Chapter Text
Rumi rotates her neck, wincing at the kink in it. It’s her fault for not packing the neck pillow that Mira had insisted she bring.
Thankfully, this was her last flight, so she isn’t forced to endure neck cramping from bad sleeping positions. Perhaps there is a good chiropractor she can go to while she’s here visiting Zoey, and her family, in Burbank.
Shuffling, she grabs her overhead luggage and joins the queue to exit the plane. She yawns as she finds a group of young girls in front of her, squealing and giggling at their phones. Rumi doesn’t think much of it, considering that are millions of reasons for there to be giggling. She makes sure to thank the flight attendants as she steps out of the door.
The walk is cramped, but she makes it to the airport terminal with no problem. It may have been awhile since the last time she’d visited the Los Angeles airport, but it just seems like there are so many people today.
All about teenage to young adult women…with lion t-shirts? Is this a new thing? Maybe it's merch for a really popular movie?
Rumi shakes her head. She pulls her rolling suitcase so it is just a little in front of her, and tries to push her way through the crowd. Everyone seems to have their phones out and various small knick-knacks on the standby.
What the hell is this?
She startles a little when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. Her screen greets her with Zoey’s contact photo warning her that she’s trying to call her.
“I just got off the plane,” Rumi answers Zoey’s obvious answer by way of greeting.
Zoey ignores this. “RUMI, GUESS WHAT?”
She flinches at the pitch of Zoey’s voice and pulls the phone a few inches from her ear. Once Zoey is done screaming, she brings it back.
“Umm, what?” She rifles through her duffel bag in search of her passport, mentally preparing for TSA.
“THE SAJA BOYS JUST ARRIVED IN LAX, TOO!”
Rumi waits for more. When there isn’t, she answers.
“...That’s it?”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘THAT’S IT’? You’re going to be able to see the Saja Boys! Breathe the same air as them! YOU MUST SEND ME PICTURES WHEN THEY WALK BY!” Again, with the banshee scream into Rumi’s poor eardrum.
“Uh, sure. Remind me who they are, again?”
This time, she is prepared for the shriek. She has enough foresight to move it a safe distance away.
“Do you not remember the boy group I’ve been obsessed with lately?”
Rumi’s eyebrows knit. Truth be told, she’s slowly learned how to just tune the fangirl out when she begins blabbering about her latest obsession.
“Oh! The one with the blonde hair singer you like? Who has the deep voice?”
Zoey gasps, “No! That was months ago, too!”
“Okay,” Rumi chews on her fingernail in thought. “Then I have no clue.”
“Rumi!” Zoey reprimes. If she were here, she’d be able to see Rumi’s apologetic shrug. “The Saja Boys are only the newest, hottest boy group to hit K-pop. Their debut album broke almost every K-pop record, and they’re beating every other group. They’re here for the North American tour, and I wish I could have gotten tickets.”
Rumi lets out an impressive “hmm” while nearing the TSA line. “Okay, well, I’ll keep a look out, but I’m about to go through TSA, so I’ll have to let you go.”
“Okay, okay. I think Mira is waiting to pick you up—wish I had volunteered, now.” Zoey grumbles. “Anyway, the group is five guys and the most noticeable is this buff guy who has the best abs you’ve ever seen. And my bias is the one with the silver hair over his eyes.”
She rubs her forehead at this very brief description. “Would it be better if I wrote this down?”
“Oh, if you can! Do you have paper? The lead is Jinu, he’s tall with dark brown hair. He has a rough relationship with his family, and he almost couldn’t debut because of it. And then there's the rapper, Baby, who—”
“Zoey,” Rumi cuts off, “I was joking. I do not have paper, nor would I have time to write the biography of each member of a boy band that I don’t know.”
“Aww.” Her voice is more somber, and guilt pricks at Rumi’s conscience.
Sighing. “I need to go, but I’ll see you in a little bit. Love you, Z.” The pet name is a peace-offering.
“Okay, okay. Love you too, Mimi.” She lets out a breath at the sound of forgiveness.
“See you in a bit!”
Rumi hangs up and sets her phone into the basket.
Once free from TSA, Rumi can finally breathe. She places everything back into its designated spot, and hitches her bag further up her arm. Mira had sent her a text saying that she would be a little late because she’d gone to get a milk tea and hadn’t realized there would be so much traffic—Rumi assumed that it is because of whatever the Saja Boys’ thing is that Zoey was going on about.
As she leaves the terminal, she finds that the mass of people somehow has grown. There are even more people here than there were when she’d gotten off the plane.
This time, though, they were creating a unanimous split down the middle, with people crowding around both sides of this invisible stripe.
What in the world?
It seems as though everyone is waiting for something. The Saja Boys? Do people really line up in airports to watch them…leave?
Well, since everyone is conveniently here , Rumi uses the time to slip past the pressing bodies to get closer to her exit. She murmurs “sorry” and “excuse me” as she goes, wincing against her toes being stepped on.
Behind her, there is the sound of screaming, and she knows that the Saja Boys are here. She tries to ignore the screaming getting closer and closer to her, hoping that she can somehow outrun these people.
It’s a race in her mind. Her against this boy-band; who can make it down the line first?
To her dismay, the sound of screaming is licking at her heels, and she has to turn her head to narrowly escape being punched in the face by a recording phone.
As she blinks from her change in perspective, she finds that the Saja Boys have caught up to her. When she looks up, she is hooked into the inquisitive stare of a dark haired member. She’s been caught trying to beat them.
Rumi wracks her mind for his name, and only comes up with it after she watches him scribble it onto an awaiting notepad.
Jinu , Zoey had said. That means that there should be a member with…yep. Abs.
Rumi spots the shredded guy, and smiles as he leans down to take a selfie with some fans. She notices people in black standing not too far away, seeming to be monitoring it all.
For Zoey’s sake, she searches for her bias.
And finds him.
She inwardly whistles. Zoey was really not kidding—he does have hair over his face. As in, he somewhat resembled those small dogs that can’t past their fur. She wonders how pale his forehead has to be from the lack of sun exposure.
Spotting a bored looking guy, she connects that he must be “Baby”—the grumpiest in the group.
She digs out her phone, and goes to swipe to screen to get the camera, but they’re a little too close for her to feel comfortable sticking a camera out in front of her, despite the millions of cameras currently recording every breath they take.
Lowering her phone, she mentally promises Zoey that she’ll take a photo when they’re further away. Although, is that really any better?
“Want a selfie?”
Finding Jinu looking down at her, an amused expression on his face, has her nearly jumping out of her skin.
“S-Sure.” She hands him her phone, fully expecting him to just take a photo of himself and then move on. That’s what everyone else is doing, after all.
Instead, he takes the phone and then turns around so that his back is to her, and she’s in the photo. All the fans around her—whom she doesn’t know—press in beside her in hopes of being in the photo with their bias.
Unsure of what to do, she just half-smiles. Jinu smirks at the phone screen, takes the photo, and then returns her phone to her. As he reaches his arms out, fans around her reach their arms out and try to grab at him—like he was some zoo animal. Disgust rolls in her stomach.
She thanks him and begins to put it away . He stops her with a hand around her wrist.
“Do I not get something for taking a photo with you?” If she didn’t know better, she’d think the K-pop idol was pouting. Begging?
She motions to the hundreds of people around them. “Can’t you just ask anyone here for something? I’m sure they’d give you their shoe if you asked.” Rumi winces at the harshness of her words, hoping he doesn’t get angry and call the groupies to hunt her down.
Jinu cocks his head. “You’re not a part of the Pride, are you?”
She tilts her head in response. “Like, am I an ally?” What an odd question .
“I take that to mean no.” Jinu leans his head back in a laugh. “‘The Pride’ is how we refer to our fans. Like, ‘are you in the Pride?’”
“Oh.” Rumi feels her cheeks flame under the spotlight. She feels bad admitting to the man’s face that she didn’t really know he existed until about 30 minutes ago. So, she fibs. “I’m a new fan, actually.”
“Really?” Jinu crosses his arms in what feels like a challenge. “What’s your favorite song?”
Why is he making this so difficult? She is literally lying to not hurt his feelings or sound like a pick-me.
She glances around herself, hoping someone had the brilliant idea to come wearing a shirt that clearly displays all of the Boys’ discography on the front.
The gods really are smiling upon her when she sees a song title. She turns to the brown-haired instigator and confidently says,
“Mystery Romance.”
She beams down at Jinu, sure that she’s passed whatever test this is. It’s the feeling of an elbow in her ribs and the shit-eating grin growing on the handsome face before her that has her realizing she—in fact—did not ace it.
“Those are two of the members!” Someone on her left hisses at her, personally offended. The back of her neck prickles with the weight of everyone’s attention.
All around them, people are screaming his name and reaching out to touch him, yet he remains in front of her—grinning at her with a smug expression.
She isn’t quite sure if she likes the feeling of his attention on her skin.
“How curious.” The sound of his name being called drags him from their staring contest, and Rumi realizes just how far the rest of the boys have gotten. She blinks and returns her gaze to Jinu. Finding that his arm is outstretched.
He has it risen above the writhing mass of hand and arms wanting to make contact with him, and she realizes that he’s still asking for something back.
She digs through her purse, and can only come up with a small keychain that she’d gotten in the Seoul airport while she waited to board.
She lays it on his palm, he is quick to inspect it.
His nimble fingers wrap around it, and he gives her a wild smile that feels like a punch in her gut.
He’s about to say something, but he’s called again. This time, more forcefully.
He glances at her, one last time, before turning to reunite with the rest of his band.
Leaving Rumi to watch his retreating figure and question what just happened. Had she just flirted with the leader of a group she’d never listened to? Perhaps the better question is: Had the leader of a famous K-pop group just flirted with her?
The ping of her phone getting a message draws her from her fog. Despite herself, she thinks it's Jinu. Even though he’s still signing autographs, sending her glances over his shoulder, and he has no way of knowing who she is.
It’s Mira. I’m here. I’m waiting near the front entrance
Closing her phone, she falls into the melting mass of people as they begin to disperse. She casts looks of her own over her shoulder, but Jinu is soon swallowed up into the sea.
Immediately, she opens Instagram and follows the ‘SajaBoysofficial’ account. She also, may or may not, begin scrolling their feed.
By the time she has made it to the entrance, she’s got the Soda Pop shoulder movement down.
“What are you doing?”
She nearly jumps out of her skin at the flat tone of Mira’s. Rumi is quick to turn off her phone, but Mira has already caught her doing the shoulder pop.
“Don’t tell me Zoey has gotten you into those Saja whatever.” She rolls her eyes as she says this, and Rumi feels her cheeks heat. She goes to explain herself, but then Mira is already moving towards the car parked behind her.
“C’mon. I got your favorite milk tea, too.” Mira rounds the car and pops the trunk. She helps Rumi load her bags into the car, and then shuts it.
Stopping beside the passenger side door, Rumi changes a glance back at the airport.
Surprise flares through her when she spots the Saja Boys loading into a heavily tinted black van not far from her. Baby is the second to last to load, and then Jinu.
He is walking at a leisure pace. He tilts his head back to inspect something that swings from his pointer finger. She recognizes the item as the keychain she gave him. A small, blue tiger dangles off the end of the chain just above his face. She’d loved the way the tiger had a wide-eyed expression on his face—looking almost derpy.
She follows as Jinu moves to wrap his palm around the tiger—hiding it from sight. Just before he steps into the car, he turns and immediately spots Rumi. Her face reddens at being caught staring.
He winks at her before disappearing from sight. The van door slides closed behind him like the end of a sentence.
“Are you coming or not?” Mira sighs from inside the car.
“Oh. Uh, yeah.” She fumbles for words.
Shaking herself, she pulls open the passenger side door and falls into the seat. Mira starts up the car and pulls it towards one of the many exits.
Delight monetarily distracts her when she sees her favorite milk tea. She thanks Mira and grabs one of the straws in the console.
As she stabs it into the lid, she glances up in time to see that they’re approaching the van that Jinu disappeared into. The line to leave the airport divides in two directions—the Saja Boys going one while she is going the other.
She takes a sip of her drink as they pass, not quite sure if she wants to look or if she wants to pretend that didn’t see them.
As they near though, the car in front of them slows—which forces Mira to follow suit. This gives Rumi the perfect opportunity to see the window, on the side that Jinu hopped in, begin to roll down.
Low and behold, Jinu is grinning at her as they creep closer. She contemplates leaning all the way forward so that she’s completely hidden from sight—but he’s already spotted her.
Thankfully the person in front of them begins to move, so she is saved from having to stall beside him.
For the sake of being nice, she glances over at him and returns the smile. As they finally pass the van, Jinu raises his hand in a wave. Then, his window begins to roll back up.
She feels the weight of his study, sunlight on skin, long past the point at which he could actually see her.