Chapter 25: Would You Stay For Tea? (Monday POV)
First Posted On: 8th November 2021
Last Updated On: 8th November 2021
T/N: This takes place on 13th October 2020 and 22nd October 2020. And yes, the title is inspired by that Hello Venus song.
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When you attend a showcase with a lot on your mind, that itself presents a challenge: to remain professional. Finding out we were returning to the same place where the fire scare happened and how Hyunjin unnie saved us back then surely left me shocked. However, I got over that.
Still, fate must be cruel because how could I concentrate when Heejin sunbaenim suddenly breaks the news that Hyunjin is missing? I don't know what the circumstances were, but the fact she ran off just did not sit well with me. Although I promised Heejin that I will help find her beloved aeong, I knew the odds were stacked against me since Weeekly's comeback showcase was less than 24 hours away.
Prepare and film for the showcase I did. And then you wouldn't expect Hyunjin to just show up like *poof* "Hi Jimin I reappeared to say hi to you!" One of us must be losing our marbles then...
That wasn't even the most immediate problem...
"Jimin ah!" 엄마 called out to me. "You met Hyunjin here? Do you two already know each other?"
Seeing my own mother here was a huge and welcomed surprise, no doubt. All the members' parents came. What confused me was why Hyunjin came with my mother in the first place. I know she explained to me...but I could not deny the fact that fate certainly is making us meet in unexpected ways.
"엄마!" I greeted her openly but not directly answering her question. "What a surprise to see you here!"
"Yes Mrs. Kim we have met before." Hyunjin suddenly revealed and I looked at her quizzically.
"Aww that's sweet," my omma grinned tenderly. "From her first impression I thought you guys could hit off well. She's also older than you, so she makes for a good sisterly figure for you."
I noticed she was hooked on the whole sister thing...ever since I told her I wanted answers about Jin Jin.
(-Flashback: August 2020-)
After Weeekly's 'We Are' promotions ended, the agency rewarded us with a much-needed break to visit our families before commencing the 'We Can' promotions. Finally, it was the one opportunity I had to ask my parents about my missing sister, Jin Jin.
I needed answers. Cryptic or not.
During that week I returned home, 엄마 was the only one there because 아빠 was stuck overseas due to the pandemic. Being an only child, I needed to support my family while promoting as a KPop idol. But to be worried about Jin Jin as well...sigh life is tough.
(A/N: Assume that Monday is an only child in this fanfic and her in-real-life sibling is not featured in this fanfic)
"엄마...tell me then..." I decided to ask my mother that inevitable question.
"Tell you about...?" she tried delaying but probably sensed who I was referring to.
"Jin Jin," I bluntly replied. "I want to know everything about her, 엄마."
"Jimin ah..." she was solemn. "I cannot simply tell you about her because I am afraid to lose you too. That is why we had to hide this truth for so long..."
"It's the only way I can find Jin Jin though..." I expressed my intentions. "I want to find my sister and bring her back to the family. Isn't that what we all want?"
엄마 surely felt the same as she nodded. However, she further told me that she and 아빠 had their hands tied because of their fear of losing me.
"Losing me to whom?" I did not understand. "Have I not been with you for the last 18 years?"
"We do not want the same thing to happen to you, Jimin," my mother became stern. "We do not want that kidnapper taking you away like how they took Jin Jin away."
I understood her concern, but I still probed, "It's actually about my trauma, right? You know that I will stop at nothing to get her back because she took the pain instead of me. You are just worried my trauma will return, right?"
She was silent. But I had indeed proven my point.
"I had visions of that incident sometimes," I revealed to my mother. "I was crying out for Jin Jin. She was crying out for me: Minnie or Min Min. We must have fought to try and save ourselves, but Jin Jin made the sacrifice."
엄마 was not facing me now, but I guessed she had tears in her eyes. I kind of regret reminding her about how her eldest daughter was taken away from her, and all because I wanted to resolve this matter by saving Jin Jin.
"I get it..." I sighed. "You are protecting me from the bad guy."
Her response after that only left more questions, as she said: "More than just a bad guy."
(-Flashback End-)
Of course, I would later find out that because someone tampered with the evidence about Jin Jin, that person, most likely her kidnapper, must have targeted us for a reason. It justifies my parents' actions of overprotectiveness.
"Sister...?" I spoke to my mother again. "엄마 there's a time to discuss these things..."
Hyunjin then gave me an unreadable look before telling me, "It's ok, I'll keep her company. After that I'll return to my dorm and explain to the rest what happened to me. Besides, you should return to your members; they need you most right now."
That brought back memories of those words some three months ago.
Please be with your group right now; you need Weeekly the most.
Oh, how time flies.
Eventually, I reunited with the Weeekly members and our showcase went ahead without a hitch.
(- Nine Days Later -)
After a week of promoting 'Zig Zag', we were ready to attempt another series of promotions for another song in our album. And for today's schedule, we were at 'MCountdown' once again. We were more eager to perform for this stage since we have now gained renewed confidence after our successful debut.
Well...one of us was more eager than the others to be at MCountdown later.
"Breathe, Han Jihyo... Breathe Han Jihyo..." a certain bunny in our group was unable to keep her composure.
"I know she's an ENFP..." Jiyoon whispered to me, "but do they always have that much energy they become nervous before a momentous occasion?"
"Well...Chuu sunbaenim is a veteran ENFP so she knows how it feels," I stated the fact. "Besides, I am looking forward to Jihan and Chuu sunbaenim interacting on stage."
Yes, just over a week into our comeback, Jihan was given a special MC opportunity as part of MCountdown's Global Crew. She will be MC-ing with Daehwi and Chuu sunbaenims, and because of the latter, Jihan has not been calm since this morning.
Jihan was called over to the stage to prepare for special MC duties. I gave her a quick 화이팅 gesture before joining the members. During that time, I also realised that this particular MCountdown episode will mark another event:
LOONA's comeback stage for 'Why Not'.
That also meant Hyunjin and I will be in the same building.
"Are you planning on saying hello to 2Jin?" Soojin unnie's voice suddenly broke my daze.
"I got my one and only 'Jin' here," I teased her. "But for reals...I probably should, right?"
Thankfully, the members were too busy with the comeback to ask questions about Heejin's visit the other day. What's more, our resident Orbit, Jihan, was too obsessed with Olivia Hye and Chuu to be reminded about Heejin. Therefore, I was relieved it was only my trustworthy leader, Soojin, who talked to me about LOONA.
"You know, finding Jin Jin aside," Soojin put her arm around my shoulder, "I think their dynamic is kinda similar to ours."
"Daileees call us MoonYang, don't they?" I chuckled at the thought of our representative celestial bodies. Yes, we also have an official fandom name and we celebrate its 2nd monthsary tomorrow!
For the programme order, LOONA will be performing before us. Expectantly, we watched from the TV in our waiting room as our favourite sunbaenims took centre stage and performed 'Why Not' for the first time:
Between the 6 of us, we knew Jihan was probably squealing somewhere in the building. Secretly, I too was keeping my eyes glued towards Hyunjin unnie. Having watched their MV when it was released, I could not get over how flawless 2Jin's dance cover was.
"Take it to the right, take it to the left, dance all night 마음 가는 대로~!" I sang on cue and was rewarded with looks of admiration from the members.
"Wow Jimin is really~ good at rap!" Soeun was impressed.
"About time you get on my level, Soeun," I challenged her.
Eventually, it was time to get ready for our comeback stage; changing to our Zig Zag outfits and having our makeup done. The staff were also filming scenes for another weee:kloud release so there was bound to be more goofs ahead.
After having a little hug with maknae Zoa, I performed my voice warm-ups to the camera, repeatedly saying: "Warm-up exercise (목 풀어보기)~".
"Yes that's good," Jaehee interrupted my melodious voice which made me playfully pout and mess up her hair.
By now, Jihan returned from a short stint of MC-ing to prepare for our comeback stage. She had been buzzing about standing on the same stage as Chuu sunbaenim and like the members, she was equally excited to see LOONA make their comeback on MCountdown.
Seeing her happy for LOONA made me smile too. However, the memories of Hyunjin's surprise appearance at our comeback showcase were still bothering me. Moreover, she accidentally met my mother of all people. Strangely enough, even my mother felt natural around her. It was as if they already knew each other, and yet-
"WEEEKLY STANDBY!" the PD called us. All those thoughts about Hyunjin would have to wait. Before I knew it, my mind was focused on the ever-important comeback stage with 'Zig Zag':
Weeekly needed to catch a quick break after the Zig Zag stage because we had to do another special stage in a separate studio. As the staff were still filming for weee:kloud, I spoke to the camera, "For our dance challenge, to celebrate TWICE sunbaenim's 5th anniversary, we're honoured to be dancing to 'Yes or Yes' *applause*. I went to school, and on the way there, I kept singing to myself...I can't wait to film it! Daileee, Weeekly and my 'Yes or Yes'; please look forward to it!"
I gave a cheeky wave to the camera before we had to make our way to the studio for that recording of 'Yes or Yes'. However, before going, we had to pick a hairband to wear for the dance challenge. Naturally, I picked the one with cat ears because that is my unofficial representative animal. Although...it did bring brief memories of THAT blood-stained hairband I owned. Oh well...no turning back.
Getting to the studio meant we had to pass by LOONA's waiting room so I was hoping I could get a glance inside and greet Hyunjin unnie. Sure enough, LOONA was still inside and thanks to a window from the corridor, I was able to make eye contact with Hyunjin. I waved to her and she nodded back in acknowledgement.
With my mind at ease, I joined the Weeekly members and we filmed our dance challenge smoothly.
After that ended, it was time to return to our waiting room for our post-MCountdown greeting for weee:kloud. Soojin unnie and I lagged behind as we helped each other take photos with each others' hairband. Once that was done, Soojin rushed back first and I was just about to follow her when an unexpected visitor showed up in the studio.
"Jimin..." it was Hyunjin unnie. The heck, how did she find us?
"Hyunjin unnie..." I answered her. "You saw our performance?"
Her eyes turned their attention to my hairband. Ah right, I was still wearing it.
"Oh, don't worry this wasn't intentional," I took off the cat ear hairband I was wearing. "But it's cute, isn't it?"
"Sure is," she smiled. "Actually I wanted to ask you a favour..."
Expectantly, I replied, "Anything for Hyunjin unnie."
I had no explanation for why my tone is changing in front of my saviour(?) from a few months back, but her reply was only making my life more puzzling.
"Would you stay for tea?" Hyunjin stared at me with beady eyes.
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A/N: That was a sudden request, but how is Monday going to respond to that? Also, what might her mother know about Hyunjin?
Ok, I must explain that this is probably one of the filler-content chapters because I want to use this as a springboard for the next Hyunjin-Monday interaction. The fact that Weeekly and LOONA's comebacks were so close means good content, thus the number of youtube video links to their comeback stages.
If you think about it, this title also carries a bit of a double meaning. I guess they are going to spill some tea (pun pun). At the same time, I wonder how their involvement in the police investigations is going?
Coincidentally, this chapter comes at the same time as Weeekly's 500th day since debut! They've come a long way indeed~ Also, a special dedication for this chapter goes to among2 for their support for this fanfic! Hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
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