Just as interesting? What does that mean? Maybe they’re also gonna be another boy band that I know…

            But that’s just silly!

            My uncle leads me through all of the people who’ve come to celebrate my fake birthday. I glance around as if I were taking in the entirety of guests in the ballroom, and note where all of the cameras are and how many there are. Three in a half-circle to my right, trained on a few party-goers and myself, another three to my left, and about ten somewhere behind me and on the other side of the room.

            “So…” I say casually to my uncle, as I smile and nod at the older people who wish me good health in the year to come. “Does everyone here know it’s all a show?” I ask softly. I hid my mouth from the cameras’ line of view from my right by pretending to scratch my nose and looking up at my uncle. Just in case, however, I kept a beautiful smile on my face.

            He gives a chuckle. Nice touch, I think. As if I had just told a small pun or even shown a bit of a cute side. No one can overhear our conversation anyway; there’s so much laughter and talking going on around us. “No. Only the boys you need to choose between have been told. The rest are here as actual guests for the ‘party’, people who are still famous and wealthy, but who are simply here to give me more publicity.”

            “That sounds harsh when you say it like that..” I say softly.

            “It’s business, my dear.” He gives another handsome grin and then speaks up. “Ah, here you are!”

            I look up. We’re in the corner where the boys had been jumping and cheering when I had come down the stairs. There are eight of them.

            My uncle walks right up to one of the boys and shakes his hand, nodding to the rest of them. “It’s good to see you all!”

            They all bow in unison. “Annyeonghasaeyo,” they say, except for the one holding my uncle’s hand.

            He grins and pats my uncle on the shoulder. He flexes his arm when he does so, and you can see his huge biceps through his dress shirt. “Hello, sir, it’s good to see you again. How’s your arm?”

            “Much better,” my uncle replies with a laugh. They have a casual conversation about some arm-wrestle match, talking for a bit while the other boys behind him stand patiently.

The boy who had shaken my uncle’s hand laughs and then turns to the others behind him. “What’s wrong with you guys? You’re so quiet!”

One of them rolls his eyes. “Ah, never mind; you just go reminisce with your buddy. We’ll do our job.”

“Why so confident all of a sudden?” the other boy asks with a smirk.

             The “confident” one smirks back and then approaches me. He gives a formal bow and smiles. “Hi, I’m Wooyoung. Happy seventeenth birthday, Yoonjung!”

              I smile and bow back. “Thank you! And nice to meet you!” He’s cute… He’s got cute round cheeks and short hair on both sides, with it spiked in the middle.

             “I’ll introduce myself next,” says the boy who had had the long conversation with my uncle. He takes a few steps toward me and gives a bow. “Annyeong! I’m Taeyang! I’m really happy to meet you, and I wish you the best in the year to come!”

I smile. “Thank you!” I pause, and then I look closer at him. He gives me a curious look, and I laugh. “Aren’t you in Big Bang?”

“Yeah!” he says with a grin.

             “Um, the other members are closer to the middle of the room,” I say, trying to cover up a smile as I point over my shoulder to where I can see Daesung and GD playing the balance game where you slap the other’s hands.

              Wooyoung snorts. Taeyang looks to where I pointed, and then he rubs the back of his neck and laughs. “Ha-ha, yeah, well, I knew that! I just came over here to say hi to my buddies, that’s all. Hey, TOP,” he says, turning around to a guy with dyed white hair who had been conversing with a much taller guy. White-Hair-Guy, or I guess TOP, gives him a “what do you want?” look. “Let’s go, we should meet up with them.”

              “Ah,” the white-haired one says. “Okay.” Taeyang turns back to me, gives another small bow in goodbye, and then hurries off to the other boys. TOP follows slowly, hands in his pockets. When he reaches me, he looks down at me, gives a small smile with a little bow of the head, and follows his friend. I watch them disappear into the crowd.