“Have you had this before?” Cheol asked Claire with a gesture to his plate.
“I haven’t,” She admitted. “I’ve only been here about six months, so there is a lot I sort of, just haven’t gotten around to yet.”
“Would you like to try a bite?” He offered, picking up a piece with his chopsticks and lifting it towards her slightly as an offer.
“Oh,” she said with slight surprise. “Sure, why not.”
He brought the food to her lips with a smile and could see a slight pink tinge color appear on her cheeks.
“Do you like it?” He asked. She brought her hand to her lips and nodded as she chewed, afraid to try and speak with the large bite of food in her mouth. A faint snicker came from further down the table. They both looked and saw FX, Seunghoon, and Minjun all staring at them with various expressions of amusement and curiosity. It wasn’t terribly unusual to feed others in Korea, but usually it was done among family or close friends.
“Have you eaten this,” Changho asked her from the other side as she finally swallowed her bite from Cheol. She glanced down at his plate of unfamiliar food and shook her head.
“You want to try?” He offered.
“Sure,” She said again, as Changho lifted a bite towards her with rice and a piece of meat covered in a glossy sauce, his free hand under it to catch anything that might fall along the way. She took the bite and began chewing before indicating approval of the flavor with a solid thumbs up.
“Good, right?” Changho grinned. Claire nodded with smiling eyes, again with a mouth too full to speak.
“She has her own food,” Seunghoon joked, as he addressed the two guys at her end of the table. “You don’t need to fill her up with the dinner you ordered for yourselves.”
Most of the table laughed at the commentary, Changho laughed and rolled his eyes at them, Cheol turned a lovely shade of pink, and Claire buried her face in her hands. Once she felt the burning color in her cheeks go down a notch, she dropped her hands and picked up her chopsticks and started to eat.
After everyone was largely finished eating, the group started to part to go their separate ways, some back to practice singing or dancing, others to composing, and a few to study for classes. Claire left, this time with Wonjung, since she was going to have her meeting with him now anyway. Walking alongside him, Claire couldn’t help but note how tall he actually was. Although she had felt a little hesitant about how to reach him, the dinner seemed to have broken the ice a bit with him and he seemed not only a shade warmer toward her, but more keen about working on his language skills with her.
***
Claire leaned back into the cushions of her couch with a yawn. It was already eleven and she had just gotten back home, but she couldn’t really complain. The day had gone well and she had managed to meet with all five of the guys in a single day and each of them had asked to have more hours than the two she had requested of them. Some of them seemed motivated, in part, by trying to get the reward she had promised, but most just seemed happy to be working on their English.
Tomorrow she was going to give Minjun, Wonjung, and Changho mock interviews with the questions to help them plan their answers. Kitae and Hyunwoo would do the same the day after at least. It was nice to feel like she wasn’t having to force them to work on things. She had no doubt that they would all finish their assignments this week. She was really pleased that all of them were willing students.
Her phone gave off a ping beside her, letting her know that a message had been sent to her. She picked up the phone, unlocking it with her thumb even as she lifted it off the couch. The smiling face of her best friend Roz floated in a circle on the right side of her screen which brought a smile to her own face. It must be morning back home, she thought to herself. Her friend usually tried to message her when she was getting ready before heading to work.
Hey there, got time for a call? I’m running late but I wanted to chat while I was getting ready.
Sure, I’m even home and everything. She wrote back and then hopped up to grab her headphones so she would be able to hear her friend better. After a brief wait the messenger app began to ring.
“Hello hello! Can you hear me?” Claire asked after answering the call.
“Yeah I can,” Said Roz, sounding slightly echoey on the other end. “I’m in the middle of doing my hair, can you hear me ok?”
“Yeah, but it does sound like a bathroom over there,” She laughed at her friend.
“You should just be grateful all I’m doing is my hair over here,” Her friend pointed out with a scoff.
“Oh trust me, I am,” Claire chuckled. “So how have you been?”
“I’m good,” Roz assured her. “You know, same old same old. The new job is really okay, I even like my boss.”
“No way,” Claire joked. “That never happens!”
“I know, right? I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop or something, but so far everyone is nice and the boss is pretty cool.” She really did sound happy, which was a relief. About six months ago she had been forced to leave a job because her old boss had decided he hated her after she had had the nerve to turn him down for a date.
“I’m really happy for you,” She added with a smile as she looked through her cabinets for a small snack to have while they chatted.
“No, but you just started something new, too, right?” Roz prompted. “What is it? How are you liking that?”
“Oh Roz, you’ll be so jealous,” Claire gushed with a grin.
“Oooooo, go on.”
“I’ve been assigned to help a K-Pop group improve their English for their first real international launch by the company. You know YTHtonic…?”
“Oh my God, no, I already hate you just a little bit,” Roz jumped in. “You aren’t working with them, are you?”
“Yeah, I know we’ve been huge fans for a while now,” She added over the jealous groan of her friend. “You’ll be glad to know they are all sweet as sugar and really good students, too.”
“Of course they are,” Her friend scoffed. “They are angels and perfect, like, I would know you were lying if you said anything different.”
“Right, of course,” Claire agreed with exaggerated earnestness.
“Ugh, now my heart hurts, I’m so jealous,” Her friend sighed. “I’m at least going to get some signed CD or something from you right? Because I fully realize human trafficking is illegal and I can’t have you send me one of them instead.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Claire laughed.
“You aren’t just teasing me by telling me this, right?” Roz said after a pause.
“You know me better than that,” Claire admonished.
“I know,” Her friend admitted. “But you might as well have just told me that you adopted a unicorn. It’s like, equally unbelievable.”
“Yes well, I can assure you that they aren’t mythical creatures,” She laughed at her friend’s analogy.
“From where I am standing, they might as well be!” Roz protested.
“Sure, sure, you aren’t really wrong there,” Claire allowed. “I’ll get you something…you know I love you. I wouldn’t let you go without completely. If only I could share the job, right?”
“Ugh, yes, can we?”
“Haha, you know I would,” She replied warmly.
“Okay, I won’t ask for like weird details or something, but like…are they that cute in person? Can you at least tell me that?” Roz asked.
“Yes, they are absolutely that cute,” Claire confirmed. “It is a perk of the job. Their faces really do just brighten your day.”
“Esh, I hate you just a little bit,” Her friend groaned. “I’ll get over it eventually, but I really want to steal your body and switch lives for just a little bit. Maybe like long enough to get FX into bed like two or three times.”
“Oof, I cannot lend you my body to do that with,” Claire cringed just a little. “I’m pretty sure that isn’t really allowed and he’s like 8 years young
er than me. I don’t know if they are…into older women. It’s not like they couldn’t have their pick of like…whoever.”
“Ugh, it’s so not fair,” Roz protested. “I could totally seduce him, especially with your body.”
“Pfft, just because you think I’m hot doesn’t mean everyone does,” She pointed out to her friend.
“Yeah because nice boobs and symmetrical features are so not everyone’s cup of tea,” Came a deadpan answer from the other end of the line. “Whatever, I’m going to pretend I don’t know all of this and that I am not about to die of sheer jealousy. But if I don’t get a postcard or polaroid or something during the next month I’m coming to hunt you down.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Claire allowed. “But you can’t say anything to anyone. You know people can be cray cray and all that.”
“Don’t worry,” Her friend sighed. “I won’t say anything to anybody. I’ll happily just die of jealousy all alone over here. Ah, shit, I have to go. I can’t be late for the job I actually like and want to keep.”
“Alright, I love you lots,” She told her friend as she prepared to get off the phone.
“Yeah I love you, too,” Roz responded. “Don’t forget to take some time to find a cute Korean guy you can actually sleep with. I’m living vicariously through you and I want to hear all about it.”
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled,” Claire laughed out loud. “I will let you know when I find him.”
“Okay, go to sleep or something, I know it's late there.”
“Bye!”
“Bye!”
The call ended and Claire closed the phone again and grabbed a few grapes from the bunch on the counter. She popped a couple in her mouth and wandered back towards the couch trying to decide if it was late enough to follow her friends advice or if she should try and get some brainstorming done around the mock interviews she was going to give the guys tomorrow. Due to their odd schedules, she didn’t have anyone on the books until after two o’clock tomorrow so getting some stuff done in the morning there or at home wouldn’t really be a problem. Sleep did sound really nice, actually.
***
Cheol finally found his way to bed at around two in the morning. He wasn’t the last one of the members to head to bed, a few were even downstairs in the gym burning off just a little extra energy before trying to head to sleep. A couple were in the living room watching something on the TV. He could hear the hum of the dialog from the bed if he listened closely. Changho was lounging on his bed flipping through something on his phone screen and Jaejin was scribbling something in a notebook under the light of a lamp he had clipped to the frame of his bed. Everyone was pretty quiet tonight.
He felt unsettled, like there was something he could or should be doing, but there wasn’t anything specific that came to mind. With the tour and all the interviews, he decided, he was probably just feeling the excited anxiety that came along with it. Usually he would have turned that energy into practice or song writing, but he had found himself unable to concentrate like he normally would have. Maybe tomorrow he could get some time with Jaejin and Changho to brainstorm on some new things to work on together for more songs.
“Hey Changho,” Cheol cleared his throat to get his friend’s attention. “You think you’ll have a little time tomorrow to listen to some new things I have been working on? Maybe think about some lyrics?”
“Sure,” Changho poked his head over the edge of his bunk to look down at his bandmate. “I’m working on something for Claire, but maybe it could be turned into something real.”
“You’re working on something for her?” Cheol repeated back to him.
“Ah yeah,” He nodded. “My assignment for her, she wants some rap in English from me. You can help me with that some and maybe it could be something good enough for a song.”
“Right, yeah,” Cheol nodded in agreement.
“You okay?” Jaejin asked, setting his pen down on his notebook.
“Hmm?” Cheol turned to look at his friend on the lower bunk.
“You just look, I don’t know…” Jaejin struggled to find the right word. “Restless.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” He admitted. “I feel like there is something I’m supposed to be doing or somewhere I’m supposed to be.”
“Maybe you just need to go down and run on the treadmill for a bit,” Changho suggested. “Listen to some music and let your mind go blank. Let go of some stress.”
“Yeah maybe,” Cheol admitted. “I don’t feel like I can sleep right now anyway.”
He sat up and walked over to his dresser. Pulling out a black tank top and a pair of basketball shorts, he started for the gym they had downstairs.
“Try not to think too hard about whatever it is,” Jaejin suggested, half joking and half serious. Cheol gave a laugh and a nod before he grabbed his headphones and headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
He found Hyunwoo and FX stretching on the mats on the floor and Kitae doing some strength training for his back. He nodded at the other members and they nodded back in acknowledgement as he headed for the treadmill in the corner of the room. He slipped on his headphones, started his playlist, and tried to empty his mind of whatever was making feel so restless.
Usually exercise was the easiest way for him to find that zen, happy, mindless place inside where nothing worried him, but after half an hour he still felt that restless tightness in his chest. Just keep going, he told himself, at least I can go to sleep if I’m exhausted. His feet kept going even as his mind churned, trying to find what had been bothering him.
They were ready for the tour, or at least they would be, he felt confident in that. Everyone was looking and sounding better than they ever had. He felt genuinely confident that they were ready and that they would do well. Even the younger members were looking more polished and skilled beyond their years. Their performance sets were established and it was becoming a rarity that someone noticeably got lost or forgot where they were in their choreography. Maybe they would be making some tweaks to things, but it was largely set. Their schedule was full at the moment with members having individual commitments to shows, skits, and interviews for the Korean market to keep their names in the buzz and to serve their fans, but it didn’t feel like they were stretched too thin like it had their first six months after their debut. Some of it may be that they were all better at this than they had been at the start, but they also weren’t fighting to get recognition. They had fans and were in demand, something that they were both proud of and extremely grateful for.
It wasn’t work that felt like it was weighing on him, or at least he couldn’t find anything related to it that struck the chord of the stress. The only other thing on his mind was…Claire. The thought of her actually loosened a little of the tightness. Ah, he said to himself, maybe it should have been obvious. He had spent the evening trying not to think about her, because when he did, he had the urge to message her, just to ask what she was up to. He didn’t even know if she would message him back if he just sent a random how are you doing to her. What would she think if he started bothering her on her time off? They weren’t friends; she was working with the other members as a part of her job. It was just a job….ah, that thought brought back that sense of tightness to him. Did she even like them as something more than just work she had to do? What if he did message her and she let him know he was being a bother? Shit, just the thought put a knot in his stomach. It shouldn’t have mattered, at least not that much, but it did.
He turned off the treadmill at 3:15 and headed to the shower again, deciding to try to sleep again. Everyone in his room was already asleep by the time he slipped back in and crawled back into his bed. He had pondered his dilemma as he had showered, trying to come to a resolution about what, if anything, he should do. Maybe he could just find a reason to spend some time around her. He might not need help with English, since he had grown up speaking it, but he could at least ask if she might be willing to help him with the interview qu
estions like she was for the others. Ms. Kim had said she was there to help the whole team, after all.
I’ll ask tomorrow, he resolved as he put his head on his pillow and turned out the last little light in the room.
Chapter 4
“Good afternoon,” Cheol greeted as he stepped into the room where Claire was again seated with her papers strewn on the table.
“Hello,” She said happily as she turned towards him. “What brings you here?”
“I had a favor to ask,” He began, closing the door behind him.
“Shoot,” She nodded, turning in her seat to fully face him. “I’m happy to help if I can.”
“Would you have time to help me prepare for the interviews, too,” He asked, running his fingers through his hair, avoiding meeting her gaze directly.
“Oh,” She was slightly surprised by his request. “Sure, I should have time to do that. I was planning on making some time next week to do something with everyone together with the interview prep to help get everyone ready as a group for interviews anyway, but if you have the time and want to practice or something, I can work with you on that.”
“I’ve just been feeling a little anxious about all of the upcoming press and the tour,” He explained. “I thought, maybe working with you a little would help with that.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat,” She offered, pulling one of the wheeled chairs in the room over so he could sit with her at the table. Cheol accepted the invitation, sitting so that he could half face her.
“You know, you guys are really pretty remarkable,” She told him, resting her chin on the heel of one of her hands.
“What do you mean,” He asked her.
“All of you are what 18 to 21 years old?” She started.
“I’ll be 22 soon,” He noted.
“Ok, almost 22,” She went on, taking in the minor correction. “You are all just becoming adults now and yet, you’ve managed to take the gifts of natural talent you each were given in singing and dancing, and frankly, charm, and turn it into all this. Most people don’t have the discipline and passion to take something they are even naturally talented at and develop it into a real skill. You guys have not only done that, but you’ve done it and been willing to do it in front of cameras and while taking on honest and probably pretty harsh criticism about everything you are doing. I couldn’t have done it.”
The Tutor Page 4