"What if that's your karma? What if Mark gets in trouble for what you did and this is how the universe repays you?" Liv asks animatedly, her voice blaring through my Bluetooth earpiece. I wish I could toss my phone to the trash bin just like the rich brats on television but I bought my iPhone with my own money so I can't.
Everything about this day is driving me insane. I'm stuck in Narita Airport for god knows how long because my connecting flight to Incheon got delayed. I have a massive headache, I am in dire need of a shower, and I need to report to work in approximately 48 hours—that's if I don't get fired for sleeping with an idol under a strict contract. While I'm excited to actually be in Japan, I hate not being able to come out to explore the city because I still don't know when exactly the plane is arriving and I'm too shy to come up to the ground staff to ask.
"Jesus, whose side are you on, Liv?" I ask as I walk back to my seat at the boarding gate, sipping my latte carefully. I wish I followed my mother's advice to buy a business class ticket so I could relax at the lounge instead of waiting for my flight along with dozens of anxious strangers.
"Of course I'm on your side," My extroverted best friend says. "But with a face like that, I have no problems being on Mark's side too. Let's just say I'm on both of your sides." Liv continues.
*Flashback*
When Liv met Mark Tuan the morning after, I could tell she was already planning disguised double dates at Han River and secret Caribbean getaways with us and her non-existent idol boyfriend in her head. She was overly excited and way too enthusiastic for somebody who was kicked out of her own hotel room the night before.
We were having breakfast at the hotel's restaurant when Olivia came up to me wearing new clothes, looking every bit classy before she revealed, much to Mark's embarrassment, that she slept in a different room at the hotel to give us privacy because her Tinder date didn't exactly go as she planned. Mark laughed it off nervously, but his hands were resting on my thigh under the table the whole time, inappropriately drawing small circles on my skin. Liv commented on how adorable Mark's laugh was while gripping my hand under the table, telepathically asking me how I got myself in such a situation. Needless to say, I almost choked on my toast.
I wanted to talk to him about it. About us. But it didn't seem right to talk about the complexities of our actions when he's obviously still on a high. There was some semblance of serenity on his face that I haven't seen before. The smile on his face, his eyes, the way he ate, they way he looked at me, everything he did was calm and collected and not at all reflective of my war-torn head. Liv's presence saved us both the awkwardness of having to discuss the previous night's events.
After that day, and during our last days in LA, I begged Liv to just stay and lounge around the hotel with me. The endless socializing sapped all the energy out of me. I could still remember the weird looks at the airport, and the flight attendant's knowing smile when she handed me the in-flight newspaper where my face was printed across half a spread of the events section.
K.J. Jewelry empire heiress and new DJ prodigy Love Kangjeon livened up the party with Tyde Levi.
The photo's caption made my heart race. There were photos of me partying with Troye Sivan and Tyde Levi, me dancing onstage, and me posing with Liv and other society girls we grew up with but barely know. Everyone was so surprised that I finally "came out of my shy shell" to sample the party scene.
My hometown friends said they couldn't recognize me because I've gotten skinnier, fairer, and prettier since living abroad. I told them I have South Korea to thank for its mercilessly cold weather, healthy food, and uphill roads.
My mom was way too happy about the fact that I was getting free publicity for our business and she asked me to wear her limited edition designs to parties and society gatherings so people could see it. I had so much fun dressing up and partying and meeting people, but I needed the LA trip to recharge and Olivia was sensitive and sensible enough to keep the whole four days party-free. Mark left for Korea way ahead of me, which is a relief considering I've spent so many sleepless nights thinking about what happened.
*Flashforward*
"Liv, let's please acknowledge the fact that Mark and I... We're not a couple..." I almost whisper, before taking a bite of my croissant. "As soon as I land, I am going to pretend like nothing happened and if this is early karma, I'm fine with it."
"Wow, I never pegged you as the one-night-stand kind of girl," She says laughing. "I guess that means you're going to pretend your 'DJ Sarang' alter ego isn't real too, huh?" Liv adds, making me roll my eyes despite the fact that she can't see me.
"Yes, because I'm not a DJ. It's a one-time thing that I have decided to try because it seems fun, and because Hope was so insistent about it," I sip my coffee loudly to signal my protest.
"Correction, it's not a one-time thing, it's a week-long thing. You basically hijacked all of Tyde's gigs, and he let you because you're actually really good!" She exclaims, her voice rising a bit. Olivia Moseley is a huge believer that there's a hidden talent in everyone waiting to be unearthed. As a sophomore student, she approached me in my lonesome freshman state and tried to persuade me to give cheerleading a try because according to her I had "the perfect athletic build" for dancing. I politely said no, but she never stopped talking to me after that incident.
"Olivia, you're getting way ahead of yourself again. I'm not a DJ. I'm a video producer." I say, closing my eyes. I wish my headache would leave me alone after I finish this cup of coffee. I hear some rustling beside me and I hesitantly turn to look.
There are three free seats beside me (I'm sitting on left-most edge of the boarding gate bench) but the brown-haired girl decides to sit beside me and dump her belongings on the seat beside her. "Okay, I've got to go, my mother will probably kill me when she sees my phone bill. Bye, Lovey, I'll see you again next time okay?" Liv waits for me to respond with a weak laugh and a meek goodbye before cutting the line.
"Solma..." [Don't tell me...] I turn to face the girl beside me only to find her staring with an astonished look on her face . "O-omo..." She covers her mouth with both hands and casts her brown eyes to the floor, her round face pink with embarrassment. I look away from her too, deciding instead to stare at the massive window in front of us. I wonder if she knows I can speak Korean.
I watch the girl through our reflection on the massive windows before us and immediately notice that she's peeping at me while emptying the contents of her shopping bags into her semi-full orange mini suitcase. She has short brown hair that frames her pale face perfectly, and her brown eyes keep hovering towards me every minute or so. She seems to be troubled about something but I wouldn't dare ask what it is.
I pretend not to notice the weird looks she's giving me by busying myself with my phone. I connect to the airport WiFi and as soon as I establish my Internet connection my phone starts pinging non-stop. "Shit!" I immediately silence my phone, knowing that people are starting to look. The girl beside me is definitely full on staring now, but I couldn't care less because the amount of mentions on my Twitter and Instagram is making me panic. I open my apps nervously as I place my coffee on the ground just a few inches from my leg.
TydeLevi: Hey SarangKJ, will this video make you come back and jam with me again?
KtotheJHope: TydeLevi SarangKJ She'll be back before you know it
LivMoseley: OMG! Look, SarangKJ!
There's a video link attached to all the tweets and I'm getting so many messages I can barely load the short clip. It seems that someone from Tyde's entourage took a video of us at a rave party in Perth and uploaded it on YouTube. The video is now spreading like wildfire on both Twitter and IG because people found my mashup of GOT7's Just Right with One Direction's similar sounding hit song very interesting. I feel my heart racing as I scroll through my notifications, reading comments about my face, my figure, my outfit, my choice of songs, and even my dancing and knowledge of K-Pop dance points. This isn't real. This can't be real.
I disconnect from the airport WiFi and close off all my social media apps. I need some sense of reality here, something to pull me back to the adult world I've established for myself in the last three years. I take a deep breath and open my downloaded files to check out the songs JB sent me for their upcoming album.
"Excuse me," I'm not even past the chorus of JB's new song called FISH when the girl beside me starts speaking in English and tapping me on the shoulder?
"Yes?"
"Sorry, but from what album is that GOT7 song from?" She asks, eyes bright and lips spreading out into a beautiful smile. "I don't think I've ever heard of that song from GOT7 before."
"Oh," My heart starts racing. No one is supposed to know about this. I'm definitely going to lose my job. "Well, it's not an official GOT7 song yet so I can't give you the details. I'm sorry, I hope you understand." I give her my sweetest smile in an attempt to distract her from my phone screen.
"Oh, I'm so sorry for prying. I really just got curious, I'm a huge GOT7 fan." She turns back to fixing her suitcase and I go back to staring at my phone screen in peace. We sit in silence for a while and my mind starts to wander back to the video I just saw. Did it go viral because K-Pop fans in Australia noticed how unusual it is for a mainstream DJ like Tyde Levi to play Korean songs alongside his dance and house beats? Whatever the reason is, I still can't get a grasp of the fact that people are actually talking about me.
"Uhm, excuse me again," The voice on my left says. I turn to her distractedly, noticing the familiar grin on her face. I've seen that smile before, on the faces of people waiting outside my work building every day, and on my own reflection while walking along Garosu-gil's vibrant shops when I first came to Korea. I think she's about to give me a fan gift to pass on to the boys because she figured out that I work at JYPE so I start rehearsing my rejection speech in my head.
She holds up a pink package with both hands. "This is for you."
"Huh?"
"You're the DJ in the viral video, right? It's a gift for you. Please consider me as your fan now."
"Oh, gosh! T-Thank you..." I stuttered, hesitantly taking the package from her hands. I'm at a loss for words while she tells me about getting dragged by her cousins into a party one night in Perth and being so surprised that I played Korean songs which she massively enjoyed. "I-I don't know what to say really. I just found out that the video is going viral so I'm not at all prepared for this."
"Don't worry, it takes time to get used to it. I'm Nawoon Kim, by the way."
"Love Kangjeon, nice to meet you," I shake her hand with a shy smile. She launches into a detailed story of her life, how her family moved from Portugal to Australia to Korea, and how she started liking GOT7 at age 20.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know anyone from JYPE? I'm just curious because you said the song you were listening to hasn't been released yet." Nawoon looks at me with inquisitive eyes, the kind of look puppies and preschool kids make. I feel like she can see the wheels in my head turning as I decide whether to tell her the truth or not. She blinks at me, waiting for my answer, and I gulp before finally speaking up.
"Actually, I work at JYPE." I watch as her face contorts into a look of utter shock. I tell her about my job and emphasize the fact that I don't really get to work face-to-face with GOT7 because I only edit the videos clips they shoot.
"But are you friends with them? Like, have you ever talked to them? Do you have a photo with them?" I balk at the avalanche of questions, but something about her wide smile and warm eyes keeps drawing me in.
"Well, we all know each other like regular workmates. I'm one of their staff anyway so I do get to talk to them from time to time." I lie, looking down on my phone to find photos of us. I'm a fairly good liar, but Nawoon seems to be the kind of person who knows exactly when a person's lying or not. "Here, this one's during the recent fanmeet." I show her a group photo of GOT7, JYP, and the staff posing on stage after the fanmeet, hours before my infamous dinner with our boss. "I'm right beside Jackson see?"
"Wow, you're so lucky!" She says, eyes wide while staring at Jackson's muscular arm that was draped comfortably across my shoulders. "What's it like being close to them?"
"They're funny, and nice," I say, trying to drown out images of Mark sweating on top of me just a few days ago. "And they're very sweet too, even towards the staff." I squeeze my legs together before telling her the story of how I ended up living in Korea and working for JYPE. That's as much as I can tell her. We talk about our biases from other K-Pop groups, Korea's fan culture, and the fact that I've subconsciously decided not to bias anyone from GOT7 anymore because it's difficult sticking to one when you work closely with them.
"My bias is Yugyeom. He's so pretty, it's surreal how such a pretty man exists!" She declares, her hands clasping the front of her shirt as if she's having a heart attack. Just then, we both hear my flight's boarding announcement. I stand up to gather my things and so does Nawoon. "Oh, are we on the same flight?" She asks while picking up her belongings.
"I guess so," I show her my boarding pass and we both gasp. "Oh wow, we're sitting right next to each other!"
"Woah, this is such a crazy coincidence!"
"I know! I guess this means we'll still be seeing each other?" We laugh as we make our way to gates, the feeling of comfort and familiarity breeding inside my chest. Just before we get to the bridge connecting to the plane my phone starts buzzing.
BamBam.
"Who's calling you?" Nawoon asks.
"Oh, uh... J-just. I-it's my friend from earlier..." I stutter. I press answer and immediately cover my mouth with my hand. "Y-yoboseo?" [Hello?] I answer, almost whispering on my phone.
"Noona, you're not answering my message, wae? [Why?]" BamBam chides, sounding like a true Korean.
"Mianhe, [I'm sorry,] I'm still in Japan. I'm about to board the plane now."
"Oh, you're on your way back? What time are you coming in?"
"I think I'll be there by 6 or 7pm,"
"Ah, jinjja? [Oh, really?] I'll pick you up from the airport then, call me as soon as you land, okay?"
"Okay, thanks B—" I stop myself from voicing out BamBam's name because Nawoon is looking right at me as we enter the plane. "B-Babe. I'll see you later, bye!" I end the call as fast as I can, interrupting the sound of surprise coming from BamBam's end. Nawoon gives me a knowing smile as we settle down on our seats.
"I knew you weren't single," She says, smirking at me. "You're too pretty to be single." I just laugh in response because I find it ironic that though I've been single for almost four years, I have managed to be called Baby and to call someone Babe in less than a week. What the heck has happened to my life?!