I Know You Like Me

Christmas Special

If It Happened All Over Again:

"I will make everything right again. I have to." Leenah muttered to herself. SoonYee sped off in her car with Leenah and Noah in the back seat, off to the hotel Heechul was staying at.

"What exactly are we doing?" Noah asked in annoyance.

"I tried explaining it to you before, you wouldn't listen." Leenah replied, "So I don't expect you to understand now."

"Oh, I see. You're still on about how you're in some alternate reality?" He practically laughed.

"It's more plausible than you think!" SoonYee called out from the driver's seat.

"Okay, sure."

"Noah, I don't care if you believe me or not right now, but there's still some things I want to ask you." Leenah shifted in her seat so she could look at her twin.

"What?"

"Do I," Leenah hesitated, "Do I still dance?"

"Dance?" Noah scoffed, "You quit back in sophomore year because some professional dance team rejected you. I haven't even heard you mention the word since."

"Really?" Leenah felt devastation in her heart. Her dream was rejected, so she just gave up? Who knows, what if SM had rejected her too? Would she have given up then too?

"Yeah."

"Also, I uh, I haven't seen our biological dad today." Leenah looked at him seriously. "Where is he?"

"Don't act like you don't know." Noah rolled his eyes but then saw how she was looking at him. She did seem very curious to know, but he didn't want to relive the memory. "He moved to San Francisco when he and mom divorced like, twelve years ago."

"What? What happened?"

"They said they just had differences they couldn't work out, but you and I both know it was because they weren't ready to be parents so young. The stress and the pressure got to them so they decided to break up."

"I never thought that would happen." Leenah frowned, sinking into the leather. "I can assure you though, Noah, is that where I'm from, they never stopped loving each other and are still together."

"I'm sure they are."

"One more thing." Leenah smirked, "Is that why you're such an in this life?"

"Shut up, you're an too." Noah laughed, playfully hitting her shoulder.

Leenah laughed in return and retreated to look at her phone for some more answers if there were anymore. Looking at her pictures, she saw she had some photos from a very familiar place but she was posing with a group of girls she didn't know. She observed the girls in the picture a little closer and knew they were familiar, but where had she seen them before?

"Hey, Noah, do you know who these girls are?" Leenah showed him her phone.

"What, you don't recognize your crappy so called "best friends" now too?"

"Best friends?" She had one best friend, and that was SoonYee. Eventually she also had Marta, Jenny, Deedee, and Bette. She wondered what they were up to right now; probably preparing to debut without her.

"Yeah, don't forget crappy. You know I hate them. That day was the first and last time I ever go to Disneyland with y'all."

Disneyland... Leenah quickly observed the picture again and saw that was indeed where they were in the series of selfies. She recognized them perfectly now. They were the girls who made fun of her when Heechul and Henry left her alone for no more than five minutes. Leenah came close to pressing the lock button on her phone but something else caught her eye. She saw a video at the end of her gallery of Disneyland photos. Knowing she would regret the decision as quickly as she made it, she pressed play.

"I'm sorry. I don't, speak, English."

"I'm sorry but, what did you say?" One of the girls tried not to laugh. "You don't what?"

"I don't speak English." A young Korean teen boy blurted out in Korean.

The second girl actually laughed, along with the rest, including Leenah. "What language are you speaking? Spanish, French, German? What is that?"

The boy pointed to himself, "Korean."

"I think he's saying she's Korean or something." Leenah's valley-girl sounding voice giggled.

"Oh well in that case, ni hao!" The girl in the front laughed obnoxiously.

"Why did you bother coming to America if you can't speak English? We speak English here!"

"You understand that? English!" The three girls laughed along with Leenah. The boy had already walked off and Leenah's laughter died down. "Guys, don't you think we were a little too mean?"

The video ended right after she said that. Words couldn't explain how horrible she felt in that moment. She was popular in this life, but was the cost that she had to go along with people like that? Was this reality actually better than the one she had always known?

"You're right." Leenah frowned, slouching heavily, "I am an ."

A half hour passed until they reached the hotel. It was only a four star, but she supposed it was good enough. Leenah nearly straight up flew out of the car and sprinted to the front hotel doors, her body slamming up against the glass. She couldn't help herself. Heechul was in there and it already felt like it's been years since she's even looked at his face. Well, in this life, she's never seen him even once.

"Excuse me, do you plan on blocking the door all night?" A voice said next to her. When she realized how familiar that voice was and how she didn't understand a word he said, she quickly turned her head towards him to confirm her hunch that it was indeed him, Kim Heechul.

"Heechul!" Leenah pushed herself off the door and threw her arms around him.

"Yah! Someone get this crazy person off of me!" Heechul shouted, "Henry help me!"

"Oh. Right." Leenah remembered. Kim Heechul, her love, had no idea who she was. Reluctantly, she released him and backed up to give him space. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"Are all Americans like this?" Heechul mumbled, adjusting the collar of his shirt and hat that he was wearing backwards on his black hair which he was growing out again.

"I have no idea what you just said, but I'm going to assume it was you being a smart , as usual." Leenah smiled anyway. "But moving on. Heechul, do you remember me at all? Anything?"

Heechul didn't say anything but instead just stared blankly then blinked a couple of times.

"Okay, this is going to be like a really interesting game of charades then." Leenah rubbed her hands together. She then pointed to herself, "I'm Leenah, Leenah Jung. I'm your wife."

Heechul again stared blankly for a moment then went for the door, "I don't have time for this."

"Heechul, you have to remember me, please! Oh this would be so much easier if I knew Korean!" Leenah groaned as she followed him inside.

"Who are you?" Leenah turned around to see Henry with Donghae and Gunhee right behind him.

"Henry! Thank God!" Leenah rushed over to him, "I need your help."

"Should I call security?" Henry asked in a concerned tone.

"No, I'm not here to harass you guys or anything I swear I'm not insane." Leenah spoke quickly, "I was mad at Heechul and I wished I could really know what my life would be like if I was never raised in Korea and I woke up here in this mess and now I don't know Korean so I just need your help talking to Heechul for me,