They arrived in the lobby of the Lotte Hotel on Jeju Island around four that afternoon. The hour plane ride had not given anyone time to sleep, except for Chansung, who could probably sleep anywhere.

            JYP, Jae Hwa and Manager-hyung had arrived earlier than them somehow and were waiting in the lobby. After exchanging typical after-trip pleasantries, JYP informed them that the eight of them would be sharing a suite of rooms, two per actual bedroom. “Same- rooms,” he stressed, “which should leave rooming pairs pretty easy: Wooyoung-Nichkhun, Ha Neul-Anna, Junsu-Junho and our fashion terrorists, Chansung-Taecyeon.”

            He handed out keys. “You boys have practice in the morning and you’ll get the scripts. As for you girls…” JYP trailed off and turned to his sister-in-law. “I guess you can work with them with their parts…heh.”

            Anna and Haneul exchanged confused looks before realizing what they were doing and then turned it into a full-on glare.

            Nichkhun thought JYP was being particularly lenient lately with the rules and their schedule. Not to mention he had been pretty silent about the plans for this disaster of a movie.

            “Well, uh, I guess that’s it for now. You still have time to enjoy the beach today. Have fun.”

            “Let’s go,” announced Junsu after the adults had left them.

            “I feel like I’m on some bad family vacation,” mumbled Anna.

            “He just abandoned us…” whimpered Wooyoung, staggering towards Nichkhun.

            “I’m starting to understand what MBLAQ was talking about,” Nichkhun agreed, allowing his friend to lean on him and feign crying.

            “It’s almost like he doesn’t care about us anymore,” Junho said.

            “If he didn’t care, we’d be back in Seoul doing what we normally do. But here we are on this lovely island with beautiful girls.” As Junsu spoke, a group of girls dressed for the beach was passing them, heading out the door. They missed the faces, but sighed appreciatively at their slim bodies.

            “Ya, let’s go change!” Chansung exclaimed, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. Taecyeon picked up his own bag and then went to grab the handle of Haneul’s rolling suitcase. She was trying to take it from him but he ran ahead of her and stuck his tongue out.

            “Wait, so we’re not in the movie?” Jae Hwa had called Anna and Haneul out for breakfast to explain what exactly was going on. The older woman nodded solemnly and sipped her juice. She dabbed at with a napkin.

            “Then why on earth are we even here, umma? I could be finding a real job.”

            “I feel cheated. What sort of contract did I sign?”

            “Basically, JYP and the screenwriters decided familiar faces would be better for this movie.”

            “And again, Miss Stuart, I ask, what are we doing?”

            “Who are these familiar faces?”

            “You two will be helping on-set with by fetching things and the like and probably be in some shots as extras or unnamed speaking parts. Oh, and those are the familiar faces.” Jae Hwa pointed past them to a far corner of the outside patio where six girls were gathering up their belongings from a table.

            Neither girl could see make out the faces of whomever these girls were. They leaned over in their chairs and squinted at the table.

            “Girls, you’re looking foolish. Just wait for them to come over to leave.” They straightened their postures and opened their eyes normally. Jae Hwa whispered to them that the girls were approaching. So Anna looked at Haneul who nodded slightly. The former leapt from her chair with a cry, clutching her left eye.

            “Omo, my contact just fell out!” she cried.

            “Oh no!” Haneul exclaimed in mock-concern. The two were now on their knees, crawling around the table. They met beneath the table and were facing the girls approaching them. Both half-heartedly looked for her lost contact. As this was transpiring, Jae Hwa was trying her best to look as if she was unsure who these girls were.

            “Yuri-unni, isn’t that the ahjumma who is the choreographer?” came a sweet voice, the question growing louder as they approached the girls.

            Six pairs of slim legs were walking towards the table as the grim realization of the familiar faces set in. Haneul pointed towards a spot on the floor and called loudly, “Oh, I think that’s your contact, Anna.”

            “Wow, thank you so much, Haneul.” Both girls quickly hopped to their feet and smoothed their clothes and hair. They primly sat down in their seats when the group of six joined their table.

            “Ahnyong haseyo, ajhumma. We’re the girl leads in 2PM’s movie,” greeted Sunny as she was the oldest member present. She smiled brightly at Jae Hwa and bowed deeply.

            “Ahnyong, ahnyong,” she returned. “My name is Yoon Jae Hwa. This is my daughter Haneul and her friend Anna.” She was using friend in its loosest interpretation.

            “I am Sunny. And this is Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Yoona and Seohyun. Our other members are at the beach since they’ll have minor parts in the film compared to ours,” she explained.

            “Well, it’s nice to meet you all.” The eight girls nodded in agreement to the ahjumma’s words.

            “We’re very excited for this,” Yuri spoke up happily. “2PM is full of such great guys. We really got to know them with the Caribbean MV. Nichkhun was so fun to work with. I can’t wait to do it again.”

            “Me either, but with Taec, of course. We’ve grown really close lately, so it’s like working with my best friend,” Yoona said in agreement, smiling kindly.

            “More than a best friend for you, Yoona,” teased Tiffany with her eye smile. She poked her friend in the shoulder and giggled.

            “Unni, you weren’t supposed to say anything!”

            “Well, isn’t it more of a one-sided thing anyway?” Hyoyeon asked suddenly.

            “I’m sure if Yoona tells him then he’ll reciprocate,” declared Yuri assuredly. “After all, she is everyone’s ideal girl.” At this, Seohyun cleared and spoke mildly.

            “That’s a bit presumptuous, don’t you think? Just because Yoona-unni is everyone’s ideal girl does not mean that Taecyeon will reciprocate her feelings. And even if he does, it could be out of her being familiar, not any deep feeling.”

            Her unnis looked at her strangely and Seohyun awkwardly looked away.

            “Well, this is hardly the place to be discussing this,” Sunny told them. “We’ll be seeing more of you, ahjumma. Have a nice day.” She ushered her members off the patio. When they were out of hearing distance, Haneul chanced a look at Anna. The brunette’s face was just as dumbfounded as her own. They were replaced by SNSD. Oddly, Haneul felt relieved at this. Perhaps normalcy was returning to her world.

            “We might as well leave,” Anna said dejectedly. “We cannot compete with beautiful legs, waving hair and everything else. Aigo, now they are all 10 out of 10s. We’re, at best, a seven…”

            “What happened to all your- ‘I’m prettier than everyone else?’”

            “That’s only good with American boys. I win hands down for the most part, but competing against pure Korean girls that guys around the world salivate…we’re doomed…”

            “I’d hate to agree, but you’re right. We are doomed…”

            “I don’t hate you so much right now since you’re in the same boat I am. We’re going to get wiped out by Girl’s Generation.”

            “As much as I’m enjoying this pity party, girls, I have to say that you can’t let every stereotypically attractive Korean girls with a perfect body shake your confidence. No matter how close those boys may be to them or how much longer they’ve known them.”

            “Umma, you’re not helping.”

            “Aigo, kids these days place too much basis on looks. It’s all about fate, my dears. Why are you both still here while the others left? It’s fate.”

            “Ahjumma, na michigesseo….”

            “And cut!!!” JYP had started them in on filming a few days after they arrived. Haneul and Anna were doing their best to be helpful by fetching equipment and posing as extras for this film. They were learning the dances with the girls to be back-up dancers for the movie. The 2PM boys had been mightily surprised at their appearance on-set. Haneul watched grimly as Taec and Yoona played out a love story before her very eyes. Well, it wasn’t a full-blown one yet, but she was able to see bits and pieces of their faux flirtation played out for the fans. Since he had been busy practicing and rehearsing with Yoona or with 2PM, Haneul was unable to meet with him. They talked through texts and caught glimpses of each other on set.

            Anna was equally despondent as she stood with Haneul. The two girls had formed some sort of truce to unite against the forces of evil, a.k.a. Yoona and Yuri. Haneul had no idea when it happened, but Anna and Nichkhun had something going on similar to Haneul and Taec. Or at least it sure seemed like that. Anna was very indirect with answering questions, which frustrated Haneul to tears. Granted, she did not offer up clear information either when Anna asked about Taec. That was more because she was not sure what they were. Friends with benefits? Dating? Perhaps official?

            Today was a shorter day of filming and because of this both girls had made plans to hang out with their significant friend. As the cameramen packed their belongings for the rest of the day, Haneul and Anna helped clean up the snack table. As Haneul reached to grab the end of the tablecloth, a strong arm s around her waist, pulling her from her duty. She fell back against Taec’s hard chest. He placed a kiss atop her head before released her from the hug.

            “I’ve missed you, Hanna.”

            “Oppa, I thought we were meeting later…” she said, turning to face him. Her eyes darted casually to the set where the SNSD girls were not so subtlely watching them. “Everyone’s still here and there are photographers.”

            He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care about that. I have seen you in awhile. You didn’t miss me?” He asked, lips protruding into a pout that a 21-year old man should never sport on his face. But this was Taec and that’s how he was. Haneul shook her head at his words.

            “No, I missed you. But, if we get photographed netizens will assume I’m your girlfriend,” she pointed out to him.

            “Ooh, you’re right,” he agreed, tapping his chin. “Should I go hang around Yoona then? The netizens will love that.” He took a step back, eyebrows raised. “What should I do? You or her?” Taecyeon was teasing Haneul, but he was perceptive enough to know that she was probably mentally fuming about how everything turned out recently. Haneul shot him a thoroughly disgusted look. She opened , but found no words to express whatever she wanted to say.

            “C’mon Hanna, what’s so wrong about you being my girlfriend?”

            “Nothing at all, but isn’t this not a good time for—“ Taec pressed a finger to his lips and shook his head.

            “Sssh, it’s always a good time. I know you’re upset about the movie too, but don’t worry. There’s nothing between Yoona and I. It’s only you, chagiya. If it’s not you, I can’t be fixed.”

            Anna raised an eyebrow at the scene beside her and lifted the tray laden with food from the table. She decided to leave them and finish the job on her own. She headed towards SNSD, where they were surrounding Yoona. She passed Nichkhun, who immediately left his conversation to walk with her.

            “Nuna,” he greeted her and held out his hands to take the tray from her. “Where are you taking this?”

            “Probably the beach. I’m hungry.” He laughed at her answer, smiling over at her.

            “Ahh, Khun-oppa, you brought us food?” Yuri inquired as they neared. Khun looked to Anna, who regretfully motioned for him to continue over there.

            “Wah, what a lifesaver, we were getting so hungry,” cried Yoona excitedly. Sunny had been watching Taecyeon and Haneul, but turned her attention to Khun and Anna. To her, it seemed as if they were heading off alone. Apparently, some of the members had gotten girlfriends recently or at least developed close friendships with these girls.

            “It’s practically dinner time. Let’s just go get a meal. That way we can eat with Taeyeon, Jessica and Sooyoung.”

            “Good idea,” chorused Tiffany and Hyoyeon, having noticed what Sunny did.

            “Yeah, you’re probably right, unni. Khun-oppa, tell the rest of 2PM to meet us for dinner at the Korean restaurant!”

            “Mianhae, Yuri-ah, but a few of us already have made plans for the evening. But, if you want, I can tell them still.”

            Yuri pouted her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “Our groups haven’t been able to meet fully since we’ve been here.”

            “I am sure we can reschedule so everyone can meet. But we’re running late to deliver this. I will see you all tomorrow.” Khun flashed them a winning smile, which seemed to appease Yuri. Yoona’s gaze had drifted to the other couple of Taecyeon and Haneul. The former was being poked in the chest by the latter. To Yoona’s eyes, the action seemed violent though Haneul meant it nothing of the sort.

            “I’m buying you dinner and that’s the end of it,” Haneul stated fiercely.

            “I’m the oppa. I’ll take care of it and I’m your boyfriend, so it’s doubly my job. And I like doing it too. How dare you deprive me of it?”

          Back on the SNSD side, Yoona let out a tired sigh. “The only man I desire in the industry does not want me?”

            “Their relationship could be for show,” Seohyun pointed out. “Maybe JYP decided a publicity relationship with his niece would be best for 2PM.”

            “So you should still go for it,” assured Yuri.

            “But what if it’s real,” stated Hyoyeon. “Then you become a homewrecker…”

            “Omo, that’s right and our manager will be mad about that,” Tiffany thought aloud.

            The six girls sighed together, unsure of what exactly was going on. Nichkhun and Anna had since left them. Khun asked his companion off-handedly how long she thought it would take for the photos of Taec and Haneul to surface on the web.

            “Two hours tops.”