She didn’t change the expression she wore at him, which made him laugh.
“Just saying,” he continued. “You can get good things when you ask for them.”
“You can also be horribly rejected by people who mean the most to you.” She clapped her hand over her mouth because even she hadn’t expected to say that. And to be fair to Cal, he didn’t call her out on it or tell her how she was wrong. He only nodded, agreeing with her. But he also reached out, waiting for her to lower her hand slightly from her mouth before gently pulling it away.
“I wonder what you would be like if people had cared for your heart better,” he said softly, and Lia felt like he was looking right into her soul. Her heart ached then, but she couldn’t tell if it was in longing or sadness. “Because I already like you a lot.”
“You know you can ask for good things too,” she pointed out, because what were they, if not two people who needed each other’s advice. “From your bandmates. Your management. Your fans. Me.”
“I’m trying,” he assured her. “But the only way I know how to do that is with music. And that takes time. But it’s been going really well.”
“No spoilers. I mean it.”
“Here’s one,” Cal said, and then proceeded to sing the jingle for QQ Shake, the popular jelly drink the band famously shot acommercial for, with music that Cal proudly announced paid for his first jeonse. She laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair, especially when Cal started dancing.
And when you do the QQ
You have to shake it too too
And so it was with that friendly camaraderie that she agreed to join Cal, her brother, and the rest of the band for an afternoon at BINJ. They were in the recording studio today, contrary to Lia’s request for no spoilers. But she could get pretty absorbed with work when she needed to lock in, and so she was content to sit in a corner of the couch in the control room.
“We’re recording this song live. Part of the whole ‘we’re giving everything a shot,’ approach.” Teddy was telling Lia from his spot behind a large panel with more buttons and switches than Lia had anxieties. Despite nibbling on a kimbap roll at 2PM for lunch, he was in high spirits, which, to Lia, was always a good sign. “It’s the most insane thing to want, in a time crunch like this.”
“Why?”
“It’s kind of like choosing to watch a musical versus a movie.” Teddy explained. “You have the time to finesse every second of a performance in a movie, really fine tune a song to the best version you can make it in the time you have. And Cal likes to go by line when he does it, sometimes doing the harmonies on the spot so the producer can keep layering it later on. Then he listens back and repeats or edits.”
“I take it you can’t do that live.”
“Definitely not.” Teddy snorted. “Doing it live is preserving a moment as it happens—with all the mistakes and the decisions and ad-libs, even. A musical usually runs more than once, andan audience member can get a different show every time. Every song in this album will contain everything that makes a moment. It’s messy and chaotic and even harder to contain. But every time the band performs the songs will be different from this record. Better, we’re hoping.”
“It’s like giving themselves a place to start over again from,” Lia said immediately, and at her brother’s raised brow, she said nothing. “You know, for a guy who doesn’t know his way out of a mall, you look like you know what you’re doing.”
“I am bad at directions, it’s true.”
“Yeah, Andi told me about that time you had to call her to find your way out of Greenbelt.”
“Yeah, because how are there FIVE Greenbelts? Stupid.” Teddy ran a hand through his hair. He mumbled something about it being his job and kept talking to the sound engineer about… whatever it was he had to say to a sound engineer. Had Lia told him lately how proud she was of him that he was doing this?
On the other side of the glass, the band was setting up, Siwan tuning his bass while Cal was reviewing what Lia guessed was some kind of song hits with Soobin. Did Cal know what song hits were?
“They already know the song?” Lia asked curiously.
“Well, Cal toplined the song. Toplining is?—“
“An artist writing lyrics and vocal arrangements on an existing track.” Lia supplied. “I’m living with an idol and a producer. Also, Siwan told me.”
“They’ve rehearsed it a few times, too, on top of their usual rehearsals,” Teddy said, still not looking up from…Lia still had no idea what he was doing. He pressed a button on the panel and said, “We’re almost ready, guys.”
Cal gave him a thumbs up in return before putting his guitar down and leaving the room to speak to one of the staff. Soobinwas speaking to one of the engineers about the hi-hat, and Siwan was stretching.
“They rehearse between albums?” Lia asked, and whatever button Teddy had pressed for them to hear her must have still been on, because the two remaining boys looked through the glass to look right at her. “What?”
“Of course we rehearse between albums,” Siwan answered first, throwing her an odd look. Even if all Lia could think was, ‘oh wow, blessed with a Siwan face that isn’t 100% sarcasm.’ “Our usual schedule would mean we’re promoting a new single in Korea while touring a Japanese album. Then, when we decide to stage a new Korean release, we have to arrange live performances. So, rehearsals will always be needed.”
“It keeps the band synced,” Soobin added, after asking Siwan for the right word. “The schedule can get crazy, and rehearsals make it harder to make mistakes.”
“And you don’t get tired of it, huh,” she said, more to herself than him. Because surely being a model for brands in France and Italy, and having commercial deals in America, was more lucrative. Siwan, in particular, had walked for Hermes during the last Paris Fashion Week. And Soobin was literally heading off to start filming for a new drama in a few months!
