The moving truck outside of my building should've been a clear indication that my world was about to be turned upside down..
As if it were any other day, I carried my covered racquet in hand, a sports bag slung over my shoulder. My tank top and shorts dried slowly in the summer air from previously being soaked in water via half of the bottle I poured over my body to cool down after the hours I'd spent on the courts. The sun was just beginning its journey across the sky to the horizon, and with a phone to my ear, I listened well to the woes of my best friend.
"It's not like this was even the first time or anything...maybe I should rethink this."
"You know what, that's a great idea, Kaylie.. Maybe hit 'im with an ultimatum.."
She sighed, then the hum of phone silence took over my ear. I knew this was difficult for her. It was for me too, seeing her go through it. Once a year, Kaylie would go to visit her dad in the countryside. Normally I would go with but since this time, her dad's begun seeing a younger woman, who has a 3 year old son so he thought it would be better to bond as a "new family". Even worse, her boyfriend of 3 years forgot her birthday...again.
"I just wish you were here with me, Fi. Sorry about that by the way."
"It's ok. I understand." I said.
When I turned the last corner onto James Ave., the first thing that caught my attention was the very large truck parked outside of my front door, nearly completely blocking the entrance. Kind of rude, even if this is the city. But seeing as this is such a quiet street to begin with...The landlady surely would've given me notice of any new residents.
I heard a faint voice from the other side of the truck. Two guys probably about my age emerged from the truck, one with a baby face carried a box filled past the brim with what looked like just miscellaneous items and the other holding a guitar case. What? Who were these people? Having not yet crossed the street, I prepared to do so and probably awkwardly ask to pass. But who blocks a stranger's door with their freaking elephant sized moving truck without so much as a note? After taking only one step into the street, something fell off the full box and rolled down the driveway into the road in front of my feet. A...drumstick?
"Yeah, even more so. You don't even get to visit your dad, let alone know where he-"
"Hey, listen Kaylie, something came up and..." I watched as two more guys jumped out of the back. One grabbed the box from the glasses guy and the other one looked at the ground around him with a confused expression. "Uh-oh. I gotta go. I'll, um, call you later."
I pressed the end call button before she could respond and held back the urge to hide behind the large oak tree only feet away. He was coming this way, eyes trailing on the wooden stick. Crap. He looked tall. And lanky with a head of long hair pulled into a low and messy bun. Was he going to beat me up or something? Was that prejudice? Ok self, just shut up and be cool.
I didn't have the energy to think any further. Instead, I pushed my curly hair behind both ears and kneeled down to pick it up. Like an idiot, I stood there in the middle of the street and watched him come toward me.
I cleared my throat and collected my thoughts. "Um, here. This is your drumstick?"
His head turned in a glance toward one of his hat-wearing friends, the shorter one, who nodded slightly.
"Uh...yes..." He said. I noticed the heavily accented and broken English that came out of his mouth. He had an angular face that was undoubtedly some type of Asian.. Large, graceful looking hands grasped the stick from my own and I felt his calloused fingers graze mine.
"Gamsahabnida~" he bowed, pieces of hair falling into his pretty face. Then he was gone.
"Um... No problem?" I muttered.
I could recognize that language anywhere: Korean. Were the other three Korean as well? At this point, I didn't care enough to actually ask. The sun was slipping down the horizon and I wanted to take a nice, long bath to end the day in peace.
He returned to his friends, who, after looking closely at them as well, looked like a group of Kpop stars. I hoped that didn't sound racist..
"Ahjumma!" His shorter friend with the hat called. All eight eyes were on me. He smiled. Wait, who was he calling ahjumma?! I didn't know Korean but I knew that word. "You might not want to stand in the middle of the road."
He snickered as a minivan pulled around the corner and the driver honking his loud horn..
"Yo, get out of the way!" He yelled rudely.
I could tell the driver was a douchebag from the sunglasses he wore even though it wasn't bright outside at all. Regardless, I moved and bowed to the man. "Sorry."
The guys chuckled, and all but the one who most recently spoke turning and walking into their new house without a care in the world. The hat he was still wearing blocked the top half of his face from view. He looked at me and simply shook his head, a smile crossing his face before he hopped back into the driver's seat of the moving truck and backed it out of the driveway. I jumped quickly out of the way before he made the conscious decision to try and run me over.
"Were they hot?"
"Kaylie, listen. There's no reason I wouldn't've been told about this. It was so weird. Not only were they blocking my door, but they totally laughed at me!"
"Oh...but were they hot?"
I sighed and sank further into my bubbles. I sat a can of ginger ale next to the tub and played music from my radio softly in the background while I attempted to vent to Kaylie, who was usually deeply interested in guys in general.
"Sure." I admitted. She squealed in my ear and I could feel her start dancing while on the phone, obviously not interested in any word I had to say after that. But I continued anyway "I guess you could say they were attractive, but I didn't really get a close enough look to tell."
"Ha! I knew it! Get ready for an epic summer romance to not only make history books, but make you forget all about your...circumstances."
No matter how it sounded when she said it, she was my best friend, after all, and I knew she'd do anything to make me feel better. And I mean anything. But at this point, I would do anything to move the conversation on from me.
"Yeah. Likely..." I mumbled sarcastically. "Anyway, how are Julie and Preston?" I asked.
Kaylie and I are rarely apart, which is why a silence like this worries me. I can't see her face or read her mind thought the phone so I can't tell what she's thinking.
"They're um fine I guess. It still kinda blows my mind how the fact that she's at least twenty years younger than him doesn't bother him. But it's kinda weird, you know? She's been here, like, once because she's out quote 'working'" she explained. "Preston is one weird kid too. I think you'd like him just cuz you're you."
I knew this kind of thing bothered her. The topic of her father was a sensitive one. Since her parents divorced, I felt like it was the responsibility of me, the BFF, and her dad to keep her happy. Her mom made the decision a couple years back to pursue her dream of studying in Italy to become a coffee superstar of some sorts. I thought it was very Coffee Prince-like of her (a/n: hehe get it?). Maybe she didn't like the feeling of being essentially replaced as the family baby. If it were up to me, I probably would've wanted to be the last one out too. I mean, I loved my little sister, but still...
"Mm." I took another sip of ginger ale. It wasn't that I didn't like kids, but the idea of them simply weirded me out. I mean, living, breathing mini versions of yourself and your partner? No thanks.
However, I didn't get to voice my opinion because of what happened next.
"Oh my God, Fiona. OH MY GOD!"
Kaylie startled me out of my bath water and I stood there with bubbles sliding off the skin of legs and into the water. Then the cold air from the hall hit me.
I knew something big would have just happened from the fact that she used my actual full name.
"What? What?" I panic yelled, then when the only noise coming from the other line was screaming, I came to my own conclusion. "Wait, is it BTS?"
My dear friend took a two second break from her scream fest to hum an "mhm" into the speaker. I sighed and decided to give up on relaxation for the night. I stepped out and dried myself, laying the phone on the bathroom counter to lessen the sound of my fangirling friend. Unlike me, Kaylie got unreasonably excited when it came to Kpop groups. Including and especially BTS. She claimed they were all her children, but also her dads at the same time, which made absolutely no sense to me. In fact, I was more of a Got7 kinda girl...
"OH MY GOD THIS IS MAH F***ING JAM! Ok shhhh it's starting!"
Zzzzzz zhsssuuuuu
Huh? Wait what was that? It wasn't coming from the phone. I tuned the volume down on my phone one shut off my radio.
"OMG RapMon! YES!" I heard the faint yell and nothing more. Then...
Zhuuuvvvvvvv
Was I hearing things? What would be making a loud and obnoxious metallic scraping sound at...I leaned my head into my bedroom to peek at the digital clock in the corner...9:30 pm?
Reeeeeeeeeeeer
Next to come up was the undeniably loud shrill of an electric guitar. The only possible answer: Next door...
I collected myself and just hoped that the sound wouldn't escalate. I hated confrontation more than anything.
I threw on a pair of grey sweats, a t shirt and the furry brown socks my Aunt Jeanel bought me in 9th grade. Surprisingly, they were still in good condition and fit, mostly due to the fact that I have barely grown an inch since the 8th grade.
The second I finished taming my wild dark curls into what could pass for a bun, I shut off the lights and climbed into bed. I could hear Kaylie still singing through the phone. A laugh quickly turned into a yawn and I contemplated interrupting Kaylie when I'd just turned onto my side, achieving max comfort level, that I was ready for sleep.
Mere seconds later, it felt as if next door, they'd cranked up the amp and after what sounded like drums and bass were added, I could feel the vibrations in my legs. Oh. My. God.
"Hey Kayles-"
"DASHI RUN RUN RUN!"
"Yeah...I'm gonna put you on hold ok? I'm calling Chelsea." I knew she wasn't listening, but I doubt she would even notice.
I put her on hold and rang Chelsea, whom I had on speed dial. She was the land lady and a good family friend. For me, she'd never be ok with this level of noise at this time of night...or even at all. She would definitely have no problem going over there and giving them a piece of her mind. But of course, it went straight to voice mail.
"Hey it's Chelsea. Whaddup? At the moment, I'm in Hawaii! Woo! You know what to do. If this is my mom, the answer is no. If it's Jimmy, chill out, dude. I'll have the money by next week. Ok and lastly, Fi Fi you're getting some new neighbors, girl. And you may want to plug your ears at night cuz guess what? They're in a band! Anyway, I'll see y'all when I get back!"
Beep
Great. Not only did she know and not tell me, but knew they were a band?! How was I going to sleep if I couldn't get any peace and quiet?
I hung up and the line switched immediately back to Kaylie, who was still stuck on Run.
"YASS. JIN. F***ING. SLAAAAYYY!"
"Listen, Kaylie?" I sat up, pulling the string to my bedside table lamp. "I'm-can you hear me? Whatever. I'm going, k?"
I dragged myself out of my comfortable bed, grabbing shoes and a jacket on my way to the front door. The way the apartment building was set up, there were 4 units in total. Two on a bottom floor and two at the top. There was one main door for each side. The top two shared what was like the long connected balcony at inns and motels. So directly from my front door, I crossed the dividing hall. The evening air was cool on my skin, but I payed it no attention. Instead, I thought of the glorious sleep I would have once I got into my bed in silence.
The noise, of course, grew louder as I approached their door, which had a sign hanging from the doorknob saying: PRACTICE TIME.
Yeah right. More like, everyone else in the country is trying to sleep time.
I noticed a small sliver between the curtains and, well, there's no harm in just watching them for a few moments from afar, right? I mean, they were pretty easy on the eyes...
Dim light hung over their heads and it looked like they were in the middle of a guitar section solo. The bass player was the tall one from earlier. He plucked a deep, sweet melodic line while the electric continued to shred. The guitar player's hair shrouded half of his face, but I could tell his eyes were pinched closed as he felt every part of the song. The baby faced drummer facing the door showed an open-mouthed, wide-eyed grin. Lastly, the short one (who called me Ahjumma, I won't forget) held the microphone. Of course.
Moving my head about to see more of the room, I couldn't help but notice how everything surrounding them remained packed into boxes. So their first priority was to annoy their only neighbor with incredibly loud music. No matter how good or cute they were, this couldn't be morally ok.
Suddenly, the drummer's eyes met mine.
I ducked as fast as I possibly could and bit my lip.
Oh crap
It's ok just be cool. They probably didn't see. Nope. He did. It became dead silent until footsteps made their way toward the door.
Wait, why was I hiding? I came to tell them to keep it down.
At that thought, I stood slowly.
Singer Guy opened the door and poked his head through. "Wa~..." he said something in Korean to his friends behind the door. Then he came out, followed by the rest of them.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a new fan," said Singer Guy. His English was perfect; not broken at all. Would it be racist to say I was surprised?
"Um..."I started awkwardly, pulling on the sleeve of my jacket. I waved. "Hi."
"Hello!" They all said in unison, bowing deeply, again, in unison. Wow how long were they working on that for?
"Who exactly are you?" Singer Guy, who I now assumed must be the leader, questioned.
I thought about the worst case scenario of me giving them my name and eliminated it based on the fact that you couldn't clone someone just using their first name.
"Fiona...but I could be asking you the same question..."
He smiled and he and his friends shared a look. Oh God...
"We're Code Name:"
They took turns, each calling out a word and their name, and finishing off by...dabbing?
"Burning Jonghyun" *dab*
"Lovely Minhyuk" *dab*
"Untouchable Jungshin" *dab*
"Emotional YongHwa"
Then they all dabbed, saying "CN Blue"
What
Even?