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All Chapters of Where We Are: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

32 Chapters

We Are Here to Stay

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
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To You

"Oh. Jeongwoo-ssi, you're back!" A member of the big data team smiled as I happened by her in the corridor. I had just returned from a studio where I had had an interview. The other members were probably all in the dance practice room already, having returned from a guest appearance on a show. We often split up like this when our schedules clashed. For the interview, they had specifically asked for me because I was the Vocal Team leader and a lyricist. The interviewers were more interested in our music than us as a whole. "I just got back." I smiled and bowed. "You're working hard as always. I just saw the rest of S.T.A.Y heading towards the practice room." "I'm heading there myself." So, they really had arrived already. "Oh. Carry on then. I'll see you around. Fighting!" She made fists at me in encouragement. "Ah. You too. Fighting!" I returned and continued walking with Manager Kim Youngil. "Thank you for coming with me, Manager-nim." "No need to thank me. This is my job, Jeon
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04:00 am

"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
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To That Kind of S.T.A.Y!

"S.T.A.Y, stand by!" The stage in-charge called out to us after talking to the MC. "2 minutes!" "Uwah, I'm nervous!" Yeojun rubbed his arms. "Hyung-ah, I'm nervous." He looked at me. I recoiled. "Uh. You- Um-" Jaehyeon placed a hand on my shoulder and chuckled. "Yeojun-ah, that's only going to make Jeongwoo more nervous." I wasn't… Well, I was but… "You two!" Mingyu came over and slapped both our shoulders. "Look at me!" At least he was all fired up. "This may be our biggest stage in a while and the audience may seem bigger than ever before but this isn't our first time. We have done this before. YOU have done this before. And you have gotten off the stage leaving behind emotions that True have carried with them forever. We may not be the main attraction today but we will be leaving the audience believing that we were. You hear me?" It was a little difficult to hear him over the music that was already playing but he was raising his voice all the more to make a point. And he w
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Someone Who Thinks Blue Hair Suits You

"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
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Our Future Prospects

We had begun practicing some of our older routines. With our rising popularity, we had been able to earn some lives on T.V and stages to ourselves. We needed more than one song to perform. It was when we began such practice that it really hit us how popular we were actually getting."My sister just sent this to me." Mingyu laughed and showed us his phone. On it was the photo of a bus with Hanseol's picture on the side. "Hanseol Hyung's got a bus.""That's… a very big picture… of just me." Hanseol narrowed his eyes at it. "Why is it only me?""You have fans. This is obviously sponsored by K-Soul fans." Jaehyeon said."They could have at least used a better picture…" He grumbled."Oh, come on. You look just fine here." Yeojun asserted.Hanseol grumbled inaudibly again and then stood straight. "Well, as long as it helps us.""He's secretly happy." Jaehyeon smirked."Yes, he is." I agreed."Shut it." Hanseol looked away.We were taking a small break in between practice. Manager Park had n
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YoonJae, Jeongwoo and Chicken

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
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"Don't Go"

"Jeongwoo? Choi Jeongwoo?" The man who had previously asked us to wait in the room came to find me. We were at a major media house. We had been asked to come in for a photoshoot for one of their popular entertainment magazines. We had already finished our group photoshoot and they had begun the individual shoot with our leader Mingyu while the rest of us were asked to wait in the adjacent room after getting our outfits and make-up fixed. They had said that they would call us in one by one."Yes. Coming." I turned to Jaehyeon and handed my phone over to him. "Hold on to this for me, won't you?""Sure. Go." He took it from me.I followed the man into the studio. Yeojun had just finished. As I entered, he was leaving. "Good work.""Hyung, best luck." He patted my shoulder.They were waiting for me.I gave them my best smile and bowed. "I am Choi Jeongwoo. I look forward to working with you!""As are we." The man wearing black-framed rectangular glasses with his jacket thrown over his sho
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One Step Closer

"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
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Reasons to be Happy

"Hyung!" Yeojun clung to my arm. "I feel so blessed!""Blessed?" I chuckled. We had just gotten into our agency's black van after coming out of the airport."Yes, blessed." He nodded. "We can't expect our families to be at the airport to welcome us but we had so many True show up today!""I had considered the possibility when we were on the plane but to have actually been received like that…" I agreed. "A blessing, huh?""You could have lowered your hoodie, Jeongwoo. They were screaming for it. It wouldn't have hurt." Hanseol said."I… could have but…""Jeongwoo was too overwhelmed by it all to even react." Jaehyeon laughed. "Am I right?"Did being roommates allow him the ability to peek into my head? "Not really…" I looked away. "The hair's just too bright so early in the morning.""Was I the only one who saw that short-haired girl in a home-made 'To You' outfit with similar blue hair holding up a board with 'Jeongwoo Oppa' on it?" Mingyu enquired."I noticed that too." She was the f
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