Keeping Quiet

            “It’s about time you two got here,” Yesung complained, hugging Ryeowook.  I tried to go around them, but Yesung stuck his hand out and grabbed onto my arm.  I sighed heavily.  It’s not that I’m completely against hugging the other members, I’m just not an overly physical person by nature and will avoid it if I can get away with it, for the most part.  Unless it’s Ryeowook. 

            The moment Yesung let Ryeowook go, he hugged me next and I didn’t throw a fit about it.  “You two have been lying low,” Yesung complained. 

            “The government has given us such a hard time, not always giving Ryeong the vacation times he asks for and all that, so we’ve decided that not parading the fact that we’re hanging out together is probably for the best,” I informed him.

            Yesung shrugged.  “Your fans haven’t seen you two together in nearly a year though.”

            I shook my head.  It couldn’t really be helped.  If we took a selfie together while Ryeowook was on vacation and posted it, the government might accuse one or both or both of us or showing off our relationship.  And they knew perfectly well that we were in one.  Unlike the many kpop singers that had come before us that had simply had rumors of relationships with other members which were completely unfounded, the government highly suspected ours was a legitimate relationship.  They knew we lived together when none of the other members did.  They had probably heard of our relationship from several sources, including the media, who might have proof of us being together that they were paid not to publish.  Or not.  I won’t confirm or deny anything.  And we had coworkers at several jobs—theater, radio, television, and music—who knew of our involvement.  We knew that was the reason the government was down our backs so much leading up to our enlistments and why they did not always cooperate with us when we asked of vacation times together, etc.

            Thankfully, even if Ryeowook’s breaks did not line up with mine, I was still stationed in Seoul and lived at the apartment.  I could see him whenever I wasn’t working.  So, once he returned home next summer, life would be somewhat normal for us.  I would not be working with Super Junior, but we would be back to living together in the apartment.  Thank God!

            “You know, it’s kind of a blessing to have this one chance to live out of the spotlight for a change though,” I pointed out, following Ryeowook over to the table and sitting down beside him.

            “How so?” Yesung asked, sitting to the other side of me.

            “Well, we’ve never gotten to be together without the whole world watching our every move.  Now, when he’s home and no one knows about it, it’s as if we get a glimpse of what it would have been like to live as normal people instead of famous ones.  We may not get that chance again for another thirty or forty years.  We have no idea how long we’ll be famous.  Super Junior might not still be singing that long, but we might be hosting television or radio programs until we’re old enough to retire.  I mean, I certainly hope I’m doing something like that.  Or even acting.”

            Ryeowook pat my leg, half listening to my conversation with Yesung, even as he was wishing Donghae a happy birthday and telling him what he’d been up to lately.

            “And what do you think of it?  Living the ordinary life?”

            I shrugged.  “It has its advantages and disadvantages.”

            “Advantage?” Yesung asked, taking a drink.

            “Going out with Ryeonggu and not having a bunch of fangirls camped outside the apartment, waiting for a glimpse of either of us.  Being able to relax at the apartment because we don’t have a billion things on our schedules.  None of the managers stopping by at all hours of the day and night.”

            “Disadvantage?”

            I sighed heavily.  “Not being able to sing in front of my fans.”

            I love my husband deeply, but if I’m being honest, he is one of the two loves of my life.  The other one is singing.  And I don’t feel bad about saying that because I know he feels the same way and he feels bad that I have to go two years without doing it.  Thankfully, he is a very willing audience and urges me to sing around the apartment whenever he’s home.  I also sneak over to SM Entertainment on my downtime and record things.  I can’t release anything, of course, but I will eventually do another solo album when I return.  It doesn’t hurt to get a little jump start.

            Yesung reached up and ruffled my shorter hair.  All the members did that, since my hair was shorter, and it drove me a little crazy, but it was part of their usual harassment of the younger members.  Since I pretended it didn’t bother me, they did it to me less.  My poor husband didn’t think of things like that though and overreacted to it, so they did it to him even more. 

            “Speaking of your fans, I still think that they’re going to throw a fit of they don’t see some proof that you two have met up at some point during Wook’s enlistment,” he said, handing his phone over the table to Donghae.  “Let’s have a picture together.  Then it’s not just the two of you.  I’ll even upload it myself.”

            Because I’m so romantic, I nudged my husband in the side.  “Come here.  Sungie wants a picture of us together.”

            Ryeowook leaned in closer and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders.  Donghae held up the phone, adjusting it several times to get the best angle.  Then I realized that I should probably also wrap my arm around Yesung or this photo will look a lot like a majority of the other KRY photos out there, like a KyuWook picture that Yesung photobombed.  So, I also wrapped my arm around Yesung and pulled them both into me. 

            “Say cheese,” Donghae said.