Keys to Happiness

20. Key

The afternoon was going better than I had even dared to hope. Aliah hadn't been too awestruck to act out of character, and for once my members were acting with some semblance of civility. No one had once farted or burped in front of her, and at this point I was ready to deem the whole meeting a success.

As I mocked the other guys about their partners for our norebang competition, I noticed Aliah giving me looks out of the corner of her eye in-between a conversation she was having with Onew about hair products. Not even wanting to know how they'd gotten onto such a weird subject, I sent her a smile letting her know I'd seen her. She smiled back but didn't stop talking. I felt a nice pulse of happiness go through me, one that I was quickly realizing happened only around Aliah.

"Alright, let's do this," JongHyun said with his usual confidence as he picked up the microphone.

"There's just one condition," I said as he began to pick a song. "Each pick has to be in English."

Groans broke out all around me and I couldn't stop the loud laugh that burst out of me, it was way too fun making them suffer.

"We've still got this," MinHo said confidently to JongHyun with a slap to his back. "We just have to pick a rap song; something by Drake would be good."

"Rap!" JongHyun yelled scandalized, "Are you trying to lose? We need a ballad that I know the words to."

"And how will I know the words to what you're singing?" MinHo said back with irritation.

As they continued to bicker over their song choice, I sent a covert wink to Aliah. These two were bound to pick the worst song for both of them and they would lose that way. As far as TaeMin and Onew went, their poor English combined wasn't strong enough to sing a song properly for the game to give a good score. Aliah and I had this in the bag.

When the competition officially started, like I'd predicted, JongHyun and MinHo chose an old Michael Bolton song which they butchered beyond recognition. TaeMin and Onew did better than I expected, singing to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". We had sung that song a long time ago as a group but they had forgotten most of the words. The game gave them such a low score that it would be child's play to get the win.

As Aliah and I went up to the front of the room, my members were definitely looking sullen because of their bad performances, but they still had an interest in whether or not Aliah would do a good job. As the music began to play, Aliah looked toward me nervously and I smiled at her to let her know it'd be ok even if she did suck. But as the first lines slid past her lips, I couldn't help but be shocked. She definitely didn't suck, in fact she sounded so great that I almost missed my cue for the chorus, so caught up in the melody she had created.

She sounded nothing like Lady Gaga's original timbre, but her tone and the way she broke up the words fit the song perfectly. Unlike my own singing voice that some found unattractive or weirdly pitched, hers was a sweet and full alto, bringing a soul to the song that it didn't usually have. It was different and more than special; I almost wanted to let her sing the song by herself.

For those three minutes she held me captive as she swayed to the music and looked into my eyes whenever I sang my parts.
As we ended together, the norebang flashed out a ninety-nine percent total and the other members let out loud whoops and claps. She took a shy bow and we sat down together, Aliah gripping my hand tight. She had residual shakes going on and I could tell she had been truly anxious. If that's what she sounded like when she was panicking, I would've loved to hear her when she was calm.

"Let's switch partners for the next round," TaeMin said suddenly. "I want Aliah noona."

"Yah, are you kidding?! No way," I said defensively, pulling Aliah close to my side.