by J. S. Lee
However, Youngbin simply gave me a smile but placed his hand on the small of CX’s back and pushed him forward. The hesitation disappeared and CX clamped his hands on my hips and picked me up, spinning me around. Even before he had lowered me to the ground, his mouth had claimed mine.
My hands, which had been on his shoulders to support me, wrapped around his neck, pulling him to me. It was enough for him to release me. With a quick peck on my lips, he stepped back for Youngbin.
“Hi,” I greeted him, suddenly shy from the intense look he was giving me.
“Where are JongB and Jiwon?” Xiao asked, suddenly.
I spun around, looking around the room with a frown. Jiwon was probably still in Holly’s apartment, although I wouldn’t be admitting that one. JongB… I should have realized he was missing before now considering he had one of the biggest personalities, but I had been caught up in making sure I was giving each member of Onyx the individual attention they deserved when they were in front of me that I hadn’t noticed.
“Excellent question,” Holly muttered, just loud enough to be heard.
Youngbin’s palm rested on the small of my back. “Were they with you?” he whispered.
“Jiwon,” I responded on my breath, just as the door burst open.
“Kate!” JongB yelled, ignoring everyone and running over. He diverted behind the couch in the center of Holly’s room to avoid pushing past the other members, and then he placed one hand on the back of it as he vaulted over it and landed just to my side, almost pushing Youngbin over.
JongB’s face moved towards mine, but Youngbin’s large hand got between us, the palm completely covering JongB as he used it to push him backwards and sit down. “No,” he said, sternly. “You don’t get to come in late and act like that.”
“Not while leaving the door open and unlocked,” Holly scolded him, hurrying over to the door to close it. “Although that seems to be a common theme today,” she added. The pointed look, however, was directed at JongB and not me.
Huh?
“I was at the K-Popped studio,” he protested. “It wasn’t my fault the shooting ran late. There was a technical fault with some of the microphones.”
K-Popped was a music show that JongB was hosting during Onyx’s temporary downtime while Simon, a member of a group called Deity, was taking part in his group’s comeback.
“Really?” Holly asked, looking genuinely surprised. “I thought…” she trailed off and shook her head. She glanced across to a large clock which sat on a glass sideboard. “I expected Jiwon to be here by now.”
“He’s coming,” Youngbin said. I doubted he knew that with the same certainty that he said it with, but I knew he was protecting his friend.
Holly sucked in a deep breath and moved over to us, choosing to sit on one of the armchairs opposite. “Considering Jiwon is one of the main focuses of this discussion, I should wait.” She glanced over at the clock again.
“Hot date later?” I asked, joking.
“No!” Holly objected far too quickly. As though realizing who was in the room with her, she shrugged. “Yes. But I also have three other meetings before that.”
A hand wrapped around mine and I looked down, just in time to see JongB pull me down on the couch next to him. “Where is he, hyung?” he asked, although his eyes were fixed on me. “Missed you.”
“On his way.” I looked over at Youngbin; he was on his phone. He looked up, caught my eye and arched an eyebrow. Really? he seemed to be silently asking me.
I looked back to JongB and smiled. “Sorry,” I told him. “How was the show?”
“We had some rookie groups on today. They all look like babies.”
Behind him, CX snorted. “You’d have fit right in.”
JongB leaned to the side to peer around me. “You came from a rookie group.”
“Yes, but he doesn’t look like he still belongs in one,” Xiao pointed out.
“Hyung?” JongB’s mouth fell open. “You’re siding with the maknae?”
“That’s debatable sometimes,” Xiao shrugged as the door opened and Jiwon walked in.
“I’m very sorry,” he said, dropping to an almost ninety-degree angle as he bowed at Holly.
“Why don’t you all sit down and we’ll get started,” Holly sighed, gesturing to the various seating options in the room.
Youngbin stepped over my knees, sitting down beside me. Xiao and MinMin moved to the other couch, while CX took a spare chair. Jiwon, however, walked around the back of the couch I was on, and then looked down at JongB.
The younger man sighed, sliding off the couch to make room Jiwon. Completely unperturbed, JongB shuffled over and sat beside my legs, wrapping his arms around them and using my knee as a pillow.
“Next steps,” Holly said. Her voice was loud and firm, making us all look at her. She looked at the clock again with a frown, before looking down at the phone in her hand.
“Do you need to go?” I asked.
Holly shook her head. “I’m waiting for a call.”
“Do you need to step out and make a call?” I offered. “We can wait.”
“It relates to this conversation,” Holly frowned. “I’ll start.” She took a deep breath. “I went by the hospital to see Sungmin today.”
“How is he?” Youngbin asked, instantly.
“In good spirits. The doctors will be releasing him in a few days. He’s not ready to return to work,” she quickly added as the group grew restless.
Sungmin was Onyx’s manager. He’d been in the car accident too. While MinMin had hurt his leg, Sungmin had broken his. He’d also injured his face; I still had visions of the skin hanging from him. He’d needed a skin graft. Holly had assured me that the plastic surgeons in Seoul were some of the best in the world and he would be as good as new in no time, but like Onyx, I hadn’t seen him either.
“He and Moonhee will be getting married, as scheduled, in six weeks. I have invitations for you all, outside with Inhye.” Inhye was her secretary. I wasn’t sure if she knew about Holly’s relationship with H3RO, but she was loyal. “We spoke about your next steps.”
“Is he coming back?” MinMin asked.
All of us stared at Holly expectantly. “He wants to,” she nodded. “But we need to decide what to do next.”
“We wait for Manager Sungmin,” JongB declared.
“And what about our Gems?” Youngbin asked him. Onyx’s fandom was called Black Gems, or as the group affectionately referred to them, Gems. “They’re waiting for us.”
Holly nodded. “You were in the middle of a world tour. If we wait too long, they’re not going to be waiting for you. And right now, you need your international fans.”
“Preach,” I muttered under my breath. The Gems camped under the Atlantis dorms were the minority. Hell, I wouldn’t even call them fans, personally. But they were loud and keeping attention on Onyx for all the wrong reasons.
“I want to reschedule the tour to start again two weeks after Sungmin’s wedding, to allow him a honeymoon. You guys need to do that show that was cancelled in Poland, and then it’s South America.”
“What do we do between now and then?” Jiwon asked. He glanced at me before looking at Holly. “We – I – have people demanding I leave Onyx.”
Holly tilted her head at him. “Has anything changed? Do you now want to leave Onyx?”
“No.”
“Good. Sungmin and I came to the conclusion that the best thing we could do right now is to go with what JongB suggested,” she told us, indicating to the guy holding onto my legs. “But only if you’re all happy with that?”
“We have discussed this, and we are,” Youngbin said, speaking for all of us.
It was a topic which had come up many times in the group chat we had. We had all spent two weeks trying to work out something which could help us all, just in case Holly couldn’t come up with anything. However many times we played it out, this always seemed like the best option.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a lar
ge envelope. Here it was: my nuclear weapon. The thing that, in the wrong hands, could destroy everything. I handed it over to the pair of hands I trusted.
제 3 장
Ah Yeah
Holly took the envelope. She opened it carefully, sliding out the selection of photographs that had been taken on Onyx’s World Tour.
As the only official photographer on the tour, I’d had an Access All Areas pass so that I could take as many candid and behind the scenes photographs as possible. Onyx, always recording video on the group camera had taken care of the film. Aside from the group shots with fans, and the photographs of them performing, I had been working on a thick collection for shots to be chosen for some post tour promotion. Holly had let slip one night that they had planned to release a tour DVD and accompanying souvenir book.
These weren’t the photographs which I handed to Holly.
Some were taken by me as I hung out with the guys. Some were taken by the guys themselves. All of them were the most G-rated photographs of me and at least two members of the group. Or at least by US standards. The internet had showed me that they thought I was capable of sitting next to a member of Onyx without me wanting to bone him.
I mean, they were completely wrong, but they didn’t need to know that.
By comparison, they were probably enough that they were sure to cause some pandemonium with K-fans. Korean culture really didn’t do too well with the closeness I shared with them.
However, they should, hopefully, be enough that the fans would see that I was ‘friendly’ with all of the members and not just Jiwon.
Holly leafed through them and then looked at each one of us. “You all realize this isn’t something that is normally done, right? We could do what everyone else does and consider it dealt with and ignore it.”
Youngbin shook his head. “We considered that. It has been two weeks and the fans haven’t moved on from it. There has been a core number camped outside our dorms for the last few days and they seem in no hurry to leave.”
“I’ve already said that we won’t drop any of you,” Holly assured him, firmly.
“Why do you sound like you don’t want us to do this, Holls?” I asked her, frowning. “You said that you and Sungmin both thought it was the best thing to do.”
“Sungmin and I aren’t the ones directly involved in the fallout. You’re all going to get hate from this.”
“We want to do this,” Youngbin said, firmly, as everyone, including me, nodded their agreement.
I didn’t. Not really. I wanted fans to just accept that we’d said nothing was happening and leave it at that.
But life didn’t work that way.
“Besides,” MinMin spoke up. “At least this way, it almost feels like we’re telling them the truth, even if the truth is far more than they’re ever going to believe.”
“We, Atlantis, will release them on the fan café,” Holly replied. “Along with a statement.” She stood, the movement making her look older than she was, and walked over to her desk. She placed the envelope and the photographs on top of it, and then returned to us carrying a tablet.
I was expecting her to hand it to Youngbin, but instead she gave it to me. “What is this?” I asked, taking it from her with a frown.
“This actually affects you the most,” she said, quietly. Holly’s dark eyes were fixed on me, but there was a reassurance in them. There were times when I watched her, wondering how on earth she managed to do it all, but equally, I knew she could do it.
I dropped my gaze to the tablet and read the page, heading straight for the English translation that Holly had conveniently provided.
Hello, this is Atlantis Entertainment.
We are here to inform you of the relationship status of members of Onyx. Recently, photographs were published by a member of the public showing Onyx member, Yoon Jiwon with the official photographer for the ‘ONYX: Our Truth World Tour, Kate West.
As Black Gems know, Onyx are a friendly and respectful group who are welcoming to all. After spending a lot of time together on their tour, members of Onyx and Kate West have become friends.
Today, Atlantis Entertainment has made the unusual decision to share with Black Gems this friendship with the following pictures.
Atlantis Entertainment would like to re-emphasize the fact that Yoon Jiwon and Kate West are only friends, however, we acknowledge that the boundaries can be misinterpreted by fans. On behalf of Atlantis Entertainment and Onyx, we would like to express our sincere apologies to anyone who was upset by this.
Kate West has also provided the following statement.
“Hello, this is Kate West, official tour photographer for Onyx. I have been working with Onyx for several months now and during that period have grown to love the members as all Black Gems do. Kim Youngbin, Peng Xiao, Yoon Jiwon, Im Jongsub, Gong Minhyuk, and Ren Yongsik are all wonderful people who welcomed me with friendship and respect. Unfortunately, because of my cultural ignorance, I did not realize that my behavior with these men would cause upset and distress to fans, and I would like to apologize for this. I wish that fans would forgive me for my mistakes, but more importantly, forgive Onyx because they were simply being the incredible people you know they are, out of respect to me.
Going forward, I will make sure that Onyx are not put into a situation like this again, and I will respect the cultural difference between us.”
Furthermore, to provide additional reassurance, as well as more content for Black Gems, Atlantis Entertainment will be providing Onyx with a second tour photographer, Park Dongjun, for the remainder of the ONYX: Our Truth World Tour…
I stopped reading and looked up at my friend. She was watching me with wary eyes. “OK,” I shrugged. They weren’t my words, which was probably a good thing considering all I really wanted to do was tell the butt-hurt fans to get over themselves and let their idols live. But I knew enough to know that this was what they needed to hear.
Youngbin reached over and took the tablet from me, scrolling up to read the same piece but in Korean. I knew the moment he read the section which had caused Holly’s wariness. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t comment.
The tablet passed around and it was, unsurprisingly, JongB who looked up and gaped at Holly. “Another photographer?”
“We’re not replacing Kate,” Holly assured him. “But I need to make it look like we’re doing something considering every other company would have replaced her.”
“It’s OK,” I assured them. As Holly had pointed out, there were worse outcomes. This wasn’t ideal, but she, like me, just wanted to protect Onyx, even if we did have different motivations.
“Seeing as that is pretty self-explanatory, we’ll move on to the next topic.” When JongB set the tablet down on the floor beside him, Holly walked back to her chair and sat down in it, placing her hands in her lap. “Your comeback.”
“Yes,” Xiao nodded.
“No,” Holly disagreed. “Actually, right now, I don’t think that’s the smart move. MinMin is still receiving treatment for his injury-”
“It’s physio – stretching,” MinMin objected. I glanced over at him and found him looking uncomfortable. It wasn’t that he was injured so much as I knew that assessment would have left him feeling like he was the reason there was no comeback.
“You need to recover, hyung,” CX told him. He reached up and draped an arm over his shoulder. “We need you at one hundred percent.”
“But I’m fine!”
Holly held a hand up and MinMin instantly fell quiet despite the fact he looked like he hadn’t finished protesting. “In order for you to have a comeback soon, you would need to get to work soon. That’s new music to learn, new choreography to learn, and a different kind of strain to a tour. But it’s not the only reason.”
“You don’t know how the fans are going to react to that statement.” The words came from Jiwon, but he was staring at the tablet with a frown.
“Exactly,” Holly agreed. “It’s been obvious from the
beginning that the international fans are more forgiving and while I hope that statement will clear the air over here, I also think some time and distance might also help. There are still the remaining days of the tour left and I’d like to keep your international support.”
“When?” Youngbin asked.
“Manager Sungmin is adamant he will be returning and I’m happy to accommodate that. He has a honeymoon booked for the week after his wedding, so seven weeks from now. It will give us enough time to rebook venues and confirm the information with the fans.” Holly brought a hand up and rubbed behind her ear. “You will need to have a date in Poland and then it’s off to South America. I appreciate that, geographically, that’s a lot of flying, but we will work to make sure it’s as minimal as we can make it.”
“That sounds good,” Youngbin agreed. “Thank you very much.” He started to stand, JongB already on his feet as he sensed the movement from his leader behind him, but Holly’s words stopped them.
“Oh, we’re not done. Now we need to talk about your relationship.”
Holly was my bestie and I was happy to talk to her about almost anything – including my relationship. Hell, I was prepared to share more details than she would like to hear… or would admit to wanting to hear.
However, that tone was the kind of tone my mom used, and those conversations had never ended positive. The only ex of mine she’d ever liked was Damien the Dick and that was enough evidence to say she had lousy taste.
“Yes, mom,” I muttered under my breath as JongB slid back down to the floor, wrapping his arms around my legs again.
“First of all, it wasn’t my intention to have this conversation, but when you’ve got JongB’s ass sneaking into my apartment for you to taint my couch, then we’re going to have it.”
Before anyone could say anything, Youngbin leaned forward and smacked JongB upside the head. “Are you kidding me?” he snapped. “How many times did I tell you not to sneak out to see her?”
“Hyung!” JongB leaned forward out of Youngbin’s reach as he turned and stared up at him with eyes wide, rubbing at the back of his head. “I haven’t seen Kate since the hospital – unless you count a few video calls. I certainly haven’t been in her apartment.”