“You almost ready to go?!” Eryn calls from the other room.

            “Yeah! One second!” I call back as I touch up the last of my makeup. For some reason, I have the mentality that I have to look nice to go to a concert. It’s always just been, I guess, a personal pet peeve that I have my makeup done nicely and wearing a nicer outfit when I go to a concert.

            You know those memes that are along the lines of “gotta look my best just in case the artist I see notices me in the crowd” kind of things? I guess I always just did that so it just made sense to me. Concerts are more of a dressier event personally.

            “Let’s go! We have to walk to the venue from the hotel! Jihoon’s waiting!” Eryn calls once more for me to pick up the pace, this time in a teasing tone. We travelled all the way to New York for a couple days to go to a concert for one of our favourite groups.

            “I still think we’re crazy to come all the way to New York for a concert,” I laugh as I meet Eryn at the door. “Your love for Kang Daniel and my love for Park Jihoon is pretty passionate I guess,” I laugh.

            “Wanna One is worth it,” she exclaims. She’s not wrong. Staying in a hotel in a city you are not from just to see an artist you like live in concert is a little crazy but a little crazy is good for you, is it not?

            “Let’s go,” I say as I grab my purse by the door and we make our way to the elevator.

            We walk out of the elevator and through the lobby to the entrance of the hotel. We exit the hotel and make our way towards the venue of the concert. It’s not a huge venue so Eryn and I are lucky enough to have gotten tickets considering Wanna One’s popularity worldwide. It’s their first concert in New York so they didn’t book the largest venue that they could easily sell out. The venue is not far from the hotel we’re staying at, luckily, so it’s a short enough walk.

            Rounding a few corners, we make it to the venue. No surprise, there’s quite a line of all the other fans that were lucky enough to purchase tickets.

            The line moves fairly quickly and we make it into the concert to find our seats and wait for the show to start.

-

            “That was so amazing! I’m still not over it!” I practically shout as Eryn and I step off the elevator as we reach our floor.

            “I didn’t want the concert to end,” Eryn speaks as she opens the room door. “Can we go back in time to see the concert again?” I laugh in response as I collapse on my bed and Eryn does the same on hers.

            Eventually we change out of our concert outfits, getting ready to just chill in the hotel room with a bunch snacks and drinks we bought earlier from a random corner store.

            “Hey, Madi, will you go get some ice from the machine wherever it is? I’m too lazy to get up,” Eryn asks as she continues switching channels on the TV.

            I sigh. “Fine, but you have to at least tell me where the ice machine is,” I try to bargain so I’m not just wandering around different floors of the hotel. I put my room key in my sweater pocket and leave in search for ice.

            She told me the floor but it’s no use because I don’t remember it. I wander the floors, looking for a sign.

            Just walking around a hotel is quite boring so luckily brought my phone with me. I quickly text Eryn to ask what our room number is because I can’t seem to remember anything useful today, like my room number or what floor the ice machine would be on, for instance.

            Not looking where I’m going because I’m on my phone trying to get Eryn to answer me with our room number causes me to bump into something and drop my phone. I keep my head down out of slight embarrassment if anyone saw me run into anything.

            “I’m sorry,” a deep voice says. I keep my eyes down and I’m frozen in place as the stranger picks my phone up off the ground. “Sorry again… Here’s your phone, it doesn’t look broken, luckily.”

            “Thanks,” I look up to thank the stranger. Our eyes meet and I’m at a loss for words. The man in front of me wears an oversized black hoodie, a baseball cap, and a mask; only his eyes are visible and they are stunning. I must be crazy because his eyes look oddly familiar somehow. “Uhhhh...” I don’t know what to say.

            “S-sorry,” he stutters. “I just have to say, you have really pretty eyes.” That was unexpected from a stranger but seems pretty genuine.

            “T-t-thanks,” I stutter out the word as I try to cover my face with my hands nonchalantly to hide my blushing cheeks.

            The man lowers his mask to reveal his whole face. “I’m Jihoon,” he smiles slightly as he introduces himself. He’s so beautiful in person! I can’t believe my eyes that Park Jihoon of Wanna One is right in front of me and is talking to me!

            “Madisen,” I introduce myself to him. “Sorry I bumped into you,” I apologize for my carelessness. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

            “It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” he waves his hand.

            We stand in silence, just looking at each other. I can’t help but admire his beautiful features. If I could describe the way my face probably looks, I’d most likely be the heart-eyes emoji.

            “I should get going,” he sighs and his eyes drop to his shoes for a moment.

            “Oh, okay.” I’m not going to lie, I’m disappointed I don’t get to keep talking to him. Not that we were doing much talking. “I should find my way back to my room anyway…” I sigh.

            “‘Find your way back’? What do you mean?” he asks for clarification, tilting his head slightly in question.

            “I can’t remember my room number, or floor really, and I texted my friend to remind me but she isn’t responding…” I check my phone for any notification and there’s still nothing. I shove my hands into my sweater pockets and shrug my shoulders.

            “Would you like to just hang out in my room for a few minutes while you wait for your friend to text you that number so you’re not just waiting out here in the hallway?” Jihoon suggests. Wait. Seriously?!

            “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I tell him. “I’ll be okay.”

            “I insist. Plus, then we’d get to talk to each other more,” he smiles and my heart melts. His hands find their way to his sweater pockets and he raises his shoulders a little, waiting for my answer.

            “Alright,” I ‘give in’. “Lead the way,” I gesture and follow him as he starts down the hallway. I wasn’t going to say no to Park Jihoon! Not as a fangirl but out of general curiosity and to maybe get to know him a little better.

            “Here we are,” he announces as he opens the door to his room.

            “Wow, what a nice room,” I speak in awe. “Is it just you here?”

            “Yup,” he speaks briefly. “Here, have a seat,” Jihoon gestures to the bed in the middle of the room. I sit down, awkwardly sitting on the very corner. He takes a seat almost behind me, closer to the large amount of pillows, causing me to turn around and stumble as I try to regain my balance. “You should probably sit closer to the middle,” he tells me and I shift slightly closer to the middle of the bed, and him in general. “I’d hate for you to fall and somehow get hurt.” My heart melts and pounds against my chest all at once. The fact that he said he’d hate for me to fall and get hurt just proves that he is a genuine nice guy.

            “So, Jihoon, what were you doing in the hallway? Just wandering?” I ask while trying not to be awkward, trying to start a nonchalant conversation with the beautiful man in front of me.

            “Yeah, just wandering around… I was bored just sitting in here. Until I met you,” he adds.

-    

            We end up chatting for about an hour, I’d say, before I notice my phone light up with an incoming call and Eryn’s name across the screen. “Are you going to get that?” Jihoon asks, looking at my phone sitting between us on the bed.

            “That’d be rude, we’re in the middle of a conversation,” I smile, not wanting our conversation to end just yet. I lightly toss my phone onto the chair not far from where Jihoon and I sit.

            “You really are something Madi. You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. I smile in thanks and I feel my cheeks heat up. I know I’m blushing like a tomato. He smiles as he leans in slightly. I don’t realize quite how close he is now until his lips press softly against mine. My eyes widen in shock but I don’t push him away from me. He breaks the kiss too soon. “Sorry, was that too forward?” he asks.

            “No, I liked it,” I admit, feeling slightly awkward.

            “Then would you mind if I did it again?” I shake my head. He presses his lips to mine again but this time almost immediately he deepens the kiss. I don’t hesitate in any way to kiss him back, our lips moving together effortlessly. This is like a dream, I can’t believe what is happening right now.

            I pull away to catch my breath for a moment. He just looks at me before slowly tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. He leaves his hand on my cheek as he kisses me again. His hand trails down my jaw, tilting my chin closer to him to take dominance of the kiss. His one hand stays at my chin while the other gently grips my thigh.

-

            I wake up in an unfamiliar place. I know I’m at a hotel but is this my room? I turn my head to look at the clock next to me: 6:17am. I turn my head the other way and I can’t believe my eyes. A shirtless Jihoon lays next to me, still asleep. Why would he be shirtless? Unless... I glance down at myself and my predictions are right. Holy . I quickly but quietly get up and collect all my clothes that lay scattered all over the floor. I get dressed as quickly as I can without waking Jihoon. Once completely dressed again, I grab my phone off the chair I threw it onto last night. I check my pocket to make sure my room key is still there.

            Turning my phone on, I see eight missed texts from Eryn; seven asking where I am and the last just simply answering my earlier question of what our room number was. I slip my shoes on and decide it’s best to just leave without the possible extremely awkward conversation that could take place after Jihoon wakes up, whenever that would be.

            I admire him for a moment, just trying to tell myself that the past twelve hours were, in fact, real and did actually happen.

            Jihoon shifts in his sleep and I take that as my que to leave quickly and as quietly as possible. I look at my phone once more to verify the room number and find my way back to my actual hotel room. Why is the room number not written on the room keys? Or if it was, why wasn’t it the one I took with me?

            I quietly enter the room, hoping Eryn in still asleep. I turn around to see her sitting cross-legged on her bed, staring at me so I take that as a no; she’s already awake. “Are you-”

            “Don’t.” I interrupt her question. “Please don’t.” I throw my room key onto the random desk by the door.

            “You are!” she exclaims.

            “I am what?” Please don’t ask where I just came from.

            “This is the walk-of-shame!” she concluded her assumption. “You’d think for someone who pays attention to detail that they would try to cover it up better by fixing their hair and leftover makeup best they could.” She laughs and I just sigh. Her teasing right now is not needed. She’s right but I’ve just been trying to wrap my head around the last twelve hours happening.

            “Quick question.” She hums in response. “Could you pinch my arm? Or slap me?” She approaches me and pinches my arm. “Ow!” I exclaim. “Yup, okay, that happened,” I whisper to myself.

            “Is this what you did instead of finding your way back to your own room?”

            “No, but please don’t ask questions. I don’t want to talk about it right now…” I tell her with a sigh. I’m not extremely proud of my actions but I don’t really regret what happened with Jihoon either. I’m a little conflicted honestly.

            “Okay, well if I’m not able to ask questions then let's get ready,” Eryn tells me.

            “Why? It’s, like, six in the morning,” I tell her.

            “We’re going to the airport today to send Wanna One off to their next tour location with the other fans that I expect would do the same.” . I forgot that was today… Well, I can hope that we won’t be close enough to the front that the group would see us. If Jihoon saw me and recognizes me, I don’t even want to think about it; I left without saying anything this morning so I don’t know what he’s thinking.

            We get ready and take a cab to the airport to watch one of our favourite groups leave to go to their next tour location. After seeing Wanna One leave, Eryn and I were just going to chill in the airport until our flight home that’s later in the day.

            We find the group of fans already waiting. “Okay, let’s try to get towards the front because I want to try to get some nice airport photos of Daniel as they leave,” Eryn explains to me as she practically starts pushing her way towards the makeshift rope that everyone must stand behind as several security guards monitor the area.

            About an hour passes and I start to hear screams from the group we stand with. Oh no! I can feel myself getting anxious as I see the group of eleven attractive idols approach. I finally spot Jihoon, trailing behind everyone. He wears the same outfit he wore when I met him by chance in the hotel hallway. He looks at the crowd as he waves to all the fans that take pictures and call his name loudly. He starts to look at the general area that Eryn and I stand and I lower my gaze and notice my shoelace is loose so I bend down to retie the laces.

            I hear a gasp from the crowd and immediately stand up and look around for the source of the gasp. “What happened?” I ask Eryn.

            “Jihoon suddenly stopped walking and dropped his phone.” Sounds kind of familiar… I wasn’t paying attention yesterday and I dropped my phone when I quite literally bumped into him.

            I look to where Jihoon would have stood to see him still standing there. He looks at something behind the crowd, behind the area where Eryn and I stand.

            “Dude, he’s looking at you. And his eyes are huge! Oh my God! I thought he had large eyes before but they somehow got bigger when he widens them,” she laughs.

            “He’s not looking at me,” I pass it off. There’s no way. There’s so many fans here.

            “Wait, pretend you’re tying your shoe?” Eryn asks as she looks at Jihoon, who still stares at something. I re-tie the laces of my other shoe now and then straighten myself once again. “Madi! He’s staring at you!” she whisper-yells. “His eyes lowered when you went to tie your shoe!”

            I look at Jihoon once more before who I assume is a manager gestures for him to follow the rest of their group before they miss their flight.

            I walk away from the group towards one of the restrooms in the airport. Luckily it’s empty so I’m free to cry by myself. He must have recognized me somehow in the crowd of fans and now I’m just embarrassed. He never would’ve known that I was a fan because I never said anything to him so he’s probably shocked that I’m a fan of the group he’s in. Or at least seeing me in the crowd with all the fans? This seems so messed up and I can’t even explain anything to him… Or apologize for leaving and not saying goodbye.

            I left his room without saying anything so I have no idea what his reaction would be if I had stayed until he woke up. This just adds to the embarrassment of the earlier walk-of-shame from his room to mine.

            I don’t even know why my first reaction was to cry but here I am in an airport restroom, bawling my eyes out. This is just overwhelming and so my first instinct was to cry for some reason?

            “Okay, spill,” I hear Eryn’s voice. “Something had to somehow be going on for Jihoon to have literally stopped walking and stare at you for a solid minute. I feel like I’m missing something… Did you do something to get his attention that I didn’t see?”

            I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Well, we were at the same hotel as Wanna One.”