Chapter 3: Continuance

                Her heart skipped a beat. Jaebom Park. She knew about him, only because she had been watching Inkigayo with Veronica, and he had happened to be performing on the same episode as B2st. She had listened to a couple of his songs before and found him to be a good artist, but he was nowhere near her favorite. (She actually YG biased, though she did enjoy SM and JYP) She knew he had been in JYP before, but didn’t know what happened after that. Frankly she was too busy obsessing over YG Family to care.

                She snapped back to reality and glanced sideways. He had his iPhone out and was scrolling through it. She turned her head towards the window. She couldn’t believe that she was sitting next to Jay Park. It seemed like a dream, she looked out the window, wondering when she would wake up. Suddenly, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder, and turned around.

                “Um, hi.” He said, a sweet smile spreading across his face. She blushed and gave a tiny wave. “Is this yours?” he held up her small black flip phone. She nodded and took the phone back.

                Wow, his hands are warm, she thought as she pocketed it. What are you talking about? HE isn’t your bias! Don’t think like that. She tried to shake off the thoughts. He’s got nice hands! Her thoughts taunted her, and she almost let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of them. And nice hair! Don’t forget that cute smile! She rolled her eyes at her thoughts and shoved them away. No! You like BigBang, and B.A.P. and Block B, they are cute! You don’t think Jay is cute, you’ve NEVER thought Jay was cute! But when she looked back at him and saw his sweet smile, and her heart melted.

                “Thank you.” She finally replied. He nodded and looked at the ceiling.

                Smooth move, Casanova! She just turned back to her window, waiting for takeoff.

                “So, where are you headed?” he asked, she jumped a little and looked over at him. He was looking at her.

                “Oh, I-I’m heading to Bucheon to Younghwa University.” She replied. He nodded.

                “Oh, what are you majoring in?” he asked.

                “Japanese, and minoring in Korean.”

                “Oh, what for?” he cocked his head in curiosity.

                “So I can work at SM and fix their awful English.” They both burst out into laughter, but quickly stopped as they were shushed by an ahjuma.

                “Oh really?” he asked after he had regained his composure.

                “No, I want to be an English teacher, or a translator,” Kate replied.

                “Ah, too bad, SM needs the help.” They both dissolved into fits of giggles, trying to be quiet this time around.  After a moment of silence, and announcement came over the plane’s intercom.

                “Attention, passengers, we will be taking off momentarily, please pay attention to the flight attendants as they instruct you in the airline procedures.”

                They faced forward as the flight attendants explained emergency procedures, and how to buckle your seatbelt. After that, they seated, as the pilot came back on the intercom.

                “We will have lift off in 60, 59, 58, 57, 56-”

                “So, how many times have you been on a plane?” he asked.

                “To be honest,” Kate answered, her heart pounding in , “This is my first time.” She began to panic as the engine roared, and the plane began to move.

                “Really?” Jay sounded panicked. “Well, take deep breathes, and puke in the barf bag if you get sick, if you do it while we’re going up, it’ll float into people’s faces.” Kate giggled as she felt the plane speed up.

                “36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30-”

                “Are you ok? You don’t look so good.” He commented, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. “괜찮아, I will protect you.” He said with a playful smile. Kate began to feel more at ease.

                “20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15,”

                She took a deep breath and smiled weakly at him.

                “I think I’ll be ok now.” She said sweetly. He smiled back.

                “I’m relieved to hear, that, not that I believe you though.” He said as a devilish smile played across his lips. She blushed and looked down.

                “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Take off!” the plane began to rumble as the landing gear retracted and the plane took off. She looked out the window for her last look at America, at least for a while.

                Goodbye, America, she thought to herself, as she felt Jay’s hand gently squeeze hers. She took a few deep breathes before turning to him.

                “Are you really ok now?” he asked. She nodded.

                “I’ll be ok now.” She smiled, and he smiled back at her.

                “Good, I was worried about you there for a minute.” As they ascended, they talked about everything and anything, what school had been like for each of them, their favorite music and television, favorite food, books, etc. The plane ride felt a lot less scary when she was talking with Jay.

                I don’t know what all the fuss is about, she thought to herself as the stewardess brought them lunch. He’s just a normal guy, maybe this is how all idols are? As they finished lunch, a question kept nagging her.

                “Jay, can I ask you something?” she tapped his shoulder as he turned to look at her.

                “Sure, what’s up?” he asked, putting his mp3 away.

                “Why are you sitting in Business Class?” he gave her a puzzled look, and then laughed.

                “Sure, I could have taken First Class,” he said with a smile. “But I didn’t feel like being coddled today, but I didn’t want to sit in Coach either,” he explained.

Kate nodded. She hadn’t wanted to sit in Coach either, sure the ride was more expensive, but she was claustrophobic. There was no way she was spending 15 hours on a plane squished between children and loud teenagers.

“Besides,” he added. “I wouldn’t have met you.” She blushed as he shot a smile in her direction, and meekly smiled back.

Oh my gosh! Did he really just say that to ME? Her heart fluttered around in her chest for a moment before she recovered.

The plane ride was pleasant, even though they spent most of it sleeping. Kate awoke to Jay gently shaking her.

“Yo, Kate, wake up!” he whispered as she slowly opened her eyes. “We’re almost there! Look out your window!” she turned to the window to see the skyline of Seoul. She let out an audible sigh.

It was beautiful. The sun had barely begun to rise. The city was specked in various colors as lights began to fade. The sky was a soft orange hue, tinted with red and yellow, pink softly flowing through as baby blue began to creep onwards, as the black sky and the glistening stars began to fade. She could see vehicles moving about like busy insects, on their way to their unknown destinations.

As she marveled at the sight before her, the pilot came on the intercom.

                “Attention passengers! We will be arriving at the Incheon International Airport shortly, please make sure all your carryon luggage is accounted for, then take your seats and buckle up as we descend, thank you for flying Korean Air.” There was a scramble as everyone checked the overhead luggage holdings and quickly sat back in their seats. Jay grabbed Kate’s hand as they descended onto the runway. She could feel the tension in her temples. It was like riding the rocking ship ride at Adventure Land, except there was no break from the pressure. After what seemed like a lifetime, the plane pulled up and jerked a little as the landing gear hit the ground as they slowly came to a stop.

                Hello, Korea! It was the only thought that crossed her mind as they looked out the window. She was finally here, she had made it.

END OF CHAPTER 3