Saturday, almost a week since 5 Pieces won first place on Inkigayo’s first chapter of 2014. A lot has happened since. They won on Show Champion three days later, their concert in Macao was for two days and both days the journalists kept praising them, airing them on the news in China and talking about their comeback in Korea as well as the international single coming out next week. Their music video for [I’m Over You] came out yesterday, the music video was beautiful with 5 Pieces being out in the cold snow, looking fabulous according to stylist Yong Hyun. After their concert in Macao ended the second day on Friday, 5 Pieces headed to Korea to pre-record for Music Core where they will perform both [I Want a Man] and [I’m over You], then in the morning they pre-recorded [I Want a Man] for Inkigayo before they head to Taipei, Taiwan, for the rehearsals for their concert there tomorrow. The lack of sleep from last week has been taken back by now with the ladies getting two good nights of sleep at the hotel in Macao, and they sleep during the flights back and forth as well. But it is tiring to be on a flight, even if you just sleep the whole time, lucky the ladies get more awake when arriving at the rehearsals in Taipei and hear their song play on the radio just before they get out of the van. That means they are overly excited when getting ready for the rehearsals.

After two weeks into the New Year continuing with a hectic schedule, Hannah is still tired. Carolina’s cold has gotten better, but Julia has gotten it instead. Emelia says hurts in the mornings, so all five ladies are drinking the mixed tea to treat their voices, not wanting to get hoarse or loose their voices during the concerts. Hannah’s back is weird every day, worse after a flight, so her two first hours at the arena in Taipei is spend lying on the floor with their trainer helping her to stretch the back in different positions. She is still excited, her back just doesn’t agree with her.

“I love that,” Maria says when she comes to sit next to Hannah on the stage during rehearsals.

Hannah looks down at what Maria had pointed at; looking at the brushed fleece logo-print sweatshirt she is wearing, that is covering the shorts underneath and her legs look nice in knee-high socks. Hannah isn’t surprised at Maria’s comment as it was Maria who chose this outfit for the youngest. The youngest lies down on the stage with a groan, closing her eyes right away tiredly.

“I can’t believe that man said that about us,” Maria mutters, shaking her head. “Our song is not too daring, and it should definitely not be banned from radio stations. I’m sure he is some old man whose daughter hates us or something.”

“It’s the same person who wrote that [I Want a Man] is the best song of 5 Pieces so far,” Hannah mentions, nodding when Maria gives out a shocked sound. “Emelia said it.”

A critic in Korea has asked radio stations to ban the song [I’m Over You] because he thinks the lyrics is too daring, openly talking to the media about certain parts in the lyrics and mentioning young people hearing it on the radio. The ladies all disagree with him, they love the song and the lyrics and even if their managers have told them to not mind the opinion of one person the ladies are still bringing it up over and over again out of annoyance. At anything Maria says, Hannah jus agrees on. It’s not that she is too tired to say anything else, she just agrees on whatever it is the leader has to say. Just that Hannah is the one who wrote the lyrics a long time ago makes her wonder if Korean men are really that sensitive; a part the critic had pointed out is in the chorus when they sing *’Cause honestly you wanted me to be your (dumb girl that you changed)* and so on. Apparently that is not good, yet it is the part Hannah feels they do the best together when performing it. And it is also the chorus that fans have commented is exactly what you feel you want to sing out at your ex or someone else.

“What are you talking about?” Emelia asks when coming up on the stage, her camera is in hand as the favourite object during their schedules. She snaps a quick picture, though Hannah gets the time to cover her face first and Emelia smirks at how quickly the youngest gets whenever it is a camera around.

“Music, critics, annoyance,” Maria sums it up briefly, “The usual.”

“Ah, that again,” Emelia nods. Hannah sits up, pulling in her sweater. “Did you know that both our songs from this single are on TOP10 at the Taiwan charts?”

“It’s the fourth time I’m told that,” Maria smiles, sighing out gladly. “If the reaction is this good for [I Want A Man], how would they react to the fourth album? Yong Hyun Oppa is planning the outfits with the agency’s team. Did you see the examples?”

“I don’t think we will actually look like that,” Emelia comments while Hannah grimaces. Their album will probably come out in April sometime, but they still remember practicing [Girls Power]. They had gone through a lot of emotions when practicing that; none being good.

“Yeah… Carolina would freak out the most,” Maria says.

“What would I freak out about?” Carolina asks when bouncing over to them, smiling brightly.

“Nothing,” Hannah and Maria are both fast to say and laugh at the synch in their word. Emelia smirks, leaning back to see Julia come up on the stage too.

Before starting rehearsal again, the ladies lies down on the stage with their heads together just like they did in their Japan mini drama last year and what they had done years ago during summer vacation when they met up outside school, now lying with their different shapes of blonde heads together in the middle and bodies stretches out like a sun or flower, of 5 Pieces’ fun. With Emelia’s camera, a dancer takes several pictures of them laying there from close and from a distance, the ladies trying to lie there with eyes closed as if they are sleeping but in a few pictures they are laughing or just smiling as it is difficult to keep your face.

After rehearsals, Emelia sends two of the pictures to Maria who uploads it o her Instagram account, and at that time, the ladies have found out that their song won on Music Core this evening – their third time winning with [I Want a Man] on a music program.

{Instagram, 5P_PRINCESS: Mentally preparing for tomorrow’s concert in Taiwan. We feel at the top thanks to our fans, we want to do our best to thank everyone for the love and support we have gotten, from all around the world. Taiwan, you’re next! ;)}

Finishing the rehearsals, the ladies head to the hotel where they go to bed right away. Going to bed doesn’t mean they fall asleep; Hannah share room with Maria this week and when lying down in bed the youngest turns to look at Maria lying next to her. They have gotten a superior room at the luxury five stars hotel in Teipei, which the ladies have realized lately that the hotels are not three or four stars anymore; they are five stars hotel, luxury rooms too. It’s weird because usually the ladies just sleep at the hotels because they are too busy, but at least they sleep in comfort.

“Maria…” Hannah eventually starts to say in a low voice.

“Mm,” Maria answers and starts yawning widely, her eyes focused on her tablet that she has resting on her stomach.

“Would you tell me if you like someone?” Hannah whispers.

“What?” Maria chuckles, glancing at Hannah, “You know I would, the same way you tell me.”

“Don’t you like Hyunsuk?”

Maria turns to gape at her this time. “You think I like like him? Seriously?” The leader suddenly puts the tablet away to turn to Hannah. “Just because we talk all the time, even when we aren’t recording, and he is tall and handsome…”

“So you like him?” Hannah giggles, noticing Maria’s mind drifting away.

Maria laughs. “I’ll tell you this; if he asked me out, I would not say no. We have fun together,” Maria answers, again shrugging it coolly off before lying on her back briefly but leans over to Hannah again. “Has he said something about me? Is that why you ask?”

“He hasn’t said anything. But you act weird whenever it is about him. Like … you act like it’s nothing,” Hannah says while hugging her pillow, smiling because Maria is smiling. The leader looks happy.

“Yeah… I guess I do that…”

“Do you want him to ask you out?” Hannah wonders with a giggle.

To her surprise, Maria’s smile softens and she lies down on her back, facing the ceiling with a deep breath. “I don’t know… I mean, it would be freaking great to actually be in a relationship; my on-screen married life is the only relationship I have had. But … with our schedule, I don’t think I could handle being in a relationship. It’s not like with you and Jonghyun; I don’t miss Hyunsuk if we don’t talk or anything like that, and I don’t think I could handle those feelings with the schedule we have.”

“Mm,” Hannah says in , just to show that she is listening.

“I think all of us have kind of faced that. We are not in the positions to be in a relationship even if we want to, that’s why it’s precious what you have,” Maria slowly says, turning to face Hannah again. Their eyes are blue-green, two Swedish girls that grew up as neighbours, later becoming best friends after knowing each other for eleven years. Maria’s eyes are bigger, but both of their eyes are tired from staying awake.

“Precious,” Hannah laughs, hiding herself behind her hands while Maria is heard giggling next to her.

“But it is precious.” Maria is smiling when Hannah peeks out behind her hands. “You get all excited and adorable when Jonghyun is around, which is good because every day isn’t that easy. And you even punched someone in the stomach for him; he is deadly in love in you for that.”

“You think?”

“I see,” Maria coolly answers, changing ‘think’ to ‘see’.

Hannah giggles at the answer, but remembering that Maria put the focus on the youngest instead, “So there is nothing going on between you and Hyunsuk?”

“Not what I know of. But you know me, baby, I can’t keep my eyes on just one man either,” Maria jokes, again the two of them softly giggling while lying there cosily in the warm beds. “Hannah, we can talk more and more later. But we should sleep now.”

 

“I had to drag her up!” Hannah groans with a laugh when talking to the dancers the next morning when they all meet backstage to prepare for the first concert day in Taipei.

“It’s nothing from what I had to stand out with,” one of the female dancers mentions, nodding at one of the girls she had shared room with. “She was reading a book half the night. I couldn’t sleep.”

Julia chuckles. “I and Carolina were coughing in competition all night,” she says, the cold that Carolina had has been spread to Julia now; during the nights the two of them get runny noses and sneezing along with coughing. Julia said on the flight yesterday that she think she has gotten a fever, but no one else agreed on that and she still doesn’t have a fever.

With medicine and tea, Julia and Carolina look like two old ladies most of the day with a cup here and a cup there. Everyone keeps a distance of them, making fun of that to not let it be serious but no one really want to catch a cold so … everyone keeps a distance. Sadly, Carolina doesn’t seem to be aware of that as she hugs people and is close to them as usually, even if they try to lean away. Hannah looks terrified when Carolina once during rehearsals hugs on to her arm like a child; Hannah just leaned away and looked the other direction with huge eyes, almost begging Maria for help but the leader didn’t see that. Julia is the other way; she wants everyone to know she is sick and give her pity and attention. Yet, during the day neither one of them seem to have such a severe cold other than a sore throat – maybe because of the nice medicine.

“This tea is a Chinese expert on common colds for a sore throat,” Julia is lecturing while pouring up the cups with the tea she once got from their fans. She pour the tea she has prepared in the small white plastic cups, and she pours one for Hannah even if the youngest said she doesn’t want one – Hannah hates tea, but Julia only focuses on fixing the cold so she shares with everyone.

Maria leans over stylist Yong Hyun in the sofa to reach where Hannah is sitting in the sofa with them. “I’m not drinking it either,” the leader lets the youngest know.

Julia is addicted to tea and coffee, Carolina enjoys drinking it from time to time, Emelia likes certain tea sorts, Hannah dislike both coffee and tea while Maria complete dislike coffee (saying it is this unnecessary part of life the same way smokers have the urge to step out the door for a cigarette) but she can enjoy drinking tea if she feels for it. Which means that now when Julia pours the tea for them all, Emelia takes a sip, makes a grimace and hands the cup to someone else before sneaking away to not have Julia ask for her opinion. Hannah considers following Emelia by sneaking away from Julia’s questioning, but with Maria not taking a cup either will make it easier for Hannah to just sit back and relax. Yong Hyun has stretched out for a cup, slowly sipping the warm tea and complimenting it first for the two girls on his sides before his voice gets a little louder to compliment Julia about it too.

“Hannah, have you tried it?” Julia asks.

“I don’t like tea.”

“But this isn’t normal tea; this is good for a sore throat,” Julia explains once again, taking a cup from the table in front of them to hand it to Hannah who just shakes her head. “Come on, a good voice is what every singer wants.”

“My throat isn’t sore,” Hannah tries to avoid the cup, and Yong Hyun is so great that he finishes his own cup quickly to take the one Julia is holding out for Hannah.

“It’s delicious,” he says in his own way and takes a sip of it with a delightful face-expression.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Julia smiles at him. With the attention away from Hannah, she relaxes anew when Julia is satisfied with the stylist’s response so she can go give a cup to someone else who hasn’t tried it.

Hannah leans towards their stylist. “Thanks. I owe you one,” she says in a low voice. Yong Hyun is smiling with his lips against the cup.

“I’ll take good care of what you owe me one day,” he whispers back, sounding like a sweet threat and Maria is chuckling on his other side.

Hannah remembers that one time when she had thanked him for something this small before, he had made her wear short-sleeves instead of long-sleeves during their promotions – at that time Hannah was still a little big-sized – and the memory makes her worry for what he will be planning this time. Maria seem to know that too, as she starts talking about [Girls Power] and 5 Pieces’ fourth album with the stylist, wondering how the process is going like on the outfit-part. Hannah doesn’t even want to think of their fourth album at this time; [I Want a Man] is completely acceptable for the ladies, the knee-long dresses even if they are tight around the s are so much better than leather outfits and clothes revealing stomachs. Hannah is terrified of what kind of concept the agency will put them to wear for the fourth album and their stylists seem to use their imagination to go beyond the beyond, maybe wanting to frighten the ladies but the suggestions of outfits they have given a glance at so far are … way too much for 5 Pieces. Going for a y concept is still not something they feel ready for, which is why as much as possible, the ladies try to ignore the fact that their fourth album will have a y concept.

The fear of going too far is around them. They have seen so many girl-groups taking on the y concept and just … it have been too much. It has been embarrassing to watch and listen and they have among each other said they never want to go that low, to skip the fact that they want to be artists and just become objects. All five ladies fear it, and Maria on her own is trying to come up with a solution – not to ditch the y concept, but to do as they planned when they were practicing [Girls Power] when telling each other to make it 5 Pieces’ style – and that is why Maria is so interested in knowing how the process is going. She has even been thinking of own ideas for the clothes, imagining the choreography they practiced two months ago with the chairs and how uncomfortable the ladies were doing it in front of the American choreographers that they probably will work with again when the album practice is starting later this year, she wants to solve it without disappointing the agency and without changing 5 Pieces’ strong image. Because there is so much awesomeness in the songs they have recorded that the outfits can make the meaning behind them disappear in a swish. Maria will make sure, as the leader, that won’t happen.

“Did you see what I got this morning?” Hannah asks the stylist when they are getting ready for the concert.

“What did you get?” he asks in a melodic voice, holding on to a bunch of accessories that he puts on the table in the corner. Hannah takes out something from a present bag, a gift from a fan, and holds up a black/white check long shirt with one hand. Yong Hyun opens his mouth, dropping his things to step up to her so he can hold out the shirt to see it better. “Fabulous… oh, it’s expensive too.”

“I got a red one too,” Hannah says and holds up the bag for him to see the red/black version lying there.

“Oh, I like it,” Yong Hyun says with a glance in the bag before holding the other one towards his body to see it in the mirror, getting an idea. “You know what, Blondie, this would look so great with the socks you wore yesterday. So y in shirt and socks, exactly your style”

Hannah bites her lip with a smile, secretly happy that the fan that sent this has a great taste of what Hannah likes to wear; it is also a size too big for Hannah, which reminds her of what a lot of fans have been commenting to her lately; her weight. ‘Skinnier than ever, she still rocks the new concept’ and ‘I liked the old Hannah because she was bigger than the rest, now she looks like the smallest =(’ are only two types of comments. Because Hannah is the shortest in 5 Pieces, her weight seem to matter a lot. When she is overweight, or just weighting a little more than the rest, she looks much bigger than what it actually is while it is the same vice versa when she looses weight; because of the short height her loosing weight makes her look even smaller. Yet, last week when they were in the tight tank tops and shorts for Music Core, the picture of Hannah and Maria next to each other in the corridor they uploaded online became a hot topic because Hannah looks healthy next to the super skinny Maria, yet others think she look like she has lost too much weight for this comeback. Hannah personally would say she hasn’t lost much weight at all the past two months, but in the new concept the clothes lets them all look slimmer. The clothes for [I Want a Man] are really feminine.

The two shirts she got are a great gift; Hannah love big shirts and she like the idea of wearing the knee-long socks to it, to wear the shirt like a dress – she plans on wearing that when going back to Korea.

“Have you heard what Oppa did?” Carolina walks up to them with the biggest smile.

“The thing about the spa he told us about earlier?” Hannah wonders, smiling too when Carolina’s smile disappear to change into a surprised gaping.

“You heard?”

“He told everyone, Lina darling,” Yong Hyun softly tells Carolina, checking the quality of some bracelet. “I am invited too, for this beautiful spa treatment we’re getting, which I am looking forward to as I am in big need of some beauty touch. My skin is not feeling good with all this travelling… But I am actually surprised he fixed that; your annoyingly follow-the-rulebook manager got us a time at the spa after the concert – that hotel is luxury at the top level, it can not be cheap.”

“It’s the agency that told him to do it,” Hannah reminds them both. Julia had said that earlier, saying Manager Lee had only booked the spa area at the hotel for the ladies and their crew to get some spa treatment after tonight’s concert so they will be ready for tomorrow’s concert.

“Oh really?” Yong Hyun sounds disappointed at Hannah’s explanation. “And here I thought the devil had gotten a heart at last…”

Carolina laughs at the joke, but when Yong Hyun walks off to go get something from the room next too; Carolina looks at Hannah with big eyes. “I don’t understand what he says.” It’s not a surprise, Carolina never seem to get Yong Hyun’s humour, which is understandable as she doesn’t seem to understand Maria’s humour either and the leader and stylist have the same foolish humour. Hannah tries to explain it for her at first but ends up waving it off and Carolina doesn’t hold grudges either so both girls just forget about it and continue to get ready for the press-conference and concert.

It’s all in routine for Hannah, the preparations before a concert. Hair and make-up, you get dressed from top to toe and make sure you look like you’re supposed to, having stylists and yourself making sure of that. They do the press-conference, talking in English and sitting in their newest position for 2014 with Hannah in the middle, but that doesn’t mean she talks more – Hannah is quietly sitting in the middle, not comfortable in that position as it feels like everyone can see everything she does and she is stiff for that reason, making sure she is listening to absolutely everything being said. After the press-conference they go backstage to stretch and talk to their dancers, to take a few pictures in excitement and to cheer each other on – Maria is bluntly just screaming in the face to one of the dancers who is screaming back, them both looking insane but everyone seem to realise it is a way to just release the excitement before the concert.

“Are we ready to make Taiwan rock?!” Emelia shouts from her toes when everyone is gathered in a crowded circle with arms stretched over each other to the middle where most of the ladies and dancers are trying to have their hands on top of each other.

Hannah laughs when everyone around the circle is shouting an answer, the mix of ‘yes’, ‘oh yeah’, ‘we’ll rock’, random screaming and more to a loud mess of noise and she laughs even more when hearing the others laughing too. They love the excitement at this moment, a few minutes before the roar from the crowd will face them.

“I love you guys, let’s go crazy tonight!” Maria cheers too. “WHO ARE WE?!”

“5 PIECES!”

And that’s it. Hannah is so excited because everything seems to go so good lately. Her back problem and weight issue is waiting backstage, being all patient while Hannah and her members go crazy on the stage for their three-hour long BLACK & WHITE concert. No matter how much you work with the dancers during album promotions, you don’t really connect until you do a concert together. The dancers are insane. They become part of the group; they fool around on the stage in a way that makes everyone – the ladies, dancers and also the fans – laugh so much. Maybe because it is the end of their tour (they have only Canada left after Taiwan!), or they are all overly excited with how great the new songs are on the music charts and everyone is so close to each other, and they all go crazy on the stage and have a blast. The two sick ladies don’t seem sick at all on the stage; they sing, scream, dance and jump. 5 Pieces and Puzzle have a blast.Han

 

 

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“That’s disgusting,” Maria comments with the weirdest grimace at Julia, leaning away from the group-friend who just sneezed and coughed at pretty much the same time.

Hannah grimaces in the back of the van as well, her eyes on the sick one sitting next to Maria in the middle seats of the van. They are back in Korea, coming straight from the airport after their Taiwan concert and while three of them are going to the agency for a meeting while Julia and Carolina will head to the hospital. Julia’s cold has gotten worse and she has for the past twelve hours had the most disgusting sounding cough so she will get some medicine while Carolina will look up why her tiny cold isn’t disappearing.

“I hate being sick,” Julia groans, grabbing a bottle of water from her bag. She sounds sick too.

Hannah stops listening when Manager Lee start to talk about the symptoms and what the doctor will probably ask the two sick ladies at the hospital, instead looking out the window with a yawn as she wonders what the meeting they are going to will be about. She is wearing the red/black check long shirt that a fan gave her in Taipei along to a jacket and knee-long socks just like her stylist has told her, and she hope the fan will see the pictures that were taken at the airports on the way back so she can please someone. The concerts went well, two day-concerts in Taipei and the ladies had a blast. Whenever they weren’t on the stage or at the hotel (where they got to sleep and also have a special spa experience) the ladies were tired, sick and had pain in their bodies. Hannah’s back is not worse, luckily, because then she would have had to go with the two sick ladies to the hospital and probably start to take those painkillers that makes her so sleepy that she has finally gotten rid off.

“See ya later then!” Emelia pulls on the British accent when waving ‘bye’ to the sick ladies when Manager Lee leaves the three ladies outside the agency. Hannah and Maria walk in first, waiting for Emelia before the three of them go to the conference room.

“So what will you do if the back pain stays?” Maria wonders. Because the two of them have shared hotel room this past week abroad, Maria is the only member aware of how annoying Hannah’s back has been, and the leader only brings it up when Emelia is next to them, knowing that Hannah is not the attention-seeker like the others that complains and groans only when people are around. “Oppa mentioned you might have to go visit the doctor if it doesn’t get better.”

“He talks a lot,” Emelia mutters before Hannah can answer. “Koreans take everything so seriously – why visit the hospital by a common cold?”

Though both Maria and Hannah agree with Emelia that it seems like every tiny issue is brought to the hospital, they don’t start to complain about it together at the moment. Hannah is worried though. She is well aware of how her back can bring more problems, that if she overworks she might be told to not work at all, and her back is probably telling her to calm down a bit. Which is why when Jonghyun had texted her as soon as she landed (like always she tells him when she is back in the country and he is fast to response), he wanted to come by later but Hannah need to just lie down to stretch her back and get some rest.

It’s Tuesday morning, the ladies took the first flight from Taiwan and that means the people they meet have had a good night of sleep and a healthy breakfast while the ladies have come from a tough week with concerts and performances and flights travelling back and forth; so the ladies arriving without any make-up and stylish clothes look tired but fresh when walking inside the conference room where Manager Lim is sitting with two women from SBS that the ladies of course know, and it is also the little cute child actor Kim Kyung Ho with his own manager as well as a representative from SM Entertainment with his own assistant. The three ladies take their seats next to Manager Lim, like always during a meeting it feels like he is more like the father who has to be present to make sure his daughters doesn’t sign anything silly.

Kyung Ho looks nervous, like a tiny boy in a big chair around big people. He smiled when the ladies made their entrance, sitting next to Hannah but is too shy to say anything else than just greet them.

“We are here for a new reality show,” one of the female producers from KBS starts off saying for the meeting, her eyes goes from Hannah to Emelia to Manager Lim and Maria and then back and forth between them all when continuing; “The agency have agreed on it but we will need 5 Pieces’ approval. You are all aware of how it goes during reality show; cameras in the home, being followed around – you’re all used to it.” The ladies nod, following so far. “The reality show we would want to film with 5 Pieces is about being a good sister. The beautiful brother-sister relationship between 5 Pieces and Kim Kyung Ho is very heated in the world; Kim Kyung Ho is very popular at the moment and 5 Pieces is always 5 Pieces, and a lot of people would probably love the idea of you all being in a show together. Therefore … ‘Good Sister’ will be about Kim Kyung Ho staying in 5 Pieces’ apartment, like real siblings taking care of each other.”

Then it’s quiet, the two producers waiting for the response with excitement in their eyes and the ladies slowly taking it all in. They have been slightly aware of what the meeting will be about; a new show, something with Kyung Ho (Hannah honestly thought they were going to do a documentary about Kyung Ho and wanted 5 Pieces to make an appearance), so about all this… Hannah doesn’t want to say anything so she just looks at the paper that were sent across the table with the information about filming and airing and plans about the show made so far; things that can be changed if it is not to their satisfaction. Maria is the one who talks, but first she looks over at Hannah. It is after all about Hannah, somehow they all know it. Hannah and Kyung Ho have the brother-sister relationship everyone talks about, and even if all of the ladies are close to the boy, they don’t share the same connection. Maria’s eyes on Hannah seek for the answer, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to do this, the leader knowing that whatever she says it will come to Hannah’s decision in the end because this show will end up being about Hannah and Kyung Ho. Hannah knows that, but she just looks deeper in the paper as she isn’t really sure of what to answer either. Kyung Ho doesn’t mind, he has already given his answer; his sisters will make the decision as they know better.

“I have a lot of questions,” Maria starts off saying, her eyes leaving Hannah at last to look at the producers. “What kind of filming are we talking about? Months where every day is being filmed? If you have seen our apartment you’ll know we don’t have an extra bed lying around so where will he sleep? What will you reveal about us, what headlines do you expect to create? What will we do on the show, will we be acting as teachers to learn viewers how to be a good sibling or will we be taking it real reality to just be ourselves or do you expect something else? Am I supposed to write these questions down because I can’t remember them?”

“Half of your questions are answered in the papers,” the producer says but start to answer them anyway as she knows Maria is not the one reading papers during meetings; “We are talking about 48 hours filming at time, every week or every other week depending on how your schedules will work it out. This is all about making it comfortable for you. About your room situations, we have been told that you will sort it out as the apartment is big-”

“There is a room that no one uses,” Manager Lim explains, Hannah thinking of their ‘game room’ that is only used as a storage room.

“Well that’s good,” the producer smiles widely. “What more questions were there? Ah, the result behind the reality-show: it is a good way to show more…”

The producers keep talking; keep selling the show they want to do. Emelia ask a few questions too, and she is the first one mentioning the show being about Hannah and Kyung Ho by asking if it actually will be just those two in the focus or if the other members are sided the same and the producers answers that Kyung Ho will be in the focus, so whoever he is with in 5 Pieces will be shown. In the apartment it will be about whoever is there as that will become the main filming location. The producers do admit that it will probably be more about Hannah and Kyung Ho because that is the brother-sister relationship the program will be about.

Two hours the meeting goes on, they have two breaks where they still talk about the show. There is no doubt they will do it, but they go through details and filming schedule and whatnot during these two hours before it ends with the ladies knowing they are starting to film the first episode next week – meaning they have to clean up the whole apartment and remove all the boxes from the ‘game room’ to make a bedroom out of it. With the meeting coming to an end, the ladies need to go to the practice-room to prepare for a Live Session they are having tomorrow, only that Kyung Ho runs up behind them saying Hannah’s name.

“If we’re doing this show, we will meet a lot,” Kyung Ho says with a happy smile when walking side by side with Hannah. “But I am not as used to reality programs like you, Nuna.”

“We’ll teach you,” Emelia chuckles. “A day with us and you will be natural in front of the cameras for sure.”

Hannah smiles, putting a hand on Kyung Ho’s shoulder for him to know she talks to him; “The strange about a reality show is that they want you to pretend like the cameras won’t be there. You heard at the meeting that they will not have the camera-man walk around after us but instead be hiding, so just be yourself and if you make mistakes we can talk to the station and they will make sure it won’t air.”

“Exactly. Trust the pieces,” Emelia adds.

“Kyung Ho,” a voice calls behind them and they all turn around, seeing Kyung Ho’s manager further back. “I need to take you to school.”

“Call me if you have questions,” Hannah is fast to tell Kyung Ho when they hug each other to part.

The boy smiles widely at her, always so cute and calm. “I will call you after school. Can I do that?”

They look forward to make a reality show together, to be paid to hang out and have fun. It will be so great, when they film next week. Kyung Ho looks forward to it, excited by the thought to sleep over at 5 Pieces’ apartment where he can be playing with the pets and stay up late and joke around with the ladies that always have something fun going on; the ladies know they become old kids when they are with Kyung Ho, and when entering the practice-room they are always coming up with ideas of what new fun things they can do with him staying over at their place. That they have to fix a bedroom to Kyung Ho is no worry at the moment; they only think of all the fun they will have.

“Are you going to practice or keep talking…?” one of the band members wonders as the three ladies are telling the two sick ladies everything that was told at the meeting.

Hannah smiles at the band sitting in the room, ready to practice but the ladies are a little in other thoughts. They will do the live session tomorrow with the band, as they have performed the whole time for [I Want a Man]. The session will be long; performances, chatting, and autographs – a gift for their amazing fans. It will air online so after practicing the ladies will have to go through things for the chat and more so they won’t be a mess tomorrow. With the band members asking for attention, the ladies do stop their chatting to start practicing instead, which always is fun because performing with a band is magical, it feels alive. That’s their goal too; to make a splendid and alive performance.

 

Though Hannah wish to get some rest, after spending a few hours practicing the ladies head to a commercial shoot. The best with the commercial shoot is that they are allowed to have their pets there, and that gives just as much happiness as being on the stage because nothing makes you as happy as little animals running around your feet as if you are the best thing in their lives. It is probably the most laughable commercial filming ever; everyone is laughing at the overjoyed ladies and puppies. Michin started to bark whenever Julia tries to go film during the first two hours, which was hilarious to see but a little sad at the dog not wanting her to leave him.

Julia and Emelia leave the commercial filming as soon as their parts ends; Julia was told to go home and get some sleep as soon as she could so they let her finish hers first, followed by Emelia who won the game of rock-paper-scissor they use to decide the order of the solo shoots.

It’s around midnight at that time already, one by one the ladies finishing up. The last three ladies will head home together, so Hannah and Carolina wait for Maria to finish her part. Hannah has gotten dressed in her long shirt and socks, sitting with a jacket wrapped around her and mouth yawning so her eyes get all teary. She has been texting Jonghyun most part of the day like usual, and at every other hour he has been asking if she has changed her mind about letting him see her tonight (Hannah is stubborn once she sets her mind on one thing, which he knows so he tries to mention and ask it in different ways) and she is not changing her mind even if she do want to see him. It’s because she knows she has to get some rest, to just relax her body and let her back get better.

Heading home, Hannah actually expect Jonghyun to be there, maybe even wanting him to disobey her own words because he wants to see her so much; but he isn’t. She come home with her ladies, Julia is already asleep with the puppies in her room while Emelia is sitting in the living-room watching TV, having a tablet in her hands and some half-eaten ice cream on the table that Carolina sits down with to finish off.

“I think all of us have forgotten about not eating at night,” Maria mentions when coming with a spoon to eat some ice cream too.

“I haven’t,” Hannah softly smiles, picking up Ace who has his eyes on the ice cream but the cat seems to love having someone pick him up.

“You have never liked eating at night,” Maria is fast to comment, “Which, by the way, is why your body looks better than ours.”

Though Hannah sees it as a joke, both Carolina and Emelia admit to it – Emelia says she would never stop eating delicious food even if she would get a better body, just because the joy in life is in food. Hannah really doesn’t dislike eating at night, she has just no craving for it every night like her members, which means Hannah put Ace down in the sofa and says goodnight to her members as well as reminding them to not stay up for long.

She washes up and unpacks her bag, puts away some things and looks up what to wear tomorrow and when to wake up with her eyes constantly glancing with longing at the bed waiting for her. Several of times she looks at her cell phone too, writing a message to Jonghyun and waiting for him to answer. She glances at the door to her room as well, expecting him to suddenly walk in and wrap his arms around her.

Of course, he doesn’t come.

She is almost done in the room when he calls, and Jonghyun’s voice is so sweet and joyful as he knows exactly how she is feeling. Hannah lies down in her bed with the phone to her ear, happy that he is doing all the talking; for some reason, Jonghyun never stops talking once he is on the phone. If it was someone else, Hannah would get annoyed to hear the person on the phone endlessly talk, briefly asking her questions but the focus is on him. Because it is Jonghyun, she does not get annoyed; she love it, hearing his voice and how he talks, how he wants to tell her everything even the things he has already told her and he knows she is lying down in the bed listening to him talk.

Downstairs, Maria has been the good girl and put away the ice cream and spoons from the others. She has also written a grocery list put on the fridge for their housemaid coming later this week, and she writes another note to put on the kitchen table as a reminder for the ladies to add things on the grocery list and more if they need it as they are heading to Canada and when they come back it is already Monday; the same day they will film the reality-show with Kyung Ho. Maria is proud over herself for writing the memo for them and the list, and with that she head inside the living-room where Emelia is still watching TV and where Carolina is leaving to go to the office.

“Don’t start anything,” Maria tells the mascot, thinking Carolina is going to play some music or practice the guitar or something. Carolina stops by the words. “We have to go to bed soon, so don’t get all worked up on whatever you had in mind doing.” The leader then pats the backrest of the sofa. “I’m going to bed now. So you better shut up when going upstairs later.”

“Sleep tight, captain,” Emelia smirks at her.

Maria ignores it, walking out of the room with the thoughts of the reality show they will film next week – will she have to clean up her room? – Just the thought makes her grimace when walking up the stairs, not liking the hours needed to clean up the bedroom she has covered with clothes and bags. She likes her messy room at times, though she wonders how the other members can keep theirs so clean all the time – Carolina’s room is spotless, but she has asked the maid to keep it clean too while Maria doesn’t like people touching the stuff in her room when she is not around.

Just as she is outside Hannah’s bedroom, she can hear a voice that makes her almost burst out laughing. But instead she stays quiet and puts an ear against the door ajar, and though the sound isn’t loud she surely must be hearing right; someone is singing. It is not Hannah, so Maria is pretty sure she knows whose voice she is hearing. Slowly pushing the door a little more ajar, Maria peeks inside the bedroom to see Hannah lying under the quilt in the bed, lying on the side with the cell phone resting on the pillow where the voice is heard on the loudspeaker, a low volume.

“Is he singing for you?” Maria ends up asking with a laugh, the voice singing stops to give a laugh too.

“In the need of my presence, I decided to sing for my lovely girlfriend as she will not let me come by,” Jonghyun answers Maria while Hannah just smiles. Maria comes over to lie down on the bed, reaching closer to the cell phone.

“Hannah wants you to come,” Maria tells him and Hannah laughs, kicking Maria’s leg so lightly that she barely touches her. Maria is just having the widest smile at the youngest staying quiet like always when she is guilty. “She is just being nice to us ladies by saying she rather wants to sleep alone than share bed with you… Dear Jonghyun, our baby is missing you like crazy but has this stubbornness within her…”

“What are you talking about,” Hannah whines and grabs the phone before turning around to face the wall, “Maria is tired, don’t listen to her.”

“What are you saying?” Maria teases.

“So you really don’t want to see me? You don’t miss me either?”

“I told you to not listen to her,” Hannah answers, trying to push Maria away and whines for her to get out of the room. Jonghyun laughs on the phone, but at the same time as Maria stops teasing and stands up from the bed, Jonghyun says he has to go.

“Sleep tight, baby,” Maria smiles before slinking out the door, getting a tired mumble in response by Hannah who has already said goodnight and hung up on Jonghyun.

The leader head inside her bedroom to leave her cell phone and put up her hair to take on the bathroom; she clear off the bed by throwing everything on the floor, which is her everyday way, and when heading to the door she stops her steps as the cell phone starts to ring. Answering the call, Maria rolls her eyes as she heard this voice just a minute ago.

“Are you on some calling-everyone-I-can-annoy mission? Because if you are, I do not want to be part of it,” Maria answers the call after seeing Jonghyun’s name on the display.

“Were you saying the truth that Hannah wants me to come over?”

“Oh my gosh! Are you serious? If you want to come over to see Hannah sleep, then just come over. I don’t think it really matters for the rest of us,” Maria sighs, bouncing down on her bed with a loud sigh.

Jonghyun is already on his way, sitting in his car, and he calls for two reasons; first is the permission to come and second is to have someone open the door for him. Jonghyun and his surprise visits. Maria brushes her teeth and get ready before she goes to bed, only then giving a call to Emelia – yes, she gives a call to the person downstairs because she is too lazy to go down herself – just to let Emelia know to let Jonghyun in. and with that, Maria’s job is done and she can get her beauty sleep.

Emelia is the last one up among the ladies. Carolina has gone to bed too – at least she is upstairs – so Emelia is watching TV and waiting for the y boyfriend of her best friend to make his appearance. She is tired and lazy, extremely comfortable in the sofa with Ace, and Maria texts her at the wrong time saying Jonghyun is there. With a groan, Emelia gets up from the sofa, having a blanket wrapped around her and Ace wrapped up in her arms and she is mumbling about girlfriends and boyfriends, group members going on your nerves and being asked to do things because they all are as lazy as the other. The rapper gives a glare when Jonghyun comes inside the apartment; he is wearing sweatpants and sweater, smiling happily when apologizing for coming by this late.

“It’s not the first time, I guess not the last either,” Emelia mutters before heading back to her spot in the sofa. She will fall asleep there tonight.

“She doesn’t know anything?” Jonghyun’s voice is whispering behind her, not following inside the living-room as he only has one goal. Emelia tells him that she does not know and does not care – that is Emelia’s usual behaviour around Jonghyun – and he just smiles it off before sneaking up the stairs; if Hannah hears, she will probably think it is Emelia coming up. He can’t stop smiling when getting up to the door, peeking inside. The room is completely black, but he knows the room as if it was his own and easily slinks inside, shuts the door quietly and hears movements in the bed. In one swift move he pulls the sweater off and crawls into bed, hearing Hannah mumble something. “I missed you,” he whispers, kissing her head and trying to figure out in the dark how she is laying. The laughter from her is muffled in the pillow and he knows she is lying on her stomach, her hand moves up to remove the hair out of her face when she tries to see him and he is pretty sure their smiles are just as foolish as they always are.

“What?” is all Hannah says before she rolls around on her back with a laugh. Jonghyun laughs too, crawling in under the quilt before putting an arm around her, kissing her on the cheek and happy when she puts her arms around him, her lips trying to find his. “You’re really something, Kim Jonghyun.”

“Only for you, Nabi,” Jonghyun whisper with a deep breath, his arm held tight around her. “Hearing Maria say what you don’t say made me have to come over and make sure you don’t get sick of missing me.”

She can just giggle. In the end, he came to her; he had disobeyed her words by understanding the unsaid and instead of enjoying a night asleep all by herself, she gets to sleep with the most protective and warm arms holding on to her and the sweetest sound of her boyfriend breathing heard as a lullaby for her.

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Headline 11th: 5 Pieces Performs [I’m Over You] & [I Want A Man] As Well As Wins On Tonight’s Music Core

Headline 11th: 5 Pieces Play Games In Funny Interview

 

Headline 12th: [I’m Over You] Tops Music Charts, Keeps Being Played On Radio

Headline 12th: 5 Pieces Wins On Inkigayo With [I Want A Man]

 

Monday, Headline 13th: Critic Turned Down By Others Who Say “It Is The Most Artistic Song Sung By 5 Pieces”

Headline 13th: Taipei Is Singing Along With 5 Pieces At The Second Day Concert Of BLACK & WHITE

 

Headline 14th: 5 Pieces Talks About Meeting ‘Harry Potter’ After Their LA Concert

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X. devonalias