“Ha, well it hasn’t all been this,” She pointed out. “I mean my apartment in Seoul is smaller than this room and the boys all share a dorm where none of them get a room to themselves. It’s made some stuff, uh….awkward...sometimes. Bunk beds aren’t as bad as I thought they might be, actually.”
“Don’t tell me you have had to revert to awkward dorm sex like we all had in college,” Her friend cringed before amending. “Sorry all the rest of us were having while you were too busy being a perfect student.”
“Yeah I have to say,” Claire stated with wry humor. “I really could have gone my whole life never having had the experience of dorm sex and been fine. I like privacy and not having to worry about other people hearing me or, god forbid, walking in.”
“Oh no,” Roz’s face was a mask of horror. “Has that happened to you guys?”
“No,” Claire said gratefully as she pulled out the room service menu for them to look at. “And I am eternally grateful for that.”
“Seriously,” Roz nodded with wide eyes that said she adamantly agreed. They put in their order and went back to talking like the old friends that they indeed were. Roz had been hearing a lot about her life in Seoul but she still had a hundred questions she wanted to ask about the country, the people, and of course, the boyfriend.
Not long after they put the order in there was a knock on her door. Surely it’s too soon to be the food, Claire thought to herself as she made her way to answer it. On the other side of the door stood Cheol, looking at least a little less stressed than he had on the ride over. Claire let him in the door and he immediately pulled her into his arms, his cheek resting on the top of her head.
“Cheol--” Claire began, wanting to tell him that her friend was there in the room with them but he silenced her with a soft, longing kiss.
“Hellooo,” Roz said from across the room, still seated in the comfy chair across the room. Cheol jerked himself away from Claire, his eyes locking on the unfamiliar face.
“Cheol, Roz came to have lunch with me,” She said once he had broken away from her. “Don’t worry, she already knows and she won’t say anything. But maybe you can say hi first.”
“Sorry,” He apologized, color rising on his cheeks and the tips of his ears. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Roz insisted, literally waving away his apology as she stood up to meet him. “I’m Rosaline Hinden and I already know you are Park Cheol Min. You are even cuter in person.” She turned to her friend and whispered. “Well done.”
“Roz!” Claire scolded. “Try to make a good first impression.”
“Well he certainly has already,” Her friend joked. “That kiss, brief though it was, looked nice. So points earned already.”
“Rosaline Ruth Hinden,” Claire reproached her friend with her full name to give it the gravity it required. “Behave.” Claire turned to Cheol, putting a hand on his arm to get his attention. “자기야[61] we just put an order in for room service, did you want to have something with us?”
“I already ordered something and told them to send it here,” He admitted with a chagrined half smile.
“Good,” She took his hands in hers and led him to the seat she had been occupying across from Roz. He took a seat in the chair and gently pulled Claire into his lap.
“It’s nice to meet you finally,” Cheol told the other woman as he wrapped his arms loosely around Claire’s waist.
“Yeah, I’ve heard enough about you to be curious,” Roz sat back and gave him a measuring look.
“What did you want to know?” Cheol asked her, lazily running a hand up and down Claire’s thigh.
“First thing was of course if you were worthy of my precious friend,” Roz went into her lawyer mode. “Claire is my dearest friend and I can’t approve of just anyone for her.”
“Oh please,” Claire gave her friend an unamused look, rolling her eyes.
“Hey I’m the first of the family to get to meet him, yeah?” Roz protested. “I’ll have to be the one who reports back to your parents, won’t I?”
“No, because they still don’t know and you aren’t going to tell them,” She replied firmly.
“They still don’t know?” Roz sucked in her breath and let it out as a low whistle.
“Don’t make it sound like that,” She protested. “I can’t tell people about this and, you know, my mom, she would have nothing but questions and would worry about me.”
“Yeah,” Her friend agreed with a grimace. She then turned her eyes on Cheol and asked, “Has she met your family?”
“No and I haven’t told them about her either,” Cheol admitted.
“Are you embarrassed about your relationship with her?” Roz quizzed.
“No!” Cheol retorted sharply, sounding offended. “If we’d had any time off I would have gladly taken her home to meet them, but especially since this has to stay a secret, I can’t just do that. And this doesn’t feel like something you just drop on people over the phone.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Roz sat back, seemingly satisfied with the answer. “Taking your English teacher home would raise some serious questions.”
“Okay, ask any last nosy questions you have,” Claire told her friend. “Because once the food is here we are going to have a pleasant meal.”
“Just one,” Her friend leaned forward, resting her chin on the heel of one palm as she looked at Cheol. “Do you love her?”
“Yeah,” He answered without hesitation, pulling Claire closer to him though he was looking at her friend.
“You pass,” Roz informed him with a wide grin. “I just had to make sure you were worthy of her. You understand.”
“I’m glad you want to look out for her,” Cheol smiled back. “I’ll do my best to take good care of her.”
“Good,” Roz sighed. “You two are disgustingly lucky.”
“What?” Claire asked with a huffed laugh.
“Only you could move halfway across the world and end up with the sweetest, hottest guy in the country,” Roz paused, looking off into space. “Wait, no second. I might have died if you had ended up with FX. The jealousy would have crushed my soul.”
“So that’s your bias,” Cheol gave her a conspiratorial grin. “I’ll try and get you something from him while we are here.”
“Would you?” She was nearly vibrating with excitement at the idea. “I wouldn’t ask you to do it but if you could, I would be your new best friend forever.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Cheol agreed, pleased to see her excitement over the offer. A knock on the door announced the arrival of the room service, which the hotel had managed to combine as if they had all ordered together. They all sat around the small table in the corner, chatting together, mostly about old memories Roz and Claire had about their days together here in New York. Cheol was excited to hear old stories about Claire in the years before he met her. It wasn’t something they had talked about particularly. Not that he hadn’t been curious, but it just hadn’t come up very often. With their limited time, catching up on the present took up most of their conversations. Seeing Claire giggling over old memories was enchanting.
Roz watched her friend and her boyfriend as they ate and couldn’t help but be intrigued by them. She had seen Claire in relationships before, and ones she would have said her friend was happy in. This seemed different somehow. It wasn’t just that she was happy, she seemed...content? The word wasn’t strong enough but she couldn’t think of another word for it. There was an unconscious way they moved around each other, a way they reached out to one another anytime they were close. She watched as he fed her a bite of his food, gently offering it on his fork and wiping off her bottom lip with his thumb before he turned his attention back to his plate. Claire, for her part, took the bite as if this was an ordinary, everyday intimacy they had. Maybe it was, Roz thought to herself, but it wasn’t something she had seen from her friend before.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Cheo
l had to excuse himself to get ready to have all the hair and make-up people work their magic on him. Reluctantly, he pushed himself away from the table, giving Roz a friendly bob to say goodbye for now. Claire stood up with him, lacing the fingers of one hand with his as they moved closer to the door.
“Will you come along for the interview this afternoon?” He asked, touching her face with his free hand.
“Yeah,” She confirmed. “I’ll meet all of you downstairs when it’s time to head out.”
“Would you wear the perfume for me today?” He requested, almost bashfully.
“I think it’s still in your things,” She pointed out.
“Right,” He recalled. “I’ll have someone bring it to you.”
“I can do that,” She agreed, rising up to her tippy toes to give him a quick kiss.
“One more before I have to worry about messing up make-up,” He said before he lowered his face to hers for a long deep kiss. When he pulled back, he couldn’t help but enjoy the dazed look he had left on Claire’s face. He loved that he could affect her like that with just a kiss. It was only fair, she left him feeling hungry and wanting with a mere touch.
He sighed and stepped out of her arms and headed for the door with a final wavy back at Roz back at the table. She gave him a wave, her cheeks a slightly darker shade of pink than they had been a moment ago. He would have held back more if it hadn’t been his first and, maybe, last chance to touch Claire that day. As it was he had to take what he could get.
“Well then,” Roz cleared her throat after the door clicked shut behind Cheol.
“Sorry, it’s been a bit hard to pretend we aren’t together in front of people,” Claire shrugged.
“I’m feeling a little like I wasn’t supposed to be here,” Roz admitted, still not regretting having come, however.
“I think Cheol was expecting to be able to sneak in a little time over lunch, but it’s fine,” Claire reassured her. “I think he was mostly surprised to find someone else here.”
“That was pretty obvious,” Roz snickered at the memory of his face when he first realized they weren’t alone. “So, ahem, he’s as good as I might imagine, in bed I mean?”
“Probably better,” Claire couldn’t help but tease her friend. Roz just groaned in reply.
“Okay, odd question, though,” A question had just occurred to her as she had been watching the pair bid goodbye to each other. “Is it weird dating someone who wears more make-up than you?”
“Not really,” Claire said after a second’s consideration. “But he’s not the first person I’ve dated who’s done that.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about Lara,” Roz’s lip lifted at the memory of the woman. She had never liked her that much. “You know she is back in San Francisco now working on some fashion something.”
“That’s nice,” Claire said genuinely, but with very little feeling. “I think that’s what she really wanted to be doing. I’m happy for her if she’s made it.”
“You’re too nice, hun,” Roz told her. “I would want the bitch that cheated on me to die alone and destitute in an alley somewhere. I mean I still haven’t forgiven Michael or David.”
“I’ll say that it helps having someone who is a hundred times better to compare them to,” Claire noted. “I mean imagine what I would have missed if we were still together? Not that I’m not still mad about the cheating, but, boy have I traded up.”
“Seriously,” Her friend scoffed at the understatement. “So I’ve been thinking of trying to organize something while you are here, get everyone together for a little thing at my place? What do you think?”
“Who is everyone and when?” Claire asked.
“Well Suhani wants to see you,” Roz began. “She promised to take off whatever day worked for you from her residency, said she would call in sick if she had to. Mika asked when you were coming by; you know we work together now, right?”
“I think I remember you mentioning it,” Claire thought back.
“He told me to say hi and he misses you,” Roz passed along. “Then we have Alejandro and Hannah. And lastly would be Stephanie, she said she could take time off this week to see you. The orchestra just finished their major series of the season.”
“Okay,” Claire consented. “But anyone else you need to check with me. I’d like to bring Cheol with me if I can. I think he’d like to meet some people in my life for a change. I trust them but...no surprises, okay?”
“Cross my heart,” Roz gave her a serious look and the Boy Scout salute. “You know they are all going to die, right? Like Suhani loves YTHTonic, too? And Mika just dies over cute boys, he can’t help himself.”
“Yeah,” Claire agreed with amusement. “It should be entertaining to see. I’ll talk to the manager and ask when the free day is going to be.”
“Great,” Roz eagerly rubbed her hands together. “Ooooo, this is gonna be fun.”
“Why do I feel like you are plotting something?” Claire squinted at her suspiciously.
“Because I always am,” Her friend laughed uproariously.
Chapter 18
Claire found time to ask Jihoon when they were all on their way to the interview and photoshoot. Thursday would be their free day. It was the lull in their schedule for all of the interviews, appearances, and performances. She sent a quick text to Roz to let her know so she could schedule everyone as soon as possible. When they were done with the commitments for today would be soon enough to talk to Cheol and a few of the others about it. While she might not drink, or at least not much, she was sure there would be drinks at the party and that meant that no one under 21 was going to be invited, just to be safe.
They arrived at the nondescript brick building for the photoshoot and interview and headed inside. The office was actually a trendy top floor loft you had to use an old industrial freight elevator to reach. It had that industrial feel to it, with an open floor plan and exposed brick walls and towering windows. In the darker corner of the space, furthest from the windows, was where the photography studio was set up with huge lights and a changeable backdrop with a few selected seats and props placed nearby. People were scattered throughout the space working on laptops and looking at papers and print outs making the place feel casually busy. Not rushed but somehow alive. A very stylishly dressed man in his mid-thirties saw the group enter and stood up from behind his desk and came over to greet them.
“You must be YTHTonic,” He stated, eyeing the group critically as he headed to greet first Jihoon and then the members, before noticing Claire towards the rear of the group. “And just how do you fit in here?”
“I work for them,” She gave him a practiced smile, fake but friendly enough. His question had struck her wrong somehow and she wasn’t really sure why.
“American?” He asked when he heard her accent.
“Yep,” She confirmed as she shook his hand, lasting a little longer than it needed to as he sized her up.
“Interesting,” He smiled. “I’m Miles. Miles Stewart.”
“Claire Faroe,” She gave him her name, not sure that it mattered that he knew, but it would have been awkward not to give it.
“Right, so are you here to translate if it’s needed?” Miles questioned as they walked towards an area that was set up for the interview he was going to do with the group. Later he would also interview them individually or in small groups, whatever he felt worked best as some got pictures taken for the article.
“I can, but we have someone else here specifically for that,” She shrugged. “And I believe that the company will have someone read through and approve the final translations made for the article as well.”
“Right,” Miles sighed with a slight tinge of annoyance. “Have to make sure no one is caught saying the wrong thing.”
“Well, I know I would hate it if someone printed an article which put words in my mouth I didn’t say,” Claire replied with a false casualness.
“Mmm,” He sounded like he wanted to disagree but rea
lized that no argument he could make would be well received. The members had taken the seats that had been set out for them and the translator took a seat near Miles’ chair. Jihoon had melted into the background, leaning against a wall nearby but not too close. Claire did the same, opting to prop herself against the wall on the opposite side, prepared to casually listen in on the interview.
Miles pulled out an audio recorder and set it on a little table between where he and the interpreter were seated and the members. He flipped through the questions he had printed out on sheets of papers as he tried to decide where he wanted to start his interview. There were a lot of topics he had sent to the company for approval to give him a broad range of topics so he could hopefully land on something that would make an interesting article. They were up-and-coming new stars and he wanted something that would get a little attention. There had been a few questions he had put in which had not been approved, ‘too personal’ and ‘not appropriate’, the comments had come back. Still, he might try to throw a few of them in, just to see if he could get a little something juicy.
“So let’s start with some easy background,” He began, highlighting one question on the first page of the papers he was holding. “Your group debuted about a year and a half ago…”
The interview progressed well and the members were managing to answer in both English, usually when they could give simple answers, and Korean, when they needed to give more in depth answers. He covered questions about their experience since debuting, their road to success, the process of songwriting and all the preparations they go through to turn that into a marketable performance, and their favorite part of performing before he figured he would try and slip something unapproved in.
“As a westerner there are a few things which seem a little odd in k-pop,” He started casually. “For example, the fact that dating is banned--”
“Sorry,” Claire quietly interjected from where she was leaning against the wall. “But I know that is one of the rejected questions you sent us.”
The Tutor Page 36
