Love Rhombus

Part 1: Arrival

Stepping off the ferry and onto the dock, I began to second guess my choices. 

Two months ago it seemed like a dream come true. My first television job. Sure, it was just a production assistant job, but it was a start. Yes, my role would mostly involve wrangling contestants on a reality dating show. But that wouldn't be so bad, and it beat running the board at a local TV station during the graveyard shift. 

Of course, I didn't think that remote tropical location would have such a massive effect on my love life. 

As my departure date neared, my boyfriend, Mike, distanced himself from me. I shrugged it off. I was only going to be away for two months. Apparently, that was too long for him to wait. I had just started packing when he gave me a combination of the 'It's not you, it's me' and 'long distance never works' speeches. 

It would have been nice for him to come to that conclusion earlier. 

In addition to getting ready to leave the country for two months, I also had to move all my belongings out of our shared apartment. I ended up selling most of the furniture to him; charging slightly more than necessary. Everything else, my winter clothes, cookware, dishes, etc., I packed up in boxes and deposited in my parents' garage. They were happy to help, and chose that moment to let me know they had never liked Mike. Another bit of info I wish I had known sooner. 

I dragged my suitcase behind me. One of the wheels had been broken off at some point during my 18 hour trip to the small island in the South Pacific. I wasn't entirely sure of the name. I wasn't entirely sure of my own name at that point. 

I dug my sunglasses out of my backpack and scanned the dock. The instructions I had been given stated that a van would pick up a group of us from the dock. When I couldn't spot it, I figured the van was running late. I took a seat on a nearby bench and pulled my itinerary out of my bag. 

'Love Idol' was the working title for the show. It was a celebrity dating show in which a pool of women were pitted against each other to vie for the attention of a single man in a tropical setting. 

They had been looking for someone who spoke both English and Korean as the contestants would be from several English-speaking countries, as well as from Korea. The show was also going to be aired in multiple countries. My parents had urged me to study Spanish or Mandarin; but it looked like my Korean minor was paying off as it helped me land my first job in my field of study, Media Production. 

The view from the dock was beautiful. Blue sky, teal waters, and white sand beaches in the distance. Everything was green and lush. 

I waited and watched other people debark the ferry. It was pretty easy to spot who was here for the show. A tanned, petite blonde with large fake breasts and over-sized sunglasses struggling to pull her two large, pink suitcases. A tall redhead who looked far too pale to be traveling to any destination in the tropics. They were clearly contestants. 

Glancing back to the parking lot, I saw a black van pull up. A woman stepped out, and walked down the stairs to the dock with a clipboard in hand. She held it up, and I saw my name along with four others. 

I grabbed my suitcase and walked over to the woman with the clipboard. "I'm Kara."

"Okay. Put your bag in the back and get in." She nodded before crossing out my name on her list. 

As I loaded my suitcase into the van, the blonde with fake boobs parked her pink luggage next to me and walked away without a word. I was tempted to just leave her suitcases there, but decided against it. 

I climbed into the third row of the van. Fake Boobs sat in the second row, apparently too good to sit in the back. She was definitely going to be the antagonist of the season.

After everyone and their luggage was loaded into the van, we headed off to the villa where we were going to be filming. 

The asphalt soon gave way to a gravel road. The dense foliage on either side of the road eventually thinned out to a clearing. Through the windshield I could see a large, modern, white villa surrounded by a few palm trees. The beach just beyond the home. There were smaller buildings to the left of the main house that appeared to be guest bungalows. 

We were told to leave our luggage as we piled out of the van. The contestants were ushered off in one direction, while I was escorted the opposite way. 

"Kara Drake?"

"Yes, that's me." 

"Oh, thank goodness!" The woman in front of me sighed in relief. "One of our contestants was a no-show. We need to fill the final spot."

I opened my mouth to protest. I was here to work, not to make a fool of myself on international television. 

Seeing my hesitation, she quickly continued, "It will just be for the first few episodes. Just until they start making cuts."

"I don't know-"

"Do you know BTS?" She asked, cutting me off again. 

"The Kpop group?" I figured the celebrity was a Korean Idol just based off the information I was given, but a member of BTS? That thought never crossed my mind. Of course I was a fan. Hell, I was a full-on stan and official member of ARMY. "I've heard of them." 

"We have three of them on the show, and we need 15 girls for the first few episodes. All of the activities up to the first elimination are centered around each of the men having 5 different women." She explained. "We can probably work out some bonus pay for you if you help us out." 

"Which three members?" Not that it mattered, I was already seriously considering it.

She gave me a knowing smile, seeing that I was interested. "They are all rappers. Namjoon, Hoseok, and Yoongi." 

"And it's only for a few episodes? Then I can go back to being a PA?" 

"Yes. In fact, we will still need you to preform some of your PA duties when you aren't being actively filmed." 

"Okay, I'm in."