"Love—Uh, Noona!" BamBam calls out to me as he gets off the stage before the encore. "Can I see the photo you took?" He's unusually formal, of course, because we are still at work.
"Ne," [Yes,] I answer, camera still at hand. He sidles to my side, face close to mine as he looks at the screen while I scan the previews. I can still feel my heart pounding in my chest after the unwanted exposure. When GOT7 announced they wanted a photo with fans, the stage director pushed me towards the stage at the last minute since I'm the only one around holding a camera. It wasn't because I was covering the event, my work goes as far as making sure I get the footage for editing the next day before the night ends. I just wanted to make sure I get photos for Mina, who is sick and isn't able to come to the event.
"Oh, that's nice! Send me a copy of this, okay?" BamBam says switching to English, which means he's getting comfortable again. I smile and nod politely at him, breaking eye contact before I start laughing at the way we're acting around each other.
"BamBam!" A voice calls out. We both look up to see Mark in the distance, taking his ear piece off. "Gaja!" [Let's go!] The rest of the members are running towards the dressing room, taking their sweaters and earphones off as they go.
"Ah, encore time. See you later, okay?" BamBam says. He then winks at me and makes a mad dash towards Mark and to the dressing room. My eyes meet Mark's and for a split second I feel time stop. He smiles at me and breaks into a run.
*Flashback*
"Truth or Dare?"
"Dare."
Fucking hell.
I was clueless. I look around and they were all staring at me with amused smiles. I let out an agitated sigh. "I got nothing." A sprinkle of laughter in the room. I couldn't help but smile despite the awkward situation.
"Excuse me, can I suggest something?" Jackson said, raising his hand. We all look at him and he giggles like a kid before exchanging sly glances with JB. What the heck is up with these guys?
"Yeah, go ahead then," I said, my curious eyes fleeting between him and Jaebum.
"Seven minutes in heaven!" Jackson said, hand still raised in the air.
"Ah, geureom!" [Ah, of course!] At JB's bidding, Jackson stood up and took both of my hands. He playfully pulled me upward and dragged me upstairs into my dressing room. Behind me, Jaebum has effortlessly pushed a giggling Mark into the room and has forcefully closed the barn doors shut. I immediately ran to the door connecting to the bathroom but Jackson sprinted ahead of me and blocked the door from the outside, his muscular form loomed behind the frosted glass.
"Jackson! Let us out!"
"No! Oh my god, why are you so strong?" He shouted while I try to push the door open. Unlike the barn door that leads to my bedroom, the bathroom door couldn't be locked from the outside so Jackson is definitely using his strong arms to keep it shut. "Mark, You have seven minutes!"
"Hey, stop, you're gonna break the door," Mark said. He pried my tight grip from the old brass knob with his right hand. I felt his left hand slide to my waist, pulling me close to him and leading me to the center of the room. "There's no use fighting them."
I sigh and pout before plopping onto the long mint ottoman that I have repainted to fit the room. It was on sale at a weekend flea market in Myeongdong and was in such a bad state that the ahjumma couldn't believe I was willing to buy it from her. She gave me an old tin mug for free along with it because she felt so bad about selling me something so incredibly old. I told Mark about it while retouching my makeup with a brush I took from the tin mug. Everything around me is done with shabby chic in mind. I figured that if I style my apartment this way, no one would notice that most of my furniture were DIY thrift store projects.
He nodded silently and fiddled with the hem of my pink silk bathrobe before taking notice of the opened bottle of wine. "Oh, you opened the wine already!"
"Yeah, I needed a pre-game," I said without telling him the real reason why. He smirked at me and I felt my heartbeat slow down again.
"Can I have a taste?" He looked at me, bottle in hand, and I swear I almost felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. I told him to feel free since it's their gift. He pressed the tip of the bottle to his pink lips and expertly drank the red liquid, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down in an enchanting rhythm. I tried not to stare.
"Wow, this is good! I didn't know Jinyoung had such great taste in wine," He said, checking the label. I suddenly felt so parched.
"Jinyoung chose that?"
"Yeah, I asked them what to give you and JB said you like wine. Jinyoung suggested the brand, and BamBam suggested the place to get it from." Mark sat beside me on the ottoman and handed me the wine to allow further inspection. It's a standard Pinot Noir bottle and I've had it way too many times in the past three years to know where it could possibly come from.
"It's the wine shop on top of the secret bar, right?"
"Yeah, how do you know?"
"Because I have two bottles of these downstairs,"
"Damn, then we shouldn't have bought you this then."
"No, it's fine! I love it, thank you," I said, uncorking the bottle again and taking a swig. A look of surprise registered on his face briefly, and I realized that I was drinking from the same bottle tip that touched his lips a while ago. I felt my face heating up instantly.
Mark started to chuckle, and I couldn't help but laugh along with him. How could I not? The sound of his laughter and the smile on his face could probably resurrect a dead squirrel. We took turns drinking from the bottle and I tried to keep my mind from straying towards my long-dormant dirty thoughts.
"Hey, you haven't opened the other gift yet?" Mark asked, pointing at the pink box on top of my dresser.
"Yup," I said, smacking my lips to taste the wine better.
"Open it now, I want to see your reaction,"
"Okay," I shrugged. He nodded at me excitedly as I handed him the bottle and stood up to retrieve the gift. It was so obscenely pink, I wonder how he must have felt when he left the store. He said he carried it in a brown paperbag, which was smart because if a male idol like him was seen holding this pink box in public it would have been a scandal in the making.
I gently removed the ribbon wrapped around the box and lifted the lid to find more pink tissue papers inside. He stared at me, curious eyes piercing my numbing senses. I went through the delicately folded paper which revealed a chocolate brown silk night gown. "Oh my god," I gasped. "This is so beautiful!"
"I think it suits you, it's the same color as your eyes." I looked at him and he gave me the softest gaze ever. I handed him the box to hold the fabric up against my body. The smooth, silk cloth fell just above my knees and the lace trimmings on the neckline of the gown draped elegantly against my chest. I shook my head, thinking it actually might look pretty on me. But why would he give me this when we're in the middle of winter?
"You forgot this." He held the box up to me and at the bottom of the box sat a lonesome pair of lace panties. He watched me scowl with look of naughty amusement. "You don't like it? I thought you like lace ecause you have so many of these!" He added. My mind went back to the first night they came to my apartment where they discovered my love for expensive, intricate underwear.
"Oh for fuck's sake don't ever buy me things like these again, okay? It is so embarrassing!" I said, laughing out loud and taking the matching underwear to my night gown. I could tell he was pretty surprised to hear me curse so I bit my lip and muttered a tiny apology. "But thank you, I really appreciate it. I'll come up with a good holiday gift for you guys too, I promise."
"No, you don't have to! You've done so much for us already. Look, you even threw us a last minute party, this is the least we could do."
"Well if wine and fancy lingerie is the least you can do then I can't imagine what else you'd give your girlfriend," I mindlessly commented while folding my new sleeping set and placing them in my dresser along with the other lacey stuff I have.
"But I don't have a girlfriend," Mark said, a smirk spreading on his pretty face. I gnawed on my lower lip furiously in an attempt to wake my senses from the alcohol-induced numbness spreading through my body at that moment. "So, since you're a girl, and you're my friend, you're going to have to carry the burden of receiving my gifts." He stood up and walked towards me, his left hand still holding the bottle of wine. He took another swig from the bottle and I watched as he smacked his lips and sighed. He turned to me and his sultry gaze changed to a look of concern. "Love, you're bleeding!"
Mark placed the half-full wine bottle on top of my dresser and stepped closer to me. He held my face gently with his left hand, his thin fingers lifted my chin upwards. His face was inches away from mie and I got momentarily distracted by his blonde fringe. He looked so good that I stuttered like an overcaffeinated cat. "M-m-mwo hae?" [What are you doing?]
"Stop biting your lip," Mark said. He gently swiped the blood off with the pad of his thumb across my quivering lower lip. I felt my breath hitch at the sudden contact, and I knew that he knew because he smirked at me, his eyes aflame. We heard a fake cough coming from the direction of the barn door. JB was obviously curious about what he saw.
"Sorry to bother you but your seven minutes are over," Jackson said, his head sticking out of the bathroom door. From his perspective, it must have looked like we were kissing and he seemed rather perplexed about it.
"Gaja?" [Let's go?] Mark cooly said as his hands dropped to his sides. I followed them downstairs, consciously licking my lips. It tasted like wine and metal and I felt a tinge of pain as I sat back down on the sofa where the game continued even while we're gone.
"Hey," Amber nudged my knee with her free hand. Henry was fast asleep on her lap. "Are you okay?"
I nodded enthusiastically, though I knew that I wasn't fully okay—not when Mark sat on the shabby gray rug on the floor, cozily leaning against my leg, his blonde head resting on my knee.
*Flashforward*
I hear the audience chanting hopefully outside, and see the staff scurrying around for the final part of the show. The boys are tired, I can see it in their eyes. Despite the thick gray hoodie uniform they're wearing, I see beads of sweat on their foreheads which the makeup artists are gently mopping with tissues. It's weird considering that the temperature outside has dropped lower than forecasted. Somewhere out there, a salary man or a university guy is freezing in the cold and here I am, standing a few feet away from seven sweaty boys who are trying to keep their energy together.
"GOT7! GOT7! GOT7!" The crowd chant is endless. The music starts out of the blue, momentarily startling me. I take photos of their candid moments backstage before facing the crowd again. There's a hush among the staff as we watch our boys gather their remaining energy to perform for their fans for the last time that night. I hear mutters and whispers but those things feel like loose noise compared to the blaring voices, the chants, and the screaming outside. I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Sarang-ssi," I froze. That voice is so distinct, so unreal. "I'm glad to see you here."
"Oh, PD-nim!" I say as I turn to bow to JYP himself. "Annyeong haseyo!" [Hello!] I give him my sweetest smile and he returns it with his signature shy grin and a nod. "It's good to see you too," I add in English. The guy's pretty fluent, this I know because when we bump into each other at the company he always speaks to me in Korean first, and then in English.
"I hope you're having a good time seeing this live," The executive producer says while turning to the monitor in front of us.
"Ah, ne, [Yes,] it's quite refreshing seeing them in the flesh every once in a while than just staring at my monitor in the office all the time," I joke. The PD didn't seem to notice my remark. We watch in silence as the cameras zoom in on Jackson's face. I always find it difficult to edit his parts into the videos because he's always so active that it's often hard to find good, steady clips of him while performing.
"Sarang-ssi, do you have time after the event?" Park Jinyoung—the big Park Jinyoung—asked, turning his kind face to me again.
"Y-yeah, I guess I have time." God, is he going to ask me to work at a time like this?! Why did I even agree to go to this event?!
"I was wondering if you'd like to eat with me, I really don't like eating dinner alone." He flashes me his perfectly white teeth and I am stunned. My bloody boss is asking me to eat dinner with him. I nod and mutter a small okay because, really, when JYP—the Asian Soul—asks you to dinner, you're only limited to one answer.