AN.1. Kids, the whole story is just my telling you to only fall in love with someone who makes you laugh when you’re kissing, or taking a bath together, or having .

AN.2. Chapter Six: New York is actually the first I ever wrote for this story. That and Chapter Five: Toronto, that is. They were originally a one-shot, and I wrote everything else backward. You can read chapter 7B HERE. Read the complete story HERE by supporting me through AFF crowdfunding.

-.-.-

One: Seattle

The Crumpet Shop past morning rush hours is a little subdued. The cat mural on the wall—‘The tea is out of the bag,” it says—looks a tad friendlier. Well, wouldn’t I know. Never had a cat, have I, she thinks to herself. She has put her order for coffee and is now waiting for it. Standing near a table, she watches people pass by. A man in a bowler hat ducks to avoid an umbrella the lady in front of him holds, and she thinks of the many times during training she had to time her moves so that she wouldn't bump into others.

“You like cats?” A man with coiffed hair and tired eyes next to her, who is also waiting for his coffee, asks her. “Cute, that one is, isn’t it? Doesn’t mean it won’t bite, though.”

She lets out a small laugh. “Right.” Where on earth is her coffee?

Coiffed Hair takes a good look at her. “You look familiar.” He raises an eyebrow. “Oh god, you’re the girl from that busking show, am I right? One hell of a performance, that was. Look, my boss is from San Fancisco, and he said he never heard San Francisco being balladed like that. Never shut up about it either, tell you what. Said Scott McKenzie sure was smiling in his grave.” He digs into the pocket of his jacket for his phone, goes to YouTube, and types a few words into the search bar. “This you, right? Well damn, look at all these comments. You some sorta big star, eh?”

“One machiato with hemp milk and one lemon curd crumpet for Irene!” a barista shouts.

Thankful for the timely interruption, she gives Coiffed Hair one of her signature TV smiles. “That’s my order. Please keep watching Busk A Move, will you?”

Coiffed Hair lowers his phone, frowning a little. “I thought your name was Wendy.”

Seungwan grabs her coffee and crumpet, smiling still. She is in public, after all. “Some days it’s easier not to be her.” She nods at Coiffed Hair and leaves, never looking back, not even at the cute mural cat.

-.-.-

Two: Chicago

“Sweet,” the man says. “And you,” he looks Seungwan in the eye, “sorry I didn’t quite catch your name on the show but you’ve got some pipes, honest. I love your Bye Bye Blackbird.” He pounds his chest. “Gonna play that in the church this weekend, yeah. Come see if you have time, maybe?”

She gives him a grateful and regretful smile at once. “Thank you, but I’m afraid we’re scheduled to go on with the show. Again, thank you.”

They take a couple of pictures with him, and the man bids his goodbye. “They really like it, don’t they?” Tablo sports himself with an elbow on the table. “You and your rendition of American staples.”

“Wendy always has a way with baby fans and elderly fans,” Johnny says. Then he adds, just to crank up the ry. “Can’t you have fans your age, Wen?”

“Well, I’m her fan,” Seulgi interjects.

“We don’t count. We’re from the same company.”

“Irene-eonnie is her fan,” Yerim adds in. “And no, you can’t dismiss that fact. She’s from a different company now.”

If anyone is slapped stiff by Yerim’s statement, they all are playing the role of a good actor. Only Tablo muses aloud, “Ah yes, Bae God-hyun. You girls still keep in touch?”

“All the time,” Wendy says. Can’t they leave now? There are only ten minutes left to their lunch time, after all.

“Now everyone in your company might feel relieved to openly court her, no?” Tablo laughs. “Can’t imagine how hard it was for you all back then.”

“Half of the company have a crush on her, and the other half want to be her. Irene-noona has been popular since our training days,” Jaehyun says.

“Should you say that about your senior, Jaehyun-ah?” Seulgi counters.

“Just an observation, Seulgi-ssi.”

“Eh, not me, though.” All heads swivel to Johnny, who is grinning. “This one.” He points at Wendy. “I used to have a crush on this one.”

Sam immediately grabs Johnny’s flailing hand. “Whoa, whoa. J, you sure you don’t have one beer too many?”

“I’m perfectly sober. I just want to say that not everyone puts Irene-ssi at a pedestal, and I say this as someone who’s undergone training almost as long as she has.”

“You wanna destroy your career way earlier, I see,” Seungwan snaps.

“Keyword: used to. C’mon, Wen. The point is I got over it, and ever since I’ve been your biggest fan.”

“No,” she cuts in. “No, you're not.”

For a whole few seconds, the two tables are eerily quiet until Johnny lets out a knowing sigh. “I see,” he relents, rather weakly. “Seat’s taken?”

She glares at him. “Seat’s taken.”

Sam clears his throat, trying to dissolve the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere. “You idols really have a hard time with the so-called no-dating ban.”

“Having—uh—feelings for a fellow idol is just,” Seulgi pauses, hesitating, then settles to say, “not easy.”

Next to Seungwan, Yerim exhales noisily. She shakes her head as if to clear her mind. Then she grunts, “This again? Please.”

“Yerimie,” Seungwan calls, clearly a forewarning.

Yerim shakes her head again. “You know what, Seulgi-eonnie, I had a crush on you.”

A beat.

“To be fair, I didn’t exactly say it say it, but you must have realized. You must have known. God.”

Another beat. Seulgi’s mouth gapes open. Jaehyun groans and drops his face onto his palms. Johnny is stiff-backed, exchanging a now nervous glance with Seungwan, who is now more terrified and prays harder that no phone records or snaps a picture of them. Tablo and Sam look like they really do not want to be there.

“So what if it’s an inside relationship? It’s still a relationship. Yeah, sure, there are hardships and all, but that’s similar to other relationships out there.” She grabs Seungwan’s half full glass of beer (who intentionally doesn't finish it as she is driving), drowns it in a swift manner, slams it back down on the table. “But as Johnny-oppa said, because we live by our company’s rules, all that matters is that I got over it. Easy.”

Seulgi breaks the silence when she pushes her chair backward to rise to a stand. “Restroom,” she mumbles shakily. “I’ll be right back.”

As Seulgi disappears to the direction of the restroom in the corner, Seungwan turns to her youngest bandmate. “What were you thinking? What did you do?” she hisses.

“The right thing,” Yerim says. “Telling the truth.” Despite her terse words, she leans against Seungwan’s arm and rests her head on Seungwan’s shoulder. “That’s one beer too many for me. Urgh. Why didn’t anyone stop me? God, my heaaad.” Despite the situation, Seungwan her hair. She can’t stay mad at Yerim for too long.

-.-.-

Three: Minneapolis

Just as the crew are about to finish their round of the sports complex, where she used to play hockey, a man runs towards them, waving his arms wildly. “Wendy!” he shouts. “Yo! You there! Wendy Shon!”

Jaehyun puts his hand on the small of her back, a gesture of support. “You know him, Wendy-ssi?”

The man stops running in front of them three. From the corner of her eye, she can see Aaron ready himself for two options: if he has to call Max to drag the man away or if he has to tell cameras to record the moment.

Wheezing, the man has to brace himself with his hands on his knees. “Shouldn’t have run, I knew it. Good Lord, my lungs.” He looks up, looking at her and grins. “You’re Wendy, right? It’s me, Tommy. Tommy Sorenson who lives near Wapacuta Park. Remember me?”

Her eyes widen. “Tommy?” Her silly pubescent crush? The school jock whose father used to be the one teacher she’s most afraid of at school? That Tommy?

The man laughs. “Don’t you look great, Wendy.” He reaches out his hand. "Remember when your sister checked on you every time we had algebra because she’s worried you wouldn’t be able to keep up with my dad and that one time I pranked her, telling her you got detention?"

“You satan’s spawn.” Laughing, she shakes his hand. Aaron gives a subtle nod to the camera crew to continue recording.

“Heard you moved to Toronto?”

“Seoul, South Korea for these last ten years.”

“Our superstar.” He claps. “One of my students told me about your MTV show. Thought you were gonna head up straight to Minneapolis, but voila, here you are. Who would’ve thought an Oscar nominee would drop by Faribault, eh.” Tommy chuckles. “I’m rounding up some of the folks to come to Minn for your show, by the way. Remember Dianne Johnson from the lacrosse team? She’s doing the same at the church. Just you watch, Wendy. We’ll be there like cheerleaders on a carbs spree.”

She claps him on the shoulder. Gone is the boy who always looked so puffed up in his varsity jacket, and in its place is an adult trying to establish his place in the working world. Time is a funny thing, she muses. “That means a lot, man. Thank you so, so much.”

“Yeah, can’t just let down one of our most famous alum, no?” He straightens up, patting his brown jacket. “I work here now, you know. School counselor.”

“Counselor! That’s awesome, Tommy!”

“Not bad or a varsity jock, right?” He looks at Johnny and Jaehyun, as if looking for an approval. “And you—dear god, we knew you were great, but to actually go to the Oscar? That’s smoking, Wendy! Not bad for a Korean.”

Seungwan imagines the way the smile slips from Johnny’s face mirrors hers. She hopes not. Public, still in public, remember the public. “For a Korean?” Johnny repeats in an almost growl.

Affable as he is now, Tommy realizes his mistake in a snap. “I didn’t mean anything bad, man—I mean, Wendy was an exchange student here. Did you know she moved to regular classes only after a semester of ESL, this brainiac? I mean—she’s that smart, yeah.”

“Of course,” she says, still smiling. She should’ve been used to this. A former exchange student in a 90% white American city shouldn’t be surprised by this. “I’m Asian smart.”

“Wendy, no, no, that’s not what I mean—I’m just—I’m really happy you have a chance to come back here. Honest to god. A lot of us are really happy you’re here.”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes, since Tommy is blubbering more and more as he backtracks and backtracks. “I’m glad, man. See you in Minn tomorrow, okay?”

Tommy swallows. “Absolutely,” he replies lamely. “Break a leg tomorrow, Wendy.”

Later, after the cameras stop rolling and after Tommy is ushered away and after the three of them go back to the van, she asks Aaron to just omit the entire encounter from the episode. “I want it gone. All of it,” she tells him. “Please.”

-.-.-

Four: Washington, DC

“I said properly, Wan.”

“That—I don’t—you just—”

“Pro. Per. L—” Seunghee’s speech is cut as a large man, whose car is parked next to theirs, slams onto her from behind. “Sir, kindly keep your hands to yourself if yo—oh Jesus.” The man topples forward, nearly bringing Seunghee down with him. He slides against the side of the car, half sprawling on the ground, wheezing and clawing at his throat. Seunghee’s medical training kicks in, and she quickly helps the man lie on his back. Terrified, Seungwan runs to her sister at the other side of the car, watching the situation unfold without knowing how she can help.

“Can’t—brea—” the man gasps out, still clawing at his throat and in the process smacking Seunghee’s hands away.

“Sir, I’m a doctor. I can help,” Seunghee says, and only then the man starts to let go of his throat. Seunghee checks for his pulse and everything else that Seungwan does not understand. “Heartbeat’s weak but steady. Looks like an anaphylactic reaction. Or , maybe.” Seunghee starts looking around. “Wan, my bag,” she says. “Hand me my Swiss knife and the metal straw, quick!”

Passers-by start to notice and gather around the parking lot. Between Seunghee’s mumbling to herself of emergency procedure and people’s buzzing of what might happen and who the two of them might be, Seungwan moves on autopilot. Her sister makes a swift incision on the man’s throat, and blood bursts