On My Side

Chapter 2

"Bienvenidos todos a Nuestros Corazones donde el amor manda," the host of the show, Estefanía González, greeted the studio audience and the viewers in TV land. Paloma sat on a high stool, trying to pull down her scandalously short skirt. She looked to her left and right. All the other women seemed comfortable enough in their sexy teacher outfits. They all seemed at home in their own skin and not afraid to show it. Paloma swallowed hard as she peered down the neckline of her black camisole that was under the suit jacket. The curve of her breasts was clearly visible in the low-cut top.

"Nuestro primer concursante, de Lima, Perú, un analista de sistemas, Pedro," Estefanía introduced the first male contestant, a man named Pedro who was a systems' analyst. Paloma looked him over critically. He was a little doughy and his hairline was receding. The guys they choose are not that great, Paloma thought in disappointment.

"Segundo, un contador de México, D.F., Jaime," announced the overly excitable host. Paloma was slightly more pleased with the second choice. Jaime, an accountant from Mexico City, seemed like a nice guy.

"Finalmente, de Seúl, Corea, un cantante, Eunwoo," Estefanía declared, which caught Paloma's attention because, being a fan of K-pop, she recognized Eunwoo immediately as being from the band, Astro.

Wow, finally a handsome and well-rounded guy! Paloma marveled. She was so used to finding the men on the show rather sub-par. She had to admit that Azul had really pulled a rabbit out of the hat with this pick. She wondered how they had ever convinced someone like Eunwoo to even be on this show. Paloma made a mental note to never underestimate her little sister's ability to get what she wanted.

"OK, pequeños inútiles," Estefanía began by insulting the male contestants by calling them "little useless guys". Well, we're off to a predictable start, Paloma noted silently. Despite the fact that the show was quite sexist, the host never lost an opportunity to berate the males.

"In this game, you will have to put an egg on a spoon and crawl under the legs of four of our female contestants without dropping the egg," Estefanía explained in Spanish. Eunwoo looked confused, but since he was third in line, he had the advantage of watching the other men first to figure out the rules of the challenge.

"Sagitario, Leo, Cáncer, y Escorpión," the host called out four of the women by their horoscope signs. Paloma breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have to be part of this challenge. She watched as Pedro and Jaime crawled under the spread legs of the female contestants while trying not to drop the egg. They clowned around a lot, both taking peeks up the skirts of the contestants, and both losing the egg as a result. Eunwoo went through the tunnel of legs quickly, never looking up or losing focus. He managed to be the only one who didn't drop the egg. Estefanía raised his hand over his head and declared Eunwoo the winner of the challenge, which was meaningless, since the winner got no advantage later on in the game.

For his part, Eunwoo was already annoyed by this game. He silently cursed Mr. Suh for getting him into this situation. Of the entire line of women who sat across from him, the only one that was acceptable was a tall, tan woman with dark black ringlets framing her square face. She appeared to be equally as horrified by the antics of the participants so far. His breath caught a bit when her green eyes made contact with his.

Paloma was trying desperately not to rub her eyes, which were sporting contacts for the first time in years. She decided to go all in on the idea of being the alter ego of her usual self. Her sexy, rose-colored business suit was not something she would have picked out herself due to the low neckline and the high skirt, both utterly inappropriate for a classroom setting. Why would they pick a theme like "Sexy Teachers"? she wondered silently as her eyes met Eunwoo's unintentionally. Her first response was to feel a bit startled, but she pushed that reaction down and maintained her composure. Just then, there came another attack on her calm when Estefanía called for the tubo to be lowered onto the floor between the men and the women. Paloma knew that this meant that some girls would be chosen to do a pole dance. God, not me! God, please, I beg of you not to subject me to this indignity! she prayed silently. It was fine that she wanted to try to play pretend, but a stripper pole was just more than she could bear.

To Paloma's great relief, only Acuario and Aries were chosen to do a pole dance. While the two girls with well-endowed bottoms danced, Paloma noticed that only Pedro and Jaime were watching them with silly grins. Eunwoo was looking at the floor uncomfortably. Paloma knew he must be feeling mortified. She had seen him on Korean reality TV shows, and he was always the first one to blush when things began to get spicy. He seemed like a highly private person despite his very public-facing job.

Paloma knew that she would not escape the challenges forever. Her time would inevitably come, and she dreaded it. Azul, you owe me! she charged her sister in her mind. Again, her eyes caught Eunwoo's as his were searching for a place to look that wasn't at the two women dancing around the stripper pole. Paloma smiled despite herself because Eunwoo looked so lost and frightened. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to not understand Spanish and to be put on a show with questionable challenges.

In fact, at that very moment, Eunwoo was wondering if Mr. Suh had even investigated this show before signing him up. A situation like this could easily turn into questions about Eunwoo's moral integrity. He began to feel overheated under the bright studio lights.

Then, the host sent the dancing girls back to their stools and declared that it was time to eliminate some of the women. Eunwoo was struggling with whom he should nominate for elimination because all of them were ridiculous. Well, all accept the one with the curly black hair. She seemed just as uncomfortable as he was. Her bright green eyes sparked with intelligence and a grit that was rare in a woman of her age. If he had to pick one girl to pair off with, it would definitely be that one. Both Pedro and Jaime chose Cáncer to be eliminated, Eunwoo presumed it was due to her height, as she was a full-head taller than the other two men. Since Eunwoo couldn't care less about the elimination, he picked Sagitario since his vote essentially didn't count anyway, as Cáncer had two votes against her. The only reason he chose another girl was so that Cáncer wouldn't face a unanimous vote against her. But since it was two votes to one, Cáncer was dismissed.

Before walking off the raised platform, she did the obligatory spin for the audience since all the men in attendance had not stopped screaming, "¡Vuelta, vuelta, vuelta!" With that, she blew a kiss at the male contestants and strode off the platform. Paloma wished she could follow her. She would have given just about anything to be spared, but that was not to be her lot.

Next to come was a challenge that would determine who else would be eliminated. Paloma cringed when Estefanía called for burbujas, as she knew it signaled the emergence of the kiddie pool filled with bubbles.

Again, Paloma begged God to spare her from the fight among soaped-up girls as they struggled to find various colored balls in the sudsy water. By this point, she was regretting ever having watched the show, as living through it was more traumatic than watching it from her living room.

"Libra, Virgo, Tauro, y Capricornio," the host called out four of the girls. Yet again, Paloma had been saved, but with three to be eliminated in this challenge, she knew that things were about to get more personal as there would be fewer women to choose from. She watched on, rather horrified, as the four women in the kiddie pool were slipping and grabbing each other by the hair in their quest to get the most balls out of the soapy pool.

In the end, Tauro bested the other three and was allowed to stay in the competition as the others stepped off the platform. Paloma looked about nervously. Geminis, to her right, was a rubia oxigenada with her long hair bleached as blond as one could go with black hair. Her black roots were a bit overgrown, but she was attractive in her baby blue suit, cut exactly like Paloma's.

Sighing, Paloma thought to herself, This can't end well.