After a long day of filming, the shoot had finally ended.
"Mentors, this way," the staff instructed, allowing them to go back to their waiting rooms before the girls.
The trainees started waving goodbye to the mentors, a bit disappointed since they wanted to talk to them for longer.
Meanwhile, June was stuck in his seat, not finding the strength to stand after everything that had happened.
Then, he turned around and saw Mei Ling still dozing off in her seat. He shook his head and held himself back from going to her and poking her forehead.
Why was she dozing off in such an unusual place?
"June," Lee Sik said, snapping June out of his thoughts.
"Let's go."
June pursed his lips and eventually stood from his seat to follow after the other mentors.
When they got backstage, they bid farewell to each other before going to their respective waiting rooms.
June walked slowly to his waiting room, still reflecting on everything that had happened this day.
Then, as he stood outside his waiting room, he felt compelled to walk around and look for his sister.
He placed his hand on the knob and was frozen for a couple of minutes. He hesitated to turn the knob and eventually decided to follow his instincts.
"Fuck it," he muttered before letting go of the doorknob and walking through the hallways of the studio.
Fortunately, having experienced living in this very studio, he knew where the trainees currently were. They were probably receiving the t-shirts that corresponded to their ranks!
June let his feet guide him to the familiar place. However, when he got there, he saw a large crowd of female trainees, making him halt in his spot once again.
He was so preoccupied with the feelings of longing for his sister that he nearly forgot that he had to face the other trainees, too.
He let out a deep breath and peeked through the small gap on the door as he thought of what to do next.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})June didn't know what he wanted. He also didn't know what to say if he met Mei Ling at that very moment. However, all he knew was he wanted to meet his sister.
It had been far too long since he had seen her.
"I knew you were strange, to begin with, but I didn't expect you to be a pervert, too. I guess I should have lowered my expectations more," a familiar voice suddenly said from behind June, causing him to freeze on the spot.
The girl scoffed. "Are you going to continue peeking at the girls? They're not going to change their shirts there, you know?"
June finally had the courage to turn around, seeing the girl who was the very reason why he was an idol today.
"Mei Ling," he muttered, causing the girl to frown.
"What did you say?" she asked.
June pursed his lips before shaking his head.
"Mei," he said her stage name this time.
"Mentor June," she said with narrowed eyes.
June bowed slightly, but he couldn't take his eyes away from her, still in disbelief at everything that was happening.
Mei's eyes narrowed further, and she quickly placed her arms over her chest, making June's eyes widen.
"I'm not a pervert," he quickly defended himself.
Mei raised her eyebrows. "That's something a pervert would say."
June sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He was glad that Mei was still as suspicious as ever. However, it was also quite offensive to be accused of being a pervert.
"Me?" June asked. "A pervert? With this face?"
"Why?" Mei asked. "Do handsome men have a pass now or something? Someone's appearance has nothing to do with being a pervert."
June sighed and scratched the back of his head. "You're right, but I'm not that kind of person. I was just..."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})...looking for you.
"...seeing how you guys were adjusting. I had a pretty tough time when I was a trainee, and I—uh—wanted to give you guys strength."
Mei's suspicious look didn't let up as June continued to talk. He even had to look away from her eyes because he felt like they were piercing into him!
"Sure, let's say that I believe you," she said. "That still doesn't explain why you're peeking through such a small gap in the door. Don't you think that action is weird in itself?"
June pursed his lips since he couldn't rebut Mei's suspicions.
He let out a deep breath. "I know it looks strange, but all I want to say is that I'm not doing anything bad. I'm here for a reason—
one that I cannot disclose just yet. It doesn't involve any malicious things," he clarified.
Mei shrugged and started inspecting her nails.
"Whatever. Just go if you're not going to do anything else here," she said.
June clicked his tongue as he continued observing her.
"You're not fond of me, are you?" he couldn't help but ask.
Mei stopped looking at her nails and focused her attention on June instead.
"Well, I have no reason to be fond of a pervert, do I?"
June sighed loudly and subtly glared at her. "I'm. Not. A. Pervert," he said.
Then, he mirrored her suspicious gaze.
"Have you...met me before?" he asked, causing Mei to freeze for a second. However, she was back to her normal disposition in no time.
"Yeah," she answered, making June surprised.
"We have?" June asked.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})She nodded. "I've met you plenty of times on the television. Oh, I've seen you on billboards too. It's not that I want to, though. My grandma seems very fond of you, so I can't escape you at home. Then, when I came here, your face was all over the billboards. It seems like I can't escape you even here."
June sighed and shook his head. "I'm not talking about that," he said.
"I mean—have we met before? In person?" he asked.
June felt like they had a connection with each other aside from being siblings. Why else would she be so hostile to him?
Mei took her time to answer his question.
Then, eventually, she shook her head.
"No," she said. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but I'm from China. I wouldn't be able to cross paths with you if you trained here for a long time."
"I went there, though," he muttered, but Mei was still able to hear him.
Her expression hardened before shaking her head.
"Aren't you going to leave?" she asked.
June ignored her question and pondered upon a thought.
"Your grandma," he suddenly brought up. "You don't have any parents?" he asked.
Mei raised one of her eyebrows. "Don't you think that's too personal?"
June pursed his lips since he just wanted to know if all of her memory had been erased.
"I'm just curious," he said.
Mei shook her head, a small smile of disbelief playing on her lips.
"Well, don't be serious," she said, looking him dead in the eyes.
"I'm not obligated to tell you anything."
"It's not like you're my brother or something."
