Playing: Eyes, Nose, Lips (Taeyang)

I was wrong. Hyorin-eonni was insufferable.

All night long, I sulked in the corners with some of the younger guests; Team A members, Jennie and Lisa, and Seungri. Once in a while, Youngbae-oppa would pass by with her, and she’s stay and chat; and I’d move somewhere else (to where the 2NE1 eonnies sat). Then they’d pass by again and Hyorin-eonni even had the guts to ask me about my new movie and how my last drama made her watch out for me and how she’d want to work with me one day.

I retreated to the snack table for the eighth time in the night with a sigh, prompting Lee Seunghoon (who was getting enough chips to feed the Korean army) to ask me if I was feeling unwell. Not one for jokes when the situation calls for it, he lightly small-talks his way, until he finally says,

“You look quite pale, Sihyun-ssi.”

My eyes darted in concern around us to make sure nobody has heard. Was I noticeably strange? Was I that obvious? I grabbed some food from the nearest bowl of snack (it was a bowl of pretzels) and dipped it in the jalapeno sauce I scooped up and popped it in my mouth.

Gross.

“I’m fine,” I munched, looking straight at him; willing him to believe me even though I wanted to gag at the weird taste in my mouth. He tilted his head questioningly at me for a moment, and I widened my eyes more to make it more convincing.

He shrugged. “Let us know if you need company heading back with you. Me and Seungyoonie can bring you home.”

I shook my head. “Thanks anyway, Seunghoon-ssi.”

He stuck a thumb up while holding the plates of chips. “No problemo.”

He walked away, plates teetering in his hold. I turned back to the snack table and grabbed a napkin, spewing the odd combo off it as discreetly as I could; when somebody tapped my shoulder.

“Hi.” I turned and saw the woman herself standing beside me.

“Hi.” I muttered. Seriously, was she following me around? I bit my lip and stared blankly out on the city view behind the table, munching continuously on nachos (without the jalapeno this time).

The snack cracked loudly against my teeth in an effort to drown out the music and her presence, but I stiffened as she reached out for some brownies that were on my side. I nudged the plate towards her; but no more. I wasn’t giving her any favors.

She joyfully got one from the tray and another for good measure, keeping one on her plate and biting into the other. “Mmm. Whoever made these has to be thanked publicly for saving the country sometime in their past life.” She hummed. I tried my hardest not to roll my eyes.

“Aren’t you glad we’re not idols? We have less work to do on the fitness department,” Hyorin-eonni said to me, smiling. “I used dream of being one; but seeing Lisa’s and Jennie’s thin limbs and hearing of their diet kind of made me thankful that to a degree, I can eat brownies when they’re there.”

“Lisa and Jennie did eat brownies tonight,” I muttered defiantly. I’m not sure what she’s getting at, so I was determined to disagree. Okay, maybe I was just determined to heckle her, whatever.

“Oh,” she chuckled. “I thought they were on a tough diet. Youngbae used to tell me all about Hwangssabu’s strict dietary disciplines. I told him I can’t live like that, and he said he’ll make sure I never get within ten feet near his gym.”

I frowned and looked at her, not really knowing what to say. She might have taken that as a bad sign, however, because her eyes widened and she waved her hands.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean that in a mean way. It’s just that even though I’ve been in this industry for so long, I still get a bit amazed at the idols’ discipline.” She smiled weakly. “I’m sorry if that offended you somehow.”

I blinked slowly, my suspicion fading just a little bit. I still don’t understand why she keeps talking to me, not exactly tailing me, but it was annoying since I was trying my hardest to avoid her.

“It’s not that. You didn’t say anything to offend me,” I mumbled, looking away. I could sense her still a bit tense beside me, with the way she held her fingers together and sort of fiddled with them.

“Youngbae told me a lot about you and Seunghyun oppa,” she said. “That week you were in the hospital, he told me how you insisted on working even in a bad state; and he said he was half in awe and half angry with you for doing such a thing. I told him that for a young actress, I thought you were pretty cool for doing that.” She smiled again, brightly this time. “He said he couldn’t wait for me to meet you, because he thinks we’d hit it off since we’re both doing the same things. And then we went to this party and of course I should have realized it sooner, but there aren’t any other actors here except for us.”

I looked at her when she said that, then I turned around surreptitiously to see who was at the party. It was only then that I realized that she was right; not only were there very few non-idols in the room, but that they were mostly the staff and Youngbae’s other friends, and most of them came from YG.

I suddenly felt a bit horrible for the way I thought about her, when she probably felt a little lost in this room. Sure, this was her boyfriend’s party; but said boyfriend had to do his rounds as the host and the girlfriend was here, left alone.