Chapter 15

When Dongwoo arrived back at Infinite’s house, heart still pumping, adrenaline rushing through his veins and face full with a smile, he didn’t expect his six group members to grab a hold of him the minute he took his shoes off and sit him down on the living room floor, practically lying on top of him, like they were tying down a fugitive.

Still unaware of the situation, Dongwoo continued to wear his goofy grin on his face, thinking and thinking only of Yeseul. The members, circling around him, each held up a single object into his face. The bags of candy Yeseul had given them. Recognition registered in Dongwoo’s mind. I’m supposed to explain to them what the candy means.
Leader opened his mouth first. “Well Dongwoo, you have got some explaining to do,” said Sunggyu.

Without much hesitation, Dongwoo sat the members around him and told them about the night when Dongwoo and Yeseul had shared the bag of candy and their so-called ‘candy kiss’, carefully elaborating on the necessary details.

As the story advanced, the members’ faces grew into countless expressions: shock and awe, grin, laughter, and snort, blinking eyes and gaping mouths, flushed cheeks and ears, clutching each other and squealing as their imaginations provided mind images of the story.

When Dongwoo finished, he added mischievously, “Now that you all have a bag of your own, you should try it sometime. It’s really something.” He smirked. The outraged members pummeled him with physical tackles, groans, and death threats.

However, in the end, the members decided to keep their bags of candy, a few of them even trying out one of the flavors. As Woohyun rolled the grape flavor in his mouth, Dongwoo teased, “That was Yeseul Noona’s favorite.”

Woohyun’s eyes widened, as much as those tiny eyes of his can widen. “No, stop making me imagine it!!!! Ahhhh!!!!” he cried, falling over on the floor and rolling around obnoxiously.


 

With a soft sigh, Yeseul buckled herself into her airplane seat, making sure the length of the belt comforted her. The members of the National Jazz-Hip-Hop dance team were boarded on a morning flight headed toward their first world tour destination, Bangkok. In the small pocket flap attached to the back of the seat in front of her, Yeseul tucked her water bottle, a small pouch, and her white teddy bear holding half a blue plastic heart. Clutching her Ipod in one hand, she looked down at the small piece of hard candy in her other. The lemon flavored yellow brought a slight smile to Yeseul’s lips as she placed it in . Dongwoo disliked the sour taste of the lemon, but she liked the tanginess.

An announcement came on over the speakers on the plane’s ceiling above her. The plane would be taking flight in a matter of minutes. Most of her dance team members sat around her, chatting, sleeping, or listening to music. The girl beside her, one of her closest friends from the dance team, asked her eagerly, “How are you feeling?”

“Great! I’m feeling fine. You?” said Yeseul.

“I’m jittery with excitement!” exclaimed the girl, patting Yeseul’s arm.

“Want a piece of candy?” offered Yeseul with a smile, holding out a watermelon flavored hard candy to the girl.

“Oh, sure!”

As Yeseul felt the plane ascend slowly and her chest heave slightly with the force, she plugged her headphones in and clicked on her playlist labeled, “Infinite.”


 

Infinite ended up receiving a third award that night, on Inkigayo’s Mutizen chart. Most of the members failed to control their emotions yet again, but they managed to perform an encore in peace and return to their homes, exhausted but thrilled.

Sunggyu had been able to lead the group’s speech without breaking down this time, and to Dongwoo’s surprise, the leader mentioned Yeseul’s name unnoticeably in the list of thank you’s. At Dongwoo’s grateful “Thanks, hyung,” Sunggyu replied with a smile, “Thought you’d want it.”



 

A few days later…



“Hey guys, I just heard back from one of the SBS production designers,” called Jungryeol hyung as he came into Infinite’s living room, waving his hands for the members to gather.

“One Infinite member is confirmed for an SBS Strong Heart recording coming up,” Jungryeol continued indiscreetly. Only five members were present; L and Sungyeol were both preoccupied with drama filming.

“We need to send one member. Who’s it gonna be?” asked the manager, raising a cool eyebrow.

“Don’t we need to have a story to be on the show?” asked Woohyun, who wore a white facial mask, his hair swept back with a headband.

Jungryeol nodded wordlessly, eyeing the five members. “Sungjong, you’ll be busy with a different show recording, I think,” said the manager, taking out a notepad and scribbling on it messily.

“And I’ve already been on it,” added Sungjong.

“Okay, well I don’t have an interesting story to tell,” said Sunggyu, scrunching his eyes.

“I don’t really either, and I don’t think I’m all that funny anyway,” muttered Hoya with a smirk.

“Dongwoo hyung!” cried Woohyun, snapping his fingers, “You should tell the candy kiss story!” He giggle, massaging his facial mask for it to stay put.

“What?! That’s personal stuff…” Mumbled Dongwoo, a piece of orange flavored hard candy in his hands before sticking it in his mouth.

Sungjong, Sunggyu, and Hoya were already agreeing with Woohyun noisily, chuckling amongst one another at the thought of Dongwoo on the show, revealing his odd kiss story.

Jungryeol shrugged impassively. “I think that story will do. I’ll call and ask our company head if he’s okay with your candy kiss story, Dongwoo,” he said, getting up to leave.

As the door clicked shut, Dongwoo pointed to the spot where Jungryeol had been just then. “Wait, how does he know what my story is about?” said Dongwoo.

“He’s Jungryeol-man. He knows everything,” said Hoya, patting Dongwoo’s shoulder lovingly. Dongwoo raised an eyebrow at Hoya, who grinned and walked off into the kitchen.

“Hey wait!” came a call from the front door, as Jungryeol walked in again.

“Dongwoo, here’s a gift from a fan. Just for you,” said the manager, throwing a small box on Dongwoo’s lap before walking out again.

“What is it??” The members crowded around Dongwoo.

Inside the box was a small letter and a bag of Skittles. The letter read, ‘Jang Dongwoo, Congrats on the group’s music chart wins! From, Kwon Jihye.’

“Skittles? Is there a story behind this that we need to know about too, hyung?” asked Sungjong reproachfully.

Ignoring s around him, Dongwoo smiled in delight at the pleasant surprise from his old friend. Oh, Jihye…



 

“Now let’s hear from Idol group Infinite’s charisma glare, Infinite’s Dongwoo!” exclaimed the two MC’s of SBS’s variety show Strong Heart, Kang Ho Dong and Lee Seung Gi. A round of applause followed briefly.

“So Dongwoo-goon, you’re Infinite’s main rapper and the charisma glare,” said MC Ho Dong, looking down at his card, “It says, unlike your usual charismatic stage presence, you have a more romantic, softer story to share with us today?”

Dongwoo nodded with a smile.

“Alright! His chalkboard says, “My Candy Kiss”! Wow, sounds interesting!” said MC Seung Gi. With another round of applause and a wave of funky, variety music, Dongwoo took a deep breath, then told his story to the camera, the MCs and guests of the show, and the rest of the world. He didn’t mention Yeseul’s name but referred to her as “Noona.”

The audience “ooh”-ed and “aah”-ed at varying points of his story. The MCs were having a fit of their own, Ho Dong squeezing his cheeks as Dongwoo elaborated on the process of a Candy Kiss. At each positive, excited reaction from the audience, faint images of Yeseul flashed in Dongwoo’s mind. Keeping a steady smile, Dongwoo maintained an enjoyable composure until his story ended and all the listeners clapped with pleasure.

“That has got to be one of the most romantic kisses I’ve ever heard of,” said MC Seung Gi with a wide grin.

“I suspect ‘Infinite Dongwoo – Candy Kiss’ will pop up as a number one hit on the search engines as soon as this show airs,” added MC Ho Dong, “ Alright then, Dongwoo-goon, I think it would be best if you would direct a video message to this Noona, right now!”

The audience cheered at MC Ho Dong’s suggestion. One of the high definition cameras zoomed in on Dongwoo’s face, and he could see himself clearly on the monitor, easy smile filling his face.

“Noona, I don’t regret having kissed you that night for one minute,” Dongwoo began, voice lowering with the weight of his carefully measured words, “I hope you don’t regret it either. That kiss and that memory was something very special and unforgettable to me, and I cherish it, to this day.” Here the audience and the guests gave a unified “awwwww~”.

“Noona, where ever you are, I will always root for you, as I know you’re rooting for me. I hope for both of our successes, and I truly thank you, for all that you are to me.” With those words, Dongwoo formed a small heart with his hands and flashed a smile at the camera.

As a new, upbeat variety melody rolled over the recording set and the audience raged with applause for Dongwoo’s story, he hoped Yeseul would be able to see him, on the show, talking about her. He hoped she wouldn’t get mad, for telling the whole world what used to be their secret. But whatever her reaction was, he would find out. He would ask her, when they met again. As Dongwoo was sure they would, some day.

The End♥

Thank you all, for being such great readers. I hope you all enjoyed my little story and had fun reading it!! This was really a great experience. Although I do sort of feel like I’m invading Dongwoo’s privacy (?) in some strange way… ^^
I’m going to miss writing about Infinite! :’) 
 

Dongwoo, Infinite, and Inspirit Fighting!!!