CHAPTER SEVEN

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“Why would he want to see me today? Can’t he wait for tomorrow’s meeting?” Shinyoung mumbled before she returns the phone to its former spot beside her pillow. Letting out a sigh, she pushes her body off and her bed hair falls gently on her shoulders. Glad to know her decision to keep her hair in a shoulder-length comes in handy. She cannot be bothered waking up to her long hair sticking out in unwanted directions.

Swing by the kitchen, the girl finds a jug of tea. As it is still warm, she supposed Soonyoung just left the apartment minutes ago before she is even awakened by Seungcheol who conveniently leaving two miss calls and texts. Taking advantage of the prepared drink, Shinyoung immediately gets ready and packs all the needed stuff to carry on the rest of Friday.

It is not often to see her within the campus ground, clutching onto the straps of her bag pack and eyes wandering a suitable stop to meet up with Director Choi. It sounds strange for her to think about calling him that. Though he is older than her by a year, experience-wise she has a lot more to offer but it has come to a realisation that without the older fellow, Rose Quartz and Serenity Production will done for.

Twelve o’clock strikes and as if on cue, students begin to file out of their designated classes. Most of them appear worn out and it is only half of the day passing by. It must be one tiring class and her assumption is right when she catches Junhui’s recognisable figure passing by, his upper torso is slouching to further emphasising the tiredness. Their eyes meet with minimum effort. “What class was it?” She asked once he plops his bottom on the bench the girl had claimed minutes ago.

It is quite a surprise to see the two actually make a conversation outside their few shared classes. Though in reality, if there is one boy from Theatre Production, Junhui is by far the one she is most comfortable talking to as they worked together for assignments and productions alike. Being in their third year however have somewhat parted them slightly as they only share one class together and even in those Junhui is seated far from her.

“Directing II. It is all theory today and I don’t know if I can handle it if Mr Seo decides to extend the class till late afternoon.” He complained as his hand rubs the side of his head to ease the mental pain before eyeing at her weirdly. “Sceno kids don’t have class on Fridays. What are you doing here?”

“Seungcheol.” One name is apparently enough for the other to understand what is about to happen though technically speaking, he has zero ideas regarding context-wise. A production meeting scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays so why the older male would want to meet up with her all of the sudden? By logic, he should know since he is the one in charge of most of the group meetings.

“So you’re saying Seungcheol doesn’t inform you about meeting up with me too? I guess it’s not that important if that is the case.”

“Maybe. Anyway, I should go first. I still need to finalise the practice schedules. It will start next week.”

“Wow, you guys are very quick.”

“Yeah,” Junhui shortly answered with a shrug. “Wonwoo thought that will be the best since our lead male is not exactly someone with on-stage acting experience. At least, the lead female is. I was so glad to see her walk through that door.” He pats on the girl’s arm, smiling. Before he officially bids his goodbye, he faces forward only to call a name.

“Oh, Myungho!” The boy’s head turns and a small smile appears on the younger fellow’s face. Junhui is waving his hand frantically, centralising a lot of attention on them but it does not last long so it is alright. Nearing the two after telling his friend goodbye, he speaks, “Didn’t expect to see you at this kind of time, to be honest.”

“I’m about to leave actually. I just want to say congratulation on landing the lead role.” Junhui repeats the same action, slapping on Minghao’s arm lightly and hears the other utters a shy thank you. “Also, this is-”

“Shinyoung, I know. She takes Cinematography as her minor course.” He instantly replied as the smile plastered on his widens. “We’re going to discuss the presentation later, right?” Minghao switches his attention to the girl which she nods.

“So that is settled. But why are you here? It’s still early.”

“I’m meeting up with Seungcheol. Speaking of Cheol…” Shinyoung dramatically rolls her eyes and the two males in front of her crane their heads back where the Theatre Director jogs over to their direction.

“It’s a nice weather to meet up, isn’t it?” Seungcheol hollered when he is a couple of metres away from them. Once he joins the circle, he finally recognises the one out of three fellows that stands out than the other two. “Myungho is here too. Did you gather them here or-”

“Nah, I’m going to leave for real. See you guys tomorrow.” Junhui shakes his shoulders and steps out of the group almost instantly. Since he does not hear the older boy telling him to stay, he guesses he does have to stay out of the discussion. He is not supposed to be there anyway. Yet he senses urgency when he briefly checks them talking with the girl’s expression showing confusion and…anger?

“I know that isn’t the best stage design and still on the working phase but he doesn’t have to go out his way and tell me to scrap it when he agreed on it! I already ordered some of the materials for goodness sake!” Shinyoung loudly spoke and her hands are all over the place to further gesture her emotions if Seungcheol is not able to pick it up.

“He didn’t entirely tell you to scrap the whole design. He just wants you to switch the building to something else since he tweaked a couple of things on the script.” The Director informed calmly or attempts to do so. To say he is not scared of the situation is a complete lie. He heard numerous rumours regarding this situation so he is a tad prepared. “Sorry.”

Shinyoung runs her fingers through her hair, feeling as if the strands are beginning to bug her at the moment before she takes a couple of breath in and out to return to her saint self. From the corner of her eyes, something in her mind shaken upon remembering she is not alone with Seungcheol at the moment. And it is a good thing because…

“Fine. If that what makes Jeon freaking Wonwoo satisfied.” She uttered in annoyance, snatching the paper that is in Seungcheol’s hand. If swearing is an option, she would have done it sooner. “Sorry for bothering you though. I talked to Wonwoo about this plenty of times but what he said has some truth in it. I can’t help but to agree to him as well.”

“That’s what he’s good at anyway.” She sits back on the bench and realises she had been standing when she has fired up a moment ago. Quite shocked at herself to be honest. Putting up a tiny smile, she laughs a little. It is almost nonexistent but let’s not over analyzes her mood. Her sentence however caught Minghao’s attention.

‘What does she means by that?’

“Anyway, sorry for yelling at you. That is very disrespectful of me.” The girl stated sincerely and looks up at the Director apologetically. “It’s alright. I would be pissed if I am you too. I don’t know what happened to you two before but don’t let that disturb the harmony of the new RQS Production.” Seungcheol mentioned the lines before throwing a glance and smiling at Minghao who is clearly puzzled at whatever they are talking about. And it is not even because the language makes him not able to catch up.

“Hey, do you have the key to the performance hall, by any chance? Like, right now?” Shinyoung asked Seungcheol and sees him shaking his head, denying. “I don’t. But I do have the studio’s key. You can take the key there. Why?”

“I’m going to swing by the hall later to recheck stuff if I have to reconstruct whatever Wonwoo puts up, obviously. I did say I’m going to make sure the things I design and make safe and secure.”

“That is the end of today’s meeting. I’m glad you guys are able to nail this down earlier than expected.” Jungkook claps happily and smiles are on their two Theatre friends who mere shaking their heads. “You should put more trust in us then, Kook,” Mingyu replied whilst tossing his stationeries and papers into his bag. The others follow as well before they stand up almost in synchronise off the picnic table.

“Mingyu, are you busy after this?” Shinyoung quickly asked but she somewhat already expected the answer when she sees the tall fellow walking ahead of them already. “I’m heading downtown to survey the clothes for the play. I’m planning to find it quick because if I can’t find them, I might as well make them. No time is wasted that way, you know? Why?”

“I’m going to the performance hall. So I kind of need an extra hand-”

“I can go with you if you want.” Minghao cuts off which makes the rest of them turns their head to him, Jungkook included even if he is not a part of the conversation. Well, he is now. “Didn’t you say you wanted to do your assignment? You know, the one from Screen Editing class?”

“I still have four days until then. I have like thirty-five seconds of editing left anyway.”

“Model student Seo Myungho is on the run again.” His friend jokingly said as he points at the mentioned boy with his index finger. Jungkook has a thing with unnecessary exaggeration. That causes the male to roll his eyes and the only female in the group to laugh lightly at the banter.

“I’m leaving.” Shinyoung decided to finally have a say in between the friendly talk and takes the same path Mingyu walked on a minute before. Exchanging looks, Minghao starts to jog over to the girl’s spot before copying her walking pace. Seeing that he actually wants to tag along, Shinyoung bobs her head in approval.

“Are you going to wait there or are you do you want to follow?” She immediately asked as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the production studio. The exact same one he remembered passing by nights before. To answer her question, he makes his steps forward and enters the vicinity.

It is spacious and empty. Echoes of footsteps fill the entire hall once the two friends enter the building upon unlocking the main door and followed by a set of a massive double door leading to the centre of attraction of all – the performance stage. There is barely anything to see initially since it is quite dark and there is minimal lights trickle through the small openings from the second level.

This is the place where I will be standing and recite my lines, Minghao ponders silently while eyeing on the stage in front of him. To him, it is relatively huge. The wide proscenium extends even beyond the tucked red curtains which are there for mere looks. In the two sides of the stage are staircases leading to the wings of the stage and goes as far towards the backstage where he is very keen to check out that instant but he will soon.

“Can you help me with this, Myungho?” Shinyoung gestures for the boy to come up. It is only then he realises she has been standing there for a good five minutes.

Her right arm is placed on the side as she looks up and around the stage. She already knows how large the space is given to her even before she officially becoming the Scenographer for Night & Rain. Occupying her left hand however is any Artistic Director’s friend, measuring tape. It feels a bit strange to hold it as it is one of the least used apparatus within her grasps throughout the years of joining RQS Production.

Minghao immediately holds onto the one end of the tape before he follows Shinyoung’s distancing figure. Working with one hand, she takes out her phone and punches the needed numbers to add on the notes she already has. The younger easily catches the sight of the older mumbling, probably talking to herself as a form of remembering whatever she has to and he is really curious about what is running in her mind at a time like this.

“I guess instead of making an actual building with a working interior, recreating an outside façade of the building with emergency stairs leading down is good too. I’ll need to hide the scaffolding behind the façade then.” She said aloud before looking up from her phone to get a glimpse at the boy. “What do you think?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Minghao straightforwardly answered and Shinyoung’s eyes break contact from his. A smile appears on her face. “Of course you don’t but it’s you who will have to jump off from way up there.” She points up which she is trying to visualise him standing above stage ground. She hopes he is not afraid of heights.

“They’re serious about that huh?”

“Wonwoo has always been a serious one. Crazy if chances are given. It’s not his work without insane fighting scene and character death.” She informed him and she can sense the fellow has chills running down his spine as soon as she said it. “But people find it fascinating. It is a part of human nature to view cruelty. My guess it’s his for his thesis for Directed Studies next semester.”

“Who is this Wonwoo you guys talked about anyway? I mean, I know that he’s the writer for the play but who is he?” After releasing the measuring tape (unconsciously one might add), he jolts in surprise when she lets go of the object which falls on the wooden floor with a loud thud. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to-”

Shinyoung leans down to fetch the tape before chucking it back into her bag pack. “I know. That’s why I let it go. You will never know how sharp the sides can be.” She stated as matter-of-factly and shrugs. “About Wonwoo, you’ll know eventually. We are not exactly…good friends. We’re not even friends, to begin with. That is a story for another day.”

“Of course,” Minghao softly made his reply before continuing, “So…I know it’s not my part to be curious but I can help but to notice you seem very quiet in class. Why is that?”

“I’m not very good at making and keeping a big group conversation. I don’t know if you catch it but I’m more comfortable talking in smaller groups. That’s why I feel more welcome working in the technical department compared to set and props or the admin side of RQS.”

“Technical meaning the lighting team, right? I can see you know a lot on that part, unlike Mingyu. I guess even you guys have specific fields. You’ve been doing it for three years after all.”

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that one particular senior though. He taught me a lot which sparks interest up to this day.” Shinyoung uttered. A piece of memory beginning to cloud her mind as the two of them decided to sit on the edge of the stage before Minghao put up a smile, happy to listen to whatever story she is about to tell.

 MEET THE CREW