Dearest Lizzy,
I am truly mortified with myself... so sorry... T_T I managed to finish this just yesterday... so here it is. Hope it's not too shabby =.=
Hugs!
-Sierra
******
[[S-Cube 4th Album Launch]]
Reporters: Can you give us an overview of your new album?
Shoei: It’s an album of covers of the songs that have inspired us throughout our career in music, and in life.
Sierra: We were asked to select songs that we found inspiring, songs that had influenced our emotions at one point of our lives, and songs that were our favorites.
Reporters: There has been speculation that an album of covers was done because the company was trying to save time and cut corners so that you could put out an album in time for the awards season. Any comments on that, since writing and producing new songs would have taken too much time?
Sierra: Of course new songs would require more work, but we didn’t just take these existing songs and recorded them just as they were. We used the lyrics, we used the music, but we still had to alter them so that they matched our style.
Skye: What we feel was done for this album was that we took good songs, and made them our own through adding elements that made it distinctly our sounds.
Shoei: You may have noticed that there were a lot of classics, which meant we had to update them with fresh sounds to make sure they appealed to the listeners today. We wanted to share the songs we loved, and make the process of introducing them interesting and fun.
Reporters: And what is the style concept for the new album?
Skye: We’re going for classic glamour. Most of the songs in the album are classics. Of course we have some recent hits, but you can see that they are predominantly songs from the 90s, 80s and older.
Reporters: Any comments on the MV concept? The relationships between band members in bands with men and women have always been the debate of the media. How do you feel that this was the concept chosen?
Sierra: As always, it is a controversial topic, but we would like all viewers to remember that it’s just a music video. There is no subliminal message and the main purpose is to convey the emotion and topic of the song.
Skye: We find it funny when people still manage to pick up this topic and insinuate that there is truth in it. Of course there are bands where their members end up dating each other, but ours isn’t one of them. But to make it clear so that the media does not create any misunderstandings, we’re siblings.
Reporters: Then does each and every one of you actually have active love lives? We all know that Sierra is dating Kim Jae Joong of TVXQ, but what about Skye and Shoei?
Shoei: I’m married! (laughs)
Skye: Shoei is married… as we all know. As for me, I’m still waiting for the right girl to come along. Then again, this wouldn’t be a very good time to start dating. Our careers are our focus at this time.
Reporters: Getting married soon, Sierra?
Sierra: This question is old… (smiling) Can I have the next one?
Reporters: We noticed that there is a bonus track, a solo by Sierra in this album. Is this the preview to your upcoming solo project?
Sierra: You can say it is. Skye and Shoei kind enough to allow me to slot my solo into the CD so that everyone would be able to anticipate my upcoming mini album.
Shoei: Sierra’s solo will be out in a few weeks, what better way for us to support her as band mates then to use our new album to help her get some exposure.
Reporters: We’ve received the official press release, but there’s no update on who you’re working with on this project. There are rumors on the internet that some YG artistes have been enlisted. This would be one of the rare collaborations between SM and YG artistes. Can you give us some updates on what to expect?
Sierra: Because the management was prepared for this question today, I have been authorized to reveal that we are working with YG. G-Dragon of Big Bang has been producing this mini album, and T.O.P will be featured in the title song.
Reporters: So the rumors were pretty accurate.
Sierra: Thanks to the fans who are always outside the studios. We can’t keep it a secret that G-Dragon and T.O.P have been coming and going since people have seen them show up at the studios. We had initially planned to make it a big surprise, but I guess now the only surprise left would be how the mini album will sound in the end.
Reporters: And what will be the concept of your mini album?
Sierra: That will be revealed at the launch. (pauses) I think we have talked enough about my coming solo debut, maybe we should get back to the topic of S-Cube’s new album.
Reporters: Which songs would S-Cube recommend to those who are buying the album?
Shoei: ‘Just a Feeling’ is good, and you will all have already heard ‘L.O.V.E’ on the drama ‘Girls on Top’.
Skye: ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ and ‘Suddenly’.
Sierra: My favorites are ‘Sara’, ‘The Rest of Your Life’ and ‘Spin Around’.
Skye: I think we’ve managed to find a selection of songs that were made popular in the previous decades. It will be nice to introduce some of these songs to the current music enthusiasts and to see their reactions to them.
Shoei: If everyone hates the album, then we’ll know that we have really weird tastes in music (laughs).
[Shoei’s POV]
The album launch ended pretty quickly this time, compared to the previous ones. I suppose the lack of scandals made it hard for the reporters to ask prying questions. I’d say that this album launch is the least eventful one, but hopefully there had been enough hype to push the album sales up.
“Omigod…” nuna breathed out in relief as she fell onto the couch in the holding room after the conference.
“Get your butt up,” Shi Kyung hyung said to her. “We have a radio interview to rush to.”
“Ah… hyung… just one minute,” nuna whined.
“Get up, big butt,” Skye said, and dragged nuna up by her outstretched arms.
“Shut up, you monkey,” nuna growled but let him pull her up anyway.
Nuna’s a little sensitive about her butt. Everyone knows how Jun Su of TVXQ is famous for his duck butt. Nuna is famous for her very curvy derriere. It wasn’t as evident when she debut, because she was slimmer back then. But as the years when by, and she started to put on a bit more weight, she started to get bigger hips, and her butt grew in size to match.
When the media photographing her in all those fitting qipao dresses during the awards season, the netizens started noticing and there had been a flurry of obsessive discussion about it for a long time. Eventually, the media caught on and took every opportunity to provide photos of nuna which the netizens could pick on and comment.
Some called her one of the ultimate S-line, some said she didn’t qualify because her top wasn’t ‘heavy enough’. Some said it was garish of her to wear fitting clothes, and the perverts would leave lots and lots of lewd comments on how they’d love to get their hands on her butt.
You’d think after all these comments, she’d start wearing baggy pants and long skirts to hide them, but she just ignored them and continued wearing whatever clothes she liked. She doesn’t like it when people comment on how big her butt is, but she doesn’t mind when people tell her how having a big butt makes her look good in jeans and form-fitting dresses.
We spent the rest of the day zipping around from one studio to another for various interviews. This 4th album launch was surprisingly uneventful. We got pretty tame and routine questions from most of the interviewers. It wasn’t until we got to SUKIRA that the fun really began. Ee Teuk hyung and Eun Hyuk were on duty today and they had lots of fun asking questions in the oddest ways possible, and as always, imitating us.
“So… this album is filled with oldies,” Eun Hyuk said.
“Classics… they’re called classics,” Ee Teuk corrected.
“Choesonghamnida,” Eun Hyuk said. “Classics…”
“No, no…” nuna smiled. “He’s right to say oldies… some of these songs were popular even before my parents’ time.”
“Of course it would be politically correct to refer to them as classics,” Skye interjected.
“Keuraechyeo…” Ee Teuk hyung said.
“So how did you guys decide on putting out an album filled with classics?” Eun Hyuk asked.
“Well… any artistes’ biggest dream would be to actually do the music they love. So for this album, we decided we’d share the songs we loved with our fans.”
“No offense… but are classics all you 3 listen to?” Ee Teuk asked.
“Of course not,” nuna said. “These are just the songs that planted the love for music within us. These are songs that shaped the artistes we are today. That is why we wanted to share them with our fans… to give them an idea where S-Cube got their musical roots from.”
“And some of these songs might be a far cry from the kind of music we do today, which was why we tried our best to change the way these songs are sung so that they’d sound closer to S-Cube’s current works. We tried to make sure the fans wouldn’t feel that the songs sounded too foreign from the genre S-Cube usually did, but we’re also going for the critics’ approval,” Skye added.
“Sounds fun, sounds ambitious, and I am dying to see how this would take off,” Ee Teuk said. “So let us listen to your first single off this new album. I’ve seen the MV, and let me say… it was fabulously glam!” he squealed.
“He kept saying he should’ve been in it,” Eun Hyuk laughed. “Would you like to introduce it?” he asked me.
“This song is entitled ‘Just A Feeling’,” I said. “We hope you like it.”
They played the song, and Ee Teuk and Eun Hyuk did a silent skit, parodying our MV which involved a lot of tango moves and glaring at each other. We were all in stitches, trying to control our laughter as the song was ending, because we’d be on air again. It was the most fun interview of the day.
[Sierra’s POV]
The last interview had wrapped, but my next job had just started. We were doing a late studio recording for the MV of ‘Crazy’. It was cold, and I had nothing to wear but a mini dress and a fur-trimmed vest. Seung Hyun got lucky; he got to wear a full suit.
“Hey laydee…” he drawled when we met up at the shoot location.
It was a mock concert stage, and we even had extras to play concertgoers. Some of the extras were volunteers from Seung Hyun’s cafe. He’d notified the leader and made it a secret project for his fans to participate in.
“Hey sexy,” I laughed.
“How did you know my name?” he pretended to be shocked.
“It’s written all over your sexy body and face,” I replied.
“You bet it is…” he laughed.
“I’m freezing!” I complained.
The coordinator had provided me with a coat for now, but my legs were still freezing, when with tights on.
“The pain of beauty,” he laughed. “Want me to warm your legs?” he wiggled his eyebrows at me.
“I’ll take my chance with frostbite,” I said,” taking a step back from him.
“I was just being thoughtful,” he said, putting his hands up and pretending to sound offended.
“Places!” the producer shouted.
“Let’s go,” he said as he ascended a step up the side of the stage, and held his hand out to assist me.
I shrugged off the coat and put my hand in his, allowing him to lead me up the stairs. It wasn’t a real concert, but standing up there, being blinded by the lights and hearing the fans scream our names, I can’t help but feel butterflies fluttering within me.
Friday, 21 August 2009
Friday, 5 June 2009
Chapter 151: You Only Love
“What? What?” Jae Joong exclaimed, pausing his game.
“You have got to listen to this song,” he said, passing the player to Jae Joong and replaying the song for him.
It was the same reaction with Jae Joong; a few seconds of silence, then he burst into laughter as well.
“What inspired this song?” Jae Joong exclaimed. “Not me, I hope.”
“I didn’t write it,” I smirked.
“This is some work,” Tae Goon laughed. “I can only picture me with a doggie collar, trailing after you wherever you go in the MV.”
“Not a bad idea,” Jae Joong said.
“No!” Tae Goon exclaimed. “You didn’t have a dog collar in my MV.”
“There’ll be no dog collar!” I said.
“Then tell me what will I be doing,” he said.
“I don’t know for sure,” I said. “But I have been told it’s going to be a light-hearted video. Most probably you get to ‘man-up’ by the end of the video.”
“I’m picturing you with your hair combed flat and wearing glasses, knitted vest, shorts, and socks that cover your shins,” Jae Joong laughed.
“I think that would be the general good boy image,” I smiled. “We may go differently. We’ll try to redefine a good boy’s look.”
“So you’re giving me no choice,” Tae Goon said.
“I’m asking you as a friend,” I said.
“Then as a friend, I’d have to agree,” he smiled.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed, and gave him a quick hug.
“Hey! Is that a prelude to what you 2 will be doing behind my back on set?” Jae Joong said.
“I’ll take real good care of her,” Tae Goon said in a suggestive tone and slung his arm around my shoulder.
“Ya!” Jae Joong exclaimed, and I quickly scooted away from Tae Goon, over to him.
“Chagiya… I love you, and you alone,” I cooed, as I wrapped myself around his arm and clung to it.
“Araso… araso…” he laughed.
“My turn,” Tae Goon said and grabbed the controller from Jae Joong’s hands.
“So we’re on?” I confirmed with Tae Goon once again.
“Sure,” he said, his eyes stuck to the television screen now. “Just contact my manager. I’ll tell him I agreed.”
Tae Goon went off after our game session, so Jae Joong and I decided to have dinner together before he dashed off on the last flight of the day.
“Himdeureosseo?” I asked him.
We decided to have barbequed meat for dinner since Jae Joong missed it, along with his extra spicy kimch’i chiggae. I had seaweed soup as always, and jabchae.
“I’m fine,’ he smiled, and held out the pork he’d just wrapped in lettuce, indicating for me to eat it.
“Do you always have to make me such a big one?” I laughed, but allowed him to stuff it in my mouth.
“The size of the wrap represents the volume of my love for you,” he said, and laughed at his own cheesiness.
“Tokyo is bad for you,” I laughed. “It’s making you all sappy and girly.”
“I just miss Seoul, and you,” he smiled.
“You’ll come back soon,” I said, and started making him a wrap as well.
“I think we’ll be spending half our yearly schedule in Japan from now on,” he said.
“Chintcha?” I said, and fed him the wrapped up barbequed meat.
“You know we’re doing well there. They don’t want to miss out,” he said, while he chewed.
“Yes… I know… the most No.1s on the Oricon chart for a foreign artiste,” I smiled.
S-Cube has never gotten a No.1 song on the Oricon chart. We once peaked at No.5, but that was it.
“Well, coincidentally, we’ll be going to Japan as well,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “It’s for the 4th album, right?”
“Yes, but that would be next year, after the awards season.”
“It’s better than not being able to see you,” he said. “So what’s your schedule like for the next month?”
“Hmm… the 4th album is done. We’re launching on Thursday, then there’ll be a few live performances on music shows. The mini-album is almost done. I’ll be squeezing in the filming of the MVs between promoting the 4th album, and we’ll probably release it by the end of October.”
“This looks like one of the fastest productions I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“Yea… I thought they’d take their own sweet time with my solo debut, but they’re really speeding through it. They’d chosen most of the songs I’d written, and Ji Yong did all the composing and arrangement. Only 2 songs were written by Ji Yong,” I said.
“The one with the ‘good dog - bad dog’ lyrics?” he asked, smiling.
“Yea… I was a bit skeptical at first, but once I did it, it sounded really fun. It’s something different.”
“Different from the usual idol groups. It sounds more like a song After School would sing,” he laughed.
“They’re going for the ‘versatility concept’,” I said. “They wanna show everyone that I can do anything.”
“And you can,” he said.
“Everyone tells me I can,” I smiled.
“We’ve been through this again, and again,” he said, and reached out to tweak my nose.
“Oi!” I exclaimed, and rubbed my nose.
“You’ll be fine,” he said.
“Ara…” I replied.
After dinner, Jae Joong dropped me off at my apartment. He will meet someone who will send him to the airport and send his car back to his apartment.
“You should really get your license,” he complained, and kissed my forehead.
“I will,” I said. “On my next break.”
“I know you’re afraid of driving on the right side of the road,” he said. “But you need to get around.”
“Ani… I’m afraid of driving on the wrong side of the road,” I joked, and he smacked me on my butt.
“Be serious,” he laughed.
“You’re the one who’s laughing,” I giggled.
He pulled me into a hug, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“You’re getting thinner again,” I murmured into his ear.
“Cos I don’t get any good Chinese food there,” he replied.
“I’ll visit soon,” I said. “Eat well while I’m not there.”
“Mm…” he replied, and tightened his arms around me.
“Chalga,” I said, and kissed him lightly below his ear.
He released me a little, so that we could face each other to share a kiss. He slung his arms on my hips as we kissed, and I reached up to cup his face with my hands, to pull him closer and deepen the kiss.
“I’ll call you later,” he said, when we finally broke the kiss.
“Okay,” I replied, and stepped back a little.
We held on to each others’ hands, as we slowly stepped apart, until we were too far to hold on any longer. We let go, and I waved. He waved, then got into his car. I watched as he drove off.
There were times I’d forget how Jae Joong made me feel. How his smile brightened the room when he was there. How his laughter infected me, and made me laugh along. He may be the most beautiful man I’ve ever known, and the pressure of living up to the role of his “other half” can be demanding, but at the end of the day, the love he gave me just made everything worth it. I go to sleep everything, knowing how blessed I am to have him in my life, even if he wasn’t there 24/7.
[Skye’s POV]
We’re launching our new album today. We’ve been sitting in the holding room for about half an hour, waiting to enter the hall where the press conference would be held. Our style concept for this album was classic glamour, so Shoei and I were in suits, while nuna wore that flapper dress she had worn for the MV shoot the other day.
“Are you guys ready?” Shi Kyung hyung asked.
“Ne,” we replied.
Until today, he still liked to ask if we were ready. It was his way of giving us a pep talk without having to make a speech.
“5 minutes,” he told us, and walked off to talk to one of the producers.
“Ready?” I asked nuna, imitating him.
“Ne!” she replied in an extra perky voice.
“Ready?” I asked Shoei.
“Ne!” he yawned, and laughed.
We started getting up and ambling towards the door.
“Aaghh… pins and needles!” nuna exclaimed, and hopped on one leg.
I laughed and reached out to slap the affected leg.
“Aaah!” she exclaimed. “Skye!”
“That’s supposed to get the circulation going and end it quickly.”
“It hurts!” she punched my arm.
Just then my phone beeped.
“Turn it off,” Shoei reminded me.
I smiled and put it on silent, then checked the message that had just come in.
Yeobo… you can do it! Hwaiting!
I smiled at the text message from Hae Rin. With her support, I can do anything. But of course, I need nuna and Shoei’s support as well.
The doors opened, and we walked in. The press clapped politely, while our fanclub, S3, cheered crazily from behind. Not all of them were here today, because there was limited capacity in the hall. There was a lottery system to decide who could attend our press conference. They’d been given strict instructions to behave since the conference was mainly meant for the press.
“Thank you for coming,” nuna spoke into the microphone in front of her. “To start off the press conference, please enjoy our new MV, ‘Just a Feeling’.”
The music came on, and the MV started with a slideshow of our photos from the photo shoot, taken in sepia mode. When the first line was sung, the screen showed nuna getting the final touches of her makeup done. The camera cuts to Shoei, who’s getting dressed by a coordinator. Finally the camera comes to me, staring at notes on a piece of paper, rehearsing.
The video then jumps to scenes of our photo shoots, heavily focusing on the theme of me and Shoei being rivals for nuna’s affections, and me being left out. I wondered what went on in the producers’ minds when they decided the concept. It seemed like they liked to create speculations about our relationship with each other. If nuna wasn’t attached to Jae Joong hyung, everyone would definitely believe that she had some kind of scandalous relationship with either Shoei or me.
I just noticed now in the video, when we were doing the ‘Hollywood glamour’ scene, that Shoei was doing his lovesick look again. It has been a long time since I’d seen him look at nuna like that, but I suppose since we were doing an MV where he and her were a couple, he felt free to wear his real emotions on his sleeve. I’d always wondered how he could bear it. We’ve been together as a band for almost 5 years now, and he still felt the same about nuna as he did from the day he’d met her.
If it had been me, I’d had left the band long ago or I’d have found another girl so that I could forget her. Being Shoei, he stuck around, willingly torturing himself with his emotions, and up till now, he has not dated or even looked at any other girl. The closest thing he’s done which bordered on removing himself from nuna was to be paired with Su Bin on ‘We Got Married’.
Perhaps it’s karma. Perhaps in their past lives, it was nuna’s love for Shoei which was unrequited, so he was paying for it in this life. I’m a big believer of the phrase ‘what goes around comes around’. How else can you explain why a man would willingly stand by a woman, waiting to be her safety net when she needed him, fully knowing that no matter how many times he’d saved her, she would never belong to him?
I looked at the both of them. They were watching the screen with serious looks on their faces. I wondered what was going on in their minds.
At the chorus, the scene cut to the one where nuna had on her big hair and gold dress with huge shoulder pads. My lips twitched, trying not to laugh at the memory of what she looked like when I first saw her off camera. It was a pretty extreme look, but she pulled it off onscreen. I felt a light kick under the table, and I looked at nuna. She’d noticed that I trying to hold back my laughter. She glared at me, and quickly turned away so that no one else noticed.
The last scene of the MV was the one of nuna with tears in her eyes, while Shoei sat at the piano in front of her. I still haven’t gotten a chance to ask her what prompted the tears that day. Nuna was quite an emotional junkie. She laughed and cried easily, but there had to be a reason for her to laugh or cry in the first place.
The screen faded out at the end of the song, and the verdict was in… the new MV was well received, judging from the positive response of the press and our fans. Now would come the most tiring part of a new album launch; answering questions…
“You have got to listen to this song,” he said, passing the player to Jae Joong and replaying the song for him.
It was the same reaction with Jae Joong; a few seconds of silence, then he burst into laughter as well.
“What inspired this song?” Jae Joong exclaimed. “Not me, I hope.”
“I didn’t write it,” I smirked.
“This is some work,” Tae Goon laughed. “I can only picture me with a doggie collar, trailing after you wherever you go in the MV.”
“Not a bad idea,” Jae Joong said.
“No!” Tae Goon exclaimed. “You didn’t have a dog collar in my MV.”
“There’ll be no dog collar!” I said.
“Then tell me what will I be doing,” he said.
“I don’t know for sure,” I said. “But I have been told it’s going to be a light-hearted video. Most probably you get to ‘man-up’ by the end of the video.”
“I’m picturing you with your hair combed flat and wearing glasses, knitted vest, shorts, and socks that cover your shins,” Jae Joong laughed.
“I think that would be the general good boy image,” I smiled. “We may go differently. We’ll try to redefine a good boy’s look.”
“So you’re giving me no choice,” Tae Goon said.
“I’m asking you as a friend,” I said.
“Then as a friend, I’d have to agree,” he smiled.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed, and gave him a quick hug.
“Hey! Is that a prelude to what you 2 will be doing behind my back on set?” Jae Joong said.
“I’ll take real good care of her,” Tae Goon said in a suggestive tone and slung his arm around my shoulder.
“Ya!” Jae Joong exclaimed, and I quickly scooted away from Tae Goon, over to him.
“Chagiya… I love you, and you alone,” I cooed, as I wrapped myself around his arm and clung to it.
“Araso… araso…” he laughed.
“My turn,” Tae Goon said and grabbed the controller from Jae Joong’s hands.
“So we’re on?” I confirmed with Tae Goon once again.
“Sure,” he said, his eyes stuck to the television screen now. “Just contact my manager. I’ll tell him I agreed.”
Tae Goon went off after our game session, so Jae Joong and I decided to have dinner together before he dashed off on the last flight of the day.
“Himdeureosseo?” I asked him.
We decided to have barbequed meat for dinner since Jae Joong missed it, along with his extra spicy kimch’i chiggae. I had seaweed soup as always, and jabchae.
“I’m fine,’ he smiled, and held out the pork he’d just wrapped in lettuce, indicating for me to eat it.
“Do you always have to make me such a big one?” I laughed, but allowed him to stuff it in my mouth.
“The size of the wrap represents the volume of my love for you,” he said, and laughed at his own cheesiness.
“Tokyo is bad for you,” I laughed. “It’s making you all sappy and girly.”
“I just miss Seoul, and you,” he smiled.
“You’ll come back soon,” I said, and started making him a wrap as well.
“I think we’ll be spending half our yearly schedule in Japan from now on,” he said.
“Chintcha?” I said, and fed him the wrapped up barbequed meat.
“You know we’re doing well there. They don’t want to miss out,” he said, while he chewed.
“Yes… I know… the most No.1s on the Oricon chart for a foreign artiste,” I smiled.
S-Cube has never gotten a No.1 song on the Oricon chart. We once peaked at No.5, but that was it.
“Well, coincidentally, we’ll be going to Japan as well,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “It’s for the 4th album, right?”
“Yes, but that would be next year, after the awards season.”
“It’s better than not being able to see you,” he said. “So what’s your schedule like for the next month?”
“Hmm… the 4th album is done. We’re launching on Thursday, then there’ll be a few live performances on music shows. The mini-album is almost done. I’ll be squeezing in the filming of the MVs between promoting the 4th album, and we’ll probably release it by the end of October.”
“This looks like one of the fastest productions I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“Yea… I thought they’d take their own sweet time with my solo debut, but they’re really speeding through it. They’d chosen most of the songs I’d written, and Ji Yong did all the composing and arrangement. Only 2 songs were written by Ji Yong,” I said.
“The one with the ‘good dog - bad dog’ lyrics?” he asked, smiling.
“Yea… I was a bit skeptical at first, but once I did it, it sounded really fun. It’s something different.”
“Different from the usual idol groups. It sounds more like a song After School would sing,” he laughed.
“They’re going for the ‘versatility concept’,” I said. “They wanna show everyone that I can do anything.”
“And you can,” he said.
“Everyone tells me I can,” I smiled.
“We’ve been through this again, and again,” he said, and reached out to tweak my nose.
“Oi!” I exclaimed, and rubbed my nose.
“You’ll be fine,” he said.
“Ara…” I replied.
After dinner, Jae Joong dropped me off at my apartment. He will meet someone who will send him to the airport and send his car back to his apartment.
“You should really get your license,” he complained, and kissed my forehead.
“I will,” I said. “On my next break.”
“I know you’re afraid of driving on the right side of the road,” he said. “But you need to get around.”
“Ani… I’m afraid of driving on the wrong side of the road,” I joked, and he smacked me on my butt.
“Be serious,” he laughed.
“You’re the one who’s laughing,” I giggled.
He pulled me into a hug, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“You’re getting thinner again,” I murmured into his ear.
“Cos I don’t get any good Chinese food there,” he replied.
“I’ll visit soon,” I said. “Eat well while I’m not there.”
“Mm…” he replied, and tightened his arms around me.
“Chalga,” I said, and kissed him lightly below his ear.
He released me a little, so that we could face each other to share a kiss. He slung his arms on my hips as we kissed, and I reached up to cup his face with my hands, to pull him closer and deepen the kiss.
“I’ll call you later,” he said, when we finally broke the kiss.
“Okay,” I replied, and stepped back a little.
We held on to each others’ hands, as we slowly stepped apart, until we were too far to hold on any longer. We let go, and I waved. He waved, then got into his car. I watched as he drove off.
There were times I’d forget how Jae Joong made me feel. How his smile brightened the room when he was there. How his laughter infected me, and made me laugh along. He may be the most beautiful man I’ve ever known, and the pressure of living up to the role of his “other half” can be demanding, but at the end of the day, the love he gave me just made everything worth it. I go to sleep everything, knowing how blessed I am to have him in my life, even if he wasn’t there 24/7.
[Skye’s POV]
We’re launching our new album today. We’ve been sitting in the holding room for about half an hour, waiting to enter the hall where the press conference would be held. Our style concept for this album was classic glamour, so Shoei and I were in suits, while nuna wore that flapper dress she had worn for the MV shoot the other day.
“Are you guys ready?” Shi Kyung hyung asked.
“Ne,” we replied.
Until today, he still liked to ask if we were ready. It was his way of giving us a pep talk without having to make a speech.
“5 minutes,” he told us, and walked off to talk to one of the producers.
“Ready?” I asked nuna, imitating him.
“Ne!” she replied in an extra perky voice.
“Ready?” I asked Shoei.
“Ne!” he yawned, and laughed.
We started getting up and ambling towards the door.
“Aaghh… pins and needles!” nuna exclaimed, and hopped on one leg.
I laughed and reached out to slap the affected leg.
“Aaah!” she exclaimed. “Skye!”
“That’s supposed to get the circulation going and end it quickly.”
“It hurts!” she punched my arm.
Just then my phone beeped.
“Turn it off,” Shoei reminded me.
I smiled and put it on silent, then checked the message that had just come in.
Yeobo… you can do it! Hwaiting!
I smiled at the text message from Hae Rin. With her support, I can do anything. But of course, I need nuna and Shoei’s support as well.
The doors opened, and we walked in. The press clapped politely, while our fanclub, S3, cheered crazily from behind. Not all of them were here today, because there was limited capacity in the hall. There was a lottery system to decide who could attend our press conference. They’d been given strict instructions to behave since the conference was mainly meant for the press.
“Thank you for coming,” nuna spoke into the microphone in front of her. “To start off the press conference, please enjoy our new MV, ‘Just a Feeling’.”
The music came on, and the MV started with a slideshow of our photos from the photo shoot, taken in sepia mode. When the first line was sung, the screen showed nuna getting the final touches of her makeup done. The camera cuts to Shoei, who’s getting dressed by a coordinator. Finally the camera comes to me, staring at notes on a piece of paper, rehearsing.
The video then jumps to scenes of our photo shoots, heavily focusing on the theme of me and Shoei being rivals for nuna’s affections, and me being left out. I wondered what went on in the producers’ minds when they decided the concept. It seemed like they liked to create speculations about our relationship with each other. If nuna wasn’t attached to Jae Joong hyung, everyone would definitely believe that she had some kind of scandalous relationship with either Shoei or me.
I just noticed now in the video, when we were doing the ‘Hollywood glamour’ scene, that Shoei was doing his lovesick look again. It has been a long time since I’d seen him look at nuna like that, but I suppose since we were doing an MV where he and her were a couple, he felt free to wear his real emotions on his sleeve. I’d always wondered how he could bear it. We’ve been together as a band for almost 5 years now, and he still felt the same about nuna as he did from the day he’d met her.
If it had been me, I’d had left the band long ago or I’d have found another girl so that I could forget her. Being Shoei, he stuck around, willingly torturing himself with his emotions, and up till now, he has not dated or even looked at any other girl. The closest thing he’s done which bordered on removing himself from nuna was to be paired with Su Bin on ‘We Got Married’.
Perhaps it’s karma. Perhaps in their past lives, it was nuna’s love for Shoei which was unrequited, so he was paying for it in this life. I’m a big believer of the phrase ‘what goes around comes around’. How else can you explain why a man would willingly stand by a woman, waiting to be her safety net when she needed him, fully knowing that no matter how many times he’d saved her, she would never belong to him?
I looked at the both of them. They were watching the screen with serious looks on their faces. I wondered what was going on in their minds.
At the chorus, the scene cut to the one where nuna had on her big hair and gold dress with huge shoulder pads. My lips twitched, trying not to laugh at the memory of what she looked like when I first saw her off camera. It was a pretty extreme look, but she pulled it off onscreen. I felt a light kick under the table, and I looked at nuna. She’d noticed that I trying to hold back my laughter. She glared at me, and quickly turned away so that no one else noticed.
The last scene of the MV was the one of nuna with tears in her eyes, while Shoei sat at the piano in front of her. I still haven’t gotten a chance to ask her what prompted the tears that day. Nuna was quite an emotional junkie. She laughed and cried easily, but there had to be a reason for her to laugh or cry in the first place.
The screen faded out at the end of the song, and the verdict was in… the new MV was well received, judging from the positive response of the press and our fans. Now would come the most tiring part of a new album launch; answering questions…
Monday, 25 May 2009
S3-4EVA
I know I have not been posting for ages and ages... I'm working on the upcoming chapter. Hope my workload doesn't sidetrack me again. But anyway... since S-Cube's album was supposed to be launched already, here's the cover :) You like? My usual cover designer is busy :( So I had to do this really amateur-looking one myself =.="
Monday, 23 March 2009
Chapter 150: Happy Together
[Sierra’s POV]
Ji Yong wasn’t around to watch me record today. The session got a bit boring, but since it was the pop-rock song, ‘Wut?!’, we were doing today, the energy level was still up.
“Let’s take it from the top again, Sierra,” the producer said, and they cued the music.
The loud, catchy drumbeats of the intro played, and I sang my bit for the intro.
[drumbeats]
Wut…
[drumbeats]
Wut… wut…
[short drum solo]
I say, wut!
Here’s a smile, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a touch, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a kiss, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s my love, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
My arm’s getting tired
I’m sick of your whining
You never seem to change
Why bother to keep trying
[Rap]
You mumble to me all the time
You seem like I’ll eat you alive
I really, really need a man
I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Hold my hand, come closer now
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
It’s been so long and still no kiss
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
You stand 2 feet away
You hardly ever touch me
You keep shying away
Why do we even bother to…
[Rap]
You’d better man-up today
Stop acting like the girl
I’m tired of wearing the pants
And I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Boy, I really do think you’re fine
But you’re causing me to lose my mind
Boy, I need someone to take charge of me
I need a man, so man up, or I’ll go crazy
You gotta speak up, man up, tough up, baby…
WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
One last time, or goodbye, boy, I mean it!
WUT?!
“Very good, Sierra,” the producer said. “We just need you to repeat the last chorus. More energy, and at ‘I mean it!’ it should be a bit more high pitched.”
“Ne,” I replied, and we redid it.
From the day the song was slated to be part of my album, there had been a disagreement about it between some of the producers. Some are afraid that it may not pass the censors because of the lyrics. They find that the reference to the guy in the song as a dog was pretty harsh and demeaning.
“Come on!” Ji Yong said when they were discussing it again during our second recording session for this song.
It was Saturday. We were only supposed to come in, put in the finishing touches under Ji Yong’s supervision, and then we could go, but the other producers held us back after, proposing that we changed the lyrics and recorded again.
“But the song is different because it defies convention,” Ji Yong pointed out. “Do you have a problem singing the lyrics?”
“It does make me look like a total bad girl, but I think if we keep the lyrics, we will have more freedom of ideas when we’re filming the MV.”
“Keuraejyo!” Ji Yong exclaimed.
The management had decided to make a huge production. 1 MV will be out in time for the awards, but we will follow up the mini album with an MV for each song; even the cover of Sarangha-o. It was a pretty big project, and very daunting since it will be the first time I’m doing MVs on my own. Apart from that, there will be those live solo performances on Music Bank, Inkigayo and other music programs.
“So you’re not afraid your reputation will take a hit with this song?” one of the producers asked me.
“This is nothing compared to some other songs I’ve seen,” I replied.
“I think we can leave the song as it is,” Shi Kyung hyung said.
“If you are all in agreement, we will go ahead. But if anything goes wrong, you’re all responsible.”
The album will be released with ‘Crazy II’ as the title track and ‘Wut?!’ as the 2nd song to be performed with it. The MV for ‘Crazy II’ will be the first to be released, and just before the awards, the MV for ‘Wut?!’ will follow. Seung Hyun will star in ‘Crazy II’, and they’re still looking for a guy to star in ‘Wut?!’. The initial concept for the mini album would be a bad girl image.
After ‘Wut?!’, the next songs up for huge promotional activities are ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘Sarangha-o’. For these 2 songs, it will be a softer, more feminine image, to highlight my singing abilities. They’re pushing for Jae Joong to clear a spot in his schedule and come back to film a video for ‘Sarangha-o’. ‘This Is My Life’ will be a documentary MV filled with videos taken during the time I’m recording this mini album, which means that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will appear briefly in the footage, eliminating the need to actually get anyone to guest star in the MV.
“I’ve been cheated,” Ji Yong complained when he heard about the MV concept. “I demand to be paid more.”
“You don’t have to allot any time from your schedule just for the MV, that’s earning you double money just doing 1 job,” I pointed out.
“Molla, molla!” he pretended to sulk. “I demand more! I’m G-Dragon, yo!”
“Hey… I’m not the one who’s paying,” I shrugged, and walked off.
“Yah!” he yelled, then broke into laughter.
The last 2 songs, ‘Cutting the Strings’ and ‘Make Me’ will simply have MVs as a promotional channel. They’re not planning for me to make any live performances for them. The good news was they were trying to sell these songs to some companies for CFs. If the deal goes through, there may even be a CF contract for me.
The meeting had ended and I was packing in frenzy since I was late to meet Jae Joong. He’d touched down an hour earlier, and was probably on his way to the studios.
“Whoa!” Ji Yong exclaimed. “Where are you running off to? Are the police after you?”
“I’m late,” I said as I slung my bag on my shoulder and gathered up my files and sweater.
“To meet your hunny-bunny?” he teased.
“Yesss…” I laughed.
“Aight!” he smiled. “See ya!”
“Bye,” I said and dashed out the door.
I got downstairs and he was already there, waiting for me. He doesn’t always call when he arrives, especially when he knows I’m working. I automatically opened the front passenger seat and was taken aback to see someone sitting there.
“Annyong!” he waved.
It was Tae Goon, Jae Joong’s friend.
“Annyong!” Jae Joong leaned across him to wave at me as well.
“What’s he doing in my seat?” I joked.
“He brought me my car,” Jae Joong said.
“Taseyo,” Tae Goon said, getting out so that I could get in.
I got in the front, and Tae Goon went to sit in the back.
“So…” I turned around to face Tae Goon. “Where are we dropping you off?”
“You’re so mean!” he exclaimed, and I just laughed.
“That’s how I like her,” Jae Joong said and reached for my hand.
“What? You like mean girls?” Tae Goon said.
“When she’s mean to other guys,” Jae Joong added.
“Ah… so that they won’t fall for her,” he said.
“They still do,” I smiled slyly, “even when I treat them badly.”
“Ha… ha…” Jae Joong laughed sarcastically.
“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Tae Goon laughed.
“Yes, she is,” Jae Joong replied. “But don’t fall for her.”
“I’ll try,” Tae Goon said, still laughing.
“Where are we going to?” I asked.
“Tae Goon found this game-bang with really nice food,” Jae Joong said.
“Game room?” I asked.
“Yea…” he said.
“Board games?” I asked.
“They have some game consoles also. Let’s see what we can get,” Jae Joong said.
“Okay,” I said. “You guys decide. I’m just coming along for the ride.”
Tae Goon debut earlier this year, and did pretty well. Jae Joong actually guest starred in his MV and the girl in the MV cheated on him with Tae Goon. We all thought it was pretty hilarious that Jae Joong played the jealous, cuckolded boyfriend. After the MV aired, the fans went crazy and had a field day hating on the poor girl for cheating on Jae Joong in the MV.
“So what are you working on today, nuna?” Tae Goon asked me.
“You haven’t heard?” I said.
“I know it’s a mini album. So what song was it today?” he asked.
“Pop-rock,” I said.
“Oh… nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how the MV will turn out,” he said, then a light bulb lit up in my head.
“Tae Goon,” I said.
“Ne?” he replied.
“What’s your schedule like these days?” I asked.
“Some TV and radio shows, and working on my album,” he said.
“Would you like to co-star in my MV?” I asked him.
“What?” Jae Joong and Tae Goon exclaimed together.
“I’ll tell you about the concept when we get to the game-bang,” I said.
We got there, and it was a small shop with many little cubicles done up in a traditional Korean home style. There were no doors on each cubicle, but because it was a step up, and each had walls going all the way up, it felt like a small room. A short table was set up in the middle of the cubicle for the board game cubicles, and for the video game cubicles, which were a little bigger, the short table served as a stand for the television and game console at the end of the cubicle. There were cushions strewn all over the floors, since there were no chairs. You had to take off your shoes before entering the cubicle.
“What do you wanna do?” Jae Joong asked me.
“I dunno… you guys pick,” I said.
They picked a Wii room, hoping to entice me to play with them later on.
“How do you work this?” I said as I fiddled with the controller.
“First, we create a character for you,” Tae Goon said, and took the controller from me.
The 2 guys proceeded to browse through all possible combinations of the female mini-me looking characters.
“She has short hair!” Tae Goon exclaimed when Jae Joong chose long hair.
“I like her with long hair too,” he said, and confirmed it.
It took them more than 10 minutes to configure my character, and this place charged by the hour. Our food and drinks came within15 minutes. Since I hadn’t had lunch, I ordered ramyun while the guys had kimbap and some other snacks.
“So what’s the proposal?” Tae Goon asked me.
Jae Joong was playing some single player game so that Tae Goon could talk to me first.
“That Pop-Rock song… the concept is a bad girl, and a nice guy. The guy is so nice that he drives the girl crazy because she thinks he’s not being a man.
“This song is Pop-Rock?” he asked again. “But the theme sounds so mature.”
“The MV is not gonna be serious. It’s gonna be fun, and crazy, but you may have to do some silly stuff.”
“Silly stuff?” he raised and eyebrow.
“I like it already,” Jae Joong quipped, his eyes still trained on the television screen. “You made me the fool in your MV, now my girl makes you the fool in hers.”
“Oh… so this is revenge?” Tae Goon laughed.
“No… I just thought it would be fun to do it with someone I know. But I’ll have to warn you,” I said.
“About?”
“The lyrics, and the silly stuff,” I said.
“Now you’re scaring me.”
I took out my mp4 player and handed the earphones to him. He put them on, and I played him a sample track from the song. He listened with a straight face for awhile. When the song came to the first verse, he burst out laughing.
Ji Yong wasn’t around to watch me record today. The session got a bit boring, but since it was the pop-rock song, ‘Wut?!’, we were doing today, the energy level was still up.
“Let’s take it from the top again, Sierra,” the producer said, and they cued the music.
The loud, catchy drumbeats of the intro played, and I sang my bit for the intro.
[drumbeats]
Wut…
[drumbeats]
Wut… wut…
[short drum solo]
I say, wut!
Here’s a smile, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a touch, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a kiss, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s my love, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
My arm’s getting tired
I’m sick of your whining
You never seem to change
Why bother to keep trying
[Rap]
You mumble to me all the time
You seem like I’ll eat you alive
I really, really need a man
I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Hold my hand, come closer now
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
It’s been so long and still no kiss
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
You stand 2 feet away
You hardly ever touch me
You keep shying away
Why do we even bother to…
[Rap]
You’d better man-up today
Stop acting like the girl
I’m tired of wearing the pants
And I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Boy, I really do think you’re fine
But you’re causing me to lose my mind
Boy, I need someone to take charge of me
I need a man, so man up, or I’ll go crazy
You gotta speak up, man up, tough up, baby…
WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
One last time, or goodbye, boy, I mean it!
WUT?!
“Very good, Sierra,” the producer said. “We just need you to repeat the last chorus. More energy, and at ‘I mean it!’ it should be a bit more high pitched.”
“Ne,” I replied, and we redid it.
From the day the song was slated to be part of my album, there had been a disagreement about it between some of the producers. Some are afraid that it may not pass the censors because of the lyrics. They find that the reference to the guy in the song as a dog was pretty harsh and demeaning.
“Come on!” Ji Yong said when they were discussing it again during our second recording session for this song.
It was Saturday. We were only supposed to come in, put in the finishing touches under Ji Yong’s supervision, and then we could go, but the other producers held us back after, proposing that we changed the lyrics and recorded again.
“But the song is different because it defies convention,” Ji Yong pointed out. “Do you have a problem singing the lyrics?”
“It does make me look like a total bad girl, but I think if we keep the lyrics, we will have more freedom of ideas when we’re filming the MV.”
“Keuraejyo!” Ji Yong exclaimed.
The management had decided to make a huge production. 1 MV will be out in time for the awards, but we will follow up the mini album with an MV for each song; even the cover of Sarangha-o. It was a pretty big project, and very daunting since it will be the first time I’m doing MVs on my own. Apart from that, there will be those live solo performances on Music Bank, Inkigayo and other music programs.
“So you’re not afraid your reputation will take a hit with this song?” one of the producers asked me.
“This is nothing compared to some other songs I’ve seen,” I replied.
“I think we can leave the song as it is,” Shi Kyung hyung said.
“If you are all in agreement, we will go ahead. But if anything goes wrong, you’re all responsible.”
The album will be released with ‘Crazy II’ as the title track and ‘Wut?!’ as the 2nd song to be performed with it. The MV for ‘Crazy II’ will be the first to be released, and just before the awards, the MV for ‘Wut?!’ will follow. Seung Hyun will star in ‘Crazy II’, and they’re still looking for a guy to star in ‘Wut?!’. The initial concept for the mini album would be a bad girl image.
After ‘Wut?!’, the next songs up for huge promotional activities are ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘Sarangha-o’. For these 2 songs, it will be a softer, more feminine image, to highlight my singing abilities. They’re pushing for Jae Joong to clear a spot in his schedule and come back to film a video for ‘Sarangha-o’. ‘This Is My Life’ will be a documentary MV filled with videos taken during the time I’m recording this mini album, which means that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will appear briefly in the footage, eliminating the need to actually get anyone to guest star in the MV.
“I’ve been cheated,” Ji Yong complained when he heard about the MV concept. “I demand to be paid more.”
“You don’t have to allot any time from your schedule just for the MV, that’s earning you double money just doing 1 job,” I pointed out.
“Molla, molla!” he pretended to sulk. “I demand more! I’m G-Dragon, yo!”
“Hey… I’m not the one who’s paying,” I shrugged, and walked off.
“Yah!” he yelled, then broke into laughter.
The last 2 songs, ‘Cutting the Strings’ and ‘Make Me’ will simply have MVs as a promotional channel. They’re not planning for me to make any live performances for them. The good news was they were trying to sell these songs to some companies for CFs. If the deal goes through, there may even be a CF contract for me.
The meeting had ended and I was packing in frenzy since I was late to meet Jae Joong. He’d touched down an hour earlier, and was probably on his way to the studios.
“Whoa!” Ji Yong exclaimed. “Where are you running off to? Are the police after you?”
“I’m late,” I said as I slung my bag on my shoulder and gathered up my files and sweater.
“To meet your hunny-bunny?” he teased.
“Yesss…” I laughed.
“Aight!” he smiled. “See ya!”
“Bye,” I said and dashed out the door.
I got downstairs and he was already there, waiting for me. He doesn’t always call when he arrives, especially when he knows I’m working. I automatically opened the front passenger seat and was taken aback to see someone sitting there.
“Annyong!” he waved.
It was Tae Goon, Jae Joong’s friend.
“Annyong!” Jae Joong leaned across him to wave at me as well.
“What’s he doing in my seat?” I joked.
“He brought me my car,” Jae Joong said.
“Taseyo,” Tae Goon said, getting out so that I could get in.
I got in the front, and Tae Goon went to sit in the back.
“So…” I turned around to face Tae Goon. “Where are we dropping you off?”
“You’re so mean!” he exclaimed, and I just laughed.
“That’s how I like her,” Jae Joong said and reached for my hand.
“What? You like mean girls?” Tae Goon said.
“When she’s mean to other guys,” Jae Joong added.
“Ah… so that they won’t fall for her,” he said.
“They still do,” I smiled slyly, “even when I treat them badly.”
“Ha… ha…” Jae Joong laughed sarcastically.
“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Tae Goon laughed.
“Yes, she is,” Jae Joong replied. “But don’t fall for her.”
“I’ll try,” Tae Goon said, still laughing.
“Where are we going to?” I asked.
“Tae Goon found this game-bang with really nice food,” Jae Joong said.
“Game room?” I asked.
“Yea…” he said.
“Board games?” I asked.
“They have some game consoles also. Let’s see what we can get,” Jae Joong said.
“Okay,” I said. “You guys decide. I’m just coming along for the ride.”
Tae Goon debut earlier this year, and did pretty well. Jae Joong actually guest starred in his MV and the girl in the MV cheated on him with Tae Goon. We all thought it was pretty hilarious that Jae Joong played the jealous, cuckolded boyfriend. After the MV aired, the fans went crazy and had a field day hating on the poor girl for cheating on Jae Joong in the MV.
“So what are you working on today, nuna?” Tae Goon asked me.
“You haven’t heard?” I said.
“I know it’s a mini album. So what song was it today?” he asked.
“Pop-rock,” I said.
“Oh… nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how the MV will turn out,” he said, then a light bulb lit up in my head.
“Tae Goon,” I said.
“Ne?” he replied.
“What’s your schedule like these days?” I asked.
“Some TV and radio shows, and working on my album,” he said.
“Would you like to co-star in my MV?” I asked him.
“What?” Jae Joong and Tae Goon exclaimed together.
“I’ll tell you about the concept when we get to the game-bang,” I said.
We got there, and it was a small shop with many little cubicles done up in a traditional Korean home style. There were no doors on each cubicle, but because it was a step up, and each had walls going all the way up, it felt like a small room. A short table was set up in the middle of the cubicle for the board game cubicles, and for the video game cubicles, which were a little bigger, the short table served as a stand for the television and game console at the end of the cubicle. There were cushions strewn all over the floors, since there were no chairs. You had to take off your shoes before entering the cubicle.
“What do you wanna do?” Jae Joong asked me.
“I dunno… you guys pick,” I said.
They picked a Wii room, hoping to entice me to play with them later on.
“How do you work this?” I said as I fiddled with the controller.
“First, we create a character for you,” Tae Goon said, and took the controller from me.
The 2 guys proceeded to browse through all possible combinations of the female mini-me looking characters.
“She has short hair!” Tae Goon exclaimed when Jae Joong chose long hair.
“I like her with long hair too,” he said, and confirmed it.
It took them more than 10 minutes to configure my character, and this place charged by the hour. Our food and drinks came within15 minutes. Since I hadn’t had lunch, I ordered ramyun while the guys had kimbap and some other snacks.
“So what’s the proposal?” Tae Goon asked me.
Jae Joong was playing some single player game so that Tae Goon could talk to me first.
“That Pop-Rock song… the concept is a bad girl, and a nice guy. The guy is so nice that he drives the girl crazy because she thinks he’s not being a man.
“This song is Pop-Rock?” he asked again. “But the theme sounds so mature.”
“The MV is not gonna be serious. It’s gonna be fun, and crazy, but you may have to do some silly stuff.”
“Silly stuff?” he raised and eyebrow.
“I like it already,” Jae Joong quipped, his eyes still trained on the television screen. “You made me the fool in your MV, now my girl makes you the fool in hers.”
“Oh… so this is revenge?” Tae Goon laughed.
“No… I just thought it would be fun to do it with someone I know. But I’ll have to warn you,” I said.
“About?”
“The lyrics, and the silly stuff,” I said.
“Now you’re scaring me.”
I took out my mp4 player and handed the earphones to him. He put them on, and I played him a sample track from the song. He listened with a straight face for awhile. When the song came to the first verse, he burst out laughing.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Chapter 149: 가벼운 사랑 (Light Love)
Since I update erratically these days, so if you would like to be notified when I do, please email me at sierraskyeshoei@yahoo.com :D
******
[Shoei’s POV]
“Onni,” Su Bin said as nuna hung up on Jae Joong hyung. “You and Jae Joong oppa are just too loving.”
“But we are not married,” she said. “So you two have a lot more freedom to be as loving as possible.”
I coughed at nuna’s last sentence. What was she doing? She knew that I didn’t care for the show or Su Bin, and she’s encouraging Su Bin to put on a bigger act for the show.
“I wanna quit the show,” I’d told her last night.
“Quit? You can’t just quit,” nuna said.
“The album launch is coming,” he said. “I can use my busy schedule as an excuse.”
“That may only buy you a month or two, like what Alex did,” she pointed out.
“I don’t wanna be on the show anymore. Su Bin freaks me out,” I said.
“You’re generating publicity for the album through the show. The management will make sure you stay.”
“Will it help if I behave like a jerk?” I joked.
“You’ll kill our album sales then,” she said. “It’s bad enough that I did it to our first album. You want us to disband after the fourth album?”
“No…” I sighed.
“Then suck it up…” she said, and gave me a thump on my back.
I sneaked a glance at Su Bin as we drove along. I’ll stay on the show, but I won’t be a doormat any longer. I’m going to assert my power this time around.
We came to a small bistro where the PDs for We Got Married have already made reservations. Since Skye and nuna were last minute guests, they had to call up to get a bigger table for us.
“Wow…” nuna exclaimed at we walked it.
The bistro was decorated like an English pub, complete with coarse wooden benches and tables, but there were also choices of proper chairs and tables which were meant for couples. Since we were a bigger party, we got a big table with benches.
“Doesn’t this place remind you of the UK?” nuna asked me, and I nodded.
“Oppa, you’ve been to England?” Su Bin asked me.
“I was there during my high school years,” I replied.
“No wonder you speak such good English,” she marveled.
“Nuna and Skye are as good,” I said.
I sat next to Skye, while Su Bin sat next to nuna. Nuna sat across the table from me. I know this sounds like an odd arrangement, but the PDs suggested it, so we just went along. I wondered what kind of situation they were trying to create. Were they trying to play nuna and Su Bin against each other? If they were, it’s only gonna work for Su Bin, since nuna didn’t care.
We ordered our food, and as soon as our salads arrived, nuna and Skye started doing what they usually did; swapping vegetables.
“Skye… take my radishes,” nuna said as she starting picking the shredded radish up with her fork and spoon and piled them onto Skye’s plate, stretching around the table to do so.
“I don’t like these purple vegetables,” Skye said, and started picking up his vegetables and putting them into nuna’s plate.
I rolled my eyes at the both of them. They were doing what we always did, but it’s going to make them look immature. I’m hoping this doesn’t make the cut.
“Shoei…” nuna looked at my plate.
I glared at her.
“Come on…” she said, raising her fork over my plate.
“Chamkan,” I sighed, and picked up my spoon.
I scooped up the pine nuts and corn from my salad, and put them on her plate.
“Cho-a?” I smiled sarcastically
“Ne…” she smiled and she started eating. “Neomu cho-a.”
I made a quick glance across the table at Su Bin. She looked lost, and uneasy at the ‘display of affection’ among us.
“Ah! Su Bin!” Skye suddenly exclaimed.
“Ne?” she turned to Skye.
“I saw your band’s video. You girls were great!” Skye said.
“Komawoyo,” she smiled.
“How old are you?” nuna asked her.
“I’m 18,” she replied.
“That makes you 7 years younger than Shoei,” Skye pointed out.
“Ne,” she nodded, and then started eating silently.
“Shoei… she’s so shy. Did you tell her not to speak to us?” nuna teased.
“Aniyo,” I replied, and continued eating my salad.
“Su Bin,” nuna looked at her, “it’s alright. You can tell us if he’s threatened you.”
“A-aniyo,” Su Bin answered.
It was obvious that Su Bin was intimidated. She was only 18 and fresh out of the K-Pop factory. Nuna and Skye were pretty scary when you put them together as a team. They don’t stop talking, and they were capable of coming up with all sorts of weird questions to harass you if they wanted to.
“Ignore them, Su Bin,” I said.
“Oooh…” Skye sang. “Someone is protecting his wife.”
“Shoei… you used to protect me,” nuna pouted. “Now you’re choosing your wife over your nuna?”
This was getting too weird. Nuna had always been so preoccupied with her own personal life. She had never so much cared with whom I flirted with or whether or not I was even in the same room as she is. But here she is, putting on a show of jealousy on national television.
“And your brother,” Skye added, just to fuel the fire.
“Oppa doesn’t mean that,” Su Bin quickly said in his defense.
“They’re just playing, Su Bin,” I smiled. “Ignore them.”
“No, we’re not,” Skye protested.
“Food’s here,” I said when I saw the waiter approaching, successfully cutting Skye off for the moment.
Dinner proceeded and ended without much more shenanigans. Nuna and Skye must’ve been hungry and decided to focus on eating.
“I’ll take Su Bin home,” I said to them as we got up to leave.
“Sure you don’t want me to give you a lift?” Skye asked me.
“We’ll be fine. We need to date, you know,” I added for fun; my mistake.
Skye looked at nuna, and he started singing as we walked out of the restaurant.
“I can see what’s happening…” he sang.
“What?” nuna asked; gleefully.
“But they don’t have a clue,” he added.
“Huh?” nuna responded, trying not to laugh.
“They’re falling in love, and here’s the bottom line… our trio’s down to 2.”
“Oh…” nuna said, pretending to sound sad.
“Keumanhae…” I warned them.
It was Can You Feel the Love Tonight, from the Lion King; the Timon and Pumbaa version. Su Bin was giggling throughout their little act.
“Bye…” they waved at us, and we waved back.
But as soon as we turned out backs, they skipped to the chorus…
“Can you feel the love tonight…” the two of them shrieked like drunkards as they walked to Skye’s car, and when they reached Skye’s car, they doubled over in laughter, bracing themselves against his car.
The production crew gave us a lift back to our apartment, forgoing the filming for the journey there. I would have to spend the night there tonight. Filming was actually scheduled for tomorrow, but I guess they decided to do it late today and follow on till tomorrow.
“Oppa,” Su Bin called to me.
She was lying on the sofa, and I was lying on a mat on the floor beside the coffee table. She’d decided to give me a facial when we got back. I just went along with whatever she wanted since I was too tired to fight already.
“Mwo?” I replied.
“Mianhae,” she said.
“For what? “ I asked.
“If I hadn’t been there tonight, you would have had more fun with Sierra onni and Skye oppa.”
“It’s alright. I have fun with them almost every day,” I replied.
She was silent for awhile, and then she spoke up again.
“Is it a burden to be married to me?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“You’re so busy, and I just feel that having me adds to your burden,” she said.
I hadn’t checked the script today. Usually they had a guideline on the topics that we were supposed to mention and discuss from there. I’m guessing this was part of it, so I had to respond positively.
“Of course not,” I said. “Don’t be silly. I don’t even need to take care of you.”
“What about having to entertain me? We hardly know each other, and you have to constantly spend time with me, make an effort to interact with me… I don’t want to burden you with this obligation.”
“A marriage is not an obligation, Su Bin,” I replied, and sat up. “It’s a commitment of love.”
“Then do you love me, oppa?” she asked simply.
This girl was an actress. The expression on her face was so pensive, and filled with anticipation. How would the nation react toward me if I shot her down? In the end, I was a Japanese, and for my band’s sake, I need to stay sane and focus.
“In time, I will,” I replied, and lay back down.
I caught her smiling just before I closed my eyes.
[Su Bin’s POV]
It was part of the script, but tonight, somehow, I felt closer to him than I did before.
He’d been so hostile towards me and the crew while on the set. I could see that he was stressed. With the launch of S-Cube’s 4th album coming up, his days could not be more difficult. Everyone was expecting something big from them now since they’d done so well with the last album. Even before this album is due for release, their decision to do an album of covers had been under scrutiny.
Some said they’d run out of material or creative juices, so they were taking the quick route to put out an album. Some appreciated that they wanted to honor some classics and hits, and were eager to see how S-Cube would interpret them. Already ‘L.O.V.E’ had received rave reviews after being featured on Sierra onni’s drama, ‘Girls on Top’. Darren oppa might hate their guts, but I think S-Cube have another hit album on their hands.
“Why do you think Shoei was so hostile today?” the interviewer asked me during the day’s interview session.
“I think he was just stressed and tired,” I smiled.
“Do you think he will always be like this?” she asked.
“Aniyo…” I replied. “His album will be released in another week. When he starts seeing the results of his hard work paying off, he will be in a better mood.”
“Will you always be this understanding? You yourself have just put out a new album last month, and you’ll be promoting a new single soon. How will you cope with your marriage and career?”
“We only film once a week, so we only meet once a week,” I said. “It’s still manageable.”
“So if you were to see each other day in, day out, do you think you’d last?”
“It depends on the reason we’re together,” I replied.
“Reason?”
“If we’re in it for love, nothing can hinder us,” I smiled.
“So how much do you think he loves you?” she asked.
I mimed a really small pinch.
“This much,” I giggled. “I think he likes me this much. Love? We’ll need to work on that some more.”
******
[Shoei’s POV]
“Onni,” Su Bin said as nuna hung up on Jae Joong hyung. “You and Jae Joong oppa are just too loving.”
“But we are not married,” she said. “So you two have a lot more freedom to be as loving as possible.”
I coughed at nuna’s last sentence. What was she doing? She knew that I didn’t care for the show or Su Bin, and she’s encouraging Su Bin to put on a bigger act for the show.
“I wanna quit the show,” I’d told her last night.
“Quit? You can’t just quit,” nuna said.
“The album launch is coming,” he said. “I can use my busy schedule as an excuse.”
“That may only buy you a month or two, like what Alex did,” she pointed out.
“I don’t wanna be on the show anymore. Su Bin freaks me out,” I said.
“You’re generating publicity for the album through the show. The management will make sure you stay.”
“Will it help if I behave like a jerk?” I joked.
“You’ll kill our album sales then,” she said. “It’s bad enough that I did it to our first album. You want us to disband after the fourth album?”
“No…” I sighed.
“Then suck it up…” she said, and gave me a thump on my back.
I sneaked a glance at Su Bin as we drove along. I’ll stay on the show, but I won’t be a doormat any longer. I’m going to assert my power this time around.
We came to a small bistro where the PDs for We Got Married have already made reservations. Since Skye and nuna were last minute guests, they had to call up to get a bigger table for us.
“Wow…” nuna exclaimed at we walked it.
The bistro was decorated like an English pub, complete with coarse wooden benches and tables, but there were also choices of proper chairs and tables which were meant for couples. Since we were a bigger party, we got a big table with benches.
“Doesn’t this place remind you of the UK?” nuna asked me, and I nodded.
“Oppa, you’ve been to England?” Su Bin asked me.
“I was there during my high school years,” I replied.
“No wonder you speak such good English,” she marveled.
“Nuna and Skye are as good,” I said.
I sat next to Skye, while Su Bin sat next to nuna. Nuna sat across the table from me. I know this sounds like an odd arrangement, but the PDs suggested it, so we just went along. I wondered what kind of situation they were trying to create. Were they trying to play nuna and Su Bin against each other? If they were, it’s only gonna work for Su Bin, since nuna didn’t care.
We ordered our food, and as soon as our salads arrived, nuna and Skye started doing what they usually did; swapping vegetables.
“Skye… take my radishes,” nuna said as she starting picking the shredded radish up with her fork and spoon and piled them onto Skye’s plate, stretching around the table to do so.
“I don’t like these purple vegetables,” Skye said, and started picking up his vegetables and putting them into nuna’s plate.
I rolled my eyes at the both of them. They were doing what we always did, but it’s going to make them look immature. I’m hoping this doesn’t make the cut.
“Shoei…” nuna looked at my plate.
I glared at her.
“Come on…” she said, raising her fork over my plate.
“Chamkan,” I sighed, and picked up my spoon.
I scooped up the pine nuts and corn from my salad, and put them on her plate.
“Cho-a?” I smiled sarcastically
“Ne…” she smiled and she started eating. “Neomu cho-a.”
I made a quick glance across the table at Su Bin. She looked lost, and uneasy at the ‘display of affection’ among us.
“Ah! Su Bin!” Skye suddenly exclaimed.
“Ne?” she turned to Skye.
“I saw your band’s video. You girls were great!” Skye said.
“Komawoyo,” she smiled.
“How old are you?” nuna asked her.
“I’m 18,” she replied.
“That makes you 7 years younger than Shoei,” Skye pointed out.
“Ne,” she nodded, and then started eating silently.
“Shoei… she’s so shy. Did you tell her not to speak to us?” nuna teased.
“Aniyo,” I replied, and continued eating my salad.
“Su Bin,” nuna looked at her, “it’s alright. You can tell us if he’s threatened you.”
“A-aniyo,” Su Bin answered.
It was obvious that Su Bin was intimidated. She was only 18 and fresh out of the K-Pop factory. Nuna and Skye were pretty scary when you put them together as a team. They don’t stop talking, and they were capable of coming up with all sorts of weird questions to harass you if they wanted to.
“Ignore them, Su Bin,” I said.
“Oooh…” Skye sang. “Someone is protecting his wife.”
“Shoei… you used to protect me,” nuna pouted. “Now you’re choosing your wife over your nuna?”
This was getting too weird. Nuna had always been so preoccupied with her own personal life. She had never so much cared with whom I flirted with or whether or not I was even in the same room as she is. But here she is, putting on a show of jealousy on national television.
“And your brother,” Skye added, just to fuel the fire.
“Oppa doesn’t mean that,” Su Bin quickly said in his defense.
“They’re just playing, Su Bin,” I smiled. “Ignore them.”
“No, we’re not,” Skye protested.
“Food’s here,” I said when I saw the waiter approaching, successfully cutting Skye off for the moment.
Dinner proceeded and ended without much more shenanigans. Nuna and Skye must’ve been hungry and decided to focus on eating.
“I’ll take Su Bin home,” I said to them as we got up to leave.
“Sure you don’t want me to give you a lift?” Skye asked me.
“We’ll be fine. We need to date, you know,” I added for fun; my mistake.
Skye looked at nuna, and he started singing as we walked out of the restaurant.
“I can see what’s happening…” he sang.
“What?” nuna asked; gleefully.
“But they don’t have a clue,” he added.
“Huh?” nuna responded, trying not to laugh.
“They’re falling in love, and here’s the bottom line… our trio’s down to 2.”
“Oh…” nuna said, pretending to sound sad.
“Keumanhae…” I warned them.
It was Can You Feel the Love Tonight, from the Lion King; the Timon and Pumbaa version. Su Bin was giggling throughout their little act.
“Bye…” they waved at us, and we waved back.
But as soon as we turned out backs, they skipped to the chorus…
“Can you feel the love tonight…” the two of them shrieked like drunkards as they walked to Skye’s car, and when they reached Skye’s car, they doubled over in laughter, bracing themselves against his car.
The production crew gave us a lift back to our apartment, forgoing the filming for the journey there. I would have to spend the night there tonight. Filming was actually scheduled for tomorrow, but I guess they decided to do it late today and follow on till tomorrow.
“Oppa,” Su Bin called to me.
She was lying on the sofa, and I was lying on a mat on the floor beside the coffee table. She’d decided to give me a facial when we got back. I just went along with whatever she wanted since I was too tired to fight already.
“Mwo?” I replied.
“Mianhae,” she said.
“For what? “ I asked.
“If I hadn’t been there tonight, you would have had more fun with Sierra onni and Skye oppa.”
“It’s alright. I have fun with them almost every day,” I replied.
She was silent for awhile, and then she spoke up again.
“Is it a burden to be married to me?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“You’re so busy, and I just feel that having me adds to your burden,” she said.
I hadn’t checked the script today. Usually they had a guideline on the topics that we were supposed to mention and discuss from there. I’m guessing this was part of it, so I had to respond positively.
“Of course not,” I said. “Don’t be silly. I don’t even need to take care of you.”
“What about having to entertain me? We hardly know each other, and you have to constantly spend time with me, make an effort to interact with me… I don’t want to burden you with this obligation.”
“A marriage is not an obligation, Su Bin,” I replied, and sat up. “It’s a commitment of love.”
“Then do you love me, oppa?” she asked simply.
This girl was an actress. The expression on her face was so pensive, and filled with anticipation. How would the nation react toward me if I shot her down? In the end, I was a Japanese, and for my band’s sake, I need to stay sane and focus.
“In time, I will,” I replied, and lay back down.
I caught her smiling just before I closed my eyes.
[Su Bin’s POV]
It was part of the script, but tonight, somehow, I felt closer to him than I did before.
He’d been so hostile towards me and the crew while on the set. I could see that he was stressed. With the launch of S-Cube’s 4th album coming up, his days could not be more difficult. Everyone was expecting something big from them now since they’d done so well with the last album. Even before this album is due for release, their decision to do an album of covers had been under scrutiny.
Some said they’d run out of material or creative juices, so they were taking the quick route to put out an album. Some appreciated that they wanted to honor some classics and hits, and were eager to see how S-Cube would interpret them. Already ‘L.O.V.E’ had received rave reviews after being featured on Sierra onni’s drama, ‘Girls on Top’. Darren oppa might hate their guts, but I think S-Cube have another hit album on their hands.
“Why do you think Shoei was so hostile today?” the interviewer asked me during the day’s interview session.
“I think he was just stressed and tired,” I smiled.
“Do you think he will always be like this?” she asked.
“Aniyo…” I replied. “His album will be released in another week. When he starts seeing the results of his hard work paying off, he will be in a better mood.”
“Will you always be this understanding? You yourself have just put out a new album last month, and you’ll be promoting a new single soon. How will you cope with your marriage and career?”
“We only film once a week, so we only meet once a week,” I said. “It’s still manageable.”
“So if you were to see each other day in, day out, do you think you’d last?”
“It depends on the reason we’re together,” I replied.
“Reason?”
“If we’re in it for love, nothing can hinder us,” I smiled.
“So how much do you think he loves you?” she asked.
I mimed a really small pinch.
“This much,” I giggled. “I think he likes me this much. Love? We’ll need to work on that some more.”
Friday, 23 January 2009
Chapter 148: 미워 (Hate U, Love U)
[Shoei’s POV]
I knew today was coming the moment we started recording the new album. I wasn’t waiting for it, but now it’s here, that old familiar feeling seemed to be seeping back into my heart. I knew I had already decided to forget her, but I can never stop myself from feeling that sense of comfort and longing, especially when we touched. As the shoot went on, I told myself, for at least this moment, I could pretend. After this, things would go back to the way they should be.
She was so close now, our breaths mingled, and her eyes were fixed on mine. I was painfully aware of her hand resting on my thigh. I wondered if she felt uncomfortable.
As if the gods knew I was waiting for a moment like this subconsciously, nuna’s hand slipped off my thigh, and our noses grazed each other’s. It was almost a kiss if it hadn’t missed by a centimeter. Nuna sat up quickly and rearranged her position, and her expression. I could see her flushing from the awkwardness. All these years together and she still felt shy around me?
“Sierra… look up and Skye now. Give him an expressionless look,” the director said. “And Shoei, reach out to her and try to regain her attention.”
Nuna took the opportunity to look away, and I took the opportunity to touch her face the way I never would.
A few more shots later, they removed the lounge, and we did more shoots standing around, and finally, the group shoot wrapped. We now had some individual shoots, still in the glam mode, but we had some costume changes.
Nuna was now dressed in a sapphire blue, sequined flapper dress, diamante encrusted headband around her braided upward hairdo with a feather at the back, and still with that long cigarette filter in her hand. They had created a set which looked like a ballroom, complete with antique furniture, chandeliers, tall French doors and a grand piano. For this scene, I had some couple shots with nuna, but mostly with me as a prop since the main subject of the shoot was her. I sat at the piano and started playing. Nuna was asked to pose around the piano while I played.
“Sing something, Shoei,” the director said. “It’s starting to look stiff.”
They turned off ‘Just a Feeling’, and I was left to create the mood on my own. I decided to sing one of our favorite practice songs, Alex’s ‘Very Hurtful Words’. Nuna had always been a huge fan of Alex. When he released his solo album, she practically dashed to the record store to get it. After Jae Joong hyung and Park Hyo Shin, she worshipped Alex the most.
I played the intro of the song, but jumped to the 2nd part of the song, so that nuna could join in if she wanted to.
“You are so beautiful
keudaeneun nareul oerobge hajyo
amudo saranghal su eobge
keudaeneun naege
eoneudeot ap'eun taneoga waetjyo
ireohke naui kaseume
chogeumman nareul parabwajumyeon
tallyeoga nege hagop'eun mal”
I closed my eyes and allowed the lyrics of the chorus to fill my heart as I released them from my lips to form the song. It was a beautiful love song. One that never ceased to put you in a sad, romantic mood; this was how nuna always described it.
“saranghae neoreul saranghae
neul sumgigo na kamjuryeo haedo
neo-ui uimi eobneun mal han madi-e
useumjitgo nunmul heullimyeon
kkume keurineun mal”
I continued playing as I sang the last line, ready for her to join in, but she didn’t. I looked up and she was looking straight at me, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears.
“Good,” the director called out, “I can feel the love and longing being exchanged.”
She blinked, and turned away briefly as a tear escaped.
“I’m sorry,” she said, interrupting the shoot. “I need a minute,” she added as she dabbed her eyes gently with her gloved hand.
“It’s alright, Sierra,” the director called, not stopping the cameras. “That was something extra. I’d like that to be part of the MV.”
Nuna nodded, and turned back to lean and pose again.
“Kwaench’ana?” I whispered.
“I’m fine,” she replied softly.
“Shoei,” the director called.
“Ne,” I replied.
“Tashi…” he said, indicating that I played again for the cameras.
The shoot continued smoothly as we delivered more and more different shoots with many costume changes. There was one where nuna had to wear a gold dress with huge shoulder pads and they gave her really big hair and lots of eye shadow to go with it. For that shoot, Skye and I were dressed in suits ala Spandau Ballet in the MV for ‘Gold’, and we had eyeliner on.
“Wow, nuna!” Skye exclaimed when nuna walked out of hair and makeup. “You can house a family of squirrels in that nest.”
“Shut up!” she exclaimed, looking very self-conscious of her hair.
“You look the part,” I said, to make her feel a little better.
“Thanks,” she smiled.
The costumes were paired with a stage. I held a saxophone in my hand, and Skye had an electric guitar. Nuna had the role of the songstress, and stood front and center with a microphone stand. They played ‘Just a Feeling’ again, and we pretended to play the instruments while nuna lip-synched to the song, complete with diva-like gestures.
For the final shoot, we were all wearing the hanbok.
“Is this a New Year special?” Skye asked as he walked around as if he were a character in a period drama.
“Keureomhamnida,” nuna answered, and hid her faced behind a sleeve.
She’s joking and playing with Skye now, but I can’t forget the look on her face when we did the shoot by the piano earlier. I had no idea what had caused her tears. Did that song mean something to her? She’s never said anything about it whenever we used it at practice. So why did she react so differently today?
As we were completing the shoot today, a surprise visitor arrived.
It was Su Bin, with the crew from ‘We Got Married’. As soon the cameras shut off so that the PDs could discuss how to continue the shoot without interrupting ours, I pulled Su Bin aside to question her.
“What’s going on? Why wasn’t I informed?” I asked.
“It’s a surprise,” she smiled. “If they’d told you earlier, you wouldn’t look so surprised when I arrived.”
“But I’m working. Can’t this wait till the scheduled filming day?” I asked.
“Your management okay-ed it,” she shrugged. “I’m just taking instructions as well.”
“Geez…” I raised my arms, and walked off.
“What’s wrong?” nuna asked me as I approached her and Skye in hair and makeup.
The shoot was actually almost complete. We had one more scene to shoot, and we could go. Nuna and Skye were having their makeup removed and hair put back to normal for our natural shoot.
“It’s a surprise shoot,” I huffed as I sat down in one of the chairs.
“Sounds fun,” Skye quipped.
I leaned back and tried to relax as the stylist fixed my makeup and changed my hairstyle.
Su Bin and the crew hung around while we continued filming. She looked really cute, dressed in pastel yellow sleeveless blouse, denim miniskirt and sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she used very natural makeup which made her look fresh and youthful. She looked like a child next to nuna, but even if she was a child, I wasn’t going to go easy on her this time. She may not have made the call on today’s filming activities, but there was no other way for me to vent my frustrations. Yes… no more Mister Nice Guy. Shoei has gone bad…
The shoot finally wrapped, and we got off the set to change out of our costumes.
“It’s alright, I’m still filming,” I waved the makeup artist off when she approached me with the intention of removing my makeup for me.
“You have too much gunk on your face. That much makeup is only meant for MVs,” nuna said.
“I don’t care,” I grumbled. “I’m too lazy to do anything for that show anymore.”
“Incoming,” Skye sang as Su Bin and the crew walked in; the cameras were on.
“Annyeonghaseyo,” she bowed politely at us.
Skye and nuna waved back at her while I glared at her and the crew.
“Oppa… hwanaseoyo?” she asked as she lightly touched my arm.
“I just don’t like distractions when I’m working,” I said.
The cameras were rolling, and whatever I said may make the cut, but if it’s entertainment they want, I’ll give it to them.
“Mianhaeyo,” she said, sweetly. “I should have called.”
“You should have,” I said.
“Ne. I won’t do it again,” she said, sweetly. “Shall we go for dinner?” she asked
“I had plans with Skye and nuna,” I replied.
“We can all go together,” she suggested.
I looked at Skye and nuna. They were very obviously paying attention to every word that was exchanged between me and Su Bin.
“I don’t mind,” Skye offered.
“Me neither,” nuna replied.
I could say that I was thankful to them at that moment. Going somewhere for dinner would mean attracting a lot of attention to Su Bin and myself. Having the whole band come along would definitely generate more attention, but at least I didn’t have to be the main focus if they came along.
[Sierra’s POV]
We packed up and left the studios together with the crew from ‘We Got Married’. Skye and I had decided to lend our support to Shoei since he was ambushed by Su Bin and the crew. Shoei wasn’t a particularly moody person, but I would say that he wasn’t in the best of moods today. The show must be putting considerable pressure on him.
Skye and I sat upfront since he was driving, and let Shoei and Su Bin sit at the back. A camera perched at the front of the car to film the entire journey.
“I got a mission envelope today,” Su Bin explained to Shoei. “I was asked to visit you at work and have dinner with you to get to know you better.”
“You could’ve just called to meet instead of bringing the whole crew,” he said.
“I don’t think she had any control over that,” I answered for her. “Just chill.”
Everyone was silent after that, and in an attempt to reduce the awkwardness, Skye put on a CD. Coincidentally, it was one of our personally compiled CDs, and ‘Very Hurtful Words’ started playing. Skye hummed along as we always did, Shoei continued to ignore Su Bin, who was starting to look a little bewildered, and I started thinking about the shoot earlier.
I had no idea where the tears came from. Shoei was just singing like we always did, but today, it felt very personal. As if he were singing to me, like he did on X-Man, a long time ago. This song had a special place in my heart, and to hear him sing it with his heart, it just made me immerse myself into the emotions of the song, and that’s when the tears came.
Today had been a little nostalgic of the early days… the very first few photoshoots we had where I’d always thought Shoei’s intense expressions were the result of good acting, not realizing that he was channeling his true feelings at me. Today felt no different.
It has been a long time since he’d said anything about us. When he came back from Japan, I could feel that he had put it behind him. But somehow today, it was back; especially after the almost kiss, and then, he sang this song. No one sang this song like Shoei did. Alex did it well, but when Shoei did it, you could feel the pain from his heart in every word.
I hate to admit it, but when I saw him walking with Su Bin today, I felt a little jealous. This would be the first time I’ve seen Shoei actually interact with a girl in such a personal manner. In the past, the rare harmless flirting and conversations he’s had with other female artistes never bothered me, but something about Su Bin being his ‘wife’ irked me. Was I being selfish because he had always been devoted to me but now he has someone else to turn his attention to; even if it wasn’t positive attention?
Just then, my phone rang. I turned down the music, and answered.
“Yoboseyo?”
“It’s me…” Jae Joong sang.
“You’re in a good mood,” I laughed.
“I’m coming back this weekend!” he yelled into the phone, almost deafening me.
“Chintcha?” I exclaimed.
“What?” Skye asked, getting curious from my excited tone.
“Jae Joong’s coming back this weekend,” I said.
“Yippie!” Skye cheered, making fun of my excitement.
“I can’t really talk now,” I said to Jae Joong.
“Wae?” he whined.
“We’re on We Got Married with Shoei,” I whispered into the phone.
“Oh… araso. I’ll call back later,” he said.
“Okay… talk later,” I said.
“Okay… bye… love you,” he said.
“Love you,” I whispered in reply.
“Onni,” Su Bin piped up from the back as soon as I hung up. “You and Jae Joong oppa are just too loving.”
“But we are not married,” I joked. “So you two have a lot more freedom to be as loving as possible.”
Shoei coughed at my last sentence, while Skye grinned as he maintained his silence. We’ve decided that we’re not doing this for Shoei without getting a little fun out of it.
I knew today was coming the moment we started recording the new album. I wasn’t waiting for it, but now it’s here, that old familiar feeling seemed to be seeping back into my heart. I knew I had already decided to forget her, but I can never stop myself from feeling that sense of comfort and longing, especially when we touched. As the shoot went on, I told myself, for at least this moment, I could pretend. After this, things would go back to the way they should be.
She was so close now, our breaths mingled, and her eyes were fixed on mine. I was painfully aware of her hand resting on my thigh. I wondered if she felt uncomfortable.
As if the gods knew I was waiting for a moment like this subconsciously, nuna’s hand slipped off my thigh, and our noses grazed each other’s. It was almost a kiss if it hadn’t missed by a centimeter. Nuna sat up quickly and rearranged her position, and her expression. I could see her flushing from the awkwardness. All these years together and she still felt shy around me?
“Sierra… look up and Skye now. Give him an expressionless look,” the director said. “And Shoei, reach out to her and try to regain her attention.”
Nuna took the opportunity to look away, and I took the opportunity to touch her face the way I never would.
A few more shots later, they removed the lounge, and we did more shoots standing around, and finally, the group shoot wrapped. We now had some individual shoots, still in the glam mode, but we had some costume changes.
Nuna was now dressed in a sapphire blue, sequined flapper dress, diamante encrusted headband around her braided upward hairdo with a feather at the back, and still with that long cigarette filter in her hand. They had created a set which looked like a ballroom, complete with antique furniture, chandeliers, tall French doors and a grand piano. For this scene, I had some couple shots with nuna, but mostly with me as a prop since the main subject of the shoot was her. I sat at the piano and started playing. Nuna was asked to pose around the piano while I played.
“Sing something, Shoei,” the director said. “It’s starting to look stiff.”
They turned off ‘Just a Feeling’, and I was left to create the mood on my own. I decided to sing one of our favorite practice songs, Alex’s ‘Very Hurtful Words’. Nuna had always been a huge fan of Alex. When he released his solo album, she practically dashed to the record store to get it. After Jae Joong hyung and Park Hyo Shin, she worshipped Alex the most.
I played the intro of the song, but jumped to the 2nd part of the song, so that nuna could join in if she wanted to.
“You are so beautiful
keudaeneun nareul oerobge hajyo
amudo saranghal su eobge
keudaeneun naege
eoneudeot ap'eun taneoga waetjyo
ireohke naui kaseume
chogeumman nareul parabwajumyeon
tallyeoga nege hagop'eun mal”
I closed my eyes and allowed the lyrics of the chorus to fill my heart as I released them from my lips to form the song. It was a beautiful love song. One that never ceased to put you in a sad, romantic mood; this was how nuna always described it.
“saranghae neoreul saranghae
neul sumgigo na kamjuryeo haedo
neo-ui uimi eobneun mal han madi-e
useumjitgo nunmul heullimyeon
kkume keurineun mal”
I continued playing as I sang the last line, ready for her to join in, but she didn’t. I looked up and she was looking straight at me, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears.
“Good,” the director called out, “I can feel the love and longing being exchanged.”
She blinked, and turned away briefly as a tear escaped.
“I’m sorry,” she said, interrupting the shoot. “I need a minute,” she added as she dabbed her eyes gently with her gloved hand.
“It’s alright, Sierra,” the director called, not stopping the cameras. “That was something extra. I’d like that to be part of the MV.”
Nuna nodded, and turned back to lean and pose again.
“Kwaench’ana?” I whispered.
“I’m fine,” she replied softly.
“Shoei,” the director called.
“Ne,” I replied.
“Tashi…” he said, indicating that I played again for the cameras.
The shoot continued smoothly as we delivered more and more different shoots with many costume changes. There was one where nuna had to wear a gold dress with huge shoulder pads and they gave her really big hair and lots of eye shadow to go with it. For that shoot, Skye and I were dressed in suits ala Spandau Ballet in the MV for ‘Gold’, and we had eyeliner on.
“Wow, nuna!” Skye exclaimed when nuna walked out of hair and makeup. “You can house a family of squirrels in that nest.”
“Shut up!” she exclaimed, looking very self-conscious of her hair.
“You look the part,” I said, to make her feel a little better.
“Thanks,” she smiled.
The costumes were paired with a stage. I held a saxophone in my hand, and Skye had an electric guitar. Nuna had the role of the songstress, and stood front and center with a microphone stand. They played ‘Just a Feeling’ again, and we pretended to play the instruments while nuna lip-synched to the song, complete with diva-like gestures.
For the final shoot, we were all wearing the hanbok.
“Is this a New Year special?” Skye asked as he walked around as if he were a character in a period drama.
“Keureomhamnida,” nuna answered, and hid her faced behind a sleeve.
She’s joking and playing with Skye now, but I can’t forget the look on her face when we did the shoot by the piano earlier. I had no idea what had caused her tears. Did that song mean something to her? She’s never said anything about it whenever we used it at practice. So why did she react so differently today?
As we were completing the shoot today, a surprise visitor arrived.
It was Su Bin, with the crew from ‘We Got Married’. As soon the cameras shut off so that the PDs could discuss how to continue the shoot without interrupting ours, I pulled Su Bin aside to question her.
“What’s going on? Why wasn’t I informed?” I asked.
“It’s a surprise,” she smiled. “If they’d told you earlier, you wouldn’t look so surprised when I arrived.”
“But I’m working. Can’t this wait till the scheduled filming day?” I asked.
“Your management okay-ed it,” she shrugged. “I’m just taking instructions as well.”
“Geez…” I raised my arms, and walked off.
“What’s wrong?” nuna asked me as I approached her and Skye in hair and makeup.
The shoot was actually almost complete. We had one more scene to shoot, and we could go. Nuna and Skye were having their makeup removed and hair put back to normal for our natural shoot.
“It’s a surprise shoot,” I huffed as I sat down in one of the chairs.
“Sounds fun,” Skye quipped.
I leaned back and tried to relax as the stylist fixed my makeup and changed my hairstyle.
Su Bin and the crew hung around while we continued filming. She looked really cute, dressed in pastel yellow sleeveless blouse, denim miniskirt and sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she used very natural makeup which made her look fresh and youthful. She looked like a child next to nuna, but even if she was a child, I wasn’t going to go easy on her this time. She may not have made the call on today’s filming activities, but there was no other way for me to vent my frustrations. Yes… no more Mister Nice Guy. Shoei has gone bad…
The shoot finally wrapped, and we got off the set to change out of our costumes.
“It’s alright, I’m still filming,” I waved the makeup artist off when she approached me with the intention of removing my makeup for me.
“You have too much gunk on your face. That much makeup is only meant for MVs,” nuna said.
“I don’t care,” I grumbled. “I’m too lazy to do anything for that show anymore.”
“Incoming,” Skye sang as Su Bin and the crew walked in; the cameras were on.
“Annyeonghaseyo,” she bowed politely at us.
Skye and nuna waved back at her while I glared at her and the crew.
“Oppa… hwanaseoyo?” she asked as she lightly touched my arm.
“I just don’t like distractions when I’m working,” I said.
The cameras were rolling, and whatever I said may make the cut, but if it’s entertainment they want, I’ll give it to them.
“Mianhaeyo,” she said, sweetly. “I should have called.”
“You should have,” I said.
“Ne. I won’t do it again,” she said, sweetly. “Shall we go for dinner?” she asked
“I had plans with Skye and nuna,” I replied.
“We can all go together,” she suggested.
I looked at Skye and nuna. They were very obviously paying attention to every word that was exchanged between me and Su Bin.
“I don’t mind,” Skye offered.
“Me neither,” nuna replied.
I could say that I was thankful to them at that moment. Going somewhere for dinner would mean attracting a lot of attention to Su Bin and myself. Having the whole band come along would definitely generate more attention, but at least I didn’t have to be the main focus if they came along.
[Sierra’s POV]
We packed up and left the studios together with the crew from ‘We Got Married’. Skye and I had decided to lend our support to Shoei since he was ambushed by Su Bin and the crew. Shoei wasn’t a particularly moody person, but I would say that he wasn’t in the best of moods today. The show must be putting considerable pressure on him.
Skye and I sat upfront since he was driving, and let Shoei and Su Bin sit at the back. A camera perched at the front of the car to film the entire journey.
“I got a mission envelope today,” Su Bin explained to Shoei. “I was asked to visit you at work and have dinner with you to get to know you better.”
“You could’ve just called to meet instead of bringing the whole crew,” he said.
“I don’t think she had any control over that,” I answered for her. “Just chill.”
Everyone was silent after that, and in an attempt to reduce the awkwardness, Skye put on a CD. Coincidentally, it was one of our personally compiled CDs, and ‘Very Hurtful Words’ started playing. Skye hummed along as we always did, Shoei continued to ignore Su Bin, who was starting to look a little bewildered, and I started thinking about the shoot earlier.
I had no idea where the tears came from. Shoei was just singing like we always did, but today, it felt very personal. As if he were singing to me, like he did on X-Man, a long time ago. This song had a special place in my heart, and to hear him sing it with his heart, it just made me immerse myself into the emotions of the song, and that’s when the tears came.
Today had been a little nostalgic of the early days… the very first few photoshoots we had where I’d always thought Shoei’s intense expressions were the result of good acting, not realizing that he was channeling his true feelings at me. Today felt no different.
It has been a long time since he’d said anything about us. When he came back from Japan, I could feel that he had put it behind him. But somehow today, it was back; especially after the almost kiss, and then, he sang this song. No one sang this song like Shoei did. Alex did it well, but when Shoei did it, you could feel the pain from his heart in every word.
I hate to admit it, but when I saw him walking with Su Bin today, I felt a little jealous. This would be the first time I’ve seen Shoei actually interact with a girl in such a personal manner. In the past, the rare harmless flirting and conversations he’s had with other female artistes never bothered me, but something about Su Bin being his ‘wife’ irked me. Was I being selfish because he had always been devoted to me but now he has someone else to turn his attention to; even if it wasn’t positive attention?
Just then, my phone rang. I turned down the music, and answered.
“Yoboseyo?”
“It’s me…” Jae Joong sang.
“You’re in a good mood,” I laughed.
“I’m coming back this weekend!” he yelled into the phone, almost deafening me.
“Chintcha?” I exclaimed.
“What?” Skye asked, getting curious from my excited tone.
“Jae Joong’s coming back this weekend,” I said.
“Yippie!” Skye cheered, making fun of my excitement.
“I can’t really talk now,” I said to Jae Joong.
“Wae?” he whined.
“We’re on We Got Married with Shoei,” I whispered into the phone.
“Oh… araso. I’ll call back later,” he said.
“Okay… talk later,” I said.
“Okay… bye… love you,” he said.
“Love you,” I whispered in reply.
“Onni,” Su Bin piped up from the back as soon as I hung up. “You and Jae Joong oppa are just too loving.”
“But we are not married,” I joked. “So you two have a lot more freedom to be as loving as possible.”
Shoei coughed at my last sentence, while Skye grinned as he maintained his silence. We’ve decided that we’re not doing this for Shoei without getting a little fun out of it.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Bonus: Darren
I know he's a villain, and he doesn't warrant much attention :P But since I'm on a roll, and I've received requests for his face as well... here he is... (my sister is gonna kill me)
Darren is Lee Dong Wook. Lee Dong Wook is an actor (born 6 Nov 1981). He rose to fame after his role in the crazy drama (in my opinion), My Girl. He's starred in movies such as Arang, The Perfect Couple, and recently in Heartbreak Library with Eugene from S.E.S. You can also catch him in Monday Kiz's story MV for the song Bye Bye Bye (that's where I first saw him).
Me and a friend went through lots of pictures. We were looking for a good looking guy who looked a tad arrogant. Coincidentally, Dong Wook is also a model, so we had no problem finding photos of him giving attitude ^_^ But being a kind author, I've decided to put hot and cute photos of Darren.
Whether or not Darren will develop into a permanent fixture is still undecided, but for now... at least we know he's a hot guy, and a bad boy ^_^
Darren is Lee Dong Wook. Lee Dong Wook is an actor (born 6 Nov 1981). He rose to fame after his role in the crazy drama (in my opinion), My Girl. He's starred in movies such as Arang, The Perfect Couple, and recently in Heartbreak Library with Eugene from S.E.S. You can also catch him in Monday Kiz's story MV for the song Bye Bye Bye (that's where I first saw him).
Me and a friend went through lots of pictures. We were looking for a good looking guy who looked a tad arrogant. Coincidentally, Dong Wook is also a model, so we had no problem finding photos of him giving attitude ^_^ But being a kind author, I've decided to put hot and cute photos of Darren.
Whether or not Darren will develop into a permanent fixture is still undecided, but for now... at least we know he's a hot guy, and a bad boy ^_^
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