“That was...great,” He sighed, working on sitting up on the floor but finding it harder than he had expected. Claire laughed at his uncoordinated attempt, enjoying seeing him looking less than smooth for once. She tried to sit up herself and found that she was no more coordinated than he had been. Eventually they found their sea legs again, they cleaned themselves up and at least located all of their clothing.
Sitting on the edge of the bed as they started dressing, Cheol finally noticed the darkening mark he had made on her shoulder. Fifteen minutes ago it had merely been a ring of pink marks around a slightly reddened circle of skin. It was now developing a slightly more purple tinge to it.
“Oh no,” He groaned softly, reaching out to touch it.
“Hmmm?” Claire turned, awkwardly trying to see her own shoulder and failing. “Is it bruising?”
“Yes,” He said weakly, feeling terrible.
“Don’t worry about it,” She gave him a reassuring kiss on the back of his hand. “I could have objected if it hurt too much.”
“I wasn’t thinking when I did it,” He apologized. “I’ll be more careful next time. I shouldn’t leave a mark like that.”
“It’s okay, really,” She promised. “It won’t last long and I don’t think it’s anywhere someone can see it.”
“Is...umm...that what you like?” He asked with a little embarrassment.
“You mean do I like it rough?” She gave him a light tap with her elbow, amused by his flustered behavior. He nodded, his ears turning a deeper shade of pink. “It’s fun sometimes, but I’m a little too vanilla to enjoy it too often.”
Cheol was relieved to hear it. As fun and exhilarating as it had been, he was feeling too guilty about the mark and worrying over having been too rough to want to do it again soon.
“Hey, come here,” Claire invited, taking note of his expression. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m just afraid I wasn’t careful enough,” He shrugged, scooting closer to her.
“Do you trust me?” She asked him, running a comforting hand over his thigh.
“Of course,” He said automatically.
“Good,” She paused for half a second. “Do you trust yourself?”
“Maybe not,” He admitted. “I mean mostly, but when it comes to something like accidentally hurting you...you’re the one who suffers from my mistake.”
“You could never hurt me, not that bad, at least,” She would have put money on it. “You’re passionate but a complete softie.”
“Yeah?” He broke into a happy laugh.
“Totally,” She grinned up at him. “You would throw yourself off a proverbial cliff before you’d do something that would harm me.”
“Well, yeah,” He said it as if that was obvious and the choice anyone would make.
“See, that’s why I trust you.” She pointed out. Her admission gave him a warm feeling in his stomach. She gave him another peck on his cheek before she finished dressing and pulling together her things. Dressed and returned to a presentable state, they left the bedroom to rejoin the rest of the household.
Chapter 16
Less than a week later, it was time for the SOMU, an awards show and concert celebrating the very best of Korean culture, music, and entertainment. YTHTonic had been nominated for an award, something they were very anxious and excited about. A win there would confirm their place as real up and coming stars in the market. Of course all of the members were going, there would be press, the awards, a performance, and interviews spanning the whole weekend. Since it was in Seoul, it was easy to convince their manager to let Claire come along to help as well as enjoy the event. Kitae had been the first to suggest it, something that was eagerly embraced by all the other members. She had never been able to see one of their live performances before and it was a fun opportunity for them to give her a new experience.
The halls were almost literally buzzing with the activities of all the groups and their teams. They were given a shared dressing room for all their preparations and downtime during the three days of the event. It was located at the end of the right half of the T-shaped hallway that was home to a majority of the groups and actors who were in attendance. Arriving at midday on Friday, they did a red carpet walk and entrance where they were greeted with the twinkling of hundreds of flashes from cell phones and press cameras. They smiled, waved, and posed for a couple of minutes before they answered a few questions and exited to allow the next group to follow along behind them.
When they returned to their room, they were largely done for the day, aside from a couple of interviews that they would be able to conduct in their dressing room. There were other events happening that day with various stages throughout the complex hosting small performances and forums for everything from picture opportunities to discussions. Claire was free to wander around, seeing the sights, while everyone else was busy or relaxing in the back room. It was really quite fun and was proving to be an interesting window on the entertainment industry here. The people were pretty, skinny, and disciplined. In the end not really different from everywhere else, but it felt like there was a level of dedication and image that was unique to the region.
After a full afternoon of wandering around, she decided to return back to the dressing room around dinner time to see if they had plans already. Flashing her badge at the security entrance to the hallway, she pulled out her phone to mindlessly check on her social media and any messages she might have missed. On auto-pilot as she walked down the now much calmer halls, she took a wrong turn, heading down the opposite hallway as she looked at the screen of her phone. She reached the door she thought was their dressing room and, giving a quick cursory knock, opened the door.
“Hey, my boys, how’s the afternoon gone?” She said before looking up as the door closed behind her. Immediately she knew she was not where she expected to be when she lifted her gaze. Her eyes met the surprised faces of the people in the room, who she happened to recognise as the members of TEENz. She had known they were here and had even seen them wandering about in the hallway on the way to do their own carpet walk and photo op earlier in the day.
They looked as surprised as she felt she must look to have found herself in the wrong place. Frozen in the middle of whatever they had been doing, all their eyes blinked at her for the longest seconds of Claire’s life.
“Ooh! I’m sorry, I’ve come to the wrong room, excuse me,” Her face felt like it might burst into flames with embarrassment as she spun on her heel and fumbled with the door handle, surely looking like the biggest moron on the planet.
“It’s fine, accidents happen,” A voice said behind her, followed by footsteps. Claire glanced over her shoulder to find their faces now looking more amused than surprised and Yejun, the very sexy leader, dancer, and rapper of the group, walking towards her with a charming grin. “Where were you trying to go, then?”
“Ah, I’m here with YTHTonic and I think I must have gone down the wrong side,” She explained, stuttering and feeling quite lucky that she could remember any Korean at all at the moment.
“I can help you get back,” Yejun offered, drawing up beside her.
“I’ll come too,” Junwoo said, the very cute dancer, singer, and visual of the group, standing up. “I wanted to say hi to Changho anyway. We went to the same school.”
“Right, I remember that,” Claire said without thinking.
“Oh?” Junwoo said with a raised eyebrow. “Did he mention me?”
“No,” She cringed as she admitted it. “I...uh...might be a slight fan.”
“Really?” Yejun gave her a self-satisfied grin. “That’s good to know.”
“You are welcome to come but you don’t have to for me,” She assured them backing out of the door.
“We don’t mind,” Junwoo assured her, looping an arm through hers as they started down the long hall. “There isn’t something better for us to be doing at the moment anyway.”
“So, what are you doing here with YTHTonic,
anyway?” Yejun asked curiously from her other side.
“I’m helping them with English,” She responded with a friendly smile. “I’ve been teaching some of the members for a few months now.”
“English? A teacher?” Yejun switched languages, now speaking in accented English. “No, you’re too young!”
“You’re sweet,” She gave him a look that was both humored and annoyed by his comment. “But I’m not that young.”
“Maybe when you are done with them you can come and teach us?” Yejun suggested as he knocked on the door of the dressing room which actually had YTHTonic taped on the door in a bold font.
“I’m not sure that would be possible,” She demurred just before the door opened and Jaejin’s face poked out through the crack.
“Claire-nim,” Jaejin greeted her in a surprised tone. He opened the door the rest of the way, letting her and the two other guests enter.
“Junwoo?” Changho said in surprise. “Why are you with Claire-nim?”
“She found us by accident,” Junwoo hugged her arm and gave her an affectionate and flirtatious look. “So we decided to do the nice thing and help her find her way back to you. Besides I meant to come and say hello to you sometime anyway.”
“Found you by accident?” Kitae repeated, not quite following.
“He means I was an idiot that walked into the wrong dressing room,” She admitted, using her free hand to cover her eyes as the feeling of wanting to crawl under a rock and disappear rose up again. Giggles and chuckles rippled around the room, adding to her internal and not so internal cringing.
“It was lucky you came the wrong way,” Yejun decided with an infectious confidence. “It’s always nice to meet a fan and maybe we could convince you to come work with us.”
“Somehow I suspect that isn’t really up to you,” Claire said carefully, as she stepped out of Junwoo’s gentle grasp.
“What did you say?” Junwoo asked, not quite following the English conversation.
“See, we could use you,” Yejun grinned at his friend and patted his shoulder. Cheol, who had been watching silently, stepped forward to take Claire by the elbow and guide her to a chair near the make-up counter he had been leaning on a moment before. She took the seat he offered with a smile and he moved to stand behind her, one hand giving her shoulder a squeeze as he eyed Junwoo and Yejun in a slightly less than friendly manner.
“Anyway, you should come and see us perform tomorrow,” Junwoo suggested with excitement. “We can give you a pass to be in the front with all the press if you want a good view.”
“I’d love to, but you don’t have to do that,” Claire assured him.
“Don’t be silly,” Yejun jumped in. “We can get a place for you. Besides, I think we are performing not long before them,” He gestured at the other group in the room. “So we’ll just make sure you have the best seat in the house for both.”
“Then, thank you,” She allowed, trying to let the conversation drop. The tension in Cheol beside her was palpable to her and she wasn’t sure why. Reaching out, she briefly put a hand on his thigh to reassure him, whatever was bothering him.
The two members of TEENz fell into a comfortable conversation with others in the room. Junwoo and Changho chatted like the old friends that they were, catching up and reminiscing about old times and commiserating about the ups and downs of life in K-Pop. Hyunwoo and FX moved to sit near Claire and Cheol. Hyunwoo opted to sit on the floor in front of Claire, wrapping an arm around her leg and leaning his head on her knee. FX leaned against the edge of the counter alongside Cheol, matching his friend's body language by crossing his arms loosely across his chest.
“You got lost, Claire-nim?” Hyunwoo asked with a grin as he looked up at her.
“I wouldn’t say I got lost,” Claire hedged, scrunching up her nose as she tried to explain. “I just took a right when I should have taken a left...or was it the other way around? Anyway, it won’t happen again. I’ll watch where I’m going next time.”
“You should be careful,” Hyunwoo needled playfully. “I’d be sad if you got lost.”
“Don’t worry, dear, it’s not quite that easy to get rid of me,” She gave him a teasing shove before mussing his hair. Cheol put a hand on her shoulder and gave her half smile, silently letting her know he felt the same as his young friend. He wished they would leave so that he could at least ask what happened and spend the little time they didn’t have their manager or someone else looking over their shoulders with her freely. That Changho’s friend was forward enough to hang off her arm as he walked her back had irked him. It wasn’t that he minded her touching others or others touching her, after all, his friend was practically in her lap. It was how forward, how flirtatious he was. The other one seemed overly friendly for his liking, as well.
Yejun noticed the mood over in that corner and took note of the way that the leader of the other group seemed to hover over their teacher. He seemed...protective, and in return she seemed to reach out to soothe him. There was something there that was more there than met the eye, but he wasn’t sure exactly what it was. He was also surprised by how comfortable she was with the younger member who had cuddled himself up with her. It was odd the familiarity she seemed to have with them. It actually made her seem even younger than he had first suspected. Clearly she was young to be a teacher of any sort of rank but was probably old enough to be a teacher of some sort. He watched as others from the group moved over to speak with her between having conversations with him and his band mate as well as one another. They all greeted her with familiarity and affection, wanting to share something with her or tell her something they did. She was warm and interested in them and what they had to say, seemingly able to make each of them feel important when they spoke to her.
“We should be getting back to the rest of our group,” Yejun said after they had been there for a bit of time.
“Awwww, fine,” Junwoo gave a slight pout, pulling himself away from the conversation he was still having with Changho. “Maybe we’ll see you again tomorrow at the backstage things. Oh,” He paused, giving a squeal and a brilliant, charming smile to Claire. “One of us will send over the pass for you tomorrow. Don’t forget! I’ll look for you when we perform.”
“Thank you, I’ve always wanted to see both of your groups perform,” She said gratefully, moving her gaze from him, up to Cheol with a smile.
“See you tomorrow,” Junwoo got out in heavily accented English.
“See you tomorrow,” She chuckled back at him. Yejun flashed her a practiced grin and a little heart before turning and heading out through the door with his friend. The door closed behind them with a click and Cheol let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.
“You are welcome to strangle me now,” Claire groaned, taking Cheol’s hand and pressing it to her forehead. “I’m sorry I made a mess.”
“No, it’s not...” Cheol sighed. “Of all the people--”
“Why did it have to be them?” She finished for him. “I know.”
“How did you end up in their room?” Changho asked, the corner of his lip curling with humor.
“Well I am an idiot, to start with,” She stated matter of factly. “I was coming back looking at my phone and, because when I left I turned around the corner to the left, I automatically did the same when I was coming back. So that put me on the opposite side, where they were apparently. I’m sure I’ll laugh about this some day, but not yet.”
“Awww,” Kitae could certainly already see the humor in it.
“It would have been nice to meet them when I didn’t look like a complete idiot,” She said, giving Cheol a pained look.
“I don’t think they thought you were an idiot,” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, trying to reassure you.
“I just wanted to ask if you guys had dinner plans,” She sighed, leaning her head against his hip. “Did you guys already eat?”
“Not yet,” Wonjung replied from the couch across the room. “We
were thinking of ordering something soon though. You want to eat something with us?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough being out and about for today,” She gave a tired sigh.
“Did you have fun otherwise?” Cheol inquired.
“I did,” She responded with a grin. “It’s been interesting to get to see everything here.”
“Then you are glad you came along?” He gave her head a pat.
“Yes, thank you for inviting me.” She gave him a warm grin.
***
Saturday was a full day of commitments for the group with a few interviews and TV appearances in the morning, the afternoon with their stage performances, and the awards ceremony in the evening. They arrived back at the dressing room around nine to get make-up and hair done for the day before they were expected to appear on any stage or in front of the numerous cameras which would be pointed in their direction throughout the day. Claire made her exit when the room was full of all the extra people they needed to get them ready along with rows of clothes, piles of shoes, and bags of accessories taking up most of the free space. It felt downright chaotic and a little crowded. Slipping out with a little wave to the members, she headed out to explore a bit more.
In the morning she found herself at a Korean trot exhibition, featuring a mix of old and new talent. It amused her how much it reminded her of a lot of old fashioned music from the 50s and 60s around the world. Trot was the sort of thing that had you tapping your feet and wanting to pick a partner for a fun turn around the dance floor. She was fascinated by the range of ages represented in the event and was quite glad to see that the younger generations seemed to be well represented.
After that she ended up in the market area where she picked up some fan merch for both YTHTonic and TEENz hoping that she might have the confidence to ask for some autographs from both of them. Maybe she would chicken out, but she wouldn’t regret having the stuff even if she did. She also picked up a few little knick knacks she liked from other stalls and got herself a snack from the line of street food outside the venue.
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