Chapter 4
“I’ve been here the grand total of a month and a half and I’ve already been hugged more than I have in my entire life. I don’t even really like hugs! I don’t like being touched, but they don’t seem to understand that. I walk into the room and get ‘hugged’ by three or four people, I smile at one of them and I get hugged, anything I do can result in a damn hug! Why?! I don’t understand them!” Desu ranted, throwing her hands up in the air and moving them about as she spoke.
“Do you like to talk to yourself, Desu?” came Yesung’s deep drawl.
“But if you’re in the room then I wasn’t talking to myself, now was I?” She murmured, and gave him a side-long look over her shoulder, inwardly smiling at the nickname she’d finally accepted.
Yesung watched her face grow cold and harden as her phone buzzed against her hip. It was amazing how much she changed, he mused. When she first got here she was silent and withdrawn with everyone, but now she only gets that way if we argue or her phone goes off as it did now.
“Talk. . . . Yes sir, I’m aware. . . . Do what?! You can’t be ser- . . . Yes sir, of course.” She flipped the phone shut, but her face remained cold and withdrawn. Yesung watched her hands warily as they clenched and unclenched then clenched again tighter than before.
“Yesung, go find Eeteuk for me and tell him that I need to see him. Sungmin too if you can find him quickly.” That was when he knew how pissed she really was. She hadn’t said ‘Yeh’ or ‘Sungie’ when referring to him as she normally did, or ‘Teukie’ when referring to their leader, nor had she used ‘Pinkie’ or ‘Minnie’ or ‘Bunny’ when she meant Sungmin. And she said ‘if you can find him quickly’ she usually didn’t care how long it took to find Sungmin. Something was going to change.
As Yesung left the room Desu reached into her bag and withdrew a small journal grabbing her pen she proceeded to write until Yesung came in with Eeteuk and Sungmin. She sighed then put the book up.
“Eeteuk, how long has your manager been trying to make you do this?” She asked her voice cool.
“Do wha-” He began to deny but seeing the look on her face he stopped. “A week and a half or so.” He sighed.
“And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he said he was thinking about it not that he actually would! I thought it was a random idea that he’d abandon after thinking about it. I didn’t know he was serious.” His voice was soft, his eyes pleading.
“I just got a call from my superior, telling me that because your manager doesn’t think I can get to you quick enough from off stage if there’s trouble I have to be on stage with you.”
Sungmin’s cheer cut her off, “Yay! Now you can watch us on stage!”
“Sungmin,” He stopped at her tone of voice and the use of his full name. “I can’t be on stage and just be there. If I’m on stage with you then I’m going to be in the fucking show. Dancing and singing just like the rest of you.” She growled.
“Wait, you’re going to be performing with us? How does that work, cause aren’t we a boy band? And in cause you guys haven’t noticed she’s definitely a girl.” He drawled.
“It’s only for a little bit, I hope, so just add a few female parts in some songs and I’ll sing them.” Desu said.
“Not quite,” Eeteuk started, “We have to evaluate you. So we have to go to the practice room and test you’re singing and dancing skills. I think we’ll only need us three to evaluate her. No on second thought Yesung go get Ryeowook, he’ll be a good help. Come on Sungmin lets get Desu up to the practice room.”
The only thing Yesung could do was stare as Sungmin led Desu away, stare at the look in her eyes, he could feel his own eyes widening as he tried to place what he was seeing in her eyes. But then she was gone.
“Ryeowookie, come here.” He called.
Soon after he found himself staring in wonder at Ryeowook as he bounded into the room, looking better then he ever had before. He shook himself and proceeded to drag the boy out of the room without an explanation. Ryeowook, confused, grabbed Kangin who was lurking near the door and drug him along.
They all stood in the center of the practice room. Or, Desu stood in the center of the practice room and the others stood in front of her.
“Why am I here?” Ryeowook spoke finally.
“Because we’re going to be evaluating Desu.”
“We who?” Kangin asked.
“Yesung, Ryeowook, Sungmin and I. And I guess you as well since you’re here,” Eeteuk said, blushing slightly at the last bit.
“Any particular reason or just for fun?” Kangin asked again.
“Because our manager says she needs to be on stage with us so we need to know how well she can sing and dance.”
Yet Desu stood there, doing nothing.
“Well, start dancing!” She glared and moved her arm till one hand was at waist level fingers splayed, and the other was slightly above her head fingers again splayed. Then, still glaring, she shook her hands and wiggled her waist.
They stared. Then Sungmin burst out laughing, shortly followed by Ryeowook, then Kangin and Yesung and finally Eeteuk.
“Music to dance to might help,” Sungmin said after he’d managed to stop laughing for the most part.
And as the music blared in the room, they watched in open mouthed shock as her body came alive and moved with the music. She moved in ways they didn’t think even Donghae, Hankyung, and Eunhyuk could and they were the best dancers in the group. After progressively moving backwards in her dance, she finished off by jumping up and somersaulting forward and landing in a split in front of them.
“Wow . . .” Kangin blurted out.
Yesung only started in shock.
“That was amazing,” said Ryeowook.
“That was so awesome!” squealed Sungmin before he bounded over to hug her.
Eeteuk applauded, “Very good, you’ll pick up on dances fast and you won’t need extra lessons, now for the singing.”
Her scowl only deepened.