Forty-One

"Thank you." We bowed to everyone in the room and backed out of there. We had just finished up a photoshoot for All Hands on Deck. We had worn our new costumes- all white, blue and yellow. We were going for a more casual beach look rather than the storm-weathered seamen or pirates or the navy- all of which were suggestions put on the table. We had already pretty much gotten a complete makeover done for the new album. The image I carried was almost always to be adorned in rolled up brown pants, a light blue tank top and a white shirt worn loosely open over that. I was almost always barefoot and if I had to wear something, it would mostly just be sandals. My hair had been dyed chestnut brown. It was a very refreshing look and I had liked it quite a lot. The other members too had had their makeovers to suit their images and roles in the album- Jaehyeon had black hair with emerald green highlights, Mingyu had longer bottle green hair as against the blond crew cut that he had had during Blue Ink, Yeojun had been given soft pink hair which, when paired with a yellow T-shirt and white chinos gave him an incredibly comforting and cool vibe and Hanseol had been given red hair.

We had already used the green room and changed out of our outfits but we were still attracting eyes as we walked down the hallway towards the exit. Yeojun threw his hat on immediately. "Now I know how you felt, Jeongwoo Hyung…"

I patted his shoulder knowingly. "Hang in there. You're looking good so I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Jun-ah, don't think about it so much. You look cute." Jaehyeon added. "You're really our Maknae now."

"I want Jaehyeon Hyung's hair though…" Mingyu eyed Jaehyeon's hair. "It's so cool."

"That… I agree." Jaehyeon ran a hand through his hair. "I'm very cool."

"Narcissist." Hanseol scoffed.

"Jeongwoo-ya's been neglecting me lately so I've been learning self-love." He shrugged. "It's very effective."

"What? It's not my fault that you're busy with your modelling job." I frowned at him. "I'm the one who's sleeping alone." Not really but I had said that for added dramatic effect.

"I'll come sleep in your room, Hyung." Yeojun smiled at me.

"Hey! What about me?" Mingy gaped at Yeojun.

"Hanseo-" Yeojun began saying but Hanseol cut him off. "I prefer my single room. Thank you."

It was a meaningless conversation. It reflected how good we were feeling about ourselves at the moment though.

"Thanks though, Yeojun." I pulled him in by an arm over his shoulders.

We had already reached the main entrance of the building. Manager Park had left a little ahead of us so that he could bring our van around by the time we were out of the building. All of us put on our caps and hoodies as we stepped out. Our hair colours were as much of a secret as our new album was at the moment so we couldn't afford to get seen like that openly.

Manager Park had just pulled out of the parking lot and was on his way to us when we stepped out.

"Right on time." Mingyu smiled at the approaching van.

"It's almost like he knows the pace at which we walk." Jaehyeon mused. "We'd be so lost without him."

We stopped talking about him when the van pulled up in front of us. Mingyu opened the door and climbed in. Jaehyeon went over to the other side to get into the passenger seat. Since Yeojun and I usually sat at the very back of the van, Hanseol stepped aside to let us in before himself. I had my hands on Yeojun's shoulders, directing him into the van as he laughed and pushed back against me.

I adored him for how playful he got with me occasionally like this.

Suddenly, I heard and felt what sounded like a gush of wind caused by something flying by my ear and a thunk sound when it made contact with something. Yeojun, whom I had been holding by his shoulders, let out a cry and disappeared from my hands as he crouched on the road next to the van and clutched his forehead. It took a moment for me to realise what had happened. Then I noticed the ping pong ball sized stone lying on the road next to him.

Someone had thrown a stone at Yeojun!

"Jun-ah!" Hanseol called with a start. The sudden commotion had gotten Jaehyeon to shut the passenger door and rush to our side. "What happened?"

I looked in the direction that I had felt the stone come from. There were a few cars parked and the main road beyond that had plenty of people walking by. I could not spot any one person who looked suspicious. They… couldn't have gotten too far even if they had run.

"What are you doing?" Jaehyeon caught my arm when I took a step in the direction that I suspected the person had fled in.

"Whoever it was can't have gotten too far. It… It came from that direction." I pointed. "Barely m-missed my face."

"What?" Jaehyeon frowned and looked in the direction I had pointed in but did not release my arm. "Are you crazy? You'll just run after them like that? That's dangerous."

"Yeojun-" I looked towards the 19-year-old. Hanseol was attending to him, crouching beside him and holding his hands away from the wound on his head. Mingyu too had stepped out of the van. So had Manager Park who was just as shocked as the rest of us.

Yeojun was bleeding.

"Jun-ah…" I stepped past Jaehyeon and towards Yeojun, kneeling beside him when Jaehyeon let go of me.

A few people from within the building had also come out on noticing what was going on. The Security Guard hurried over to us as well.

"Jun-ah, you okay?" Hanseol asked rather sternly.

"I'm okay…" Yeojun winced, lowering his head and closing his eyes tightly. "It hurts…"

"Who the hell-" Mingyu spat out, the fright clearly written on his face. He had picked up the stone and was looking around.

"Let's… Let's get inside first." Hanseol urged and pulled Yeojun up to stand with some effort. When Yeojun wobbled a bit, I moved in to support him with an arm around his waist.

People had sprung into action immediately. Manager Park and the Security Guard ushered all five of us back into the building while managing people and shielding us from any further potential attacks.

We were led into one of the offices on the ground floor. Most of the people who had come with us stayed at the lobby while Manager Park and two others had accompanied us.

"Jun-ssi." Manager Park sat Yeojun down in a chair and took a closer look at the wound. "How are you doing?"

He could barely keep his right eye open owing to the wound just beside his right eyebrow. There was a streak of blood running down the side of his face. "I'm… It just hurts. I think… I'm fine otherwise." He replied, shrinking away when Manager Park brought his hand close to his forehead. Manager Park chose to just check it closely without touching him on noticing that.

"It doesn't look too bad. It's… It's not deep. It looks like superficial bleeding."

That was a relief to hear but at the same time, the unease was not going away.

"We'll still get you checked out, okay?" Manager Park told Yeojun and looked at the rest of us. "You're all okay?"

"Yes." I nodded. I vividly recalled the feeling of the stone flying past my face at eye-level. It could have hit anyone. Had it missed Yeojun, it could have hit either me or Hanseol. That had been a sure-hit throw.

"That's good." Manager Park nodded and stood straight, looking at the Security Guard. "Could we get a first-aid kit?"

"Yes. Kim-ssi has gone to get it." He informed.

"Okay. Thank you." Manager Park took another look at Yeojun before moving back. "The bleeding has stopped. You're okay, Jun-ssi."

"Mm." Yeojun hummed and looked up at us. "Don't worry. I'm really okay."

"Even so…" Mingyu frowned. "I'm- We're glad you're okay but the fact remains that that happened."

"Manager-nim." Jaehyeon looked at him seriously.

"We'll look into it." Manager Park nodded. "I'll inform DayBreak."

"If you need to make phone calls, you can go. We're here. We can take are of cleaning the wound."

Manager Park looked unsure about leaving us but then moved to the corner of the room and made the phone call anyway.

"Jeongwoo Hyung, your T-shirt." Yeojun looked at my shoulder. I myself had not noticed the patch of red at my shoulder until he had pointed it out. It might have been from when I was helping him in earlier.

"Don't mind it." I shook my head with a small smile. "It's okay." It was rather painful for me to see blood streaking down the side of our beloved Maknae's face. "You worry about yourself and not others' T-shirts."

Just then, the earlier mentioned Kim-ssi came into the office with a first-aid kit.

"I'll do it." I volunteered and took the kit from him after thanking him. Then I sat down in the chair next to Yeojun's and opened up the kit. One of the other men passed me a bottle of water. I used cotton and the water to wipe up the blood first. Just like the rest of them, I too felt a lot better after seeing the wound without all that blood. I used disinfectant to clean it up after that. "I'm not putting on gauze. Manager-nim said that you should get it checked out." I put everything away and sat up. "Do you feel any pain unrelated to the cut?"

"I can't really tell. It's all… in this area." He motioned to the right side of his forehead, then slowly asked. "Hyung, do you… think this will leave a scar?"

"Ya. Don't worry about all that now." Hanseol apprehended him lightly. "A scar isn't going to change your career."

"So… it might leave a scar." He concluded.

"It might or might not. It does not matter." I said although I knew that telling an Idol loved for his face that an obvious scar would not matter was nothing more than words of comfort. Even if our fans too came out and told him that it was all okay, it would still be a matter of concern for him, all the more because it was the result of such an incident.

He gave me a defeated smile in return.

"We'll head straight to DayBreak." Manager Park returned to us after the call. "I will drop you four off there first. You can meet Kim PD-nim and tell him all that happened. I'll take Jun-ssi to the hospital for a check-up, just in case. Since it's the head, we don't want to take any chances."

"Do we have to go to the hospital?" Yeojun asked hesitantly.

"Go, Yeojun." Mingyu said. "Like Manager-nim said, let's be on the safe side."

"But… I feel fine." He clenched a fist on his lap that I noticed. He probably just did not want to make it an issue, or he did not want to part ways with us. The way that he was looking at Mingyu when he spoke made me think that it was most likely the latter.

"For our sakes, go." Jaehyeon added. "We'd be more worried if you did not go. One can never be too cautious."

Yeojun did not say anything more but his silent protest was written on his face.

I sighed. "Do you want one of us to go with you?"

He looked at me in a way that confirmed my guess. He did not want to admit it though so he just shook his head. "No. You should go to DayBreak and talk to Kim PD-nim. Besides, we'll attract less attention if it's just Manager-nim and I."

Manager Park too probably had had that in mind when he had told us the plan. I felt proud that our Yeojun had grown up enough to understand such considerations. "Okay. That would be better."

"After you're done talking to Kim PD-nim, Manager Kim Youngil will take you home." Manager Park continued. "I'll bring Jun-ssi straight home after that. DayBreak will take this time's incident seriously. Just be alert and careful. Report if you see anyone or anything suspicious."

"Understood, Manager-nim." Mingyu said for all of us. "We'll leave Yeojun to you then."

A few higher-ups in the company whose building we were at had dropped by to check in on hearing about what had happened. After quickly filling them in, Manager-nim cautiously led us to the van. As he had said earlier, he dropped us off at DayBreak and proceeded to the hospital. We wasted no time in meeting Kim PD-nim and telling him what had happened. We did not have any solid information to give but we were also aware of how this visit was not just about giving information. It was also for him to check on us and for him to do his best to reassure us. We had needed that on a professional and a personal level.