January 2018

The air was cold, the wind stung her skin and reddened the tip of her nose, but she didn't seem to care about the weather, nor the cameras that roamed around her and her eonnies practically at every step. She had been waiting to see that creature up close for hours and now they were finally heading into the pavilion where they could meet her and, honestly, that was the only thing that interested her.

"Oppa!" she exclaimed, when the attendant at the zoo announced to the girls that the time to enter had finally arrived. Before following her eonnies inside that sort of cage, Lisa ran towards her manager, a big smile as bright as that of a child lighting her face; accustomed as it was to the strange requests of that girl, the unfortunate manager wasn't astonished when he heard her request, nor did he complain too much before accepting to do that favor to her. Immediately, happiness became a feeling even more evident on the face of the young dancer after she had obtained that yes, and actually the manager tought that whatever she had in mind it was worth it to go along with it just for see that expression on her face. Perhaps... to think about it, not even he knew what to expect from her.

He had no way to ask for further explanations, although suddenly he felt need it, because immediately after the end of their conversation, Lisa didn't lose a moment before running towards the cage and reach her eonnies.

The shooting of that segment ended rather quickly, the girls came out of the cage with excited smiles printed on their faces. The next stage wasn't far from there, but the entire crew decided to take a short break to fix the equipment and, above all, to seek shelter from the cold for at least a few minutes. Once the last camera turned off, Lisa ran immediately to the manager to retrieve the cell phone she had left in his hands.

"Did you manage to take it?" she asked, her gaze full of expectation. The manager initially he simply nodded and returning the device.

"You don't have anything strange in mind, do you?" he then ventured to ask her, receiving an amused grin in response.

"Don't worry, I don't have anything strange in mind." she answered, but she gave him no other reassurance. After briefly bowing to thank him, Lisa ran off to rejoin her eonnies. Once with them, however, she didn't bother to participate in their conversation - although they were talking about her favorite subject: the food -, but was to the cell phone that she devoted her full attention.

Without waiting for even a moment, she looked for the number she needed in the phone book and quickly sent the shot that thanks to the manager she had obtained.

"Look! Our baby girl is finally born!"

She wrote under the photo, but honestly she didn't expect such a quick answer. The notification of a new message from "Kimbap" surprised her and she was intimately grateful for the cameras turned off, because otherwise they could all see the smile suddenly appeared on her lips.

"WAH! Daddy is really happy! How did we call her?"

She had to admit it, she had found her own joke pretty silly, but as always she had no doubt that Bobby would play along with her. However, she found herself pretty grateful and relieved after reading his answer.

"Bbori, isn't it adorable?"

"I like that, it's so cute!"

"Like her!"

She answered him, but although the conversation was as light and amusing as ever, part of her couldn't help but wondering what he was doing and why he had responded to her so quickly. Don't get it wrong, usually their conversations by message were always of this kind - short, punctuated by quick answers and very frequent -, but when she spoke to him the day before he had told her that today they would be entirely dedicated to the pratice of the choreography of iKON's new song, so she couldn't help but wondering if she'd been so lucky to text him just when they were on break or if there were any problems with the preparations for the comeback. As a friend, and above all as a fan, she sincerely hoped that the answer to her doubts was the first and she mentally pinned herself to ask him how the pratice were proceeding, once their first topic was finished.

"She took everything from her mother"

"Hey, it's a compliment for me, she's beautiful"

"Never said otherwise, she's really beautiful"

Even though she knew they were joking, she couldn't keep her heart from fluttering a little. However, she forced herself to recover quickly from that moment of weakness and she rapidly wrote her answer.

"LOL! You should see her eyelashes, they are very long! Now she's still a child, but when she grows up I'm sure she'll win the hearts of all the chimpanzees in this zoo!"

"She's still a baby and I already feel anxious... can I be the only man in her life forever, can't I?"

"I'm sorry, you'll have to accept it sooner or later, especially with such an attractive daughter"

"The drama of a father... Ah, I'd like to see her closely..."

"We can come and see her together as soon as we have some free time"

"And the boss's permission? Do you think that mentioning parental duties would help us to convince him?"

"I doubt it lol rather, it would convince him to separate us definitively..." she wrote with a bitter smile. It was hard for her to force herself to keep a calm and neutral expression when she read Bobby's next reply. He and his damned, sudden heroic phrases... he had made her heart jump again, for the umpteenth of many other times.

"He will have to go over my dead body to do it"

A deep breath, and then her fingers were ready to type again with the usual irony.

"Wow... I almost fall..."

"I know, I'm so charming"

"You are! Your daughter is proud of her dad"

"I miss her already..."

"Me too... We'll see her!"

"Every year?"

"Wah, yes! Absolutely! Every year!"

"I can't wait!"

"Me too!"

Now that the "Bbori" topic was ended, she was about to write something about her previous worries, but Bobby anticipated her.

"What are you doing now?"

"Now we are on a break, but soon we will go on a roller coaster! Unfortunately it's still snowing, so we probably will not be able to go up high... JISOO EONNIE, I KNOW YOU HAVE PRAYED FOR THIS!"

"I'm sorry for you lol"

She was barely able to read that message before being called by her manager's voice. The crew was ready and the shooting was about to start again; despite she was aware of having to close the conversation as soon as possible, she didn't want to, especially since her questions were not finished yet. With a sigh, after a new call from the manager, at the end she was convinced to start the inevitable greetings.

"That's okay, we'll find somthing more fun! I have to go now, I managed to tear these minutes by miracle... Wish me good luck!"

"Good luck! And don't get cold, I hope you're well covered"

"Yes!"

She replied, quickly sending him a photo made by Rosé after buying the fox ears that she still wore.

"Kekekeke so cute! But... 'You're not a fox, you're a human'"

He wrote and once again during that brief conversation, she had to force herself to bring the beats of her heart back to normal. Since she had first heard that song, "Alien", the verses had conveyed her conflicting feelings, a mixture of excitement and disillusion from which she hadn't managed yet to free herself despite the months that had passed. The theories of the fans about that lyrics certainly didn't help her to stop deluding herself, but lately she had managed to put her fantasies aside a little... fantasies that obviously now would have started again, thanks to that silly event. Fortunately, at that moment there was the manager, who rushed her and distracted her from any silly thoughts that would immediately invade her mind in other circumstances.

"Don't let me start singing... I'm in public and I have to run away. Cover yourself well if you go out and don't strain yourself during the pratice! I'll call or text you later, okay? Ah, say hello to others! Take a break as soon as you can, guys!" she wrote quickly, then began to fidget waiting for an answer. The manager was advancing towards her with an expression that didn't promise anything good, so it was now certain that his time with him had finally ended.

"Okay, say hello to the girls! Have fun!"

"Thanks🐒"

Lisa was barely able to write that last answer accompanied by that emoticon, before being reached and having to finally put away the phone.

"I know, I know," she said, raising her hands in surrender and preventing the manager from opening his mouth. "We can go now" 
With a sigh, the manager just nodded - she loved that patient boy, had she already mentioned this? - and made her way to the rest of the crew. Although the conversation was over, for the rest of the day Lisa couldn't get rid of the strange feeling that Bobby's words had left her.

*****

Hey! Here is the author!

Honestly I don't have much to say... I would like to thank all those who have read this story and those who will read it n the future and especially those who voted for it, even if they are still few. In addition, I would like to apologize once again for any errors, both in grammar and in expressions... I'll work even harder in the next chapters to improve my English and, in general, the whole narrative.

Before continuing to voice nonsense, I'll stop here. I leave you with another thanks and with the promise to update as soon as possible!

💜bye bye 💛