Sana sat there on the couch, alone for the first time today. She took a deep breath and stared at her phone. Her social apps all had unread messages. She decided to open the text message from her brother first. It didn’t have any words and was just a crying laughing face. Sana laughed a bit before sending a grumpy face back.

               The next message she checked was from her sister-in-law who asked her if she was alright. The rest of the messages from her family were similar, asking if she was ok and questions about her job. She decided to change the channel to a movie instead of keeping it on whatever news show was on and then she took another deep breath before opening her naver. Her view count had sky rocketed. How the netizens even found out her name was beyond her. Her profile had hundreds of comments and they just kept coming in. Her follower count was in the couple thousands now. She quickly turned her profile to private and did the same for all of her apps, hoping to stop the comments from strangers.

               After going upstairs and changing into her pajamas, she decided to go back down to finish the movie she was listening to. During the next commercial break, she got curious and started scrolling through the netizen comments. The comments were mostly a mix of asking if she was the one from the video, telling her how she should find a new job, or bullying her. The meaner ones were calling her a for spending time with other celebrities if she was Sangsoo’s manager.

               At first it didn’t bother her because she knew that they didn’t know she was all of their managers. She searched her name on naver and found threads that were outing her as Sangsoo’s manager. There were a few nice comments but most of them were angry and mean. She closed her phone and set it on the table and pulled her knees up to her chest and tried not to cry into her knees. She wasn’t sure if she could do this job alone.

               How long it had been since she had started quietly crying into her knees hadn’t occurred to her. Sana didn’t notice the soft footsteps coming down the stairs until it was too late. JR was standing there looking at her worried as she quickly wiped her face with her hands and tried to compose herself. He fidgeted awkwardly with his pajama pants as he came and sat on the couch next to her. His raspy voice was a bit of a shock to her after sitting in the living room with the TV on low volume. “Were you crying? Are you alright?”

               She wiped her face again and smiled at him. “Yeah, I will be ok soon. Today was just hard.” He nodded. “So what made you cry?” he asked while trying to avoid looking at her face. She sighed and shook her head. “Netizens found me.” He just nodded and put his hand on top of hers. “It will be alright. We will protect you the best we can.” He gently rubbed her hand with his thumb before standing up and grinning at her. “I came down for some ice cream, you want some too?”

               Sana laughed a bit. “It’s January and you want ice cream?” He nodded and walked into the kitchen. She got up and followed the younger boy. “I want some hot cocoa instead.” She said as she put the kettle on the stove. JR was fighting the ice cream with the scoop. It was too cold and the scoop got stuck so he leaned down and put more weight on it. The scoop went further into the ice cream and he smiled as Sana leaned against the counter. “I got this.” He said as he put one hand on the side of the container and pulled the spoon as hard as he could, hoping to scoop out as much as he could get. Suddenly the spoon released itself from the ice cream and JR smacked himself in the face with the cold spoon, hitting himself in the eye.

               Sana immediately was at his side trying to move his hand away from his face as the spoon clanged on the floor. “Let me see.” She said as she grabbed his fingers and stared right into his eyes and wiped off the little bits of ice cream. His right eye was closed and watering. “I’m usually much cooler than this…” The young rapper mumbled to himself as his face turned slightly red. Sana smiled as she gently pressed her finger around his eye to make sure he didn’t stab anything. “It’s cold. Can you open your eye?” She was only a few inches away from his face, investigating for injury. JR shook his head slightly. “Here…” she said as she gently breathed on his eye to warm it up.

               JR flinched a bit at the air and suddenly pulled away and covered his eye with his hand again. “Umm… No… I… uh… I got it.” He awkwardly backed into the fridge before laughing a bit and walking away as fast as he thought wouldn’t be suspicious. Sana heard him on the stairs and looked over at the ice cream who had won the battle.

               She laughed a bit as she cleaned up the ice cream mess and poured out the water she was boiling, deciding it would be better to go to bed.

               Once again her alarm woke her up at 6am. Sana walked out into the hallway and could hear the shower down the hall going, meaning that Sangsoo was already up. Since she couldn’t shower, she went back into her room and got dressed quickly and headed downstairs. After putting her shoes on she heard footsteps on the stairs. Sangsoo looked surprised to see her ready to go. “Oh, are you sure it’s a good idea for you to take me to practice?” He asked as he slid his shoes on.

               Sana zipped up her coat and nodded as she pulled a winter hat on. “Yes. It is part of my job description isn’t it?” He shrugged and wrapped his scarf around his neck. “Let’s go then.” He mumbled through his scarf as he texted his friend telling him not to pick him up before heading out to the van. Sana quickly followed after him and scraped the ice off the windshield as quickly as she could.

               The whole car ride was in awkward silence as Sangsoo just stared out the front window without speaking. Sana slowed down when they reached his dance studio. There was a group of about 15 fans and reporters waiting around on the sidewalk for him to arrive. The dancer sighed. “I never had this many waiting before…” He said as he put his hood up, hoping not to be noticed. The group immediately spotted the van and took photos as Sana parked to let him out. “You want me to help you through them?” She asked as she reached for her seatbelt.

               Sangsoo shook his head.” The guard will come out in a second to help me out.” Sana unbuckled her seatbelt anyways. “Well I need to fix what happened yesterday. These reporters are a good thing actually.” He looked at her confused. She waited until she saw the guard open the front door before she got out.  The guard and Sana both pushed through the people crowding Sangsoo’s door before meeting in front of it. Sana smiled at the guard and bowed. “Sorry about yesterday.” The guard nodded in acknowledgement before bowing himself. “I’m sorry too. Let’s work well together from now on.” They both stood up and smiled at each other as reporters took photos, then they both yelled at the people to back off. Sana opened the door for Sangsoo. “Work hard at practice, Sangsoo.” She said with a big smile.

               Sangsoo stared at her for a moment before looking off to the side and nodding. The photographers went crazy and started to crowd them again, to get the manager and dancer in the same photo. One man happened to push Sana as Sangsoo got out of the van. He caught her by the shoulder and glared at the photographer so angrily that everyone slowly stopped taking photos and got out of the way. Sangsoo turned Sana so she faced the front of the van and gently pushed her towards the driver side before following the guard into the building. Sana awkwardly got back into the van and headed home, not sure about what just happened.

               Back at the house, she heard someone in the kitchen and went to go see who was up. Yeahoon was cooking some eggs while mumbling to himself, trying to figure out a part he was stuck on in whatever he was writing. Sana cleared and Yeahoon almost dropped the whole salt shaker into his eggs. “Oh! You scared the bollocks out of me!” he yelled in English before switching to Korean. “Why are you awake?” He asked as he set the salt away from his eggs. She laughed and leaned against the door frame. “I just took Sangsoo to practice. It was weird.” He nodded “Want some eggs?”

               Sana walked over to the fridge and pulled out more food. “Let’s make breakfast for everyone. I need to get everyone except you to be on the same sleep schedule to make my job easier.” He nodded as he put his eggs on a plate and sat at the table, eating. The manager started filling the pan with scrambled eggs, making enough food for 7 people as Yeahoon watched silently. The writer just kept watching the woman in front of him, taking in all her details as he ate his food. Sana stopped and turned to look at him. “Well if you aren’t going to help me cook go wake up every one for breakfast.” He flashed a smile as he put his empty plate in the sink next to her.

               Soon all the guys were sleepily gathering in the kitchen and living room as they waited for Sana to bring them their food. JR had been hiding his face from everyone when Jiro noticed. “What, did you glue your hand to the side of your face?” He asked laughing as Sana handed him a plate. Eli took a bite of eggs and joined in the teasing as JR was trying to figure out how to use chopsticks with his left hand. “Did you sleep so hard on it that your skin grew attached?”

               Soon all the guys were curious about his face. Sana sat next to JR and tried to move his hand. “Does your tooth hurt or something? Should I make a dentist appointment?” The youngest boy groaned and angrily took his hand off his face revealing a bruise on his cheek. Sana was confused as to how he could have gotten injured but suddenly remembered the incident in the kitchen and covered her face as she held back her laughter.

               The other five men were confused at why she was laughing. Daeryong put his spoon down and looked at JR seriously. “Did someone hit you?” Sana snorted as she tried not to laugh harder as JR turned red and tried to push her over in her seat. “It’s not funny!!” he groaned as he finally shoved some eggs in his mouth. Dongwoo smiled at Sana “Do you know what happened?” She nodded and excused herself to the kitchen before they could ask her.

               Sana started to wash up the dishes as she heard the whole living room break out into laughter. JR had told the others about the spoon. Sana went to find her bag by the door and grabbed a Band-Aid and went back to the living room and sat down next to JR again. “The bruise is tiny. Here.” She put a blue Band-Aid over the spot and smiled at him. “There. All better.” The young rapper blushed a little as he silently ate the rest of his breakfast as the others made jokes all morning.

               A couple hours later, Yeahoon was doing the dishes as Sana was sitting at the kitchen table going through her phone and making sure her paper planner was the same. The company had finally sent her the guys extended schedules. She sighed and groaned as she put her face down into her planner.

               Her phone suddenly started ringing. Sangsoo was on the other end. He didn’t even wait for her to say hello before stating why he was calling. “I need you to come pick me up right now. I’m leaving practice early.” Sana looked concerned as she started packing up her stuff into her bag. “Oh, umm ok I will be there soon. Did something happen?” Yeahoon turned to look at her curiously as he finished the last dish. “No. Just come pick me up. I will be waiting in the lobby.” He hung up before she could ask more questions. She shrugged her shoulders at Yeahoon. “I will be back. I have to go get Sangsoo early.” He nodded as she quickly headed out the door.

               Sana arrived at the studio quickly, worried that something happened. Sangsoo came out on his own when he spotted the van and got inside without acknowledging the few people who were still waiting around to see if anything would happen for them to report.  “Is everything alright?” She asked curiously as he buckled himself in. He took a deep breath and fidgeted with his hair in the visor mirror. “There is somewhere I need you to take me.”

               Sangsoo gave her directions as she was driving. Sana thought he was acting a bit weird. “Umm… Sangsoo, why don’t you just tell me where we are going? Then I can put it into the GPS.” He didn’t look away from the road and was watching for their next turn. He didn’t reply. They got stopped at a red light and she looked at his face. “Sangsoo?” If she didn’t know better, she could have sworn that his cheeks blushed a little. “We are almost there. We have to turn into the parking lot on the next corner.”

               Sana followed his instructions and parked the van. She looked around and didn’t see any particular place he could be going. “Come on. It’s down the walk path. The van won’t fit.”  He got out of the van and wrapped his scarf around his neck. Sana got out and quickly followed him as he headed off down the street.

               After a couple minutes of walking in an awkward silence, Sangsoo opened a door to a tiny coffee shop that Sana wouldn’t have even noticed. Their only sign marking it as a business was a small wooden board on the front door. There wasn’t a single customer inside even though the streets had many people walking around looking for a place for lunch.

               An old woman came from the back as she heard the door close. Her face lit up as she saw them. “Oh my goodness! Sangsoo welcome back. Who is this lovely lady you brought with you?” Sana was stunned to see Sangsoo walk up to the old woman with a smile on his face as he grabbed her arm and escorted her to a chair. “Halmeoni, please don’t push yourself. This is my new manager, Sana Lee.”  The old grandma looked Sana over as soon as he mentioned her being his manager. “Come on sit down. Let me go get a menu.” The old woman was about to try and get up but Sangsoo stopped her. “Don’t worry I got it.”

               Sana sat down across from the old woman as Sangsoo went into the back room. “Halmeoni, how do you know Sangsoo?” The old woman chuckled. “Well he was my neighbors’ grandson.” Sana smiled. “I didn’t know that he was the type to make friends with his neighbors.” The old woman bit her bottom lip playfully and checking to make sure Sangsoo wasn’t coming back yet. She leaned in close to Sana and whispered as if she was telling some secret. “Well you see, after my friend died when Sangsoo was in high school, he would still come and sit outside of her house. I invited him in one day and he has come to visit me ever since. He is like my own grandchild now.”

               The young manager smiled as Sangsoo came out of the kitchen with a tray with 2 coffees, a tea and 3 slices of crumb cake. “You aren’t saying anything unnecessary are you?” Sana laughed as the old woman pressed her fingers together. “I may or may not have said something embarrassing.” Sangsoo grumbled but still had a slight smile on his face as he handed her the tea. The old woman pouted. “How come I don’t get to have a coffee too? You know how I love it.” Sangsoo sighed as he placed a slice of cake in front of her. “Your doctor said you can’t have too much coffee anymore.”

               Sana couldn’t help but stare at Sangsoo with a smile on her face as he bickered back and forth with this old woman. She never would have thought that he had a side like this. She was brought back to attention when Sangsoo looked at her. “Sana,” That was the first time he actually called her by name. It shocked her a bit. “Did you know that this Halmeoni helped me become a dancer?” Sana looked at the older woman who just waved her hand like she was trying to brush it off. The manager smiled. “Oh really?”

               The older woman sipped her tea. “It’s no big deal. Let’s not talk about that right now. How about we talk about you?” She set her tea down. “Sana was it? You shouldn’t be a manager at your age. You are still at the age where you are prettiest. You should be trying to find a husband instead. Sangsoo here is single.” Sangsoo about choked on his coffee as Sana laughed and waved her hands. “Oh no, I don’t have time for a husband. I have way too many men to look after right now.” The old woman looked a bit puzzled, ignoring Sangsoo trying to regain the ability to breathe.

               Sana explained her situation to her, showing her pictures of the guys on her phone. The old woman looked over to Sangsoo. “How come you never told me that you lived with so many handsome boys? I would have come to visit you at home.” She said laughing as the dancer sulked and resumed eating his cake as the two women talked about all the other guys at the house.

               Sangsoo started getting annoyed at all the girl talk. For some reason hearing those two talking about how attractive the others were was making him angry. He suddenly stood up and put some money into the register. Before the woman could protest he closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry Halmeoni but we have to leave. She has a very busy schedule. I will come visit again.”

               The old woman nodded and smiled sheepishly at Sana. “We made him grumpy.” She whispered as she stood up. Sana waved goodbye and quickly followed Sangsoo out the door.

               Sangsoo didn’t even look back to make sure his manager was following him. He didn’t know why he was so angry over something so trivial. Sana suddenly grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Hey! You are going too fast. Why did we leave like that? I don’t have anything scheduled till 5pm.” Sangsoo didn’t pull his hand away, but stared at her hand instead. “No reason. Let’s go home.” He slowly let go of her hand and walked next to her at her pace.