Tessa held up a sign that read 권순영 (Kwon Soonyoung).
She was at the arrivals section of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Her chartered flight had left two hours prior to Jun and Soonyoung’s. Enough time for her to complete the taxing, landing and immigration things before the idols’ flight would arrive.
She had been standing here for about an hour when Jun sent her a message telling her they had landed.
“He’s in a mood because he didn’t get to see you in Seoul before we left.” The Chinese Kpop idol sent.
It was tricky enough for her to get away from the wedding without Soonyoung noticing anything was amiss.
After her dance, she spent about thirty minutes with him and Jun before she signaled Minkyung to get him to the dance floor and distract him so she could get into the waiting car and off to the airport.
Enroute to the airport, the youngest Han had sent Soonyoung a message saying she had to attend to an important emergency and was so sorry that she couldn’t see him before he left the wedding. She knew he was going to be pouty but hopefully, he would be a good sport about it.
Before she planned it, though, Tessa had run this idea by her parents and the couple. She was glad they were supportive of her decision.
Presently, Tessa strained her neck to see people arriving.
A few minutes later, Jun sent Tessa another message saying they had cleared immigration and would be out soon.
She breathed in deep. Anytime now.
She knew immediately of the moment that Soonyoung noticed her. The idol, wearing a black cap and a black face mask, ran straight for her at lightning speed.
Jun just shook his head as he walked casually despite being ditched by his performance leader.
“Baby! Oh. My. Goodness!” He basically shrieked as he swept her into his arms like nothing. “I was looking everywhere for you.”
“Mabuhay at Maligayang pagdating, Ginoong Kwon.” Tessa managed to squeak.
“Huh?”
“Long live and Welcome to Manila, Mr Kwon.” Tessa interpreted as the idol put her down.
Jun had caught up to them and gave Tessa a loving hug. “Where’s my greeting?”
“Lovely to see you again Mr Wen. Hao jiu bu jian. Thank you for being an accomplice to both our surprises to each other.”
Jun winked at her. “Hao jiu bu jian. Mei guan xi!” (Long time no see. No worries.)
“C’mon you guys, let’s get into the car. The rest of the members should be excited to hear that we’ve landed.” Soonyoung said.
Jun rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. Minghao has been messaging me about our time of arrival at the hotel.”
“Ta hao xiang ni.” Tessa said. (He really misses you.)
“Ni shuo de dui. Wo ye xiang Ta.” Jun replied. (You’re right. I miss him, too.)
Soonyoung looked from his girlfriend to his teammate. “Uh, was that Mandarin?”
Tessa and Jun both replied. “Ne.” (Yes.)
“Minghao probably finished arguing with Carats on VLive.” Jun said. Both he and Tessa laughed.
“True.” She nodded.
“How did I not know you spoke Mandarin, baby?” Soonyoung took Tessa’s hand and led her outside to the waiting van.
Once safely in the Super Grandia, Tessa answered his question. “Baby, you might have forgotten what I do for a living.”
Soonyoung looked at her in bewilderment.
“You wondered how I speak Mandarin?”
The younger of the two idols nodded.
“That’s my answer. You might have forgotten what I do for a living.”
Soonyoung looked at Jun. “I still don’t get it.”
“Remember La Yeon? When you thought you were meeting a benefactor and Tessa thought she was meeting an investor?” Jun smiled. “She’s a BOD, Hosh.”
Soonyoung continued to look at the two of them. Tessa was seated in between the two idols.
“Let me break it down to you, brother. Your lovely girlfriend meets all sorts of people, including investors. It’s only natural that she learn as many languages as she can. With the global reach of K-pop these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if they learned more languages.”
Soonyoung still looked confused. “Do your brothers know how to speak Mandarin as well?”
Tessa nodded. “Ne, the twins can speak Spanish and Russian. They’re taking lessons for both basic Arabic and French. As a family, we speak English, Hangul and Bisaya. The parents know basic Mandarin while we siblings are intermediate speakers but nowhere near native level.”
“They never mentioned that before. What other languages can you speak aside from the four?”
Tessa turned a bright red. “A few randoms here and there. But yeah, the ones I mentioned mostly.”
“Wow.” Soonyoung breathed. “You’re amazing, baby. I never knew all that.”
“Well… You never asked me before.” Tessa chuckled.
“So, when you, Jun and Minghao chat, you chat in Mandarin?”
The two nodded.
“Why haven’t I noticed it before?”
“Beats me, Hosh.” Jun replied. “We’ve never hidden it.”
“You’re probably just so used to those two switching between languages.” Tessa offered.
“Yeah, maybe.” Soonyoung finally accepted and leaned into his seat.
He pulled Tessa towards him and placed a loving arm over her. He stared out the window as the van sped them towards the Conrad hotel.
“Daijobu desuka?” Tessa asked. (Are you alright?)
Soonyoung slapped his forehead. “No shit. You speak Japanese too?!”
Jun laughed so hard he hit his head on the seat in front of him.
