- - Recieved - - 4:39 A.M.

"Get home right now. We're in so much trouble."

- - - - -

Oh .

As I read Minjoo's text message that was sent to me nearly six hours ago, I felt a pang of fear. Oh God, the both of us were going to get in a load of trouble from our grandparents. What if my grandpa tells my mom and she wants me back in America?

Oh, oh, oh...

My head was pounding; my skin was sticky. I quickly gazed about the room, hoping to catch sight of the man I had been with last night. But I saw nothing except my reflection in the mirror that hung on the opposite wall.

{In Changmin's eyes...}

It was almost two hours ago when I had awoken, tangled with Hyuna's body. It was now almost ten in the morning, and she still wasn't out of my mind.

"Deep thinking while lifting?" Seulong asked, startling me a bit. I was in such profound thought that I had been completely unaware of the environment around me. Jinwoon, who was on the treadmill, was watching the TV hanging on the ceiling while Jokwon was quietly humming to himself as he was doing his arm stretches.

I didn't answer him. I couldn't keep my mind focused on my work out. I think I slacked, and that was the reason why Seulong continued to look at me in a funny way.

I brushed him off, and as everyone returned to their solo work out, I reminisced about last night.

"America?" I asked, gaining more interest than before.

"Yeah, I'm only here for the summer. I'm not that good at Korean..." she said. In the taxi, she leaned her body onto mine.

"I was born in America, you know. I moved back to Korea around my teen years," I said, feeling a connection with her. She looked up at me with her smiling eyes, bright with curiosity.

"Can you say something for me?" she asked in English.

"No," I said back in English. She gave a childish giggle.

I sighed. I had stopped lifting the twenty kilogram dumbbell. It was the fact that she was from America.

If she had just been another damn Korean resident, I wouldn't have gone and made things so complicated.

Hopefully, I won't run into her again. Last night was just something I had done on a whim. It wasn't something that was supposed to be on my mind  till the next morning.

{In Hyuna's eyes...}

"Wow, I can't believe only I got in trouble..." Minjoo said, her arms crossed in indignation. "You've got to be kidding me...Like, at least I came home around four!"

I shrugged. I had also expected to be in a deep amount of trouble, but as I arrived to the our grandparents' home, my grandfather only told me that I should've texted or called to alert him and the other family members that I was going to be out late. I guess the perks of adulthood were finally dropping by.

"Where the heck did you go anyways?" She turned around and was walking towards her bed. Across from her bed sat mine with my luggage from yesterday still scattered about the bed sheets.

"I don't know...man, my head hurts..." I rubbed my temples. As I was undressing and looking for more comfortable clothing I could wear, I heard her beg into my ear. She stood obstinate, wanting to hear every single detail of my night.

"I met a guy, okay? I don't know..." It was all I could say. To go further into detail would be extremely inappropriate. She let out a sharp gasp.

"Unnie! Oh my gosh!" She brought her hands to her lips. "Was he good looking?"

I laughed, but quickly turned serious. "His abs were like..."

I tried to explain to her, but they were so indescribable. "So hot..."

"Did you exchange numbers or something?!" she almost seemed too excited for me. I thought for a second, finally coming to a realization that I hadn't. "Did you at least get his name?"

... Oh my God.

Minjoo rolled her eyes. Her short hair swayed a bit as she shook her head.

"Wait...so I know I'm kind of in trouble and all but..." She suddenly changed the conversation and shoveled through the contents of her purse. "Guess what I got yesterday!?"

She lifted up two tickets, her eyes blinking with pure excitement. "Two tickets for Music Bank. And, they're VIP."

-

My cousin was absurb. Completely and undeniably absurd.

"You're kidding. You want to risk your life again? Didn't your mom almost kill you for staying out that late!? Shouldn't you be studying?!" I pounded her with my questions. They were supposed to make her rethink about her choice of wanting to go to the concert that was supposedly going on tonight. But I think my questions only strengthened her stubborness.

She shrugged, shoving the tickets back into her purse. "Well, I could take someone else..."

I furrowed my eyebrows. I had never gone to a concert before. I was silently weighing the pros of cons of going. Well, since it wasn't like going to a nightclub, I decided that tagging along might get me a chance to get some new experience.

"But if anything happens," I said, pointing an unforgiving finger at her. "I'm never going anywhere with you ever again."

There was a moment of silence before I asked, "How'd you get those tickets, anyway?"

She gave a mischevious grin. "Oh, you know..."

{In Changmin's eyes...}

Jokwon was dancing to some newly released American song. The four of us were waiting backstage in our room as the other performers were on stage. Seulong was practicing some harmony with Jinwoon as I sat eating the strawberries that were placed on the coffee table.

"You guys are on in five minutes!" a set worker said, peeking his head in through the door.

I stood up. "Hey, Jokwon. Do I have anything in my teeth?"

{In Hyuna's eyes...}

The audience was beginning to get restless. Minjoo and I had just finished watching a bunch of people holler and jump around. I didn't really like Korean music...

On the big digital screen above the large stage suddenly flickered and focused on a certain image. It was a picture of four men in white suits; their backs turn to the audience. Two MC's began to talk from a side stage.

"Okay, we're back everybody! Now it's time for a special stage with 2AM with I Was Wrong!" the girl said excitedly. Everyone began to cheer as the stage brightened with lights, showing the four men from the display picture above.

Their song began to play, and a tall man started to sing. Suddenly, they started to do some strange dance that made it look as though they were puppets that were being controlled by the small back up dancers that were dressed in all black.

Halfway to the chorus, I recognized someone.

{In Changmin's eyes...}

"Good job, everybody!" the producer of the concert said, giving all the performers a thumbs up. The other groups that had attended the concert tonight all seemed exhausted from their performances.

I was starting to pack up my belongings when I heard a sound from outside our backstage room door. It was a soft mumbling noise that was abruptly interrupted with a sharp hiss.

I looked at the three other members, trying to see if they had also noticed the noise. But Jokwon was talking loudly with Jinwoon and Seulong about some mistake that he had made during our performance.

I edged toward the door, wary of what could be making the noise. Perhaps it was our manager who was trying to scare us. He was always doing weird stuff like that to try and prove that under or rock hard bodies, we were just a bunch of wimps.

As I grabbed the knob, the door suddenly swung open, and someone tumbled into the room.

There was a silence that settled over the room.

"Hey! Who are you?!" Jokwon asked, marching up beside me. He set his hands on his hips in a girly yet somehow demanding manner.

"Ch-Changmin?!" Hyuna looked up at me from the floor.

"Do we need the manager...?" Jinwoon asked from somewhere behind me, sounding confused.

Behind Hyuna, some other girl popped her head into the room. She had short hair and was tinier than Hyuna in body size. Her large eyes scanned the room eagerly.

Shocked, I stood speechless. I had to act now.

"Changmin! It's me, Hyuna!" Hyuna said, reaching up at my arm. "Remember?"

"Oh geez. I'm sorry," the girl with the short head said apologetically as she began to pull at Hyuna's shoulder. "What did I tell you!"

Hyuna started to turn desperate. "Wait...Changmin, come on! You don't remember me?!"

{In Hyuna's eyes...}

I was sure that this was him. The lips, his nose. Especially his strong muscular arms. They were exactly the same.

Minjoo was trying to drag me out of the room, being super conscious of the way the other three men were looking at us.

"Changmin—?"

"Who are you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

-

"What did I tell you!" Minjoo repeated, criticizing me. "Now they think you're a freak. Way to just go and embarrass yourself..."

"I swear it was him..." I said, shaking my head in confusion. The two of us had exited from the room and was sitting in the backstage hallway. "I swear..."

"Hey, I want to go see SHINee and ask for an autograph," Minjoo said. "So just wait here. I'll be right back, okay?"

She darted off, leaving me alone with my head filled with questions and a sudden pain that began to form in my chest.

{In Changmin's eyes...}

It turned out that had been far from leaving. It took our manager an hour for him to get some things straightened out with the concert director and it took anotherextra hour for Jokwon to find some ring that he had lost. It turned out that it had been in his bag this whole time.

"Stupid!" I said, lightly slapping Jokwon's arm. "Man, we could've been home by now!"

"Dude, I'm hungry. Let's get home," Jinwoon said. "I need to feed my abs."

"Hey, what was about you and that girl anyways?" Jokwon asked, carefully placing his ring back on his finger. "Did she stalk you or something? Some fans are really crazy..."

"Yeah..."I said. "Something like that..."

“Did you see her eyes?!” Jokwon said, putting his fingers on the top and bottom of his eyes and spreading them apart to make them larger.

“She looked really devastated, I’ll tell you that…” Seulong said, grabbing a hold of my shoulder. “You better hope that she was just a stalker.”

"Ah, Changmin!" Our manager walked into the room, a clipboard in his hand. "I think you might have to stay a bit...They want to ask about you and Lee Hyun's collaboration thing."

"Man..." I sighed.

-

By the time I had finished speaking with the director of next week's concert, most of the people had left. There weren't any idols left nor were there any people in general. Jokwon and the two others had already headed home in our van without me. I guess I was just going to have to take a taxi...

I began to look for my bag when I realized that I had given it to Seulong to take it home for me. As I stepped outside, I felt a sudden chill. Even though the day had been hot, the night had cooled to what felt like an almost chilly seventy degrees.

Outside, only a dim streetlight lit my path out onto the sidewalk, where from there I could call for a taxi if I was lucky enough. If I couldn't, I would have to walk home, which wasn't too bad since it was only thirty minutes away by foot.

I was walking past a trashcan that was set on a little ledge when I noticed a lumpy figure that was leaning on the metallic can.

I blinked my eyes. Maybe I was seeing things?

I inched closer, trying to take a better look.

The dark mass began to move, making me think that maybe it was some sort of animal. But then it mumbled something and I realized that it was just a human being.

I grabbed its shoulder and rolled it over to see Hyuna, asleep. Her face was tear streaked and her eyes were smudged from her eyeliner.

I gave a snicker and rolled my eyes. Why in the world is she sleeping on a trashcan?

I began to walk away, but something stopped me. Some sort of strange force was holding me back. I took a hesitant glance back at the unconscious girl. She leaned on the can, her button down shirt loose around her chest. Her long messy hair was covering her face, giving her the creepy appearance of some ghost girl from a Japanese horror movie. Man, I hate horror movies...I don't know why in the world Seulong is so into them.

"Geez...I'm gonna regret this..." I grumbled to myself as I forced myself to walk back to her. I pushed the trashcan away, leaving her to slump dangerously forward. My back caught her before she fell and I struggled as I pulled our bodies up. She was heavier than I had predicted, but it was already too late. I couldn't just leave her now.

Groaning, I had to literally lean my chest ninety degrees forward to prevent her from sliding off.

"Man, how come this looks so much easier in dramas?" I thought as I began to make my way into the sidewalk.

It was tough for the first couple of minutes of walking, mostly because it seemed that taxis were nonexistent at this time of night. But as I continued to walk on, I didn't have to bend over as much because I felt that Hyuna was actually holding on to me.

I felt relief as I got on the elevator and headed up towards my apartment. As I reached the floor that we resided on, I quickly exited the elevator, excited about getting home. At my apartment's doorstep, struggling with both my fingers and the girl, I somehow managed to pull out the keys. Hearing the lock click after I pushed it in and twisted it, I slowly opened the door, hoping that the other members were asleep.

As I walked in, the cold air of my home hit me flat in the face. It seemed that Jokwon had forgotten to turn off the air conditioner again.

In the apartment, there were three bedrooms and one bathroom. At first, I had wanted to have a small room by myself, but Jinwoon had somehow persuaded me to share the big room with him.

"I don't want to share with Jokwon! He's too picky! And he would want to cuddle with me...and I'm not into that stuff..." Jinwoon had said. I quickly headed towards my room, feeling desperate to get Hyuna off of my back. When I got inside and closed the door, I hastily slid her off and onto my bed that was beside Jinwoon's. I heard his soft snores that were muffled by his hoodie.

She mumbled something again, something about America.

I ignored her and turned back around to go into the bathroom that was in the hallway.

I was sure that it was around two in the morning when I had finished brushing my teeth. I didn't even bother to change.

I just trudged into the living room, where I fell, exhausted, onto the comfortable leather couch in the living room.

There, I faded into a deep sleep to the sounds of the suddenly pouring rain, my mind still cluttered about the girl that lay asleep on my bed and what the hell I was supposed to do with her now. 

{a/n: sorry for the really long chapter. LOL. but i thought that this was better than splitting it up into two chapters. hehe, :P}