Captured
I Dream
Seoul Performing Arts Academy, recording studio wing
"Sound Entertainment..." he read with a scrunched up face. It was an okay name for a company. Not that creative, but it could be worse. But then...was the stalker guy a scout?
"Did you find it?" Eunji spun around in the leather swivel chair next to him boredly, handing him a bottled water.
"Got it," Daehyun dropped the business card back in his backpack and dug around some more, revealing the crumpled up paper and the instrumental CD. "It's a little...yeah, but the notes are still visible."
"Looks like you got everything written down, what do you need me for?"
"Listen to me record it," he stood to enter the recording room. "And tell me what's wrong; don't sugar-coat anything."
"I'm not a sweets person," she joked and leaned forward in the seat to slide the disc into the player.
As he set the paper on the stand and began to sing, his strength was fine, his range was awesome, but...
"There's no feeling," she cut him off abruptly. "N-O-N-E, none."
"Hyori-teacher said that too. She said I won't get a good score on the final if I don't fix it."
"Your song is about...love. Think of someone you love, anyone."
Someone he loved. What was love, anyway?
Parents? Daehyun's parents were never around. In America his mother and father were either at work or at dinners all the time, so he often spent his days with his sickly grandfather.
His grandfather. After Daehyun turned 16, grandpa had bought a plane ticket and sent him back to Korea to enroll in Seoul Performing Arts Academy because of his love of singing. He was thankful and grateful to his grandfather. Maybe that was love too?
"Alright, I'll try again."
Eunji nodded, tapping her pen to the beat of the music. His expressions were getting believable, at least.
"You need to get out of here, son," his grandpa had said in his strong Busan accent before he boarded the plane. "Go back to your roots, do what you love."
Do what he loved. He only knew how to love music. And he guessed he loved his grandpa too, for helping him realize that.
"You aren't happy here, you keep fighting and hurting yourself," his grandpa's face as he waved goodbye came into Daehyun's mind as he shut his eyes and sang. "Go, find something useful to do."
"Aigoo, that was the best! Jung Daehyun, you improved in half an hour!" Eunji pounded on the glass screen, bringing him back from his thoughts. She gave him a thumbs up and clapped happily.
Her proud satoori and her genuine smile...reminded him a lot of his grandpa.
Daehyun grinned.
The Lee Estate, Seoul
"Have you or haven't you made your decision, son?" A crisply suited man's firm voice froze Kikwang as he made his way down the spiral stairs of the mansion. His father stood below at the doorway; his mother fixing the man's collar before he left for work.
"Honey, it's been a while..." his mom gave him a small smile. "Did you decide?"
"I haven't made up my mind yet," Kikwang admitted. "Why?"
"No reason, just..."
"There's a company dinner coming up. I want you to bring her," his dad interrupted. "It's a formal event."
"Wait...I have to bring her?"
His mom nodded, "It's a good opportunity for you two kids to talk again. You know, it's been a while. You two were so close."
We were, until she just stopped talking to me altogether, he sighed inwardly.
"This isn't just an invitation. It's obligatory."
"Yes, father..."
Slurp.
Slurrrrrrp.
The room was quiet except for the sound of Eunji eating cup noodles for breakfast at the kitchen bar. It was the weekend, but she didn't really have anything to do or anyone to meet with. Normally Hayi would come over and they'd watch some TV or she'd be getting ready to follow her parents to a company dinner, but that hadn't happened for a couple months now.
Boxes were spread out throughout the white-walled apartment room, on the counters and by the small TV she'd kept from her old house. The remains of her belongings. A ripped open package lay on the countertop in front of her as she ate.
Her parents' possessions, or what scraps she kept at the scene of the accident were in that box. She hadn't opened it since it was delivered to her months ago. Somehow today she felt like checking it again.
A book, a broken cellphone, her mom's locket, pieces of paper...they all meant so much and nothing to her at all.
"What's this..." curiously, she held one of the papers closer to her face to read it. A will...?
That was weird; she was sure of one thing. Her parents never would've written a will. Her dad never took the advice of the family doctor about his cholesterol, and her mother didn't even cut down on eating greasy foods one bit.
Her eyes flicked to the family picture on the shelf near the window and a lump formed in unconsciously. The ramen noodles slipped through the chopsticks loosening in her shaking hand.
They lived life one day at a time. They were always bright, and fought playfully a lot. They had thick obvious Busan accents. No executive in Seoul had that thick of a Busan accent and used it constantly.
There was a knock on the door, and she hurriedly blinked back her tears and answered it.
"Good...morning? It might be noon, don't know, don't care," Daehyun waved a dismissive hand, entering without asking. "Can I have some ramen?"
"Yah, is this the homeless shelter?" A chuckle escaped as the boy helped himself to her cabinets. It was the third time this week he came over asking for food. It was like a routine for him now.
"Mmhm, you'll get rewards in the next life for this," Daehyun answered with a mouthful of her noodles, unable to find anything appetizing in the pantry.
She scoffed and excused herself to go to the bathroom to check her appearance before he could make a joke about how horrible she looked.
A box labeled 'Mom and Dad's Things' sat on the counter, the contents in front of Daehyun. The moment Eunji opened the door he knew there was something wrong, but he played it cool.
"Eunji, do you wanna go somewhere?" He set down the chopsticks when she returned.
She raised a brow. "Where?"
He didn't give her time to prepare before he dragged her out the door. "You'll see, just come."
Her sleeping isn't pretty or romantic whatsoever, he thought as he closed that had dropped open with the shaking of the train. Totally unlike the actress sunbaes. She'll never get a bed scene.
"What kind of person can sleep away this scenery?" he smacked her awake, totally bored.
"What-is-wrong-with-you?!" she exclaimed, annoyed, and shifted her head from his left shoulder onto the window. "I was dreaming!"
"Who needs a dream when you can look outside?" he pointed out the glass window at the passing landscape.
Eunji's eyes followed his finger out to the beautiful familiar sights of her hometown. Surprised out of her sleepiness, she lifted her head to watch as they rode by.
"So this is where we were going..."
"Pabo, you would've missed everything. How can you sleep when the sun's shining on you anyway? That's so messed up."
"It is not," she scoffed. "It happens when you're tired."
"Not me," he chuckled.
A trip back to their hometown was what both of them needed, he decided after seeing her in that state in her apartment by herself. He wondered if she was like that every day, alone. She hasn't been as cheerful lately.
When they got off at the station the most excited one was Eunji, of course, at all the people speaking the same dialect.
"I'm so psyched and I want to go to the beach!" Her satoori poured out of freely.
"Stop talking like that," he smirked. "You Busan ahjumma."
"Yah!" she punched his arm angrily. "You're the one that didn't let me change! You said I looked fine! Agh, never trust a guy..."
"It's because we're matching! Look, couple shirts!" he grinned as she marched ahead after making a mock-disgusted face at his plaid flannel long-sleeve.
"I get to choose where we go first!"
"Hello viewers, this is Jung Eunji from Busan and I'm finally back in my hometown where no one gives me looks for my accent!" Eunji's words spilled out of as she attempted to record a vlog.
Daehyun snickered as the overexcited girl turned the camera to him.
"Say something to the camera, Daehyun. You know we have to practice Yoo Jae Suk-teacher's tips! We're filming reality shows for sure if we're going to debut as idols."
"What if I'm gonna be a solo? I have to be really good at talking to myself then?"
"Then... for you!"
While Eunji filmed the shoreline, Daehyun busied himself feeding seagulls like he used to when he was little. He threw the food at them and watched as they flocked to him.
"Everybody come to Haeundae~!" Eunji sang to 'Busan Vacance' as she ran back from the shore all hyper. She ended the video taping Daehyun and his bird friends. "The beach air is awesome!"
He sat down on the sand and held the camera for her as she settled down next to him. "Let's stay for a while. We'll do all we can while we can."
She nodded wordlessly. He sneaked a glance at her; the wind was whipping her hair into her face but she didn't care, she was smiling so widely that her eyes squeezed shut. Yup, he was a genius. He patted himself on the back, getting a weird look from her
"You're a loser, you know that?"
After feeding gulls, skipping rocks, and kicking water on each other, they walked around to find a restaurant. Eunji realized the boy was far behind, and slowed so he could catch up. She busied herself trying to get a shot of the ocean as the tide came in.
What if time stopped right there? What if the world could freeze, when she pressed the camera button?
It didn't, of course. The camera shutter clicked, and the preview came up on the display.
She waved impatiently.
"I think you saw before, but my parents' things on the table..."
"You miss them."
"Yeah, I...I miss them a lot. I love them."
She was using present tense, he noticed.
"Do you miss anyone?"
"My grandpa," he answered without hesitation, "he sent me here to Korea when both my parents didn't let me go. He promised to come to my Seoul Academy graduation."
They ended up at an outdoor seafood restaurant, and ate while drying up.
"Yah, the bottom of my shirt is still wet from your splashing..." Eunji twisted the shirt ends, squeezing the remaining water out onto the pavement.
"You'll ruin the shirt, here," he gave her his sweater, and she looked at him hesitantly before wrapping it around her waist.
Their food arrived, and both them of dug in wordlessly.
"Say Daehyun," Eunji twirled a noodle around her chopsticks as it finally came to her mind, "why'd we come here in the first place?"
"Why not? You had a date today?" he replied between mouthfuls of rice. "It's my first time in Busan after coming back to Korea."
"Really? It's my first time since I moved to Seoul...and that was years ago," she mused.
Truthfully the idea popped into his head because there wasn't much time left until he couldn't roam about freely. Any last free time he wanted to spend doing things he couldn't do later.
He wanted to go back to Busan, and it just so happened for some reason that she was the first person that came to mind.
Earlier in the morning, Sound Entertainment
"I told you he'd come," a big man in a business suit nodded at his coworker as Daehyun entered the office. "My 'no phone numbers' idea works! If you only leave the address, they'll be here eventually."
"Yeah, they'll come with eggs one day," the coworker replied, going back to his computer as the suited man approached Daehyun.
"Remember me, kid? Not that you saw my face fully or anything the other night," the man chuckled. "Fast reflexes."
"Mister..." Daehyun wanted to say stalker, but decided it was better not to.
"Lee Sanghyun, you can call me," he reached out to shake his hand. "I'm your manager."
"Wait, wait whoa, slow..." the seventeen-year-old raised his palms suddenly. "What do you want from me?"
"To be a trainee of course! What did you expect, you're standing inside an entertainment company, son!"
"To be hired as a janitor," the coworker called sarcastically from his office chair.
"Just organize your schedules, hyung," Sanghyun replied. "Yongguk looks worn out these days."
"Yongguk who? Bang Yongguk?" Daehyun's brows rose. Bang Yongguk sunbaenim was signed to this label?
"That's him. Your sunbae, right? I saw your uniform the other day. So," the manager placed a paper and pen in front of him on the oak desk, "read it over, give it a try. CEO hyungnim let me scout a member since hyung chose Yongguk last time. I looked into your Seoul Academy grades."
"So you are a stalker hyung!" The student blurted as he skimmed the document.
"Stalk - no, I'm a scout!" Sanghyun threw his arms in the air and whimpered to his hyung, who ignored him. "Hyung, why does everyone call me a stalker? Don't all scouts watch people?"
The contract seemed legit enough. And if Bang Yongguk sunbae was signed here...
"You're not the only one from your school here," the coworker encouraged Daehyun. "Think about it. We want the likes of Seoul Academy students here. We believe they've polished their talents well."
"Hyung...hyung! He's signing! He's signing! Aaaaaannndddddd...it's official!" Sanghyun narrated ecstaticly. "Thank you, boy! I would've died if I didn't get you!"
The manager hyung happily clutched the signed paper. "Here's my number! I'll contact you about training!"
The other man nodded with a small smile, "Welcome to Sound Entertainment."
Present, Haeundae beach, Busan
He would've rather waited until graduation when he had more knowledge to sign, but he couldn't risk the opportunity.
"Do you think we'll ever be able to come here again?" He wondered aloud, and she turned around to give him a duh expression as they walked along the beach before going back to the train station.
"Yeah, why not?"
"The press and reporters..." he corrected, "Of course I'll be back here for a fansign or something. I meant us...like, you and me, you know...together..."
"Oh...well I dunno..."
He wanted to tell her the news now but kept silent, swallowing his words as he watched her take pictures of the sunset. The mood would take a nosedive immediately.
He wanted to tell her when they were on the KTX on the way back but she was sleeping the whole time again. He didn't even wake her up for the scenery on the way home because he knew she'd snap at him.
He wanted to tell her after they rode the taxi home, but she fell asleep again, so he brought her up to her room using the spare key she entrusted to him, and tucked her in exactly how his grandpa used to for him. She really used up all her energy today.
He sat there for a while in the chair by her bookshelf, wondering if he should take a chance and tell her or not.
In the end, no one knew the news yet except himself. And time was just starting to tick.
This chapter's quote is from As Good As It Gets - INFINITE. So many good springy songs are coming out I love it ;_;
Speaking of seasons has anyone watched Eunji's drama That Winter, The Wind Blows? It's really good!
Anyways, have a nice week!
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