Onyx: Love

by J. S. Lee

  At baggage control, we parted ways. As this was a regularly scheduled flight, fans were already waiting in the airport, and like on previous occasions, Sungmin had deemed it necessary for him and Onyx to go through to the minibus while myself, Ina, Eunhae and Taeyoon took care of the ocean of suitcases. With all of the group and our kit, we usually had five or six cases per cart and we’d all become skillful at dragging a case along with us.

  We filled the second minibus with the luggage and then got on for our journey to the hotel. At some point conversation had dried up with the other crew members. In the beginning, it had been a little bit of a struggle because of the language barrier, but now, as I was getting more proficient in Korean, it was just that I had nothing to say to them. I spent all my time with Onyx that I had no idea how to make conversation with them.

  Instead, my earphones were back in my ears, and I watched the city go by.

  It turned out that we weren’t in a hotel for Athens, either. Someone had booked us into a villa for the next three nights, just on the edge of the city. It was beautiful.

  Three stories, a freaking pool, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a small gym, two balconies – one with hammocks – and a breathtaking view of the ocean. It was paradise.

  I was in a single room to myself, and for tonight, I was grateful. Sungmin and Taeyoon were sharing, Ina and Eunhae were together, and then CX and JongB were suffering together, Xiao was with Youngbin, leaving MinMin with Jiwon.

  “It’s got a pizza oven!” I heard JongB bellow through the house.

  “Your experience of making pizza is ordering it,” Youngbin shouted back.

  I shut the door to my room and sat down on my bed. It was a kid’s bedroom, with giraffes and llamas painted on the wall. Which made no sense, but was kinda cute. I was done for the day. Tired and desperate to sleep off the hangover, I collapsed onto my side.

  A gentle knocking at the door awoke me. I rolled over, hunting out my phone: it was nearly seven. The floor was cool under my bare feet as I walked over to the door. Youngbin was on the other side of it. “You haven’t responded to any messages.”

  “I haven’t been awake to do so.” I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. “I crashed last night. Apparently, I can’t handle a hangover like I could in college. I think I’m old.”

  “You know I’m older than you, right?”

  I nodded gleefully. “How can I help, Youngbin.”

  Youngbin glanced up and down the corridor, then he reached out, tugging me to him. The next thing I knew, I was tipped back and then he was kissing me like he had stumbled across the last woman on the planet. It was a most welcome experience.

  But I pushed him away. “I must have the worst morning breath.”

  “It’s not great,” he admitted.

  My hands flew to my mouth in horror. Abandoning him in the doorway, I ran over to my case, franticly searching for my tooth brush before I remembered it was in my backpack. I pulled it out and ducked under his arm to find the bathroom.

  “Left,” Youngbin called. “Second door.”

  I charged in there, ignoring the fact he was chuckling away behind me. “Ot oool,” I informed him when he appeared in the bathroom. He watched me brush my teeth, unperturbed. I spat the toothpaste out and rounded on him. “Not cool.” I told him, again.

  “You’re cute when you’re flustered. And for the record, it wasn’t that bad.”

  “But it was still bad,” I countered.

  “You might want to check out your hair then.”

  With a hangover, the best I’d managed was to pull it back into a scruffy ponytail. I’d been so busy scowling at Youngbin that I hadn’t noticed the fact I truly looked like it had been backcombed with a hedgehog.

  “You look-”

  “Tell me I look cute, and I will kill you.”

  “You’re really not a morning person, are you?”

  I was busy trying to smooth out the bird nest on my head. “Mornings don’t bother me when I’m prepared for them.” It was embarrassing. I wasn’t one of those girls who had to leave the house with makeup on. I, thankfully, had decent contouring skills when needed, and my eyeliner game was exceptional (if I do say so myself). I was also happy pulling my hair back into a ponytail, and would happily wear yoga pants to go out in.

  But I was still in that stage where I wanted to look good in front of Youngbin and the others, considering how damn gorgeous they were without their makeup on. I wasn’t about to get up an hour early to spend it in front of the mirror, but at the very least, I wanted to be able to run a brush through my hair, and not have morning breath.

  Was that too much to ask for?

  “It is cute,” Youngbin told me. “I like seeing you like that, even if you don’t. And if your morning breath was actually that bad, I wouldn’t have kissed you.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling exposed.

  “We’re going to the Parthenon,” Youngbin continued, ignoring the sudden onset of shyness. “You said you wanted to go. If you still do, we need to leave in an hour.”

  “Then you need to leave so I can shower.”

  A wicked grin appeared on Youngbin’s face. “You know we have showered together before.”

  “And that’s precisely why you need to go, because we will not be ready to go.” I ushered him away as I moved back to my room to collect my things.

  The whole day was perfect.

  Almost perfect.

  The non-perfect blip was Anita.

  The morning was spent searching the Parthenon for any trace of the Greek god, (and only finding my Korean and Chinese gods), in beautiful, warm weather. The sky was clear and blue, and the views from the Greek monument were phenomenal.

  As they had in Paris, Onyx split their time to move around with me in small groups so we could get some snaps together. I’d brought both my regular DSLR and my Polaroid camera, and I was adding to my collection of them.

  We’d eaten out at a traditional Greek place for lunch: hummus, feta cheese, olives, salad, and a selection of mezedes which included octapodi (OK, I didn’t eat that. I had a thing about octopus tentacles), gyro, keftedes, youvetsi, saganaki, and a whole other selection that I couldn’t keep track of the names of.

  It was one of the best meals I had ever eaten. Onyx, like myself, had never had Greek food before either. JongB was adamant he knew of a Greek place in Seoul, so I was going to make him take me to it when we got back to Seoul, because this was the kind of food that I could eat every day.

  We’d gone back to the beautiful villa to collect the cases we needed for the show, and then driven to the venue. It was there that I spotted Anita, first. She was right at the front of the line with, as my mom would say, a face like a slapped ass.

  I leaned forward and tapped Sungmin on the shoulder. “Anita is here.”

  He looked back at me in confusion. “Who is Anita?”

  “That fan site that Jiwon threw out in Paris.”

  Sungmin’s head whipped around to the line, scanning it. “What the fuck is she doing here? She was accusing Onyx of cancelling the Warsaw show because of her.”

  “Did you ban her?”

  “No,” Sungmin said, slowly. “She was thrown out before I had the chance. I just assumed she wouldn’t be back.” He rubbed at his temples. “Maybe she won’t cause trouble.”

  “Maybe…”

  Maybe Xiao would keep his top on for a whole Onyx concert.

  Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when she pushed her way through the line she was in so that she could get close to Jiwon again. It was as if Amsterdam and Warsaw hadn’t happened. Call me untrusting, but I was suspicious.

  As they stood to leave, she turned to say something to Jiwon, but Sungmin who had been lurking, ushered her on before she had the chance to speak.

  Aside from that, the hi-touch and group photographs ran smoothly. Lighting was perfect, and I was entertained by all the food that Onyx were given. They’d done a live before the show ec
hoing my thoughts on Greek food and now all they were being given was a selection of the most delicious looking deserts I’d seen for a long time!

  The show ran effortlessly.

  In fact, by the time the last song had been sung, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was the smoothest show we’d had in Europe.

  “And that was the best show,” I muttered as I packed up my camera.

  “Excuse me?”

  I was so used to speaking in Korean or Japanese, or someone at least calling me by my name, that I didn’t realize I was the one being spoken to. I turned, finding Anita, arms behind her back, giving me a pleasant smile.

  I glanced over her shoulder, looking for venue security, but seeing no one free, returned my attention to her. “Hi?”

  “I need to speak to Jiwon.”

  “I’m not the person to help you with that.”

  Anita’s eyes narrowed a fraction, but the smile remained fixed on her face. “I think you can.”

  “I think I can’t,” I corrected her. “They won’t come back out here.”

  “Then let me go back there.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You think I’m going to take you backstage?” I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but no. I’m not allowed to do that.”

  “I think you will be if you don’t want me to post the picture.”

  “What picture?” I zipped up my bag and stood so I could talk to her properly.

  “I have one of half of Onyx sneaking out of your bedroom.”

  I hoisted my backpack over my shoulder so I could fold my arms. “Of course you do.” There was a sliver of panic which wanted to escape me, but somehow I kept my voice level. If she had that, the only place it could have been taken was Paris or Amsterdam, because it was the only place we’d stayed with a hotel. It was possible. But half of Onyx, or even all of Onyx – there was no way anyone would believe anything was going on through that.

  Strangely, being in a relationship with all the group was going to save me…

  “I mean, anything is possible with Photoshop, right?” I didn’t stop to get a response. I was likely to say something to drop myself in it if I wasn’t careful. I hurried backstage, finding Youngbin and Sungmin outside the green room. Youngbin was already back in the clothes he had travelled to the venue in, so I was sure we would be leaving soon.

  I toyed with not saying anything. It would probably have been easier than stressing Sungmin, but it was the kind of thing he needed to know.

  He looked at me and sighed as I joined them. “What’s wrong?” he asked, wearily.

  “Hopefully nothing, but I’ve just had Jiwon’s fan site speak to me: Anita. The girl who he threw out in Amsterdam.”

  Sungmin’s eyes narrowed. “What did she want?”

  “To talk to Jiwon, or she would share a photograph she had of half of Onyx leaving my room.”

  Sungmin went still, staring at me, unblinking. “There’s a photograph?”

  I shrugged. “I never saw it. I walked away. But I don’t think it’s a problem if there is.”

  Sungmin continued to stare at me. It was eerie and I had to fight the urge to wave a hand in front of his face. “How is it not a problem if there is?”

  “I mean, if it was just one of the guys, it might look a little bit suspicious, but more than one?”

  Sungmin held a hand up. “I don’t want the details.”

  “I wasn’t planning on sharing any details,” I retorted. “My point is that they could have been in my room for any number of innocent reasons, including, but not limited to, watching a movie, picking their favorite photographs for the groups shots, or just chilling.”

  Sungmin closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. Maybe I was imagining things, but I swear his hairline was beginning to recede. “You are making this harder and harder to be supportive of.”

  “We have one more stop, hyungnim,” Youngbin said, trying to placate him. “The fact she ‘has’ this and hasn’t shared it means she either has nothing, or the picture is not definitive.”

  “Or she wants to see me.”

  We all turned, finding Jiwon in the doorway. “How long have you been there?”

  “Is she still out front?”

  Sungmin held his hand up. “You are not going out there. Whether she has something or not, I’m not going to allow this to get anywhere close to her blackmailing you.”

  “How would that happen?” Jiwon demanded. “I intend on telling her to fuck off.”

  “And what if she is recording the conversation? What if she threatens Kate in the process?”

  “That’s a little melodramatic,” I frowned. The girl had an irritating attitude, but I was confident murder wasn’t on the horizon.

  “You haven’t met any sasaengs, have you,” Youngbin muttered.

  “Oh, please,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “If you really think she’s that dangerous, let’s go to the police.”

  Sungmin shook his head. “We can’t. We have nothing. Her behavior in Amsterdam, was in Amsterdam, not Athens, and I’m not completely familiar with the law in either country, but I suspect she wasn’t breaking any.”

  “Stalking?” I offered, thinking of one of the charges my ex was currently waiting prosecution for.

  “Is it stalking when she’s following her favorite group around the world?” Youngbin asked, diplomatically.

  No… that was just dedication, and although I didn’t like her, I was a little in awe of that. “Then what do you suggest?”

  “To do exactly what you did: ignore her. Don’t give her an opportunity to speak to you again. We leave for Seoul for the final concert in a couple of days. The worst-case scenario is that she attends that. Then she goes home. Besides, aside from what happened in Amsterdam, she has been a loyal fan. Don’t forget that.”

  I shrugged. “Fine by me.” I was still of the belief that if the photograph was any good, she would have used it.

  Sungmin gave Jiwon a pointed look. “Fine.”

  “Now go tell the others that we’re leaving in ten.”

  제 20 장

  Danger

  The schedule for the following day involved a photoshoot at one of the ancient ruins with an early roll call. By the time everyone had gotten back, had something to eat and showered (not necessarily in that order as there weren’t that many bathrooms), everyone decided on an early night.

  Youngbin followed me back to my room, took one look at the single bed, and decided that we weren’t going to fit. I shooed him back to the room he was now sharing with Jiwon (they’d played musical bedrooms) and told him I wasn’t joining him. Jiwon was touchy about that, and I wasn’t out to upset him.

  Instead, I crawled into my bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.

  I didn’t get much sleep. That early morning for the others also applied to me: Onyx were not quiet in the morning. Except for MinMin, and that was only because he was like a walking zombie until he’d had three cups of coffee.

  But I was excited: I was spending the day with Onyx on a closed set; at a literal piece of history; the sun was shining; and for once, I wasn’t the photographer, which meant I could see more of what was going on.

  Dressed in a pair of shorts and a hoodie to compensate for the cool pre-dawn air, I bounded into the kitchen. “You’re a morning person.”

  I looked at Xiao and cocked my head. “Nope. I just want to see six sexy guys and Greek history.”

  “You’re a keeper,” JongB declared coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me.

  “Guys, this is the kitchen,” Jiwon grumbled.

  “Oh, relax. I wasn’t planning on having sex on the breakfast tables…” I could almost see JongB’s eyes lighting up. “Wait.”

  “You are not having sex on the breakfast table,” Jiwon glowered at him. “And my point is, Ina, Eunhae, or Taeyoon could walk in any moment.”

  “Ah.” JongB pressed a kiss against my cheek, then stepped back. “I can’t wait until we get back to Seoul and we don’t have
to worry about anyone else.”

  “Anyone else?” Youngbin repeated. “Like the other groups in the dorm? H3RO? The rookies? Whoever is left of Bright Boys?”

  “1SO,” CX piped up, causing all the members to look at him. He shifted uncomfortably. “They haven’t redebuted yet. It’s the units of Zodiac.”

  “Units?” Xiao asked, looking interested. They all did.

  “I spoke to Jaechan.”

  “Which one is Jaechan?” Jiwon frowned.

  “Apollo. He ditched the stage name after Bright Boys disbanded.”

  Jiwon’s mouth dropped open into a silent ‘oh’.

  “Maybe there will be a few people to worry about, but we’ll work it out,” CX said, confidently.

  “Work what out?” Sungmin was in the doorway, having caught the tail-end of that statement.

  “It’s one of those things you’d probably prefer we don’t tell you,” Xiao informed him.

  Sungmin glanced at me and sighed. “Has everyone eaten who is going to?” he asked, deciding to heed Xiao’s advice. There was a collective answer of yes. I wasn’t hungry yet, but I knew there would be food all day at the shoot. “Let’s go then.”

  “What about the others?” I asked, looking around for Ina, Eunhae and Taeyoon.

  “They don’t need to come,” Sungmin explained. “It’s a closed set and the crew are being supplied. They’ve chosen to stay in bed for a couple more hours, and then relax. I think Ina mentioned shopping later. You know, you…” he trailed off, as though realizing what he was about to say, and then shook his head. “The minibus is outside.”

  I followed the guys out to the minibus, taking a seat next to Youngbin – I had no choice in the matter as he pulled me beside him before I could walk past him. It was a long drive out of the city. With Youngbin’s arm draped over my shoulder, holding me close, combined with the sway of the bus, I quickly fell asleep.

  When I awoke again, the sun was up and we were pulling up alongside three giant trailers, their metal casing glinting in the sun. I sat up, stretching, surprised to discover everyone else, including Sungmin, were asleep.