Chapter 9:

Jiho brought us to a club owned by an old friend. Hidden beneath the numerous shops, clubs, and restaurants in Hongdae. I was more of a stylish lounge where under ground performers meet up and network. Surprisingly June recognizes the majority of Jiho’s friends that stop to chat at our booth.

“Jiho-ssi, who is that performing at stage?” June points at the girl on stage with lovely vocals and quite a talent with the guitar.

“They call her Selene. No one knows her real name but she’s a regular. Pretty good, huh?”

“She’s raw. I wouldn’t change a thing but others might. Is she signed underneath anyone?” June pries. She doesn’t remove her gaze from the girl and a rare smile appears in the corners of her lips.

“Not that I know of. I can introduce you if you like?” Jiho offers. He turns towards me as to ask for my consent. I shrug my shoulders and take another sip of my beer. He’s allowed to be friendly with my sister. The two of them along with Taewoon have been discussing which under ground performers has left an impression in the scene and other things I knew nothing about.

“Recruiting? Isn’t that Jason’s department?” I ask curiously.

“We switched.” June replies curtly and turns back to Jiho to discuss about Selene. I wonder if that was the thing Jason wanted to talk to June about and here I thought we’d be having some kind of sibling reconciliation. Jiho and June stand and head backstage to meet the girl after her performance.

“You and your sister are nothing alike.” Taewoon scoots closer and grins. “I’ve been trying to connect any similarities but I got nothing.” He shakes his head.

“We use to have the same hair color.” I supply. June flaunts a fitting shade of golden blonde. My complexion is much too fair for such colors and my personal preference remains far from anything that may make me stand out.

“Actually, the two of you have that little wrinkle in your forehead when you frown. It’s cute.” Taewoon teasingly pokes my stomach. I swat his hand away irritably but he manages to grabs my arm around the second attempt at blocking his poking. Taewoon leans in closer. “You know, I wish you didn’t have to change out of that dress.” He speaks gently.

“I would have looked ridiculous in that dress in here.” I squirm and struggle to move away.

“Not to me.” He answers genuinely. He lowers his eye level to mine and stares unnervingly. I redirect my gaze anywhere but into his soft chocolate brown eyes. “God, you are so beautiful.”

You know that moment in those cheesy American films from the 90’s when the female lead becomes completely enthralled because her crush of ten years has finally acknowledged her existence? The butterflies in my stomach must have burst into a dance number because nothing else could explain the commotion occurring at the moment.

“Let’s get out of here.” Taewoon takes my hand and leads me towards the back exit. He grins back occasionally, releasing another round of back-flipping butterflies. We stop in front of Jiho and June chatting dynamically with one another. I frown and wonder how the two have become so close in such a short amount of time? “Hey, Maggie and I are going to get out of here.” Taewoon announces.

Maggie and Jiho look at us startled to be standing before them. “Okay, get home safe.” June is the first to reply. Jiho stares quietly at Taewoon’s hand entwined with mine. “It was a pleasure meeting you. Oh and happy birthday.”

“Call me when you get home.” Jiho’s eyes lock into my own in an intimidating gaze and I nod obediently. He immediately resumes his conversation with June. Taewoon squeezes my hand to go. Oddly enough, I cannot help glance back and not feel a tinge of jealously.

Taewoon hails a cab and gives the driver the address to a park near my neighborhood. We ride in silence for the forty-minute cab ride. His hand remains loyally interlaced with my own is enough to almost brush off any probing questions I might have about June and Jiho at the club.

When we arrived at Taewoon’s given location, he refuses to allow me to pay half of the fare, something about a man’s pride. Which I find ridiculous, I’ve paid plenty of times for Jiho when Stardom Entertainment was refusing to pay Block B the full amount of money they deserved.

“Meeting your parents today was an interesting experience.” Taewoon breaks the silence and tugs me along the lit pathway in the park.

“I don’t think I can apologize enough for the words that come out of my mother’s mouth. I really am sorry. She’s very opinionated, stubborn, and dear lord, pardon me, but a bit of a .” I state.

Taewoon laughs and stops walking for a moment and laughs some more. “You are a lot like her than you think. Stubborn, I mean, not the part. You are way too sweet.” I stumble slightly over air. I believe Taewoon’s compliments is my kryptonite.

“I appreciate that. She means well in a way like all parents do. I think. But I can’t help to blame her for the poor relationship between my siblings and I. I She created too much of a competitive atmosphere between us it triggered our rivalry.”

“Jiho and I don’t always get along. Actually, I was quite an to the poor kid all through my teen years. I still am sometimes.” He points at a near by bench and we walk over to sit.

“But you guys appear to have such a good relationship. I’ve never seen the two of you fight. Tease each other plenty, but never upset or irritated with each other.”

“We sort of made a pact not to fight in front of you. We figured you had enough dealing with your older siblings than to listen to our problems. That’s why our mom loves having you around so much.” He confesses with in a sheepish grin.

“Oh.”

“I wonder if I go solo your mom will like me better?” He asks pensively.

“You mean leave Speed? You don’t need to change to be liked by my mom. I like you just the way you are.” I frown. Taewoon wouldn’t be the first person to want to change something about them selves just to be approved by my mother. She has that sort of weird affect on people.

“I guess that is what really matters.” Taewoon wraps his arm around my shoulder and sighs randomly. “We sort of look like a couple like this, huh?” He tenderly rubs my arm, while I nervously tap my foot.

“I guess. In a way.” I look up to the night sky and thank the dim lighting from revealing my most likely blushing skin.

“We could, you know, date. I mean we would have to be discrete about it because of the fans. But it’s not against my contract. It would be up to you really. If you want to.” Taewoon cutely tumbles into a heap of words. I hold back my laughter and analyze exactly what he is attempting to tell me.

“Taewoon?”

“Sorry, I really bad when it comes to these things. Should I have kissed you first then ask you to date?” He buries his head into my shoulder with embarrassment.

“Yes.” I smile and push Taewoon off my shoulder. “That is if you want to.” I am given a minimal reaction period before Taewoon grabs my face into his palms and draws me into a fervent kiss. His thumbs caress the sides of my chin and he places multiple kisses all over my nose, eyes, and lips. His mouth finds mine once more, for a more sustaining kiss, until we can no longer catch our breath.

“If you only knew how long I’ve waited to do that.” Taewoon leans his forehead against mine. If only you knew how long I’ve waited for you to do that. I close my eyes, inhale his scent, and I enjoy the tingling response running across my body.

My ringtone goes off and I groan.

“Jiho.”

“What?” Taewoon pulls away and stares at me confused.

“My phone. That must be Jiho calling.” I pull my phone out of my jacket and answer the call. “Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“At the park with Taewoon. We went for a walk.” I look at Taewoon and shrug my shoulders. He grins and leans forward to peck my temple.

“At midnight?” Jiho asks. I pull my phone away from my ear to check the time. 12:16 AM. .

“We lost track of time. Are you at the apartment?”

“Yea, I was going to crash.” He coughs.

“Did you forget the security code again?” Last month I changed the locks to be opened electronically for an easier access and to avoid from locking myself out of the apartment because I’ve left my keys in another bag.

“Yea.”

“It’s your birthday, you idiot.” I laugh. “You said to make it easy to remember.”

“Ha-ha, oh yeah. Okay, I’m in.”

“Alright, be there in a few.” I reply.

“Ramen?” Jiho asks before I end the phone call.

“Ramen.” I supply and hit End. “Jiho is sleeping over.” I notify Taewoon. He wraps his arm around half my frame and positions his face in the crook of my neck.

“Am I invited?” He mumbles.

“Always.”

After a couple more kisses Taewoon eventually walks me to my apartment but doesn’t walk in. He said he had to head back to the dorms. He was already past curfew. He takes my chin over his right hand and sighs.

“Don’t tell Jiho yet. We should do it when we’re both together.” He kisses me softly and steps out in to the dark. “I’ll call you when we’ll be having our first date.” He winks and disappears into the night. I wonder what country I must have saved, in my past life, to have the Woo brothers in my life.

“Honey, I’m home.” I remove my shoes at the entrance and place them next to Jiho’s. He walks out of the kitchen wearing the horrible pink apron he and Taewoon got for me, as a joke, last Christmas. “Jiho, its just ramen.” I giggle.

“I stared craving kimchi and rice as well.” He shrugs. “Where’s hyung?”

“He’s past curfew.” I walk into the kitchen and pick up a pair of chopsticks to test the rice over the stove. I am honestly surprised at the taste. Taewoon has usually been the one to cook for me, and Jiho has prepared the occasional ramen package. “How is it that everyone can cook except me?”

 “We didn’t all grow up with a personal chef and maid.” Jiho swats me away to prevent me from eating more rice off the stove.

“Yes, make fun of the privileged.” I laugh and grab two beers out of the fridge. “Hm, we should have ordered chicken.”

“Fat-.” Jiho snorts and throws a dishtowel at my direction. “I ordered some. It should be here by now.” The door buzzes at end of his sentence. I skip to the door and buzz in the delivery guy.

“My night in shining armor!” I enthusiastically greet the frightened delivery guy. He wasn’t our usual delivery guy but a tall, high school student with wire-rimmed glass.

“As opposed to the person who ordered the chicken and is paying for it.” Jiho shakes his head and apologizes to the kid for being bothered by his crazy friend. Me.

“You come in close second.” I smile at the boy and reassure him that I am not indeed crazy. The delivery boy nods and smiles. I notice him maintaining a curious stare at Jiho’s face as he pulls out his wallet to pay the boy. “Are you a fan? He’s not that cool in person, right?” I point at Jiho and his apron. He laughs, while Jiho glares.

The delivery boy leaves after Jiho pays him and signs his receipt pad. I take the chicken into the T.V room and wait for Jiho to bring the rest of the dishes from the kitchen. Eating chicken late at night is something we can do together. With Jiho’s hectic idol and studio schedules we don’t usually have normal times in the day to share moments like this. We put in a movie we don’t pay any mind to and chat until sleep wins over. 

A/N: Hello my loves! It's been a while, huh? Shout out to Amanda for inspiring me to write something with her 100 chapter updates in just one week. Haha. JK. I've recommended her story somewhere in this story I'm just too lazy to figure about how to enable links again. Anyways, who is everyone? I have finals. Yuck. Also, the Woo Brothers are doing Show Me The Money 4. Zico is a judge and Taewoon will be a contestant. I have mix feelings about that because as much as I'd love to see them interact Taewoon left Speed to go solo and put his name out there as a rapper. I know he's tired as only being known as Zico's older brother and suddenly they name his kid brother a judge. I love my boy's and I want them to be happy and succersful. Oh yeah, Taewoon left Speed... That's another story. Please state your opinion <3

P.s. Let me know if my notes are annoying.