The Story Of Meeting Bamboo Pillow

Everyone in the room panted heavily. The sun was merrily shining brightly outside the dance studio, casting shadows and heat waves throughout the whole of summertime Seoul. It was a hot lazy summer’s day with almost no sign of cooling gusts of wind. However, eight men stubbornly kept dancing their way through life despite the beads; no, rivers, of sweat pouring through their pores.

Kim Myungsoo looked into the mirror disgusted with the reflection that he saw. One half of his face looked utterly distorted due to the melting of his make-up. The eyeliner had mixed with the foundation under his eyes, making him look as if he was punched black and blue. The foundation on the left half had clumped together in different spots, giving a new blotchy look to the idol. Myungsoo’s hair looked as if he stood in the rain just recently; water droplets forming at the ends of each strand. As he turned, sweat droplets flung across the room, splattering against members’ faces. As he stood still, sweat dripped down onto his clothed top drenching his t-shirt to the point where it clung stubbornly onto his toned upper body.

Yes. It was summertime Seoul, alright.

The song finally came to an end and everyone collapsed onto the dance floor, mixing into the puddles of body mist on the ground. But no one cared. It was hot. They were tired. And the fan was broken.

“Manager Hyung!” They all groaned in unison. Almost instantaneously, complaints and moans echoed throughout the small dance room.

“It’s too hot!”

“Get a new fan!”

“Don’t you love us?”

“Are we finished?”

“I want ice cream!”

“Aissh! I’m going crazy!”

*Whale Noises*

The manager covered his ears tightly and closed his eyes in exasperation.

“YAH YAH YAH YAH! SHUT UP! It’s too hot right now to argue with all of you. Aissh, chincha! Get your stuff ready, we’re going home.” With that, the manager stormed out of the dance studio and made his way to the van outside.

All the members of Infinite lazily stood up and dragged their feet outside. Kim Sunggyu, being the last of the members to leave the room, locked up.

When they arrived home, everyone was in a bad mood. Each and every member went straight into their respective rooms and didn’t utter a single word to each other. Lee Howon sat on his bed and looked through his iPod to listen and practice song writing. Nam Woohyun instantly fell asleep on the floor next to his bed. Jang Dongwoo flung himself into the kitchen in search for ice or any beverage that didn’t cause him to sweat any further.

Myungsoo, on the other hand, was the smart one. Whilst his roommate Lee Sungyeol dragged his feet into their shared room, Myungsoo made his way to the bathroom. He just wanted to get rid of the make-up and sweat on his body at that moment in time. It was disgusting. He was disgusted. As a result, he spend almost an hour and a half scrubbing away that day’s stress and replacing it with new, clean skin cells that glowed brightly in the moonlight; metaphorically, of course.

During this, Sungyeol carelessly plops down onto Myungsoo’s bed and rests his drenched, sweaty head on a pillow. He looked up at the ceiling, focusing on nothing in particular, and thought deep thoughts about his journey to where he was to where he is now. Soon after, he lulled himself to sleep.

Sungyeol wok up petrified as he felt a sharp pain on his left arm. He suddenly opened his eyes and shot up. Looking around him, he saw the usual room he shared with Myungsoo. Only this time, Myungsoo was beside his bed looking as angry as ever.

“HYUNG! WHY DID YOU SLEEP ON MY BED WHEN YOU WERE SWEATY?” The younger one screamed.

Sungyeol rubbed his neck and looked at his apologetically. “Ahhh… Sorry about that. I didn’t want my bed sweaty.”

“Oh, so your ‘genius’ solution is to lie in MY bed to make MY bed drenched in YOUR sweat.” With every emphasised word, Myungsoo dangerously edged closer and closer to his roommate; fire burning deep within his eyes.

Myungsoo swung his curled fist forwards in annoyance and, with a yelp, Sungyeol closely dodges it by rolling onto the ground and running away to safety.

“Damn you!” Myungsoo shouted after the tall boy.

With a loud sigh, he looked at the state of his bed. It didn’t look bad. It had an indent of Sungyeol’s body from where he fell asleep, but there were no sweat marks or distasteful smells coming from it. Shrugging, he plopped onto the bed in a similar manner to his hyung and looked up at the ceiling. He was content now. Even though he didn’t have make-up on at that moment, he was content with how his face looked after almost two hours in the shower; following through a very thorough beauty regime. With a proud smile, Myungsoo took out his phone and started taking selcas.

After about five minutes, he took one and decided to post it on his twitter account. He rolled over and gave the photo a caption saying ‘Do you like me even without pretty make-up?’ However, before even sending the picture, Myungsoo sensed a pungent smell. He scrunched up his nose and locked his phone in the process. Sitting up, his nose searched for the distasteful smell; but it was gone. Lying back down, he resumed his action. He smelt it again. This time not moving his head from the bed, he tossed and turned. Turns out Sungyeol did leave a sweaty smell on the pillow.

Myungsoo angrily stood up and grabbed the pillow from under his head. He stormed off into the living room where the boy he searched for was sprawled across the floor, fast asleep. He threw the pillow harshly onto his face.

“I can’t use this now! The pillow stinks like you! Good job, pabo!”

Myungsoo then stormed back into their room and slammed the door ferociously. He stripped his bed of any bed linen and sanitised the mattress with fragranced perfumes before lying in it.

That night, Myungsoo tossed and turned and Sungyeol didn’t even dare come in.

Next morning, Sungyeol felt a harsh tug at his head and the sharp pain of it hitting the cold hard floor.

“YAH!” He shouted out, “What the hell is your problem? Do you wanna die?”

He cracked open an eyelid and saw a, still angry, Myungsoo with a pillow in his hand. He swiftly took out the pillow’s cover and shoved it ruthlessly in the washing machine. He then soaked the pillow in a sanitising formula to make sure the smell isn’t there anymore.

Throughout the day, all Myungsoo could think about was his pillow. It disrupted his thoughts often and made him zone out even more in interviews and schedules. So, it was only natural that the boy ran into the dorm at the end of the day in search for his precious pillow. He took the pillow and the case out of their respective places and hung them outside to dry. To pass the time, he took a shower and prepped his bed; excited to have a full night’s sleep.

When the time finally came, Myungsoo excitedly took down the pillow and case not caring about their slight dampness. He placed the pillow onto his bed and looked at his sanctuary in bliss. Sungyeol slowly crept into the room, careful not to trigger any more mental breakdowns from his temperamental roommate. He lied on his bed in the other side of the room and peacefully fell into a deep sleep; before he was once again smacked in the face with the same pillow as before; this time, it smelled nicer and was a little damp.

“What’s your problem now?” He shouted impatient with the young boy.

“I don’t want it anymore. It still smells like you.” Drained of energy, Myungsoo sulkily dragged his feet across to where his bed was found and landed face down. It was another night of tossing. Only this time, Sungyeol was awake to witness it.

After a week, Myungsoo still hadn’t had a replacement for his pillow. He has sleepless nights after sleepless nights. Tossing and turning, not being able to sleep properly and, quite frankly, Myungsoo was on edge.

One day in that week, Sungyeol sneakily comes into the dorm with a large, tube-like package in his arms. He mischievously grins and drags the package into their dorm room. He unravels the bubble wrap and reveals a bamboo tube structure with a tag saying ‘Bamboo Pillow’ on the side. Sungyeol leaves the room and waits until the other members finished their schedules and returned home.

At about 10 o’clock at night, Myungsoo and Sungyeol were in, yet another, fight.

“What the hell is that doing in my bed?” Myungsoo complained, “I said I wanted a pillow, not … that. What is it even supposed to be? Panda food?”

“Aissh! I’m going crazy! You’re so ungrateful! I wanted to make it up to you because I did something wrong. I bought you this pillow because you needed one since you never sleep. But this is how you say thank you?”

“That’s a pillow?”

“I even bought you something more expensive and comfortable! And this is how you repay me!”

“Comfortable? A pillow is supposed to be soft! This is so - ” Myungsoo pushed down harshly on the bamboo making it bend with the force. When he let go, the structure sprang back to normal, “ – that.”

Sungyeol couldn’t take it anymore; he leaves the room with an angry Myungsoo fuming at his new play-thing. Myungsoo flings the structure to the end of the bed and goes into his bed. During the night, Myungsoo was once again tossing and turning in his bed. He opened his eyes and immediately spots the bamboo pillow at the foot of his bed. He contemplated whether or not it was worth trying. Deciding he couldn’t lose anything to a bamboo structure, he got up and dragged the pillow into his bed.

First, he plces it behind his head and attempted to sleep. The pillow was too big and thick that it caused his head to cramp only after a few minutes. He groans loudly and takes it away. He then tries it behind his back, hoping it would give him some support. Yet again, it was too thick and just made it even more uncomfortable.

Frustrated, he shoved the pillow against the wall and moves away. He tried to sleep without it again, but it still didn’t work. He was on wit’s end. He didn’t know what to do and he was exhausted. Nothing is giving him the support he needs and he just couldn’t get comfortable. As a last attempt, Myungsoo grabs onto the bamboo pillow and brings it close to his body. He wraps his legs around the bottom of the structure, followed by his arms at the top.

This is actually kind of comfortable. He thought. I think I can get used to thi- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And with that, he finally fell asleep.

--

“So that’s the story of how L met his bamboo pillow.” Sungyeol concluded.

The whole set of Weekly Idol erupted into echoes of laughter, except for one.

“YAH!” Myungsoo shouted over the laughter, “STOP MAKING RIDICULOUS THINGS UP!”

Credit: http://weheartit.com/entry/32168824