Chapter 2

“Peniel,” she repeated to herself, “Nice to meet you.”

He helped her up soon after. In turn, Peniel began looking around as if for someone. Samantha grew curious. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Everything’s fine,” he answered still searching. “I just got back from Singapore and I’m sure my group is looking for me.”

“Any particular reason you separated from them?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“A bunch of fangirls were chasing after us—“ his eyes widened at what he just said. “Pretend you did not hear me say that!”

“Pretend to say what?” she asked, clearly confused by the guy.

“Say, have you ever heard of a boy band called BTOB?” he asked.

“You guys have a bunch of boy bands, I lose track of who’s who nowadays,” she answered. “But to answer your question, no I haven’t heard of BTOB. Why do you ask?”

“Well—“ he started to say but was soon interrupted by someone yelling:

“OMG! IT’S PENIEL OPPA!!!!!!!!”  a girl let out a high-pitched scream. She was soon followed by a gang of other girls.

Samantha covered her ears. “What the hell was that?!” she exclaimed and before she knew it, Peniel was dragging her by the arm away from the girls.

It was like déjà vu all over again… she thought. This situation reminded her of the time she met Dongwoon for the first time...

On a Saturday afternoon, Samantha just finished her mid-shift at the mall. Her goal was to leave as soon as she can because she hated it here. Before, she used to enjoy it a lot, but ever since she started working she started hating it. There was nothing exciting about it anymore.

“Alright guys, I’m leaving,” she said before leaving.

“Okay bye! I’ll miss you!” her boss exclaimed.

“Bye! Miss you too!”

As she walked into the hall by the back door, she heard someone whispering. “Pssst…”

Samantha grew uneasy when she caught eyes with the person getting her attention. “Me?” she mouthed to him pointing to herself.

He eagerly nodded then summoned her over to him.

Trying her best to ignore him, she started to walk off but he grabbed her before she could leave. She was about to scream when he covered with his right hand. “I’m sorry I had to do this but I could really use your help right now,” he pleaded.

She relaxed upon seeing he really needed her help. He, in turn, loosened his hold on her. “What do you need?” she asked sharply.

He spoke softly and told her he was visiting and lost his way. He had come with a group and decided to split up. Because he was hungry, he decided to go to the food court to grab something to eat. As he spoke, one could not help but become entranced by this foreign stranger. The stranger was tall with round eyes and a sculpted nose. He was really good-looking, she thought. She’s never found herself in a compromising position like this before so she pushed him off her to let him know she got the message. She realized she didn’t hear a word he said until she heard, “—some girls spotted me and started following me and I’m really trying to lose them. Could you help me?”

“A group of little girls are following you?” Samantha narrowed her eyes at him. “Mind telling me why?”

He sighed. This girl was clearly testing his patience. “I have a bunch of fangirls,” he answered.

“Why?” she asked. “You’re good-looking. I’ll give you that but there has to be another reason. Honestly, someone can be handsome but won’t get a bunch of girls following them like what you’re dealing with.”

“You really don’t believe me?” he asked skeptically. “It’s kind of complicated.”

“Try me,” Samantha crossed her arms. “I mean you are asking me for help. I won’t help you until you tell me.”

He groaned in frustration. “Go outside and see for yourself,” and before she knew it, he pushed her outside to see a bunch of girls with their smart phones lined up in the hall by her job appearing to be waiting for someone.

“Is it him? Is it Dongwoon?” she heard one of the girls ask within the group. “No, it’s just some girl…” she heard another one murmur.

Samantha grew uneasy and went to meet with the stranger in the back. “That is just weird,” she commented. “What the hell is so exciting about you anyways?”

“So can you help me or not?” he grew impatient.

“Maybe,” she answered. “Let me see what I can do.”

Sneaking into the backroom at her job, Samantha ran into her boss, Rachel. “Hey you! What are you still doing here? I thought you already left,” her boss looked at her in confusion.

“I seem to have forgotten something,” Samantha lied. “Say, Rachel? Did you happen to see a huge crowd out there?”

“Actually now that you mention it, there is,” Rachel answered. “A bunch of teenage girls are like lining up outside in the hall. Supposedly, there is a boy band here in the mall and from what I’m hearing one of the guys is actually here in the food court. I feel bad for the poor guy.”

Samantha froze. So it is true. “Bummer,” she commented. “I hope the guy can actually get out of here safely.” She chuckled nervously trying her best not to appear flustered.

“I hope so too,” Rachel remarked. “Listen, I have to get back to work. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Bye, I’ll miss you!”

“Bye Rachel!” Samantha feigned a smile. When her boss left the room, she made her way over to a box labeled: UNIFORMS. She sought out a uniform for guys and brought it out for the stranger checking to make sure no one saw her.

“Here,” she held the uniform out to him. “You know, I can get fired for this.”

“Thank you so much,” he spoke genuinely to her. “This means a lot for me. Your help won’t go unnoticed.” Then he proceeded to turn around and change into the uniform. She turned her head away so she wouldn’t see him.

“Do I get compensated since you’re a huge celebrity?” Samantha smirked. “What’s your band called again?”

“Beast,” he answered.

“That’s a cool name,” she commented. “May I at least know the name of the person who could get me fired?”

He chuckled. “Dongwoon,” he answered. “Son Dongwoon. Can I know the name of my savior?”

“I’m Samantha,” she said shaking his hand. “Or Sam, you can call me either. I don’t mind.”

“Alright, Sam,” he said showing off his new outfit. “How do I look?”

Even though it was just a guys’ work uniform, Dongwoon could actually pull off the look, she thought. He really was handsome. “You look like an employee. How else are you supposed to look?” she asked sharply. “Here, you’re gonna need this,” she said handing him the hat.

Dongwoon had lent her his clothes to throw off the girls. The plan was to initially create a diversion while Dongwoon escaped through the back door at the end of the hall. “On three, I’m getting out,” she said. “Remember the plan. I’ll meet you at the front by the back elevator so I can return your clothes. Are you ready?”

He nodded. And at the count of three, Samantha pushed through the door and made her way towards the crowd of girls, most of whom were screaming and pushing. She pitied celebrities like Dongwoon, who dealt with this on a daily basis.

As the girls pushed and shoved to get to Samantha, she turned her head to make sure Dongwoon made it to the back door. When he made it safely, she started screaming for them to get off her. “Get off me!” she complained.

The girls gasped. “You’re not Dongwoon!” one girl exclaimed.

“No , Sherlock!” Samantha rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I didn’t call security on your asses because this is surely going to get you kicked out of the mall. Or worse, you’ll be banned!” gasps could be heard throughout. “Consider this a lesson for next time. Now run along before I change my mind!”

The gang of girls dispersed soon afterward. Breathing a sigh of relief, Samantha exited the mall and immediately made her way to meet Dongwoon. “You owe me, Dongwoon,” she grumbled as she made her way to him. He was pacing back and forth in front of the door leading to the back elevator.

His eyes brightened upon seeing her. “You’re okay!” he exclaimed like an excited child running to her and pulling her in for a hug.

She was taken by surprise by his action but returned the hug nevertheless. “Of course, I’m okay,” she , “What did you expect them to murder me? I may have scared them off a little.” She cast an evil smirk.

“Do I wanna know?” he asked pulling away from her.

“It’s nothing major,” she shrugged. “I’ve done worst.”

“Again, thank you,” he smiled. “If you need anything and I mean anything at all, please just let me know.” He said handing her a piece of paper. It was his phone number.

Samantha was touched by this act of gratitude. “You’re really giving me your number?” she asked. “Wow, that’s a first. How do you know I won’t give it out?”

He looked mortified. “No! Don’t!” he pleaded. “Please don’t do that!”

“I was just kidding!” she started cracking up. “You should’ve seen the look on your face! It was priceless!”

He relaxed and chuckled nervously. “I guess that was kind of funny,” he remarked.

When her laughter calmed down, she took out her Paul Frank sticky notepad and wrote down her own number for him. “Here,” she handed it to him. “Just in case you need someone to help you escape from crazed fans again, call me. Or if you don’t like phone calls, shoot me a text.”

He chuckled. “Thank you,” he said genuinely. “I really do appreciate this.”

Before Samantha could respond, Dongwoon’s phone chimed. It was Yoseob. “Yah Dongwoon! Where the hell did you go?! The guys are panicking right now! Stay where you are, we’re coming to you!”

“Hyung! Relax,” Dongwoon spoke up, “I’m fine. I just got into a bit of a situation. Luckily, a nice person decided to help me or else I wouldn’t have gotten out of there safely. Could you get the driver to pick me up by the back entrance? Okay, I’ll see you soon. Bye!” he said then hung up.

“Let me guess… your group is looking for you?” Samantha asked curiously.

Dongwoon nodded. “Yep,” he answered.

Removing the clothes he lent her during their diversion, she handed them to him. “I believe these are yours,” she said.

“Right,” he said taking them. Looking down at the uniform he looked back at her, “About these—“

“Don’t worry about it,” she brushed him off. “We don’t have any male employees, I don’t think my boss will notice if one uniform is missing.”

“I’ll send this back to you,” he insisted. “I’ll even dry clean them for you. Consider this my repayment for your help.”

After much hesitation, she nodded. “Okay, if you say so,” she said.

Just then, a car horn honked thus startling Samantha and Dongwoon. Both turned to find a baby-faced guy waving over to them. “Dongwoon! Over here!” he exclaimed.

“Are you going to introduce your friend to us?” asked another member. He had an adorable smile along with an eye smile to match.

Shaking his head, Dongwoon turned to Samantha. “Would you like to meet the guys?” he asked.

“Sure, why not?” she smiled then followed Dongwoon to the van.

A/N: Hey guys! Here's another update for you! I'm still struggling to figure out where this'll go but lately, I've developed a habit of including a lot of flashbacks. As I was writing this chapter, I had a lot of fun actually trying to write out how Sam met Dongwoon. I wanted to shorten it but ended up cutting some parts out because I didn't want it to be too long. Enjoy! I'm currently trying to work on Chapter 3. I probably won't update over the weekend due to work but I will try my best. Again, enjoy! :D