off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ eight

Far and away from lavish parties and business gatherings, Jaewook was finally able to do something she genuinely enjoyed: practicing with her bandmates. In the garage of their shared house, Poison had been playing music for a full hour already, and none of them were eager to stop. Those were the only times Jaewook felt alive and comfortable; surrounded by her closest friends, dressed in whatever she felt like wearing, her guitar in her hands and a microphone in front of her face. The last few weeks had been quite busy, and she’d had to bail on practice quite a few times, but they now had a special occasion to prepare for.

"Man, I still can't believe we managed to get a gig at the hottest music bar in Seoul," Beomgyu mused, as he put his drumming sticks down on the cement floor.

Jaewook chuckled, turning to her friend. "We can't let ourselves be too impressed, you know. We've got a lot to prepare."

Yeonjun gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Jae's right. If we give a flawless performance, we might get invited to play regularly. That means stable money, y'all."

"Hell yeah," Chaewon replied, raising her thumb in the air.

A knock on the garage door caused everyone's head to turn in its direction. They all exchanged glances, before Chenle cupped his hands around his mouth.

"You think it's Manager Jeong?"

Jungwon shook his head and sighed. "I hope not. I'm not ready to deal with him yet."

"Come on you guys," Minnie said with a laugh, " he's really not that bad, you know."

Amused by her bandmates' conversation, Jaewook walked to the switch to open the garage door. It slowly raised up, revealing not Manager Jeong, but a lone Gunwook, with a bunch of white plastic bags in his hands. Relieved it wasn’t work knocking on their door, everyone stood and rushed to him.

"Hey, I brought Chinese food," Gunwook spoke up, a tiny smile on his face.

"Oh my god," Yeonjun started as he pretty much ran towards him, "Gunwook, you're an angel!"

"Literally a life saver," Chenle added, before taking the plastic bags from Gunwook's hands.

Jaewook couldn’t help but smile as she watched her younger brother distribute food to her bandmates. Though she had the support of her mother and step father, she couldn’t say the same of her father and step mother. They had been very adamant about her bandmates being "bad influences", which was quite ironic coming from a cheater and his mistress. She didn't need their approval anyway. She had both of her half brothers by her side, and Gunwook especially always involved himself in her band activities. She was lucky to have him. At least something good had come out of her father’s infidelity.

"You didn't tell me you were coming," she told her brother as she approached him.

Gunwook scratched his nape, his hands now free from plastic bags as a horde of hungry people had stolen them from him. "I was just getting myself food, and I thought you guys would like some too. Since you're going to be practicing a lot for the show."

"Speaking of, you can invite some of your friends to come, you know?"

He nodded. "Yup, I'm thinking of inviting Taerae, since he's a music guy. Probably Gyuvin as well, he likes that sort of stuff."

Hmm, of course he would invite Taerae. And his sister too, she imagined. Gunwook wasn’t really the type to talk to her about that sort of things, but it seemed Taerae's sister had caught his eye. Apparently she'd shared her sandwich with him at school, and though he'd recounted the story pretty casually, she knew her brother very, very well. He'd seemed just the tiniest bit flustered, and when she'd spotted him making sandwiches of his own before school, she'd immediately connected the dots. Ah, young love. That felt pretty far away for Jaewook. That being said...