The piercing screams of Vietnamese BBC made everyone’s ears ring. CELESTIAL looked at Eun Mi nervously, unsure if they would be as welcomed.

“Keep your heads up, shoulders back. Don’t be intimidated by anything or anyone,” Eun Mi told them. “We’re CELESTIAL. We don’t walk the earth.”

“We soar the heavens,” they replied.

Leader Eun Mi nodded, smiling. She folded her sweater and placed it inside her bag, double checking that her passport was inside. She rolled up her sleeves, checked her shoelaces.

“Eun Mi-ah.” Manager Jo waved her over.

He pulled her aside, drawing her out of the circle of busy managers, stylists, and coordinators. The worried glance he shot her every now and then readied her for the inevitable. Eun Mi sent a quick prayer for strength as she saw one of Block B’s managers looming ahead.

“Hello, Ms. Eun Mi,” he said.

“Hello,” she replied with a bow.

The managers looked at Zico, standing with his hands in his pockets, waiting for him to return the greeting. His manager nudged him; Zico did not move an inch.

“Might as well get along with it,” Manager Jo said. Eun Mi placed a hand on his arm to reassure him. She’d expected just as much from Block B’s Zico.

“Yes, well,” started Block B’s team manager. “As you all know, there have been rumors going around. We don’t need to talk about what caused such rumors, of course, but we do need to make sure they’re not given anything that could validate them.”

“Hyung, you’re asking me not to validate the truth?” Zico said.

Eun Mi turned to him with steady eyes. “The truth should remain between us, Mr. Zico. If news outlets were to find anything that could validate the ‘rumors’ it would create an unnecessary problem for both companies.”

Zico scoffed. “Are you afraid of a little scandal, Ms. Song Eun Mi?”

“If I was a solo artist, I would have no issue acting on my own accord. But I am CELESTIAL’s leader, and as their leader I will act accordingly. You might consider doing the same for Block B.”

Zico glared at her. He hated the way she carried herself, so self-assured, as if she had anything to be proud of. His jaw clenched. “Just worry about yourself.”

“I most certainly will.”

Eun Mi took her leave. She could feel Zico’s daggers on her back, could feel her heart hammering within her chest. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes.

He sounded so much like Taewoon.

Zico smiled at BBC as he made his way through the airport. CELESTIAL walked ahead of Block B with a confidence he never imagined they’d possess. They were a lost ship in foreign waters. Due to the airline’s mistake, their fans waited at the wrong gate. He knew it wouldn’t take long for fansites to realize this, but while they rushed from one gate to another, CELESTIAL walked in a sea of BBC.

Hardly did any one acknowledge the girls, but they continued to walk with pride. Fans shouted some phrases in Korean, but mainly in English.

Zico walked ahead of Block B, leading s through the narrow walkway. Eun Mi walked a few steps ahead of him with CELESTIAL ahead of her. Security lined the path, keeping the masses from getting too close.

“There’s so much people,” P.O. said through his smile as he waved. “Can you understand what they’re saying?”

Zico focused on the voices. He could hear their fans calling out to them, some using their stage names, others their real ones. Cheers drowned out anything else that might’ve been said. Everything except one piercing shout.

Because of the noise, because of the security so carefully lined up, because of how neatly CELESTIAL and Block B walked in their provided space, because of these and so many other distracting factors they did not see the raging fan until it was too late.

“You !”

Zico heard the shout because he’d been focused on the sounds. He turned his head just as a girl broke through the barricade. She grabbed Eun Mi by the braid—her long braid with a ribbon weaved in between the plaits—and pulled her to the ground.

Eun Mi, taken by surprise, lost her balance briefly before regaining some of her footing. Her attacker took the chance to tackle her, hitting her square on the chest with her shoulders.

“Eun Mi!” Zico rushed to break her fall. He had to dive on his knees, catching her with difficulty.

Security jumped into action a little too late. They hurriedly ushered CELESTIAL out of the building. Kyung appeared out of nowhere, helping Zico pull Eun Mi to her feet.

“Hurry, Eun Mi!” he said as he pulled her along. They walked with their arms around her, shielding her with their bodies.

The screams of the crowd intensified as security rushed them out of the building. Kyung and Zico guided Eun Mi into their van, shutting the door after Jaehyo rushed in. The driver speeding away with urgency.

“Eun Mi,” Kyung cupped her face in his hands, trying to get her to look at him. “Eun Mi-ah, look at me. Are you alright? Did you hit your head anywhere? Eun Mi-ah? Eun Mi-ah!”

Zico touched her head, checking for any signs of blood. “She’s in shock. We need to get her somewhere safe.”

“CELESTIAL,” Eun Mi said suddenly.

“What?”

“CELESTIAL,” she said again, looking straight at Zico, grabbing his arm. Her eyes burned with something unknown. “Where are my girls? Where’s CELESTIAL?”

“They’re fine,” Zico said, taking her trembling hand in his. “Eun Mi, they’re fine. Safe.”

He could see her consciousness fading. He settled her gently against the seat, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said. And if Zico didn’t know better, he could’ve sworn she called him Taewoon.

Eun Mi shivered. She reached for the blankets, drawing them tight around herself. The pillow under her smelled weird, not at all like the detergent she used to wash the dorm’s pillow cases.

“Hey, are you awake?”

She groaned, wishing her manager would just go away and let her sleep. She’d gotten up way too early.

“Don’t bull me, I know you’re awake.”

The covers were pulled away from her almost violently. Eun Mi sat up, alarmed. She couldn’t see very well; she’d slept with her contacts on again. Her eyes were red, the world blurry, her mind fuzzy. Something on the back of her hand itched.

A strong hand gripped hers as she reached for the itch. “Don’t scratch that, you idiot.”

“Don’t talk to her like that. She’s still under the influence of the sedative.”

“She needs to wake up. If she doesn’t things could get ugly.”

Something about the man’s tone made Eun Mi want to focus. Her head hurt terribly. When she touched it, she winced.

“Hey, hey, hey,” the man said again. His voice was familiar, but something about it was off. “Don’t touch that. You were nearly scalped back there.”

Back where?

Eun Mi tried to focus. The other voice, the one that belonged to someone she didn’t know, had said something about a sedative. Her consciousness tingled with the memory of medication.

Something had happened. Something very important, dangerous even. The lack of fear in her, the absence of her anxiety, slashed through the dense fog in her mind. Eun Mi knew she should be afraid, should be alarmed. She had to focus.

“Hey, Song Eun Mi!”

Eun Mi had to focus. But the sedative they’d given her was too strong. She felt her body grow heavy, her eyesight dim, before the world disappeared.

“Dammit.” Zico caught Eun Mi as she passed out. Her dead weight annoyed him because it worried him. He laid her down carefully.

“Zico,” his manager said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “How much longer are you planning to stay here?”

“Her manager hasn’t come back. No one else is here for her. Don’t they care about her?”

“They’re answering questions from the local police, you know that. Once her manager is here, can we go?”

The thought of leaving her unconscious, without even asking her personally if she was alright, troubled Zico. He still didn’t like her, but he wasn’t the kind of man that would relish in another’s misfortunes. Especially of this kind.

He poured himself a glass of water, sipping it as he stared at her.

Zico couldn’t deny that she was pretty. Even with a pile of messy hair, an undone braid with torn ribbons, Eun Mi looked very pretty. Her features were foreign, of course, simultaneously round and angular, gentle and sharp; a contradiction, the offspring of two very distinct races.

Mexican-American, Latina, that’s what Taeil had once said. Zico couldn’t remember ever having come across a Latina before. Were they all so strong and fragile, like Eun Mi?

Bypassing all the useless security, ditching their managers, Tae Jun and Su Jong barreled through Eun Mi’s door.

“Eun Mi-ah!”

They found themselves being shushed by Woo Zico.

“You.”

The glare Su Jong sent his way nearly paralyzed him. He set his glass down on the windowsill. Gathering his things, he took his leave.

“You’re welcome,” he said as he walked by them.

“You should be apologizing instead,” Su Jong hissed.

“Why would I do that?”

Su Jong looked at him evenly. His eyes held no hatred, rather, they gleamed with ice cold fury. “One of your fans did this.”

It took a long while for Zico to react. “That…That is not possible.”

“Isn’t it? Check the news.”

With that Su Jong joined Tae Jun at Eun Mi’s side.

Zico threw his phone across the hotel room. It hit a wall, cracking the wallpaper and the phone’s screen. It shattered, landing in useless pieces on the ground.

“Hyung.” P.O. shrank away from his wrath.

“DAMMIT!”

The attack on CELESTIAL’s leader trended as number one in the largest search engines. Show! Music Core in Hanoi trended at number three. BBC trended at number two, with the related search terms—among many—being “attacked,” “violent,” and “crazy.”

A specific video clip kept being seen. From the angle of the fancam, one could see a figure clad in black break through to attack Eun Mi. The attacker’s face remained obscured from view, but there was no mistaking the large, sparkling silver Block B logo on the back of her hoodie.

That rainbow haired idiot had been right. One of his bees had done this.

Tae Jun unbraided Eun Mi’s hair, running his fingers through it as he turned the day’s events over and over in his mind.

Rumors spread faster than wildfire that much he knew. The fact that speculation that a BBC had assaulted the leader of CELESTIAL burned the Interweb. Show! Music Core’s world tour had been crated with the intention of promoting friendly cultural exchanges through K-Pop; having this occur to one of the representatives of this campaign hurt the image of the country they were visiting.

It seemed too outrageous. Tae Jun could not begin to understand why a BBC would jump on Eun Mi like that. There’d been no leaks of that failed program Eun Mi and Zico had been in together. Before then, the two hadn’t even met once.

The footage of the attack implicated that a BBC had been the one to assault Eun Mi. Still, it could be very possible that they’d simply worn a Block B hoodie to stir up trouble. Anyone against Block B, CELESTIAL, or K-Pop in general could’ve done it.

Sighing, Tae Jun checked the time. Eun Mi should be waking up soon. The authorities would want to speak with her.

In a crowd that bore every logo and Block B merchandise that they could get their hands on, the assailant had escaped. No one had seen their face; only Eun Mi had been close enough. They would probably ask her if she had any enemies or knew of anybody that could wish her harm.

Tae Jun mocked the thought.

Of course Eun Mi had enemies. Although, they were more commonly known as anti-fans in their line of work. 

Eun Mi didn’t have many of those. The ones she did have, however, were ruthless, as Tae Jun had so clearly seen—and could see—them be.