by J. S. Lee
There were plenty of K-Pop groups who were more popular than Onyx, but the venue was not the kind one wanted to be walking through a casino to get to.
We were led through a maze by a woman called Vivienne with pin thin legs, a mini skirt suit, and fake hair. She reminded me of my mother in a weird way – beautiful, but fake. Maybe that was why I’d naturally gravitated towards converse and jeans growing up. I’d stayed in them because they were comfortable.
Unlike my mother, Vivienne was a welcoming and effective host. She took us to a green room, then showed us the route to the stage. There was a crew already setting up according to some instructions someone from Atlantis had sent over ahead of time.
“I’m sorry I was called away last night,” Youngbin murmured in my ear. His tone sent shivers running down my spine.
“I’m sorry we wasted time talking about Damien the Dick,” I whispered back, keeping my attention focused on Sungmin. He was busy explaining the process – it was the same as Vancouver, with the fan meeting first.
“We can talk about anything,” Youngbin promised me. He took a fraction of a step closer to me, his fingertips lingering near a tear in my ripped jeans. “But there’s no rush for anything. I’m not going anywhere. Besides, while we can talk about anything, I’m not going to talk about unpleasant things and follow it up with making love. I’m not going to let that taint anything we do together.”
I could feel my ears burning as he whispered that. If anyone other than Youngbin had said making love, in that declaration, I probably would have laughed. I definitely would have cringed.
With Youngbin? I was turned on.
“Is there something you wish to say, Kate?” Sungmin gave me a pointed look.
It was like being back at school.
“Nope, I’m good.”
Shooting me another glare, Sungmin disappeared, leaving us with Ina and Eunhae to get their makeup and first outfits on. Seeing as no one seemed to be bothered about me being there, I decided to push my luck, pulling out my Polaroid camera.
Tempted as I was for some semi-naked shots, Ina and Eunhae were in there. Then, it turned out, because they were in there, Onyx became creative when it came to getting changed. I took some candid shots, and I took some official ones.
Onyx had their own camera that took photos as well as video. They were constantly on it, and I’d been told by JongB at one point it was for their V-Live channel. I’d had no idea what one of those was and googled it, finding an app, downloading it, and subscribing to it. It was just another social media platform, but there were so many videos on there.
Mainly for my own amusement – whether or not Sungmin would allow them to be used I didn’t know or care – I took photos of them filming each other. JongB did the most lives. He was a complete chatterbox. Currently, he was mainly speaking in English, as he filmed the guys getting ready, teasing everyone. And by everyone, I mean whoever was going to watch it. I might have been reserved at taking those semi-naked photos, but JongB wasn’t, even when it earned him Jiwon’s hoodie being balled up and launched at his head.
I sniggered, turning my attention to MinMin. “How are you feeling?” I asked him.
MinMin pulled a face. “I want to perform properly.”
“The dentist said no,” Youngbin piped up. I’d felt his eyes on me as I’d moved around the room, so I wasn’t entirely surprised he joined in the conversation. “If Kate hadn’t called and begged the dentist to let you rap, you wouldn’t even be doing that.”
I hadn’t begged. I rolled my eyes at Youngbin, behind MinMin so he couldn’t see me disagreeing with his leader, just in case that would somehow lead to him also wanting to dance. I’d offered to call the dentist back and see if it would be OK for MinMin to be part of the fan meeting.
It was the dentist who had said, provided he remained sitting the whole time, it wouldn’t be an issue. Sungmin had been the one to say that applied to the rest of the show. Despite the efforts to keep everything quiet about the trip to the dentist, it had been made public by Atlantis as they had made a statement yesterday to say MinMin wouldn’t be performing in Las Vegas at all.
That had been met with interesting responses. Most people had been writing messages of support, requesting that MinMin rest and get better. Somehow, despite the fact he was (at that point) missing the show for legit medical reasons, some people were still complaining and demanding refunds.
Assholes.
Atlantis hadn’t announced MinMin was now going to perform. They were going to surprise the fans.
And surprise them, they did. The moment MinMin stepped on stage for the fan meeting, the room, only a quarter full, erupted into excited screams. By the time the rest of the ticket holders arrived, MinMin’s presence wasn’t a secret. It had been blasted all over social media within minutes of him appearing.
For the concert part of the show, Sungmin had made sure a tall stool had been provided for MinMin to sit on at the side of the stage, just out of the way of where the rest of Onyx were dancing. To make sure MinMin didn’t join in, Sungmin had stayed by his side for almost the entire show. I suspected the fact he was a rapper and not a vocalist made it more difficult for MinMin to stay still because every time he tried to stand up, Sungmin would clamp a hand down on his shoulder.
The Las Vegas fans were wild. The show was hilarious.
As I darted around, taking pictures, I decided the run of bad luck Onyx had had on their Asian leg had stayed there.
Thank fuck. Onyx needed a break!
Because we were heading back to the hotel for a few hours before we flew out again, we weren’t in a rush to leave. Or, at least some of us weren’t. Sungmin was adamant MinMin was going straight back to the hotel with CX and JongB, and half of the team. No, I’d been wrong – he still didn’t trust me not to go AWOL with one of them.
I leaned against a wall outside with a sigh, resigning myself to the fact that was probably not going to change now. It was cool outside. Although I had a thick winter coat, it was in the bottom of a case. Instead, I’d opted for a baseball shirt and a light jacket. There was just enough chill in the air for me to stick my hands in my pockets and hold the fabric against me.
“Kate?”
The shiver that ran down my spine was not from the temperature. “Damien?” I said, slowly, staring at the guy in disbelief. “What in god’s name are you doing here?”
Damien, his hands also in his pockets, maintained a wary distance as he shrugged at me. “My company has a contract with the casino.”
Damien was a landscape gardener. “I’m fairly certain no grass needs cutting at this time of night,” I sniped at him, feeling uneasy despite my tone. There was no one else out here and he was between me and the door back in.
I sucked in a deep breath, refusing to panic. This was a guy I had been dating – living with – for over four years. He was a dick, but he’d never laid a finger on me.
Until today…
제 8 장
Drive
“I decided to see the show and see what the attraction was to the Japs.”
“Korean, Damien,” I said through gritted teeth. “They’re Korean. Hence the K in K-Pop.” It was not worth the effort of explaining Xiao was Chinese. That would probably just result in some further insulting name calling. “Though, the fact you don’t know that begs the question of why the fuck you decided to come?” I folded my arms and glowered at him.
“I wanted to know which ladyboy was dipping his dick in my girlfriend. Although I’ve heard Asians have small dicks.” His eyes narrowed, and I didn’t miss the fact he was slowly advancing towards me.
I held my head high. “Ex.”
“His name is a letter?” Damien arched an eyebrow.
“No,” I snapped. “Me. I’m your ex-girlfriend. We’re not together anymore. You dumped me.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Exactly what kind of plants have you been growing?” I asked as I stared at him in disbelief, my gaze sw
eeping up and down him. “Are you high? That’s not how a breakup works. And even if you have changed your mind and decided you didn’t want to be with your wife anymore, I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”
Damien was suddenly in front of me. “You leave Isabelle out of this.”
“No, you leave me out of this.” I’d already decided weeks before this that I was done wasting oxygen on this racist dickhead. I wasn’t going to change my mind. Ever. I ducked around him, marching towards the door back into the venue.
A hand wrapped around my elbow, yanking me back. I was flung against the concrete wall before I knew what was happening, smacking my head against it so hard that it sent waves of pain radiating outwards as I let out a squeal.
“Kate, baby?” Damien cried. My head was spinning as much as it was throbbing, and I felt like I was either going to pass out or throw up. Damien’s arms wrapped around me, pulling me against his body. “You need to be more careful!” he chided me, as though that was my fault.
“Let go.” My voice was muffled, my mouth pressed up against his broad chest. I pushed back, trying to break free of his hold, but his grip around me tightened like a vice.
“Hush now,” Damien said, his voice strangely cooing. Like I was a baby?
I was struggling to breathe in his embrace. I wasn’t weak, but I had forgotten how strong Damien was. I was also fighting to keep conscious as much as I was trying to get away.
Then all of a sudden, I was pulled away, air rushing into my lungs as someone set me free. It was dizzying, but welcome. Before I could work out what was happening, I was being handed off to someone. Someone with a reassuringly familiar scent – Youngbin. I grasped at him, trying to stop the world from spinning, trying desperately to follow what was happening, despite the fact Youngbin was trying to turn me away from it.
“Who the fuck are you?” Damien demanded.
“You must leave.” Sungmin, although tall, looked like a twig next to Damien, but he squared up to him, glowering at him.
“You must speak proper English.” Damien’s head was bobbing back and forth like a valley girl.
“Damien, just fuck off home!” I yelled at him. That made my head hurt even more, but Youngbin’s arms were keeping me upright.
“You think I’m going to listen to this fucking Jap-ass mail order bride?” Damien demanded.
I stared at him in disgust. Aside from his disgusting and offensive use of the word ‘Jap’, What the fuck? Mail order…? Did the dickhead honestly think Sungmin was the same person at the diner? Sungmin and CX didn’t even have the same hair color!
“What’s going on here?”
Two burly men bustled past us, stepping between Sungmin and Damien, but their attention was on Damien. Jiwon appeared at my side. “Get her inside, hyung,” he advised.
“Sungmin,” I started, but Youngbin wasn’t listening. He scooped me up and marched back to the green room we had been using. I didn’t protest. My head felt like it was going to explode.
I was placed on a couch like I was made of glass, and then both Youngbin and Jiwon were fussing over me. I could tell that they had a million questions, but neither of them said anything. Instead, Youngbin gently pried my fingers from the back of my head, moving my hair out of the way to examine the scalp. “Did he hit your head?”
I started to shake my head, but stopped, wincing at the action. “He grabbed me. I don’t think it was intentional, but I ended up flying against the wall.”
“I’m going to knock him out,” Jiwon growled. “And that won’t be intentional either.”
“No, you’re not,” I sighed. “And I didn’t mean him grabbing me wasn’t intentional. I mean, I don’t think his intention was to throw me against a wall.”
“Then I will knock him out intentionally.”
Much as it warmed me that Jiwon was willing to jump to my defense, his actions had me exhausted. “Jiwon, just sit down. You’re not going to knock him out, intentionally or otherwise. The guy is a dick and he is not worth missing a flight and a concert to spend a night in prison. Hell, I’m fairly sure that shit will get you kicked out of Onyx.”
“Worth it,” Jiwon mumbled, but he didn’t move towards the open door.
His words earned him a smack upside the head from Xiao as he walked into the room with Sungmin. “Not worth it,” he corrected him, moving to crouch down beside Youngbin. “How is she?”
“Right here,” I pointed out, waving my hand.
“She’s not bleeding, but I think we need to get her to a hospital.”
“I think I need some pain killer and some sleep,” I interjected. “I’ve had hangovers worse than this.”
“Youngbin is correct,” Sungmin said. “I will take you to the hospital.”
“I’m going too,” Youngbin announced.
“You are going back to the hotel with Xiao and Jiwon.”
“We are all going back to the hotel!” I cried, standing up. Well, that was a mistake. If it wasn’t for Youngbin standing in front of me and catching me, the dizziness would have had me eating the ground.
“I am taking you to the hospital.” Youngbin lowered me back into the seat. I wasn’t arguing anymore. Apparently, neither was Sungmin. He ignored Youngbin’s demands and practically dragged them out of the room.
When he returned, he was alone. “Don’t sleep, Kate,” he said, keeping his voice low. I had been nursing my head with my eyes closed.
“I’m awake,” I said, opening my eyes. “The lights are just really bright and I’m still a bit dizzy.”
“Let’s get to the hospital. There’s a taxi outside.”
He led me out to a car then helped me in the back. Aside from Sungmin telling me I wasn’t allowed to go to sleep, the journey was spent in silence. The whole time I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, but I didn’t dare pull it out. I was sure it would only be the others, and I didn’t want Sungmin to catch sight of any of the messages.
Sungmin had taken me to a private care hospital. I’d started to tell him that I knew my medical insurance wouldn’t cover it, but he just shook his head, saying I was covered by Atlantis. I wasn’t expecting that.
I also wasn’t expecting to be seen so quickly. Sungmin had barely started on the forms before a nurse was with us. I was even happier when I discovered she was Chinese and could help Sungmin with the forms as he was fluent in the language.
I lay back on the bed. The dizziness had subsided, though there was the hint of nausea lingering. I couldn’t stop watching the clock in the room though. It was already one in the morning. We had four hours before we had to leave for the airport.
I was taken for a head scan, then returned to the room where Sungmin was pacing, waiting for me. “The doctor is going to look at the scans and then come in to see me. They said I wouldn’t have to wait long.”
“Who was that man?”
I blew out a breath. “Unfortunately, he is my ex-boyfriend. He decided tonight was the night to try to get back together with me.”
Sungmin moved to the end of the bed, his arms folded as he stared down at me, but he didn’t sit. “How did he get into the backstage area?”
“He’s a landscape gardener and freelances at a lot of the resorts. We both grew up in the area.” I raised a hand. “Fuck knows. He probably convinced a friend to let him back there. I’m sure he knows a lot of people in these places.”
“Don’t invite him there again.”
My mouth dropped open. “Invite him?” I repeated. “The last thing I would do is invite him anywhere, unless it was on a rocket ship aimed at the sun. The guy is an asshole and I want nothing to do with him. I certainly wouldn’t invite him anywhere near me. Not after this afternoon.”
Recognition seemed to light up Sungmin’s dark eyes. “This afternoon? Was this the guy who pushed you around when you were with CX?”
CX had told him, then…
“Yes. That would be the same dickhead.”
There was a long pause, and
then, finally, Sungmin sat down in the small armchair. “Kate, are you OK?”
“I would say so,” a man announced from the doorway; my doctor. He glanced down at the tablet in his hands. “It looks like a mild concussion. The scans are clear. There’s no bleed or swelling.”
“That’s good,” I agreed, slowly sitting up. “We have a flight in a couple of hours.”
“You most certainly don’t,” the doctor disagreed.
“You just said I was OK!” I objected.
“Not to fly,” he said. “Not this soon after a head injury.”
My mouth fell open. “We’re supposed to be in LA tomorrow.”
The doctor looked back at the tablet. “I cannot allow you to fly for at least forty-eight hours. Seventy-two would be preferable.”
We had four days in LA, so the flight to Chicago wasn’t going to be an issue. If I could get to LA to catch the flight to start with. “Doctor…”
“I don’t wake up in the morning wondering how many patients I could possibly inconvenience, Ms. West. I give this treatment advice based on many years as a doctor. Not flying is a precaution I want you to adhere to for the next seventy-two hours. If you fly after that and you feel unwell, you must get back to a hospital for another scan. Head injuries can be dangerous if they’re not treated correctly.”
I listened to him in silence, knowing he was right. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a martyr, I just didn’t want to let Sungmin and Onyx down. Or their fans. They had a fan meeting starting in just over thirteen hours. They would never find anyone at that short notice!
OK, this wasn’t the time to panic. I couldn’t fly, but there were other ways of getting there. Both the train and Greyhound were out. I’d done that trip before and neither left early enough to get me in before the fan meeting started. The only other option was to drive. If I left at the same time as Onyx did, by the time they dealt with the airport at either side, I could be at the venue.
Yes, driving was the answer.