“Unnie, you’ve already spent a whole hour just on my eyes alone. I think my eyelids already have enough eyeshadow.” Jungroo snapped at the stylist, although she didn’t really show much of a reaction as she’s already used to her being impatient. “Seriously, unnie, sometimes I don’t think you even listen to me.”

“I try not to,” she replied blankly as she whipped on a tint of pink on the girl’s poor eyelids for the umpteenth time. “But somehow you still manage to get through.”

Bia, whilst closely observing her reflection in the mirror, smirked at the two’s playful banter.

“Yah!” Jungroo protested. “How long does it even take to get my eyes done anyway? If you don’t hurry up soon, we’re gonna be late for our first filming and what kind of impression would that make on the producers? They personally chose us for this slot at the producers’ requests and we don’t want to treat it lightly by coming in late—”

“You talk too much.” Bia sighed as the stylist put a slight wisp of glitter on the impatient girl’s closed eyelids. “Look, if you want to look good for MBLAQ, then you best be quiet and wait for your unnie to finish.”

Seeing as she couldn’t glare at her with her eyes closed (not that she would if she could, since Bia scared the crap out of her), Jungroo mentally pictured herself giving the blonde a good whack on the head instead. “Hello Baby is a kids’ show, for your information, unnie. The ummas aren’t supposed to be wearing so much make-up, even if it’s just a bunch of kids we’re gonna meet.”

“What about MBLAQ?”

“Who do you think I was talking about?”

When she was finally allowed to open her eyes and look at herself in the mirror, she recoiled at the amount of make-up on her face. Not only was she worried about how they would look entering the set with their faces all painted with buckets of make-up, but the thought of her having to wash this all off when they get home made her even more upset. “Don’t you think you overdid it a bit? I look like a drag queen!”

“You most certainly do not!” The stylist placed her hands on her hips as she stared at the idol angrily. “I’ve done this sort of make-up on you lots of times before and nobody has ever said you looked like drag queen. You girls even earned the title as the Nation’s Two Favorite Girls because of it—because of me.”

“Oh, and how we enjoy the constant worry of having to live up to the not-at-all-pressuring reputation as the Nation’s Two Favorite Girls. Gee, thanks a lot, unnie.” Bia replied sarcastically, earning a not so amused scowl from the woman.

She took her hands off her hips and started digging through her purse. Before either of the two could question her, she brought out her cellphone and went through her phone contacts. “I’m telling mom you two are being mean to me again.”

Jungroo sighed as she watched her unnie’s reflection call up their mother to tattle on her. It was times like these that she regretted convincing the company to hire her sister as a make-up artist.

---

Upon arriving at the set, the first thing the producers did was introduce the duo to their ‘future children’s’ parents. They instantly became nervous as they hadn’t prepared themselves, and even more so when they realized the parents were foreign.

“Hello,” one of the fathers greeted them in English.

Seeing as it had been established that Jungroo was the better English-speaker, she was the one to greet the foreign man back. “Hi,” she timidly said back in English.  “You’re baby’s father?”

He nodded, “Yes, I’m Lauren’s father. I hope you’ll be able to take care of my daughter well. We’ve left a list of the things you need to know about her in her bag for you to read later.”

“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you.” She, as well as Bia, politely exchanged bows with him, as well as formal handshakes.  “Thank you.”

“And while we’re at it, please make sure she doesn’t get too comfortable with the MBLAQ members. They’re nice boys and all but I don’t want Lauren to be thinking about boys just yet.” He says in a somewhat jovial manner, and both are unsure how to respond, mostly because neither of them could fully understand him, especially since he was speaking so fast.

“Okay.” She nodded and hoped he hadn’t just asked her a question. He seemed content enough with her answer as he gave them each a pat on the back and left the waiting room.

As they waited for the other parents to come in, they were surprised (yet thrilled) to see three adorable little children scurrying inside. The last one—the only boy—closed the door and soon, the three toddlers and the two singers fell into an awkward silence.

“Hi kids,” Bia grinned and crouched down to get on eyelevel with them. Jungroo followed suit. “I’m Bia umma. And this is Jungroo umma.”

“You can call me Roo umma if ‘Jungroo’ is too hard for you to pronounce. What are your names?” Jungroo asked them sweetly.

“You—you’re Black and White!” The smallest one with the square face pointed at them with wide eyes.

“Eh? Oh, you’ve watched us on TV? Yes, that’s us.” Bia couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the kids seeing them perform on their television set. “Again, I’m Bia umma, arasso?”

“Bia appa!” The little boy insisted as he pointed at her with his finger. Jungroo had to cover so her unnie wouldn’t see her snickering.

“What? Yah! I’m not appa, I’m umma!” She protested.

He pouted and stomped his foot insistently. “No! You have short hair! You’re appa!”

Bia looked to Jungroo for support but instead, she received a loud bout of laughter from the younger girl. “Yah, stop laughing.” She swatted her shoulder.

“Sorry, hyung.” She quipped, earning a death glare from the skinny girl.

“Yah, we should really teach this kid some manners. He talked to us informally.” She pointed out.

“More importantly, he thinks you’re a man.” She teased, causing Bia to push her over, which ultimately made her bottom come in contact with the floor. Jungroo finally took this as her cue to shut up.

Jungroo then decided to bring the attention back to the three little kids staring up at them with innocent eyes. “So kids, what are your names?”

“Lauren,” the one with the long hair and puffy cheeks said. They instantly remembered her name being mentioned by the foreign father earlier.

“Oh, hi there, Lauren ah.” She gave her a small wave and she gave one back. Completely captivated by her pure eyes and innocent charm, she couldn’t help but pinch her cheeks.

She looked at the girl next to Lauren and realized she was staring at her coldly. For some reason, looking at her made her think of the pair’s good friend, Jessica from So Nyeo Shi Dae. Nevertheless, Jungroo put up a smile. “And what about you? What’s your name, dear?”

“Dayoung.” She said in a whisper. Both Bia and Jungroo failed to tell whether she was being reclusive or just plain shy. Maybe a little bit of both, they decided.

“Oh, what a pretty name.” Bia patted her head but her expression showed no change at all. “You’re all such a pretty bunch of angels.” She then looks at the last one in the line, the only boy among the group of kids—the one who seemed to think she was one of the MBLAQ appas. “And you, what’s your name?”

“I’m Leo.” He answers rather smugly. The blonde chuckled a little at his confidence when he held his hand out for her to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Leo.” She smiled, causing him to smile back. “I see you’ve all brought your bags. Are you going to go meet your new appas?”

“Yeah!” Leo replied excitedly. “I want to see Cheondung appa!”

“Oh, you know Cheondung appa’s name already?” Jungroo asked, impressed by his memory. “He’ll be glad to hear you remember him. Come on, kids. Let’s go.”

They stood up and lead the kids by hand out of the door, just in time for one of the PDs to give them the directions to MBLAQ’s dorm.

---

Bia and Jungroo were friends with a number of idols but they’ve never actually been in another idol group’s dorm before. So entering MBLAQ’s dorm felt strange for them—it felt like they were invading their privacy.

The kids seemed to have no problem with it though. Before they even knew it, the kids had disappeared into one of their appas’ rooms. There were a total of five possible doors that the kids could’ve wandered into—each room belonging to a member.

Bracing herself, Bia peeked into the first room with the open door and much to her luck, she found them inside, hovering over the sleeping Cheondung’s figure. Bia turned around to look at her dongseng, but instead she came face-to-face with thin air. Realizing Jungroo had already entered another member’s room, she turned back around and called to the kids in a soft voice, “Wake up your Cheondung appa! But be nice, kids!”

The kids paid no heed to her words as they started jumping on poor Cheondung’s mattress. She could only stand and watch (and giggle a little), as interfering with them might only cause a scene. But as soon as she saw Cheondung stirring, she finally decided to show herself.

“Cheondung ah,” she casually strolled into his room. She could tell he was surprised (and flustered) to see her as he immediately hid under the covers. “Yah, Cheondung ah. Don’t be like this; we’re friends, aren’t we?”

With his face covered by his blanket, he replied, “You’re a noona!”

“That’s…right.” Bia could already imagine the producers editing that very scene with a funny sound effect. “We’re friends of different ages! Wake up, Doongie!”

Cheondung only showed signs of retreating, so she decided to leave him in the kids’ hands. “Guys, you take care of him while I go wake up your other appas.”

She was halfway out the door when she suddenly felt something clinging to her leg. She looked down and saw Dayoung with her arms wrapped around her knee. Seeing how precious she was, she picked her up and exited Cheondung’s room to explore the rest of the dorm.

Dayoung pointed to the next door so she decided to please her as she quietly opened the door. She took a good, long look at the sleeping figure on the floor, as well as the very familiar brunette standing by his bedside, staring at him with much wonder.

“Who’s that?” she whispered, just loud enough for her group mate to hear.

“G.O oppa.” She replied in the same soft volume.

“Oh, Dayoung ah. It’s G.O. appa!” Bia told the little girl as she entered the room. She placed Dayoung down and let her scream her lungs out for G.O. to wake up. Normally, Jungroo wouldn’t do such a cruel thing as to have a three-year-old screech at someone at this early hour (but Bia might), but last she recalled, G.O and her had an ongoing prank war back then and he was lucky enough that she had left the company before she could pull her revenge on him for putting gum in her seat.

“Wha—Dayoung ah, is that you?” He asked groggily.

“Appa! The ummas are here!” Dayoung yelled in what could possibly be the loudest voice she could conjure.

“Umma?” he looked up and the girls could barely see his eyes under his hoodie. “Oh, umma! I mean, Jihee yah…and Bia-ssi...hello.”

Jungroo laughed at his babbling. She unconsciously patted his thigh, as she always used to do before. Dayoung then took this as the initiative to start slapping the poor guy’s back. Jungroo would’ve stopped her if she wasn’t too busy laughing and clutching at her stomach.

“Dayoung ah, your umma’s mean.” Once G.O. finally managed to stop Dayoung from attacking him any further, he took the time to take a shot at her. The first teasing remark he’s sent the girl in God knows how long. “See that? She likes seeing your appa suffer.”

“Umma, you like seeing G.O. appa suffer?” Dayoung asked innocently.

Bia’s eyes darted back and forth from Jungroo, to G.O, to Dayoung, as if she were watching a grand tennis match.

Jungroo pursed her lips together to keep any more chuckles from coming out. She didn’t want to set a bad image for the kids after all. “Of course not, Dayoung ah. I’m just really happy to see G.O. appa again.”

Dayoung looked up at G.O. and he looked right back at her. No more words were shared between them and soon, their awkward silence gradually turned into a staring contest.

Bia, gradually growing bored, decided to leave the room before their ‘staring contest’ could grow any more ‘intense’. Without even a word, she slipped out of G.O’s room and intended to look for the rest of the kids, only to see an apparently unconscious Mir sprawled out on the dining table.

“Shouldn’t you be on a bed right now?” she asked cockily as she approached the other blonde.

Mir looked up, his eyes barely open. “…Lauren?”

Her face fell. “Yah, do I look like Lauren to you?”

“W-why are you blonde?” he asked absentmindedly.

Bia almost facepalmed. “I am not Lauren!” she groaned. “First, the kid calls me ‘appa’ and now you’re calling me ‘Lauren’? Doesn’t anybody know who I am anymore?”

“…Who are you?” Mir didn’t realize that he had made a probably fatal mistake.

---

“It’s hard being an appa, isn’t it?” Jungroo teased the sleepy man as he nodded. “And to think, this is only the beginning.”

He stared at her with blank eyes but with a small smile across his lips. “It’s great to see you too, Jihee yah. I’ve been fine, thanks for asking.”

She rolled her eyes and gave him a soft push. “G.O. oppa, you haven’t changed at all.”

“But apparently, you have.” He pulled his hood down and started to run his fingers through his greasy hair. “Since when did you start calling me ‘G.O’?”

“I thought it’d only be appropriate since that’s the name you use now.” She shrugged. “Isn’t it?”

“Yeah, on camera.” He corrected. “But when the cameras are off, I’m still the same old Byunghee.”

“Old is right.” She agreed teasingly. “What happened to your eyes, dude? You look like a hybrid between a human and a panda.”

“Yah, having dark circles doesn’t mean I’m old.” He insisted. “If that’s the case then Seungho must already be somebody’s grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather—in other words, really old.”

She nodded, “I get the point.”

The next thing they heard was an ear-splitting and quite shrill scream of pain coming from outside, which G.O easily recognized as Mir’s high-pitched voice. The two stared at each in wonder, until Jungroo’s eyes widened upon realizing that Bia was probably responsible for getting such a frightening sound out of the poor maknae.

“Oh gosh,” Jungroo immediately dashed out of the room to investigate the scene. G.O, looking concerned as well, followed her out.

Both were equally surprised to see Mir yelping in pain as a very upset-looking Bia held him by the ear. Jungroo didn’t know whether to feel sorry for the poor guy or to laugh at him, much like what G.O was doing right now.

“Yah!” Bia yelled to the younger boy whining like a hungry dog. “I’m the number-one searched name in Naver! I rank higher than you!”

“Unnie, I believe it’s not you who’s number one. It’s us.” Jungroo placed her hands on her hips like a suspicious mother. “And let the kid go.”

“Which kid?”

“That kid!”

“Our poor Cheolyongie.” G.O mindlessly remarked as he looked through the cupboards for something to eat.

“Hyung, help me!” Mir’s pleads resulted to nothing as G.O was now too busy munching on a bag of peanuts he found in the back of the cupboard.

Jungroo decided she didn’t want any part in what seemed to be the forthcoming murder of Bang Cheolyong on camera and so went to entertain herself in another room. She opened the nearest door she could find, only to find a still asleep Joon tangled in the bedsheets.

Without making a sound, she stepped in and smiled to herself as she stared at the bulging muscles on Joon’s arms as he slept. But soon, the kids found their way into the same room and started disturbing the man’s peaceful slumber.

Jungroo almost gasped when Leo promptly stepped on Joon’s chest as if it were a step on the staircase. “Yah,” she heard him say. “Is that any way to wake your appa up?”

“Apparently, it is.” Joon was surprised to hear another adult’s voice in the room. “It worked, didn’t it?”

He turned his head to the direction of the voice, and his expression visibly softened as he laid eyes on one of his oldest friends to date, Jeon Jihee.

“Oh…Jihee yah…” he said, as if he was in awe, with his mouth ajar.

“It’s Jungroo now.” She told him.

“Oh…yeah.” He seemed to be a little disappointed at first, that is, until he started singing a line from Black and White’s debut single, at which point he started shaking his head around as a dance. “Black-black-black-black-white!”

Jungroo laughed and glanced at the cameraman just to see if he found the scene as ridiculous as she did. “Oppa, what are you doing? That’s embarrassing.”

“I’m being a good sunbae; I’m dancing to your guys’ song!” He answered.

Before he could say anything else, Jungroo held out her hand to stop him. “You know what? Just…never do that again.”

Joon stuck his bottom lip out and pouted. “You’ve gotten mean.”

Jungroo chuckled as she gave Joon’s messy hair a nice tousle. Joon looked rather flustered as she did so—but then G.O came in and frantically informed them that a crime was taking place right in their kitchen.

“Our umma is strangling our maknae!” he said as he incessantly pointed out the door.

Joon looked quite puzzled. He turned his head and looked at the girl beside him, who looked just as confused as he did. “Isn’t this our umma?”

“The other umma!” He said. “Come quick, our poor Cheolyongie!”

“Our Cheolyongie?!” At the mention of their maknae’s name, Joon gasped and instantly trudged out, with his chest out, his hands balled into fists and probably all his muscles flexed.

G.O and Jungroo quickly glanced at each other before following him out. They were just in time to see Joon confidently approach Bia, who was preoccupied with cutting off Mir’s air supply to notice him.

“Yah!” He called in the deepest voice he had.

Bia gradually turned her head towards the man in the white wifebeater. Without even thinking, she sent him the coldest stare that Joon has ever seen. Upon seeing her face, Joon immediately froze and his pride had inevitably shrunken.

“Oh, anyeonghaseyo.” Completely forgetting that his dongseng was in trouble, Joon sheepishly gave her a ninety-degree bow. “Thank you for coming to our dorm. Are you hungry? Cold? Tired? I can do that—whatever you’re doing to Mir—for you.”

Bia, amused and satisfied, smirked. Much to Mir’s relief, she let go of his neck and casually handed him over to Joon. “Be my guest.”

Joon gently wrapped his hands around Mir’s neck and pretended to strangle him, partly because he couldn’t bear to hurt their maknae, but mostly because Bia was keeping a close eye on him. After finishing, he looked Mir in the eye and asked him in a honeyed tone, “Have you learned your lesson?”

Mir obediently nodded with an exaggerated look of pain on his face, “Yes, hyung.”

“Good.” Joon patted him on the head before letting him run off into Cheondung’s arms.

“Cheondung hyung! I was attacked!” He said like a panicked three-year-old. “Why didn’t you help me? I was so scared!”

“Cheolyong ah,” G.O cleared his throat and patted the blonde’s back. “You just got beat up by a girl.”

Jungroo walked over as well, “You think that’s bad?” she asked in a hushed voice. “Try living with it.”

“I heard that!” Bia’s voice made Jungroo jump and immediately hide behind Cheondung.

“Yah, be quiet!” G.O said. “Our grandpa’s sleeping!”

Everybody’s attention was immediately averted to the unconscious figure on their couch, one which belonged to none other than Yang Seungho, being poked and prodded by three curious, little children.

Mir sulked. “I don’t get paid enough for this…”