2012 Aug 12

“Hyung, o do kae? We got caught by the paparazzi.” Wooyoung was the first to arrive at the practice room. He was holding a copy of the newspaper as he walked in without any emotions shown on his face. He gently placed the paper on the table, and took a seat on the sofa beside it. Even though I knew he was talking to me, it was hard to tell because his eyes were fixed on open air. I could tell from his face that something big and serious had happened, even if I knew nothing he was talking about. I leaned forward and picked up the copy on the table—it was flipped to the entertainment section of some Japanese newspaper. And in that space, not too big or too small, was a picture, accompanied by an explosive title.

“2PM member Jang Wooyoung and F(x) member Sulli kissing on the Super express late-night” It actually the both of them on the photo, but because it was too dark, the face was blurry and hard to tell. Because my Japanese was still in a newbie stage, I could only understand a few words in the article. But just from the words I understood, I felt scared, that this piece of news had probably already gotten to Korea.

At that time, Mr Tosai, their agent in Japan, rushed into the room, shouting at Wooyoung and telling him that he needed to arrange a press conference to clarify his “real” relationship with the girl. After all, they were just starting to conquer the Japanese market, and they couldn’t give it up just like that. Their Japanese agency was very strict towards their private relationships. He grabbed Wooyoung by his collar and dragged him outside; the look on his face irritated me so I ran over and split them apart from each other. I told him to give us one day to make up a satisfying plan for all of us, so Mr Tosai nodded and agreed to let us off for one day. News had time effectiveness and if we didn’t hurry and make a response, who knows how the press will distort things up.

Now, it was only Wooyoung and I left in the room. I was still gripping on to the paper, and the both of us just kept quiet for a long time. Finally, I let out a deep sigh and took a seat beside him. I asked, “So, what is all this?”

“F(x) had a concert in Nagoya, so Sulli and I decided to meet in Kyoto and we split up on the Super express. Really, that’s all we did, and it’s the first time too.” Wooyong clutched his hand together tightly, and looked up at me all of a sudden, and then he repeated, “Really, only once, Hyung you have to believe me.”

I stared at him unbelievably, and questioned, “So you hurried all the way to Kyoto last afternoon, and got back to Osaka last night?”

“I wanted to see her.”

This isn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. All the members would soon have relationships, and that’s just going to be an issue that all boybands like 2PM have to face. Once, it was about NK and Song Qian, and this time, it’s Wooyoung and Sulli. ‘I wanted to see her’, this quote reminded me of someone else who once said that before.

Taecyeon and NK walked in, and it seems like everyone knows about our little crisis. Taec crouched down to face Wooyoung as soon as he got in. Then he held Wooyoung’s head with both his hands and gave him an encouraging hug. He said, “There’s nothing to worry about, we’ll all be at the press conference with you.” NK also sat beside Wooyoung and circled his arm around his shoulder, patting him gently as if he was calming him down.

“Where are the others?”

“They were called out by Mr Tosai,” answered Taec.

“Alright, when everyone’s here, we’ll assemble a short meeting just between ourselves. There’s only one day left, and we’re all brothers so we need to go through this together,” I said.

“What’s there to discuss, why couldn’t we just deny it’s Wooyoung.” NK grabbed the paper from my hands and scrolled the article, and then he threw the paper to the side, and spoke in a cold voice, “After all, you can only see half the girl’s face in this photo anyways.”