Chapter Eight

“OH MY GOOOOOOSH,” Briley shouted as she flung herself onto the couch after Shinhwa had left. All three squealed again. Nik ran her hands through her hair, replaying the last few hours again in her head momentarily while Lily pulled on some shorts under her dress.

“How crazy was that?! I mean, we just had a meal with Shinhwa...we just danced and sang with Shinhwa...We’re going to have supper with SHINHWA!” Nik was rambling on. They were all in complete shock.

“We played it off, though, right? We weren’t too over the top in front of them?” Lily asked.

“No, y’all were surprisingly calm the whole time,” Aaron said. “Sunho said that I can audition for TOP Media when we move to Korea.” Aaron was beaming.

“That is so sweet!” The three girls cooed.

“Ok, girl, spill it now. What was Dongwan talking to you about?” Lily asked, falling onto the couch and throwing her legs across her younger friend. Nik fell to the other side of Briley and pulled her friend into a lounging cuddle.

Briley’s face was flaming as she shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! We were just talking.”

“LIES!” The other two exclaimed. “You were being way too flirty and quiet for it to be ‘just talking’.” Lily gave her a knowing look.

“What do you want me to say? He asked why Eric was my bias. Then we just talked about life.” Briley was averting her eyes and her friends could definitely tell that she was holding something back.

“LIES!” They shouted again. “Look, he obviously likes you. What did y’all talk about?” Nik continued probing, running her fingers through her friend’s curly blue hair. “Otherwise, we’re just going to assume y’all kissed in the elevator.” Lily smirked and nodded in agreement.

“NOOOOO!” Briley yelled. “We didn’t kiss! I swear!” Her friends broke out laughing. “Serious, we didn’t kiss.” The girls finally conceded. “Look, he told me I was pretty and that he liked my hair color and that I was different.”

“Aaand…” Lily kept pushing.

“And right before the elevator landed he grabbed and squeezed my hand, okay?” and all three girls squealed loudly again.

“OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO CUTE!” Everyone was now in a ruckus and full on fangirling. They went on for nearly an hour going over everything that had happened.

“But dude, Choongjae was sooo hitting on Lily, too, wasn’t he Briley?” Nik brought up.

“He even did the typical hair swipe thing for you!” Briley confirmed.

“What ever, he was just fixing my hair for me.”

“No, he just wanted an excuse to get closer to you and touch you,” Nik laughed, reaching over and dramatically imitating on Briley how Choongjae had done. She then down Briley’s cheek and grabbed her face intimately, then they both made kissy faces at each other.

Lily reached over and shoved her friends, feigning offense at their antics. “It wasn’t like that. He just moved my hair and then brought his hand back.”

“Was his hand warm?” Nik smirked.

“It was…” Lily trailed off, gently touching her hair and face where Choongjae and done previously. The girls all broke off laughing again. They all continued making fun of each other and swooning and fangirling for a while longer.

“I hate to be the one that always thinks of work,” Nik started after a while, and the girls and Aaron all groaned. “But if we don’t start getting ready, we will not be ready in time for the concerts tonight and I would like to get at least a little filming in while we are there.” Everyone reluctantly agreed and began making their way to the bedrooms to refresh and then gathered their supplies.

It was close to 5 in the afternoon by the time they made it over to KCon. They had missed nearly the entire day, but the concerts weren’t scheduled to start for another hour and a half and they had gotten Platinum Passes. They talked with other fans standing outside, recording their interactions and going live on Instagram.

When the doors opened to let early entry in, they filed in and squished as close to the stage as possible. The concert wasn’t scheduled to start for another forty-five minutes, and everyone else was going to start filing in pretty soon. They continued talking with everyone around them. Some of the others were fans of their shows, some had never watched their channel. They found fellow Cassies as well as ELFs, Changjos, Shawols, Ahgases, Inspirits, Boices, EXO Ls, Blackjacks, Banas, Wonderfuls, Say As, MeUs, Perfections, and everyone else. Before the concerts started, everyone was already cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs. They crowd popped as soon as the first group started and didn’t die down at all until FT Island came back for their encore.

As everyone made their way out of the concert, the girls shared their contacts with some of their new friends so that everyone could stay connected. Everyone was on a high as the girls and Aaron made their way back to their hotel. Convenience of staying right across from the Con showing once again.

“So Nik, you’re the one with Pilkyo’s number,” Lily said as she linked her arm with the Texan. “It’s up to you to let them know that we are free to go eat,” she said with a wicked grin.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know. What should I say? Just ‘We’re out’, or what should I say?” she let out a frustrated sigh.

Her friends and son laughed at her as she fiddled with her phone. Lily wrapped her arm around her friend. “Just be like ‘Hey, the concerts are over. I want to see you’.”

Briley burst out laughing as Nik pushed Lily away. “Oh my gosh, you’re no help! I should say that y’all have been begging all night for me to call so that we could already hang out!”

“NO! NO! NO!” The other two begged, Aaron nearly dying of laughter as his mother and adopted aunts argued.

“Well then maybe y’all should be a bit nicer to the only one that can communicate with them right now,” Nik said wickedly.

“Well then what are you going to say?” Briley asked. “Just tell him that you’re in love with him. I’m sure he’d come running.”

“I am NOT in love with him, and that would make him run in the opposite direction crazy lady.”

“I don’t know, you two seemed pretty chummy earlier, too. Besides, you’re the one that ended up with a number.”

    “Because Choongjae told me to put it in his phone. NOT because he asked for my number,” Nik was pouting now. “He should have just asked for Lily’s like we all know he wanted to.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily denied.

As the women continued to argue, Aaron stole his mother’s phone and snuck into her KakaoTalk app. He quickly typed in ‘Hey, it’s Aaron. The concerts are over. Mom, Lily, and Briley are arguing and teasing each other so I messaged instead.’

LittlePrince
10:46PM What are they arguing about?

PandaNik

10:47PM They’d kill me if I told you and Mom will see this conversation later haha Were y’all still wanting to go out to eat?

LittlePrince

10:47PM Haha  Of course. We’re starving. Are you back at the hotel yet? We can meet there

PandaNik

10:48PM Headed up the elevator now.

LittlePrince
10:50PM On our way

    Aaron smirked as he handed his mother her phone back as they stepped out of the elevator onto their floor. The women had all been arguing still. She gave him a confused look and then saw the messenger open. She pulled him into a choke, “You’re right. We WOULD have killed you,” she tightened her grip slightly as Briley opened the door and began tickling her son mercilessly.

    “What’s going on?” Briley asked. Nik handed her phone to her English friend as she sat on her squirming son to continue tickling him. Briley and Lily read through the short conversation. “He responded quickly,” Briley noticed.

Lily agreed as Nik finally let her child breathe, though she continued sitting on him. “Briley’s right. There was maybe a minute between Aaron’s message and Pilkyo’s.”

“He was probably playing games on his phone or something,” Nik said. “So I guess we should go refresh before they get here?” Everyone agreed and quickly made their way to their separate bed areas, fixing makeup and putting on more deodorant.

Nik and Lily sat in front of the couches with all of the laptops downloading the footage from their show that morning when a knock came to their door. Aaron and Briley answered it, the other two so immersed in their work that they hadn’t noticed the knocking. They both looked up when they heard someone clear their throat.

Nik and Lily’s head shot up, eyes wide in shock, and everyone else in the room laughed. Nik’s hand shot to her chest, her heart beating double time, then her and Lily laughed as they fell into each other. “Oh my gosh, you nearly gave us a heart attack,” she said. Nik agreed.

“Did you not realize we were coming?” Choongjae asked, still laughing.

“No, they knew you were coming. Nik just insisted on working and Lily agreed to help until everyone showed up,” Briley grinned. Nik mouthed ‘traitor’ to Briley, but none of the men caught it.

“So Dongwan found a place that’s open all night if you are hungry,” Pilkyo said as he walked over, offering his hand to help the Texan off the ground. She stared at his hand timidly for a moment before she took it and stood up, whispering a quiet ‘Thank you’, and quickly turned to help her friend up as well.

 “So where are we headed?” Briley asked from beside Dongwan and Minwoo.

“We found a pizza place close by,” Dongwan informed, and the girls and Aaron looked to Nik who just smiled and gave them a subtle shake of her head. Dongwan continued, oblivious to the silent argument going on. “It’s right down the street so we can walk.”

Everyone agreed, and they headed out. Once outside, they allowed Dongwan to show the way since it was his idea to go there and he found the location. He offered his arm in the gentleman fashion for Briley to take it and they led the pack. Aaron and Sunho were talking nonstop, Minwoo and Junghyuk joining their conversation. Lily and Choongjae followed behind with Nik and Pilkyo pulling up the rear.

Nik’s phone beeped a few minutes into their walk, and she pulled it out. She sped up to catch Lily and wrapped one arm around her as Nik held her phone to where Lily could read the text. Both girls began cracking up. “What’s going on?” Choongjae and Pilkyo said nearly in unison.

Nik turned her head to the singer, “Briley said that she needs a new dress. Apparently, your brother has corrupted my baby sister and she has decided to change her bias.” The four all laughed again together.

“You gunna make her one?” Pilkyo asked.

Nik shrugged but Lily answered first. “Of course she is. She loves to make stuff, and she would make anything we asked her to. Probably anything you asked, too. You know she knits? She’s made me a dress and some sweaters, as well a scarf and a blanket.” Nik was blushing now. Her arm was wrapped with Lily’s, but she had her eyes down on the pavement.

“Hyung has always wanted a woman that could knit,” Choongjae laughed. Pilkyo stepped behind the girls to hit his baby bird. “Always so violent when you’re embarrassed,” Choongjae teased once again before he took off running and Pilkyo chased after him, leaving everyone laughing.

“Your man is violent, just like you,” Lily laughed to Nik, who lifted her leg to kick her in the .

“He’s not my man, but yes, I am attracted to violence. We already knew this,” and they continued following.

“So are you going to let them know that you hate pizza?” Lily asked, then coughed ‘blasphemer’, making Nik laugh again.

“No one needs to know. And I don’t hate pizza, it’s just not my favorite food. Too much cheese, too much tomato…”

“Too much goodness!” the New Yorker exclaimed as Choongjae and Pilkyo finally arrived back beside them.

“What’s ‘too much goodness’?” Choongjae asked.

“Pizza, I love it!” Lily laughed. Choongjae and Pilkyo agreed. It had been a long time since any of the members from Shinhwa had had New York style pizza, and they were all looking forward to it. “I’ll go order if you tell me what all to get,” she said as they headed into a hole in the wall looking place. A short discussion later and Lily and Choongjae were standing on line while everyone else shoved tables and chairs together so that they could squish in the back all together.

Dongwan pulled out the chair to allow Briley to sit down, Pilkyo doing the same for Nik. They all sat together, 10 chairs squished around two small tables pushed to create one long one. Not long after, Choongjae and Lily headed over with arms full of food. Three large pepperoni, a basket of Buffalo wings, breadsticks, and drinks.

“Didn’t you go a bit overboard with ordering?” Briley laughed.

“You’ve obviously never eaten with us,” Dongwan smiled at her, grabbing some napkins and a slice for both her and him.

Shortly after, they all dug in. Nik caught Lily’s attention and signed a quick ‘Thank you’ before grabbing some wings and chowing down with everyone else. Lily nodded and went back to listening to Choongjae tell a story about the first time they had all had New York pizza together. Nik smiled, listening to all of the men interrupting each other to tell their version of what really happened. They had managed to turn this quiet empty little hole in the wall joint into one as loud as any other pizza joint at peak time.

By the time they were ready to leave, there was not a slice, wing, or stick left. Drinks were gone and everyone was stuffed as they made their way out onto the street to head back to the hotel.

“How are you getting back to your hotel?” Briley asked when they were almost back to the girls’ hotel.

“Oh yeah, we need to call the manager to come pick us back up,” Junghyuk laughed as he pulled out his phone.

“Don’t bother, I texted him when we were leaving the restaurant,” Pilkyo rolled his eyes, shoving the leader hard enough for him to stumble into Minwoo. Nik laughed and checked to make sure both Junghyuk and Minwoo were ok while Pilkyo tried to hide the pout at being ignored.

“So violent,” Lily mock whispered to Nik, the two girls laughing.

“I am not violent!” Pilkyo protested.

“Yes you are,” nearly the entire group said together.

“There is nothing wrong with a little violence,” Nik defended. Pilkyo was nearly in a full pout now, about ready to start nagging his brothers. She turned back to the little prince and gave him a sweet smile. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with a little violence.” She reached out to run her fingers gently against his hand.

Briley couldn’t contain her laughter. “You only say that because you are probably twice as violent as he is.”

Nik spun around, pulling her hands away from Pilkyo as she grabbed her friend around the waist, locking her arms and begun tickling the Brit. Briley squealed and laughed from the tickle torture. “This...doesn’t make...you look...any….less…...violent…” she panted out when she was finally released.

Nik’s eyes lit up wildly momentarily and she winked at her young friend. “Who said I was trying to look less violent?”

Everyone laughed. It was almost 2 in the morning and yet everyone seemed wide awake and in good spirits. That was until the manager showed up with the car to pick them up. “I’ll text you tomorrow,” Pilkyo promised before he got into the car. The Shinhwa men took off and Fangirl Fridays plus Aaron made their way slowly up to the elevator and into their beds.