Chapter 101: Reminiscence

Filming wrapped up as the sun started setting. By the time we’d removed our makeup, changed and the rest of the crew had packed up, it was already nightfall.

“Sierra, Yun Ho,” the producer called out to us as we walked out of the trailer. “Have dinner with me and the crew.”

“Okay,” Yun Ho replied for the both of us. “Where are you going? We’ll meet you there.”

After the producer had told us where they were headed, we got into the van that was taking the equipment back to the headquarters, where Yun Ho’s car was parked, and we drove there ourselves.

“Tired?” Yun Ho asked me when he noticed the way I sat in the seat; slouching with my head lolling about when he turned corners.

“A little,” I smiled. “I’m just being lazy.”

“Right,” he laughed. “I’d almost forgot… twaeji.”

“Yah…” I said lazily as I glared wearily at him. “Watch it.”

“I can’t call you ‘twaeji’ anymore?” he said as he made a sad face.

“Only my boyfriend can call me that,” I said, before realizing what I’d just pointed out.

I quickly turned to look at Yun Ho and I was relieved to see that his expression hadn’t changed.

“I know,” he said. “I’ll find a new nickname for you,” he smiled mischievously.

“Don’t do that…” I whined.

“Why not?” he teased me. “Let’s think of a new name… hmm… pabo? Aniyo… Poktan?” he laughed.

“Very funny,” I said, and I smacked him on the arm.

“Yah… appuh…” he exclaimed. “You should have a nickname that described how violent you are.”

“I am not violent,” I protested.

“No?” he laughed. “If there is anything I remember most about you when we were dating, it’s how violent you are.”

“What did I do that was violent?” I asked him.

“The hitting, the poking, the yelling,” he listed out.

“You yell too,” I pointed out.

“I’m a guy…” he shrugged.

“So what are you saying? It’s socially unacceptable for a girl to yell?”

“Something like that…”

“Which century are you from?”

“The current,” he grinned.

“Aissshiii…” I laughed and punched his arm.

“There you go again…” he said. “We should call you yeobginyeo.”

“You’re not calling me that.”

“Let’s see what the others think before we decide,” he said.

“You’re not telling them!” I exclaimed as I shook his arm. “Yah! You can’t tell them! I’m nothing like Jeon Ji Yeon in ‘My Sassy Girl’.”

“You do at least half the stuff she did in that movie,” he laughed.

“No I don’t! And I warn you… do not tell them.”

“No?”

“Andoe.”

“Andoeji?”

“Cholltae andoe,” I said.

“Araso,” he said, and that was when I realized he’d been pulling my leg all along.

“You’re evil,” I sulked.

“I know,” he smiled, and I gave up, and started laughing.

Dinner was pretty lively, especially after everyone had had a few drinks. I was probably the only sober person there, until they decided to force 2 glasses of soju into me.

“Chintcha… I can’t drink,” I protested.

“Come on, Sierra,” the producer tried to coax me.

“I really can’t drink,” I said as I looked pleadingly around the table.

“She’ll get really drunk after 1 glass,” Yun Ho said in my defense.

“Kwaench’ana…” the producer said. “Yun Ho will take you home.”

I looked at Yun Ho and he nodded, which meant that I had to accept the drink. I took the glass from the producer and swallowed the clear liquid in one gulp. As soon as I did, the whole table cheered.

“Yaaahhh… see!” the producer exclaimed. “You can do it. Have another!”

And that was the last one I had, or at least that was what I remembered. I remembered hearing Yun Ho telling the producer that 2 glasses was my limit, and after that I just felt my brain slowly drifting. I was actually alright for awhile, after the 2nd glass, but as time passed, my head started to feel heavy and my eyes just wanted to shut themselves.

“Kaja,” I could hear Yun Ho say as he helped me up from the table and he said goodbye to the party for the both of us as he bowed, and we walked away from the stall to his car.

I probably would’ve been able to walk better if I hadn’t been wearing these really high heels. It was really because I was around him, that I feel the need to wear heels, since he was so tall. He had to keep me from falling whilst fishing for his keys and when he finally got the door opened, he helped me into the car, making sure I didn’t bump my head or fall into the car headfirst. We drove home in silence, him looking straight ahead and me leaning on the window and looking out on my side. By the time we got home, I was still dizzy, and he had to help me up to the apartment.

“I think you shouldn’t join the crew for meals in future,” he said.

“Wae?”

“They’ll always try to get you to drink. Good thing you’re not one of those ‘happy drunks’ who get overly friendly when you’re drunk.”

“That’s cos I wasn’t really drunk, and I told myself to just sit there and stop talking, or I’d have gotten a little too animated,” I giggled.

“Just listen to yourself,” he said in a voice that I could only interpret as affectionate.

We were in the elevator, and I was leaning heavily on him while he supported my body with one arm.

“You know…” I said.

“What?”

“If someone were to take a picture of us now,” I giggled again.

“It would be a bigger mayhem than your last scandal,” he said as he poked my head with a finger.

“Yea,” I said as tried to stand up straight but dipped and slammed into him, pushing him against the elevator wall.

“Yah…” he laughed as he tried to stand up and hold me up. “Stop moving around you crazy girl.”

“No mich’in,” I said, and I knew I was slurring my words, but I couldn’t control it.

“Ne…” he laughed.

The doors finally opened and we walked out together.

“Chamkan,” I said as I pulled him to a stop.

I kicked off my shoes and picked them up.

“You should’ve done that earlier,” he said.

“It’s dirty on the streets.”

“Keurae… I should’ve just carried you.”

“That would’ve been nice,” I smiled.

As we stumbled into the apartment, 3 heads turned to look at us.

“Yah… what happened to you, Sierra?” Yoo Chun was the first to speak.

“They wouldn’t stop offering her drinks,” Yun Ho explained.

“You should’ve drank them for her,” Jun Su said.

“Then I wouldn’t have been able to drive,” Yun Ho reminded him.

“Right…” Jun Su replied as he smiled sheepishly. “I forgot Sierra can’t drive.”

Just then, Jae Joong walked out of the room and saw me and Yun Ho standing in the doorway, with me still leaning on him.

“What’s wrong?” he said as he walked towards us and intercepted me from Yun Ho.

“One too many…” I drawled and giggled.

Chang Min started laughing, and the others followed. I guess they’ve never really seen me like this, so they found it funny.

“Come on,” Jae Joong laughed as he picked me up and carried me into his room.

“Whoa!!! Hyung!!!” Jun Su exclaimed.

“Go Jae Joong… go Jae Joong…” Yoo Chun chanted as Jae Joong walked away from the living room.

“I didn’t know hyung could be so gallant,” Chang Min laughed.

He laid me on his bed and helped me take off my jacket.

“Why did you drink that much?” he asked me.

“They were pressuring me,” I grumbled as I rolled over on the bed so that he could pull off my jacket.

“You shouldn’t go out with them in future,” he said.

“Why do you and Yun Ho say the same stuff?” I said as I turned to look at him.

“Cos it’s common sense?” he said, and he tweaked my nose.

“Hey…” I exclaimed, but it was still in that slurry tone since everything I did was in slow motion now.

“Go to sleep,” he said as he hung up my jacket and turned off the lights, leaving only the bedside lamp on.

“I wanna shower,” I whined. “I stink.”

“You’re gonna get a rash if you shower now. Shower tomorrow,” he said. “Go to sleep.”

“Hmm…” I pouted, but closed my eyes anyway. “Goodnight,” I mumbled as I hugged the bolster I’d brought with me from my apartment.

“Goodnight,” he said as he leant down to kiss my forehead.

He probably thinks that I didn’t know, but I was half awake when he came back with a warm, wet towel later on. I felt him wipe my face, hands and feet but I didn’t open my eyes. I just smiled happily, as I continued pretending that I was asleep.

[Shoei’s POV]

I was shown into the studio where they were taking photos of her. Mika Nakashima… I finally get to meet her. When they stopped for a break, I was brought to her to be introduced.

“Mika…” the producer said. “This is Takizawa Shoei, from S-Cube.”

“Mika-san,” I smiled as we shook hands. “It’s an honor.”

“Honor?” she smiled. “I’m getting a little too familiar-faced in this industry, meeting someone new and successful is more of an honor than meeting someone like me.”

“If you say so,” I smiled. “I hope to learn a lot while working with you.”

The reason I was here was to play the male lead in Mika’s new video. I’d assumed that the female lead would be someone else since it wasn't always that Mika did a video with a guy. I was pleasantly surprised when they told me she would be acting out the role of the female protagonist.

If you think I was going to get to touch her, I wasn’t. It was one of those stories where two people are in the same room, but they do not interact. The title of the song was ‘Still Asleep’, and the story was of a woman who was still in love with a guy who was no longer there.

On the first day, I was on the set to watch her photo shoot for her single CD sleeve, and after that, we went for dinner.

“Hyde has talked about you,” she told me as we ate in this rather posh sushi restaurant.

The both of us sat face to face at a small table while the producer and a few staff at another.

“He has?”

“He said you were pretty talented, and it was a pity you went into R&B,” she continued.

“Oh… that,” I smiled. “I did tell him that my first love was Rock.”

“So why didn’t you go into Rock?”

“Don’t have a band, and the management wanted me to do R&B. They needed me to complete S-Cube.”

“Really…”

“From the moment Skye and I were recruited, they sort of set us aside, and were waiting for the 3rd voice to complete the group.”

“Sierra, I presume,” she said.

“Yes… but her being the 3rd member was pretty unplanned. They’d really kept their options open when searching for the 3rd member. We weren’t even told if they wanted a guy or a girl in the first place.”

“Then if someone gave you a chance to leave S-Cube now, would you?” she asked me. “If someone here in Japan offered you the position of a lead vocalist in a Rock band, would you consider?”

I looked up at Mika as she shot her questions at me. Would I leave S-Cube now? Was I still needed? Sometimes I feel like we were almost reaching the peak, and in order for us to grow, we’d probably need to go solo, but would I leave, knowing how much nuna would never want that to happen?