"Ahh man, honestly? I don't have the energy for this." I admitted to Jay. He patted me on the back, "I understand, hyung. But we have to do it. And there will be a lot of girls there. Girls who are obsessed with you. And me too, of course." I rolled my eyes, "Exactly, that's the problem. I don't want a girl who's obsessed with me. Don't you think that's creepy too? Imagine, for example, dating a girl who knows your star sign, your height, your weight, your favourite color, whether you have siblings and thousands of other pieces of information." He thought for a second. "Good point," he announced, "but aren't you even a little excited?" I sighed, "Damn. Fine, I am. But really just a little bit. But I'd rather sleep, though." He nudged me. "Pfft, you better not say that to a fan." I smiled, "Sure won't."
An hour later, I was sitting on a bar stool while a make-up artist touched up my make-up. She stroked my cheeks so gently with the make-up sponge that I forgot she was doing anything at all. Suddenly, I felt a soft palm on my thigh. I gave Jay a questioning sideways glance. "You shook it. The leg. Why are you nervous so much? I'm sure you'll do well." I sighed, worrying about my own sanity. "I don't know, I..." A sharp intake of breath interrupted my sentence. Before I could process what had happened, the girl in charge of my makeup began to bow in panic. "Sir, I'm really sorry. I apologise, Mr. Kim!" She looked like she was about to cry. "Hey, hey, hey, don't cry. What happened?" I asked, completely confused. "I... i messed up the makeup and now I have to erase everything and I already took so much time and what if I mess up even more, I... I..." I put on a smile, "Hey, it's okay. We have plenty of time and I'm sure you can do it. Don't worry about it, okay?" She nodded and wiped her nose. I gave her another reassuring smile and made sure she wasn't nervous. She smiled uncertainly as she cleaned my face.
She was wiping the makeup, only to let out another sharp gasp just before covering her mouth with her hand. "What's wrong?" I asked as my patience was wearing thin. "I... Uh... It's nothing." I glanced over her shoulder to see my face in the mirror. I immediately what the gasp was about. "I know, it's pretty bad, right? I'm sorry if it scared you." I forced my face into a fake smile while I cried inside, the burn mark being the constant reminder of my past. She patted on the concealer over the mark quickly, avoiding the topic. There was dead silence until she finished with a classical we're done like nothing happened. I didn't judge her for that, the opposite, I was thankful she didn't question it further.
Just 6 more to go... I said to myself after counting the girls standing in line. They all looked like they'd won the lottery. They must really be dying to meet us... As I scanned the room, I found a girl standing a little ways off from the line.
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(that's what she was wearing (imagine the blonde hair please))
She didn't look excited, so she stood out. She was holding a Nikon photo camera in front of her chest, pointing the lens at the floor while furrowing her eyebrows at something on the camera screen. Her shoulder-length blonde hair fell in waves over her shoulders as she leaned closer to the screen, examining something carefully. She fixed her hair behind her ear, her eyes still fixed on the camera. Her friend nudged her quickly and the movement made me realise that I had been staring at her for too long.
She looked up and our eyes met.
I averted my eyes in a nanosecond, but the image of her beautiful features remained in my mind. I focused on the fangirl who came over to my table and gave me an album to sign. My signature was a little grumpy, but she didn't notice and grinned in my face. "Can I hold your hand for a while?" she asked, her face turning tomato red. "Sure." I forced myself to smile, for the 1000th time that day, and intertwined our fingers. Her face turned tomato tomato red. I smiled, pulled my hand back and waved. The girl waved shyly and walked to Bangchan's table. I leaned back in my chair and sat still while three girls skipped my table. I picked up my water bottle and drank some water, trying not to be awkward. I was used to girls skipping me but still my chest clenched a little. I always knew I was not the most popular member.
My face lit up as the last two girls started walking directly to me. A tall brunette was leading the blonde girl with the camera from before. "Hi! I'm Tara, and this is Alina! It's SO nice to meet you!" said the taller girl. She reached for Alina's backpack and pulled out five of our albums and a sketchbook. "Whoa, you two really are fans." I smiled sincerely as she handed me the albums, while my gaze traveled to Alina, who was trying to zip the backpack closed while holding her camera in the other hand. She managed to do it and gave Tara a quick fist bump. I finished signing the albums and I moved on to the sketchbook. Some fans drew us or made some collages and wanted to show them to us so I just thought that was the point. I opened it and it was a beautiful portrait of Tara. "Wow, who drew this? It's... just beautiful." Alina was just picking something from the floor. A cough rose in my throat so I picked up my water bottle taking a sip while Tara answered me: "Ooh, I didn't mean to give you this. That's Alina's sketchbo-" She didn't end her sentance because Alina straightened up and cut her off: "What?!" She immediately shot out her hand to snatch it from me and she accidentally bumped my water bottle, causing the water to spill on my face. She quickly put it back in her backpack, completely oblivious to the situation. Tara's jaw dropped and she started nudging her friend. "Why do you keep nu-." Alina's finally realized what she's done and she started apologizing. "No, it's okay, I know it was just an accident." "I'm really, really sorry." I waved her off.
Suddenly a wave of terror washed over me.
The concealer over my burn mark. The water. It washed it off.
