Chapter 11: Happy Dance

Almost two whole weeks had gone past.

Every night, Seohyun and Yonghwa went to bed hoping that it would be their last day in the future. Every morning, they woke up, still in their apartment, still the parents of Yunji, still thrown into the chaotic life of marriage, fame, and parenthood.

They tried everything they could to get the woman on the phone’s attention. After one week passed of Yonghwa sleeping in the studio on the couch and Seohyun in the bedroom, they agreed to sleep in the same bed with several rules in place. This apparently didn’t appease the woman. They learned how to work their phones and searched through their contacts, hoping to stumble upon a name or a number or a clue. All they did was learn how to change the color of their phone and morph it into whatever shape they wanted. They even traveled to a sacred temple to pray about their misguidance. That didn’t work either.

Their schedules weren’t as hectic as they usually were, but there was still an appearance here and a show there. Yonghwa MCed several times in those two weeks, and Seohyun had countless commercials and photoshoots for vitamins and make-up. Even Yunji had a schedule, playdates with Taeyeon’s son, Tae Joon, shopping outings with Seohyun’s omma, and modeling for toy products and still popular banana milk. She was a natural in front of the camera, which made Seohyun and Yonghwa proud, but Yonghwa was still upset. He wanted her to play music.

The CN Blue boys were a huge help, and Seohyun was getting used to them being around, but they had lives and schedules of their own. Minhyuk was a family man who wasn’t as available as Jungshin and Jonghyun, who lived together in a bachelor pad apartment several blocks away. Jungshin, despite his age, was still modeling and was reading scripts for dramas he had been casted for. Jonghyun was balancing his life with composing for a solo project.  

Seohyun and Yonghwa were beginning to realize that they might be stuck forever. The woman on the phone was showing no sympathy and no sign that she was paying attention to their suffering.

And they were suffering. They were suffering so much that on their day off, Seohyun had hauled herself up in the library sitting room to read and take her mind off of her frustration, and Yonghwa took to his studio with his acoustic guitar and a simple piece of paper to record lyrics.

The had grown to count on each other during chaos, but throughout the past two weeks, there had been a growing theme of separation between them when they were alone. No longer in survivor mode, there was no reason to stick to each other out of the public eye. It wasn’t what Seohyun had imaged her marriage would be, nor did Yonghwa, but they hadn’t chosen the marriage.  

Yonghwa was strumming notes and humming. When he thought of something that sounded cool, he wrote down some lyrics and notes above the words. Yunji, not sure where to split herself among her parents who weren’t really her parents, joined Yonghwa with a fake toy guitar, a crayon, and a piece of paper of her own. She copied Yonghwa’s every movement and scribbled down nonsense in crayon, pretending to compose her own song.

There was one adorable moment where Yunji had mumbled to herself “Ah! I’m a genius” while scribbling down on the paper, and Yonghwa couldn’t contain his smile.

“Yunji, maybe you should go play in your room with Pudding,” Yonghwa suggested, patting her lightly on the head. “Your Appa’s trying to make himself useful.”

“Appa, I want to make myself useful too,” the little girl replied with pouting aegyo. She strummed a fake note on the toy guitar.  

“Yunji, do we ever listen to music at home? In the living room? Me, you, and Omma?” he asked. The apartment was always so quiet. It was so much different than the dorm, when the living space felt so full of life.

“Annio. It might hurt me.” She touched her ears.

Yonghwa felt sorry. What kind of a husband and father was he in the future? He could protect Seohyun but he couldn’t make friends with her. He could be loving to Yunji but he withheld the freedom of music from her. He sat there looking at his daughter. There had to be some way for him to make things right, to liven things up and take control. If he was going to have to be stuck here for the rest of his life, he wasn’t going to live in a dead atmosphere where everyone walked on eggshells.

“Yunji, that’s enough composing for today,” he announced, sitting his guitar down and taking her hand. He led her out of the studio and into the living room. Yunji sat on the couch as Yonghwa moved the coffee table to the side and approached a fancy looking stereo system. “Yunji, your Appa is a member of CN Blue, a band that brings cheer and a sense of following your dreams. What kind of a leader am I if I don’t enforce that in my own home?”

He was talking more to himself, but it was important to say out loud nonetheless. He found what he was looking for after awhile and cranked the sound. Perfect for a little girl’s freedom. CN Blue’s “Rock and Roll” song flooded the apartment, vibrating the walls.

Yunji leapt off the couch, smiling from ear to ear, and began a lively, joyous dance in the middle of the floor. Yonghwa started laughing and joined in, not worried about looking awkward. Seohyun burst from her sitting room, looking shocked and pretty angry. She mouthed something like “What are you doing! Turn it off!” but the music drowned her out. She went to turn off the stereo, but Yonghwa lunged and impulsively grabbed her from behind, lifting her up and pulling her away. Shocked by his gesture, she began failing, but he sat her down and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“This is too loud! I’m trying to read,” she shouted at him, waving her book in his face. “And think about Yunji’s ears.”

She went on and on, but Yonghwa waved her off and pointed toward Yunji, who was still dancing crazily.

“Look, she’s happy right now. So just… just join us. Please,” he begged. “I’m angry, you’re angry, but she’s happy.”

Seohyun watched her daughter, who turned to her and smiled, shouting “Omma, Omma, this is fun!”

Seohyun felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked at Yonghwa.

“If you dance, you won’t cry,” he replied, taking her book from her and tossing it somewhere on the couch. He did a little awkward dance move in front of her, singing part of the lyrics to her.

She laughed and blinked away tears, and Yonghwa hesitated before taking both her hands and spinning her around and around. They did a jig together, hands linked, and then Seohyun closed her eyes and let herself go.    

They danced crazily together as a family and didn’t notice when the front door opened and Jonghyun, Jungshin, and Minhyuk came into the apartment, wondering what the hell was going on. The three of them watched in amazement, until Yonghwa and Seohyun turned around and jumped a mile high. She laughed and waved them in, and they, too, joined in. Yonghwa picked up Yunji and put her on his hip, spinning her around. She threw her head back in laughter. Jonghyun tapped her sweetly and sang to her his part.

Yonghwa put Yunji down, who was immediately swept up by of her samchons. He and Seohyun made eye contact, and Seohyun mouthed a “Kahmoyo”. None of them noticed that both Seohyun and Yonghwa’s phones, lying on the kitchen table, morphed into a shape of a diamond and glowed purple momentarily.

***

When the dancing was over three songs later, and Yunji was down for a nap to rest from all the excitement, everyone sat lazily in the living room, worn out but in good spirits. Seohyun felt like she was floating.

“What brings you to the apartment?” she asked out of breath.

“You guys didn’t mention it yet, so we thought we’d let you know,” Jonghyun started, “we get two weeks vacation, and then we to prepare for the European tour.”

“Two weeks vacation?” Yonghwa was startled. “Chinchayo? Whose baby did we rescue from a fire to get that kind of vacation time?”

“We get a lot of vacation time now since some of us have families,” stated Minhyuk. “Jun Hee and I are going to Jeju for a couple of days while my parents watch the baby.”

“I’m going to visit see my Omma and see my niece and nephew,” said Jungshin. “Since I have no girlfriend, no family, no children…no life.”

“I’m heading to Japan for a little bit,” said Jonghyun obscurely.

“Maybe we’ll just stay home,” Seohyun suggested. “I’ll probably still have a schedule, and we haven’t really planned a trip or anything.”

“Actually, you did. You leave for Busan tomorrow morning to visit Hyung’s family. Didn’t your phone say anything?”

“No. It didn’t. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Seohyun retrieved her phone. The phone had returned to the white color that she liked, but it was still in the shape of a diamond. She thought it was strange, considering she had kept it as a star but shrugged it off. When she searched her calendar, sure enough there was a note.
    

Train for Busan-10am.

Mother-in-Law will meet us there

Much needed rest begins!

“Wah, you were right,” announced Seohyun. “I guess I should start the packing.”

“Seohyun, wait,” Yonghwa stopped her from leaving the room. “We can pack later. Maybe we can all have a meal together.”

“Ok,” Seohyun breathed. “Then I’ll start preparing something.”

Yonghwa laughed. “I remember your cooking. We’ll order out.”

“I’ve improved since then,” she defended herself. She was still feeling happy from all the dancing and couldn’t bring herself to actually feel offended.

“Possibly, but still, let’s order out.”

“Fine, but at least let me change my clothes. I wasn’t expecting company like this. Should they really know our apartment key?” She bounced happily from the room, and Yonghwa’s eyes followed her as he allowed himself a bursting cheek smile. When she was gone, he looked around at s who were smirking.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Jungshin, grinning. “It’s just nice to see you two like this. It makes me less worried.”

“But Hyung, keep in mind. You’re not just visiting your family but you’ll no doubt see your friends too,” Jonghyun explained. “Consider Seohyun.”

“We’ll be fine,” Yonghwa assured him. “We’ve gone through plenty, but visiting my family should be no problem. We’re not the type to be personal and Seohyun is most likely a meticulous daughter-in-law.”

“Still…” Jonghyun was wary. “Your parents will be expecting Seohyun, the meticulous daughter-in-law whose been around the family for six years, not Seohyun, the person who doesn’t know how to act around them.”

“You’ll need to protect her the most on this trip,” Jungshin agreed.

Yonghwa looked at Minhyuk, who hadn’t said anything yet. “What do you think? Should we cancel then?”

“Annio, but just keep alert. Don’t leave her side,” Minhyuk replied. “Your brother is married and has two kids, both sons older than Yunji. You get along well with his wife.”

All three of them began filling in information, just as they had done the 2^nd day of Seohyun and Yonghwa’s misery. This time, however, they didn’t have all or most of the answers.

Despite his dongsaengs' concerns, Yonghwa didn’t feel worried at all. It would be good to take a rest from all of the chaos that had happened, and maybe Yonghwa could work on a better solution to contact the woman on the phone. Or get closer to Seohyun. One of these would hopefully happen. Either way, the vacation couldn’t have come at a better time.

***

Seohyun was still dancing and humming in the bedroom. She had always liked CNBlue’s music, the energetic atmosphere it gave the fun it encouraged. Before Yonghwa had the music, Seohyun had been feeling the lowest she had ever felt. Even silent time alone and the comfort of a book wasn’t helping. She was aware of the distance that she and Yonghwa were putting between the two of them and while it felt safe, she hated it. She was used to the chaos or warmth of her unnies, cracking jokes, arguing, swallowing food and talking loudly at the same time while they prepared for a stage.

SNSD hadn’t performed since that night of the concert. She saw her unnies on variety shows and dramas on every other channel and Taeyeon’s new music video, but they seemed like strangers to her, people with lives that didn’t include 9 people, or rather, 8 now.

Yunji had had a couple of play dates with Tae Joon, Taeyeon’s pouty son, who turned out to be a pretty good oppa to her daughter during playtime. Taeyeon and Seohyun hadn’t had much to talk about, and Taeyeon could only spare about half an hour. They spent the time talking about Taeyeon’s music broadcasts, married life, and new trends in educational toys.

Everday Seohyun and Yonghwa came home, and everyday, he did his own thing and she did hers. But when he had the music, scrambling her pessimistic thoughts, she had sensed that he had the same frustration. He didn’t want them to be strangers anymore. He didn’t want Yunji to be damaged by the separation either. Blasting the music was the only way he could bring a family together. Dancing with him like that, feeling his hand in hers as he spun her around and laughed with her, she told herself she would try harder with him until they went back. If they ever did go back.

Seohyun did a pirouette and collapsed happily on the bed when she looked up and saw Yonghwa standing there amused.

“Oppa! I was just… ”she hurriedly tried to recover her dignity, but Yonghwa laughed and closed the door behind him.

“So, have the tears completely left?” he asked sincerely.

“Nae. All gone.”

“The boys are ordering the food. I picked something I thought you might like.”

She nodded in satisfaction.

“Come out when you’re ready.” He turned to leave, and she called out.     

“Oppa, Kamsahmnida, for what you did,” she said quietly. “For making my tears go away.”

Yonghwa shrugged. “Kamsahmnida. For dancing with me when I needed you to.”

Yes, Seohyun thought, as Yonghwa left her. She would try harder on the trip to Busan.

A/N: Wow, you guys were on it making sure I updated haha!

Are you happy with the update? I hope so! “Rock n’ Roll” is one of those CN Blue songs that helps you relieve so much stress when you dance around to it! I wish you guys could see how that scene looks in my head because it’s about 100 times more adorable than I could write it. Yonghwa and Seohyun have been stuck in the future for some time now, and it looks like their dancing appeased the woman on the phone a little. But Yongseo has no clue that it happened. How much longer will they be stuck? Perhaps forever?

How do you guys think the trip to Busan will go?

Thank you for reading, subscribing, commenting, and patiently waiting for updates!! You guys are the best. Also, Happy 1 year anniversary to me for being on AFF. Yay!