BONUS CHAPTER 1/2 | Thank You For Waiting For Me

Wendy had returned.

Wendy had returned and they would release a new song together after 1 year and 8 months. It had them very anxious since they were already in their 7th year, a very fragile year for any K-pop idols. As a leader, Irene couldn’t help but to worry. She wanted to do it well and she wanted to do it perfectly. It wasn’t only for her sake or the members’, but also for the fans who had waited patiently for them to assemble as 5 again.

              Queendom.

She liked the song and the message behind it but if anyone asked her, Irene would say that she liked Knock on The Wood better. Wendy disagreed though, she said Pose was her song as soon as she finished listening to the demo.

Recording session could take up to 6 hours depending on their line distributions. They will have to revise how they want to sing the song, revising it together with the related staffs and sing the song again until all of them were satisfied. All of them agreed that they would record their parts individually and followed the appointed schedules their manager had prepared.

Irene saw and heard about the commitment that all of them had put throughout this comeback. It became a routine for her to ask her members about how their recording went because all of them practised singing it since the lyrics were distributed to them a week ago. Yeri was the first one to return to the dorm that day, looking tired yet refreshed by her finished task. She put her paper and pencil on the table and straddled herself on the couch before finally heaving a tired sigh.

“I’m home”

“Welcome home Yeri. Today I cooked some Takoyaki, would you like to have some?” Irene came into the living room with a plate of Takoyaki. She had dressed them up and poured the special sauce she told Yeri she made herself. Yeri looked at her suspiciously, but she shrugged Yeri’s stares and put the plate on the table. Yeri who had a bite of the heavenly glazed Takoyaki, stopped herself and turned to her side to give her eldest member a side-eye.

“Liar.” Yeri then continued eating the Takoyaki and ignored the eldest’s presence. Irene sat patiently next to her and looked at the 99-liner in amuse, “I know they taste good but eat them slowly or you’ll choke yourself.” she added with a smug smirk. Yeri who caught the smirk only rolled her eyes and continue finishing the whole plate.

“How was it?”  Irene asked after handing the younger member a glass of water. “It felt very weird honestly. It’s been a while since I record myself so when I was so into it that I couldn’t even tell the difference between my voice.” Yeri chuckled as she put the glass on the coffee table.

“I told the staff members that my part would have suited Wendy more.”

“Ah, really?” Irene sipped her green tea as she listened attentively to Yeri’s words. She saw how Yeri smiled too at the thought of Wendy handling her parts in her whimsical ways. “You know how Wendy is, she’ll sing ‘we we we strong’ with her whole body and face too. Then, they say we could give it to her during our concert.”

Irene smiled and agreed. Wendy would have put a different twist to Yeri’s part. She could imagine how Wendy would have acted on the stage of their concert if she were to cover that part. She had seen it herself after all when Wendy helped Yeri with her English pronunciation privately during the practice. Her smile grew wider at the memory. Both stayed in silence together.  The rest of the members were out doing their own schedules and practices, be it vocal training, dance practices or exercising to keep their body fit as they approached closer to the date of their comeback.

It was a comfortable silence, the kind Irene liked.

“But it was very fun. It reminded me of the days when I just debuted with all of you.” Yeri broke the silence and leaving Irene a little perplexed. She wasn’t expecting Yeri to break the silence like that. A soft smile crept on her lips, her heart bloomed with love and fondness, “You’ve all grown up now, Yerim-ah.” Yeri had always had the sentimental side of her, she was an aspiring song writer after all but during the nights like this, Irene was thankful that Yeri is the way she is. Honest and blunt of her own feelings.

“Which means you are getting old too.”

Silence befell on them once more but this time it was neither comfortable nor by choice.

Irene blinked once. Twice. Trying to convince herself that she heard that wrongly. But when she had a close look to Yeri, the youngest’s smug look proved her she heard exactly what were said. The fondness and adoration Irene initially felt were quickly swept away by the youngest’s cheekiness.  

“You.” Her voice broke the silence and before she could catch her, Yeri was already in front of the door to her bedroom.

“Thank you for the food, Joohyun!” She shouted with a smile and a wave before she closed the door as soon as she could. Irene heard a click sound from the door and knew she had lost by the youngest's cheeky personality.

“My assigned time for recording is in two days. Perhaps I should try to practice for a bit more.” Irene cleaned the plates and glasses that they used before switching the lights of the living room. “Alright, lets practice.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was Seulgi’s turn that day.

She came back with a solemn look on her face which she tried to hide as soon as she saw Irene. But the eldest had always been intuitive and observant so she could tell that Seulgi was not fine with the result of her first recording.

“I’m back.” Seulgi said with a smile. But Irene knew Seulgi long enough to tell that it wasn’t genuine. Seulgi walked past Irene and entered her room silently. Irene stared at the door and contemplated on what she could do to make her longest friend in the company feel better.

Irene knocked on Seulgi’s door twice and took one step back. Not a minute later, Seulgi opened the door with a freshened-up look and in her favourite yellow pyjamas. Irene smiled at her, the kind she reserved for only her loved ones, and said “Hi Seulgi. I made some Takoyaki. Would you like to have some?”

They settled to eat in Seulgi’s bedroom. She had a small coffee table where Irene could put the dish and drinks on. “How was it? Your recording.” Irene asked. Seulgi stopped from drying her hair and looked at Irene in the eyes. “It was….” Her words trailed off.

Seulgi stayed silent for a while and sighed. “I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Then, tell me th