CHAPTER TEN:Jang Dong Woo

It was the uptenth time that evening that SungGyu coughed strongly getting another worried glance from DongWoo who was sitting next to him on their dark chocolate sofa. Now he wasn't looking at him discretely, he was even leaning closer to the leader who simply pushed him with his open hand on the face.

“Are you okay?”

Finally DongWoo asked, his eyes following SungGyu’s figure that slowly disappeared from his sight. He noticed until then that the kettle was whistling. 

“Yeah, my throat it’s just kind of itchy,” SungGyu’s voice sounded from the kitchen followed by another, this time, drier cough. Soon he came back with a big cup of tea and eyes almost closed. 

“You should seriously fix things with WooHyun,” DongWoo moved closer to the edge so to his leader could get more space on the big sofa.

SungGyu frowned, “I was trying to but he just got pissed over nothing.”

“’I don’t need you to try, I need you to do it’,” DongWoo rephrased the older boy who automatically cringed at his own words.

“Okay, I did make things worse. I accept that but that doesn’t mean I have to sleep in his old bedroom because of this stupid fight,” SungGyu groaned before he started to blow his tea. At the moment he hated the fact that they had rearranged their bedrooms because of WooHyun's whines. DongWoo on the other side was slouching on the sofa while his eyes were looking absentmindedly at the TV where Choi MinHo’s new CF was passing.

“Just say that you’re sorry for shouting at him. It’s not that hard.”

DongWoo didn't like to see the members fight so most of the time he intervened between the involved ones and helped them fix things. Apart from that, having his leader mad at someone wasn't pleasing for him at all. His leader should be at ease with the younger members. In all, DongWoo was like a caring mother that wanted the family members to be okay and happy, reason why SungJong sometimes played around calling him Umma. Thing he internally enjoyed.

 “Finally!”

The leader rose his gaze from the lemon tea just in time to see a blue bear with a yellow balloon jump in a ridiculous way. Soon after Yoo InNa’s face appeared.

“You really like WooHyun’s drama,” SungGyu murmured getting an excited nod from DongWoo whose eyes were marvelling the beauty of the young woman.

“The storyline is really good, not the one you usually expect and I like the way it flows. Also the cast is amazing. Yoo InNa-sshi, Shim JiHo-sshi, Suzy-sshi…” DongWoo chanted other actors names with a cute grin on his features. His leader looked at him amusingly.

“Have you ever thought about it?”

SungGyu sudden question took the younger rapper by surprise.

“What? Acting?”

“Yeah,” SungGyu nodded, his eyes stuck into the scenes from last episode that were now displayed on the screen. After another round of coughs he turned around to DongWoo noticing the boy was seriously thinking the answer. His eyes seemed slightly disturbed.

“I have…” Came his rather calm answer before a stupid smile appeared on his face. “But I’m not a good actor like SungYeol or MyungSoo so that’s pretty impossible for me, right?”

SungGyu raised his eyebrow. “How would you know if you’ve never even tried? You just have to give it a shot and if you really like it then work for it.”

There you go, the reason why DongWoo liked his leader, he always had a right answer that eased his mind. After those encouraging words nothing was said between them, both were completely absorbed by the drama.

The oldest members of Infinite were alone at the dorms. Hoya and SungJong had left to their singing lessons and WooHyun was in the recording studio finishing the song he had messed up the other day and was about to record the one MyungSoo had written. For a moment SungGyu had thought L had escaped again to meet up with SungYeol. He had been about to go berserk when DongWoo managed to notify him that L went to the recording studio too to direct WooHyun. After all it was MyungSoo’s song.

♫

“Hey everyone. Right now it’s pretty late. You can’t see it but it’s already dark outside, still here we are about to work with WooHyun-hyung on the bonus track,” L said with a smooth smile to his VJ before he took a sip of his obviously Starbucks coffee.

The clock was about to hit eleven when MyungSoo and some staff from the reality reached the recording studio. Somehow Infinite’s CEO had accepted to give the reality a small scoop about the supposed ‘hidden’ track. This was with the hopes to calm down the Forever Seven fever. L had no other choice but to accept since he had been the one that spoke first in the radio program a week ago. He had to pay for his rebel actions. 

“Hyung,” MyungSoo called as he entered the area where the custom desk was.

“Ah, L-ah. You came really fast,” WooHyun trapped the younger boy in a strong hug before he turned to one VJ and waved cheerfully at him. “Hey everyone!”

“Are you ready?”

“I was born ready,” WooHyun smiled while waving the lyrics he had in his hands before he stood behind the taller boy and moved them closer to the camera. He rested his chin on MyungSoo’s shoulder. “People might not know it but L wrote not only the lyrics of this new song but the music and arrangement too. This might be better than my Beautiful.”

MyungSoo smiled slightly as his eyes diverted showing he was feeling shy. “I don't know, Hyung. But for today I’m not L from Infinite but the composer Kim MyungSoo. I’m going to be stricter than our grandpa. You hear me, Hyung?”

“Yeh, yeh…”

“Also I have to present you this man. The one with the magic fingers,” MyungSoo said as he extended a hand in front of their music director who instantly bowed awkwardly to the young boy who bowed back. “He’s Kim HanGuk-sshi, our music director. He helped me a lot with this song. For how long did we work on it?”

“About four months, I think.” HanGuk answered him getting a surprised nod from WooHyun.

“I didn’t know...”

“You were busy with the drama,” L told him with his deep and calm voice. “Are you ready? You aren’t tired?”

“Yep. Not at all,” WooHyun answered between each question.

“Your voice condition is great, right?” The young composer wanted to be sure.

“My voice’s good. Let’s do this!”

As he clapped with excitement WooHyun directed himself to the cabin and started to prepare. MyungSoo on the other side took a seat next to the audio director. He had a pen and the lyrics ready with some marks he had put days ago.

Directing someone how to sing a song wasn’t something unfamiliar for L, he had been in both sides, receiving the orders while singing and giving the orders. He was interested in everything that involved recording so sometimes he went to the audio studio just to learn from looking. He had had his chances to direct too. Their CEO was thrilled with the idea of having MyungSoo working in the studio for Infinite in the future.

“Hyung, can you hear me?” L said after pressing a green button on the desk. Instantly he received a nod from the older boy. “Okay, let’s start.”

First HanGuk played the guide for WooHyun to repeat it, review it and feel comfortable with the beat and feeling.

“Now I’ll get a little sensitive,” MyungSoo told his VJ as he scratched his neck. “The song is good. Seriously, I wanted to sing it but it just didn’t fit me. It has that greasy feeling that suits perfectly WooHyun. I don’t even know what was I thinking while writing it,” L snorted.

“Maybe you were possessed by love,” HanGuk commented getting a blank expression from MyungSoo.

“Yeah, not,” L shook his head before turning his head to the VJ once again. “This is it for you guys. Don’t forget to buy our new album so you can listen to this song we’ve been working so hard on—the others songs too but this one is special. Annyeong!” He grinned before waving goodbye.

As soon as the PD-noona said cut L thanked the staff that had followed him and turned his complete attention to WooHyun and the song. He had to listen to it carefully. Every single detail was important and they needed to be perfect. He not only wanted to song to be great but he wanted to transmit the feelings it held. With WooHyun’s voice, the sound of the instruments and the delicate lyrics he had written.

He actually knew what he was thinking while writing it.

“The beat is good. Feeling is good. Everything is well but I want your voice to sound like, like it’s about to break in two. It needs to be balanced between the delectation and ache of having your special one close to you. Please.”

Little by little MyungSoo specifications started to be really detailed. WooHyun was doing a great job listening to L’s orders. Apart from those he asked simple stuff like making the vowels sound longer or to fix the accent of some words. Other than that their teamwork was going smoothly.

Every now and then HanGuk would comment on how good WooHyun was doing that day and that he sounded different.

“Breathless. This is a breathless song,” MyungSoo said getting reassuring nod from the singer. “I think it sounds better if we add in the background chorus your voice but it will connect instantly with the second verse, so take a lot of air,” L smirked while checking the lyrics. “Also, from ‘Just having your smile it’s enough.’ It was good. And ‘Here is the only safe place for me’. The end do it softer even though it’s high and then it’ll simply wrap up with the guitar solo.”

They had spent the past two hours recording and editing. Several times MyungSoo had offered his Hyung a small break but the older one always declined saying he was getting really into the mood of the song and that he didn’t want to lose it. L was surprised by WooHyun’s commitment but couldn’t stop worrying about the looks of the older boy. He seemed really tired.

Even with that aspect WooHyun was managing to do a great job with his voice. That was until they reached the last part of the song.

Just like last time he started to mess things up. They were simple mistakes that started to grow. The singer was stressing over these simple details. He was losing his concentration and he was starting to get nervous.

“Hyung, technically speaking. This last chorus that goes with the highlight of the song it’s supporting the high notes making them not only sound thicker but a bit higher than they actually are,” L explained trying to catch the singer’s gaze. “What I’m trying to say is don’t really worry about that and just concentrate in the chorus. It’s just half a tone higher. It’s really nothing. You’ve sung higher notes.”

Mistake by mistake. WooHyun ended up doing it worse. What he was suffering the most were the final high notes of the chorus L had advised him before. The singer kept groaning and getting annoyed at himself for not being able to reach that range. His incapacity of singing what L asked was completely frustrating him.

This wasn’t like him at all. He didn’t have control over his voice. It didn’t act as he wanted. WooHyun was completely stressed. Not only was he sweating a lot, his eyes seemed rather unfocused and his breathing was getting heavier. In all, he looked completely worn out.

“Hyung let’s stop. Tomorrow we can continue,” MyungSoo said for the second time with worry in his voice.

“We’re almost done. I just have to reach those notes. I have to,” WooHyun sounded desperate as if he was trying to prove himself he could do it.

“No WooHyun-ah. We’ll work tomorrow,” HanGuk intervened, worried too about the singer’s condition.

“Just once!” WooHyun snarled surprising the other men.

“Nam WooHyun, we’ll work tomorrow,” HanGuk said taking off the headphones. He had an unusual serious expression on his face.

“Hyung—!”

WooHyun’s voice was cut as a grossed look covered his languid features. His orbs looked slightly confused as his hand ran up to cover his mouth. A burning sensation was spreading from his stomach to his throat. This wasn’t the first time it happened. He knew what this meant and he knew he had to find a bathroom fast so he ran outside of the cabin and went to reach the place where he could release what was burning his insides.

He could feel some tears rebel against his will as he kept vomiting in the small bathroom. His throat was burning as the gastric acid kept coming to his mouth. There was no food to vomit since his last meal – some crackers and squashes - happened seven hours ago.

“Oh god,” he managed to say before he arched throwing up a bit more. “Please…”

The young singer was trying to relax while begging for aimpless help. This wasn’t the first time it happened to him. This was something that started happening about a year ago. Before he managed to get slightly nauseous but now his body couldn't keep the food he had when stress overcame his body. He thought it was something temporary and unimportant but those incidents kept happening and getting worse after SungYeol's accident. There was one way he could fix it, but he had been trying to avoid it for a while now. 

As he felt another nausea attack WooHyun bended forward to the toilet. This time, before he could try and console himself a soft hand started to draw circles on his back.

“It’s okay, Hyung, calm down.”

WooHyun didn’t know why but his tears were now flowing freely as MyungSoo kept rubbing carefully his back.