Double Update!! F4 in India!! Enjoy and let me know how you liked it or not

The arrival terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was abuzz with excitement at the ungodly hour of 2am. The Shinhwa jet had just touched down on the tarmac and 6 of the most famous persons in the Republic of South Korea stepped out into the crisp atmosphere.

Staff personnel escorted them towards the immigration center, with another carrying their meager luggage on a trolley.

All the formalities were done in less than 10 minutes; special people get special treatment; and the 6 started towards the exit.

Outside, two girls were standing in the dark, waiting for their guests to come through the Arrivals gate.

“Why can’t anyone else pick them up; it’s a weekday and I have work tomorrow” Niya complained

“I didn’t ask you to tag along” Mandy replied

“I had to, coz you didn’t tell anyone else; and I’m not letting my best friend go out in the middle of the night alone.”

“I have a driver with me” Mandy said sarcastically

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you”

“I know, I’ve been told before” Mandy grinned at her and then turned towards the gate “Look here they are” she said excitedly, pointing towards the gate. She ran to the group and jumped up to hug a certain brown haired person with glasses.

“You have lost weight” Ji Hoo said as he put her down on the ground.

“You know exactly how to make a girl feel happy” Mandy grinned at him, changing the subject

“Why do you look so weak? Are you not well?” Ji Hoo asked her, blocking her from going somewhere else as he put his hands on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes.

“She lost a few kilos at the gym” Niya said from the background

“What? Why are you doing that? You don’t need it” Ji Hoo said forcefully

“I need that if I want to look good at my wedding; and it’s also a healthy lifestyle” Mandy said defensively

“Can we please talk about it sometime else? I’m tired” Woo Bin said

“Yeah, let’s do that” Niya agreed, nodding her head

“So where are we staying?” Yi Jung asked

“At my house, of course” Mandy said as she led them to the cars.

The guys stopped in front of the cars.

“Okay, the couples go in the Range Rover” Mandy said pointing towards the car, with the luggage already in the trunk. “And the singles with me in the Mini Cooper” she said as she opened her car’s door and plopped into the driver’s seat.

“You ride shotgun” Mandy said to Ji Hoo

“Uh, okay…” Ji Hoo said

“You’ve driven me around so many times, now it’s my turn. And also, we will drop off Niya first” Mandy explained

And as said, they dropped off Niya first at her house and then drove to Mandy’s house.

“So, how far is your house?” Woo Bin asked

“Just 10 minutes from here; but that’s only because the roads are empty right now; in the morning it would take around 30-45 minutes.” Mandy said

“Such a gap?” Woo Bin exclaimed

“This is Delhi, one of the busiest cities in the world and also the Capital of the country which has the second largest population in the world.” Mandy said with a smile

“Doesn’t it get hectic? Driving in so much traffic?” Woo Bin prodded

“It’s a routine now” Mandy said

They reached her house and Mandy parked the car in the outer garage.

“So, where are your other cars?” Ji Hoo asked as he got out of the car and saw only sedans surrounding him.

“They are at the end corner” Mandy said pointing towards the far end

“Why so?”

“I don’t use them daily, but if you all want to use them, just tell me and I’ll have them washed and ready for you, though I don’t recommend you all to drive them because they are all right-hand drives.”

They were walking on the driveway when the house came into view. They all observed for a few silent moments when Jun Pyo said “It’s smaller than mine”.

Jan Di smacked the back of his head and everyone laughed.

“Yes, I’m afraid it is” Mandy said smiling “But I think it’ll be enough for us all” she added

Mandy unlocked the front door and told everyone to put their luggage in the hallway. She then directed them towards the main living room.

“What do you all wanna eat?” she asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa casually.

“Dal” the guys said unanimously and Jan Di and Ga Eul giggled. Mandy just smiled at them all.

“Which Dal?” Mandy further asked

“The green one, which has chickpeas in it” Ga Eul said

“With rice or chapattis?” Mandy further asked

This time everyone said together “RICE!”

“I think we should quiet down a bit” Jan Di said “Or everyone in the house will wake up.”

“Don’t worry, there’s nobody in the house” Mandy said

“Where are your parents?” Woo Bin asked

“Dad is in Mumbai right now for a meeting and Mum is at one of her camps. All the staff is already asleep” she added

Mandy served them all ‘dinner’ and they all went to their rooms by 5 in the morning.

Mandy didn’t sleep at all and bathed and recited her daily prayers. She then went to the gym and left behind a note, if anyone woke up before she got back.

She stepped into her Mini Cooper and when the garage door opened, she saw a person standing there.

“What are you doing here?” she asked

“I’m coming with you to the gym” Gagan replied as he opened the passenger door and plopped down on the front seat.

“Can you not leave me alone for one day?!” Mandy said exasperatedly

“I heard from my birdie that you were out at 2 in the night” he looked at her

“Didn’t you know, I’m having an affair behind your back” she looked at him straight-faced and then burst out laughing when she saw the color drain from his face.

“Oh, you are so easy” she said in between laughs

“I knew you were joking” he covered up

“Uh huh”

“By the way, I like the new look; you are doing so much for me” he said haughtily

“I’m doing it for myself”

“Whatever you say”

Mandy drove out of the garage and drove towards the gym. At the gym, Mandy tried to get away from Gagan as much as she could, but he followed her everywhere, which irritated Mandy to no end.

“I’m here to relax, not to spend time with you” she said to him while punching a bag.

“You have weird ways of relaxing.”

“I slacked down after school, now I have to get back in shape. My stamina is at an all time low.” She said without looking at him “So please go”

“Fine, but you have to promise me that you are gonna go out with me this evening”

“I’m busy this evening”

“Please don’t tell me that you are talking about wedding preparations”

“I do have a life you know. I have other things to do”

“Fine then, how about tomorrow?”

“I’m not free for the whole month.” She said and then added as a murmur “I have other people to attend to”

“What other people?” he had heard her

“Nobody you know” she said

“I’d like to know them” Gagan said with an insisting tone

“You know one of them”

“Who is she?”

“It’s a ‘he’; you know Ji Hoo right? I introduced you two while I was on a video call with him”

“Oh, right; your other best friend. So your friends from Korea are here huh?”

“Yeah”

“So you were out to receive them huh?”

“Yep”

“Cool, I want to meet them all too”

“Uh, okay”

At Mandy’s House

Ji Hoo had not been able to sleep at all and after tossing and turning for about an hour, he decided to get out of bed and get some fresh air; so he opened the window. The sun had risen in the sky and sunrays fell onto his face. He took a deep breath; the view from his room was of the front driveway. He just scoured the front lawns a little and decided to go down there when he saw a figure looming in front of the garage door. He squinted up his eyes further to see more clearly who it was, but the person disappeared into the garage and after a few seconds, Mandy’s Mini Cooper drove out of it. He then walked downstairs and found a note from Mandy, saying that she had gone to the gym. Ji Hoo walked towards the washroom and bathed. He changed into fresh clothes and walked down to the lawns.

He was walking down the stairs when he heard a crashing noise from somewhere and ran towards it. The noise led him to the kitchen.

“What happened?” he asked concernedly and was faced with 5 members of the house staff looking at him in fear.

“I sorry if I disturb sir” one of them came forward and said in broken English. “He drop plates” he pointed towards another member of the staff.

“Nobody got hurt right?” Ji Hoo asked and then said it again in broken Hindi “Lagi to nahin?”

Everyone shook their heads and looked at him strangely.

He then smiled at them and went to the lawns. He sat on a bench that was in between beds of flowers and rested his head at the backrest of the bench. Soon he was dozing off. He woke up at the sound of a click.

Gagan had taken his picture while sleeping.

“Uh…hello?” Ji Hoo said but Mandy came to his rescue as she entered the area

“Yah! What are you still doing here? I thought you had gone” she said to Gagan.

“I saw him sleeping and just had to take a picture” he grinned

“He looks like a baby when he sleeps, doesn’t he?” Mandy smiled at Ji Hoo, who just sat there with a blank expression on his face.

“How do you know he looks like a baby when he sleeps?” Gagan demanded

“I slept over at her apartment once” Ji Hoo said casually

“What do you mean ‘slept over’?” Gagan asked through gritted teeth

“What do you think it means?” Mandy laughed out and took Ji Hoo’s hand and dragged him to the house.

“He gets pretty jealous huh?” Ji Hoo said after they were out of hearing distance from the lawns

“I guess”

“So why did you not clear it up?”

“I don’t think I owe him any explanations about my past when he has such a shady record”

“Hmmn”

“And he has known me long enough to know that I won’t do any of that stuff anyway” Mandy said

“Oh” there was a few seconds’ silence between them but then Ji Hoo spoke up “So, why did you drag me here? Did you need something?”

“No, it’s time for breakfast, more like brunch; but we have to wake up everyone otherwise we won’t be able to start on the Delhi tour”

“We start today itself?”

“I told you that the city is too vast; even 2 weeks’ time is too little for a city like Delhi” Mandy said as they climbed the stairs to go to the rooms.

“Okay, you wake up Bhai and I’ll tackle the couples” Mandy said

“Ok, but you have the more difficult task” Ji Hoo smiled at her

“I know” Mandy said and laughed

Mandy first knocked on Yi Jung and Ga Eul’s room and Ga Eul opened the door after 10 seconds.

“Oh, unnie, we were about to come out” Ga Eul said, wearing daily clothes.

“Okay” Mandy said and peeked in the room “Where is Yi Jung?”

“Oh, sunbae is bathing”

“Oh, good, coz I had to talk to you about something important” Mandy said stepping away from the door a little

“What is it?” Ga Eul asked, stepping out too and closing the door behind her

“Um, I don’t know if you’ll be happy with this or not, but in our house, the couple who is not yet married is not allowed to you know, share a room” Mandy looked at her expectantly. “So when my parents come, you would have to, uh, sleep in separate rooms.”

“Oh, okay unnie, I understand”

“I knew you would; but I don’t think Yi Jung would be happy about this arrangement” Mandy said

“I’ll talk to him” Ga Eul assured her

Mandy then moved to Jan Di and Jun Pyo’s room and knocked on it lightly. No answer. She then knocked a little harder; still no answer. Finally Mandy banged on the door and Jun Pyo shouted from inside. Then Jan Di shouted too, probably at Jun Pyo and the door opened.

“Come on now, wake up you two” Mandy said as Jun Pyo opened the door, rubbing his eyes like a kid

“I want to sleep more” he moaned

“Come on, wake up; we are going shopping” Mandy grinned at him

“Shopping?!” Jun Pyo stood alert; nobody liked shopping as much as he did

“Yep, so get ready fast” Mandy said but Jun Pyo didn’t hear her as he was already halfway to the bathroom.

Mandy then went to Woo Bin’s room and saw that he was up and stretching his body.

“Good morning Bhai” Mandy said as she entered the room

“Good morning; so what’s the plan for today?”

“Not really much, just taking you all to the Delhi Haat”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a government sponsored shopping complex where craftsmen from all over the country display their works. Most of them are National awardees in their fields, so the stuff is like really cool.”

All got ready and gathered in the dining hall for the breakfast/brunch. The first to get ready was Jun Pyo.

When they reached Delhi Haat, Mandy bought their tickets and then instructed them about the place.

“Okay, now here you’ll find craftsmen from almost all over the country, and it’s not too big so roam around freely and if you feel like you got lost, just give me a call” she said and moved forward.

Ga Eul and Jan Di followed Mandy. Jun Pyo started exploring on his own and the other F3 decided to join him.

The girls bought a lot of trinkets and some other accessories like bags and decorative pieces too. The girls decided to rest at the nearest food stall and call it a day. Not the same for the guys though; Jun Pyo was like a freight train, buying everything that caught his eye, especially in clothes and shoes. His total baggage was more than the girls’.

Yi Jung was also enjoying himself as he surveyed the various handicraft pieces and inquired the craftsmen about the making. There was a communication problem at first but some or the other girl who was roaming around gladly helped him. Yi Jung was also clever and somehow dropped in talk about his fiancée and how he was buying a gift for her. After that the girls went away.

Ji Hoo and Woo Bin surveyed the various shops and sometimes bought a thing or two, like some form of ayurvedic tea, or a jacket of some local fabric, etc. After having lunch at the campus only, they all went back to Mandy’s house.

I know it's too bleh. Just another filler chapter. But I HAD to write about my city. Seriously, I just couldn't not write about it