Mark My Words - 이민형

Chapter 2- Passes

I made my way back home lost in thoughts about him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to spend as much time around as I possibly could. But I didn't even know his name and this fact ate me from the inside. But I believed in fate, and I believed that our meeting was fate. And I knew that someday, we would meet again. I decided to do my best not to think about him anymore. I struggled to put the key in the lock as my mind was still stuck on him. I kicked my shoes off and went to the kitchen to make myself some Maggi (Indian Ramen Noodles) because no matter how bad the situation was, Maggi would always make me feel better.

My best friend, Emma Williams, had sent me the link to an NCT edit that she loved. I screencasted my phone to my TV and was about to play the video when Emma called me. She and I play around by talking to each other in the limited Korean that we understood.

"여보세요?", I said.

yeoboseyo?   (hello?)

"안녕, 브랜트씨!!", she giggled.

annyeong, Brent ssi   (hi Brent)

"안녕, 앰마씨!!", I replied.

annyeong, Emma ssi     (Hi Emma)

"Yeah, so, what happened is that Lizzie's grandfather passed away."

"Oh, Oh my god! That is so sad! I should call her."

"Do that later. Listen! Do you remember that Lizzie and I won those backstage passes to NCT 127's concert that's on Wednesday?"

"Yeah, but, insensitive much?"

"You know it as well as I do that Lizzie was never close to her grandfather. Anyway, there's this custom in her family that on somebody's death, all direct blood relatives have to renounce pleasures of life for a fortnight. So, she can't come to the concert. I asked her about what I should do with the second pass, and, she asked me not to waste and give it to someone who appreciates NCT or KPOP as much as we did, so, you're coming to the concert. No ifs and buts, I'm not taking no for an answer. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm not gonna let you waste it!!!"

"Okay! Okay! Calm down. I'll come, I wouldn't wanna waste that pass either. And why in the world do you think that I'll refuse to meet KPOP idols? They are super hot, all of them. I mean, I don't know one face from NCT but I can say that they are extremely hot without having a hint of doubt in my voice. And I'll meet a whole bunch of extremely attractive fanboys, out of which at least half will be gay, so, yeah. Why would I ever so no?"

"그게 내가 널 사랑하는 이유야!!"

geuge nega neol saranghaneun iyuya (that's why I love you)

"나도 사랑해!" 

neodo saranghae (i love you too)

"좋은!"

joh eun (good)

"대! 대!"

dae! dae! (yes! yes!)

"K, bye!"

"Bye Emma!"

Now, you must be thinking about why am I talking about other guys when I'm already in love with one. Well, it was an attempt to get my mind off him. Wait, let me correct. It was a FAILED attempt to get my mind off him.

I looked up the NCT fanlight online because I wanted to be prepared for the concert. I mean, I didn't wanna seem like a lazy or non-stan. And guess what, 50 FUCKING DOLLARS was the initial price, like, without the shipping charges and taxes and whatnot. But like they say, anything for kpop. Not to mention, the fanlight was ugly af (still is). I ordered it, afraid that it might now arrive in time for the concert. And kpop merch is anyway exclusive and extremely expensive. I mean, when Blackpink first met Dua Lipa for their collab, they literally gifted her a single bag of their best merch and she genuinely looked so damn happy, like, she had that fangirl excitement. And the very fact that this bag was all they gave her states the obvious, i.e. each piece of exclusive kpop merch is worth more than each of our lives. Oh, what wouldn't I do to get my hands on the merch Dua received, I swear to god?

I decided on stanning them after the concert cuz' I was busy with work that weekend. I mean, I know one member, Taeyong. I'll just pretend that he's my bias, who'll notice, right?

Anyway, so, with me, once I start eating Maggi, I can't stop until I've either overeaten or I'm out of packets. It's weird, I know, but who cares, so, I went back to the kitchen to make 2 more packets because I suddenly felt super hungry. As I added the tastemaker(masala), my mind roamed back to a song that Emma told me to listen to. I opened Spotify and tried to remember the name of the song, it was something weird. Then it hit me, she said Jopping. I punched in the letters and played the song, some group called SuperM.

A quarter-way through the song, I heard a rap. But the voice seemed somewhat familiar. He said," So, 시작해, make it last                                                                                                                                Front to back yeah, yeah (give me that, give me that, give me that)                                                                         The roof's on fire, let it burn to an ash                                                                                                        We gon' keep it jopping till the DJ bring it back, uh".

 I didn't get it though, I never even knew SuperM existed, then why did this voice sound so familiar.

Who knows? I ate my Maggi while watching "I am not a robot", a Kdrama. I went to sleep as soon as I finished because I had to be up early tomorrow, I had a performance.

His face was the last thing to cross my mind as I fell asleep.

I loved him.

Author's note

 I don't want anyone to misunderstand. There are no such things as backstage passes. It is completely fictional.