CHAPTER NINETEEN
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Three things:
CAKE
The next morning: our dorm room was as quiet as it should be. And then I go to our living room and blast out the song BOOMBAYAH by BlackPink and dance around like a crazy kid, as if I was already in concert.
Then, as always, the girls wake up and join in with me. And there we are, dancing to K-Pop in pajamas.
But right at the end of the song, there was loud banging at our door. I had a feeling it was Jake, grumpy by the fact we were blasting K-Pop music at six in the morning and didn’t let them get their beauty rest. And although it was already November, we didn’t feel like Autumn. More like Summer.
I opened the door and there was Jake, crossing his arms and his face all scrunched up like an angry puppy over his “non-stop” hiccups. At least that’s what I think he was trying to replicate.
“It’s six in the morning!” he scolded, pretty much unwillingly, “And you’re right here blasting BlackPink in a private area!”
“Is that bad?”
“You’d wake up the neighbors!!”
“Okay, okay! Alright! We’ll stop dancing and singing drunkenly just to make you happy!”
We then went to our meeting room in HYBE Building a little after breakfast, only to be told that we were having our very first debut photo shoot in Jeju-do, close to the famed Jeju Island. I heard that their beaches were so beautiful there, so I felt that it would be a good trip this week. But then I remembered…that Jake’s birthday was next week! And mine was in the following week! Luckily, it was only planned for tomorrow. We were staying only two nights.
When we went to BTS’s practice room (without letting the boys know), there was a cake that was just for Galway Londoners and another one for AO3. However, it got me thinking. I was watching a TikTok about a compilation of idols dropping their cakes constantly, and sometimes without reason. I was asking myself: Why is this? And then I realized that a lot of times, mostly female idols, are doing this on purpose for dietary reasons. If I had a birthday cake just for me, I would eat it all up. Not purposely drop it just for social media views or just because they want us on a so-called “strict” diet. There are laws about that, I hope you know.
I thought of making a video message, just to say how grateful we are to be given gifts that actually have meaning to something for every one of us. And no, I am not going to say that ENHYPEN was jealous of us for being spoiled by the company…and not them. Because they actually were.
I didn’t think about it much. I thought of it as a way for them to get their way. But of course, we are girls. And in my opinion, I feel as if we were treated better…just because we were foreigners.
After making our video message, we didn’t even try to “purposely” drop our cake. If it was an accident, then we make it like it was an accident. I don’t know how agencies make it seem so real, even though it’s fake, however, they should know that we will find out the real reason for things we see and hear about today.
Jake banged at our door.
“Jake?” I asked, opening the door.
“Y/N,” he said, stuttering, “There’s something that I’ve been waiting to tell you.”
“And that is…”
Jake stood still, frozen. He looked as though he was going to confess something. I believed that he was going to say that he was jealous that we were spoiled with the nicest things and that they were only getting the small stuff. But I got a totally different answer.
“The truth is…I really like you.”
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TAKE
We were on our way to Gimpo Airport, where our flight to Jeju-do was going to airline us. Since we couldn’t take our Tour Bus, we had to go in separate vehicles. There were vans that seat six people, including, of course, the driver.
But me, on the other hand, I had to sit with Jake, Jay, Jungwon, and Ni-Ki. I was seated next to Jake, of course, my best friend. However, the moment we started driving, they drifted off to dreamland. And I stayed wide awake.
At that time, I was calling Holly, my best friend from the girl groups.
“I swear!” I said over the phone, “The moment we started driving, they all dozed off! It’s so weird!”
And Jake gently tugged my hair. I looked over and he flashed his annoyed puppy eyes. But he looked more like he was interrupted by his sleep. So I’ll say that he was being more of a kitten, rather than being a puppy.
“Y/N,” he said, possibly in the most adorable way in K-Pop history, “Can you lower your phone call down? I’m trying to sleep.”
I then turned back to the phone to finish my phone call. When I hung up, I looked down at the sleepy Jake. I held him in my arms. Although he was a bit heavy, both of us sitting down and buckled up actually helped. I nuzzled my face on the top of his head and gave it a tiny smooch. But a very tiny one.
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An hour later, and we were already in Jeju-do, ready to shoot for our very first album. But we haven’t made a song yet. Of course, we are going to make a special appearance for some of them…I hope.
Our first album shoot with the boys, I thought, This is so nerve-wracking! I never got to do anything like this. Of course, since I wasn’t an idol back then.
We were going to stay at a hotel near Hyeopjae Beach. If the schedule is not too hectic, then we could hit the go- kart tracks that allow everyone to enjoy the skies as they drive, and so far and so forth!
It was still a little bit of a drive to the hotel, so we stopped off for a little break by the sea. Since it was coming close to Winter, the beach was incredibly cold. In the bus it was so warm and toasty. But the universe would beg to differ. And it sometimes does. Not all of the time though.
The emerald seas were so beautiful and so clear. The color was a bit different from the ocean in Ireland. The sea was a lot blue in my view. But in Jeju, it was green mixed with blue, since the sun shined down so bright on it.
It was so much fun!
We took a lot of selfies, and dipped our feet in the icy cold water (a lot of us were used to cold water, so I didn’t have to worry so much about that), and I kept photobombing Jake’s pictures. And he did the exact same thing. But we enjoyed it.
At the end, the boys were building a stone tower, to symbolize a simple prayer for their hope in the future, when they debut officially. But us…forget about it.
“THANK YOU FOR HAVING US DEBUT!!!”
“WE EXPRESS THIS GRATITUDE INSIDE OF US!!!!”
“WE LOVE YOU!!!!”
“WOOOOOOO-HOOO!”
This is a method of “hoping”. It is like a prayer, but you shout it out to the whole wide world, so that everyone knows what you wish for and what you hope for when that time comes. But our shouting made the boys REALLY annoyed with us. So annoyed, they literally yelled at us…in Korean. Normally, we would get angry back, but this time we, for some reason, shrugged it off. But this made me confused, though. Jake would never yell at me for a simple little ritual that I prefer doing.
A little later, we go to the Go-Kart tracks. We were about to go, when the boys stopped us.
“Sorry,” said Jungwon, “They said that we could go on it first.”
But then I said, “And that’s fine, but shouldn’t we be doing this, all of us, together?”
None of the boys answered and went on to race around the track. But I didn’t care. If it was only for the boys, then I wouldn’t stop them from their fun. Besides, I was not really that interested. But I was pretty sure the girls were.
After three hours, I treated the girls to some snacks that I made back in Seoul. It was Ppusyeo-Ppusyeo, a type of snack. It’s like ramen, but you don’t need hot water, you have to smash it into little pieces to eat it. And the girls and I had a little too much fun with that, too. Once again, the boys scolded us for being too loud. But we didn’t care. We just wanted to end the day on a good note.
When we got to our hotel room, the boys were already asleep. But we didn’t care about that either. We were too busy having fun in our room. Jake, the “jealous” one, was pretty upset with our behavior. I once thought that he was beginning to hate me. I knew he wouldn’t.
After all, we are best friends.
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JAKE
We woke up at about three in the morning. The shoot began at five. I think it was to bring some sort of effect to the photos. And I was right.
Breakfast was provided and we were looking forward to it. But still. My girl groups know what I am like if I’m not fed properly. I turn into a humongous monster…that would gobble on anything food-related.
The photo shoots began. We were going to be high school students going on a camping trip in the forest. That is why we were dressing so cute and adorable, as if we just came out of a TWICE music video.
But the ENHYPEN boys hit differently. They looked as though they were attacked by wolves or something. My own theory was that it was going to be a werewolf story for them. Or maybe a vampire story. It did look like it due to the mysterious ambiance.
Jake’s photo shoots made my feelings for him grow. I felt my heart warming up inside me. I thought I was going to run over to him, throw my arms around his neck, and kiss him right on the spot.
But I didn’t. I was stuck there…frozen.
He is so…handsome!
Our snack of the day was Gimbap. It reminded me of the time I used to eat Sushi back in Ireland. But it was a different dish. It had more meat filled in instead of fish or the crab salad.
We ate quietly. But I broke the silence by retelling a story I never mentioned.
Back in HYBE building, a little bit before we got going to Jeju-do, Sunoo was dancing contemporary ballet/lyrical and I was going to pick out the song that we chose to make the choreography. But for some reason, the bluetooth on the speaker had already been connected, and it blasted out the song by accident. Sunoo was quite startled. But even he had a good laugh about it.
When the ENHYPEN members were looking back at the video, they didn’t seem to be humored by it. And Sunoo was pretty much the only one from the band who knew how to have fun.
Our last shoots of the day were group photos. And the boys had a smoke effect, as if they were appearing out of nowhere…like magic, am I right? Ours was cute and simple. Just us girls having a nice time, and playing around. We did feel like we were back in high school. Even though some of us were really in high school. But it was online, due to our new careers of being idols. And it was while we were taking a few breaks in between that Jake and I started developing feelings for each other. And we didn’t even know it.
After the shoots officially ended, we were treated to our very first dinner as a group. It has been a week since the creation of Galway Londoners and AO3.
We figured out our group greetings, while ENHYPEN didn’t. And it was strange.
Shouldn’t all K-Pop bands know their group greeting? I know we did.
Back at the hotel, the boys were already warm and cozy in their beds. While us girls were ready to party down some more. I was rummaging through my bags to find my cable to charge my phone. I pulled it out, but found that the plug was for an Apple phone rather than a Samsung. And I also realized that mine was white and not black.
I went next door to ENHYPEN’s room.
“Jake,” I said as I opened the door slightly, “Do you perchance have my cable?”
“Do you have mine?” Jake asked in return.
“Yes.”
“Then, yes I do.”
We exchanged our chargers for the right phones. I kept noticing that he couldn’t stop fluttering his eyelids. Was he flirting, or did he have something in his eye. And I could not help but feel my spine rolling up and down. I believed I was falling in love with my own best friend. But I didn’t want to. I couldn’t.
We parted our ways, but then I asked:
“Are we doing anything special tomorrow, before we leave?”
“I don’t think so,” said Jake, “But I’m sure there might be something going on at home.”
I then left the room. Jake turned around and the boys started to throw finger hearts and kissy faces at them. Yet, it only embarrassed Jake. My belief was that they already knew we began to fall in love with each other. However… the two of us didn’t do anything together…alone.
We were singing out of tune to BTS tunes. I especially loved their song Dynamite, which was released around the time we were in I-LAND. And we were singing so loud, we didn’t even know that one of the ENHYPEN boys would actually barge into our room and give us a good shout. And someone from ENHYPEN shouted at us. But…only I knew who shouted at us from next door.
We heard the knock from the wall behind the beds and a voice was shouting.
“GIRLS!!!!”
He banged on the wall a couple more times. We were pretty startled and really concerned. They all turned to me, as if I had done something wrong. But I didn’t. They were worried about best friend Jake.
“Was that Jake?” asked Jax.
I knew Jake was upset and us. I knew he was the one to shout at us through the wall in their room. But I just couldn’t tell them that it was. If I did, they would see him as not a good guy anymore. We would lose trust in him as well as the other boys.
So I said, “It wasn’t him. It was Jay.”