Chapter 12!          Tell Me The World Is Flat

Smiling to herself, Nicolette walked down the carpeted corridor, looking at her phone. She had ended up playing with Doojoon for another hour or so. It really surprised her at first that he would suddenly ask her to call him oppa, but she was fine with it after a while. After all, oppa means older brother right? And during the game, she had started to look at Doojoon like the older brother she had never had, the older brother she had always wanted.

Thus, when they decided to take a picture at the end of the game, she was totally at ease in it. She held the phone, while he held the ball, his free hand resting affectionately on her head. Their sweaty and tired bodies ignored by their cheerful expressions.

Ah… If only he could be my real brother, I’ll be sooooooooo happy!

Sudden knocking on the glass beside her caught her attention, breaking her current thoughts. She was on her way to the activity centre to return the ball, Doojoon already headed back to his room. In the hallway she was in, the library was on her right, the gym on her left. She had passed the spa area, the activity centre just ahead. Turning, she took a step back in surprise at the smiling face greeting her, waving his hand frantically.

“Kikwang-ssi…” She mentally slapped herself as soon as the words left . How can he hear me through the glass!

Smiling, she waved back. When he continued waving to her, she motioned for him to wait. Walking off, she quickly returned the ball and made her way to the gym. Pausing outside the glass entrance, she hesitated, nervousness creeping up on her. Through the glass, she could see Kikwang doing his workout again, lifting the weights so easily it looked as if they weighed nothing. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself.

“Kikwang… ssi?” Nicolette nervously called as she stepped into the gym.

“Oh! Annyong!” he greeted with a huge smile. “You just played something?” he asked, letting his eyes run briefly down her figure. Her clothes were still damp with sweat, beads of perspiration dripping from the tips of her hair, looking as if she had came out of the shower.

“Ah… yah… I played basketball with err… with… Doo… joon… ahh…” Nicolette stumbled, unsure of how to address him, her voice fading. Do I refer to him as oppa even in front of others?

“With Doojoon hyung?” Kikwang helped her.

“Yah. Thanks.” Nicolette smiled in gratitude.

Silence enveloped the two as Nicolette just stood there while Kikwang continued lifting weights.

“Err… so… why did you call me in?” Nicolette finally asked, trying to break the awkwardness.

“I call you in? I only wave. I want to say ‘Hi’. Yah, but it’s nice you came in.” he laughed, pausing to increase the weights he was lifting.

“Oh…”

“Since you’re here, let’s talk, okay?” Kikwang asked.

“Oh. Okay.” She replied, sitting on one of the nearby machines, still feeling awkward.

“Hmm… so, you like exercise?”

“Ah. Quite. But I’m very lazy too. If I exercise it’s usually in the form of sports. I don’t run or go to the gym.”

“You’re like Doojoon hyung then. He loves sports. The rest are too lazy to exercise!” Kikwang laughed, putting down his weights to take a break. “Ah… now I try to play more sports… but usually I only workout in the gym or do pushup. Must build up my biceps and abs!” he grinned, flexing his muscles.

“So that you can show them off, like for the encore concert?”

“Oh? You know about that too?” he asked, surprised that even fans from the foreign countries knew about this.

“You announced it, and it was shown in your encore concert teaser. Practically all BEAUTIES should know. Everyone’s looking forward to it!”

“Oh…”

Seeing his slightly crestfallen face, she wondered what was wrong.

“Kikwang-ssi, what’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

“Anni… Ah, no. It’s just… nothing…” Kikwang brushed it off, laughing, but somehow, the cheerful atmosphere earlier was lost.

“What’s nothing? Won’t you tell me? You said we could talk. I won’t tell anyone. Promise.” She said, concerned.

Looking at Nicolette’s round, anxious eyes, Kikwang contemplated. The soft smile she wore, coupled with her genuinely concerned look softened his resolve, reassuring him.

“Okay. It’s just…” Kikwang hesitated, deciding on how to start. Gripping onto the bar above him tightly, as if that could give him strength, he took a breath and began. “It’s just that I feel that I’ve done something stupid again… and I dragged everyone into it too…”

Kikwang paused, starting to feel down again, but the encouraging smile from Nicolette helped him continue. The way she was intently listening to him, not moving, not talking, except for the slight nods of acknowledgement, gave him the space to express himself without pressure.

“I just went and stupidly declared that we’ll be showing off an abs wave for our encore concert, which you know about already. And I promised, promised, the fans! And the promise was that all of us would do the wave… not just me. If it was just me there would not be a problem…”

“But the thing is, all the other guys don’t want to do it! But what I say was recorded and shown in the encore concert teaser, so I can’t just back out of this… But the guys… we’re feeling kind of insecure about showing off our bodies. It’s not something we do often you know. So everyone’s taking extra time to train our bodies despite the heavy schedule we have on now… And well, that makes the guys more ticked off. They’re obviously not happy about this. And I don’t think they like me anymore… I’m such a burden to them.”

“Kikwang, you know that’s not true!” Nicolette finally spoke up.

“But it is! They’re always blaming me about this. They’ll never forget that it is because of me that they have to work even harder now. Ah… If I could make the guys happy, I would! But if I back out of my promise, the fans would be sad. They’ll be so disappointed after I promised them something this big. But if I continue on with this, the guys will stay mad at me! Haiz… I really don’t know what to do… Either way I’ll let down someone, and I hate upsetting others…”

Nicolette stood up and walked over to Kikwang, patting his slumped shoulders as he sighed.

“Kikwang-ssi, do you mind if I share what I think about this?”

The silence on his part did not help ease her apprehension as she touched on this subject, but she decided to continue speaking nonetheless.

“Kikwang-ssi, you shouldn’t need to be so upset over letting people down, because you aren’t. And no one’s going to hate you in spite of your decision. The other guys will still be your friend, you all are a strong team, it won’t be broken so easily. The fans won’t hate you either. They’ll understand and still love you regardless. The only one pressuring you is yourself.”

Except from the brief sigh that escaped from his lips, Kikwang showed no other signs of hearing her words. Hoping to lift his spirits, she continued.

“I was thinking… If you really want, why don’t you change the plan? Talk to the other guys and make it into a challenge instead. Don’t pressure them to do the abs wave, but make it like a dare to reveal their abs, own time own target. But if they really are not comfortable doing it, then just leave it as that, but have something like a forfeit for them. … It’s just a thought though.”

“Hmm… that sounds like it might work…” Kikwang said, sitting up. “But do you… do you really think they’ll listen and follow this plan? Are you sure they don’t blame me for all these?”

“You really have no self-confidence, do you? Don’t fret so much! You may be naïve and dorky at times, but that’s also why people love you. It is a part of you and we love you because you’re you!”

“Really?” Kikwang asked, hopeful.

“Really.” Nicolette replied, grinning.

“Thanks!” Kikwang exclaimed, pulling Nicolette into a quick hug. “You really made me feel better. For some reason, I feel like I can believe your word. If you tell me the Earth is flat, I’ll believe you!”

“You’ll probably believe it anyway if you met someone who’s good enough at talking!” She laughed, teasingly, lightly smacking his arm. “Just kidding.”

“Yah! I’m not that easily fooled okay?!” he protested.

The two burst out laughing together, joking with each other.

“Ah…” Nicolette panted, clutching her aching side as she tried to catch her breath after laughing so hard. “But we should really do something about that low self-confidence you’ve got.”

“And what have you got in mind now?” Kikwang asked, regulating his breath after all the laughter.

“Hmm…” Nicolette pondered, an idea coming as she thought of what she had done with all the other members she had met thus far. “Let’s have a photo shoot!”

“Photo shoot?” he quizzed.

“Yup!” she chirped happily, positioning her phone on one of the machines, camera all ready. “Let’s do a cute pose shall we?” Setting the timer, Nicolette rushed over.

“Eh?” At that same moment, the camera flashed.

“Your blur look is so funny!” Nicolette laughed, looking at the picture. “Let’s do a macho one of you now.” Setting the timer for a longer period, she went beside Kikwang again.

“Wh- what should I do?!” Kikwang asked, feeling rushed as the camera flash began its countdown.

“Flex your muscles!” Nicolette commandeered. “And be confident about it!” she added, seeing Kikwang’s expression filled with uncertainty. Pointing at his bulging muscles, she posed, feigning surprise just as the camera snapped.

“See, you’re not too bad after all!” She praised, looking through the photos with him.

“Yah! Who said I’ll look bad at all! I always look good on camera!” Kikwang protested, grinning.

“Oh yeah? Who was the one who was so paranoid about how others viewed him just now?” Nicolette teased.

“Aish… Don’t keep poking at other’s weaknesses okay?” He hissed, messing her hair.

Nicolette stuck out her tongue at him as the two burst out in laughter again.

and finally I'M BACK!!! xD

lol

sorry for being away for so long... my musical finally ended a few days ago... AND IT WAS AWESOME! tiring, but awesome! =)

anyways, i don't think this chapter is really great... >.< but i was running out of inspiration for Kikwang's part... =( and i know, Kikwang's english is not so powerful either.. but no choice... >.< hope you guys don't hate this chapter. lol.

i should be back with the next chapter soon! ^-^ and hopefully, it'll be better! ;D