Sunday’s schedule with the Musketeers has come to an end and Hannah is heading to the studio. Carolina has been working on some songs and has managed to get the studio for today, so the ladies have all been recording during the day and lastly, it is Hannah’s turn.

With all members of 5 Pieces being back in Seoul this weekend, she still hasn’t seen Emelia and Maria. When she was working yesterday, the other ladies were having a big dinner with Manager Lim and his wife, because neither Maria nor Emelia has seen him other than through online chatrooms during their time abroad and they had this dinner planned for two weeks just to make sure they get to see him as soon as possible. Hannah wanted to be there too, missing her two friends even more because they are in the same city but they haven’t seen each other. She wants to see them.

Carolina is sitting in producer-mode on in the studio. She turns around with a huge smile on her face when Hannah comes inside and before Hannah knows, Carolina is hugging her tightly. There are other staff members in the room, a few cameras too that Hannah had been warned about beforehand. Carolina has been filming during the day, wanting to film 5 Pieces’ first recording for the summer, to capture it whether it is for personal enjoyment or if she wants to share it with fans one day.

“How’s it going?” Hannah asks.

Though she has worked during the day and is still in her makeup, Hannah is hiding behind a mask. Other than just hiding from the cameras, she is wearing it because of her cold. She is wearing a large grey t-shirt and a pair of ripped light blue jeans, her hair is in a messy braid down her back and the bag on her shoulder is put in the sofa while she greets the staff. Carolina is answering her question, saying what she is working on and going back to take her seat by the computer screen to keep working while telling Hannah what she is up to. The co-producer is sitting next to her, quietly working on his own things of the song. Manager Lee has sneaked inside the room too, putting down some drinks for everyone on the table.

Hannah takes a seat in the sofa while they are finishing up what they were doing. She watches her friend work while chatting with the others in the studio. Carolina is wearing a white blouse with flowers on it, very summer-like, a pair of shorts and thick socks that she uses as indoor shoes in the studio. Hannah had completely forgotten about those socks. It’s a new pair, but Hannah hasn’t seen it for such a long that she forgot that Carolina loves to wear socks instead of shoes when she is in the studio. It makes her relax, Carolina had once said. She looks cuter dressed like this, though her face is completely professional as she is discussing parts and more with the staff about the song.

While sitting in the sofa, Hannah is warming up her voice and going through the lyrics on the paper she has.

“If you wait a bit longer, you can get to hear the other’s parts and then we’ll just have to fill out your parts,” Carolina is explaining without looking away from the screen though she has turned the body a bit out so she is ready to look at Hannah.

“A bit longer is like three hours for you, though,” Hannah comments and she smiles behind her mask as the staff laughs.

Carolina is thorough and a perfectionist, and she doesn’t feel bad for it either. She just focuses on the work and the staff that is not working on the song are talking to Hannah and Manager Lee. From time to time for about an hour, Carolina talks to Hannah too, wanting her opinion on something or boasting about how good a certain thing is and such. As the hour goes on, Hannah’s energy is going down. Jonghyun’s concert has ended for this weekend and he is now at home packing as he is going to Jeju Island tomorrow. The agency has a workshop there, so some of the artists under the agency are going. Hannah is not going; Carolina and Maria are.

Manager Lee and two of the staff members are having their own discussion on the side. Hannah only gets interested when hearing her name being said and she asks what they are talking about.

“She doesn’t know about it,” Manager Lee tells the staff.

“Julia is having increased security this upcoming week,” the staff member says and Hannah frowns.

“What’s that about? Why?” she asks.

“Because this crazy fan was outside the house the other day, and it was insane, you see, because when Julia came out to go to practice – this was like early in the morning – and the fan popped up from outside the door-”

“On the yard or out on the street?” Hannah interrupts, imagining the scene in front of her.

“On the street. And the fan was really intense asking if she can drive her to work that day and wanting to take her out on lunch and… it was really creepy, yes?”

The staff are nodding, saying Julia told them earlier when she was here. Hannah is gaping when listening to it, shocked both that such a thing happened and also that Julia hasn’t told her about it. Manager Kim had showed up just in time but it was still just one manager and one stylist. Continuing to talk, two bodyguards are going to come with Julia from now on and her solo comeback is this week too so there will be a lot of work going on. After talking about how scary it must’ve been for Julia to have someone wait outside the house, Manager Lee says the agency is talking about doing the same for the other members.

Hannah spaces out when he takes it up. “Wait… you mean I will have bodyguards too?” she asks. It’s not that 5 Pieces are unused to have security, it’s basic when they are abroad working or at airports, fan-signings and such, but this is talk about having security around you as soon as you step outside.

“This is why I haven’t brought it up yet,” Manager Lee mentions with a finger pointing at Hannah. “I had planned to go through it with you tomorrow, step by step, because you don’t like these kinds of things.”

“No, it’s not about that. It’s just … do we need security when we’re going out on lunch or what? Is it that extreme?”

“We’re having our own security team come to Jeju too,” Carolina joins in, spinning around in her chair. “Though it’s just me and Maria going, we have our own security team.”

“Isn’t that too much?” Hannah grimaces. “I mean, you’ll be surrounded by people the whole time you’ll be there, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s civilians enjoying the workshop,” Manager Lee explains to her. Carolina is nodding.

One of the staff members adds; “I get what Hannah says, but at the same time, you’re 5 Pieces.”

“In Seoul,” Hannah adds with her eyebrows raised. Manager Lee shakes his head, knowing she sees South Korea as their home, the same as when they go to Japan – no need for big security because fans there know how to behave. He finds it silly.

“The security at your fan-signings are a lot too though,” another staff member points out to her and Hannah is grimacing at it. Sure, there was a lot of security at the fan-signings this past week but she thought it was because there are four individual celebrities being there; the Musketeers.

Hannah stops joining the discussion, shutting down to text Julia instead, wanting to hear it from her directly and talk about it. When did it happen, how did it happen, how does Julia feel about it, is she nervous it will happen again – those kinds of questions. Julia is quick to answer, saying she is relaxing at home before she is having her comeback week starting tomorrow, and gladly starts to write about what happened without Hannah writing much more than ‘what happened’ and ‘are you okay’. Once you give Julia a subject, she gladly talks about it. So Hannah is talking to her while waiting to start recording, the others talking more but after a few minutes, Carolina turns back to working instead of talking.

It’s more one and a half hour since Hannah arrived when they start listening to the song. Hannah is staring out in nowhere when the song is played, hearing the ladies’ voices singing, Emelia’s really good rap and listening to the few empty parts that are for Hannah.

They listen to it again with a lower volume and Carolina is going through Hannah’s parts with her to let Hannah know how Carolina wants it to sound like. Thanks to have the other members already being done with their parts, it is easy to do the finishing parts. Getting up on her feet, Hannah warms up and takes off the mask to drink some honey tea. She smiles when someone comments that she looks like she is going on a run because she is stretching her back in the midst of it all too. Carolina keeps giving Hannah directives when Hannah gets inside the booth, full producer-mode.

Two words on the first line and Carolina stops the recording, telling Hannah to change it right away. Then they do the whole part and repeats it several of times, Carolina saying ‘one more time’ or ‘do it like this instead’.

“I like that deep tone you take,” the co-producer compliments when Hannah comes out from the booth after they finally are done with two of the parts.

“It’s easier to take the deep tones today,” Hannah says, a bit like a joke because she has a cold.

Carolina holds out her arms, wanting a hug from Hannah which she gets once Hannah has put on the mask again. “It’s sad that you’re sick but you did well,” Carolina tells her when they hug and Hannah mutters that Carolina is a difficult producer to please.

“You’re the fourth singer to say that today,” a staff member comment and they all burst out laughing when understanding it is the other members of 5 Pieces that have said the same thing as Hannah about Carolina.

“I just want the best result,” Carolina explains.

Hannah stays standing when they listen through what they just recorded and as soon as they have listened, she is heading back inside the booth as she knows what part she wants to change and Carolina is luckily saying the exact same thing.

Heading home after the recording, Hannah and Manager Lee are talking most of the drive about the security.

Hannah talks to Jonghyun about it too when she comes home, sitting on the bed. He has lied down already but she is too caught into the discussion that she doesn’t go wash up and change until they are talking about Jeju Island. Jonghyun agrees with Manager Lee and the others; good security is needed if there are strangers coming onto private space like what happened with Julia, though he agrees with Hannah too that it happened one time with Julia so why does all the members need more security for that reason. He doesn’t think she should make a big deal out of it, telling her to just listen to her manager and go with the flow.

With a groan, she lies down in the bed, crawling in under the warm duvet and looks at her husband who is telling her of what he thinks they will do at the workshop. He will be away for three days, bringing that up while watching her face with a smile.

“Yes, I’ll miss you,” Hannah sighs and hugs on to the pillow under her head to hide her face from him, knowing why he says that.

“I’ll text you nonstop,” Jonghyun chuckles. He holds out his hand to caress her arm.

“Whenever you say that, you text me nonstop for an hour during lunch, then it’s quiet until your schedule is done,” she tells him with a smile.

“I’ll text you nonstop during every break this time,” he says.

“I’ve got work too, you know.”

“Then you text me nonstop during every break you get. And I’ll do the same. Then I’ll call you when I go to bed, so I can hear your voice-” Jonghyun is saying while moving closer, his face moving in between her head and arms so she starts laughing. “-And you can fall asleep after hearing my soothing voice.”

He is fooling around with her and he can’t help but to laugh when Hannah is rolling away from him, her arms stuck under his head and she is laughing from what he said. Though she reminds him of her cold, he just hums her words away and playfully bites her arm.

She will miss him. But when Monday comes, her mind is on other things. Maria and Carolina are heading to Jeju Island like so many others and Hannah wishes she could’ve seen Maria before that. But, she can see Emelia, who she hasn’t seen in over two months. It feels like six months since they saw each other so she really looks forward to it. Today is an off-day. She has a phone meeting with her publisher after lunch and another phone meeting with Manager Lee, so it is an off-day from top to toe.

Dressed in a Calvin Klein set of grey shorts and a long-sleeved sweater that is a bit cropped and both parts are in thin material, she is going to the house for a day of laziness with Emelia and their pets in this summer weather. She woke up when Jonghyun was leaving, spending ten minutes together before he did leave and Hannah went back to bed just to roll around in an hour before she decided to get ready herself. Her cold is better but she still brings that delicious tea with her and some medicine and heads downstairs to the garage. She is holding on to her phone, texting with Maria who just landed in Jeju and reminds Hannah that they need to meet once Maria comes back.

It's all over the internet among their fans now. No articles have been written but fans are posting pictures from the airport and badmouthing Maria. The leader came back on Friday evening and while she did enjoy the weekend, chilling at home on Saturday and doing some recording on Sunday, she went to the airport covered with a cap and mask, hiding underneath a large jacket though she wore summer clothes underneath, and while showing she did not want to talk to anyone or really be seen, fans are complaining that she was ignoring those on the airport that had waited all morning to see them. Maria sees nothing wrong with what she did but the comments online are rude to her and that is basically what she writes to Hannah about. One or two comments among all those bad once that she reads explained that maria is as much human as the rest of us and simply explained to other fans that Maria has days when she is joking around with fans and laughing with them while there are other days when she shows she is not in the mood. Hannah thinks it is a good thing. Maria shows when she wants to be left alone by covering herself up, because it rarely happens. She usually just turns around and shouts back at fans that they are the pretty ones and thanking them for the flowers they bought to her. Just today, coming back into the spotlight after being away for a while, she still wants to be the ordinary girl who travels for work. While Maria does say she doesn’t care that people are being rude about her behaviour at the airport, she does keep writing about it.

She walks up to her car, hearing her footsteps echo in the garage. She wonders if Maria might come to one of the music programs this weekend, because Julia will have her comeback and Hannah is having her last weekend of promotions with the Musketeers. It’s gone by quickly, these few weeks promoting together. It feels like just a few days ago since they started promoting but their last week of promotions is here already.

“Is this your car?”

Almost giving a scream, Hannah spins around with a hand to her chest and she gapes at a woman standing about two meters away from her. The woman gives a smile and apologizes for scaring her and Hannah bursts out into a smile too for overreacting.

“No, I’m the one who is sorry. I was completely into other thoughts, I did not hear you,” Hannah says while taking a deep breath.

She takes a glance at the woman, an ordinary Korean woman in her twenties. Late twenties maybe, fair skin and a lot of focus on her makeup with red lips. Her hair is long brown and she is dressed in jeans shorts, t-shirt and sneakers. They both smile at each other for a few seconds before the stranger’s smile grows a bit and she takes her hand through her hair as to take it out of her face.

“I was thinking about buying a new car and this Mercedes looks charismatic, which was why I … well, I didn’t expect to scare you, I was just wondering if this is your car,” she starts to explain while moving her hands nervously, motioning to the car.

“Aah… well, yes, it’s my car,” Hannah answers and keeps smiling kindly to her. “I can recommend it if you are looking for an effortless car to drive.”

“An effortless car,” she is nodding and takes a step closer to the car. The windows are tinted so she can’t look inside though it looks like she tries to. “I’m really sorry to bother you when you seem to be going somewhere.”

“No, don’t bother,” Hannah kindly says.

“Can I take a look inside?” the woman asks, leaning away from the car at the suggestion. “It’s just that I’ve been admiring the outside and … is that bad?”

Hannah hesitates, not sure how to answer it. She opens to say something but tilts her head instead. The woman gives out a light laugh and says she doesn’t want to intrude and understands it is weird having a stranger come up like this, but that she really fell for the car and she doesn’t find any good pictures when she searches on it online. She sounds kind and while Hannah wants to give her a sight inside the car, she can’t get those words out.

“I’m sorry,” Hannah ends up saying with a slight grimace. “I can give you the address to the Mercedes store in town, if you want to take a better look and test drive?”

There is this nagging feeling inside of her, of Manager Lee getting mad if he hears her say anything about letting a stranger just look inside her car. She can imagine a lot of people getting mad of her though it isn’t a big deal. The woman looks disappointed and looks like she is going to leave with that, but then holds out her hand, about to touch Hannah.

“Can you give me the address?” the woman asks and takes back her hand without touching Hannah, going through her handbag in search for something. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

“Ah, yes,” Hannah says and simply takes out her notebook from her own bag, a pen attached to it. She opens the notebook to a blank page and the woman steps closer to see when she writes it down. “I hope you can see my handwriting, it is a bad one.”

“No, no, it’s good. It’s a bit to drive to go there, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is, but that’s Seoul,” Hannah kindly says while trying to remember the number and the woman laughs, agreeing with her. “I mean, if you search it online, you can find it easily.”

“This is very nice of you,” the woman says, smiling at Hannah who rips off the piece of paper for her. “Most people would tell a stranger to back off from looking at their car.”

“Ah, really?” Hannah laughs, giving her the address. “Well, I hope you’ll find a car you like.”

“Thank you. If I do find one, I’ll have to buy you lunch to really thank you.”

Hannah just smiles, taking a step to the driver’s seat.

It isn’t until she is driving out that she finds it a bit strange. It’s not that she expects everyone in the city to know who she is, and without makeup she expects less, but the woman was looking at her in a way that Hannah thought she recognized her, but she didn’t say anything so Hannah didn’t think about it at first. Just a strange encounter.

When reaching the house, it is Julia’s mother who lets her in. No one answers in the first house and since Hannah doesn’t have keys anymore, Julia’s mother lets her in. the dogs are running around in the yard so Hannah gladly greets them too, running a few meters before feeling exhausted.

“Where is Emelia?” Hannah asks Julia’s mother, who is lying in the grass in her underwear to get a tan.

“I haven’t seen her today. She is probably sleeping.”

Hannah goes inside the house, lowly squealing as Tiger is hugging around her feet right away. Tiger falls down on her back on the floor, begging for attention and making the neediest noises until Hannah picks her up. While hugging on to her cat, Hannah looks inside Emelia’s room. Milo is out running in the yard and Ace is sleeping on the floor in the kitchen (the floor is cool in there by the fridge), and among a mess of thin blankets on the bed, Emelia is sleeping wearing a tank top and .

“Good morning,” Hannah says, seeing her friend move around at the sound of someone in the room. “Why are you still sleeping? It’s almost lunch time.”

Emelia groans and puts a blanket over her head. “I’m still in Swedish zone – it’s barely morning there.”

“I haven’t seen you for over two months,” Hannah mentions and sits down on the bed, trying to put Tiger down but the cat wants to keep hugging.

Her friend peeks out under the blanket, moving her foot to poke Hannah’s leg. “You look sick.”

“I am sick.”

“I heard. Saw your performance on Inkigayo too,” Emelia mutters. She is moving her fingers under one of the blankets and Tiger is quick to leave Hannah’s arms to attack the moving blanket. “Appa said you went to the hospital before the weekend. But you don’t look that sick.”

“Ah, I had this sudden fever and exhaustion on Friday,” Hannah explains, “We had a lot of work and I got this cold overnight. It was strange, but nothing serious. Enough about me, how have you been? Did you enjoy these weeks?”

Emelia moves under the blankets, letting Hannah see her slightly tanned skin from being in Spain with her family for a week.

“It was rehabilitation e