I was on stage after performing, and winning first place.  I was so proud of our group.  I mean, we haven’t won anything till now.  Then I saw him walking up to me and smiling.  I smiled back.  He is so handsome. I thought to myself.

“Hi.” He said in his deep voice.  I couldn’t remember how to speak so I just smiled and turned away because I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.  “Congratulations.  You girls really deserve this win.”  He said, making me forget where I was just by the sound of his voice.

Next thing I knew he had a hold of my shoulders and was pulling me closer to him.  I thought he was going to give me a hug so I welcomed it with a smile.  But then his face started getting closer to mine and I realized what he was doing was going for a kiss.  It was too late to pull away; our lips were about to touch when my head slammed forward and my eyes flew open.

“I’m sorry Miss Star.  I didn’t see their brake lights.  Are you alright?”  Max, my driver, asked.  I shook my head while fixing my hair.  “I’m fine.  How close are we to the studio?”  I asked trying to see through the traffic in front of us.

“Oh we are almost there, maybe two more minutes.  Would you like to sleep longer?”  He asked, starting to drive again.

“No that’s fine.  I got enough sleep just now.  I’m just going to listen to music.”  I said putting my headphones in as he shook his head.  Right when I was about to hit play my phone started ringing.  I saw my mother’s picture and sighed heavily.  “Hi mom!” I said in a cheerful voice.  I had to pull the phone away from my ear because of how loud she started yelling.

“Umma, I’m fine.  Nothing is wrong.  I just had a schedule change, that’s all.  And I just got done sleeping.”  I reassured her, but she just continued to yell.  “Oh, mom, we are going into a tunnel.  I’m going to lose you!”  I said and quickly hung up the phone.

I saw Max give me a look in the rear-view mirror and I just sighed again and hit play on my music.  My mom didn’t understand the life that I had to live to do what I do.  It was hard sometimes not having my parents support what I want to do with my life, but I continued to do what I love most which was dancing and singing.

Max was right, we were to Mnet’s studio in two minutes.  Usually, if people see a big black van driving down the street they get out of the way.  Unless they were sasaeng ‘fans’, then they attacked the van.  There were so many fans waiting outside the building that it was hard to get to the front doors, but thankfully Max helped with that.

Once we got inside Max went to the front desk to figure out where I was supposed to go since this was a last minute change.  “You’re supposed to go to dressing room B.  I’ll meet you back here after the show.  So don’t go outside till I get here, alright?”  He asked, knowing that I would try to anyways.

“Alright, alright.  I won’t.  I promise.”  I said doing the Girl Scout sign.  He laughed, fixed my fingers and then left.  I rolled my eyes and went to find dressing room B.  This is why Max always got somewhere early, because I could never find where I was supposed to go when we got there.

After about thirty minutes of trying to find the dressing room I finally found it.  I walked in and looked to see who all was there.  I froze when my eyes fell on him standing there.  Even though I couldn’t see his face I knew it was him by his bright red hair.  He hadn’t noticed that I walked in since he had his back to me, so I tried to stay out of his sight.

“Hey Star!”  Someone yelled making him and myself freeze.  I smacked myself in the forehead and then saw Krystal sitting at the hair and makeup station.  She was my best friend so I wasn’t as mad as I would have been.

“Hi Krystal.  What’s up?”  I asked smiling and walking over to sit next to her.  I couldn’t help but wonder what he was going to do now that I was here.

“What’re you doing here?  I didn’t think you guys were going on tonight.” She said while the stylist worked on her hair.

“I guess they changed it.  I’m really not sure.  They just told us to show up.  And you know how Max is, so I’m here before my other members.”  I said trying to keep myself from looking at him.

“Ah, yeah.  I don’t understand why he does that to you.  Hey Minnie!  Aren’t you going to say ‘hi’ to Star?”  Krystal asked, making me turn red and wanting to kill her.  She looked at me in the mirror and saw the death look I was giving her.  “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t force people to say hi…  It’s not ni…” “Hi Star.”  Minnie said, cutting me off.  His name was Sungmin but everyone called him Minnie since he was the maknae of his group, SPEED.

I froze and turned toward him, smiled slightly and looked away quickly.  “I have to go now.  I’ll text you later Krystal.”  I said waving goodbye to her and starting to run out.

“Leaving so soon?  Didn’t you just get here?  And you’re performing tonight, so where are you going?”  He asked making me freeze mid-step.  I looked at him and had to look down after making eye contact with him.

“Uh, well yeah.  But I have to go.”  I said starting to walk again but instead ended up tripping on the coffee table.  I felt strong arms grab me before I hit the ground and when I looked up to see who it was, even though I already knew, I made eye contact with Sungmin again.

I tried to get out of his arms and sturdy myself quickly, but ended up starting to fall backwards causing Sungmin to catch me again.  But this time his face ended up being so close to mine that I could feel his breath turn hot against my cheek.

We stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like forever then he brought me up quickly, made sure I was standing just fine, then ran out.  I had to take a few deep breaths, after remembering how to breathe.  My knees could barely hold me up so I gave in and fell to the floor, still trying to catch my breath after being that close to his face.  It felt like the room was spinning and like I was going to pass out any minute.

“Star!  What’s wrong?  Are you okay?”  Krystal asked running over to me.  I had forgotten that she was here, and really where I was.  I shook my head yes, forgetting how to speak in this whole encounter.  “Where did Minnie go?”  She asked looking around the room, causing me to do the same.

I looked at her and glared.  “This is your fault!  Why did you make him say hi to me?”  I practically yelled in her face.  She started to back away from me, knowing I was mad.  “Don’t force people to talk!!  IT’S RUDE!”  I yelled and got up to walk out.  I stopped at the door and turned back to her, still sitting on the floor.  “Next time someone doesn’t say hi when they walk in, remember this!”  I said and went to storm out but instead ran right into Yuhwan’s chest.

“Whoa Star!  Are you okay?”  He asked.  I nodded and walked around him only to see the other SPEED members.  I smiled and kept walking, not really wanting to talk to them after what just happened with Sungmin.  It would be too awkward when they asked what happened and I just sit there like an idiot blushing over nothing.

“Nobody will understand.  I just have to keep it to myself..  They can’t know!”  I said to myself, matter of factly.  “If they find out then everything could be rui…”  I stopped talking when I bumped into something hard and fell to the floor with a thud.  I rubbed my head and yelled, “Yah!!  Watch where you’re…”  I stopped once I looked up and saw who it was.

“I’m sorry?”  He said confused.  “But I think it was you who ran into me.  Since I’m still standing and you’re on your .”  He chuckled, showing that he wasn’t really mad.  I scrambled to my feet, one of the few times that I’m wearing heels and this happens…  Of course!  I looked up and rubbed my eyes, making sure they weren’t playing a trick on me.  “Are you alright?”  He asked, still smiling.  When he took a step toward me I took off running in the other direction, leaving him more than likely confused.

Once I got to the front desk again I stopped to catch my breath.  “Running in heels isn’t the easiest thing in the world.”  I said, to no one in particular, breathlessly.  When I looked up I saw my other members walking in the door laughing.  “Hi girls!”  I yelled suddenly catching my breath.  They smiled, waved and ran up to me.

“We figured you were here.”  They smiled and laughed knowing what Max does to pick on me.  “How has it been so far?”  They asked as we found our way back to the dressing room.  I sighed and thought “If only you knew.”  But I just smiled and said “Good, let’s just get ready.  I’m too tired to stand any longer.”  I said plopping into the hair and makeup station.