ON STUDYING JAPANESE

  “Okay, let’s do this,” Onew yelled encouragingly. “Let’s learn Japanese!”

  “Yeah!” the others agreed somewhat half-heartedly.

  Actually, at that moment Taemin wanted nothing more than to sit in front of his computer to learn Japanese “his way.” Or sleep.

  The boys just came back from yet another intense dance practice, so they were pretty beat up. Plus, it was already 11pm.

  Onew reminded everyone that they didn’t have much time to spare, so if they still had any energy left, it should be spent on learning Japanese. Tomorrow was their day off anyway.

  “I say we use the basics in our everyday conversation,” Jonghyun suggested.

  “Good idea. I’ll start,” Key said, standing up from his seat at their dining table where they had gathered. “Oyasumi.”

  The others protested when he made the attempt to scurry to his room. Key grimaced. “But it’s already late, hyung! Why don’t we start fresh tomorrow morning? Right now I’m sure all of us can’t even think straight.”

  The others silently agreed, while Onew sighed. “Fine. Let’s get up early tomorrow and be ready by 8, okay?”

  “Okay! Oyasumi, everyone!” Jonghyun, Key, Minho and Taemin yelled happily, heading to their rooms.

  Not bothering to shower before bed, Taemin his computer and took a seat in front of it but not before locking his door. “I shall start my lessons earlier than you guys,” he said to no one in particular.

   When his fingers automatically searched for “Kang Jiyoung” on YouTube, he paused for a second and chuckled. He couldn’t believe that he was actually using their Japanese language-mastering mission as an excuse to see Jiyoung again.

  Still, he did not stop what he was doing and enjoyed watching various clips of the girl. “At least she is speaking Japanese in them,” he said, trying to justify the situation.

  Taemin found videos of her and her members playing games on Tokyo Friends Park and noticed that she didn’t really excel in sports, but her cuteness made up for it.

  He found several clips of KARA on variety shows where they go on eating adventures. Once again, he is charmed by Jiyoung. The girl sure has an appetite, but his gaze was strangely fixed on her lips as she cutely chewed her food.

  There’s also a recent video of Jiyoung and Seungyeon on Hey! Hey! Hey! where they tried to teach a man how to do the Mister dance.

  He could feel himself turning red as he became fully aware of Jiyoung’s svelte figure. Well, he is an adult now, so it’s perfectly okay for him to be this… erted?

  Shaking his head, he switched to another video clip, but not without another glance at Jiyoung shapely rear end.