“Ah…… The main broadcast is 80 minutes, and the behind-the-scenes is 10-15 minutes?”
“Don’t you have anything you want to say?”
As people’s gazes scattered away from him, Evan’s arm came back up onto Siwoo’s shoulder. Anything he wanted to say…… He shook his head slightly. If forced to say whether he had something he wanted to say, he thought it would be nice if the part they just filmed got edited out. Instead of speaking, he lightly tapped Evan’s fingertips on his shoulder with his own fingertips. Please take this down. Even without me stepping forward, the necessary footage has been filled. Since they’d caused quite a stir with the kiss incident, it seemed like he could just stay still.
“Did you finish all the plums?”
In the noisy atmosphere, the small whisper didn’t seem like it would be picked up loudly. But just in case, Siwoo only nodded his head again.
“Lastly, Siwoo-ssi. What’s the date of our main broadcast?”
Siwoo’s eyes widened at the question suddenly directed at him during the filming that was gradually heading toward the end.
“October 16th, Friday evening at 9:50 PM. We’ll meet you with the first broadcast of ‘Journey’. Please look forward to it.”
Siwoo stretched out his small hands forward and waved them cutely while reading the comment on the sketchbook the writer was holding.
With Siwoo’s comment as the last one, the commentary filming ended and it instantly became noisy. The members who finished greeting the production staff took out stories they wanted to share without any order, even though they hadn’t met after such a long time.
They chatter on like this even in the group chat, what do they have so much to talk about?
Luca’s concert was just around the corner, and except for Hyunsu, Evan, and Siwoo, everyone was busy preparing for a program featuring famous idols that aired twice a year during holidays.
“Look at this. My hands are all cracked. Archery, what’s the big deal with that?”
Once the cameras turned off, the conversation became even more lively. Louis pointed at his fingers with cracked fingertips, and Yechan complained that his arm was about to fall off from bowling. A faint smile hung on Siwoo’s lips as he watched them.
My military enlistment isn’t far off. Perhaps I’ll spend the end of this year as a soldier.
“Siwoo-hyung, are you really not doing broadcasts? It seems like you’re getting pushed a lot right now. You’re not going on Hyunsu-hyung’s radio either?”
At Ian’s question, Siwoo nodded. Jinwook-hyung was making a fuss about going on broadcasts right now, and Taehoon-hyung didn’t say anything. And Siwoo changed his phone number. Now, the only people who knew this number were the agency and the ‘Journey’ members.
Since his interpersonal relationships weren’t that wide anyway, he could organize easily. It was even more convenient since he had no lingering attachments to human relationships.
“Coco.”
Having time to spare, Siwoo was listening to their stories when he looked at Evan tapping his shoulder and stood up from his seat. Looking at his broad back walking ahead, his chest tickled. Why is he doing this? A beta who likes alphas. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, but perhaps one of the reasons Evan treated him so comfortably was because of his constitution.
“Off to a schedule again.”
“Book some schedules. It’d be nice if we went out together.”
Looking at Evan’s van parked right in front of the cafe, Siwoo stood about halfway up the cafe stairs with his arms crossed. We filmed together, so who’s seeing off whom? He quickly shook his head at Evan’s words about going to schedules together.
Only now, standing a few steps above, could he look down at him. Looking at that face gazing up at him felt strange. He’s always looking down at me like this, so what does it feel like?
Evan didn’t know, but the expression on his manager behind him right now wasn’t good. Should I have told him then? To manage your celebrity well instead of me.
“Hand.”
It’s not like asking a puppy to give its paw, yet even while thinking that, Siwoo held out one palm facing upward. A large hand approached and, amusingly, another plum was placed on his palm. Are you trying to seduce me with plums now? For that, I’ve already completely fallen.
Without realizing it, the corners of Siwoo’s mouth crept up.
His uselessly ticklish chest seemed to swell up and float away into the sky.
“Another one?”
“What are you doing tonight?”
After parting ways like that over sushi that day, they met after about ten days. In between, they occasionally talked in the group chat, but neither Siwoo nor Evan was someone who actively participated in the chat room.
That said, they hadn’t contacted each other separately either.
“Me? I don’t have anything.”
At Evan’s question, Siwoo tilted his head slightly to the side and lightly squeezed and released the small plum. Plums, what’s the big deal with these?
“Drinks……”
“Evan! When does your schedule end today?”
At the loud voice suddenly coming from behind, Siwoo hunched his shoulders.
“What? What kind of atmosphere is this?”
Looking back and forth between Siwoo standing in the middle of the cafe stairs and Evan standing in front of the open van, Luca scratched his head. Siwoo, with one cheek noticeably bulging out, was diligently moving his mouth.
“Why are you eating something here?”
“Why?”
Instead of Siwoo who opened his round eyes wide and couldn’t speak while chewing so diligently, Evan spoke.
Receiving Evan’s manager’s intense gaze, Siwoo sneakily went up the stairs further toward Luca. For some reason, as soon as he heard Luca’s voice, he’d stuffed the plum into his mouth in one bite. What was that? It would’ve been fine to show it, so why did I put it in my mouth?
“Evan will join as soon as his schedule ends, right? Hyunsu-hyung is coming after radio too. Until then, Siwoo, let’s eat dinner with us. What should we eat today?”
Luca wrapped his arm around Siwoo’s shoulder, who had approached as if he’d been waiting. He just answered roughly that he understood, and Siwoo could only stare blankly at the back of Evan getting into the van and leaving, unable to wave his hand. He just chewed thoroughly on the plum in his mouth and rolled the remaining seed around with the tip of his tongue. Did he call me just to give me one plum? Really, if it’s like this, why not just teach me where they sell them?
* * *
“Hyung. Stop with the alcohol.”
Siwoo didn’t even listen with half an ear to Yechan grumbling beside him and accepted the glass Luca offered. Since filming ended around dinner time, they all came to eat eel except for Hyunsu and Evan.
At Luca’s words about how alcohol couldn’t be left out with eel, bottles of alcohol were placed on the table in an instant.
“Why?”
But right now it’s soju, not a bomb, right? So there was no way he’d get knocked out drunk like that time. He deliberately wasn’t drinking bombs because he wanted to eat a lot of eel, so why won’t they let him drink even this?
“No. I’m saying let’s drink moderately. Wasn’t everyone having a side drink right now?”
At Yechan’s words, Luca poured soju into a glass and thrust it into his hand.
“Drink. We’ll die anyway, so what’s there to be picky about? Hehe. Is our Yechan weak with alcohol?”
“No. I’m super strong, you know? Really strong, you know? I’m the strongest in our group, you know?”
Simple-minded Yechan got swept up by Luca’s provocation and emptied the glass he was holding in one go. Then Siwoo sipped and emptied the soju glass in front of him. And he chewed thoroughly on a nicely grilled piece of eel.
“Ah, really, Yechan is so simple. You drink all of that just because of that? He’s definitely going to get drunk before Hyunsu-hyung and Evan-hyung arrive.”
Ian filled Siwoo’s glass and then accepted the glass he filled.
“Still, let’s all drink moderately. Aren’t we going to a second round? We can’t get drunk before going to a second round.”
Yechan, who wasn’t drunk yet, sneakily pushed away the glass in front of Siwoo and placed water in front of him. This was absolutely, absolutely not for Siwoo’s sake. This was purely a desperate struggle to extend his own life.
[Where are you?]
[We all came to eat eel.]
[Drinks?]
[Just a side drink?]
[Siwoo. Watch him so he doesn’t get drunk.]
That was right. Everyone might not know, but Yechan had received orders from Evan. The other members who didn’t know this fact were talking about pouring and drinking, whether the eel was delicious or the alcohol, and such stories. And although he tried hard to remove the soju glass, Siwoo looked at Yechan as if he was strange and gulped down the soju in his glass again.
“This place is really delicious. Yechan knows a lot of good restaurants. Come on, everyone gather quickly. Let’s take pictures with normal appearances before we get more drunk.”
Ian took out his phone and first photographed the deliciously cooked eel in front.
“Actually, my fans were saying something about me having an affair. Saying I’m always hanging out with ‘Journey’.”
While saying that, Yechan quickly patted his hair to prepare for the photo.
“I got told off for abandoning Louis and eating beef with ‘Journey’. Since Louis came today too, will I get scolded less?”
“Come on, come on. Quickly move the alcohol bottles aside and hold drinks.”
Everyone knows we’re drinking alcohol, but still, what goes up publicly should be filtered moderately, Luca said as he busily moved around. Following along, they cleared away the visible alcohol bottles and held glasses with drinks in them as Luca instructed.
“Taking it. One. Two. Three.”
It wasn’t just taking one photo, but they took several shots. They asked a restaurant employee who came in at just the right time to take photos, and the photos were shared in the ‘Journey’ group chat.
“Evan-hyung. When did he say he’d post on SNS?”
At Louis’s words, looking at his phone saying they should post right away after taking photos, Siwoo also took out the phone from his pocket. Even if other members posted, he had no intention of posting.
With a few movements of his fingertips, he could see Evan’s SNS.
It was a photo of him wearing headphones in a recording studio.
Another black ball cap. How much does he like black? He wore the ball cap pressed down, so his forehead and eyebrows weren’t visible.
Below that was a one-line comment.
[Recording after a long time. The echo is really good today.]
Looking at his SNS, Siwoo only pressed the heart and came out. If he’s in the middle of recording, it seemed like he’d come late. His mouth suddenly became bitter, so he quickly drank the soju beside him. And he thought. The reason his mouth was bitter was because he drank soju……
