Chapter 1 - February

Tiffany - at airport, when you protected her from anti-fans

Airports are the worst place to have paint-balloon fights.   They were always busy, it never mattered what time, there are always people everywhere. People arriving for holidays, couples leaving for honeymoons, business men and women rushing to conferences and tired vacationers heading home.

In Jason's defence, it wasn’t his idea to have a paint-balloon fight in such a crowded area, it wasn’t even his idea to have the fight at all!  The recent law graduate from Australia was just trying to circumvent the throngs of people between him and the baggage claiming area. He cursed mentally as he once again lost sight of the signs to lead him out of the airport and to his new home.

Not even his height of 175cm was a match for the hordes of koreans filling Seoul Airport. And these weren’t ordinary airport-goers. No, these were FANS.  They were everywhere, squealing and screaming.  He didn’t begrudge them their excitement in seeing their idols, that’s an experience in and of itself. He just wished that he had chosen another day to fly in.   

The noise went up a whole new pitch.  

“OMG! IT'S THEM!”

“TAEYEON, WE LOVE YOU”

“IT'S JESSICA AND YURI. MY YULSIC HEART!”

“TIFFANY, YOU'RE AMAZING!”

“SUNNY, SOOYOUNG, HYOYEON! WELCOME BACK!”

“SEOHYUN, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!”

He caught sight of security guards in uniform forming a path through the middle of the crowd.

An overeager fan jostled him roughly to the side and he stumbled.  Barely catching himself before flying face first into the ground.  Jason stood up and adjusted his black leather jacket.  Dark brown eyes scanned for an exit out of the mob, only to realise that he had been pushed towards the centre of the mob.  He could see the celebrities now.  Nine girls cat walked right down the impromptu path carved by the guards.

Instead of being mesmerised by the beautiful women walking by, Jason's eyes caught a worrying sight across the gap.  In the other half of the fans, decked out in fan merchandise to blend in was a teenager.  

Just like everyone else they were crowding around the group.  Except there was no cheering.  Suspicious eyes darted back and forth before locking onto the figure of a celebrity that had lagged behind the rest.  

There!  The suspicious one wasn’t alone.  Dotted around the crowd were more people carrying bags and edging closer and closer to the girl.

With her long black hair, sunglasses perched on her nose and a pink jacket hugging her body - she looked like a model. She was also on her phone, unaware that she had slipped a little behind the rest of the group.

By some signal Jason missed, the group as one reached into the bags at their sides.

Jason snatched an umbrella from a shocked fan by his side and sprinted.

“Watch out!”

One of the men gave a subtle nod to his accomplices. In a flash, a balloon sailed through the air.

The young lawyer wrapped the startled celebrity in a hug to shield her from the onslaught. Gooey liquid splattered all over the back of his head. He shivered as it oozed into his hair and down the back of his neck.

Steady hands opened the stolen umbrella and used it as a shield to protect them both. Splatters hit the plastic accessory, the blue material just transparent enough to see the silhouettes of liquids hitting its surface.

All around them, the crowd screaming changed tune. Some became panicked, others shocked and many turned angry. But the he paid them no mind, instead focusing on the girl before him.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. Oh my gosh. Are you? You got hit.”

He reached up to feel the cold liquid on the back of his head and his fingers came away with yellow paint all over them. He grimaced, “I'm okay. Just paint.”

“Come on.”

With plans now foiled, the anti-fans turned tail and tried to leave.  Jason took this opportunity to gently take the shocked girl by the elbow and lead her towards her friends.

“O-okay.”

Hands took hold of her as her friends brought her close to check that she was okay. Concerned frowns and relieved hugs were exchanged all around.

With a small smile, Jason turned away from them, and stepped towards a guard.

The young man bowed low in respect, “It was planned. It looked like a group of anti-fans. Best get them out of here.”

"We will. Thank you for your help.” The old guard's gruff voice grumbled out a response before he turned away and gestured to his men.

The young lawyer to be turned away with a sigh - he wasn’t looking forward to driving to his new home with a sticky head. The girl in pink tried to rush forward towards his disappearing figure.

“Wait! What's your name?”

Jason glanced over his shoulder and offered a lazy smile.

“Don't worry about it. It's not important.”

“But-!” She glanced at her friends as one of them tugged on her arm impatiently and sighed with a resigned air,  “Well, thank you!”

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted back, “You're welcome!”

Soon enough she disappeared out the door and he vanished into the crowd. He made his way back to one of the fans and apologised sincerely for taking the umbrella. Instead of being greeted with anger, he encountered nothing but a constant prattle on how her umbrella “saved THE Tiffany Hwang!”

With one more bow and another thank you, he finally reached the baggage claim area.

A few moments later and he was outside, driving away from the airport in a company car left in the long term carpark for his use. Yellow paint had dried on the back of his head and he dreaded to think how difficult it would be to wash it out of his dark blue button up shirt.

He reached into the pocket of his duffel bag and pulled out a creased white envelope.

Jason - Room 402, SM Apartment Complex, Seoul.

His room key was in it, the key to his new career and new life.