Chapter 3: I'm Here to Protect You~Kyuhyun
Everyone gathered around and held their smartphones high in the air to get a good view of us. I was like a statue with my heart pounding as fast as a stampede.
Kyuhyun's eyes moved up and then back at me. He pulled me up and asked in a gentle tone, "Gwaenchana?" His voice soothed me, but my heart was still racing.
Still, I nodded and replied, "Nan gwaenchana."
He then said a longer sentence in Korean and I just stared at him blankly. He seemed to notice and suddenly spoke in Chinese,
" 你没事我就可以放心. 请注意下一次, 好吗? (I'm glad you're okay. Please be careful next time, okay?)"
Damn! His Chinese is just fluent! So attractive! I quickly shook the thought away and replied
" 谢谢! (Thank you)"
He flashed a small smile and squeezed his way out of the circle of fans.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Oh! Hell no!
All I saw were eyes and phones. Phones with round camera lens facing me like spy gadgets. I clutched the straps of my backpack and sprinted off the door. I couldn't think straight because the Kyuhyun fans were transformed into a mini paparazzi and I couldn't shake the imagery of Kyuhyun saving me from falling out of my head.
* * *
"Oh! Thank God! I thought you got kidnapped or something." Liz said.
I made it back to the apartment after a bus ride. I slammed the front door behind me and leaned against it. I accidentally knocked the back of my head on it.
"Ouch!" I groaned.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Something hectic going on back in the cafe?"
"How do you know?"
"Look." she said as she moved her laptop to my direction.
A Vine video was posted half an hour ago on a Super Junior fan page on Facebook. The fan cam was a little shaky, but it was clear enough to see Kyuhyun holding me in that chivalrous dip.
"Somebody just kill me already..." I murmured under my breath.
"You put a good show back there." Lisells giggled.
"What's so funny?" I snapped.
"Chill, girl! I'm just surprised."
I dropped my backpack and sank on a couch. "Otoke?! What the hell am I gonna do now?"
The fact that everyone's watching was like ghosts planning to haunt me tonight. If there was a casket ready for me, I would be happy to jump right in and lie there for eternity. I'd never felt so embarrassed in my whole life!
"That's not all," Liz chipped in, "The video's all over Twitter, Instagram, and Vyrl. There's also posts that said it's a scandal. Pretty soon Allkpop and Soompi and other K-pop sites will reveal it as well.
"Not helping, Liz. " I groaned. My voice muffled like a mummy as I covered my whole face with a pillow.
"Well, look on the bright side." Liz said as she put away her laptop, "This whole thing will be forgotten in a while. Tomorrow is your first day at work, right? I'm sure people won't remember about this by then."
"What do you think they are? Zombies? They won't forget about it. What if my students are SuJu fans? They'll have a dagger hiding behind their backs, ready to stab me."
"Now you're overthinking."
"Oh yeah? How do you know? I'm dead meat, Liz! If I go to work tomorrow, I'll be in hot pursuit!"
I heard a deep sigh from my gal. Suddenly, I felt the pillow lifted off from my face and the fluorescent lamp blinded my eyes. She was kneeling by the couch; she placed both of her hands on my shoulders.
"Listen, Elphena. You've got to get out there! You can't back away just because of one accident. The reason why the fans did this is because they're just jealous. You, my friend, bumped into a celebrity for real. You should be happy and proud of that! If they say things behind your back, just tell them off that it's just an accident and you don't care about it."
"If only I can be as brave as you..."
"The Elphena I know is brave too." Liz winked, "I know you can do it."
Oh, geez. What the heck. I guess I have no choice. Plus I can't miss my new job.
"Have your homemade omelette ready tomorrow, and I'll go." I gave in.
"Alright!" Liz pumped her fist in the air.
* * *
If it's with you, it's alright.
Wherever I am, it's alright.
Will you hear the sound of my heart growing louder, baby?
This path I walk with you, it's alright.
No matter what anyone says, we're alright.
We promise, we'll be with you forever.
It's alright. (popgasa.com)
The song was supposed to make me feel better; however, I could feel my stomach twisted in knots. I was standing at the door of the classroom. I was gripping on my binder. Tight. I was still worried about what happened yesterday. I wished that time would just zoom in the blink of an eye. That way, I could just rush back to my comfort zone.
Still, I took a deep breath and opened the door to enter in.
A total of 22 students almost filled up the chairs. The tables were parallel to the walls of the classroom, creating a square with spaces between the two front tables and the instructor's desk. I smiled a little because the arrangement reminded me of my Creative Writing classes. Every one of us had to sit facing each other so that we could discuss about each other's pieces during workshops.
The students looked at me and suddenly silence stormed in. It was so quiet you could even hear a pin drop.
Do I look like a monster? Wait...was it my wrinkly cardigan?
My fall boots clicked on the floor as I walked to the desk. A chill crawled in my spine. I swore they were all staring at me like I was a raccoon who overturned a garbage can. A couple of girls caught me eye. They were sitting together at the back right table. One of them wore black glasses that was covered by her bangs while the other girl's long straight hair covered her left elbow.
Wait a sec..those girls were in the cafe. I interviewed them.
I figured right away that they were taking part in an exchange program here at Seoul National University. In fact, Myeongdong was pretty much a popular city for young people.
"Hi, everyone! How are you all today?" I asked.
I put on my friendliest smile ever as I pushed my thoughts away.
"Fine, I guess." one of them mumbled.
"Welcome to Intro to Writing Fiction class!" I continued, "Let's start with an ice breaker, all right? I want you all to form groups of two, and tell each other a little bit about yourself. Your name, country, major, hobbies, and reason why you take this course."
I sank onto the plastic chair in relief when the room was filled with chatters again. They looked happy when talking and jotting down details on pieces of notebook paper, but I sensed that they kept looking at me with piercing angry glances. What the hell did I do wrong? I just met them!
Ten minutes later, I had each student to introduce their neighbour to the class. I paid closer attention to the two Japanese girls.
"Hi, my neighbour here is Miko. She's my best friend since high school. We both are big fans of this awesome K-pop group called Super Junior. They're just a big inspiration to both of us. Because of their years of hard work, they've influenced us to chase after our dreams of traveling the world and becoming travel writers...so we hope that this course will help us to improve our writing skills." the girl with the short hair and spectacles said.
"Good call." I smiled.
"And this is my best friend, Kinora. She's the one who introduces me to Super Junior in the first place. And since then, we got so attracted to them that we hoped to see them performing live. Our dream came true when we went to see one of the members in K-Con in Abu Dhabi a few days ago."
"Oh my gosh! Kyuhyun, right? I freaking love him!" a student who sat on the left side squealed.
"Yes!" Kinora smiled.
"He has the best voice ever!" another one agreed.
I cleared my throat and said, "I'm sorry to cut you off, but we have to move on."
One student raised her hand and asked, "I was wondering if you know another teacher who teaches Intro to Writing Fiction class as well."
I looked at her in disbelief. Why...on...earth...
"I'm the only one who's teaching Intro to Fiction this semester. Why do you ask?" I forced a smile.
"We're just surprised to have a teacher who is from an accident with an idol."
I wanted to snap, but I stayed calm and said, "Let's just go through the outline, alright? And then, I'll let you all go."
I didn't mean to change the subject, but it was the only way for me to "escape" before I could even explode like a volcano. I showed them my enthusiasm and anticipation about my students' drafts as I went through the assignment list.
An hour passed, and I decided to end the class, "See you on Wednesday." I smiled.I collected their notes about their partners, stuffed them into my binder, and went out without having the courage to look at them.
As I waited for my bus, I took out the notes and scanned through them and one big common thing caught my eye. They were all SuJu fans! My hallucinating prediction last night came true!
Super Junior is my biggest inspiration. ~ Miko.
It was awesome to see Kyuhyun live in Abu Dhabi. ~Kinora
I listen to SuJu whenever I'm doing math. ~Kelly
I self-teach SuJu choreography. Their dances pump me every time. ~Yi Ling
SJ is my choice of music. I listen to them every single day. ~Marco
And seventeen more...one line with the words Super Junior, SuJu, SJ or ELF on each paper.
I was about to put them away when suddenly a group of reporters and photographers stormed in from the other side of a cross junction. Microphones with news logos were pointing directly at me and cameras kept on flashing. My stomach did the same knots from two hours ago. Why would I ever be chased by a paparazzi? Oh good Lord! Could this day ever be over???
I grabbed my bag and ran off the bus stop.
"Jamkamnman kidariseyo! (Wait!)" one of the reporters yelled.
I ran like a cheetah down the street; thanks to my three-times-per-week-cardio which granted me strong, muscular legs. As the paparazzi were far away to be spotted, I turned right into an alley and hid behind a wall to catch my breath.
Suddenly, a van skidded by from nowhere. It went through the alley and stopped near me.
"Oh, crude..how did they ever find out? What are they? FBI?" a voice screamed in my head.
The passenger's door swung open. I closed my eyes tight. Please, God, just send one of your angels down and sweep me off from this hell!
"Gwaenchana?" a familiar voice said.
It was soothing like a river flows calmly on a summer day. I slowly opened my eyes and gasped.
Those eyes! They were slightly covered by his soft light brown curls. And the bottom half of his face was covered with a black mask.
"I...I'm okay." I nodded. That moment, my Korean phrases were wiped out from my brain.
He reached out his right hand and grabbed hold on mine. My heart did somersaults when our hands touched. It was no joke. His palms were like silk. He helped me up and dragged me to the van.
"Where are you taking me?" I stammered.
Oddly, he didn't answer. He made me sit at the back of the car, closed the door, and went to his seat next to the driver who also had a mask on. Was I robbed or something?
The driver reversed the vehicle and drove straight in an illegally fast speed. I buckled up the seat belt, still unaware on the situation.
"What's going on?" I finally blurted out. Both men looked at me and then at each other. The man who looked super familiar sighed. He reached his long, pale fingers to his right ear and removed the mask. My heart leaped higher than before once he turned to face me.
"You really don't have a clue, do you?" Kyuhyun said, "I'm here to protect you."
