Chapter 4: The First Encounter

                As she stepped off the plane, the early morning air whipped at her face and air. It was crisp and refreshing. She looked back to see Jay coming down the stairs from the plane. He looked over and smiled at her. She blushed and turned away. This trip had gone better than she had hoped, and it wasn’t even started yet! She ran back to him as he came towards her, coming face-to-face.

                “So, what’s next for you?” he asked quizzically.

                “Well, I’m meeting my friend Miranda, she and I are going to drive up to the University for Orientation. After that, who knows.” She shrugged as they headed towards the Incheon International Airport.

                “Do you think we’ll meet again?” he asked as he looked at her, almost pitifully.

                “I would hope so,” she answered with a smile. “Lord knows I could use a guy friend like you, what with living in a dorm full of women!” they both laughed as they reached the entrance and readied themselves for inspection.

                The process was long and tedious, but after they were all cleared they began to walk towards the waiting area.

                “Here, give me your arm,” he held out his hand, as Kate extended her arm towards him, he grabbed it and took out a pen. He ripped off the cap with his mouth, and began writing on it. She looked down and realized he was writing a number. “Call me when you can,” he said with a smile. “I’d like to get to know you more.” He winked at her and she blushed a rosy pink hue spread across her cheeks. Jay whipped his head as they saw a crowd of people, some of which were his fans, holding up handmade signs, saying things like, “I Love You Jay!” and “Marry Me!” he turned to her and looked her in her eyes.

                “I have to go now, 친구, promise that you’ll call me when you can?” Kate nodded as they parted ways, watching him walk over to security, and be escorted off to his destination. Then, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a girl holding a neon yellow poster.

                “Are you 오빠’s girlfriend?” she asked tilting her head, and staring at Kate with huge brown eyes. She was wearing a big pink bow, but seemed as though she was at least sixteen.

                “Well actually, I-“she was cut off as several Jaywalkers began to crowd around her. Knowing how K-Pop fans could be, she quickly began to fear for her life.

                “Kate?” she heard her name being called, but couldn’t see anything. “Kate! Where are you?” she recognized that voice.   

                “Miranda? Is that you?” she called out, trying to make her way through the crowd of screaming fangirls.

                “KATE! KATE I’M OVER HERE!” she began to shove through the crowd, accidentally running over toes as she ran through with her dolly carrying her bags. Miranda was waving her hands wildly as they ran towards each other.  As she escaped the throng of fangirls, she and Miranda began to walk towards the exit of the airport, where Veronica was waiting for them.

                “Finally! What took you two so long?” she put her hands on her hips and made a face. Miranda rolled her eyes.

                “Miss Popular over here got stuck in a crowd of Jaywalkers, remember? Jay Park was supposed to be on there.” With that realization, she turned to Kate. “Did you see him? Did you see Jay Park?” Kate shrugged and played it off.

                “No, not really.” she placed her hand into her pocket, searching for her phone. “Oh, shiznit! I dropped my phone! I gotta go look for it.” She headed back to the waiting area.

                “Hurry up, Kate!” shouted Veronica. “And don’t get trampled by saesangs either!” she giggled as Kate’s head bobbed out of sight.

                The crowd had finally subsided, yet she could hear more voices approaching,

                ‘I better hurry,’ she thought. ‘I don’t want another incident like that to happen.’ She frantically began searching the ground, until she spotted it, there under a bench. She quickly ran over to retrieve it. Just before she reached it, someone stepped in her way. She looked up.

                He was about 6 feet tall, towering over her like a giant. She slowly looked up at the man standing before her. He had short dark hair with piercing dark eyes. His lips were pouty, and his cheeks were smooth, like porcelain. He bent over and picked it up. He looked at it, and then looked at her.

                “Is this yours?” his accent was a bit thick, but his English was very good. She blushed and took it. His hand brushed hers as she took it.

                “Thank you, I-“he brushed off her gratitude as he walked away, she stood up, admiring his profile as he began to walk away. As she watched him walk back to her group, he turned back. She quickly turned away and began to walk towards the exit to her friends.

                ‘Oh my goodness.’ She turned back to get a better look, but he had dissolved into the crowd of fans, bodyguards and management. ‘Was that, Choi Min Ho?’  She was sure of it.

                As he walked away, Min Ho tried to shake off the exhaustion. SHINee had just finished their Asian tour, and were getting ready to make another album. They had interviews and variety show appearances booked for the next three months! Not to mention the countless photo shoots and the upcoming music video or videos that they would have to shoot after recording their new album.

                “Ya, hyung, 모해?” Taemin ran up to Min Ho and tapped him hard on the shoulder. Min Ho shuddered a little bit, but smiled at him.

                “Nothing much, dongsaeng.” He kept walking as Onew came up behind him.

                “Are you sure, Min Ho? You look kinda tired?” Onew tried looking Min Ho in the eyes, but he moved his face away.

                “괜찮아, I’m okay. Just tired that’s all.” He smiled weakly and kept walking.

                “Are you sure?” Onew pushed on. “You’ll feel better if you talk about it!”

                “Hey Onew, is that chicken?” Min Ho pointed in the opposite direction.

                “WHERE?!” Onew excitedly ran off, only to discover Min Ho’s lie. “Hey, that’s not nice, Min Ho!” Min Ho shrugged and kept walking. Jonghyun waltzed up and put his arm around him.

                “What’s up, dongseng, you seem tense?” Min Ho rolled his eyes and took Jonghyun’s arm off him.

                “Aren’t any of you guys stressed out about this? We are going to be so busy! I mean, we just finished!

                “That’s the stress of the job, hyung, why are you stressin’ now, you already knew this!” Key piped up from behind Jonghyun. Min Ho shook his head.

                “Ne, I know, but….I don’t know guys, I just feel,” *sigh. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

                “Don’t worry,” Jonghyun gave him a hearty pat on the back. “We’ll get past it like we usually do,” he gave him another pat on the back. “Kaja!” they all headed to the limo, back to the apartment they all shared, exhausted, and ready to just go to bed, Min Ho followed, eye lids heavy already.

                Kate looked out the window at all the passing shops. Some she recognized from Simon and Martina’s W.A.N.K’s from EatYourKimchi. She let out an audible sigh, letting all of the beauty of South Korea soak into her memory. It was even better than she could ever imagine. As they pulled up to the college, all she could think about, was starting her new life, in a new country, she was ready for it. She could feel it.

END OF CHAPTER 4