Chapter 2
When Danielle arrived at the studio, Hanni almost gaped at her.
“Bro, are you out of your mind?” She asked, noticing the dark mark at the base of the younger’s neck astonished.
“What? Why? What did I do?” The other Australian looked at her innocently, as if there wasn’t a big hickey on her neck to prove just how innocent she was not.
Hanni opened up the camera on her phone and pushed the device in front of her friend’s face so she could take a look for herself.
“Ah,” Danielle muttered, “I thought I took care of it.” She added.
“Did you get attacked or something?” The songwriter asked, an annoyed look on her face, as the singer broke out into a huge, coy smile. “By a vampire?”
“I went out for drinks with Jinwoo oppa last night and Haerin-ie got a little jealous again. I guess we kind of got carried away.” The woman said with a shrug, a deep blush present on her cheek as her mind was clearly brought back to the previous night’s events.
“You went out for drinks with a male celebrity last night and now you’re going around with a massive hickey on your neck,” Hanni rephrased. “You’re not even a little bit worried about creating a scandal?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, c’mon, it’s not that bad. It would be hardly visible if you weren’t this close to me,” Danielle justified. “Plus, I feel kind of bad concealing it. I don’t want Haerin to feel like I’m trying to hide her.” She admitted, and suddenly Hanni realized something. That maybe all that talk about passionate love and jealousy was Danielle’s way of hinting that something was wrong.
The smaller of the two sat down on the couch next to her oldest friend. They were early, the other producer and song writer haven’t arrived yet and their recording session wasn’t scheduled to start for at least another twenty minutes.
“Are you and Haerin-ie okay?” She asked gently, placing a comforting hand on Danielle’s knee.
“Of course we are. Haven’t you paid attention to what I’ve been telling you? This is the most passionate we’ve been in all our years together.” Danielle reassured, and her smile seemed genuine. She looked like she was glowing.
“Well, it’s just the way you’ve been acting, and talking about making Haerin jealous and everything... I don’t know, it doesn’t sound like the healthiest way to pursue your....” Hanni waved her hand between them, tying to convey what she wanted to say, but not finding the right words to. “Road to pleasure?” She ended up saying and blushed soon after. Danielle simply laughed at her, bright and unrestrained.
“I think it would be more unhealthy bottling everything up.” She said with a shrug. “Why? Did you talk about it with Minji unnie?”
“No.” Hanni denied quickly. “And I’m not going to. Minji and I are fine; we don’t need... any of that.” She reassured in one breath, making the other Australian laugh again.
“Ok, girl, just don’t be so sure if you haven’t tried it.” Danielle said with a tilt of her head. Hanni wondered when her friend had become so confident and outspoken. She was sure it was a recent development, a sudden one too, because they’d never so openly spoken about their intimate life with Haerin and Minji, respectively.
“No, I’m just saying... I don’t think I could even make Minji jealous. She trusts me and I like that about our relationship.” Hanni wasn’t sure why she felt the sudden urge to defend herself or her relationship.
“Girl, you’ve got it all wrong.” Danielle said. “Haerin trusts me too, plus we are together like ninety percent of our time, she knows I would or could never cheat on her. It’s not really about that.” She explained.
Hanni was puzzled, and kind of intrigued, but she didn’t want to show it as much.
“Well, you see, since I’m such a public figure, no one can really know that we are together, and I know Haerin usually doesn’t mind because she is a quiet person and she likes her personal stuff to be just personal, you know?” The singer said. “But as my manager she has to watch me all day interact with these other idols and actors, during photo shoots and interviews, and then reads all the speculation about a possible relationship if I just look at one of them for a beat too long or if I seem to be smiling a bit too brightly. She has never complained or said anything about it, but I know sometimes it gets overwhelming for her. I know she would want people to know that I am off limits.” She explained. It suddenly started to make a lot more sense; Hanni felt kind of bad for never realizing how much their youngest friend was struggling. Haerin had always appeared so calm and collected and void of any deep emotions that sometimes it was hard to think of her like someone who could be in pain or suffering. “Haerin-ie is a sweetheart and she would never make me feel bad for my job or what I have to do, she would never tell me not to look at other people, no matter how much she wished she could, so I started to push her buttons a little, just to get a reaction out of her, because I don’t want her to bottle everything up and start doubting herself. To be honest, I never expected this kind of reaction from her, but since that first time, she’s been showing more and more that side of her at home and... bro, I’m telling you I think I’ve fallen in love all over again.”
Hanni frowned for a moment, thorn between asking for specifics, just to get a clearer picture in her mind and shutting off the conversation all together before Danielle could get the hint and get into even more gory details.
“But Haerin is like... I don’t know a cute, but sometimes angry cat.” She said, because she really couldn’t imagine the younger be anything but still and serious if provoked.
Danielle scoffed. “She might look like a cat, but believe me, she is truly a ...”
“No!” Hanni stopped. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” It probably was too late to make up her mind that she definitely, DEFINITELY, did not want to know anything more about Haerin in any other environment that wasn’t out in the open and with lots of light and people around and clothes, most importantly clothes on.
“Relax, I was just gonna say tiger.”
Like that was anything better.
“But trust me, the sweet Haerin-ie you know gets completely transformed if pushed just a little, and all I need to do is show a little skin, gets a little too close to whoever it is I’m with, and then she makes sure to remind me just who I’m going home with every night.” The singer said, in a hushed tone, not even a blush on her cheeks, while Hanni’s eyes were wide in a mixture of shock and horror, as her mind travelled to unwanted images of her two friends, images she definitely wished could never appear before her eyes ever again.
“Dani, if you keep this up, I’m gonna make you a song... about monkeys and hippos.” She threatened, still unable to meet her friend’s eyes, as the scoundrel laughed in amusement at her expression.
“Oh, c’mon, unnie. I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t done with Minji unnie yourself. Don’t act so shy.” She teased and then shuffled closer on the couch. “Do you see this?” She asked, pointing at the mark on her neck. “There are many more that you can’t see.” She revealed, making Hanni squeal and shoot up from the couch just as the other producer and writer entered the studio.
Danielle laughed and greeted the newcomers, as she swiftly wrapped a scarf around her neck to hide the evidence of the night of passion. Hanni sat down on her usual chair in front of the console and pretended to be busy starting everything up, hoping the music and recording process could distract her enough from the conversation she just had with her friend, while images of Minji filled her mind, wondering what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of such passionate and possessive display.
For the briefest of moments there was a tug at the pit of her stomach, as she tried to think back to the last time she had any marks on her body to show off or attempt to conceal, she wasn’t sure how she felt about the fact that she couldn’t remember when that was.