Chapter 11: Closeness

10 am, 3rd day of Rehearsals,  DreamT studio

Rio stretched her arms so wide it hit Taemin’s head. It was intentional, of course and the Shinee maknae was waiting for the day he could use what he had prepared against her attack. He held her right arm and pinned it behind her.

“Yah! Lee Taemin, it was a joke!!!” She cried. He chuckled. “I won’t do it again! Let go~” She said in between laughs.

“Do aegyo first.” He teased. Onew stood in front of her with his phone.

“Ani—Onew oppa, are you taking a video right now? Music Bank too! Are you guys going to show this on TV?” she cried louder and the rest of the idols laughed.

They were finally down to the last two days of rehearsals for the special stage and Rio was surprised at how she had grown closer to most of them. She wished that closeness didn’t translate to physical abuse though; like what Taemin was doing to her now.

“Are you not letting go?” She shouted threateningly.

“Aegyo, aegyo!!!” they chanted and the Music Bank camera was filming her entire face now.

“I don’t waaant.” She whined but after a few minutes, gave up and lifted her free arm to do an—

“Taeminnie, I’m sorry~” She said cutely and the entire room erupted into fits of laughter. Taemin had let her go and she turned to hit him with her fists. “Bully!”

--

Daehyun smiled at her cuteness. If Himchan wasn’t there to watch over him, he would’ve whipped his phone out and taken a video too. His eyes landed on Taemin’s hands on her wrists. He sighed. It’s been three days and yet, the most he could do with her was bow and talk about music—which was something he had never done with other idols and singers before, but why was it that people around him beat him to it first? And why was he thinking so much about it?

Daehyun’s eyes grew wide. He abruptly turned away from the scene to walk to where Himchan and IU were.

“Daehyun-ssi, we should do a collaboration some day. I really—really like your voice!” IU suggested enthusiastically. He smiled and nodded at the suggestion. The Daehyun of 2012 would have jumped with glee, but today, with her on his mind—he didn’t know how to think about anything else.

--

9:10 am, 4th day of Rehearsals, YG Building

Rio was one of the earliest ones to arrive in the dance studio—particularly because she lived near the YG building. She started stretching and exercising for the practice. Today was the last day of practice and she was determined to make it flawless—and then bully Lee Taemin after. The latter was her 2nd priority.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the practice room opened.

“Oh.” She jolted and stood up straight. “Good morning. You’re early.” She said with a smile.

“Good morning.” Daehyun greeted.

“Good morning, pretty Rio-ssi!” Himchan greeted and she blushed.

“Practice starts at 10:00 though! Did you have breakfast already?” She asked.

“No, not yet. We thought we’d be caught in the traffic.” Daehyun responded alertly. She nodded.

“Me netiher. Would you like to eat breakfast with me downstairs?”

Himchan nodded energetically. “YES PLEASE. I’m so hungry. Do they have Americano downstairs?”

She laughed. “I think we only have plain, brewed coffee, but there’s a good coffee shop down the street.”

“That’ll do.” He said and the three of them headed down to the famous YG cafeteria.

--

Rio greeted the staff and a few artists that they had passed by.

“I’m going to go buy coffee.” Himchan said as he patted her shoulder.

“Oh, sunbae, do you want us to come with you?” She asked. Himchan’s eyes darted from her to Daehyun.

“No, noooo, it’s okay.” He smiled. “And call me oppa!” He chuckled.

“Okay oppa, be careful.” She said with a smile and led Daehyun to the cafeteria.

--

Daehyun put his tray down and sat opposite of her. He couldn’t help but observe her. Rio looked up at him.

“Is there something wrong?” She asked. “Do you want more side dishes?” She teased. He laughed. She smiled at his laugh.

“No, it’s just—“ He paused, thinking of it was appropriate for him to say. “You’re really pretty without make up.” He complimented. “And casual clothes really suit you.” He chuckled. He couldn’t control his mouth—it was a disease he wasn’t sure how to cure.

“T-Thank you.” She cleared . “S-since we’re on the topic of complimenting each other— I keep saying this to everyone I’m with whenever I hear your songs, but Daehyun-ssi, I’m really a big fan! Your voice is amazing. It’s really powerful.” She ranted like a fan, chopsticks still with meat. He laughed as he shook his head.

“That’s big, coming from you.”

“Eyy, you probably hear it all the time!” She chuckled as she took a bite of the meat. “When it comes to lives and vocals, B.A.P’s Daehyun is no joke. You’re daebak!” She blushed as soon as she remembered G-dragon’s words and immediately shut up. ‘Image, imaaaage!’She thought to herself.

“I’m a big fan of Rio-sshi too. Your voice and compositions are amazing, You’re daebak!” She sneered at him when he mocked her.

“I’m serious though. I think I like your voice out of everyone the best.” She blushed as soon as it slipped out.

He misunderstood. “BAP members have unique voices, so if you say that, I’ll be more determined to become more unique.” She felt kind of relieved. She meant to say he was the best male vocalist active right now in the industry, he could even be compared to Daesung. She shook her head at the thought. The President would be disappointed.

Silence ensued as they both kept looking at the entrance to see if Himchan had returned.

“Wonder what’s taking Himchan oppa so long.”

“The line in the coffee shop must have been long.” She nodded and cleared .

“It’s really nice talking to you like this, Daehyun-ssi.” He looked at her with a confused look on his face. “B.A.P always seems so far—I mean, like you don’t talk to a lot of idols that much. I wanted to get closer to you because I really like your voice and want to collaborate with you.”

Daehyun felt as if his cheeks were permanently glued to keep his smile on. “Me too. I mean, you’re already so close with a lot of the people we practice with, so I felt bad I didn’t get to talk to you as much.”

“Mhmm, and we’re the same age too.”

“I’m older.” He chuckled. She rolled her eyes.

“By how many months!”

“Hmm… By 4 months?” He immediately answered and Rio was too preoccupied with her food to notice his speedy reply, much less how he knew her birth month.

“Hmph. Still the same age.” Both laughed at their childishness and resumed eating.

A few minutes later, Himchan returned to the table with a big smile on his face.

“Happy with your purchase, oppa?” She asked without looking up from her food.

“You could say that.” He said, a teasing grin directed towards the younger male.

--

Practice began and ended smoothly. All the performances were so polished they couldn’t even believe it. Everybody was praising the two soloists for being able to keep up with the boy groups.

“Himchan oppa, do ‘Marshmallow’ again!” IU teased while everybody simply laughed.

“Yah! The other guys are funny to watch too!” Himchan complained.

“Jinyoung has a sweet image to him so when he does Bo Peep, it’s not that bothersome.” Rio defended.

“Kai-ssi, you guys should wear long skirts with slits just for ‘Something’.” Yura suggested and laughed so loud everybody had to chime in.

“Alright, everyone! Gather ‘round!” The PD shouted. “Good job today. Some final reminders before the show tomorrow, don’t be afraid to dance boy group dances and girl group dances. Call time is at 6 am at the studio. Rehearsals will begin at 6:30 am while recording will begin at 9 am.” He finished. “Alright, one final ‘fighting’ before tomorrow! Everybody hands in—“ Everybody huddled together, “1, 2, 3—“

“FIGHTING!”

--

It was already lunch time by the time they had all dispersed. Only Daehyun and Himchan were waiting at the YG lobby.

“Oh, our van’s here.” Himchan stood up and gathered his things.

“Oppa, Daehyun-ssi, it was nice getting to talk to you a lot today.” Rio said as she bade