Living with Idols

Introduction {Part IV}

Aedi Lee ;

Location : Los Angeles, CA, USA 

“Why are we doing this again?” Aedi Lee’s friend, Tony, asked as he puffed his cheeks out in exasperation and drummed his fingers against the marble countertop.

Aedi rolled her eyes at Tony and responded, “Because you said you wanted cupcakes. What? Did you think I was just going to make them all by myself and you were just going to plop your down in front of the TV and watch reruns of That 70s Show?”

“Duh,” Tony retorted while making a face and flicking Aedi against the forehead.

Aedi rolled her eyes again, but this time grinned at her dark-haired friend. “Come on, they’re super easy to make.”

“Speak for yourself,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the box Aedi had pulled from the pantry. Despite his protests, he pulled out a large bowl and the mixer when Aedi instructed him to do so and even preset the oven to 350 degrees.

Aedi opened the box and cut open the package containing the mix. She sidled up in front of the counter and next to Tony. She poured the mix in then had Tony crack the eggs, add the water and measure out the oil.

“I’ll do the mixing,” Aedi assured after Tony had poured in the oil from the plastic measuring cup.

Tony shrugged and leaned on the counter, watching Aedi start to mix the contents of the bowl. Once Aedi was satisfied that everything was sufficiently mixed and moist, she turned off the mixer and handed a beater over to Tony.

Tony grinned and eagerly accepted the beater, off the cake mix. Smiling, Aedi followed suit and at her own beater.

“Mmm, this is damn good,” Tony complimented as he finished cleaning the beater.

“Pillsbury makes the best,” Aedi said, laughing as she took their beaters and deposited them into the sink.

After putting in all the cupcake papers in the tin, Aedi poured in the mix with the help of Tony who held the large bowl for her. Her Vietnamese friend’s eyes were glued to the mix and Aedi knew that he would want to the bowl clean. She giggled to herself as she thought about Tony literally the bowl clean.

Once all the mix was poured, Aedi handed the bowl to Tony and his eyes immediately lit up. He grabbed a spoon from the drawer and began scrapping the sides clean.

Aedi giggled once again then picked up the tin and slid it into the pre-heated oven where it would remain for about twenty minutes.

While they waited for the cupcakes to bake, Aedi decided she would venture outside and pick up the mail. She reasoned it had to be there by then since it was past three in the afternoon. She really wanted to see if that package from her friend in Washington had arrived yet. She told Tony to stay in the kitchen in case something went wrong with the oven then she went to get the mail.

When she reached the mailbox and pulled out the mail, she was disappointed that her friend’s package had yet to arrive. It was a signed CD from SHINee since her Washington friend had visited Korea and went to a SHINee fan-meet.

Sighing, she rifled through the mail as she walked back up the driveway to her LA home and back into her house. Tony looked at her as she walked in.

“Nothing?” he asked, although he already knew the answer from her expression.

Aedi just shook her head then suddenly stopped and tilted her head to the side. “Wait a minute,” she murmured, staring down at a letter that was from South Korea. Seoul, South Korea to be exact—and it was addressed to her.

She opened the letter and read the first few sentences before she erupted into happiness. She screamed, thoroughly startling Tony then threw herself at the poor boy.

“I’m going to Korea!” she yelled, continuing to jump up and down while clinging to her best friend.

Hani Park ;

Location : Daegu, South Korea 

Hani was on her way to see her mother again. A few months back her mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. But luckily the cancer had been caught early and not spread to any more of her organs. At the moment the cancer was relegated to her right kidney and the combination of surgery and chemotherapy was working for her mother.

The doctors had high hope for her mother.

Hani walked into the hospital and proceeded to her mother’s room on the third floor of the hospital. It was just a typical day of her mother’s chemo treatment and as Hani walked into her mother’s small room, she knew everything was going well. Her mother was sitting up and watching television.

Hani smiled brightly at her Italian-American mother.

“Hey, Momma!” Hani greeted taking up the empty chair by her mother’s bed.

Her mother smiled brightly at Hani. “How are you, sweetie?”

“I’m good!” Hani grinned, flashing her mother a peace sign.

 “And how was school?” Her mother asked, turning her head to fully look at her daughter.

“Good, too! Me, Hana and Zayoung are going to go to the mall tomorrow to hit up that sale,” Hani said enthusiastically as she leaned forward and perched her chin on her upturned hands as she rested her elbows on her knees.

“And how about that physics test?” Her mom pressed, a hopeful look crossing over her features.

“Oh! I got a B!” Hani said, smiling brightly at her mother as she felt pride well inside her from the over the top happy expression on her mother’s face.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so excited to hear that!” she said, reaching over had gently squeezing her daughter’s hand. “I know you’ve been studying so hard for that class.”

Hani and her mother continued talking, talking about Hani’s classes, her friends and what they would do when her mother got out of the hospital in the next couple of days. When seven in the evening rolled around, Hani’s mother insisted that she head home and start on her homework. So Hani left the hospital after hugging and kissing her mother goodbye, telling her that she’d see her tomorrow.

Once she exited the hospital, she pulled out her smartphone and tapped the screen. Humming to herself, she scrolled through her phone then decided to check her messages. She had a few new text messages, five from Hana and two from Zayoung. She replied back to them, keeping an eye on the screen and the sidewalk while she punched the keys.

After the text messages, she checked her e-mail. This time she only had one new e-mail. As she came within a few blocks of her home, she opened the lone e-mail. After reading the first sentence, she stopped in her tracks. As she read further, her jaw dropped. But she had to read it again then again before she could really process what it was saying.

But when she did all hell broke loose in her mind.

Hyemi Kim ;

Location : Busan, South Korea 

Hyemi Kim sat in front of the family room television surrounded by her three brothers. They were watching a Korean based comedy, sharing a bowl of popcorn. However, the family wasn’t really paying too much attention to the TV program flickering across their screen.

They were much too busy chatting with each other. Well, more like they were much too busy grilling poor Hyemi.

Hyemi’s brothers were asking her about school work since the end of the school year was fast approaching—at least it felt like that to her brothers. But for Hyemi it was still only April and she had a good few months before school let out.

Wanting a break from the questioning about her classes, Hyemi stood from the couch and shrugged her shoulders, rolling out the kinks.

“I’m gonna grab the mail,” Hyemi said as her brothers nodded. Hyemi turned around and exited the apartment she shared with her three brothers. Her parents had been well-known explorers and had died back when Hyemi was ten years old when an expedition in the jungles of Africa went awry.

Hyemi took the elevator down to the first floor to the mail room and quickly picked up the mail, saying hello to a few of her neighbors that she passed.

She browsed through the mail as she made her way back up to her apartment, pausing every now and then to really read what was on the front of an envelope.

When the elevator dinged on her floor, she stepped out and walked down the hallway, reading an envelope postmarked from Seoul and from Fresh, Entertainment TV.

She hummed, her eyebrows furrowing as curiosity got the best of her and she opened the envelope. Her walk slowed as she read the letter then as she reached the bottom of the letter, she sprinted down the rest of the hallway, almost knocking a couple over in her hast.

She burst into her apartment, a huge, blinding smile stretched across her lips.

“I got in!” she screamed, waving the letter in front face as she skidded to a halt in front of her brothers.

 They all looked at her in confusion.

“Got in to what?” her oldest brother, Sukchul, asked.

“Into that show I applied for, ‘We’re Living with Idols’!” she replied enthusiastically, jumping up and down as she threw herself onto the couch.

“Isn’t that the one where you’re actually rooming with an Idol?” her middle brother, Jangho, asked suspiciously, frowning at her.

Hyemi rolled her eyes. “Duh, hence the name!”

“I don’t like it,” Sukchul said.

Hyemi pouted at her brothers. “But you said I could apply!”

“Yeah, well, that was because we didn’t think you’d actually be picked,” the youngest, Hyunsu, muttered loud enough for his sister to hear.

Hyemi glared at her brothers and stood from the couch, pointing an accusing finger at her siblings. “Well too bad! I’m going and that’s that!” she said defiantly, making her oldest brother groan.

“I know. We approved of it, so we’ll honor our word,” Sukchul conceded.

Hyemi immediately lit up and flung herself at her eldest brother.

“You’re the best!” she screeched, feeling happiness overwhelm her. She could hardly wait for May to arrive. In fact, if it didn’t come soon she might really lose it.  

Author's Note: Okay, all the girls have been introduced and they all know they've been accepted! ^^ I wanted to get Minseo's bit in this, but I really, really wanted to get this out so I decided to put Minseo's POV in the next chapter. 

And a quick shout-out to RoseRobinson4994 : In your app you just said that Hani moved to South Korea, but you didn't pick a specific city so I picked one for you!