S O J U - 01

April 27th, 2014

 
From: Rooftop Boy
How is it going?
-Birthday boy
 
To: Rooftop Boy
I'll make it in time,
if you stop interrupting
my work every 10 mins
Stop calling yourself
Birthday boy when
your birthday isn’t
until tomorrow
- Pissed delivery girl
 
From: Rooftop Boy
But I'm anxious about
you meeting the boys.
You promised to keep
silent about youknowwhat,
remember?
- Birthday boy to-be
 
To: Rooftop Boy
Stop texting me,
I need to work. 
- Girl that won't spill your
secret
 
I sighed at his anxiousness. We had been sending messages back and forth throughout the last week, and he had told me a few details about WooHyun's and SungYeol's relationship-related issues. Apparently they had proceeded to completely ignore each other. At least they weren’t ripping each other’s head off, I thought.
 
To be honest – I was not really looking forward to getting to know the boys tonight, especially not on these terms. But there was little I could do to change it now, without igniting my uncle’s rage and SungGyu’s disappointment. They were counting on me.
 
"Be ready to leave in 15 minutes, MinAe," my uncle commanded.
 
"Okay," I answered. "I'll prepare the order."
 
"Thanks. And tell JaeJin to get the second scooter ready!"
 
"I will." As we barely used the second scooter, it was securely parked away in the small garage in the backyard. But since SungGyu's order of 15 servings of jjajangmyun plus kimchi, lemon fried chicken, extras and soju was on the bigger side, my uncle had assigned JaeJin to assist me with the delivery.
 
I had been able to convince my uncle to let me have the night off after delivering for SungGyu, so there was nothing holding me back from being able to attend his birthday party. I had no idea how SungGyu had convinced his manager, though.
 
Apparently, they were still on bad terms, what with the entire SungYeol and WooHyun drama not having been resolved. Luckily, the media didn’t know about it yet...
 
Just then, my phone went off again.
 
From: Rooftop Boy
And don't forget to 
bring a present. I 
warn you, I am quite 
picky ^^/
- your fav oppa
 
Although I kind of wanted to punch him for completely ignoring my request to not bother me with texts every other minute, I grinned inwardly. He seemed excited for his birthday. And of course SungGyu would be picky about his present. 

Indeed, I already had prepared something for him. Thinking he could buy anything he wanted for himself, I organized a present for him that couldn’t be bought with money.
 
But first, I had another task at hand. I still had to break the news to JaeJin about us delivering to Infinite. Since I had told my uncle the delivery was for a close friend of mine, consecutively that was also all the information that JaeJin got. But seeing he would help me carry the delivery up to SungGyu’s door, it was inevitable that he would meet the boys eventually. I sighed.
 
I just hoped he wouldn’t go all fanboy on them, as with B1A4. Apparently, JaeJin had somehow managed to make SungWoo – ah, pardon – Baro, as he now called him, his friend. I didn’t know to which extend Baro was doing this of his free will, but then again, I had never met him in person, so who was I to judge?
 
And then there was my ever so prominent problem involving teacher Lee. I still hadn’t told SungGyu about lending me his fellow member HoWon for the birthday of my Business English teacher’s daughter…after being blackmailed to safe my final grade. Ahh, speaking of grades, breaking this news to SungGyu was sure to be degrading. I shook my head. Way to go, MinAe.
 
After JaeJin and I had managed to distribute the entire order between us and safely adjusted the boxes to our scooters, we made our way to SungGyu’s. Somehow, I had managed to still hide the breaking the news to JaeJin that our customer was…well SungGyu.
 
As we were driving through the evening traffic, I contemplated many ways to tell him, but couldn’t come up with anything smooth. Instead, I started wondering as to why I was even so nervous about this whole issue. SungGyu was just a normal person, after all. And, I reckoned, suddenly grinning, he wasn’t the first idol JaeJin would meet, now being friends with Baro and all. So I freed my mind of needless worries and enjoyed the night breeze on my face until we reached our destination.
 
“Uh, JaeJin?” I started, as we were waiting by the door for SungGyu to open.
 
“Yeah?”
 
It was now or never. “Please, don’t be surprised. SungGyu is a…special kind of friend.”
 
JaeJin raised an eyebrow. “Okay? May I ask why?”
 
“Let’s just say you won’t expect him to be him; but please just treat him as a normal person. He kind of doesn’t like special treatment. And, please, don’t misunderstand. We are really just friends.”
 
“As long as you don’t end up eating up each other’s faces I don’t know why I would assume you two being anything more than friends,” JaeJin smirked, just as we could hear the door being unlocked from the inside. But he reassuringly winked at me, indicating he had accepted my request.
 
The second the door opened loud music swept into the hallway. Way to go, soundproof idol housing. Why was I even surprised at that?
 
 “MinAe!” a brightly smiling SungGyu greeted me, opening the door wider and stepping aside. “Come in!”
 
“Here I am,” I smiled back, and entered his dorm for the first time in my life. JaeJin followed suit, his eyes wide open, asking a million questions in silence. Thank god he remained quiet.
 
Actually, I also had a hard time to not say anything. SungGyu was wearing a Winnie the Pooh onesie that was definitely not on par with the rather fashionable clothes he’d usually wear. But he still somehow managed to look put-together. I guessed his stylist had done his hair before, because it looked meticulously in order.  Also, he was wearing eyeliner, I noticed. It was a weird picture, to be honest.
 
JaeJin and I got rid of our shoes before stepping into the entrance room, and then followed SungGyu into the kitchen area. While doing so, JaeJin shot me a glance that spoke volumes, nodding towards SungGyu’s back.
 
“Really?” he mouthed, and slightly shook his head in disbelief. But he instantly regained his composure as SungGyu turned around and gestured at the large kitchencounter.
 
“You can just leave the stufff over here,” he said, helping me with one of the bags.
 
“Uhm, this is my oppa and co-worker JaeJin!” I then introduced, pointing my thumb at JaeJin.
 
SungGyu bowed, not without slightly raising an eyebrow at the mention of the word Oppa. “Nice to meet you,” he greeted. “I’m SungGyu.”
 
JaeJin awkwardly returned the bow, “The pleasure is mine. But I’ll excuse myself now; uncle Jang pressured me to return quickly since there are a lot of deliveries due, actually…I’ll be back later to pick MinAe and the dishes up. Just text me when needed."
 
SungGyu quickly bowed again. “Thanks for your hard work.”
 
But instead of making his way to the door, JaeJin eyed SungGyu, apparently having an inner debate over something.
 
“I’ll take good care of MinAe,” SungGyu smugly added, winking at JaeJin, after a few seconds of awkward silence (or telephathic men-only-conversation, I don’t even know).
 
It looked ridiculous, really, SungGyu wearing his Winnie the Pooh outfit, and JaeJin trying to stare him down in a manly manner, wearing our delivery uniform. Gladly, uncle Jang let me stay in my personal clothes for today.
 
JaeJin just shook his head at SungGyu’s remark and sighed, before finally making his way out of the kitchen. But we could clearly hear him muttering the words “You better do,” as he walked away.
 
“What was that?” SungGyu laughed, after the entrace door fell close.
 
I shrugged in oblivion. “I have no idea. He usually isn’t protective of me.”
 
“Trying to be all manly, when you never even mentioned him to me,” SungGyu grinned. “Poor guy. It would break his heart if he knew how little you talk about him.”
 
“Yah,” I exclaimed. “Doesn’t mean he isn’t part of my life only because you don’t know him!”
 
SungGyu just raised an eyebrow, sending me a knowing half-crooked smile. “Whatever you say…”
 
“At least he wasn’t wearing an embarrassing outfit like you. Mind telling me what’s up with that?” I teased.
 
SungGyu rolled his eyes, sweeping his fringe. “It was SungJong’s idea. We’re all wearing them. He got one for you, too, actually. I hope you like it,” he sighed. “But then again, you’ll have no choice but to wear it, whether you like it or not. SungJong always gets his way somehow…”
 
I nodded slowly. SungGyu had already told me about their maknae’s assertiveness.
 
“Okay….”
 
“Let’s go, the others are in the living room. They have been nagging me about you for days now,” he chuckled, leading me next door. “We’ll all eat together once I introduce you to them.”
 
This is going to be fun, I thought sarcastically.
 
I actually knew all of Infinite’s names, but the hard part was getting their faces and names connected. With a natural difficulty for remembering names and faces, and never really having seen the members except for two episodes of Weekly Idol (which I had watched a long, long time ago), I wasn’t really confident in getting them all right. But oh well, there I went, ready to embarrass myself.
 
As SungGyu pushed the door open to the living room, the six boys, who I recognized to be his fellow Infinite members, already eagerly awaited us. All of them were standing in line, facing us, and wearing different themed onesies, just like SungGyu.

The second they saw us, they greeted in unison: “Hello, Cha MinAe, we are INFINITE, please show us your support and give us lots of your love!”
 
“GUYS!” SungGyu cried in exasperation, covering my ears with his hands. “You are embarrassing!”
 
I couldn’t help but laugh at the boys’  dynamics.
 
“Why? We do this everytime we appear somewhere, how is this embarrassing, hyung?” One of them said, laughing. “Hey MinAe, I’m SungYeol, nice to meet you.” The tall, lanky boy bowed shortly. He was wearing a weird snowman costume, which was a bit too small for his impressive height.
 
I shook SungGyu’s hands off my ears, and bowed shortly. “Nice to meet you, I’m MinAe.”
 
“Please give us lots of love, don’t only be concerned about our leader-hyung! Nice to finally meet you, I’m WooHyun,” said the boy in the Stitch costume.
 
Finally I got to meet the infamous WooHyun. Thank god I had been warned by SungGyu; he was clearly pretty good at hiding his own emotions and acting as if he was alright. If I hadn’t known better, I would never have guessed he was having problems with his fellow group members. I resisted the urge to look back at SungYeol when I made the connection. So this were the two troublemakers.
 
“And this,” WooHyun continued, gesturing towards a serious-looking boy in a tiger-costume (Oh, that's HoWon! I recognized instantly. It was hard to miss the main dancer), “Is Hoya, but just ignore him, because he’s rude to our leader; and you, of all people, should be on our leader’s side, okay?”
 
“Ya, WooHyun, what the hell!” exclaimed HoWon and managed to click his tongue and smile all at once.
 
I couldn’t quite decide if HoWon’s smile was concerned, amused, or desperate – or all of them at once –, but I had no time whatsover to think about it because, just as I was about to bow and reply to WooHyun’s greeting, a very feminine looking boy – SungJong, I recalled – made his way through his fellow group members, and shook my hand.
 
“Noona, please take care of us! But more importantly, you need to get into your costume. This is a costume party! Since Hyung is getting pretty old, I figured this would be the last time I would be able to persuade him into doing this,” he grinned, and pulled me with him. He was wearing a leopard printed bodysuit. How fitting.
 
I wrote a mental note to myself to share some more compassion toward SungGyu the next time he would whine about SungJong being “too much of a diva to cope with on human stress-level”. After only a few seconds of being in the maknae’s presence, I already felt that his nickname was very well suited for him, indeed.
 
“But let us finish greeting her first, Jjongie,” the boy in a bear costume laughed, shaking his head.
 
“We can do that when she’s in her costume!” SungJong grumbled, only to be ignored.
 
“Nice to meet you, I’m DongWoo!” said the other boy, grinning brightly, and rolling his eyes at his dongsaeng’s behaviour.
 
I smiled, and indicated a bow with my head, while SungJong already impatiently pulled me the last two steps toward the sofa at the far end of the room.
 
“I didn’t know your taste or size, so I just got a mediumsized Rilakkuma – I hope it’s okay?” SungJong asked, shoving the costume into my hands. “You can change in the bathroom. I’ll make sure my y hyungs don’t peek, so don’t worry.”
 
As we made our way back through the living room, DongWoo shook his head, laughing “How exactly are we y?” and SungYeol, who had made himself at home on the now empty sofa, chuckled “MyungSoo, don’t ruin your already y image more than necessary.”
 
I tried not to look anywhere in particular – locking eyes with these boys would surely end up awkward after this greeting - as I somehow managed to meet SungGyu’s gaze. But he just short me an apologetic look and then proceeded to bury his head between his hands. I couldn’t help but find him exceptionally cute, seeing that he was having a mental breakdown in his Winnie the Pooh costume, surrounded by the fatality that were his fellow members.
 
Leave it to SungJong to have such a tight handle on all of his hyungs. Realizing that, I decided that I liked the maknae. I chuckled childishly as my own thoughts amused me – anyone who could make SungGyu wear a Winnie the Pooh costume for his birthday well deserved my friendship.
 
“I wonder what she thinks of us now,” a distinct voice said, just as SungJong had pulled me out out the living room. I curiously turned my head to see that the speaker was wearing a Pikachu costume, and somehow still managed to look incredibly handsome. Why, if this wasn’t my awkward doorframe acquaintance, MyungSoo. We shortly nodded at each other, but then he was already out of sight, as SungJong pushed me through the entrance area.
 
Well, today was going to be interesting. SungJong sure was living up to SungGyu’s endless whining about him. But since I didn’t have to put up with it on daily basis, it kind of amused me.
 
“Here’s the bathroom. I’m sorry about this; you can’t lock the door – since that time SungGyu fainted in the bathroom our manager took all the keys away, but I’ll guard your door. Change comfortably.”
 
I nodded a thank you and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I could hear SungGyu jokingly argue over something with the boys in the living room, but with the music playing loudly, I wasn’t really able to understand anything, so I just shrugged to myself, and let my eyes wander around the bathroom. Wow, I thought, as I looked around. It was pretty neat and clean, them being seven boys, after all.
 
After I had washed my hands, I quickly changed into the onesie. Since it was quite big for me – being the small girl that I was at a height of 1.60 meters – I just took off my pullover and decided to keep wearing the rest of my clothes underneath the costume. I folded the sweater, taking a small wrapped package out of the pocket: SungGyu’s birthday present.
 
Suddenly, I got nervous as to if he would like it. But it was too late to change anything now, so I just pushed my worries aside and placed the small box in the right pocket of my Rilakkuma bodysuit.
 
As I exited the bathroom, SungJong eyed me in surprise. “It suits you really well, Noona. The hyungs will surely be all over you, so be careful,” he winked.
 
Since I had already glanced at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and therefore knew about my Rilakkuma appearance, I honestly doubted SungJong’s words, but just decided to remain quiet. Having already experienced how SungJong managed to get his way, I wasn’t going to argue with him.
 
“Where can I put my pullover?” I asked instead.

The boy thought about it for a second, and then shrugged, taking the sweater out of my hands. “I’ll put it on SungGyu’s bed, so you’ll be sure to get it back. Just go ahead into the living room, I’ll be right behind you,” he said, vanishing in the hallway to our right.
 
I felt a bit uncomfortable, being left alone in Infinite’s dorm. I wasn’t exactly socially awkward, but being at a friend’s house for the first time always took me some time to get accustomed to the new environment. Plus, knowing this was a famous idol’s dorm didn’t help at making me feel less of an intruder.
 
Still, as I made my way back to the living room, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander over the boy’s belongings in the entrance area. It wasn’t much. The most prominent piece of furniture was a big heater in a corner of the room. There was a large shelf filled with what looked like one hundred pairs of shoes – mostly sneakers and boots. 
 
On the walls hung a few pictures of Infinite during promotions and some random snapshots. One especially caught my attention. It was a photo of SungGyu, DongWoo, MyungSoo and WooHyun laughing excessively in front of a blurred background. I took a step towards the picture to have a better look at it, and that’s when I heard a chuckle from behind me.
 
“I didn’t mean to snoop around,” I blurted out, swirling around and bowing all at once.
 
“You’re SungGyu’s guest,” the voice said, laughing. “Stop the formalities, let’s get along well, okay?”
 
As I loosened my tension and looked up, I came to face with… Stitch – Well, more precicely, with WooHyun, who was wearing an oversized blue Stitch pajama.
 
He had caught me sneaking glances at a picture of him. Great. I felt my cheecks gradually blushing.
 
But luckily WooHyun didn’t catch up on my embarrassment, and instead grinned and gestured towards me. “SungJong has good taste.”
 
“Huh?”
 
“The Rilakkuma onesie,” he grinned. “Now you look like one of us.”
 
Damn. I had totally forgotten about the ridiculous costume I was wearing. With my cheeks heating up again, I just shook my head. “Well…”
 
WooHyun chuckled, but thankfully changed topic. He nodded toward the picture he had caught me staring at. “It’s a pretty bad picture of us, right? We all look horrible.”
 
“Uhm...” I started, but didn’t know what to say. I turned around to face the photo again. He was right in a way, I had to admit; all the other pictures on the walls definitely made them look more handsome than this one. But then again, I couldn’t really agree to his statement without being rude.
 
WooHyun put his hands on his hips. “But it’s one of our most memorable experiences, shooting a video in the USA and visiting Las Vegas. That’s why it’s here. I personally like it for the meaning behind it.”
 
I smiled. It made perfect sense. No doubt, the seven boys knew they were good-looking; they didn’t have to remind themselves of it by hanging up pictures of themselves looking fabulous. “Sounds nice to me,” I said.
 
“I’m sorry, I’m talking too much,” WooHyun apologized. “But actually I’m excited to finally meet you. SungGyu talks about you a lot.”
 
As I raised an unbelieving eyebrow at him, he smirked, adding: “Well, to me, that is. He knows I won’t snatch you away from him. But I wouldn’t be too sure about the other ones. As I understand, you’re a very precious friend to him. And, uhm,” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “SungGyu ‘fessed up. Thanks for the tip with the face mask….”
 
“Huh? Which face mask?” I asked in confusion. What was he talking about?

WooHyun looked away, and cleared his throat. “You know, about one year ago SungGyu asked you for help on how to get rid of pimples for me...”
 
Oh.
 
That’s what he was talking about. As I realized he was talking about his -related pimple problem I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. WooHyun sure was the way SungGyu always described him as; very thankful, attentive and sweet. He looked really helpless as he stood there in the ridiculous Stitch costume, trying to regain his composure after talking himself into this – at least for him – awkward situation.
 
“That’s what female friends are there for, right?” I joked, making the poor boy feel less uneasy. “I’m glad I could be of any help.”
 
He smiled thankfully. “I finally understand why SungGyu trusts you so much. When he started vanishing for hours to eat somewhere in peace, as he called it, we worried a lot about him becoming even more of a loner. And then he suddenly knew all those beauty tips before we could even ask our coordi-noonas,” WooHyun explained, gesturing wildly with his hands. “I finally got him to spill his secret around the time of his solo debut. But he refused to let me meet you. He always reasoned we’d scare you away. As if,” he laughed, pointing at himself. “Admit it, I’m a lot cuter than our leader.”
 
“WooHyun, stop bothering my friend,” SungGyu’s voice suddenly ordered, before I could think of a response to WooHyun’s monologue. He did talk a lot.
 
“I’m not bothering her! We’re having a conversation,” WooHyun pouted, turning around to face SungGyu, who was leaning against the dooframe leading to the kitchen. He was staring at WooHyun half-amused, half-pissed, with his hands crossed in front of his chest.
 
“Let’s eat, okay?” SunGyu said, shaking his head. “Hoya has been nagging me for hours that he’s starving.”
 
“Food!” WooHyun exclaimed happily, making his way towards the kitchen. “Finally I get to experience MinAe’s delicious jjajangmyun in MinAe’s presence.” Turning his head back to me, he added. “He talks about that one nearly as much as about you, actually. How it’s so much better when you eat along.”
 
“Shut up,” SungGyu hissed, lightly punching WooHyun’s upper arm as the latter passed by him. “I don’t!”
 
I only heard WooHyun chuckle before he vanished into the kitchen. Boys.
 
SungGyu sighed, burying his forehead in his right palm. Then he looked up at me.
 
„What?“ I asked, as I felt his stare seizing my body.
 
„You look extremely out of character,“ he explained. "I’m used to you in hideous work-jackets or cozy sweaters from the men’s department.“
 
Oh, right, the Rilakkuma pajamas. „I don’t think it’s too bad,“ I shrugged. „But it’s not my first choice of clothing, either.“
 
SungGyu grinned smugly. „You look like a thirteen year old schoolgirl.“
 
„Well, look at the pedo who invited such a young girl to his 25th birthday party and even had her bring a significant number of soju bottles.“
 
SungGyu’s smug grin vanished from his face. „Touché. But you look cute.“
 
„Thanks,“ I said, unsure as if to take his words for a compliment or not.
 
But SungGyu was already thinking about something else: “Talking about these pajamas - where’s SungJong? Do you happen to know where he went after showing you the bathroom?”
 
“I took off my pullover to fit into this,” I gestured at the Rilakkuma pajama I was wearing. “And he offered to take it to your room for safekeeping until I leave.”
 
“I bet he’s on his phone again, flirting away with too many girls,” SungGyu sighed.
 
I laughed. I had heard this too often to not be amused anymore. “He’ll be fine, then. Let’s get you some pre-birthday dinner.”
 
That said, I grabbed him by his ellbow and dragged him into the kitchen, where WooHyun had already unpacked half of the things I had delivered. Next to him stood HoWon, happily holding on to two bottles of soju.
 
“Do we have to wait until midnight to drink these?” he asked, as soon as he saw SungGyu.
 
“Yes,” SungGyu answered matter-of-factly, not even bothering to look at his dongsaeng.
 
“But-“ HoWon was obviously not happy with the answer he had gotten. The sad eyes he shot his leader were in sharp contrast to the brightly colored tiger pajamas he was wearing.
 
I heard another boy entering the kitchen. Since I was about 15 centimeters smaller than SungGyu (who wasn’t the tallest in the room to begin with), I couldn’t see who it was. It was getting quite crowded.
 
“Hyung, please,” the newcomer said. By the voice I judged it’d most probably be DongWoo. “Try looking at it this way: If we get drunk earlier we can go to bed earlier.” Definitely DongWoo. I had never even really talked to him, but being SungGyu’s confidante sure proved very handy when it came to interacting with the Infinite boys.
 
SungGyu chuckled. “But who says we’re getting drunk?”
 
“These bottles do,” WooHyun chimed in. “And if that’s not enough, I do, too.”
 
“But the schedule tomorrow is no joke,” SungGyu tried to reason with them.
 
Fascinated by the way they interacted with each other – as I had never seen SungGyu talk to anyone else beside me (expect for on TV and that doesn’t really count) – I remained silent, arranging the many small banchan (A/N: See Author’s Notes for picture) servings my uncle had generously provided for on the counter.
 
WooHyun pouted. “Then why did you even order soju?”
 
“Back then I didn’t know we’d have an insane schedule on my birthday,” SungGyu defended himself. “I thought we’d be done with the human-rights-ignoring trainee-rookie-situation. Say thanks to SM.”
 
They all fell silent at the mention of SM. I felt sorry for the boys. The way SungGyu had described it to me, they weren’t exactly managed by SM, but their managers had to fulfill certain guidelines; one of them being a significant raise in sales of Infinite’s albums. That was the reason they had started filling up the boys’ schedule again like three years ago, when they’d had three comebacks in one year. Which then again was the reason for SungGyu being unable to regularly meet me since last autumn.
 
HoWon was the first to speak again, cautiously picking his words. “Isn’t that…the more reason…to drink?”
 
SungGyu’s disapproving grunt got drowned in DongWoo’s and my laughter, which soon enough infected WooHyun and eventually even SungGyu.
 
“Fine,” SungGyu finally gave his okay. “But don’t you dare come to me and whine about having to do interviews with major hangovers.”
 
I smiled, as DongWoo and HoWon happily grabbed all the soju bottles from the bag and disappeared into the living room, already discussing about which drinking games to play.
 
“Guys, I’m not gonna play waitress,” WooHyun shouted in the general direction of the living room. “If you wanna eat get your own plates.”
 
That said he grabbed one of the bigger portioned plates and a pair of chopsticks. “I’m starving, if you will excuse me."
 
But he didn’t even get to leave the kitchen, because SungGyu grabbed his ellbow. “Help MinAe with the banchan. And then get SungJong from his room. We’ll all eat together, okay?”
 
WooHyun made a face. “But-“
 
“Now.”
 
“Okay,” he grudgingly gave in, putting his selected plate back on the counter. “But this is mine, okay?”
 
SungGyu just rolled his eyes, and stretched his back, walking toward the door. “You guys cost me years of my life. I’ll get the others to help setting the table.”
 
WooHyun shot me a grin while he got a big serving tray from a cupboard. “He’s quite the leader, isn’t he?”
 
I nodded, as he had caught up on my thoughts. “He is.”
 
We started putting the many small plates of banchan on the tray. Their various scents had already started to fill the air and my mouth was slowly becoming all watery in savoury anticipation. Although I didn’t say it, I, too, was quite hungry.
 
WooHyun scratched his neck. “But he does a great job. We all respect him in our own way and for our own reasons; not only because he’s the oldest and the official leader of Infinite. He really deserves his position.”
 
“Yeah, I can see that,” I agreed with a smile. “Although you are pretty mean to him on Weekly Idol.”
 
The boy laughed in surprise. “So you are a fan? SungGyu always stresses that you didn’t even know he was the leader. And that he has to work harder to be more recognized in the future.” 
 
“That was two years back. You weren’t even that famous. Plus, I’m not too much of a pop music person. I listen to orchestra music mostly.”
 
WooHyun shook his head in amusement. “Did you even listen to our songs?”
 
I guiltily bit my lip.
 
“No way?! SungGyu told me he gave you all our albums as presents as soon as they got released? He even made us sign them!”
 
As if on cue, SungGyu appeared in the doorframe. WooHyun was standing with his back to the door, hence he didn’t notice him. SungGyu smirked and put his index finger in front of his lips, signalling me to not give him away.
 
“How come you never listened to them?” WooHyun whined. “Our music might not be the best, but we’re not too bad, either”
 
I raised my hands in defence. “I did listen to your releases.”
 
“And?” Clearly, WooHyun was not impressed.
 
I cleared my throat, concentrating on looking at WooHyun. SungGyu, who was still grinning brightly, was moving his hand alongside his throat, indicating a dead WooHyun. He was making it hard for me not to blatantly stare at him and give his presence away.
 
“Your songs are…catchy?”
 
“Really?” WooHyun deadpanned.
 
I chuckled. “Cheesy?”
 
“No, no, no,” WooHyun shook his head. “SungGyu did a terrible job.”
 
“Look who’s talking about me behind my back,” SungGyu finally revealed his presence, startling WooHyun by giving him a hearty backhug.
 
“What talking behind your back?” WooHyun dramatized. “How do you live? Not even your best female friend is an Inspirit! Don’t you feel ashamed?”
 
“Nope,” SungGyu admitted without a hint of remorse in his voice. “I feel hungry.”  
 
I clapped my hands. “Then what are we waiting for?” 

The boys in their y birthday wardrobe. I could not not include this.

And the photography of them in Las Vegas:

And some banchan:

XOXO JaeRin