The First Day of My Third Week of My First Month in Korea

Joon didn't teach me the next day. In fact, I barely saw or spoke to anybody besides Cheondung for the next two weeks. He started teaching me Korean, speaking of course. Hangeul will come later, apparently. I've actually improved a lot, between being taught it throughout the day while being surrounded by it as well. The only downside is that I still don’t know what the paper says. 

Anyway, I’m only comfortable speaking it around Cheondung. The others keep their distance, being helpful and communicating occasionally, but never going out of their way to help me. Which I guess I can understand; I’m an outsider who invaded their territory without their consent. 

Wow, I make us sound like dogs. Whatever we are, Joon suddenly decided I have rabies. I haven’t seen him in nine days, and when I did see him he was gone in seconds. I wonder if he was taken over by aliens that first night. 

Anyway, I haven’t seen Sunbae since that night either. Cheondung says he’s keeping tabs on me in his own way, and he’ll probably give me another thing to learn from once I master the entire dance to “Throw Away.” 

Just the thought of that song makes me want to cry. And punch something, but mostly cry. Without Joon’s help, I managed to get the moves a few days later. Now my problem is keeping up with the beat. “Throw Away” is a slow-ish song, but the dance moves are quick. Still, the two aspects manage to correspond perfectly. When done by the group. But when I do it? It looks slow but jerky, like a robot on speed or something. 

Cheondung’s been trying to help, but I’m too stubborn. Sunbae left me alone in that room that night, which means I’m supposed to learn it on my own. And the person to see me at my worst is ignoring my existence despite offering me help.

Hence I’m here again. Or, about to be there again. Ever since I walked home from the practice room that morning with Joon, I’ve been walking to and from it every night. I make sure I go before or after the boys practice. I also make sure I bring and extra pair of clothes, though I didn’t today. It’s hot enough outside that even in shorts and a tank top, Im a little warm.

Just as my mind wanders to the open cold room waiting for me I notice that, today, there’s a tall, thin figure guarding the door.

“Oppa?”I inquire, hesitant.

But almost immediately after I open my mouth, his head jerks up. He smiles nicely, and says, in Korean, “We’re going to the park.”

 “Eh?”I stop, tilt my head. Then, also in Korean, “I have to practice.”

 “Aniyo,”he says. “You have to come with me.”

Oh, whatever. I shrug, and then, in English because I’m not that good at Korean yet, “Fine, but if I have to sit on the floor on my knees on a row of rice because of you, you’re doing it with me and carrying me around afterward.”

He snorts, “Whatever. Come on.”

The jerk blindfolds me. No lie, I walk with him to the corner, and then he tells me to stop. He pulls a bandana out of his pocket and blindfolds me. And because I’m aggravated, I cuss at him in every language I know a cussword in: German, Japanese, English, Spanish, and now, Korean.

I walk a couple more steps before I run into a body. I cuss again,“Cheondung!” I snap, “You let me run into someone?” 

“Hush,”it’s G.O. His voice is quick and small, and he speaks monotone-like. Then he speaks in Korean, “It’s me. Get on.”

Well, don’t have to tell me twice.

I feel my way around his body, checking his hair to make sure that it is indeed G.O., it isn’t. “Aniyo!” I glare through the fabric, “It is not!”

Pause. Spurts of really fast Korean I don’t understand. Then, Cheondung, “How did you know?”

I roll my eyes, “Really? I’ve been living with you guys for two weeks, and I’ve been your fan since ‘Oh Yeah.’ You think I’m not going to know who has what kind of hair?”

“Well then who is it?” He asks smartly.

I reach out again, feel out the silk strands. It is cut kind of short, but leads down to bangs in the front. Then I feel the jawbone, and I know. And I shriek and pull back. “Joon-ah.”

“Come on,”Cheondung says. “Trust us. You’ll understand when we get there.”

I sigh. Hesitantly I wrap my arms around his neck. As he stands, his hands grab at my legs. Wow, his hands are really big. Like, they’re on my upper thigh, and they make my legs look really small. Of course, I haven’t look at my legs in two weeks and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve lost like, thirty pounds. Okay, maybe not that much. But a bit.

Still, his hands are surprisingly rough, and warm against my skin. Also, I notice, they’re a bit clammy? Oh, is the high and mighty, I-offer-to-help-people-then-forget-them nervous about touching me?

Well fine then.

I grip him even tighter, pressing every part of my body that I can to him. And then, just to really make my point, I press my face into his neck, making sure my lips are against his pulse. He breathes in quickly, flexing his fingers.

Stick that in your amnesia juice box and it, .

I stay like that the entire ride, ignoring the banter and laughter between the boys. All of MBLAQ, I have decided, is around me. Joon doesn’t talk much, but when he does, it does strange things to my person. I’ve never met someone who talks with so much of their body. I swear, he…rumbles almost. Strange vibrations all over—

He’s doing that on purpose! Getting ual revenge on me for pretty much gluing my to his (very nice, I might say) behind.

.

But I can’t help but smile against his neck as I figure this out. And I hear him let out a small snort as he knows I’ve figured him out. This, too, sends vibrations everywhere.

Thank you Jesus for allowing that walk to end quickly. If it didn’t, I was going to rip of the blindfold and do everything I had to, to drag him to an alleyway and have my way with him.

Though, I can’t honestly say I think he would’ve minded.

I climb off when he crouches down, immediately reaching for the blindfold. Cheondung grabs my hand, however. And says, “Not all of MBLAQ has made you feel very welcome recently. So, we’re having our own celebration for you. A late night picnic in the park.”

And then he pulls of the blindfold and I want to cry. There are several baskets sitting on a large blanket, under a tree. I look over, and see them all lined up: Mir, Cheondung, Joon, G.O, Seungho. All of them smiling, and then they bow.

“Hwan-yeong!”They say together, and laugh and smile and run around. Seungho goes straight for the food, while Mir, Joon and G.O. start running around and climbing on things. Mir falls while trying to climb up a tree. G.O. pushes Joon into a bush.

I laugh, and glance over at Cheondung. He smiles at me. “Will you trust me now?”

Before I answer, I instinctively look over at Joon and I notice he seems to be glaring at me now. Narrowed eyes, pursed lips, tilted head. What the hell is with this guy?

I jerk towards Cheondung, aggravated. “If you’ll tell me why Joon is so damn hot-then-cold with me!”

He glances at the object of my aggravation and ual frustration. Then sighs, wraps an arm around me and leads us towards Seungho. “We’re all allowed a secret. Let him deal with his.”