Cho Miyeon was standing right ahead of them holding a pair of speakers on both her hands and a confused look on her innocent face.
“Mi-Miyeon-unnie…?” Soojin breathed as she brushed a bunch of her bangs caught on sweat.
“Are you two okay? You both look pale,” Miyeon replied softly and began to walk towards their direction. Y/N suddenly felt conscious of how he looked, and prayed that he didn’t bore any signs of the previous excursion with Soojin.
“Y-Yes n-noona we’re fine. We’re fine r-right?” Y/N replied nervously and then he eyed Soojin, of which she returned with an equally confused expression.
“Y-Yes we’re o-okay of course! There’s nothing wrong here unnie,” smiled Soojin. “What are you doing here?”
“Well I heard noises and I decided to check it out.”
N-Noises…?
DID SHE HEAR US DO ALL THAT STUFF IN THERE? WHAT THE FUCK
Soojin and Y/N exchanged nervous looks through their peripherals, and the three of them sat in awkward silence for a few seconds until Soojin broke through, the slight tremble on her voice certainly showed how uncomfortable she was.
“Unnie, umm, what… noises did you hear, exactly?”
“I heard a loud crash when I was just passing by to return these speakers to the production room. I decided to check on it, and it surprised me that you and Y/N-nim are actually here. Why are you two doing here anyway?”
“Well, we… umm… “Y/N began, but his panic was getting the best of him as he entirely lost the ability to make a really convincing excuse.
“We were fixing the chairs. One of the production managers asked for our help when he passed by and he… well he left a few moments ago while we dealt with the chairs,” Soojin managed to make up, supplying the elder Idle member with a convincing smile.
“Yes right,” Y/N continued and tried to give Miyeon the same kind of face that Soojin was wearing. “We were fixing chairs… Yes we definitely are.”
“So the crash was caused by the chairs? How are you two? Did any of you got hurt by any chance?” Miyeon said, supplying them a look of concern.
“Hurt…? Oh yeah, Soojin kind of stumbled on her foot when the chairs fell. We’re about to get back at the dorm to get it cured, maybe treating it with ice or something.”
Soojin wide-eyed Y/N before jumping into the ride with him, “Y-yes unnie, I kinda hit myself with the chair, or the chair hit me. I don’t know but the point is I got hit. Y/N-oppa here was a bit… forceful, but everything is okay unnie.”
“Do you need my help by any chance, manager-nim? I can easily bring this to the staff room and assist you back here,” Miyeon suggested.
“N-no noona, we’re fine here! I can manage Soojin and it’s not that bad anyway. We just need to be careful.”
“Are you sure?”
Soojin nodded.
Once again, the three of them shrouded themselves in silence once more. Miyeon awkwardly waited for the pair to walk past her first, unaware that both Y/N and Soojin completely thought of the same thing. Thanks to that, they were left standing there with the awkwardness of the situation before them, Miyeon slightly swaying on her place, Y/N staring squarely at the ceiling beyond, and Soojin puckering her lips as she stood barefoot on the cold tiled floor.
“Unnie,” Soojin softly breathed.
“Yes?”
“Is the crashing of the chairs the only noise you heard?”
What? Why are you asking her THAT right now?
“Huh? Yeah. It was what drew me here on the first place, why?”
“Oh… nothing unnie…”
“Is there any other noise I should’ve heard?”
Soojin wide eyed her for a moment. “Umm… I-I sort of yelped weirdly when the chair fell… “She then supplied her with an awkward grin. “It was kind of embarrassing if someone managed to hear how… noisy that was.”
“Aww, you’re such a baby Soojin,” Miyeon mused and supplied her with a smile. “Y/N-oppa, please take Soojin back at the dorm, our little baby’s foot wants to get treated already.”
Y/N nodded shyly. “Yes n-noona.”
“Okay then, I’ll go ahead. I’ll just see you at the dorm okay? Please take care.” Miyeon smiled before darting off back at the door at the entrance of the hallway and then disappearing on the door ahead.
“We just managed to pull that off, I can’t believe it,” Soojin sighed as soon as Miyeon closed the door upon leaving.
“Why did you ask her about the noise thing?”
“Oppa, I needed to be sure. I can’t remember how much moaning I was doing because of how good you were,” Soojin said, winking at him in the process.
Y/N blushed.
“You know what; maybe we should get back to the dorm before anyone else sees us. We managed to get through Miyeon noona quite narrowly so we shouldn’t push our luck that much.”
Y/N nodded and began to walk towards the door where Miyeon disappeared, but stopped as soon as he didn’t feel Soojin move after him. He turned his gaze and saw Soojin standing perfectly where she was a while back and didn’t even dare move a single inch while she supplied Y/N with a devilish smile once more.
“Soojin, we should be going,” Y/N addressed.
“I know oppa, but maybe you should carry me. I have a sprained foot remember? We need to make our act as convincing as it could be right? Besides, would you actually let me walk all the way back to the dorm barefoot like this?”
Y/N sighed before walking back towards her. “I can’t win against you now, can I? Let’s get going.”
Soojin winked at him as he carried her on her waist and at the back of her knees, bridal style.
---
Thankfully the rest of the girls didn’t made the whole Soojin-was-carried-by-manager-nim when we went back at the dorm (of course not escaping the sharp yet naughty gazes of Soyeon herself) and they all decided to dismiss the ordeal. It was better believed when it was Miyeon-noona herself who confirmed of everything that happened once she came back from the floors below. Of course Soojin and I had to put up a fake act of me trying to treat her foot, but the ensuing private time we spent on the bathroom was occupied merely with her occasionally seducing me with her foot.
We no longer had to endure longer periods of spending time with each other (something I’m not overly fond of considering what just happened last night) thanks to the rest of Idle ordering food for dinner. I was left with Yuqi and Minnie setting up the table while Miyeon, Shuhua, and Soyeon went to fetch the food. Soojin was seated on the couch to put up with her act and make it believable.
“So oppa, dining with you felt forever since we’ve been busy the entire tour,” spoke Minnie as she laid the plates over the table. “How does it feel dining without us for such a long time now?”
“It feels odd, that’s for sure. I’m so used to being with you girls here that when you left the dorm felt awfully empty.”
“Well, we can’t say we’re back at our normal set-up,” Yuqi said. “We have the comeback after all and we’re sure it would only be a matter of time before things go busy again.”
“So I’ve heard. I’ve been fixing your schedules and there are a lot of activities coming your way. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be worth it anyway, given how much work you girls have put into it.”
“Yeah well we’re really making sure everything’s on top of the game. We also need to thank you oppa, if it wasn’t for your efforts all our show schedules would be a lot different,” Minnie mused.
“Manager’s been talking how much of help you’ve been since the company hired you. I don’t think we’ve thank you that much with how much work you’ve done for all of us,” added Yuqi.
“I’m a huge fan of how hardworking oppa can be,” finished Soojin, turning towards us and smiling.
That smile. That damned smile.
“Hey, you girls are all flattering me, but I think of this more of a privilege more than a job. I like what I’m doing and I’ve experienced a lot of things because of you six.”
Soojin giggled and caught the attention of Minnie and Yuqi.
“Sorry, I just remembered something,” she explained, but with that smile of hers she’s completely thinking of something else.
“It’s funny how we’ve all done a lot of moments together, I mean oppa even took a knife for Yuqi,” Minnie said.
“Yah…! Unnie don’t put it that way. Oppa was hurt that one time and it’s because of me.”
“Yuqi it’s okay. Besides, I think that whole ordeal was my fault anyway,” I answered.
“I can’t help but feel guilty though, Y/N-oppa.”
“I engaged him out of adrenaline. It’s my fault I got stabbed. Anyway, that was too long ago now Yuqi, don’t worry about it.”
Yuqi fell silent and gazed towards me.
“Think of it this way: since my parent’s won’t let me get a tattoo, but with this scar here there’s something that would eternally remind me of the time I spent with you guys. Don’t worry Yuqi, I know it might be something that’s been bugging you but don’t worry about it now. Everything’s okay.”
“That’s a pretty touching testament, Y/N if you put it that way,” said Minnie.
“Weird, but touching nevertheless,” added Soojin.
Yuqi smiled, and this was the first time I saw her eyes shine like that every time we uncovered that incident with the stalker. I just wish she’d be fine with it because everything’s really fine. It was my idea to get her there anyway, so it’s primarily my fault.
A few moments later, a soft beep emitted from the door with the figures of Soyeon, Miyeon, and Shuhua emerging from it, holding a lot of paper bags and boxes from different restaurants and eateries.
“WOW THAT’S A LOT. IT’S LIKE A FEAST ONCE AGAIN,” Yuqi said, admiring the lot.
I immediately rushed towards them and assisted as they placed the food on the table.
“Shuhua ordered a lot apparently, and most of the food here are of course because of her insistence,” informed Soyeon.
“I’m craving for a lot of things. It’s something I want to eat as much as I could before we all get busy,” Shuhua explained, supplying it with a very wide smile.
“You know what, let’s just eat. I’m hungry already and Oppa is sharing a really good story here,” Minnie said.
“What? I was?”
---
I offered to clean the dishes after we just spent an hour or two of talking and laughing altogether. Most of the dinner’s talking was centered on all the mischiefs they were pulling on each other before their debut, including awkward throwbacks regarding how shy each member was back then. Despite knowing then for a few months already, it felt relaxing to see them talk about their pasts like that, somehow I could relate on how they were before I got into their lives.
While I was washing the dishes I could still hear them teasing each other as they made their way to do their own business before sleeping. After finishing the dishes I sat on the counter and I busied myself on answering Manager Lee’s emails through my phone, and that was the time when I realized that the TV was still left on despite the chaos the six did when they left the dining room.
I dried my hands and walked towards the living room, only to see the figure of Miyeon-noona sitting on the couch, wearing an oversized shirt extending all the way down towards her thighs, covering what I assumed to be extremely short shorts.
“Miyeon-noona,” I greeted her. “You’re not going to sleep yet?”
She hung her head and met eyes with me. “Oh Y/N-nim; I don’t think I will yet. I slept a lot and figured I’m not in a sleeping mood for now; maybe a bit later, how about you, manager-nim?”
I was about to actually but then, I figured I could use someone to talk to.
“I overslept earlier today too and woke up to something… incredible, and a lot of things happened after that so I think I’d stay here too.”
“Hey, oppa you don’t need to join me if you’re already sleepy.”
“No it’s fine. I could leave If you like.”
I pretended to walk towards my room while supplying her with a toothy grin.
“I’m joking oppa, go seat here if you like.” Miyeon said, laughing.
I took the seat opposite her as she placed her phone beside her.
“How’s Soojin’s foot?”
“Soojin’s foot…?”
What is she talking about?
“Oh Soojin’s foot, right, umm it is fine. I assume that she’s completely healed by morning. It wasn’t that much of a hit but she just can’t put pressure on it when it got hit like that.”
“I hope she’s fine for tomorrow. We’ll be finalizing the choreo and here I am not yet sleeping.”
“How’s the comeback so far noona? How are you guys dealing with it? I haven’t seen or heard anything about it aside from the papers and through the computer screens.”
“Everything’s doing fine oppa,” Miyeon replied. “Although the choreo’s doing a bit on me, here look”
Miyeon-noona raised the left sleeve of her shirt to reveal a small trail of bruises.
“Oh, what happened there, noona?”
“We were practicing our blocking for the dance and I think I miscalculated and stood beside Soojin during one of the hand choreos and she unintentionally punched me.”
“Does it still hurt noona?”
“It’s okay oppa. Bruises are normal when we’re practicing like this and when the comeback is on such early stages like this. I’ll be fine and it could easily be covered by make-up when we do it on stage anyway.”
I nodded, and since I’m not sure what to reply to her, I just sat there with her in silence for a few seconds.
“Manager-nim,” Miyeon began. “It just hit me: this is our first time talking like this right?”
“Is it? Oh yes noona I think you’re right. I’m so accustomed to talking and going on all sorts of adventures with the other girls I figured we haven’t talked privately for the past months.”
“It’s okay if you admit you don’t like me here oppa.”
“Hey noona don’t use my own joke against me, please.”
We both laughed.
“Don’t worry about that Manager-nim. I’m always either out of the dorm or sleeping so I don’t really blame you for not being able to talk to me that often. Also, the opportunities just don’t present themselves for us to talk like that right?”
“It’s a good thing then that I took this time to sit and talk with you noona, just don’t sleep on my because I don’t want to carry you back to your room.”
Miyeon-noona smiled. “There isn’t that much of an age gap between us right oppa? Maybe you should just cut the noona part. It makes me feel older than I already am and I don’t think we should be too formal with each other.”
“Well, don’t call me oppa then Miyeon because it feels weird.”
“I like calling you oppa, oppa. It’s what everyone else calls you. As far as we’re concerned, Y/N will always be (G) I-dle’s number one oppa and manager.”
“That’s cute if you put it that way.”
“I’m cuter though.”
What did she just say?
Before I could ask her to repeat what she just said, Miyeon was just smiling and face palming herself, apparently embarrassed and equally surprised as I was with what she just said, and emitting that weird noise she makes whenever she’s done something awkward.
I’m not even sure if she’s even trying but she’s really cute when she’s doing that. The expression perfectly complements her innocent face.
“L-let’s just forget I did that,” Miyeon replied, turning bright pink. “Let’s talk about how the past months had been with your stay with us oppa, tell me how it feels living with us.”
“Okay then, noona-I mean Miyeon- let’s start with that. Umm, so far things are going pretty well. I like what I’m doing, and I think it more of a privilege than a job with how much I get to enjoy doing it. Well at first I was surprised and a bit culture shocked with how open and how crazy you girls are when you are together, but as time came by I came looking for it.”
Miyeon laughed quite heartily while covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry oppa, please go on.”
“Yeah when you guys went off for the tour and I was left here, it felt really weird. I was homesick and would often go home to mom and dad at few occasions because I literally did nothing but busy myself with work. I even went as far as helping Manager Lee do some of the schedules for Pentagon and CLC with how much I wanted to distract myself.”
“You’re really hardworking oppa.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound that I’m bragging.”
“Oh please, I don’t mind really. Besides with work heavily thought and planned like that you thoroughly deserve to brag it from the way I see it oppa. So what are the moments that you won’t forget during your stay here?”
Definitely losing my virginity to Soojin; nothing else can top that.
I’m kidding. There’s no way I can tell that to her now can I?
“Well, I’d say there was a lot. Moments, with an s, yes that’s right. I’d first include the first time that Soojin talked to me when you all went ahead to race back at the dorm…”
Miyeon laughed again but beckoned him to continue telling the story.
“And since she was the only person left with me, she opted to talk to me about it and it felt weird talking to an idol like that especially for a first timer. Although I can’t remember how it felt given how close I was with Soojin nowadays.
“Then there was that moment with Minnie-noona on the pool; I was tired of all the work I had when I saw her there and we went for a swim. It was nice to talk to her like that and all, able to vent all my exhaustion on the pool with someone to talk to like that. If it wasn’t for the dream I had-“
Shit maybe I shouldn’t be going to ahead of myself and speak of too much details about that.
“What dream?” Miyeon asked, eyeing me with curiosity
“Oh it was nothing; I just mistook it for something else. Then there’s that incident with Yuqi and the stalker. That was seriously one of the stupidest things I’ve done on my entire life.”
“What made you say so oppa?”
“Well, I won’t be stabbed like that if I just didn’t go all noble and told Yuqi of my master plan. I can’t believe I dragged her in that situation and even endangered her life like that. I’m surprised the agency didn’t fire me because of my neglect and stupidity.”
“But oppa, Yuqi felt really grateful after that you know. She always felt guilty because you took a knife for her, but when we talk about it you could see that there’s always that special place on her heart for what you did. To top it all, you even managed to bring the stalker behind bars and that’s one less threat for Yuqi in the future. You did a good job oppa, don’t be hard on yourself.”
“Thanks Miyeon-noona- I mean Miyeon. Well then with that I was held back for the tour and surprised that Shuhua was left here during those times, and she’s one of the few people I thoroughly missed when you all left. We did a lot of things in the dorm, like gaming, cooking, going around town, and all that.”
“Oh right, Shuhua even met your eomma right?”
“Well yes, but technically it was an accident. Mom surprised us with a visit and I think that’s how everything played off. They somehow got along and knew each other and whatever they were talking about currently was already out of my reach. They seem to get along pretty well, and I’m really surprised with that.
“Then there’s Soyeon,” dammit I can’t think of Soyeon without remembering all what happened at the hotel. “That LA trip was really a treat and I was thankful she tagged me along. It was a short vacation but it was surely one of the best that happened to me for a long time. It was a nice break from work.
“And lastly, Soojin…”
Shit
“Well, Soojin and I did a lot of things together. Mostly involving the career and the entertainment and we’re really enjoying each other’s company.”
Miyeon nodded. I’m not sure if I convinced her granted I couldn’t think of anything Soojin and I did aside from our intimately shared moments.
“So, who’s your favourite member?”
“I’d pretty much say…”
I don’t really know.
“Umm…”
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I’m confused, really.
“I know who,” Miyeon said, smiling.
“Hmm…?”
“It’s Miyeon. You’re just ashamed to admit it because I’m here, “mused Miyeon and then gave a very hearty laugh before standing up. “I’m just kidding oppa. Thank you for the talk. You can still figure out who’s your most favourite member, and since you haven’t decided yet I can still catch up with them. Thanks for the company oppa, good night!”
“Good night, Miyeon.” I greeted her quite stuck in confusion as she waved away from me and disappeared towards their room.
Well, Miyeon-noona was right: who was my most favourite member?
Do I have to have a favourite member?
What are the qualities to say that I have a member that’s my ‘favourite’?
I don’t know. I’m sure I didn’t have the answer for now, but with all the work ahead of us I’m pretty sure it’ll be a while for me to decide my answer for her question.
I went back after brushing and changing clothes, and as I walk towards the bed I knew so well, I saw the jacket that Shuhua borrowed from me when she went on tour, with a small note plastered on its right shoulder.
Sorry it’s been a while, but I wanted to hand wash it. Thank you oppa
-Shushu
I left the jacket hanging there as I collapsed on my bed, leaving the rest of the question from Miyeon-noona to be dissolved through the night with a good sleep. With this oncoming promotion, maybe spending time with them would finally let me answer her. One thing was for sure: no matter what problems we may face during this promotion I’m sure as heck we could handle it.