Chapter Eleven

“So, to the Return of Superman panel?” Lily asked. She was excited for this one. Everyone was, but she was especially excited because she absolutely loved Lee Hwijae and his twins. Sam Hammington was going to be there with William and Bentley as well as Ko Jiyong and Seungjae, Taeyoung and Rohui, and a few others.

“Mom’s gunna be disappointed that she’s not going to get to see the kids,” Aaron said as they started heading over. The girls nodded.

The panel was absolutely exciting. The kids played games and answered questions with the audience. They talked about their favorite guests that had taken them out. At the end, everyone got to go up and get high fives from the kids, and the parents and kids that could write gave out autographs.

Lily tucked her autograph book into her backpack as soon as they were in a cleared space. “They were all so cute!” She had enjoyed the panel more than probably most of the rest of the audience. She even got a kiss on the cheek from Seoeon and Seojun.

“I think Aaron would have been happier if Haru would have come,” Briley laughed as Aaron’s face blushed.

“Oh my gosh, shut up!” he pouted, crossing his arms.

The girls laughed. “It’s totally normal to have a crush on her, she’s very cute,” Briley said.

“Who knows, since you will be working as an artist, maybe you could meet her?” Lily winked as Aaron covered his face and groaned. This just made his two aunts laugh harder and he flushed down to his neck.

“Y’all are terrible people, I hope you know that,” he frowned, putting his hands down.

“I’m sure your mom would love to have Haru as a daughter in law. She’s really cute! And think of having Tablo as an in-law. That would be awesome!” Briley wasn’t ready to let it go just yet. Aaron just hung his head as he had no choice but to listen. “Serious, though. I bet if you played your cards right, you could totally end up meeting her.”

“Or I could work hard and debut and be happily away from my horrible teasing aunt!” This had the girls laughing even harder.

Suddenly there was a hand on Briley’s shoulder and she jumped and yelled. Nik nearly fell over from the reaction from her younger friend. “Oh my gosh you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Nik burst out, “Sungan Heart attack i shigane kkeut, nal apdohaneun sesang gajang, hwangholhan neukkime Heart attack, sumi meojeodo joeul mankeum, neon gakkaweo, Heart attack gidarime kkeut!”

“You are so lame,” Briley said, still clutching her chest and trying to catch her breath.

“EXO’s Heart Attack is not lame. It is a total bop!” Nik insisted.

“You missed the best panel!” Lily exclaimed before the conversation could continue or Nik bursted into song again. “I got a kiss from my babies!”

“Awww that’s so great. Please tell me y’all got photos! I’m so jealous right now!” Nik wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulder. “Now, why was my child pouting before I showed up?”

“Briley decided that she would about his crush on Haru,” Lily threw her arm around Nik, smiling and Aaron’s grumpy expression.

“You shouldn’t have told them,” he said to his mother.

“ it up, buttercup. I tell them everything.” She stuck her tongue out at her son. “Besides, they would have figured it. You’re not that subtle.”

“I told him that you would love to have her as a daughter in law,” Briley said.

Aaron made like he was going to hit her, but Nik used her free hand to pull him to her side. “That would be freaking awesome. But you know Sahboonim’s rule, ‘No dating until you’re married.’”

“Um, what?!” both girls exclaimed.

Nik and Aaron shared a look then burst out laughing. “It’s not what you think. Before marriage, only courting and going out in groups. Once I’m married, I can take my wife on dates.” Lily and Briley made a sound of understanding and started laughing.

“That is a very unsettling sounding rule, even if actually makes sense after an explanation.” Lily said. “So does that rule apply to you, too? I mean, what if Pilkyo asks you out this week?”

“It is supposed to apply to me, but,” she motioned to her son, “obviously I didn’t follow that rule very well when I was younger. And he’s not going to ask me out this week so what’s the point of even thinking about that? What we should be concerned with is the fact that Dongwan will definitely be asking Briley out, and I’m almost certain Choongjae plans on asking you out.”

“So you believe we will both be asked out, but you won’t?” Briley asked with a skeptical look.

“I have confirmation on some things, so we should probably go shopping tomorrow or Tuesday.”

Nik smirked as both of the girls screamed, “WHAT?!”

“What?” Nik tilted her head it mock confusion. “I’ll see what kind of time we make to Knoxville to see if we can get some shopping when we get there. Otherwise we may have to go before or after my training on Tuesday.”

“You still haven’t answered our question,” Lily said, tugging on Nik.

“What question?” She smirked.

“What do you mean by ‘you have confirmation’?” Briley asked, standing right in front of Lily and Briley to stop anyone from walking any more.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Come on, let’s go grab something from the stands before the concerts so we don’t pass out before Shinhwa comes out.”

Briley and Lily shared a look before agreeing to just move on for now. They would get the information eventually. Nik then dragged everyone along, humming Eusha Eusha quietly.

“Something happened,” Briley said to Lily while Nik and Aaron stood in line to get food.

“Right? She is just too happy for something not to have happened.”

“But she insists that Pilkyo isn’t going to ask her out. Could she possibly just be excited about whatever she found out that’s NOT her being asked out? Do you think it’s the concerts?”

“There is no way it’s just the concerts. Maybe just the fact that we met them fully sunk in while she was out grabbing the van? I mean, they’re going with us on a road trip.” Lily suggested.

“Do you think Dongwan is really going to ask me out? I think Choongjae is going to ask you out. I thought that before Nik even alluded to it.”

“I don’t know about Jae, but Dongwan has been flirting with you since we met them. Seriously, knowing Junghyuk was your bias he still started flirting with you.”

Briley turned beet red. “I don’t think he was flirting that much. So what, we’re both going to be asked out before the end of the week?”

“This has to be a dream, there is no way this could happen in real life.”

“What has to be a dream?” Aaron asked as him and his mother handed out food and took their spots at the table.

“Just meeting Shinhwa and getting to spend so much time with them,” Lily said as she ruffled his hair slightly.

“I know. It’s so great! Sunho samchon said that he will facetime with me once a week until we move so that I can start training now.”

Nik’s head jerked. “What did you just call him?”

“Sunho samchon? He told me I should call him that.” Aaron had plastered an innocent look across his face, but he couldn’t completely hide the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Why did he tell you to call him that? And did he explain what that means?”

“I don’t get it, I’m still learning Korean and haven’t heard that term before,” Briley said.

“It means uncle,” Lily informed her. “More correctly, it means father’s younger brother.” Nik rolled her eyes and shook her head but sat quiet and shoved a fry into .

“Did you know what that meant?” Briley asked Aaron.

Aaron nodded. ‘Sunho samchon told me. He said that we will be family one day so I should go ahead and get used to calling him that.”

“I’m gunna kill the maknae,” Nik mumbled under her breath and the other three burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?” She tried to pout but she was having trouble not letting a small smile show. As ridiculous as the whole situation was and not trusting that things could fall into place so well, she still couldn’t help being happy and hoping for the best.

They sat in silence for a bit to eat. “Ok, so is it time to go get ready for the concerts?” Lily asked.

Everyone agreed and got up to throw their trash away. On their way, they passed a small crowd of people that were having a dance off and Aaron insisted on stopping to join in. Nik pulled out her camera and recorded some of the people dancing. Aaron did very well, considering he did not have much experience in freestyle and was close to ten years younger than most of the other dancers.

“That was so much fun.” He couldn’t help but smile as he tucked himself under his mother’s arm. “I need to start taking dance.”

“You’re in Taekwondo, guitar, piano, and voice. I cannot afford dance, baby. We don’t even have time to add dance to our schedule. We’ve discussed this.”

“Besides, Sunho said that he was going to start training you, right?” Lily added.

Aaron nodded. “And I am following dance tutorials.”

“That’s right. And you’re not even nine yet. You still have plenty of time. Just relax.” Nik kissed the top of his head. They headed to the doors of the early entry line.

~Katok~

Nik made a soft sound of excitement as she pulled out her phone quickly.

LittlePrince

5:20PM We are getting ready for the concert. Are you here yet?

[image]

    “Looks like someone misses you,” Briley said with a waggle of her eyebrows. The photo was of Pilkyo, Choongjae, and Dongwan all sitting getting their hair and makeup done. Nik ignored her and turned her phone to selca mode, holding it out so that she could get a group shot of the four of them in the line.

PandaNik

5:22 [image]

5:22 We just got in line.

LittlePrince

5:23 Want to come back here and hang out until they let you into the concert? ^.^

PandaNik

5:24 We would love to, but we don’t want to be a distraction~ ^ㅂ^

LittlePrince

5:25 Are you sure?

    “Aww, I think you hurt his feelings,” Lily said, giving her friend a gentle bump.

    “They are getting ready. I don’t want to cause any problems. Besides, they’re going to let us in in like twenty minutes.” Lily stared at her friend unamused until she let out a loud sigh.

PandaNik

5:27 If you don’t think we will be in the way, we would love to hang out before the concert *(^o^)*

LittlePrince

5:27 Sending someone to come get you ★^^★

A minute later, there was a man waving them over to follow him. They followed down a hallway until they were in a small white waiting room with two couches and a lot of a clothing racks on wheels. They were quickly joined by Junghyuk and Minwoo who were fully dressed.

“Pilkyo said that he sent for you,” Minwoo said. Him and Junghyuk shared a look that the others couldn’t quite read. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“We brought water with us,” Lily informed him.

“Thank you, though,” Nik added. “So what are y’all up to until the concerts start?”

“Just sitting around. We’ll go over a little bit, but we usually just sit and play on our phones until we go on,” Junghyuk said.

“So professional,” Nik laughed. Junghyuk laughed with her and rested his arm around her shoulders. Nik frowned up at him. “You make me feel short like this.” She craned her neck up more so that she was almost looking in his eyes. He laughed and popped up on his toes to increase their height difference. Nik then pouted before jabbing one of her fingers into his ribcage to tickle him, making him double over and start laughing out loud.

“That’s not fair,” he breathed out. Nik smirked and took her place back under his arm once he could stand back up. “You should meet Hyemi. She has done that same thing several times...or maybe you shouldn't. I have a feeling you two would probably get into a lot of mayhem together.”

Nik’s eyes glowed with excitement. “You should totally fly her out! Seriously, have her meet us in Little Rock. She can come and stay in our room with us!”

The other two girls agreed quickly. “If you fly her out, Hot Springs is right around the corner. You two could have a little romantic getaway before flying back to Korea,” Lily told him.

“Hot Springs?” Choongjae asked as he Sunho enter the room and join the circle between Lily and Aaron. He glanced at how comfortable his leader seems with Nik tucked up under his arm.

When Choongjae maked eye contact and silently asked what was going on, Junghyuk gave him a mischievous wink before turning his attention back to the original conversation. “If you want me to fly her out, I will text her and ask her what her schedules looks like.” The three women cheered.

“I feel like we missed a lot,” Sunho says.

“The women are demanding I fly Hyemi out this week while we are on our little vacation,” the leader explained.

“I don’t remember them demanding, just suggesting y’all have a little getaway,” Minwoo teased.

Choongjae thought for a moment. “Hot Springs sounds fun. Have you ever been?” He was only addressing Lily, whose cheeks pinked slightly. She shook her head ‘no’. “Maybe one day while we’re there we could go?” She nodded as she chewed her lip, brown eyes lit up but still a bit timid. He mumbled ‘good’ before moving to invade a little of her space and reached down to grab her hand, interlacing their fingers.

Nik smiled happily at her friend. She always knew they would be perfect together. Pilkyo and Dongwan entered the room as Nik turned her attention back to the man with his arm around her shoulders. “Now, you said you would text her. So text her.”

“Right now?” He asked. He could feel the glare coming from his friend and couldn’t help the smile playing on his lips.

Nik, who was completely oblivious to any of this, turned her gaze completely up at him. “Of course right now! If she’s not awake now, she can answer it when she wakes up.”

Pilkyo made his way to stand on her other side while Dongwan went to stand by Briley. When Nik noticed Pilkyo beside her, she gave him a happy smile. He tried to return the smile but couldn’t help the slightly salty look in his eyes. She tilted her head to the side and gave him a concerned look that he shook his head in answer.

Junghyuk noticed the silent conversation. “Fine, I’ll text her now. But if I wake her up, it’s on you.” Nik clapped happily and the other girls followed suit.

“Who?” Pilkyo asked. He was glaring at his leader again, but curiosity was getting the better of him.

Nik smiled at Pilkyo, not sure what was going on with him. “Hyemi’s coming to play with us this week,” she said.

“That sounds like fun. It will be the first time she’s come out to do anything with us out of the country,” Dongwan said. The other men agreed.

“So are you completely ready for the concert?” Briley asked, turning her body to face Dongwan more now that he had joined the group.

He nodded. “Almost completely. All we have left is to mic up and head to the stage. We have probably two hours left before we go on, though.”

“Oh, they’re about to let everyone in!” Nik said suddenly, seeing the clock on the wall and pulling her phone out to confirm the time. “We should probably head out or we won’t be close to the stage.”

Junghyuk hummed then released her. “Hold on.” He stepped outside and grabbed a manager. “Follow him, he’ll take you straight in before everyone else comes in.”

“Aww you’re the best!” Nik exclaimed, throwing her arms around him quickly for a hug. The other girls echoed her sentiment. Pilkyo was frowning again. Nik turned to him and stepped closer so that she could speak quietly to him. “What’s wrong?” He tried his best to put on a smile, but she could read through it. The Texan bumped his arm, running her hand against his forearm down to his hand as she tilted her head with a concerned look to her eyes.

“It’s nothing. I’ll see you out there.” Nik frowned and sighed, but turned to follow her friends and son behind the manager. She was stopped by a pull on her wrist before she was completely out of Pilkyo’s reach. She made an ‘eep’ from the shock, but allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. “Junghyuk hyung was trying to make me jealous.” He whispered to the top of her head. “It may have worked.” He smiled when she gave him a soft squeeze. “Now go. I’ll be looking for you.” Nik nodded before running off out the door.

They made their way into the room. It was huge and set up with a giant stage in the middle. The girls and Aaron were so excited.

The room filled up and they talked with everyone that stood close by. The concert started and it was one of the most exciting experiences any of them had had. During Shinhwa’s stage, they all made a point to come over to the side that Aaron and the women were standing.

As they made their way to their room that night, everyone was filled with a buzz as the adrenaline was still pumping fiercely through their veins.

“What time are we leaving” Briley asked before she headed to her room to pack her stuff up.

“Since it will be a twelve hour day, we need to leave here about 7:30am.” The girls groaned. “Hush, y’all can sleep in the van. I’ll be the one driving the whole way.” Her friends laughed.

“Good night. See you bright and early!” Lily said as she headed into her room. They all said good night and went to pack up all of their stuff.

~katok~

LittlePrince

12:18AM Good night. See you in the morning~