Chapter 79: Rock This House

It’s the day of our album launch, and the launch party was tonight. During the day, we were holding a press conference and made several appearances at major music stores around Seoul. The turnout exceeded our expectations. It seems that S-Cube’s fan base has increased substantially.

We were practically bombarded by the blue and silver balloon carrying fans from our fan club, S3 Serenaded Seraphs, as we alighted from the car. They were more commonly known as Seraphs since no other clubs used this word in their name. A seraph is a winged angel with the appearance of a child. Since our fans were our guardian angels whom we serenade, the name S3 Serenaded Seraphs was chosen. The abbreviated name is also S3.

We waved quickly whenever we got out the car at each venue and were ushered into building after building by burly security guards. There were actually a shortage of minders and security guards since they’d underestimated the turnout for this album launch. We were stuck in the car for awhile at the first venue while we waited for a backup team of security to arrive.

“The special interviews on Mnet must have worked,” Skye said.

“How could they have helped? There wasn’t even anything juicy revealed,” Shoei said.

If anyone wonders why there weren’t any scandal revealing questions, it’s because Mnet’s interview questions are screened by the producers and executives at SM before they are directed to us on camera. SM takes great care in making sure the images of their artistes are not tarnished by eliminating the potentially scandalous questions from the interviewer’s list.

“I guess any publicity is good. It increased our visibility to the public,” I said.

“Don’t forget the surprise for the first 1000 people. That could be the main reason everyone’s flocking to the stores today,” Skye said.

“Yea,” Shoei laughed. “At least we have a confirmed attendance of 1000 people today.”

“Are there really 1000 people out there?” I said as I peered through the heavily tinted windows.

“Let me count,” Skye said and he started counting. “1, 2, 3, 4… wait a minute… I think I’ve counted her already. Let’s start again, 1…”

“Shuddup, Skye,” I laughed as I smacked him on his arm.

It was finally 6pm, and we rushed back home to shower and then the stylists came over with our outfits for tonight’s launch party. I’m sure most would have already guessed what the surprise for the first 1000 was. In addition to the bonus DVD in the CD box, the first 1000 fans would also have tickets to our launch party, which was to be held in an auditorium. We will be performing songs from our old albums, a few from the new album and there will be games where we will interact with the fans, a lucky draw, and a huge cake to celebrate the launch.

500 more tickets were available for purchase at the door for those who wanted to participate but missed the free tickets that came with the CD. Everyone received a door gift; a special version of the ‘Connect the Dots’ MV, which included behind the scenes footage of the filming and also the recording process.

They put me in a cute black dress with a ruffled skirt, and ankle high boots. The guys were in jeans, t-shirts and jackets, and wore leather sneakers. Skye had his hair slicked back in a sort of wet style.

“You look so proper,” I laughed.

“I am always proper,” he smirked.

“Yea… a proper nut,” I said, and he stuck his tongue out at me.

I was twirling my necklace around my finger while waiting for the cue from the PD to get out onto the stage with Skye and Shoei when Jae Joong appeared.

“Guess who,” he said as he hugged me from behind.

“Jae Joong,” I almost squealed as I turned around.

He hadn’t told me that he was coming and I thought he was too busy to come since he still had recording.

“Ch’uk’ahamnida,” he said and he kissed me.

“Ya, ya, ya…” Skye said as he walked towards us. “You messed up her lipstick,” he pointed out.

“Omo…” I exclaimed, touching my lips, and I ran off to find the makeup artist for a touch up.

“Was that reaction necessary?” Jae Joong said as I walked back towards him and Skye.

“I’m going onstage in like 5 minutes. You want me to go with my makeup messed up?”

“It wasn’t messed up. You looked fine. You always look fine.”

“And you always look gorgeous,” I pointed out.

“That’s makeup too,” he said.

“Whatever… I need more effort to look good than you do,” I said.

“Fine…” he laughed. “I’ll be around. We’ll go somewhere to celebrate after this, alright?”

“Araso,” I smiled and reached out to brush his cheek lightly as he walked off.

The stage lights dimmed, and a screen, which was lowered from the ceiling, was illuminated with graphics.

“Welcome…” a computer voice said, and 3 dots appeared on the screen. “Please connect the dots…” the voice continued, and the music started as lines stretched out on the screen to connect the dots and the final shape shattered accompanied by the sound of chimes.

As the shattered graphics settled to the bottom, some of them started rising and forming our names.

Sierra… and my picture appeared. Skye… and Skye’s picture appeared. Shoei… and Shoei’s name appeared. The fans screamed whenever a photo appeared.

“S-Cube,” the computer voice said, and our names ‘sierraskyeshoei’ kept flashing and streaming across the screen, and by now, the screams where deafening.

As soon as the computer voice said ‘S-Cube’, we appeared on the stage in a burst of lighting effects, and the music for ‘Connect the Dots’ started playing.

Shoei: Do you feel confused
Do you feel lost
Do you feel like you’re drowning in the information
Skye: Do you feel hurt
Do you feel devastated
Do you feel like you could die

Sierra: It took you that long
To connect the dots
It took you that long
To realize there was no such thing as everlasting love
[Skye: there was no such thing]
If you weren’t so dense
You might not have gotten hurt

S-Cube: There is no such thing
As a happy ending
There is no such thing
As love forever
There’re no castles built in the air
[Sierra: built in the air]
Sierra: There’re no unicorns, open up your eyes

Shoei: Do you feel the pain
Do you feel the fear
That someday, we’d be lost forever
Skye: Do you feel the ache
Do you feel the longing
Do you feel like this hell would never end

Sierra: It took you that long
To connect the dots
It took you that long
To realize there was no such thing as everlasting love
[Shoei: there was no such thing]
If you weren’t so dense
You might not have gotten hurt

S-Cube: There is no such thing
As a happy ending
There is no such thing
As love forever
There’re no castles built in the air
[Sierra: built in the air]
Sierra: There’re no unicorns, open up your eyes

Sierra: No such thing
As an honest lover
Skye: No such thing
They’d someday love another
Shoei: Open up your eyes
It has been so long
Sierra: That you’ve been, left in the dark

As the song ended, we stood there, almost breathless and deafened by the cheers from the audience. We gathered in the front and center of the stage and bowed.

“Annyeong haseyo, uri S-Cube-imnida!” we greeted to the cheers.

“We’re glad there are so many fans here tonight,” Skye said.

“Yae,” Shoei said. “Cheongmal kamsateurigoyo.”

“Without your love and support, S-Cube would not be standing here today,” I added.

“We hope everyone has a great time tonight!” Skye shouted, and everyone cheered like crazy.

We had some games where volunteers from the audience came up on stage to play some games with us, while the rest watched. For one of the games, we tied Skye to a board and blindfolded the volunteer. She was then asked to throw paintballs at Skye, who was dressed in a raincoat to protect his clothes. If she manages to hit Skye, he was supposed to grant her 1 wish. Once we had everything in place, we yelled for her to start throwing. She was given five paintballs in total, but she only needed 3. The first two sailed past Skye, and the 3rd one hit him squarely in the stomach.

“Arrrggghhh,” Skye groaned, but could not bend over since he was tied up.

We laughed hysterically as we untied him, and despite being in pain, he was laughing along with us. Once he got the raincoat off, he lifted up his shirt to survey the damage and that brought on deafening shrieks and squeals from the fans. The girl got her wish, which was to be carried down the stage and to her seat by Skye, and then serenaded to with Skye on his knees. Luckily for Skye, she was tiny and slim.

We performed a few more songs for the fans and then we had the lucky draw. The prizes were 3 MP3 players loaded with all our songs and an exclusive bonus track, which was a special message recorded by S-Cube and the grand prize was a mobile phone. Inside the mobile phone were 3 individual video recordings of us, giving our personal message to the winner.

After giving out the lucky draw prizes, they wheeled out a huge cake for us to cut. We stood on either side of the cake with a knife each, in our hands, and counted to 3 before we cut it. As soon as I put down my knife, Skye slapped a handful of cream on my face, and so began our food fight. Shoei and I chased Skye down the stage into the throng of fans waiting below and we pinned him to the ground to slather the cream all over his face. When we were done with Skye, I wiped the remainder of the cream onto Shoei’s face, and started running back towards the stage, giggling all the way.

We sang one last song for everyone, ‘I’m sorry, I love you’, and called it a night after waving good bye to all the fans. As we walked off the stage into the backstage area, we had an unexpected guest; Darren from Helix.

“Ch’uk’ahamnida,” he said as he handed me a bouquet of flowers.

“What brings you here?” Skye asked him as he gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

“Just to congratulate you guys on the 3rd album released,” he smiled.

“Thanks,” Shoei said and started walking off. “I’m gonna go wash this cream off.”

“I’m coming too,” Skye said.

“What about you?” Darren said as he looked at me.

“I’m pretty clean,” I grinned. “Did you see Jae Joong? He was supposed to be hanging out around here.”

“I saw him out the back. He said he’d be back in after he’d finish answering a call.”

“Okay,” I smiled. “Nice flowers, thanks,” I said.

“Glad you like them. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, actually.”

“I’m not really a flower person. But any gift is appreciated,” I laughed.

“You don’t like flowers?” he asked me.

“I think they’re a waste of money, since they wither and dry up. I always tell Jae Joong not to buy flowers.”

“Then what does he give you on anniversaries and birthdays?”

“Jewelry,” I winked.

“Ah… smart move,” he chuckled. “Diamonds are a girls’ best friend, huh?”

“Yep…” I laughed.

“I guess all girls are the same,” he said as he raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not true… Honestly, a card would be enough. Or even just a minute of attention.”

“A minute of attention?”

“Yea… just a hug and a kiss is enough for me. If you wanna show me how much you love me. I’m an affection junkie,” I laughed.

“You mean like this?” he said and he grabbed my face and kissed me before I could react.

I was frozen solid when he kissed me. It was totally unexpected and completely out of character. Then again, I hardly knew him. So why was he kissing me? He smiled as he pulled away, and that was when I came to my senses.

“Darren,” I stammered. “What the hell was that?” I asked him.

“Tell you another day. Gotta go,” he said, and he walked out.

I turned around as he walked past and behind me stood Jae Joong. I will never forget the expression on his face. It was worse than the expressions he used to have when he saw Yun Ho and me publicly displaying our affections. This was the look of betrayal. I had just hurt him terribly.

“Jae Joong,” his name escaped my lips, but I could not continue. How the hell am I gonna explain to him what had just happened?

[Darren’s POV]

I smirked to myself as I walked past Kim Jae Joong. The look on his face was priceless. I licked my lips as I walked out the back door. She tasted of the cream from the cake they were messing around with; sweet. She wasn’t that bad… not bad at all.

Power couple… you’re both going down.