Passenger

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“Uhm… don’t kill me, please,” you said with your hands clasped on the table, Noze sitting in front of you. You were in the hotel lobby, you had let Ning sleep a little longer since it was still quite early in the morning, but you needed to talk to the boss alone.

“Just fucking talk, you’re making me nervous,” she insisted, crossing her arms, she was looking at you so intently that you had to look away from her so as not to stutter while you spoke.

“I’m sorry,” you took a deep breath, “well… I took Ning out through a back alley, but as you well know she wasn’t feeling well at all,” you began.

“She threw up in the alley?”

“Aha,” you nodded, “I reached down with her and picked up her hair, and well, I got distracted.”

“And?”

“Flashing lights and the sound of a shutter,” you sighed, “some son of a bitch photographed us both, but I managed to catch him in time. Let’s just say I got a little rough with him and told some little lies. I told him it was better to negotiate with me unless he wanted me to end his shitty career. 50k for the damn SD card,” while you were saying that you took the SD card out of your pants pocket to leave it in front of her.

You stared at her, expecting her to grab a plane ticket from her handbag and send your stupid ass back to Korea, but instead she just laughed, leaving you visibly confused.

“Oh my God!” she said between laughs, “you did amazing!”

“Uh… did I?” You frowned.

“Are you kidding? Only 50k? That’s a child’s figure at this point,” she picked up the SD card and examined it carefully before putting it in her handbag, “give me details, you’re making it worth getting up at this hour.” “

”…Sure,“ you nodded, still confused by how composed she looked, "uh… I told her I was SM’s representative here in the United States,” she burst out laughing again, you sighed.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, damn!” She was laughing at you in your face, and your poker face wasn’t helping, “You? SM representative?” more laughter, “the whole branch would collapse!”

“Thank you, how sweet,” you said sarcastically.

“Anything else worth noting?” she asked as her laughter faded.

“The son of a bitch cracked his head open and called it an insurance policy in case I scammed him. Then he gave me his contact card,” you also took it out of your back pocket and handed it to her.

“He certainly is a son of a bitch, yes,” she nodded, looking at the face of the guy on the card, “call him.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Yes, why not? I have a few words to say to him.”

“Aight,” you nodded, and pulled out your phone to dial the number on the card. As the call rang, you left your phone on the table between the two of you.

“Hello?” the man answered from the other side. Noze quickly grabbed your phone and stood up, walking a few feet away from the table to talk to him. You were left alone at the table, looking at the restaurant menu, already thinking about what you were going to order for breakfast. After a couple of minutes she returned, her expression letting you know that everything had gone well.

“Aight, everything in order,” she said, taking her seat again, “later today there will be nothing to worry about,” you sighed in relief.

“Fuck, thank god. I was so fucking scared when it all happened,” you looked down at your lap, thinking about what would have happened if you hadn’t been quick enough to catch that guy.

“I know, I can imagine,” she nodded slowly, leaning back in her chair as she stared into space. She made a small silence, “… remember when I told you that SM had given me a second chance?” You looked up, you found her eyes on you.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?”

“I think it’s time for you to know what happened,” she looked down, “in short…” she took a deep breath, “I was in a relationship with one of them,” you stayed silent and raised both eyebrows in surprise. You waited for her to continue talking, but she was waiting for you to say something.

“I mean… damn,” you didn’t really know what to say, you had your slight suspicions about it thanks to certain behaviors of hers, but you never wanted to draw the wrong conclusions, “may I know who?”

“Joohyun-ssi…” you noticed how saying her name made her nostalgic, perhaps melancholy, but a small smile appeared on her face, “you know her as Irene.”

“Holy fuck!” you exclaimed, this time genuinely surprised. You fell back and sank into the seat, “I don’t know why I thought of Seulgi, how did it happen?”

“In the parking lot of her condo,” she looked up at you, “there was a fucking bastard in one of the buildings across the street who took pictures of us while we were kissing.”

“No way…” you muttered.

“Aha…” she nodded slowly, “luckily the photographer was only looking for money for the photos, and the girls’ manager had to cough up a much larger amount of money than what you coughed up.”

“How much?”

“250 million won,” your jaw almost dropped to the floor, that was close to 180 thousand dollars.

“What a damn vulture, that’s too much.”

“I know, but you see, every manager since then has a small fund for situations like this, so 50k is a pretty small amount compared to others.”

“Has this happened to you before?”

“Nope, I’m pretty careful about that, but NCT Dream’s manager had to cough up an amount close to 200k because one of them was caught smoking… you know.”

“Poor boy,” you sighed, “he just wanted to be high for a bit,” you managed to get a laugh out of her.

“Anyway, I’m really glad you were able to save Ning like that,” she said, looking at you with a smirk, “you’re not completely useless after all.”

“You’re being such a sweetheart today,” you said sarcastically.

“I know, right?” she responded, also sarcastically, “and since I’m such a sweetheart, I’m going to lift your punishment.”

“It’s about damn time, mother of god,” you let out a breath and rolled your eyes up in relief, “what a torture.”

“Just don’t screw up again, honey,” she placed her hand on yours across the table, “the girls love you, they’d be so sad if you left.”

“And what about you? It seems like you’ve grown fond of me too now,” you teased, seeing her hand on yours.

“Oh, look who’s coming down,” she said quickly, removing her hand to clasp them in her lap, she looked to your right. As you followed her gaze you saw the four girls walking together towards you, each one already dressed and ready to go out as soon as you finished breakfast.

Ning’s outfit let you understand that she had been the last to wake up and had dressed as hastily as possible, but her exaggerated beauty prevented her from looking bad, no matter what she was wearing. She just wore a short black skirt and a tank top of the same color to look as cute as ever. She also carried a Miu Miu clutch.

Jimin, looking as comfortable and confident as ever, had her silky black hair down. A white tank top with small black stripes was her choice for today, along with a pair of white flared pants. Like Ning, she went with a handbag, but this was Prada, which happened to be Miu Miu’s sister brand. Random fact you heard from Ning at one of your breakfasts.

Giselle was by far the most alternative of the four, she was wearing khaki pants with loose straps, a sheer black knit sweater, and a sleeveless shirt underneath her. She didn’t have a handbag, she just had her phone and her airpods in her hand.