Taste | Changbin

Chapter Fifty-Nine

"Thank you New York City!" 

The cheers and roars from the crowd were ear piercing. Lennon couldn't help, but grin behind the stage as the first New York concert came to a close. The band hurried off stage to greet her. By this point, she had memorized the set list of their songs. When they got to the final song, she hurried back to the dressing rooms to grab bottles of cold water for everyone. 

Upon grabbing one, Han uncapped his bottle of water and instantly started to chug it. Loud gulps came from his throat while he chugged. A few seconds later, he pulled the bottle away while gasping for air. "You're such a life saver! I started to think we were going to die on stage." 

"You guys seemed to have a lot more energy tonight." 

A grin appeared on I.N's face. "We've been trapped on a bus all day. We've been waiting to jump around and let loose for hours. It was so much fun!"

His grin was infectious. Every member was still filled with plenty of adrenaline. Seungmin bounced on the balls of his feet. "It was amazing! I forgot how much I love New York. This arena is much bigger than the others. More people show up and I can't believe our fan base has gotten so big, it's incredible!" 

"How are you guys going to go to sleep tonight?" Lennon asked. 

"Give it a few hours and it'll wear off," Chan responded. "Until then, we'll be up and screwing around. The energy in New York City feels a lot different than other places. I think it's because the city is so big and there's so much to do here." 

"It's really great!" Felix added. "Lennon, have you ever been here before?" 

She shook her head, "it's my first time. I might have lived in America until I moved to South Korea, but I only knew Delaware. I never traveled to another state while I lived here. I probably would have never traveled to these places if I wouldn't have gotten this job." 

"We'll have to go out and do something tomorrow. Maybe we can see the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty," Changbin spoke up. "It's really wonderful to see everything in person. It's something that you'll never forget for the rest of your life." 

"But we'll have to do it all together if we don't want the fans finding out about the two of you," Chan quickly added. 

"Excuse me?" A sharp voice cut into the conversation. "We don't want the fans finding out about what exactly?" 

The color instantly drained out of Lennon's face at the sight of their manager. 

"We don't want the fans finding out that the two of them are planning something really special for them!" Chan scratched the back of his neck. "Changbin and Lennon are planning a really cool live stream for the fans!" 

"And you don't think you should have run this past me?" 

"We're still working on it!" Changbin quickly cut in. "It's going to take us a while to plan everything. Why tell you about it when we don't have all the details ourselves? Right, Lennon?" 

She vigorously nodded, "it's going to be great. Stay is really going to love it, I think." 

"Cut the bullshit, you two are dating, aren't you?" His eyes went back and forth between Changbin and Lennon. "It's not like you've been trying to keep it a secret. We all know, the staff knows. It's not that hard to figure it out." 

"Please don't tell JYP!" Changbin pleaded. "I wouldn't even say it's dating. That's such a loose term for it. We've just been hanging out by ourselves and stuff. We really like Lennon as our makeup artist and we don't want to lose her." 

"I don't care, just keep it away from the fans. If JYP finds out, the rest of the management team and I, we didn't know about it, got it?" 

"Of course," Changbin bowed his head. "Thank you for not telling him." 

"Hey, I like Lennon too, you know. Not every makeup artist that JYP hires is nice. Lennon has gotten me my morning espressos more times than I can count. Sometimes you guys are exhausting, so it's nice to have someone looking out for me." 

Lennon couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face. She had picked up that habit from Felix. There were times when their manager was too busy performing tasks and he couldn't go get his coffee. He was always bossing the band around, answering phone calls, or responding to never-ending texts and emails. 

Sometimes when Lennon was free, she'd grab him his coffee. Not only was he in a better mood afterwards, but he seemed to really appreciate it. She knew how much it cheered her up when Felix brought her tea. It was her way of carrying on a bit of his kindness. 

"As long as the two of you aren't fighting or having any problems, I don't give a shit. No more black eyes and bloody noses. That goes for every member of the band, you hear me?" 

"Yes sir," mumbled replies came from the group. 

"In saying that, the tour bus is out back waiting. Congratulations on your first New York concert. You did really good boys, you should be proud of yourselves. Now get your asses in gear, let's go check into the hotel."