by J. S. Lee
“Absolutely not,” I agreed. “Obviously.”
“Well, clearly,” Sungmin sighed. “What happened to your face?” He had seen the mark on MinMin’s face.
I sheepishly held up a hand. “I didn’t know it was MinMin and hit him.”
“I creeped up on her,” MinMin added in my defense.
“I – uh – what – I – but –” I had a feeling Sungmin was going to have an aneurism one of these days. He continued to splutter his words before he shook his head. “Were you wrestling naked?”
Unable to keep the sneer of disbelief off my face as I glanced at MinMin (wearing sweat pants and a sweater), then down at me (leggings and, OK, a sports bra, but definitely not naked). “If this is what you call naked, let me blow your mind and improve your sex life.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Of course, in my badly worded Korean, this came out more as a proposition than me trying to tell him that he was missing a few key details in his sex education.
The fact his eyes nearly popped out of his head as Sungmin seemed to choke on air, told me he was expecting me to give him live examples, rather than a talk about the birds and the bees. After more coughing and spluttering, he just turned, shaking his head. A dazed look had set in his eyes, like he had witnessed a tutu wearing unicorn perform Swan Lake with a reindeer being ridden by a leprechaun. He wandered off, muttering something about needing a vacation.
I sighed, trying to shake my embarrassment as I turned to MinMin. “I’m guessing Sungmin was coming to let us know we would need to leave for the venue soon. We should probably get dressed.” I started walking to the elevator. “Being naked and all,” I added under my breath.
Naked wrestling?
I didn’t get far before MinMin had caught up with me. “What did you mean by that?”
“That was me getting my Korean wrong,” I told him. “I was trying to explain to Sungmin that you need less clothes on-”
“No, I mean the ‘obviously’.”
I stopped walking to look at MinMin in confusion. “I said ‘obviously’?”
“Never mind,” he said, shaking his head in embarrassment as he started walking again, doing his best to get away from me.
After watching him get several doors away from him, I jogged after him, grabbing his elbow to slow him down. “Hold on, MinMin,” I told him. “No, this means something to you.”
“It doesn’t.” He refused to look at me.
Subtlety was not my strong suit. We were close to the hotel’s restaurant and not only was the smell of bacon taunting me, I could hear other guests chatting away. Whatever was bothering MinMin, he wasn’t going to discuss it there. I glanced over my shoulder, spotting a door ajar. “Come with me,” I said, gently.
The door led down another corridor, to what looked like the foyer of a function area. It was big, but empty, and at the far end, under large bay window which had rain lashing against it, was a small couch. I walked over to it, sensing MinMin just behind me, and sat down, wrapping my arms around myself. I was still holding onto the icepack and it was cold.
While MinMin perched beside me, I leaned over to a plant and squeezed off the excess water from where the ice cubes had started melting. “You know that’s plastic, right?” MinMin asked me as I turned back to him.
In all honestly, I hadn’t been paying attention. “Of course,” I lied, shuffling over to him. The mark was becoming more pronounced. “Shit, I’m sorry.” I gently pressed the icepack against his cheek, placing my hand on the couch between us so that I could brace myself to lean in and get a better angle.
“Why did you say ‘obviously’?” he asked again.
My gaze switched from the icepack to his eyes. I didn’t answer, trying to remember why I had said it. What had we been talking about?
How what MinMin and I had been doing – hugging – was innocent.
Oh, shit.
My hand started to move from his face, but his was there in a flash, holding it, and the icepack, in place. “I didn’t…” I was squirming, regretting taking us down a quiet corridor. I should have just gone back to my bedroom to get dressed.
“I’m sorry,” I sighed, eventually. “I had my suspicions, but I didn’t mean to make a thing in front of Sungmin like that. I don’t think he worked it out.”
“Is it that wrong?”
“Oh, hell to the no!” I cried, making him jump. I felt a little bad at that, but there was no way I was going to let him think his sexual preference was wrong, especially not after Jiwon’s dickish reaction. “You can like whoever the hell you want.”
“Then why is it so bad if Sungmin finds out?” he asked, his dark eyes fixed on me with a strange intensity.
“I thought you wanted to keep that a secret. I’m sure that most of your fans won’t care, but there’s always going to be negative feedback on this, regardless of the fact it’s your life and if they’re really fans, they should just be happy that you’re happy.” I stopped when I realized MinMin’s expression had changed to one of amusement. I sucked in a deep breath and forced myself to slow down.
“Sungmin already knows,” MinMin said, before I could continue.
I nodded. “Given how it came out, I figured you had the opportunity to hide that if you wanted to.”
“Why would I want to?”
That had me tilting my head, surprised. I mean, personally, I was all for him coming out – on his own terms. And if that was what had happened, so be it. But it hadn’t felt like that. It had felt like a slip up. But who was I to call that? “I’m sorry,” I said again. “I guess I’m making assumptions on your behalf. You do you. I’m sorry Jiwon doesn’t like you back, but-”
“Kate,” MinMin cut me off. I blinked. “You’re clearly stumbling down a different path to me. I’m talking about you.”
“Me?” I repeated, slowly. My face started to heat up and once more I tried to free my grip from under his, but he held on. “How? You like Jiwon. You’re gay.”
“I’m not gay,” he said, softly. His eyes didn’t leave me.
“But you… you like Jiwon.”
“I like you too.”
“You’re bi?”
MinMin just shrugged. “I like who I like. But why are you surprised? I told you this.”
“You were high!” I exclaimed. “You proposed to me, called me Kateniss, and then declared your love to Jiwon and JongB! Then when you were asked who you liked in London, you said Jiwon.” I forced myself to stop there. As far as I was aware, he’d never really had this discussion with the other members of Onyx and I didn’t want to blurt out that they all thought he was gay too.
“I was hardly going to stand on stage and tell everyone I liked you,” he pointed out.
“Well… no…” I spluttered.
“And I thought the question was who in the group would I date; Jiwon. Not whose sister…” Finally, I slid my hand free and slumped back against the back of the couch. “But as to who I like, yes, I like Jiwon. I also like JongB. And I also like you.”
“MinMin-”
“Don’t worry,” he said, looking surprisingly chilled out. He lowered the icepack from his face and gave me a reassuring smile. “I’m not going to act on it.” He cocked his head, frowned, then shrugged. “OK, ignore the marriage proposal. Even I will admit marriage is a little hasty. But while I do like you, I won’t act on it. Just like I can’t act on it with Jiwon and JongB. I just wanted you to know that there was no ‘obviously’ about it.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek before standing up. “I thought the reason you had said obviously was because of something lingering from that ex of yours, not because you thought I was gay, and I wanted to clear that up. Because I think you’re beautiful inside and out.”
Just as I was beginning to question who on earth this person was in front of me, he gave me that small smile that reminded me he was still that quiet and shy MinMin and not this confident and smooth guy I didn’t recognize. “MinMin-”
“I’ll see
you at breakfast, Kateniss. And don’t worry, I wasn’t saying anything because I expect a response about it.”
I sat there, watching him walk away like he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on me.
제 10 장
Don’t Close Your Eyes
I missed breakfast. It wasn’t intentional. I had just spaced out replaying every interaction between myself and MinMin. By the time I had come to my senses, gone upstairs, showered, packed all of my things, and gone back downstairs, the restaurant had already closed for breakfast.
Instead, I found Sungmin and Onyx, along with the crew, waiting in the foyer. Sungmin and JongB were huddled around a tall table, pouring over a pile of paperwork and an iPad. What really struck me as unnerving was the expression on both of their faces: panic.
I walked straight over to them and a brief moment of relief washed over Sungmin. “Kate, do you speak French?”
I laughed, but it died in the back of my throat as I realized he wasn’t joking. “I think I know enough to order a bottle of wine. What’s wrong?”
“The bus was due here twenty minutes ago and we don’t have the contact number to check up on it,” JongB explained.
“Just get the concierge to call us a few taxis. It’s not ideal-”
“I have and they’re due any moment,” Sungmin cut me off. “But the problem is this.” He dialed a number and set his phone on speakerphone on the table. The call connected straight to a voicemail message, only in French. I picked up on a couple of words – probably the same ones as Sungmin – to know it was talking about the Onyx show, but that was it.
“What about the translator?”
Sungmin shook his head. “She is due to meet us at the venue later.”
I frowned and pointed at the phone. “May I?”
Although puzzled, Sungmin nodded. I picked it up and walked up to the front desk, Sungmin right beside me. “Bonjour! You speak English, right?” The concierge nodded. “Would you mind helping us out and translating this for me?”
“Of course, mademoiselle.”
I redialed the number and held the phone up with the speakerphone on.
“Hello, this is Marie calling about your event with Onyx, scheduled at our venue today. We understand your need to cancel the event, however, at this short notice, we will still be invoicing you for it. Tightly Wound Events have advised us to contact you directly for billing information-”
“WHAT?!” I all but screeched, cutting the suddenly terrified concierge off.
My outburst was that loud that everyone suddenly gathered around us.
“Kate?” Sungmin prompted.
“If you don’t murder that fucking bitch, I will.”
“Why are you murdering someone?” JongB asked.
“Who are you murdering?” CX added.
Sungmin held his hand up as he stepped in front of me. “Kate, you need to translate that message for me.”
“It was the venue. They’re saying the event has been cancelled and they’re still going to bill us.”
The foyer exploded into a mass of noise and panic. “There’s nothing on the Tightly Wound Social Media pages,” JongB announced holding his phone up.
“OK!” Sungmin snapped, holding his hands up, silencing us.
At least vocally. My heart was pounding so hard as it pumped a strange mix of adrenaline and panic around me, I was sure the group could hear the bassline it was providing.
Sungmin turned to me. “I don’t speak French and I don’t speak good enough English.”
“What do you need?” As if I was not going to help. I didn’t speak French either, but this guy did. “Please can you help us?” I asked the concierge. “Just a little.”
“I will do what I can.”
I turned to Sungmin. “What do you need?” I asked again.
“To speak to the venue. To tell them that we have not cancelled.”
I turned back to the concierge. “We need to let the venue know we’ve not cancelled. There has been a misunderstanding with the tour operator, and she is acting maliciously.”
With everybody watching him, the concierge made the call. There was a long conversation with him making notes. Then, pulling the handset away from his mouth, he looked at me. “She was called last night by the tour operator saying that you had refused to pay her, therefore the remainder of the balance would not be settled and she had no other option but to cancel the concert so neither she nor the venue would be out of pocket.”
I turned to Sungmin, ready to translate, then realized my Korean still wasn’t good enough. Not to be covering things about money as serious as this. Thankfully, JongB jumped in and took over.
Sungmin looked like he was going to explode. “Please tell the venue we will pay directly from Atlantis. If she can give me time to communicate with Atlantis, we can arrange a payment – it’s just with the time zone difference, there might be a slight delay.”
At least we were in Europe. It would be late in Seoul now, but there would likely be someone available. Holly was the type to be anal enough to sleep with her phone, especially with everything that had already happened out here.
While JongB translated that, and the concierge, in turn, translated that for the woman on the phone, Sungmin was already speaking to someone at Atlantis.
“She has said that is acceptable but would like for someone here to speak to her personally at the venue to explain exactly what is happening. She said that she had already cancelled the staff, but hopefully none of them would have made evening plans and would be able to return for their previously scheduled shift, however, it may cause delays with the schedule. She was concerned when she had seen nothing on Social Media and lines were already forming.”
I could have kissed him.
“Thank you,” I said, instead.
“This is unbelievable,” CX said, stunned.
“You’re telling me,” I agreed.
Another jolt of panic shot through me. If she had done it to this concert, what about the rest?
I was ready to discreetly mention this to Sungmin when he got off the phone, but he had already had the same idea. “Atlantis are going to call the remaining venues and make sure there are no more issues like this,” he assured us. “Nobody panic. We are in control of this.”
“We should get on Social Media,” Youngbin said.
“No!” Sungmin snapped. “We do not need to let your fans know there is a problem. They will panic. We will be inundated with messages asking what is happening.”
“That’s not what I mean, hyungnin,” Youngbin said with a shake of his head. “If we show that we’re on our way to the venue, then no matter what is said after this, people will know it’s not true.”
“Do it.”
I moved out of the way while Youngbin and Xiao got on an Instagram Live, JongB started spamming Twitter, and CX set up for a V Live. Sungmin pulled me to one side. “Thank you.”
“Any time,” I told him with a small smile. “But how bad is it?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said, looking worried. “Someone in Atlantis is looking into it now and will call me back soon. I’ve asked them to email me the contact details for the Parisian translator and-” His phone bleeped and he looked down at it. “That was quick.”
While he made the call, I went outside to wait for the taxis. The concierge had said they were due soon. At least that had been taken care of by the hotel. That was some shady business being done by the promotor’s tour manager. She’s been fired for hitting a member of Onyx. Surely, if that got out, that would be the woman’s company ruined for life, never mind the reputation she would get for trying to destroy a tour.
The taxis arrived and we finally made the drive to the venue. As there had been at previous locations, fans had already started to line up. The weather was currently dry (albeit with clouds threatening rainfall), and chilly. I had to admire their dedication.
Inside, it was clear that everything was not set up. The venue manager, Marie, came to
greet us, but as she only spoke very limited English and between us, we could probably scrape by with ordering a meal and paying, we had to wait patiently for the translator to arrive.
According to Sungmin, she hadn’t been down to arrive until late in the afternoon, just before doors opening. Tightly Wound Events had bilingual staff who would have taken care of everything. Thankfully, the translator, who had travelled to Paris especially for the show, hadn’t gotten the message she had been cancelled and had agreed to arrive as soon as she could to help us.
We resorted to a translator app on Sungmin’s iPad for a while – just long enough to briefly apologize and explain the situation. She was sympathetic after that, but apologetic, as none of the group’s rider had been prepared and all catering cancelled.
All in all, we seemed to be OK, but everything was running behind schedule.
Of course, I spoke too soon.
The previous show had volunteers to run smoothly. They’d all been cancelled too, and we had no way of getting in touch with them. Which meant I had no one to help me get things in order for the group photographs.
After the last show, I had insisted Sungmin let the photographs happen before the show, and he had agreed – until we had gone behind schedule. “We haven’t sound-checked yet!” he snapped at me.
“I get that, but with all the problems we’ve given this venue, regardless of it being through no fault of our own, they are not going to be happy if we have to keep everyone here past the curfew. Plus, it sounds like Atlantis is currently covering the cost of what that woman did a runner with. Do you want to add more money to this show?”
“Kate, I have enough problems to deal with right now!”
“Exactly!” I shot back at him. “I’m not trying to make things difficult.”
“You could have fooled me!”
“We’re professionals,” Xiao said, calmly stepping between the two of us. “We can soundcheck while they are working out the lights. So long as we have working microphones leveled, and a guy controlling them who knows what he is doing, it doesn’t matter what the lights look like.”