Chapter 1

            [Nichkhun’s POV]

            I stared at the photo album I was holding. It reminded me of the good, old days when I was just still an innocent little kid, just living a simple life in Thailand. I flipped page by page, looked through carefully as I reminded myself back again, the lovely and painful memories I had experienced for 22 years. The photos of the memories of my family and me ended as I was flipping through the last page of the album. Ah.. Good times.. Real, good times..

            Now? I’m currently living in Seoul, Korea whereas I had to leave my family in Thailand to continue pursuing my dreams. Thankfully, my parents and siblings always support me in whatever I do. Even if I had to live far away from them. I searched for more photo albums that had memories of me in Thailand, yet I had only found few, which contained selcas of me and my new non-related siblings, in Korea. Together, we are 6, used to be 7. Wooyoung, Junsu, Junho, Taecyeon, Chansung and me. And there’s Jaebum.

            I sighed. The dorm used to be so loud when all 7/6 of us were together. Now, I’m all alone as the others were carrying out their own individual activities.Wooyoung went MC-ing and won’t return back until tomorrow. Junho went shooting for his variety show, Let’s Go Dream Team Season 2. Taecyeon also went shooting for his new hottest drama, Cinderella’s Sister. Chansung went out to have a big meal at some restaurant. He won a free ticket, not needing to pay for any of the food he is going to eat. Junsu? I think he’s in the practice room. This was kind of weird because usually, my schedule is always packed with stuff to do. Usually, I was the one who always went out and left the members to launch my activities. Now I understand. There was nothing interesting on the telly, the dorm was spotless and I had practically done everything there was to do. Now, I’m bored.

            I looked at the time. It was only around 1p.m. Suddenly, my stomach growled. Then, I realized. I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Finally, something to do. Remembering that I can’t cook that well, I opened the food storage to find a cup of noodles. But then, the food storage was empty. My stomach continued to growl louder. I thought for a minute, then grabbed my wallet and went out to buy lunch.

*****

            [Victoria’s POV]  

            “Omma! Let’s go have lunch. We’re hungry,” moaned four young, cute and pretty girls who were standing in front of me, making their sweet, innocent faces, pleading me to go have lunch.

            “Can’t you girls wait? I want to cook you lunch at HOME.” I said.

            “But we’re hungry, unnie.. Come on.. There’s a samgyupsal house nearby. I know you love samgyupsal!” Sulli continued with her attempt to take them with me to the samgyupsal house which means, pork house. She knows I love pork. Now how could I resist?

            “Oh, well then.. Fine. Who’s gonna pay?” I agreed. Sulli, Krystal, Amber and Luna were all now happy and excited and giddy when I said the word ‘fine’. It’s like they didn’t realise at all I didn’t want to pay.

            “Fine, I’ll buy too. Where’s the samgyupsal house? Remember, we have to hurry back home or our manager oppa will be mad for not returning back in time.”

            “Yes, vic-omma.. You’re the best!” all four of them cheered.

            They had to guide me to the samgyupsal house as I don’t know places in Korea very well. I’m a foreigner, you see. I’m from China, and I’m a Chinese. Even though I’ve been living here for almost 2 years, things still look new to me. I’m 23 now, in 2010 and I’m living with four young, cheerful, hyperactive and cute teenagers who are Krystal, Sulli, Amber and Luna, my current family in Korea. And the oldest of them are Amber yet she is just 19 years old. Luna’s 18 and both Sulli and Krystal are 17. Yes, being with them makes me feel kind of old even if I’m kind of considered young. Don’t get them wrong, I’m not their mother. That’s just a nickname they gave me, since I’m waaaay older than all four of them.

            Finally, we arrived at our destination, which was just a 10 minute walk from the mall. The samgyupsal house seemed packed. I was starting to worry.  Luna saw my worried face and said,

            “Don’t worry, omma. We’ll get in. Sulli is bound to take care of that,” she consoled me. I nodded, and we approached the queue to dine, as it was a ‘let us seat you’ place. The line keeps getting shorter and shorter, and I became more and more worried as seeing the place was completely and almost packed. More worried if we didn’t get to eat here. Suddenly, I was looking forward eating there.

            “I’m sorry, but we are almost full. We have only one table left, and that’s reserved. The last table is also fit for six people, and you are only five. Sorry, we do not seat incomplete parties.” I gulped.

*****

            [Nichkhun’s POV]

            Only a few metres left to the destination I was heading to. I made sure my whole body and look was disguised. It’s important. I certainly don’t want fan girls screaming and following me in a crowd while I was hungry. I wanted to eat. My hat was black, and I wore a simple t-shirt with suitable pants. To hide my face, I took Taecyeon’s dorky glasses, covered my blond-ish hair with a black hat and wore a fake stubble. I did not look like ME at all. It was really great news that nobody recognized me.  

            I finally arrived at my required place to eat for lunch. Seeing it’s a really long queue, I made up my mind that if by 5 seconds, nobody’s going in, I’m going to have to search for another place to eat. 5.. 4.. The couple in front of me suddenly just left the line. I don’t understand why, but about 10 seconds later, practically everyone in the line left. I guess that meant good news for me? I speeded up ahead, until I was second-in-line. Guessing that the first group in line was stopping everybody from going in? I was willing to wait, and that is what I did.  

            “Please, ah-jussi? We’re just one short.. Can you pleaseeeee give us the table?” one of the cute girls did her aegyo, trying to persuade the waiter to give their group seats. That girl looked like she was the youngest. I have to admit, she’s pretty cute, doing her aegyo like that.

            “No.. I’m sorry.. Even if the other group cancels their reservation, you still won’t get in because your group’s not enough. You have to have six people, and that’s it. I’m sorry but the I will get into trouble if I let you girls in an incomplete party..” the man kept denying.

            The sweet, cute girl pouted. “It’s okay, Sulli.. We can just eat at another place..” said a beautiful Chinese-looking girl. The way she talks.. I knew she’s a foreigner. “No, unnie! We are going to eat here, no matter what! I’m going to make that happen! Chakkaman.”

            The girl looked around for a while, like she was searching for something. When suddenly she stops. AT ME. Her finger pointed at me, and she smiled. A very sneaky smile. Oh oh. I smell something’s going to happen now.

            “Ah-jussi, can you help me please?” without waiting for me to nod or say yes for an answer,  she already had grabbed my hand and brought me to the front line. I could tell the other three girls [or four? One of them is confusing me with his/her gender] were shocked.

            “Okay, mister. We now are a complete party of six. Now, can you let us in?”pleaded the girl. The waiter had no choice but to let them[us] in. Because WE are a party of six. Including me. The waiter closed the waiting line, and led us to the table. All five of them sat, but not me. The table that we were led to was a table that was just third in a row of tables, facing the stage. Fortunately, it was placed near the wall. I waited for the waiter to go away, and then just stood there, in front of the five girls. The only seat that was empty, was beside the beautiful Chinese-looking girl. She seemed my age, I guess?

            “Ah-jussi.. Sit down. We can’t eat if one of us is standing, right?” said the girl, asking me to sit down in one of the empty seats. “And by the way, my name is Sulli. Or if you would rather call me by my real name, Choi Jin Ri. I’m 17 this year.”

            “Anyeong haseyo, I’m Krystal Jung. Or Jung Soo Jung, which ever would you want to call me. I’m also 17.” the other girl, who was a long face, simply like Yoona’s, and had long, wavy hair introduced herself.

            “Hello, I’m Park Sun Young. I’d prefer my friends calling me Luna, that’s my nickname. I’m 18 this year. Nice to meet you!” the girl with a slightly chubby smiling face said. “Nice to meet you too,” I replied.

            “Hi, I’m Amber Josephine Liu. Call me Amber. I’m a girl, if you are wondering, and I’m 19,” now I knew that that person, is a ‘she’. Now that’s left to introduce, is that beautiful girl that I certainly caught my eyes on, not denying, fyi.

            “Oh.. Hello.. I’m Victoria Song. I’m the oldest, I’m 23 years old,” Ah.. that girl’s name is Victoria.. Lovely.. “We’re f(x), a girl dance group from SM Entertainment. Maybe you would know, since we’re labelmates with So Nyuh Shi Dae and Super Junior. Let’s not forget SHINee too.” Krystal explained.

So that’s why I thought I’ve seen them before. I knew f(x), but I didn’t remember their names. I just knew their songs, and where their from, that’s it. “And your name is?” suddenly, Sulli asked me. I wondered to answer, scared that my cover’s gonna blow.

            “I’m not exactly an ah-jussi, as you called me before. I’m actually in disguise.” I took the seat beside Victoria as I talk. “I’m Nichkhun, from 2PM.”

            Their expressions weren’t even as half surprised as I thought they would be. They just remained their cool and calm and friendly expressions as before. Two seconds later, Sulli suddenly nodded and said, “So, you’re Nichkhun that Wooyoung oppa and Taecyeon oppa talked about.” After those words are said, the atmosphere went awkward again.

            “Let’s order, shall we?” Victoria said, to break the silence.

*****

            My stomach was full as I finished my dish. Taking a look at the others too, I saw that they were absolutely full. Victoria raised her hand, calling for the waiter. So, she’d be the one who is going to pay for our meal? Usually, if it were just me and the members of 2PM, I’d let them pay. But now, I’m not gonna let her.

            “Waiter, can we please pay now?” asked Victoria.

            “Yes, it will all be 90,000 won.” As Victoria searched for her purse, I quickly opened my brown wallet, a gift from my little sister, and paid the waiter. I could tell by her face, she was surprised by my actions.

            “Thank you, sir. Please, wait a while. We have a show coming up in just a few minutes. It’s a special event, just for today.”

            “There’s going to be a show? Hooray! Unnie.. Can we please stay  here for a while? Just to watch the show? Pretty please?” Sulli pleaded Victoria, asking for us to stay. Victoria fidgets for a while, looking at her watch, seeing what the time is.

            “Well, we can. But when we get home, if our manager oppa is going to be mad, and I took the blame, you guys have to do a special treat, just for me, okay?” she replied, agreeing to Sulli’s question. It’s a little bit weird that she didn’t even ask me if it was okay, since I was the guest[I think]. After a few minutes, the show started. I was kind of expecting some drama or like those acrobatic shows they usually do but instead, an MC came out.

            “Hello, hello people! Today, specially for today, we’re going to do a special event instead of those boring, overrated and underrated acrobatic or talk or music shows they usually do. Instead, we are going to choose a couple, and make them do a mission up here, right here, on this stage!” the words that came out from that MC’s mouth makes my gulps increase. They’re not gonna choose me, are they? Besides, I’m the less attractive here. Or at least I thought?

            “Spotlight, please!” as the MC was saying, the spotlight surrounded all of us, who were eating and then landed on…. Some couple who were having their date interrupted. Then, the spotlight went on again. I don’t know why, but it’s making me totally nervous. But why would I? It’s not even like I came with a partner or anything, here.

            Another veteran couple was chosen, and when I thought it was the end, my thoughts were absolutely wrong.

            “The man in the black hat with stubble and big glasses with your pretty girlfriend, please, come up on stage!” suddenly, the MC’s words made me speechless. Omo. I looked over to Victoria, the beautiful girl who was seating beside me. From her looks, I could tell she was really, really surprised. Like calling us up on stage, is really horrible. Notice the word girlfriend?

*****

            [Victoria’s POV]

            I can’t believe what the MC’s just did. Did he just call me and this 2PM member-guy up on stage when we barely know each other? Heck, we weren’t even a couple! Onew’s not gonna like this..

            One of the waitresses grabbed my arm and took me up on stage, together with another waiter, who ‘carried’ Nichkhun. We were placed as the third couple, and were practically the most odd couple up on stage. If they all, the audience, recognizes me, up on stage, things are going to go bad.

            “Thank you, couples, for being up here, with me!” I don’t even want to, stupid.

            “Today’s mission, the couple who will win this mission, will get a special prize today. A mystery, special prize. Mysteric~ Mysteric~ Haha.. Okay. The mission today, that all of you three couples will do is.. Jjang! Act A love scene!”

            That got me completely stunned. This is going to be real, real bad. From the stage, I could already see my ‘kids’s shocked expressions. They too, knew this is going to be bad. When the first couple went up to act a randomly made love scene, I could already hear the talkative audience saying, “Isn’t that the leader of f(x)” or, “What is she doing up there? Shouldn’t she be performing or something?”

            Then, our turn came. The MC came towards us, and started interviewing us, perhaps wanting to know what shall we do in our love scene. Made me wonder too, why didn’t he interview the other couples? OH yeah, he did. It’s just me who didn’t realise.As the MC came, I could already see Nichkhun’s extremely nervous expression, together with his red, hot, flaming ears.

            “Hello, lovebirds. What act are you going to do today?” he asked. Me and Nichkhun just stayed quiet, not saying anything.

            “A secret, eh? No matter, the secret will be revealed, anyways. Oh yes, sir. Could you please remove your glasses and black hat? The audience wanted to see your handsome face, and compare if you really look good with this young beautiful lady, whom I recognize as f(x)’s leader, Victoria-ssi. Welcome to the stage,Victoria!” I bowed to him, still not saying anything, since my Korean wasn’t very good. I had a heavy Chinese accent that wasn’t pleasing to hear. I smiled at him, just to show respect. The audience clapped as I bowed.

            “So, before we start, sir, if you may?” the MC asked him. Slowly, Nichkhun began to take out his black hat, which made the audience gasped. It’s not that hard for them to tell that the person who is standing beside me is Nichkhun, because he is certainly popular among the girls. And I’ve noticed, the audience is practically made up of girls.

            I was ready to cover my ears when he opened up his stubble and put his glasses back in his pocket. I wouldn’t want to be deaf, you know? 

*****