My Summer in Seoul

“I’m hilarious,” I clarified with heavy sarcasm, noticing that Kai, Lucas, and Seven, AKA Jay, had yet to say anything.

Lucas was staring into his mug as though it was telling him secrets while the others looked uncomfortable. Then he stood and mumbled something in Korean, earning a glare from Rae.

“Did I do something?” I asked softly.

Rae didn’t answer, just stared after Lucas and then flashed me an apologetic look while Jay fired off something and pointed at my beanie.

When I didn’t do anything, he pushed his stool back, made his way over to me, and pulled the beanie from my head then dropped it onto the counter before he left.

“No… hats?” I asked.

Rae smiled into his mug. “He wants to wear a beanie today.”

“You’re joking.”

“Wear it and find out.” He shrugged.

“Do I need to change my clothes?”

He seemed to think about that, and the remaining three guys looked me over from head to toe, then back up like I was there for their amusement.

“Never mind, don’t answer that.” I didn’t want to know that I was ugly or, according to them, fat or crazy. I just wanted breakfast.

I went back to the fridge just as someone clapped. All the guys started shuffling toward the camera crew, who looked ready to head out the door.

Panic washed over me.

Food.

What could I grab that would be—

Rae pushed me toward the door then held out a bar that had foreign writing in pink letters all over it. “Eat.”

I exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”

He looked down at me for a few seconds again, studying me or maybe just seeing if I was being genuine in saying thank you. “You’re welcome.”

The happy feeling in my stomach didn’t last long as we all made our way down the elevator and through the lobby.

It was early enough that I didn’t expect any screaming fans, but sadly I was mistaken. At least twenty girls were outside with signs, yelling, trying to get the guys’ attention, and being extremely aggressive about it. Security for the building was already opening the glass doors; the screams were piercing and a bit scary.

Couldn’t they digest their breakfast in peace?

The guys all smiled big and waved, many of them doing this little signal with their fingers that I had yet to decipher; I made a mental note to ask Rae later.

I was stunned at how gracious they appeared, how thankful that fans would come out at five a.m. just to see them off to choreography. How did they even have our top-secret schedule? Or were they just camping out all night long in hopes that they’d see one of the members of SWT?

It was alarmingly different from the States in a way that had my jaw dropping a bit.

The fans held out things to sign; Rae shook his head and said something about being late to practice in Korean then in English, possibly for my benefit? The girls started getting more aggressive. Without thinking, I shoved my way ahead of the security and camera crew, opened the other remaining door to the van, blocking off one of the girls and making it so the idols had a path to get into the van without getting groped. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a group of guys look so thankful in my entire life, as the camera crew followed suit, surrounding the guys and blocking them off from the girls.

The minute the doors closed, a shiver rippled through my body as one of the girls threw something at the van and started yelling.

I frowned and looked down to see that she’d crumpled up a shot of the band with Lucas’s face scribbled off in black marker.

I winced.

Lucas sighed and slid down in his seat, then pulled his wide-brimmed baseball hat over his eyes like he was sleeping, his body language stiff.

I wanted to know what the girl said to make him shut down like that, but I was afraid I already knew it had to be about the scandal. I suddenly wanted his laughter back from that morning, even if it meant it was at my expense like it had been the day before.

I didn’t know what to do, so I pulled up one of their music videos on my phone, making sure it was loud enough for them to hear I was actually studying them on my way to practice.

They were incredible.

Perfect sync.

Insane rapping.

My respect for Jay skyrocketed, as did my crush on the adorable Sookie, who had very slowly started to lean over my shoulder and watch the video. He started commenting in Korean, earning the attention of the other guys, who slowly but surely turned around to face in my direction.

When it was finished, I sighed and looked up. All eyes were on me, including Kai’s, like they wanted someone to say good job even though they heard it twenty-four seven.