Ever since that night, things didn’t seem like they were the same. The skinship between me and Chansung increased and the other members of the house began to notice. Because we were being filmed all the time, I felt nervous and knew that this will come up in an interview later on. This was not a drama, this was real life and real romances can bloom.

I was coming back home from doing a little shopping, not knowing that the house was going to be empty when I returned. However, I heard a conversation going on in what sounded like Junho’s room with Chansung. I decided to take the backstairs to the second floor so that I can quietly hear them. I normally don’t eaves drop, but it sounded like an intense discussion and I caught the middle of it, not sure what it was about.

“Channie, you need to tell her what is going on. I mean, how else do you expect for things to go right if you don’t?”

“It’s hard,” he says and takes a deep breath. “I want to tell her that I am falling in love with her, but a part of me doesn’t want to say anything. Andi is only going to be here for a few more weeks and then she is going back home. I don’t do well with good-byes and this time will be no different. If I let myself get more attached to her now, it is going to be more painful for me and I don’t want that.”

“That is a risk we sometimes just have to take. She deserves to know how you feel about her. She cares so much about you. There is no possible way that you can be around her this long and keep something like that to yourself.”

“I know, but it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t say anything. I know that when she goes home she is going to meet a nice guy and fall in love with him and be happy. Plus it would be pointless if we tried to make this work; we live on opposite sides of the world. I don’t think that she would want to be in a long distance relationship.”

“First of all it does matter. She cares about you too much to not care about your feelings when it is so obvious how she feels about you. Secondly, Andi would not just go home and forget about you; she isn’t like that. Plus, if you put some effort into it, you can make a long distance relationship work. Technology is quite convenient and it is a good thing that you two both have apple products. There are apps for everything, then you have face time, Skype, I mean, there is really no excuse Chansung. That makes things even easier. I know that her time here with us is limited, but that should be the motivation for you to say something now and not get discouraged. You need to be making this time count since it is so crucial to you. I don’t want you to miss out on a great girl all because you were too afraid to express your feelings. If you don’t say anything now, you are going to forever be mad at yourself. Think of a creative way to express how you feel. It is going to work out.”

“You really think she likes me that much Junho?”

“I couldn’t be more certain. She is great with spending time with all of us and you, but I think that you two need to be spending even more time together on a more personal level. I mean, to be falling in love with someone is a major thing and here you said before it wouldn’t matter. If you tell her how you feel, things will be so much easier. Plus, I think you two make a cute couple. I’m kind of jealous.” Junho laughed off the last statement. Channie laughed too.

I had no idea Chansung felt like this about me. However, I knew that the realization would sink deeper if he said all of that to me personally. Nonetheless I believed him.  I cared so much about him too, but had my own doubts about whether I should voice this feeling or not. I went to my room and put my bags away. As I turned to go back downstairs, I bumped into Chansung. At first it was kind of awkward, but when he hugged me, I felt calm and at ease. He told me that he wanted to talk to me tonight about something and I knew exactly what it was going to be about. I was excited, and could not wait until tonight.

There was also going to be another unexpected surprise: we all were going to meet Jay’s girlfriend for the first time. We had no idea he was even dating and were upset that he didn’t say earlier. He had been dating her for three weeks now and says that she is the one. This was a bold statement coming from him so we were even more anxious to meet this lucky lady. We did know a few things: she was the same age as Jay, she was taller than him but not by a drastic measure, she could cook, she had a nice car, had a cat, loved pink, had a job and didn’t have any kids. Sounded like a winner to me. However, Jay mentioned something that was quite interesting about her; we may not approve of her occupation. It had me wonder: what would she do that we wouldn’t approve of? The first thing I thought of could have been a star, but I didn’t think he would date a girl like that. He said that he would rather her tell us and left it at that. This was going to be an interesting night, seeing how many things were about to unfold.

It was dinner time and we prepared a lot food. We were so hungry and we were going to have a special guest come over. Jay especially was excited. Jay walked into the kitchen dressed in a button down shirt, jeans, and casual dress shoes. We all were impressed, seeing how we never had a dress code for diner.

“Wow, look at you!” I exclaimed. “Aren’t you excited about your girl coming over?”

“I am yes, and you all will love her.”

“You told us all of these miscellaneous details about her, but what exactly is her name?” asked Taecyeon.

“Her name is Alisha but everyone calls her Pinky.”

After hearing this statement, it allowed me to put two and two together. She was probably a stripper. However, I didn’t care about that; I was mainly concerned with what the group would think. Who they dated had much to do with their image, and they might be concerned that with Jay dating Alisha it might affect their image. I was hoping that wasn’t the case, but since we were all being filmed all the time, it was kind of already out there. All we had to do now was to hear it from Alisha herself.

After about an hour, the doorbell rang. I decided to get the door, seeing how it was probably Alisha. I opened the door, and there stood in front of me a young woman of 5’9’’, long orange brown hair, pretty face, cat eyes, curvaceous body, and all dressed in pink. This had to be Alisha. I had to admit, she looked like Jay’s taste and I noticed that she had in her hand a large pot of some sort. I invited her in and everyone was in awe and shock. She smiled sweetly at everyone and presented to greet herself.

“Hi everyone! My name is Alisha, but you can call me Pinky. I am Jay’s girlfriend. Thank you for inviting me to dinner; I feel so honored to be here with you all. I have heard many great things about each of you and I brought some homemade ice cream for dessert if that is ok.”

We all loved ice cream and to have some homemade was even better. Taec came over and took the pot she gave into the kitchen to put into the freezer. She went over to greet Jay and he kissed her very lovingly. It was so cute. Because she wore heels, she had to bend down and kiss Jay, but it was so cute. He looked so happy to see her. So far, I didn’t see anything wrong. The food was ready and I helped Nichkhun and Wooyoung place the dishes on the table. We all began to dig in and enjoy our meal. After some time, Teac decided to ask Alisha to talk about herself. I knew that we all were waiting for her to tell us what she did for a living, since Jay hinted that this be something we may be concerned about.

“Well, my name is Alisha, and I live about four blocks away from here. I don’t know what you already know about me, but I will briefly explain. I live alone, I don’t have any children. I have a car, I cook, clean and all of the domestic stuff. Jay told me that I should tell all of you what I do for a living. I hope that you won’t judge me for this, but I work at a strip club in another part of town. I had been working there for a few months for some extra money. This isn’t the only job that I have. During the day I work at a boutique in the mall and at night I work at the club. I hope that this doesn’t present a problem.”

We all were in a bit of shock, but I knew that I figure it out. It was kind of obvious. The rest of the bunch began asking more elaborative questions and Pinky had no problem answering them. Nichkhun was slightly concerned that she would affect Jay’s image; therefore affecting the group as a whole. Jay knew this, but he had already let manager know. Mind you, all of this was said on live TV. She didn’t tell us where she worked for the sake of broadcasting, but it wasn’t that important. Pinky said that she was quite prepared for the backlash if there was going to be any for her dating Jay and that she would stand by whatever decision that Jay had to make. I admired her for that. She knew what she was getting herself into, but did not let it stop her from being with Jay. In a sense, I felt as though I should have the same mindset when it came to me and Chansung. Although I had a few weeks left to still be here, it should not stop us from making the best of our time together. Plus, some day when I save enough I could make a trip there again or he could come to America and see me. There were many possibilities. That night, we all sat down in the living room, played card games, and watched TV. She was really fun to hang out with and I liked her a lot. I think that Jay found a great girl. Chansung motioned for me to meet him upstairs and I soon followed him after the last show on TV went off. We went in his room and we sat down on the bed.

“I’m glad I was able to get you alone. There is something really important that I want to talk to you about, and I don’t want to waste any more time. I think I love you, and I have been feeling this way ever since you came here. I love the affection you give me, how much time you spend with me, and you care about my feelings. I never met a girl who could do these things for me, but since I know that you can, I’m convinced that you are the one for me. I know that you aren’t going to be here for a long time, but I want to try and make things work regardless. We don’t have to be together if you don’t want to, but either way I want to have you in my life. Please accept and return my feelings, for I feel like you feel the same for me. I just need to be sure.”

Hearing these sweet words brought tears to my eyes. I was so happy, and threw my arms around him. “I accept and return your feelings Chansung,” I happy declared. He smiled and held me close in his arms. It was so amazing to me how I had to come all the way here to find love. I didn’t want anyone other than Chansung and we were going to do whatever we need to make things work. These next four weeks were going to be great and I was going to spend this time getting closer to Chansung.