Kurumi
When Sungmin starts to behave oddly cold around him, Donghae doesn’t take it to heart. Hyung is just tired, he reasons. After all, they have been rushing all over the city for photoshoots, rehearsals and the like. K.R.Y’s concert, Super Show Three and SM Town being squeezed into a month doesn’t help the situation, and they are so tired that they fall asleep the minute they reach the dorms.
But when Eunhyuk suddenly nudges him a day before they were due to fly to Japan for K.R.Y’s concert, asking him why Sungmin seems so tired, Donghae has no idea how to answer. “I don’t know,” he mutters between slices of toast. Eunhyuk shrugs. Donghae sneaks a look at Sungmin who was talking to Kyuhyun.
When they reach Japan, it is something nearing midnight and after a full day of packing and schedules, Donghae is more than relieved to fall onto the hotel bed. He is sharing the room with Sungmin, and they have two single beds because the managers knew that Sungmin sometimes kicks in his sleep and Donghae fell out of the bed the last time it happened, which isn’t exactly ideal.
After washing up, he crashes onto the bed. Sungmin is already on his bed, reading a book. Upside down.
“Hyung?” Donghae asks, lying on his stomach as he observes Sungmin. Sungmin starts and looks at him. “Yea?”
“You’re reading the book upside down.”
Sungmin flicks his eyes downward to find that indeed his book is upside down, and gives an embarrassed laugh. “I must’ve been distracted,” he says, then glances at the clock. “Let’s go to sleep, Hae. It’s a long day of rehearsals and sightseeing tomorrow.”
Donghae studies his hyung for a moment more, then nods, pulling out his Blackberry and opening his Twitter application. He sends a message, then turns onto his back, placing his phone on the night table between the two beds, before switching off the nightlight. “Night, hyung.”
“Night.” Sungmin said, so softly Donghae has to strain his ears.
-
Donghae wakes up in the middle of the night. It is perfectly normal; he takes ages to settle into unfamiliar surroundings and today is no different. He is already used to waking up halfway through his sleep while overseas and knows that soon he will be in deep slumber again. Turning over to face the night table, he fumbles for his Blackberry to check the time. His eyes sweep over Sungmin’s bed, which has an odd lump emanating a faint glow.
His first thought was that there are aliens; but as he listens to where there should be silence, he can make out faint singing coming from the lump. Listening intently, he realizes that it is Sungmin singing Kurumi, the duet he and Donghae are going to perform at the concert.
Donghae is flabbergasted to say the least. Sungmin adores Japanese and is practically half-Japanese, he mastered Kurumi in two days flat. Thoughts like why the heck is hyung practicing now in the middle of the night rush through Donghae’s mind. If anyone, he thinks, it should be him practicing and not Sungmin; for a moment he feels a twinge of guilt and considers getting up to do the same, but decides against it because it would mean letting Sungmin know that he was up, and Sungmin doesn’t like people hearing him practice.
Sleep takes over him again, and his last thought is I hope hyung goes to sleep soon.
-
The next day at breakfast Donghae observes between slices of cheesecake that Sungmin has eye rings. Kyuhyun strolls into the dining room, all bed hair and creased pajamas, takes one look at Sungmin and says, “Hyung, you stayed up again to practice, didn’t you?” Sungmin turns away; Kyuhyun plonks himself into the nearest chair with a yawn. “You should sleep earlier, hyung.”
-
During the rehearsal Donghae’s eyes are trapped between his Blackberry - Eunhyuk is seriously going to burst his message limit at the rate they are going - and Sungmin. It occurs to him that he hasn’t had a real conversation with the latter since… Donghae can’t recall.
Sungmin stumbles over the chorus for Kurumi and the look of despondency that appeared for a fleeting millisecond is not missed by Donghae. When they go backstage, Donghae finds Sungmin slumped on the couch, lyric sheet covering his face. He hears Sungmin whispering “Shitsubo… watashi wa sore wo okonau koto wa dekimasen.”* It all sounds so foreign to Donghae, but he realizes that he has that mini Japanese dictionary the managers gave them before they arrived and heads to the dressing room to look for it.
After five minutes of looking for the wrong romaji he finally understands what Sungmin was getting at and what he finds is worrisome.
He looks for Kyuhyun after his dongsaeng finishes his piece in the second rehearsal. “Kyu, what’s up with Min? Why is he so sad?”
Kyuhyun looks at his hyung for a moment, looks at his hyung’s concerned eyes and cannot help thinking that somehow Donghae resembles Sungmin although he will never replace the latter in his heart.
He chooses each word with care. “You know that Good Morning show we were on on the twenty-seventh?”
Donghae nods slowly, not understanding the direction this conversation is going in.
“When you said that you were most awkward around Sungmin, it really affected him. He’d always considered you as one of his best friends and dongsaengs, and I don’t think he ever expected you to say that he was your most awkward band mate.
“When we got home that night he cried really hard, that’s why the next day I ended up cooking breakfast and not him. After that he wasn’t really in shape for anything and I think he lost the feeling for that song and forgot the lyrics, and I found him waking up in the middle of the night just to rehearse because there wasn’t any other time.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes return to Donghae’s which look like they are about to tear. Then again, Donghae’s eyes always look like they are about to tear.
Donghae forces an “Oh” out of his throat which has constricted. Thoughts are racing through his mind at speeds which would put Usain Bolt to shame. Like I never thought he would take it so hard and I didn’t mean it that way, he’s just not as close to me as I would like and Oh my god if Leeteuk hears about this I’m so dead.
Donghae gets to his feet, not knowing how else to react. “I’ll see what I can do about this, Kyu.”
Kyuhyun nods, for once deciding against making a snarky remark because this is Donghae; if anything he’s probably going to make Donghae cry if he makes a stupid comment.
The door closes behind Donghae with a click.
-
At the hotel the room is quiet, interrupted only by Donghae typing on his laptop and Sungmin flipping through a book. The manager sticks his head in the door connecting their rooms and announces that there’s a meeting. Donghae and Sungmin stand up at the same time and walk to the manager’s room.
The manager grins broadly as they come in. Ryeowook, Yesung and Kyuhyun are already there, sitting on big cushions. Sungmin takes a seat next to Kyuhyun; Donghae moves to the other side to sit by Ryeowook.
“Well, actually there’s nothing much for me to say. Your performances are coming along perfect. Get enough sleep tonight, and if there’s a chance we’ll go sight-seeing in the morning before the afternoon show. I hope you’ll all have fun during the concerts. Take more photos backstage, the members in Korea are anticipating them.”
Donghae smiles and nods, but his heart is thinking of Korea, where more or less everything he loves is.
They go back to their rooms, and the awkward silence in the room returns.
Soon Sungmin announces that he is going to sleep. While he is in the bathroom brushing his teeth Donghae takes out the lyric sheet he saw Sungmin putting under his pillow and puts it back into his hyung’s duffel bag. He’s put enough hard work into it as it is, now it’s time for me to repay him, he thinks.
He doesn’t wake up at all in the night.
-
The next day starts off bright and clear, perfect for a concert and sight-seeing. They head to all the classic tourism spots and Sungmin’s eyes are shining when they return to the hotel to change.
The concert hall fills up pretty fast as they watch from the dressing room’s television. Donghae feels the nerves that always come on right before they go onstage, then feels someone clamp a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to find Sungmin grinning at him. “Hwaiting!”
Donghae lets a smile spread over his face as he nods.
-
They head out on stage right on cue to loud screams from the fans. Someone screams his name, then from another direction someone else screams for Sungmin. He waves at them, hearing the music start.
Sungmin sings the song flawlessly, flowing through the chorus as Donghae knew he would. After the second chorus where Sungmin previously stumbled on, Donghae raises a thumbs-up to him, to the fans’ high-pitched squeals of joy. Sungmin looks surprised and delighted, and Donghae feels a wave of warmth fill him from inside out.
-
During the second concert Donghae trips on his chorus and doesn’t quite know how to react until his eyes flick over to where Sungmin is; he faintly registers that Sungmin has raised a thumbs-up back to him, and smiling he finishes the chorus off.
In the music’s bridge Donghae’s mind thinks for a split second before he strides over to Sungmin, fully aware of the latter’s incredulity; they had been told to stay in their positions. He wraps an arm around his hyung, and moving the microphone away from him, says “Yoku yatta, hyung.”**
It’s over in a matter of milliseconds and as he returns to his position he is dimly aware that Sungmin has a slight smirk on his face. Sungmin says “Minna-san, daisuki!”*** and they finish the song off, even though Sungmin goes slightly off-pitch at one part and Donghae’s grinning so widely that he fears his face will split.
As they go offstage Sungmin claps Donghae on the shoulder and says, “Why did you say hyung? Shouldn’t it be ani?”****
Donghae laughs out loud since they’re already offstage.
Sungmin looks at him. “You didn’t turn off your microphone.”
Donghae checks his microphone. It is still turned on. He mentally faints.
-
*Disappointment… I cannot do it.
**Good job, hyung.
***Everyone, I love you!
****Ani = hyung(all translations from Google Translate + my Japanese dictionary, may be inaccurate ><)
But when Eunhyuk suddenly nudges him a day before they were due to fly to Japan for K.R.Y’s concert, asking him why Sungmin seems so tired, Donghae has no idea how to answer. “I don’t know,” he mutters between slices of toast. Eunhyuk shrugs. Donghae sneaks a look at Sungmin who was talking to Kyuhyun.
When they reach Japan, it is something nearing midnight and after a full day of packing and schedules, Donghae is more than relieved to fall onto the hotel bed. He is sharing the room with Sungmin, and they have two single beds because the managers knew that Sungmin sometimes kicks in his sleep and Donghae fell out of the bed the last time it happened, which isn’t exactly ideal.
After washing up, he crashes onto the bed. Sungmin is already on his bed, reading a book. Upside down.
“Hyung?” Donghae asks, lying on his stomach as he observes Sungmin. Sungmin starts and looks at him. “Yea?”
“You’re reading the book upside down.”
Sungmin flicks his eyes downward to find that indeed his book is upside down, and gives an embarrassed laugh. “I must’ve been distracted,” he says, then glances at the clock. “Let’s go to sleep, Hae. It’s a long day of rehearsals and sightseeing tomorrow.”
Donghae studies his hyung for a moment more, then nods, pulling out his Blackberry and opening his Twitter application. He sends a message, then turns onto his back, placing his phone on the night table between the two beds, before switching off the nightlight. “Night, hyung.”
“Night.” Sungmin said, so softly Donghae has to strain his ears.
-
Donghae wakes up in the middle of the night. It is perfectly normal; he takes ages to settle into unfamiliar surroundings and today is no different. He is already used to waking up halfway through his sleep while overseas and knows that soon he will be in deep slumber again. Turning over to face the night table, he fumbles for his Blackberry to check the time. His eyes sweep over Sungmin’s bed, which has an odd lump emanating a faint glow.
His first thought was that there are aliens; but as he listens to where there should be silence, he can make out faint singing coming from the lump. Listening intently, he realizes that it is Sungmin singing Kurumi, the duet he and Donghae are going to perform at the concert.
Donghae is flabbergasted to say the least. Sungmin adores Japanese and is practically half-Japanese, he mastered Kurumi in two days flat. Thoughts like why the heck is hyung practicing now in the middle of the night rush through Donghae’s mind. If anyone, he thinks, it should be him practicing and not Sungmin; for a moment he feels a twinge of guilt and considers getting up to do the same, but decides against it because it would mean letting Sungmin know that he was up, and Sungmin doesn’t like people hearing him practice.
Sleep takes over him again, and his last thought is I hope hyung goes to sleep soon.
-
The next day at breakfast Donghae observes between slices of cheesecake that Sungmin has eye rings. Kyuhyun strolls into the dining room, all bed hair and creased pajamas, takes one look at Sungmin and says, “Hyung, you stayed up again to practice, didn’t you?” Sungmin turns away; Kyuhyun plonks himself into the nearest chair with a yawn. “You should sleep earlier, hyung.”
-
During the rehearsal Donghae’s eyes are trapped between his Blackberry - Eunhyuk is seriously going to burst his message limit at the rate they are going - and Sungmin. It occurs to him that he hasn’t had a real conversation with the latter since… Donghae can’t recall.
Sungmin stumbles over the chorus for Kurumi and the look of despondency that appeared for a fleeting millisecond is not missed by Donghae. When they go backstage, Donghae finds Sungmin slumped on the couch, lyric sheet covering his face. He hears Sungmin whispering “Shitsubo… watashi wa sore wo okonau koto wa dekimasen.”* It all sounds so foreign to Donghae, but he realizes that he has that mini Japanese dictionary the managers gave them before they arrived and heads to the dressing room to look for it.
After five minutes of looking for the wrong romaji he finally understands what Sungmin was getting at and what he finds is worrisome.
He looks for Kyuhyun after his dongsaeng finishes his piece in the second rehearsal. “Kyu, what’s up with Min? Why is he so sad?”
Kyuhyun looks at his hyung for a moment, looks at his hyung’s concerned eyes and cannot help thinking that somehow Donghae resembles Sungmin although he will never replace the latter in his heart.
He chooses each word with care. “You know that Good Morning show we were on on the twenty-seventh?”
Donghae nods slowly, not understanding the direction this conversation is going in.
“When you said that you were most awkward around Sungmin, it really affected him. He’d always considered you as one of his best friends and dongsaengs, and I don’t think he ever expected you to say that he was your most awkward band mate.
“When we got home that night he cried really hard, that’s why the next day I ended up cooking breakfast and not him. After that he wasn’t really in shape for anything and I think he lost the feeling for that song and forgot the lyrics, and I found him waking up in the middle of the night just to rehearse because there wasn’t any other time.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes return to Donghae’s which look like they are about to tear. Then again, Donghae’s eyes always look like they are about to tear.
Donghae forces an “Oh” out of his throat which has constricted. Thoughts are racing through his mind at speeds which would put Usain Bolt to shame. Like I never thought he would take it so hard and I didn’t mean it that way, he’s just not as close to me as I would like and Oh my god if Leeteuk hears about this I’m so dead.
Donghae gets to his feet, not knowing how else to react. “I’ll see what I can do about this, Kyu.”
Kyuhyun nods, for once deciding against making a snarky remark because this is Donghae; if anything he’s probably going to make Donghae cry if he makes a stupid comment.
The door closes behind Donghae with a click.
-
At the hotel the room is quiet, interrupted only by Donghae typing on his laptop and Sungmin flipping through a book. The manager sticks his head in the door connecting their rooms and announces that there’s a meeting. Donghae and Sungmin stand up at the same time and walk to the manager’s room.
The manager grins broadly as they come in. Ryeowook, Yesung and Kyuhyun are already there, sitting on big cushions. Sungmin takes a seat next to Kyuhyun; Donghae moves to the other side to sit by Ryeowook.
“Well, actually there’s nothing much for me to say. Your performances are coming along perfect. Get enough sleep tonight, and if there’s a chance we’ll go sight-seeing in the morning before the afternoon show. I hope you’ll all have fun during the concerts. Take more photos backstage, the members in Korea are anticipating them.”
Donghae smiles and nods, but his heart is thinking of Korea, where more or less everything he loves is.
They go back to their rooms, and the awkward silence in the room returns.
Soon Sungmin announces that he is going to sleep. While he is in the bathroom brushing his teeth Donghae takes out the lyric sheet he saw Sungmin putting under his pillow and puts it back into his hyung’s duffel bag. He’s put enough hard work into it as it is, now it’s time for me to repay him, he thinks.
He doesn’t wake up at all in the night.
-
The next day starts off bright and clear, perfect for a concert and sight-seeing. They head to all the classic tourism spots and Sungmin’s eyes are shining when they return to the hotel to change.
The concert hall fills up pretty fast as they watch from the dressing room’s television. Donghae feels the nerves that always come on right before they go onstage, then feels someone clamp a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to find Sungmin grinning at him. “Hwaiting!”
Donghae lets a smile spread over his face as he nods.
-
They head out on stage right on cue to loud screams from the fans. Someone screams his name, then from another direction someone else screams for Sungmin. He waves at them, hearing the music start.
Sungmin sings the song flawlessly, flowing through the chorus as Donghae knew he would. After the second chorus where Sungmin previously stumbled on, Donghae raises a thumbs-up to him, to the fans’ high-pitched squeals of joy. Sungmin looks surprised and delighted, and Donghae feels a wave of warmth fill him from inside out.
-
During the second concert Donghae trips on his chorus and doesn’t quite know how to react until his eyes flick over to where Sungmin is; he faintly registers that Sungmin has raised a thumbs-up back to him, and smiling he finishes the chorus off.
In the music’s bridge Donghae’s mind thinks for a split second before he strides over to Sungmin, fully aware of the latter’s incredulity; they had been told to stay in their positions. He wraps an arm around his hyung, and moving the microphone away from him, says “Yoku yatta, hyung.”**
It’s over in a matter of milliseconds and as he returns to his position he is dimly aware that Sungmin has a slight smirk on his face. Sungmin says “Minna-san, daisuki!”*** and they finish the song off, even though Sungmin goes slightly off-pitch at one part and Donghae’s grinning so widely that he fears his face will split.
As they go offstage Sungmin claps Donghae on the shoulder and says, “Why did you say hyung? Shouldn’t it be ani?”****
Donghae laughs out loud since they’re already offstage.
Sungmin looks at him. “You didn’t turn off your microphone.”
Donghae checks his microphone. It is still turned on. He mentally faints.
-
*Disappointment… I cannot do it.
**Good job, hyung.
***Everyone, I love you!
****Ani = hyung(all translations from Google Translate + my Japanese dictionary, may be inaccurate ><)