(Jay)

We finally reached the apartment complex. I was feeling quite confident and pleased with myself. I would be getting Yoo-mi’s number. And if my plan went according to plan, I’d have her liking me in no time. We exited the van first and waited for the guys. Taec was obviously tired and he needed some sleep, but Junsu’s constant raving about Yoo-mi and Christine kept everyone awake and annoyed. He wouldn’t shut up about how great their voices were. He wasn’t lying. They had amazing voices and amazing faces to match, especially Yoo-mi’s. Thinking about how successful and close I was to winning her made me giddy. But geeze, Junsu needed to shut up. He was still rambling on as he exited the van. The next one to get out was Chansung. He had a blank expression on his face. I bet he was thinking about that one girl he saw at some photo shoot. He said she was incredibly attractive and that the girl was definitely someone he’d want to get to know. But he didn’t get her name and he didn’t have the same determination as Wooyoung, who waited in a hallway for a girl for a month, so she remained the mystery girl. Though from what I know, Wooyoung still hadn’t found this girl yet. Next Nichkhun walked out of the van. He had a puzzled look on his face. Come to think of it, he looked confused the whole ride over. He was deep in thought and made several expressions every five seconds. It went from confused to angry to reflective to confused again. Khun was just weird. Wooyoung and Junho were the last ones to get out. They were talking about something or at least, Junho was. Wooyoung was spacing out, yet again. He was always doing that. Probably thinking about that one girl again. We walked in silence; all of us were tired and all we wanted was to get to our apartment and sleep. We waited for the elevators to open and when they did, we were surprised. It was Yoo-mi and Christine. They were laughing about something and they were carrying garbage bags. They exited the elevator. When they turned, they were just as shocked as we were. It was like déjà vu. Back to the competition, the atmosphere was awkward and we trapped in a stare off. Junsu decided to speak up first.

“Yoo-mi! Christine!” he cried out excitedly. “What are you guys doing here? We didn’t expect to see you guys again so soon. Did you guys come here to tell me that we can do a collab?” The fool was grinning like an idiot and making things even more awkward than before. I shook my head. But to my surprise, Yoo-mi laughed and Christine smirked.

“Actually, we’re here because we love you guys so much, we’re stalking you guys now. We’re so crazy about you guys that we went digging through your trash.” She lifted up the trash bag she was holding. “Great stuff by the way.” All of us just stared at her with blank expressions. We didn’t know whether to take her seriously or just laugh. I turned to Yoo-mi. She just had a blank expression on her face and she made a move to leave. But I intercepted her path. She blinked and looked up at me.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

I flashed her a smile. “I was able to do it, just to let you know.”

She blinked and gave me an annoyed look. “Eh?”

“You know,” I nudged. “I was able to perform my part of the bargain.”

“What bargain?”

“The bargain where I get you a phone and I get your number. Well I did it, so I hope you’ll uphold your end.”

Yoo-mi laughed and shook her head. “From what I heard, you didn’t do anything at all.”

I blanked. “What are you talking about? I got you and Christine phones. You should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you? For what?” She scoffed. “Jaebom, you shouldn’t be taking credit for people’s work. It’s a bit tasteless don’t you think?”

“I’m not taking credit for anyone’s work!” I protested. “I was the one who got you the phones!”

She held up her hand. “I’m afraid not. Christi told me it was Nichkhun that got us phones. So deal’s off. Sorry.” She sidestepped me and began dragging the garbage bag behind her. I stared after her, speechless. I couldn’t believe it. Yoo-mi had managed to wiggle out of giving me her number. I had to hand it to her. She was a sly one, which only made me want to get her to like me even more.

(Nichkhun)

I hadn’t expected to see the cause of my confusion to pop up in front of me. What was this? The day to make Nichkhun look like an idiot day? I sighed. Today wasn’t my day at all. Seeing Christine brought mixed feelings. I was somewhat angry at her for insulting me but at the same I was intrigued. I wanted to get to know her. She puzzled me. She obviously wasn’t your typical girl. I mean, what kind of girl blurted out that she was stalking people? We all just stared at her as she smiled at us with an eerie look. And she called me creepy? She was just messing with me. I bet she was just like all the other girls. Pretending to be not interested in me, then in the end, falling on their knees, professing their undying devotion to me. I scoffed. Yep, I knew she was just playing coy, trying to get me to believe her façade. I’d show her she couldn’t fool me. After Yoo-mi left, Christine began to follow suit. She bent down to pick up the garbage bag full of trash and I took it as an opportunity to call her out on her bluff. I approached her. As she stood up with garbage in hand, she gave me an inquisitive look. I flashed her my most charming smile, the one I knew no girl could resist.

“Hey,” I slurred in the voice most girls called silky smooth. I winked. “Need any help?” I waited for Christine to faint or swoon at my feet but instead of that, she made a gag face.

“Nichkhun, I thought I told you to work on the whole creepy thing?” She sighed. “How are you going to get people to like you if you look like that?” She shook her head. “And thanks for the offer, but I’m quite capable of throwing garbage out by myself.” She brushed by me, bumping me with the large trash bag. I stood there dumbfounded. Christine didn’t fall for the smile or the silky voice? Not even my wink got her to swoon. I mean, I made straight men giggle like women with that wink. I swiveled and studied her. This girl…she was different. How was it possible that she didn’t fall for my charm? Was I truly creepy to her? I watched as Wooyoung gaped at Christine as she passed by him. He held up his hand and attempted to wave; she smiled.

“Hello Wooyoung. Long time no see right?” she laughed.

Wooyoung merely nodded. He opened his mouth, ready to utter something but nothing came out. I continued to watch as Christine chatted with Wooyoung. She was smiling and being more than cordial towards Wooyoung. Was it just me or was Christine just aggressive and mean towards me? Not once did she call Wooyoung weird or comment on his stuttering. In fact, she just smiled and laughed. I was a bit irritated and upset. Why didn’t she like me? I was charming, nice, and an all-around great guy wasn’t I? I scowled as Christine proceeded to flirt with Wooyoung and Wooyoung just stood there like a stuttering fool, blushing wildly. He couldn’t be any more obvious. Christine ended up laughing and waving goodbye to Wooyoung as she continued with her task to take out the garbage. I sighed. The only answer I could come up with for why Christine didn’t like me was that she was lesbian. How could any straight woman deny me and react to Wooyoung so kindly? A gay one that’s what.

I swiveled around and noticed Yoo-mi was having a bit of trouble carrying her share of the garbage. It was dragging behind her and it looked like she could barely lift the bag that nearly swallowed her. I approached her.

“Do you need a hand, Yoo-mi?” I offered. Yoo-mi sighed in relief.

“Yes, please.”

I smiled and proceeded to take the bags from her. “No problem. You can go back to wherever you were going, Yoo-mi. I’ve got these covered.”

She thanked me and raced back to the complex. I ran to catch up with Christine. She was at the dumpsters, attempting to toss her load into the trash. I walked up to her and offered her my assistance yet again.

She stared at me. “It’s okay,” she grunted as she tried to push the trash into the dumpster. “I’ve got it.”

I laughed. “I can see that.” She glared at me. “C’mon, let me help you.” I reached out and attempted to help her. She pushed my hand away.

“Look, Nichkhun,” she said exasperatedly. “I understand you’re trying to be chivalrous and help me out, but I’ve got it. Really, so your assistance isn’t needed.”

“Why don’t you just let me help you, Christine? Is it so bad for me to help you out?”

“Yes, because I can do this without your help.”

I sighed. This girl was really stubborn. She definitely fit the lesbian profile; she was a man hater.

Next thing I knew, I heard footsteps behind us. I turned and saw it was Jinwoon.

“Hey,” he gasped as he tried to catch his breath from running over. “Christine, you’ve been here this whole time? You sure take a long time throwing out the trash.”

Christine blushed. “Um, I-I was having trouble throwing it away, Oppa. Not to mention Yoo-mi and I ran into 2PM when we got downstairs and the bags were pretty heavy.”

“Silly,” Jinwoon reached over and took the trash bags in Christine’s hands and tossed them into the dumpster. “If you needed help, you should have come back and told me. I would’ve helped you.”

Christine blushed even more. “Th-thank you, Oppa, but I had it covered.”

“Yeah, right you did. I was worried about you. You were gone for a while and when Yoo-mi came back to the apartment alone, I freaked out.” Jinwoon cupped Christine’s face. “Don’t make me worry like that, Christine.”

Watching Jinwoon and Christine interact brought a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Christine had allowed Jinwoon to help her when I had offered a bunch of times before and to top it off, Christine was acting like a love sick puppy around Jinwoon. She was blushing furiously and she was stuttering. The once confident and independent girl that had refused me had transformed into an infatuated teenager within seconds and all because of Jinwoon. Maybe she wasn’t a lesbian after all…She was obviously attracted to Jinwoon. So I still didn’t understand. Why didn’t she react the way she was acting with me? Christine was definitely something.

“I’m sorry, Oppa.” Christine replied. “I won’t do it again.”

“Good,” Jinwoon sighed in relief. He turned to me. “Hey Khun. Sorry for ignoring you but I was worried about Christine. She can be a bit troublesome.”

“Nah, it’s all good, Jinwoon. I was just helping Yoo-mi by taking her bags and throwing them away.”

“Well thanks, Khun. I appreciate it.” Jinwoon turned back to Christine. “Oh, Christine. Manager Ha-in ended up calling Kwon. She’s been looking for you guys. She says if you don’t make it in time for curfew, you’re going to have a workout day.”

Christine’s eyes widened. “What?! Oh no! Okay, I’ll get going, but where’s Yoo-mi?! We need to go! I can’t stand another workout day!”

Jinwoon laughed. “She’s on her way down so get going.”

“Ah, alright. Thanks again, Oppa. I’ll see you later!” Christine turned her gaze on me. “You too, Nichkhun, bye!” Christine sprinted towards the street, meeting up with Yoo-mi.

“That girl…” Jinwoon sighed. “So full of energy, it’s ridiculous.”

I turned towards Jinwoon. “Yeah, she is definitely something. Is she gay?”

Jinwoon rounded on me and laughed. “What? Christine? Gay?”

I nodded. “She seems like it.”

Jinwoon laughed even more. “Whoa man, you are way off. Christine is far from gay. She acts like a tomboy, yes. But no way is she a lesbian. What makes you think that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s just the vibe I was getting. I mean, she ignored me.”

Jinwoon shook his head. “You think she’s gay because she ignored you?”

“Well yeah,” I said. “She didn’t even fall for my wink…”

“Man,” Jinwoon patted my back. “You’re just mad she didn’t like you. But that’s just the way Christine is. Don’t take it personally. She’ll warm up to you and there has to be a reason why she ignored you.”

“Yeah, she said I was creepy.”

Jinwoon roared with laughter. “That’s Christine for you. Surprised a girl hasn’t fallen in love with you? Well Christine is different. Get used to it, Hyung.” I made a face. “Well, I have to go back to our apartment, but don’t feel too hurt that Christine doesn’t fall for your stuff. Just let it go.” With that, Jinwoon raced back to the complex.

(Yoo-mi)

“Good job girls,” manager praised. “You did well today.” Christine and I smiled. It was rare to hear manager giving us positive comments or more like giving both of us positive feedback. Manager would usually tear up Christine’s work after rehearsals, but today we both did quite well.

“Your new song will be amazing if you continue the hard work. And Christine, good job on the harmony. I’m proud of you.” Christine beamed.

“Thank you, manager.” Christine replied. Manager returned the smile.

“Well I have to go organize a bit of your scheduling for tomorrow, so meet me in the car in ten minutes girls. If you’re not there in ten minutes, I will leave.” Christine and I nodded as manager strolled out of the studio.

“We didn’t do too shabby today, Christi.” I smiled. “We’re actually doing great.”

“We’re always great though,” Christi replied. “But it’s nice to know manager thinks we’re doing well too.”

I nodded. “Think we could stop by 2AM’s rehearsal studio?”

Christine shrugged. “I don’t think so. We only have ten minutes remember? Or else manager will leave us here and I really don’t feel like running all the way to the apartment today.”

I pouted. “You’re right. But I want to go talk to our sunbaes. We never get to see them anymore.”

Christine sulked. “I know. I want to see them too, but they’re always so busy. I wish we had our phones already. It’s been a month since the competition and I thought manager would have our phones already.”

“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I guess Jay’s plan and Nichkhun’s charm couldn’t pull through after all.”

Christine laughed. “As if Nichkhun’s charm could work ever. I don’t get it. How is it that all the fans think he’s so dreamy? He’s creepy…And what do you mean Jay’s plan? How did he get mixed into this?”

“Well not everyone has the same tastes as you, Christine. Plus Nichkhun’s pretty nice looking. And Jay was the ‘mastermind’ behind the whole thing. He wanted my number and convinced Nichkhun to ask manager for the phones.”

“Whoa, really? So technically you were the catalyst for the reason we have phones eh? And well...Khun is just super…” Christine shuddered. “Creepy…that wink…” She started twitching.

I laughed. “You’re just weird. But I guess you should be thanking me for getting us the phones.”

“Well duh,” Christine replied. “Weird people are interesting. Normal people are boring and who wants to be boring? And what?! NO. Until I physically have ‘said’ phone in my hand, I THANK NOBODY. ”

“Alright, I get your point.” I laughed. “I’m going to go and get a drink so I’ll meet you at the car.”

“Potassium,” Christine said. “Don’t be late. But I doubt manager would leave without you.”

I laughed. “Probably. We both know I’m her favorite.”

“Don’t rub it in, Yumi. It’s not fair.” Christine scowled.

I shooed her away as we exited the studio. I walked towards the vending machine and began looking for what I wanted: milk tea. I dug out the spare change I had in my pocket and pushed it into the machine. As I waited for my milk tea to filter down and travel to my open hands and into my stomach, I noticed from the corner of my eye, a hand. And not just any hand; but the hand that belonged to a certain someone. As I slowly allowed my gaze to travel to the owner of the hand, I felt myself get nervous as I got closer and closer to the owner’s face. I groaned as my gaze rested on the face of the owner. It was Jay Park. What was this? Was he stalking me? I was continuously bumping into him over the past couple of weeks. From the competition to now, he would always find me in the hallway or in the café or even in front of the rehearsal studio. This guy…he was starting to really get on my nerves.

“Hey,” Jay greeted with a smirk. “Long time, no see.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. “What do you want Jaebom?”

Jay laughed. “Yoo-mi, I thought I told you to call me Jay. Jaebom is way too formal. But of course, you could always add “Oppa” to end of that and I wouldn’t mind.”

I scoffed. Yeah, right. As if I would want to call Jay “Oppa”. I knew what he was playing at. There were three definitions to “Oppa”: brother, dad, or boyfriend. And I knew which one Jay was referring to.

“No thanks. I’m good.” I heard the clunk of my drink fall from the vending machine. “Now, if you don’t mind, Jaebom, excuse me.” I proceeded to reach for my milk tea, but unfortunately Jay wasn’t going to let me have my precious drink. He placed himself in front of the vending machine, leaning against it with his arms crossed across his chest, still sporting that stupid smirk of his. Oh how I wanted to wipe that smirk off with a punch and good thing Jay was closer to my height. That way I could definitely land a punch and make him squeal like the little girl he was.

“I’m afraid,” Jay said with a smile. “I can’t let you pass until you give me what I want.”

I glared at him. “And what exactly is it that you want?”

Jay grinned lecherously. “You know what I want.”

“Unfortunately, I really don’t know what you want. So if you would please,” I replied while trying to push him off out of the way. “I would really like my drink. I’m dying of thirst.”

“Well,” Jay said. “I’m dying for something you have and only you can give me.”

I sighed. “What is it? Tell me, so you can go away and so I can get my drink.”

“You know what it is, Yoo-mi. Don’t be so coy.” Jay tried touching me, but I pushed his hand away and scoffed.

“Stop beating around the bush, Jaebom. Just tell me because I want my milk tea!”

Jay held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay, okay. Geeze, no need to get defensive. You’ll get your precious milk tea once you hand over your number.”

I was furious. He was preventing me from nourishment for my stupid number. “What? You mean to tell me, you prevented me from drinking my necessary beverage for nearly ten minutes just so you could get my number?”

Jay nodded. “You got it.”

I smiled dangerously. “Well, you babo, I told you the first time about getting my number. I don’t have a phone and even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you. So please, MOVE.”

Jay shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Yoo-mi, don’t you recall the deal we made? If I got you a phone, I get your number. And I believe I got you one.” I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off. “Even though I wasn’t the one to convince your manager, I was still the one to convince Khun to get you and Christine those phones. So I believe that still counts.”

“Whatever.” I replied. “You still can’t have the number because I don’t have a phone. So your plan is flawed.”

Jay smirked. “Oh you underestimate me too much, Yoo-mi.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashy, pink confetti looking phone. “I’m one step ahead of the game.” Jay grabbed my hand and placed the pink thing into my hand.

“And what is this?” I asked.

“A phone.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know that. But why’d you give me this?”

“Because,” Jay replied. “That’s your phone. I convinced your manager to allow me to personally deliver your phone.”

I gave him a look. “You mean you got Nichkhun to get the phone?”

Jay blanked. “It doesn’t matter. I’m delivering the phone, not Khun. But anyways, now that you have a phone, you have no excuse but to give me your number.”

I laughed. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to do that.”

“And why not?”

I smiled. I was determined to leave the JYP building without handing over the number to Jay. I leaned in closer to him. “Because, I don’t know it. But thank you, Jaebom…Oppa.” Jay blushed furiously and loosened up his so called confidence stance. I smirked. This was too easy. Quickly, I reached behind him and grabbed my milk tea.

“Thanks, Jaebom, for the phone and for allowing me to get my milk tea. Now, I have to get going.” I dashed away but I could hear Jay’s protests from behind me.

“HEY! THAT’S CHEATING! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

“HEY!” I called out. “ALL’S FAIR WHEN IT COMES TO FOOD!”

“COME BACK HERE! YOU DIDN’T GIVE ME YOUR NUMBER! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, WHO CARES! MY NUMBER IS IN YOUR PHONE ANYWAYS! YOU BETTER CALL ME YOO-MI!”

(Wooyoung)

Today was an OneDay family reunion. All of us were cooped up in our rehearsal studio, just hanging out and catching up on things. Everyone was chatting away; all in their own separate conversations. Jinwoon and Seulong were on the floor, laughing about something on Jinwoon’s phone. Kwon was chatting away to Jay, although Jay was hardly paying attention. Every time Jinwoon’s phone went off, Jay would take out his phone and hope it was his. When he realized it was Jinwoon’s though, Jay sighed heavily. It was obvious Jay was expecting somebody to call him, but that somebody was taking their sweet time and torturing Jay in the process. Junho and Junsu were practicing their dance moves while trying to teach Changmin the moves as well while Chansung, Nichkhun and I were just sitting in a corner. We were all just lounging around, contemplating. I had no idea what Nichkhun was thinking about, but Chansung, he was probably thinking about that one girl he met at a photo shoot. He found her intriguing but he felt that seeing her again would be impossible. For me, I was thinking about Christine or Chris-e - my special nickname just for her. I smiled. I thought about the past few weeks and the numerous chance meetings I had with her. Though I still wasn’t able to speak a coherent sentence around her, I was able to at least greet her in a normal way. Earlier that day, I had gone outside to grab a snack and I spied her at the vending machine trying to grab a snack as well. The moment I saw her, I felt my knees tremble and my throat became instantaneously dry. The closer I got to the vending machine, the closer I got to Christine. The whole walk over, I rehearsed over and over and over about what I was going to say to her – how I would say hi, how I would approach her, how I’d smile, how I’d talk, etc. When I finally stood behind her as she bent down to pick up her snack, I gulped. I could feel my palms begin to sweat and I knew the constriction in my throat meant I would be stuttering yet again. Christine stood up and swiveled around. She gave me a look of surprise. I opened my mouth, yet words failed and wouldn’t cooperate with me. So instead, Christine smiled and greeted me first.

“Hello Wooyoung. How are you? Fancy meeting you here. Here to get a snack too?”

I nodded. I didn’t trust my voice to answer just yet. I wanted today to be the day I would actually stop stuttering whenever I spoke to Christine.

“Well, that’s good.” Christine lifted her granola bar. “You got to have your nutrition.”

I nodded. “Um…we-well…uh…”

“I’m boring you aren’t I?” Christine asked, tilting her head. “Well I’ll get going then. It was nice seeing you, Wooyoung.” With a wave, Christine began to walk away. I shook my head, I couldn’t let her just walk away. I was determined to let her know that I wasn’t some stuttering idiot around her all the time. I reached for her hand. She turned to me, confused. “Huh? Everything okay, Wooyoung?”

I nodded. “It-it’s fine. I ju-just want-ted to say…” I smiled. “It was nice seeing you, Chris-e. I hope yo-you have a good day.”

I merely stared as Christine blinked and stared back at me. After a few seconds, she smiled. “Thanks Wooyoung. It was nice seeing you too. I’ve got to go now though.” She gently tugged her hand from my grasp and slowly walked away, waving as she went.

I leaned my head against the wall and grinned. Thinking about the progress I made, even if it was a small step, was enough to keep me going in my pursuit. I wanted Christine to see me as a friend and eventually, as more than a friend. I had made up my mind: I did like Christine and I wanted her to like me. I sighed, but I couldn’t do that as long as I couldn’t speak in front of her. If only I could talk to her without seeing her face. It was her face, her beautiful face that made me lose all control over bodily functions. If only she had a phone. Communication would be much easier.

Suddenly Jay stood up and stomped up and down the room. “THAT GIRL! WHY HASN’T SHE CALLED YET?!” He turned to Jinwoon. “Shut your phone off, Jinwoon! It’s getting annoying. You’re confusing me!” Jay began mumbling. “Making me think…thinking…it’s her…”

“Calm down, Jay.” Kwon said, patting Jay on the back. “Whoever it is you’re waiting for, they will call you. So relax.”

“Don’t tell me to relax!” Jay burst out. “It’s been three weeks and not even a text or anything from her…THAT GIRL!”

Kwon took a step back. “I was just trying to help. But anyways, we have to go. We have scheduling.” He motioned to the others to get up for it was time for them to go.

Chansung spoke up. “But Hyung, we’ll see you guys later at the apartment right?”

“Oh yeah,” Seulong replied. “We’ll see you guys later. But think we could invite Yoo-mi and Christine as well? Today’s their day off scheduling and it’d be fun right?”

Jay turned to Seulong. “They’re free tonight? Yeah, please invite them. I want to talk to Yoo-mi actually.”

“Okay, I’ll call Christine and see if they’re free.” Jinwoon said, flipping out his phone. My eyes widened. Christine had a phone? I grabbed Jinwoon’s arm.

“Wait…Christine has a phone?”

Jinwoon nodded. “They both have phones. They’ve had phones for a couple of weeks now.”

“Yeah,” Seulong added. “You didn’t know that, Wooyoung-ah?”

I shook my head. “NO! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Seulong laughed. “Why would we need to tell you? And plus didn’t you know Jinwoon was texting Christine the whole time we’ve been here? They’ve been texting non-stop.”

“Well…I uh…I want to talk to her too you know…So could you give me her number?” I lunged for Jinwoon’s phone. Jinwoon snatched it away.

Seulong laughed even more. “That desperate to talk to Christi huh?” I glared at him. “Why don’t you just ask her for her number the next time you see her?”

“Why can’t you just give it to me now?”

Seulong smirked. “That I cannot do.”

I pouted. “Why not?”

“Because you need to get it yourself. Jinwoon and I got her number by ourselves and if you like her, which we know you do, it’s better that you, ask her yourself.”

I sighed. “Bu-bu-but Seulong-“

Seulong held up his hand. “Sorry Wooyoung-ah. That’s just how it has to be. Man up and just ask her.”

I sighed heavily. I wasn’t good with speaking to Christine. I mean, I was already stuttering with daily conversation type of things but to ask for her number, a crucial and important moment – there was just no way. But if I succeeded in asking Christine for her number, I would get it. Yet, there was the possibility of her rejecting my request, but I had to try, right?

“I’ll try, Hyung.” Seulong smiled.

“That’s the spirit, Wooyoung-ah. Don’t worry, Christine will probably give it to you once you ask. It’ll be easy; trust me.” He turned to Jinwoon. “So what did Christi say? Can Yoo-mi and her come along?”

Jinwoon shook his head. “Nope. Apparently, Christine ate way too much rice and so manager Ha-in is making her work out tonight. Though I think Yoo-mi is free, but she said she didn’t want to come.”

(Nichkhun)

I had been watching her all day. I wasn’t exactly stalking her – I was merely bumping into her…on purpose. Christine was intriguing. I couldn’t help myself. The moment I saw her walk into the JYP building today, I unconsciously started following her. It was probably just curiosity biting at me. I mean, she was the only girl I knew who rejected my looks and charms. I had to know about her. But by following her all day today, I realized she was definitely odd. She came to work in baggy sweats that were a bit too large for her and she wore an oversized Raiders jersey to match. Most girls I knew wore skin tight clothes that hugged their curves and accentuated them, but Christine? Even though she hid underneath clothes that nearly swallowed her, it suited her in a way. For me, it just made her even more interesting and enigmatic. I couldn’t put my finger on it…but she was quirky.

I stood outside of the Y+C rehearsal studio, waiting for Christine to leave so I could observe her some more. I heard the studio door open and at once, I dashed behind the adjacent wall. I was far enough to avoid being seen, but I could hear what was going on. I peeped from my hiding place and noticed it was Christine and her manager. They were discussing important business. It was about something concerning Christine’s struggle to grasp Korean.

“Christine,” her manager said. “You’ve been here for almost eight months and you still haven’t been able to fully learn Korean.”

Christine hung her head and sighed. “I’m sorry, manager. But I don’t know…I just can’t get it. But maybe in a few more-“

“No,” her manager interrupted. “You don’t have a few more anything. Although you and Yoo-mi have been doing music shows rather than variety ones, what will happen once you debut on a variety show and you can’t speak fluent Korean? Do you know how badly it will reflect on you? The netizens will tear you apart.”

Christine’s face fell. She nodded. “I understand, manager. But, I can do this! I just need a bit more time!”

Her manager shook her head. “Unfortunately we don’t have enough time for you to take your time and learn the language, Christine. We are going to have to get you a tutor.”

“A tutor?!” Christine exclaimed. “But I’ve never needed a tutor in my life. I don’t need help, manager.”

Manager Ha-in gave Christine a look. “You obviously do need the help if you still aren’t fluent after being in Korea for nearly eight months.”

Christine scowled. “Fine, but where are we going to get me a tutor?”

Manager Ha-in pondered for a moment. “Hmmm, I don’t know. But we’ll figure something out. The main problem is trying to squeeze a tutor into your schedule, considering you and Yoo-mi have a new song release coming up soon.”

Christine nodded. “Maybe we can get one of the sunbaes to tutor me? It’ll avoid the awkwardness and I’d be more prone to learning more in a comfortable environment, manager.”

Her manager smiled. “Good idea, Christine. But the question is who?”

I leaned my head against the wall for a moment. Christine needed a tutor? I completely understood what Christine was going through right now. When I was training for my debut, I could hardly speak Korean that well. But with practice, I had managed to perfect it. Some of the guys even said I had better Korean than Chansung and that was saying something. Not to mention, I wasn’t even Korean. I could definitely relate to Christine, since she was a foreigner as well. Perhaps…I could be the one to tutor her. This would give me a chance to truly observe Christine and truly get to know her. Maybe then, I could finally find out what made her tick. I emerged from my hiding place and stationed myself so that Christine’s manager would spot me first. And considering I could charm manager Ha-in without a problem, it didn’t take long until she noticed me.

“Oh, Nichkhun!” manager Ha-in called out. “What brings you out here? Isn’t your room in the other hallway?”

I approached Christine and her manager. “No, Noona. It’s just around the corner.” I flashed her my smile. “I was just taking a stroll and I couldn’t help but hear your conversation. I heard Christine needs a tutor?”

Manager Ha-in blushed. “Well, yes. She does.” She turned to Christine and patted her shoulder. “Unfortunately, she’s having difficulty grasping the language.” Manager Ha-in leaned in close to whisper into my ear. “It’s quite a shame, really. I expected her to get it sooner. It’s probably all that rice she eats.”

I laughed and I saw, from the corner of my eye, Christine was fuming.

“Manager!” Christine whined. “Stop telling him such things. I can become fluent…But you won’t give me anymore time…”

Manager clucked her tongue. “That’s because even if I did give you enough time, you still wouldn’t grasp it. You need a tutor and that’s final.”

Christine sighed and nodded. “Fine, manager. But we still need to decide who my tutor will be.”

I smiled and raised my hand. “I could be your tutor, Christine.”

Manager Ha-in’s face brightened up immediately while Christine’s fell into a look of shock and dread.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Nichkhun!” Manager Ha-in jumped up and clapped her hands together. “You are certainly a suitable tutor for Christine. What do you think Christine?”

She turned to Christine, whose face was still obscured into a look of disgust.

“No,” she replied. “I don’t like the idea at all! Please manager! I’d rather have Jinwoon Oppa or Seulong Oppa! They’d be willing to teach me!”

“Nonsense!” her manager protested. “Nichkhun is more than capable to be a tutor for you. Plus he can speak English. It’ll help you understand the language more.”

“Bu-but manager!” Christine protested.

Her manager held up her hand and shook her head. “No, it’s final. Nichkhun shall be your tutor. That is,” she turned to me. “If that’s alright with you, Nichkhun?”

I shook my head and smiled at them. “No, it’s perfectly alright with me.”

Christine scowled as her manager cried out in happiness. “Perfect! I shall speak with your manager and set up a specific tutoring date for you two. Now if you’ll excuse, I’ll get working on it right now.” She pushed Christine towards me. “You two can get more comfortable with each other and chat while I organize things. Have fun!” Christine’s manager waved goodbye and disappeared down the hallway. It was just me and Christine now.

I glanced at Christine and noticed that she was still scowling, mumbling to herself. I took a step in front of her and leaned down, getting down to eye level.

“Hey,” I smiled.

Christine glared at me and crossed her arms. “You! Just what the hell are you trying to pull here?”

I blinked and merely stared at her. “What are you talking about?”

Christine intensified her glare. “This. This whole tutoring thing. Just what do you think you’ll hope you’ll accomplish by being my tutor? Aish, this is awful…should have convinced manager to let me be tutored by Seulong or Jinwoon…” She turned around and began walking away.

“Hey! That’s not nice to say…” I muttered.

Christine me. “Well what do you expect? I’m not at all pleased at the moment!”

“Why?” I questioned.

Christine rolled her eyes. “Because you’re ruining my day and you’ll probably ruin all my weeks as well. That little stunt you pulled there, just proved that you’re an even bigger creeper than I thought. You’re worse.”

My mouth fell open. “What?! How am I worse?! I’m just trying to help you out here!”

Christine smirked and let out a huge laugh. “Hah! Right! And you’re trying to tell me that you haven’t been stalking me all day today?”

I paled. “Wh-what? I-I ha-have no idea wh-what you’re talking about…”

Christine scoffed. “Exactly. You think I didn’t notice you? I even saw you hiding behind that wall over there.” She pointed directly to my hiding spot from earlier. “Face it, you’re a stalker. So I hope you understand why I’m not exactly comfortable with you tutoring me.”

I silently cursed myself. Dammit, so Christine knew I had been following her all day. How was I going to explain myself here? I couldn’t just say “Oh, I followed you because you just interest me and I want to know more about you. You seem odd. And to top it off, I thought for a moment that you were a lesbian and I just wanted to make sure.” No, I couldn’t say such things. It would just make things worse. I’d have to come up with something – and fast.

“Look,” I sighed, winging it. “I was just trying to help you out. I know what you’re going through right now. Learning a new language is frustrating. You’re not the only one who couldn’t get it right away. I just wanted to help you because, trust me, I would have definitely used someone when I was trying to learn Korean.”

I glanced at Christine cautiously and saw she was thinking about what I said. Hopefully, I had managed to win her over.

“…”She paused. “Well…whatever. It doesn’t matter what I want anyways. What manager says, goes. So regardless, you’re going to have to be my tutor. Even though I despise the idea at the moment, I’m just going to have to deal with it.”

I smiled. “I’m glad we could reach an agreement.”

She merely rolled her eyes at me. “Sure. Just don’t-“ She was cut off by the sudden ringing of her cell phone. Christine whipped out her phone and answered it.

“Hello? Oh, hi.” Christine spoke warmly to the mouth of her phone. “I’m good. How are you? Oh, I was just dealing with stuff. But oh, thanks…”

I clung closer to Christine, curious as to who exactly she was talking on the phone with. She noticed me hanging over her and she began pushing me away, trying to get as far away as possible.

“Oh no,” she spoke into the phone. “That sounds fine. Alright, I’ll talk to you later then, Wooyoung. Bye!” My eyes widened. She was talking to Wooyoung? Since when, did Wooyoung have Christine’s phone number? Was something going on between them? I watched as Christine hung up the phone and sighed.

“Hey,” I grabbed her hand. She glanced down at my hand and back up to my face.

“What?”

“Since when...I mean how long has Wooyoung had your number?” I asked.

“Why does it matter to you? He’s your friend isn’t he? Why don’t you ask him?” She tried to turn away but I gently pulled her back.

“Since when?”

Christine glared at me. “I don’t have to explain anything to you. If I want to talk to Wooyoung, that’s my business. Plus it shouldn’t matter to you.”

I sighed. “It does matter because that’s my friend you’re talking to.”

“So?”

“So, it’s important. So how long has he had your number?”

“None of your business.” She replied hotly.

I opened my mouth to reply, but I was interrupted by the appearance of manager Ha-in.

“Hello!” she called out. As she approached us, I dropped my hand from Christine’s wrist. “Did you two get along well?”

Christine and I merely stared at each other or at least, I stared while Christine glared.

“Well, I’ll take that as a yes,” manager Ha-in grinned. “Great news!” she turned to me. “Your manager has agreed to let you tutor Christine.”