"Yes, yes I'm on my way there! Chillax Jihee, it's not like I'm not going to come.."
I slipped in my LG Chocolate inside my pocket, and started to walk faster. Get real, the crew are asking me to buy hot coffee from the mini market and no one wanted to accompany me. T_T Lucky these coffee cans aren't that hot.
My name is Song Sunhee. Don't need to know my age, right? I work for JTune Ent, you know, the one that Rain created. More specific, I work as a manager. MBLAQ's manager. Actually, Lee Joon's personal manager. You see, mostly Korean boy bands only have one manager to manage them all, but MBLAQ is kinda weird. I manage Joon's schedule, G.O is being managed by Jung Jihee, and Cheondung is taken care by Han Daehee.
What happened to the two other members?
They run to any three of us whenever they want. But Seungho and Mir usually ask about schedules to me, since they consider me as their most 'vicious' manager.
By the way, Daehee and Jihee are my best buddies. We call ourselves 3hee. It's funny how we end up managing the same boy band in the same company, we didn't expect that to happen. Jihee's presence is acceptable, since Byunghee is her elder brother. And Daehee is also not weird to find here, she's Doongdoong's girlfriend, you know. But me? I guess I'm just unfortunate being here. And why oh why I have to manage that so called 'six pack charisma' guy. Seriously, that nickname sounds even more ridiculous than 'driving emotion Seungho' or 'hansome guy G.O'. HAHAHA~ I LOLed when I saw MBLAQ's Art of Seduction being showed on TV. Hansome? Is that a new word? Like 'handsome' but minus the D?
Back to business. Tonight MBLAQ is performing at HanYoung's Rock U show. They're wearing their BLAQ-Blue outfits. And somehow I think that this blue outfits look the worst. I prefer the white ones, or red. But what can I do? I'm their manager, not their stylist. Okay, I still have to hurry to give these warm coffees to the crew.
Finally I arrived and went inside the waiting room. Just when I opened the door, Joon was in front of me and MBLAQ were going on stage already.
"Oh, you guys are performing now?" I asked.
"Yup! Wish us luck!" smiled Joon.
"Arasseo. Off you go!" I made way for them to go out, then entered the room and gave each can of coffee to their owners.
"You should at least punch him on his shoulder and say 'hwaiting!', Sunsun!" said Daehee, opening her can and blowing her drink softly.
"Why should I do that? I'm not his umma."
"But you're his manager, Unnie! Why not show some affection," Jihee hopped into the conversation.
I rolled my eyes. These 2hees are starting again. Every time I act like normal to Joon, they always ask 'why don't you..' or 'you should have..' and blablabla. Hello? I'm just a manager here.
We watched MBLAQ's performance through the TV inside the room. It was good, well, normal. Their voices weren't shaky, and they dance well. But one thing caught my eye. When Seungho was flipping forward, and Joon doing his flip, it looks like he was trying hard to stand up. Or it was just me? I looked at the other crew and they said nothing.
Then after it ended, I heard a few voices from afar. It seemed noisy so I walked out to see what it is. And I found Mir and Cheondung helping Joon to walk. Joon's face looked like he was holding in pain.
"What happened?" I sprightly walked to Joon and took hold of him.
"When Joon hyung did his flip, he landed wrongly and sprained his right ankle." Cheondung explained. Joon tried to walk with his right arm around my neck and his left around Mir's.
"No wonder you looked hard on trying to stand up!"
"You noticed?" asked Joon, turning his head to me.
I tried to stand firmly since I felt that Joon was so heavy. I didn't answer and went back to the waiting room and helped him sit on the sofa. Both Mir and I exhaled at the same time. Daehee went up to Cheondung and asked what happened, so did Jihee.
"Now would one of you guys explain to me what happened?" I asked.
"I thought Cheondung's explanation was quite obvious," said the leader.
"No, it's not. How did it happen? I mean, how could he slipped?"
No one was answering, I looked at Joon and he was just grinning in pain.
"For goodness sake, where are the medical crew? At least try and see how bad his ankle is!" I ordered. The medical crew then rushed over and took care of Joon's sprained ankle.
"So, how?" I looked at each members, also the stage crew. "You guys have practiced like, hundreds of times. And you already did that flip several times, Joon. In different places. From huge shiny stages to small and limited ones. How could you slip here? Did you wear the wrong shoes? Or was the stage slippery? Was the stage slippery, Seungho?" I looked at the leader.
Seungho looked back and shook his head.
"No. Did you tripped on Mir or something?" I looked at Mir. He did the same thing.
"No. Then this is pure human error. I'm not saying it's your fault but, you should have..."
"Sunhee, that's enough," interrupted Daehee. She looked deep into my eyes and gave a how-could-you-blame-on-him stare. I just took a deep breath and walked myself near Joon.
"Sorry I was just.. May I?" I asked to take a glimpse at his ankle. The medical guys stepped over a bit and showed Joon's leg. It looked.. bad.
"Does this hurt?" I asked while gently touching Joon's ankle. He shook his head. I touched harder, and he screamed.
"Oops. Sorry.. Okay this doesn't look so good. We need a doctor's hand, he should be taken to the hospital immediately. Come on."
Daehee and Jihee started packing their stuffs, so did the other MBLAQ members. But Joon didn't move a bit.
"You can't stand up?" I asked.
"You think?" He asked back.
"Mir~! Help me lift him!" I shouted. Mir purposely rushed outside pretending he didn't hear me.
"Cheondung?" I begged, he was busy with Daehee. And Jihee with her brother. Then the leader was my last hope.
"Seung.."
"Before you call my name, you should try helping him own your own. Afterall, you're his personal manager, am I correct?" Seungho smiled and carried his bag away from the place. I sighed and looked back at Joon.
"You really couldn't stand up?"
"Yeah I think I need a piggy back."
"Are you crazy? I can't piggy back you!"
Seungho who went out the door, walked backwards again and popped his head from the door saying, "Try piggy back-ing him, Sunhee! I'm sure it would be fun!"
"Get real! I'm 5 years younger than him, he's a lot heavier than me, and taller too, how do you expect me to carry him, LEADER??" I said half shouting. Joon hide his smile. Seungho chuckled and walked back outside to the van. I turned back and looked at Joon. He gave this puppy wanna be eyes and smile. I lost.
"Okay you win. Come on I'll help you up. But NO piggy backs, okay? I couldn't lift you up," I bent down to get his arm over my neck again. He just smirked and hardly stood up. Then we walked outside to catch up with others. But his moves were so slow and I got tired maintaining my speed with his.
~~~~~
We just got back from the hospital. The doctor said Joon can go home, but must rest for 7 to 10 days. He also said that Joon pulled a legiment, making him not able to dance too vigorously. And this made me frustrated.
"Damn what about all the performance that had been scheduled? And tomorrow you guys have to go to KBS Joy," I looked at the documents, pushed up my glasses back to its place, and blew my straight bangs.
"Chillax, Sunsun. We've got it fixed," Daehee smiled and lend me a paper of hers. She stood there and watched me reading it.
"You're still making them dance?" I asked.
"We'll change the choreography, Unnie. With Joon and his sprained leg, he's not possible to dance his part. I consulted with the choreographer to make some new slick moves, and they will be practicing it tomorrow. We've just got to make sure that Joon doesn't jump a lot," said Jihee.
I looked at the five guys. "Sure you still wanna do your schedules?"
"I'm positive," said Byunghee.
"Me too," spoke Mir.
"I definitely am," the leader said.
"I'm with the hyungs," said Cheondung.
Then I turned my view to Joon, "And you?"
"As long as my personal manager is always available to help me."
~~~~~
November 23rd, MBLAQ has this special stage performance for KBS. They wore their silver outfits, similar to the shiny green ones they wore one their last remix performance. As Jihee said, they changed the choreography, and we forced Joon to jump less and don't dance too vigorously. Actually, we insisted him not to perform, just let the four guys do their jobs, but he insisted back. So I just told him to take the risks.
So there I was, in the waiting room again, watching from the TV and with Daehee and Jihee beside me. Joon looked awful. He was pale, his smile wasn't that sincere. And he looks like he ran out of energy. He still tried to smile though. But, it just made him looked more pathetic.
In the middle of the performance, when it came to Seungho's part, Joon slipped. He fell down but tried to stand up again and did his part. I looked to my two buddies, and they just gave me a i-feel-sorry-for-you look. At the end, when MBLAQ did their end pose, Cheondung carefully guided his hyung to the backstage, so did the other three members. It feels heartwarming seeing them help each other.
"Is he okay?" I asked to anyone who would reply. But no one did.
"I told you to stay and just rest, didn't I? Look what happened now. You're too forcing yourself to work, Joon. If Rain sees this, I'm sure he would tell you to go and rest too!"
I couldn't help but scold him. When I'm worried, I tend to scold people, not giving them attention, which my buddies think that is rude. But the sudden emotions comes up and.. I just scold.
"Sunhee! He's already down and you still dare to scold him like that?" Daehee nearly yelled at me.
"Unnie, sometimes you gotta watch your words. Sorry if I'm not polite," Jihee joined the argue.
The other members and crews were all looking at me. I sighed and walked to where Joon was at.
"I don't want any upcoming performance for you. I'm going to rearrange the schedule.."
Just when I was going to leave, he grabbed my hand and refused to make the schedule changes. But I realized something different. His hands were beyond warm.
"My gosh, Joon.. Your heat is.." I touched his forehead, "..you caught a cold. No wonder you look pale. Let's get a check up to the hospital now."
~~~~~
"How is he?" I asked to the doctor who just went out of the room.
"He has a fever. And it seems like he caught a flu. To make it sure, we have run out some tests to diagnose his illness. You see, swine flu is quite a trend these days. We ran the test to make sure he has it or not. The results will be given two days from now."
"Swine flu?"
The doctor bowed a bit and left me at the corridor. I looked at the nurse who just came out of Joon's room and asked if I could see him. She said yes.
I knocked on the door and went in. I found him on the bed, leaning to his right, and already asleep.
"Joon?"
No answer came out from his mouth. He was indeed asleep. I carefully dragged a chair next to his bed, and sat beside him. Then I started to remember what Daehee once said..
"What's with you, Sunhee? A simple 'get well soon' would at least make him feel better!"
Suddenly I felt dizzy, and thought I had a headache, so I decided to leave. After all, the other members would definitely come by. Joon still needs a rest. I stood up and looked at him once again. I brushed his hair, cleaved apart his bangs, and gave a little peck on his forehead.
"Get well soon, Joon," I whispered.
~~~~~
Two days later, I was on my way to the hospital again. Joon slept over there since his fever and his heat wouldn't cool down. I went there with Daehee and Jihee. The MBLAQ members came to have a medical check up as well.
"So, Miss Song, here are the results for Lee Chang Seon's tests."
The nurse lend me a file that contains a few documents. Daehee and Jihee went closer to me, and got curious as I turn the pages. As I read the results, the nurse explained to us.
"Lee Chang Seon is declared positive for H1N1 and is hospitalized from now on. He was prescribed Tamiflu and is currently undergoing treatment. Other members also have symptoms of the cold, so they have received examinations today as well. The results will be available two days from now."
I stared forward to nothing. "Positive? H1N1?"
The nurse nodded. Daehee held my shoulders, and Jihee gave me a pat on the back. I felt a failure of being his manager. It's like, I couldn't manage his health. I mean, I'm only good at schedules, while forgetting to maintain his health. Now look what I've done.
"According to the documents, Joon must rest 7 to 10 days in the hospital," said Jihee.
"The schedule is ruined. Joon's health is ruined. Because of me," I cursed myself.
"Sssht~ Sunhee it's not your fault. It's not Joon's fault either. In fact, no one can be blamed for this. You both did your best to maintain the schedule. But it turns out different from what we expected," Daehee tried to calm Sunhee down.
"What am I supposed to do now?" I asked.
"Cheer for him, Unnie. Remember when he said he wants his personal manager always available when he needs? Show him. Make him know that you're there for him," Jihee threw a sincere smile on her face.
"Promise you'll take care the other schedules?"
"Sunhee! No worries! Just think of your idol than his schedules now. Health is more important than performing here and there. We'll take care all of it, right, Jihee?" Daehee looked at Jihee. Jihee raised her thumb and smiled.
~~~~~
After two days figuring out how can I communicate with Joon, I finally told the nurse to give him a laptop which I sent that day. Then, we both were online to chat. Joon suggested a video call by saying "don't worry, the virus wouldn't infect you through video calls" which I responded with a laugh.
"So, how are you feeling?" I asked through the webcam, while tying up my hair to a ponytail. I pushed my glasses back to place.
"It feels like a normal flu. But sometimes I feel that I lose my appetite," Joon's voice was sort of weak.
"You must eat well if you want to recover soon!"
Joon made a weak laugh, "Yeah I will, noona."
"I'm not your noona."
"You look like one to me," he smirked.
"Do I look that old?" I touched my own face.
"No it's just that, you act like a noona. You worry too much."
"How could I not worry seeing you limping here and there and now trapped in that H1N1 virus," I said, while typing another job of mine.
"You felt worried? How worried?"
"Much."
Joon smiled. "What's with that smile?" I asked.
"Thanks for the kiss on the forehead that day."
"You're wel.. WHAT?"
Joon burst out laughing, even though in the end he coughed so hard.
"Whoa whoa take it easy, tiger. You said..what?" I asked to convince what I just heard.
"That peck on my forehead, the first day I was taken to the hospital. I wasn't really sleeping, you know."
I felt embarrassed myself and covered my face with both hands. Joon kept laughing.
"It actually made me feel better. But unfortunately the results were worse. Now that I have swine flu I can't see you face to face and pretend to sleep so I can get that peck again. Kekekeke~"
"Ok, enough of it or I'll disconnect.."
"NO~! WAIT, WAIT.."
I took a deep breath and stared to his eyes. Well, to the screen of my laptop, I mean.
"Sorry Sunhee if for all these times I have been so stubborn, and not listening to your advice. If I listened to you, this won't happen."
Suddenly I felt guilty, since I was the one scolding him every time yet he is the one apologizing to me now.
"No. I should've apologized to you. I forced you too much. And I always scold you. I didn't meant to but, it keeps happening and.. I don't.."
Joon interrupted, "It's okay, it's okay. I understand. I know who you are and how you act. After all you're my personal manager, so we both know each other a lot, right?"
I exhaled and smiled, "Yeah. Sorry, again."
"I have a way for you to not feel sorry again. I way to apologize properly," he suddenly sounded serious.
"What? Don't tell me to quit my job? NO! I DON'T WANT TO! Please don't.." I instantly freaked out and my lap was shaking and he couldn't see my face because it blurred.
"Hey, hey relax! I'm not firing you. In fact I'm promoting you," he gave a sweet smile that he always had.
"What? Promotion?" I felt a big smile being drawn on my face.
Joon smiled even wider, "Yea. From now on you are promoted to be my yeojachingu."
I choked on the hot cappucino I was drinking, and trust me, it hurts.
"Yeo..yeoja??"
"Yup! Girlfriend."
"YOUR girlfriend? But, why?" I put down my cup and started to look at the webcam again.
"Because I just want you to be. So you would care not only about my schedules, but also my health and how I'm doing," Joon explained.
"Will I get extra salary for that? Bonus money every month?" I attacked him with puppy eyes.
Joon just laughed, "Salary? No, you get paid with my presence every day. My shoulder to cry on, my.."
I coughed, "Ok, ok please don't continue."
"So do you accept the promotion?" Joon asked in full of expectations.
It only took me 2 seconds to decide. "Yeah sure."
"REALLY?" he looked so excited.
"Want me to change my mind?" I dared.
Joon bounced on his bed, making the laptop shake and the vision blurred. "Oh yeah~ Oh oh oh yeah~ I'm feelin' good oh yeah, yeah yeah~!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, now would you please eat and take your Tamiflu?" I asked. Oh and lucky my webcam wasn't like 5 megapixels or else he would see the blush on my cheeks.
"Okay Sunsun! Got to go now, after my meal the doctor needs to examine me again. Wish me luck! Saranghaeyo~!" Joon waved and smiled to the webcam.
"Ah? Uh.. yea sure. Good luck!" I scratched my head which wasn't even itchy.
Joon was about to disconnect the video call, when I called him again.
"By the way.."
"Yes?" he looked straight to the webcam again as if we were talking face to face.
"Get well soon, Joon!"
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