Forgotten Night

Flashback #1

3 February 2005, 6:00 PM

I sat down near YuJin Hyung on the floor of the rehearsal hall, wiping my sweat with a towel. We had been rehearsing the dance for the last six hours. The debut dance performance on Music Bank was just weeks away from now. We were finally going to debut in a few weeks

"Ah..." I said out in exhaustion.

"Are you okay, Hyun aa?" YuJin Hyung asked me with concern and affection. "It's really exhausting, isn't it?" I nodded. I liked dancing but dancing straight for six hours had got me exhausted... "Just endure it for just a few more days. It will be worth it when we debut." He rubbed my shoulder. And he seemed really excited about the debut.

"If you are tired, shall I give you an energy drink?" He asked. "It's in my bag. Can you grab my bag?"

Hyung's bag was near us. I grabbed it and gave it to him. The zip of the front pouch of the bag was open, and so while I handled the bag to Hyung, a photograph fell down to the floor from his bag. I picked it up to hand it to him. It was a photograph of two girls. One teenage girl and a child.

"Who are they?" I asked with curiosity while handing him the photos. Was close enough with him now to ask that. I was closest to YuJin Hyung among all the members of our group, and I really liked Hyung. He was a really nice guy.

"My sisters." He said smiling at the photo. I have not heard him talk about his family much but I knew he had two sisters. He showed me the photo. "Aren't they adorable?"

I sat closer to Hyung to take a better look at the photo. "The little one here, her name is Yuri. Youngest. She is the puppy of us all. She is just 6 years old."

"Huh? Just six years old?" I was stunned because YuJin Hyung was already 22 years old.

"She was late-born." He said. "Our dad made that happen when he came home after his business went bankrupt six years back. Not only he brought us a huge amount of debt, but he also left mom with a baby..." I nodded. "We should have been felt burdened by one more baby. But..." His eyes only contained love for the kid, "we all just love her so much. She is such a darling. You should hear her talk. Chatterbox in a baby voice. It's so adorable that I want to just keep watching her and hearing her talk the whole day." I could see that he was not joking. He loved the kid really way too much. And that was not a surprise. YuJin Hyung was such a family man and a kind-hearted and sweet guy. And Yuri in the photo looked adorable too. She had a round plump face and rosy cheeks and was holding up a Popsicle in her hand with a happy smile.

"This one here is YuBin." He pointed to the other girl in the photo. I looked at YuBin. She was wearing a school uniform and had dark black hair that fell past her shoulder, and looked smart and mature. "She is your age." YuJin Hyung explained.

"And what is she like?" I asked, casually.

"She is...my backup."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Just...she is really dependable. She is really smart and intelligent. Really good in studies. And mature for her age. And strong. And kind of incredible. Actually... even when she is my younger sister, I kind of respect her." I found that a bit amusing. "So even if I end up failing to be successful, I think she will be enough to take responsibility of me and our family." He joked and grinned. And he handed me the photo to take a better look. Yuri was indeed cute.

Just then the door of the rehearsal hall opened and a head peeked in. And YuJin Hyung's face lit up to a smile. Because it was his girlfriend, Han NaBi Nuna, at door. NaBi Nuna was 21 and she worked as a makeup artist for one of the major artists in our agency. Nabi Nuna was a really sweet looking person, and always had a smile on her face. Nabi Nuna and YuJin Hyung have been dating for four months now, and I could see that Hyung really really liked Nabi Nuna.

Nabi Nuna waved at YuJin Hyung. Hyung got up and went to her. I smiled feeling happy for Hyung. Eric Hyung dropped down beside me and drank water from a bottle. "I don't know what YuJin Hyung is thinking?" Eric Hyung said in a cold insulting tone. "Doesn't he even have some common sense?"

"What?" I snapped at Eric Hyung irritated.

"Doesn't he know that our contract involves a dating ban? K-pop idols can't date. Isn't that common news? So what is he thinking? If the agency gets to know this it's not going to be good."

I was also kind of worried about that. I knew that YuJin Hyung was happy with Nabi Nuna. However, Eric Hyung had a point too. "Who is that?" Eric Hyung asked casually while looking at the photo in my hand. I was still holding YuJin Hyung's sisters photo. "The girl is kind of pretty." Eric Hyung commented. I at once hid YuBin's face under my palm. I kind of disliked Eric Hyung. He was not such a clean guy. So I felt a moral obligation to protect YuJin Hyung's sister from Eric Hyung.