Eunjae allowed the noise to wrap around him like a blanket. Brothers locked in debate, brothers laughing at shared jokes— it was a comfort, the soundtrack of his life for well over a decade now. There was so much he didn’t know. He could see Ezra on the far side of the living room, noting the easy way he had with strangers, not a shy bone in his body. What else had he inherited from Leila?
At the very least, Eunjae knew what to do with these flowers. He used to watch Miss Vivi take care of the bouquets his mother brought home from performances, holding the stems under running water, cutting at an angle. Later, as he got older, he'd been allowed to help. She'd have the radio going, humming along.Never forget to do this part, Vivian used to say.It helps them last longer. You can’t just throw them in water, see? Some extra work gets the job done right. That goes for lots of things in life.
“Here, Ari,” Kazu said, joining him at the sink. “Show me how to do that. Somebody found me another pair of scissors.”
“Ah, thanks. It’s pretty easy, hyung.”
They trimmed flowers side by side, the others coming and going as they pleased. Kazu admonished them for not helping and received all manner of excuses in return. Jungwoo and Max were the only two who didn’t make an appearance.
“They’re secretly borrowing the piano,” Jesse whispered, the next time he dropped by. “We told Eric it’s a song they wrote for Emerald, and then we told the Emerald people it’s a song they wrote for Mika’s wedding, and then we told the Zenith people it’s not even a song.” Tempestuous sighing. “I don’t get how you can keep your big, dark secret all the time, hyung. Are you okay? Is the stress clogging your pores yet?”
Eunjae reached into the bucket at his feet, ready to trim another bunch. Water dripped onto his shoes. “Dark secret…?”
“I hope you and dark-secret-noona stay together forever, it’s great since it isn’t happening to me, like it’sadorable, but it’s totally not my thing.”
Kazu flicked water at him. “Quit running your mouth,” he hissed. “There’s three Erics here.”
Jesse scampered off, whining, Marshmallow running along at his heels. Or were they back to Uyu now? The dog had gone through more names than Apollo had gone through hair colors, collectively. Kazu shook his head as he watched them go. “We’re lying to everybody. It’s crazy.”
“The new agency will want an album right away,” Eunjae replied, stripping leaves from a long, green stem. “We wouldn’t get any kind of break if Zenith knew how many tracks we’ve actually finished.”
“I know that. And don’t get me wrong, I want to go home. I’ll lose it if we have to jump straight to promo after this. But it just seems like everything is harder than it has to be, you know? Make the agencies happy, make the publicist happy, make the fans happy. Why’s that so hard? And when do we get to behappy? We won’t live forever. We should be happy while we can.”
Kazu filled a glass pitcher, holding it under the faucet. “Hwannie’s right. He always is. And I know we said we’d stay together, but what if we end up hating each other? What if forcing this to work is the reason we fall apart?”
19
“Letmeknowwhenyou're done jailing baked goods,” said Denny. “It's about time to get started.”
Jiyeon looked up, holding a glass pastry dome in one hand. Her brother had interrupted before she could cover some muffins arranged on a wooden platter. These were massive, wrapped in fancy parchment paper, and much too appealing to keep in the regular case.
“I know you think this is stupid, but they'll sell faster. Just watch.”
“No doubt,” he grunted back at her. “Those suckers will definitely sell. You've trapped them. They can't get away now.”
Jiyeon set the dome over the round tray, rolling her eyes. “Denny.”
“What? I'm telling you that I get it. There's big money in nonsense. Did you see how much cash these hooligans took home in tips yesterday?”
It was a pretty substantial amount. Jiyeon used the hem of her apron to scrub a fingerprint from the glass. “They won't get to keep any of it, though. It's all going to charity. Nonsense for a good cause.”
“You know who could use a good cause? Prism. And then maybe they’d quit redecorating my restaurant with Apollo propaganda.”
He wasn’t talking about this restaurant. Upon returning to Lemon Grove for her two days off, Jiyeon found the shop papered in life-size posters of Eunjae and his brothers. Sunshines hit the place like a tornado, taking hundreds of photos and videos, driving business through the roof.
Her parents were thrilled, at least at first. The regulars came away more disgruntled than ever. Tuesday’s weekly bingo game was delayed by almost an hour. Jiyeon ended up staying later than planned so they wouldn’t be understaffed for Waffle Wednesday.
In a perfectly cordial email, Eric had explained that encouraging this level of fan activity at Wanna Waffle was a win for everybody. It gave Sunshines a dedicated place to express their enthusiasm for the group and the forthcoming show without actually turning up on location in Monroe. After all, that was both a safety and privacy hazard. Plus, the shop made more money as a result. Wasn’t that great? Mutually beneficial.
Jiyeon understood the logic, but she had to draw the line at replacing Evan’s window art with a high-resolution vinyl wrap featuring all nine members. She’d rejected that offer on the spot. Denny would’ve gone nuclear if he got to it first. Arguably, he was going nuclear anyway.
“I’ve got Thursday mahjong threatening to move somewhere else, and we’ve gotten more bad reviews on top of that. The week isn’t even done yet.”
“We’ll have Dad talk to the Thursday aunties,” said Jiyeon. “He’ll smooth things over. I had Jeannie reply to the reviews, too. One of the couples came back already and gave us another chance.”
“You comped the meal?”
“Of course I comped it.”
