CHAPTER EIGHT:Concentration

“Hyung, pour it correctly—see? Now it’s all weird!” SungJong groaned pointing at the weirdly shaped pancake in the frying pan.

“If you wanted perfect pancakes you should’ve asked WooHyun to cook them for you,” Hoya waved the spatula in front of the maknae’s face.

“He’s been really tired. I think its better to let WooHyunnie-hyung sleep,” SungJong answered playing with his fringe. He didn't need to see Hoya to know he had rolled his eyes. He hated when SungJong called WooHyun like that. “And he will obviously scold me for asking him that.”

“So you had to wake me up to cook them for you, right?”

“Yep.”

Sundays. Sundays like that one were rare and sacred. Without having a morning schedule the clock reached nine o'clock and Infinite was still asleep, except for those two roommates that were sneakily cooking in the kitchen. Usually they wouldn't eat this kind of food - they weren't allowed to - at least  not when they were in the middle of promoting or other events. That was how it worked for everyone but Infinite's maknae had been craving for pancakes for to weeks now and he couldn't handle the desire.  

“Should I wake Soo-hyung up? He’ll get mad at us if I don’t give him some.”

“What? L was involved in the crime too?” Hoya’s eyebrows rose amused. “How come I never noticed that?”

“Because we were always careful—now turn it around. I don’t want them to be burnt too.”

Usually it was SungYeol the one that secretly cooked the pancakes for SungJong and L but now that he wasn’t there the young boy had no other choice but to ask Hoya for some help. The dancer wasn’t that good at it,  or anything that had to do with the kitchen, but his pancakes were decent compared to L’s or the maknae’s.

“We’ll save some for him, just let him sleep for now,” HoWon mumbled managing to finish his fifth pancake. “You’re gonna eat this one too?”

“Nah, you have it, it’s all burnt,” SungJong exaggerated enjoying HoWon’s fierce glare.

“Maybe I should stop cooking them.”

“No, no, no! Practice makes perfect Hyung, don’t forget that!” SungJong smiled cutely at Hoya who simply sighed knowing the meaning behind those words. “Right, Hyung, at what time do we have scheduled the interview?”

“It was cancelled,” HoWon said getting a quizzical look from the younger boy. “Everything is kinda cancelled until the fever goes down.”

“Ah, because of Forever Seven?” SungJong said his eyes watching the new pancake in the frying pan.

“Yeah,” Hoya smiled sadly at the name. Such a sublte way to remind. “They’re still outside right?”

“Yep, I saw them a few minutes ago. They are more than yesterday.”

The Forever Seven, as SungJong called it, was the new movement the Inspirits had created to support not only SungYeol but the other six members too. It was amazing how quickly it was reproducing. Videos, tweets, posters, tumblr, instagram, all the media was filled up with supportive words or images form the fans. They were devouring the Internet with their comments and care.

“Forever Seven,” SungJong repeated the name giggling. “I love that name.”

“They won’t love you if you keep on eating that stuff.”

SungJong and Hoya were surprised to see WooHyun leaning in the kitchen’s entrance. His arms crossed.

“He made me,” Hoya instantly pointed at SungJong with the spatula. His expression dead serious.

“You were eating too Hyung,” the maknae defended himself before he turned to look at WooHyun who was still in his pyjama’s pants. He had just woken up but his face looked tired. “Did you have a good sleep, WooHyun-hyung? Want some breakfast?”

“No, now get me some coffee I’m not hungry.” WooHyun growled rubbing his features with his hand after he took a seat in one of the stools of the kitchen. “And you better hide all this, SungGyu’s already awake.”

“Already? How come?” Hoya said surprised by the fact that their leader was awake that early in the morning. He always overslept whenever they had a free day.

“Today he’s going to meet his noona,” SungJong said munching the last part of the evidence. Pancakes were already gone. “At least that’s what he told me the other day.”

WooHyun shook his head slowly. “No, it seems JungYeop-hyung decided to take his day off and gave him some work at the studio.”

“What? Why? Gyu-hyung was so excited about seeing his noona.” The maknae couldn’t hide his shock.

“Yeah, but our CEO wasn’t too excited about the radio program.” Hoya concluded getting a desperate cry from the younger boy.

After the radio issue the members of Infinite found themselves a bit more relaxed. Yes, they were trapped in the dorms with no right to continue their schedules but they felt at ease knowing they had shared SungYeol’s innocence. Also the movement Forever Seven left a great impact on each of them. Infinite was finally supported. Yes, there were people that kept on making harsh and rude comments but the care they received from the Inspirits made it less painful. The six of them knew SungYeol was aware of all this. Who wouldn't? They just knew their choding was feeling better.

“Thank god you came SungGyu-ya. Yesterday when I was checking the second track I found out your audio and WooHyun’s got a bit messed up. I don't even know how,” The audio director, Kim HanGuk said as he looked at the young man getting out of the recording cabin.

“It’s okay. I was supposed to come here anyway,” SungGyu grinned.

Since he had his free Sunday taken away SungGyu was ordered to go check on the trainees and help in the studio room. He fixed the vocals that were messed up and moved on to MyungSoo’s newest song. The leader was impressed with the young man’s composition. Not only the lyrics were touching but also the harmony was delightful. The song already had its arrangements and was now waiting to get the real vocals recorded.  

“L’s voice is great but this song doesn’t match him at all,” SungGyu said after he listened to it for the third time. His eyes stuck in the lyrics written in the yellowish paper.

“He said that too,” HanGuk chuckled. “L said it screamed Nam WooHyun.”

“Sure it does,” He snorted imagining the younger boy singing this. It was so like WooHyun. “Is L willing to give his song to that pabo?”

“WooHyun already got the lyrics. We have programed to record it next Tuesday.”

“I see,” SungGyu murmured as he decided to look at the music sheet where only the voice and piano were written. After all those years in the music industry he had learnt something about it. 

MyungSoo had done a great job. It had been already two years since the young man started to compose songs for fun and finally he ended up having a decent one he wanted to share with Infinite. Some months ago SungGyu heard from L that he dreamt about composing Infinite’s not only songs but music too and now his dream was becoming a reality.

“HanGuk-hyung… isn’t the chorus a bit high? L is doing a variation in the track.”

“Yeah, he is but I don’t think it will be a problem for WooHyun,” HanGuk said getting a nod from Infinite’s leader.

“Right, what about SungYeol’s audio? Do you think he’ll have enough time to record it?” He remembered DongWoo talking about that issue earlier in the morning. “He got too many lines in the third track and we’re scared they won’t be ready.”

HanGuk directed his confused eyes to the manager Geonam before answering. “He recorded his audio yesterday. I thought you knew that.”

“What?”

“JungYeop-nim asked SungYeol to record them,” Geonam said with a controlled smile. “All thanks to the Forever Seven army.”

“Really?!” SungGyu’s eyes smiled before he burst out laughing. The members were going to be thrilled with the news. “Whoa, that’s great!”

Between all the excitement SungGyu didn’t notice WooHyun and manager Hyoan’s presence until he spun on the chair. The moment his eyes caught sight of the donsaeng he ran towards him and hugged him in joy.

“Wow, wow,” WooHyun exclaimed as he tried to push the older boy away. “I can understand your excitement to see me but can’t you control yourself? People are watching us.”

As on cue SungGyu pushed the boy with a frown that soon disappeared for a sloppy smile. Nothing could take away his good mood. “SungYeol recorded yesterday, WooHyun-ah.”

“What?” WooHyun instantly looked at their audio director who simply nodded. “That’s amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” SungGyu sat on the chair he had been previously using, his smile never fading. “I bet he’s feeling so much better now.”

“For the way he sang yesterday I can promise you that.”  HanGuk commented enjoying those happy looks the young men had. It had been so long the last time the adults saw them smile sincerely.

After that joyous news they spent some more minutes talking about SungYeol and how he had been improving his singing and rapping since he joined Infinite. SungGyu knew he had to support the younger male to give him confidence and prove his talent to people. Out of the seven of them SungYeol was the one that had improved the most. He was a complete different person that couldn't go back to the beginning because of the scandal. 

“I know you’re tired from recording the drama earlier but give it your all, okay?” HanGuk said gently to WooHyun who was already in the cabin. The boy simply nodded giving them a warm smile.

“He does look tired right?” SungGyu murmured to the audio director, his eyes stuck in the half open ones of the younger male.

“You all look like that.” Manager Geonam answered.

“Okay, I’ll play it from the bridge and you can start in the second chorus.” The director said before they started to record the messed up parts.

As the recording kept going WooHyun’s vocal quality seemed to go downhill. They were simple mistakes, he had missed some entrances, had failed at getting the pitch right and other stupid stuff that basically happened because he wasn’t in the same channel.

“Will you concentrate for once? We’ve been here for an hour now,” SungGyu said sternly to the young member who simply frowned. The good mood the leader had before was gone.

As if SungGyu had asked him the opposite WooHyun kept on repeating the same mistakes. This wasn’t like him at all, even the audio director was getting frustrated. This wasn't his first time recording so how come the boy was singing so poorly? They were all tired and they hadn’t fixed even half of the messed up audios.

Again, WooHyun mixed the text and SungGyu wasn’t going to let that go. Not again.

“For 's sake Nam WooHyun! This isn’t a game! Can’t you do it right?!”