I wasn’t sure how long I was in there for, but it felt like it was a long time. I looked down at my watch and saw I had about 15 minutes before I had to meet Hae back at the entrance of the mall.

 

   Walking out of the store, I wasn’t paying attention as I was lost in thought about everything that has happened so far, when I suddenly bumped into someone. I dropped the two bags I had full of the clothes I had bought.

 

   “I’m so-“ I paused when I realized that I was speaking in English.

 

   “Sorry,” I switched to Korean as I slightly bowed remembering that we have to do that here.

 

    "Don't worry, I wasn't paying attention. Let me help you,"

 

   The stranger helped pick up my bags as he handed them to me, I realized that I recognized him but I couldn’t figure out how or why because he was wearing a black mask and a hat but he had it on backwards. All of a sudden, I heard a few gasps and someone yell:

 

   “That’s JOOHEON!”

 

   Everyone around us freaked out and started gathering around us. Jooheon instantly grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the crowd as he turned his hat around and tried hiding his face as he picked up the pace.

 

   “WAIT!” a fan yelled causing him to break out into a run. At that point I wasn’t sure what was real or not. I wanted to freak out myself but I couldn’t at that very moment. I wasn’t even sure where we were going. Everything was going by so fast as I heard screams from fans as they followed us.

 

   Jooheon seemed to pick up his pace as we continued to run. I was starting to grow a little tired; good thing I exercised regularly because other wise I would have been wiped out a long time ago.

 

   We turned a corner and ran for maybe 2 or 3 more blocks before slowing down and he pulled me towards a nearby store. Quickly we went inside and went towards the back to hide.

 

   The both of us were breathing hard as he turned to see if anyone saw, I looked up towards him as sweat was rolling down his face. I don’t know what possessed me at that very moment, but with my free hand, I reached up and wiped the sweat away from his face. Surprised by the sudden touch he jerked back around to face me to only stare at me dumbfounded.

 

      “I-I’m sorry,” I quickly said as I bowed. My heart was pounding a million miles per second and I wanted the ground to swallow me up at that very moment.

 

   With his gummy smile, he smiled at me causing my heart to melt even more than it already has.

 

   “We should get going before they discover where we are,” he said as he grabbed my wrist again. I swear my entire body can’t handle more of this. My friends are going to have to prepare an early funeral because I can already see myself dying any second now.

 

   Once Jooheon carefully checked if it was clear, we quickly dashed out the store and headed towards… I don’t even know where we were even heading.

 

   “Where are we going?” I asked as we fast walked towards the corner of the street.

 

   “Getting a taxi first,” he said as he waved his hand out and tried to flag down a taxi.

 

   Not even seconds later a taxi fortunately stopped and he quickly opened the door. He let me in first before jumping inside and shutting the door. He told the driver to drive away quickly before telling him an address. The taxi driver nodded his head and drove off.

 

   At least I wasn’t running any more. I was extremely exhausted. Looking out the window, I held onto my bag tightly, I wondered if Hae even noticed if I was gone and if she did she wouldn’t have a way of contacting me. My heart dropped at the sudden realization that I didn’t have a clue where I was or where I was heading and I didn’t have a working phone or anything.

 

 

   “YOU BROUGHT A GIRL HOME!?” Kihyun practically screamed at Jooheon.

 

   “I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t exactly go to the company either,” he shrugged as he guided me to the living room and gently nudged me to sit down. He nodded his head as if it was okay for me to sit.

 

   “You don’t even know her!” Kihyun continued to nag.

 

   “She’s pretty though!” Minhyuk flashed me a smile. I returned his smile as I didn’t know what else to do or even say. I couldn’t believe anything that was happening to me right now. It was only my 2nd day and not only did I meet the love of my life but I’m actually sitting on the couch in his dorms! I didn’t know what to do with myself at that very moment.

 

   “You could have taken her home or something,”

 

   “She just arrived here in Korea. She doesn’t remember the address to the place she’s staying,” Jooheon explained.

 

   “What?!” Kihyun shrieked. This time the rest of the members steadily streamed out of their rooms.

 

   “What’s with the noi-“ Hyungwon yawned as he rubbed his eyes to only stop mid-sentence when he realized that I was sitting there.

 

   “T-There’s a girl,” he pointed at me.

 

   “Yes. Yes, there is. Thank you for the nice observation,” Kihyun rolled his eyes. I could see why he was so worried but at the same time he could take a chill pill, but I didn’t dare say anything afraid to embarrass myself. Although I was supposed to go to work tomorrow.

 

   , I didn’t even think about that.

 

   “Uh… guys…” I weakly said.

 

   They all turned their attention towards me, while Jooheon smiled at me.

 

   “Yeah?”

 

   “I really don’t know how to say this, but I’m actually going to be working at Starship starting tomorrow. I swear I’m not a saesang or anything like that. This is pure coincidence. Jooheon bumped into me at the mall and then we both ran away from fans. I swear,” I quickly said.

 

   “Wait wait wait, hold up. You’re a Starship employee?” Wonho pointed at me.

 

   “Y-Yeah. Starting tomorrow. I swear I didn’t have any kind of intentions. I was out with my friend and we were both exploring and-“

 

   “We believe you don’t worry. You wouldn’t be this shy or calm if you had any intentions of doing anything,” Shownu said calmly. I don’t know why but that kind of calmed me because I was so nervous and scared that they wouldn’t believe a word I said.

 

   Sighing, Kihyun ran his fingers through his hair.

 

   “So what are we going to do?”

 

   “We should at least figure out where she’s staying,” I.M shrugged.

 

   “Shouldn’t we tell our manager,”

 

   “He might get angry though,”

 

   “And who’s fault will that be?”

 

   “Please, guys. If I could, could I borrow someone’s phone?” I quickly interrupted because this isn’t what I imagined when I thought about meeting them in person.

 

   “Here you go,” Jooheon was the first to offer his phone.

 

   “You don’t mind if I download an app right? It’s so I can get in touch with my friends so they can either meet you somewhere or at least tell you where I’m staying,”

 

   “Yeah okay. Go ahead,” he nodded his head in understanding.

 

   “Thank you,”

 

—

 

Hae’s POV

 

   For some reason, I kept watching the time every 5 minutes. I wanted to shop in peace but since we promised to meet back up in an hour, I was keeping track of time.

 

   I walked up and down the store just casually browsing when suddenly my phone starts ringing. I pull it out and see it’s an unknown number. I hesitated to answer it but then I remember about Yu Gyeong’s bag so I answer it.

 

   “H-Hello?” Not sure who would be on the other end of the line so I answered in English.

 

   “Yeah hi, are you perhaps looking for your suitcase?” A deep voice asked in English. I was a little shocked that it was a guy.

 

   “My friend is,”

 

   “Oh, I see. Well, do you think you and your friend can meet up so they can get it?”

 

   “Yeah, we can. Are you available right now?”

 

   “Well I’m on the road right now but I can definitely meet up after 4. If that’s okay with you,” he said.

 

   “Yeah that fine,” I said as I checked my watch to see if was only 12:30 PM so that was plenty of time to go home and tell Yu Gyeong.

 

   “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll text you the address and everything,”

 

   “Sounds like a plan to me.”

 

   “Alright, well… bye then,” he said awkwardly before hanging up.

 

   “B-Bye,” that was insanely awkward. Sighing, at least there was some good news. No longer interested in shopping at the store I was in, I decided to head out towards the meeting place. I figured by the time I got the