My Shining Light

Chapter 2

Kim Aera was furious. She was super organised for this Astro charity event, but the female idol group manager in charge was lazy and snobby.

This rude man just sat back in a chair in his tight little suit and tried to look busy with paperwork, meanwhile his staff looked to Aera to give them instructions. That meant Aera had double the amount of work to do.

Her shiny black hair swished around her shoulders as she clomped around the hall in heels, giving orders on managing the crowd that was waiting.

Lucy followed Aera around the hall and tried her best to offer help to her very flustered friend despite not having a clue as to what was going on.

...

Meanwhile Jinwoo, MJ and Eunwoo had finished clearing the boxes away and joined up with the other members, Moon Bin, Rocky, and Yoon Sanha in a huddle, trying to avoid the eyes of the girl students who were waiting in line to see them.

But it wasn't just the students who were excited, the brand new female idol group, Xenaz were seated in the corner, boldly looking over their way.

One of the girls, Bong Cha waved hello to Eunwoo, flashing him a big smile and flicking her long pink hair over her shoulder.

"Arghhh, Eunwoo knows ALL the pretty girls," muttered MJ behind his hand.

"I've never met her before," laughed Eunwoo.

"But you know Lucy really well..."

"Lucy is different", Eunwoo stated firmly.

"She's really pretty" continued MJ. Eunwoo gave him a warning look but MJ didn't take subtle cues.

"Sooo pretty! I thought I was only into Korean girls but Lucy has to be the most beautiful non-Korean person I have EVER SEEN!"

Eunwoo looked shocked and annoyed but MJ carried on.

"She seems really sweet, like, really nice. And her hair is so golden! I was like woah, I wanted to touch it! But not as much as Jinjin! Haha! Was that love at first sight?! Hahaha!" MJ laughed too loudly and Jinwoo hit his arm.

Eunwoo grabbed MJ's other arm and yelled "Yah!! Don't talk about her. Don't ever talk about Lucy," Eunwoo's look was serious. "She's my friend. She's special." 

"Ooooh!" cried Rocky and Moon Bin.

"Special!" exclaimed MJ, pleased at Eunwoo's reaction.

Aera was looking across the hall at their commotion and pointing at them angrily.

"Uh-oh! Settle down guys," Jinwoo ordered and the members went quiet.

...Suddenly Sanha asked, "who's Lucy?"

...

Aera finally came over to Astro and Xenaz with her clipboard, ordered them into groups, and sent them off on various missions around the school with the students trailing behind.

Jinwoo was paired with Lucy, Eunwoo and Bong Cha. They found seats at a long table facing the hall. Eunwoo sat down and gestured for Lucy to take the the space next to him.

Jinwoo politely said hello to Bong Cha and went to introduce himself but she bowed quickly and pushed past him to sit on the other side of Eunwoo.

Lucy looked up to see that Jinwoo was still standing.

"Hey!" She said, smiling up at him, "want to sit here?" She pulled out a chair for him to sit beside her.

"Aera hasn't told me much about what I'm supposed to do! She just said to give advice to students if I can. I'm not an idol! You'll help me, won't you?" She looked nervous but was also smiling.

"What's your expertise?" he asked.

"I studied in LA. A double degree in music and speech pathology. My expertise is in music composition and voice," she said.

"Interesting," he replied, "there's lots of kids who would love to hear what that path involves... and me too," he said encouragingly.

She smiled again, and then he noticed that she wore dangling aquamarine earrings which matched her light blue eyes. Somehow her eyes seemed to sparkle just like those gems. MJ was right, he thought, Lucy was really pretty.

Over the next hour, students came and asked about different career options in music and dance. Some wanted to be idols so Jinwoo gave them his advice, and some wanted to study music abroad so Lucy talked them through her experiences in America.

Jinwoo watched the way that the students looked at Lucy in awe when she spoke, and the parents wrote down every little word she said. It seemed like she didn't need his help at all.

Most of the crowd wanted to talk to Eunwoo. He had a huge line in front of him that snaked out the door, which meant it was quiet for Lucy and Jinwoo.

Lucy turned to look at Jinwoo with interest.

"So, you're a rapper and a dancer aren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's my thing. I like writing songs too," he told her.

"Me too," she said, "it's actually my area of passion, aside from helping people with their voices. But I don't like to be alone in the studio for too long."

"Sometimes I'm there all night and I go to bed at sunrise."

"How do you do that?"

"I just get lost in the music..."

"So you just get into the rhythm of it and the next thing you know, it's morning?"

"Haha yeah, something like that. How do you write songs?"

"Usually with an instrument. I'll mess around with my guitar or play the piano. I guess I get lost in it too sometimes... I get a bit emotional and the music starts to flow," she explained.

He could understand that, it was good once you got in the zone, but getting into the flow was the difficult part.

He wondered what kind of songs she wrote but didn't get to ask because suddenly, a parent came storming up to Lucy and angrily demanded that her son be accepted into a specific training course. She threw papers at Lucy's face and loudly expressed her frustrations at the "stupid school" and their "useless staff."

Lucy had no idea what she was talking about but she could see how upset this mother was.
She got up from her seat behind the table and came around to stand beside the woman.                

"That sounds like a horrible experience, I'm so sorry" she said sympathetically.

"I've tried everything!" The poor woman cried, no longer angry when she saw Lucy's concern.

"I'm not a staff member of the school but I can help you as much as I can. Let's walk over to the principal's office and you can tell me all about it," Lucy replied softly.

"Thank you!" The lady replied, clutching onto her son and looking relieved.

Jinwoo watched as Lucy led them towards the exit. Just as she was about to walk out the door, she turned to face Jinwoo with arms raised and a funny expression, mouthing "which way?!"

Jinwoo laughed and shrugged, pointing to the left as a guess.

"I'll be back!" she gestured to him.

He signalled back "okay", knowing that she had no idea where she was going.

He noticed that she had calmed the situation well by responding with kindness. It was even quieter with her gone. Eunwoo was busy and Bong Cha had no interest in talking to him.

When she finally returned, she flashed him a big smile and he was glad to have her back.