Friday, September 7, 2007

Chapter 13


I was there purely to supervise the choreography. The boys were actually perfect and I really didn’t need to be there. The days were packed with continuous filming and photo shoots and on Friday night they had their debut performance in Malaysia at the Putra Indoor Stadium as special guests at TVXQ’s Rising Sun Concert in Malaysia. I was backstage helping out with whatever I could, and helping the guys with whatever last minute things they needed. Tonight, the atmosphere backstage was crazy, the running around and the pressure before the show started. It’s a wonder how no one has to yet to burst an artery.

One of the other perks of being their choreographer was that I get to mingle with huge stars like TVXQ, but most of the time, they’re too busy to talk to me, except for Jun Su, who often stopped to talk whenever he saw me.

“Yo! Sierra!” Jun Su smiled as he walked past me before the show started.

“Jun Su,” I smiled back.

“How does it feel to be home?” he asked me.

“I’ve been so busy, following the guys around the entire Kuala Lumpur, I’ve not had time to remember that I’m on home ground,” I laughed.

“I get what you’re saying. Sometimes, when I’m so busy, I actually forget where I am. Even when I’m at home the feeling doesn’t wear off until I finally get to bed,” he laughed.

“Funny,” I laughed. “I think your stylist wants you,” I said, as I noticed one of the stylists trying to get Jun Su’s attention.

“I’ll see you later,” he said, and he walked off.

The show was a success, and Malaysia loved both TVXQ and Super Junior. One of the highlights of the night was when Han Kyung spoke in Mandarin. The stadium went wild when they realized they could actually understand what he was saying. Super Junior performed Twins (Knockout) and Miracle.

“Good job!” they were all yelling backstage when the concert was over.

The concert ended with the guys goofing around, not singing, Show Me Your Love, and splashing water at the audience and each other. When they came backstage, they were kinda soaked.

“Sierra!” Hee Chul yelled and hugged me.

“Acck!!! Hee Chul!” I squealed as I tried to push his soaking body off me.

“Group hug!” Shin Dong yelled and he came towards us, together with Dong Hae, and hugged me and Hee Chul as I continued screaming.

“Hey guys,” Han Kyung laughed. “Break it off, or you’re not gonna hear the end of it all the way back to the hotel.”

“Right… right…” Dong Hae laughed and he backed off.

As the 3 of them stepped back, I looked down and surveyed my outfit. Sure enough, I was soaked with their sweat. There were wet patches on my shirt and pants.

“Yah!!!” I yelled, and I started laughing. “Michoso!” I added, before stomping off to pack up.

“Nuna,” Si Won called as he chased after me.

“Wae?” I said as I whirled around as I walked into one of the quieter corridors backstage.

“You’re not mad are you? You know the guys, they like to mess around.”

“Of course not,” I laughed. “Wasn’t I laughing back there?”

“I wasn’t sure. I just saw you stomping off,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s been almost a year with you guys. You think I’d sweat over small stuff like that?”

“Ah…” he laughed. “It is sweat.”

“Right,” I laughed. “You’d better go change. You’re gonna get sick, running around in your wet clothes.”

“Araso. See you in awhile.”

TVXQ left the concert venue, directly for the airport. They were taking the late flight back to Korea since they had a full schedule waiting for them. We were staying for the whole of tomorrow to finish up the shoot before we headed back.

We finally got back to the hotel, and we were all knocked out. I had to share a room with a few other female crew members while the guys shared rooms with each other. Somehow, my family had found out I was back and they insisted that I met them in the lobby of the hotel. On the way back to my room, Han Kyung’s room door opened and I was dragged into the room.

“Yah! What’s wrong with you?” I said as I smacked his arm.

“Waegeurae?” he just grinned.

Hee Chul and Si Won shared rooms with him as usual, and they were sitting on the bed watching the television whilst pretending to be indifferent to our exchange at the door.

“Your band mates are in the room, you know,” I reminded him, and he dragged me into the bathroom and closed the door.

“Better?” he said as he turned to face me.

“Michoso,” I laughed, and he laughed with me.

I pushed him back until his back slammed onto the door.

“Ah… that hurts,” he exclaimed.

“You asked for it,” I said.

“The guys would’ve heard that.”

“I don’t care,” I smiled and I kissed him.

We emerged from the bathroom sometime later, both looking disheveled and flushed. We’d tried to minimize the damage before we came out, but there was so much water, a comb and a blow dryer could do.

“Were you guys styling each other in there?” Hee Chul snickered.

“I heard this really loud bang on the door. Did anyone get hurt?” Si Won smiled knowingly.

“Your friend here wanted to practice his dance moves,” I said.

“Ooohh…” they both chorused.

“I’m going back to my room, and you guys should get some sleep. We still have a shoot at Putrajaya tomorrow.”

“Ne, oma…” Hee Chul said, as I walked towards the door.

“See you tomorrow,” Han Kyung said, and he gave a brief kiss before closing the door.

The next morning, everyone was up bright and early and we piled into the bus and headed to Putrajaya for the shoot. As expected, the guys probably stayed up most of the night because most of them looked drained this morning. They’d taken to putting on sunglasses to hide their eye bags and when on the set, they had makeup to save them.

“What time did you get to bed last night?” I asked Han Kyung in between his shoots, and he smiled sheepishly at me. “Look at yourself in the mirror,” I scolded softly. “You look wiped out.”

“Bu yao shen qi ya…” he pleaded. “They wanted to watch this movie on TV, and we ended up watching another after that.”

“English movies?”

“Chinese movies. Si Won and I spent the whole night translating for Hee Chul.”

“No wonder you’re wiped out,” I smiled.

As night approached, we wrapped up and headed for the airport. The flight wasn’t till 12am, so we hung out in the buses while waiting. The guys slept while waiting, and didn’t wake up until we brought them food. I’d gone off with the bus with a few PAs to get some takeaway food for the guys and the rest of the crew since I wanted to stretch my legs a little. My back was already aching from standing in the field all day and sitting in the bus for the rest of the evening.

“Sit with me,” Hee Chul said as I passed him a bag of burger and fries.

“You’re not stealing my fries,” I smirked at him.

“Wasn’t going to,” he said. “Just sit with me,” he said as he patted the seat beside him.

I guess I’ve mentioned once that Hee Chul and I were pretty close. I was younger than he is, but sometimes I feel he sometimes treats me like an older sister; could be because of my role as a trainer to Super Junior. Our closeness has also lead to speculation that we were actually a couple, but only the members of Super Junior knew what was up, and made sure that no one knew better. Kyu Hyun was still a little clueless, but we’d have to tell him soon.

“You gonna miss home?” he said as he bit into his burger.

“Not so much,” I said as I sipped my soda.

“I’ve only been gone from home for a few days and I miss it already. How is it that you don’t miss yours at all?”

“I’ve been gone for too long. It doesn’t make a difference to me anymore,” I said.

“Oh, right. I forgot you’ve lived in Beijing for 3 years. So do you plan to extend your contract with SM?” he asked me.

“I don’t know. Maybe SM wouldn’t want me after 2 years.”

“It’s been almost a year already, hasn’t it?”

“Almost… I watched you guys debut, remember?”

“I remember,” he smiled.

“I gotta go see to some stuff. I’ll catch you guys later, on the plane,” I said as I got up and left the bus.

I had a meeting with a friend. A friend I’d not seen in 4 years. I walked took the elevator up to the departure hall and walked to the Marché Café where my friend waited, as I approached, I saw Winnie, my best friend from my dance academy in Malaysia.

“Sierra!” Winnie exclaimed as she hugged me.

“How are you, Winnie?” I smiled as I hugged her back.

“Great!” she replied. “Omigod… I’m so envious of your life. You get to work, eat and sleep next to Super Junior.”

“Work and eat, yes. Sleep, no,” I laughed.

“I guess it was really a great move, you going to the Beijing Dance Academy,” she said.

“I guess so,” I smiled.

“Hello, Sierra,” a familiar voice suddenly came from behind me.

I turned around to find Ryan, my ex-boyfriend, standing behind me.

“Winnie,” I turned back to look at her. “What’s Ryan doing here?”

“Oh… I…” she said.

“Winnie and I are together now,” he said.

I looked back and forth at the both of them for a moment, trying to take in the scene before me. Winnie and Ryan? They’re together now? For how long? Why didn’t Winnie ever said a thing in her emails?

Chinese Notes

Bu yao shen qi ya…
Don’t be angry…

No comments: