WANG Hao Jie groaned, forcing his eyes open as he felt someone pull on his arm.
"Wake up, we've got a shoot today," the low voice of his teammate SU Yang rumbled groggily, "We have to wake the kids up as well."
Nodding, Hao Jie stumbled out of bed before following Su Yang to the other room. The two oldest members shared a room together while the three younger ones shared the other room in their apartment. Together they attempted to wake the others up, starting off by softly shaking them and escalating to pulling off their blankets before just physically carrying them off the beds and dumpign them in front of the bathroom sink.
They had just released a new album which meant sleep was a non-existent concept for them. If they were lucky, they could scrape together an hour or two. Yesterday they had been filming for their reality show as part of the promotional activity. Today they had a commercial shoot for a new drink, one of their first few ones together as a group. Truthfully, commercials and sponsorships were really good money but to Hao Jie, the more important thing was that commercials helped to get their faces out there to the mainstream public. In the highly competitive entertainment industry, fame was like a flickering candle - easy to light, easy to put out.
He quickly got changed and wandered to the kitchen to pack some snacks. Su Yang was already there, making instant noodles for breakfast. He grinned to himself, 'Fans are right to call him the mom. First to rise and making breakfast before the family heads out to work.'
Su Yang was the oldest in the team and known for his looks. Ripped abs, toned biceps, great ass with a flawless face; that's how their fanclub manager described him. Topped with a great voice and solid dance skills, it was no wonder he had been primed to be the leader. But a few days before their first song was released, Su Yang had a breakdown from all the stress. He was the classic perfectionist who couldn't let go of any mistakes, small or not. The company decided to make the switch to Hao Jie as the leader instead.
Hao Jie was never really sure if he was glad that that happened. On one hand, he could definitely see how much better Su Yang's mental state was. On the other hand, being the leader and having to be the main representative was never really something he had aimed for. He just wanted to perform. But now that the job was his, he just had to do whatever he could. For his own dreams as well as that of the other guys.
"Come on, hurry up. It's not a good look for us to be late," he called out to the other three. One by one they stumbled to the dining room, slurping up the noodles. LIN Rui Bao leaned his head on Hao Jie's shoulder like spoiled child.
"Hao-ge, what's the shoot for today again? It's not going to require us to run about, right? My legs feel like broken toothpicks right now," he whined.
Rui Bao was the youngest and known to all as Xiao Bao. Hao Jie and Xiao Bao's friendship went way back when the both of them had been signed as trainees in a different country. They had gravitated to each other, being the foreigners in the group who had to cope with language barriers, cultural differences and homesickness while competing against other boys who were just as talented and hardworking. Hao Jie had initially debuted with another group while they were there but the group quickly disbanded due to poor popularity. Xiao Bao had decided to return because he was too homesick and eventually joined their current company. When Hao Jie returned, he immediately pushed him to audition at the same company too.
Hao Jie had always thought Xiao Bao was the most talented of them all, he was a triple threat. He could sing, dance, rap and he had the perfect personality for the entertainment industry. He was energetic and funny; it was no wonder he was one of the most popular members.
"Don't lie, once you have a sip of coffee you'll be running around like a chicken again," Hao Jie replied.
"Stop monopolising Hao-ge, the rest of us want to lean on him too", LIN Jia Wei grumbled, his pretty face scrunching up at the spiciness of the soup. A fashionista to go with his model like stature, Jia Wei always joked that his role model was to be Hua Ze Lei from the F4 franchise. The quiet dreamy pretty boy with exceptional musical talent. Except in reality, Jia Wei was often referred to as Xiao Bao's twin for sharing the same last name and personality. The two troublemakers of the team never fail to lighten the mood no matter where they were.
Su Yang raised an eyebrow, "Oh I see how it is, you ungrateful brats. I made the noodles but you all only want Hao-ge."
ZHANG Wen Yi raised his hand, "Yang-ge is my favourite. He cooks and cleans and his shoulders are nearly as wide as Hao-ge's."
"Brown-noser," Xiao Bao snarled at him.
"Kiss-ass"
"Suck up"
"Chicken ass"
"What the hell, what kind of insult is that? Are you still in kindergarden?"
"I'm still older than you, which means you haven't even learnt how to speak yet"
BZZZZZZZZZZZ
'Saved by the doorbell', Hao Jie thought. "All right, all right. Manager is already here, let's go," he said while he quickly collected all the dishes and dumped them in the sink. Su Yang might have a fit if he let them leave the dishes on the table before they left.
As they piled into the black van, their manager started handing out their usual cups of coffee. At this stage, he wasn't even sure if caffeine had any effect on them anymore. All five of them passed out within a minute of starting the car.
When they arrived, Wen Yi started to feel his excitement pick up. He helped write a lot of the lyrics for their team but had only started to develop an interest in photography and videography. It was interesting to him to see how directors and producers worked and what their thought process was in order to achieve the final product. His goal was to be able to direct their own music video one day so that they could be a fully self-produced group from songwriting all the way to performances.
"The stylists are in the waiting room, it's on the first floor. The company representative will meet you there to introduce the product and go over the script for the shoot. I'll get some food sent to you guys as well a bit later on," their manager sheep herded them towards the studio door.
Yawning, they made their way to the waiting room.
"Morning," they chorused at their team of stylists before settling into their usual sequence. Hao Jie always went first because he usually had other business to discuss with their manager and the other staff. The others sprawled out across the room in a half-doze as they waited their turn.
Dressed in a royal blue V-necked sweater and light blue jeans, he wandered around the studio looking for the director to say his greetings. He was at the bottom of the stairs when he heard a loud gasp. Turning to his left, he saw two young ladies.
The gasp came from the taller of the two who had the same expression on her face as the fans they met at meet and greet events. Smiling, he walked towards them and stretched his hand out to introduce himself, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Hao Jie from VI-King, looking forward to working with you."
He grinned as she shook his hand with a dazed face before he turned to the one who was dressed more professionally. Repeating his introduction, he asked, "Would you know where the director is? I'd like to meet him and say hello before we start shooting."