If You

MAMA

Emily folded her hands tightly in her lap, trying to keep a pleasant expression on her face. MAMA was due to go live in just a few minutes and the arena was going wild. Well, wild by their standards.

Daesung slid into the seat next to her. "It's almost time," he whispered, pulling on his cuffs. "Don't be so tense."

"I'm not tense," Emily retorted. "I'm just...used to being in the wings."

"A beautiful woman like you should never be in the wings," Daesung replied smoothly.

"Ugh, save it for your fans," Youngbae groaned, sitting next to him.

"Don't worry, Youngbae, I can handle this goofball," Emily said, elbowing Daesung.

"That's the spirit!" Seungri said, walking over to her. He handed her a set of monitors plugged into a small pack. "What's this?" she asked, lifting up the cords.

"It's a translator. I got it from the sound engineers. Anything said through the microphones will be translated to English in real time."

"Really?" Emily said, looking at it with renewed interest. "You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

Seungri shook his head. "It wasn't us, it was all..."

The lights went down and the audience cheered. Seungri took his seat as Emily put her monitors in. Here we go, she thought breathlessly.

* * * * * *

Two hours later Emily was applauding f(x)'s performance when Daesung nudged her. "We're going to change," he said loudly, the cheering competing with his voice. Emily nodded and the guys left, slipping away quickly in the darkness. As the stage reset for the next performance Emily sensed someone coming to sit next to her. Must be one of the other groups, she thought, remembering what Daesung had said earlier. She turned to greet them and her heart jumped. Is...Is that SHINee?!

The lights came back up and Emily felt a nudge. "Hi," Key said, extending his hand. "I'm Kibum."

Emily shook his hand gingerly. "Emily," she stammered. Her face flushed and she looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting..."

"Us?" Kibum laughed. "It's okay, we kind of sneaked up on you. Seungri mentioned you were a fan of ours, so we wanted to say hi."

I'm gonna kill that maknae, Emily promised herself, trying to regain her composure. "You'd think after all this time I'd be used to meeting idols," she joked.

"Join the club," Kibum replied. "We've been doing this for years and I still fangirl all the time." He leaned in slightly. "I have a favor to ask," he said in a low voice.

"Sure," Emily said.

"Well, Jinki is a fan of your books and was wanting to get your autograph. Is that okay?"

Emily blinked. "My autograph?" she repeated.

"Yeah. He can be a little shy, but it would mean a lot to him."

"No problem," Emily said, remembering herself. She leaned forward and made eye contact with a bashful Jinki. "Hi," she said, giving a tiny wave. Jinki looked at Kibum, who nodded. Jinki came over and sat on her other side, bowing as he did so. "I'm a...big fan," he said loudly. He pulled a small book out of his jacket. "My favorite," he said, handing it to her. Emily recognized her second novel and her mouth dropped. "You brought my book with you to MAMA?" she asked incredulously.

"You're lucky he only brought one," Kibum teased. "We heard you might be here and he got really excited."

Emily took the book and opened the front cover. "I'm sorry, I don't think I have a..."