3859 words

4165 words Updated 6/12/24

4241 words Updated 10/13/24

Side characters that appear for the first time/mentioned for the first time in this chapter plus their pronunciations.

Lee Hwan Yeong

  Lee Han Yawng

Wu Kyungbok

Wuh Chyung-bawk

In Solmi

In Sull-mee

Yun Hyungsik

Yoon Hyung-she

It was real! She's here! She's finally in our lives! And she's staying only a block away! The inner child in me was bouncing off the walls and doing the silliest of happy dances.

The only thing that bothered me was the language barrier between us. Thinking about that again had my inner child slow down and sway in happiness. While she was here tonight I tried to do my best to follow along with everything she said, and for the most part I was able to understand a decent amount of the words spoken. The biggest problem I was having was that it often didn't come together into concrete concepts until after Gamon or Minsook translated for us. It was beyond frustrating. I was mentally kicking my own butt for not studying English as hard as I should have in school.

Instead, my mind had veered toward learning to play every instrument imaginable. Okay, that's definitely an exaggeration, and I could never berate myself for becoming so immersed into something that fully engaged both my heart and soul. It helped me keep my mind off of thinking about my Aunt's situation after all. Honestly, it was due to my psychiatrist's suggestion that I decided to pick up a hobby to help me cope with feelings of guilt and concern. The mildest of them regarding my Aunt and how she might not be getting everything she needed at her current assisted living facility. I should be more honest with myself and admit that my psychiatrist really assigned it to help cope with the darker thoughts of my family in general.

During our trainee years originally Essentials Music didn't sort us into the groups that would later become Blaze, Alluvion, Silex, and Breeze. Instead we were originally divided up by our ages, including our living arrangements, which meant that I didn't end up with any of my current family during that time frame.

My group was composed of four others who were also born in 2002. Our dorm at that time consisted of only a single bedroom that we had to share. The rest of our shared living space included a single living area that acted as a living room, kitchen, and dining room in one, and of course a full bathroom.

In our bedroom situation, my assigned bed was the top bunk of a bunk bed I shared with Lee Hwan Yong, who's now a member of Silex. One night during that very first week I was woken up by Kyungbok-hyung. At that point though he wasn't solely my manager; during the early days of training he was the manager of all of the 2002s. I woke up confused, and not just because he didn't live with us. Apparently I was having a nightmare, and the reason Kyungbok-hyung was there was because Hwan Yong couldn't get me to wake up. According to him and the others I was keeping all the 2002s in the room awake with my tormented sounds and erratic movement. It's a good thing that Kyungbok-hyung was called though, because that's the moment that everything changed in my life once again.

I was immediately relocated to Kyungbok-hyung's apartment for a while. He had a spare room and could watch over me whenever I had one of my nightmares. It was also his guidance and heartfelt suggestions that led me to get some psychiatric help. Out of all the main vocalist trainees in the company he told me that the high officials of the company: CEO, President, and Vice President, had ranked me as second most impressive overall. I'm assuming it was due to this fact that they made an executive decision to foot the bill for my therapy sessions.

I sigh as I realize I was dwelling on unnecessary things right now. The problem was it got me wondering how Lily would react to knowing that I routinely see a psychiatrist. Or how she would react once she knew about the kind of monsters my parents were. I sighed before I excused myself to my room. I give Jaeyeon-hyung a pointed look. A look he deciphers at once and is able to predict what my next step is. "I'll give you the room Jiseongie, and you know you can come to any of us if you need to talk after. In fact, I would prefer you to at least come out after and let us know that you are okay."

I almost want to answer that I think I am okay now, but it's already getting late so I should really call my psychiatrist sooner rather than later. "Dr. Gal? I think I need a moment to talk with you."

"Jiseongie? Of course. Anytime, you know that. What is it?" I couldn't help but smile at how he addresses me. Some others might find it unprofessional, but we established early on that I was more open when he treated me only as a young man he was close too.

Normally the first thing I would do after I know Jiseong needs to make a call to Dr. Gal is to let my twin or Gamon-hyung know. What stops me from following that protocol is the fact that Gamon-hyung still isn't back yet from taking Lily to her hotel, and Juah-hyung has been at the dining room table trying to use an app on his phone to translate the paperwork bundle that Lily has to fill out; he got impatient waiting for Gamon-hyung to get back. So instead I find myself knocking on Minsookie's door. I don't know why I didn't just settle in the living room instead though to be honest.

"Just a minute." Minsookie responds from behind his bedroom door. When he answers he is only clad in a pair of pajama bottoms. We've seen each other in several varying states of undress over the years so I'm not unsurprised by his lack of clothing. However it is the flushed look in his cheeks and ears plus the way he is catching his breath that tells me what I interrupted. After all, there is no exercise equipment, or space to do push ups in his room.

"Oh shit. I'm sorry for interrupting, Minsookie."

He waves it away. "It just hit me really hard seeing her. Smelling her. Touching her. I haven't been with anyone in so long that I needed the release."

I definitely understand that. Out of those of us who aren't virgins he has probably been the most sexually active. Or at least he has been the most vocal about his sexual conquests. Gamon-hyung is pretty tight lipped, but I know he too has had his share of lovers throughout the years. I've only been with one partner myself. We were in a 'friends with benefits' sort of relationship, but I definitely regretted that relationship in the end when I realized she had caught feelings. I knew my heart would only ever belong to my Soulmate, and the moment I met her today I realized that she had half of it already. She just didn't know it yet.

Instead of telling him what I intend to say, I find myself saying. "I was jealous today. I was jealous of you, Gamon-hyung, and even Jiseongie a little bit. I was jealous over the fact that you could so easily communicate with her. It left me feeling like an outsider looking in periodically throughout the day."

He shakes his head at me. "I get that, but I have a feeling that won't last long. I'm pretty sure that Junghee-hyung is going to be trying to arrange for us all to get the Wernicke's injection sooner rather than later."

"I wonder how long it takes to work. I've honestly never looked into the research on it." I find myself admitting. "I bet Juah-hyung knows."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he did either. Should we go out and ask him?" Minsookie suggests.

I shake my head in response, but I still pause to consider it more carefully. "It's a smart idea, but let's not do it right away." I pause for a moment, before sighing and sharing why I had knocked on his door in the first place, "I actually came over to talk about Jiseongie. He had to call Dr. Gal again."

His eyebrows lift at that admission. It's true that Jiseongie had to go back to seeing him weekly a month ago, but I felt like this situation probably was for a different reason. Judging by the question that Minsookie asks me in response he must feel the same. "Do you know what triggered him?"

I shake my head in response. "No, but it probably involves Lily coming into our lives. My best guess is that he is worried about how she will react. How she'll feel about his history."

Minsookie makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. "What we need is a night together where we can all unwind." Then he gets that glint in his eye that tells me once again he is up to something, and when Minsookie is up to something it is hardly ever a good thing. "I just got a brilliant idea."

I sigh, much like my brother would at his antics. "Of course you did." I'd be lying to myself if I didn't at least partially admit that while his ideas weren't always a good idea, I still went along with them because of the thrill of the shenanigans they got us into.

I don't bother being embarrassed by the fact that Jaeyeon-hyung interrupted me after I was done masturbating. They all know I don't believe in being coy about my sex life, or lack thereof in the past few months. I wouldn't say I bragged about my conquests to them, but I've never been one to remain tight lipped about them either. Well, perhaps I never shared the complete story involving one of them, but they still knew who she was and most of what we got up to.

Knowing that Jiseongie has become overwhelmed or stressed about something enough to call his psychiatrist definitely has me concerned. In fact, for a few moments it even has me forgetting about the dreaded injection I will have to be getting in the near future. "Do you know what triggered him?" I find myself asking.

Jaeyeon-hyung shakes his head. "No, but it probably involves Lily coming into our lives. My guess is that he is worried about how she will react."

Oh. Yeah I'm not surprised about that. He's probably stressing about her reaction to his history. I hope he knows that he doesn't have to share every piece of himself with her right away. An annoyed noise escapes my throat as I begin to worry over our packed schedule for the next few days. We probably won't have much time to get to know our Soulmate, and that fucking sucks. "What we need is a night together where we can all unwind." Would the company officials berate us for wanting to have a day off to get to know her? I know that can't happen tomorrow. Lily definitely needs to sign that paperwork sooner rather than later, and we definitely have to have a full day of practice with the taping of the video coming up so soon. But if we could get the day off after that– My mind comes up with the best way to get to know our Soulmate and have a night to unwind. "I just got a brilliant idea."

Jaeyeon-hyung almost snorts before he lets out a sigh instead, a response I am greatly familiar with although I usually hear it from his older twin or Gamon-hyung. Which of course means that I am definitely not surprised in the slightest by the way he responds to me. "Of course you did."

When Gamon-hyung left I debated with myself about what to do next. First I started on prepping stuff for breakfast tomorrow. I didn't know how early Lily was planning on coming over, but I wanted to make sure we had enough food to feed all of us in case she was an early riser. That consideration had merit when you considered the fact that she had been working at a café. I pause my pantry search as something occurs to me. What if she doesn't like Korean cuisine? Tonight we didn't really talk about much of anything, and most of the reason was simply because she didn't want to only include Minsookie and Gamon-hyung in a conversation that Jiseongie would only understand part of, and that Jaeyeonie and I would be completely left in the dark about. It wasn't that she didn't want Minsookie or Gamon-hyung to translate; she simply didn't want them to learn something about her that we would have to wait on the translation for.

That moment told me a lot about her character. In fact, it made me realize that we probably had very similar personalities. She was thinking of everyone's feelings, and I tend to do the same before I make any sort of decision. I change tactics and open the main refrigerator door to stare at the ingredients that remain. Damn it! It's going to haunt me if I don't know whether she likes Korean cuisine or not.

I consider texting Gamon-hyung to get him to ask her, but I can't even be certain they are still together at this point. After all, I've been roaming around for the past thirty minutes trying to figure out what to do. I glance at the paperwork sitting on the table. I guess I could see if I can use an app to translate the papers, and get a head start on them.

The app I selected uses the camera of my phone and on screen it automatically translates any foreign languages detected to Hangul. All I have to do is choose the language of the document from a drop down menu so the algorithm knows what it is looking for. It takes a while to find the proper angle to be able to fit the whole paper on screen. Afterward I huffed out my realization that wasn't the way to go about it, because the paper is zoomed out too far and the app can't decipher the English words from this distance.

I frown as I try to find the perfect distance for the app to read as much text as possible. Unfortunately, due to the amount of text on the paper that breaks off the Hangul characters mid sentence. Therefore what little I can translate makes about as much sense as it does to me in English.

I hear a knock come from down the hall where our bedrooms are located. I consider going to see what is up, but I feel so defeated that I simply rest my head down on the table. Maybe I should have requested a digital copy of the paperwork in hangul. I suppose I could always do that tomorrow.

I don't know how long I lay there before my three dongsaengs find me like that. First Minsookie and Jaeyeonie, and only minutes later Jiseongie. The first two gush on and on about wanting to have the day after tomorrow off. Jiseongie is the first to realize I haven't moved from my prone position. "Hyung? What's wrong?" I sit up and rather than answer him I glare at the paperwork. "Did you find something in the paperwork you disagree with? Are they trying to limit Lily's interaction with us?" Jiseongie asks. That's when I realize how worried he sounds. I glance at the other two first, and they are trying to discreetly pantomime something to me. It takes me a second to realize they are trying to tell me without words that he just got off the phone with Dr. Gal.

I quickly reassure him. "No, Jiseongie, that's not it. I wasn't able to translate it easily with the app I was using. It was frustrating, and I was feeling defeated because of it. I don't know what the paperwork says, but should it say anything like that we won't stand for it. We will do something to make it right." Then I turn to the others to try to change the subject. "Now, what is this about wanting the day after tomorrow off?"

Before Minsookie and Jaeyeonie can explain, the door opens.

I've been replaying the discussion I had with Lily before leaving her former hotel room. I was thrilled to know that she was most likely a virgin, and that one of us would be her first. That also meant the five of us would be her only lovers. I was excited by the idea of watching her as she learns what she likes at the touch of my hands, my lips, and my tongue. Of course the problem with thinking about that was it put a lot of photographic ideas in my head. Photographic? More like practically pornographic. It's definitely not a good idea to think along these lines right now.

Then somehow my mind flipped the subject to the other side of the situation. What would she think of my sexual history? No, not just mine, but those of us that have had partners in our past? Would she react poorly? I've had a few lovers over the years, and one was even before I became a trainee. I hope she won't be upset about the idea of the three of us who didn't wait. Jaeyeonie and I are probably the only two who know for certain that Juahie was saving himself for his Soulmate, and Jiseongie is a late bloomer. His mind, until the past year or two, was just as stunted maturity-wise as his body. It's probably a good thing he was a late bloomer though, because due to his history I think waiting for his Soulmate would be the right move.

I caught the tail end of Juahie's question. I'm not sure who it is directed at for certain until Minsookie responds. "I was thinking we could have a slumber party with Lily tomorrow night. Get to know each other and play some games."

"You do realize that will only work if we all get the injection tomorrow at some point?" Jiseongie asks with a smirk.

"Evil maknae!" Minsookie hisses at him, but I am not the only one who catches how pale Minsookie seemed to get.

"I'll consider it." I respond, but not letting on that the shots are already scheduled to be administered first thing tomorrow morning. "First, Juahie and I need to go through this paperwork together. We have to be at the company building by 9 am tomorrow so we all should probably start winding down for the night and try to get some rest."

Once Minsookie, Juahie, and Jiseongie leave the room Juahie turns to me with a smirk. "We didn't have to be there that early originally. You already scheduled the injections at that time didn't you?"

"Not me. Junghee-hyung did." I respond with an equally devious smirk.

"Good. I don't like not being able to understand her, and I know it's probably frustrating to her as well." Juahie confides in me.

"I'm sorry. I feel like I have been hogging her attention. It's been one day and I have been unintentionally monopolizing her time." I apologize.

Juahie shakes his head. "Pretty soon you are going to be busy with all your responsibilities as our leader. I, for one, think it's a good thing you got to spend so much time with her. Once we start going to film the music programs for Devil's Luck you will be really preoccupied."

"Damn. You're right." I frown. I need to get my mind off of that now. I look down at the paperwork. "Let's get through this. I want to say I don't believe they would do anything sneaky, but they did try to transfer Minsookie from Alluvion without talking to him about it first." I find myself saying.

"That was probably more on Ru Naehyeon than anyone else."

I notice that Juahie dropped the honorific and I can't help but think that it's justified. That asshole doesn't deserve any amount of respect for what he did.

"I tried to work on this paperwork myself, and all I ended up doing was getting frustrated. I was considering asking for a digital copy in hangul tomorrow." Juahie admits.

I shake my head and suck air between my teeth, creating almost a hissing sound as I think for a moment. "Let's see if the two of us can make sense of this together first. If it starts to feel like too much work, then we will ask for the digital copy instead."

"What do you think about Minsookie's plan?" Juahie asks me instead of focusing on the paperwork.

I don't mention that I think it's a good one. Instead I say, "I think I should let Junghee-hyung know about it sooner rather than later, so he can try to rearrange our schedule around it. I'll ask him about it in the morning, it seems a bit late to call him and ask about it tonight."

Hours after a majority of the staff had already left the company building, with at least the exception of the cleaning crew and himself, An Junghee poured over the information on his screen. It wasn't a great time for their Soulmate to fall into their laps with the schedule they had in place, but they were all perfectionists and had the new choreo down pat weeks ago. He quickly found myself re-arranging their schedule for the day after tomorrow. He wanted to let them have some time with her privately before things got too busy. Unfortunately, he couldn't completely change tomorrow's schedule with so little advance notice, and he definitely couldn't get them out of the appointment with the hair stylists on the following day, that had to be done at least a few days prior to the music video shoot in case they wanted to change up the members' hair colors for the concept. He could however see if he could get it moved back to the later part of the day. He quickly typed out an email to the head hair stylist, In Solmi.

He's surprised to get a quick response back from her. The woman in question isn't known to keep late hours unless it's during a music video shoot, or during a concert. It takes a minute for Junghee to figure out a way to word his response back so he doesn't give any hints at the true reason for the schedule adjustment. After that email is sent off, and In Solmi replies claiming she can make it work with the makeup stylists assisting as well he gets to work typing up another email. However, he uses his personal email address instead of his business one in an effort to keep this particular email more discreet.

Yun Hyungsik-ssi,

Dear friend, I have a situation of the utmost importance. If you have time tomorrow in the morning I would like to meet with you about a sensitive subject. Yes, before you ask, it involves your job, hence why I addressed you so formally, hyung. If you are still awake please call me. If you don't see this until tomorrow morning then either reply or text me just in case I am not free to talk at the time you receive it. I wait to hear from you.

An Junghee

Alluvion's manager finds himself smiling in relief when his phone starts ringing and the name on the caller ID matches his college friend.

"Given your job I think I can guess what this is about, but I will let you fill me in about it tomorrow. How about the café you love a few blocks away from work?" He asks.

Junghee infers that Hyungsik meant the Essentials Entertainment company building that he was currently sitting at. "Getting coffee there would be smart, sure. However, we should probably find a more private spot to hold the meeting."

He pauses, hissing through his teeth as he thinks that through. "Then how about we meet there just to grab ourselves a coffee before we head back to the building. It shouldn't be hard to get me through security since I am already technically on the payroll."

"I suppose that will work. I'll make sure that the current security has knowledge about your arrival, so it will be easier to manage that."

"And here I thought I was the only one of our friend group to burn the midnight oil. Don't you have a Soulmate to get home to?" Hyungsik jokingly asks.

Junghee frowns. "He's out of town on business for a few days. I don't even know where; he is being exceptionally hush hush about it all."

Junghee can hear the frown in his old friend's words as he responds. "You know you can always talk to me. I realize I'm pretty busy, but I am still your friend."

Junghee shakes his head. "I swear it's fine. I just don't like how tight lipped the two of us have to be about our jobs."

"Mm. Okay then. I'll drop it for now, but if we have time tomorrow be prepared for me to bring it back up."

I'm a little upset with myself for not having a proper banner for "3rd Person Perspective", and I will probably have to fix that at a later time.

The surname Gal means ground. I thought it would suit the psychiatrist's name well since he would be there to help ground Jiseong. The resource I used to find this information out will be linked in the comments on this paragraph.

I always found the hissing through teeth, or ssup (Google AI provided that word for me), sounded strange to me. Of course this was only because I didn't understand it. I suddenly thought of it as I was editing this chapter on the 13th, and was curious what it was. So I looked it up. It's a polite sound, similar to how Americans say Umm while they are thinking. You can find a link to where I found this information in the comments section on this paragraph.