บท 71: One Fine Day
"Are you sure you're okay with meeting her?" Soohyun-hyung asked.
I barely had any sleep last night as I got so many calls from different people discussing negotiations and other company related matters. Since we "fired" so many people in Kim Group, we had to fill out the vacant positions as soon as possible. Our productivity rate in the company has already decreased by 35%. The good side of this is that our stocks increased by 110% since the incident happened. Our investors really appreciated our integrity in the matter. That's why I had to do my best to handle all personal related matters last night. My members were also there to help, otherwise, it would have taken long for me to handle it all by myself.
Currently, I was with Taecyeon-hyung and Soohyun-hyung in a café in Gangnam. We were waiting for Suzy-noona and IU-noona to arrive. Apparently, they both just arrived since Suzy-noona had a schedule with a TV program and filmed it in Jeju Island. IU-noona on the other hand just finished her tour 2 days ago and just got back from it. Both of them met up in the airport and decided to come here together. While waiting the rest of us just tried to catch up and see what we were up to lately.
I sighed. "Hyung, for the last time, I AM FINE."
"Really? Then why do you look so tired? You even have dark circles under your eyes." He continued.
"Leave him alone, Soohyun-hyung. He's just tired from doing company stuff." He said as he patted my back.
"How about you Taecyeon-ah… How are you holding things up?" He asked.
Taecyeon-hyung sighed. "I'm actually quite nervous about serving in the military. I heard stories from people that it wasn't all that great at all."
Soohyun-hyung smiled wryly. "Well, it's not a good place to be. That's for sure. But I came out of it more disciplined and had a different view in life compared to when I first entered there."
"That's right. You just came back from your enlistment." I was surprised at first at how toned his muscles became. His skin was also a bit darker than before as well.
"Yeah. After our promotions for 'Dream high' was over, I was immediately called to serve in the military." He replied.
I chuckled. "Welcome back, hyung."
He waved it off. "Thank you. But it's not about me today. We're sending off our buddy here to the military. Let's send him off well."
"Yeah… I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry right now." Taecyeon-hyung smiled wryly.
I slapped his back which made him cough. "Hyung, man up. I'm pretty sure it'll be well."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "You're fortunate that you're an American citizen and don't need to serve in the army."
"If I had I choice, I'd gladly serve in the military." I shrugged it off.
Soohyun-hyung also slapped his back. "Don't be so hard on yourself. It'll be horrible in the first few weeks, but you'll enjoy it after a month."
"A month… That's too long." He sighed.
"What's too long?" We snapped our heads towards the person who asked that question. It was Suzy-noona.
Ji-Eun-noona was following behind her and was waving at me with a smile. "If it's us, we apologize for taking too long. The traffic was heavy in Incheon."
Taecyeon frantically waved his hand. "No, it wasn't you guys! We were talking about the military."
"Oh I see. How are things anyway?" Suzy-noona asked as she sat down in front of us. Ji-Eun-noona also joined in as she sat beside me.
He sighed. "I'm still very nervous though."
"Minho-ya is also going to enlist. I hope you guys get along though." She said with a smile.
He laughed. "Don't worry. I'll tell you if some other women come and visit him."
"Wait… What? You guys… aren't together anymore?" I asked as I slowly trailed off.
Suzy-noona and Taecyeon-noona turned to face each other before they burst out laughing. "Yeah! It's been a while since we broke up. She and Minho-ya are together now."
"And you're fine with it?" Soohyun-hyung also joined in on the conversation.
Taecyeon-hyung chuckled. "Of course! Why wouldn't I be? I'm just glad that she has someone to take care of her."
"Oh yeah. Speaking of which. I heard that Minho-oppa's fans didn't take it too well." Ji-Eun-noona asked Suzy-noona.
Suzy-noona sighed deeply. "Yeah. I keep on getting hate mail and comments just by greeting him. It was really hard at first, but then I got used to it."
"I can't blame them. Minho-oppa is very good looking after all." Ji-Eun-noona teased.
She rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself! I heard you're off the market too. You know… with that Jeon Jungkook kid?"
"Really? Wow! Congratulations!" Taecyeon-hyung exclaimed.
Then it suddenly got awkward as they slowly turned to look at me as if they needed to tiptoe around me. I chuckled at how they look. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"We're sorry, JayB-ya." Taecyeon said.
I waved it off as placed a hand on Ji-Eun-noona's shoulder. "It's fine! Actually, Ji-Eun-noona and I talked about it, and we're actually supportive with one another's lives. In fact, I'm really happy that she's with someone who I know would protect her."
She smiled at me before she scoffed. "Yeah, right. If I know, you're actually more excited to go after that mystery girl of yours now that I've moved on."
I smiled wryly. "Would you stop teasing me about her? It's really weird coming from you."
She laughed. "Well, I enjoy teasing you this way. You are after all our hoobae still."
I sighed. "When will this end?"
"Once you get married." Suzy-noona answered.
"Oh he is!" Soohyun-hyung answered. He was also at MBS studio when I was being interviewed. He's also a candidate for the show as well.
"Please… don't tell anybody. I'm bound by contract." I whispered to him.
He raised a brow. "Really? How come I wasn't told anything about any nondisclosure rules?"
"It varies per person." I answered.
"JayB-ya… so you're going into that show?" Suzy-noona asked as she generalized it to avoid anyone from overhearing.
I sighed. "Yeah… but please. Let's just keep it to ourselves. I really want to be on that show."
Ji-Eun-noona's face turned serious. "We understand but… Why do you want to be in that show if you're planning to pursue your mystery girl?"
"Because she also applied for the show." I replied straightforwardly.
Ji-Eun-noona turned to Suzy-noona with a look of concern which made her sigh. Suzy-noona then took my hand. "Listen… are you sure that's a good idea?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Ji-Eun-noona face-palmed as she sighed. "You're still dense and clueless even up to now."
Suzy-noona then explained. "JayB-ya, we're saying this because we care about you AND your career. Here's our point. What if you wouldn't end up with her when the show starts? How would you handle things then?"
I smiled. "I'll just act the way I do and be a kind husband to her."
Ji-Eun-noona shook her head. "Wouldn't that be unfair on your wife's side?"
Taecyeon-hyung than placed his hand on my shoulder. "You can't be like that, JayB-ya. Suzy-ya knows how it feels because she came from that show. I've also been into that show before. Many people apply for that show not having the same mindset as you. They don't want to go in that show to raise their popularity and promote their companies and groups. They go there for an ACTUAL relationship. You know how hard it is for anyone in this industry to date in public without getting hindered. This is actually THEIR shot."
"He's right. That's exactly our point. You can't go into that show with a mindset like that. You might have to choose between that childhood crush of yours and your wife." Ji-Eun-noona added.
Their words made me ponder for a while. It actually made me realize a lot of things. I've been approaching this all wrong. It would indeed be unfair for my future wife to be treated like a second choice. I have to make sure that she doesn't feel that way. If my time for that show starts, I'll have to make sure to choose my wife instead of HER. Anyway, it's not the first time it happened. I did it with Kei and IU-noona. I have to give her a shot at least.
"At least think about it. Okay?" Suzy-noona pleaded.
After I turned to look at each one of them, I gave them smile before nodding. Soohyun-hyung then wrapped his arm around my neck and held me in a light headlock. "Why are you guys so gloomy? Shouldn't we be celebrating right now? Our friend is getting married, we're sending off our friend to enlist and our two beauties right here are in a thriving relationship. Now that needs celebrating!"
Ji-Eun-noona then turned to him. "What about you then, Soohyun-oppa?"
He snapped his head towards her and smiled. "Me? I just got an acting gig. They just offered me the leading role for a movie."
"Then we ARE celebrating after all. We're going shopping and on a food hunt. It's all on me today." I said as I raised my coffee cup to them for a toast.
I usually do this with them every time I was happy. I would treat the people around me with anything if I was genuinely happy. Today was different. I just needed people around me to help me think about some things. Suzy-noona was excited though. "Really?! What's the limit this time?"
I shook my head. "No limits. Shop all you want. I know that you won't abuse my card anyway. Besides, I know Ji-Eun-noona will stop you if you try to buy too much."
Suzy-noona then pouted. Ji-Eun-noona smirked at me. "Who says I'm stopping her? I'm joining in. I needed a new set of clothes anyway since I'm working on my new album."
"Already? You just finished promoting your last album. Your tour also just ended." Taecyeon-hyung was surprised. In fact, all of us were surprised.
"PD-nim wanted to 'ride on the momentum'." Ji-Eun-noona quoted with a sigh afterwards.
"Ya! Didn't we just ignore the fact that you guys will abuse my credit card today?!" I exclaimed.
"Well, you did just offer it, JayB-ya." Suzy-noona said.
"And you said that there's no limit. I'll keep that in mind." Soohyun-hyung added.
"But what we can't ignore is that you just talked down on us. Did you just say… 'Ya'?" Taecyeon-hyung said with his arms crossed.
My mouth fell wide open in disbelief.
This guys…
Seriously…
____________
"JayB-ya! I'm getting this one too!" Ji-Eun-noona said as she tried to fit the dress that she picked out.
We were in one of the malls in Seoul. We just spent the entire afternoon shopping and buying stuff I'm sure they won't even need. The most expensive thing that I'm probably buying today was a game console that Soohyun-hyung asked for. Some of them also asked me to buy the latest models of the holophone. Basically, it's like a thin fiber glass that's shaped like a pager and will project things in front of you. Only you can see what's being projected unless you allow it to be shared for others to see. Yeah, this world has a lot of weird gadgets and gizmos.
I sighed as I sat down on one of the couches inside the boutique. "Go. Do whatever you want."
She giggled before heading back inside the changing room. I turned to look at Taecyeon-hyung who was just busy testing out his new phone. "Hyung, why aren't you picking out clothes?"
He was busy fixing some of the settings on his phone as he answered. "I'm going to the army anyway so I don't need THAT many clothes. Besides, you already bought us expensive phones, holowatches AND holotabs. They were really expensive and I was just joking when I said that I wanted it, yet you bought them for me. So I'm good, man. Thank you."
I chuckled before turning to the guy beside him. "How about you, Soohyun-hyung?"
He turned to me as he rolled his eyes. "Oh please. Aside from what you bought for me earlier together with Taecyeon-ie, you just offered to buy me a house. A. HOUSE. If that's not enough I don't know what is. Besides, you might not have a limit today, but I do. And my pride tells me it's enough."
I laughed at how contrasting these guys are against each other. Yet they are my friends. So I wanted to spoil them as much as I could. They tried paying for my meal when I was a rookie saying that they knew that we were not earning much. When I told them who I really was, their treatment never changed. I had to be the one who had to convince them that I wanted to buy things for them. But it took a while for them to accept it all.
"Ya, JayB-ya. You're phone is ringing. You might want to answer it." Taecyeon-hyung said as he tossed my phone to me.
When I saw who the caller was, I quickly excused myself to answer it. "Lee Sooman-sajangnim, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You don't have to be formal with me, JayB-ya. You know that." He said as he smiled.
I chuckled. "I'm sorry. I just got used to it. So do you need me for something?"
He grinned. "As a matter of fact, I do. You see, some of the writers of the show that I know tried to contact your company, but they said that you were really busy at the moment with your promotions. So an artist of mine approached me for a favor in contacting you."
"Oh? And who would that be?" I asked.
He then cleared his throat. "He's actually here with me. Is it okay for him to talk to you right now?"
"Sure. Go ahead." I chuckled.
"Hello, JayB-ssi. This is Kim Heechul." The man who introduced himself said shyly.
"Sunbaenim! It's been a while. Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked.
I could hear him taking in a deep breath before letting it out. "It truly has. I know you are a busy man so I'll get straight to the point. It's like this. The TV program that I am in would like to invite your group to be our guests."
"Really? I'll have to ask my managers about it. What's the show called? When do you guys plan to have us?" I asked.
"I'm sure you've heard about 'Knowing Brothers'. So I guess I don't need to explain what it is about. And as for the schedule, it's really up to you guys. The writers say that they would adjust it based on your availability." He explained.
I smiled. "Well, I'm sure we can work something out. I'll give the company a heads up. They'll be the ones to contact your writers on our behalf. But I'm sure it's a positive one. Please tell the writers that they can look forward to a favorable response."
There was a long silence over the other end before he excitedly spoke. "Really?! You're not kidding, right? I thought that you would decline!"
I chuckled at his response. "Well, I don't see a reason to do so. Anyway, if that's all, I have to go now. If that's okay, sunbaenim?"
"Yes! Yes! Of course! Wow! Thank you, JayB-ya! I'll see you soon then!" He happily responded.
It really made me smile. "Sure. Let's hang out some time soon. Bye!"
After talking to Heechul-sunbaenim, I immediately went inside the boutique and saw that there were already piles and piles of expensive clothes ready to be paid and packed.
"I'm not carrying those." Taecyeon-hyung glared at Suzy-noona.
"Well, that's fine by me." She responded with a glare of her own.
Ji-Eun-noona saw me come in and waved at me. "JayB-ya! We're good to go! Soohyun-oppa stopped us from getting any more."
"Yeah, these guys have no shame." Soohyun-hyung rolled his eyes.
"YA!" Ji-Eun-noona gave him a light punch on the arm.
I just ignored them since I was still pretty much happy from the call that I received earlier. This didn't escape Ji-Eun-noona's eyes. "You seem happy. Who was it that called you?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and smiled at them. "An old friend."
___________
"Why are we having this interview again? I still need to get back to my post since we still need to finish filming for Inkigayo." I asked the so called show runner in front of me. He says that the company already knows about this and that they have the permission to interview me.
It was our last day of promotions for 'Clap' and since we were really busy with schedules, interviews, TV show guesting, and radio show guesting, 2 weeks went by in a flash. Our company agreed on us appearing on 'Knowing Brothers'. We were excited about it since most of my members watch the show and have told us about it. They were really hyper when they were explaining about it as well. Especially Zee and Dom. It was fun to watch them both act like complete idiots while trying to explain the show.
Now, I was Inkigayo since I was an MC and today is also the last day that we'll be promoting our song. In the middle of our filming however, a group of producers and staff members approached our group saying that they will be interviewing us for a show called 'One Fine Day'. We don't really know much about the show except for the fact that it was where idols get free all expenses paid vacations.
The problem was that we can afford our vacation. In fact, we can have our vacation anywhere we want. It's just that, we were pretty much busy with us being idols and all. If there was one thing that the members of Alpha have in common for their dream vacation was to have a normal life. So I'm guessing that was what we were going to answer in most of the interview questions.
"Oh! It's for the show. We wanted to know what your desired vacation was, but it looks… pretty normal to me." The person who was interviewing me answered.
"Really? Don't most idols want a normal vacation like this one?" I asked him.
He chuckled as he shook his head. "Most idols who have been on our show would want an extravagant vacation outside South Korea. They would even want a day at a beach in Maldives. Some even went on a tour in Bali. Yours however…"
"What? What's wrong with mine?" I asked.
"'Go to a place where no one would recognize us…'" He smiled wryly as he read my answers.
"Of course! Unless the show can guarantee our protection." I told him.
He then nodded. "We can guarantee your protection. So let's just scratch that off. Now what about this… 'A day where we can just lie down and sleep.' Can't you do this on your days off?"
"We need that especially nowadays since we're packed with schedules. During our days off however, there are personal agendas that we need to address so it's not technically a day off." I answered.
He sighed. "'Go someplace where we can be normal people.' That's… something we can do for you. But are you sure this is all you guys want? You actually have almost the same answers."
I nodded at him. "Yes! It's every dream vacation that most people in this industry want. Don't you think so?"
He smiled wryly at me. "So the rumors were true. You guys are really… unique. Well, we'll do whatever we can. So for now, just wait for further instructions."
I gave him the happiest smile as I thanked him before going back to the studio to continue filming.
________
"Alright! Take 5 guys!" I said as I collapsed on the floor panting.
We were in our practice room working on a routine for the upcoming award show that we were invited in. It's been days since our promotions for 'Clap' ended yet we're already hopping in to our next set of schedules. This year, we got nominations in The Fact Music Awards so they asked us to prepare a routine. We decided to perform 'Thanks' and 'Clap' together. It was such an exciting feeling for us.
"You alright, JayB-ya?" Dominic went over to me as he handed me a bottle of water.
I gladly took it and smiled. "You know I am. I have the best doctor to take care of me after all."
He smiled. "Well, your test results say you're perfectly healthy, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to get yourself wrecked again any time soon."
I chuckled. "I hear you. Don't worry. You've seen how my lifestyle has changed."
"Yeah, even you're love lifestyle has changed." Jeong Do teased as he sat beside me.
"Yeah, what's up with you, hyung? You suddenly stopped hanging out with Twice. Are you guys okay?" Jiwoo approached us as he joined in on the conversation.
I sat down and shook my head. "I just thought about what my friends told me."
Jiwoo then patted my back. "Oh yeah, you broke the nondisclosure agreement to tell us your problem. Well it doesn't matter anyway. We Got Married already announced that you'd be on the show."
Zhang sighed. "It's a good thing that most of the fans were okay with it. There were some of them who pretty much hated the idea of you getting married."
I rolled my eyes. "A real fan wouldn't stop their idols from achieving happiness."
"So anyway, are you thinking of giving up on HER then?" Jeong Do said as he took a sip from his water.
I sighed. "I honestly don't know. I'm just silently praying that it'll be her on that show."
"And if it isn't?" Dominic raised his brow.
"I'll cross that bridge when I get there. But I already know my answer." I replied.
"Which is?" Jiwoo asked.
I gave a sad smile. "Love my wife unconditionally and… forget about her."
I already made up my mind. The moment we start filming the show, I would not talk about the mystery girl any more for her sake. It would help me move on as well.
Just then, my thoughts were disturbed by the sudden interruption from our mangers. They barged in our practice room with black sack cloths and hand cuffs.
"All of you. Lie on your belly and hands behind your backs." Wosik-hyung said in a serious tone.
"What's going on, hyung?" Matt-hyung's protective instincts kicked in.
He was about to attack them when Ming Do-hyung whispered. "Just pretend to go along. It's for the TV show that recently interviewed you."
Matt-hyung then calmed down and as he backed off. We then pretended to be "kidnapped" as they put the sack cloths over our head and handcuffed us. I could feel them filming us as they brought us to our cars. The car then started moving. There was a writer from the show who was inside the car with us. The camera was off for now so he introduced himself before he started explaining what was going to happen, but he didn't tell us where we were heading or how we were going to get there.
I noticed that we were boarding a ferry with our cars. The car was rocking so it was obvious that we were on a boat of some kind. Are we sailing towards another island?
"We're here." Our manager informed as we got off the cars from the boat.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Seiji-hyung complained.
The crew removed our handcuffs and took off our "blindfolds". The light blinded us for a few seconds before I could see clearly. When I was able to finally see, my eyes widened in shock as I saw the amazing scenery around me. Fields and fields of flowers were surrounding us and there were practically little to no people around us. The cameramen and showrunners were in front of us and were filming.
"Where are we?" Jiwoo asked.
Our manager smiled. "We're in Cheongsando."
Jeong Do's mouth fell. "And… what are we doing here?"
The director smirked. "Welcome to the first day of your 'desired' vacation."
"You're kidding." Dominic said.
He chuckled. "Nope. You're going to start it today. Welcome to 'One Fine Day'! Or in your case, 'Surviving with Alpha!'"
_______
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