Page 74 of A World Apart
“Hi!” His voice was bright and happy, and I supposed winning several awards would do that to a person.
“Where are you? It’s so dark,” he said, moving his head around as if that would grant him a clearer view of my background.
There was that devilish impulse again. I tried to repress a small grin as I pulled the phone back, only slightly, to now include a view of my neck and shoulders, the candle on my right illuminating the view more fully, reflecting off the bubbles that skimmed the bare skin of my clavicle.
“Wah…” he trailed off, his jaw falling slack. I watched as he leaned back in his chair, misjudged whatever was behind him and promptly dropped the phone, the loud bang startling me so that I almost dropped my own phone. I laughed, holding a hand over my mouth as I watched fingers scrabble for the phone, scrapping noises and darkness, before Jihoon’s slightly reddened face reappeared on the screen.
“Everything alright?” I asked, not trying to hide my laughter.
“Dropped my phone,” he said, sheepishly. I knew I wasn’t imagining the trajectory of his gaze. I also knew that I was fully covered, but it was a fine line, and one I was currently quite interested in teasing him with. That devilish side making me reckless and perhaps something a little more… interested.
I pressed my thighs together, the motion of the water lapping up and down my chest, revealing a little more in the waves as they crested and ebbed away.
“I watched the show,” I said.
Jihoon’s eyes snapped back up to mine, a small crease forming in between his brows.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, if a little late, “did you like the performance?”
I found it adorable that he would ask if I liked watching them perform, before asking if I’d seen them win.
“Very much!” I enthused, “I loved the staging, it was so cool!”
Jihoon ducked his head, grinning. “We had to practice it so many times, the trapdoors were so fast, Seokmin-ah kept falling over.”
I laughed, the image of Seokmin, the youngest member of the group at just nineteen, springing up so coolly, only to ruin the effect by falling. It was very on-brand for the group’s maknae − who was famous for being able pull off the most challenging dance moves, only to then trip over his own feet.
“You looked so cool.” I was gushing just a bit, but it was hardnot to.
Jihoon smiled, embarrassed but clearly pleased. “Thank you, we all worked hard to make sure we gave a good performance.”
“Were you surprised you won so many awards?”
He shrugged, looking off to the side. “It’s always nice, we never expect to win. There are so many talented performers. We work really hard for our fans, so the awards we cherish the most are the fan-vote ones, because it’s them that motivate us to be the best we can be.”
I nodded, this made perfect sense, given how vocal GVibes had always been about their fandom, always crediting them with being the reason they had the success they had, dedicating all their accolades to them and being remarkably tolerant − even when things got a bit intense.
Last year, a fan had somehow found out what hotel they were staying in on a trip to Singapore and broke into Woojin’s room. She had been taking a shower when Woojin came back. Woojin had called his management to the room, but had made them wait in the other room as he’d calmly talked to her through the closed door. He had waited for her to get dressed before asking his management to escort her out. ENT had wanted to press charges, but Woojin told them not to and instead offered to pay for her to attend therapy.
The public wouldn’t have even known about half of it, had the fan − a saesang; someone who takes being a fan to extremes, often to the detriment of the idols − not spoken about it to Dispatch. ENT had verified the story but offered no further comments. It was a huge deal for months. Last I’d heard, the girl had actually taken up the offer of therapy though, so I guess that was a net win.
“Judging by the reaction of the crowd, I’d say the appreciation is mutual.” I smiled, remembering the roar of the crowd, how the light sticks had illuminated the waves of cheering fans.
Jihoon nodded and then yawned widely.
“Are you back in Korea?”
“Yes, we flew back this morning.” That explained why he looked so tired. It wasn’t a long flight, but the show was last night and they’d flown back this morning. Not a lot of down time in their schedule.
“Did you even get to sleep?”
He made a face and a ‘so-so’ gesture with his hand. “We have a free day today and tomorrow, so I’ll get plenty of sleep and eat well, don’t worry.” He smiled at me, such a smile that warmed my chest, and I grinned back at him.
“So, you’re in the bath?” He waggled his eyebrows at me in a way I was not aware he could do, and my cheeks flamed.
“It’s been a hard week,” I said, trying not to sound defensive. Seemed like my little devil had fallen off my shoulder.
“You should get a massage.”
