“I might need a drink.” Eun Gi puffed out a nervous breath, but Tessa only nestled closer.
“You did amazing.” She kissed his cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”
His cheeks flushed pink. “Thank you.”
“He’s at twenty million views, and my sub count has quadrupled. You guys!” Kelly stared at the screen in her lap. “Twenty. Million. In less than twenty-four hours.”
Kelly had been keeping an eye on the analytics, updating them when they hit each new milestone to prevent Eun Gi from obsessively watching the count in real time.
Eun Gi sat wide eyed and shaking. “Holy shit. How?”
“I mean, between my platform and Tessa’s we got a lot of eyeballs on it, but I may have texted Sung Soo to let him know when it went live. It was up on all the official 24/7 accounts for a while before the company noticed and deleted their posts.” She scrolled through her phone. “People are losing their minds. It has over one-hundred-thousand comments, and from what I can see they’re majority positive. I saw a few assholes, but they were immediately trounced by the Eun Gi stans.”
“What’s going on?” Chun Hei wandered in with her bedhead and pajamas.
“We’re jumpstarting your oppa’s career.” Kelly waved her over and turned the phone screen towards Chun Hei.
“Holy shit.”
Tessa giggled at their identical reactions.
“Oppa, that’s a lot. Are you going solo?”
“Maybe? I haven’t gotten that far yet.”
“Well, figure it out so I know if we’re moving or not.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Do you want to move?” Tessa asked.
Chun Hei shrugged. “All my friends are in Busan, but Oppa hates it here. As long as I don’t have to change schools before the semester is over, I could be persuaded.”
“We’re planning on spending a few weeks in Seoul when you’re done with school. We could check out some apartments while we’re there.” Tessa smiled softly.
It was far too early to be awake on a Saturday morning, but they all settled in for breakfast since no one was going to go back to bed. The news played in the background while they ate. A reporter was talking about the case, and images of Eun Gi’s parents being removed from their apartment flashed across the screen. Tessa turned up the volume. His mugshot appeared as well, paired with a picture of him from one of their concerts as they explained he’d been cleared of charges. Both his parents had been arrested for a laundry list of crimes— perjury, fabrication of evidence, slander, and fraud.
“They’re investigating them for fraud too?” Kelly asked.
“Oh yeah, Eomma and Appa were screwing over a bunch of businesses,” Chun Hei said between bites.
Kelly whistled low. “Well, that’ll go over like a lead balloon. Why aren’t they being charged with child abuse too?”
“I would have to agree to testify, and I just want to move on,” Chun Hei whispered. “Even if they hurt me before, I don’t feel right going after them. I don’t have proof anyway.”
“Part of me wants justice, but I’d rather let it go too. I don’t want to relive it all in a lengthy court case.” Eun Gi took Chun Hei’s hand. “We can move on together.”
“We’ll support whatever you want to do,” Tessa said. “Once we’re out of limbo on whether or not they’re convicted, we can sort out something more permanent.”
Chun Hei fidgeted at the table. “Um.”
“Hmm?” Tessa turned to her.
“Even if they’re not, do you think I could still stay with you guys?”
Tessa blinked. “You want to stay?”
Chun Hei dipped her gaze. “Only if you want me.”
Eun Gi and Tessa made eye contact across the table. Eun Gi nodded.
“Of course we want you.” Tessa took Chun Hei’s hand in hers. “It’s a little more complicated if your parents aren’t convicted since they’re your legal guardians.”
“Apply for one of the fancy schools up in Seoul,” suggested Kelly. “If you get in and they let you go, you’d be able to get away.”
“If you want to be with us and they walk free, I’ll take them to court for custody,” Eun Gi said.
Chun Hei perked up. “You’d do that for me?”
“Between the two of us we stand a good chance.” Tessa spooned some food into her mouth. “We’re married, we have money, and soon we’ll have a stable home too. You’re fourteen, so the judge might be swayed by what you want.”
Chun Hei burst into tears at the table, burying her face in her hands. Tessa dropped to her knees next to Chun Hei and pulled the girl into her arms. Eun Gi was at their side in an instant.
“No one’s ever wanted me before.” Chun Hei held on to Tessa.
Tessa’s heart broke. “We’re going to fight for you.”
That only made Chun Hei cry harder.
By the time she recovered, Kelly had made her a cup of tea. “You’ve got good people on your side now who will step up to protect you.”
Chun Hei wiped her tears and sniffled. “I hate crying. It’s so dumb. I haven’t been yelled at for days, and I forgot what that was like. I don’t know any of you, but you’re already way nicer to be around than Eomma and Appa.”
Tessa gave her a hearty squeeze and helped her stand. “You have a place with us as long as you want it.”
Chapter 25
Tessa
“Hyung!” Min Jae leapt straight into Eun Gi’s arms, latching arms and legs around him as soon as Eun Gi opened the door of their Busan rental home. Tessa caught them both as they staggered back. “Hey, Noona!”
Eun Gi’s face lit up, and it warmed Tessa down to her toes. Grinning, Min Jae dropped to the floor and snared Tessa into his arms.
“How was your flight?” Tessa asked.
“Short, but also too long because I’m impatient.”
“Impatient? You? Never.”
Hwan and Sung Soo came up the walkway.
“Jae, you couldn’t wait an extra five seconds and bring your own bag?” Sung Soo rolled his eyes.
“Nope.”
Eun Gi dashed down the yard, and Hwan dropped his bag on the grass, hoisting Eun Gi right off the ground.
Hwan swung him around. “It has been way too long since I’ve hugged you.”
When Hwan didn’t let go after setting Eun Gi back on his feet Eun Gi looked at him speculatively. “Are we just going to keep hugging?”
“Yes. I have to catch up on lost time.”
“So, I don’t get to hug at all?” Sung Soo stood with his hands on his hips.
“You can have a group hug now and a personal hug later.” Hwan gave Eun Gi another squeeze. “He’s mine right now.”
Sung Soo sighed and enveloped Eun Gi from behind. “It’s good to see you. These two have been underfoot the last two days getting too excited to come visit.”
Min Jae hung off Tessa. “Don’t even pretend you weren’t excited, Hyung.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t. I just don’t start bouncing off the walls like you do.”
“Come on inside,” Tessa said. “We’ll order some food, and Chun Hei will be home from school soon.”
Hwan and Eun Gi waddled in as a unit. Tessa took up Hwan’s bag, and Min Jae collected his own after a stare down from Sung Soo.
They filled up the small two-bedroom home Tessa and Eun Gi had rented only a few minutes from Chun Hei’s school. It was small but private, barely large enough for the three of them to live comfortably. It had come mostly furnished, the dregs left over from the landlord after they’d moved out.
“So, update us. We’ve been texting, but that’s less fun than in person.” Sung Soo tucked all their bags against the wall in the living room and parked himself on the couch.
“I got a call from K-One Entertainment this morning,” Eun Gi said. “They’re interested in signing me as a solo artist.”
Hwan’s head snapped up, jolting Eun Gi. “That’s great! I mean, the awful, selfish part
of me wants to yell at you to not take it, but I’m proud of you, and I’m telling that part to shut up.”
“I told them I would think about it, but I don’t know that I want to sign with them. All I want is to be back with you guys, and if I sign with another company, then I can’t ever do that.” The Eun Gi and Hwan unit slumped onto the couch. “I’m not delusional. EchoPop doesn’t want me back, but I can’t bring myself to let go of the hope quite yet.”
“We want you back,” Hwan insisted. “Maybe the company will pull its head out of its ass.”
Eun Gi laughed. “I can dream. I don’t think this opportunity is right in either case. I want to get Chun Hei properly settled, and I promised to let her finish out the semester here at least. If I sign with K-One, they’d have me working back in Seoul immediately. That’s not fair to her. There’s too much up in the air for me to make a commitment like that, and I can’t leave Tessa to handle things here alone.”
“If you did sign with them or anyone else,” Sung Soo said, “and I’m not trying to sway you one way or the other, we could still do collaborations. Would you forgive EchoPop for what they’ve done?”
“I want to be with you guys. The company can shove it up their ass, but I can’t have you without them.”
Min Jae draped himself across both of their laps. “Hyung, you always have us.”
The door code beeped, and it swung open to reveal Chun Hei. Her cheeks flared pink when she caught sight of everyone, and she let out a little squeak. Curious faces peeked in behind her, a half-dozen other young girls crowding around her. Realization dawned on them one by one, cheeks turning pink. They clung together.
“Holy shit, she wasn’t making it up.” They whispered frantically, voices jumping over one another.
Tessa brought Chun Hei inside. “Give us one minute, girls.” She closed the door gently. “I take it your friends would like to meet everyone?”
Chun Hei stared at her feet. “None of them knew I was actually related to Oppa. I got too excited that everyone else was going to be here, and they all wanted proof, but I didn’t have any pictures on my phone, and anyway they’re here now.”
Min Jae leapt off the couch and headed for Chun Hei. She looked ready to implode at any second. “Nice to meet you. I’m Min Jae.”
“I—I know.”
“Do you like 24/7?”
Chun Hei nodded hastily, hair bouncing as she backed into Tessa. She went rigid at the contact. “I have all the albums on my phone.”
Eun Gi perked up. “You never told me that.”
“I didn’t want you to get a big head.”
Tessa laughed. “If everyone is ready, I’ll let the girls in.”
Hwan released Eun Gi from their hug and scooted over a few inches.
Tessa glanced down at Chun Hei. “Just for a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay, Eonni.”
Tessa paused, eyes wide. “Did you call me Eonni?”
Chun Hei’s cheeks flared again. “I don’t have to if you don’t want me to.”
“Oh my goodness! Yes, you can absolutely call me Eonni.” Tessa crushed the girl in a hug. “I’m honoured that you want to call me your sister.”
Chun Hei wriggled free. “I can’t tell either of you anything without you getting egos. It’s just a word.”
“An important word.” Tessa’s eyes shone. “I’m glad you’re feeling comfortable.”
Chun Hei rolled her eyes, but the smile on her lips revealed the truth. “Don’t embarrass me in front of my friends.”
“I’ll do my best.” Tessa opened the door and spread out her arms. “Welcome to our home, girls.”
They moved like a flock of flamingos, tucked up against one another, heads swiveling around to take in the home and the idols scattered across the living room. The girls clustered together even tighter when Min Jae approached them. One of them seemed like she was about to burst into tears.
“Jaybird!” she squawked.
Min Jae beamed. “That’s me.”
One of the girls nudged Chun Hei. “I can’t believe it took you this long to tell us UpBeat is your oppa!”
“Oh, like you would’ve believed me if I had. You still didn’t believe me even when Eomma and Appa were on the news.” Chun Hei stuck out her tongue. “He was never around for proof. Now he is.”
One brave soul left the flock and bowed sharply in front of Eun Gi. “I’m glad you’re not in prison.”
Eun Gi laughed awkwardly. “I appreciate that.”
She schooled her features and thrust out a notebook. “Could you please sign this?”
“Sure. Let me grab a pen.”
She held one out before he could even stand up and he chuckled, taking both and signing his stage name with a flourish. She looked meaningfully towards Hwan, and Eun Gi passed the notebook to him.
She grinned brightly. “Thank you!”
Tessa gathered pens for the others, and the girls made their rounds, getting autographs from all the men. They chattered among themselves, as disbelieving as Tessa had once been to be surrounded by the idols.
One of the girls tugged a case of banana milk out of her backpack and held it out to Tessa. “We stopped and got a host gift on the way.”
Min Jae’s eyes lit up, and he slithered over, yoinking one before Tessa could take it to the fridge. He sipped happily, and the girl beamed at him like he’d hung the stars.
“Eonni, can you take a group photo?” Chun Hei held out her phone.
Tessa snapped a picture, and approached the girls. “Make sure not to tell anyone that they’re here, or they won’t be able to come visit again, and this will be the only time you ever meet them.”
They nodded dutifully.
“You heard Eonni.” Chun Hei crossed her arms. “If you screw this up for me and the school finds out, I’m never forgiving you.”
“Yeah, yeah. We know it’s a secret.”
“Thank you for coming over.” Tessa nudged the group to the door. “24/7 just arrived, and we should let them rest.”
The girls’ heads bobbed reverently.
“Thank you for having us.” They bowed as a group and slipped, giggling, out the door. Their excited screams echoed as they ran across the grass and off the property.
Chun Hei tucked next to Tessa when her friends were gone, eyeballing their guests.
“I know you know them, but I’ll introduce you anyway. This is Sung Soo, Hwan, and Min Jae.” Tessa pointed to each in turn. “Guys, this is Chun Hei.”
Her cheeks were back to flaming pink, and she inched closer to Tessa. Chun Hei waved. She turned to Tessa and whispered in her ear. “They’re so pretty, what do I do?”
Tessa smothered a laugh. “They’re just people.”
“But Hwan.”
Tessa smiled to herself when Chun Hei’s fingers latched onto the back of her shirt. A safety anchor.
“What would you like for dinner?”
“Could we make budae jjigae?”
“Seconded!” Min Jae thrust his hand into the air.
“Sure we can do that. I’ve never made it before, and I don’t think we have everything but you and I can go to the market and give the boys some time to catch up. Go change and I’ll meet you at the door.”
“I’ll help you with it when you’re back,” Sung Soo offered.
Chun Hei zipped off to her room and Tessa finally got to indulge in her welcome hugs.
Eun Gi and the others were piled on the couch together watching a movie when Tessa and Chun Hei arrived back at the house. Sung Soo peeled himself away to help Tessa prepare the food. She set out the ingredients—Spam, hot dogs, noodles, mushrooms, tofu, kimchi, and green onions—and set about digging the sauce ingredients out of the cupboard.
“How’s he been?” Sung Soo whispered as he sidled up next to her and snared the gochugaru off the shelf.
“Fragile,” she answered honestly. “Better now that we’re out of his parents’ apartment. We’ve contacted a few therapists recently
, so hopefully one will be a good fit for him.”
“Is there anything else we can do to help?”
“Your being here is more than enough. He needs to feel connected again.” She stirred the sauce ingredients to give herself time to push down her worry. “He’s so isolated here. It’s not like he can just introduce himself to people safely, and I think the lack of interaction outside of the home is getting to him.”
“I want to help more.” Sung Soo looked contemplative as he sliced the Spam and set it into the waiting pot. “I’ll transfer some money to your account when I have a chance.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Tessa, you were there for him when we couldn’t be, and that means more to us than you’ll ever know. I want you all to be comfortable, and I know you have money, but so do I. Eun Gi is family, and whatever happens in the future he’ll stay family. You’re supporting him and Chun Hei, plus you’re helping out your parents. I don’t want you to run into a position where you have to start picking and choosing what to spend your money on. A bigger nest egg can’t hurt, right?”
“I suppose not.” Tessa set a bundle of enoki mushrooms into the pot. “I’m not used to accepting money from people.”
“Eun Gi never got the opportunity to save the way the rest of us did. I can’t undo what they’ve done to him, but I can help correct this part. The three of us have already discussed it, and we’re all comfortable helping. We don’t have the flexibility to be here as much as any of us would like, but it’s one thing we can do from Seoul. Eun Gi won’t be happy about it either, but I imagine he’ll feel a little less guilt taking it from us than he will from you. Five people on your income puts a lot of pressure on you even if you’re successful.”
Tessa frowned. She hadn’t wanted to say anything, but she’d begun thinking about it. Her mother usually made enough to handle the basics, while Tessa covered any shortfalls, and now she was the breadwinner for Eun Gi and Chun Hei. It wouldn’t be a problem immediately, but if something didn’t change they’d run into issues.
Heart and Seoul (The Seoul Series Book 1) Page 31