“Min.”

Lee Minyoung ignored the urgent plea on the phone and plopped another pair of black sweatpants into her duffle bag.  It landed next to the knee high crew socks and “Pug Life” t-shirt she purchased at the farmers’ market last week.  The soft garments were a far cry from all things Hallyu… but Min didn’t care.  It wasn’t as if she had any place nice to go.

Their boss had made sure of that.

“Min!”

“Yeah?” Min answered distractedly, switching the smartphone to her other ear.  She blew a blonde lock away from her face and padded over to the dresser for more clothes.  Some Nike Dryfit crop sweats here.  Some extra fitted sports bras there.  Anything she could double up as lounge wear and workout gear to minimize the amount of packing needed for the rest of the week.

She headed over to the closet.

“Please tell me you’re not going to do anything drastic,” Fei pleaded.  She usually stayed mum and left the politics to others, but today was different.  She sensed a change the second they didn’t receive Min’s phone call.  In the past, they could always count on their little cheerleader to spur them on after countless comeback announcement delays.  Min was always encouraging like that.  But today, it had been nearly four hours since the bad news broke and they were still waiting to hear from Min.

The silence made Fei worry.

A spark of mischief lit Min’s large brown eyes.  She selected a few graphic t-shirts and pulled them off their hangers.  “I’m not going to do anything, unnie!”  Min grinned upon hearing Fei’s distressed sigh.  She folded the tees over her arm and started walking back towards the bed.  “I’m just going to headquarters to have a little talk with Park sajangnim, that’s all.”

An inaudible string of Mandarin floated on the other end of the line before the phone was deftly handed over.

“Min.”

It was Jia.

“Whaaatsssuuup,” Min lazily drawled and shoved the rest of her belongings inside the bag.

“Come visit us,” Jia quickly cut to the chase.

The corners of Min’s mouth tightened.

“We haven’t seen you in awhile,” Jia continued.  “It’ll be nice to catch up.  Don’t you think?”

“And do what?” Min sarcastically shot back.  She hated the hint of exasperation that laced her voice, but she couldn’t help herself.  Everything always spewed out unfiltered and raw whenever she spoke to Jia.  They were just too close and too comfortable around one another.  “Sit behind the cameraman while you guys run through your lines?”  Pure frustration filled Min’s eyes even as she tried to smile through it.  “Maybe watch the make-up artists wing your liner?  See which outfits you’re wearing to the radio show?”

“Min…”  Jia cajoled softly, her brows deeply furrowed.

Min attempted another weak smile but it came out more like a grimace.  “Perhaps I should call up Suzy instead.  At least she lets me hold her hair brush every once in a while.”  Like a lifeless doll, Min flopped back onto the bed and stared listlessly up at the ceiling.

A heavy sigh escaped from her lips.

Jia snorted.  “Yah!  Keep that up and they’ll be signing you on for the next Monday-Tuesday drama series!”

Min scrunched up her nose and begrudgingly smiled.  “See, that’s just it.”  She adjusted her hold on the phone.  “I have no burning desire to be in any drama series.  And I don’t want to go on any more variety shows or game shows either.  I just want to sing!  And dance!  And do tours… like every other normal music group does!  Is that so much to ask?”

As expected, she didn’t receive a reply.

“I’ve been training and dieting for the past nine months… and for what?”  Min bit down on her bottom lip, her perfect white teeth sinking into pouty flesh.  “Every time our date comes up, sajangnim pushes it out again.  Staggering our side assignments.  Adding more things to everyone’s plates outside group promotions.”

Jia continued listening silently.

Min scoffed.  “At this rate, we’ll be lucky if there’s a comeback at all.”

“You don’t know that.  I mean, we did record that single earlier this year.”

“One song!”  Min chided in a playful tone.  “One song… out of four.  No, maybe five.”  She laughed humorlessly to herself.  “How about give a full album so we can promote year-round like everyone else?  And then maybe we can give our fans a real world tour instead of participating in all these side festivals.”

Jia demurely lowered her lashes and smiled into the phone.  What she was hearing wasn’t anything new.  They all spoke quite in length regarding issues about their contract before.  But it was getting harder to wage the fight against the big boss… especially since he was allowing them to venture into more visible, larger side projects.

Well, almost everyone.

“Maybe if sajangnim wasn’t so involved with every little detail, we’d have an album out by now.  But he’s too busy managing his own scandals and scouting new talent these days…”  With a despairing sigh, Min closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

The sound of hair dryers whirled on in the distance.

A pang of sympathy thudded deep within Jia’s chest.  She was at a loss.  There weren’t any encouraging words to offer her dongsaeng.  It was nearing a year now since their last album was released and they were all waiting to hear some good news.

Someone called Jia’s name.

“I have to go,” Jia explained lamely and pressed the phone closer to her ear.  She hated to leave Min like this.  “Look, I know you’re still waiting for them to approve the dance videos you did with your friends.  So maybe the face-to-face talk will help.”

Min remained motionless on the bed.

“And I don’t care how happy you act on the outside… you can always talk to me.  You know that right?”  Jia’s eyes flickered with worry as she waited to hear her friend’s response.  “Minyoungie…” Jia softly chastised.  “Don’t do anything irrational.  Give yourself time to reflect.  And then book the first flight out to Hong Kong.”

“Neh.”

Although a weak reply, it was enough to cause the corners of Jia’s mouth to turn up.  Her small eyes gleamed with approval.  “We’ll see you soon.”

• • • ♥ • • •

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Gawd... I feel like I'm jumping into fire!  LOL!  So nervous writing this story... It's my first time writing about Min & miss A and I still don't have all my dots connected yet >.<  And I'm sorry that it's so obscenely short!  I normally write 4-5k chapter updates, but I'm trying to stay motivated!  We'll see how this goes... 

with love - msvickie 08/02/14