Before you disappear

Chapter 6

Suppressing a yawn, I grabbed my backpack from the overhead compartment.

The flight hadn't been too long, but traveling always made me tired. I was ready to grab something light for dinner and then head straight for the hotel.

Silently, I followed my friend out of the plane, grabbed my suitcase from the belt and went through customs. As soon as we stepped through the doors into the main area, a noise of screaming people hit me and I was fully alert.

"What is going on here?" I muttered more to myself, as I watched a group of excited girls run past me.

My friend pointed at the girls. "Look at their t-shirts." Her voice had gone a few octaves higher.

I followed her gaze and my heart skipped a beat as I saw the three letters on the shirt of one of the girls. "They're here?"

My friend shrugged. "Let's follow them and see!" She didn't wait for me to reply and dashed off after the girls.

I heaved a sigh, then fastened my pace as I followed her. I was so not a runner. Running and I usually equated to tripping and falling flat on my face. I wasn't going to do that in the middle of the London airport. Not even if that meant I wouldn't catch a glimpse at the guys arriving. A knot formed inside my stomach, thinking about the videos I'd seen of the guys arriving at an airport and then being ambushed by fans. I didn't want to be part of that ambush.

"Come on!" my friend yelled, forcing me to hurry.

"I'm coming!" I waved dismissively, but stubbornly didn't go any faster than my current pace.

As I turned the corner where I'd seen my friend disappear, flashes of photo cameras snapping blindsided me and I stopped dead in my tracks. A hand roughly shoved me sideways and I fell against the wall, barely able to keep myself upright.

"Jeez," I muttered as the sound of screaming pierced my ears and I held my hands against them, hoping that would help.

The group of fans darted past me and as I looked at where they were going, I noticed them. Well, four of them. I had no clue which four though, as they were all wearing masks and either hats or sunglasses to cover up their identity, but I knew it was them by the way they moved and the way they were guarded by their bodyguards.

I froze instantly, watching them go through the glass doors leading outside and into two black vans that were waiting for them. One of them turned and raised his hand, just before disappearing into the van. The sound of screams heightened. Right then, so many fans swarmed through the glass doors and onto the pavement leading up to the black vans, that I couldn't help but feel my chest tighten at the sheer overwhelm of it all.

How the guys could handle this madness was beyond me.

As the two black vans drove away, I watched the group of (mainly) girls wave and shout their names. Then they started coming back into the airport, some crying uncontrollably but most overexcited as they showed each other the pictures they took on their phones.

"Oh my gosh! I saw Jimin!" my friend exclaimed as she appeared from the group and ran towards me. "I think we made eye contact!"

I managed a smile.

"Did you get to see any of them?" she then asked.

I shrugged. "Just from far away," I said, adding in thought, As I should be. This was their private time and I felt guilty for betraying that, even though I hadn't actually been anywhere close to them as they passed. This wasn't the time for meet and greets with fans.

Suddenly, my tiredness was back and I looked up at my friend. "Can we go get something light to eat and then just head straight on over to the hotel?"

My friend looked up from her phone, possibly checking the pictures she'd taken. "Sure, sure," she said distracted, and glanced sideways at two girls standing about ten feet away from us. "Though, one second." She walked over to them. "Do you guys have any idea in what hotel they are staying?"