t w o .

Soojung ran into Dean again three weeks later. She thinks the world is a quite big, but to run into someone she just met again within the span of a month, could mean something. Especially if they both met again at a Phony Ppl’s concert. She knew that they were going to a have a special guest for their Seoul concert, but Dean was the last person she was expecting.

To be honest, she has never heard of his music before but when his voice echoed across the small venue, she figures it might not be that bad. His voice was a pitch higher when he sings, like he wants to speak lightly and not scare anyone away. Somehow, she thinks about when she likes guys in boy bands. There was always anticipation when it came to the short lines that they had in songs, but this was a different experience: to hear someone’s voice the whole three minutes or so.

I’m not sorry

I’m not sorry baby.

Some of his English lyrics resonated across the small venue and she was surprised that he was fluent. She didn’t think he was partly American at all, but figured she might have been jumping to conclusions too much about this guy she just met.

Before she knew it, his part was over and the concert continued on.

She thoroughly enjoyed Phony Ppl every time she sees them live. She had lost count of how many times that had been. Once the show was over, she headed backstage as the group invited her to stop by.

Dean caught her eye as she entered the crowded dressing room. He seemed almost surprised as she was.

After the art exhibit, Jinri questioned her about Dean, in which Soojung just replied that he’s not really her type.

Weeks later, she sees him again and he’s donning a weird combination of layering. He tucked his hair under an unusual hat, but that left his neck exposed with a tattoo she couldn’t exactly make out yet. Despite a small attraction she feels, she still thinks he’s not her type.

She contemplates on whether she should say hi. “What if he doesn’t remember me,” she thinks. She’s not sure why she’s feeling a bit nervous. She blames it on his opening set, having to listen to his crooning voice for thirty minutes straight as the crowd around her shrieks.

“What are you doing here,” he asks almost accusingly as he approached her first.

“I like their music,” she says nonchalantly. Soojung thinks he probably didn’t know what to make of this. Even none of her friends had even listened to Phony Ppl, and she always begged her manager to come with her to their events as she didn’t want to go alone.

“You speak English well,” she says in English. He gives her a look that seems as if he thought she was mocking him.

“You speak English well,” he counters back in English. She could only smile at his response.

“Any luck finding a muse?” He raises his eyebrows, then suddenly remembered their conversation weeks ago when they shared about the difficulties of writing lyrics.

“No, not yet. How about you?”

“I think there might be a shortage of them.”

He laughed at her statement, but before he could continue the conversation, Elijah gathered everyone over for a group picture. She slipped away to the other side, and he figured that might have been the best anyways.

_

Soojung shivers as she stepped back inside the building. Her manager went to fetch the car and she insisted to wait outside as she need a breath of fresh air. However, the windy night changed her mind. The back hallway was bustling with staff packing up equipment. Soojung pressed herself against the wall as the people squeezed by her. Just as she spotted a familiar outlandish hat meters away, her phone rang.

“Soojung, there’s something wrong with the car. I’m going to have to wait for a towing service to come. Why don’t I call Sunyoung’s manager to come by and take you home,” her manager proposed.

“That’s too much of a hassle oppa. I will just call a cab. Are you sure you don’t want me to just wait with you?”

“Who knows when that will be. It’s fine, I’m sure your social meter has been depleted already by the concert.” Soojung chuckles and agrees to text her manager when she gets home. As she’s dialing a cab service, Dean passes by in order to get to the exit door. He must have noticed she was on the phone since he politely nodded and continued on his way. The dial tone continues to rings before she made a rash decision to tug on Dean’s jacket.

“You wouldn’t happen to be heading towards the area of Heukseok-dong would you?”

She hangs up the phone before he could even reply.