Blue- English

Red- Chinese

Hana’s  POV

Almost 12 hours, that’s how long the flight was to Seoul. I was happy that I decided to go for a direct flight now that I thought about it. I don’t think I could have of lasted on the plane any longer. I glanced out my window and took in the night view of Seoul, it was literally breathtaking. Of course I’ve seen the night lights of cities before in pictures and in real life. Seoul though was distinctly on its own level. It’s lights were just so different from the American and European countries I have seen before. The lights were so much brighter... It was just a sea of lights that flowed so beautifully. It had this homey feeling that was just calling out to me.  Then it hit me, this is the place I’ll be probably spending a huge part of my life in if not the rest of my life.

Wow...I’m here, I’m home. I had this sense of this is where I belong.

“We will now be landing in Seoul, South Korea. It is currently 10 pm local time. Please be seated and have seatbelts buckled until the plane comes to a complete stop. Thank you for flying Korean Airlines”

I felt happy inside but at the same time anxious. As soon as we were allowed to leave, I rushed to the door as fast as I could. I just wanted to get to my apartment and relax, the flight was so long and tiring.

After I was finally out of the plane , I headed straight to immigrations and customs. Luckily it didn’t take too long but I was just so tired that I wanted to go to bed. I headed down to baggage claims I waited for about 5 minutes for the batch of luggage that contained mine to come out. Though I regretted my luggage before, I don’t regret the trouble I went through now. I was so happy to see my bright red suitcase with a white silhouette of the Eiffel tower come down the conveyor belt. It was huge but it was less hassle to just bring one.

It was time  for me to meet a co-worker who would take me to my apartment and help me settle in. I have a week to sight see and adjust before I would start work.  My co-worker would be in charge of touring me around the city as well as introducing me to everything Mnet.

“HANA!” I stopped and looked at the direction my name came from.

“HANA!!!! OVER HERE!” I saw my old high school classmate waving well more like flailing around this sign with my name on it. I couldn’t but let out a chuckle even though it was embarrassing as hell. He was making a complete fool out of himself without giving a care to the world. I mean at least he was cute or else he would’ve probably been kicked out by now.

“ Okay! Andrew I see you! Stop shouting!”

“ Hana! I’m happy I found you! I’ve been waiting for hours!”

“Hours? I messaged you before I left that I would land around 10. Why did you wait for hours?”

He let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck in guilt.

“ Well you see... I forgot to check the message, it was around 5 when I realized you were coming today, my internet went out and I was scared that you already came. Then along the way when I tried to  check it on my phone I broke it and turns out I deleted the message in the process”

I literally just stared at him, this guy really hasn’t changed since I last saw him. He is as dorky, clumsy, unorganized and unfortunate as always. Even though he was a mess  and completely opposite of me, you couldn’t help but love him. I met Andrew Choi when I was a freshman and he was a Sophomore, my friend Jenny had this huge borderline obsessive crush on him. Even though we were total opposites we got along really well. We were never that close, it was a mutual friendship.  After high school he moved back to his native land of Korea. It surprised me when I saw him at Kcon, he was the on the ultimately help me land the job here in Korea.

“ Really Andy?! I still question how you are in charge of Idol relations.” Seriously though he is the most disorganized person in the world yet he’s amazing at his job.

“ I don’t even know myself actually”

“ Whatever dude. Not to be rude but can we get going? I’m so tired I don’t even know how I’m comprehending this conversation right now, I just want to go home and sleep!”

“About that” If looks could kill seriously

“ What do you mean by that?” It came out more menacing than I wanted but seriously I’m not the nicest person when I’m tired. Andy just rubbed the back of his neck before throwing up words

“ Well you see... IwasinchargeofyourapartmentandyourentireadjustmenthereIforgotlastminuteaboutyourapartmentsoitsnotreadyyetandyou’regoingtohavetostaywithmeforthetimebeing” I just stared at him, slowly taking in what he said

“I’m too tired to say anything to you right now, we’ll deal with this when I have more than a few hours of sleep in me” Andy just sighed in relief, I seriously turn into a monster sometimes with no sleep.

I didn’t mind staying with Andy, I knew he wouldn’t do nothing but ensure I was safe and comfortable.  Even though Andy and I are more acquaintance like to me, I think he considers us friends. A friend is  hard to define for me, its either you’re my best friend or you’re just there and I’ll categorize you as an acquaintance. Now thinking about it Andy is probably my only guy “friend”, it’s hard for me to get close to them. Even though I kinda wanted to befriend more since they are drama free. I just always stuck with Henry or by myself so it was hard.

~***~

Author’s POV

The ride to Andy’s place was not long but Hana still managed to fall asleep. Hana wasn’t much of a talker at times so Andy didn’t notice until they arrived at his apartment. When he saw her, he just smiled at how peaceful she looked, which was rare. I wish she could be like this all the time. Though she may seem sweet and innocent, she really knows how to speak her mind when she breaks out of her shell. Hana is one of those people who are really genuine which is hard to come by now and days.

Andy decided to let Hana sleep knowing how tired she was. As carefully as he could he unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her in his arms bridal style. He didn’t want to risk waking her up, she hated any sort of skinship with anyone, though he didn’t know why he didn’t want her to freak out if she woke up. After he finally made it up to his apartment on the 10th floor he laid Hana on the bed in the room he set up for her. Before he went down to get her luggage he covered her with a thin blanket. You should eat more, you’re too light.

 

~***~

“Hana wake up” A gentle hand softly shook her, at first she stiffened but relaxed after feeling how gentle the person was being. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Hana looked like a little kid, she was so innocent and cute, her guard was down.

“Morning Andy! What time is it?” Her voice came out more quiet and groggily than normal indicating that she was still tired.

“It’s 10 I let you sleep in, but it seems like you somehow still need more” He couldn’t help but chuckle at Hana’s state.

“ I guess so” Letting out a giggle herself Hana got out of bed. “ So what’s the plan for today?”

“ Well get ready for a week of adventure my dear Hana! After we get all the boring work stuff out of the way, I’m going to take you out site seeing! And who knows maybe some parties with Idols so you can mingle!” You could hear the excitement in Andy’s voice as he spoke.

“Whoa there party boy! Let’s just get me ready for work first! It is the reason why I’m here after all” Kinda

“ Awwww! You’re no fun Hana” Whining like a kid Andy left the room to let Hana get ready

 

~***~

Hana’s POV

When Andy told me to prepare myself I honestly didn’t believe that it would be as crazy as he made it out to be... Man was I wrong.

The week so far has been the most hectic week I’ve ever experienced in my life. I thought when he mentioned the boring prep , it would be brief but no! It took freakin 3 days! 3 days of familiarizing myself with I might not even see again but I was required to know!

Those first 3 days consist of  just eating, breathing and sleeping  Mnet. Now I understand why so many Koreans were so dedicated to  their job,  with the mandatory team bonding, the lunches dinners and retreats it hard not to make that bond . So far I went to  every  lunch and dinner meeting available  because “the new girl has to meet everyone.”  Ugh!

Did I mention I have a retreat scheduled already! This is so overwhelming! I feel like this is way more than I signed up for! But there is no way in hell I’m giving up! I came here for a reason and will fulfill it! To get me through the week I kept on telling myself that once it’s over it will be worth it! It’ll get easier from here on out! Seriously, it freakin better be.

Day 1: OMG. That day I hated people a lot more than usual. Andy took me to the business department me. Let me just say the moment I step in the office all I received was stares followed by gossip. Seriously I’m no different from any of the women in that office why the useless gossip, it seriously annoyed the out of me. It became worse when the employee came up to me and treated me like a complete idiot! Hello I can speak korean people! You honestly don’t need to speak to me in your horrible broken english trying to show off to your co-workers! Andy had to calm me down when we got away from everyone.

“ Hana calm down now!” He handed me a small sweet in return I gave him a smile. He know how I get around big groups of people. Though it depends on how they treat me, it takes me time to warm up to people.  He always jokes that my looks always throw off people when they know my well what I call defense personality.

Day 2: After the horrible experience with the business department I was a little wary about going into the production department. I was happy to find out that the production department was similar to the one I worked with before. It was filled with dorky nerdy people mixed with prude schedule conscious ones here and there. My kind of people, the whole time I was excited and softly smiling. They made me feel a little bit more in my element and I eased up a little. The staff was polite and respectful. They asked generic questions which was understandable as well as question only the production department would get. Poor Andy was lost from time to time but I could sense he was proud I was getting more and more comfortable.

Day 3: The international department, this is the department I would be spending most of my time in along side the production. While  production made me ease up,  international made me feel at home. Mostly because of the languages, there were a lot of staff members who spoke english and or chinese. Even though I know a pretty good amount of Korean to help me survive living in Korea, having something more familiar to me made me feel more comfortable. At lunch and dinner I actually spoke more and met some pretty nice people.

Now Day 4: Right now Andy is taking me to M-countdown, we skipped the event/promotion  department since I would rarely work with them.  Which I was so happy about because it gave me more time to relax. This was the last day of “real” work before Andy will show me around the city and help me get familiar with the place. Earlier we visited the set of some of the shows and dramas they were currently running. I was pretty tired but we still had M-countdown to go, I knew I couldn’t let my guard down because of Idols. Yes they will be most definitely wandering around backstage, having knowledge of Kpop already I need to prepare myself.

Kpop: said to be the latest trend circling the world. It seems harmless but I know better, I been on tumblr, youtube and had friends dedicate their lives on their “OTPs” and “Bias”. Somehow along the way I got into it too. It’s kinda hard to resist

I got into Kpop because its so different . People like me, shy and quiet could still get into it. Even though they do look  at looks, the talent seriously mattered. And it was no joking matter, the talent was real compared to they had in america. It was so much different from the American scene,  though it was harsher and more strict. Here Asian talent was finally presented. Though the process was hard, it would be worth it in the end.

Stage performance was a huge aspect of it as well, in comparison to  other countries who stage performance , Kpop was on a whole new level.  There is so much more glitz and glam in Kpop but a good amount of it. It also made me happy to see a huge majority of idols were still humble . But those who were brats or had prince disease I hated them, I still do.

This world seemed so amazing but it was not until the whole world started to shift that I lost love for it . There were so many new artist coming out that I couldn't keep up. The idols I loved before ... just changed. It felt like they forgot why they were  even in the business anymore. Sasaeng fans got out of control. Bands felt like didn't have a heart anymore, like they were only in it for the money.  So I left.

Now coming back to the world I left in my past it has changed a lot. Rookies have now taken over and honestly I don’t know what I feel about it. At first they are innocent and you can't help but love them but when they get into the world completely it becomes all about their image. It sometimes give me hope to see a few individuals that remain true to themselves but I don’t think too much of it.

Now I would leave all of that behind. I would focus on my job only.Working with idols I knew I had to be nice yet not get pushed around.  Whatever the idol gave me I gave it back to them. I would think of the individual and not the group. And music if it was a good song it was a good song that’s that.

~***~

Author’s POV

Right when Hana and Andy stepped backstage, Hana’s arm clung onto Andy after seeing the amount of people. Andy just chuckled at Hana’s action and was happy that she was intimating “skinship” with him, he knew it meant she trusted him now.

Walking down the halls full of noise and crowded with people Hana stuck close to Andy as he greeted everyone. Andy was quite the popular one when it came to idols.

“Sup Andy!”

“Andy! My Man!”

“ Hi Andy Oppa~!”

Through the greeting Hana seemed to have been over looked but she didn’t mind she honestly just wanted to get out of here as fast as she could. She hated crowds.

“Hey Andy!” They stopped as a man dressed in a red suede suit approached, he had the looks of a player with his hair pulled back.

“ Hey Seungri!”

“ Oh! Who do we have here” His stare felt like it could penetrate Hana’s skin at any moment  

“ Oh this is Hana. She’s new, I’m just showing her around you know normal regulations and all” Andy knew Seungri all too well and didn’t want enclose too much information about Hana

“ Oh so she’s the one? Why hello there Hana” Seungri had this smirk on his face that he used to seduce people but Hana knew better. She knew who he was his scandal and what he was known for, not wanting any trouble she just nodded .

“What cat’s caught your tongue?” Seungri was clearly amused

“ No, she doesn’t speak korean that well.” Andy replied for Hana. It was an agreement they both had to say that Hana’s Korean was bad incase someone like Seungri came along.

“ Oh well, I have to go my performance is going to start soon. Later Andy, it was nice meeting you Hana” Seungri tried to kiss Hana’s hand before he left but Hana jerked her hand back and secured to her side. Amused Seungri just walked away.

After Seungri was gone Andy turned to Hana.

“Sorry about that are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine don’t worry about it”

The rest of the tour went more smoothly, even though many people were eyeing Hana wondering who she was and why she was with Andy. Hana got to watch some of the performance and see the chaos that went on behind the scenes in preparation for everything.

When they were about to leave, Andy suddenly was pulled aside for an emergency leaving Hana alone. Hana ensured she was okay and had her phone on her if anything happened. It was about 10 minutes since Andy left, Hana really had to use the bathroom so she shot Andy a quick text telling him she would be right back.

Hana remembered there was a bathroom nearby so she tried to be quick so Andy won’t worry but along the way...

“Is that the one everyone is talking about?”

“Hey look it’s her”

“Why? There’s nothing special about her”

“She not going to last here”

Girls... Hana has never liked or got along with many girls simply because she hated their gossip and catty tendencies. But at the same time you can’t help but get hurt sometimes. Hana was relieved when she found the bathroom and quickly went in while the gossip still continued.

Right when Hana got out of the bathroom she ran into a hard surface or rather person.

“Ow, oh I’m sorry are you okay?” A boy with blonde hair wearing a school uniform asks. Hana just nodded at bowed

“Are you sure we ran into each other pretty hard?” Again Hana nodded just wanting to get away till she heard him murmur

“ Great Luhan you probably scared her” Hana couldn’t help but giggle

“ No really, I’m okay.” Luhan was shocked that the girl spoke Chinese

“Hana! YO Choi Hana” Luhan’s and Hana’s head turned to see Andy running to them

“Hana there you are!” Hana quickly went to Andy’s side while Luhan couldn’t help but be a little sad by it.

“ Oh Luhan!”

“ Oh Hey sup Andy! What are you doing here?”

“ Oh I came for Hana we have to get going”

“ Oh are you guys, you know?”

“What no! We’re friends I’m touring her around she just got hired with Mnet”  So this is the girl everyone is talking about huh?

“ Oh really?! Well welcome to the world of Kpop Hana” Again Hana just nodded I thought she would be different but  I’m happy I meet her like this she seems too sweet to be the one everyone is gossiping about . A bet was going around with the male idols to see who could get this mysterious new girl. Normally Luhan wouldn’t participate but maybe he might now seeing Hana.

“ Oh Andy! You’re coming to the party right?! You have to!”

“ Of course man! I wouldn’t miss it!”

“  Great! Oh and Hana you’re more than welcome to come too! Since you’re new to Korea and all it will be a great way to mingle!” Before Hana could answer Luhan looked at his watch.

“ Oh crap I’m late! I’ll see you guys there! Bye” With that Luhan ran off.

Hana slumped her shoulders because she couldn’t decline the invitation formally. But even if she did Andy would just of made her anyways. So either way she’s stuck going.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's note: Sorry guys I've been super busy with college but here is a super long chapter for you guys! Everything will start picking up from here! I hope this will keep you guys satisfiied until the next time I update because I have a lot going on right now! xoxo :]