of their team. “No,” she answers, watching as Hyunchul nods.
“Right. Neither have I.”
Hyemi hums as she turns back to the group ahead of her. “Yeah.”
Then Hyunchul sighs and Hyemi glances at him to see his normal nonchalant attitude slipping. “Right,” he repeats, causing her to laugh.
“What’s wrong, oppa? Scared of an airplane?”
“Not so much the airplane,” Hyunchul murmurs, eyes closing and making an anguished expression. “Just… the overall traveling, lifting off, landing thing.”
Hyemi stares at him. “So, everything the plane does to get us from one place to another.”
Hyunchul groans, “Pretty much.”
Hyemi bursts into laughter, reaching up to gently pat her manager on the shoulder. “There, there,” she consoles, laughing when Sunyoung, Jeanne, and Yongha give them curious looks. She waves them off with a bow and a smile. “It’s going to be a quick trip,” she reassures, even though she honestly has no idea how long this flight will last. She hasn’t even ridden on a plane before. She only knows they’re going to be there for three days, leave the morning of the fifth to make the M!Countdown music show, and then rehearse and perform for the rest of their promotions.
“Hey, oppa,” she says, looking over to see Hyunchul’s entire expression change to resume his role as manager for them. “It’s not really a quick trip, is it? What are we doing for three whole days?”
Hyunchul gives her a stare before looking away, and then he hums. “Aren’t you curious?”
Hyemi gives him a stare back. “I actually am,” she deadpans, “Hence, why I asked you.”
At that, Hyunchul breaks into awkward laughter, looking embarrassed. “Right,” he says, before he’s tilting his head in the direction of Min. Hyemi looks to her too, to see her laughing and talking with Jiwool. “Well, it’s Min’s hometown. We’re going to try and help promote all of you while we’re there. I would say you should think of this as a mini-vacation, but it might not be one after all.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Get your camera faces ready. Or not. We prefer you to have camera faces this early in your debut.”
Hyemi frowns at him. “We literally debuted three days ago.”
“Exactly.” Hyunchul nods.
Sighing, all Hyemi can do is follow the rest of her group into the terminal section and watch as they all pair or group off and find their own spots to rest in. Seungheon and Jaesun are sitting on some linked chairs off to the side while Sookhyun and Suhwan sit on the ground next to the windows to watch the airplanes land and take off. They technically don’t have any fans yet and when she looks around, nobody is paying attention to them. It’s probably why Sunyoung and Hyunchul stare at the two youngest briefly before leaving them alone.
What catches her off-guard though, is when Jiwool leaves Min’s side right when the co-leader sits and goes over to Jaesun and Seungheon instead. They’re all sitting relatively close together but Min has chosen a spot farther away. She stares at her, concerned.
“If you want to go sit with her, then sit with her,” Jeanne suddenly says, coming up to nudge her arm in the direction of her co-leader. “We all know she doesn’t bite much.”
Hyemi scoffs. “Yeah, unless you catch her waking up from a bad sleep.”
Jeanne shrugs with a smile before walking over to Yongha and sitting next to him with the managers. She winks at her and Hyemi rolls her eyes before making her way over to Min instead.
Far away, Min doesn’t even appear bothered that she’s sitting by herself. She’s on her phone, typing and scrolling through something, and Hyemi remains quiet as she slips into the seat next to her, not wanting to disturb her. Technically, they’re not supposed to be on their phones in public, but she guesses there’s an exception. She jumps when Min suddenly leans over and rests her head on her shoulder.
“I’m tired,” Min mumbles, her Korean enunciation slipping. She puts her phone to sleep and Hyemi catches a glimpse of her locked screen when she immediately checks the time after. It lingers on the screen: a picture of a younger her, Lu Han, and Minseok together.
“You’re already tired?” Hyemi says back lightly, a smile tugging on her lips when Min laughs softly. “We haven’t even debuted for more than a week.”
“Yeah,” Min assents. “That’s true. Maybe I’m just too old.”
“The oldest in the team,” Hyemi jokes, her shoulders shaking with her laughter. She can feel Min’s head bobbing against her, but she hopes it doesn’t bother her. She guesses it doesn’t though, because Min only links their arms together for a more comfortable position.
They fall silent after that and Hyemi continues to let Min rest against her. She’s considerably small compared to the rest of them but from what she’s heard, Min is leading them through the entirety of their trip in China. It makes sense, considering she’s Chinese, but what doesn’t make sense is why she’s so tired all of a sudden. Sure, they recently finished performing for Inkigayo, but the rest of their team looks okay, even Suhwan is continually pointing out planes with Sookhyun. They’re used to staying up until two in the morning and only getting about four to five hours of sleep a night.
Suddenly, Min’s phone lights up on her lap. It draws Hyemi’s attention and she waits for Min to respond to it, but she realizes a second too late she’s already dozed off.
Han now
Let’s meet at that café after you get here. When are you free?
Hyemi stares at the message some more until the screen fades back to black. Nothing shows on the phone screen for quite some time and she wonders when Min will have enough time to go meet him, though she’s lucky. Minho still hasn’t responded back to her message from last week. The jerk.
“I keep dozing off,” Min mumbles sleepily, suddenly, and Hyemi’s heart almost jumps out of her chest at her words. It’s beating rapidly but she wills it to calm down when she sees Min blindly feel around on her lap for her phone again. “I’m sorry, Hyemi. I’m using you as a pillow.”
“It’s okay, unnie,” she murmurs, trying not to watch when Min wakes her phone up to see if she has any messages. Apparently, she does, and Min sighs as she finally lifts herself up off of Hyemi’s shoulder before sitting up in her seat. She stretches a little, her back arching against her chair, and Min releases a soft sigh as she finally relaxes again in it.
It doesn’t take more than a push against her home screen button to unlock her phone, watching as it goes to the homepage, before she clicks on her messages and on the one for Han. There are unread messages from Baekhyun and Minseok, even one from Jongdae and Yixing, and Min wonders when she suddenly became friends with half of EXO. She should probably invest in more female friends other than Jiwool and Hyemi. Speaking of…
“Has Minho ever texted you back?” Min asks, looking over to her side to see Hyemi glancing around the airport terminal again. According to the time on her cell phone, they really should be boarding soon.
Next to her, Hyemi scowls, though she quickly covers it up with a shake of her head. “No.” She pouts, shifting around in her seat for another comfortable position. There really isn’t much on standardized airport lounge seats. “Not sure why, but I really shouldn’t care.”
Min hums, a smile tugging on her lips unbidden, before she looks back to her phone and types back her own message. She’s memorized their group’s schedule by now: arrival to Beijing is close to one in the morning, arrival to the hotel shortly after, some much needed sleep, and then there’s supposed to be filming tomorrow. She’s supposed to take out the group to some nice restaurant or walk through the streets and get some street food, but it’s getting colder every day and she doesn’t want to stay out in the freezing weather too long.
I should be free tomorrow night. Maybe around this time? I’ll text you through the day to see what’s happening
There are a few minutes where she sees Lu Han has read her message before the thought bubble finally shows up.
Xing is back in town too. He just arrived. We’re probably going to go try and sneak out for snacks but then it’s café time for you and me
Min smiles, swipes back to look at her messages from the rest of her friends without actually reading them, before clicking on Lu Han’s chat again.
It’s been a while
And it has, but Min doesn’t admit it. Instead, she types back another message, simpler, doesn’t really tell much, but she doesn’t want to tell him her schedules through text.
Hey, we’re about to board soon. I’ll text you after we land
She sighs as she sends it off, before finally looking to her other messages. She doesn’t even know where Minseok and the rest are. Are they still in Japan?
Oppaaaaaa
Min is surprised that, within minutes, she gets another response back.
Minseok now
Minnnnnnnn hi
“Sometimes, guys just don’t understand what they need to do,” Min offers Hyemi, albeit belatedly. She shrugs then, turning to her side to look at her. “I’m not trying to make excuses but sometimes it’s typical, huh?” She watches as Hyemi shrugs in return, frowns, then appears impassive as she looks to the rest of their group. “He’s going to message you soon. I haven’t seen a time where you two have gone without texting each other for more than a week.”
“Yeah,” Hyemi murmurs, before she’s leaning over herself to place her head on Min’s shoulder. Min shifts immediately, sitting up straighter and trying to accommodate her friend. “I guess.”
“Watch, it’s going to be okay.” Min smiles as she pats Hyemi’s knee, watching as Hyemi sighs and nods again. She lets the conversation die after that and returns to her texts. She responds back to Minseok and the rest, taking the time to let her friends know she’s alive, before she puts her phone to sleep again.
Within minutes, an announcement is calling throughout the airport saying their terminal is about to board soon. Min watches as everyone perks up, literally her entire band, managers, and staff and she thinks it’s cute how excited some of them look, except for Hyunchul. He looks sick to his stomach.
Next to her, Hyemi is getting up too. She’s looking around, staring at everybody else, and moves to get up before Min places a hand on her arm. She gives her a smile before she starts rifling through her bag. For any trips on the plane, it’s been decided she’s in charge of their passports while their managers are in charge of their tickets. She finds Hyemi’s before giving it to her.
“Sunyoung should have all our tickets,” she says to her, before Hyemi is off to get her ticket.
Min hums as she gathers the rest of their passports, opening each one and getting up to give it to the right member. Almost immediately, Jiwool latches onto her arm and Min laughs.
“Remember the last time we were doing this?” Jiwool asks, tugging her along to fall in line. Min can’t help but look over her shoulder and make sure all of their belongings are collected and nothing is left behind. “We were rushing and tired and trying to make a secret appearance.”
Min laughs as Jiwool whispers the last couple words. “Yes, I remember,” she says, receiving her ticket from Sunyoung and comparing her seat with Jiwool’s to see where they’re located. They’re on opposite sides of each other and they frown, immediately looking over their shoulder to Suhwan and Sookhyun to see where their seats are.
“Leaders are sitting together,” Jaesun pipes up from behind them. “The rest, I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s helpful,” Min comments in return, smiling as Jiwool lets go of her and shows her ticket to the lady first.
It takes about fifteen minutes until they’re walking through the aisle in the plane, trying to find their seats near the back. They’re scattered about, paired off with Sunyoung sitting by herself, and they quickly settle themselves before the plane is filled and they take off.
Min takes the chance to do a quick run-through of their schedules for the upcoming days. She takes out the small stack of papers folded in her bag and sighs, staring down at what’s to come. Next to her, Jaesun is getting comfortable and she lets him be.
They have filming tomorrow for a makeshift video for Light, with a scheduled ‘spontaneous’ self-camera filming in-between the regular filming, which she still doesn’t know what it’s for, but the self-camera should be fun and will be uploaded to their YouTube channel as part of their debut promotion. The next day should be more relaxed, with only an interview with Sina and another magazine shoot to do, so she’s really hoping they’re going to have some time to maybe get some good home-based snacks or meals to eat before rehearsals and the performance for the Korea-China Song Festival.
“Hey, so,” Jaesun suddenly says, messing with his ear buds before putting one in his ear. He switches languages, trying to practice his Mandarin more, which Min appreciates. “Hello, everyone.”
“Good,” Min answers in Chinese, trying to see how far Jaesun can converse with her. “How are you today?”
“We are fine. Thank you.” Min laughs when Jaesun keeps nodding and smiling. “What is that?”
Min tilts the pages over to him, lets him try and read off of it because it’s in Chinese characters. Honestly, he and the rest of Night Circus have been trying to learn the language as efficiently as possible and she hums in encouragement when she hears him try to say all the words he can read.
“If this whole overseas trip goes smoothly,” Jaesun suddenly says, leaning back over in his seat. He’s looking around them, probably seeing how the rest of their group is doing, before he’s staring back at her with a bright smile on his face. “How about you be the official leader from now on?”
At the words, Min gapes at him. “What?” she murmurs, still stuck in Mandarin, before she shakes herself out of it and shoves him on the shoulder, switching back to Korean. “Wait, I agreed to becoming the leader for this trip only on the basis we get to eat anything we want tomorrow.”
“And that,” Jaesun says, with a pat to her shoulder, “is a noble sacrifice.”
By the time they land and arrive, it’s close to two in the morning, well, Min thinks so anyways. Maybe it’s closer to three in the morning. She’s always been confused with time zones and time differences and she has to make sure they arrive to the right hotel and make sure they get the correct rooms and enough towels and beds to house all of them. They’re not in the most fancy hotel but it’s pretty wonderful and she sighs when she gets a room all to herself. The bed is soft and the room is small but it’s all she needs. It’s all she’s used to.
She turns as she stares up at the ceiling. She really needs to order some dinner or snacks for the rest of her group, but her managers told them all to settle in and sleep if they would rather skip dinner instead. And really, it’s been a while since she’s been back. She doesn’t know if the same places near this hotel are still there and open at this time. It’s probably only the convenience store at this rate.
She grabs her phone from her pocket, finally taking it off of airplane mode, and watches as messages come in. She waits for it to stop lighting up before she unlocks her phone and searches for her friend’s name to call.
“You got in late” comes Lu Han’s greeting. He sounds tired, maybe a little out of breath. “Settled into your hotel room now, rookie? Or are you still out?”
“You’re so rude,” Min laughs back, caught off-guard. “For your information, I’m trying to figure out food.” She waits to hear his hum before she continues. “We’re in the Park Plaza hotel. I remember seeing a couple of restaurants near here but I doubt they’re open at this time. Are there any other places open for food?”
There’s a laugh and Min sighs, knows what’s coming. “I’m pretty sure the only places that are open at this time are convenience stores, Min. Is it just you that’s hungry or the rest of your group?”
Min actually isn’t sure. Usually by this time, Jiwool is coming over and bothering her with Hyemi in tow. “Well, I could probably use some sleep but I’m not sleepy anymore.”
“That tired, huh?”
“Yeah,” Min sighs. She closes her eyes, wondering if the emptiness in her stomach qualifies for being hungry. “Still meeting up later?”
Lu Han hums and it’s soothing to her ears. “Yeah, it’s been a while. Only if you can though.”
“I should be able to,” Min agrees, suddenly hearing a set of knocks on her door. She opens her eyes and stares at it, wondering if it’s worth seeing who it is, but then the knocks sound again and she sighs, pulling herself up from her bed. “Nobody recognizes us. There weren’t really anybody waiting for us at the airport, so it should be calm and everything.”
“Are you kidding me?” Lu Han asks, and Min is confused as she opens the door and, ah yes, Jiwool is standing there with Hyemi right beside her. Jiwool has a bright smile on her face and Hyemi looks annoyed, though she gives her a curious stare when she spots her phone to her ear. “Your concept is fun and you look like you’re enjoying yourself. I’m not going to be surprised if all of you skyrocket to fame.”
Min mouths Lu Han to them and they nod in understanding before they’re invading her room.
“Plus, I’ve seen you’re becoming a bit popular overseas.”
“What?” Min asks, eyes widening in surprise.
“Yeah, like in North America and everything. They like the co-ed deal. They say you’re cute.”
Min pauses in stopping Jiwool from rummaging through her bag, probably looking for a charger, at his words. “They think I’m cute?” she asks back, immediately catching Jiwool and Hyemi’s attention, but then there’s another knock and Hyemi goes to answer it. “My image isn’t supposed to be cute.”
Lu Han scoffs. “Have you seen you? You’re as cute as Minseok. Um.”
“Han?” Min calls, looking over her shoulder to see Jaesun and Suhwan entering her room too. She rolls her eyes at them, knowing Seungheon and Sookhyun are just going to follow soon.
“What is your image supposed to be?”
Min frowns. “I don’t know. I just know it’s not supposed to be cute.” She watches as Hyemi opens the door again and, yes, there is the rest of her group. She sighs exasperatedly, listening as the noise in her room increases with every second that passes. “I have to go. I think everybody wants food at this point.” She blanches when her phone is suddenly taken away from her, looking over to see Jaesun putting her phone up to his ear.
“Hey, we’re hungry,” he says, without so much as a proper greeting. “Recommend us something good since Min has taken it upon herself to starve the rest of us.”
“Hey!” Min shouts, trying to wrestle her phone away from him. It doesn’t work though, considering height differences and all. “I am not starving you.”
Arms suddenly wrap themselves around her waist and she looks over her shoulder to see Sookhyun smiling down at her before placing his chin on her shoulder. He has to hunch forward a little bit but it’s not an unwelcome weight. Min groans as he keeps her in place, Jiwool laughing as she takes the phone away from Jaesun to speak into it next.
“Hey, who’s ‘they’ unnie was talking about earlier?”
There’s amused laughter and unrelated conversations going on around them and Jiwool smiles at her friends when Jaesun lightly pushes her in retaliation.
“North America,” Lu Han repeats in Korean, now sounding very amused. “Something keeping Min?”
“North America?” Jiwool echoes, confused, before she’s looking to Min who shrugs in response, Sookhyun still attached to her to keep her in place. “North America thinks Min-unnie is cute?”
“Overseas likes the idea of your group.”
“Really?”
Lu Han hums. “I told Jaesun of some places to eat around this time. It’s mostly pizza, but it’s food. Right? I’ll talk to you later. I have an early day.”
Within minutes, Jiwool and Lu Han are hanging up and she’s staring at the rest of her group shocked. She isn’t sure what she expected when she debuted in a co-ed group, but being popular overseas really isn’t it. They’ve been instructed and demanded to refuse opening up Pann or any other sites like that, for more of a psyche preservation or whatever, so hearing it from Lu Han was something else entirely. She frowns then, looking to Min next. “I thought almost everything related to social media is banned in Beijing.”
In front of her, Min shrugs again, tries to turn with Sookhyun letting her. “We’ve found ways around it before.”
Well, Jiwool has some news for the rest of the group.
Pizza is a gift from the gods and Suhwan groans in delight as he takes another slice and fills his stomach with it. It’s getting close to four-thirty in the morning and they should all be sleeping, but food is a wonderful necessity even if Min’s already fallen asleep, half-draped across Seungheon. Even Hyemi is already falling asleep on Min’s bed.
“So,” Jaesun says quietly, catching the rest of their attentions. Hyemi hums sleepily, dragging herself to the end of the bed to where she can rest her head near Sookhyun, sitting on the floor with his back against the mattress. “I know it’s late, but we need to be up by eight in the morning. We need to be prepared for when we film our Light music video and we need to be able to pronounce all the words to the Mandarin version. Our debut song in Korea was a simple practice video, but Panny-noona says this will be nice for our, uh, I don’t know, I guess our Chinese debut.”
Suhwan hums as he continues to eat, trying to listen attentively to him. He looks over to Min again, where Seungheon has shifted to try and make her more comfortable. She didn’t eat more than one slice.
“It’s not really going to be a big debut,” Jaesun elaborates with a shrug, looking at his own papers that are in Korean instead of Chinese. “I think she just wanted to get some songs into the Chinese market. See how that goes.” He looks to Jiwool next, who’s sitting next to Suhwan and drinking her water. “But apparently, our debut is going well overseas. So, after filming that, we get to have some fun with filming whatever we want that we’re going to post on our YouTube page when we get back to Korea.”
“That sounds like fun,” Seungheon comments, finishing off his vegetable pizza. “We get to explore Beijing for the first time before the big rehearsal and show.”
“Yeah,” Jaesun adds, nodding. “So, after we’re done eating and washing up, it’s time for sleep.”
Suhwan hums again, jolting when Sookhyun reaches over and pokes his side. “What?” he asks, looking to the other who only gives him an amused smile.
“Don’t eat too much,” Sookhyun reminds him.
Suhwan nods obediently, because he’s found out the hard way that he can’t eat as much pizza as he used to. It causes his face to swell overnight if he eats it for dinner and he can’t really have that. It takes at least half the day for the swelling to go down.
“Okay,” Sookhyun says slowly, before he’s reaching over and taking one of the last pieces. “Because I’m gonna eat another slice.”
“Hey!” Suhwan gapes at him before he pouts. “Fine. It’s good.”
Sookhyun nods in agreement before the rest are talking about something else, something that sounds like more schedules, and Suhwan has to smile when they all end up falling asleep somewhere in Min’s room. He pretends to not notice when their managers visit them in the morning and gives them fond smiles like his mother does when she caught him sleeping in his desk at home. Though, he does wince when each of them get scolded for their actions and choice of food.
co-author’s note: uh, so. plans are changing and night circus will be having a chinese debut soon? while in china? doing this concert thing? there is actually a legitimate reason how they're able to attend this concert, but it won't be revealed yet ;u; in the meantime, this isn't really beta'd and idk if this is what you've been waiting for but, uh, yes i'm trying i'm sorry ;;
question of the day: happy new year cries ;u; this chapter was written five different ways so i'm sorry it's probably subpar but the next chapter/couple of chapters will be night circus... exploring... beijing??? idk i'm sorry ;;
updated: 17 january 2017
question of the day: happy new year cries ;u; this chapter was written five different ways so i'm sorry it's probably subpar but the next chapter/couple of chapters will be night circus... exploring... beijing??? idk i'm sorry ;;
updated: 17 january 2017
created by -catalyst
〈 ♞ 〉i swear i'm going to spam this entire story with new chapters by september/october! ( 1 aug 2017 )
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