// MAY, 2015//

Sooyun was waiting at the drop off zone for the van to come, bundled in a plain white tee and ripped jeans she kept thinking about changing her outfit until the van came at last and she just boarded on it, headed to Hongdae at once.

“I thought you would wear something more than just a plain white tee.”

“What should I wear then?”, Sooyun asked Taehyun back as she examined his outfit. “well, you’re also not that party prepared though.”

Taehyun laughed, “aish, this is enough for me, I’m party prepared by soul, can’t you see it? moreover, we don’t come for the party uh?”

“What nonsense are you talking about oh? Part prepared by soul you said.“, she laughed, ”Anyway, I was about to watch Game of Thrones when you called, don’t you know how many episodes I’ve missed? Seven.”, she chattered.

“Game of Thrones? How about my web drama? Have you watched it?”, Taehyun faced and asked her shortly.

“Ah, yes, your drama, I’ve just begun to-“

“You haven’t watched it, right.”, Taehyun cut her off.

Sooyun stayed still for a while, “I’ve been trying to watch it ever since the first episode aired, but-“, she paused, “ahhhh, sorry, Taehyunaaa, I’m sorry I haven’t watched your drama yet.”, she buried her face with the words.

“ah you, even Seungyoon hyung watches it, Jinwoo hyung loves it,”, Taehyun closed his eyes and leaned on his seat, he heavily breathed when she began to mumble,

“of course they do, Minji eonni is so beautiful they can’t miss every glimpse of her.”

Taehyun giggled, “what? Are you jealous now? Oh Sooyun is jealous, let me hear it again.”

Sooyun was startled, “What? Who? I’m not. I’m just admiring her, she really has that perfect face-“

“does she?” Taehyun .

Sooyun laughed, “ah whyyyy, can’t you just pretend to hear nothing.”

He burst into laughter.

Sooyun hit him with her handbag, “stop it.”

She tried to hide her face from him when she got a perfect view of the driver she had never seen before. She took her phone out and texted Taehyun.

S : It’s not Mr. Park?

Taehyun’s phone beeped and he checked it out at once, he texted her back after a look.

T : Yes, it’s Mr. Jang, he had just joined the company and he’s idle right now, why?

S : How about Mr. Park?

T : He’s taking days off.

S : Oh, okay then.

She returned her phone and stared at the night sky outside the window.

“Thank you for coming with me.”, he paused, “Does Joohyuk know about this?”

“Let’s make this my apology for haven’t watched your drama, okay?”, she turned at him, “would I make it if I told him then?”, she exhaled, “I never did when I was with Hayi, why should I tell him now then.”, she sighed.

“Fine if you said so, he’s not my boyfriend anyway.”, he mumbled, ”but still, make sure to watch it okay?”

Sooyun nodded before she awkwardly laughed, “don’t make me think about you two getting together.”, she paused, “hey, tell me how can Sajangnim let you to have a set at NB2? I thought he wouldn’t let idols to play there unless they performed as a guest.”

“I’ve been asking him ever since I made my first demo and bought the launchpad, guess he was tired of listening to me whining so he just gave me this chance.”

Sooyun laughed.

“what’s so fun?”, Taehyun paused, “You played there once, tell me how was it then.”

Sooyun stopped laughing at once. “As you can see, he doesn’t let me to have another set unless it was a private party, it pretty much sums up everything back then.”

Now Taehyun laughed.

“You better do well later.”, she paused, “or I will kill you for dragging me with you, get it?”, she threatened him.

Taehyun kept laughing ignoring her threat.

“Aishhh, why don’t you just ask your hyungs oh? Why bother calling me.”, she protested.

“No way, those hyungs would prefer staying at the dorm than accompanying me to a place like that.”

 “Like I love to go there, with you, hewl.”, she mumbled. “Oh, we’re he, we’re here.”, Sooyun sudden exclamation startled him.

They got off the car once it stopped and were stunned by a  long queue in front of the building with two men checking everyone’s id. Taehyun put a cap and his sunglasses on to hide his face.

“should we queue too?”, he asked Sooyun shortly.

“nope, we can go through the VIP access, there, at the right side, can you see it?”

Taehyun nodded before she took her by arm and rushed to the door she pointed before. They walked pass the queue and the girls queuing started to buzz.

“isn’t he Nam Taehyun?”

“It looks like Nam Taehyun.”

“Who is that girl with him?”

The girls started to standby their phone when the securities forbid them to do so, it seemed like it wasn’t the first time though.

They finally entered the club through the VIP access, left the crowd behind them. A strong alcoholic scent hit them once they walked through the sea of people. Here, people didn’t really recognize him as Nam Taehyun since most of them were pretty much drunk, but the wild pair of drunken eyes couldn’t miss Sooyun’s presence among them.

“Hey Girl.”

“Woa, look at that perfect legs.”

Sooyun regretted that she let go of his grip once they were inside. She tried to protect her body with her handbag, tried her very best to remain untouched before she gripped on Taehyun’s jacket and he stretched his arm to reach her.

It was Friday night and NB2 was pretty much packed with youngsters. The dance floor was nowhere to be seen from above, people were flooding on it in a way it would be hard to even breathe down there. The upstairs wasn’t much different, minus the dance floor, it was less crowded with people wavered here and there, most were on the couch, enjoying their drinks and just chilling. The VIP lounge was the least crowded area in the club, often reserved for YG Family, it was now filled with commoners, foreigners, and some young executives. Even though the place belonged to Mr. Yang Hyun Suk, it wasn’t like everyday they could easily meet YG Family there. But it also wasn’t that rare to have YG Family as the guests or simply played some sets here, like tonight.

“I guess this isn’t a good day to have my very first set here.”, Taehyun tried to catch his breath once they found a spot at the VIP lounge.

Sooyun stayed still, “The day won’t come unless you make it-“, she paused, “you’ve made it halfway bro, we don’t come for the party, neither to give up.”, she bitterly laughed.

“What? Don’t you see it’s insanely packed down there, I’m not prepared enough for that kind of crowd.”

“Then why you want this so badly? Dragging me along, are you just going to give up?”

Taehyun paused, “Forget it, let’s just go home.”, he was about to leave when Sooyun grabbed his arm.

“Mr. Yang didn’t tell you why he doesn’t let me to play here anymore, did he?”

Taehyun stayed still.

“It wasn’t my set.”, she paused, “It was me who couldn’t fit into this place and Sajangnim knew it too well he wouldn’t let me to come back-“, she paused, “but then you asked me to come with you.”

“You could just tell me this before.” he said shortly.

“would you listen to me then?”, she paused, “I know exactly how you feel right now, how you want to see the crowd reacts to your set so badly that nothing can’t stop you.”, she smiled, “I’ll just wait here, you go, show them what you’ve got, see how they will react to your set, believe me, It’s awesome.”

Taehyun stared at the crowd downstairs, moved to the VIP lounge, it seemed okay to leave her here rather than taking her back down there, with those wild eyes pinned on her, he felt sorry for her. Taehyun returned to his seat and took his laptop out, made sure that everything was ready.

 “wish me luck.”, he closed his laptop and was about to go downstairs.

“Fighting!”, Sooyun raised her fist.

He laughed, but suddenly stopped and took off his jacket, reluctantly put it on her. “Ya, you’ve been here once how come you wear a white tee like that oh.”, he scolded her.

“Aishhh, I don’t have time to think about this once you called, jerk.”

He laughed as he darted downstairs.

Sooyun was busy replying Joohyuk’s chat when a foreigner came to her.

“Hi, can I sit here?”, he asked in Korean.

“It’s my friend’s seat.”

“Oh, what? Sorry, I’m still improving my Korean.”

“It belongs to my friend.”, she said in English.

“The guy who have just left is your friend? Well, good then.”

Sooyun pulled Taehyun’s jacket tighter.

“he will return shortly.”

“I don’t need much time either, we can just have a little talk and, maybe we can go somewhere more private, you don’t like it here do you?”, the guy suddenly sat next to her. Sooyun stood up at once before he pulled her back on her seat.

“Why you should play it hard to get? A girl like you, I know tons of girls like you.”

Sooyun stood up and was about to leave when he blocked her, she could see his friends sat not far from them.

“leave-me-alone.”

The guy looked at her when a voice startled her.

“She asks you to leave, can’t you hear that?”

Sooyun turned and found Pil Kang sunbaenim stood not far from them, she couldn’t be happier to finally meet someone she knew and trusted.

“Ah, who’s  that guy? Do you know him?”

She swallowed hard before talked, “he’s my boyfriend, so you better leave now.”

“Ah, your boyfriend. What a pity.”, the guy smirked as he left her.

Sooyun was  so relieved once he was out of sight. She turned to Pil Kang sunbaenim and was about to thank him when he asked her.

“What are you doing here, Sooyun?”, he looked around, “all by yourself?”

“Sunbae, actually, please, don’t tell Sajangnim about this.”, she requested him politely.

“okay, okay I won’t tell anyone about this, but why you’re here all by yourself, do you think this is-“

He hadn’t finished his sentence when they heard the crowd down there shouted Taehyun’s name, followed by Taehyun’s voice greeted them before he began his set at last.

“could it be-“, he gave Sooyun that look before he continued, “you came with him?”

“Ah, Sunbae, but it’s not like what you’re thinking of, he just randomly asked me to go with him because this is his first set and I’ve had mine here too back then, and the other boys don’t really like a place like this,and-“

“I know, I know, you don’t need to explain that much,”, he paused, ”it’s just weird to meet you here.”

“I don’t even think I will come back here either.”, she sighed. “anyway Sunbae, I can’t thank you enough for saving me from that stranger.”, she thought of her lying to the stranger that he was her boyfriend.

“You’d better leave soon. Aren’t you helping Winner with their comeback oh?”

She nodded, “I’m afraid to cease now.”

“No you won’t, I know you can do this.”, he smiled at her. “ hey, come with me then, I can’t just leave you here.”

//

Sooyun was rushing to the restroom after a shot, her body couldn’t help but reacted to the strange liquor now inside her empty stomach. She had expected this so she hardly ate her dinner. Now she threw up to nothing, like a total fool. She looked at her own reflection on the mirror,

geez, I’m deadly pale and stupid, stupid, you stupid girl stop starring at me. She frowned at her own reflection.

“Hey there, you may need this.”, a girl stepped out of a booth approached and gave her a strip of something looked like medicines to her, “it totally works for me, I’ve got rid of it even on my fourth month.”, the girl explained.

“what is this?”, Sooyun stared at the strip on her hands, puzzled.

“don’t be silly, you surely need it, look at yourself, pale and stuffed. It may be your third already, just take it and don’t bother thank me if it worked.”, the girl fixed her make up next to Sooyun.

Sooyun now looked at the mirror in horror,

damn, she’s so skinny! And I look like 3 months pregnant beside her.

“Okay then, I’ll get going.”, the girl packed her things and left at once.

Sooyun was still staring at the mirror, she slightly moved and now she was looking at her side profile, she sighed.

She had just left the restroom when the previous stranger came to her sight, she covered her face with her handbag at once, tried to escape the situation when a hand landed on her shoulder.

“where’s your boyfriend oh?”, the voice now sounded familiar to her.

She hardly turned her head and was about to run when he grabbed her by waist, she could smell the strong alcohol scent from behind her, damn you drunken ert.

It was rather dark at the corridor to the VIP lounge and Sooyun realized that no one was there beside them. She prayed before hit him on the face with her handbag, he loosened his grip for a while and she pulled herself away from him when he laughed eerily.

“Woa, you look even more beautiful when you’re mad-“ he blocked her way, fast enough for a drunken one, “No one has ever rejected me before, not in a situation like this.”, he smiled at her, “don’t bother screaming, no one will be conscious enough to hear it, not even your boyfriend, we’re alone now.”, he pinned her to the wall firmly, strong enough for a drunken one.

Sooyun tried her best to push him away, but it was just useless. Just then, she heard someone was approaching and BAM!

Taehyun punched the stranger right on his face to make him collapsed on the ground with the other hand still holding his laptop. Sooyun gasped to see blood drifting from the stranger’s nose before Taehyun grabbed her by arm and left shortly. It was all too fast for her to realize that she grabbed his arm back as they walked through the sea of people and finally reached the door. Taehyun put his glasses on again and so Sooyun let go of her grip once she was back at her sense.

“I haven’t called Mr. Jang, but let’s just wait somewhere out there, this place makes me sick.”, he said shortly.

“Okay.”, she nodded.

They left the place to the alive Hogdae’s night scene, walking side by side in a proper distance. No one said anything, left the awkwardness alone. Sooyun had been sniffing since they left NB2 and it was the only sound between them. They were walking pass a convenience store when Sooyun stopped.

“Oh, wait, I think I need to buy something first.”, she talked at last.

Taehyun stopped as well and followed her to the convenience store. Sooyun made a cup of hot chocolate and offered Taehyun, but he preferred the coffee like she had expected. They were about to take another cup of ramyeon each when a pojangmacha came to their sight just across the street. They exchanged look before headed for the cashier to pay.

They stepped out of the convenience store with Taehyun on a call, telling Mr. Jang that they were waiting on a nearby convenience store.

“I haven’t had my dinner and now I’m starving, let me buy some from there, you wait here so no one will take our spot okay?”, Sooyun chattered as she stood up and left.

Taehyun was watching her crossing the street when a thought came to his mind,

That girl acts like nothing have just happened back there and can only think about her stomach, what a moron. He sighed.

Sooyun was ordering this and that when she suddenly remembered the restroom scene, she hesitated but then continued her order anyway.

He will eat more than me and I’m not that fat anyway, it’s her who’s too skinny, I’m just, well, need to work out a bit. She told herself.

 She returned with a stuffed plastic bag on her hand.

“I thought you said some.”, Taehyun unveiled the plastic bag and placed the food on the table between them.

“Ah, should we buy some for Mr. Jang too?”, Sooyun came to a thought.

“No use of that, he probably had his dinner already.”, Taehyun said as he ate his first fish cake, moved to his second not long after that and so did Sooyun. They turned silent when they were eating.

“Uwo, this is the best.”, Sooyun exclaimed as she ate her ddeokbokki.

“Ya, you probably should stop eating right now, how come you eat more than me oh?”, Taehyun protested.

Sooyun stayed still, “hey, am I that fat?”, she asked suddenly to his surprise.

“Ah? What?”, he asked her back, realized that she waited for his answer, he cleared his throat before started to speak, “How do you want me to answer?”, he instead.

“YA!”, she protested, “I’m serious,  do I really look like, um, a three months pregnant?”, she hardly produced the words.

Taehyun burst into laughter whilst having his ddeokbokki, he covered his mouth with his right hand. Sooyun was stunned to see his bruised knuckles, it must be hurt, even the stranger’s nose was bleeding.

“Is your hand okay?”

Taehyun stopped laughing. “I’m fine, It will fade by tomorrow.

“He’s bleeding though-“, she recalled the scene, “it must be hurt, I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine I told you.”, he claimed. “It’s me who should be sorry for dragging you to that place.”

“I’m fine now, that’s worth your first set anyway, it was great, really! They loved you and I’m glad I could see your very first set!”, she exclaimed. “even Pil Kang sunbaenim said your set was great!”, she paused, “Oh, ya, I haven’t told you that I met him , have I?, Yes, I met him and he said your set was great.”

He smiled, “My first was at the concert actually, but tonight was different, it gave me this different thrill I can’t explain-“

“Yes you do. It was great wasn’t it, the kick you felt when you were behind the desk, in front of the crowd, saw them dancing to your music?”

He nodded.

Just then, Taehyun phone rang.

“Mr. Jang is coming, let’s get ready.”

Not long after that, a van stopped in front of the convenience store and they hopped on it at once.

Sooyun sniffed again not long after the door was closed, she reached for the tissue now.

“Oh My God.”, she sighed as she continued sniffing all the way home.

//

Sooyun was entering the studio when she found Seungyoon was already there.

“Good Morning.”, she greeted him.

“Hi, good morning.”, he turned his head at her who was placing her bag carelessly and took a pack of tissues out of it before she took a seat next to him. He now got the full sight of her wearing the mask.

“stop looking at me like that, this probably just a flu.”, she explained.

“No, not like that, the thing is-”, he paused, “Taehyun also feels not really well today but he still promised me to come.”

Sooyun tried to maintain her expression. “Oh, bad for him then. Hope he will be recovered soon so we can continue this with him.”

Seungyoon nodded. “What about you? Don’t spread your virus to me oh.”

“Aishhh, that’s why I’m wearing this mask you know.”, she protested.

Seungyoon laughed, “I see, it’s flu but you look more like a time bomb that about to explode oh.”

“What is that tab? Are you watching Taehyun’s drama right now?”, Sooyun pointed at the screen.

Seungyoon was caught red handed watching drama whilst he was working on the album. “Ah, this?”, he paused and reluctantly opened the tab Sooyun spotted. “It’s the last episode and you haven’t come anyway, so I watched this while waiting for you, it’s good, haven’t you watched it yet?”, he explained.

Sooyun shrugged before she talked, “let’s just watch it before we start then.”

Seungyoon didn’t expect her to say that. “really?”

She nodded.

“Well then, If you insisted, let me continue this.”, he giggled.

So they watched Taehyun’s web drama together, Seungyoon returned to the beginning of the episode for her.

“You should watch it from the very first episode you know, you won’t get the story if we started it from here.”, Seungyoon suggested.

“We don’t have much time for that, just start from the previous episode then, I’m a girl, It’s not that hard for a girl to understand drama you know.”, she claimed.

“Aishhh, you, okay-okay, as you wished.”, he returned to the previous episode and they began to watch Taehyun’s drama together.

They were drowned in watching the drama with their earphones on not realizing that someone was coming.

They laughed hard at Taehyun’s acting when a voice startled them.

“What are you guys thinking you’re doing right now oh?”

They turned their head at once and found Hanbin was standing there.

“Oh My!”, Sooyun exclaimed, “how long have you been there?”

“long enough to finish a song.” he shortly talked.

Seungyoon awkwardly laughed, “Ah, you kid, why don’t you knock on the door?”

“I did, but none of you responded to that, so I just came in, and tadaa...”, he teased them.

“It’s Taehyun’s drama, we need to support him by watching it, don’t we?”, Sooyun tried to make an excuse.

“So you also need to watch Joohyuk Hyung’s drama as well noona, have you watched it then? what do you think? Who acts better?”, Hanbin .

“Ah, yes, that drama-“, she paused, “Of course I have.”, she lied.

“what a terrible liar you are.”, Hanbin accused her.

“Hello, there’s an actor here, don’t forget about me.”, Seungyoon talked idly.

Hanbin and Sooyun burst into laughter.

“Okay-okay. So, why you’re here, Hanbin?”, Seungyoon asked him.

“I’m just checking on you two.”, he laughed.

“Aishhhh! You punk!”, Seungyoon tried to catch him who ran to the door at once before he stopped and turned at them, “anyway, get well soon noona.”, he laughed as he left the studio.

“Ahh, he really shocked me.”

“checking on us he said, who’s older and who checks on whom, that punk is really.”, Seungyoon laughed.

//

Seungyoon was sitting between Taehyun and Sooyun who both caught flu, he couldn’t focus on their work if they kept sniffing around him, so he made his decision at last.

“Ya, you two, stay away from me.”, Seungyoon stood up.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Take your laptop with you and let’s do this with you guys sit there and there.”, he pointed at two different corners of the studio.

“Ah, can you just bear with us, what’s the point in doing this like that.”, Taehyun whined.

Seungyoon shook his head, “no, no, no. I won’t continue unless you two move to your spot.”

“Ah, you’ll catch flu anyway.”, Sooyun mumbled.

“Oh Sooyun what are you saying, let me hear it again.”

“no, I didn’t say anything.”, she frowned at him.

They moved to their spot as he ordered anyway. They finally spent the rest of the day working on the song with that current position, also the speaker was turned louder so they could hear the song from their  exact spot. Seungyoon felt sorry for them but he needed to do that in order to gain his focus so the song they were working on would come as they expected.

//