“Can you guess the three biggest topics about 5 Pieces from MelOn?” Maria cheerfully says when jumping down on the seat next to Hannah. Hannah has just enough time to open before Maria eagerly shoves up the tablet in front of her, scrolling up and down on pictures and GIFs and comments that Hannah barely has time to spot. “The biggest one is of course the awards we won – absolutely the best thing that has happened and I am so high on caffeine that I can’t stop shaking-” Hannah agrees that Maria is moving fast and she is speaking faster than usually too, but after three cups of coffee that she never really drinks, Hannah can kind of understand that. “-And the second one is … drums please! Our performance. Can you get that? These comments are all about how ing awesome we were on the stage. Like always blowing minds and SISTAR’s face-expression is what fans say is the best reaction ever. And guess what the third is? The third topic that topped us hugging the little cute wolves like … something, or … ah, whatever! You won! You and Jonghyun – JjongHan – the celebrity couple that was super adorable. You wiped his tears, baby? That is so cute!”

“They caught that?” Hannah breathes out in shock, just hearing half the things she said: she just remembers how she hided in the back while her eyes were on Jonghyun the whole time.

“Yeah, duh!” Maria answers and scrolls up and down in search for something, stopping when finding some GIF-set to let Hannah see them one by one. The first one is of them all on the stage, some hugging each other and somewhere in the back you can spot the couple. In the second one, it is a little closer, and in the third one it isn’t the best quality but you can see Hannah hold a tissue by Jonghyun’s face, while his head blocks most of it. So it wasn’t much at all that was caught. But the whole show seemed to be enough though.

It is Saturday, 5 Pieces’ first day in Sweden. They arrived yesterday in the late evening after a 19 hours flight with two stops in between and though they are exhausted in body and mind over the time difference, 5 Pieces is still excited after MelOn Music Awards and that their Swedish concert is in two days. 5 Pieces’ schedule today started early in the morning, as the group do everything to promote themselves with the one song that interests the world; [Daze]. They have done performances, appearances on radio, too many five-minute long interviews and two TV-appearances as well – All within 13 hours. From six in the morning to now in the evening, yet the girls still have energy to continue.

“Are you ladies ready to continue working?” Manager Lim warmly asks when walking inside the room where 5 Pieces has gotten to rest a bit between the schedules.

After 13 hours working, their schedule isn’t over yet. They have two more radio appearances, and then a photo shoot for a Swedish magazine. Hannah stretches her hands up in the air, yawning. She is tired, it’s just that the energy is so mixed at the moment that she one second can’t stop yawning while in the next it feels like she can run a mile. 5 Pieces get up on their feet, crowding in front of the mirror to check their make-up and hair before heading out; they have already arrived at the radio station, and got to wait in the room where they first went through with the staff what will be said and brought up at the radio visit and then got fifteen minutes of just doing nothing.

“This person writes ‘I don’t know why no one is talking about the fact that 5 Pieces was wearing dresses’ and there are two pictures of us, first from the red carpet in the black dress and then when performing dressed in red,” Maria keeps talking about Tumblr, holding on to the tablet and trying to show Hannah while they are walking through a corridor. “This person commented on that, saying that we wore the same dress in two different colours, and got the answer by a third person writing … ‘that’s fabulous’. It’s simple as that, baby; we were fabulous that day – our fans are so aware of it because they made us fabulous.”

Maria can’t stop talking. Even Julia opens in regret for suggesting coffee to Maria, who earlier was just complaining and being tired as she just waits for tomorrow when 5 Pieces is having the day off to hang out with their families coming to the capital to be with them. Manager Lim sighs, regretting letting Maria drink coffee too and wondering if she will calm down for the interview – just in case, their manager takes the tablet from Maria and exchanges some words with her before they walk inside the radio studio.

5 Pieces smiles brightly when they are greeted by the two Swedish radio hosts, and when 5 Pieces has entered the interview has officially started. They do their greeting when they have taken their seats, each member holding a microphone for the radio.

“Are you all comfortable speaking in Swedish?” the male DJ asks the ladies, “I read an article about you before where you said it feels weird to come to Sweden and speak your native language after being gone for so long.”

“If you had asked us this morning, we would say it is awkward, but since we have been talking in Swedish all day, it comes more naturally again,” Maria answers. Speaking in Swedish is something they tend to do only when they are in Sweden, because even in Korea the members speak Korean with each other; at first it was just to learn the language and then they just mixed up all languages when they are together.

“Okay, so it’s okay if we do the interview in Swedish?” he tries to joke; though they laugh at it, Hannah can’t seem to make it sound like a real laugh. “From what I have understood, 5 Pieces is called a multi-language group because you do not just speak several of languages but also you sing in different languages too. First, you sing in English, what more languages do you sing in?”

“Just Korean and Japanese,” the girls answer.

“But that’s two more languages than most artists,” the female DJ laughs.

“Yeah, but not from where we are used to work,” Emelia smirks, “it’s common there to learn another language to widen your promotions in other countries.”

“So you are saying that if 5 Pieces only sang in one language, you would not have gotten this much fame?” the female asks.

Hannah smiles at Emelia, who prepares herself to answer the question, looking to be filled with confidence. “If we did not make English versions of our songs, media outside Asia would not have taken notice of us the same way; yes, we would not have this much fame in the same amount of time if we didn’t promote outside Asia. But it’s not the language that has brought us here; it’s the music and our fans.”

“Is it possible for you to sing a bit of your songs in these languages?” the male DJ wonders, “If it’s not too much to ask?”

“Um… yeah,” Maria answers and looks at the members, holding down her microphone to quietly talk about what to sing. “We’ll start with the Korean one then. It’s the Korean version of [Daze]…”

Without any music, the girls on ‘cue’ start to sing the pre-chorus and then helps out with the chorus too. Like real artists, 5 Pieces do not need background music to sing a song; which the DJ’s did not expect so they get very impressed and even applauses in the shock after the song. There is a little more talk after that song, the DJs curious if this is the original version of the song (but since Melissa Allen produced and wrote [Daze], that’s not true) and so on.

“What about Japanese? You sing a lot in Japanese?” the male DJ asks.

“We released our first Japanese song in … what was it? Two years ago?” Maria asks the ladies that nod in agreement, “so we have released about five singles in Japan as well as an album, for the past two years, which is a few songs then.”

“So how does that go? You promote in Korea for a year, and then go to Japan for a year… or how is the difference in promotions?”

Maria turns to Hannah, just with her eyes telling the youngest to answer the question. Hannah slowly brings the microphone to her lips as the DJ asks another question too. “It’s more that we go back and forth all the time,” Hannah answers while glancing at her members, just to make sure she says things the right way and Maria is nodding. Before she can say anything more, the female DJ asks if they are always working. “Yeah, we pretty much work 24/7. If we aren’t promoting in Korea, we either promoting in another country or are recording for a comeback. Earlier this year when we had a tour around Japan, we were there for weeks promoting our album and the tour so you can never really predict where we will be.”

“There is one Japanese song of 5 Pieces that has been playing on the radio here… Did you know about that?”

“Yes,” Emelia answer this time, “our song [Run Out] is the main track from our Japanese album, and we heard after it came out that it was being played in Sweden too.”

“Could you sing a bit of it for us? Then it is just the English song left,” the DJ suggests and Carolina is fast to suggest the chorus, almost hitting Julia on the chest. The chorus is sung mostly with all the members, the tone higher than for [Daze] and once again the DJs begin talking about it afterwards. They are curious to know how it is to do music in three different languages, and seem more curious about Japan than Korean.

“I guess in the beginning, everything is just weird,” Maria answers, “but when you have recorded for a while in that language, it gets better. So the trick is to get used to it, I guess.”

“Which language do you prefer to sing in then?” the female DJ wonders.

“Not that we prefer a special language, but for the past five years we have mostly been singing in Korean and that kind of is the language we use the most and that has put us here,” Maria answers, and she laughs when putting a hand up. “I am honest, it’s the truth. We aren’t fluent in Korean but most of our songs are in Korean and we have concerts for that, so yes, Korean would be the language – for me, anyway.”

“Do the others agree?” the DJs chuckles, very impressed with how light and friendly 5 Pieces are to talk with. The ladies do agree, but they also admit that they enjoy singing in the languages that can keep their audience entertained.

Instead of singing the English version, the radio plays the full [Daze] song. Three minutes of music lets the DJs ask a little more to the ladies without having whole Sweden listening, and when returning after the song the DJs brings up that they just talked to 5 Pieces about their day promoting in Sweden’s capital and about the choreography for [Daze] – the question is if they have always been this good at dancing, and they get surprised when 5 Pieces starts laughing. Not a rude way of laughing, just this girly laughing when something fun has been said.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Maria laughs, breathing out when saying a final; “No. I mean- No, I mean no, we are not good at dancing and five years ago we were like these old men going into the club and just moves their wrist and thinks they are awesome. You know that, right?” The DJs laughs at her example. “We are so bad at dancing but we have like … Korea’s best teachers and such great choreographers that spend hours, days and now years, trying to make us look decent on the stage.”

“So none of you can dance?”

“I think I can dance,” Carolina admits. “Maybe not on a professional level, but compared to these friends here … I’m good.”

“Yeah, but our thing is,” Maria sits a little forward to be seen for everyone in the room, “like some days ago, we were at this music award show in Korea, and everyone performing there are awesome. I mean … they have been taking classes for ten years or some, and everyone are kids so they have more energy and they are just great, so … what were we talking about?”

The DJs laughs once again, and Hannah smiles because this is Maria’s personality – with or without coffee – and they laugh even more when Maria also says that the groups in Korea are well-trained to beyond the rest of the current world that they are really worth respect for it.

“The reason 5 Pieces is in Sweden this time – it’s about your fourth time this year?” the male DJ started to ask a question but came up with another.

“Yeah, probably,” the girls nod to answer the question.

“But the reason you are in Sweden is for your concert here at the Ericson Globe right outside the capital city of Sweden. It is 5 Pieces’ second concert in Sweden, and the concert is in completely Korean. Do you think your fans will understand it?”

“Yeah!” Maria is fast to answer, almost shouting ‘hell yeah’ and she just smiles in silent when Emelia leans back and puts her arm on Maria’s backrest, which Maria notices and knows it is a warning for her to calm down.

“But it’s in Korean,” the female DJ mentions.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop the power of music now, does it?” Maria is so relaxed, and she has no idea how many people out in the country right now is writing down that sentence; that it within seconds will be written on several internet pages to describe 5 Pieces. “We were here for a few weeks ago, and we got to talk to several of fans during out event and most of them are actually fans of K-Pop – which means their earphones mostly every day plays songs in Korean – and even if you don’t get the language, it’s just the music and the performances that will make you entertained.”

“Do you prepare differently for a concert in Sweden compared to concerts in Asia?”

“There is one thing, that we are actually the most worried about,” Emelia says in a low voice, smirking at her members and Hannah think they all have the same thought because they all have familiar face-expressions. “And that’s the talk in between the songs.”

“Yes, we are super confidence about the songs; it’s in between we are worried,” Maria is fast to add with a laugh and the DJs just ask what’s wrong with the talks.

Emelia continues; “As you said before, we aren’t that used to speak in Swedish when we are doing promotions. We are more used to it for interviews, but for the concert we will be like singing 30 songs in Korean and then speak in Swedish and we are really worried that we will either speak in Korean or English in between and the crowd will be like ‘what did they just say?’”

“You are having a three-hour long concert and all you worry about which language you will use?”

“There are thousand of worries but that is the one our staff keeps reminding us of and we’re just … shouting in excitement that we are going to the Ericson Globe,” Maria chuckles. “I think our minds are somewhere else these days.”

“Why are your minds somewhere else?”

Hannah think the DJs are so entertained with this interview because they can’t stop smiling or laughing at the moment.

“Because we are having a concert in our home-country for 16.000 people, we just received four awards in Korea two days ago, we celebrated five years since debut last week… There is just a lot of amazingly great things happening-”

“And we got the day off tomorrow where we will hang out with our families,” Julia interrupts to add when noticing Maria not mentioning it and Maria claps her hands together once to repeat their families coming.

Among all the things they bring up there, the DJs bring up the talk about 5 Pieces’ families coming to watch the concert (just because it stood in the paper to talk about them). “How often do you meet your families?”

“Whenever we come to Sweden; usually. Lately we have come for promotions so we haven’t met at that time, but last time was in the summer when we went home for a music festival,” Julia messily answers.

“What do your families think of you having a concert in the Globe?”

“My family loves it,” Maria answers, “I have parents, siblings, grandparents and the whole family-tree gathering for the concert.”

“So if we hear some loud people during the concert, we know who they are,” Emelia jokes and the DJ’s laughs again.

“Your families are coming. And you are having a whole day off to be with them. Is it just a gathering or what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“Relax and be with our families, that’s the main plan,” Maria calmly says, smiling so widely thinking of her family. “We have not had a whole day to spend with our families in a while so I think each one of us is just longing for it. And we’re all in Stockholm, so who knows what we’ll do? But we’ll have fun, preparing for the concert.”

During the radio interview, Emelia somehow comes up with the story where she put a prank on her parents once; 5 Pieces was going home for the school-start and had gotten to go back two days earlier than planned and she didn’t tell her parents, so she showed up and home and rang the doorbell. “I thought my father was going to get a heart-attack.”

 

After two in the morning, 5 Pieces reach the hotel to get their sleep. A total of 19 hours working and now the ladies are just ready for bed. 5 Pieces have been at many hotels, but like always, Sweden makes them open their eyes because this is a 5 star hotel, one of the finest in Sweden. They have gotten one of the best suits in the country, with two bedrooms with the most exclusive colours and looking luxury all from the bedroom to the view. There are two bedrooms with their own comfortable king-size bed, there is a saloon for work or relaxing, a dining room for six people and then it’s these small details that the girls take care of right when entering; slippers and bathrobe of the softest fabric existing, there are milk in the mini-fridge along with other drinks and snacks and also a fruit plate.

Yesterday when 5 Pieces came to this room for the first time, 5 Pieces took it all in by taking a bath, putting on the bathrobe afterwards, looking through every inch of the place, taking pictures and enjoying the view and jumping in the bed (five 21-year-old girls jumping in the expensive bed…). So tonight, all drained on energy, they go straight to bed. Hannah and Maria share one bed and the other three share the other bed. Just because Maria moves around enough to take up the space as two or three people, so if it comes to parting two-three, Hannah took the shortest straw this time.

All of them go to bed, and not until nine in the morning, they are waking up.

Emelia wakes up first, walking around back and forth in the bathrobe, her long hair a mess and her face like always looks as pale as a ghost’s. She takes pictures too, with her big camera; a picture of Hannah and Maria sleeping in the bed/silver king-size bed with the morning light shining through the thin curtains on one side. It looks like it’s made for a picture, Emelia thinks when taking a second picture of them from another angle; beside from Maria lying on her stomach with one arm up above her head, the other almost over Hannah, and she has one leg hanging over the bed outside the quilt. Emelia makes sure to take a picture where it looks somewhat normal. She take a picture of Carolina and Julia who are sleeping in the other bedroom, smirking tiredly when Julia is waking up and takes a picture of Carolina sleeping and Julia sitting up, hiding her face behind her hands.

“What time is it?” Julia asks, falling down to lie on the side where Emelia slept half an hour ago.

“Family arriving in one and a half hour,” Emelia answers, going through her bag to find her laptop. “Appa said yesterday that we should order breakfast and eat here, and they will eat in their room; I think he mean he want to sleep half the day.”

Julia scoffs in the pillow she is now hugging, agreeing on those words. Their manager works hard too, and he deserves to get some sleep. Emelia lets Julia roll around in bed, enjoying the cosiness while Carolina sleeps next to her, and the rapper goes to sit by the window in the dining room with her laptop, camera and cords to move the pictures she has taken the past two days to the laptop.

The youngest wakes up by being kicked on her leg by the sleeping Maria. It is far from a good wake-up call, but no one else but Hannah knows about it and she goes to the bathroom after checking the time.

Ten minutes later, Hannah takes a seat across from Emelia around the table, them both wearing matching slippers and bathrobes. Hannah just leans forward, resting her head on the table, sighing and closing her eyes.

“Good morning to you too,” Emelia mumbles to the youngest, focusing on her laptop, “Wanna see the pictures I’m putting up on the blog?”

“No bathrobe pictures, right?” Hannah mutters and yawns when sitting up to see when Emelia turns the laptop around for her to see.

“Bathrobe pictures with Carolina and Maria being their … posing-selves, in front of the high windows, then we have the picture of all of us… well, you can see it for yourself.”

The headline she has written for the blog-update it ‘Having fun in Sweden’ and the first things she has written in the blog post is ‘our fans know just how much we enjoy the travelling life, and 5 Pieces have fun with every little thing we do. Some pictures you should not take all too seriously, showing our excitement for the concert on Tuesday ;)’

“It’s weird having a concert on a Tuesday,” Hannah comments while looking through the pictures of friendly 5 Pieces being like any other group of friends this age.

A picture from yesterday when the girls were lazily sitting next to each other by a wall, resting between their schedule and friendly posing for the camera while their bodies looked tired, then a picture of Julia and Carolina standing with their arms around each other and looking excited for the performance they were about to do. Hannah tiredly smiles seeing one picture that Emelia had secretly taken when they were eating during one of the breaks, capturing Hannah’s profile when she looked further away and Carolina blurry in the back pointing towards the camera and their stylist seen reaching for his glass. Hannah is pretty sure Emelia has done something with the picture because it is in really good quality, focusing on Hannah looking away from the camera.

“My skin looked very good…” Hannah quietly mentions before scrolling down. “Are you having breakfast with your parents?”

“No. Breakfast is on its way; Julia ordered.”

“Oh…”

Emelia gets her laptop back, Julia comes by them too and Hannah picks up her cell phone that she had put in the bathrobe pocket. No one says anything, just trying to wake up. Within minutes, their food arrives, and the three of them sits there with bacon, scrambled eggs, toasts, milk, cereals, tea and juice. Hannah takes most of the bacon, knowing it is only Carolina who eats them other than her; bacon and scrambled eggs with some Swedish milk. Emelia eats breakfast while sitting by the laptop and Julia carefully cares for her tea.

“Do you know what I just saw on Tumblr?” Maria walks inside.

She has been so quiet that no one knew she had woken up, and then enters the room with cell phone in one hand and she takes a piece of toast when stopping by the table.

“A few weeks ago I did some interview, and my quote has been re-blogged thousand of times. Here it is; It’s when people tell me to sit more lady-like that I throw my leg up on the armrest and raise my eyebrows, asking this annoying person ‘repeat, please, I wasn’t ready for it’. No one tells me what to do. I’m completely awesome, aren’t I? In the interview we talked about what a Princess is and blah-blah-blah and I just threw my leg up. I am still a lady; I just don’t cross my legs to satisfy others.”

Hannah has no idea of what the leader is talking about, quietly wondering if it is either yesterday’s coffee still affecting her mind or if she is still sleeping. Maria just says her thing before she sits down to eat and keep looking through things on her cell phone, asking the others if their families have called and mentioning that tumblr is her new best friend.

Though 5 Pieces have openly and friendly been talking about their families coming today, how they long to spend some time with them during their day off; Hannah’s family isn’t coming. She sent tickets to her aunt and cousins living here in the capital, then her grandmother and family up in the hometown, but with no cell phone she hasn’t gotten an answer. Not through mail either. The ticket is for the concert though; Hannah hasn’t invited anyone to come today like the other ladies made sure to do. So while the members have planned a family-day, Hannah has planned a personal me-day where she will go to the Spa & Fitness at the hotel, for first the gym and then the spa. 5 Pieces is prepared for a day to relax.

“Who is going to wake up Carolina?” Julia asks when most of them have finished eating. Hannah hurries off the table right away, a little too quickly which they all notices and she giggles when sneaking back to the bedroom across from where Carolina is sleeping to get as far away as possible.

“Baby!” Maria calls out from the table.

“I am not waking her up,” Hannah is fast to defend herself, hiding around the corner in the bedroom as if in no one can see her, she can not be chosen.

“No, I was wondering what time you’re leaving?”

Hannah turns around to slowly walk back, okay if they won’t try to make her wake the mascot up. “Oh, well… we decided to meet around 11 at the gym.”

“Who?” Julia looks confused, finishing up her tea. “What are you going to do, Hannah?”

“I’m going to the gym with Trainer Kim,” Hannah answers. “At 11…”

“Oooh…” Julia had no idea about that.

Hannah doesn’t care who wakes Carolina up; she goes to change into a work-out outfit while hearing Maria sing from the dining table for Carolina to wake up; so Hannah guess its either Emelia or Julia waking her up. While all of them are getting dressed and ready, they talk about their days, their excitement to meet their families. Hannah promises to not miss out the special family time; she loves her members’ families as her own and is actually looking forward to meet them alter. It will be a big dinner later.

But first; work-out. Hannah is wearing black sweatpants and a cardigan with 5 Pieces’ concert logos on when she leaves the suite, taking the elevator to the gym, and slowly she starts to warm up while waiting for their trainer Kim Sung Joong to come.

When it comes to working out, Hannah has never been an expert on it; or especially good. Somehow she has become the workout-freak in the team, just because the other members doesn’t have to workout to stay fit and when she was loosing weight a few years back it was important she held on to the routine where she had to work out at least three times a week if not more, even if they had a schedule with dance-practice and whatnot. For her Japanese drama when she was practicing boxing, she lost so much weight that she after that just had to focus on the right parts; but of course, even after four years from that period, Hannah is still struggling. She has a body that keeps changing every single day, and to be in the spotlight all the time isn’t easy either, though Hannah admits that when the crowd tells her to loose/gain weight, she just turns the other cheek and looks herself in the mirror to be her own judge. With all the schedule going on lately and her manager forcing her to eat, Hannah hasn’t gained more weight, her body pretty much looks the same too. She wonders where all that food have gone – but she is worried it might pop out somewhere so she makes sure to move a lot, and not eat as much as others want her to. But about the practicing, Hannah do enjoy going to the gym by herself, or have a trainer who tells her to do a little more. She isn’t the best, far from it, but she has the determination to not stop once she has started, and that is why the trainer is confident she will do well for many years as long as she has that.

Trainer Kim Sung Joong isn’t Hannah’s usual trainer, as she in Korea has her own trainer who helps her out with the boxing as well a little now and then, but this trainer is signed with SM Entertainment as 5 Pieces’ personal trainer. He comes along at every concert (arena tour, world tour, SM tour) and always keeps an eye on their bodies to make sure they are in shape and it has been his job for the past 2-3 years. He is muscular, strict and the first time he entered 5 Pieces’ lives was one summer morning in 2011 when he woke them up in their apartment, shouting at them that they should be ready in five minutes – he threw Maria off the bed and let her and Hannah run up and down the stairs. His job that summer was to torture and make 5 Pieces’ fit the pretty outfits they would wear for their second album [I Love You]. 5 Pieces have never complained at a person so much before, but he was like a soldier with his strict loud voice and he actually got them in the right shape.

The celebrity life is hard, and the fact that 5 Pieces got a new trainer for each comeback preparations in try to make a special try to get in better shape according to the agency, those trainers left once the comeback was made; exhausted and not coming back. Kim Sung Joong has been the only one worthy to take on the five ladies this long; SM Entertainment has made sure he stays as they noticed the difference.

Working out with the trainer in Sweden, with Hannah only and not the whole team, is different. She don’t know how else to explain it. he isn’t as loud or strict when he works with them solo, and Hannah has worked with him the least because she has her own trainer (Trainer Kim doesn’t teach boxing, that’s why she has another trainer as that is her best workout-routine) but they work a lot to warm up before every concert and rehearsal so she isn’t completely unfamiliar with him and his methods. Trainer Kim asks her first for the pace they will do, and then plans the whole three-hour workout routine they will do today before warming up together.

After the indoor warm-up, they decide to go outside for a jog before they will go back to the gym, but reaching the lobby they start doubting it. Trainer Kim really want to go out for a jog, thinking it will refresh both their minds and bodies with the fresh Swedish air and to just move freely instead of being inside, but when seeing outside he turns to Hannah and express his worry for the safety – suggesting Hannah to ask her manager about this first.

Fans have been crowding outside the hotel ever since 5 Pieces arrived. Hopefully not the same fans being there all the time, but there is always fans outside the hotel. And today it’s cold too; the coldest day so far in Sweden this November, though Hannah hasn’t stepped out the door since midnight, she actually want to run out and just breathe in the air of their home-country; among all countries 5 Pieces have visited, Sweden must have the clearest air. It’s like finding out you have two perfectly fine lungs inside your body and each breath you take gets longer and slower in hope to keep the air. For some reason, the ladies have never said anything about that in interviews, though they personally go around talking with each other about it.

Hannah sighs over the fans, and heads further in the lobby to the receptionist standing behind the table. Trainer Kim doesn’t follow as he won’t understand the language either way.

“Hello.” Hannah smiles to get the receptionists attention; the short-blonde haired girl can’t be much older than Hannah, neatly wearing the hotel’s colours and stands up straight to look up at Hannah when noticing someone needs her help. Hannah sees she was signing some papers, but is too busy reminding herself to speak in Swedish that she doesn’t really care she is interrupting someone.

“Can I … help you?” the receptionist gets an big grimace of dislike when looking up and down at Hannah, and the youngest of 5 Pieces has to look down at her own body to make sure she is still dressed. “There is a back-door right over there you can use to leave, this is a 5-star hotel.”

Hannah drops her jaw by those words. She did get a back-door as she wanted, but this receptionist shows it because Hannah is wearing sweats?

“Excuse me?” Hannah smiles in surprise. She takes a step closer to the reception with this face-expression that really doesn’t know if it should be smiling to be kind or get upset for being judged based on her outfit. It’s the way she said it, the way she looks at Hannah – she probably doesn’t even know Hannah is a guest at this hotel.

“This is a 5-star hotel,” the girl repeats while nodding her head as if Hannah doesn’t know where she is, “we have a certain image to keep and with journalists out there, I do not think the hotel will like it if people like you come in and out dressed like that.”

“People like me?” This time, her smile is more real, because Hannah is about to laugh at this girl fake way to try ask her to leave. “I’m sorry, I should be able to walk up in front of you wearing a bathrobe without you turning me down. All I needed was a safe way out.”

“Well, the exit is right over there as I have pointed already and if you wore a wardrobe, they would never let you inside.”

It’s the attitude, Hannah thinks while she squeezes her eyes at the receptionist. “Is your manager around?” Hannah asks the receptionist, and she sees the girl a little taken back. “I want to speak to your manager, please.”

With one phone call, the girl says the manager is coming and then gets very busy doing everything else while Hannah walks back to Trainer Kim to say it will take just a few more minutes. A well-dressed man in his early forties or even late thirties comes up behind the reception to talk to the girl and Hannah finds her cue when the girl points towards her. The hotel manager had introduced himself to 5 Pieces when they checked in the first night, and his face-expression gets both worried and excited when seeing Hannah walk up to him; she knows he recognizes her.

“How can I help you?” he politely asks Hannah.

“Do you think I am not fit for this hotel?” Hannah asks, not really sure how to express herself but she doesn’t want to be mean, she just want to make sure this won’t be repeated.

“Of course not, you are a well-welcomed guest of ours,” the hotel manager answers politely, not questioning her question at all.

“Then why am I being told to walk out of here because I am wearing sweats?” Hannah turns her head on the side, and the receptionist looks confused over their conversation, as if she can’t understand why the manager is so nice to Hannah. But Hannah knows that a hotel manager knows the importance of having celebrities visiting and having a great visit; it’s the key to get a higher status for the hotel. “I do not want to complain, I just want to make sure that as a guest, I should be able to come through the lobby to go out for a jog without having the receptionist telling me to leave because my outfit is not suited here.”

The hotel manager turns to the receptionist. “You told her to leave? She is a world famous star!” He then turns back to Hannah, looking like he is going to panic and Hannah doesn’t even look at the receptionist to see her face. “I am deeply sorry; we will make sure nothing like this will ever happen again. If there is anything, anything we can do…”

“Just treat other guests a little better,” Hannah finally smiles, glad he understands what she means, “who knows, other guests maybe would sue you for something like that. But don’t worry, after all; we have brought all the annoying people outside your hotel, so don’t worry about it. Just … where was that exit you mentioned? I need to sneak out for a jog.”

She looks at the receptionist when asking the final question, and yes, she does feel evil when doing that but this receptionist had such a bad attitude towards her and she now looks like a ghost after finding out that she is part of 5 Pieces – only one group of celebrities is at the hotel at the moment, and it’s 5 Pieces. The hotel manager guides Hannah and Trainer Kim all the way out the door through the kitchen, constantly apologizing and even suggesting to fire the girl but Hannah just wants him to remind her that their guests should not be judged from their clothes; she almost wants to scold the girl badly because Hannah actually is a guest and she was judged by wearing sweats… She can’t believe it. Sure, no make-up and sweats she looks like any other girl going to the gym, but seriously?

Trainer Kim doesn’t talk or comment, not that she tells him about it either but he doesn’t even ask what that was about (not knowing why the hotel manager followed them to the door) but instead sneaks out where no can fan spot them to take a job around the place. Since none of them is very good about the place, they uses the GPS on their cell phones to make sure they don’t get lost – it’s actually very fun to run with the GPS, because it shows all buildings and streets and a colourful line that is created to show where they have jogged. They jog for a bit, then walk a bit and repeat it depending on what the trainer tells her, and then they end up walking even more because Trainer Kim seems to really enjoy Stockholm.

It’s not like Hannah’s home-town; this city is big for her, but it isn’t even half the size of Seoul. The buildings are familiar, made of stone and the colours and people are all familiar to her, reminding her of home and it has something that just shouts out SWEDEN for her. No matter how much she fights with her family or for how long she has been away, Sweden will always feel like home.

“OH MY GOD!”

Hannah lowers her head, sweaty from the jog and her arms and ears cold from the chilly air, but the moment they come closer to the hotel, people notices them. Because the whole street has fans wanting to show their love to 5 Pieces (it’s not crowded, it’s just typical Swedish to stand four-five meters away from each other). Trainer Kim looks like a tiny little body-builder when guiding Hannah through, both of them kind of in a hurry to get inside and the fans actually step aside while screaming and saying her name.

Coming in, they head back to the gym to finish the workout, drinking water first. Sweating everything out and just trying to focus her mind on 5 Pieces, their friendship and family, the fans waiting for their concert that is in two days and then it’s Hong Kong for another music award show, followed by their Paris concert… 5 Pieces is doing so much, and she remembers how good it felt in the past when she was working out because she got time to think through most of it. She can try to melt it all in, somehow knowing what they are doing but still thinking it is a little too much to take in. just to have a concert at the Globe here in their home-country is a big deal for them; 16.000 fans gathered under one roof in Sweden to see 5 Pieces!

Three hours sweating and one hour at the spa: it feels good, two meditations that makes Hannah feels satisfied afterwards. The members are enjoying time with their families, which mean no one is in the suite they share when Hannah returns.

Hannah’s very own relaxing time: alone in the suite. The first thing she sees when coming back is a gift bag on the dining table; an apology from the hotel for what happened earlier. She imagines the panic of the hotel manager calling his staff to prepare something to apologize for what happened, and Hannah sneaks a peak inside the box – there is chocolate and fruits, and some coupons or what it is. Hannah takes a fruit, walking around while eating it and checking her phone.

It’s already over three in the afternoon; she knows the whole morning was spent sleeping. It feels weird though, to have a whole day off and she is doing pretty much the same things she would do in Korea; work out and check the internet.

Her Japanese single [I CRY] is released tomorrow, the 18th of November, and when the PV came out last month, Hannah changed her Twitter profile picture to one of the pictures they took on the set. She hasn’t checked twitter all that much after MelOn Music Awards, for one reason: antis. Maria maybe seemed overly excited about the attention they got on tumblr, while Hannah’s twitter has been overfilled with comments about her and Jonghyun. There are a lot of people that did not like them sitting close to each other, or their little “sweet” moments there and there, or that they hugged at the end. Jonghyun like always only takes notice of the good comments, because there are a lot of them too, while Hannah mostly sees the bad ones. She sighs deeply when seeing the comments, and decides to not update it today when her sighing gets interrupted by a knock on the door.

It’s Manager Lim outside, which Hannah checks before she opens the door.

“You went outside without telling me?” he storms inside the suite, turning around to glare at Hannah. “I keep telling you ladies to never go outside without telling me or without a guard!”

“Trainer Kim went with me, Appa,” Hannah whispers, closing the door after him.

“It’s been five years and none of you realise that you are famous,” he sighs, looking more tired now than what he did last night when he walks inside the suite before her. “I just were on the phone with Maria to try make her realise she can not walk around on the streets with her family because the fifty people following her are not caring about any rules at all.”

“You want a fruit?” Hannah suggests, not knowing if he really is mad at her or if he is just letting out his frustration.

“Aaaahh…” he just sighs, going to take a seat in the sofa. “I’m really happy you are enjoying yourself, but I can not be the only one with a jetlag.”

“I heard Yong Hyun Oppa has it too,” she mentions and takes a seat in an armchair. This suite is made for comfort no matter which room you are in. She head up on her feet again, returning a minute later with a glass of water that she gives her manager. Taking her seat again, Hannah knows he is not mad at her at all.

“I have talked a lot to Maria when she has been doing her solo promotions,” Manager Lim tells her, looking at the glass of water he is holding with both hands. “Has she talked anything to you about your concert here in Sweden?”

“Depends on what you mean,” Hannah lightly answers. She can kind of guess which direction this is going, or several directions, so she doesn’t dare to guess just yet. And before she can guess on one thing, her fatherly manager says what he means.

“She feels bad that they all want to come here for their families, how talkative and happy they all get when bringing it up… She has a lot of troubles like that; how all of you feel and react. I couldn’t sleep this night thinking about it, because you are sitting here while they are with their families.”

“Appa…”

“No, Hannah, please listen to me,” he calmly says with a sigh, moving further out on the sofa, his eyes still on the glass. “I want to say this. I have maybe said it before, but I feel like it has to be said.”

“I know everything you want to say,” she tells him, not wanting him to go all sentimental and emotional when they in two hours are going on dinner with everyone else. “Appa, you told us on 5 Pieces’ anniversary dinner all there is to say.”

“What I want to tell you now is not about 5 Pieces; it’s about you,” he says, grimacing at the glass and Hannah grimaces too. “I know you want your family to come to the concert, that you are waiting for that. But you must understand that … that if they don’t show up-”

“I still have you, right?” she whispers, slowly leaning back in the sofa with her head down, smiling weakly when seeing him look up at her. “I don’t think they will show up at the concert; they didn’t come last year, and last year’s concert was in the same city we live in, so I’m not keeping my hopes up. So you shouldn’t worry about me; I know where my family is. And family to me isn’t all about blood. You taught me that, if you remember.”

“And you have taught me a lot too, Hannah,” he smiles at her, “All of you have; teaching me a different culture and giving me five daughters. It’s a big concert coming up for you, and for me; the whole family actually, and I just wanted you to know that you are not here alone. Even with your stylist groaning in bed wishing he had brought some traditional soup and his boyfriend with him, he looks forward to the concert too.”

“I think you should go back to bed, Appa; your jetlag isn’t too good,” Hannah can’t help but to joke about it, feeling awkward talking to him about this.

“Actually… the real reason I stomped over here is because Yong Hyun wants to order some soup but it isn’t going all that well,” he says while putting the glass away, preparing to leave.

“And you can’t order some soup in Swedish for him?” Hannah wonders while following him up. “I’ll just change clothes first.”

“I don’t know how to say ‘soup’ in Swedish,” he answers, walking the other direction while Hannah heads to the bedroom to change. “And Maria just laughed when I called her to ask about it.”

Hannah will go to their jetlagged stylist, to let him have his soup and wait for the dinner with the ladies’ families gathered. Though her manager has worried, and Maria has apparently worried too, Hannah is happy for her members and she looks forward to meet their families too. She can’t even imagine how loud it will get…

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Headline 16th: EM Has Her Final Stage With [Missing] On Music Core

Headline 16th: 5 Pieces Invades The ‘We Got Married’ Neighbourhood In Tonight’s Episode

Headline 16th: Restless 5 Pieces Gives Taemin & Naeun A Surprise Visit

 

Headline 17th: EM Goes [Missing] With Her Goodbye Stage On Inkigayo

Headline 17th: Episode 6 Of Airs With A Pretty Cover Of [Just Hold Me] Together With Julia

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X. devonalias