Changing Rooms

     Hae Mina jerked awake and although the nightmare faded, the fear remained. It was a fear that crept slowly until it devoured her heart. It sunk deeply into her skin and made her want to scrub it away, so she ventured down the steps and entered the bathroom. A shower was what she needed, so a shower she took.

     Meanwhile, out in the University's soccer field, Jeremy and the others finished their game. "Well, I'm exhausted," Jeremy said, before dropping to the grass. He slid a piece of gum from his pocket and began to chew it.

     "We should shower," Duskin suggested, "then we can practice our music for a little while."

     "A shower sounds great, and practice sounds good, too, especially since Hae Jae-Woo doesn't remember anything," Jeremy pointed out.

     "A shower does sou—" a repeating beep interrupted Cass. He fished out his touch phone and read the message. "That was Chin-Sun. She wants me to babysit Hae-Won. How wonderful." The others laughed at his exasperated look.

     "Too bad, Cass."

     "Good luck with Hae-Won," Kytung Jiho teased, but was interrupted by several rapid beeps. He pulled his touch phone to his ear, "Hello?" a pause, "No! No, I'm going back to the school. No, I am not coming!" His voice grew violent. "I don't care! Grandfather can get over it!" another pause. "Make your man do it!" an extra-long pause. "Whatever! I'm coming." He crammed his phone in his pocket. "Stupid spoiled brat," Kyung Jiho muttered. "I'll catch you later." He started to storm off.

     "Jiho!" Cass called, "take the motorcycle!" Kyung Jiho glanced back with a grin, then continued. Kyung Jiho's family hated his motorcycle.

     "Well, anyone else going to leave?" Yang Dae-Su questioned.

     "Nah," Jeremy replied, "except to shower."

     "Guess we can skip practice today," Duskin muttered, knowing that with Cass and Kyung Jiho both absent the practice would be futile. Thus, the group parted. Cass to babysit, Kyung Jiho to do his sister's bidding, Yang Dae-Su to no one knows where, and Duskin and Jeremy went to take showers.

     As they walked, they spoke, "Hey, Duskin, you think your mother would change my room?"

     "Why?" Duskin asked.

     "If I know anything, it's that Jiho and Cass love their revenge, and I want to be there to witness what happens to Jae-Woo."

     "You shouldn't encourage them. Discourse among band members isn't a good thing, but yes, I'm sure she'll change it. Let me call her." He pulled out his flip phone, "I dropped my touch and broke the screen," he explained to Jeremy. "Umma? Sorry, is it a bad time? Can we move Jeremy to my room? Alright. Thank you. I'll have him change cards. Alright, I love you too, bye, Umma." He shut the phone and put it in his pocket.  "You're good to go. Just pick up the card."

     Once they reached the main campus, the duo parted. Jeremy hurried to the main office so he could get his new card. Duskin's mother, who had her long black hair pulled into a neat bun at the nape of her neck, sat in her chair, eyes downcast. "Mrs. Naiting?" Jeremy inquired before entering.

     "Come in Jeremy," she invited with a warm smile. Jeremy entered the room and sat down in the seat. "How have you been?"

     "I'm doing well. We just finished playing a game of soccer so I need a shower, but I'll wait till I'm in my room for that."

     "Ah, yes. Here," she passed him a new room key and took the old one, "So how's Hae Jae-Woo doing?"

     "I'd say well, but he and Jiho haven't exactly become friends yet. He lost his memory of all our music, so we have to reteach him everything before our upcoming concert, which is like," he paused, "two weeks."

     "Yes, I know. Why don't I see if I can pull some strings and get the concert pushed back a week. We'll let everyone know what happened…"

     "No, Jae-Woo's manager doesn't want anyone to know he lost his memory. It would make people pity him instead of like him. We don't want them to like him because of the accident, but because he sounds awesome."

     "I see. Well, I guess he will have to practice a lot. Good luck."

     "Bye, Mrs. Naiting." Jeremy stood, bowed.

     She chuckled, "It is very odd to hear you call me that."

     He grinned, "Dae-Jung said that while we are here on campus we shouldn't treat you causally."

     She shook her head, "You may call me, Umma, Jeremy, as you always have."

     "Really?" he beamed.

     "Of course. The boys of Nightide are like my sons," she gave him a soft smile.

     "Yes, Umma." He gave another bow before he left the room. His heart was now even happier than before. Not only did he get to call Mrs. Naiting, Umma again, he was going to move rooms. He rushed into his room and began to pack. Upstairs, Jeremy could hardly contain his excitement. He knew Hae Jae-Woo was kind of cool, but now he was awesome. Before, Jeremy couldn't have cared less about watching out for Hae Jae-Woo—he didn't need it before because he knew exactly what he was getting into when he picked fights with Cass and Kyung Jiho—but now that he'd lost his memory, he seemed oblivious to the danger he was in, yet he looked as if he knew some terrible secret that would kill him should it escape into the open.

     Jeremy shook his head, anyway the guy was going to end up a perfect target for revenge and Jeremy wanted to enjoy the show but he also wanted to make sure that the boys didn't get too carried away and make one of the most talented people he'd ever heard quit. 

     He pulled his bag onto the bed. His servant had previously unpacked, but now he had to pack them without a servant, but he didn't care, he was too excited. So he began to hurry and gather his clothes and place them in his bag. Little by little the bag filled. Soon he had the bag full and still things to pack, so he just crammed it all together and forced the main zippers to shut. Then he began to pack his other stuff and the little zippers cried out for mercy when his socks pushed against their restraints. His toothbrush and toothpaste ended up jammed inside the front zipper with no moving room.

     Jeremy then drug his luggage down the hall. The black backpack on wheels was now stuffed to the point of bursting and the zippers grasped for each other with desperate hands. Their little fingers could just hold on, but if anything else were to be forced in, even a penny, everything would explode. The weight forced the wheels to wiggle and squirm as they forced themselves after Jeremy.

     Finally the bag was given rest, for Jeremy had stopped before the room. He slid his card into the slot and pushed the door handle down. It unlocked. He grabbed his bag and began to enter, but was stopped by a friend outside.

     Meanwhile, Hae Mina just finished her shower and was searching inside the bathroom for her clothes. They were nowhere to be seen. She hadn't brought clean clothes with her. "Oh, dear," she muttered. What if one of the boys walks in? Why did I drop those old clothes in the chute? She bit her lip and debated on whether or not she should rush upstairs and grab her things.

     Outside Jeremy continued to talk, oblivious to Hae Mina's turmoil inside the bathroom. "So how'd the group take to Hae Jae-Woo knocking Kyung Jiho out?" Gun Shin-Cho questioned.

     "It's not really a big deal," Jeremy tried to play off the issue. Truly, they weren't supposed to be fighting and Dae-Jung was not going to be pleased. If the press heard about the fight, Hae Jae-Woo becoming part of the band might spark hate mail and more ani-fans.

     "Them getting in a fight isn't a big deal? Aren't you all afraid of the backlash?"

     "Well, I mean Jiho wants to thump him a good one, but he'll get over it. Besides he likes Jae-Woo's talent too much to cause him damage and Jae-Woo didn't remember Jiho."

     "So it's true? He really lost his memeory."

     "Yeah. The accident caused a bit of amnesia, but you aren't supposed to talk about it. If Mr.Naiting or Mrs. Naiting hear that it gets leaked to the public..." Jermey faked a shudder. "Crossing the Naiting family is never good."

     Gun Shin-Cho nodded. He understood the message. "So, is he good?" He asked changing the subject.

     "Well, come to the concert in two weeks and see. He made Dusk speechless."

     "No way! By the way, why doesn't Dusk come to this school?"

     "He doesn't like to be around us all day, I guess. Jiho gets pretty annoying sometimes. Besides Dusk doesn't like Duskin."

     "Why doesn't he like him?"

     "He says the only reason he's even permitted to talk to us is because Duskin's parents are the owners of this school."

     "Ouch, harsh. Sounds like Jiho."

     "That's what I thought. But even Jiho didn't like that. They got in an argument over it. Well, anyway, I need to unpack: my things were in the wrong room," Jeremy rolled his eyes, "It's so hard to find good help these days. Bye." Gun Shin-Cho waved and left. Jeremy then pushed the door open. However, at the same moment, Hae Mina was opening the bathroom door.