Chapter 7: First Impressions
"I have cupcakes too, they're on the top shelf," I announce upon finding the boys gathered around the fridge, opening a box of brownies.
"Did you bake these?" Mark asks, his mouth half-full with brownies. BamBam is busy opening the top shelf of the fridge and Jackson is pouring himself a glass of water.
"Oh no, I buy them from an old lady downstairs," I say, opening one of the kitchen cabinets and taking out a jar of corn kernels. "We see each other a lot at the park on weekends. She doesn't do much because she's retired so all she does is bake and I buy her goodies whenever I can. I never get to finish the whole box though so you can take it with you if you want." The said old lady is, quite frankly, the closest I get to having a friend here in Korea.
I manage to gather everything I need for the cheese popcorn in a few swift movements. Jackson Wang seems to be getting my drift. He sits himself on the barstool across the distressed kitchen counter and peels the packaging off a cheddar cheese slice. BamBam and Mark are happily devouring the sweets they took from the fridge while wandering around my apartment, pointing to bits and pieces of decor and furniture. "Don't you get sad here? I can't imagine myself living alone." Jackson asks.
"Not really. I like being alone," I take out the popcorn maker from one of the kitchen cabinets and then watch his eyes go wild. "Give me 10 minutes, I promise this popcorn will be worth it." I say, heating up the red and yellow mini-cart with wheels. It looks like it belongs to a carnival, not a kitchen, but who the heck would dare argue when the popcorn smell is making a Hongkong-born K-Pop idol spazz out like a kid.
"Hey, can I use your bathroom?" BamBam asks, peeking behind Jackson.
"Of course! It's upstairs, first door to the left." I say. BamBam leaves for the bathroom. Meanwhile, Mark decides to sit on the barstool beside Jackson. They ask me where I got the popcorn maker, and why. I tell them that I used to have nothing in my apartment other than some housewarming wine, two trunks full of clothes, a bed, a laptop, and a Wi-Fi router. One night, while drinking wine from a paper cup, I craved for popcorn and decided to buy the tiny carnival popcorn machine online. Needless to say, it was the first ever kitchen appliance I ever bought. It even came in before the stove and the microwave.
They start laughing like crazy at the idea that my first investment—besides my flat—is a cute popcorn maker. "Hey, trust me, it's worth every penny. Red wine and soju tastes amazing with popcorn, but let's just stick to grape sodas tonight, okay?" I say, setting two cans in front of them.
"Woah," We suddenly hear BamBam gasping from upstairs. "Yo, check this out, man!" He says, making his hyungs jump up from their seats. Looks like they found my treasure trove. I start cooking the cheese sauce while listening intently to the footsteps upstairs.
"Oh my god, it's like we're in a department store." That's probably Jackson.
"Hey what's going on up there?!" I ask, anxiety building as I mix butter and cheese in a saucepan.
"Dude, your closet is huge!" Mark shouts from above.
"Well, I'm a girl, in case you can't tell," I shout back. The smell of popcorn is filling the air. I immediately transfer the popped kernels into a huge bowl. "Oh, there's something for you guys on top of my dresser. It's in a brown paper bag." I say as loud as I can while pouring cheese sauce into the bowl of popcorn.
"What?! What paper bag?" Jackson says.
"The brown one, on top of the white dresser... BUT DON'T OPEN THE DRE—!" I hear Jackson's loud laugh and immediately regret that I even said anything about it. All my intimates are right there, on the first drawer of the dresser.
"Nope, too late for that. Sorry!" Mark screams, laughing along.
"Don't you dare touch my underwear!" I threaten, laughing despite my embarrassment. I take the bowl of popcorn and the unopened soda cans to the dining table, blood rushing to my face as they make their way back down.
"Love, why is your face so red?!" Mark asks, still laughing. I see BamBam holding the paper bag in his arms, a sly smile spreading across his face. I guess what matters now is that they have Emily and Ellie's gift.
"Are you mad? I swear we didn't mean to see it, I opened it before you asked not to open it," Jackson clarifies, grinning as he plops down on the seat across me. I have two answers to his question: I could (a) tell him I feel slightly offended that they've decided to invade my private stuff (for my literal privates), or (b) just casually shrug the humiliation off.
"No, no, I'm not mad!" I grab a bunch of popcorn from the bowl before us. "I mean, who cares if you guys saw my underwear stash on the first night we all got together, right? It's no big deal!" I laugh sarcastically before stuffing a handful of popcorn into my mouth. They all laugh.
"Okay, to be fair, we thought they're all pretty, like—" Mark stops mid-sentence to laugh at my wide-eyed, horrified look. "—I was expecting to see condoms or thongs and stuff like that but you didn't have any," He adds, making the boys snicker in delight while eating popcorn.
"Because I have no use for any of those and, FYI, thongs are not comfortable." I can't believe we're doing adult talk right now.
"But aren't they supposed to be sexy?" Jackson asks, surprisingly fully attentive. I shake my head in response.
"No, you know what's sexy? Lace, lots of them... " BamBam interjects. "I kinda like the white lace panties, and the see-through black panties...
"And the red lace bra!" Jackson adds. They turn to me with all-knowing looks while watching my cheeks fire up.
"No, but I think I like the pink Hello Kitty boxers the best. They're super cute," Says Mark. "JB would probably love the Bart Simpsons—"
"Oh my god, can we please change the subject?!" I plead, fanning my face with my cheese-free hand. The boys are laughing wildly, hands clutching their stomachs. I would be feeling really awkward if not for the fact that I'm still buzzed. The laughter finally dies down, giving me an opportunity to talk again. "Anyway, you guys should open that bag. Jackson, the biggest care package is for you,"
"For me?" He asks, his mouth half-full. I nod at him before passing paper towels so that he can wipe his hands clean before opening his present. We all wait for him to carefully unwrap and open the box. "Woah!" Inside the box is a meticulously painted mini-Jackson statuette made of plaster of Paris. Underneath the soles of mini-Jackson's shoes are Emily and Ellie's names.
"These two girls came up to me yesterday while I was waiting for a taxi outside work," I explain, handing them the Polaroids from inside the paper bag. "They said they're from Canada, and they really wanted to see Jackson but you guys were out filming so I just took them." In my most sincere, half-sober state, I manage to confess that I really wasn't sure if I could ever give it to them because we weren't really friends yet. But I felt really bad for the girls who have been waiting all day outside the building. "Come to think of it, I didn't even know you guys would be there tonight. I'm actually glad my friend ditched me!"
"Yeah, because now you have new friends, right?" Jackson says with a smile.
"Wait, so are we REALLY friends now?" I slur.
"Of course!" BamBam answers, gulping down his soda. I turn to Mark for validation.
"Yeah, we've seen your lingerie collection. I think that's enough," He giggles raising his soda can to me.
"Fair enough," I retort, clinking cans with him. "You have no idea how much I've seen of you guys before we even met anyway, so..." I watch their jaws drop open and I can't help but chuckle at the sight of it. Of course I've seen a lot. I've seen them shirtless, cursing, fighting, sleeping, and making obnoxious mistakes that cannot be broadcasted at all cost. Before they can even start asking questions, I hold both my hands up. "Don't even ask. Just know that whenever there's a camera around you, I will see you."
We all agree that they should be free to be who they are, even on cam. It is, after all, the one thing their fans love about them—their adorable authenticity. I promise to keep their clean idol image intact by doing my job well. I can't promise them though that I'll always cut the clips they ask me to edit out. I rarely get to shoot with them, after all, and I'm still under the mercy of the directors and writers.
"So what do we promise? She made hers, we need to make our promise too," Mark tells his two younger members. I can see the wheels in Jackson's head turning. He's doing that eye roll thing that I can never seem to edit out of videos, no matter how much I hate it.
"Let's introduce her to the other members!" BamBam suggests. The first thing that comes to my mind is Mina, who's very keen on meeting GOT7's leader, Jaebum.
"No, no, no, you don't have to do that," I shake my head, despite the very tempting offer. "I'd really rather let it happen naturally because we all work in one company and in one team, it would be ridiculous to never meet the rest of GOT7, right?"
"How about if we introduce you to other artists? Like, tell us who your favorites are and we'll call you when we're hanging out with them," Mark says.
"I swear if you don't say GOT7, we are done here. We're leaving!" Jackson warns, making me crack up for the nth time.
"Aside from GOT7," I answer, giving Jackson a meaningful look. He responds with a very proud smile. "I really like G. Soul, Suzy from MissA, CL from 2ne1, and Jimin from BTS."
"Okay, you already met Rap Monster so BTS is out," Jackson says. I jokingly protest but he shushes me with a cheesy finger. "CL is too cool for us, forget it. Suzy is busy but we'll see. Jihyun hyung is easy to find so THAT we can promise!" The two other boys are nodding as Jackson speaks.
"I'd be happy with an autographed album really, no need for introductions. He seems like a really busy guy." I take a swig of soda, my insides feeling all fuzzy and weird when my eyes meet Mark's gaze.
"Okay, done. Mark, don't forget that," Jackson tells Mark. Mark turns to Jackson and then to me and winks. Damn. If I wake up this morning with a bad hangover, I hope I remember that wink. We continue to talk about G. Soul's soul-shattering music until BamBam's ringing phone interrupts us.
"Oh, it's JB hyung!" He announces before picking up. We all fall silent for a moment, Jaebum's leader vibe resonating through speakerphone.
"Yoboseo?" JB says.
"Yoboseo? Hyung..." BamBam answers.
"Yah, eodiya? Where's Mark and Jackson?" His voice is placid, almost calm, but you can tell he's mad. BamBam sends an all-knowing look at his two older brothers.
"JB hyung, this is Jackson. I have Mark and BamBam beside me," Jackson says. I squint at them, my brain translating words far slower than usual.
"Eodiya?" JB asks again. I start to feel goosebumps in the worst way possible, I almost want to shake in fear.
"We're at a friend's house near Cheongdam Park." Mark and BamBam seem more silent than usual. Although I know they don't back down from JB as easily as the other members, it still doesn't surprise me that they're letting Jackson talk on their behalf.
"Nugu?" [Who?] I can feel my heart pounding. They all look at my panicked-stricken clueless face.
"Uhm, she's a new friend..." Mark finally speaks up.
"Aishhh!" The leader exclaims, sounding sharper than ever. JB's Korean words are hitting me at full speed now and it's frightening as fuck. "It's three in the morning. Our manager is looking for you. If you're not here in 10 minutes, I swear I'm going to punch you guys until you bleed, araseo?!" We never film them in their dorms but I do hear JB say "wait until we get home" a lot in the clips I edit. I can now imagine what that means.
"Ah, wae? We're just trying to chill, we don't have schedules today anyway!" BamBam is the first to question him. This kid is freaking brave.
"It's not about the schedule, it's about you partying until 3AM. What if fans see you?" JB reasons.
"Araseo, we're on our way back now." The very patient and calm Mark seems to always be the first to concede. The line goes dead almost immediately, leaving me shocked.
"Oh my god, I lost track of time! Shit, Sorry guys, mianhe..." I profusely apologize.
"Ani, gwaenchanha. it's very nice meeting you—and I'm not just saying that because you're pretty," BamBam says, finally regaining his smile.
"Hey, thanks for the popcorn!" Jackson says standing up, licking his fingers. Mark picks up the paper bag carefully as he stands.
"No problem! Hey, wait, I have something for JB," I hurry towards the fridge to take out the huge box of cupcakes. "Here, tell him I'm sorry for keeping you up. I'll probably meet him some other time."
"Oh, you're so sweet!" BamBam says as I hand him the box. We all exchange high fives as I lead them to the door. I feel like my soul is about to leave my body by the time they step out. But like every day of my adult life, I try to fight off my tiredness to clean up our mess before turning off all the lights, running upstairs, and collapsing in bed.