ROOKIE GROUP ‘EXPRESSION’`S COMEBACK SINGLE, “MAZE,” CERTIFIED TO BE AN ALL-KILL ON THE CHARTS!

“After just five months after their debut, the rookie girl group, Expression, finally comes out with their first comeback single! It`s no doubt that these girls are following the footsteps of their label mates, Big Bang and 2NE1. ”

No doubt indeed. Expression`s comeback has been the headline ever since the release was still told to be a rumor. YG, just like with any other release, teased fans with a collection of short videos and audio clips. Much like other releases too, they also had the release date changed a couple of times, adding up to the suspense.

“I think YG hates charts,” Onew said while he was sitting on the lounge couch, watching TV. “..Because they keep killing them.”

The four other members groaned and shook their heads. No matter how used to Onew condition they were, it still proved to effective every single time.

“Leader.. is so funny. Ha ha ha,” Jonghyun commented sarcastically.

Onew puffed up his cheeks and crossed his arms. “Yes Jonghyun, because you`re so funny,” he replied back with the same sarcastic tone.

Minho cleared his throat. Like always, that was enough to break the awkwardness the leader`s sangtae started. “So Taemin,” he called out, facing the maknae who was right next to him. “You got their single yet?” He pointed to the TV screen which still had some news going on about Expression`s comeback.

Taemin shook his head, causing his long hair to go over his shoulders. “Not yet,” he replied. “She hasn`t given me a copy yet.”

Key scoffed after taking a drink from his water bottle. “She`ll probably forget and never give you one.”

“Heh. I bet Nami would give all of us each a copy,” Onew said, gesturing to the three other members. “Except you.”

Jonghyun blinked his eyes a couple of times. “Most likely,” he said. “Come to think of it, she gets along with all of us except you.” He moved his shoulders up and down.

Key shook his head and rolled his eyes in reply. “I`m forced to be acquainted to that thing since our Taeminnie`s practically married to her.”

Taemin`s eyes widened, as if he just heard something that tainted his innocent mind. “Hyung!” he whined. “I`m too young to get married!”

Completely ignoring Taemin`s response, Minho butted in, “Hyung, stop denying.”

“Denying what??” Key faced the flaming charisma.

“You`re good friends with Nami,” Minho explained.

Jonghyun nodded. “Thinking about it, you`re probably one of her closest friends,” he said. “She told me a lot of nice stories from you were still trainees.”

Taemin chuckled and looked at the confused-looking Key. “Come to think of it,” he said. “I think you two are the ones married. I mean come on! You two are my ‘parents’ and you act like an arguing couple every single time.”

The other members started laughing while Key was looking like he was about to blow up. “YAH!! LEE TAEMIN! HOW DARE YOU EVEN SAY THAT.” He groaned and continued complaining about being linked to Nami like that.

As soon as he finished, Jonghyun went over to pat his back. “Kibum, don`t take it too seriously! We`re just fooling around.” He went back to his seat, chuckling to himself.

Expression released their new music video two days after the song`s release. The Friday following that, they were set to perform their comeback stage.

Their concept was a lot darker than their debut image. It was somewhat comparable to 2NE1`s ‘It Hurts’ concept, except their song wasn`t a ballad and their clothes were designed more for all-out performances.

Yujin looked in front of the mirror, poking her cheeks a couple of times, making sure her makeup was intact enough. She looked extremely different from debut. Her hair was cut shorter and was bleached blonde.

“I`m so pumped up!” Minhee exclaimed while straightening up her metallic grey top. “It`s been a while since we`ve been on stage.” The leader`s look didn`t change much, except for her  bangs which were now swept to the other side.

Nami faced the mirror side view. Her hair was up in a messy, yet still stylish, layered bun. She outgrew the “Key bangs,” and had her hair to a lighter brown color. “It`s been a long time coming, but we`re here now~” she mimicked Chaerin from 2NE1`s debut song.

“Yah! You have your own rap part!” Yujin playfully slapped the maknae`s back. “Don`t go around stealing others`.”

“Expression, fighting!” Sora cheered out of nowhere. Out of everyone, Sora was the most unchanged. Well, her overall wasn`t actually changed at all.

After a few more touchups, the girls were finally ready to go! They wore dark-based colors, which supported their concept. Their hairdos were styled to look slightly messy, but they still looked elegant to an extent. Their makeup, aside from the somewhat thick eyeliner, was pretty light. Lastly, they had some various accessories which made them retain the ‘YG image.’

The girls exited the dressing room to head out to stage. While they were still in the hallway, they heard applause starting. The last performance was probably done.

Sure enough, it was. They ran into S.M. The Ballad who just finished their song ‘Hot Times.’ The two groups just passed by each other, Jonghyun slightly bowing to greet the girls. They happily bowed back, except for Yujin. She glared at him, remembering the incidents from when the girls hung out with SHINee. Jonghyun looked at her, glaring back.

“That`s right. Walk away,” Yujin muttered.

Jonghyun glanced back giving her a fast mehrong face.

Sora took the center of the stage as soon as their track started playing. The sound immediately got everyone hooked all over again.

Sora sang her part, almost as perfect as she did in the actual recording. “Once you left, I knew I wanted you back~ I searched for forever, hoping to find you again, my love~”

Minhee and Nami both walked to the center of the stage as soon as Sora finished her solo. Minhee charismatically walked her way up front. Nami and Sora started dancing the choreography at the back while the leader was singing her part. “Oh, come back to me~ My heart suffered through all the pain when you walked away~”

Nami and Sora started walking to where Minhee was. Eventually, Nami made a turn to get herself positioned in the middle. This time, she started out with a singing solo, rather than a rap. “Oh, come back to me~ From the beginning, we both knew that we belonged to each other, my love~”

The three girls danced, immediately separating from the previous line they were in. Once they took a different position, Yujin appeared from behind them. “Ohhhh~” she started with a soft falsetto. “I loved you, but you threw me away~ No matter what happened, I still find myself searching for you~”

All four girls took their positions in the middle, getting ready for the chorus. The music built up and they started dancing the song`s signature move. Unlike their debut song, their current dance was a little bit more seductive and y. It wasn`t as much as how the current trend is since they wanted to keep the tough image.

Love is like a maze~

The audience reacted to the comeback performance extremely well. For a rookie group, their presence on stage was already comparable to those of their sunbaes.

“Jonghyun oppa!” Nami called out, running to catch the SHINee vocalist.

Jonghyun immediately turned around to the call of his name. He was in the middle of doing nothing, so she really wasn`t a bother. “Oh, Nami yah!”

Nami waved hello as soon as she got to his position. “Here`s for you guys.” She slightly raised both of her hands to show him the copies of their new mini album she was holding.

Jonghyun slightly gasped as he saw the number of copies she was holding. “Aigo! You know there`s only five of us right?” He pointed at the stack of mini albums.

“Aniyo~” Nami chuckled while shaking her head. She looked down on the copies, mentally labeling them each. “One for Taemin oppa, two for the rest of you SHINee oppas, two for f(x), one for Sooyoung unnie, one for the rest of the SNSD unnies, and one for Super Junior oppas~”

Jonghyun nodded as he listened to her explanation. “..Are you sure it`s fine to give away this much?” he asked a little worriedly. “Especially how you`re practically supplying your ‘rival’ company.”

Nami shook her head again. “Don`t worry,” she said. “It`s all good. ^__^” She held her arms out, reminding Jonghyun to take the copies.

He nodded and took all of them.. except one.

“Oppa you forgot one-”

Jonghyun shook his head. “Just go ahead and give it to Taemin,” he said. “He`s chilling with the rest of the members in our dressing room.”

Nami slightly rubbed her eyes as she lightly knocked on S.M. The Ballad`s dressing room door. She patiently waited, only to have the door immediately shut back after Key saw she was behind it. It didn`t take long until Kyuhyun went ahead and nicely opened the door for her.

“Annyeong, Nami yah~” the Super Junior member greeted.

“Annyeong, Kyuhyun oppa~” she happily greeted back. She went inside the dressing room, finding herself in the midst of SHINee and S.M. The Ballad. Jonghyun was there too, which completely baffled Nami`s mind. She turned to Jay and Jino, whom she haven`t met before, and bowed. “Annyeong haseyo.”

The two bowed back. “Annyeong haseyo~”

“Good job on your performance today,” Nami said.

“Good job on your performance today,” Kyuhyun replied. “I heard you girls killed the charts.. again.”

Nami slightly lowered her head in embarrassment. “Out of luck, yeah.”

“Aniyo!” Minho butted in. “You girls deserve it~ Your performance earlier was intense!”

“You`re only saying that `cause you know her.” Key scoffed.

“No,” Jay said out of nowhere. “Their song`s really good.”

Nami started rubbing the back of her head. “Kamsahamnida,” she thanked. “Well, except for you.” She shot Key a glare.

“It`s like I don`t even know you anymore!” Taemin whined. “You look extremely different now.” He childishly pouted, pointing at Nami`s being.

“Yah!” She frowned at him. “Under all this eyeliner, I`m still the same person.”

“..Are you really?” There goes Onew condition.

Nami sighed, doing her best to ignore the leader`s actions. “Anyway.. I came here because Jonghyun oppa was being a lazy , and told me to give this one copy to Taemin oppa.” She turned to face Jonghyun and gave him a slight glare. She then walked to Taemin and dropped the copy on his lap.

“-__- If this broke, you`re getting me a new one.” Taemin picked up the booklet-style case from his lap and started unwrapping it from the plastic cover. He looked up at Nami and gestured for her to sit next to him on the couch.

“I wish we got hard covers for our albums too,” Key commented. “I mean, those things are unbreakable! Onew hyung ended up ripping our own album after a week.”

Onew walked up to Key and gave him a light hit on the head. “Stop lying!” he said. “It was all you!”

Key scoffed, completely covering up his guilt. “Who cares? My point was to say how sturdy those hard covers are.” He pointed at the album booklet Taemin was going through.

Taemin looked through a few pages, not necessarily scanning them carefully. “S-So much eyeliner on you..”

Nami frowned and playfully punched his shoulder. “Look who`s talking. -__-”

“Nami yah,” Kyuhyun called. “Jonghyun said one of these is ours?” He pointed at the stack of brand new CDs.

Nami nodded. “Ne~”

Kyuhyun went ahead and took a copy, completely taking ownership of the mini album.

“Our last concept and this concept sort of complement each other, don`t you think?” Taemin suggested, referring to their ‘Lucifer’ concept.

Minho and Nami both nodded. Minho seemed to have been behind the couch, looking with Taemin the whole time.

“Should I say ‘congratulations’ yet?” Taemin shut the booklet and laid it on his lap.

Nami faced the other direction, pretending not to hear what he just said.

Taemin chuckled at her reaction. “Congratulations Nami~” he innocently greeted while completely surprising his best friend with a back hug.

“YAH! TAEMIN!” Jonghyun blurted out. “You`re not supposed to go ahead of your hyungs!”

Key walked to the ‘couple’ and immediately broke the hug apart. “Don`t you ever attempt moves like that again! Especially on her!” He groaned with disgust, referring to Nami.

Onew lightly smacked Key`s head, yet again.

“I don`t think anything`s wrong with that,” Jino reacted from the side.

“Exactly,” Taemin agreed.

“I mean, we`ve known each other for practically our whole lives. There`s no malice in that,” Nami said. “And besides, it was just a hug. Way to react oppas. >___>”

Taemin went back to the dressing room after the group decided to part. He forgot his bag behind the couch.

Going out of the room, he heard to familiar voices.

“Aigoo, Jinho oppa, it`s been a long time huh? You`ve changed so much!”

“It really has been.” He paused for a while. “And you`ve changed a lot too. The years have treated you well, as I can see.”

They laughed for a second, showing some awkwardness between them. But that proved to be wrong as Taemin took a look to see who it was.

The two were sharing a tight hug which lasted for more time than he expected it to.

“I missed you sooo much, oppa!”

“Omo, I probably missed you more, Mimi-yah~”

Taemin blinked his eyes a couple of times, making sure he was seeing right. Jino hyung..? Nami..? W-W-Wait.. WHAT?

Ohhhh~ Twist~ OOO:

And an impromptu twist at that! Lol. *fail writer*

Anyway, this chapter, I did not proofread. It`s 3:37AM, we have a flight to Vegas tomorrow, and I`m just lazy. .___. So if there`s a bunch of errors, don`t hate me. >__< I just wanted to post up a chapter before I go on another hiatus. OTL

We`re going on a vacation tour until the end of July, but I really don`t know when I come back from hiatus. :| Why? My school starts as soon as August starts. ;____; Ugh.

I feel evil. Going on a hiatus, leaving everyone hanging in the story. .-.

Oh well~ XD

Shop`s still open even though I`m out of town. ^__^

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