FADED
Lisa's eyelids fluttered open. She was hungry again so she reached to her bedside table where she kept packets of her favorite seaweed snack. But she only felt her phone laying dormant on it. Adjusting her position closer to the table, she reached again. Nothing.
'That's weird,' Lisa thought. She just bought a new batch two days ago. She couldn't have finished all of it so soon.
With a shrug, she decided to just go back to sleep. But her stubborn stomach grumbled. With a frustrated groan, she lazily kicked her blanket away and swung her legs to the floor. Yawning, she made her way to the small refrigerator in her room and opened it.
"Let's see," she mumbled to herself as she surveyed her options. She got two pints of strawberry ice cream, five chocolate bars, a stash of cookies Chaeyoung gave her the other day and cans of soda. No seaweed anywhere. She chewed her lower lip. With a huff, she shut the fridge.
She sighed and made her way to the bigger fridge in the kitchen.
'It better be here,' she threatened no one in particular. She rummaged through all compartments but found none of what she craved. Her stomach grumbled again. She scanned the contents of the fridge again and settled for the leftover kimchi Jennie-unnie made last night. She quickly got a spoon out of the cupboard and made her way to the sofa.
The dorm was quiet today. Jisoo-unnie was filming, Jennie-unnie had a photoshoot and Chaeyoung was recording at the studio. It was almost always her left in the dorm recently. It was kind of lonely.
But, at least, she got the TV all to herself.
She felt for the remote control behind her and turned the TV on. She started flipping channels as she scooped up the kimchi to her mouth.
After about a minute, she flipped to a channel with the deafening cheers of fans. Curious, she waited to see what was it about.
"So, you're saying the fan asked you to ask for Suga's autograph?" the host asked.
The camera panned to a familiar face. "Yes. Because she said she was too shy to ask him personally." And everybody laughed again.
What was his name? Ah. Rap Monster. From BTS. Who would forget such a name. Lisa knew the group all too well. They were really popular in Korea. And her friends back in Thailand were big fans of theirs, too. Whenever she flew back home, she would hear then gushing about their new song, hairstyle, fashion, etc.
Lisa acknowledged all of that. She used to watch their performances with her members when it was downtime at the dorm. But they were told to keep away. For some reason, BTS has been linked to them since debut. Their manager always told them, especially during award shows, to keep socializing with boy groups minimal. Greet them but don't talk to them too much. Fans were very unpredictable and unforgiving. Lisa didn't talk to strangers much so that was no problem for her. She was too shy and she needed to be careful not to do something to offend the Korean community anyway. One day, though, Jisoo-unnie said it was more to protect them, too, since they were rookies. Especially Lisa. Lisa didn't understand why her 'especially.' When she asked, the one to answer was their manager.
"You're too popular for your own good," she said. That surprised her. She never thought she was popular. She asked what that meant but everybody was tight-lipped about it. Even so, she did as she was told. No interactions. She was even careful around Bambam even when she wanted to be silly with him. Just like when they were kids.
She scooped up another spoonful of kimchi.
When the laughter died down, the host continued, "And, last but definitely not the least, our maknae!" The studio erupted with cheers again. "So Jungkook-ie, what was the most memorable thing you did for a girl?"
"Uhm," he began. "Well..."
'That's him,' she thought. 'Bambam's friend.' What she knew about him, she heard from Bambam. They were born in the same year but she was older, Lisa knew that. Bambam also told her he was one of the first friends he made when he debuted. Her friends back home seemed to like him the most, too.
"Uhm," Jungkook continued. "There's this one thing. But the girl wasn't a fan."
"Not a fan?" the host asked, teasing. "Is there any girl left who's not an ARMY?"
The studio laughed again.
"Well, it happened less than a year since our debut and we weren't really all that popular then," Jungkook added.
"Seems so long ago," the host said. "Then?"
"Well, I was in this café that sold pastries that my friends from school recommended. Then, there was this one girl that caught my eye."
The host whistled. "Caught your eye, huh? She must be pretty!"
"No!" Jungkook said.
"She wasn't pretty?"
"Yes! I mean, no! She was pretty but that wasn't why she caught my eye."
The other members and the audience laughed again.
"Then why did she catch your eye, Mr. Jungkook?"
"Because she was filling this paper bag with one piece each of the items on display. Brownies, cookies, donuts, you name it."
Laughter again.
"So then, this pretty girl who had a sweet tooth, did you pay for all her purchase? Is that it?"
Now, it was Jungkook who laughed. "No, no, no. I had no money then and she was buying half the shop."
"What happened next?" the guy beside him prodded. Was it Jimin or Jin? Lisa was always confused between them.
"It seems your members are as eager to hear the rest of the story as I know all ARMYs are," the host said.
"Because it's the first time we're hearing this, too!" said another member. Lisa knew his name. V. It was simple enough to remember.
"So I just bought two doughnuts and queued to pay for it and stepped out. Just then, it started to rain. Good thing I had an umbrella with me. And just when I was ready to go, the girl stepped out the door and stood beside me, arms full with two paper bags.
"She said something I didn't understand and I said, "what?" and she looked at me and also said "what?" but just stared back at me."
The members laughed but the host said, "She didn't recognize you?"
"No, I didn't think so."
"Okay, then?"
"Then, she said "sorry" and pointedly looked away. I was waiting for her to go but she was just standing there. Then, I realized she didn't have an umbrella with her. So, I gave her mine."
Some audience members squealed, some went "aaaaww." The other members started teasing him, slapping him on the back and ruffling his hair.
"Our maknae has grown up!" yelled V.
"He's got some moves," said Rap Monster.
"You were supposed to be afraid of girls, weren't you?" Jin/Jimin said. Lisa will ask Chaeng who's who when she gets back.
"So the most memorable thing you did for a girl was give her your umbrella. Is that right?" the host finally asked when everybody settled down.
"Yes," Jungkook said, nodding.
"Was it the first time you gave your umbrella to a girl?"
Jungkook looked pensive. "Now that I think about it, no. It wasn't the first time."
"Not the first time!" V said. "How many umbrellas did you give away to girls? Huh?"
Everybody laughed again.
"Then, among them why is this one the most memorable?" the host asked.
"Let's get this straight. I don't hand out umbrellas all the time. The few times I did it were for the girls in my family and my friends from school when I was younger!"
"Then, why give it to her?"
Jungkook thought for a moment and said, "I'm not sure either. At that time she held two bags of pastries and all I thought was she was going to eat them soggy if she tried running through the rain. She looked so excited when she was picking them earlier so it felt right to let her have the umbrella. I don't really know." He ended his statement with a shrug.
"What did she look like?" the host inquired. "You said she was pretty. Can you give us anything specific?"
"I can't really remember her face but I do remember thinking she was pretty."
"That's too bad," the host teased. "Maybe she's an ARMY watching now."
"Then, tell us what that umbrella looked like," Rap Monster said. "If she's watching and she still has it, then she'd know you were talking about her."
Jungkook snickered. "Well, it was a brown foldable umbrella with a chipped handle."
"A chipped handle?!" another member said. Lisa was sure it also started with a J but she didn't remember. "Maybe she threw it away when she got home." He laughed.
"I had it when I was a kid and I dropped it often."
"A brown umbrella with a chipped handle," the host said. "Anything else?"
"Uhm," Jungkook said. "Ah! It has JUN on it!"
"Jun? Why?" the host asked.
"Ah because during that time, I tried putting my name on my things because things got lost easily in the dorm," he looked at his members. "Anyway, I was going to write JUNGKOOK in English but I realized too late that the handle was too small for it. So it ended up as just JUN."
By this time, Lisa finished her kimchi. But she was still hungry. She debated whether she should get a chocolate bar or open a pint of ice cream.
"You heard that ARMYs! A brown umbrella with a chipped handle and Jungkook's JUN written on it!" the host recited. "Try to find this hidden treasure in your house! You might've been the pretty girl who caught Jeon Jungkook's eye once! Even if only because of your insatiable sweet tooth!"
The audience and the members laughed. Just then, the doorbell rang. Lisa stood up to answer the door. Chaeyoung was standing at the doorway.
"Oh, Chaeng!"
"So, you're awake," Chaeyoung replied. "Have you eaten?"
"I ate the kimchi in the fridge," Lisa said. "Because I can't find the seaweed snacks I just bought."
Chaeyoung removed her shoes and went inside. Lisa followed her. "Seaweed snacks? Didn't you eat the last two packs last night?"
Lisa was surprised. "No, I don't think so."
Chaeyoung huffed. "You did. You even asked me to go with you today to buy new ones." Chaeyoung held out a plastic bag. "Here you go."
Lisa took it and gasped with delight. "You bought them for me?" She enveloped Chaeyoung in a tight hug. "Thank you sooooo much!"
Chaeyoung giggled. "No worries. We stopped by on the way home."
"C'mon, let's eat it together," Lisa offered.
"Maybe later," Chaaeyoung said. "I'm tired. I'm gonna wash up and rest."
"Oh, okay," Lisa said.
Chaeyoung went to her room and Lisa slumped back down the couch, excitedly tearing open one of the snacks.
"Then, before we move on to our next segment, would you like to send a video message to this pretty girl?"
The other members made wooing noises. 'So they were still on the same topic,' Lisa thought. Bambam told her before that interviews are 50% about the group and 50% fanservice. He added that for boygroups, some staple questions are ideal types, ideal dates and the like.
"Uh, I don't think..." Jungkook began.
"C'mon, do it," V said.
"Yeah, do it," Jin or Jimin said. That reminded Lisa she was going to ask Chaeyoung about it. She was about to call her name but she called out first.
"By the way, Lisa," Chaeyoung called from her room.
"Yeah?" Lisa responded, chewing.
"I borrowed your umbrella," Chaeyoung said. "It was raining earlier and I couldn't find mine."
Lisa was confused, "I don't have one."
"Of course you do, you just don't use it," came the reply.
"No, I use Jisoo-unnie's all the time," Lisa said.
Chaeyoung went to the living room. "What do you mean? Isn't this yours?" She held out the said umbrella. "It's old and I think the handle is broken. Jisoo-unnie said it was yours. She figured you didn't use it because it was old and you're too lazy to buy a new one."
Lisa's brows furrowed as she took it, "No, it's not-" but she stopped midsentence when she saw a faded writing on the handle. Her eyes darted back to the TV screen.
Jungkook was now surrounded by a frame of pink flowers, with the words "video message" on the top right of the screen.
"Ah. Uhm," Jungkook began awkwardly. "Hi. I don't know your name but if you're watching this, you'll know who you are. Sorry I gave you such an ugly looking umbrella but I hope it got you safe and dry home. You and your food." He snickered. "Also, it's good to eat but a lot of sweets are not good for your health. Take care."
Jungkook bowed and the other members applauded. Lisa was vaguely aware that the host was asking some other question. But she was only staring at the three barely discernible letters written on the cracked handle.
JUN.