AKA

Chapter Seven

"Well, Jer," Manager Kyung started as he plopped into the passenger seat of the AKA van. "That interview was certainly an improvement from your past interviews."

"Thank you!" Jer beamed as he buckled his seatbelt. "I thought I did pretty good! Especially when the interviewer lady asked—"

"BUT you still have ways to go to being really good at interviews," Manager Kyung continued with a pointed look at Jer. "That's why I'm going to have Yohee coach you in improving your public speaking ability and improving your ability to answer interview questions."

"I am?" Yohee asked.

Manager Kyung gave that same pointed look to Yohee. "Yes, you are."

"Okay...um...sure. Yes sir," Yohee said with feigned respect.

Well I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who really doesn't want to do this interview teaching thing, Jer thought. Not only do I not want to do it because it sounds stupid, I also don't want to do it because it'll cut in on the investigation that Min-joon and I are about to start!

Jer really wanted to protest Manager Kyung's command, but he knew it was of no use. A whole year of working under Manager Kyung taught Jer that the forty-three-year-old man didn't budge. Ever. If he said something was going to happen, then that thing was going to happen no matter what.

Jer just kept quiet during van ride back to the A-House and texted Min-joon that he would be there soon.

When Jer got back to the A-House, he took his second shower of the day, changed into a pair of black jeans and a matching red and black plaid shirt, and then traveled to the kitchen in search of food to eat for lunch.

As Jer made a ham, turkey, and cheddar cheese sandwich and paired it with the remaining handful of potato chips left in the large pantry, Brandon came up to him from out of nowhere.

"Hey man!" Brandon said, scaring Jer.

Jer jumped, which made Brandon laugh heartily.

"Hey Brandon. Where in the world did you come from?" Jer said as he cleaned up the mustard he spilled on the counter.

"Downstairs. Taiyang, Samuel, Jimmy, and I are in the middle of playing a video game. We paused so I could get some snacks for us. Oh! How was your and Yohee's interview? Did you cop out and only say a few words like usual or did you actually say more because you had no one else to talk for you?" Brandon smirked as he said that last sentence.

Jer threw a chip at Brandon which Brandon dodged with a flick of his hand.

The two laughed as Jer responded, "I actually did better. MK even said so. I was still really nervous, but I actually managed to give two or three sentences in my answers."

"That's great, Jer!" Brandon gave Jer a pat on the back. "I knew you would get better at interviews eventually."

"Yeah, but it's not good enough according to MK," Jer said as he finished his sandwich making and began to put the lunch meat, cheese, and condiments away in the fridge. "He said I still got ways to go to really be good at interviews. And to make it all worse, he wants Yohee to basically tutor me in how to do well in interviews or whatever."

"Geez," Brandon frowned and tightly crossed his arms. "That sucks."

"I know, right?" Jer poured himself a glass of ice water. "Especially since..."

Jer trailed off at he realized what he was about to say next. He and Brandon had grown to have an open and honest relationship, so Jer was used to telling Brandon everything. Every fear, thought, burden, question, and bit of gossip he had during the past year was shared with Brandon, and Brandon shared all his thoughts, emotions, and concerns to Jer as well. Granted, Jer was a lot more emotional and thought-filled than Brandon, so Jer had shared a lot more with Brandon than Brandon had shared with Jer. Because of their close friendship—which Jer and Brandon and everyone who knew AKA defined as a best friendship—Jer was definitely not used to having to keep something from Brandon. Especially something as huge as the possibility that Hyun-woo Song may have been murdered by Samuel, who was their friend and bandmate.