A Little Birdie Told Me

JaeJoong walked on the sidewalk around the hotel, his hands on his head as he looked up at the dark sky above him. He squinted, trying to find a small flicker of light, but the bright street lamps and blaring signs of the metropolis outshone even the brightest star in sky. He sighed heavily, taking in the polluted city air. He felt it – a growing rumble that started at the pit of his stomach and wound its way up to his dry throat, waiting to be released. He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell, he wanted to let everything out – his frustration and his pain, in one mighty roar. He could feel it. All he had to do was open his mouth and let go. As he pulled back, ready to scream at the top of his powerful lungs, something vibrated from his back pocket.

           “Aish!” He reached down and took out his vibrating cell phone. He flipped it open to discover a new text message. 

Menu - Messages - Inbox - Read Text Message

Hey  ^-^
 

He stared at the text message. ‘Who is this?’ he thought. The only ones who knew this number was the members and manager, his family, Super Junior, BongCha, and…ChoMin maybe? He texted back, wondering if it really was YunHo’s cousin that was texting him.

Menu - Messages - Create New - New Text Message

ChoMin-sshi?
Why Are you still awake?

JaeJoong waited patiently before another vibrate informed him that she replied back.

Menu - Messages - Inbox - Read Text Message

Neh! I wanted to see how
you’re doing even though
I’m not supposed to talk to
you… So how are you doing?
And uh…I couldn’t sleep. =.=            

The symbol of Dong Bang Shin Ki chuckled at ChoMin’s reply. He could sort of see her stutter or freak out that he texted her back. He wasn’t blind; he knew what kind of effect he had on the opposite – especially the jittery and easily excitable female roommate of his. Even though he was probably a thousand miles away, he still wanted to mess with her. It was fun – like teasing a little sister. 'Yeah...'

He dialed her number and waited as the line rang 3 times before the surprised voice of ChoMin answered.

            “Y-Yobeoseyo?”

            “Yah, are you stalking me now?” JaeJoong chuckled over the phone as he walked over to a nearby tree and leaned against it. He faced their hotel balcony. He could tell it was theirs, because YunHo’s apple boxers was flying in the night wind, left there to dry on the clothes line. He could never mistake whose boxers they belonged to.

            “Haha, Ani,” ChoMin replied coolly, no sign of her usual nervous stutter, “I thought you weren’t supposed to call anybody from here?” she asked more than stated.

            “Yeah, well…Rules are meant to be broken.”

            “Oh that is so cliché!” ChoMin laughed but turned serious, “So why are you loner?”

Loner? How did she know he was alone? He looked around the area, expecting to find ChoMin hiding behind a tree or a bush. “How did you know I was alone?” he asked suspiciously. Maybe she was stalking him. Maybe she stowed away in one of their luggage and followed them to Japan. As soon as JaeJoong thought it, he shook his head to clear the stupid idea out of his mind.

            “Oh, a little birdie by the name of Xiah JunSu told me. Oh wait!” JaeJoong heard low pitched beeps coming from the line, “Now he’s texting me to see if I figured out why you are were alone.”

JaeJoong and ChoMin chuckled at JunSu’s antics. His eyes traveled to their balcony and what do you know, JunSu was peaking through the sliding door’s curtain. When JaeJoong met his eyes, JunSu’s widen in shock before dropping the curtain and hid from sight. JaeJoong chuckled again. ‘I should hug him when I get back inside,’ he thought.

            “By the way,” JaeJoong started, “It was really nice of you to send us presents. I’m guessing that little birdie was Su too, right?”

            “It was no problem, after JunSu oppa told me about your predicament, I wanted to do something for you guys. I’m sorry I didn’t send more.”

            “No, don’t be sorry. It was nice of you…Thanks, so how is everything at home? How is the apartment doing?”

            “Oh, well the apartment is doing great, thank you for asking,” ChoMin said sarcastically, “And Korea still lives.”

JaeJoong chuckled, “How are you doing?”

            “Uh…” there was a short silence. “I’m uh, doing…doing great actually. Never better.”

            “Don’t lie, how are you really doing?” JaeJoong asked, getting a bit worried about ChoMin, “Did something happen?”

            “A-Aniyo! Everything is peachy clean, uh, I mean peachy great?”

JaeJoong walked around in a circle, trying to think of what possibly bad thing could have happened while the group was away. “ChoMin-sshi, has anyone told you, you were a bad liar?”

            “I am not!” Her voice screamed over the phone, “You already have enough on your plate as it is. You don’t need to hear my problems. I could just call YooChun-ah later.”

            “Why YooChunnie?” JaeJoong asked, totally taken aback. “Just spit it out and tell me.”  It wasn’t because he was jealous; he was just insulted that he couldn’t be trusted with her problems. Yeah… that was it… He was JaeJoong, he listens to everbody's problems and it was his job to fix them. He’s the group’s umma for crying out loud! Of course he wasn’t jealous – at least, that’s what he told himself.

            “Fine,” he heard her sigh over the phone, “I basically got kicked out of my dream college in America because I’m stuck here waiting for my new visa to come and now I’m being forced to go to a rinky-dink junior college.”

            “Wow… a lot of happens to you,” he said, as he thought of all the unfortunate events that she went through – almost getting arrested for sneaking pass police when she first came and then her wallet along with her passport stolen right before her eyes.

He heard her chuckle tiredly over the phone and a smile formed on his lips. “Yeah, do you think I should go to SNUP? Officer Han told me about it.”

            “SNUP?” JaeJoong scrunged his eyebrows, trying to recall that college. “What's that?”

            “It's that Polytech-something.”

            “Oh! Seoul National Polytechnic University? I’ve heard about it and it’s pretty alright I guess. The hours aren’t long and the classes go pretty slow so you don’t feel rushed. I used to know a person that went there. And it’s pretty affordable.”

            “So you think I should go?” ChoMin asked tiredly, trying to stifle a yawn.

            “Sure, it’ll give you something to do instead of being in the apartment all day.”

            “But I don’t know…I don’t think junior college is right for me. I mean, I want to be a doctor someday.”

            “Hold on, why are we even talking about this?” JaeJoong inquired, remembering a very important fact, “You’re leaving in a few weeks, aren’t you? I thought your new visa and passport would come in soon.”

            “I thought so too!” he heard ChoMin exclaimed, “It’s supposed to arrive sometime next week… JaeJoong-sshi, I have a horrible feeling that it’s not going to come in at all.”

            “Ahh, don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll come in within the week,” JaeJoong reassured, “And what’s the worst that could happen if it doesn’t? If it takes longer, why not try going to college here?”

            “But, I have a life in the US! I can’t just leave that all behind,” ChoMin explained, “No matter how much I love living here in Korea with ya’ll, I kindda miss home, you know?”

            “I guess…”

            “But you’re right…” he heard ChoMin sigh over the phone, “I need to plan for the worst case scenario, and that might be –” she gulped, “Seoul National…”

            “Well, what else can you do? Is there another college you can go to?”

            “Aniyo… It's the only one that might accept me without too much hastle. All the other ones I need to go through the whole appliction process again - recommendation letters, essays, transcripts - the whole shebang,” he heard her stifle a yawn.

            “Sooo, worst come to worst, why don’t you take your basics here, like college math, science, history, etc. Then you’ll have that done and you won’t be so behind when you get back. But that's if you're visa doesn't come in by December. Or maybe, you can sit in a class or two if you want. You can audit them, and it shouldn't be expensive.”

            “OMG!” ChoMin exclaimed, “That is so true! I've never thought about just auditing a class. That way, I can learn, but not have to take any tests. But I still don’t like the idea… What do you think?” she tried stifling another yawn.

            “I think you should go for it,” JaeJoong replied, “It’ll be a waste if you didn’t.”

            “Thanks…JaeJoong-sshi,” ChoMin yawned once more, “I think I’ll give it a –” she yawned again, “– a chance.”

JaeJoong smiled to himself, “Glad I could help.”

            “JaeJoong-sshi?” ChoMin asked sleepily over the phone.

            “Muh?”

            “I’m sorry…We just talked about me and my problems…I was supposed to help you with your problem…I’m sorry. But thanks.”

JaeJoong’s smile grew wider, touched at ChoMin’s words. He scratched the back of his head and started walking up the steps to the hotel. “Aish, it was no problem…Listening to you helped me…Thanks…ChoMin-sshi.” His right hand sat on the handle of the hotel door.

There was silence over the line.

            “ChoMin-sshi?”

There was still no answer.

            “Jung ChoMin!”

            “Computer notes are in the file of…pink bunny attacks…it's Jupiter!” ChoMin’s voice over the phone died down to a mumble and then to silence. Deep even breathes were heard though the red cell phone.

            “Aish, falling asleep on me?” JaeJoong shook his head in disbelief, “Good night.” He shut his phone as he pulled open the hotel door and the cool blast of the AC hit him, making his hair ruffle. He shook his head as a yawn escaped his mouth and his eyes suddenly felt heavy. He couldn’t believe that ChoMin could fall asleep on him. It was the first time anyone has fallen asleep on him. He usually fell asleep on people, not the other way around.

JaeJoong yawned again, and his eyes felt even heavier. Walking down to the elevator that would take him up to his precious bed, he looked over to his cell phone…5:33… Great, he only had 30 minutes to go to sleep before he needed to wake up and get ready for the last day of practice and shooting.

Yet he didn’t regret the hour he spent talking to the intriguing girl that was his best friend’s little cousin.

            “You look like crap!” JeeWoon commented on the tired look on ChoMin’s face as she followed her friend onto the bus. Her friend was slouched, major bags under her eyes, and yawning every three minutes.

            “Well excuse me for not looking cheery; I only slept for 3 freaking hours!” ChoMin snapped back at her friend who sat next to her in the back of the bus.

            “At least turn around so I can fix your hair,” JeeWoon replied back. They both jumped as the bus hit a pot-hole. JeeWoon reached into her humongous purse and took out a brush to tame ChoMin’s unruly hair. “Aish, you didn’t even take a bath! It’s so oily.”

            “I couldn’t! I barely woke up when you called me and said I was gonna be late!”

They were on the way to the college. JeeWoon’s neighbor happened to go to Seoul National, and was willing to show ChoMin around the medium sized building that stood as the school. She had already taken the entrance exam and passed with high marks and now they were on the way for ChoMin’s interview with the headmaster and hopefully, ChoMin would be admitted in…Hopefully. ChoMin scoffed at the idea. Of course she’ll be accepted! Look at her grades! They were good enough for Rice University, then they were definetly good enough for Seoul National Polytechnic University.

            “Ouch!” ChoMin scrunched her nose and narrowed her eyes at the tugging pain of her hair, “What are you doing to my hair?!”

            “I’m putting it in a bun! It’ll look good with your outfit,” JeeWoon stated as she styled ChoMin’s hair.

ChoMin wore a black pencil skirt with a white sleeveless-cotton shirt with ruffled lace in the middle. She had on a pair of black Jimmy-Choos and tights. She specifically went on a shopping trip with JeeWoon when her parents wired her monthly allowance of $300. To her left, JeeWoon wore casual ripped jeans with a bow belt, and a black vest over two layers of green striped and orange striped spaghetti shirts. She had a matching black cross necklace and earrings with assorted colors of bangles on her left wrist.

The bus pulled up at their stop in front of the school 11 minutes later. They both giggled and waved flirtatiously at the hot bus driver – well, ChoMin did. JeeWoon was the one who dragged her to where her friend waited patiently under the shade of a few trees near the entrance of the building. The building wasn’t that tall, considering the gigantic skyscrapers on both sides. It was only 3 stories high and was a bit run down. A nice stone sign stating the name of the school, the founder, and the year it was built, was placed near the door to the building.

            “YoonKi-ah! Yah! YoonKi-ah!” JeeWoon waved at her tall friend. ChoMin’s eyes traveled to the chubby-faced, tall neighbor of JeeWoon.

‘Hmm…Doesn’t he work at the mall?’ she thought. If not, she definitely had seen him before.

            “Annyonghaseyo!” YoonKi extend his hand and bowed to ChoMin, which she kindly returned the gesture.

            “Annyong.”

            “Oh my gosh!” YoonKi yelled as he held ChoMin’s hands up to his face. “Where did you get your manicure?”

ChoMin eyed JeeWoon’s friend strangely…‘Okaaay…very fruity…’ she thought in English. She looked over to JeeWoon who stood behind YoonKi and raised her eyebrow in question.

JeeWoon stifled a laugh and mouthed silently, ‘He’s not.’

             “I got them done in America,” ChoMin replied.

            “They’re very pretty and your outfit is really cute.”

            “Ummm…Thanks?” ChoMin laughed, “JeeWoonie told me that you go to school here. How is it?”

            “It’s ok, I mean, for a vocational college.” YoonKi shrugged as he pulled open the tinted glass door of the entrance. “Most people who had grades below average during high school are sent to this school.”

            “Oh,” ChoMin replied in disdain.

            “Don’t get me wrong! It’s all good. It’s mostly vocational, rather than community.” He blew at his bangs as he led him down the hall to the Dean’s office. “I'll help you sign up for classes for fall, I took most of them anyways - so I can tell you which teachers to take and which to avoid.”

            “I see…” ChoMin mumbled. To tell the truth, she wasn’t excited. She only agreed to go because JaeJoong told her to. And her parents were ok with it. Yet YoonKi was unaware of her less than thrilled outlook of his school and continued.

            “It’s pretty liberal here. Basically, you only take the class you need and you can take as little as 9 hours to be considered a full-time student, a bit lower than other Univerisities, but still alright. We also offer a lot of online classes if you have a busy schedule, so I think you’ll be fine. Let's see what else? Oh yeah, Registration and payment deadlines are August 25th; classes start September 4th. ”

            “Ok thanks for the info, so is this the office?” ChoMin asked, pointing to a wooden door that held a sign saying ‘Dean Kook JeongHoon’.

            “Yeah. Just go, you have your transcripts right? And it is your appointment time right?”

            “Neh, my umma faxed me my transcripts last night and I printed them out. So I just walk in?”  She tried hard not to giggle. ‘Before I talked to theYoungWoong JaeJoong on the phone…heehee…’ she thought with a smile.

YoonKi nodded his head, his shaggy hair moving with it. He leaned over to ChoMin’s ear, as if telling her a secret. “He likes pretty girls, so hike up your skirt a bit and you’ll get in no sweat,” he whispered to her.

ChoMin stared at him with agape, but he just shrugged at her. Rolling her eyes, she hiked up her knee high skirt up a few inches to reveal more leg.

            “What the hell are you doing?!” JeeWoon asked, appalled at her friend’s lack of conservativeness.

ChoMin stuck out her tongue, pulling on one eye in a very Japanese way and twisted the door knob open. “Securing my spot.” And she vanished within the room.

“All economy passengers from Narita to Incheon
may board the plane at this time.
All economy passengers from Narita to Incheon
may board at this time.
Arigatou gozaimasu^(*).” 

The smooth voice of a Japanese plane stewardess informed the homesick passanger sitting patiently at the plane’s gate. Another lady repeated her words, yet this time in Korean.

            “I guess that’s us,” Manager Choi said as he stood up from the leather chair, the handle bar to his luggage in one hand and a nice warm coffee in the other. 3 AM was an ungodly hour for traveling. “Say goodbye to Japan. But we’ll be back soon.”

The Dong Bang boys yawned and stretched as they gathered their belongings, inwardly groaning at the prospects of coming back. True, their new music videos did really well, and one of their songs even made it in the top 50 of the Oricon Chart^(*).  But nothing beats the feeling of finally being home.

They boarded the plane without any trouble and took their coach seats in the middle of the isle. JaeJoong loved these types of planes. With 3 columns in the coach section, the first and the third holding two seats and the middle holding five, it meant that all five members could have a row to themselves. JaeJoong relaxed against his seat and cuddled up next to YooChun who was seated at his right. To his left, ChangMin kicked off his shoes and placed his earphone in his ears. To ChangMin’s left, JunSu sat, hunched over the safety and evacuation pamphlet, reading vigorously as if his very life depended on it. YunHo who sat on the aisle seat conversed softly with their manager, who sat in one of the two seats next to the plane window.

YooChun rested his head in his arm as he reminisced about the passed two weeks after ChoMin’s package came. In his opinion, it couldn’t have come at a better time. It was like a last push to give them strength to battle onwards. The last two weeks in Japan was plain chaotic. Even to them, who were used to a hectic schedule, they were near exhaustion by the time it was all over. After all three music videos came out; it was like a big explosion. Suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of Dong Bang Shin Ki – or what they were now called in Japan, Tohoshinki.

They squeezed fan meetings, mini showcases, and television appearances in the small time frame of 14 days. In those last two weeks, Dong Bang Shin Ki was able to leave a lasting impression. Due to all the publicity and hub-bub around the group, their management company in Japan, AVEX, wanted them to stay another week or so. But Manager Choi politely declined. He knew how the boys felt and to their surprise, he told them that they were going home as planned. They all had expected to stay another week.

Now that they survived it, their experience in Japan was not as bad as it seemed.

YooChun heard the captain signal the lift off overhead and his stomachs did little flip-flops as the plane defied gravity and lifted off the ground. In a few minutes, the plane leveled and the little flip-flops stopped.

He looked over the small window an aisle away. He could make out the millions of bright lights that littered the long island. And it was beautiful. One day, he’d like to return and actually enjoy it. ‘One day…’ YooChun thought as he rested his head atop the blonde head sleeping soundly at his shoulder.

Notes:

Arigatou Gozaimasu – Japanese for “thank you” (formal)
Oricon Chart – The Oricon Charts represent the official statistics of the singles sold in Japan. Basicaly the best of the best of Jpop music get on the list.

There you go, Chapter 9. Sort of a filler chapter…yet not really. Chapter 10 is where the fun begins. –evil smile– So, I’ll update by the 19^th of January... Thank you so much for sticking by my fanfics! And new readers are always welcomed and just as much loved! Oldies, you rock my socks off every time you leave a comment! You guys are uber awesome!!!

Until next time!

~Asian_Innocence