My Summer in Seoul

“Hey, wait!” I really needed to work on my cardio. Did all of them walk that fast on purpose just to see my face turn red from lack of oxygen? “We can’t just take the elevator down without someone doing recon first— Never mind, you’re already pressing the button. Okay, so we really are going to just walk right outside…”

Rae hit P4. The parking garage.

“Basement,” I said to nobody in general. Why didn’t anyone look nervous? “Oh, look real numbers,” I pointed at the mass of floor numbers and just kept talking. “How pissed off would you guys be if I just hit every single floor? You know, like in Elf when Will Ferrell just hits… all of the…” Every single one of them was staring at me like I was losing it as the elevator descended. There was also a sort of mutual silent understanding that I should stop talking.

Had to admit, I was getting kind of used to it at this point.

“You talk so much.” Jay’s Aussie accent cut through the tense silence.

“I talk when I get nervous,” I admitted.

“Does that mean you’ve been nervous for over a week then?” Rae asked.

Jay smirked. “He’s got a point. Something about us make you nervous?”

The elevator gave a little jolt as I looked at each individual member and gulped. I wouldn’t even be upset if I plummeted to my death if this was my view. He was kidding, right? They had to know how intimidating they were.

With a quiet swoosh, elevator doors opened. “Wait.” I jolted forward and peeked out. “Let me make sure nobody’s waiting for— Hey!”

The guys were already lazily walking toward the black van.

I frowned. “That was sort of uneventful.”

The van’s lights flickered as Rae unlocked it, then each of the guys got in. I waited for everyone to sit before I attempted to move toward the back.

“Front seat,” Rae snapped as Jay smiled and closed the van door.

I was afraid of that.

I calmly opened the door and climbed in, shut it, and buckled up. “Do you need the address again?”

“You have a plan, right?” Rae asked. “We can’t just stroll up to some random house or apartment and ask whoever she is to apologize.”

“I know that,” I checked my phone to see how far the address was. “But, since nobody can find her or contact her, this is the only way. If Lucas apologizes again, and if your lawyers can at least reach out and say you guys have come to an agreement that it was an accident, it might at least take away some of the heat. It’s all I’ve got…” I didn’t want to finish that statement, that it was all I had to save his chances for performing and not having to take a forced hiatus.

Rae started the van. “Fine, Lucas can at least confirm what she looks like. That’s another reason he needed to come. None of us were there for the incident. He was coming back from an individual shoot when she cornered him, and a group of fans showed up as if it was planned.”

He pulled out of the basement parking garage and onto the street.

“He didn’t recognize her at all?” I asked.

The guys were quiet.

“It was dark.” Rae sighed. “And she was wearing a hat and sunglasses, not to mention her mask was pulled down over her chin. It was a quick attempt at a kiss, and then she ran off.”

“I’m still confused why people would believe he was dating someone if that was the kiss they walked up on.”

“She touched him,” Jay piped up from behind me. “The whole point is, even if you are dating, you better keep it a secret because fans don’t like being surprised, and he’s always said he would let fans know if he ever decided to date.”

It was the most Jay had probably ever said to me in one sentence.

“Naega yeogi eobsneun geoscheoleom na-e daehae malhaji ma,” Lucas barked.

Jay winced. “Mian hyeong.”

“He says don’t talk about him like he’s not here.” Rae translated. “And he’s right.”

“What’s ‘sorry’ in Korean?” I licked my lips and waited.

“You don’t even know how to say sorry?” Jay laughed. “You’re worse than Lucas was when he—”

Lucas started coughing wildly.

”—learned his first word in English,” Jay finished quickly.

I frowned as Jay suddenly glanced down at his phone.

Weird.

“Mianheyo,” Sookie spoke up from the back seat earning a smirk from Kai, who nodded in confirmation.

Weird, it’s like he understood my question.

Maybe Sookie understood more English than he let on, or maybe he was just shy, as I’d previously assumed.

“Mianheyo,” I repeated with probably the most American accent possible, but Lucas nodded his head like I didn’t completely butcher the word.

“We’re getting close,” Rae said. I appreciated that he used English for my benefit, so I knew what was going on… I just felt bad that half the guys were most likely confused. Then again, it wasn’t like they had to do anything.