Where We Are

It was an unfamiliar studio. The anchor was a new face. We were onstage – the five of us. I was no stranger to such a situation. With this group of five, I have been on and off of many such bigger and smaller sets all through the past 3 years. I was already used to this. And yet, as I looked around discreetly, ensuring to make eye-contact with anyone and everyone who may be on the other side of the screen, time seemed to slow down for a bit – just enough to allow me to listen to my own breathing, in sync with my other 4 members – until I heard my name being called. "S.T.A.Y has come to mean a lot to your fans. I believe that they are called 'True'? Wow! It's such a meaningful name for your fandom. Jeongwoo-ssi, could you tell us exactly what S.T.A.Y means to True and what True means to you?" The cameras were now all focused on me. I smiled. "Of course. S.T.A.Y's purpose and goal are all in the name itself. 'Stay Together, Always Yours'." I glanced at the three memb

"Ah! Did we miss the meeting?" Yeojun let out a yelp of defeat on running up to us with Mingyu just as the rest of us left the room after our meeting with the costumes' department. They were supposed to join us after their ad campaign but they had failed to make it back here in time. "Even though we ran all the way here from the car…" Mingyu rested his palms on his knees and panted, completely out of breath. "It's okay. Everything's been settled." I reassured them. "You won't have any issues with the decisions either." "Here." Jaehyeon tossed the bottle of water that he had with him towards Mingyu. "Ah!" Mingyu attempted to catch it but ended up dropping it. Thankfully, the lid stayed on and it did not spill. He looked around apologetically and embarrassed before picking it up. "My bad." Mingyu was known for being a little clumsy. It was Jaehyeon's fault for throwing it to him. "What happened though?" Hanseol enquired. "You were supposed to get back an hour ago." "There was a 1

"Jeongwoo-ya." Hanseol knocked on the open door to Jaehyeon's and my room and stepped in, waving a few envelopes in one hand. "Fan mail. Manager-nim left these for you." "Oh. Thank you." I got up from my bed and went over to him to accept them. I was going through what True were saying on Twitter. It seemed as though they were pretty taken by our recent live. Some of them were even planning our future schedules as they would like it to be. It was fun to just read it all. Something else that had received a lot of attention after release was the Hidden Camera footage. Embarrassingly enough, they were all tripping over the way I treated Yeojun and Jaehyeon. They found it incredibly cute. They were also going on about how Jaehyeon had gotten jealous of the way that I was holding onto Yeojun and concluded that he had done what he had done just so that I would release Yeojun. Many others were just asking Jaehyeon to buy me chicken. Now, that, I could agree with. "Where's Hyung?" Han

We had found a private corner table for ourselves. This restaurant regularly got trainees and Idols from DayBreak dropping by and so were used to our need for privacy and was good at ensuring it. It wasn't that noisy either. It was the perfect place to do a Live."Is it recording yet?" Jaehyeon asked and looked into the mobile I had placed precariously in front of us to film. He had his round-framed glasses on as well. He tended not to wear it much but the lighting in the place was a little weak and so, he had to use it."Not yet." I told him. "You good?""Yeah. I'm ready." He threw an arm over the back of my chair and sat back."Are we early?""It's been 10 minutes since we placed the order. They should be bringing us the food soon. We should start now if we have enough people online.""Okay, then. I'll start now." I began our live video and sat back. "There we go. We're on.""Oh. That's a good number." Jaehyeon smiled on seeing the number of people online. It had jumped to around 25

"Ah. I feel like I was whipped around in a tornado and dropped to the ground just now." Jaehyeon let out an exhausted breath as he plopped onto his bed in the hotel room that we were sharing.I was already lying on my bed, arms outstretched, staring hard at the ceiling. Physically, I could feel the fatigue but mentally, I was wide awake. "Hyung, did you see how full the venue was?" Like recalling images from a dream, I could still see it- the dancing lights, the sea full of faces before us shouting for us, the unfamiliar stage, the noise, the adrenaline rush.Our first international live…"I saw it." He looked at me seriously. "We were sold-out, Jeongwoo."Our first international live and we were already sold-out. "'To You' is 17 on the Top 100 list. 'Yeongweonhi Norae' is 24th. 'Kkeum Eh Seo' and 'Where We Are' have also made it onto the list." I stated the facts we had been informed of immediately after day one of our concert. "Is this what a good break feels like? Ah. I can't feel