Chapter 3
 

“How boring!  You didn’t even get drunk!  Isn’t that like a separate culture or something in Korea?  Imagine me in Korea, I think I’d get drunk every day,” Mina said to her best friend.

After successfully getting Jay’s business card as well, I was greeted with a good morning text from him.  With my stupid school girl smile, I replied back stating as professionally as I can that I am looking forward to working with him, just working with him.

“I Googled that Jay guy,” Mina said grabbing my attention again.  “Dude, he has the sickest body I have ever seen.  I would.  I totally would.”

“Would what?”

Mina laughed through the phone, “Oh, you know.”

“ert.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t even text back with like a good morning text or something!  Why aren’t you flirting with him?  Have I taught you nothing since high school, my goodness woman!”

Flirting.  Such a foreign word.  Something that I haven’t engaged in since college.  Hell, since freshmen year of college.  I don’t even think I was doing it right then.  Boyfriends were never a priority for me; I lived vicariously through Mina’s extravagant love stories.

“Mina, this was a professional first meeting,” I said defending my actions.  “I can’t act like that with a potential client.  That’s just wrong and awkward.”

“You’re just all wrong and all awkward,” Mina said jokingly into the phone.  “When was the last time you had ?  With Nathan right?”

“Mina, shut the up!”  I looked around my empty apartment, searching for any sign of someone before I turned my attention back to my conversation.  “Seriously, if there is anyone near you right now I will kill you.”

“Don’t worry I am alone,” Mina said laughing.  “But I am right, right?  That was the last time?  That was like two years ago, you need to get a boyfriend or at least someone to talk to!  I feel deprived for you just knowing about this!”

Nathan, my one and only boyfriend.  The one guy that I experienced anything romantic with, the one guy that I attach all definitions of love to.  Because frankly, he was my only experience in that department.  As usual, time got into the way of our relationship and we ended up drifting.  The break up was mutual, nothing dramatic or soap-operay about it, just mutual.  Just boring.  Which is basically what our entire relationship was.  Boring.

“I bet the was boring though, he was kind of boring.”

Are you in my ing mind or something?

“Are you reading my mind, Mina?”

Mina let out a loud laugh through the phone and responded, “Oh my God, so you do think that about him?  That’s classic.  I always knew you thought that!  He was too vanilla for you.  You need like mint chocolate chip, or like cotton candy ice cream in your love life!  Sprinkle that up!”

I laughed and began playing with my toes on the couch.  “Sprinkle that up?”

“Yes!”

Right then, my phone began buzzing in my ear.  I noticed an incoming call from my mother, and I sighed at Mina.  “I have to go, my mom’s calling.  I haven’t talked to her in a while.  I will call you later.”

After ending our call, I answered the call from my mom.  I held my breath for a moment, preparing myself for the wrath of my mother.  “Hey mom.”

“__________, is your phone broken or something?  I have been trying to get in touch with you for weeks now!  Your father even texted you!  Texted you!  He doesn’t even know how to text but he Googled it so he could just text you!  He even put a heart from what he told me.  And a texted heart from your own father that is left with no response, is so rude ________, I can’t even begin to explain.”

My head found its place on the couch arm and I let out a small giggle.  I missed my mom, I missed her ramblings about my dad’s incompetence to technology.  I missed them.

“I missed you too mom.”

I heard my mom sigh, “Ahh don’t say such lies.  If you missed me you’d pick up my calls from time to time.  Honestly, you worried us.  Are you eating okay?  Sleeping?”

“Ask if she’s eating okay,” I heard my dad’s muffled voice in the background, which brought a smile to my face.

“I already asked that,” my mom said agitated.  “He never listens ________, never.”

I found a nearby pillow and hugged it to my chest while I listened to my mother talk about her recent gossips.  She told me about my aunt and how she almost ran over a cat on the freeway, and how the new mayor of our city decided to put up stop signs everywhere now.  Just hearing her ramble about nothing actually made me feel at ease, like I was back at home listening to them talk about the most random things.

“So how’s work, _________?”

Here we go.

I sighed, “The same.  I think another Korean artist wants me to work for him so I might be here a while longer.  I am not too sure yet though.”

I heard a small sigh from my mother on the other end.  Here it comes.

“_________, just remember to take it easy now and then.  We don’t want you over-working yourself.”

I closed my eyes and rolled my neck to crack out the stiffness.  Every conversation either began or ended with this.  I trained myself to deal with her nagging with occasional “hmmm” answers and saying “okay I will” every other sentence.

“Hmmm,” I responded automatically.

“I am serious.  Mina called us the other day and said she might visit you because you seemed a bit homesick.  Honey, if you’re homesick you should just come home.”  Mental note to self: Kill Mina.

“Mom, its natural to get homesickness.  And I’m fine now, don’t worry about it,” I said as I clung on to the pillow tighter.  “I’m not over-working myself, I promise.”

I heard another sigh from my mom.  “Okay I trust you.”  There was a pregnant pause on the other line.  “We’re very proud of you honey, never forget that.  We always tell our friends the amazing work you do for all these famous people.”

“Thanks mom,” I said with a small smile.  “I’m going to go, but I promise to talk to you soon.”

“Pinky promise?”

I threw my head back in laughter and smiled to myself.  I held out my pinky in the air and linked it with the soft breeze in my living room.

“Pinky promise.”

“And tomorrow we have a meeting with the security team that will Psy-sshi to and from the event.”

Mindlessly playing on my phone, I semi-listened to the meeting that was going on in front of me.  Psy invited me to his weekly meetings because he wanted me to keep up-date on the events that I was going to promote.  Even though I received all the staff emails just like everyone else, I feel like Psy-oppa just wants me around to entertain him for the boring hour.

“So,” Psy-oppa whispered to me.  “What did you think of Jay?”

My ears perked up at the mention of his name.  I looked towards him and leaned in my office chair.  “I don’t know.  Am I supposed to think anything of future clients?”

Psy rolled his eyes at my blunt answer.  “I meant, do you find him attractive?”

I was taken back by his question, so I shook my head in response.  “Sorry my Korean isn’t that advanced, I don’t understand what you just said.”  Playing the dumb-I-don’t-understand trick always works in foreign countries.

“Yah!” Psy shot back in a whisper.  “Don’t play that with me, I know you understand what I asked.  Stop avoiding the question!”

“Why are you even asking me this?  This is awkward.”

“He told me he thought you were beautiful.  So I just wanted to know what you thought of him.  My wife’s been nagging me to set you up with one of her friend’s sons but I thought Jay was much better looking than the guy she was talking about.”

I don’t know whether to be embarrassed that my family away from home wants me to date as badly as my best friend, or be just straight up confused.

“Yah! I can find my own man when I want okay.  I don’t have time for boys right now, I’m too busy,” I whispered back.  Psy-oppa’s manager gave us both warning looks before talking about more meetings this coming week.  “And be quiet, you’re getting me in trouble.”

“You’re no fun.”

As much as I felt excited that Jay thought of me as beautiful, what I just said was a true statement.  I am busy.  I don’t have time for boys, relationships, whatever.  I just don’t have time.  So what I said wasn’t a lie entirely.  I leaned back in my chair and began counting the small dents in the ceiling.  1, 2, 3, 4…

A small buzz in my hands notified me of a text message.  I glanced down in my lap and saw that it came from Mina.  I opened it and snorted at the text.  The entire conference room glared at me and shook their heads in annoyance.  Psy-oppa let out a small chuckle and hit me in the arm.  I gave an apologetic head bow and looked back at my phone screen, and all that was there was the text:

Sprinkle dat shyt up grl. U noe wut I be talkin’ bout.

I let myself have one more giggle before closing the text message.  Does everyone around me think I am that lonely?  I sighed and looked back up at the presentation that was going on.

I need a drink.

“You’re the embarrassing one!  Laughing during staff meetings!  You looked like a ert too, smiling down at your lap!”  I threw my head back and let out a groan, Psy-oppa wasn’t letting it go.  He had been going on since we left the conference room about how I embarrassed him and myself.  “We hired you to be professional, not to be a ert!”

I smacked him in the arm before putting on my jacket.  I threw my captured hair out from my jacket and let it fall on my back.  Psy struggled to put his jacket on and I laughed as I had to reach over and get him the other armhole which he so desperately searched for.

“Yah, oppa.  Lets go drink soju and eat street food.  I’ve been craving that,” I said as we headed towards the elevator for the lobby.

“Finally my dongsengg wants to drink with me!” Psy said as he throws a proud arm over my shoulder.  I gave a look and pushed it back off.  “Lets go then!”

As the elevators door opened I was greeted with two wide smiles and a curious face.  I jumped back a little, surprised by the greeting, and I looked over at Psy-oppa who was chuckling.

“Seungri-ah, stop scaring ________,” Psy-oppa said as he lead me through the small crowd of boys.

“Ah, hyung, sorry,” the smallest boy said.  “I’ve been dying to meet your friend right here.  My name is Seungri.  How old are you?”

I shook his hand and gave a small bow, “My name is ________, its nice to meet you.  And I am 22.”

Seungri tapped his chin and spoke, “Well we are the same age but you can still call me oppa, I do not mind at all.”  He flashed a big smile and the two other boys shook their heads in shame for him.

“Yah, Seungri you’re making us look bad,” the one with the hooded jacket said.  “My name is Teddy, I am a producer here at YG.  Nice to meet you.”  We shook hands and we bowed in unison.  I greeted him as well and waited for the last man to speak, but he never once looked me in the eye since we saw each other in the elevator.  Psy sensed the awkwardness of me waiting to be introduced, so he did it himself.

“This is Jiyong, ______-ah.  He’s one of the artists here.  This is ________-ah, she’s in charge of my art direction for my newest album.”

I bowed politely and shook his outward hand.  Jiyong had a small smile on his face and met my eyes briefly as we shook hands.  He seemed very shy, or maybe I was reading into it all wrong.  Maybe he only seemed shy because the other two men were smiling at me widely and looking very excited to meet me.

“Where were you two headed?” Seungri asked as he began bouncing slightly up in down in excitement.  I watched his movement as he did this and raised my eyebrow at the energetic boy.  I heard a small laugh come from Jiyong’s way and I saw him watching me watch Seungri.  I turned my head embarrassed and began pretending to listen to Psy-oppa talk to the others.

“We’re headed out to drink and eat some food, you should all come with us!”

I shot Psy-oppa a small look and he in return sent me a smile.  I guess he didn’t catch my hidden message between my awkward stare.  The three men looked at my approval and I just nodded my head.  Seungri clapped his hands and threw his arm over my shoulder.  My eyes never opened so wide before as he did this.  Who does this guy think he is?

“Ah, _______-sshi.  I’ve seen you around the cafeteria and I always hear the trainees talk about how pretty and awesome you are!  I really wanted to meet you myself and see if any of that is true.”

A small blush appeared on my face but it was quickly wiped away at the thought of Joon spilling out every detail about me.

“I heard you’re a good dancer,” Jiyong spoke softly as he followed behind us in the group.  I looked over Seungri’s arm and saw Jiyong smiling at me.  I sighed in embarrassment and looked ahead at the food cart across the street.

I am seriously going to murder Joon.

“Aniyo, I’m not,” I stuttered.  “The trainees just like to tease me that’s all.”

Seungri gasped, “Ahh, let me know when they do that!  I will scold them for you.”

Teddy, Jiyong, and Psy-oppa shared a laugh as we crossed the street together.  Seungri’s arm was still tightly wrapped around my shoulders and it didn’t seem like he was bound to let go any time soon.  I glanced up at the boy and said, “So Seungri-oppa, what do you do for YG?”

Seungri smiled down at me, “When you say my name it sounds so pretty!”  He pinched my cheeks and I turned my head quickly out of his touch.  He laughed and then tapped my nose.  “I am in a idol group called Big Bang, have you heard of us?”

I shook my head no and that made Seungri gasp in response.  “Aish, ________-ah you need to be educated more in Kpop culture.  You’ll love our music!”

All five of us headed towards the covered street food cart and found a place to sit.  Seungri, sat by me and Jiyong right in front of me.  Teddy and Jiyong whispered something to one another and then looked over at Seungri and me.

Awkward.

“Five bottles of soju please!” Psy-oppa said to the cart owner.

“Don’t let makane, drink too much.  He’s going to get out of hand,” Jiyong said to his hyung as he shook his head in disapproval at his dongsengg.

“Ahh let me have fun with _______-ah, hyung!”  Seungri complained as he wrapped his arm around me again.  I rolled my eyes and Teddy and Jiyong both laughed.  “Just one bottle!”

Jiyong sighed and looked over at all of us.

“Just one.”

Just 5 bottles turned into, well…6…7…um 8 bottles later.  Seungri ended up on my lap sleeping peacefully.  Jiyong was laughing hysterically at something Psy-oppa said and Teddy was shaking his head in embarrassment for his friends.  I tried to readjust Seungri’s head on my lap so he could sleep more comfortably.  When I looked up I saw Jiyong staring at me with wide eyes.  I shot him a confused look and turned towards Psy-oppa.

“Oppa, call your wife to get you,” I said in a worried tone.  “You can’t drive tonight.”

Psy laughed and rubbed his protruding belly filled with soju.  “Arasso, I will.  I will be right back.”  He left the covered area and went outside to make his phone call.  Teddy looked over and Seungri and sighed.

“Seungri-ah has a photo shoot tomorrow in Japan,” Teddy said annoyed.  “I will take him to his managers house.  He can deal with him then.”  Teddy walked over and grabbed the youngest one.  He threw his arms over his shoulder and started dragging him towards the outside exit.

Seungri shot up and looked over at me with a drunk smile, “_______-ah it was nice meeting you.”  He hiccupped and I laughed.  “Take care of Jiyong-hyung, he usually doesn’t drink much but he did tonight.  Make sure he gets home safely.”  His sentence was interrupted by multiple hiccups as Teddy smiled at me before exiting the tent.

I decided I wasn’t in the drinking mood after I found out three strangers were going to join us.  I didn’t want to seem vulnerable in front of people I worked with; Psy-oppa was one thing because he was basically my family, but three co-workers, no thanks.  Jiyong’s head was currently resting on the table as his arm supported his face from falling.  I went over to the other side and knelt down in front of him.  My head turned to its side as I tried to meet eye contact with him.  With no luck, his eyes were closed and he was slightly groaning.

Why did he drink so much if he can’t handle his alcohol?

“Hyung, lets drink tonight.”

Teddy shot a confused look to Jiyong and whispered back to him, “You don’t even drink that much.  Why do you want to drink right now?”

Jiyong looked over at you and whispered back, “I don’t know, I want her to feel comfortable around me.  Maybe she’ll open up to me and explain why she doesn’t think I’m ready to debut.”

Teddy shook his head at his friend.

“This is going to be a bad idea.”

My head tilted again and I tried to see if he had opened his eyes yet.  Instead, his head slowly lifted itself off the table and I fell back in surprise.  His drooping eyes met mine and then he gave me a worried look.

“Why are you on the ground?”  Jiyong asked looking down at me.

I brushed my pants off and stood up near him.  “I fell, kind of.”  I awkwardly sat down next to him and let out a sigh.  This was definitely not the night I imagined. 

“Jiyong-sshi?”

Jiyong nodded and looked slowly over at me, he had a hard time keeping his eyes open and he closed them once more before speaking.  “Ne?”

“Come, I will take you home.  Can you tell me where you live?”

Jiyong, with his eyes still closed responded to me, “Ne.”

“Good.”

I stood behind him and stared at his back.  Skinship on the first meeting, great.  I grabbed a hold of his shoulders and moved his body towards me.  “Lift your arm over my shoulders, please.”  He obeyed my request and swung his heavy arm over my frail body.  I almost collapsed over the sudden weight, but he helped me by standing up nicely and walking almost correctly towards the exit of the tent.  After thanking the owner of the cart, we made our way towards the parking lot where my rental car was parked.  I looked over at Jiyong and noticed how close his face was to mine.  I in my breath and tried breathing as little as possible.  He smelt like alcohol mixed with men’s cologne.  I bit down on my lip and tried to move my head so it was furthest away possible from his.  Jiyongs eyes were still closed even though his feet were successfully moving forward with my guidance.
 

“You don’t like me,” Jiyong whispered.

My head snapped to its side and I stared at Jiyong’s face.  What did he just say?  I thought I was imagining what he just said, but then he said it once more.  I readjusted his position on my body and together we successfully made it across the street without being killed by any cars.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said softly.

Jiyong his lips before speaking, “You.  Don’t.  Like.  Me.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “I don’t even know you.”

Jiyong his lips once more.  “Exactly.”

We finally made it to my car and I threw him over the hood of the car.  He let out a small groan of pain and I looked down at him in irritation.  What the is he talking about?  I went around to my side of the car and unlocked the doors.  After multiples tries of getting Jiyong into the car and buckling him in, we finally headed towards the street name he mumbled to me a couple of times.  At a stoplight I looked over at him and saw that he had fallen asleep.  Great, more weight to carry.  The green light appeared in my side vision and I sped off towards his home.  Looking back and forth at the signs, I double-checked that we were in the right neighborhood.  The apartment complexes in the neighborhood were luxury ones and the street his home was located on was known to be where the rich and famous lived.  I let out a small whistle as we came to his complex.  The guard instantly recognized Jiyong as I rolled down my window and let me through the parking lot.  The guard said he lived in apartment 32B, I thank him accordingly and parked my car in the guest stall.

I slammed the door on my side in an attempt to wake Jiyong up.  I heard a small groan and I smirked knowing that I had just given him the worst wake up call.  Opening his door, I saw him holding his head in pain.

“Headache?” I asked smirking at him.

He nodded his head and looked over at me with glazed eyes.  He still hadn’t sobered up yet.  I reached out my hand and he looked at it for a second before grabbing it and climbing out of the car.  We eventually made it up the elevator and towards the top floor where Jiyong apparently lived.  After stopping in front of apartment 32B, I realized that I didn’t have his keys in my possession.  I panicked and looked at his pockets.  Seriously? I have to do this?

I groaned at the ceiling as I reached into his pockets and felt around for any sign of keys.  Jiyong let out a small sigh and he dropped his head back on my arm.  ert.  I reached into the other pocket and I found the small device that opened his door.  I thanked the heavens before unlocking the door.  The small beep noise instantly woke Jiyong up and he helped me carry half his weight towards the dark apartment.  I felt around the wall for the light switch and when I felt something between my fingers I flipped it on.

“Holy .”  A large wrinkly dog was waiting for us at the front of the living room.  I was expecting it to bark and bite my leg off like a chew toy, but it just sat there and panted with its mouth open.  “Some guard dog you got there.”

Jiyong and I made our way to his couch.  I quickly dropped him down on the cushions and he immediately curled up into the fetal position with a pillow between his arms.  My head shook as I watched him find a comfortable position to sleep in.  His dog walked up to us and began his owner’s ankles.

“Gaho, stop.”

Gaho?

I bent down and whistled towards the dog.  He turned around and pranced towards me, he began panting again and he the side of my face leaving slobber everywhere.  “Aish,” I said wiping off the slobber.  “You’re a messy kisser, Gaho.”  I ran my fingers over the wrinkles on his head and he his tail began to wag furiously.  A small chuckle left my lips as I saw his happy response from my touch.  Looking over at Jiyong I noticed he had fallen deep asleep already.  Gaho let out a small cry, getting my full attention.  He sauntered over towards the kitchen and he stopped in front of his feeding dish, which was left empty.  He must be hungry.  I gave a sorry look towards the dog and began searching the cabinets for dog food.  I didn’t care if I was invading a stranger’s personal home; I wasn’t going to let some poor animal starve because his owner couldn’t handle his liquor.  After eventually finding the food, I filled the dish up to the top and gave Gaho a small pat on the head.

“Eat well, Gaho.”

I left the electronic key on the island counter and grabbed my jacket that fell on the floor while I was trying to help Jiyong get to the couch.  Leaving with the lights on, I made my way towards the door.  Before leaving I noticed a small dry erase board near the front entrance.  I grabbed the pen and wrote a small note for the drunken dog owner that was sleeping on the couch.  Satisfied with my note telling him I left the keys on the counter, I smiled and closed the door behind me.  The small beeping noise locked the door and I pressed the elevator button towards the parking lot.

This has got to be the most stupid night of my life.

A.N.

Thank you to the new subbers and the peope who commented on this story!  I love reading your comments, it brings a :D to my face!  Haha.  I have a couple more chapters written out and the more feedback I get the quicker I can update!  I want each chapter to be perfect for you all and feedback is greatly appreciated!  Have a nice day and happy reading!