Call Me, Baby!

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

Paulo Coelho

          May 2020

Lee Jonghyun wanted to punch the front wall of CNBLUE‘s waiting room. He was so very mad that he had not been able to reach his wife again after trying to talk to her personally for over a week. But if he was being honest, more than anything else, he was worried as hell about Seungyeon now. Nothing made sense to him anymore and he just wanted this world tour to end quickly so he could finally go home and check on her himself.

„Hyung, did you not reach Sister in law again?“ Jungshin asked when Jonghyun came back to the stage where the rest of the members and the CNBLUE staff were collecting the instruments. The previous concert was their last schedule for the States. After just one more gig they would eventually be heading back to South Korea to play their final concert in Seoul, according to the band’s tradition.

„No“ He sighed. „I couldn’t reach Jungyeon-ah either and I don’t want the rest of her family to worry and come all the way from Suwon to check on my wife - the one woman I am supposed to take care of.“

„She texted you she was alright though, Hyung. It’s not like you didn’t hear anything from her at all.“ Minhyuk tried logic but Junghyun’s death stare made him go back to silence right away.

He understood the older one in a way altough he didn’t want to look at things as negatively yet. If it was him he wouldn’t have been able to shake things off that easily too though. He had to admit that. It wasn’t like Seungyeon not to call at all and even with heavy schedule she would usually make time to answer Jonghyun. Leaving only a few messages during a whole week didn't seem like her... Even Minhyuk felt that something was definitely off.

„Jungyeon-ah is not in Seoul right now. I think they are having some schedule in Japan this week…“ Jungshin threw in while typing something on his phone.

„How do you…“ But Jonghyun decided not to ask any further when he saw that Jungshin was already checking his phone. Beside all of s being friends with his sister in law, Jungyeon's schedule would be all over the internet too. It wasn’t all that hard to keep track on a celebrity, especially since TWICE had become quite famous over the last few years.  

„Couldn’t Jong Suk Hyung know what’s up with Sister in law? I mean since they are both playing the lead…“ Minhyuk thought loudly.

„I texted him too. No reply. They should have wrapped up their last schedule by now. Why the heck is he not answering his damn phone?!“ Jonghyun stated agitated and his teeth made a grinding sound. „That jerk better not be doing anything he could possibly regret later!“

„That’s it. We are done playing CSI here. I will just call Shinhye-ah and tell her to check on your wife.“ The CNBLUE leader finally stated after looking at the extremely worried husband for a long moment.  

Yonghwa sighed. Strangely he seemed just as annoyed with the situation as Jonghyun was. He handed his brother a cold bottle of water to cool down his temper before sharing what he had been keeping from him these last few days.

„I wasn’t supposed to say anything to you, because your wife especially asked for this favour and I thought she wanted to let you know herself. However, if I had known that she was not going to call you at all I wouldn’t have promised…“ Yonghwa started spilling what he knew.

He really wondered what was running through Seungyeon’s mind right now, not to mention his own wife’s too, because Shinhye also insisted that he should really keep his Sister in law's fainting earlier to himself as well. Women could be crazy sometimes. Now he had to explain to Jonghyun what had happened. His younger brother would definitely want to break his neck right after what he was about to hear next. Being a leader and taking care of his younger brothers was sometimes no fun at all.

“Please stay calm once you hear this.” Yonghwa reminded his vice leader again, although he didn’t believe that it would be of much help. “Sister in law has been sick lately. She needed to go to hospital last week. Apparently she fainted due to exhaustion.“

For a second it got ghostly quiet on stage. It was as if the staff and the rest of the CNBLUE members were holding their breath while waiting for Jonghyun to process the news.

Minhyuk observed his older brother in fear, since he could clearly notice Jonghyun’s anger gauge rising higher than he had ever seen before. Jungshin, the experienced veteran victim, was hastily typing something on his phone and Yonghwa was obviously preparing himself for battle. Everyone around Jonghyun expected him to scream at his Hyung but instead his voice became deadly silent.

“Follow me” That was all Jonghyun said. It didn’t take the others long to realize that this was even scarier than shouting though.

“No I won’t.” Yonghwa replied firmly. “Do I look like a Dongsaeng to you that you can order around? I didn’t ask to be involved in this. Your wife basically begged me not to say anything. I explained already why I waited so long to tell you. I am very sorry this happened, but please understand that this situation wasn’t exactly my greatest dream either.”

Yonghwa knew that things would get out of control if he gave in now. He needed Jonghyun to see that he was sorry but it was also important to stand his ground as the leader and Hyung in the group.

Although Jonghyun could be scary while being angry, Yonghwa knew how to handle his brother. Backing down seemed to be the best choice for the Dongsaengs, but it was no option for him. Yonghwa might looked like a leaned back leader to others and he certainly was most of the time. But there was also a reason why none of the guys had ever questioned his position within the team. He just hoped that they could handle this calmly. Fighting with Jonghyun after a months long world tour that was successfully about to end was the last thing on his mind right now.

“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!” Jonghyun’s temper broke loose at last. “You know that I’ve been trying to reach Seungyeon-ah for days now and you didn’t care to tell me? Imagine something like this happened to Shinhye! Should I not tell you anything at all either?”

“Yah, it was your wife who asked me to be quiet. I thought she wanted to let you know herself rather than me telling you the version Shinhye-yah passed on to me. Besides, she wanted me not to mention it to you so you could concentrate on work for our last concerts. She said she did not want you to come home early and we both know you would have not been able to sit still. I'm not saying it's a bad thing but she didn't want you to leave work. I was kind of at a loss, too” Yonghwa tried to reason with his brother once again.