-OOO-

 ENTRY TWO: Viva

"The World Seems to Be Against Me Today..."

-OOO-

I am so in denial.

Let’s say you’ve been dreaming about doing something for a long time. And once you’ve finally done it, sure. You’re excited. And then you start doubting it was real, you know?

Well, that was how Ari and I felt when we arrived back at our hotel after the movie.

“Dude. We met KAT-TUN.” Ari whispered as I slid our keycard through to open the door. I took both Ari’s and my coats, hanging them up on the pegs by the door. “Why is this not sinking in yet?”

“And dude, we have established this.” I said calmly, taking off my shoes with a sigh of relief, hobbling over to the couch. “We have their numbers. Next time we want to feel special, let’s give them a call. Seriously, I’m having trouble believing that they actually trusted us enough to exchange numbers. What if we were crazy stalkers, which we are? What if we decide to sell their numbers on eBay? What if-”

“Okay, I get the point.” Ari kicked off her own shoes and collapsed onto the loveseat. “If I wanted to though, they would be in so much trouble with prank calls, you have no idea. Anyway, maybe they saw more than what they said they did.” Suddenly, Ari leaned forward in her chair, a panicked expression on her face. “V-Viva! What if they heard us beatboxing together? Maybe they were impressed and want to refer us to some higher being called a talent scout, and then…stuff will happen!”

I rolled my eyes, rubbing my forehead with my hands. “So not happening.”

“It’s worth it to dream about. After all, as we learned today; crazy things do happen.”

I slowly shook my head, gazing out the wide window that lay to my left, the one with the great city view. The blinking lights all winked at me, as if they all knew a secret that I didn’t. I sighed again, before picking up the hotel phone that lay on the table beside the couch. “Yeah. We wish, Hero.” I said glumly, using an old pet name.

“C’mon. Believe in CandyMountain, Ryuzaki!”

“Wrong story, man.”

“Sorry.”

“Room service?”

“Yeah, sure, why not. I want a hamburger, though. And chicken.”

“Oh, ha ha.” I couldn’t help but grin as I dialed the number. “Okay, two double J burgers and a thingy of sweet-n-sour chicken, Sprite for a drink, and fries on the side. Cool?”

“Yep. Onew-oppa would be so proud.”

“But we’re stealing his one true love!” I protested.

“I’m sure the chicken and Onew would understand. Onew has to share.”

“So long, OnChicken…”

“And hello, dinner!” Ari smirked.

-OOO-

The sunlight poured in through the open hotel window. I groaned, and turned over in an attempt to shield my eyes from the painful glare, throwing my pillow across the room in the process. Unfortunately, it landed with an oomph, right on Ari’s head.

“WAAAHHH!!!” There was a flailing noise, then a solid whack. Apparently, Ari had fallen off the bed. I snickered, before pretending to be asleep.

Ari’s bed-mussed head poked out from behind the bed by the wall. She was fuming. “All right, who did that?! I was having the best dream until someone decided to give me a wake-up call in the form of this fluffy poofball.” She held up the pillow, shaking it. “Step forward, or face the tickling of doom!”

Oh, shrek. I tried to look as innocent as possible, but Ari saw the smirk on my face that still hadn’t faded. She bared her teeth. “You…”

I sat up quickly, shielding my face with my hands. “It was an acci-stake!” A combination of ‘accident’ and ‘mistake’, in case you were wondering. “Sorry!”

“Sorry isn’t gonna cut it, Viva. I was in dreamland! And you rudely tore me from my future!” Ari jumped on me, tickling for all she was worth. I squirmed, trying to kick her off me. But I kicked Claire, who was sleeping next to me, in the behind instead. Oh, jolly joy. I was seriously workin’ it today. Gosh.

Let me recap: What exactly happened last night, and why is Claire here?

Ari and I had decided that we wanted to have company for dinner. And so- we invited Claire, Casey, and Kiri over to share the burgers and chicken. We’d ordered more food, obviously, and they came over from Casey’s older sister’s house in Claire’s cute little Beetle. Having company over was great, and we all got along like we’d known each other for decades. We ate, talked, and believe it or not, we told them about KAT-TUN. They were screaming for around ten minutes before they calmed down and asked for more details. Sheesh. Fangirls. Needless to say, we were talking way into the night, so they just decided to sleep over…which brings us back to my present dilemma.

“OW! What the heck?!” Claire jolted upwards, head whipping from left to right. “Who-”

“Viva.” Ari spared a half-sleeping Claire a sympathetic glance, trying not to let me escape. “She’s the cause of all this. Help me torture her into oblivion.”

Claire smirked. “Okay.” And she jumped on my legs, grabbing a foot and tickling it. Just for future reference, I am VERY ticklish on my feet.

I was laughing hysterically, gasping out, “St-stop! Stop it! AHHH KIRI SAVE MEEE!”

Kiri, who was not a morning person at all, the least out of all of us, turned over from where she slept. She squinted at us blearily. “Whuzzgoinon?”

“HELLLPPP!!!” I shrieked. “Before I pass out!”

Kiri got out of bed, somewhat awake now because of our laughter and screams, pulled Ari and Claire off me. I was free, gasping for breath and clutching my racing heart. “Tha-thanks. I owe you one.”

Kiri sighed, rubbing her eyes. “And why, may I ask, were they doing this? I like my sleep very much, and you three just stole it. I’ll never be able to get back to sleep.”

“Shut uuup.” Casey groaned from the depths of her puffy gold sleeping bag, on the floor by the wall. “What is up with you people, I’m tired!”

Ari crossed her arms, sitting back on her knees. “Well, we were sleeping too, until this insane nutcase decided to wake us both up at the -crack of dawn.”

I leaned back against my pillows with a solid groan. “I didn’t mean to! I accidentally threw my pillow when I was turning over so then I hit Ari and she fell off the bed and then she came to tickle me and I flailed and hit Claire and then-”

“Okkkay, I believe you!” Ari stretched, and promptly winced. She rubbed the back of her head. ‘That’s going to leave a mark…”

My head drooped. “Sorry. To make up for it, I’ll be the one who makes us breakfast!” I clapped my hands cheerfully. “Now, who wants French toast?”

I was famous for my cooking. So the girls lightened up considerably as they trudged over to take turns using the bathroom to freshen up. Afterwards, I headed for the tiny kitchen to make the breakfast, still in my pajamas, while the other girls lazed around on the loveseat and the porch. Ari threw open the east window.

“Ah, it’s such a crisp day! Let’s do something really fun and such.”

“Yeah, I’m all for that.” Kiri nodded. “We can explore one of the huge malls here, or go to a Broadway show!” She twirled around, hugging a pillow.

The smell of fresh homemade French toast was drifting through the room, making them all eventually get up and take seats at the stools along the mini-bar table. I slid steaming plates towards them, getting the syrup we’d brought with us and putting it onto the table as well. “Eat up, because they’ll go fast. Anyway…” I took a seat also, grabbing my own plate of French toast. I was starving. “What was it that you were dreaming about before when I woke you up, Ari? It must have been pretty awesome, because you sure let me have it!” Jeez, my feet were still tingling.

Ari flushed, and began shoveling food into . “Ib doen maber.” She mumbled through a mouthful. Claire tilted her head.

“What was that?”

Ari swallowed thickly. “I said, it doesn’t matter. It was just so cool, I can’t even tell you.”

I grinned. “Right. Then it must have had something to do with...dong bang shin ki.”

Ari choked on a piece of syrup-soaked bread. Kiri smacked her on the back. Eyes watering, she walked to the mini-fridge and pulled out the orange juice. “You…you can’t know that for sure! Besides, who said it had something to do with K-Pop?”

“Girl, you have just invited a trillion possible jokes that could be made upon that statement alone.” Casey drawled, making a happy face in the puddle of syrup left on her plate. “Seriously? What else do we gals dream about these days?”

I pondered this. “True. And also, you have that boy-crazy look on your face, and you’re obsessive over Mr. Ohmaigatsun Xiah Junsu, and…did I mention that you look like you could fry an egg on your face? Jeesh, Ari. You look like someone just flashed you.”

Ari poured herself a glass, and then on second thought, poured one for everyone else. “Fine. We were getting married…then we had three adorable children…and one looked just like him!” She sighed at the memory, leaning against the fridge. “It was so cute. But we were calling him Yoogeun-ah, for some reason.”

I snorted with laughter, and Claire, Kiri, and Casey shook their heads. “I’m obsessive…” I sang the lyrics from S.O.S by Rihanna, making Ari snap out of it and glare at me. 

“Yeah, and I’m sure that your dreams were completely Hero-free.”

I smirked. “They were. I slept peacefully, with absolutely no dreams- wait. WHAT?!” That was embarrassing. She assumed he would be the one I’d dream about…and she was probably right…but STILL! Not everyone has to know that!

“Why? He’s too ugly?” Claire offered, taking a swig of juice.

“YES!” I grasped at the first thing that was said, before realizing what actually was said. “Wait…I mean, no! What? NO!!” I protested loudly, swiveling around to face Ari’s grin.

“Face it, Viva. You are in lurve.” Ari informed me knowledgably, refilling her glass. 

“Lurve?” Casey muttered from the background, now going over to sit on the couch.

Ari raised a finger. “It’s Crushing 101. Everyone knows that-”

I jumped up. “You are going to make me depressed that I can’t ever meet him! So shush!” I stomped off, sulking.

“Whatever you say.” Ari ambled off into the next room. “I know the truth…”

I gritted my teeth. I hated this conversation! It never failed to remind me how out of his league I was, and it was too sad to talk about. See? I’m tearing! Oh, wait. Shoot, I have to change my contacts.

“Anyhoo…” Kiri rolled her eyes as I went to the bathroom to do so. “Let’s head out, man. I’m so in the mood for some city air.”

“Oh yeah, some nice polluted city air.” Claire drawled. “Let’s be realistic.”

I led the way to the gigantic closet by the bed. “Let’s get cute and leave, already! I can’t stand talking about them anymore, it makes me nervous. Claire, Casey, and Kiri- you can borrow clothes if you want. We have a closet full.” I grinned. “Besides the clothes you already brought.”

“’Kay! Thanks.” We sat on the bed, and rated each other one by one. Claire was up first.

“Okay people. What’s the verdict?” She twirled before us in her pajamas. Casey pursed her lips in concentration. 

“Well, your light blonde hair would look great with black…maybe your cap-sleeved stretchy top with the silver designs. And Ari’s dark denim mini. And those strappy Jimmy Choo heels you bought last Monday.” Casey rummaged through the closet (yes, we had a full-blown fashion show the night before, so they knew the inside of our closet better than we did) and chest of drawers as she spoke, throwing the articles of clothing out for me to catch. I handed them all to Claire, who saluted and strode off to change. When she returned, we all looked at each other and nodded. 

“Ey yo pretty lady, let me get yo numba.” Ari quipped in a fake male’s voice. We cracked up, before telling Claire to go put on her makeup. She scurried off to the bathroom, and Ari stood up.

“My turn, ladies. Oh, and CLAIRE, PUT YOUR HAIR UP IN A MESSY BUN!” She yelled loudly, trying to make herself heard even though Claire was across the room and in the bathroom behind a solid door.

“Gotcha.” We heard Claire’s muffled reply. 

Satisfied, Ari turned back to us. “Okay, do your thing.”

“Tight black jeans and a silver chain belt. You can borrow my navy round-toed Kate Spade pumps, but don’t kill them. I just got ‘em.” I told her. Ari grinned. 

“Thanks, Viva. So, what shirt? Am I wearing a shirt at all?”

“DUDE. Do the world a favor!”

“Woohoo!” Ari jumped on the bed, giggling like the maniac she was. I rummaged for a while, and shoved a shirt at her. It was a dark blue tight-fitting tank that made her smoky eyes stand out. Casey stuck with her usual preppy style. She wore a cute pleated mini and thigh socks, with black thick-soled shoes that had a square silver buckle at the sides. Her top was a tight boarding-school chic white J-Crew blouse. She left the top few buttons open, and wore a purple tank underneath. A short black and purple tie swung from her waist as a belt. Kiri surprised us by going kinda rapper-style, with a sideways hat, baggy zipper-covered cargos, and a few chains and belts slung around her waist. Her top was a tight heather-gray tee. I opted for one of the million miniskirts I owned, a cute light denim one, with a cap-sleeved top. It was baby blue, with a picture of a four-leaf clover. It matched the baby blue shiny flats I wore, and the silver dangly four-leaf clover earrings. I needed all the luck I could get, being around these crazy people I call friends.

Anyway, when we all had on our makeup and clothing choices, we decided to grab a quick drink at the smoothie shop across the street before wandering deeper into the city.

After locking our room, we ambled down and into the gold-gilded lobby, giggling and talking. My sea green eyes wandered freely around the bustling lobby…and ultimately widened. Holy. Fricken. Mother.

“G-guys…” They all looked around at me, their eyes questioning. I was seriously in shock. “Look over there, by the elevators!”

Their heads all whipped around at the same time. And their jaws all dropped at once.

A guy stood casually by the elevator doors, waiting for the up elevator to open its doors. He had tousled hair. Cute silver-rimmed rectangular glasses. An ensemble of clothing worthy of any J-Pop star from Johnny’s Entertainment.

“Oh my GD.” Ari whisper-screamed. “It’s Shogo!” 

And it was. Shogo Nakajima was standing there, calm as you please- in our hotel! 

“What is he doing here?!” Ari nearly screeched, and Claire and I slapped our hands over frantically to stifle the sound. We told the others about him, of course, but the point still stands- why is he here?!

“Shush up, will you?” Casey hissed. “Don’t let him know you’re here yet- we have to find out why he’s here. I thought he was flying back to Tokyoafter the concert!”

“No, he said he’d be here a few more days besides.” I pointed out. Ari, who was getting sick of not being able to speak, forced her tongue out and made Claire and I relinquish our grip pretty quickly. I wiped my hand on Ari’s jeans. “Eeew, Ari!”

“So he’s…staying here? At this very hotel?” Kiri asked with interest. “Coolie. We can totally visit him and- WAIT.” hung open. “Do you gals realize what this freaking means?!” 

They all dumbly shook their heads, but I understood. I decided I’d enlighten them. “Well, think for a moment. It doesn’t hurt, I promise.”

They glared.

“Okay, okay. Shogo is friends with…which J-Pop stars again?” I threw that at them and let the question hang in the air for a few moments, letting it sink in.

“Oh.”

“My.”

“GAAAAAWD!” They all yelled. 

“So the KAT-TUN members could also technically show up here?!” Claire shrieked. 

“Yep.”

“Oh my GD.”

“Yes Claire, we’ve established that. Now, what are we going to do about it?” I asked them all as calmly as I could. “I propose we pretend we know nothing of it. If we see them, then we see them. Why make a fuss?” I exhaled slowly. I knew perfectly why.

“You know perfectly why.” Claire shot at me.

Man, I swear that girl reads my mind sometimes.

We watched as Shogo, still unaware of our stalker-ish presence, stepped into an elevator. The doors closed. I led the way out of the hotel, and we were unusually silent until we walked across the street to the Java House for smoothies. We ordered a round of strawberry-guava blends, and strode out into the glorious sunshine.

“To the nearest street-show!” Casey threw her hands up in the air, trying to relieve some of the tension that we all felt hovering above us like an ominous rain cloud. “I feel like dancing!”

“You go, Case! Let’s show this city what we’ve got!” Claire woot-ed, joining Casey in her attempts. “We can all go draw a crowd, applause, and hopefully some guys.”

I agreed wholeheartedly. I needed to get my mind off Shogo, off KAT-TUN, off Hero.

Wait. WHAT?!

Argh. The girls were getting to me. Their stupid comments from earlier were polluting my mind…I cursed them straight to the fiery pits of Hades as we strolled over to the corner of forty fifth, where we were hearing screaming and cheering.

And what we laid eyes on completely tore my mind away from those wrong, wrong thoughts. An enormous stage was set up, and people were clustered around it and ing their fists in the sir to the pumping music. Huge screens were wired up high so people would be able to see the occupants of the stage for miles. And if I were you, I’d never have guessed who was singing. I stared at the stage, half in disbelief and half wondering why there were so many Asians in NY this week.

Kiri, Claire, and Casey stared at the stage, openmouthed. Ari and I slowly reached for each other’s arms. “No way…”

“Way.”

“It’s them. Why are they here?” I asked very calmly. “Actually, screw that. Who cares?”

From the stage: “Sipjeom manjeome sipjeom!”

Ari, Claire, Casey, Kiri, and I all screamed at once. “2PM!!”

A whole crowd of people turned and stared, but we could not care less. It really was them! K-Pop band 2PM, leader Jay Park, around seven members and only containing four members that we actually cared about. 

I was flipping out at our run-in with these K-Pop idols as Ari dragged us all closer. “We have the best luck in the entire universe!” She yelled. I my earrings hesitantly, and then shrugged. “2PMis here, in New York City!” 

“And we’re here to see them. Let’s go closer!” Kiri whooped, and practically jumped into the crowd. I looked at the others, who all grinned widely. Yup. 2PMwas doomed.

“Make room, make room…” I muttered as I wove through the crowd myself, following Ari. I lost Claire and Kiri along the way, but all I could see at the moment was Taec’s holy mother dimpled smile from the giant screens above. The screams were making me deaf, darnit! Taec wasn’t that hot!

…Okay, fine, he is. But dude! Stop screaming and act normal, y’know?

I am such a hypocrite.

Finally, I was near the front. I gazed up at Taec, Junho, and Wooyoung, who were now doing their signature 2PMflips onstage. Nickhun was soulfully singing, as if he was forgetting everything around him and just singing, grinning at Taec (every time I saw a picture or whatnot of Nickhun, I always thought of the Cabi music video- the one with the red board shorts and water and blonde hair and oil and absabsabs…so basically I couldn’t lay eyes on him without laughing or freaking out or both). I so knew the feeling. It happened whenever I myself was singing, or dancing in front of a large group of friends. Forgot my surroundings, and…

“Ow!” I was jabbed suddenly in the side by an overenthusiastic guy, and was knocked off-balance. Needless to say, my face had a rather painful meeting with the ground.

I held up my hands instinctively, trying to shield myself from the tangle of feet surrounding me and prevent myself from being crushed. Suddenly, I heard Nickhun cut himself off and murmur to someone offstage. “Hang on a minute, wait, stop the music…” And the music abruptly stopped. I wondered what the deal was as I sat there on my , rubbing my elbow where I’d skinned it when I fell. 

The crowd parted before me. I froze. Nickhun was walking through the crowd, accompanied by guards who were spreading out their own arms, making way for him as he went. Oh no, oh shiz, oh my freaking god…

“Hello, I’m Nickhun of 2PM. You okay?” He knelt by my side and stared at me with those wide dark eyes of his. I wanted to smile at the very slight Korean accent that leaked through his English words, but I bit it back. Sincerity mixed with concern was what his voice sounded like. He regarded me seriously, waiting for me to answer.

Everyone was hushed, staring. Shoot, he didn’t have to go and stop the entire freaking concert for me! I was making enemies here!

“No…I, uh…I’m completely and totally fine, Nickhun-oppa.” I laughed nervously, trying to quell my beating heart. “You don’t have to worry about me, I fall all the time. I mean, um…” ACK somebody stop me!

Nickhun held out a hand. Puzzled, I took it. He pulled me up, and grinned crookedly. “You want to come up there with me?”

His words echoed in my head a few times before I answered. “M-me? But, why? What can I do, I can’t sing!” I began to panic, my life flashing before my eyes as I foresaw the beginning of the end. Seriously? Me? I can’t go up there, even if it is for a hot K-Pop guy. I’ve only ever sung in front of Ari, and we know how our voices work with each others’…so maybe I can get her up there with me? I cannot do this alone. “Well…can I ask for one other person to come up with me?”

“Sure, why not? I feel kind of responsible- all the fans were crushing you in here, it’s the least I can do.” His impossibly dark eyes smiled at me, causing me to have to use all of my self-control so I wouldn’t fazz my guts all over his V-neck. Yoish, I have issues. 

“Okay.” I whispered. He was still holding my hand in his larger one. I hated myself for it, but a red flush made its way across my cheeks. Freakin’ fangirly side-effects… 

“Who is this mysterious other?” He asked me in his light and innocent baritone.

“Her name is…Jaiya.” I decided it’d be better (and easier) to use our other names. Nickhun nodded, murmuring to a guard under his breath in a rapid string of Korean, which I could actually follow because Ari and I knew the language better than Japanese- and began tugging me towards the stage and towards a waiting 2PM. I blanched as the full enormity of the situation finally hit me. I’m…going onstage.

Gah, why’s everyone staring at me?! It felt disconcerting to have all those eyes on me, but I forced myself to keep my own eyes trained upon the stage. Nickhun’s hand was so warm…

Aaand…he let go. Shmeck, I jinxed it!

I climbed the steps shakily, feeling really high up. I squinted, trying to locate my friends in the crowd, until I realized that the entire band was looking at me. Aaah, too many men! “H-hey. I’m Lee Aiko.” I made up a last name on the spot, knowing that because of our Asian descent, Ari and I could get away with it. “My friend is Lee Jaiya; Nickhun-oppa told me he’d call her up here.” If I acted like I was comfortable with them then maybe my nerves would go away…wait. On second thought, was it considered rude? I don’t know how to act Koreaaaannn….okay. No. I’m not going to stress about this. I’m going to just act myself, and hopefully I’ll get along. After all, the three American-born ones in the group- Jay, Nickhun, and Taec- would for sure understand. I knew for a fact that Jay had a lot of issues adapting to Korean culture when he joined 2PM.

“What the. You can speak Korean?” Jay himself scrutinized my face as Nickhun called up Lee Jaiya to the stage. “You’re like Taec, Khun, and I, aren’t you?” He said in English, his square-cut diamond earrings glinting in the sunlight. His elfin looks were even more apparent in the sun, his features cut perfectly as though from stone. He was always a very clean-cut person- though I’d only ever seen him on YouTube before.

I nodded as Ari climbed the steps. She was grinning her head off, immediately drawing 2PM’s attention. “We’re partly Korean…though you can’t tell much by our looks.” She said in Korean, ignoring their surprise at our being able to speak their language. We got that a lot, knowing that we looked way more American than Asian, though we’d inherited the subtle genes like the nice hair, and the clear skin.

My train of thought was cut off by the members saying in unison; “Annyeonghaseyo, 2PM imnida!” They were introducing themselves to us all at once. I took a step back, overwhelmed by all seven of them surrounding us with such hot smirks on their faces. 

“Let’s resume.” Taec told Jay in his low voice, reminding me once again of Cabi. I saw Ari mouth ‘abs’ at me out of the corner of my eye, and I bit my bottom lip hard in order to keep me from laughing. She is so getting a smack later! Seriously, I was standing in front of zillions of people, seven of the zillion being freaking 2PM, and she was making me laugh like an obsessed fangirl in front of these visions of hotness. Hotness with rock-hard abs. Yes, she is getting a total smack later. 

Taec reached over and grabbed two more mics from the stands on the side. Oh my god. I thought Nickhun was kidding! They actually want us to sing! 

“Whatever you choose to sing, we’ll follow.” He smiled. “As long as you make it Korean for the others to understand.”

“I take offense to that, somehow.” Junho muttered from beside Wooyoung. “Just because we don’t know as much English…”

Taec just kept smiling, which probably annoyed Junho to no end. “Try…none?”

“Taecyon-hyung, I will seriously tell the manager that you’re inviting fans onstage without permission.” Junho’s mouth twisted into a grudging grin. He knew he had only the very basic English skills. So did all of his fans (including me), as a matter of fact. When he was in NYC about two years ago, he had to introduce himself in English and ended up screwing it up, saying cheerfully, “Hey, my name is 2PM-I mean, uh…”

The video was number one on the YouTube search engine for weeks, poor guy.

Taec scoffed. “It was Khunnie, stupid, not me. Besides, the girl was getting crushed! Even I saw it. Have a heart, man.”

Junho spared me a glance, and I smiled at him, wanting to appear innocent and cute. He sighed, coming over and whispering in my ear, “I’m sorry. I’m not usually this uptight.”

I blinked. “Oh, I don’t mind. I get the same teasing from A- uh, Jaiya-unnie.”

“Ah, she’s older than you?”

“By a few months.” I agreed. And then I had to turn, because Taec was handing us the mics and I was freaking out again.

Ari took charge. “No regrets, Aiko-chan? This is our chance!” She whispered fiercely into my ear. I took a deep breath, and gave the condemning nod. We were in.

“Okay, NYC!” Jay yelled, back in performing mode. “We’ve got a couple more people to introduce to everyone.” Everything was so different from the stage. All of the screaming people were spread out before us, like a wave. I could see all the way down the block, not to mention myself- on all of the big screens. They’d been filming Ari and I getting up onto the stage the entire time. And now we were on these gigantic screens- I’d always wanted to know what that’d be like. There’s no other word for it- it was beyond exhilarating.

“Lee Jaiya and Lee Aiko- where you from?” Jay asked us from the mic. I cleared my throat, raising the mic to my mouth and trying to quell the quavering tone in my voice.

“We’re both from California, and we’re here on vacation.” My voice echoed, and I found myself loving it, gaining more confidence with every word I spoke.

“Do you guys know about 2PM?” Nickhun asked, the rest of the band waiting the entire time to continue singing, because English was being spoken now for the benefit of the crowd. I grinned. Ari grinned. We decided to tease a little.

“2PM? Wait…I think I might’ve heard of you guys. Um…sipjeom manjeome sipjeom?”

Ari guessed, causing a wave of laughter among the 2PMmembers.

“Yeah, Jaiya…you’re right!” I laughed. “And ‘again and again.’ Right?”

“Right.” Taec smirked, ruffling his own hair. The audience laughed as well.

And Ari did something crazy that freaked the absolute flying heck outta me. She began to do that thing where the celebrity tries to get the crowd all hyped up and stuff. Who knew she had it in her? “Now, everyone put your hands up in the air and make some noise!” 

The crowd roared, and I felt adrenaline pumping through my body. The spotlight was so intoxicating. Now I knew why celebrities loved their jobs, putting aside the stress of it all.

“We’re going to sing ‘WOWOWOW’ by SHINee. Do you know it?” She asked, voice reverberating. 2PMreacted hilariously at the name ‘SHINee,’ groaning with exasperation and rubbing their foreheads.

“Ah. So our competition is SHINee, once again.” Taec quipped, sending a mock-desperate look towards the 2PMmembers. “We have to work harder.”

“Yes, with their boyish looks and all…they steal all the ladies.” Jay shook his head. “You have to call Jinki, speaking of which.” Jay told Nickhun in Korean, covering the mic. “He wanted you to look into a record label for this gig he has on Friday.” 

Nickhun discreetly nodded, and took the mic. “Yeah, we know the song. Let’s do this!”

The music began bursting seemingly out of nowhere, the crowd cheering as the show was resumed. Ari pressed the mic to her lips, singing out the first ‘whoa, whoa-oh’ that Jonghyun belts out in the song. I continued with Onew’s part. Ari played Key. I did (kyaaaah) Taemin, because I like doing his parts cuz he’s just my fave.

The members of 2PMdid harmonies and background trills, making me freak out all the more. They were supporting us. It was a very weird and invigorating kind of ego-raiser, a strange switch of roles. It also made me the tiniest bit self-conscious, because their voices were amazing. Ours haven’t had any real training, but it isn’t like we had terrible voices or anything so it was okay. 

But it wasn’t…enough.

I threw myself into it, seeing Ari beginning to freestyle dance while she took the rapping parts, putting in all the emotion she could muster. I did the same, dancing for all I was worth and letting my body tell the song’s story as I stared straight at the crowd…and winked. It was the charisma, every time. Ari added her own aegyo, and the multitudes of people who were now watching were loving it.

It was then that I noticed Claire, Kiri, and Casey in the crowd, cheering us on, screaming louder than anybody else.

“Lee Jaiya! Lee Aiko! Lee Jaiya! Lee Aiko!” The entire mass of people soon took up the chant, and my heart squeezed painfully. I was so happy right then, I felt like I was going to explode. And that was when I thought to myself:

I…want this to last forever. I want to keep doing this.

I was surprised by that. Didn’t I always want to be a psychologist? A writer? Something subtle, that’s all I could remember at the moment. But I found that I didn’t really care.

“Oh, my sweet love…” Ari finished, and the crowd was silent for all of two seconds, savoring the last note, before bursting into applause. The cheers echoed into the bright, sun-edged air, and for the three minutes and twelve seconds of my life that the song had lasted for…we’d been celebrities. We stood there, motionless, and allowed the deafening roars and clapping to wash over our entire beings. And I knew the moment would stay with me forever. 

-OOO-