You should’ve known | Don’t Forget Your Breakfast 2 EP.10
posted: 13 feb 2024
word count: 2.5k
warnings: mention of food
an: this variety show is my newest obsession tbh. words in [] are captions. feedback and reblogs are much appreciated 💐
nabi’s masterlist
Sungkyu rubbed his hands against each other, breathing onto them to warm up. “Are we always going to film at five in the morning?” He complained, looking at the camera crew. “The episode with Yena was also shot this early… Why?” Slightly shivering, he put his hands in the pockets of his coat.
“But, I think today’s guest is worth the early working time. It’s Eve!” He announced. “She’s releasing a new album until spring… even though it’s still winter.
[Support the new release, until spring]
“She’s one of the most in demand idols right now, right? I asked some colleagues about her, and they all only had nice things to say,” he explained. “I wonder what she’ll be like in the morning.” He chuckled deviously. “I heard she moved to a new apartment, so here we are in Yeoui-dong. Let’s call her manager to ask some questions.”
Ari walked into frame, bowing politely to Sungkyu. “Hello,” she greeted, shaking his offered hand. “I’m Jeon Ari.”
“Yes, hello. First of all,” Sungkyu began, “do you know how big the apartment is? In terms of pyeong, how much are we looking at?”
Ari shook her head. “I’m not sure, I wasn’t with her when she bought the apartment.”
“Ah, you weren’t?”
“She went with her brother and members to look at apartments,” she told him, squeezing a heat pack between her fingers.
“And do you know anything about the market price?” He asked, chuckling lightly.
[He’s persistent]
“No, I don’t.”
“Ah… I’ll just ask her,” he decided with a definitive nod. “Is there anything we should know before going in?”
“Yes. She’s currently watching her brother’s dogs.”
“Key-ssi?”
“Yes, Commes des and Garçon,” Ari confirmed. “I don’t think they’ll wake her up because she’s a very deep sleeper.”
Sungkyu nodded slowly. “Yes… I wonder if they know how many pyeongs it is?” He wondered aloud.
The scene cut and they were just outside of Nabi’s apartment door. Ari entered the passcode, opening the door to let everyone in.
Sungkyu gasped softly. “The walls are so white,” he whispered in amazement as he walked past the entry-way, turning right to fully enter the apartment. He gasped again, seeing a slightly ajar door to his immediate left. “Is that her room?” He asked Ari.
Ari shook her head. “It’s a guest bedroom.”
“Ah, there are guest bedrooms?”
“Yes. These two rooms are guest bedrooms.” She pointed at the rooms across from each other.
“Let me get a look at them, then,” he whispered, pushing the door more open. He turned on the lights, seeing a bed frame surrounded by a bunch of boxes of furniture. “Ah, she’s not done decorating yet,” he noted as he exited the room. “There are still a lot of boxes.” He continued walking forward as Ari stood in the living room. He looked around the living area, his eyes landing on two princess dog houses. “But… where are the dogs?”
“They’re sleeping in her bed so she can make sure they’re warm,” Ari told him.
He looked at her incredulously. “But they have fur.”
“You can try to tell her that. Her room is that one,” she said, pointing at the door that was between the kitchen and living room.
“This one?” He walked to the closed door, opening it as quietly as possible. One of the staff passed him a microphone as he walked into the room. As Sungkyu neared Nabi’s bed, he noticed the two dogs that were under the covers, their heads sticking out from the blankets, while only Nabi’s hair could be seen. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Sungkyu started singing antifragile into the microphone as the staff turned on the lights, cheering every so often when he forgot the lyrics. As he finished the chorus, he looked down at the bed, noticing that Nabi had not moved, but Commes des and Garçon stirred awake and were staring at him. “Is she not waking up?” He asked, the microphone giving his voice an echo effect.
He scratched his head as he watched the idol continue to sleep. “What should I do?”
The two dogs in Nabi’s bed began to walk out of the covers, sitting on the pillow. Garçon tilted his head as Commes des started growling at Sungkyu, who took a step back. He looked at the camera in fear. “They’re not going to attack me, right?”
“She’s waking up,” one of the staff members said as the camera zoomed in on Nabi’s hand leaving the covers to gently pat Commes des. The dog slowly stopped growling, instead lying down and staring at Sungkyu.
Sungkyu stared at the scene in front of him in amazement, gasping. “Wah… She’s not awake, though,” he expressed his shock, speaking into the microphone. “Manager-nim,” he called for Ari, who appeared a second later, “what should I do?”
“Uh… you might get hurt if you do it, so I’ll do it,” she said, walking around the cameras to the other side of Nabi’s bed. She picked up the two dogs, moving them further down the bed as she placed her knee on the mattress, leaning forward. She gently tapped Nabi’s cheek, catching the hand that flew out in her direction. Holding onto the younger girl’s hand, she continued to tap her until she heard Nabi groan.
Sungkyu took a deep breath before singing the chorus of antifragile into the microphone, causing Nabi to flinch at the loudness of his voice. The dogs rushed to her side immediately, Garçon pushing his paws into her face through the covers.
“... Why?” She groaned, gently pushing the grey dog off of her head. She peeled back the covers to stare at Sungkyu through squinted eyes as he finished singing.
“Good morning, Eve-ssi,” he greeted enthusiastically into the microphone. “What exactly were you dreaming about that you were fighting your manager?”
“I wasn’t dreaming about anything,” Nabi answered after a few seconds of trying to fully open her eyes, rubbing the tiredness from them.
“Is that just how you react to being woken up?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She said, still fighting to open her eyes. “Why are you here so early?” She complained, twisting herself in her blankets.
Sungkyu chuckled. “I don’t know, either.” He looked down at Nabi’s bed, noticing something. “Just how many blankets do you have there?”
“I have the sheet, the blanket, the duvet– Get off of my head.” She pushed Garçon off of her once more, before returning to her sentence, “And the other blankets.”
“You sleep with four blankets?” He expressed his shock.
“Well, yeah. It’s winter.” Nabi rolled off of her side, instead going onto her stomach. Lifting her head, her hair framed her face.
Sungkyu stared at Nabi’s face. “Are you wearing makeup?”
“What crazy person wears makeup to bed?” She stretched her back out in the seal position, a few of her bones clicking in response.
“How old are you that your body is already making those noises?” Sungkyu gasped. “That isn’t normal. Anyway, we’ll give you time to yourself so you can fully wake up,” he told her, watching her look around the room aimlessly, “and I’ll get started on breakfast.”
Commes des moved to sit by Nabi’s hands as his brother barked enthusiastically. Sungkyu left the room, going to the kitchen.
The scene cut and Sungkyu was sitting by the couch in the living room. “Breakfast is ready, Eve-ssi,” he called out, placing two glasses of water on the coffee table.
Nabi emerged from her room shortly after, the two dogs following her. Around Nabi’s shoulders was a yellow throw blanket to keep her warm. She plopped herself on the floor, her back facing the TV. On the table were two platters, one with kimchi dumplings and the other with beef kimbap. There were two bowls of rice for the two of them, another two bowls having beef stew.
“It looks tasty,” Nabi breathed out.
“I think this is the most simple breakfast we’ve ever had,” Sungkyu complimented.
“You’re welcome.”
Everybody laughed at how nonchalant Nabi’s tone was, the idol just yawning. Sungkyu scooped up some rice on his spoon, dipping it in the stew.
“As is customary on this show, I’ll feed you your first bite,” Sungkyu said as he raised his spoon to Nabi’s mouth. She ate the food, nodding in approval.
“Tasty,” she said before yawning.
Sungkyu stifled a laugh as he watched Nabi blink tiredly, looking around the room. “What time did you go to sleep that you’re so tired?” He asked.
“Uh… What?” Nabi rubbed her eye. “I slept at, like, some time in the morning. I think it was three fifty or something,” she mumbled, stumbling over some of her words.
“Ah, then it’s understandable that you’re so tired,” he commented.
Nabi nodded wordlessly, picking up a dumpling with her chopsticks. “Of course.” She ate the food, her body slowly swaying side to side.
Everyone in the room laughed lightly at her behaviour, not used to seeing her so drained of energy.
“This apartment… How many pyeongs is it?” He asked in between chewing a mouthful of rice and beef stew.
Keeping her eyes down, she thought. “I think it’s seventy…” she dragged out the last syllable as she tried to remember. “Somewhere in the seventies.”
“Wow,” he gasped.
“I always had the thought that my first apartment would be a studio apartment or something like that, not anything big by any means,” Nabi said, “but when the people I’m close to found out that I was getting an apartment, they started sending me money.”
“Money?”
Nabi nodded. “They would send me money and tell me to use it for the down payment, utility bills, or furniture. I was given strict instructions not to buy a cheap apartment.”
“Wah… Can you give me the numbers of those people?”
“No.” She shook her head. “If you don’t have their phone numbers, let’s keep it that way.”
“What’s your MBTI?”
“Uh, ENFP.”
“Are you sure you’re F?”
“This is just what I’m like when I’m tired. You’re not special to see this side of me.”
As she spoke, she unconsciously furrowed her eyebrows, her gaze changing from lazy to a glare.
“So, it’s like–” Sungkyu cut himself off when he noticed Nabi’s facial expression.
She continued to stare at him, oblivious to the fact that she looked pissed off.
“Nabi-yah,” Ari called out from behind the cameras, causing the idol to look in her direction. “Your facial expression.”
“My what?”
“Fix your facial expression,” she said.
Nabi blinked. Then again. And again. “My facial expression is fine, though,” she argued.
“You look like you’re angry at me,” Sungkyu told her.
Nabi just shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about that. This is just what my face looks like.”
“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. His gaze moved to the two princess dog houses sitting in front of the TV console. “The dogs… Aren’t they male?” He asked.
Nabi turned her head to look at the dogs that were resting on the carpet, her facial expression smoothing out. “I need to give them breakfast,” she remembered with a sigh, not noticing Sungkyu’s shocked expression.
[Unique guest]
Nabi quickly put some premade dog food in their bowls, adding fresh water as well. She returned to her seat soon after. “What was your question, again?”
Sungkyu swallowed a laugh. “Are your dogs male?”
“Yes, they are,” she said.
“Then why do they have princess houses?” He pointed at the dog houses.
She scratched her neck as she ate a spoonful of beef stew. “Since they’re male, am I supposed to make them sleep on the balcony?” The phrasing of her question made everyone laugh. “Where do you think real life princes sleep? In the bushes? Like a man? No, dude. They sleep in princess castles, in princess pyjamas, on their princess beds.” She accentuated her last sentence by tapping the table.
“How could I not know?” Sungkyu asked. “I should’ve known.”
“Right.”
An unexpected silence overtook the room as they both focused on their food.
[...]
“Have you had anything like a housewarming party?” He suddenly asked, breaking the silence.
She shook her head. “I haven’t. I’m not done decorating yet, so I haven’t had one.”
“When you’re done decorating…”
“Then I’ll have one.”
He nodded as he thought of his next question. “By any chance, will you invite me?”
“We’re not friends,” Nabi quickly answered.
[Boundary has been set.]
The camera crew laughed as Sungkyu laughed awkwardly. “Why are you laughing?” He asked one of the cameramen. “What’s funny?”
[This situation]
“So, has anybody visited your apartment?” He asked, changing the subject.
“My members have. They ordered my bed frame for me when I bought this apartment, and when I got the keys, we put the mattress on the floor and slept here. We slept here for maybe a week and then my bed frame came, so we assembled it. And my brother’s been here as well.”
“Key-ssi?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “He helped me assemble most of my furniture.”
“That must be nice.”
“It is.” Her voice unintentionally sounded teasing.
The scene cut and Sungkyu clapped his hands. “You’re coming back with until spring.”
“Yes, it’s my first full album.”
“Ah, is it a full album?” He asked, his eyes widening. “That’s a big step.”
“The company decided…” Her voice trailed off.
“Why is it called until spring when it’s still winter?”
Nabi popped a kimbap into her mouth. “It’s called until spring because the title track, misty dreams, talks about a relationship that has a time limit — a relationship that’s going to inevitably end. And for me, spring is a season of rebirth, just like how flowers bloom. So it’s until spring because I’m letting go of relationships that suck.”
“Ah, it’s until spring because you’re keeping these things until then, and then letting them go.”
“Yes. Some of them might take longer to let go of, but that’s the goal.”
“And the title track is…”
“misty dreams,” she finished for him. “I wrote it with imsuho-nim and IU sunbaenim, and I produced it with N!KO-nim and Dr. JO-nim,” she said. “It’s actually a double title album, but misty dreams is the main one.”
“What’s the other one?” He asked, having a spoonful of rice and kimbap.
“The other title track is called dun dun dance. Seo Jieun-nim and Anna Timgren-nim wrote it, and Ryan S. Jhun-nim and Scott Stoddart-nim produced it.”
“Wah… You’re working with very good people. I think,” he added as an afterthought, making Nabi laugh. “I don’t really know how good they are. Can you sing a bit of the songs?”
“Yes! I’ll sing dun dun dance first.” She sang the chorus of the song, swaying along to the beat. Everyone clapped for her when she was done.
“Did you eat a CD for breakfast?” Sungkyu asked, amazed by how good her voice sounded.
“I ate this.” Nabi pointed at the table.
“She’s still too tired for me to use metaphors and similes,” he noted. “Can you sing misty dreams now?”
“Yes!” She cleared her throat before singing the chorus of the song. “That’s the song,” she said when she was done.
“When this video is out, the album will have already been released, but for us, this is a teaser,” he commented. “They’re both really nice songs and–”
He was cut off by Commes des barking, his brother joining soon after. Nabi nodded as they continued to bark before shushing them.
“People are sleeping,” she told them.
[End!]
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