“The least you could have done was to actually tell me truth so that I don’t end up looking like an arrogant woman” 

Rosie was in her apartment and was all huddled up inside her comforter with her laptop spread open Infront of her.  

“Lol, I can imagine your face when you found out. But hey! It's not so bad being honest sometimes. You don’t like Stray Kids and that’s cool” Somie sniggered over the phone, loving how she was pissing off Rosie on the other end. 

“Hold your horses! I didn’t say that! I said that I don’t really know their songs!” Rosie was near hysterical by now. She just wanted Somie to tell her what she should watch to get to know Stray Kids. But Somie decided it was fun to pull her leg like this. 

“I get it girl. You like EXO more than Stray Kids. It's all natural. No need to be so pressed about it.” 

Rosie hung up with an annoyed huff. She cannot be bothered by Somie right now. She had less than 12 hours to get on with Stray Kids. She did what any decent human would do. She googled what she should watch first and apparently there was a show by the same name.  

While Rosie waited for the 9 episodes to download, she headed over to make herself some coffee and popcorn. She skipped dinner because she felt lazy and the time was 8.30pm. and she had to be at the JYP office by noon tomorrow.  

By the time the last episode finished Rosie had cried more times than she could remember and had popcorn all around her. She had nearly thrown her laptop across the room when Felix and Lee Know were brought back. How could he do that? 

The time was nearly 5 in the morning when Rosie shut her laptop off and dusted her bed. Getting under the covers she took her phone and opened up iTunes. Searching for Stray Kids and playing a random playlist she fell asleep just like that. To the sweet sound of Seungmin singing in the background. 

 

CHOGIWA!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Rosie shot out of bed with lightning speed when her alarm rang. Blindly searching for her phone, she switched it off and only to yell profanities when she saw the time. She had exactly 1 hour to get ready and leave before she was late. Scrambling through day old popcorn and her bed sheets, Rosie somehow managed to get herself into the shower in one piece. But oh no, luck wasn’t on her side that day. As soon as she walked out of the shower, Rosie slipped and hit her elbows on the counter. Ouch! 

Murmuring about how she forgot to ask God to save her the night before Rosie went over to her closet and pulled out a pair of black jeans and a white short sleeved t shirt. Wondering why Sohee asked her to wear the exact said colours. Rosie absolutely couldn’t be bothered to tie her curly hair so she did what she always did, she put a cap on and hid all her curly mess inside of it. Instead of shoes she opted for a pair of brown sandals because why not? She had her toe nails done like two days ago. 

She brushed her teeth quickly and rushed out the door with her bag flying behind her. The roads weren’t as busy because the office hours had ended and the bus was empty thanks to that. Rosie caught her breath for 15 minutes. As soon as the bus came to a stop at her destination she jumped and ran as fast she could. She was nearly there and she had 5 minutes left to enter the company. 

With 40 seconds left to 1PM she managed to sign in. Huffing and puffing like a mad dog, Rosie caught her breath while leaning onto the front desk.   

Stray Kids manager walked by her and was surprised to see her. “Aren’t you the new staff? Why are you early?” 

Early? What? 

“MV shooting starts at 6 in the evening. You guys aren’t required to be here till 4.” 

Rosie blinked. And quickly took her phone out to check the message from Sohee.  

Sohee.- I’m leaving the office at 1pm to get ready. Make sure you get to the office by 4 

Rosie cursed under her breath. You stupid baboon! Why didn’t you read the full text?? 

The manager bowed and went his way. Rosie turned to the girl at the front desk who smiled at her understanding what had happened. 

“You can go and collect your working ID and then maybe go drink something at the café on the top floor?” 

Rosie sighed and thanked the girl before she made her way to the HR department to collect her ID. She hung it around her neck and made sure to snap a photo to send to her friends. Inside the elevator riding up to the top floor Rosie got a good look at her appearance through the mirror. Yikes! 

Her shirt was wet from sweat, her baby hairs were peaking from underneath the cap and she forgot to put on makeup! The day was so not going well for her. And she had no one else to blame but herself. Who asked you to stay awake the whole night watching stray kids huh? Now suffer! 

Clearing her head, she walked to the café on the top floor and slightly opened in awe at the sight. It was huge! She thought SM café was huge but this! Was on another level. Coming back to reality she walked up to the front and looked through the menu. She wasn’t feeling so hungry because of how pissed off she was, so instead she got herself a matcha latte. She had never tried it before and the photo looked good on the menu.  

She sat down on a corner with her drink, where she could watch the tv undisturbed. She planned to sit here till 4pm without being interrupted. The lights were dim and it felt cozy. The tv had Got7 songs playing and unknowingly Rosie bobbed her head to the rhythm. These were the songs she was used to.  

“Hey! Rosie, right?” 

Rosie snapped her head at the English she heard only to see the red head guy from stray kids standing right above her.  

The hell? 

“Did I startle you?” oh sweet lord that Australian accent of his. 

“Oh? Ah no, no that’s fine.” Rosie quickly got up from her seat and bowed at him. He is 2 years older than you, so be respectful Rosie. 

“Oh no, no take a seat. Mind if I sit with you?” 

He? Wants to sit with me?  

Rosie could only nod before sinking into her own seat watching Bang chan sit in front of her. He had a coffee in his hands. 

“Hi, do you know who I am.” Bang chan wiggled his eyebrows playfully.  

Rosie smirked with her head held high “Hello Bang chan.” 

Bang Chan nodded with an impressed look. “You did your homework huh? Do you want me to call you Rosie or Jinah?” 

He remembers? Wow. 

“Anything you prefer honestly” Rosie really didn’t think she had the right to pick. It’s amazing as it is the fact that a famous Idol is sitting next to her.  

“I’ll pick Rosie, it’s been a while a since a non-Korean name came out of my mouth.” 

Rosie couldn’t say anything other than giggle. She wanted to reach out and get her drink from the table but her fingers were shaking so badly she didn’t dare do so. But Bang chan on the other hand seemed to be pretty at ease with his long body slouched over the chair. 

“The guys and I have the day off today so I came to work on some music. How about you? I thought staff wasn’t supposed to be here until the evening?" 

Shutting her eyes for a brief time Rosie explained the mishaps of her day to Bang chan who laughed freely. 

“I’m sorry I laughed but that was adorable. So, you plan to sit here till the others come?” 

Rosie nodded and for some reason she felt her nervousness slip away with every passing second. Bang chan was like a big warm hug. He was super friendly and he was making an effort to talk with her. Does he do that with every staff member? 

“I usually don’t mingle about much with our staff, mainly because they are quite older than I am so it’s not like there is much in common. But you seem young enough to be in the same generation. It's nice to have a staff member whom I can talk to like this.” 

“It’s my pleasure.” 

“So how old are you? And how did you end up here? I heard from Hyunjin that you liked EXO.” 

Well , this is embarrassing. 

“Well, I’m 22 internationally. My senior at uni works here, her name is Somie, she had to attend some family matters at home and she needed someone to fill in for her and apparently, I fit the task so here I am.” Rosie wanted to avoid the topic of which idol group she liked because she didn’t want to sound rude. 

Bang chan raised his eyebrow as if taunting her to continue. Rosie couldn’t help but roll her eyes because she just knew he was messing with her.  

“I like EXO, yeah that’s true. But then again, I never listened to any other groups from the 4th generation. Which is why I had no clue who you guys were. But! I knew your debut song but now I know some of your songs.” which was true, she knew all the songs that got featured in their survival show and some others as well. 

“Like what? What songs do you know” Bang chan had his arms on the table as he chuckled. Rosie wasn’t backing down either. She quickly leaned forward and grabbed her drink with her hands before looking straight at Bang chan. 

“hellevator, YAYAYA, School life, matryoshka, district 9, double knot, levanter, is that enough or do I need to say more?” wow where did this confidence come from? 

Bang chan chuckled. “Well, you did your homework indeed. Nice, nice. Hey call me Chan from now on. Since we’re like 2 years apart and we speak in English.” 

Rosie nodded. Should she say something? Chan was sipping his drink while he watched the TV silently. What should I say? Deciding not to say anything Rosie took a sip from her drink.  

What the ?  

Chan turned his head when he heard Rosie coughing.  

“Hey you alright? Asked Chan while he quickly handed her a napkin.  

Rosie wiped her tears before chuckling at her own misfortune. The day was so not going her way. The matcha latte tasted too strong and she wondered how people liked it. 

“I’ve never had matcha latte before and I wanted to try it. It's not my style at all.” 

A big laugh escaped Bang Chan's lips as he clutched his stomach. “Well yeah It’s strong. Cause it has coffee in it as well. You should try matcha milk if it is your first.”  

Rosie just nodded before digging inside her bag and popping a sweet candy in .  

“Do you want me to get you anything? It's half the price for us” Chan winked. But before Rosie could answer she saw Bang chan change the direction of his vision and wave at someone behind her. She turned as well right in time to see Hyunjin AKA the comic book dude walking her way to meet Chan. 

Oh my god. How does he look THAT good in black shorts and a white t shirt? Oh, my lord that hair of his! Help me.  

Rosie quickly ducked her head and fixed her cap because for some reason Hyunjin made her feel small and timid. He was younger though. But he didn’t look to be. 

 

 

“What’s up Hyunjin? What are you doing here?” the two guys high fived each other and hyunjin took a quick glance at Rosie before turning to Chan. 

“I was at the dorm and I had nothing to do, so I decided to come by the office to dance a little and maybe do a vlive.” 

Chan nodded. “I came to make some music but instead I met Rosie so I stopped to have a chat with her. Do you want to join?” Chan looked at Rosie for approval. As if she could say no. So, she merely nodded. Chan was sitting towards the outer side of the table so Hyunjin sat right next to Rosie who held her breath as soon as he sat down. His thighs were very visible in those shorts of his and Rosie willed her eyes to look at the TV. 

Hyunjin’s eyes lit up at the sight of the matcha latte on the table. “Who’s drinking this?” 

Chan chuckled. “Rosie over here wanted to drink but it was too strong for her. I was actually asking her if she wanted something else.” 

Hyunjin looked over at Rosie for a second and gestured to the drink. “Can I drink this?” 

Is he crazy? I drank that! 

“But I drank from it-” 

Hyunjin waved her off. I’ll get a new straw if it bothers you. Plus, you only took a sip I believe.” 

Chan nodded from the other end to confirm and Hyunjin didn’t waver for a hyun Jin second before he reached out to the table and got a straw from the middle and stuck it in Rosie’s drink before taking a big gulp. 

Well, that was weirdly attractive. 

Chan got up without a word with his card in hand and before Rosie could object, he had gone to order her something leaving Hyunjin alone with her.  

“So, R-R-Losie? Are you going to be working on me today?” 

Rosie chuckled, “Call me Jinah, and I don’t know yet. Sohee didn’t tell me.” Hyunjin nodded slowly sipping her- well his, latte.  

“Jinah how old are you?”  

“Oh, I’m 2-” a low rumble came from Rosie’s stomach before she could finish and she could see how Hyunjin stopped his moves because he heard it as well. 

Great, just my luck.  

“Hold on a sec” and Hyunjin was gone from his seat too. Rosie slammed her head into her hands and covered her face out of sheer embarrassment. First, she got the time wrong, and then she choked in front of Chan and now, her stomach growled in front of Hyunjin. Oh, the absolute horror! 

“Rosie, I got you a drink but Hyunjin here said he was hungry so he got two portions of Tteokbeokki. Do you want to share with us?” oh. He didn’t tell chan about her little rumble but instead bought food saying it was for him. Smooth Hyunjin, Smooth. But Rosie was actually grateful for him. 

 The three of them shared two portions of Tteokbeokki between them. It was pretty silent apart from the usual exclaims of satisfaction.  

“So Rosie, do you miss home?” 

Rosie set her chopsticks back onto the table and sighed, she could already feel tears forming. She chuckled hoping it would mask the sadness in her voice. 

“I wish I didn’t. But I do. I left home for a reason.” Rosie stopped because it was something personal to her and she wondered whether it was right for her to tell them. To be honest she was working for them. They had a business relationship. 

“You don’t have to tell us. Maybe not now.” Hyunjin patted her shoulder comforting her. Rosie couldn’t help but shed a few tears. The pain of those memories were still too raw in her heart.  

“We’re friends now Rosie; you can talk to us you know.” Chan reached out a hand with a napkin but Hyunjin had already done it.  

“Hyung, she has friends. We don’t have to pressure her you know.” Hyunjin reasoned. But they had no idea how much of a loner she was. 

“I actually don’t have friends apart from Somie, University classmates don’t really get along well with me. I don’t look like a typical Korean girl, and I don’t really get along well with girls because I grew up with my brother and his friends.” Rosie explained through sniffles. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with you.” Hyunjin spoke in disbelief. “Of course, you don’t look Korean but that’s because you are not Korean. That's common sense.” Rosie smiled at it. And her tears slowly stopped. 

“Well, I declare you as my sister then. I always wanted a sister and plus imagine how all those girls will want to be you when they find out we’re friends.” Chan had a weird way of making Rosie feel comfortable.  

“Hyung! What about me? I thought I was your brother?” 

“You are my brother and she is my sister. What's the big deal?" Chan argued. 

Hyunjin seemed like he wanted to argue but he stopped.  Chan finished his drink and stood up. 

“Well, I’m going to head to the studio. Hyunjin keep Rosie company. Rosie, I'll see you in the evening.” 

Chan walked out the café but not before he made sure to pull Hyunjin’s hair.  

The atmosphere quieted down as soon as Chan left and the air felt palpable. Rosie wanted nothing but to get out of there.  

“Jinah, do you have anything to do afterwards?”  

Rosie looked up at Hyunjin and shook her head. Well, she could go out and walk about but somehow sitting next to Hyunjin felt good.  

“I wanted to go and practice a new choreo, I wish I could take you, but I want it to be surprise for everyone.” Hyunjin seemed to hesitate because he wanted to keep Rosie company but he also had to finish up the choreo for his new song. He only had like a month left before they shot the MV. 

“Shall I take you to a computer room? We have many. You can watch a movie till the time is up.” 

That sounded like a good enough option. She could really use that time to catch up on more Stray Kids content. Agreeing upon Hyunjin’s idea she got up and fixed her bag on her shoulder before following Hyunjin closely.  

Why is he so tall?  

On the way, the two of them passed a few other staff on the way who smiled waved very politely. Which was very different from what Rosie had expected. To be honest she thought that the other female staff would be very mean towards her if they saw her close to the boys just like how she read in her fan fictions. Real life seemed to be different. Interesting. 

“These rooms are barely used and rarely anyone comes by so you should be good. I’m in that practice room in the far end of this corridor.” 

Hyunjin stopped in front of a room and pointed towards a door at the end of the hallway. He was right. The computer rooms next to the practice rooms are not used regularly as normal staff usually keep away from the trainee's way. But it’s not against company rules. Hyunjin gestured at the door and let Rosie walk in before he went his way. 

Closing the behind her, Rosie took a glance around the room. There was a computer in the middle of the room with a sofa on one end and another desk on the other corner with some snacks and bottles of water. Flinging her bag on to the sofa, Rosie the computer and got cozy on the fluffy turning chair. 

She got right into what she wanted to watch. The Vlive channel of stray kids. But to her utter surprise it wasn’t as easy as she thought. The amount of content they had was just mind blowing. Why didn’t EXO have this much content?  

After some minutes, she managed to get to the bottom of the channel and started watching from the first video. 

As she watched through the videos, she couldn’t help but notice that a member called Woojin isn’t present at the moment. And for some reason she felt the pits of her stomach churn, she felt that all familiar dread creeping up. Woojin left the band. But why? And for the life of her she couldn’t find any reason on the internet as to why he left. But from the videos it was so clear that he loved and wanted to be with the boys and she swore she felt the bond between Chan and him.  

Hyunjin’s hi baby on the screen broke her out from her thoughts. She gazed at the wide screen which was filled with his face. It was one of his vlive’s from a year ago.  

Unknown to Rosie, the said person was just out the door. Hyunjin had been called in by his manager and he was on his way to the office when he heard his own voice. He stopped and peeped in through the glass screen of the door to see Rosie in the dark and he had a clear shot of her face from his view. Hyunjin didn’t want to admit but he was so sure that she had a fond smile spread across her face as she stared at him who was on the screen.  

Hyunjin felt his stomach tighten at the sight. Lord knows how many girls stare at him the same way every single day. But it felt weird, because she didn’t look at him in person like that and it was the first time he saw her with such a smile.  

Rosie on the other hand was lost in the video. Her head was spinning with all thoughts of Hyunjin. Why does he make her feel all hot and bothered? But at the same time make her feel so small and timid? The last time she checked, he was a year younger than her. And Idols who were even a year younger than her was considered a baby in her eyes. So what was so different about him that made her heart skip a beat? 

You ing baboon! Stop imagining weird ! He is a small kid!  

Shaking her head she looked at her phone. The time read 3.43PM.  

Might as well head towards the department. 

Rosie shut the computer off before grabbing her stuff and leaving the room. She hesitated for a moment before walking down the corridor towards the room Hyunjin had mentioned earlier. She had no idea why she was going over but a tiny voice in her head kept saying that it was to tell him thank you. 

To her dismay the dancing room was empty. She looked through the door and imagined Hyunjin dancing in the room. In the dark with the lights dimmed to a slow song. Swaying and moving gracefully. Like a butterfly almost. 

‘something in your eyes tell me who I am....’ 

The phone rang loudly in the empty hallway which startled Rosie to near death. 

Sohee was on her way to the office and asked Rosie to help out with loading the stuff in the bus heading to the MV site.  

The MV shooting site was somewhere remote in a village apparently. Shooting was supposed to start at 6 but with traffic it wouldn’t start until closer to midnight. With the rest of the staff Rosie loaded the bus with all the costumes, make up and props needed for the shoot. Joohyun, who was one of the fellow makeup artists sat with her on her way to the site while Sohee was up front with someone eho appeared to be the road manager. 

“So, are you excited to start working?” Joohyun asked Rosie as she handed a tiny packet of jelly towards her. 

“I am, but I don’t know what to expect.” 

Joohyun made a gesture of an okay. “Let me fill you in. As soon as we park outside the site, we set up a tent. And have everything set. We probably will have 4 booths this time. And you, myself and Sohee will work on the boys while the other staff get them into costumes and props. After they get ready we have to prepare a mobile kit and walk with them all the time making sure everything is perfect. You will probably be assigned a few members to keep a watch on. But that’s pretty much it. Oh the shootings usually go through entire nights and days. So make sure you stay hydrated and catch some sleep now” 

Damn, that busy huh?

Rosie was excited but also quite nervous. Cause she knew how much the fans must be waiting for this new comeback. And she knew she had to do her best for everyones sake.  

It took the staff exaclty an hour to set up the tent. On one corner of the ten were four vanity dressers aligned with makeup and hair products. And the corner right opposite of it had all the costumes with two changing  rooms partitioned with a curtain. In the middle their was a set of two sofa’s and 6 huge fans to cool the air. And in one big corner, there were snacks stacked up so high with cooling boxes next to it filled with coffee and energy drinks and also bottles of water.  

The team had a meeting before the members of stray kids walked in and Rosie was told to take charge of Han and I.N while the other two three members each.  

“Alright, let’s get this done without anyone hurting themselves. 1,2,3 fighting!” 

From then on it was pure chaos. Rosie was handed an in ear which she had to use to communicate with the directing staff as well as her own team. The small walkie talkie thing stuck to her waist had numbers that dialled different people as well.  

The first member she worked on was I.N and she literally cooed silently the whole time she did his hair and makeup. The boy looked like a baby and had the skin of a baby too . Was it legal to adopt a fully grown man? If it was, Rosie wanted to adopt I.N without a doubt.   

“Don’t blink for a few seconds, keep your eyes closed okay?”  

I.N nodded obediently as he had his eyes closed. “Okay Noona.” 

Oh my heart. The word ‘Noona’ never sounded so pure, bless this kid. 

Rosie’s in ear blasted with a screeching noise before the sound of Sohee came in “Joohyun, get your mobile kit and two assistants and get over to tent no.4, the backup dancers need an MUA, the one they hired isn’t here.” 

It was all chaos once again. Joohyun was working on Bang Chan at the moment but she had left him half finished as she rushed out the door with two other girls behind her. Sohee rushed in and took one look around the room. 

“You two, help out with costumes. Jinah you need to finish working on Bang Chan and also Hyunjin. I’ll do the rest.”  

Rosie’s eyes widened. Oh no. 

She patched up I.N as quickly as she could and the boy had fallen asleep during the process. She left the boy like that and hopped over to the station where Chan was seated with one eye done. 

“Hey there sister!” 

Rosie laughed but didn’t reply back. She was on work mode. She quickly studied the iPad and got to work on Bang Chan. His eye makeup was quite strong and it took her a while for both the eyes to look the same. With one final spray of hair spray she let Chan move onto costumes. I.N had woken up and was already heading out the tent. She still had Han and also Hyunjin left. 

Gulping the thick saliva in she beckoned Han over. Who sat in the seat while singing which was apparently the new song. Damn the song was catchy. 

“Lix Hyung! Can you bring me my phone?” Han pleaded and Rosie could feel Felix moving behind her before he appeared next to Han and handed the phone. Felix had already changed and was ready and my dear lord he looked like the asian version beauty of goldie locks from the childhood tale. 

Han was a handful to work with, he could not, for the life of him stay still for any longer than a minute. But he wasn’t annoying. Rosie giggled and chuckled every 30 seconds because Han would make weird noises and annoy someone even while sitting down.  

“HI ROSIE!” 

Rosie nearly flicked the eye liner the wrong way. God he was loud. 

“Hi Han.” Rosie muttered smiling slightly.  

“Chan Hyung said that you studied about us. I'm glad. “ 

Rosie grabbed his chin to steady the moving squirrel. “I had to and also I’m glad. You guys deserve all the fame.” and Rosie meant it. These boys were so talented and all their songs had meanings to them and each song had a story of theirs behind it. And she was even more surprised to know that these boys produce their own songs. 

“I just wish I had known you guys sooner. That way I would have been able to do a better job” 

Han shook his head. “Thank you for the compliments. I’m glad.” 

In conclusion, Han was a nice kid. He set off to get changed after promising Rosie a coffee for the nice words she said. 

The last but not least was Hyunjin. 

He sat down and looked up at Rosie. “Did you have fun at the computer room?” 

Yeah I did, and I went to see you but you weren’t there. 

Instead she replied with, “Yeah I did, thanks for the help” 

Hyunjin nodded before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes letting Rosie work her magic. He could feel her fingers brush past his face and from time to time he could feel her breath hit his skin as she stood close to him. Hyunjin had to grip the side of the chair to calm his beating heart.  

Hyunjin’s make up was quite easy since Rosie had done it yesterday so it didn’t take her too long to finish it. She wanted to get it over as soon as possible because she could feel her hands shaking and sweat forming the longer she looked at his calm face.  

She was done with the makeup and she needed him to sit straight to finish his hair but he wasn’t moving. Is he sleeping? 

Rosie nudged him a little but got no response. So she spoke his name softly. “Hyunjin?” 

Hyunjin opened his eyes groggily and blinked a few times to clear his vision of sleep. His eyes came in contact with Rosie’s eyes and for 5 seconds they held their gaze. And Hyunjin swore he felt his breath hitch in his throat.  

Stop staring Rosie!  

Quickly clearing Rosie got behind him. “I’m going to do your hair now.” 

Hyunjin watched her through the mirror. How her fingers were working their way through his hair. He particularly noted how she had bobby pins between her lips. He couldn’t take his eyes off her lips. She didn’t have any lip tint on but she had full lips. And they looked soft. Her eyes looked focused as she finished tying his hair with the speed of light. 

“Okay we’re done, you can get changed.” 

Hyunjin nodded and got up from the seat half in a daze. 

“Oh wait, I forgot your lips.” 

Rosie quickly lifted her fingers up to his lips and brushed the tint across his lips. But she had to use her fingers to smooth it. The only problem was, Hyunjin was tall and she had to reach on her tippy toes to reach him.  

Realizing the problem Hyunjin spread his legs apart a little and scooted down quickly. And in the process he grabbed onto Rosie’s arm slightly to balance himself. Rosie didn’t say anything but she felt her whole body jerk with that one simple touch and for 10 seconds they were on the same eye level. 

Rosie could feel soft and warm his lips were and she could feel his eyes literally burning a hole on her forehead. In one instant their eyes met and her ministrations slowed down to a caress on his lips and Hyunjin breathed through his mouth slowly while locking his eyes with her and unknowingly his hold on her tightened. 

“Jinah! Get Hyunjin over to costumes! They need to be on standby in 10” 

The two broke apart like flash and Hyunjin stumbled to the costumes section before dissapearing behind the curtain to get changed. Rosie leaned on the dresser as he caught her breath. 

What just happened?