I manage to make a half-decent conversation with him, about food.

‘You know, I can only make the two simplest foods in the world, and even that isn’t really counted as cooking,’ says Joon. ‘I can only cook ramyeon and make patbingsoo. I never cook unless I’m starving for food. My favourite food is ddukbokki. I can eat several bowls of it at once. But, I need to work out a lot after that.’ He flexed his muscled arm and then looked at me. ‘What about you?’

‘Me? Well I like most types of food, except for mushrooms and seaweed. My favourite food is ice-cream. I especially like cookies and cream!’

Joon gave a small smile. ‘You do don’t you? That’s why I saw you eat that sundae yesterday like it was the best thing in the world.’

‘Eh? You noticed?’ I’m shocked. I never really thought that he would pay attention to my eating habits.

‘Mmm,’ came Joon’s simple reply. Nothing else.

I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad when the bus arrives at our school gates. Joon and I both thank the bus driver before we step off.

‘Mi Young ah, where are you headed to now?’

I ponder about it for a few seconds. I hadn’t really decided. ‘I don’t know. I woke up earlier than usual and I couldn’t do anything else at home, so I just came to school.’

Lee Joon has a funny expression on his face. ‘I suppose you can watch us practise if you don’t tell anyone,’ he says finally.

‘“Us,” as in MBLAQ?’

‘Mmmhmm.’

‘Umm… ok!’

‘Arasso, follow me!’ I trail after Joon as he heads towards the restricted recording room.

‘Are we allowed here?’ I ask, worried that we might get into trouble.

‘Of course we are! MBLAQ have been practising in here since the beginning of high school! We even got permission from the teacher.’ Joon smiles playfully and pushes open the door.

I’m greeted by shouts of surprise from MBLAQ, and the look of shock on their faces is amusing.

‘YAAH HYUNG!!!’ whines Mir, ‘I thought you promised not to bring anyone to our secret private sessions, not that it’s private anymore but still!’

I immediately feel guilty and say quickly, ‘Mianhe oppas. I will be going now.’ I turn to leave but Lee Joon stops me. ‘Yah, you’re not going anywhere.’

I look at him in surprise as he complains to Seung Ho. ‘Hyung, she won’t have anything to do until the beginning of school and that’s ages away! Besides, we should at least get some outside opinion about our songs and dances. We might think it’s cool but other people might not.’

Seung Ho considers this and finally says to me, ‘Mi Young, you can stay but can you promise not to tell any other music groups about our performances?’

I nod energetically, ‘Yes Seung Ho oppa!’

Seung Ho smiles and says to the rest of MBLAQ, ‘Ok, you can stay.’ He turns to the others and says, ‘Let’s show her “This is War.” ’ After a few seconds, the powerful voice of G.O fills the small room. I see Mir rapping ferociously and Joon dancing so powerfully. Seung Ho begins to sing, and his voice is incredible. Thunder opens his mouth to sing, and I find myself amazed. ‘Jeonjengiya!’ The song ends and I see all five members of MBLAQ panting, with a layer of sweat covering their bodies.

‘Well?’ asks G.O, between gasps of breath. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think it’s great!’

‘Can you elaborate?’ asks Seung Ho, wiping his forehead.

‘No I can’t! It’s just too good!’ I say truthfully.

Joon suddenly smiles. ‘Hey, let’s show Mi Young “Run.”’

At this suggestion, the members of MBLAQ immediately start to complain.

‘Hyung! It’s too hard! We also need more dancers and unnie might think that we’re bad!’ whines Mir again, pouting.

‘It’s ok!’ I reassure him. ‘After seeing “This is War,” there is NO WAY that I’ll think that you guys are bad! Plus, I don’t think you guys need backup dancers to look good!’

Thunder gets onto his feet and pulls the other members up. ‘Come on, let’s show her.’

I watch, mesmerised, as MBLAQ sing their hearts out. When Joon performs his solo dance routine, I watch every movement as he moves in sync with MBLAQ’s singing. When the song ends, I find myself staring at MBLAQ with new-found respect for them. I mean, I knew that MBLAQ were really good singer-dancers, but I never really saw them perform live.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello again my lovely readers!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I personally think that its a little bit weird but anyway,

I’m updating more often now and I hope that no one will not unsubscribe because then I’ll be sad ):

comment and subscribe plz ^^

See you next chapter!

shannonigan ~