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For most SKEES musicians, their first Family Concert typically went down as one of the most memorable moments in their entire career.

The renown concert series, having once been modest in comparison to now, upgraded to stadium-sized shows for the first time in 2006 and had taken place only in stadiums and arenas worldwide ever since. Concert days were full-day experiences in their selected cities. Nearby event spaces would be rented out for hours prior to the start of the concerts where DJs played top Korean hits for fans’ enjoyment, local restaurants fed their stomachs, and most notably, SKEES musicians and actors alike came out to meet and greet their fans.

SKEES’s marketing and sales strategy for these concerts was actually quite superb, in my personal opinion. To tie in their film, television and variety side, actors and variety stars served as hosts for both the concerts themselves and their pre-party festivities, creating a bigger buzz and more motivation for fans to buy tickets. Tickets to the concerts were your only way into the pre-parties, where you could meet your acting and variety idols, as well as experience special mini-screenings of their upcoming works.

Of course, the biggest draw to the pre-parties was supposed to be the chance to meet the actual performing artists - which it was. Each artist would take a ride over to the event space for meet-and-greets at their specific time-slot while the others took care of their individual sound checks. It was a fluid system for everyone’s benefit.

All of this applied when the SKEES Family Concert Series hit Hong Kong for the first time for the year, scheduled for one night at the AsiaWorld-Arena. The whole Chinese territory was buzzing with anticipation as D-Day drew closer.

The day started bright and early for all of the artists listed to perform at the concert, which was enough to empty out the SKEES home base quite a bit. It took just under four hours to get from Seoul to Hong Kong, leaving plenty of time for artists to tend to sound checks, meet-and-greets and more before showtime.

My van ended up getting to the airport earlier than expected so the guys and I managed to beat the flood of fans that always showed up to see us off at Incheon Airport. Everyone else wasn’t so lucky. When the others filed into our private waiting room little-by-little, they all seemed displeased by the aggressive welcome outside. Even Taeyeon, a long-term performer and legend at SKEES who’d experienced this countless times, grumbled as she sleepily entered the room.

“It’s too early for that,” I heard her complain to herself as she walked by.

Anna’s van was one of the last to arrive and even the happy-go-lucky girl herself seemed disturbed.

“I’m not a morning person, you know that,” she told me as she plopped down in the seat between Jungkook and I. Unintentionally proving her point, she had shamelessly thrown the younger boy’s bag that had been occupying the seat to the ground. Even when he scolded her, she couldn’t have been bothered. 

“These seats are meant for tired people like me, not excessively expensive bags,” she fired at him before sinking into the seat and shutting her eyes, wishing she could teleport back to her bed. Jungkook rolled his eyes and turned back to Jimin, whose face was swollen from his recent slumber. Very few of us looked like the picture-perfect idols we were supposed to be.

It didn’t take much longer for all the managers and staff to make it through security for the flight to begin boarding. As usual, our whole bridgade took up all of business class and the two-seats-per-section set-up encouraged us to buddy up. My seat neighbor at the last concert had been J-Hope but seeing as he was sitting this concert out, he wasn’t even an option. I probably would’ve sat with Anna even if he were there, though. In fact, he would've most likely encouraged it.

A few knowing eyes observed us as we walked by, the budding of our relationship still fresh news to all. I guess even those rumored about on the daily enjoyed playing along with rumors themselves.

Based on her drowsiness in the waiting room, I had expected Anna to fully recline her seat and pass out as soon as she sat down. Instead, she looked past me and out the window as the sun rose to start a new Korean day.

“Not tired anymore?” I asked casually while in the process of making myself comfortable.

“No.”

I tore my eyes away from my seat controls at her troubled tone. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied without an ounce of conviction.

“You know you can’t pull that with me,” I reminded her before nudging her with my elbow. “Come on, it’s your first family concert. Aren’t you excited?”

“I am.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” I retorted, making her sigh. I couldn’t help but do the same, having the feeling that I knew what her moodiness was about. “Are you still feeling down about the album thing?”

When she nodded, I frowned. The truth of the matter was that within the past three weeks, her album had been doing incredibly well everywhere except Korea. The sales of the Korean version of it were much lower than projected while the English version was doing better globally than anyone could’ve thought. The original projections made, having once seemed high, now looked like laughable low-balls made by very doubtful people. Most people would be celebrating such an accomplishment, right?

Well, every day I'm continuously reminded that Anna is most definitely not like most people. She can't celebrate because although her sales are, for the most part, for exceeding expectations, they're not perfect. And Anna is a perfectionist - almost even to a fault. 

“Anna, I get that you’re upset but you need to put that behind you for now,” I told her seriously. She was really being too narrow-minded. “Anyway, hasn’t the reaction been really good in Hong Kong? I heard they really like you over there.”

“They do,” she affirmed, though her somber expression still refused to waver. “They’re one of my top demographics.”

“So, I’m confused then. Why are you being such a downer on the way to perform for your one of your biggest fanbases?”

She met my eyes and held my stare for quite some time. I knew I had her, I always questioned her with logic whenever her perspective would go askew and it always worked. I waited until she finally gave out a long, heavy release of breath, as if she were getting rid of all of her inner demons.

“Fine, you’re right. I’m being angsty, I know,” she finally gave in. “I’m just worried. Director Jung is really unhappy about the reaction in Korea. He was sure I would sell better.”

“That’s just because you’re both used to the ridiculous amount of press and media coverage you’ve gotten so far,” I explained logically. “Koreans are harder to impress musically. Now that you’re not just a new face, they have things to be picky about. You’re just gonna have to work your way up like the rest of us.”

She nodded solemnly, regretfully accepting the truth of my words. There was a whole new level of expectations set upon her that she’d have to start getting used to.

“Alright, enough of the doom and gloom,” I concluded, giving her head a shove with my finger. I caught a flash of a smile when she swatted my hand away. “You’re about to have a hell of an experience in a place that loves you. Forget about Korea for now.”

“Wow, what a loyal Korean you are,” she teased, deservingly earning another finger shove.

But forget, she did. She didn’t necessarily mean to, her Hong Kong fans just gave her no choice. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see her fan engagements at the pre-party due to my soundcheck at the same time but I’d heard it was madness. Young men and women alike showed up in mass numbers to see her and showered her with the love she needed and deserved.

Though, I couldn’t hide my surprise at how big she’d become so fast. Having a good reaction quickly wasn’t too unusual, just hard to achieve. But actually garnering loyal fans at such an early stage of her career was impressive, to say the least.

“She’s been really active with them on SNS since she first got to Korea,” Seulgi told us as a group of us gathered to eat dinner in the lobby backstage.

As usual, a local business had anxiously volunteered to cater for us, desperate for the advertising they got from it. Anna had yet to return from her soundcheck so we took the opportunity to shamelessly gossip about her. Harmless, but shameless.

“She said she hadn’t even realized how many of the people she was answering were specifically from Hong Kong. It was only when her PR team commended her for giving them so much attention that she realized that not everyone reaching out to her in English was from the West.”

“So, she was building her fanbase without even meaning to,” Namjoon chuckled. “Only Anna.”

“I know,” Seulgi grinned along. “Apparently, her strong social media presence is a big part of why her album did so well.”

“Her English version, at least,” I pointed out realistically. “She’s been really down about how poorly the Korean version’s been doing, just to warn you all.”

“I know, I noticed that, too,” Seulgi agreed, as well as many others at the table.

“I told her not to worry about it too much. I mean, it took some time for all of us to find success.”

“You’re right,” Namjoon agreed. “She needs to be more patient. So much attention was handed to her simply because she’s white but if she wanted to be a Korean idol, she had to expect that that wasn’t going to continue on in Korea forever.”

A couple of us nodded and hummed in agreement. Her expectations had been set so high when really, she should’ve been considering herself lucky that all these other countries had fallen so in love with her so quickly. That was what was worth noting.

I grinned as Anna finally made her way into the large room, clearly in much higher spirits. It so harshly contrasted against the image I had of her on the plane earlier and everything we had been talking about a second ago. She raced through the makeshift buffet line before inviting herself to our table, not minding that she was only beginning her meal when all of us had already finished.

“So,” I began, looking at her in gratification. “I guess Hong Kong’s everything it’s lived up to be so far?”

“Yoongi, the fans are beautiful,” she gushed tenderly, as if I had triggered a release of emotions. “They were so warm and fun and some tried teaching me Cantonese and Mandarin and they got me gifts and I don’t know, they were just so wonderful.”

“I had a feeling they would be,” I told her, leaning back in my chair and listening to her breathless outflow of love for Hong Kong.

“And, oh my god, did you see that arena? Junsun told me it seats, like, 15,000 people and that the whole show is sold out,” continued like a race car, speaking at the speed of light. “Though I’ve got to admit, it seemed like way more than that when I was on stage.”

“I think it has a maximum capacity of 16,000,” I informed her. Not gonna lie, I had actually checked the numbers the first time I performed in this arena many years ago. I typically did that whenever I performed somewhere for the first time. I was a calculated person, I liked to know.

She thought about it momentarily before shaking her head. “That still doesn’t seem like enough.”

I had to admit I felt pretty satisfied seeing her like this. “I’m glad to see you in higher spirits.”

“The fans really did it at the fan-engagement. They treated me like a goddess,” she admitted, her face glowing just at the mention of it. Then she frowned and pointed her chopsticks at all of us accusingly. “Why can’t you Koreans love me like that?”

“We’re just the worst,” Namjoon played along, serving to be enough of an explanation for her.

“I know.”

“But seriously, Anna, what Yoongi said to you on the plane was right. Don’t think about Korea or the album or sales or anything. You’re getting the reception of a lifetime here, Korea can be dealt with when you get back,” Jin piped in, backing me entirely. I couldn’t have been more glad that he had been chosen as an MC for the night’s concert than at that moment.

Thankfully, she was quicker to agree this time. “It can at least wait until I’m done eating. This food is amazing,” she unintentionally continued to gush over Hong Kong, full of said food. I side-eyed her in amusement.

“God, we’re gonna have to drag you out of this place tomorrow, aren’t we?”

“I think so,” she admitted guiltily.

But no sooner had she said that did she in fact get dragged away, but by her manager in this case. He mumbled something about an interview and they were off. If I had to make a guess based on his rushed manner, she had probably been requested for a last minute interview due to the commotion she’d caused.

I didn’t see her again after that until she was being ushered off stage after her performances later that night, the crowd cheering loudly in reaction to the energetic set she gave them. Rappers were typically placed earlier in the line-up so I was happily able to watch the entire thing from the wing. She seemed blissfully lost as she followed the flashlit path created for her by concert staff, a goofy smile on her face.

As soon as her eyes landed on me, she bounded over and threw herself into me for a bone-crushing hug. I guess it was really only from the fans that she wanted our budding relationship to be kept as every staff member and artist in the wing had the ability to catch sight of us.

Alright, fine with me.

I laughed and held onto her loosely in return. “I guess you had a good time out there?”

“That was ing amazing!” She beamed, out-shining all 500+ stage lights. “How are you so calm?”

“I performed over an hour ago. The adrenaline has fallen quite a bit,” I humored her. Her body was practically buzzing in excitement.

“Did you hear them all singing along? They were so loud,” she raved, referring to the still-hyped fans on the other side of the curtains.

“For you especially,” I pointed out encouragingly yet honestly. “They truly do love you.”

Just then, there was a huge roar from the crowd. Anna looked at me dubiously. “I think they’re just loud in general.”

I chuckled. They had been a notably rowdy crowd all night. But I still gave Anna a nudge.

“They knew all of your lyrics, though. And believe me, they were screaming them, not just singing them,” I recalled, practically yelling over the loud ambience in the arena. “Don’t be so modest, you’ve got a lot of fans out there.”

She looked out in the stage’s direction, getting a sliver of a glimpse at the endless rows of fans. Her eyes danced as she did. She shook her head and took in a large swig of breath. “I don’t think I’ll ever believe any of these things even if they slap me in the face.”

“You’re too much,” I joked, taking my own glance at the stage. I wasn’t surprised to see someone like Taeyeon performing, she was incredibly popular and deserving of the previous crowd reaction.

“Too much or too cute?” Anna challenged, her face clearly giving away her satisfaction from already knowing the answer, whether I’d admit it or not. Which I wouldn't.

“Too annoying.”

She giggled mischievously at my answer before pushing me away and running off to change into the concert t-shirt we were all to wear at the concert’s end. She promised she'd return to watch the rest of the show with me and she did so - just with a big group of our friends following behind her. They must’ve latched onto her somewhere in the dressing room hallways. But I was okay with them joining us since that night especially, we were all a family.

And like a family, we pooled onto the stage together after the last performer of the night finished, a medley of everyone’s top songs serving as our soundtrack. After witnessing Anna’s excitement over the event, I couldn’t help but look out at everything with a renewed sense of awe - the animated audience, the miles of runway, the sheer magnitude of the production.

My life really was incredible.

It’d been a while since I’d felt so floored at a Family Concert. I’d done so many that they had become so run-in-the-mill for me. For a lot of us, really. And for my newfound perspective, I could only thank the girl who was running out to the end of the runway, singing and dancing along to every song with as many fans as she possibly could. She tried her hardest to leave no fan unnoticed, waving and smiling at them like they had changed her life.

It was then that I realized they had.

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Hey everyone, hope you're still all enjoying this story! Even though we're already eleven (plus a bonus) chapters in, the journey is really only just beginning so we have a long ways to go!

I just wanted to write this Author's Note to further clarify what a SKEES Family Concert is like. Think of an event like KCON specifically as that's where I drew most of the inspiration from (I've been to KCON 4 years in a row in LA so that's only natural lol). But then it's sort of like an SMTown or YG Family Concert in terms of all the artists being from the same company, though I guess with SKEES being the hub of entertainment in my fictional Korea, that would make sense anyway! 

Thanks again to all of you for reading! Talk to you all whenever. :)