March 1st 2015

It’s amazing how fast a year can fly by. The 12 months since Acid Teochii had first been introduced to each other had flown by. The space had been filled by so much pain, but so much happiness. The 12 months had been a lifetime in scandals and problems, but at the same time, it felt as though they’d all met each other for the first time yesterday.

So when Hope had pointed out that it had been exactly a year since they’d been called into the practice room to be given their roles, stage names and to meet their fellow members, most of them couldn’t believe it.

“A year? Really?” Cho has gasped, looking towards Sherlock. “It’s only been a year.”

Sherlock nodded in response. “Yeah, March 1st… it’s been a year.”

Marco had smiled slightly from where he was curled in an armchair. “A year since we entered this crazy world properly. It’s gone by so quickly…”

“It has,” Ae-Cha agreed. “But at the same time, it feels like we’ve known each other for a life time.”

Myung’s phone rang at this point, startling the young boy. “Hello?” He asked as he picked up since the ID had been ‘unknown’

‘Myung! It’s Namjoon, I’m just calling from the office instead of my mobile which is why the ID didn’t come up, before you ask. Now, you guys aren’t doing anything today, right?’

“I don’t believe so,” He replied with a small smile. “I think we’re enjoying our day off if I’m being honest with you. We’re all exhausted.”

‘Well, I’m sorry but now you’re doing something.’ Myung groaned slightly

“Do we have to?”

‘Yes, lazy . Get you and the others dressed, something nice but comfortable, and get down to the practice studios by 12. Be on time or CEO Lee will kill you, alright?’

“Fine fine,” Myung agreed with a sigh, rubbing at his face. “Whatever you say. We’ll see you in about an hour.” Hanging up the phone, the blue haired leader turned to the rest of the group, who watched him with a curious gaze. “We’ve been summoned by the master. Get changed into something nice but comfy, Namjoon wants us all at the practice room for some reason.”

Yue frowned, turning to Vann. “What could it be about?”

“Who knows,” He shrugged. “It could be anything knowing Namjoon, you never know what he wants. Hopefully it’s something good, I’m too tired for anything bad to happen right now.”

“I agree,” Yue nodded with a small smile. “I hope it’s good for you all.” She turned, cuddling back down into the chair. Vann frowned at her. “What?” She asked.

“You’re coming too, get up.” He told her with finality.

“But… I think he’s doing something for your one year, at least, that’s the feeling I get… and I’m not a part of that.”

“Don’t be silly,” Marco cut in as he left the bedroom, holding some dirty clothes to put in the wash basket. “You’re as much of a part of this as I am. You might not have been with us for a year, but you’re part of Acid Teochii and therefore part of the family, so you’re coming with us.”

Yue blushed slightly, giving a small nod. “If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure, go get ready.”

Vann smiled a little as Yue stood, excitedly hurrying into the girls’ room to get changed. Everyone in the dorm was hurrying around, preparing to leave… and somehow, it filled Vann with pride. He was the oldest, and despite not being the leader, he couldn’t help but be protective over them all… seeing the group finally beginning to get to their old selves, finally beginning to recover after the tragedy that was their friend’s death.

Pride swelled in his chest as he watched Marco laugh slightly at how happy his comment had made Yue, she was finally beginning to fit in with the group, almost everyone treating her with respect now. Marco was beginning to treat the 16 year old like the baby sister he never had, a fierce protective streak beginning to pull its way out of the boy for his fellow Chinese member… considering he’d hated her to begin with, Vann was very proud of Marco for stepping up and being more mature over the situation.

The only problem Vann had now concerning Yue was Ae-Cha. The girl was still cold to the new Maknae, glaring at her practically constantly despite everyone else beginning to like the girl. Ae-Cha did everything she could to make Yue feel unwelcome, to the point of Cho no longer wanting to share a room with the due to the tension that often built. Yue was also still receiving a lot of hate online, the most recent being the fact she was on the tribute track to Hyo despite never really having met him and technically being his replacement.

Vann knew that the comments had been affecting the young girl, but appeared that recently she was starting to get thicker skin and stick up for herself with the support of her fellow members. He also felt it had something to do with the Symphon-EE twins…

Nevertheless, Vann decided it was time he should get ready as well, since he still sat in the main sitting area wearing a bright pink bunny onesie that Myung had bought him for Christmas. Smiling a little at how ridiculous he most likely looked at that moment, he stood and made his way to his bedroom to change.

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The group entered the building at 11:50am, all chattering nervously between them. The group were no-where near over Hyo’s death… but they were getting there. The thought of their friend no longer gave them the crippling urge to sob, nor brought tears to their eyes… it was more a terrible ache in their chest, a sadness of a friend having left that couldn’t be replaced.

Making their way up to the practice room they’d originally met in, Namjoon ran over to them, waving his arms madly.

“No!” He exclaimed. “Not yet, we’re not ready yet! You’re early!”

Yuuki frowned at him. “Not ready for what, Namjoon-hyung? Besides, we’re only 10 minutes early! We would have been here earlier but Ae-Cha was about being ugly.”

“I was not!” Ae-Cha shouted back, glaring at her friend.

Yuuki just grinned at her, before turning back to their manager. “So, what do you want us here for?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Namjoon sighed. “We were expecting you to be late so we’re not ready yet.”

Myung laughed slightly. “You hold so much faith in our abilities to arrive on places on time, Namjoon-hyung,”

The said older man smiled a little at his younger charge. “I was just expecting Yuuki to be crying in the bathroom over his lipstick being the wrong shade of black, that’s all.”

“Hey!” Yuuki screeched, glaring over at their manager with shocked disbelief. “I’ll have you know that it is the wrong shade of black, so I’ve had to go with purple for today!”

“Exactly my point.” Hearing a slight knock on the door, Namjoon turned slightly. “I think that’s our que, we’re ready to go in I believe.”

Jin sighed slightly, once again holding his upper arms for comfort. The wound on his head had pretty much fully healed now, only a scar being left behind. Jin was confident he’d be able to cover it with makeup, however. “What is this all about, Namjoon? I was enjoying my day off.”

“All you did was sleep.” Vann pointed out.

“Exactly my point!”

Namjoon laughed slightly at their antics, before turning to the double doors. “Come on, oh, and Yue… I’m glad you decided to tag along.”

The said girl gave a small nod, smiling. “Marco-oppa didn’t give me much of a choice I’m afraid.”

“Well, now you can see the extent of your planning and work, alright? Let’s go.” Namjoon stepped forward, pushing the doors open.

Ahead of them, in the practice room they used so often, was a long table covered in a dark purple, bright pink and acidic green table cloth, covered with dishes of food and large bottles of cola and green tea. The table seemed to span on forever, drifting for as far as the room was in length, hardly any space on the table clear of a dish. Various Korean, Chinese, Japanese and American dishes were on display, along with cakes and pies, tarts and ice cream with jelly. Banners hung around the room, balloon hanging from the ceiling.

“Wow,” Myung sighed as he walked in, slowly looking around the room.

“Thank Yue,” CEO Lee smiled as he walked over to the group, placing a hand on the shy girl’s shoulder.

“You did this?” Ae-Cha asked, turning around to the young girl in awe. “This is amazing.”

Yue blushed, looking towards the floor. “You guys needed some happiness in your life recently with all the bad things going on… I thought it was the least I could do. I brought it up to CEO Lee-ssi a few weeks ago since I knew it was a year soon, and he agreed to help me set it up… I originally wasn’t going to come with you guys, it was just going to be your day, but Marco-oppa made me…”

“Like I said,” Marco smiled. “You’re as much of a part of this family as I am, you deserve to be here too.”

She blushed again, looking up at the male. “Thank you,” She whispered. “Thank you for accepting me.”

“Of course, Yue, don’t worry about it.”

Ae-Cha sighed. “Enough of this sappy crap, I want to eat!” She pushed her way through the members, getting over to the table and sitting on the bench, grabbing chopsticks and instantly digging into her food.

“Ae-Cha!” Vann scolded with a frown. “Remember your manners in front of CEO Lee!”

He just laughed slightly, waving his hand. “No no, don’t worry about it, okay? It’s fine, go and enjoy yourselves.” CEO Lee walked over to a CD player, pushing play and allowing Acid Teochii’s first mini album to play through the speakers. The group cheered, before running over to the table and starting to dig in.

Yue smiled slightly as she watched them, happy that CEO Lee had allowed her to arrange such a thing to make her fellow members happy. After all, they’d all been through way too much pain lately, and her joining the group when she had hadn’t helped in the slightest. She still felt the guilt over replacing Hyo a few days before he died.

“Hey, do you remember that time that you and Yuuki had a food fight in the kitchen? It was only a few weeks after debut, I think Yuuki had threatened to give you a Mohawk.” Vann laughed while talking to Ae-Cha. The blood drained from Hanni’s face.

“That was terrible! I hated it so much!”

“We know you did, Hanni,” Yuuki laughed through a mouthful of Kimchi. “That’s why it was so funny!”

“What about the time that Hyo locked you in the bathroom, Yuuki?” Vann laughed, grabbing a piece of pizza. “I believe it was because you stole his hair spray and his long hair wouldn’t do as it was told without it!”

Yuuki pouted, swallowing the fermented cabbage. “I didn’t deserve that!” He exclaimed, pounding his fist on the table to enphesise his point. “He kept spraying it in my face!”

Hope laughed at his friend, covering his mouth to prevent the piece of cherry pie he had in there from spraying on the table.

“I don’t know what you’re laughing about, Mal-Chin,” Yuuki commented, still pouting like a child. “I seem to remember a time you tried to take a picture with Hyo for you birthday and he made you take it like 20 times so his hair looked exactly right. Then all the comments on the instagram post was about how adorable you were! Hyo was so pissed!”

Namjoon smiled a little while he watched the group exchange stories from the past year, talking so easily about their good times with their now deceased friends…  it filled him with pride that they were getting through it together.

Almost two hours went past of the group exchanging stories and laughing together before CEO Lee stepped forward, clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention. The practice room-turned-party-area fell into a hushed silence, turning towards their boss.

“Now, we all know you’ve all gone through some pretty hard times recently,” he smiled slightly at the group. “But you’ve all come so far in the past year, I’m proud of you all… now, there is one thing that has to be addressed.” The CEO looked over to Myung. “Paul Myung, are you absolutely positive that you no longer want to be in the leader position?”

Myung hesitated for a second before nodding. “I’m not a good leader and I don’t feel comfortable in the position, CEO Lee-ssi. I apologise for any trouble this has caused.”

The man smiled at Myung reassuringly. “Don’t worry, all I wish is for you to be happy and comfortable. However, I’d like to ask you a favour. I have decided that, with your agreement, I’m going to assign someone to be a temporary leader for the time being. I only ask that you take a 6 month break from being leader and, if you feel like it, retake the leader role in September. Now, you don’t have to. If at the end of the 6 months recovery period from the position, you feel the same way, the temporary leader will take up the position permanently. How do you feel about this?”

Myung, once again, hesitated, but slowly gave a nod of agreement. “Of course, CEO Lee-ssi, whatever you believe to be best. Although  I cannot guarantee that I will want the role back after the 6 months have passed.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Myung-ah,” He smiled, before turning to the group as a whole.

“In that case, I’d like to announce that the temporary leader of Acid Teochii is going to be Choi Ae-Cha.”

The hall erupted into applause as the shocked girl stood, slowly walking over to CEO Lee.

“What?” She asked. “Why?”

“Since Myung-ah began falling apart, you’ve pulled yourself together and looked after the group. Between yourself and Vann, you’ve been mature and protective of the group. I noticed it when we were discussing the tribute song for Hyo. I believe you’re going to make an excellent leader.”

Ae-Cha bowed low. “Thank you, CEO Lee-ssi. But why did you not pick Vann? He’s been much more helpful than I have been.”

“He’s turned down the role in the past and I didn’t want to put that sort of pressure on to him, so now this torch has been handed to you. Use it well, Ae-Cha, don’t abuse your power and look after your group. We’ll review the leader situation in 6 months on September 1st.” He turned to the group again, bowing low. “Enjoy your celebration, Acid Teochii, this is just the first of many years to pass.”