Happy birthday, Jonghyun<3 We all adore you~ Please enjoy this chapter, everyone.

Chapter 8: Demo

            “Nyah~ Good morning!” I said to myself as I stretched.  Today Yonghwa and I would present our prototype recording to the manager.  I was supposed to receive a month more of training, but if this went well, I could be done training in the next week.  I tried to make myself presentable.  I hadn’t felt like wearing contacts for a while, so I decided to stick with my glasses.  I picked out a knee length white and navy blue sailor dress to wear.

            “You’re awfully dressed up.  Are you going out?” my grandmother said as she drank her coffee.

            “Meeting with the manager!” I said excitedly as I slung my guitar over one shoulder and my bag over the other.  I had decided to take the bus, just in case.  I carefully placed the CD in my bag.

            “Good luck, I can’t wait to hear you sing,” my grandma called out to me as I left the house.  I waited at the bus stop.  It was still a little early, but Yonghwa and I planned to meet outside of the FNC building before asking to see our manager.  The bus finally arrived, but there were no seats left, so I tried to hold onto the handles attached to the roof.  I didn’t like to wear high heels, so I couldn’t reach the loop.  My fingertips could barely brush the piece of cloth hanging from the ceiling.

            “Need some help?” a familiar voice asked as I felt someone’s palm close around my hand.  I looked around me and found Yonghwa holding my hand and the handle at the same time.

            “Eh?  What are you doing here, sunbae-nim?” I asked with a look of shock written on my face.  Yonghwa chuckled.

            “Are you happy?  I came here to pick you up,” he said nonchalantly while squeezing my hand softly.

            “Er, no!” I denied with great fervor.  Yonghwa laughed at my reaction and gave me a “yeah right” look.

            Suddenly, the bus lurched forward and I lost my balance.  “Woah, Eunhye-ah, be careful!  I don’t want you to get hurt right before our music video!” he exclaimed as he s an arm around my waist to prevent me from falling.  I jumped a little at the sudden contact.

            “Our music video?” I repeated.  I liked the way he said “our.”  That song had all my dreams poured into it.  My future was resting in the hands of that one song.

            “It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Yonghwa said, voicing my thoughts.  I nodded in agreement.  Yonghwa wrote the song, and I brought it to life.  To me, although we didn’t sing perfectly, it was still the best song I had ever sung.

            “Mhmm,” I said.  I prayed that we would arrive at the bus stop soon.  People were starting to look at us.  Yonghwa was pretty well disguised, so I don’t think it was that, but I heard some ahjummas begin to whisper.  Yonghwa played along and held my waist loosely.  “Yah, stop it, sunbae-nim,” I hissed at Yonghwa.  He chuckled but didn’t let go.

            “Why?  You might fall if I let go,” he joked.  What a lame excuse.  I was starting to get jittery because of Yonghwa’s touch.  I guess I had to bring in the big guns.  No more nice guy, I thought evilly.  I turned around so I was facing Yonghwa, but he still had his arms looped around my waist.  I wiggled my hand out of his grasp and I held his head in between both of my hands.

            “Oppa,” I said while pouting.  I went on my tiptoes, which is pretty hard to do in a bus, and I pressed my forehead against his.  I could hear his heavy breathing.  He blushed heavily and scrambled to get away from me.  I chuckled and went on my tiptoes so I could reach the handle bar.  Yonghwa stood on the opposite side of the bus, looking awkward and embarrassed.

            “I wish I was young again; they’re such a cute couple,” an ahjumma who was sitting down gossiped.  I groaned.  “Please don’t say that.  You’re going to make me want to believe it’s real,” I thought to myself.  Luckily, the bus reached our stop just in time.

            Yonghwa and I stood outside of the FNC building.  I pulled the CD out of my bag.  I chuckled.  Yonghwa really wanted it to be like a demo, so he even made a CD cover.  We went to the park and asked an old man to take a picture of us.  The photo was of Yonghwa leaning against a tree playing guitar and me sitting down and leaning on the tree while also playing guitar.  It was pretty good for being just a picture Yonghwa glued onto a plastic CD case.

            “Are you ready?” Yonghwa asked excitedly.  He was eager for CNBLUE’s new album to come out.  They had already begun the recording of the other songs that were supposed to be on the album.

            “Not yet!” I said just as Yonghwa tried to pluck the CD out of my hands.  He returned it to me and waited for my response.  I lightly kissed the corner of the CD case.  “C’mon, you can do it!” I whispered to the CD.  Yonghwa chuckled and swiped the CD from my fingertips.

            “Ah, I see,” he said while laughing.  He pressed the other corner of the CD to his lips.  “Make me proud!” he shouted to the CD.

            “Wah, so loud so early in the morning!” I pouted while covering my ears jokingly.  Yonghwa bopped me on the head.

            “Hey, I’m just wishing our baby good luck!  Fighting!” Yonghwa said to me and held up his fist.  I blushed.

            “B-baby?” I stammered.  I guess that was a good way to put it; both of us poured out souls into this song.

            “What, are you going to leave me hanging?” he teased.

            “Ah, mianhe!  Fighting!” I said as we walked into the FNC building.  I crossed my fingers as Yonghwa requested to see the manager.

            “What did you two want to talk to me about?” our manager said as he told us to sit down in the chairs in front of his desk.

            “Manager-nim, we made a demo of the new song,” Yonghwa said nervously.  He didn’t know if the manager would be pleased or angry, but we hoped for the best.

            “And you did this without my permission?” he asked while raising an eyebrow.  We both nodded silently.  “Let me hear it,” he asked while holding his hand out.  Yonghwa placed the CD case into his hand and our manager placed it in the CD player.  I closed my eyes as I waited for the song to begin playing.  A sweet melody began to drift out of the CD player.

            “Although you guys recorded without my permission, I have to admit that you did well,” our manager said while he sent a disapproving look Yonghwa’s way.  “Stop being a bad influence to the new girl,” the manager said.  Just as Yonghwa was about to apologize, I interrupted him.

            “Aniyo, manager-nim.  I asked Yonghwa-sunbae to try and record a demo with me,” I bowed my head in shame.  Our manager motioned for me to raise my head.

            “Well, it sounds like you’re almost ready, and I really want you guys to start the music video soon,” our manager said to himself.  I waited with my fingers crossed.  My heart was pounding.

            “You can record the final version today and tomorrow.  Next time, don’t record without my permission.  What if the song gets leaked?” our manager scolded.

            “Thank you, manager-nim!  We’ll work hard!” Yonghwa exclaimed while jumping out of the chair.  He pulled me to my feet and began to drag me out of the room before I could say goodbye to our manager.

            “Yay!  We did it!” Yonghwa shouted.  As soon as we got into the hallway, Yonghwa gave me a giant bear hug.  My face turned as red as a tomato.

            “I can’t breath, sunbae-nim,” I said into Yonghwa’s shirt.  He pulled away embarrassedly.

            “Mianhe, I was just so happy.  Let’s call the others!” Yonghwa said excitedly.  He reached for my hand.  He led me into the practice room and pulled out his phone.  I stared at his profile.  Why did he have to be so nice to me?  What did I ever do to him?  I was going to go crazy.

Gosh darn, Yonghwa doesn't know he's acting like that XD Pooie, hopefully everything works out.  Please vote in the poll, it'll be up for a little while longer~