The Fan Meeting
Living With VIXX: Making An Album [Hiatus]A high-pitched beep could be heard as the small light of the key card lock turned green. The card was removed quickly, the door handle got turned and the door was pushed open. Two young women walked inside and looked around. It may have been a budget hotel, but it surely did not look the part: everything was clean and bright, there were two beds that outdid the ones at home and hardly any sound from outside could be heard. Even in February’s cold, people were walking outside and taking in their surroundings. Why not, the streets in Paris are beautiful.
The two pieces of luggage got placed against a wall together and the first girl let herself fall onto one of the beds, face first. The other one placed her handbag on top of her suitcase, kicked off her shoes and joined her friend by sitting on the other bed – they did not even had to negotiate on which bed they wanted to take. A deep sigh came from both of them separately. They were totally wearied after a seven and a half hour bus drive plus having to stand in a full metro for more than one hour. Also they could not sleep for long due to their excitement. It was their first international trip together as well as their first concert outside of their home country. It did not help that the group that they would be seeing were their favourite.
The first girl from earlier groaned as she turned around and sat herself down to take off her shoes. “I’m never going to take the bus again.” She pushed some words after each shoe from the effort she needed to take them off.
“We have to go back the same way, you know.” The other commented.
She groaned again, louder this time, throwing her shoes towards her suitcase. “I hated it.”
“You were the one who didn't want to take the plane.” The second one took her mobile together with a piece of paper with the Wi-Fi password on it. “You should’ve listened to me.”
“Rub it in, Morena.” The first one nagged. She lied down again and turned her back to the other. Morena knew that her friend, Nadia, was this irritated because she was so tired, so she let her.
Both rested for a bit before they went back outside to search for a nice but cheap place to eat diner. They could get some snacks at the hotel, but their stomach asked for more. It already had gotten dark outside – and colder – so they were not that picky and quickly wanted to get inside. During their stay in an Italian restaurant they could notice from the people outside that the temperature dropped even more; they could see more shawls, layers of clothes and breath coming from people their mouth. At first they had planned to walk around for a bit, but decided to go back to the hotel directly afterwards.
“Do you already know what you’ll wear tomorrow?” Morena asked as she took her outfit for the next day out of her suitcase. As usual, she had her outfits planned out and placed in order, so she ped and zipped her suitcase within one minute.
“Not really.” The murmurs of Nadia were soft as she was thinking. She pulled out the pile of clothes that she created. They would be going to a fan meeting of their favourite group, VIXX, and both wanted to look as nice as they possibly could.
Morena turned towards the other. “You’ll be dancing all day, right?”
Nadia instantly felt her stomach drop by the word “dancing”. For a second she forgot that she organised a dancing workshop to teach other fans the choreography of the group’s debut song. She was frightened about meeting new people.
“Then you have to wear multiple layers. It will be even colder than today, so you’ll definitely need that anyways, but when you get hot because of the dancing you can easily take something off.”
Nadia was still looking at the pile, clueless on what she wanted to wear. “I don’t know.” She elongated her words, still speaking softly. The other sat on Nadia’s bed and looked at the pile as well.
“You brought a pair of leggings with you, right?” Morena asked, placing her elbows on her thighs as she leaned forwards. Nadia nodded and Morena pointed one out before clasping her hands. “And that one pair of navy denim jeans? The one with the bejewelled patches.” Every time, Nadia pulled the piece of clothing out of the pile and in the same fashion they picked out a warm, comfortable but good-looking outfit together.
“And what did you pick for tomorrow?” Nadia looked up towards Morena’s suitcase, the place where the other laid on her clothes. Morena stood up and showed each piece of clothing, three to be exact. “So only one pair of leggings, a tunic with long sleeves and your blanket?” The latter was a nickname for one of Morena’s ponchos. “I’m surprised that you’re wearing long sleeves.” They both laughed. Morena could endure most of the cold; it would be a miracle if she felt cold.
The girls had planned to go to bed early that evening, getting enough sleep for the next day. Both were exhausted, so that was not a problem. They woke up at nine so they could take one hour to get ready and one hour to find their way to the location of the fan meeting; the square in front of the concert hall where the group would perform in two days. Before the girls would take the metro they found a supermarket where they bought some food for both breakfast and lunch. Nadia already prepared some snacks and drinks for the two and for a couple of fans.
Nadia was glad that she gave Morena all that time to get ready; they arrived only ten minutes past the agreed time. Luckily for Nadia, most of the people had already settled and were too busy chatting that only a few checked both girls out. The girls knew no one, so both felt awkward standing there. Morena greeted a few with whom she got eye contact, but so far did not feel at ease as to sit with them as well. They stuck together and settled themselves at the far right side of the square. The ground was ice-cold, so the girls brought a blanked that they could share. There were several blocks of stone they could sit on top of, but that way the girls would be too showy for their liking. Looking around, the atmosphere seemed cold as well. As predicted, it was colder that day. The sun created some kind of warmth the day before, but this time it was a chilly, overcast day. The people on the square were warm and thickly dressed or had blankets wrapped tightly around them. Speaking of others, it did not take long until someone walked up to them.
“Bonjour!” A young woman greeted as she rubbed her gloved hands, trying to create some warmth.
Morena quickly shook both her hands as she smiled nervously. “Je ne parle pas Français.” Saying that she could not speak French.
“English?” The girl then asked, a heavy French accent already found with one word.
Nadia answered before Morena could. “Please.”
“Let me introduce myself first.” The girl leaned forward, reaching out her hand, shaking the girls their hand. “My name is Maria and I organized this fan meeting with my other friend, Sade, who's sitting over there.” She pointed out her friend who was sitting a few groups from them. The two looked over and then went back to Maria. “Will there be other friends joining you?”
Morena shook her head slightly. “No, we’re just with the two of us.”
“Why won’t you sit with others? I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends today.”
“Well… Ehm.” Morena mumbled while Nadia made a confusing sound. Being timid did not help much for either of them. “We don’t really know what to do.”
“Would you like to join us instead?” Maria instantly asked. Nadia hesitated, but accepted the offer since Morena already did so.
They both stood up, taking their belongings and walked to the group Maria pointed at earlier. Joining that group, they softly greeted everyone and once again settled themselves next to each other. Both were silent for a few minutes afterwards, as they still did not feel at ease. Luckily for them, the others around them were already deep into a conversation. Slowly, they began interacting with them as well and spoke more, as the others were curious about them – plus talking about yourself is always easier than to come up with small talk. Just within ten minutes the group was chatting and laughing, talking about anything they could come up with about the VIXX members. Sometimes there was some kind of language barrier, but together they worked it out. There was one thing about language that they all shared: the love for Korean music. Soon after the group was getting out of ideas to talk about, they started listening to music. Singing along and sometimes even doing some of the choreography, they again laughed and had fun. Nadia on the other hand still felt a sharp pinch in her stomach every time she got reminded of dancing. She tried to make up her mind – well, more like trying to convince herself that everything was going to be fine.
“You’re good at remembering the dances.” One girl whose name was already forgotten by both said, praising. “It looks like you’re the only one from this group who knows every dance move.”
“Yeah, my favourite thing to do is dancing.” Nadia explained, but noticed the interested looks in the eyes of everyone in the group. She took a second to find her words, quickly translating into English. “At home I practice with a group at least once a week. We mostly dance to K-Pop songs… And especially VIXX.” She giggled softly, getting some of the group to giggle as well.
“Wait.” Sade was the only name besides Maria that the duo remembered. “So you are the foreign girl who is going to give those dance lessons?” Her eyes lit up, totally surprised as Nadia nodded.
“Yep, that’s me.”
“So cool! I knew I recognised your name from Facebook.” She hastily folded her hands, leaning towards Nadia. “Can I join, please?” Begging, she elongated her last word.
Nadia giggled again. “Of course you can.” The other girl could not smile any brighter.
It was just after lunchtime when Nadia thought it was the right time to start, having found her courage. “Morena…” She stood up as she started talking. “I’m going to get ready.”
Morena looked up with raised eyebrows. “For the dancing?” She was surprised that Nadia got herself together. She thought that she would chicken out.
“Yes.” Nadia answered contently. “You want to help?”
“Of course!”
She looked around. “Can you please tell everyone that we’re going to start in a few minutes?” She had the courage to start dancing, but the talking-to-strangers part still had to come up.
“Ok.” Morena stood up as well and prepared herself to raise her voice. “To everyone who wants to join the choreography workshop; it's going to start in five minutes. Let's get together over there.” She pointed to the place where Nadia and herself had been sitting in the beginning and started walking towards it. Her voice could easily be heard all over the plaza and after several seconds, people were getting up and gathered at the designated place.
“Wow.” Nadia was flabbergasted after almost half of the people there had joined them, say roughly thirty. “Ehm... I don't think that we've got enough room over here, so we should make some room.” She spoke softly, but started to feel less nervous after she noticed that the other fans listened to her, asking the ones who did not participate to give them more space.
It took her some time to get the hang of the talking, but Nadia had started her instructions to how she was going to teach them the dance: the ones who knew most of the choreography could stand at the back and the ones who needed more help at the front. If someone did not understand a move, they could just ask. A few more instructions were given and she started off with the debut song Super Hero. Morena was sitting next to the wireless speaker, holding her mobile phone while playing the songs and pausing them when needed. In one hour, Nadia managed to teach the entire group how to dance the choruses of the first three songs of the group: Super Hero, Rock Ur Body and On And On. Originally she was going to teach them one song, but apparently everyone was a fast learner – or Nadia was a good teacher, an idea that she quickly pushed out of her mind. To finish the workshop, Nadia had a game in mind. She would be dancing a specific part of several songs – without the music – and the group would have to guess which song it is. To make it more fun, the top three who got most of the answers would get a small present. The group was very enthusiastic and wanted to play.
Even though buildings and the Seine River surrounded the plaza, there were still a lot of people who walked past it. About half of the people who did walk past came to take a look at what was going on, especially since they heard the loud music. Some stayed for a little while, some simply continued their commute. There was one man in particular who had watched the group for a while and until the end. He had seen how Nadia was instructing everyone, teaching them how to dance and interacted with each other. The moment he noticed that the girl finished and gathered her stuff, he did not hesitate and walked up to her.
“Hello, can I ask you something?” He asked in English.
Nadia turned around, seeing a young Korean man standing behind her. “Of course.”
“Is everyone here fan of VIXX?” Both Nadia and Morena looked at him, somewhat surprised that he knew the group.
“Yes.” Nadia answered. “This is a VIXX fan meeting.”
The man tried to find the right words to speak. “Are you… Going to wait here until the concert?”
“Not outside.” Morena snorted, joining the conversation. “Not in this cold.”
“I'm glad. I was afraid that everyone here was going to stay here for two days.” The man said, shivering from the thought of being outside for such a long time.
“Are you staff? Or are you going to the concert as well?” The man looked back at Morena. “Since you know about the concert and all.”
The man snickered, trying not to laugh too loud. “Let me introduce myself.” He reached out his hand towards the girl. “I'm VIXX's manager, Kim Jeonghwan.” Both girls gawked at him, totally breathless and instantly nervous.
“Well, that's a fail.” Nadia whispered as she clenched her teeth. She was commenting on Morena, but the two could hear it as well.
Morena giggled nervously – trying to calm herself a bit – and gave him a hand. “Nice to meet you.” He also shook Nadia her hand as both girls introduced themselves as well. “I feel so stupid now.” The giggly girl knew that her face was flushed red.
“It’s ok, apparently none of the fans here recognize me.”
“You should get more recognition.” The man felt grateful by her words.
“Are you going now?” He asked, looking at Nadia first and then at the people around them. “Or will you be staying here?”
“We’ll be staying here until dinnertime.” Nadia looked at the time on her mobile phone; it was around half past two. “So maybe three hours more.”
“Would you mind if I sit here with you for a bit?”
“Of course.” Morena answered and pointed to one of the sitting rocks.
Jeonghwan sat next to the girls and started talking to Nadia about dancing; how he thought that she did a great job teaching the others the choreography. Morena got a notification on her mobile and checked it out. Before she put it away after going through the rest of the notifications, she sneakily Googled the manager’s name. Anyone could call him or herself a manager, so she wanted to find out if he was trustworthy. She also remembered seeing pictures of multiple managers that the group had, so there should be one of Kim Jeonghwan as well. Finding some pictures, she looked at the man and compared his looks with the one of the pictures. It was really him. Quickly she closed the tap and deleted her history, imagining being busted by him if he would look at her screen. Looking up towards the two talking, she listened and joined the conversation.
“Is it ok if I give you two my phone number?” Jeonghwan asked after merely fifteen minutes, looking at his watch. “I really got to go now. I have a meeting with the crew, that’s why I originally came here, but I would like to keep contact with both of you.”
The girls looked at each other. Morena nodded, letting Nadia know that it was ok. “We also got Katok if you’d like to use that instead.” She proposed. Katok is an abbreviation for the messenger application KakaoTalk, which is commonly used in South Korea.
“Oh.” He was surprised that they used that app as well. “That’s even better.” Both Jeonghwan and Morena unlocked their mobiles to exchange each other’s ID-names.
“I can only add you once we get back at the hotel, thanks to not having any Internet here.” Nadia commented as he looked up to her. “Morena will give your ID to me later.”
“Great.” He stood up and buttoned his jacket. “Then I’ll contact you two later.” He turned around to walk away, but turned back around after just two steps. “What would you think about me taking you two out for dinner?”
Nadia was sceptical, but Morena knew that it was the real deal and nodded. “That would be nice.” A bright smile showed on her face.
“Good! I will message you the address of the restaurant I went to yesterday. They’ve really got great food there, seriously the best that I had this week.”
“Go to your appointment.” Nadia said with a smile, waving him away. “You’ll be too late.”
“Yes, I seriously should go now.” He hastily looked at his watch for the second time. “See you in three hours then.” And with a smile, he walked away.
Nadia instantly turned to Morena, her smile fading into a serious expression. “And why did you accept his offer?”
“Because he’s the real manager.”
Nadia lifted one eyebrow, not buying it. “Just because he said so?”
“Because I looked him up as he was talking to you.” This time she raised the other as well and pulled the corners of downwards, surprised that Morena could find such information so quickly and on the sly.
The two soon went back to the group of girls, which had doubled in size in the meantime. Nadia got some compliments on her dancing and the way she handled her workshop. Giggling shyly, she dropped her head and pushed herself against Morena. A few also made some comments on seeing the girls with a very handsome guy and wanted to know what was going on, especially since they saw Morena exchanging something with him with their mobiles. Both girls at one point wanted to explain that it was the manager, but decided not to do so. Knowing that there could be some crazy fans sitting amongst them, it was better to keep that part for themselves. Because the girls did not want to give any more information, the group turned to another subject to talk about.
The time flew by and it was already half an hour into the evening once the girls from the group started to leave. The amount of people who were left in the square could be counted on two hands. Maria and Sade wanted to sit with those people and asked the duo if they also wanted to join. This time they declined, saying that it was time for them to go. Morena got her mobile and checked for the time.
“Meet me at this location, I’ve made a reservation at 7PM. See you two there!”
The girls’ eyes widened as she saw the notification. “Oh sh-.” She gasped. “Nadia, we’ve really got to go, now.” She stood up and grabbed the other by her jacket. “Now!”
The two hastily collected their belongings, said goodbye and walked away. Morena’s mind was totally into her mobile, copying and pasting the location that the manager had given into a navigation application and figuring out how to get there as quick as possible.
“What is going on?” Nadia tried to keep up with the other as she merged into a group of people, trying to get through.
“The manager wants to meet up at seven.”
“Seven?” Looking at the time on her mobile, Nadia quickened her pace. “Seven?! That's in half an hour! Why didn’t you say so earlier?” She was clearly irritated.
Morena grabbed Nadia by her shoulders and took the girl with her to the side of the sidewalk. “I’m not always glued to my phone.” She looked up towards a timetable for public transportation with a map of every stop, switching her stare a couple of times towards her screen. “We’ve got to take the upcoming metro for three stops. Let’s go.”
“Which line?” Nadia asked, but Morena could not hear her since she was already walking ahead.
I hate apologizing for being slow but got to do it again. Days been going quickly - like they merge, shortening my weeks. I just realized that I uploaded Tour Eiffel in January! My (mental) health & block prevent me from writing. I read the words I got over & over but nothing comes out. I'm so sorry
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