6 – Looking After You

The next morning, Stephanie woke up early…at least for her. Today was going to be a busy, busy day for her. The group she was in, Cheon Sang Ji Hee, was preparing to release a single they had been working on and there was lots of paperwork and rehearsals that needed Stephanie’s attention. As she walked into the small office, she yawned.

“Good Morning.” She muttered as she took a seat across the table from the event organizer.

“Good Morning. The paperwork is really simple. It will take about 5 minutes to go over everything.” The woman explained as she started shuffling through a folder.

“Basically, you just need to sign this paper saying that you will represent SM Entertainment to the best of your abilities by maintaining civilized behavior on the stations you are appearing on.” She said, handing Stephanie some papers and a pen.

“The rest of them are all the same except for some insurance stuff. They just need your approval because in the case that something happens while Cheon Sang Ji Hee is performing, the television station does not want to be held responsible.”

“Ok…” Stephanie said, signing her name on all of the sheets. The woman thanked her and informed her that she was finished, so Stephanie got up and left. Her next stop was the rehearsal room.

Upon arrival, she greeted the rest of the group as well as the choreographer and stage director. They instructed them how to present themselves on stage, how to talk, and then for the next 3 hours, they practiced the routines for a couple of the songs the girls were expected to perform. The day seemed to be flying by because of how busy she was. After they finished their last run through, Stephanie grabbed her things and headed to her room. She had been working pretty hard and she no longer smelled like a “fresh flower” as her deodorant surely claimed she would. Her shoes thudded as she walked through the empty hallway. As she rounded the corner, she saw someone walking towards her, a hat placed low in their face. Stephanie squinted to see if she could catch a glimpse of their face but she recognized the posture of the person. It was Kibum. She watched him for a minute, noticing that he was walking weird. He was keeping his left arm close to his torso for some reason. Stephanie quickly walked up to him and stopped him.

“Kibum? Are you alright?” She asked caringly.

“Huh? Oh, Hey Steph. Yeah, I’m fine.” He lied.

Stephanie felt bad for prying, but she leaned down lower so she could see his face. He knew what she was doing though and turned his head the other way, pretending to cough.

“Um…I gotta go.” He insisted, starting to walk away.

Stephanie was confused, so she grabbed his arm. Immediately, she let go because he let out small cry of pain.

“What happened?” She said, finally able to see his face as he turned back. His eye was surrounded by a dark bruise.

“Nothing…I wasn’t paying attention when I was moving something and I tripped down some stairs. My head hit the box I was carrying and it left a bruise.” He lied again.

Stephanie placed her hand on his face. Tears formed in Kibum’s eyes so he jerked away. Stephanie hadn’t noticed the tears, but she couldn’t help but feel bad.

“…Bye…” she said weakly as he walked away.

All she could think about while she freshened up was how much pain Kibum must be in. It wasn’t life threatening so she shouldn’t feel this bad, but he is her friend…so she just felt bad.

“There’s gotta be something I can do for him…” She thought.

After thinking about it a little while, she smiled as she stood up and dashed excitedly out of her room. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed some ice cream and two spoons, then took off to Kibum’s room. As she was making her way down the hall, a door opened and someone grabbed her, pulling her inside a dark room. She shrieked in surprise as arms wrapped around her and she felt lips against hers. She struggled to get free, not noticing who it was in her panic. With her free hand, she dug her nails into the person’s arm, hoping for some kind of reaction so she could get away. The person yelped and released her. She was about to turn and run when the lights came on. The person she had just attacked was Micky.

“Oh my…I’m SO sorry!” She exclaimed, putting the ice cream down on a shelf and checking his arm where she had dug her nails in.

“You’re fierce…” he said rudely.

“I’m sorry, Oppa.” She said again, feeling kind of bad.

“Its ok.” He said, rubbing his arm real quick and looking at what she set down. He saw the ice cream.

“What’s that?” Micky asked suspiciously
.
“…Ice cream?” She replied sarcastically. It wasn’t hard to tell what was in the container.

“Who were you taking it to?” He asked again, noticing two spoons.

“Well…I was trying to surprise you with a treat but you got to me first.” She lied quickly.

“Aww…That’s nice of you!” He said, grabbing it and quickly digging in. He took a couple of bites and handed Stephanie the other spoon. She felt bad for eating with Micky when it was meant for Kibum, but she didn’t want to seem suspicious so she ate some too. Soon her bad feeling turned into laughter when Micky groaned in pain from eating the ice cream too fast.

“Uuuhhhh!” He grunted, lightly smacking his forehead.

Stephanie burst into laughter. “Don’t eat it so fast, dummy!” She giggled.

They spent the next hour or so together, just talking in Micky’s room. When they didn’t have anything new to talk about, Stephanie decided it was time to leave.

“Well…I’m gonna go back to my room. I think Dana wants some help with the choreography we are learning. I’ll see you later, ok?” She said, getting up.

Micky grabbed her hand as she was leaving. He pulled her back down and kissed her again.
“Alright…I…love you…” He said shyly.

Stephanie was shocked. No one other than her family and close friends had ever said that to her. She struggled for a response.

“…uh…Me too.” She said cutely as she got up and quickly exited the room. She could tell her face was red.

As Stephanie was walking back to her room, she bumped into Shiwon. He, Eunhyuk, Heechul, and Donghae were walking together. She overheard Heechul cursing about someone. He sounded angry.

“Oh, sorry.” She said quickly.

“Oh, Stephanie. Have you seen Kibum?” Shiwon asked.

“Um…not since earlier. He was walking back to his room about an hour ago.” She explained.

“Alright. Thanks” Shiwon said, patting her shoulder as he left. The rest of them quickly followed.

“…weird.” She thought as she finished the walk back to her room. When she got inside, Dana and Sunday were practicing the dance while Lina was on the computer. Sunday sighed with relief when she noticed Stephanie coming in.

“Thank goodness you’re back! I have no clue how to help this girl!” She said jokingly towards Dana.

Dana frowned. “I’m trying my hardest!” She replied, making a pouty face.

Stephanie laughed. She still wanted to see Kibum but she promised Dana earlier that she would help. “Alright…Let’s start from the beginning, ok?”

————————————————–

Shiwon knocked three times on Kibum’s door before he entered. When he walked in, he saw Kibum sitting on his bed. His knees were up by his chest and his chin was resting on his knees. Kibum was looking out the window. Shiwon could see the big bruise that the others were talking about. Kibum turned to look at him.

Eunhyuk entered after Shiwon, followed by Donghae and then Heechul. Heechul slammed the door.

“Who the HELL did this to you!?” He demanded.

“Calm down…” Shiwon asked him as he walked over to Kibum. He sat down on his bed next to him. He could tell Kibum was feeling horrible.

“What are you doing here?” Kibum said softly, scooting over a little to make room for Shiwon.

“We’re here to find out who laid a hand on our little brother so we can go teach them a lesson!” Donghae spouted.

Heechul was pissed. “I’m going to kick his ass!” He yelled.

Shiwon looked at Kibum. “Who hurt you?” He asked again.

“No one.” He lied “And its not a big deal. You don’t have to start a fight over me. I was stupid and this is my punishment. I’ll just stay away from her…” He slipped.

“…from who?” Eunhyuk pried.

Kibum sighed. “…Steph.”

“So Micky did this to you?” Shiwon asked him.

Kibum didn’t reply, he just focused his gaze out the window again.

Immediately, Shiwon got up and left, followed by the other 3. Kibum felt bad for letting it slip and he knew there would be trouble.

———————————
Micky jumped up and landed yet another basket. Sweat dripped off his forehead as he landed and passed the ball to Yunho. Him and Jaejoong ran around, snatching the ball from each other as Micky took a break. He sipped some water and noticed some others coming into the gated court. Setting his bottle down, he started walking towards them. After a couple steps, he noticed it was Shiwon and some of the other Super Junior boys.

“What’s up?” He asked cockily to Shiwon.

“I think you know ‘What’s up’” He replied back.

By this time, Jaejoong and Yunho were already behind Micky.

Shiwon tried his hardest to not lay Micky flat.

“You think its fun to beat up my members?” He asked.

“Its fun when your members are hitting on MY girlfriend.” Micky replied, getting in Shiwon’s face.

“What? Kibum wouldn’t do something like that. They’re friends, Micky.”

“Friends? I don’t think so. I know you’re little “Kibummie” is secretly wanting to use my girl just to get his rocks off, that little prick.” He insulted.

Heechul couldn’t take anymore of Micky mouthing off about his best friend. He stepped forward, letting his fist fly directly into Micky’s face. Micky stumbled a bit, smiling at the anger he was causing. By this time, Yunho and Jaejoong were already wrestling with Donghae and Shiwon. Jaejoong had Donghae in a headlock and Yunho was trading blows with Shiwon. Eunhyuk was trying to pull Jaejoong off of Donghae.As they continued fighting, small spurts of blood splattering onto the floor after the first couple hits.

BoA was walking past the court, listening to her iPod when she saw the group of boys fighting. She ripped out the headphones and stuffed them in her pocket as she ran towards them. When she reached them, she immediately recognized who it was. She began pulling at the boys, screaming at them to stop. Donghae saw her and desperately tried to free himself. BoA kept pulling and screaming until a hand connected with her face. In his rage, Micky didn’t realize who he was hitting and had smacked BoA. She tumbled backwards and rubbed her face in pain.

Donghae saw it all and became filled with rage. With a yell, he forced his way out of Jaejoong’s grip and ran over to Micky. As Micky and Heechul were stepping back for a second to regain composure, Donghae took this opportunity to tackle Micky. As they landed, Donghae’s fist connected with Micky’s chin and then Donghae pressed his forearm into Micky’s throat. Soon, Donghae could see his face turning red as he struggled to breathe. BoA ran over to him and pulled him back.

“Oppa! Stop!” She yelled, tears of fright coming into her eyes.

Donghae fought for a second but gave up once he realized his girlfriend was okay.

Micky coughed as air finally rushed into his chest. He rolled over and propped himself onto his knees as he continued to cough. Yunho and Jaejoong, roughed up, walked over to him and helped him up.

Donghae held BoA close,noticing a small bump on her cheek, and kept asking her if she was okay. She was just glad that no one was seriously hurt.

Eunhyuk held the infuriated Heechul back as Shiwon wiped blood from his own lip and straightened his clothes.
“Stay away from Kibum.” He demanded to Micky.

“Whatever…” Micky replied, holding his stomach. He would have won if Donghae wouldn’t have tackled him. Jaejoong and Yunho glared at the 5 of them as Micky told them he wanted to leave.

Shiwon checked on all of his friends.

“Are you okay?” he asked, all of them nodding.

Eunhyuk was relieved once he finally got Heechul to calm down. It wasn’t really Eunhyuk that calmed Heechul down. More so was that Micky and his bunch were walking away hurt while Heechul and the rest were doing pretty well. Donghae was still holding BoA as Shiwon walked over to them.

“Are you sure you’re ok, BoA?” He asked. He was afraid she had gotten hurt because of Micky.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” She said. She was still a bit shaken.

They waited for a minute before they went back to the main building. Kibum was in the living area when he saw them all walk in. His stomach knotted when he saw that they were a little roughed up.

“What happened!?” Kibum asked.

“Nothing.” Shiwon assured him as he walked back to his room.

Kibum felt happy that he had such great friends, but at the same time he felt horrible. All this was happening because he couldn’t control his feelings.

“This is all my fault…” He thought.

Kibum knew that things around the SM building weren’t going to be the same anymore…

To be continued