"falling down."
Second Chances
Chapter One: "falling down."
Chan-seong was, for the first time ever, unsure.
Standing on the edge of the tarmac, light cotton shirt fluttering slightly in the cool wind, he surveyed the line of people before him with a skeptical eye. This line of people, he noticed, were either families or young couples, and smiled and waved to one another when they passed by. It seemed like the Christmas spirit was catchy around here - here being the small mound of dirt Chan-seong had been exiled to for the holidays while Taecyeon-hyung did some damage control for his latest escapade.
Maybe you should take a vacation, the broody singer reminisced his best friend saying, at least just until everything blows over here.
So a break was what he took; why he had to take it all the way in the South Pacific, on a country he hadn't even known existed until very recently, he didn't know. Even if Manager Kim was right - obscurity and invisibility being a prized commodity in this case, Chang-seong decided on the plane that he didn't have to like his stay in Fiji, or his host family, or the happy smiles everyone in the airport seemed to be throwing around so carelessly.
Freaks, the lot of them.
A large part of him refused to let him get off the plane. The part that was thinking logically knew that that couldn't happen. This was a fate that he couldn't escape, no matter how hard he tried. Didn't mean much though. He was still determined to make his stay as short and terrible as possible. Thinking the plan over, Chan-seong smiled to himself. Insult a few key family members, learn a few inappropriate words - getting thrown out shouldn't be too hard.
Happier now, the man was following the rest of the passengers out - first class, of course - when the gentle notes of guitar strings caught his attention. A few feet ahead, several ebony skinned men with flowers tucked behind their ears and on garlands around their necks, were strumming some song in a language he'd never heard before.
The six foot four man took the sight in with a raised eyebrow and shuffled past the crowd gathering around them.
Yup, definitely freaks.
Twenty minutes later - quick workers, these immigration people - he was walking through the automatic doors that led him into a country that was to be his prison and home for the next three months.
- - -
"Apisake, I thought I'd told you to get off that computer already?" Mrs. Valima's voice cut through the quiet afternoon like a knife. "And haven't you spoken to your father yet? He's waiting for you to go pick that boy up from the airport." Sighing loudly, Api depressed the play button on the youtube screen and half turned in her seat. Her mother, a slight woman with short, dark hair, stood in the doorway. She didin't look happy.
"I heard you, I heard you," Api muttered quickly, shutting the laptop on her lap. "Aren't you going to the airport? What if he doesn't know English? How's your father supposed to tell him he's picking him up and not kidnapping him?"
Rolling her eyes, the lanky twenty year old got to her feet and smoothed the creases that had formed on the front of her shirt. Trust her mother to come up with the most dramatic scenarios.
"I doubt that he wouldn't know any English. It was part of the conditions we had, anyway." Api bit her lip and tried to remember the piles of paper her parents had signed a few months ago for homestay application.
She was sure 'Must know basic English' was one of the check boxes they'd ticked. Still though... it was still a little nerve wracking. They were going to be welcoming their very first homestay guest. The fact that he was from South Korea (Api didn't dare hope he might be some distant relative of a KPop star or something like that) made the girl a little giddy. Sure, she'd studied South Korean language, culture and history in university, but to have someone from the culture actually live with them for three months? It was just way too good a thought to ignore.
"You sure you know enough to get him to calmly get into the car with your father?" It was her mother's turn to worry now. The woman had followed her, step for step, down to their front door. She kept twiddling her thumbs - a habit Api knew stemmed from nerves, and met her daughter's gaze with furrowed eyebrows.
"Ma, the airport's fifteen minutes away. We're going to pick him up and bring him straight home. Even Dad and I, with our combined powers of awesomeness, couldn't possibly lose the guy in that situation."
Mrs. Valima simply raised an eyebrow.
"And what about Bertie?"
The girl was confused. Who was Bertie again?
Mrs. Valima, ever the conscientious mother, helped her daughter's memory along. "The puppy you were to take to the vet, then forgot in the bus stand because you were listening to another one of those Kpop songs on your iPod."
Api flushed. "Oh."
Shaking her head, Mrs. Valima pointed to the doorway. "Tell your father to drive slowly, and talk to the boy when you guys are travelling. Be social, okay? Get to know him, his likes and dislikes. Oh, and if he's allergic to lolo, text me when you're still on the way. We're having rourou for dinner."
After assuring her mother for the hundredth time that they'd be fine, Api got into the car and wriggled her eyebrows at her father.
"Let's go get some new people to terrorize," Mr. Valima chuckled conspiratally before throwing the car into gear.
Twenty minutes later, however, they stood dumbfounded at the International Arrival section of Nadi Airport, more than a little worried. Either Mr. Park Hae Young had decided to leave early or he'd never gotten into the plane in the first place. There was no one there by the name they'd been provided with.
"Wait!" Api told her father when the man turned to return to the car. This was impossible. They'd lost a man - an actual man. Api wasn't a law student but she was sure that that ought to have broken some laws. Shuddering, the girl thought about the possible jail time.
This was not good.
"Maybe the security guy will know something?"
The older man frowned. He didn't look it but she could tell that he was worried too. "Okay then. I'll take a drive around the airport - maybe he's sitting outside or something. You go ask them."
With a quick nod and mock salute, Api marched over to the security booths. Her enquiries proved futile. No one had seen a Mr. Park Hae Young exit the airport - not with the descriptions they got from her - and they suggested that she check the coffee shop over at Departures. Politely, she thanked them and moved to walk away. Shouts of 'Moce Uro!' and 'Oilelei' followed her. Shaking her head, Api kept walking.
After about thirty minutes of searching, they finally found the man. Tall, well built with a plain white collared tee paired with dark knee length cargo pants, he was leaning against one of the pillars by a tourist shop, a smoothie in his hand. Three navy blue suitcases were lined beside him and he wore a black cap over hair that reached just above his crisp collar. Mr. Valima was the first to spot him.
"Mr. Park Hae Young?" he asked, approaching the slouched frame, mild annoyance in voice and expression.
No response. Mr. Valima tried again. "Mr. Park Hae Young?"
The leaning man started abruptly and peered up from beneath his cap. Behind Mr. Valima, Api was following. There was a forced smile on her lips but she looked as annoyed as her father seemed. When she got to the two, they were struggling to communicate.
"Are you Mr. Park Hae Young?" Mr. Valima asked him for a third time. Slowly, the tall Korean man straightened to his full stature and gave the man before him a once over. For a moment, the two stood staring at each other. Mr. Park Hae Young seemed to be struggling against something. Finally, after a long moment, he bowed and took off his cap. Straight, dark hair fell free of the black constraint and covered his brow ridge.
"Annyeonghasaeyo," he began, "I am... Park Hae Young."
When Api finally got to them, she was panting. Recognizing the confusion (and barely concealed annoyance) in her father's face, she took over. Bowing in return, she tried to paste on her kindest smile.
Remember, he's far away from home and has no idea that he's just wasted the last thirty minutes of your life by not waiting where he was supposed to have been, the girl reminded herself tartly.
"Annyeonghasaeyo, Mr. Park Hae Young. I'm Apisake and this is my father, Mr. Valima. We're from the homestay you applied for."
Mr. Park Hae Young watched the girl before him with a practiced eye. She stood a few inches below his tall frame, and had dark hair that she kept tied in a neat chignon at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were a deep dark brown with a few specks of gold in them. They shone behind long lashes, and her top lip was a perfect cupid's bow. The clothes she wore were brightly coloured, meshes of leaf and flower designs against a pale pink that accentuated her clear golden brown skin. Mr. Park Hae Young didn't miss the curves that this strange outfit emphasised and moving a hand up, he hid the smile that pulled at the corner of his lips.
She looks interesting.
After all that observation, he didn't have time to realize that she was speaking to him perfect Korean. A little halted, but perfect nonetheless. The notion that she knew his language made him just a tiny bit happier about his stay. A streak of happiness that he refused to consciously acknowledge, of course.
"Hwang Chan-seong," he said once she had straightened. Api looked puzzled.
"I beg your pardon?"
"My name is Hwang Chan-seong. Mr. Park Hae Young was a pseudonym that they gave me. Please look after me." He bowed again.
The golden skinned girl's brown eyes narrowed, then widened considerably. For a second, Chan-seong was apprehensive. Did she recognize his name? Impossible. 2PM couldn't possibly have fans this far away from South Korea.
"You're...you're..." then, the girl cleared and shook her head. She couldn't believe it. But it was. It was Chan-seong, the Chan-seong, standing before her. It wasn't like she'd had a huge crush on the guy for almost as long as she'd known about 2PM, no. And he was to be their homestay guest! If he hadn't been standing right in front of her, she wouldn't have believed it herself. The tiny part of her that would forever remain a thirteen year old fan-girl shrieked.
Calmly though, she fixed her eyes on him. "Welcome to Fiji, Mr. Hwang Chan-seong. I hope you enjoy your stay with us."
Then turning with control that she'd mastered over years of Cadets practice, Api reached for one of the suitcases beside them and walked with them back to the car. How she managed to keep her voice even as they chatted astounded even her, but she did. Once they'd managed to settle him in to his room and finished the initial welcome ceremony, Api marched to her room and sagged thankfully into her soft mattress. Somehow, keeping the thirteen year old fan-girl in check was going to be harder than she thought.
Exhausted, the girl covered her head with her pillow and tried not to think about the fact that one of her greatest music idols was now lying just a few rooms away.
Three months of friendly hospitality service, Api thought as she lay there. No big deal.
But the image of a shirtless Chan-seong in 2PM's most recent product advertisement - the one she'd been watching before she left to pick him up from the airport! - refused to go away. Groaning, Api shook her head clear.
"This is going to be harder than I thought."
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