Chapter 4

After their events at the beach, Onew, Changmin, Jonghyun, and Taemin came back to the hotel. Taemin said he had a class to teach at the studio in the hotel. Onew, Jonghyun, and Changmin went to their rooms to shower and change.

Kibum and Minho were on their way home, the two were chatting about random things, but then Minho changed the topic.

“I’m glad you got enough people to model your designs this year, Key. You and Jessica have always been the top contenders and now that you have your models, nothing can stop you.” He said happily. Kibum was still having doubts, this scenario was too perfect, something was going to wrong he knew it.

“If something like last time doesn’t happen.” Kibum muttered, he bit his lower lip when he recalled the event. Minho had to agree, if it wasn’t for the incident, then maybe Kibum would be the one with his own fashion company.

“Kibum, maybe Jessica wont do anything this time. I mean she already accomplished her goal. Why should she bother with it?” Minho said, trying to bring some hope into Kibum’s mind.

“Minho she black mailed me and then, she gave my friends, my models, a deal to work for her. Everyone except you and Taemin left me and I was immediately disqualified. Then today at the beach she hands Jonghyun her business card, why would he do all of this with me when someone who fits better with Jessica than working with me?”

Minho didn’t have to think twice about his reply, “Well because you asked him first, and he even said that he would help you. Another thing is that I don’t think Jonghyun would help Jessica if Onew and Changmin weren’t.”

Kibum sighed, “She’s persuaded others before she can do it again. Anyway, I’m off to the fabric store, see you later.” He walked off across the street before Minho had a chance to say anything more. He knew he was going to have to have a talk with Taemin, Kibum needs to get his confidence rebuilt.

Once he was out of the shower, Jonghyun dressed in some of the clothes that Onew had purchased for him, a plain white t-shirt and some grey sweatpants. He heaved a sigh as he collapsed into the comfortable love seat in his room by the window. His gaze suddenly went to the small table that was next to the loveseat, the business card that Jessica gave him was lying there, mocking him. He remembered Kibum’s face how it saddened when she showed up and the smile that he gave him when he had agreed to help him. Jonghyun got up from his place and reached for the card before tossing it away. He was about to go and sit back down when someone knocked at his door. Opening it, he came face to face with a smiling Onew, his hair was still damp from his shower. The two headed downstairs where Changmin was in the lobby waiting for them.

Once the three boys met up, they made their way to the studio, where Taemin was supposedly teaching a class. The hotel was very spacious and quite large, Jonghyun was beginning to see why the place was so luxurious. He didn’t get the opportunity to walk around since he arrived. He had to admit, he liked it, perhaps he could host a business meeting at the hotel sometime, he’d have to tell Onew about it.

When the three found the studio, Taemin was standing by the door talking with Minho. The instructor noticed the three and waved them over.

“Hi, thank you for coming Key hyung will be here soon. Come into the studio and I’ll tell you about the contest.” The younger said smiling. Minho smiled back and followed them in closing the door behind them.

“We will be using this studio as a mock cat walk so we can practice later. A lot of what we are going to do will take place either here in the studio or at Key hyung’s house.” Taemin continued to explain. Jonghyun gulped at the last part.

“H-his house?” He repeated. Taemin smiled, it was as if he knew that Jonghyun did not seem to breath right around Kibum.

“Yeah, we will be going to his house tomorrow to get measured. Today, Key hyung will bring over his entering pieces so we can choose which ones to model and we will talk about accessories and fabrics and practice a little bit of walking on the mock runway with some music of course.”  Minho explained while Taemin went to set up the music player. The three nodded taking in the information.

“So any questions while we wait for Key hyung?” Taemin asked walking back to the group. There was a small silence before Changmin spoke.

“What happened between Kibum and his other models? I know that they went to work for Jessica, but I feel like there is something missing to this story.” His question made Minho and Taemin lose their smiles and sadden. No doubt Changmin knew that Onew and Jonghyun were wondering the same thing.

“Well, when Key hyung first started doing these contests he was always excited and he decided to have us his friends be apart of it. One of the models was a boyfriend of Key hyung’s at some point, but as you can imagine when he left to work for Jessica things didn’t go well. The issue wasn’t that they left to work for Jessica. It was that Jessica bribed and blackmailed them to work for her because she didn’t have any models at the time. Only Minho and I didn’t accept her offers.” Taemin explained. The other three began to understand why this whole ordeal hurt Kibum so much.

“I was walking with Kibum earlier today and he didn’t seem convinced that he would be able to enter. Especially from what happened at the beach. I really want to ask, no, beg you guys not to betray him. He has worked very hard to get to where he is and I think he deserves to win this. Please, don’t let him down.” Minho added, he was beginning to plead by the end of his sentence.

Before the conversation could continue the studio door opened and Kibum came walking in with a portfolio book and a bag of sample fabrics that he purchased earlier that day. He looked up at his models and gulped,

“H-hi guys sorry I’m late, this stuff is a little heavy.” He was a bit out of breath. Taemin nudged Jonghyun and said,

“It looks like he could use some help, don’t you think?” Jonghyun gulped and walked over to Key and took his bag. The action surprised and confused the younger, but he smiled anyway and said,

“Thank you Jonghyun.” This made Jonghyun flush and reply, “N-no problem.” He placed Kibum’s bag on the floor by the mirrors. Kibum sat down as well and opened his portfolio.

“So, the theme for this years contest is formal or business attire for men. I came up with some ideas, but I want to make something that you guys will be comfortable wearing and modeling so please look through these designs and tell me which ones you would like to model.” Key explained pulling out a bunch of illustrations with different designs. Taemin and Minho immediately looked at the designs. Jonghyun was impressed, just watching the three boys it looked a lot like a meeting at his office. Kibum looked up momentarily and smiled,

“Come over here you guys, you need to pick a design too.” Key said inviting the other three. Onew and Changmin walked over to the group with Jonghyun following. They looked at the different designs. Jonghyun was impressed, the designs were well done. It was silent for a little while until Taemin picked up a design.

“I like this one, can I model this one Key hyung?” Taemin wondered. Kibum quickly took out a pencil and wrote down Taemin’s name on the design so he knew which one Taemin was going to model.

“Are the colors alright with you?” Kibum asked. Taemin nodded, “Yes, the colors are fine.” Kibum smiled and continued to take some notes on the design. He then placed the design back into his portfolio and looked at the others, ready to talk to them about their choices.

 Changmin picked up a design and looked at Kibum, “ would it be alright if I did this one Key?” He asked. Kibum took the design and nodded, “yes it will suit you.” He wrote down Changmin’s name onto the design and then looked at the older.

“Are the colors and accessories alright?” Kibum asked. Changmin studied the design a little more and said, “Yeah.”

Kibum nodded and continued the scribbled some more notes onto the design and put the design back into his portfolio.

                                               Minho then chose his design. Kibum nodded and wrote down his name onto the design. “Are the colors and accessories ok?” Minho studied the design and said, “over all I think it's fine, I would like to add some of my own accessories to it.” Kibum nodded and made a note of it on the design.

Kibum then looked at Jonghyun and Onew, “you two still need to choose have you decided on which one?” He asked looking at how the two were staring at the designs. Onew and Jonghyun were unsure of what to choose or what any of these designs would look like on them.

“I can help you, you know.” Kibum added.  He then looked at his designs and looked at the two boys taking some things into consideration such as their height and how muscular they are. After shuffling with some papers and designs he pulled out two that he thought would fit.

“I was going to use these designs last year, but since I didn’t enter last year I didn’t get to use them, but I think that you guys would look nice in either of these. So for Onew, how about this one, don’t let the plaid scare you, it will be a statement piece so anything you wear under it is a solid color like the turtleneck and the shoes in the illustration.” Kibum said handing Onew the design.

Onew looked over the design and smiled, “I like it do you think you could put in some accessories?” Kibum thought briefly and replied,

“Well I could do something simple, nothing to flashy. I say that because the suit itself is already such a statement, but a simple necklace, might work well. I’ll see what I can dig up.” He wrote down Onew’s name on the design and added some notes on the accessories. Then he looked at Jonghyun and nervously showed him his design.

“W-what do you think about this? Its simple, but I’m sure with your body type it’ll work well.” Key said. Jonghyun could tell that he was nervous, probably from what Jessica said out at the beach about how he was well known.

“Do I really need to have those socks and shoes?” Jonghyun asked. Kibum looked at the design and said, “well, since the design itself is simple, I thought that it could use some color and I thought that it would be a nice touch, you don’t like it?” Jonghyun gulped visibly. Kibum looked so cute with those eyes looked so big and shiny.

“N-no I like it, it’s just, I’m not used to wearing this kind of thing.” Jonghyun replied. Kibum nodded not sure if Jonghyun would be ok wearing the outfit or if he just doesn’t like it.

At this time, Onew stepped in, “He’ll wear it, Key no worries. I think he will look great in it.” Kibum smiled and wrote down Jonghyun’s name on the design as well as some extra notes.

After everything was picked and agreed on, Taemin and Minho showed Onew, Changmin, and Jonghyun how to walk on the runway. As they each went to practice, Jonghyun couldn’t help but sneak glances at Kibum who was intently watching their practicing.