Like a Good Neighbor

 

Fifteen minutes passed until we finally got off the plane, Taemin in front of me and guiding me through the crowd of people as if I was his shadow. Even though he guided me through the LA MAX airport, he managed to still get us lost in the huge structure. My eyes wondered around as we loitered around the escalator, trying to see if we recognized anyone that passed us. Colors of shirts, dresses and the clicking of high heeled-boots surrounded us as we stood among the crowd.

“Bra... Where can she be? We’ve been waiting for almost 2hours and her plane already landed,” I let my eyes wonder to the sound of my nickname- Bra. (It’s a long story, but Moh started calling me that a long time ago.) I let my eyes travel to the conversation and land on two girls- two girls I never thought I’d meet in reality.

A short, statured girl with long brunette hair pulled back into a ponytail stood beside a slightly taller girl with short, dark brown hair. The shorter girl had her arms straight out, on her tip toes, obviously looking for someone with a baby blue sun dress and dark blue leggings on with white flats- her make up done naturally as she attempted to spot me. This person was obviously Moh- I knew she’d be the more girly type in us three, but she did manage to be a little… special.

The girl beside her, Minny, wore a peach-colored button-up blouse and Jean capris, peach flip flops accompanying her feet as her arms crossed over her chest, lazily looking around the perimeter to find the same person Moh was looking for.

I couldn’t help but smile as I saw them.

All three of us thought this day wouldn’t come- that our friendship would just expand through a computer screen and nothing more. But here we were, at one place, at the same time, about to see each other face-to-face. Sappy or pathetic, I don’t know, but I knew this moment was going to be one I’d always remember.

“So, do you see your friends?” Taemin asked right before someone else’s over-powered it,

“BRA!” I turned again just in time to have the youngest of us three cling to my side in a tight hug. I smiled at the greeting as I looked down and then back up to see Minny smiling at me slightly, her arms still loosely crossed over her chest,

“We were starting to think you got lost on the plane,” She started with a laugh.

“Well, it wasn’t on the plane, but in this building- it’s so huge!” I exclaimed, the man beside me forgotten as we soaked in the greetings and small-talk that first-time-meeters encounter.

Moh loosened up her grip and stepped back before looking at me with a bright smile, then it slowly turned into a curious look as her eyes landed on Taemin. Her hazel eyes went over him to make sure he was a friend and not a foe before speaking, “Erm… who is that?” A finger pointing to the person beside me slightly to emphasize who she was talking about.

Minny’s eyes followed the finger to Taemin as her features rested into one similar to Moh’s, “Hm? Did you make a friend while on the plane?”

I nodded, a smile spreading on my lips slowly, “Yes, this is Taemin. We ended up sitting next to each other on the flight here.”

Minny nodded, an eyebrow raised as Moh exclaimed, “Ohhhh! I see! That’s great! I’m Moh!”

“Yeah, but just because you sit next to someone a few hours doesn’t really make them a friend.” Moh blinked as she looked at Minny.

“But Minny, he looks nice…”

“Just because he looks nice doesn’t mean he is nice,” She circled around him as her eyes analyzed Taemin up and down like a scanner, her arms still slightly crossed over her chest cooly, “Hmm, where are you from, Taemin?”

Taemin, flushed from the situation, swallowed before answering nervously, “S-Seoul.”

“Hm? And where is that?”

“S-South Korea,” He stated shortly after the question. Minny nodded in approval,

“And what exactly are you doing here?”

Taemin bit his lip as he shifted from one foot to the other, “I… I just wanted to make sure Meew got where she needed to be safely.”

Minny raised a brow, “Well, you succeeded in your mission, don’t you think it’s time to go?”

I bit my lip as I lifted an arm between the two, “Hey, he didn’t do anything wrong… We were just going to go get some i-‘’

“OW!”

Minny, Taemin and I shifted our attention to Moh who was on the floor, rubbing her elbow with one hand, a pout on her face, “Yah! Are you ok?”  Minny kneeled beside her to study the scrape on her elbow, “What happened?”

Moh bit her lip as she spoke, “That group of men just pushed me aside…”

I looked at the group of guys who had just passed- all in black, anger boiling up in me. I looked from Moh to the group of men before feeling my body go towards them, yanking one of them by the shoulder to turn them around to face me, “What’s your problem?”

The man’s features turned into annoyance quickly as I yelled at him, “Are you just going to walk away after pushing someone down like that?! Especially if it’s a girl? What kind of man are you?!”

The two other men in black turned, revealing their smooth and handsome faces, making me blink, but not making me forget why I was so angry, “Y-Yah! You should apologize to her!”

The first man I had grabbed the shoulder of looked at me, “I’m sorry, we were just in a hurry. We apologize.” He bowed politely as the other two nodded, one with a bright smile, “We didn’t intend to harm anyone or be seen as rude.” I squinted my eyes at him in disbelief,

“What are you trying to do here? Is this a game?” The man looked at her innocently, shaking his head,

“I’m sorry, but our English is not good.”

An eyebrow raised at his defense as I rubbed my chin slightly, studying him, “Then what’s your first language, then?”

A smile spread on his lips at the question as he felt pride bubble up inside, “Korean. All of us speak Korean.”

I could feel a smile crack on my lips as well at his answer, “Well, you see, if that’s the case, Moh knows that language pretty well, so maybe you’d like to apologize to her instead?” The man who was standing aside that had had a bright smile earlier in our confrontation looked towards Moh who was still rubbing her elbow with a pout on her lips,

“Erm, hyung, maybe I should apologize. I think I was the one who actually bumped into her,”
 My eyes scanned over him to make sure he was proper and decent enough to follow through his claims, making me more interested in their words.

The man stepped towards Moh and offered his hand to her, a smile planted on his face gently as she blinked up at the offer of his hand. A pout painted her lips when she slowly placed her hand in his, allowing him to gracefully pull her up into his arms in a semi-hug, making Moh’s cheeks turn a light pink at the contact of his chest.

He gently smiled and bowed his head a little, “죄송해요, 상처 줄 의도는 아니었어요”

I’m sorry, I don’t want to see you hurt…

Moh blinked at the words that left the man’s lips, a blush still present on her cheeks as she bowed her head a little before answering, “괜찮아. 난 괜찮아.” It’s ok. I’m okay. Her eyes shyly looked back up to the stranger’s, making his smile turn softer,

“나는 산들입니다. 이름이 무엇입니까?” I’m  Sandeul. What’s your name?

Moh responded softly, “나는 모니크에요.” I’m Monique.

I watched their encounter, the soft exchange of words and smiles made me pleased enough to let it go. I turned to look at the man in front of me, his eyes watching Sandeul and Moh’s conversation with a concerned look on his face, glancing at his watch on his wrist before looking at me in return.

“What’s your rush?” I glanced down at his watch as if it would tell me the answer to my question before he shrugged,

“We just have to be somewhere. We’re running late,” His voice was low and gruft, unlike Sandeul’s that was upbeat and happy, showing his personality of being a warm and affectionate person. I raised an eyebrow, curious, “Don’t worry about it, ok?”

I shrugged from the strange man’s words and looked back at Moh who smiled and giggled happily with Sandeul- speaking in the foreign language I barely understood. I glanced towards Minny who eyed the man beside me, still glancing at his watch every couple of minutes.

Her eyes danced on him slightly as she studied his features, I held in a chuckle, realizing she was actually checking out the very person she was angry at moments ago, “Uhm, I guess since Sandeul is so attached to your friend already, I guess we should get  acquainted as well. I’m Myungsoo- a friend of Sandeul’s.”

He offered a hand to me, expecting a shake just to have Minny coolly come between me and the hand and sliding her hand in his  smoothly before simply stating, “Minny.”

Myungsoo blinked at the introduction and smiled slightly at the act, “Nice to meet you, Minny,” She nodded back as a response, squeezing his hand slightly,

“Likewise.”

I chuckled underneath my breath, realizing Taemin wasn’t around. My eyes darted around until they landed on the red hair that was talking with the third man of the group of boys dressed in black. A sigh escaped my lips as I made my way to the two men, then feeling the ground shake a little, I fell onto Taemin’s back. I blinked as I looked around at the building to see it shake a little, “W-What’s happening…?”

I heard Moh’s scream of surprise from the movement of the ground, making me dart my eyes at her to make sure she was okay to see Sandeul holding her tightly and protectively. I then looked over at Minny and Myungsoo to see them trying to keep their balance at the still slightly shaking ground.

Taemin looked around, acting everything was normal, “Might have been a tremor. California gets a few of those throughout the year. It’s like little earthquakes.”

I looked at him, astonished, “How can you act so calm to this?”

Soon enough, the ground stopped moving, people still rolling by with their luggage and backpacks as if nothing happened, a few eyeing us freaks that were new to this kind of welcoming to L.A.

“The ground isn’t meant to shake, yet everyone is going about normally,” I mumbled, forgetting I was laying on Taemin, “And they think we’re weird.” I tapped a finger on Taemin’s shoulder in annoyance, making me realize that I was on Taemin.

I jumped off of him and bowed my head to the ground with a blush, “I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s ok,” He answered with a smile on his lips, nodding, “I understand. You’re not used to the ground shaking every few minutes.”

My eyes shot to him with fear, making him laugh, “I’m just kidding. It doesn’t happen that often.” I sighed out in relief and looked around to make sure everyone was ok, finding Moh still in Sandeul’s arms and Minny and Myungsoo still holding hands while talking nonchalantly. My eyes then went towards the man still standing behind Taemin, raising an eyebrow,

“And who are you?”

The man glanced up at me and then to Taemin, seeming a little shy, “I’m Shinwoo, but everyone calls me CNU.” I nodded at his name then looked towards Taemin,

“Do you know them?” Taemin looked towards me with a slight smile then a little nod following shortly after,

“Yes. We were to meet here for a performance and be roommates during our stay.”

I blinked at his answer, “What do you mean by ‘performance?’ And roommates?”

He nodded and chuckled slightly at my reaction, “I was on a plane for a reason. I came here to do a show. To get Korean pop more popular in the states. Kind of like advertising.”

I nodded, “So what do you do?”

“I sing, dance and play the piano. Besides, my English is probably the best in my group’s. Besides, Onew, I suppose, but he couldn’t go for personal reasons,” He responded with a slight shrug, “So I’m not sure exactly how long I’ll be here or if I need to purchase a visa.”

“So you all know each other?” Minny popped in slightly, waving a finger from each man.

“Yes, we know each other very well. We’re good friends,” Myungsoo nodded.

At this point, our small group had gathered together, boys facing girls, “You’re all here to get k-pop more well-known?” Moh raised an eyebrow at this, “But, didn’t it get popular with that whole Gangnam Style phase back in 2012?”

Sandeul chuckled, “Well, it helped, but not too much. Like you said, it was a phase, so the popularity shot up, but then slowly declined down after a couple years.”

Moh nodded at the boy, “I understand that, I suppose. So, what is it you do, Sandeul?”

Sandeul smiled shyly and shrugs, “Nothing special. I just sing,” Moh’s eyes brightened up and a smile spread across her face at what he said,

“Really? You sing? Can you sing for me, please?” I smiled at her reaction as Sandeul blushed at the attention brought on him.

“Right now?”

She nodded vigorously, making his cheeks flush, “How about later? I’m a little hungry.” Moh pouted and nodded,

“Well, we should be checking out our hotel anyways. We’re running a little late,” Minny eyed her watch as she nodded in agreement to my statement, “Maybe we can get together later.”

Taemin nodded, “That sounds good. Maybe for lunch.”

“You have my number, so text or call me when you’re free,” Sandeul smiled towards Moh, making her smile back and nod.

With that, our groups split up in two different directions, slightly glancing back at each other before we couldn’t see each other again, “Wah! That was so fun!” Moh smiled brightly, turning in a circle with her arms spred out widely, “Sanduel was so sweet!”

I smiled and looked towards Minny who cracked a slight smile of her own at the youngest’s reaction, “They are quite… breath-taking, I suppose.”

Moh shoved Minny a little, playfully, “Yah! Don’t lie, I saw the way you acted with Myung. And holding his hand already~?” She sang playfully, making her blush,

“Yah! Moh!”

Moh just giggled in response to the yelling and stopped in front of a tall building, “Hm? This is our hotel.”

I looked up at the sign to see golden cursive writing, spelling out Orlando. Nodding, I watched the girls walk in, then I followed in shortly after, “Alright, so who’s name is it under?”

“It’s under mine,” Minny spoke softly before walking up to the desk, having a quiet and short discussion with the woman at the desk before Minny’s voice rose, “What do you mean you gave our room to someone else?” Aggravation was entwined with her usually quiet and cool voice.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but your room was checked out to a couple. There’s nothing I can do,” The woman spoke in a shaky voice, her eyes watching Minny to make sure she wouldn’t do anything irrational.

“Why don’t you try doing your job! I called in our reservations a month ago and kept up to tab with it, and you have the nerve to tell me you checked our room out to someone else! That’s ridiculous and unprofessional! Bring out your manager, now!” Her voice was loud, making everyone’s attention turn to us.

Moh stood quietly beside me, her cheeks puffed slightly in embarrassment, making me wrap an arm around her to comfort her, “Don’t worry, things will work out.” She sighed and nodded at my words.

A moment passed before a tall, blonde, spray-tanned woman came out in clicking heels and a tight blue skirt suit that made her look fatter than she was, her platinum blonde hair curled up on to the top of her head in a clip, her facial features snotty and up-tight.

“Who needed my assistance?” Her voice was painted over with obviously, sickening, fake kindness.

Minny turned her head to the woman, anger flaring up in her eyes, “Yes, I do. I want to know what kind of a sham of a hotel you’re running. This is ridiculous and unprofessional of what I have learned about my room!”

The woman stayed quiet as Minny continued, “One of your employees checked our room out to someone else when I’ve had it reserved for a month! What the hell is this ?!” That was the first time I heard a curse come from Minny- she was usually calm and happy, but apparently she was capable of being an angry mess.

“This is the worst service I have ever experienced while traveling!”

I eyed the lady Minny was directing her anger and then to the people in the lobby who had started to whisper amongst themselves, somewhat like a high school would react to a fight.

“Maybe we should leave, honey. What if something like that happens to us while we’re out on the beach?” I heard a husband speak hushly behind me to his wife, my eyes noticed a few guests go towards the front desk, the woman flushed in embarrassment at the small comments that were spoken softly to her about why they wanted to check out.

“Screw this! We’re out of here, come on, guys,” Minny mumbled, bumping passed the woman who held an uphold look on her face, then looked towards the front desk to witness the swarm of checkouts that were happening.

We stepped out of the hotel, Moh still under my arm, “So… where are we going to stay?”

Minny ran a hand through her hair in frustration as she grunted, “I’m so sorry, guys, this has never happened before.”

I leaned out a hand and placed it on her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault. Things happen. And you’re right- that was unprofessional about what just happened.” She stayed quiet and nodded slightly at my words. “Now let’s find a place to stay the night a-.”

“Meew?”

Blinking, I turned at my name and saw Taemin, Sandeul, Myungsoo and CNU looking at us with widened eyes, “W-What… What are you guys doing here?”

“The question is,” CNU started eyeing all three of us, “What happened with your hotel?”

Minny grunted, “They checked our room out to someone else.”

Just then a crowd of people exited the hotel with luggage rolling behind them, children in tow as they bowed their heads to us in joy, “I’m sorry with what happened,” A woman spoke softly, handing Moh a $50 bill folded out, making her blink up at the stranger,

“Ma’am…” Moh tried to stop the woman who was trying to wave her away with the bill,

“Just take it, my child. Find a place for tonight.”

The lady drove off, making Moh’s dress blow in the wind as she exited, leaving the young girl confused, “I feel like a beggar,” She sighed as she returned to the group slowly, looking at the bill in her hands.

“Well,” Minny grabbed the large amount of money and smiled, “At least we’re $50 richer for our stay.” A smile cracked at my lips before looking back at the men in front of us, making me sigh.

“It’s a little embarrassing…”

Taemin raised a brow slightly, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, it wasn’t your fault.”

Sandeul eyed Moh and then turned to Taemin, “Well, we do have two extra bedrooms at our place.”

Taemin looked at Sandeul as if he was crazy, “Even so- girls? In our house?” Sandeul nodded at the question before yanking the three boys to follow him farther down the sidewalk to talk, leaving us three to look at each other, puzzled.

“Well, hopefully they’ll agree on something,” I sighed out, earning a smile from Moh, “I already know what you’re going to say, ‘don’t worry, Meew, things will work itself out.’ “ Moh smiled brighter, nodding in agreement.

“How can you be so happy? Especially in a situation like this one where we might not have a place to stay the night at,” Minny looked at Moh with a raised eyebrow, earning a shrug from the younger girl.

“I don’t know, I’m just very optimistic, I suppose,” I smiled to myself as I saw Minny roll her eyes.

“Guys,” We turned at the call to see the boys making their way towards us. I blinked as Taemin yanked the green duffle bag out of my hand and then started walking down the street.

“W-What?” I ran after Taemin and pulled on his shirt, “Yah! What are you doing?” His eyes stayed locked in front of him as he answered,

“I’m being a gentleman. I’m taking your bag to my house,” I blinked at the answer,

“What do you mean…? How are you sure we’d agree to the offer?” At this, Taemin turned, making me knock into his chest at the sudden turn.

“Are you really going to question an offer like this? Of being able to stay with some friends and not having to worry to pay for anything?”

I bit my lip in thought, giving him the idea that he was right, “That’s what I thought.” With that, he turned and continued to walk, making me chase after him and walk beside him,

“Well, next time at least ask to carry my bags instead of acting like you’re stealing them,” This statement earned a slight smile from Taemin.

I glanced back to find everyone else following us, talking amongst themselves, “Well, when is this performance of yours?” My eyes went up to Taemin’s face as he shrugged slightly,

“I’m not sure. Our companies don’t tell us much. But they did tell us it’s some type of talent show in a way.”  I nodded at the concept, “So I’m guessing we’ll just be an act at intermission or something.” He sighed slightly, “We’ll find out in time.”

“A talent show?” Moh hopped up to us, eyes glistening, “Really?!”

I rolled my eyes, “Moh’s into that type of stuff. As for Minny and I… Not so much.”

Taemin chuckled and nodded, “Yeah, I can’t imagine you to be the dancer type.”

“Or singing type. Or juggling type… Or anything,” He laughed as I continued his list.

Moh then went back to Sandeul, “Is it really going to be a talent show-type theme? Is it an audition?” Sandeul blinked, looking towards Myungsoo.

“Yeah, it’s like a talent show. But I’m not too sure about anything right now.”

Myungsoo nodded and turned to Minny, “Are you into that type of thing?” Minny shrugged in response,

“I can be, but there’s not much I can do. I can play the piano,” This made Myungsoo nod,

“Well, if you’d like, maybe we can do a piece together. I play guitar.”

Moh hopped into the conversation, holding onto Sandeul’s arm gently, “Well, then maybe we can all do a piece together! Sandeul can sing, Minny can play piano, Myungsoo can play guitar, and I….” She furrowed her eyebrows together, “I can…”

We then all stopped in front of a house, Moh still thinking, making me smile, “You’ll figure it out, Moh. Just think about what type of song it is. If you want an instrumental, you can play the flute, if not, then you can sing with Sandeul.” She smiled brightly and nodded,

“Ye~!”

I rolled my eyes slightly at her childish response and then turned my head to the house in front of us, “Wah…” The house, although it wasn’t huge, it was the perfect size for a group of people like us, but what was so breath-taking about the place was how beautiful and modern it was.

“Our company let us buy a place out here. This was the only one all three of us agreed on,” CNU spoke and broke through us to get to the password pad and open the door, “This is the second time we’ve stayed in it, actually. So everything is like brand new still.”

Sandeul stepped through the door and stretched his arms, almost knocking down a vase, making CNU grab his arm and the wobbling furnishing, “Yah, let’s keep it that way.”

A blush flushed out Sandeul’s cheeks at CNU’s scolding before nodding slightly, “Ok, hyung.” CNU sighed and ran a hand through his hair,

“Just be sure to be careful. That’s why the company sent me, I see- to watch after you,” I glanced towards Moh who was able to understand the exchange of Korean, wanting a translation. She smiled at me and shrugged,

“It’s nothing important. Just be careful with the stuff here.”

I nodded and looked around the living room area, a long black leather couch was placed against the wall, a white and black beanbag across from it, a flat screen TV hung off the wall. I blinked at the design, my eyes following the red and black painted walls, it was so elegant and modern. Against the opposite wall was a rectangular book case that was painted white, books neatly tucked into it with small knickknacks place along the top with a small vase with a growing bamboo inside.

“Wah, it’s so beautiful,” I managed to comment, finding my way into the dining room, the table a long marble table with six chairs surrounding it, “Well, there’s gotta be one more chair. There’s seven of us,” Minny frowned at the realization.

“I usually don’t eat in the dining room,” CNU commented, “So it won’t be a problem. I usually like eating in quiet.”

Moh pouted, “You should join us every now and then. It would be more fun.”

CNU smiled towards the younger girl before hearing a crash coming from upstairs, making everyone freeze at the sound.

“W-What was that….?” Sandeul whispered in a hushed tone, fear making him stutter.