-Project Friendship: Sunggyu-

Level 7

            A week has gone by since INFINITE’s first win on ‘The Show’. Despite Sunggyu saying they would meet up sometime in the week it never happened, his schedule was completely packed and with each day that passed more trophies were racked up that they also have not had the chance to celebrate. It was not terribly unbearable since they still kept in contact via messages and they even spoke to each other on call the other night when he was too spent to read and type. They chatted for three hours that night and Sunggyu had fallen to his exhaustion to the sound of her soft voice by his ear.

            Yeri felt like she seriously underestimated how tough celebrities had it, she thought Sunggyu was already plenty tired during preparations but the actual promotions were on a whole new level. In her own way she felt a little bad for him but whenever she did, she also remembered him telling her that he did it because he loved it and she knew he genuinely did. Sunggyu always surprised her when he was on a stage, the charisma he did not usually show, the raw talent exuding in his every note; he was truly born to stand on a stage.

            Plus he hardly seemed like the type to do anything he disliked, he was finicky but he was also ambitious, she could tell that he tried to live everyday without looking back and made every moment of his days count towards his aspiration. Even though she was worried for his health and maybe pitied his unbalanced work hours, she could not deny his passion when it was so glaring and so clearly honest.

            Yeri has come to realise that she greatly admired him.

            She found herself listening a lot more to his songs, as if to make up for not being able to see him in person, and she found that there was something essentially distinct about meeting him for a meal and listening to his work. She had listened to his solo albums before, she even critiqued them for Sunggyu when he had so eagerly asked for her opinions but she felt something different listening to them now. With each listen it was like she was discovering something new about him; behind the image he had built over the years and the face he puts on for everyone, instead of the idol leader of INFINITE, Kim Sunggyu she could see glimpses of the young boy Sunggyu that had loved music so much he left home to chase after his dreams.

             Sunggyu was a mesmerising person and she was completely captivated.

-

            On this hot afternoon Yeri was asked to her brother to apply for an academy. She did not mind since she had quite the free time being on break from school and she has not seen him in nearly two months, the only problem was his motivation; unlike most teenagers in high school he did not feel much pressure from his education and he had no difficulties demonstrating his carefreeness to their parents. 

            Yeri took a deep breath before entering the PC room she knew she would find him in, even though he had said he would run away from their meeting today Yeri knew full well he would not dare and she would just find him where he normally lurked about. She eventually found Yehun sitting in the cramped dark corner far from the door, even under the poor lighting his ridiculous striking blond hair was a dead giveaway amongst the other heads.

            “Can’t you make your sister’s life easier for once,” she sighed when they reached the crowded street. “Mum made me promise to have you enrolled at either JLS or YBM by the end of the day… you will be signed up, right?”

            “We’ll see…” he murmured back uninterestedly. Yeri shook her head quietly as they hailed a taxi and she gave the driver the address to the first academy, she hoped he would just mellow out and sign up (he would have to at the end of the line, even if he avoided it today) to whichever one he preferred out of the two top academies their mum picked out.

            It was no good in the end and he rejected it even after listening to the extensive speech made by the director, apparently the academy had been previously notified that they would be coming and went out of their way to prepare a proper meeting… it was just too bad her brother was not even remotely interested.

            At the end they ended up in Hapjeong at Yehun’s request for dinner before they moved onto the next academy, she wondered if that really was it or if he deliberately chose a district further away from where they had to go later on.

            “You seem to be in a good mood,” Yehun noted when he noticed his sister humming along to the same k-pop song multiple stores have been blasting from their speakers. “What song is this? I think I’ve heard it before.”

            “It’s called ‘Bad’!” Yeri smiled back. “It’s quite good, isn’t it?”

            “I didn’t know you liked k-pop… in fact I thought you looked down on it.”

            “No, I just felt a little weird about your little crush on that girl from uh… A-pink?” she thought back to the beautiful girl she had run into backstage just last week, and how exquisitely jealous he would be if he had the slightest clue. Yehun went a little red at the mention of his favourite girl group and scoffed as he walked ahead.

            Yeri grinned to herself as she followed after him, they have been walking around aimlessly for a while now and he was probably trying to buy time (which she did not mind much) but it was beginning to get tiring just walking about. She grabbed the back of her brother’s shirt and told him to make up his mind before walking any further, like she suspected he looked around idly and shrugged. She was about to scold him when she heard someone call out her name.

            “Yeri? You’re Yeri, right?”

            An older lady approached them and at first Yeri could not remember where she has seen her face before. The longer she stared at her warm smile the more familiar she seemed, and then it finally clicked in her head. “Oh! Mrs. Yeol-! I mean Mrs. Lee! It’s nice seeing you again.”

            “You too, Yeri,” thankfully Sungyeol’s mother seemed unfazed by her little fumble of words as she beamed at them both. “… Is this your brother? You two look alike.”

            “… Yeah,” Yeri smiled awkwardly at her brother, as if warning him to be polite. “This is Yehun, he’s in his last year of high school.”

            “Nice to meet you,” he bowed stiffly.

            “What a good looking family, you two could be such famous idols,” Mrs. Lee grinned at them and Yeri smiled embarrassedly. “Last year of high school… you’re probably the same age as my younger son then.”

            “1993,” Yeri piped up helpfully.

            “Ah! The same age then!” Mrs. Lee looked pleasantly surprised. Yeri was too, frankly what were the chances that her and Sungyeol were born in the same year and then their brothers were born in the same year too. “Anyways, I’m glad I ran into you Yeri, you have not come by out restaurant at all!”

            “Ah… well I’ve been busy with school and Sungyeol kept telling me not to come…”

            “Of course that boy did…” she sighed. “Don’t worry about him at all. Have you two had dinner yet? The restaurant is actually close by, I would be happy to treat you two.”

            Yeri was taken aback by the woman’s friendliness and honestly she was struggling to respond, Sungyeol had told her repeatedly to not go (though she figured he was only shy) but she was mostly undecided about accepting her kindness so easily. It was how they were brought up after all, their family had money but they lived a lot more modestly than others would expect. Yeri stepped forward when she noticed Yehun opening his mouth (no doubt about to decline and quite impolitely as well by the look on his face), beating her brother to it she accepted the offer graciously. “Yes! We didn't have any plans for dinner anyway, right Yehun?”

            “Uh… yeah,” Yehun winced at his sister’s no-nonsense expression, the one that she only showed when she seriously needed his cooperation… and even with how he behaved he could never actually turn her down. “Thanks for inviting us…”

            “Don’t worry about it, please follow me,” she turned and began walking. Yehun gave his sister a strange look before following the elder, Yeri sighed wondering what he was assuming about her relationship with Mrs. Lee. “Say Yeri, have you been watching the broadcasts?”

            “Yes! I actually went to watch the show on Monday,” Yeri walked up and walked beside Mrs. Lee when she began making conversation. “They have won virtually the whole of last week didn’t they?”

            “They did,” Mrs. Lee nodded with a proud smile. “We turn on the TV at the restaurant for every broadcast and the fans who couldn't go come and watch together.”

            “Wow… that sounds nice,” Yeri tried to imagine it and she liked the idea of the fans coming to the members’ family restaurants to support them. “How has Sungyeol been doing? I haven’t had the chance to speak to him recently.”

            “Oh, that’s sweet of you to ask… amongst group promotions he has also been cast for a drama so he has been excited for that.”

            “Really? He did not even tell me… well… Sunggyu did not tell me,” she changed her sentence when she realised that it was likelier she would have heard it from Sunggyu than Sungyeol since the one she spoke to more often was him. “You will probably speak to him before I do, tell him good luck and I’ll definitely watch his drama.”

            Mrs. Lee smiled at her straightforward words and nodded as she said she would relay the message to her son. Soon they stopped in front of a small cozy restaurant, there was a nice patio area that extended into the street and a beautiful folding glass door separated the interior. It looked very stylish and Yeri was shocked when Mrs. Lee told her Sungyeol had a lot of input in everything they saw, it just did not seem like him but then again she could tell he was quite a doting son.

            Yeri and Yehun were sat outside as Mrs. Lee insisted she ordered something for them, Yeri watched as the older lady scurried off inside and stepped around the counter where a young man stood by the cashier… on a closer look he seemed to resemble Sungyeol.

            “Noona…” Yehun caught her attention when he murmured. She looked over to him and snorted when she saw him sitting with his arms crossed with a pout. “Who were you talking about earlier? How do you know this auntie anyway?”

            “… I can’t tell you, it’s a secret,” she pretended to look at him with distrust and she nearly dropped her composure when she saw him internally panicking. They may have been two years apart but Yeri had always had a soft spot for little brother, and he knew that so it was unlike her to keep things from him (especially when it was something that seemed so trivial).

            “… Please tell me,” he said quietly as he looked her right in the eye with a cute antsy look on his face. “I would never betray your trust, noona!”

            “Okay,” she broke into laughter. “Don’t tell anyone though okay? Not even your friends or classmates.”

            “I promise!” Yehun nodded back curiously, trying to hide how he was dying to know what his precious sister has been up to. He may have acted a bit shifty since beginning high school but he still loved having his sister’s attention and he was always more than happy to hang out with her.

            “Your sister became friends with idols… well to one quite closely in particular.”

            “No way,” he sat back with a scoff. “Who is it? Is it GD?”

            “… No, not him,” Yeri almost rolled her eyes. It was probably unlikely he knew INFINITE anyway… they had a different image from what boys typically liked and she wondered if he would even react when she told him. “Do you know INFINITE?”

            “…INFINITE…’s L? Mimi likes him,” he was referring to his girlfriend and Yeri was actually quite pleased he has at least heard of them… and of course it was through L and his good looks. “… Wait you’re not friends with L, are you?!”

            “Why the shocked tone?” she laughed at his childish behaviour. “I already told you I was friends with idols… well I am kind of friends with Myungsoo? I’ve met them all and the auntie that invited us here is Sungyeol’s mum.”

            “Don’t know him.”

            “… That’s fine…” she shook her head at his snappiness. “So you don’t know any other members?”

            “… No? Well maybe I’ve heard of them through other things… I just don’t know other names.”

            “Do you know Sunggyu?”

            “… I think I may have seen him on TV… I didn’t know he was in INFINITE…”

            “Yeah… well I met him coincidentally outside my part-time job… and we somehow became friends.”

            “Eh… Sunggyu, huh…?” Yehun quieted down as he seemed to consider it, he recalled seeing him on some shows from the past and even recently he has seen him. For an idol he was quite memorable… well more so than other guests. “… Hey noona… isn’t that guy kind of flimsy?”

            “What?” Yeri giggled at his unexpected words. “Flimsy?”

            “Yeah, I don’t know… he looks kind of weak