#luxeaug20

rkyena:

@rkcheri

there’s been a lot weighing on seoyoung’s mind lately. no matter how many times the members have been there for her, all the struggles they’ve gotten through together, there’s still a small cloud of hesitation hanging over her. does she reallywant to burden them with her problems when they’re already working so hard? 

at the end of a long day, seoyoung sees the dark circles under her eyes in the mirror and remembers the much greater danger of keeping things bottled up. that brings everyone down. and she really can’t go on without someone to talk to. she’ll tell juyeon soon enough, but first she wants to talk to naeun. she’s nothing if not the perfect leader, always kind and strong, willing to listen. she’ll know what to do.

that’s how they find themselves in a cozy corner of the common area, seoyoung rubbing her palms hard over her face, trying to keep herself calm and composed. “i’m thinking…” she trails off, then huffs, frustrated that the words won’t come out easily. “i’m thinking of changing my name.”

﹡     ━━     finally she had time to catch up on her shows. on a casual night at home, she was happy to be watching some shows on late-night television with seoyoung. it had been months since they have properly seen each other in the dorm. it’s been a time naeun had missed. thankful for the time, she enjoys the quiet between them ; eyes trained on the show they were currently watching.

she hums at attention when she hears seoyoung’s voice over the comedic relief of the variety show they were watching; turning her full attention to seoyoung rather than watching the other carefully from the corner of her eye ( like she had been doing since seoyoung had joined her on the couch ). “oh?” her hand that had been nonchalantly holding the remote moves to lower the volume so she can hear seoyoung better. her words confuse naeun but rather than suddenly question it – naeun nods her head, allowing the other to continue. “did something happen for you to want to change it?” she asks at first, a tentative hand reaches out to carefully pat the other’s ; assuring her of her presence. 

it’s been a crazy few months – and naeun suddenly feels her own absence in the dorm. since she had been so busy filming her drama, she had lost sight of her other duties in her group. she wasn’t just a vocalist in luxe but also their leader – and for the most part, for naeun, that meant being the pillar they could lean on if they ever had anything that troubledthem. 

“are you okay?”

rkdaehwi:

@rkcheri

Of course he had followed Luxe closely since their debut, and of course he knew the members when he saw one. They were not his favourite girl group for nothing after all. What had started as him waiting for his brother to show up in the Royal cafe to dump one of these stupid flyers on him (it counted right? Even though they lived in the same house?) turned into a fateful encounter as none other than the leader of Luxe stepped in and made his jaw drop to the table. Honestly he had thought himself having the luck of a lifetime when he get to see her and work with her up close during the MGAs last year, and thus he had never expected to see her again. The young fan felt like he could cry from joy right there and then, but he managed to hold it in and sprint up to her.

“Sunbaenim!” he called out hoping he wouldn’t get pushed away by the guards immediately. “I don’t think you remember me but I’m Daehwi, you coached and helped me once! I’m sure it’s thanks to you that I’m where I am today so can you please take this?!” With those words, his body bent into a deep bow as he shakily from nerves held out one of the flyers for her to take. For his next request however, he became strangely bashful, not knowing how to convey his feelings. “And… I-if you can, then maybe a sign…”

﹡     ━━    she was running late – something that she hadn’t done since her first week at royal all those years ago. even though it was a customary vocal lesson, naeun still hadn’t making coach choi wait for her – especially when she had been the one to set up the appointment. having gotten to the company building in the middle of the day – her manager had been by her side in case fans got too close, something she was grateful to. ever since news of her being casted in the new drama alongside kim soohyun, she’d been seeing more people follow after her than usual.

just as she was about to pass the threshold from the cafe ( she couldn’t help herself from grabbing a bite of one of the bowls – yena had gotten her hooked ever since the first time they had come here ) but she hears a familiar voice propel her backwards – head turning at the sound of a call. she feels her eyes narrow as she tries to put a name to the face before realization sets and a grin immediately warps along her lips, happily. “ah, daehwi-ssi, right?” her hands clap joyfully before setting a touch to her manager’s shoulder to allow the younger to pass by. “it’s been so long, how are you?” 

she watches as the other passes a paper her way – eyes widening at just what was written on the paper. it was laughable. a recruitment flyer from sphere – for her? a royal idol? “ah, are you here to poach me out of royal’s hands?” she laughs before shaking her head ; his second request has her giggling once more before nodding. “of course, i’ll take any request from a former pupil!” manager kyu is at the ready with a pen, passing it over to her so she could sign the paper with her signature. although a clumsy signature, she hoped it was good enough ( she was still trying to work on her signature ) for daehwi. “here you go – i hope this is alright!”

           ◆     THE FIRST FULL ALBUM RECORDING    ━     럭스 !   ∙

naeun has always enjoyed their recording days.

if she was being honest, she looked forward to them ( more than she did the days where they worked on choreography ). years later, and naeun still wasn’t the strongest dancer – while she could keep up with nayoung and seolhyun, it was obvious they were are two different playing fields when it came to skill. and naeun wasn’t one to challenge the likes of nature versus nurture. ( not that she nurtured her dancing skill all too well and it was fine, naeun wasn’t here to be the main dancer anyways )

she was the main vocal of her team and she enjoyed being the main vocal.

after months of doing something she wasn’t particularly skilled in – coming back to her roots like this was like a nice warm embrace. if she could call anything home – aside from the obvious things she would much rather call home – she would think the recording studio was a close second to anything else.

numberone was obvious in her eyes but that was a little secret only for her and her closest friends to know. it was such a shame, even if luxe’s dating ban was up ( at least most of luxe, it was unfortunate that nayoung and euijin still had to wait until their two years were done ), naeun didn’t want to risk mason’s contract again. he had done so once before – and this time, naeun didn’t want to be the cause again.

she couldn’t do that to him.

not when he seemed happier where he was now.

much like she, as she’s rustling through the papers that she had carefully nitpicked with her pink highlighter and purple gel pen – the notes, the carefully written corrections in her ugly scrawl of a handwriting all made naeun feel happier.safer? in a way – like this is where she had been waiting to be all year.

dramatic, yes – considering they had been in the recording studio if not just months prior for up & down, this was different.

this was their full album. after two years as an idol, a full album was a gift. something to show off their hard work for their fans – and naeun couldn’t wait to get started on working on it. while the title song wasn’t anything to slouch about – it had the same vein as ‘up & down’ and naeun didn’t seem to mind it. even if up & down had taken her a while to get used to, the vibe of the song wasn’t too bad. 

especially considering the slight backlash they had received from supposedly being too sexy for broadcast – she was glad that they wanted to continue to ride the success of up & down. it was a different type of virality that naeun hadn’t seen in her first two years, it was nice. more people were listening to luxe and it was a compliment, if anything – at least that was what the company liked to think.

ever the optimist. 

she can only wish for the same success for ah yeah. 

for now, as she slides the headphones onto her ears – naeun was fine with singing to her heart’s content. it had been months, anyway. 

( really, she missed this )

            ◆     ‘ THE PRODUCERS ’ WRAP PARTY    ━     럭스 !   ∙

theproducers has come to an end. 

with the show playing in the background, naeun is finally given a taste of what months of filming has brought to fruition. having spent most of the airing avoiding watching her own work out of embarrassment, she’s faced with the flaws in her work despite the praise the director have showered upon her at the time.

she notices the stiffness in her acting for what it is for – growth for the next time.

huh, the next time? that had been a weird thought – after all, hadn’t naeun initially believed this would be a one and done opportunity? hadn’t she bargained with her manager that she hoped to receive more vocal challenging opportunities from now on? 

the thought plagues her as she thanks one of the staff for another helping of meat placed onto her plate. was this something she wanted to continue doing? while neither the place nor time to be contemplating life decisions, the atmosphere does have her in a weirdly pensive mood. while she hadn’t absolutely abhorred the filming schedule, nor the mood of which the staff had placed their filming site, naeun had never really found herself accustomed to the idea of becoming an actress while working as an idol.

thelong hours, themselves, were outlandish and by morning the dark circles had made her skin routine cry a river. ( but eventually, she had worked through it )

like all things, they had took time for her to get used to – but by the end, she realizes: it was an opportunity that she was glad to have taken. ( while it wasn’t the opportunity, it was still a nice change of pace and hadn’t she always been attracted to that chance in consistency? a jumpstart of adrenaline – where she wasn’t sure where life would take her? maybe that was why she needed this role ) and a part of her would missit. 

the question of whether she would do it again was still up in the air but for now – naeun was thoughtful for the future. if she was granted a chance again, perhaps she’d grab it once more.

             ◆     HAIR SALON TRIP  _ 0822    ━     럭스 !   ∙

it’s been months since she’s properly had her hair dyed. after years of constant retouching – the last year had been a rebreather for her severely damaged tendrils, it seemed. not that naeun had minded all that much. with filming for the producers – she hadn’t needed any specific hairstyle or color that was consistent with the role so going from black and staying black seemed simpler for her as well as the stylists on the film team.

with the show coming to an end this month, naeun had thought she’d feel saddened. having gotten used to the routine of waking up to be lugged towards the day’s set was something she had welcomed in the last few months leading to the airing. but now, naeun was just excited to be moving onto the next phase of the year.

while she couldn’t enjoy the fruits of their last comeback promotions, naeun was all on board to stay focused on what new things royal was to offer them in terms of a comeback. while unsure of just when that new comeback would be – she was more than sure it would be soon if the trip to the salon meant anything by it.

usually changes in hair color and style had a strict time restraint of when comebacks could be applied.

so, by the time she finds herself sliding into the usual chair at their salon, her fingers are wringing in anticipation. her first question to the stylist is –

“so what color am i in for this time?” 

she doesn’t have any outlandish expectations. the last time her hair had been extremely colored she had been a red head and that was fun. the stylist fixes her with an impish gaze before revealing the color board to her – her hands immediately trail upon the writings of their team before landing on her name.

huh,brown. oddly enough, it was a color naeun hadn’t really expected. while ordinary ( which was probably the reason why she had never done it in the past ), it was still something new and naeun was fine with that.