A/N: I don't own B2ST or CUBE and don't claim any part of their cool thing they got going. I'm just a chick with too much time and imagination. I hope I can at least entertain you, the reader, the most important part of this story. :3

Chapter 4

After a collaboration of ideas from several parties, CUBE renamed our "official" group. Our new name was BERRI. In addition to that, they gave me a stage name, "Sammy."

"SooYun just doesn't sound like a lady rapper. You need to be…" Yoonie began, but I finished for him.

"Fresh," I said in English. He nodded enthusiastically.

MiYoung decided to go with the name "Mi Yun" on stage, because in her mind, it sounded prettier. Mika kept her name because it was unique.

DooJoon seemed very excited about our debut, but we knew he was really just excited to see MiYoung when he came around.

"Good luck with your debut," he'd tell Mika and me, and then spend 30 minutes talking to MiYoung. I hoped that something would happen between them. It was easy to hide relationships in the company because if label-mates are seen together or talk about each other, no one suspects anything.

"How's HyunSeung?" MiYoung asked DooJoon loudly when they came closer to Mika and me again.

DooJoon shrugged, "He's always working so hard. Why, has SooYun decided she's in love with him?"

"No," I laughed.

"HyunSeung made a move on her," MiYoung smiled.

"So I've heard," DooJoon smiled slightly, then looked at me, "Be careful, though, SooYun. Seungie isn't the type of guy you want to get involved with."

"No one said anything about being involved," Mika defended me; "I don't even think SooYun gives a crap about any of it."

"I don't," I said lightly. It was half true.

"Okay, girls. We need to do some—DooJoon, you're not part of BERRI, get out of here," Yoonie held the door open for him and he hung his head and walked out, but not before winking at MiYoung on the way out.

"We need to do some practice," Yoonie could hardly contain himself, "There's talk of a documentary."

"Really?" MiYoung smiled, "I hope so!"

"I don't," I crossed my arms across my stomach.

"Are you still going on about that comment?" Yoonie asked, then sighed, "SooYun, you aren't fat. I'm sorry for suggesting otherwise."

It was the 8th time he apologized, but I know the only reason behind was because MiYoung told him I wasn't eating as much. I hadn't lost any weight yet, but I had been losing energy. As we were stretching, I was already tired. This was weird, because usually I could get up early and work out immediately.

"Maybe the answer is more sleep," I said to Mika. She raised her eyebrow, completely oblivious as to what I was talking about. I just shrugged my shoulders, so she did, too. MiYoung rolled her eyes at me while we get in position to start the new routine without music. Our dance coach was clapping his hands with every count. I finally felt better. Dancing always made me feel better. It was like I was a different person. The routine was simple and there wasn't a lot of room for freestyle, but I still felt good. I felt like I was home. I felt like I was me for the first time since… Since I was with DongWoon. Huh. That's an interesting thought. The thought didn't distract me until we took a short break, and I contemplated on whether or not to text him or not. I knew he was likely to be busy. If not, he probably wasn't even awake. It was about 10 o'clock.

I sent him a text anyway. ( Hey, how's your back? )

As soon as it sent, I felt a wave of regret. How's your back? How stupid could I get? How's your back? It was so embarrassing that I almost didn't look when my phone vibrated. He texted back that soon?

( Funny you should ask… )

I smiled to myself. He was full of crap.

( You're awake! Busy schedule today? )

"What're you smiling about, Sammy?" MiYoung teased, taking my phone right as DongWoon texted back, then she read aloud, "Not at all, I just wanted to shower before hyungs got up and took the hot water. How about you?" she raised an eyebrow, "Are you chatting with Woonie?"

I shrugged, then snatched my phone back. I read the text for myself. Somehow it was cuter with his little emoticon faces.

"That's adorable," Mika smiled, "Maknae and maknae."

"Are you into him?" MiYoung looked surprised, "I thought you liked HyunSeung."

"I never said that," I rolled my eyes, "I don't see the big deal."

"So you do like him?" it was Yoonie who asked, an interested smile on his face.

I sighed and stood up, "No. He's just a friend." A really hot friend. Who I enjoyed the company of more than others. "Can we get back to dancing?"

"You're a liar," Yoonie teased, poking at my leg, "Go ahead, text him back."

"You know," Mika laughed, "You shouldn't be condoning the potential hookup, Yoonie."

"Shhh," he shushed her, "I know nothing of such relationships—"

"There will be no hookup," I said calmly, "or relationship. We're friends."

( Just rehearsing. I wanna debut already. T ^ T ) I texted DongWoon, since no one else was getting up.

Again, he texted back quicker than I expected, ( Do you want to hang out later? )

It took almost everything I had in me not to smile. ( Sure. I'll let you know when we're done for the day. ^_^ )

( I'll just wait here by the phone… ) he joked. I put my phone back down on top of my bag.

I started re-stretching before our coach came back to pump the routine into us again. Around 12, we finished and met with a songwriter. We didn't get a single thing accomplished. He just asked us what kind of style we wanted, and Yoonie answered for us. I was annoyed because I was looking forward to making our own music, our own style.. MiYoung promised me we could branch out and do that soon.

"Let the professionals handle our debut. Seriously, Soonah," she nudged me when I rolled my eyes, "Once we're out, you'll see."

"Is SooYun in here?" a small framed assistant from downstairs peeked in the room unexpectedly. I turned and raised my hand. She smiled and came in with a vase of the most beautiful lilies I'd ever seen. Tied around the vase was a purple ribbon. "These are for you."

Mika and MiYoung looked at each other. I knew my face was probably extremely red, and a goofy smile was on my face. There was a card tied onto one of the ends of the ribbon. I carefully untied it and opened it.

"For all the help you've given me. I couldn't give you roses, it's too common. You deserve something even more beautiful. Call me later. –DW"

MiYoung was reading over my shoulder, "YOONIE, THEY'RE FROM DONGWOON!"

"Seriously?" Mika hovered over and squealed with MiYoung.

"It's a thank you for a few favors I've done for him," I made sure to tell everyone, "It's nothing."

"Call me later?" Yoonie asked with a hidden smile, "He wants YOU to call HIM? It's cute how much he needs to learn."

"Anyway," I put the flowers on an end table near the door, "Are we singing at all today?"

Yoonie looked like he wanted to discuss this more, but he sighed, "Yes, but we're breaking for a quick lunch first."

My stomach had been growling for an hour, but I didn't let it get to me until Yoonie mentioned food.

"SooYun, will you please eat a reasonable amount?" MiYoung asked quietly, "I don't want to have to worry about you this early in our career."

I raised an eyebrow, "Worry?"

"Honestly, SooYun," Yoonie growled, "You're never going to lose weight if you boycott food altogether. Just eat. You're getting on my nerves."

I was quiet. Mika let a stifled laugh escape.

"I'm sorry," she laughed, "He just got so upset."

The tenseness in the air loosened because of her amusement and even Yoonie cracked a smile.

Later, all I could think about was hanging out with DongWoon. I texted him a simple thank you for the flowers, but he didn't reply until a lot later to tell me that they got their hair done today. At that time, I couldn't reply because we were busy trying to write a song with the songwriter. I hated the song so far. It was like SNSD's cute threw up on 4minute's hip-hop. After the session, when Yoonie was driving us back to our apartment, there was a strange air, and I felt like everyone knew the song was terrible.

"Can we all just try to write a better song tonight?" MiYoung asked.

"I'm game," Mika sighed, "I was hoping I wasn't the only one who thought it was stupid."

"Oh, girl," I laughed, "You definitely weren't the only one."

Yoonie sighed, "If you can write a good song in one night, we won't even need the songwriter. We meet with a couple of producers tomorrow… Develop a style and show them what you're capable of."

"No problem," MiYoung said, "We can totally all do it."

I nodded. She was bluffing. But we pretended to be confident anyway. Mika stayed with us and when we got inside, MiYoung started busting out laughing.

"We're screwed!" she laughed.

"I was going to hang out with DongWoon tonight," I pouted.

Mika perked up, "Wait! We can get Beast to help us!"

I blinked, and MiYoung shook her head, "No way. That would be ammunition."

"What do you mean by that?"

She looked between Mika and I like we were dumb, "Well, we can't ask for help so soon. We haven't even debuted. That's something they could hold over our heads. Besides, they're going to think we're useless."

"As of right now, we are," I admitted. MiYoung took a deep breath, and then pouted.

"Fine," she mumbled, "Maybe we could use the help. Call DongWoon."

When I opened my phone, he had texted me again. ( Are you going to be done soon? T^T )

I called him and he answered after the first ring, "Wow, look who it is."

I chuckled, "We're in a bit of a dilemma."

"Who is we and what kind of dilemma are you in? Are we still hanging out tonight?"

"Yes," I tried to sound completely innocent, "We need your help, and maybe the other oppas, too."

DongWoon paused for a minute, then chuckled, "What do you need?"

"We accepted a challenge of writing a song," I sighed, "and we need one to work with by tomorrow mor—"

"Say no more. JunHyung and I aren't doing anything, so we'll be there in… wait, we don't know where you live," DongWoon laughed.

"Well, we can meet on the corner by the CUBE building, it'll probably take both of us.. 10 minutes to get there?" I guessed. MiYoung and Mika were looking at me hopefully.

"Sure thing," DongWoon sounded so cute, I turned so no one saw me blush, "I can't wait."

"See you soon then," I hung up and took a deep breath, then turned to my unnies, "DongWoon and JunHyung are going to meet –"

"DooJoon isn't coming?" MiYoung looked disappointed, but Mika was beaming.

"No, but JunHyung is supposed to be a great songwriter!" Mika smiled, "This is great!"

"I hope they won't be recognized," MiYoung still sounded deflated, but once we had a song, she'd feel better.

All three of us met DongWoon and JunHyung at the corner I specified. The first thing I noticed was DongWoon's hair.

"Whoa," I reached for it. It was significantly shorter, and black again. It looked really good, but he didn't look pleased. "I like it! It looks so cool!" I said smiling widely. I had to stand on my toes to touch it, and it brought us into a very close proximity.

"Thank you for coming, oppa," MiYoung said to JunHyung, who smiled a little.

"It's my pleasure," he instantly became more approachable, with just a simple, squishy smile. Mika blushed a bit.

"You look really cute today, SooYun," DongWoon smiled and gave me a hug. I was a little surprised, but I couldn't help but smile, "Have you guys started dancing in heels yet? You're so short, they'll HAVE to put you in heels."

"I am not that short," I playfully punched him as we started walking, "You're just too tall."

"No," MiYoung said, "You're pretty short."

"Did SooYun tell you her stage name?" Mika teased.

DongWoon laughed quietly, "They gave you a stage name?"

"SAMMY~!" MiYoung announced, "I think it's perfect!"

JunHyung shrugged, "I've heard lots worse, that's for sure."

"I like it," DongWoon smiled, "Sammy." He repeated it another few times, then said, "But I like SooYun, also."

"Well I'm Mi Yun," MiYoung smiled, "How's that?"

"It's not that different from MiYoung," JunHyung teased, which caused MiYoung to elbow him.

We continued a very friendly conversation all the way to the small apartment. Before we left, we cleaned the place up just a little, but we were usually very clean people. DongWoon and JunHyung looked like they had walked into a doctor's office.

"I feel like I can't touch anything," DongWoon said before carefully taking a seat on the couch.

"Is this the first time you've been in a home of all women or something?" Mika teased.

"It's just so clean," DongWoon folded his hands on his knees and I took a seat next to him. I probably could've given him more space, but I felt more confident with his body next to mine like it was. Stupid, really, but I didn't mind.

JunHyung was walking around, putting his hands on everything, "If you guys have some pens and paper, let's get that out."

DongWoon rolled his eyes then glanced at me, "Did you have a good day?"

"It was tiring," I shrugged, "It was good up until we met with the songwriter. That was a terrible experience."

DongWoon pouted slightly, "I'm sorry."

"Is that when you bet you could write a better song?" JunHyung laughed. DongWoon awkwardly put his arm on the back of the couch behind me and laughed along with him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Mika said, "and that's why you're here."

"Not necessarily," DongWoon smiled, "I might've been here anyway."

Mika handed a few pieces of paper to JunHyung, who then took a seat on the floor, "What kind of sound are you going for?"

"Hip-hop, but not extremely," MiYoung shrugged.

"Not extremely pop, either," I cringed, "I can't do it."

JunHyung nodded, "You guys have to have a keyboard or something, right?"

MiYoung nodded, then looked at me, "SooYun could you –" When she saw DongWoon's arm on the back of the couch, she stopped and smiled, "I'll get it, actually."

JunHyung and Mika talked while MiYoung went back to our room to bring the keyboard.

"So, have you eaten dinner yet? Maybe after we write this song me and you can go get something to eat," DongWoon offered shyly.

I smiled, "Unless it takes us forever to get a song—"

"It won't," DongWoon said, "JunHyung is a genius. The flowers turned out really good, eh?" he pointed at the flowers I had put on the dining room table using the hand that was closest to my shoulder, which made him wrap his arm around me for a moment. I smiled and nodded. His effort was really cute.

"Mika, could you give me a hand with the wires?" MiYoung called from the back.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Mika winked at me discreetly. JunHyung sat awkwardly on the floor while DongWoon kept his arm awkwardly on the couch behind me. So much awkward.

"JunHyung! It's all tangled!" Mika called from the hall, "Can you come help us?"

JunHyung seemed to finally get it, "Of course!"

DongWoon coughed nervously, "They're doing this on purpose."

"I know," I chuckled, "I wonder what they think is going on."

"I know, right?" he laughed, "Because I mean… it's nothing. They're just being—"

"Ridiculous," I finished for him. It was quiet for a moment. I was expecting him to make a move, but he seemed too nervous. So I turned my head to face him. We were a lot closer than I thought. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

"You're really pretty, SooYun," he said quietly.

My heart sped up. How did he do that?

"You're really pretty, too, oppa," I teased. He flung his head back and rested it on the couch. I leaned up and kissed his cheek, which then turned a brilliant pink color. It was the boldest thing I'd ever done. DongWoon looked at me again, then kissed my cheek back. It felt like we were in grade school, but it was also cute.

"Okay! We got it untangled!" Mika called, and we heard some snickers. I knew my face was probably a really bright pink, and DongWoon even held a little color. Everyone pretended like it was all completely unintentional, but it wasn't at all. My lips wanted more, but I had to focus on the song for now.

Sure enough, JunHyung was a genius. He came up with a melody that everyone liked in 5 minutes. The rest, lyrics, just sort of started to flow. I was doing really well in contributing to the song until I leaned forward and DongWoon began to scratch my back gently. Then all I could focus on was his fingers' touch. I sang where I had to, and even rapped a little when I had to. But as for contributing with lyrics, DongWoon ruined any creative spirit I'd had.

We were done with the song a lot sooner than any of us had expected. We'd all learned to play the song, and Mika promised to transcribe it to blank staffs later. JunHyung made her pinky promise. It was cute how they interacted. Mika had a very clear crush on JunHyung, and he seemed to know it. My observation of the two of them was cut off when DongWoon spoke.

"So, are you hungry?"

I wasn't at all, but I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. I wanted us to have more time to talk besides just texting. So I lied, "I'm starving."

He smiled, "MiYoung, is it okay if I take SooYun out for some dinner?"

"As long as you don't stay out too late," she said, "We're going to practice the song more when you get home, okay Sammy?"

I nodded, "I look forward to it. It's a great song thanks to JunHyung."

JunHyung smiled coyly, "I just sat there. You girls just needed someone to work with."

"Thanks again for coming, guys," MiYoung patted DongWoon on the shoulder, "I'll see you later, Sammy. Have fun."

"Bye~ Sammy~!" Mika winked at me.

After DongWoon and I parted ways with JunHyung, the night felt fresher. At the same time, I felt really nervous being alone with him. I opened up to him a lot more than other people, and that freaked me out. I needed to decide immediately whether to put my guard up or learn to trust DongWoon. Our night had just begun, after all.

"What are you hungry for?" DongWoon smiled, but it looked as if it was forced.

"Are you hungry for anything in particular?" I asked.

DongWoon shrugged, "I'm actually not hungry."

"Good, me either," I sighed, "I just wanted to hang out with you."

He chuckled, "Then let's go hang out."

We took a bus and walked several blocks until we came to a park. The two of us just walked and talked. It was getting cold for the night, so I stuffed my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket. As we walked and talked, we moved closer and closer together. He told me about his parents, his education. I told him about mine. There wasn't much to talk about.

"What's wrong? You got quiet," he nudged me gently.

"It's nothing," I smiled, "What are we doing here? Just wondering around?"

DongWoon looked around, "We can go sit down if you want. There's a little picnic table over there." He bravely wrapped his arm around me and led me to the table. He held my hand while he seated me, then plopped down next to me.

"So tell me the truth about you," his legs faced the opposite way, with his back against the table part of the picnic table. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and put his elbows on the table. I folded my hands and put them in my lap. Hands seemed like the most fascinating thing in the world right then. I felt like I just discovered the beauty of the wretched things. But DongWoon was waiting for answers. He wasn't flirting or just wondering—he really wanted me to talk to him.

"I don't have parents," I said bluntly. I had tried to keep normal conversation, so when he asked a 'Do your parents ever …' question, I just nodded. DongWoon bit the inside corner of his mouth while I continued, "I don't want to get into it. I've always been into dance, but it was my grandmother who convinced me to sing. She told me I sound exactly like my mother when I sing," I smiled to myself.

"Where's your mother?" DongWoon seemed to gravitate toward me, emotionally and physically. Our arms were touching.

"I don't really know," I shrugged, "She moves a lot. I haven't talked to her since I started training. I was at YG before coming to Cube," I told him, "I like Cube a lot."

"Don't change the subject," DongWoon wasn't easily fooled, "What about your father?"

I swallowed tears. I knew he was going to ask that, so I gave him the answer I had prepared, "I don't know him."

DongWoon must have seen my eyes glistening because I felt his warm hand on my back. I was scared to look at him, because I could feel him watching me. I was too vulnerable to look at him. I knew I would cry if I looked at him.

I let myself chuckle, "MiYoung doesn't know any of this about me."

DongWoon tucked his thumb just under my eye and caught a tear that was close to the edge of falling, "I feel special." When I didn't say anything else, he asked another question, "So your grandmother raised you?"

I nodded, "She's gone now, though. Died." This was something I was used to talking about. Something I was trained to have no emotion for. Everyone knew this about me.

DongWoon seemed to catch on to my poker face, because he just said, "Don't try to pretend that didn't destroy you."

That was the first time someone had said anything like that to me. And it was my breaking point. I felt the first tear fall on my hands. I was looking at them again as if I'd never seen something as beautiful. I'm convinced it was their beauty that made me cry that night. DongWoon's arm around me, he comforted me in whispers, his perfect lips tickling my ears; I wanted to tell him it was the beauty of my hands that was making me cry. I wanted to tell him that I was crying because I'd never been blown away by such a natural beauty. I wanted to tell him I wasn't upset at all—I'd gotten over my grandmother's death months ago. I wanted to explain everything to him. But I didn't want to lie to him anymore. So I just cried. And then my lips were on him—on his lips. Mine had found his, searching for something to cling to, and DongWoon welcomed it.

He wanted me to taste his empathy, it seemed. And I did. It wasn't sweet like I imagined, but it was suiting. I had quit crying and my hands felt his face softly. He put his hand awkwardly on my waist and pulled me a fraction closer. I could hear my heart beating in my ears, and I felt like his was beating the exact same rhythm. I broke our kiss and pressed my forehead to his. I couldn't open my eyes, because I knew it would make that moment so much more real. That scared me. I had given a huge part of myself to DongWoon so willingly, and I had no idea why. What was it about him that made me feel so comfortable? Whatever it was made me crazy.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, wiping the small makeup smears from under my eyes, "Why did you tell me that stuff?"

"I trust you," I shrugged, still not opening my eyes. I didn't want him to be real yet.

"Why do you trust me?" he asked.

"I like you," I mumbled. I was terrified of the silence that followed. But his fingers on my face kept their rhythmic touch, and his forehead stayed pressed to mine. Say it back, I thought to myself. But he didn't. He just kissed me again.

"You're really something special, SooYun," he cupped my cheeks in his hands, "Look at me." I forced my eyes open and glanced up at him before looking away embarrassed. "Can't you look at me?" I struggled to look at him again, and once our eyes locked, I fell deep into his eyes. I couldn't look away. I saw the light flickering there, the deep set emotion and determination. I felt like he was showing me his heart.

"I like you," I said again, but more confidently.

"I like you, too, SooYun," he smiled, but I could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Where does that put us?" I knew the answer wasn't a good one.

"In a place we shouldn't be," DongWoon said honestly. That was all I could handle to hear. I just wanted to feel now. I pressed my lips to his again, and he welcomed it again.

I could've spent the rest of the night like that.