LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...CHAPTER 17.3/???
Title: Love Knows No Boundaries
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: EXO, SISTAR19, BEAST, SHINee, CNBlue Yonghwa and Jonghyun, Juniel, INFINITE, Ingook, five cameo guests
Word Count: ~12000 out of 15620
Rating: PG-13
Summary: College students. Blind, Deaf, and Mute. Their lives deal with the ups and downs, like a roller coaster. They find relationships, and companionships. Life does not always have a happy ending, but they can try to get their own.
Author Note: Back after a long time~ :D HERE'S THE SECOND PART OF THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF CHAPTER 17.
Author Note 2: We are now looking into the EXO part, having left the BAP part in the previous chapter. It's at Lee Jinki's cafe, Chakeo Corner. MANY THINGS HAPPEN. :D
Sign Language Guide
Families
Chapter 17 Part 1 | Chapter 17 Part 2 |
Just before the guy turns around and bends low to reach his heel, as the choreography on Hyorin’s last line in the second verse requires, the lights go out, the music stops, and a spotlight shines on him when he starts singing Hyorin’s line.
“Oneuldo na…n…”
Realizing that the light is shining down on him, the guy freezes mid-action, reaching his heel from behind, his clothed butt sticking out to the café audience. He starts to hyperventilate.
“Wow, uh…talk about an awkward place to stop,” Miyoung mutters. Suddenly, a voice comes on from the speakers in the café.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening to you all! My name is Kim Jonghyun, and I am your host tonight. I hope you all are having a wonderful time! And now, I present to you, one of our regular performers, Lee Bora and Lee Hyojung aka Hyorin, SISTAR19!”
The lights turn on with the audience clapping, and the guy straightens up to save himself from further embarrassment. Hyojung and Bora walk up to the stage, taking their microphones from the rack nearby the ramp. Clapping and bowing to the guy who had danced to their song, Hyojung compliments him on his talents. She walks up to him and he bends a little lower to meet her eye level.
“What’s your name?” Hyojung asks in broken, accented English, sharing her microphone.
“A-Aaron.”
“Ah,” Hyojung, with her bright eyes, nods in acknowledgment. She continues in English. “Nice to meet you, Aaron. I see you’re a fanboy of us, SISTAR19. My unnie and I wanna know if you wanna join us dancing ‘How Dare You’ and ‘Loving U’?”
Aaron gapes, before speaking out in bits of Korean, mixed with his natural English. “JINJJA?! J-JOHAHAEYO! Ermergerd, GELO BOO. PPALLI-WA. WE’RE GONNA PERFORM ‘HOW DARE YOU’ AND ‘LOVING U’ WITH BORA AND HYORIN! Jamkkan, do you mind if my friend joins us, too? He’s a great dancer too!”
Hyojung looks at Bora, who nods. Aaron turns to the audience to beckon his friend to come over.
As his friend makes his way to the stage, the sisters notice it is the same guy who was just talking to their brothers’ group. Hyojung drawls with an impressed tone, “Whoa, you must be Angelo. My brother, Joonmyeon, tell me about you.”
“Yep, that’s me.” Angelo smiles nervously, yet he spoke smoothly in Korean. “Pleased to meet you ladies.”
Taken aback by the fluidity of Angelo’s Korean, but feeling a bit giddy, Hyojung looks to her sister, whose expression mirror the same kind of feelings. Hyojung comments in her native Korean, “Oh my, you’re such a gentleman. You know how to flatter us. What a handsome man you are.” She giggles as the audience chuckles.
Bora comes up to her sister with a smile on her face and asks, “I don’t have to ask if you guys know the choreos and the lines to the songs, do I?” Angelo laughs and shakes his head. Hearing the familiar Korean words of ‘dance’ and ‘know’, Aaron follows suit. Angelo replies, “We know them by heart.”
“Great! Angelo-sshi, would you like to do half of my parts?” Angelo nods and Bora turns to Aaron and speaks in broken English. “Aaron-sshi, you can do half of my sister’s parts?” Understanding her, Aaron nods.
“Are you ready?” Bora giggles as she quotes from their song, So Cool. The other three laughs as Angelo and Aaron nod eagerly. “Let’s go!” They take to their places onstage.
“Hello, good evening everyone! We are SISTAR19!” Hyojung and Bora greet the audience in Korean before Hyojung looks to the guys. “And we have two guests joining us onstage for two of our popular songs, ‘How Dare You’ and ‘Loving U’. We hope you will enjoy this wonderful performance!”
- -
SISTAR19 and the two guys start off their performances with “How Dare You”, surprising everyone with their powerful high kicks and fierce dips, and then “Loving U”, dazzling everyone with the hip rolls and synchronization. During “Loving U”, Sunggyu and Woohyun come into the café, as they get ready for their performance coming up after SISTAR19.
“Jinki-yah!” Sunggyu greets Jinki, who happens to be walking around the café, checking on the customers, asking if they are satisfied with the services and the meals. Jinki turns around to see who called out to him, and with a beaming smile on his face, he walks up to Sunggyu before shaking hands with him.
“Sunggyu-yah, you guys are coming up soon. Are you guys ready?”
Sunggyu and Woohyun nod. “We have two solo pieces each, one song to sing together, and one new song to sing for the audience,” Woohyun explains. Jinki looks impressed. “A new song already?? I’m sure this will be a hit. What’s it called?”
“’I Like You,’ written by Woohyun mostly.”
“Interesting, interesting,” Jinki murmurs to himself. “Well, I should let you guys go backstage and prepare. The rest of your friends are coming by, I assume?”
“Yeah, they will be here in a few minutes,” Sunggyu says.
Cheers are heard around the café, startling Sunggyu, as the music fades, signaling the end of SISTAR19’s act.
“Thank you so much, Aaron and Angelo,” - Sunggyu notices Hyojung and Bora bowing to said guys - “for joining us! We had fun with you guys!” The guys bow back and leave the stage, smiling when the audience continues to applaud, as Bora goes backstage to retrieve the two chairs. Hyojung continues to talk as Bora sets up the chairs.
“Now, we would like to present to you a little something of our own. For the first time, it is our own composition. Our composers wrote the other songs that we have performed but this one is something new from us. To all the ladies in the club, we hope you’ll enjoy this song; we call it “Ma Boy”. Please anticipate it very much!”
“S I S T T T A R~”
“1-9”
“Baby, stop breakin’ mah heart”
“Oh no, You heard me? No more next time~ I hope you got that, boy”
“Hey girls”
“It’s gon’ be alright”
“Hey boys”
“Better make it right”
“Hey girls”
“We gotchya back, gotchya back, go-go-go-gotchya back, Oh!”
Hyojung starts to sing her lines as Bora dances, expressing how a girl doubts her boyfriend’s love.
- - -
Ingook, Howon, Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and Sungjong enter the loud café, with guys whooping and cheering at the sexy moves of SISTAR19. They spot Jinki and Zitao, before making their way to find a table for themselves. Sungyeol, however, makes his way to Zitao and tackles him playfully, startling Zitao horribly. It immediately grabs the attentions of Wufan and some of the members surrounding Zitao.
“Yah, good to see you again!” Wufan hears the tall guy whispering loudly in Zitao’s ear, as poor Zitao tries to recover from the shock, his heart thrumming wildly in his chest, yet a grin is slowly creeping on Zitao’s face. The tall guy chuckles softly as he pats on Zitao’s shoulder, “Sorry Zitao-yah, didn’t mean to scare you that bad.”
Zitao shakes his head, grinning before he stands up to give the visitor a hug. Some of the group members at the table begin to stare, wondering what is the relationship between the two. The action does not escape Wufan’s gaze as he takes a sip of his Jasmine tea. When they pull away, Zitao flourishes his hand towards his group, and Sungyeol bows to them.
“Ah, sorry, everyone. My name is Lee Sungyeol, and I’m twenty-one. I’m - well me and six other guys somewhere in the cafe, are old friends of Zitao! We connected a few days ago, and so I’m glad to see him again!” The group warmly responds with introductions and smiles.
“Yo, Z to the Tao, baby!! How is everything going so far, Zitao-yah?” Wufan hears another male coming up towards the standing duo. He glances up to see Zitao holding up a thumb and nodding, before he sees the guy with a face that is quite remarkably unique and the gummy smile that this guy has. Wufan feels something stirring inside him when he sees Zitao easily hugging the short male with a smile on his face and nodding. Sungyeol watches them for a moment before he turns around to search the cafe. Just like with Sungyeol, when Zitao and the short guy pull away, the short guy looks to the group and introduces himself as Jang Dongwoo; everyone reciprocates with smiles as Sungyeol looks back and lists off the names to Dongwoo.
“Wow, that’s a lot of people here. Nice to meet you all! Anyway, there’s been no trouble at school for you so far?” The guy pats Zitao’s bottom, as he chuckles.
Wufan glowers at the gesture and scowls at his cup of tea, breathing deeply, listening to what Dongwoo says next. “Ah, that’s good to hear. You have a lot of friends, dude! Just so you know, we’re right next to you guys over there. Come on and say hi if you like.” Out of the corner of his eye, Wufan tracks Zitao with his eyes as he moves to where Dongwoo has indicated the rest of the guys are at. He glares as Zitao is being smothered with hugs and hair-ruffling.
Wufan feels a spark of jealousy when he sees how easily Zitao smiles around the guys, and how comfortable he seems with them, even though Zitao does not make any action to speak. He notices one of the tallest guys in the group only shakes hands with Zitao before letting a shorter guy give Zitao a one-armed hug, and then the tall guy wraps one of his arms around the shorter guy’s lower back. The shorter guy instantly brings up on one of his hands to clasp with his friend’s hand on his side. Wufan could make out the tall guy’s face as a mix between a look of endearment and a look of protectiveness.
Oh…Wufan observes the couple.
“Woo boy~”
Cheering erupting from the audience startles Wufan, as Hyojung and Bora end their song with their final poses before bowing many times to the crowd. Wufan claps goodheartedly, though his eyes are still on Zitao.
“Thank you, SISTAR19. Now, up next is one of our favorites, InVinite; Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun! One of the most amazing duos you will ever hear in your lives, if you have not heard them before! If you have, we are pleased to welcome them back! Give them a hand once again!”
The audience cheers, and there are several people commenting to other people about InVinite, complimenting on duo’s notable vocal talents. Hyojung and Bora have now joined Taeyeon and Miyoung amidst the cheering and are watching the duo coming onstage with anticipation. The duo prepares themselves, retrieving the microphone stands from backstage and adjusting them to their own heights.
Just then, Kikwang, Dongwoon, and Minho come by to deliver the meals to Kyungsoo and his group, as well as Qian’s table and Taeyeon’s table. Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol saying, “WOW! Great, the food’s finally here! I’m starving after all that cheering!! Who knew clapping and cheering could make your stomach feel so hungry for food…”
Kim Sunggyu starts off with his solo, “Because”. The mellow guitar sounds and the sad melodic tune rings out in the café and everyone can see the pure determination and raw emotions that Sunggyu brings out of himself. Afterwards, Sunggyu starts to sing “Only Tears” when all of a sudden, halfway into the song, the lights fade out and a particular spotlight shines on Nam Woohyun. The audience is caught unaware of this sudden switch and cheers only for a moment before letting Woohyun take over in the second half of “Only Tears”. At the end, everyone is left with tears in their eyes, and Woohyun takes a little break before he ends with his solo, “Time”.
The audience is moved to tears at these emotional, heart-breaking songs. The silence is loud in the café as the lights fade to darkness. Then immediately, the lights brighten up in colors and sounds of guitar and ukulele ring throughout the café. Woohyun waves his arms side to side, in time with the music as Sunggyu starts off the song.
“Haet-sali naerineun sai mada~ Hwin gooreum heureuneun sai mada~”
(In between the cracks of sunlight, In between the flowing white clouds)
Noticing the mood in the café changing from solemn to upbeat and cheery, Woohyun and Sunggyu sees most of their INFINITE group friends standing up and waving their arms to the music. They see other people joining in as they sing their lines for “In the Summer” despite the contrasting seasonal mood as it is in the winter. The ambience and warmth of the café give the feeling of summer in a wintry night.
With a small smile on his face from the happy mood, Wufan looks at the group that Zitao is sitting with, and sees Zitao smiling and rocking his body to the beat, his arm around the shoulders of a guy who looks younger than Zitao and has an androgynous face. He automatically feels moody, frowning at the sight of Zitao and his friends.
- - -
“So, Kyungsoo-hyung?” Jongin rakes his hand through his hair as he turns his head away from the stage to look Kyungsoo in the eyes. Most of the audience is enjoying the performance, swaying or waving their arms to the music. Jongin feels nervous as he tries to bring himself to ask Kyungsoo for a date over the weekend.
“Hm?” Kyungsoo looks at Jongin. Those eyes pierce Jongin in the inside, and Jongin blurts out.
“Date.”
Jongin does not realize he uttered such a word until a few seconds later when Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him, taking out his cell phone. Jongin is left speechless at Kyungsoo, his mouth opening and closing. Kyungsoo looks at it and says, “It’s Friday, Novem-.”
“No,” Jongin interrupts. Kyungsoo’s eyes flicker over at him in confusion.
“I mean, I w-…was uh…if you wanna, I don’t know, like, well, I mean, if you’re free this weeken- if you wanna go som-wait,” Jongin takes a deep breath after realizing how much of a fool he sounded like just then, rambling and stuttering. Kyungsoo does not laugh, he just continues to watch Jongin with curiosity. Jongin exhales and starts over, “Let’s go somewhere tomorrow? Just the two of us. Like, I don’t know, a movie or something?” Jongin looks away as he scratches the back of his neck, looking at bit embarrassed.
Kyungsoo stares at Jongin, thinking about what he has just asked him. “Sure, I’d like that.”
Jongin glances back at Kyungsoo. “Wait, really?”
Kyungsoo nods, “Yeah, why not? It’s been a while since we’ve had a break from school. What say you, tomorrow around 1PM?”
Jongin chuckles breathily. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll text you and stop by your place?” Kyungsoo nods, with a smile.
Soon after, Sunggyu and Woohyun end the song with some hula-like dance moves, earning chuckles and claps from the café audience.
“Good evening, everyone,” Woohyun speaks up after the audience finishes their applause, and a smooth melody comes on, as a hint of a new song. “This is a brand-new song, as we finished writing it a few weeks ago. We’d like to dedicate this song to everyone here in this café” - earning squeals from the audience - “because you guys have been very supportive of us tonight, and we can see some of the familiar faces around here. Hey there! We just want to say thank you, and we would like it if you guys could keep on cheering for us in the future. Our last song tonight is called, ‘I Like You’.”
The melody becomes rich and upbeat, with a simple bass beat in the background. Sunggyu and Woohyun take the stage once again as they sing their lines, and during the song, they get off stage to interact with the audience members. Most of the audience members get to shake hands, get hugs and high-fives, and dance with InVinite. When the song ends, everyone cheers loudly and InVinite delivers a bow before heading backstage to change clothes.
“That was InVinite! What an appealing performance from the guys! And now, time to settle down and relax with CNBlue vocals! Jung Yonghwa and Lee Jonghyun! By the way, my name is Kim Jonghyun. Don’t be confused now…Hi hyung!!”
The audience chuckles as they hear the DJ randomly greeting his friend as Yonghwa and Jonghyun walk up on stage and Jonghyun gives a casual salute to Jonghyun in the DJ Booth. After the duo have set up the stage with stools and microphone stands, Yonghwa speaks to the audience, “Hello, ladies and gents! How are you all this evening?”
There are shouts of replies of “good, good”s and “Great! It’s been a blast!”s from the audience.
“Awesome! Me and Jonghyun, we’re gonna do a soothing song tonight and, it’s a romantic song that I wrote for someone special. She’s not here in Seoul at the moment, but I’ll always think of her when I sing this song. It’s called Love Light, we hope you all enjoy this piece.”
The lights start to dim, and Jonghyun and Yonghwa start strumming their guitars in a slow, soothing rhythm.
“Geudael bomyeon, eolguli bbalggaejigo~ Geudael bomyeon, gaseumi dugeun dugeun~ Aicheoreom sujubgeh malhago~”
(When I look at you, my face goes red~ When I see you, my heart goes thump-thump~ I talk with shyness like a kid)
Jonghyun’s gentle, rich voice resounds in the café as people sway to the music and there are couples holding hands and whispering sweet nothings in their partners’ ears.
Zitao is still sitting with the Infinite group, as he looks over to Kyungsoo’s table where Wufan is sitting. He blushes at how true some of the lyrics are when he thinks about his first encounter with Wufan. Wufan is not staring back at him but is talking with Jongdae and Yixing. And though Luhan and Sehun are joined at the hip at one table, holding hands, they are each talking to their neighbors, Luhan to Minseok and Sehun to Joonmyeon. Zitao can make out Sehun talking to Joonmyeon about a bubble tea incident with Luhan that left Sehun disappointed.
- - -
Once CNBlue ends their sweet serenade, the audience murmurs in anticipation as it watches CNBlue rearrange the stage a bit.
“And now it seems there is a guest coming up onstage to play with Yonghwa and Jonghyun! Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the last live performance for the night” - groans can be heard from the audience - “I’m sorry, hahaha, but there are no more artists that signed up for tonight after this. We will continue to play music like before, but this will be the last performance for the night.”
The audience groans and chuckles, as Yonghwa brings himself forward and accidently stumbles on a microphone cord. Yonghwa feels a bit foolish, smiling to himself. “Hello everyone out there tonight, I’d like to introduce you all to Juniel. She is an aspiring singer and composer, and I would appreciate it if you all could give her a listen. She has quite a lovely voice and Jonghyun and I, we’re thankful to work with her. Juniel, please say something about yourself and the piece you have for us.”
The girl joined the CNBlue duo onstage while Yonghwa was making a speech, waiting for her turn to speak. When Yonghwa introduces Juniel, the girl bows before taking her spot behind the microphone stand to talk to the audience.
“Thank you, Yonghwa-sshi, Jonghyun-sshi. Good evening, everyone, my name is Juniel! This piece I have for you is something I wrote a few months back, it is called “Babo”. It is a song about a girl feeling like a fool when she falls in love with a guy. She gets all shy and nervous with the guy she likes. It has a sweet melody. I hope you like it!”
The song starts off slow and melodic, as Yonghwa’s and Jonghyun’s smooth vocals echo throughout the cafe. When the chorus comes on, the audience is awed, clapping in time with the rhythm as Juniel’s vocals harmonize with Jonghyun’s and Yonghwa’s vocals.
“Oh I love you love you love you~ You love me love me love me~ Ara nal hyanghan neo-ye ma-eumeul~”
(I know your heart’s feelings towards me)
“Oh I love you love you love you~ Are you love me love me baby~ Nado neoreul saranghanikka?~”
(Because I love you)
“Nan babo, nan neoman boneun babo~”
(I’m a fool, I’m a fool who only looks at you)
Jongdae has been eating and listening to the performances at the same time, as Yixing describes what is happening onstage in brief commentaries. Jongdae tells him for the fifth time that night that he does not have to do it, but Yixing tells him that he does not want Jongdae to miss out what is happening. He takes Jongdae’s hand after Jongdae has placed down his fork from finishing the last of his ravioli dish, and strokes his thumb on Jongdae’s hand.
The tingly sensation from the contact leaves Jongdae slightly blushing and his heart hammering slightly.
- - -
When Juniel sings her last lines, the guitars play their last strum as Juniel’s voice fades to the silence of the café. For a moment, it is quiet and still. Then all of a sudden, a guy cries out, “JUNIEL! JUNIEL!” and then more people join him in rooting for Juniel.
Juniel looks surprised at the reaction and she looks to Yonghwa and Jonghyun, unsure of what she is supposed to do. Yonghwa and Jonghyun smile at her and nod their heads to the audience, making a little bow towards them, before they start clapping, and the rest of the audience follow suit.
Juniel looks out to the audience, feeling a bit shocked at the touching moment. She gathers herself to stand up from the stool and, still holding her guitar, bows to the audience many times in gratitude.
“Thank you all for your support tonight! I really had a great time with you all. I’m sad, too, that this is the last performance for tonight, but I hope that everyone will never forget this night. Thank you all once again, and have a wonderful night!!”
- - -
After CNBlue and Juniel clean up the stage and have settled down at some table for dinner, Kyungsoo has finished his dinner and excuses himself to join Angelo and his group. He wants to know a bit more about him and the friends Angelo is with.
“Joonmyeon-hyung, I’m gonna join Angelo-sshi over there and just talk with him for a few minutes or so. I’ll be back, ok?”
Joonmyeon nods, taking a bite piece of his flank steak.
“Wha, where are you going, hyung?”
Kyungsoo looks to Jongin, who is looking up at him looking a bit dejected. Kyungsoo had just seen him engaging in deep conversation with Sehun and Luhan, he did not think that Jongin would really notice him leaving.
“Oh, I’m just gonna go visit Angelo-sshi and his group over there. Remember Angelo-sshi from earlier?”
“Oh yeah, that guy,” Jongin turns around to look for the said person. Once he sees Angelo, he turns back around and pouts a bit. “Okay, yeah, alright.”
“Jonginnie-yah,” Kyungsoo smiles to himself, falling for Jongin’s adorable pout. “I’m only gonna be gone for a few minutes, not for hours or days. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Just keep talking with Sehun and Luhan.” Kyungsoo pats Jongin’s head as he walks past him.
- - -
“Hey guys,” Kyungsoo says quietly in accented English as he nears Angelo’s table, waving at them. Angelo’s eyes quickly shoot up to him, after he finishes talking with a short Asian girl who, Kyungsoo observes, likes to laugh a lot.
“Oh hi Kyungsoo! Good to see you again, did you want to join us for a bit? Come sit down, have a seat!” [Hi K, good see you again! Want join-us minute? Come-come, sit, sit.] Speaking in Korean, Angelo stands up to move over, allowing Kyungsoo to take a seat next to him. The group looks a bit bewildered before all eyes are resting on Kyungsoo.
“Thanks, Angelo-sshi.” Kyungsoo feels nervous, as all eyes are on him. It’s the same feeling that I had when I first joined Chanyeol’s brother’s group at their table a few weeks ago. But this is half the size of Joonmyeon’s group, why should it be a big deal? I should be used to it already, Kyungsoo thinks to himself.
“Why don’t I let my friends introduce themselves; Guys, this is Kyungsoo, and Mischa, you can go first.” Angelo speaks in English, Kyungsoo able to understand most of it.
“Hi, I’m Mischa.” The Chinese girl waves cutely, not like a kid but somewhat in an endearing manner.
“Amaya.” The girl greets, holding up two fists with their thumbs up and an odd open-mouthed smile.
“Hello there, I’m Aaron.” The androgynous male awkwardly waves at him, though his smile looks naturally relaxed.
“Katr- Ah, just Kat, please. Just Kat.” The young woman chuckles lightly to herself, pushing up the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
“I’m Kaini! Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo!” The woman, though she seems young to Kyungsoo, waves her hand a little energetically.
“Nice to meet you too! Wow, you guys are very…different, how did you all meet?” [Wow, you-all different different! How meet?] Kyungsoo talks in semi-fluent English and signs at the same time out of habit, and he notices how everyone except Angelo look half confused and half fascinated with his signing.
“Save for Mischa here, I met them all through an International K-pop Forum about two or three years ago, and we’ve been good friends since then. Mischa here, we go to the same college. We all planned to be here for the next few weeks since we’re on vacation right now.” [Different *Angelo extends his hand towards Mischa*, I meet finish all through international k-p-o-p online assembly f-o-r-u-m, two-past-years, three-past-years, since “good-friends”. M-i-s-c-h-a, us-two go same college. We lucky come here next few weeks why, school break now. We think finish plan decide meet here.]
Kyungsoo manages to understand at least half of Angelo’s English, thanks to his friend’s sign language. “Wow, nice. Are you all from different countries?” [Cool! You-all different countries?]
“Oh, I’m from Singapore,” Kaini says.
“I’m from Scotland,” Aaron replies.
“The rest of us are from the United States, although Amaya lives in the East Coast while Mischa, Kat and I reside in the West Coast.” [Rest-us from U-S, but A-m-a-y-a live E-C, us-three live W-C.]
“Ahh, cool. I guess from your faces that you don’t know signs, do you? Am I making you guys uncomfortable with my hands, ‘cause I can put my hands down, if you like.” Kyungsoo asks, still in accented English, concernedly, and the group except for Angelo looks almost dazed before regaining their composures to respond quickly.
“No no, it’s fine! We don’t know any signs to save our lives, but just do whatever you’re comfortable with. We will manage,” Mischa says.
“Okay, well, I’m just gonna put my hands down, since we all can talk, haha,” Kyungsoo laughs.
The group laughs with him, and the atmosphere becomes friendlier and less awkward.
- - -
After a while, Jonghyun announces that the café will be closing soon, as it is almost midnight. The café is still crowded as usual, but the atmosphere has settled down to the point of almost tranquil. People are still awake, but feeling sleepy or just being tired, not as energetic as earlier that evening.
“Wow, really, the time has gone by so fast,” Kyungsoo notes. “It was about 8PM when the performances started…and they ended about two hours later.”
“Dang, two hours of chatting, and it doesn’t feel quite finished yet…Aw, I wish we could talk more but we gotta head back to the metro, our hotel’s kinda near the Namsan tower area. It’s a bit of a ride from here,” Angelo says. The others nod.
The group then exchanges phone numbers since they all have KakaoTalk on their phones, so if they ever want to check up on each other, they can communicate via KakaoTalk.
“Well, it has been quite a wonderful time to talk with you guys. I hope you all have an amazing time here in South Korea. Good luck with everything!” Kyungsoo smiles and is about to stand up when Mischa holds out her hand.
“Wait, do you mind if we can get a picture though?” Mischa asks.
“Hm? Oh, sure why not? Memories are often best kept in photographs.”
Kaini asks a nearby customer if she would not mind taking a picture of the group, and the lady obliges with a smile.
Kyungsoo stands next to Angelo, as Kaini stands on the other side of Angelo; Kat next to Kaini, Mischa next to Kyungsoo, Amaya next to Kat, and Aaron next to Mischa. They pose three different times, one casual, one nice, and one silly poses. They all thank Kyungsoo and bow to him, as Kyungsoo does the same. He is shocked when he receives hugs from all of them; he shyly waves and chuckles before taking his leave to rejoin his group.
- - -
Hyojung, Bora, and Joonmyeon are helping around the café, cleaning up some of the empty tables and stacking up chairs. Jonghyun is cleaning up the DJ Booth when Jonghyun and Yonghwa pass by and strike up a conversation with him. Taeyeon and Miyoung have gone home for the evening. Hyoyeon is waiting for Doojoon, as he is her ride back home from the cafe.
Taemin joins Luhan, Sehun and Jongin, and the four of them play games while waiting for the others to finish up. Minho, Kikwang, and Dongwoon are giving away receipts to the people who have yet to pay for their meals. Yoseob is helping Doojoon and Jinki take care of the bills and the schedules for the next few weeks. Kibum, Hyunseung and Junhyung are in the kitchen cleaning up.
Chanyeol comes up to Angelo and greets him warmly before handing him four objects, two of the same set. The set has a Polaroid picture of his sisters posing for the camera and a CD of the songs they had written for several of their previous mini-albums, as well as new hidden tracks.
“My noonas want you guys to have these, as a token of gratitude for supporting their music and being incredible and polite fans. They hope to hear from you sometime in the future, whether through Twitter or whatever.”
“Wha…wow, are you serious?!” Angelo gapes at the sets being handed to him and Chanyeol chuckles.
“Yeah, Hyojung-noona and Bora-noona said that they have never seen guys dance as well as you two, and they really admire your personalities.”
“Wow, oh man. Thank you! Thank you so much, Chanyeol-sshi. Wow, this is unbelievable. Just wow. Aaron! Look!” After thanking Chanyeol in Korean, Angelo bows to Chanyeol a few times before turning slightly to get Aaron’s attention. “We got personal gifts from SISTAR19!!”
- - -
“We’ll see you later, Zitao-yah! I gotta take the girls to Soojung’s place, they’re having a sleepover. It’ll be just me and you this weekend. Let me know when you leave with Minseok, because he offered to take you home, ok?” Qian waves to Zitao. Zitao nods. He then returns to the group table since INFINITE left earlier to head home. Only Sunggyu and Woohyun are left in the café. Zitao takes his place next to Jongdae and Yixing, before he looks up at Wufan and pales.
Wufan is glaring at him before he suddenly averts his gaze.
What did I do?, Zitao thinks to himself.
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: EXO, SISTAR19, BEAST, SHINee, CNBlue Yonghwa and Jonghyun, Juniel, INFINITE, Ingook, five cameo guests
Word Count: ~12000 out of 15620
Rating: PG-13
Summary: College students. Blind, Deaf, and Mute. Their lives deal with the ups and downs, like a roller coaster. They find relationships, and companionships. Life does not always have a happy ending, but they can try to get their own.
Author Note: Back after a long time~ :D HERE'S THE SECOND PART OF THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF CHAPTER 17.
Author Note 2: We are now looking into the EXO part, having left the BAP part in the previous chapter. It's at Lee Jinki's cafe, Chakeo Corner. MANY THINGS HAPPEN. :D
Sign Language Guide
Families
Chapter 17 Part 1 | Chapter 17 Part 2 |
Just before the guy turns around and bends low to reach his heel, as the choreography on Hyorin’s last line in the second verse requires, the lights go out, the music stops, and a spotlight shines on him when he starts singing Hyorin’s line.
“Oneuldo na…n…”
Realizing that the light is shining down on him, the guy freezes mid-action, reaching his heel from behind, his clothed butt sticking out to the café audience. He starts to hyperventilate.
“Wow, uh…talk about an awkward place to stop,” Miyoung mutters. Suddenly, a voice comes on from the speakers in the café.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening to you all! My name is Kim Jonghyun, and I am your host tonight. I hope you all are having a wonderful time! And now, I present to you, one of our regular performers, Lee Bora and Lee Hyojung aka Hyorin, SISTAR19!”
The lights turn on with the audience clapping, and the guy straightens up to save himself from further embarrassment. Hyojung and Bora walk up to the stage, taking their microphones from the rack nearby the ramp. Clapping and bowing to the guy who had danced to their song, Hyojung compliments him on his talents. She walks up to him and he bends a little lower to meet her eye level.
“What’s your name?” Hyojung asks in broken, accented English, sharing her microphone.
“A-Aaron.”
“Ah,” Hyojung, with her bright eyes, nods in acknowledgment. She continues in English. “Nice to meet you, Aaron. I see you’re a fanboy of us, SISTAR19. My unnie and I wanna know if you wanna join us dancing ‘How Dare You’ and ‘Loving U’?”
Aaron gapes, before speaking out in bits of Korean, mixed with his natural English. “JINJJA?! J-JOHAHAEYO! Ermergerd, GELO BOO. PPALLI-WA. WE’RE GONNA PERFORM ‘HOW DARE YOU’ AND ‘LOVING U’ WITH BORA AND HYORIN! Jamkkan, do you mind if my friend joins us, too? He’s a great dancer too!”
Hyojung looks at Bora, who nods. Aaron turns to the audience to beckon his friend to come over.
As his friend makes his way to the stage, the sisters notice it is the same guy who was just talking to their brothers’ group. Hyojung drawls with an impressed tone, “Whoa, you must be Angelo. My brother, Joonmyeon, tell me about you.”
“Yep, that’s me.” Angelo smiles nervously, yet he spoke smoothly in Korean. “Pleased to meet you ladies.”
Taken aback by the fluidity of Angelo’s Korean, but feeling a bit giddy, Hyojung looks to her sister, whose expression mirror the same kind of feelings. Hyojung comments in her native Korean, “Oh my, you’re such a gentleman. You know how to flatter us. What a handsome man you are.” She giggles as the audience chuckles.
Bora comes up to her sister with a smile on her face and asks, “I don’t have to ask if you guys know the choreos and the lines to the songs, do I?” Angelo laughs and shakes his head. Hearing the familiar Korean words of ‘dance’ and ‘know’, Aaron follows suit. Angelo replies, “We know them by heart.”
“Great! Angelo-sshi, would you like to do half of my parts?” Angelo nods and Bora turns to Aaron and speaks in broken English. “Aaron-sshi, you can do half of my sister’s parts?” Understanding her, Aaron nods.
“Are you ready?” Bora giggles as she quotes from their song, So Cool. The other three laughs as Angelo and Aaron nod eagerly. “Let’s go!” They take to their places onstage.
“Hello, good evening everyone! We are SISTAR19!” Hyojung and Bora greet the audience in Korean before Hyojung looks to the guys. “And we have two guests joining us onstage for two of our popular songs, ‘How Dare You’ and ‘Loving U’. We hope you will enjoy this wonderful performance!”
- -
SISTAR19 and the two guys start off their performances with “How Dare You”, surprising everyone with their powerful high kicks and fierce dips, and then “Loving U”, dazzling everyone with the hip rolls and synchronization. During “Loving U”, Sunggyu and Woohyun come into the café, as they get ready for their performance coming up after SISTAR19.
“Jinki-yah!” Sunggyu greets Jinki, who happens to be walking around the café, checking on the customers, asking if they are satisfied with the services and the meals. Jinki turns around to see who called out to him, and with a beaming smile on his face, he walks up to Sunggyu before shaking hands with him.
“Sunggyu-yah, you guys are coming up soon. Are you guys ready?”
Sunggyu and Woohyun nod. “We have two solo pieces each, one song to sing together, and one new song to sing for the audience,” Woohyun explains. Jinki looks impressed. “A new song already?? I’m sure this will be a hit. What’s it called?”
“’I Like You,’ written by Woohyun mostly.”
“Interesting, interesting,” Jinki murmurs to himself. “Well, I should let you guys go backstage and prepare. The rest of your friends are coming by, I assume?”
“Yeah, they will be here in a few minutes,” Sunggyu says.
Cheers are heard around the café, startling Sunggyu, as the music fades, signaling the end of SISTAR19’s act.
“Thank you so much, Aaron and Angelo,” - Sunggyu notices Hyojung and Bora bowing to said guys - “for joining us! We had fun with you guys!” The guys bow back and leave the stage, smiling when the audience continues to applaud, as Bora goes backstage to retrieve the two chairs. Hyojung continues to talk as Bora sets up the chairs.
“Now, we would like to present to you a little something of our own. For the first time, it is our own composition. Our composers wrote the other songs that we have performed but this one is something new from us. To all the ladies in the club, we hope you’ll enjoy this song; we call it “Ma Boy”. Please anticipate it very much!”
“S I S T T T A R~”
“1-9”
“Baby, stop breakin’ mah heart”
“Oh no, You heard me? No more next time~ I hope you got that, boy”
“Hey girls”
“It’s gon’ be alright”
“Hey boys”
“Better make it right”
“Hey girls”
“We gotchya back, gotchya back, go-go-go-gotchya back, Oh!”
Hyojung starts to sing her lines as Bora dances, expressing how a girl doubts her boyfriend’s love.
- - -
Ingook, Howon, Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and Sungjong enter the loud café, with guys whooping and cheering at the sexy moves of SISTAR19. They spot Jinki and Zitao, before making their way to find a table for themselves. Sungyeol, however, makes his way to Zitao and tackles him playfully, startling Zitao horribly. It immediately grabs the attentions of Wufan and some of the members surrounding Zitao.
“Yah, good to see you again!” Wufan hears the tall guy whispering loudly in Zitao’s ear, as poor Zitao tries to recover from the shock, his heart thrumming wildly in his chest, yet a grin is slowly creeping on Zitao’s face. The tall guy chuckles softly as he pats on Zitao’s shoulder, “Sorry Zitao-yah, didn’t mean to scare you that bad.”
Zitao shakes his head, grinning before he stands up to give the visitor a hug. Some of the group members at the table begin to stare, wondering what is the relationship between the two. The action does not escape Wufan’s gaze as he takes a sip of his Jasmine tea. When they pull away, Zitao flourishes his hand towards his group, and Sungyeol bows to them.
“Ah, sorry, everyone. My name is Lee Sungyeol, and I’m twenty-one. I’m - well me and six other guys somewhere in the cafe, are old friends of Zitao! We connected a few days ago, and so I’m glad to see him again!” The group warmly responds with introductions and smiles.
“Yo, Z to the Tao, baby!! How is everything going so far, Zitao-yah?” Wufan hears another male coming up towards the standing duo. He glances up to see Zitao holding up a thumb and nodding, before he sees the guy with a face that is quite remarkably unique and the gummy smile that this guy has. Wufan feels something stirring inside him when he sees Zitao easily hugging the short male with a smile on his face and nodding. Sungyeol watches them for a moment before he turns around to search the cafe. Just like with Sungyeol, when Zitao and the short guy pull away, the short guy looks to the group and introduces himself as Jang Dongwoo; everyone reciprocates with smiles as Sungyeol looks back and lists off the names to Dongwoo.
“Wow, that’s a lot of people here. Nice to meet you all! Anyway, there’s been no trouble at school for you so far?” The guy pats Zitao’s bottom, as he chuckles.
Wufan glowers at the gesture and scowls at his cup of tea, breathing deeply, listening to what Dongwoo says next. “Ah, that’s good to hear. You have a lot of friends, dude! Just so you know, we’re right next to you guys over there. Come on and say hi if you like.” Out of the corner of his eye, Wufan tracks Zitao with his eyes as he moves to where Dongwoo has indicated the rest of the guys are at. He glares as Zitao is being smothered with hugs and hair-ruffling.
Wufan feels a spark of jealousy when he sees how easily Zitao smiles around the guys, and how comfortable he seems with them, even though Zitao does not make any action to speak. He notices one of the tallest guys in the group only shakes hands with Zitao before letting a shorter guy give Zitao a one-armed hug, and then the tall guy wraps one of his arms around the shorter guy’s lower back. The shorter guy instantly brings up on one of his hands to clasp with his friend’s hand on his side. Wufan could make out the tall guy’s face as a mix between a look of endearment and a look of protectiveness.
Oh…Wufan observes the couple.
“Woo boy~”
Cheering erupting from the audience startles Wufan, as Hyojung and Bora end their song with their final poses before bowing many times to the crowd. Wufan claps goodheartedly, though his eyes are still on Zitao.
“Thank you, SISTAR19. Now, up next is one of our favorites, InVinite; Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun! One of the most amazing duos you will ever hear in your lives, if you have not heard them before! If you have, we are pleased to welcome them back! Give them a hand once again!”
The audience cheers, and there are several people commenting to other people about InVinite, complimenting on duo’s notable vocal talents. Hyojung and Bora have now joined Taeyeon and Miyoung amidst the cheering and are watching the duo coming onstage with anticipation. The duo prepares themselves, retrieving the microphone stands from backstage and adjusting them to their own heights.
Just then, Kikwang, Dongwoon, and Minho come by to deliver the meals to Kyungsoo and his group, as well as Qian’s table and Taeyeon’s table. Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol saying, “WOW! Great, the food’s finally here! I’m starving after all that cheering!! Who knew clapping and cheering could make your stomach feel so hungry for food…”
Kim Sunggyu starts off with his solo, “Because”. The mellow guitar sounds and the sad melodic tune rings out in the café and everyone can see the pure determination and raw emotions that Sunggyu brings out of himself. Afterwards, Sunggyu starts to sing “Only Tears” when all of a sudden, halfway into the song, the lights fade out and a particular spotlight shines on Nam Woohyun. The audience is caught unaware of this sudden switch and cheers only for a moment before letting Woohyun take over in the second half of “Only Tears”. At the end, everyone is left with tears in their eyes, and Woohyun takes a little break before he ends with his solo, “Time”.
The audience is moved to tears at these emotional, heart-breaking songs. The silence is loud in the café as the lights fade to darkness. Then immediately, the lights brighten up in colors and sounds of guitar and ukulele ring throughout the café. Woohyun waves his arms side to side, in time with the music as Sunggyu starts off the song.
“Haet-sali naerineun sai mada~ Hwin gooreum heureuneun sai mada~”
(In between the cracks of sunlight, In between the flowing white clouds)
Noticing the mood in the café changing from solemn to upbeat and cheery, Woohyun and Sunggyu sees most of their INFINITE group friends standing up and waving their arms to the music. They see other people joining in as they sing their lines for “In the Summer” despite the contrasting seasonal mood as it is in the winter. The ambience and warmth of the café give the feeling of summer in a wintry night.
With a small smile on his face from the happy mood, Wufan looks at the group that Zitao is sitting with, and sees Zitao smiling and rocking his body to the beat, his arm around the shoulders of a guy who looks younger than Zitao and has an androgynous face. He automatically feels moody, frowning at the sight of Zitao and his friends.
- - -
“So, Kyungsoo-hyung?” Jongin rakes his hand through his hair as he turns his head away from the stage to look Kyungsoo in the eyes. Most of the audience is enjoying the performance, swaying or waving their arms to the music. Jongin feels nervous as he tries to bring himself to ask Kyungsoo for a date over the weekend.
“Hm?” Kyungsoo looks at Jongin. Those eyes pierce Jongin in the inside, and Jongin blurts out.
“Date.”
Jongin does not realize he uttered such a word until a few seconds later when Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him, taking out his cell phone. Jongin is left speechless at Kyungsoo, his mouth opening and closing. Kyungsoo looks at it and says, “It’s Friday, Novem-.”
“No,” Jongin interrupts. Kyungsoo’s eyes flicker over at him in confusion.
“I mean, I w-…was uh…if you wanna, I don’t know, like, well, I mean, if you’re free this weeken- if you wanna go som-wait,” Jongin takes a deep breath after realizing how much of a fool he sounded like just then, rambling and stuttering. Kyungsoo does not laugh, he just continues to watch Jongin with curiosity. Jongin exhales and starts over, “Let’s go somewhere tomorrow? Just the two of us. Like, I don’t know, a movie or something?” Jongin looks away as he scratches the back of his neck, looking at bit embarrassed.
Kyungsoo stares at Jongin, thinking about what he has just asked him. “Sure, I’d like that.”
Jongin glances back at Kyungsoo. “Wait, really?”
Kyungsoo nods, “Yeah, why not? It’s been a while since we’ve had a break from school. What say you, tomorrow around 1PM?”
Jongin chuckles breathily. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll text you and stop by your place?” Kyungsoo nods, with a smile.
Soon after, Sunggyu and Woohyun end the song with some hula-like dance moves, earning chuckles and claps from the café audience.
“Good evening, everyone,” Woohyun speaks up after the audience finishes their applause, and a smooth melody comes on, as a hint of a new song. “This is a brand-new song, as we finished writing it a few weeks ago. We’d like to dedicate this song to everyone here in this café” - earning squeals from the audience - “because you guys have been very supportive of us tonight, and we can see some of the familiar faces around here. Hey there! We just want to say thank you, and we would like it if you guys could keep on cheering for us in the future. Our last song tonight is called, ‘I Like You’.”
The melody becomes rich and upbeat, with a simple bass beat in the background. Sunggyu and Woohyun take the stage once again as they sing their lines, and during the song, they get off stage to interact with the audience members. Most of the audience members get to shake hands, get hugs and high-fives, and dance with InVinite. When the song ends, everyone cheers loudly and InVinite delivers a bow before heading backstage to change clothes.
“That was InVinite! What an appealing performance from the guys! And now, time to settle down and relax with CNBlue vocals! Jung Yonghwa and Lee Jonghyun! By the way, my name is Kim Jonghyun. Don’t be confused now…Hi hyung!!”
The audience chuckles as they hear the DJ randomly greeting his friend as Yonghwa and Jonghyun walk up on stage and Jonghyun gives a casual salute to Jonghyun in the DJ Booth. After the duo have set up the stage with stools and microphone stands, Yonghwa speaks to the audience, “Hello, ladies and gents! How are you all this evening?”
There are shouts of replies of “good, good”s and “Great! It’s been a blast!”s from the audience.
“Awesome! Me and Jonghyun, we’re gonna do a soothing song tonight and, it’s a romantic song that I wrote for someone special. She’s not here in Seoul at the moment, but I’ll always think of her when I sing this song. It’s called Love Light, we hope you all enjoy this piece.”
The lights start to dim, and Jonghyun and Yonghwa start strumming their guitars in a slow, soothing rhythm.
“Geudael bomyeon, eolguli bbalggaejigo~ Geudael bomyeon, gaseumi dugeun dugeun~ Aicheoreom sujubgeh malhago~”
(When I look at you, my face goes red~ When I see you, my heart goes thump-thump~ I talk with shyness like a kid)
Jonghyun’s gentle, rich voice resounds in the café as people sway to the music and there are couples holding hands and whispering sweet nothings in their partners’ ears.
Zitao is still sitting with the Infinite group, as he looks over to Kyungsoo’s table where Wufan is sitting. He blushes at how true some of the lyrics are when he thinks about his first encounter with Wufan. Wufan is not staring back at him but is talking with Jongdae and Yixing. And though Luhan and Sehun are joined at the hip at one table, holding hands, they are each talking to their neighbors, Luhan to Minseok and Sehun to Joonmyeon. Zitao can make out Sehun talking to Joonmyeon about a bubble tea incident with Luhan that left Sehun disappointed.
- - -
Once CNBlue ends their sweet serenade, the audience murmurs in anticipation as it watches CNBlue rearrange the stage a bit.
“And now it seems there is a guest coming up onstage to play with Yonghwa and Jonghyun! Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the last live performance for the night” - groans can be heard from the audience - “I’m sorry, hahaha, but there are no more artists that signed up for tonight after this. We will continue to play music like before, but this will be the last performance for the night.”
The audience groans and chuckles, as Yonghwa brings himself forward and accidently stumbles on a microphone cord. Yonghwa feels a bit foolish, smiling to himself. “Hello everyone out there tonight, I’d like to introduce you all to Juniel. She is an aspiring singer and composer, and I would appreciate it if you all could give her a listen. She has quite a lovely voice and Jonghyun and I, we’re thankful to work with her. Juniel, please say something about yourself and the piece you have for us.”
The girl joined the CNBlue duo onstage while Yonghwa was making a speech, waiting for her turn to speak. When Yonghwa introduces Juniel, the girl bows before taking her spot behind the microphone stand to talk to the audience.
“Thank you, Yonghwa-sshi, Jonghyun-sshi. Good evening, everyone, my name is Juniel! This piece I have for you is something I wrote a few months back, it is called “Babo”. It is a song about a girl feeling like a fool when she falls in love with a guy. She gets all shy and nervous with the guy she likes. It has a sweet melody. I hope you like it!”
The song starts off slow and melodic, as Yonghwa’s and Jonghyun’s smooth vocals echo throughout the cafe. When the chorus comes on, the audience is awed, clapping in time with the rhythm as Juniel’s vocals harmonize with Jonghyun’s and Yonghwa’s vocals.
“Oh I love you love you love you~ You love me love me love me~ Ara nal hyanghan neo-ye ma-eumeul~”
(I know your heart’s feelings towards me)
“Oh I love you love you love you~ Are you love me love me baby~ Nado neoreul saranghanikka?~”
(Because I love you)
“Nan babo, nan neoman boneun babo~”
(I’m a fool, I’m a fool who only looks at you)
Jongdae has been eating and listening to the performances at the same time, as Yixing describes what is happening onstage in brief commentaries. Jongdae tells him for the fifth time that night that he does not have to do it, but Yixing tells him that he does not want Jongdae to miss out what is happening. He takes Jongdae’s hand after Jongdae has placed down his fork from finishing the last of his ravioli dish, and strokes his thumb on Jongdae’s hand.
The tingly sensation from the contact leaves Jongdae slightly blushing and his heart hammering slightly.
- - -
When Juniel sings her last lines, the guitars play their last strum as Juniel’s voice fades to the silence of the café. For a moment, it is quiet and still. Then all of a sudden, a guy cries out, “JUNIEL! JUNIEL!” and then more people join him in rooting for Juniel.
Juniel looks surprised at the reaction and she looks to Yonghwa and Jonghyun, unsure of what she is supposed to do. Yonghwa and Jonghyun smile at her and nod their heads to the audience, making a little bow towards them, before they start clapping, and the rest of the audience follow suit.
Juniel looks out to the audience, feeling a bit shocked at the touching moment. She gathers herself to stand up from the stool and, still holding her guitar, bows to the audience many times in gratitude.
“Thank you all for your support tonight! I really had a great time with you all. I’m sad, too, that this is the last performance for tonight, but I hope that everyone will never forget this night. Thank you all once again, and have a wonderful night!!”
- - -
After CNBlue and Juniel clean up the stage and have settled down at some table for dinner, Kyungsoo has finished his dinner and excuses himself to join Angelo and his group. He wants to know a bit more about him and the friends Angelo is with.
“Joonmyeon-hyung, I’m gonna join Angelo-sshi over there and just talk with him for a few minutes or so. I’ll be back, ok?”
Joonmyeon nods, taking a bite piece of his flank steak.
“Wha, where are you going, hyung?”
Kyungsoo looks to Jongin, who is looking up at him looking a bit dejected. Kyungsoo had just seen him engaging in deep conversation with Sehun and Luhan, he did not think that Jongin would really notice him leaving.
“Oh, I’m just gonna go visit Angelo-sshi and his group over there. Remember Angelo-sshi from earlier?”
“Oh yeah, that guy,” Jongin turns around to look for the said person. Once he sees Angelo, he turns back around and pouts a bit. “Okay, yeah, alright.”
“Jonginnie-yah,” Kyungsoo smiles to himself, falling for Jongin’s adorable pout. “I’m only gonna be gone for a few minutes, not for hours or days. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Just keep talking with Sehun and Luhan.” Kyungsoo pats Jongin’s head as he walks past him.
- - -
“Hey guys,” Kyungsoo says quietly in accented English as he nears Angelo’s table, waving at them. Angelo’s eyes quickly shoot up to him, after he finishes talking with a short Asian girl who, Kyungsoo observes, likes to laugh a lot.
“Oh hi Kyungsoo! Good to see you again, did you want to join us for a bit? Come sit down, have a seat!” [Hi K, good see you again! Want join-us minute? Come-come, sit, sit.] Speaking in Korean, Angelo stands up to move over, allowing Kyungsoo to take a seat next to him. The group looks a bit bewildered before all eyes are resting on Kyungsoo.
“Thanks, Angelo-sshi.” Kyungsoo feels nervous, as all eyes are on him. It’s the same feeling that I had when I first joined Chanyeol’s brother’s group at their table a few weeks ago. But this is half the size of Joonmyeon’s group, why should it be a big deal? I should be used to it already, Kyungsoo thinks to himself.
“Why don’t I let my friends introduce themselves; Guys, this is Kyungsoo, and Mischa, you can go first.” Angelo speaks in English, Kyungsoo able to understand most of it.
“Hi, I’m Mischa.” The Chinese girl waves cutely, not like a kid but somewhat in an endearing manner.
“Amaya.” The girl greets, holding up two fists with their thumbs up and an odd open-mouthed smile.
“Hello there, I’m Aaron.” The androgynous male awkwardly waves at him, though his smile looks naturally relaxed.
“Katr- Ah, just Kat, please. Just Kat.” The young woman chuckles lightly to herself, pushing up the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
“I’m Kaini! Nice to meet you, Kyungsoo!” The woman, though she seems young to Kyungsoo, waves her hand a little energetically.
“Nice to meet you too! Wow, you guys are very…different, how did you all meet?” [Wow, you-all different different! How meet?] Kyungsoo talks in semi-fluent English and signs at the same time out of habit, and he notices how everyone except Angelo look half confused and half fascinated with his signing.
“Save for Mischa here, I met them all through an International K-pop Forum about two or three years ago, and we’ve been good friends since then. Mischa here, we go to the same college. We all planned to be here for the next few weeks since we’re on vacation right now.” [Different *Angelo extends his hand towards Mischa*, I meet finish all through international k-p-o-p online assembly f-o-r-u-m, two-past-years, three-past-years, since “good-friends”. M-i-s-c-h-a, us-two go same college. We lucky come here next few weeks why, school break now. We think finish plan decide meet here.]
Kyungsoo manages to understand at least half of Angelo’s English, thanks to his friend’s sign language. “Wow, nice. Are you all from different countries?” [Cool! You-all different countries?]
“Oh, I’m from Singapore,” Kaini says.
“I’m from Scotland,” Aaron replies.
“The rest of us are from the United States, although Amaya lives in the East Coast while Mischa, Kat and I reside in the West Coast.” [Rest-us from U-S, but A-m-a-y-a live E-C, us-three live W-C.]
“Ahh, cool. I guess from your faces that you don’t know signs, do you? Am I making you guys uncomfortable with my hands, ‘cause I can put my hands down, if you like.” Kyungsoo asks, still in accented English, concernedly, and the group except for Angelo looks almost dazed before regaining their composures to respond quickly.
“No no, it’s fine! We don’t know any signs to save our lives, but just do whatever you’re comfortable with. We will manage,” Mischa says.
“Okay, well, I’m just gonna put my hands down, since we all can talk, haha,” Kyungsoo laughs.
The group laughs with him, and the atmosphere becomes friendlier and less awkward.
- - -
After a while, Jonghyun announces that the café will be closing soon, as it is almost midnight. The café is still crowded as usual, but the atmosphere has settled down to the point of almost tranquil. People are still awake, but feeling sleepy or just being tired, not as energetic as earlier that evening.
“Wow, really, the time has gone by so fast,” Kyungsoo notes. “It was about 8PM when the performances started…and they ended about two hours later.”
“Dang, two hours of chatting, and it doesn’t feel quite finished yet…Aw, I wish we could talk more but we gotta head back to the metro, our hotel’s kinda near the Namsan tower area. It’s a bit of a ride from here,” Angelo says. The others nod.
The group then exchanges phone numbers since they all have KakaoTalk on their phones, so if they ever want to check up on each other, they can communicate via KakaoTalk.
“Well, it has been quite a wonderful time to talk with you guys. I hope you all have an amazing time here in South Korea. Good luck with everything!” Kyungsoo smiles and is about to stand up when Mischa holds out her hand.
“Wait, do you mind if we can get a picture though?” Mischa asks.
“Hm? Oh, sure why not? Memories are often best kept in photographs.”
Kaini asks a nearby customer if she would not mind taking a picture of the group, and the lady obliges with a smile.
Kyungsoo stands next to Angelo, as Kaini stands on the other side of Angelo; Kat next to Kaini, Mischa next to Kyungsoo, Amaya next to Kat, and Aaron next to Mischa. They pose three different times, one casual, one nice, and one silly poses. They all thank Kyungsoo and bow to him, as Kyungsoo does the same. He is shocked when he receives hugs from all of them; he shyly waves and chuckles before taking his leave to rejoin his group.
- - -
Hyojung, Bora, and Joonmyeon are helping around the café, cleaning up some of the empty tables and stacking up chairs. Jonghyun is cleaning up the DJ Booth when Jonghyun and Yonghwa pass by and strike up a conversation with him. Taeyeon and Miyoung have gone home for the evening. Hyoyeon is waiting for Doojoon, as he is her ride back home from the cafe.
Taemin joins Luhan, Sehun and Jongin, and the four of them play games while waiting for the others to finish up. Minho, Kikwang, and Dongwoon are giving away receipts to the people who have yet to pay for their meals. Yoseob is helping Doojoon and Jinki take care of the bills and the schedules for the next few weeks. Kibum, Hyunseung and Junhyung are in the kitchen cleaning up.
Chanyeol comes up to Angelo and greets him warmly before handing him four objects, two of the same set. The set has a Polaroid picture of his sisters posing for the camera and a CD of the songs they had written for several of their previous mini-albums, as well as new hidden tracks.
“My noonas want you guys to have these, as a token of gratitude for supporting their music and being incredible and polite fans. They hope to hear from you sometime in the future, whether through Twitter or whatever.”
“Wha…wow, are you serious?!” Angelo gapes at the sets being handed to him and Chanyeol chuckles.
“Yeah, Hyojung-noona and Bora-noona said that they have never seen guys dance as well as you two, and they really admire your personalities.”
“Wow, oh man. Thank you! Thank you so much, Chanyeol-sshi. Wow, this is unbelievable. Just wow. Aaron! Look!” After thanking Chanyeol in Korean, Angelo bows to Chanyeol a few times before turning slightly to get Aaron’s attention. “We got personal gifts from SISTAR19!!”
- - -
“We’ll see you later, Zitao-yah! I gotta take the girls to Soojung’s place, they’re having a sleepover. It’ll be just me and you this weekend. Let me know when you leave with Minseok, because he offered to take you home, ok?” Qian waves to Zitao. Zitao nods. He then returns to the group table since INFINITE left earlier to head home. Only Sunggyu and Woohyun are left in the café. Zitao takes his place next to Jongdae and Yixing, before he looks up at Wufan and pales.
Wufan is glaring at him before he suddenly averts his gaze.
What did I do?, Zitao thinks to himself.