Hug me!
There were a lot of trainees and idols walking the corridors of Apollo entertainment, all of them younger than Narae. She did her best to carry the role of the eldest well, caring a bit extra especially for the youngest of the Olympians. Naturally there were some she grew closer to than others. The closest perhaps among the younger idols was Bam. Knowing he was far away from home, having no one to care for him other than his manager, Narae had stepped in as what she herself referred to as a combined older sister/mother (more of a sister perhaps – she wasn’t that old after all).
He wasn’t much more than a kid – he needed someone to look after him, or at least that was what Narae thought. And so she had made it a habit to treat him to things like food or a day at the nearest amusement park, things she figured he would have done with his family if they had been here with him. Just as much as it was fun going on roller coasters and eating lunch out in Seoul, the outings served as a way for Narae to catch up with the boy, to listen to problems and dilemmas as well as things that made him happy at the moment. Sometimes it ended up with her giving Bam advice, sometimes she shared stories about things she’d done and experienced and sometimes she just sat there giving the boy her complete attention and just listened to what he had to say.
Today they had ended up at a table in the company cafeteria, munching away on the lunch offered for the day. There was so much to be caught in the simplest of conversations, and even if the two talked on more or less as usual, something seemed off. His gaze didn’t meet Narae’s for more than short moments at a time and the usual cheer was absent from the younger’s voice. Something definitely wasn’t right but she didn’t feel like coaxing it out of him right now, in a cafeteria full of people. Instead she did her best to keep the boy’s thoughts on other things, telling stupid jokes and trying her best to keep the conversation flowing all through the lunch.
When they had packed up their leftover food, empty water bottles and used wooden chopsticks and left the trays, Narae wrapped her arms around the boy and hugged him tightly. “You know you can always talk to me if there is anything at all that bothers you, right?” she said softly before loosening her grip of the younger.
















