La Coincidence~ Chapter 13
Title: La Coincidence
Pairings: Changmin/fc with hints of yunjae and yoosu
Rating: G
Genre: Drama, Real life, General
Length: Chapters
Summary: It all started with a coincidence. One accident, one helping hand, one small step. And soon it leads to so much more. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 13~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Soooooo did you guys sleep well last night?” Jaejoong says with a wide grin on his face.
Changmin and Min-Ri both yawn, rubbing their eyes and plunk down on their seats. Obviously they were still out of it so they didn’t realize what happened.
“Yes, I guess. Why?” she asks as Changmin immediately starts eating his breakfast.
“Aw Jaejoong, stop it will you?! You're like an endlessly teasing mother!” Yunho says
“If that makes me the mother then that makes you the father!” Jaejoong retaliates.
". . ." Yunho
"hehehe" Yoochun
"Quit it Chun"
"Sorry 'Ho eheheh"
“Aw c’mon! We’ll get a kick out of it!” Jaejoong pleads.
“No! First thing in the morning? Leave the two alone…we still have to film the rest of the mv tonight and imagine how awkward that’s be!”
“Pleeeease Yunho?“ 
“No! Give me that!” Yunho tries to snatch the Polaroid picture from Jaejoong.
“What’re you guys doing?” Min-Ri asks with a quizzical look on her face.
Both Jaejoong and Yunho’s hands fly behind their backs.
She arches her eyebrows and goes back to eating her cereal.
“But you do know that today’s when we finish filming the rest of the mv” Yoochun tells her softly.
She immediately knows what he’s getting at. She sputters and says “Please don’t tell me you still want me there! There’s no way I’m squeezing into Yunho oppa’s poor car again! It died carrying that many people!’
“My car says it’s very happy chauffeuring us around, thank-you-very-much” Yunho says in a “matter-of-fact” tone.
“But…”
“Face it, never mind hyungs, the girl doesn't want to go…we’ll just have to go and see what happens” Changmin sighs.
“You mean we’ll get blamed?” Yoochun asks.
“I~” Min-Ri
“Possibly” Jaejoong shrugs.
“Forget about us getting blamed, what about Jin Jeong ssi??” Yunho
Immediately an image of Jin-Jeon pops up in Min-Ri’s head. She already got scolded by the manager yesterday for not informing him about the assistant position and deliberately went along with the guys’ idea. And she was really kind and sympathetic, like a big sister.
“How does Jin-Jeong ssi get to the site?” Min-Ri suddenly asks.
“She goes there by herself by car or more usually takes a company van. The van comes by and picks her up along with several other staff members” Jaejoong answers.
“What time does the van pick her up?” Min-Ri asks.
“About an hour before the shoot? Takes a while with the traffic…but~” Yoochun
“And they pick her up right at her door?” Min-Ri
“Yes, they do. But why?” Jaejoong
Changmin’s face lights up. “Oh no…no way…”
“Yes” Min-Ri gets up from her chair and bows. “I agree to go to the shoot tonight, but only one condition. Let me go with Jin-Jeong ssi and you can take Yunho’s car. And once we’re there we’ll act as if we don’t know each other…to avoid any suspicion…” Min-Ri straightens up.
The guys look hurt. “But we don’t~” Jaejoong’s about to say “don’t mind,” when Min-Ri cuts him off by saying “But I do. Think of the unfairness I have in getting to be with you guys. We’re not on equal status; it was because of your influence that I was able to get the assistant job. So…I have no right to be around you guys”
Yoochun slams his cup down and glares at the table.
“Don’t say that.”
His gaze lifts to Min-Ri’s face.
“I hate when people say that. Raising us on a pedestal and treating us differently all the time. We are human being as well. Aren’t we entitled to mingle and be with whomever we want?”
Min-Ri is shocked by Yoochun’s outburst. “I know, I mean…I…but…in others’ eyes…”
“We don’t care about others’ eyes!” Yoochun grips his cup tightly.
Min-Ri backs up to the wall.
Junsu looks at Min-Ri then at Yoochun and tries to calm him down saying “That’s enough Yoochun ah, that’s enough…you’re scaring her…”
“I’m not scaring her…I’m just giving her the facts and setting them straight.” Yoochun holds his head in his hands and sighs. “She needs to know our feelings”
'Feelings…' she thinks. 'Does he know how just by being here all the time, I'm reminded of my friend in the hospital? I’m worthless and one lousy friend. I should be in the hospital...'
Changmin sees her lowered face and reaches over and gently squeezes her hand.
Jaejoong takes her other hand and says “Come, sit down so we can discuss this.”
Min-Ri sits down again and Yoochun continues, saying softly, “We hate it when people fawn on us or do anything exaggerated. We want to be treated equally. We want to have normal conversation and be able to talk to someone without them first judging us by our image… we wish to have as normal a life as possible, without the public’s opinion weighing down on us.”
“I know. I mean, of course I can’t experience what you are going through but I can imagine the situation. My dilemma is this- I feel guilt. I feel I shouldn’t be doing this”
Changmin cuts her off.
“We’ve gone through this before. And I’ll repeat it- Stop beating yourself up over that. And don’t forget- we willingly took you in because we wanted to.”
“Out of pit~”
“No, now it’s not out of pity" Junsu jumps in.
"It’s more like…like…” he pouts and scratches his head. “Help?”
Jaejoong laughs.
“Because we want you here and like your company.” He glances over at Yunho and Yunho nods.
“We like it when you’re here, although we do have the awkward moments…but that’s just a part of life…”
Min-Ri sighs and props her chin on her hands. 'They pity me…I am a burden…'
“Aish, women!” Changmin rolls his eyes.
The others laugh as Min-Ri puts on a weak smile.
“‘Women’ or not, you’ll one day be living with one buddy” Yoochun grins and ruffles Changmin’s hair.
Changmin fights to get away and pouts.
“Not me!” he says determinedly
“Ahhh this from the guy that watches~” Jaejoong says before Changmin jumps up with a “WAAAHHHH!” and covers his hyung’s mouth.
He breathes a sigh of relief and looks over to Min-Ri and is startled to see their faces inches apart. Changmin feels someone tap him on his arm. He turns around and looks at a finger which is pointing to his hand still covering Jaejoong’s mouth. Changmin’s gaze travels up the arm until he looks his hyung full in the face. He sees the deadly glare in Jaejoong’s eyes and just has enough time to think 'Oh crap' before Jaejoong breaks away, stands up, and one-touches him on the shoulder.
“PABO, WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD TOUCH MY LIP- TOUCH ME?!?!” Jaejoong explodes, causing the other three at the table to roar with laughter.
“Oh, it’s my fault? And what about your lips yahh? Are they reserved for a special someone? A certain person in this room?”
At that second, Yunho was coughing so hard from all his laughter that Yoochun had to whack him on the back, so Junsu blushed a deep shade of red on Yunho’s behalf.
“Oh yeah? Well~” Jaejoong continues with his tirade against his soulfighter.
Min-Ri shakes her head at the two. Again they managed to make her smile despite everything…
She looks at the floor and notices a white slip of paper near Jaejoong’s feet. When he stood up suddenly he must have dropped it.
“Hey, what is that?” Min-Ri asks no one in particular and bends down to pick it up and turns it over.
Jaejoong immediately stops scolding Changmin and with an “AHH!” sits down on the paper suddenly, before Min-Ri could pick it up.
“It’s nothing ahahahahaaa it’s nothing!” he laughs and looks up at Min-Ri.
“One would think it’s a picture of your baby or something” Changmin mutters.
“WHAT?!?!? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!?!” Jaejoong
At this point, the other three can’t breathe. They bang their palms on the table and wipe the tears from their eyes.
“IT IS NOT A PICTURE OF MY BABY, OR ANYONE’S BABY AT THAT!” Jaejoong exclaims.
“The more you deny it, the more you can’t hide it” Changmin sings
“I’ll show you who’s in the picture then! Then you can tell me who’s the baby…” Jaejoong picks up the photo and stands up.
He’s about to show the picture to Changmin and Min-Ri but Yunho grabs his wrist and shakes his head, signaling that wouldn’t be a wise move.
Jaejoong suddenly looks at the two- Changmin with his hands on his hips standing next to Min-Ri and Min-Ri sitting in her chair and his anger suddenly leaves him.
“So? What’s on the photo then hyung?” Changmin asks as Min-Ri stares at Jaejoong and the paper with a look of curiosity.
“It’s just a……” Jaejoong begins
“It’s a photo of… of a couple in the group” Yunho answers and smiles.
Jaejoong turns to him in surprise and blinks. Then the two grin.
“Yeah…a...a new couple in the group…” Jaejoong murmurs.
After breakfast the guys lounge around and wander aimlessly through the rooms. Junsu mainly plays video games while Yunho is engrossed in his cellphone. Yoochun is hovering over his keyboard, muttering to himself and pressing random keys to try and get a tune right. Jaejoong walks back and forth from the bathroom to his workroom and Changmin reads in the kitchen- this way he is in close proximity of snacks in case he wants to eat as he reads. Min-Ri's sitting next to the living room's large window, staring at the streets below.
Suddenly a call comes in. Immediately all activities halts and they look at the phone. Yunho flips close his cell and reaches over and picks up the phone. It's their manager.
"Ah annyeonghaseyo manager hyung!"
Junsu walks over to Min-Ri and stands in front of her and tries to hide her as if the manager could see them through the phone.
"Annyeong Yunho. Yunho ah, your only activity today is the video filming no? I was thinking, instead of coming here at night you all could come here now. This way we can get a head start at the individual filming and maybe finish early so we have the rest of the day off. You all don't have anything planned right?"
Changmin walks over to Junsu and lightly swats him on his arm, mouthing “are you crazy he can’t see us!” Min-Ri tries to comfort the pouting Junsu and get the two out of the way so she can hear Yunho better.
"Oh now don't have anything planned we're fine with that. But what about the room bookings? Aren't there people there now?"
Yoochun walks across the living room, over to the three. He reaches for the bag of chips in Changmin’s hands and stuffs a few in his mouth as well as Junsu’s.
"The building rooms for the individual shots have been rented for the whole day and I've just called all the staff and they say they are fine with starting now instead of at night."
Jaejoong softly walks from the bathroom to Yunho and places his ear next to the phone, trying to hear what the manager was saying. Yoochun meanwhile tempts Min-Ri with one of the chips and keeps on moving it away from her mouth. She gives him a look saying 'I’m gonna kill you so just give me it!'
"Well alright then hyung. We'll set off now" Yunho says
Junsu grabs Yoochun’s wrist and Min-Ri grins. But instead of giving the chip to Min-Ri Junsu bends over and eats it from Yoochun’s hand.
"Good. Ok then see you in a while! And don't worry, lunch will be served there..."
Min-Ri has a shocked look as Junsu still doesn’t realize what he did and Changmin holds his stomach in laughter.
"Oh don't worry about that we're fine with-"
"No no I do worry....the five of you can't go without eating for long..."
Jaejoong snickers. Yunho pokes him. He pouts and tries to tickle Yunho. Yunho fights back his laughter and focuses on his conversation.
"Manager hyuuung~"
"Don't argue about that already, change and come!"
Junsu turns red as he mouths ‘sorry’ to Min-Ri as she shakes her head and Yoochun pats his hair. Changmin hands the packet of chips over to her.
"*sigh* Alright then. I'll tell the others. ‘bye" Yunho hangs up the phone and turns to the others.
Min-Ri’s in the motion of putting a chip in her mouth as Changmin’s reading the back of the bag for the ingredients.
“Alright guys, stop what you’re doing and go change! Come on, baili baili! Min-Ri put that down it’s filled with chemicals, go and change!”
Min-Ri drops the chip back into the bag from surprise and goes to change, muttering “oh yeah, you didn’t see the others stuffing themselves? Aiii~”
Changmin grins and one-touches her on the back.
Soon they’re walking over to Yunho’s car.
“I guess you forgot about what you were planning earlier~” Yoochun tells her. “You didn’t want to ride with us but with the others in the van?” he grins.
Min-Ri smacks her forehead. “Stupid stupid stupid….how could I forget that?!?”
Jaejoong stretches and sighs. “But you know what? She’s right about all of us fitting in one car…Yunho ah, today I’m taking my car too, ‘k?”
Yunho halts and turns around slowly. “I thought you told me your car was over at your parent’s?”
Jaejoong smiles meekly. “It was but then I moved it over here a few days ago…”
“So we had two cars the whole time and we were using my car?”
“Hey, you said so yourself your car was fine chauffeuring all of us around~” Jaejoong makes a weak attempt to reason with Yunho.
“Jaejoooooong. . .Don’t be lazy yah! I know you don’t like to drive but…but…! Aish”
“Anyways, today I am driving there with my car, so what’s the fuss?” Jaejoong smiles again at Yunho.
“Now you don’t have to worry about your car….anyone wanna drive with me?”
The other three guys exchange glances and whisper “Did he have coffee this morning? I think he did, no? In that case…”
“We’ll go with Yunho hyung!” the three of them say in unison.
Min-Ri is still lost as to what the three of them were talking about but in the end shrugs and says to Jaejoong “I’ll come with you then oppa.”
Jaejoong grins.
-Not much later-
Min-Ri realizes why the others were so eager to drive with Yunho.
She also realized a valuable lesson regarding Jaejoong- a caffeine-ized Jaejoong plus driving means one rough ride. True, he drove fine towards the beginning but soon after two or three traffic lights something in him finally snapped so he suddenly became part of the NASCAR 500.
As they breezed through the streets at who-knows-how-fast, Min-Ri made a vow never to take for granted Yunho’s cautious driving.
“O-oppa slow down! You didn’t have a garlic shot did you??” she says as she grips the seat with her nails. Looking through the back mirror she sees Yunho’s car with the other four members.
“Mianhe Min-Ri ah it’s just I. HATE. WAITING. FOR. THESE. TRAFFIC. LIGHTS! GAH!” he breezes through another light just before it turns orange.
“I hate how they’re never coordinated! Aish! You know the feeling right?” he turns to her.
She just nods her head, afraid to open her mouth.
“Jesus and I thought American drivers were crazy!”
Yunho’s car smoothly pulls up next to them. She looks out the window and sees Yunho’s face as he quickly mouths “Kwenchana?”
She manages a smile and waves. Then she laughs as she sees Yoochun, Junsu, even Changmin pulling faces at each other and then out the window at her.
Yunho motions to her to roll down her window. He points over to Jaejoong.
“Jaejoong oppa…” Min-Ri says as she rolls down the tinted window.
“Mmm?” Jaejoong nods, his eyes on the road.
“Yunho wants to talk to you…”
“I’m busy and he should be busy watching the road too, that pabo!”
“YO JAEJOONG! SLOW DOWN, IT’S NOT A MARATHON! WE’RE ALMOST AT THE DESTINATION AND IT’S NOT EVEN 10 MINUTES YET! AT THIS RATE WE’RE GONNA BE THE ONLY ONES THERE!”
“CALM DOWN OK I GET IT! CLOSER YOUR WINDOW AND DON'T DISS MY DRIVING!” Jaejoong shouts as he keeps his eyes on the road.
“What did he say?” Yunho asks Min-Ri, still staring straight ahead.
“He says not to diss his driving and to close the windows this way we don’t have an accident”
“Ok ok I get it…one last thing…Jaejoong ah~~~” Yunho lowers his voice.“I LOVE YOU.”
Jaejoong eyes open wide in surprise as he swerves suddenly.
“That-that crazy man…up, up, up, up, up!” he says to himself, rolling up Min-Ri’s window as the other guys crack up in laughter. Once the window is up everything is silent again as it's just Min RI and Jaejoong in the car.
“I’m sorry oppa”
“Nahh it’s not you…those guys just do crazy things…they still haven’t grown up…”
“Right” she grins.
“What?” he gives her a look.
“…nothing…” and she goes back to looking out the window and praying her soul and body will remain in contact with her once she steps out of the car.
Min-Ri stumbles out of Jaejoong’s car as if she finally returned from a long voyage on sea and forgot how to walk properly. She counts her body parts to make sure she didn’t leave anything back on the road. Arms, legs, head, neck- all were there. She was miraculously alive.
Oh wait, she left her stomach back on the highway. Maybe her sanity as well. It must’ve jumped out of her throat when Jaejoong floored the gas pedal and barely passed the car in front of him without a scratch. Still, she’s made it through the NASCAR 500- Jaejoong versus the traffic lights.
As she tries to calm her hammering pulse, she holds onto the door for support and clutches her stomach with the other hand. Jaejoong steps out of the car looking cool with his shades on and his signature charismatic face.
He shuts his door, makes sure every inch of his car is ok (when it should be OTHER people’s car he should be worrying about), and directs his attention to the still hyperventilating Min-Ri.
He walks over to her, grinning.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Now you see how I drive~”
“Ye-yes now…I…see…how…you…drive…aheheh” Min-Ri wheezes. She looks up at Jaejoong who by now has taken off his shades and still has the genuine grin plastered on his face.
"So how DO I drive?"
Trying not to hurt his feelings she elaborates, “Oh your driving was *gulp* fine…marvelous…Your car is…amazing.”
“Ha!” he jumps up from delight. “Really? You like my car? Yaaah~”
His eyes shine with pride as he embraces the side of his car, laying his cheek on the cool metal of the car’s side.
“It’s my baby…and it says ‘thank you’ to your compliment” he opens his eyes and lets out a laugh at the surprised on Min-Ri’s face.
“What? You’ve never seen a p.d.a with a car before?” Jaejoong jokes.
“…never a pda with a car, nope.”
Jaejoong continues to laugh at Min-Ri’s stunned face. She finally closes the door of the car and smooths out her outfit.
“Hmmm, seems I left the others behind in the dust…guess I should take it easier next time…”
“And lay off coffee in the morning”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing nothing~” “And just what is wrong with coffee in the morning?”
“Nothing’s wrong with caffeine in the morning…just when you load 10 spoons of sugar, then we get into sticky territory. Hel-lo Adrenaline Central!’”
“And what’s wrong with adrenaline?” Jaejoong turns to see if Yunho’s car is here yet.
He has a smirk on his face as he turns and pins his arms on the car, trapping Min-Ri in between.
He stares down at her seriously as she stutters, “N-n-now now umma…t-there’s nothing up with adrenaline…and t-there’s nothing wrong with the NASCAR 500.”
“NASCAR 500? Who said anything about the NASCAR 500?” Jaejoong tilts his head in question and blinks as Min-Ri tries to duck under one of his arms.
He takes one step forward so he wedges his leg in between hers so she can’t move and she fumbles with her fingers, looking down at the floor.
“Uh umma~”
“Don’t call me that~”
“Ok then, umm…oppa~”
“I do have a name”
“Jaejoong-oppa-can-you-back-off-this-is-an-extremely-strange-position-we’re-in~”
He looks down and goes “Oh…OH. AH.” and takes a few steps back as if he suddenly was on fire.
“Sorry sorry” he apologizes as Min-Ri responds “In the future..please...save those charismatic moments for the...c-camera.”
Jaejoong hears Yunho’s car pulling up. Grinning, he walks back up to Min-Ri and looks down at her whispering, “You mean you didn’t like it?”
“YO JAEJOONG HOW DARE YOU DRIVE SO FAST?!? YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS? I HAD MY HEART UP IN MY THROAT THE WHOLE TIME GETTING HERE THANKS TO YOU! I NEARLY HAD A CONCUSSION WHEN YOU BARELY BREEZED PAST THAT CAR BACK THERE!”
The two hear Yunho roar as he approaches. Once he approaches and sees Jaejoong so close to Min-Ri, Yunho halts and goes in this tone “Jaejoong?”
Jaejoong turns around with a bemused expression. “Yeeeees?”
“Just what were you doing here behind my back while I was gone?”
“Oh, nothing, hyung, nothing.”
“Since when do you call me hyung? Jaejoooooong~”
“What?? We weren’t doing anything….just passing the time”
Yunho looks at Min-Ri.
“Min-Ri kwenchana?”
“Yes~ kwenchanahahahahahaaaaa”
“Aish man…no more coffee for you!”
“Yunho, you should have more faith in me. Dun you trust your lovable member?”
“You’re crazy, crazy, crazy, CRAZY” Yunho says as he shakes his head and starts to walk away.
“Jaejoong…..just…..just…..just wait until we get home later. I’d rather not start speaking now” Yunho says, looking at Min-Ri. “I’m keeping a close eye on you.”
Once Yunho walks away towards the other three, Jaejoong turns to Min-Ri and grins. “Don't you just love seeing him pout and get agitated?”
Min-Ri’s lost. And then cracks a smile. Crazy guy.
“So what do we do now until the others come?” Yoochun asks as the six of them stand there in a circle awkwardly.
“Ah wait, here comes the van.” Yunho says as he squints out onto the road.
A company van pulls up and soon after another one follows as the staff and camera crew come and start unloading materials. Then the manager’s car and Jin Jeong’s car come right after, as the two park their cars and get out.
“I really hope we didn’t pass any of the vans or the manager’s car on the road here” Junsu whispers to Changmin.
Changmin nods.
“The manager’d flip if he saw the way Jaejoong was driving…but I didn’t see any of those cars on the road.”
“Alright, so we’re filming the individual shots today in this building, on the 9th floor. The entire floor has been rented out for today. It is actually a series of rooms with doors that open to connect all rooms into one big room. We’ll focus on Yoochun and Jaejoong’s parts first and then Changmin, Junsu, and Yunho last. Everyone has their equipments so…let’s close the car trunks and head on upstairs!”
“I wonder how we’re going to get all the equipment upstairs” Min-Ri murmurs to Yoochun.
“Simple, we get dolphin Junsu to fly on up with some stuff” Yoochun says as Junsu pouts.
“I’m a DOLPHIN, not a BIRD.”
“Ah-HA! You have confirmed that you are a dolphin, nevertheless” Yoochun grins.
“You guys. The elevator will probably break under all that weight of your stupidity” Changmin rolls his eyes.
“Oh yeah? It’ll break not from our stupidity so much as your stomach that holds so much food” Yoochun teases back and Junsu laughs as he sees Changmin’s ears turn red.
-Later-
The equipment and sets are set up in each room and only minor touches are left. As various members of the staff scurry around the guys slowly come out from the changing room in their outfits for the m.v. Yoochun and Jaejoong sit down in the two chairs for their make-up as the other three chat as they wait for their turn. Just as Jin-Jeong lifts her brush towards Yoochun’s face, the manager calls “Jin Jeong please come here for a second, I just want to have a word with you. Min-Ri can start the makeup.”
And he gives Min-Ri one long, hard stare.
Min-Ri looks at JinJeong in alarm but the older lady smiles reassuringly. She puts a hand on Min-Ri’s shoulder and whispers “This is his way of testing you. I know you can do it girl~”
'I’ve only been here for one day! And besides she did all the motions so quickly I didn’t even see them! And all these tubes and colors and brushes lying on the table! Which is which???'
She turns her view from the table full of materials to meet her panicked reflection staring back at her through the mirror. Then her gaze shifts to the seated Yoochun next to her as she tries to figure out what to do first.
Seeing her wide-eyed stare as if she was a deer caught in headlights, Yoochun gives her a small smile as Jaejoong leans over to the different brushes and supplies like an interested kid.
“Don’t worry, do this at your own pace. No one’s pushing you…I do wonder how one uses this stuff…”Jaejoong says
Junsu walks over to the tabletop and picks up random bottles and containers, knitting his brows together as he thinks.
“Oh? Artist Junsu Monet knows how to work the brushes?” Changmin jokes.
“Yah, more like Junsu Picasso” Yunho laughs.
Junsu pointedly ignores his hyung’s laughs as he tells Min-Ri “She uses skin colored powders first…and then…darker pigments. And she sometimes uses creams, powders, pencils, spray, in that order...but I don’t know if the spray is for our hair or for what…”
“Oh thanks Junsu ah, really informative” Changmin rolls his eyes.
“Don’t make me use this to draw a mustache on you!” Junsu threatens, holding up a pencil.
“So…powders, sprays, and creams” Yoochun sings.
“No no, it's creams, powders, pencils!!!” Junsu pouts.
"Ok ok Su, whatever you say" Yoochun holds up his hands.
Min Ri launches herself at various different tubes, opening and closing each one to try and find the right ones.
“Ok moisturizer…powder…spray…” she mutters between breaths as the guys just look at the many different bottles.
Her fingers hold a brush as she instructs Yoochun to stand still while she does her work. She quickly goes through everything, mentally checking the products off in her mind as Junsu's chant 'creams, powders, pencils, spray' echoes in her mind.
Finally she's done with Yoochun and turns her attention to Jaejoong and quickly goes through the steps as Yoochun watches.
“Damn, she’s good” Yunho whispers to Junsu and Changmin.
“Duh, anyone’s good so long as it’s not us doing our own makeup!” Changmin points out.
Junsu swats him on the shoulder.
“Ok Jaejoong ssi, sit still because I really don’t want to blind you…you said you needed eye-liner in the mv right?”
“Mmmm” Jaejoong says, still looking up towards the ceiling.
Min-Ri sighs and slowly starts tracing with the liner. Yunho walks over to Jaejoong and pulls faces and waves at him as he tries to get Jaejoong to laugh.
A sudden sneeze from Junsu causes everyone but Jaejoong to jump.
“Ahh ahh ahh Jaejoong are you alright? I didn’t~”
“-poke my eye out?” Jaejoong laughs. “No no, don’t worry…‘I are a professional!” he says in English.
“*cough* AM a professional *cough* AM” Yoochun corrects him.
In no time, Min-Ri is done with Jaejoong and as Yunho and Junsu sit down for their turn, Min-Ri glances in Jin’s direction and is surprised to see the two still deep in conversation.
'What is taking them so long? Didn’t she go over there ages ago?' Min-RI wonders.
Finally, by the time Min-Ri finished all five guys, Jin Jeong walks over.
“Finally Jin Jeong unnie! I was going nuts over here, spazzing. What took you so long? Omo!”
Jin Jeong blinks at Min-Ri. “What do you mean? I was only gone for 5 minutes, not even.”
Min-Ri’s turn to blink. “What? Are you sure it wasn’t like half an hour?”
“No silly, it wasn’t half an hour. Wow you mean to tell me you breezed through all of it? That’s even better than me!” Jin Jeong grins.
She walks over to each member and inspects them up close. "Really good...not bad Min Ri, not bad! Ok you guys, head off to do your filming now, go!"
. . . When they finally got to filming Yunho’s solo part, there was just a tub in the middle of the set.
“Is this some sort of joke?” Min-Ri says to Jin Jeong as they stand off to the side.
She eyes the tub as if it were an alien object.
Jin Jeong laughs and whispers to her “Prepared to be shocked…I was talking to the manager before for a reason and he told me what each boy’s part will be. All I can say is for Yunho’s part…we’re in for it tonight!”
“Whuuuuuh?” Min Ri asks, still confused.
Until the camera started rolling.
“Start!” the director cues and Yunho walks in sans everything and anything except for a towel wrapped around his middle and another around his shoulders.
“Min-Ri goes to scream, "WHAT IS THIS?!?" but Jin Jeong covers her mouth and whispers “Shhhhh girl!”
Jin Jeong grins at her reaction. “Just the reaction I was expecting. Now If this is YOUR reaction as staff, imagine the fangirls once this comes out”
Min-Ri smiles weakly.
“When you’re in the entertainment business, even if it is back stage, you can expect surprising thi~” Jin Jeong stops, seeing a fatigued but happy Jaejoong approach.
“My filming’s done in one shot!” he says, resting his elbow on Min-Ri’s and Jin Jeong’s shoulder. He sighs happily then darts a look at Yunho.
He fakes a gasp and covers Min-Ri’s eyes as he shouts, “Yunho! Who told you to be so sexy and revealing?!? We have innocent minds here! And you said you should kep an eye on me, it’s the other way around!”
He enjoys seeing the blush spread across Yunho’s face as he bites his lip to keep from laughing, which he succumbs to in the end, causing an NG.
“Awww thanks” Yunho says sarcastically to Jaejoong after he finally finishes filming.
“Who’s the innocent mind here hmmm? You don’t like my part in the mv you’re welcome to tell the manager…and the 800,000 fans out there who are waiting for this mv with agony.”
Jaejoong smirks. “I’m not saying I exactly have a problem with your part just~”
“Oh so you enjoy seeing me walking around like that? Even though I do that plently of times back at home?”
“Aaaah Jin Jeong unnie ah, what is that contraption over there can you show me come on let’s go right now and go see and- and” Min-Ri frantically drags away a laughing Jin Jeong, leaving the two guys alone.
Now that Min-Ri and Jin Jeong were alone, Min Ri asks Jin Jeong “Jin ah, I have a question….more like a request.”
“Sure no problem! What is it?”
“Are you doing anything later on today? I mean the filming’s done and it’s still like noon so I was wondering…”
“-Of going out and hanging out? Sure! I’m dying to show you around the city. I’m sure you’ve hardly gotten to do anything that you wanted to do, what with the guys dragging you around everywhere.”
Min-Ri freezes. “Guys? You mean DBSK? How did you-”
“Ohh Junsu was rambling on about how you recently came here and since you’re a friend of their friend, they took you out a few times. Trust me, going out with those guys can get dull since they always focus on food. Time to show you something different!”
Min-Ri sighs in relief. Apparently Junsu invented a white lie to explain their friendship with her.
“By the way, I’m sure you’re bored staying at your place all the time alone so later on you wanna come over and sleep at my place?”
“Sure!” Min-Ri pauses. “Just let me go tell the guys…you know…this way they don’t worry”
Jin Jeong gives her a confused look.
“Ahh they usually drive me home th-that’s why…”
Jin Jeong laughs.
“Never knew they could be such guardians. Sure no problem. I’ll go put the stuff in my car.”
Pairings: Changmin/fc with hints of yunjae and yoosu
Rating: G
Genre: Drama, Real life, General
Length: Chapters
Summary: It all started with a coincidence. One accident, one helping hand, one small step. And soon it leads to so much more. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 13~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Soooooo did you guys sleep well last night?” Jaejoong says with a wide grin on his face.
Changmin and Min-Ri both yawn, rubbing their eyes and plunk down on their seats. Obviously they were still out of it so they didn’t realize what happened.
“Yes, I guess. Why?” she asks as Changmin immediately starts eating his breakfast.
“Aw Jaejoong, stop it will you?! You're like an endlessly teasing mother!” Yunho says
“If that makes me the mother then that makes you the father!” Jaejoong retaliates.
". . ." Yunho
"hehehe" Yoochun
"Quit it Chun"
"Sorry 'Ho eheheh"
“Aw c’mon! We’ll get a kick out of it!” Jaejoong pleads.
“No! First thing in the morning? Leave the two alone…we still have to film the rest of the mv tonight and imagine how awkward that’s be!”
“Pleeeease Yunho?“ 
“No! Give me that!” Yunho tries to snatch the Polaroid picture from Jaejoong.
“What’re you guys doing?” Min-Ri asks with a quizzical look on her face.
Both Jaejoong and Yunho’s hands fly behind their backs.
She arches her eyebrows and goes back to eating her cereal.
“But you do know that today’s when we finish filming the rest of the mv” Yoochun tells her softly.
She immediately knows what he’s getting at. She sputters and says “Please don’t tell me you still want me there! There’s no way I’m squeezing into Yunho oppa’s poor car again! It died carrying that many people!’
“My car says it’s very happy chauffeuring us around, thank-you-very-much” Yunho says in a “matter-of-fact” tone.
“But…”
“Face it, never mind hyungs, the girl doesn't want to go…we’ll just have to go and see what happens” Changmin sighs.
“You mean we’ll get blamed?” Yoochun asks.
“I~” Min-Ri
“Possibly” Jaejoong shrugs.
“Forget about us getting blamed, what about Jin Jeong ssi??” Yunho
Immediately an image of Jin-Jeon pops up in Min-Ri’s head. She already got scolded by the manager yesterday for not informing him about the assistant position and deliberately went along with the guys’ idea. And she was really kind and sympathetic, like a big sister.
“How does Jin-Jeong ssi get to the site?” Min-Ri suddenly asks.
“She goes there by herself by car or more usually takes a company van. The van comes by and picks her up along with several other staff members” Jaejoong answers.
“What time does the van pick her up?” Min-Ri asks.
“About an hour before the shoot? Takes a while with the traffic…but~” Yoochun
“And they pick her up right at her door?” Min-Ri
“Yes, they do. But why?” Jaejoong
Changmin’s face lights up. “Oh no…no way…”
“Yes” Min-Ri gets up from her chair and bows. “I agree to go to the shoot tonight, but only one condition. Let me go with Jin-Jeong ssi and you can take Yunho’s car. And once we’re there we’ll act as if we don’t know each other…to avoid any suspicion…” Min-Ri straightens up.
The guys look hurt. “But we don’t~” Jaejoong’s about to say “don’t mind,” when Min-Ri cuts him off by saying “But I do. Think of the unfairness I have in getting to be with you guys. We’re not on equal status; it was because of your influence that I was able to get the assistant job. So…I have no right to be around you guys”
Yoochun slams his cup down and glares at the table.
“Don’t say that.”
His gaze lifts to Min-Ri’s face.
“I hate when people say that. Raising us on a pedestal and treating us differently all the time. We are human being as well. Aren’t we entitled to mingle and be with whomever we want?”
Min-Ri is shocked by Yoochun’s outburst. “I know, I mean…I…but…in others’ eyes…”
“We don’t care about others’ eyes!” Yoochun grips his cup tightly.
Min-Ri backs up to the wall.
Junsu looks at Min-Ri then at Yoochun and tries to calm him down saying “That’s enough Yoochun ah, that’s enough…you’re scaring her…”
“I’m not scaring her…I’m just giving her the facts and setting them straight.” Yoochun holds his head in his hands and sighs. “She needs to know our feelings”
'Feelings…' she thinks. 'Does he know how just by being here all the time, I'm reminded of my friend in the hospital? I’m worthless and one lousy friend. I should be in the hospital...'
Changmin sees her lowered face and reaches over and gently squeezes her hand.
Jaejoong takes her other hand and says “Come, sit down so we can discuss this.”
Min-Ri sits down again and Yoochun continues, saying softly, “We hate it when people fawn on us or do anything exaggerated. We want to be treated equally. We want to have normal conversation and be able to talk to someone without them first judging us by our image… we wish to have as normal a life as possible, without the public’s opinion weighing down on us.”
“I know. I mean, of course I can’t experience what you are going through but I can imagine the situation. My dilemma is this- I feel guilt. I feel I shouldn’t be doing this”
Changmin cuts her off.
“We’ve gone through this before. And I’ll repeat it- Stop beating yourself up over that. And don’t forget- we willingly took you in because we wanted to.”
“Out of pit~”
“No, now it’s not out of pity" Junsu jumps in.
"It’s more like…like…” he pouts and scratches his head. “Help?”
Jaejoong laughs.
“Because we want you here and like your company.” He glances over at Yunho and Yunho nods.
“We like it when you’re here, although we do have the awkward moments…but that’s just a part of life…”
Min-Ri sighs and props her chin on her hands. 'They pity me…I am a burden…'
“Aish, women!” Changmin rolls his eyes.
The others laugh as Min-Ri puts on a weak smile.
“‘Women’ or not, you’ll one day be living with one buddy” Yoochun grins and ruffles Changmin’s hair.
Changmin fights to get away and pouts.
“Not me!” he says determinedly
“Ahhh this from the guy that watches~” Jaejoong says before Changmin jumps up with a “WAAAHHHH!” and covers his hyung’s mouth.
He breathes a sigh of relief and looks over to Min-Ri and is startled to see their faces inches apart. Changmin feels someone tap him on his arm. He turns around and looks at a finger which is pointing to his hand still covering Jaejoong’s mouth. Changmin’s gaze travels up the arm until he looks his hyung full in the face. He sees the deadly glare in Jaejoong’s eyes and just has enough time to think 'Oh crap' before Jaejoong breaks away, stands up, and one-touches him on the shoulder.
“PABO, WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD TOUCH MY LIP- TOUCH ME?!?!” Jaejoong explodes, causing the other three at the table to roar with laughter.
“Oh, it’s my fault? And what about your lips yahh? Are they reserved for a special someone? A certain person in this room?”
At that second, Yunho was coughing so hard from all his laughter that Yoochun had to whack him on the back, so Junsu blushed a deep shade of red on Yunho’s behalf.
“Oh yeah? Well~” Jaejoong continues with his tirade against his soulfighter.
Min-Ri shakes her head at the two. Again they managed to make her smile despite everything…
She looks at the floor and notices a white slip of paper near Jaejoong’s feet. When he stood up suddenly he must have dropped it.
“Hey, what is that?” Min-Ri asks no one in particular and bends down to pick it up and turns it over.
Jaejoong immediately stops scolding Changmin and with an “AHH!” sits down on the paper suddenly, before Min-Ri could pick it up.
“It’s nothing ahahahahaaa it’s nothing!” he laughs and looks up at Min-Ri.
“One would think it’s a picture of your baby or something” Changmin mutters.
“WHAT?!?!? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!?!” Jaejoong
At this point, the other three can’t breathe. They bang their palms on the table and wipe the tears from their eyes.
“IT IS NOT A PICTURE OF MY BABY, OR ANYONE’S BABY AT THAT!” Jaejoong exclaims.
“The more you deny it, the more you can’t hide it” Changmin sings
“I’ll show you who’s in the picture then! Then you can tell me who’s the baby…” Jaejoong picks up the photo and stands up.
He’s about to show the picture to Changmin and Min-Ri but Yunho grabs his wrist and shakes his head, signaling that wouldn’t be a wise move.
Jaejoong suddenly looks at the two- Changmin with his hands on his hips standing next to Min-Ri and Min-Ri sitting in her chair and his anger suddenly leaves him.
“So? What’s on the photo then hyung?” Changmin asks as Min-Ri stares at Jaejoong and the paper with a look of curiosity.
“It’s just a……” Jaejoong begins
“It’s a photo of… of a couple in the group” Yunho answers and smiles.
Jaejoong turns to him in surprise and blinks. Then the two grin.
“Yeah…a...a new couple in the group…” Jaejoong murmurs.
After breakfast the guys lounge around and wander aimlessly through the rooms. Junsu mainly plays video games while Yunho is engrossed in his cellphone. Yoochun is hovering over his keyboard, muttering to himself and pressing random keys to try and get a tune right. Jaejoong walks back and forth from the bathroom to his workroom and Changmin reads in the kitchen- this way he is in close proximity of snacks in case he wants to eat as he reads. Min-Ri's sitting next to the living room's large window, staring at the streets below.
Suddenly a call comes in. Immediately all activities halts and they look at the phone. Yunho flips close his cell and reaches over and picks up the phone. It's their manager.
"Ah annyeonghaseyo manager hyung!"
Junsu walks over to Min-Ri and stands in front of her and tries to hide her as if the manager could see them through the phone.
"Annyeong Yunho. Yunho ah, your only activity today is the video filming no? I was thinking, instead of coming here at night you all could come here now. This way we can get a head start at the individual filming and maybe finish early so we have the rest of the day off. You all don't have anything planned right?"
Changmin walks over to Junsu and lightly swats him on his arm, mouthing “are you crazy he can’t see us!” Min-Ri tries to comfort the pouting Junsu and get the two out of the way so she can hear Yunho better.
"Oh now don't have anything planned we're fine with that. But what about the room bookings? Aren't there people there now?"
Yoochun walks across the living room, over to the three. He reaches for the bag of chips in Changmin’s hands and stuffs a few in his mouth as well as Junsu’s.
"The building rooms for the individual shots have been rented for the whole day and I've just called all the staff and they say they are fine with starting now instead of at night."
Jaejoong softly walks from the bathroom to Yunho and places his ear next to the phone, trying to hear what the manager was saying. Yoochun meanwhile tempts Min-Ri with one of the chips and keeps on moving it away from her mouth. She gives him a look saying 'I’m gonna kill you so just give me it!'
"Well alright then hyung. We'll set off now" Yunho says
Junsu grabs Yoochun’s wrist and Min-Ri grins. But instead of giving the chip to Min-Ri Junsu bends over and eats it from Yoochun’s hand.
"Good. Ok then see you in a while! And don't worry, lunch will be served there..."
Min-Ri has a shocked look as Junsu still doesn’t realize what he did and Changmin holds his stomach in laughter.
"Oh don't worry about that we're fine with-"
"No no I do worry....the five of you can't go without eating for long..."
Jaejoong snickers. Yunho pokes him. He pouts and tries to tickle Yunho. Yunho fights back his laughter and focuses on his conversation.
"Manager hyuuung~"
"Don't argue about that already, change and come!"
Junsu turns red as he mouths ‘sorry’ to Min-Ri as she shakes her head and Yoochun pats his hair. Changmin hands the packet of chips over to her.
"*sigh* Alright then. I'll tell the others. ‘bye" Yunho hangs up the phone and turns to the others.
Min-Ri’s in the motion of putting a chip in her mouth as Changmin’s reading the back of the bag for the ingredients.
“Alright guys, stop what you’re doing and go change! Come on, baili baili! Min-Ri put that down it’s filled with chemicals, go and change!”
Min-Ri drops the chip back into the bag from surprise and goes to change, muttering “oh yeah, you didn’t see the others stuffing themselves? Aiii~”
Changmin grins and one-touches her on the back.
Soon they’re walking over to Yunho’s car.
“I guess you forgot about what you were planning earlier~” Yoochun tells her. “You didn’t want to ride with us but with the others in the van?” he grins.
Min-Ri smacks her forehead. “Stupid stupid stupid….how could I forget that?!?”
Jaejoong stretches and sighs. “But you know what? She’s right about all of us fitting in one car…Yunho ah, today I’m taking my car too, ‘k?”
Yunho halts and turns around slowly. “I thought you told me your car was over at your parent’s?”
Jaejoong smiles meekly. “It was but then I moved it over here a few days ago…”
“So we had two cars the whole time and we were using my car?”
“Hey, you said so yourself your car was fine chauffeuring all of us around~” Jaejoong makes a weak attempt to reason with Yunho.
“Jaejoooooong. . .Don’t be lazy yah! I know you don’t like to drive but…but…! Aish”
“Anyways, today I am driving there with my car, so what’s the fuss?” Jaejoong smiles again at Yunho.
“Now you don’t have to worry about your car….anyone wanna drive with me?”
The other three guys exchange glances and whisper “Did he have coffee this morning? I think he did, no? In that case…”
“We’ll go with Yunho hyung!” the three of them say in unison.
Min-Ri is still lost as to what the three of them were talking about but in the end shrugs and says to Jaejoong “I’ll come with you then oppa.”
Jaejoong grins.
-Not much later-
Min-Ri realizes why the others were so eager to drive with Yunho.
She also realized a valuable lesson regarding Jaejoong- a caffeine-ized Jaejoong plus driving means one rough ride. True, he drove fine towards the beginning but soon after two or three traffic lights something in him finally snapped so he suddenly became part of the NASCAR 500.
As they breezed through the streets at who-knows-how-fast, Min-Ri made a vow never to take for granted Yunho’s cautious driving.
“O-oppa slow down! You didn’t have a garlic shot did you??” she says as she grips the seat with her nails. Looking through the back mirror she sees Yunho’s car with the other four members.
“Mianhe Min-Ri ah it’s just I. HATE. WAITING. FOR. THESE. TRAFFIC. LIGHTS! GAH!” he breezes through another light just before it turns orange.
“I hate how they’re never coordinated! Aish! You know the feeling right?” he turns to her.
She just nods her head, afraid to open her mouth.
“Jesus and I thought American drivers were crazy!”
Yunho’s car smoothly pulls up next to them. She looks out the window and sees Yunho’s face as he quickly mouths “Kwenchana?”
She manages a smile and waves. Then she laughs as she sees Yoochun, Junsu, even Changmin pulling faces at each other and then out the window at her.
Yunho motions to her to roll down her window. He points over to Jaejoong.
“Jaejoong oppa…” Min-Ri says as she rolls down the tinted window.
“Mmm?” Jaejoong nods, his eyes on the road.
“Yunho wants to talk to you…”
“I’m busy and he should be busy watching the road too, that pabo!”
“YO JAEJOONG! SLOW DOWN, IT’S NOT A MARATHON! WE’RE ALMOST AT THE DESTINATION AND IT’S NOT EVEN 10 MINUTES YET! AT THIS RATE WE’RE GONNA BE THE ONLY ONES THERE!”
“CALM DOWN OK I GET IT! CLOSER YOUR WINDOW AND DON'T DISS MY DRIVING!” Jaejoong shouts as he keeps his eyes on the road.
“What did he say?” Yunho asks Min-Ri, still staring straight ahead.
“He says not to diss his driving and to close the windows this way we don’t have an accident”
“Ok ok I get it…one last thing…Jaejoong ah~~~” Yunho lowers his voice.“I LOVE YOU.”
Jaejoong eyes open wide in surprise as he swerves suddenly.
“That-that crazy man…up, up, up, up, up!” he says to himself, rolling up Min-Ri’s window as the other guys crack up in laughter. Once the window is up everything is silent again as it's just Min RI and Jaejoong in the car.
“I’m sorry oppa”
“Nahh it’s not you…those guys just do crazy things…they still haven’t grown up…”
“Right” she grins.
“What?” he gives her a look.
“…nothing…” and she goes back to looking out the window and praying her soul and body will remain in contact with her once she steps out of the car.
Min-Ri stumbles out of Jaejoong’s car as if she finally returned from a long voyage on sea and forgot how to walk properly. She counts her body parts to make sure she didn’t leave anything back on the road. Arms, legs, head, neck- all were there. She was miraculously alive.
Oh wait, she left her stomach back on the highway. Maybe her sanity as well. It must’ve jumped out of her throat when Jaejoong floored the gas pedal and barely passed the car in front of him without a scratch. Still, she’s made it through the NASCAR 500- Jaejoong versus the traffic lights.
As she tries to calm her hammering pulse, she holds onto the door for support and clutches her stomach with the other hand. Jaejoong steps out of the car looking cool with his shades on and his signature charismatic face.
He shuts his door, makes sure every inch of his car is ok (when it should be OTHER people’s car he should be worrying about), and directs his attention to the still hyperventilating Min-Ri.
He walks over to her, grinning.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Now you see how I drive~”
“Ye-yes now…I…see…how…you…drive…aheheh” Min-Ri wheezes. She looks up at Jaejoong who by now has taken off his shades and still has the genuine grin plastered on his face.
"So how DO I drive?"
Trying not to hurt his feelings she elaborates, “Oh your driving was *gulp* fine…marvelous…Your car is…amazing.”
“Ha!” he jumps up from delight. “Really? You like my car? Yaaah~”
His eyes shine with pride as he embraces the side of his car, laying his cheek on the cool metal of the car’s side.
“It’s my baby…and it says ‘thank you’ to your compliment” he opens his eyes and lets out a laugh at the surprised on Min-Ri’s face.
“What? You’ve never seen a p.d.a with a car before?” Jaejoong jokes.
“…never a pda with a car, nope.”
Jaejoong continues to laugh at Min-Ri’s stunned face. She finally closes the door of the car and smooths out her outfit.
“Hmmm, seems I left the others behind in the dust…guess I should take it easier next time…”
“And lay off coffee in the morning”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing nothing~” “And just what is wrong with coffee in the morning?”
“Nothing’s wrong with caffeine in the morning…just when you load 10 spoons of sugar, then we get into sticky territory. Hel-lo Adrenaline Central!’”
“And what’s wrong with adrenaline?” Jaejoong turns to see if Yunho’s car is here yet.
He has a smirk on his face as he turns and pins his arms on the car, trapping Min-Ri in between.
He stares down at her seriously as she stutters, “N-n-now now umma…t-there’s nothing up with adrenaline…and t-there’s nothing wrong with the NASCAR 500.”
“NASCAR 500? Who said anything about the NASCAR 500?” Jaejoong tilts his head in question and blinks as Min-Ri tries to duck under one of his arms.
He takes one step forward so he wedges his leg in between hers so she can’t move and she fumbles with her fingers, looking down at the floor.
“Uh umma~”
“Don’t call me that~”
“Ok then, umm…oppa~”
“I do have a name”
“Jaejoong-oppa-can-you-back-off-this-is-an-extremely-strange-position-we’re-in~”
He looks down and goes “Oh…OH. AH.” and takes a few steps back as if he suddenly was on fire.
“Sorry sorry” he apologizes as Min-Ri responds “In the future..please...save those charismatic moments for the...c-camera.”
Jaejoong hears Yunho’s car pulling up. Grinning, he walks back up to Min-Ri and looks down at her whispering, “You mean you didn’t like it?”
“YO JAEJOONG HOW DARE YOU DRIVE SO FAST?!? YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS? I HAD MY HEART UP IN MY THROAT THE WHOLE TIME GETTING HERE THANKS TO YOU! I NEARLY HAD A CONCUSSION WHEN YOU BARELY BREEZED PAST THAT CAR BACK THERE!”
The two hear Yunho roar as he approaches. Once he approaches and sees Jaejoong so close to Min-Ri, Yunho halts and goes in this tone “Jaejoong?”
Jaejoong turns around with a bemused expression. “Yeeeees?”
“Just what were you doing here behind my back while I was gone?”
“Oh, nothing, hyung, nothing.”
“Since when do you call me hyung? Jaejoooooong~”
“What?? We weren’t doing anything….just passing the time”
Yunho looks at Min-Ri.
“Min-Ri kwenchana?”
“Yes~ kwenchanahahahahahaaaaa”
“Aish man…no more coffee for you!”
“Yunho, you should have more faith in me. Dun you trust your lovable member?”
“You’re crazy, crazy, crazy, CRAZY” Yunho says as he shakes his head and starts to walk away.
“Jaejoong…..just…..just…..just wait until we get home later. I’d rather not start speaking now” Yunho says, looking at Min-Ri. “I’m keeping a close eye on you.”
Once Yunho walks away towards the other three, Jaejoong turns to Min-Ri and grins. “Don't you just love seeing him pout and get agitated?”
Min-Ri’s lost. And then cracks a smile. Crazy guy.
“So what do we do now until the others come?” Yoochun asks as the six of them stand there in a circle awkwardly.
“Ah wait, here comes the van.” Yunho says as he squints out onto the road.
A company van pulls up and soon after another one follows as the staff and camera crew come and start unloading materials. Then the manager’s car and Jin Jeong’s car come right after, as the two park their cars and get out.
“I really hope we didn’t pass any of the vans or the manager’s car on the road here” Junsu whispers to Changmin.
Changmin nods.
“The manager’d flip if he saw the way Jaejoong was driving…but I didn’t see any of those cars on the road.”
“Alright, so we’re filming the individual shots today in this building, on the 9th floor. The entire floor has been rented out for today. It is actually a series of rooms with doors that open to connect all rooms into one big room. We’ll focus on Yoochun and Jaejoong’s parts first and then Changmin, Junsu, and Yunho last. Everyone has their equipments so…let’s close the car trunks and head on upstairs!”
“I wonder how we’re going to get all the equipment upstairs” Min-Ri murmurs to Yoochun.
“Simple, we get dolphin Junsu to fly on up with some stuff” Yoochun says as Junsu pouts.
“I’m a DOLPHIN, not a BIRD.”
“Ah-HA! You have confirmed that you are a dolphin, nevertheless” Yoochun grins.
“You guys. The elevator will probably break under all that weight of your stupidity” Changmin rolls his eyes.
“Oh yeah? It’ll break not from our stupidity so much as your stomach that holds so much food” Yoochun teases back and Junsu laughs as he sees Changmin’s ears turn red.
-Later-
The equipment and sets are set up in each room and only minor touches are left. As various members of the staff scurry around the guys slowly come out from the changing room in their outfits for the m.v. Yoochun and Jaejoong sit down in the two chairs for their make-up as the other three chat as they wait for their turn. Just as Jin-Jeong lifts her brush towards Yoochun’s face, the manager calls “Jin Jeong please come here for a second, I just want to have a word with you. Min-Ri can start the makeup.”
And he gives Min-Ri one long, hard stare.
Min-Ri looks at JinJeong in alarm but the older lady smiles reassuringly. She puts a hand on Min-Ri’s shoulder and whispers “This is his way of testing you. I know you can do it girl~”
'I’ve only been here for one day! And besides she did all the motions so quickly I didn’t even see them! And all these tubes and colors and brushes lying on the table! Which is which???'
She turns her view from the table full of materials to meet her panicked reflection staring back at her through the mirror. Then her gaze shifts to the seated Yoochun next to her as she tries to figure out what to do first.
Seeing her wide-eyed stare as if she was a deer caught in headlights, Yoochun gives her a small smile as Jaejoong leans over to the different brushes and supplies like an interested kid.
“Don’t worry, do this at your own pace. No one’s pushing you…I do wonder how one uses this stuff…”Jaejoong says
Junsu walks over to the tabletop and picks up random bottles and containers, knitting his brows together as he thinks.
“Oh? Artist Junsu Monet knows how to work the brushes?” Changmin jokes.
“Yah, more like Junsu Picasso” Yunho laughs.
Junsu pointedly ignores his hyung’s laughs as he tells Min-Ri “She uses skin colored powders first…and then…darker pigments. And she sometimes uses creams, powders, pencils, spray, in that order...but I don’t know if the spray is for our hair or for what…”
“Oh thanks Junsu ah, really informative” Changmin rolls his eyes.
“Don’t make me use this to draw a mustache on you!” Junsu threatens, holding up a pencil.
“So…powders, sprays, and creams” Yoochun sings.
“No no, it's creams, powders, pencils!!!” Junsu pouts.
"Ok ok Su, whatever you say" Yoochun holds up his hands.
Min Ri launches herself at various different tubes, opening and closing each one to try and find the right ones.
“Ok moisturizer…powder…spray…” she mutters between breaths as the guys just look at the many different bottles.
Her fingers hold a brush as she instructs Yoochun to stand still while she does her work. She quickly goes through everything, mentally checking the products off in her mind as Junsu's chant 'creams, powders, pencils, spray' echoes in her mind.
Finally she's done with Yoochun and turns her attention to Jaejoong and quickly goes through the steps as Yoochun watches.
“Damn, she’s good” Yunho whispers to Junsu and Changmin.
“Duh, anyone’s good so long as it’s not us doing our own makeup!” Changmin points out.
Junsu swats him on the shoulder.
“Ok Jaejoong ssi, sit still because I really don’t want to blind you…you said you needed eye-liner in the mv right?”
“Mmmm” Jaejoong says, still looking up towards the ceiling.
Min-Ri sighs and slowly starts tracing with the liner. Yunho walks over to Jaejoong and pulls faces and waves at him as he tries to get Jaejoong to laugh.
A sudden sneeze from Junsu causes everyone but Jaejoong to jump.
“Ahh ahh ahh Jaejoong are you alright? I didn’t~”
“-poke my eye out?” Jaejoong laughs. “No no, don’t worry…‘I are a professional!” he says in English.
“*cough* AM a professional *cough* AM” Yoochun corrects him.
In no time, Min-Ri is done with Jaejoong and as Yunho and Junsu sit down for their turn, Min-Ri glances in Jin’s direction and is surprised to see the two still deep in conversation.
'What is taking them so long? Didn’t she go over there ages ago?' Min-RI wonders.
Finally, by the time Min-Ri finished all five guys, Jin Jeong walks over.
“Finally Jin Jeong unnie! I was going nuts over here, spazzing. What took you so long? Omo!”
Jin Jeong blinks at Min-Ri. “What do you mean? I was only gone for 5 minutes, not even.”
Min-Ri’s turn to blink. “What? Are you sure it wasn’t like half an hour?”
“No silly, it wasn’t half an hour. Wow you mean to tell me you breezed through all of it? That’s even better than me!” Jin Jeong grins.
She walks over to each member and inspects them up close. "Really good...not bad Min Ri, not bad! Ok you guys, head off to do your filming now, go!"
. . . When they finally got to filming Yunho’s solo part, there was just a tub in the middle of the set.
“Is this some sort of joke?” Min-Ri says to Jin Jeong as they stand off to the side.
She eyes the tub as if it were an alien object.
Jin Jeong laughs and whispers to her “Prepared to be shocked…I was talking to the manager before for a reason and he told me what each boy’s part will be. All I can say is for Yunho’s part…we’re in for it tonight!”
“Whuuuuuh?” Min Ri asks, still confused.
Until the camera started rolling.
“Start!” the director cues and Yunho walks in sans everything and anything except for a towel wrapped around his middle and another around his shoulders.
“Min-Ri goes to scream, "WHAT IS THIS?!?" but Jin Jeong covers her mouth and whispers “Shhhhh girl!”
Jin Jeong grins at her reaction. “Just the reaction I was expecting. Now If this is YOUR reaction as staff, imagine the fangirls once this comes out”
Min-Ri smiles weakly.
“When you’re in the entertainment business, even if it is back stage, you can expect surprising thi~” Jin Jeong stops, seeing a fatigued but happy Jaejoong approach.
“My filming’s done in one shot!” he says, resting his elbow on Min-Ri’s and Jin Jeong’s shoulder. He sighs happily then darts a look at Yunho.
He fakes a gasp and covers Min-Ri’s eyes as he shouts, “Yunho! Who told you to be so sexy and revealing?!? We have innocent minds here! And you said you should kep an eye on me, it’s the other way around!”
He enjoys seeing the blush spread across Yunho’s face as he bites his lip to keep from laughing, which he succumbs to in the end, causing an NG.
“Awww thanks” Yunho says sarcastically to Jaejoong after he finally finishes filming.
“Who’s the innocent mind here hmmm? You don’t like my part in the mv you’re welcome to tell the manager…and the 800,000 fans out there who are waiting for this mv with agony.”
Jaejoong smirks. “I’m not saying I exactly have a problem with your part just~”
“Oh so you enjoy seeing me walking around like that? Even though I do that plently of times back at home?”
“Aaaah Jin Jeong unnie ah, what is that contraption over there can you show me come on let’s go right now and go see and- and” Min-Ri frantically drags away a laughing Jin Jeong, leaving the two guys alone.
Now that Min-Ri and Jin Jeong were alone, Min Ri asks Jin Jeong “Jin ah, I have a question….more like a request.”
“Sure no problem! What is it?”
“Are you doing anything later on today? I mean the filming’s done and it’s still like noon so I was wondering…”
“-Of going out and hanging out? Sure! I’m dying to show you around the city. I’m sure you’ve hardly gotten to do anything that you wanted to do, what with the guys dragging you around everywhere.”
Min-Ri freezes. “Guys? You mean DBSK? How did you-”
“Ohh Junsu was rambling on about how you recently came here and since you’re a friend of their friend, they took you out a few times. Trust me, going out with those guys can get dull since they always focus on food. Time to show you something different!”
Min-Ri sighs in relief. Apparently Junsu invented a white lie to explain their friendship with her.
“By the way, I’m sure you’re bored staying at your place all the time alone so later on you wanna come over and sleep at my place?”
“Sure!” Min-Ri pauses. “Just let me go tell the guys…you know…this way they don’t worry”
Jin Jeong gives her a confused look.
“Ahh they usually drive me home th-that’s why…”
Jin Jeong laughs.
“Never knew they could be such guardians. Sure no problem. I’ll go put the stuff in my car.”