“Are you sure you want to go home by yourself?” I ask the girl standing parallel to my body.  In response, she nods without taking a look at me. I try to get a look of her face but instead, that shiny brown hair of hers is the only thing my eyes are able to see. No wonder she has yet to be caught by the paparazzi. How is anybody supposed to pinpoint the celebrity going by the name of Song Ji Eun when they can’t even see her eyes?

She seems determined to stay strong to her decision so I have no choice but to give in, “Alright...” I say.  She starts to turn around but my words pause her in the process of motion. “But be safe and pay attention to where you’re walking...”

“Okay,” her sweet, low voice comes out for a second, accepting my request.

Although she hasn’t physically done anything for me, I say, “Thanks”. Her agreement to stay safe is enough to make my mind fall deeper into ease.

Without another word, she turns around and starts walking away, creating more distance between us.  Disappointment sinks in as I watch the last of her disappear around the corner of a tall building.  I turn around and start my own journey home. Why is it that every time we meet, our time with each other never ends with a simple goodbye? Now that I think about it, none of our meetings from the day we met have been what you call normal. With me taking her home the first two times due to predicaments with her physical health and now this... Well, then again, this is probably the most casual-est of all our meetings so far. Sitting down across from each other in a table located in a cafe with beverages in our hands is a step up from the same situation we were in yesterday.

Except last time, the setting begged to differ what with being in the girl’s room at night and being surrounded by a trio of meddlesome girls. My lips slightly curve up as the memory of Jieun’s milky white cheeks transforming into a rosy color flashes in my mind.

The thoughts in my head come to an abrupt stop when I  hear a ringing sound. Following the melody down to my pants pocket, I realize that the audio which woke me up just now was my cell phone asking for attention.

Clearing my throat before I speak, I greet the caller, “Hello?” in a questionable tone. Because I didn’t bother to check the caller ID before I flipped the gadget open, I am left clueless of who it is on the other side. Perhaps it can be the meddlesome girl number 1, going by the name of Hyosung. She seemed equally as anxious as I was from the sound of it on the phone and now she’s probably calling to make sure that her friend is okay.

“How are things going?” a voice belonging to a male questions, completely proving my hypothesis wrong.

“Huh?” I ask in confusion. “What things?”

“With the rap you’re writing. How is it coming along?” the person on the other side elaborates, triggering the realization bell in my head. So this is the manager who’s speaking and now he wants to know how the rap is going...

“Uh, well...,” my mouth struggles to form words as my brain works overtime, trying to put together a response that won’t make my lack of responsibility obvious. Truthfully, the fact that I would have to produce my own rap for the song hasn’t even crossed my mind since day one.

He chuckles, “I guess you haven’t touched on that matter yet from the tone of your voice...” To my surprise, he doesn’t even sound the least bit upset as one would probably expect, making me able to release my poor imprisoned breath.

“Um yeah,” I start off, trying to summon an apology, “I’m really sorry about that sir. I’ll try to get started on it as soon as I can.”

“It’s okay. I just wanted to let you know that you have two weeks to get it done. I suggest you start now before time runs out.”

I try to catch my breath. Did he just say what my mind interpreted him to say? “Two weeks?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. Did I surprise you? Two weeks meaning that you have a little less than a week left to have a draft ready to hand in. The second week is the time period in which tweaks will made if needed.”

“Oh...” I respond, befuddled by this answer.

To my astonishment, he says, “That should be enough time right? We don’t want to rush you since you’re new to the Kpop business and all. Therefore, we added in extra days for you to write it.”

“Uh oh yea... Sure. Thank you for being so considerate” I reply, when in reality, my mind is in a state of panic.

“No problem. After all, quality beats hastiness. Am I wrong?”

“No. Of course not, Mr.Jung,” I agree, still trying to absorb the fact that I have six days left. A mere six days to come up with a rap. How am I supposed to get a rap done for an entertainment company within this time limit without messing it up for the solo singer I’m featuring for?

“I wish you good luck. ”

“Thank you,” I modestly reply.

Thinking that the conversation would end there, I get ready to put away the device when another voice reaches my ear, “Uh, Mr. Bang?”

“Yes? I’m here.”

“This is Secret’s manager and I just wanted to ask you if you happen to know how Jieun is doing.”

“I’m sorry. I am unaware about how her singing is going if that’s what you mean.”

“No, I’m speaking of non business matters... Is she getting better? Because... We received a pretty surprising call from Hyosung, you know, the leader of secret? Asking where she is. They seemed to be very restless.”

“Huh?” I dumbly ask, taken by surprise that the managers even know about this.

“They called you?”

“Yeah, they were looking for her and I heard that you found her. How is she?”

“Oh... She’s alright. I found her in the gym, working out so she’s safe.”

“Alright, that’s good. And you may be unaware of this but the whole staff was quite touched by your actions to take the option of looking for her. Although she wasn’t in any real danger, I just want to personally thank you for taking care of our Jieun... It really means a lot to us.”

“Huh, oh it was nothing...” I give the women a modest answer,.

“No, that was really big of you... To help out a person you’ve just met out like this. And not just once. But twice. That was really sweet of you...”

I laugh, “It’s alright. It would be rude if I didn’t.”

“That’s the right way to think! Just how labelmate siblings should be. Looking out for one another. I’m so proud of you,” she applauds with her words. My conscience tells me that there’s probably a big smile plastered to her face.  

“Uh, thanks..” I awkwardly reply.

“Alright, I’ll stop making you blush,” Mrs. Parks giggles. “Bye!” the call finally ends.

One problem has been solved but now another has aroused. How well I get the rap done on time?
 

***

“Where were you all this time man?” is the first thing Dj Tiz asks me when he sees me walking past his bed while ripping off my coat.

“Somewhere...” I give him an empty answer while placing my coat on a hook behind the door and settling down next to him on the couch.

“Where somewhere?”

“You don’t have to know...”

“Hey! Tell me... Where?!” he presses the pause button on his remote, ceasing the dialogue from the characters on the television, before looking up at me.

“I went out for something to drink,” I reply with an honest answer so he can’t accuse me of lying.

“For a drink?! After all that,” he takes a second to clear his throat and comes back with a deeper, stressed out voice. While keeping a hand on his ear as if he’s talking into a phone, hey says,“‘What do you mean you don’t know where she is?! Go look for her!’” I just gawk at him like an idiot.

“Yo, do I really sound like that?!” His imitation struck me as a fail.

“Hey, don’t stray away from the main point of the subject! What’s really going on with you dude?” His eyes suddenly get this serious look in them. “Don’t tell me... You’re having a... a scandalous relationship?”

“Yah! Where’d you get that idea from?!”

“Then why else would you be so secretive? Can’t a man worry about his bro?”

“Don’t worry too much or you’ll get wrinkles,” I joke.

“Nah man! I still remember how you kept that thing about your mom all bottled up inside... Just want to know before I end up finding out the hard way... Like seeing something about a famous star and a rookie rapper caught in the act on Allkpop.”

I laugh at this. “Will I get that famous someday that I’ll actually appear in Allkpop articles?”

“Yeah, I bet you would since your partnering with Secret. But Secret would probably overshadow you...”

“Hey, what you trying to say?!” I put my hands up defensively and glare at him.

“Nothing... So tell me why you went to go ‘save’ the girl?” he finds his way back to the main point..

I stare down at the floor in slight embarrassment. “She wasn’t even in any sort of real danger in the first place...”

“What the hell? So why’d you fly out of here so fast without explaining?”

“I don’t know. Her friends were going crazy thinking she got kidnapped or something because they couldn’t find her. But it turned out that she was just working out at the gym...” How stupid I must sound right now.

He lets out a laugh, “They weren’t the only ones going crazy.”

I say nothing in response, accepting his pokes at me. After all, this time, his teasing makes sense. The way I pulled on two different colored socks over my feet before rushing out the door... Yup, I kind of deserve being made fun of.

“But hey, who found her?”

“Me...”

“You?! Wow, the knight in shining armor comes to save his princess who doesn’t need any saving.”

“Your the best person to tell things. You know that?” I sarcastically praise the imbecile. This is why I hesitate to tell him anything. Or don’t at all.

“Okay. Sorry... But how’d it go with her? Did she come running into your arms?”

“No. She saw my face and started running - for the exit door.”

He starts laughing again earning another glare from me. “Sorry! Tha- That’s just too funny!” he struggles through his laughter and starts taking it out on me by treating me as his personal punching bag to slow it down.

“Hey!” I manage to get his hands off me with some difficulty.

When Dj Tiz finally calms down, he says, “Is she really that disgusted by you?”

“I don’t know why, but she seems frightened by my presence... Every time I even glance at her, she gets this scared look in her eyes and looks away.”

“Yo, stop trying to make me laugh!”

“I’m not trying to!”

“Oh my god Yong Guk. What did you do to her?!”

“Me?!” I point at my chest with two fingers. “I didn’t even do anything to her. Why are you so quick to jump to conclusions. Accusing me...”

“Then what must be the reason? Unless she... Hmmm..” he wonders as two of his fingers reach his chin and scratch an invisible beard there. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

“What? What doesn’t make sense?”

“The theory about her liking you.”

“Yo. Why wouldn’t it make sense? Are you trying to help me or diss me here?!

“Sorry... I can’t help it... But your a cool guy Yong Guk.” He puts an arm around my shoulder while speaking, “Very cool. But I’m the one with the looks. Got that? And so all the girls come tripping to me and I know what I’m talking about.”

I give him another glare but maybe he does know what he’s talking about. At least more than me who hasn’t had many relationships.

“So why do you think she keeps running away from me?”

“Okay. It’s either 1. She hates you and the mere sight of your face makes her skin crawl. Or 2. She likes you but is too shy to have eye contact. Or 3. She’s too embarrassed to be caught hanging out with you.”

“Okay, before you continue, number 3 can’t be true.”

“Why?”

“Cuz the first day we met, she started stalking me and...” my voice trails off. “Nevermind...” Getting into a detailed explanation of that day is not what I feel like doing right now, even if it will prove his ‘logic’ wrong

“Nothing, so keep going. What’s your final conclusion?”

“I don’t know.. But I doubt it’s the second one because why would celebrities feel shy with their hoobae?”

“Aish, whatever. I have too much stuff to do to sit here and think about this,”  I finally end the conversion while rummaging through the drawers for a notepad and then pulling out a random writing utensil from the pencil holder we share.

He shrugs and turns his attention back to the television screen, making the characters start speaking again with the push of a button.

Wrinkles form on my brow as I stare at the blank paper in frustration.

I’m still tapping the center of the page with my pencil when Dj Tiz turns around, faces me and asks,

“What you doing?”

“Trying to come up with a rap...”

“Oh...”

“Hey, what you watching?” I ask, staring at the screen.

“Some movie called Fear, from 1996. Want to watch it with me? It barely started.”

“That old? What’s it about?” I ask, curious about the visual image of a guy following around a girl with some sort of crazy look in his eyes.

“Some psychopath boyfriend who can’t get over his girl and now he’s deduced to stalking her.”

“What the hell?”

“Yeah, crazy right? The attempts to scare the viewers are lame, but it’s better than any other DVDs I found lying around the place.”

Unintentionally, my eyes end up staying glued to the spot for at least another 45 minutes, in this case, the television screen. The main male lead seems to have this deep, passionate look in his eyes with a touch of terror. On the other hand, there’s agony written all over the female lead’s character with a hint of fear.

My mind stays engrossed in the creepy scenes that happen before I finally decide to get up and go dig out the lyrics for Jieun. It’s been over a week and things like this just don’t seem to stay engraved in my head for long. Ideas start forming in my head as I read the words in print on the sheet of computer paper for the second time in my life. Bizarre ones.

It’s not love

This isn’t love

It’s just your obsession

Wherever

Whatever I do

It’s frightening

The you who watches me

Have you gone crazy?

Why are you like this?

Please just leave me alone now

Seeing you is suffocating

Please disappear from my sight

Get lost

Just back off

I really can’t breathe

Wherever I go

Wherever I am

It’s frightening

The you who follows me

Have you gone crazy?

Why are you like this?

Please just leave me alone now

Seeing you is suffocating

Please disappear from my sight

Cut the crap~

Get ahold of yourself and stop it

Let go of me now

This ain’t right

This isn’t love

It’s just hurts me, don’t be like this

I loved you

But I don’t now

Erase me from your memory

I don’t wanna cry no more, more

Why do these lyrics feel so familiar?  Looking back up at the television again, I see an intense combination of dread and depression in the girl’s eyes while the obsessive boy watches her possessively.

Suddenly, the pencil in my right hand starts moving under the control of my heedless fingers, flying across the what used to be an empty-of-letters piece of loose leaf. The words on the paper are coming out as scribbles, unreadable to anyone besides me. However, I can’t make an interval for even a second or else I’m afraid that the growing fire in me might die out, along with the impulsive ideas running through my mind. There’s no time to worry about how TS will react to these lyrics or anyone in that matter. All I  know is that I better get it down before I loose my hold on the high tide of waves.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry for such a late update... Um, just a disclaimer... I never actually watched the movie "Fear" lol.. so I mite have gotten the details wrong but it really look like an interesting movie! xD i just wish i could have founded the whole thing online... =(