After Hours

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The flight landed on the night of Tuesday, August 8, 3 days before the performance that Aespa had scheduled for Outside Lands on Friday. San Francisco was a city that for some reason you had always liked a lot, it was not exactly the most tourist friendly city in the country thanks to its stupidly steep streets, but all that was compensated by the beauty of the tourist places they had, among them the very famous Golden Gate, City Hall, or more discreet places such as Lombard Street or the Painted Ladies of Alamo Square. As if all this were not enough, they had a tram system that went to any corner of the city, you didn’t know if you would have the opportunity to get on one, but it would be on your list of things to do.

You passed the respective controls at the airport, and when you went outside, towards the street, that was when everything became a dangerous situation for you. Cameras, and fans. Noze had warned you minutes before that for your own good you should put on sunglasses and a cap, obviously like the good fool you were, you didn’t listen at first, but time proved her right and you had to put sunglasses on while you walked behind them dragging your suitcase. You knew that they were giants as a group, but you didn’t fully assimilate it until you experienced it in person, a few meters from all the noise and the spotlight.

When you left the hot zone you finally reached the street, where a long black van with chrome windows was waiting for you with the door already open for you, the path delimited by a row of security guards who kept people and photographers contained. You finally entered the van, and took a deep breath when the door closed and it drove away.

“Get used to it, this was rather quiet,” Noze laughed, patting your shoulder, as you settled into your seat and looked outside, wondering what the hell you had gotten yourself into.

The hotel you were staying at was the Hilton San Francisco, a five-star hotel, known for having the highest bar in the city located on the 46th floor of one of the buildings. The infrastructure was imposing and rudimentary, contrasting with the amount of luxuries that should have been inside.

The check-in when you arrived at the lobby was faster than you expected, Noze was certainly incredible at her job, and you were impressed by how enormously organized and effective she could be for some things. She always had everything in order and on time, even the most insignificant things that anyone could have overlooked.

Each of them were given the access cards for their respective rooms, the girls had deluxe rooms with a single bed each, while you, Noze and the rest of the staff members had regular rooms with a single bed. When you went up to settle in, you realized that a regular room in that hotel was without a doubt the most beautiful room you had ever stayed in, and you considered your bedroom as a palace of kings.

The room has a king size bed, with a small nightstand on the left with a landline phone, and on the right a larger nightstand with a digital alarm clock on top. In the far corner was a sectional sofa that covered a bit of the bed wall and much of the wall to the right of it. In front of the bed there was a long dresser with few things on it, with an office chair in a space to put your legs when sitting, and on the wall above the dresser, a television that was nothing special and that honestly didn’t work. you had planned to use.

The views you had weren’t particularly impressive either, it was just the inside of one of the buildings that made up the structure of the hotel, but even so, it felt like a comfortable and pleasant bedroom, perfect for a few days that you knew would be long.

You began to unpack your things patiently, leaving the suitcase open on the floor next to the bed and then taking out the important things from your backpack, your laptop, which you left on the dresser in front of the chair, AirPods, power bank and some snacks that you had bought at the airport. You were going to continue One Piece with the chapters saved on your laptop, you were about to sit in the chair, and at that moment someone knocked on the door. You sighed, closing the laptop to go to the door and look through the peephole. It was Noze.

You reluctantly opened the door, meeting Noze’s playful gaze.

“Was the flight fun, pretty boy?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, and you huffed, turned your back on her and went to sit on the edge of the bed. She just laughed at your annoyance.

“I’m not going to comment on it, woman,” you said, crossing your arms, “what’s wrong?” you asked, looking at her.

“Nothing really,” she said, stepping forward and closing the door behind her, “I was just coming to talk to you about some things,” she walked over to the chair and grabbed it by the back to roll it around until it was facing you, then she sat there so she was on the same level as you, “How did you handle that walk through the airport? You know, with all the flashes and stuff.”

“Fuck, it was an experience,” you sighed, your face softening as you looked at the ground, “I’m not going to lie to you, it was kind of claustrophobic… I wasn’t expecting so much commotion,” at that moment the screen of your phone lit up. and it buzzed twice in a row, out of the corner of your eye you noticed it was Chaery and the girls. Noze also saw the phone, but she ignored it.

“Well, that’s nowhere near the worst you’ll ever experience, probably,” she said, scratching her temple and raising both eyebrows, “panic attacks can be fatal, so try not to fall for that, oh, and something else-” she was interrupted by more buzzes from your phone, which she looked at for a few seconds and huffed in annoyance.

“Uh… sorry,” you said, grabbing your phone and skimming through all the messages through the notification bubbles. They were all messages from the Itzy girls worried about you, asking if you had landed safely and if you had seen Cake’s performance on Mnet. When you finished reading everything you turned the phone face down.

“Aha, no problem,” she nodded, thinking that your phone was no longer going to bother you, “look, you have to make an effort to play your role, okay? You’re supposed to be just another staff member, we can’t raise suspicions among fans.”

“I don’t think that’s too complicated for me, the ones you have to keep in line with those matters are your girls,” you said with a small mocking giggle.

“You are right, but it still doesn’t hurt to warn you. You are listed as the girls’ personal assistant and translator,” she began to explain, “in short, you are supposed to help them with everything related to cultural integration.”

“But don’t you already have Giselle for that?” you asked with a confused expression.

“We had to have a cover for all this, don’t ask questions!” she said tiredly.

“Alright alright, fair enough,” you laughed, and contrary to your expectations, your phone rang again, but this time it wasn’t a message, someone was calling you. You picked up the phone to see who it was. Yeji.

You stared at the screen for a second just like Noze, but unlike you she did act on it. She snatched the phone from your hand and answered the call.

“Honey, our little man is really busy right now!” she said loudly into the phone, already losing her temper, “I would appreciate it if you would leave him alone since he doesn’t have time for distractions right now, damn it!” she finally hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed, next to you. You just stayed silent for a few seconds, taking in what just happened.

“What the fuck did you just do?! Are you crazy?!” you said, raising your voice to her, frowning. Noze took a deep breath and rolled the chair forward, sticking it as close to the bed as possible to lean forward and leave her face a few centimeters from yours.

“Listen to me, boy,” she grabbed your chin, “do you know how fucking lucky you are to be sitting in this fucking bed you’re in right now?” she said in a low but threatening voice, “you know that right? Now tell me, are you willing to take this damn thing seriously or not? Because I have no problem going to the airport right now and buying you a plane ticket back to Korea. ”

Your blood was boiling inside, your fists were clenched between your legs, and your teeth were clenched as she kept her grip on your chin firm. In your mind the idea of abandoning everything at that precise moment flirted closely with you, but so did the image of Ningning’s pretty eyes looking at you, just like her sweet voice or how tender she had been with you from the first moment. She didn’t deserve that.

“Fuck, fine, I’m sorry,” you said, letting out a heavy breath, you closed your eyes, hoping your anger would go away. When you opened them again, you met Noze’s now more relaxed gaze. From that distance it was easier to detail her face, and boy was she stupidly beautiful. She let go of you and leaned back.

“You’ll have time to talk to them, okay? But for the love of God, focus on the here and now,” she asked, as if regretting the fact that she had to talk to you like that so you could wake up, “Anyway, as I said,” she sighed, “being photographed and seen in public with the girls is inevitable, this is why we can’t afford to be suspicious of any kind, everything has to look natural, and nothing out of the ordinary. Understood?”

You meditated on it for a few long silent seconds, realizing that all of this was bigger and more serious than you had contemplated. What she was asking of you wasn’t exactly difficult, your own anxiety was never going to allow you to act any differently towards girls in public, just normal conversations with little or no physical contact. You could control that, but you couldn’t control how the girls were going to behave. You were afraid of that.

“I understand,” you nodded, “you don’t need to stress it to me again.”

“Great,” she nodded too, “can I have your phone for a second?”

“You’re not going to call Yeji again to yell at her, are you?” you said picking up your phone with a raised eyebrow. Noze rolled her eyes.

“No, just give it to me,” she insisted, placing her outstretched palm in front of you. You handed her your unlocked phone, and watched as she entered the number pad, quickly adding the girls’ contacts and hers, “look, they already have your number,” Noze warned, “if anyone texts you for… you know, you must go immediately, no matter what you are doing.”

“What if I’m taking a bath?”

“As soon as you finish bathing.”

“What if I’m sleeping with my phone on vibrate?”

“You are not going to sleep with your phone on vibrate, it’s an order.”

“Okay…” you were silent, “…so what if I’m taking shit?”

“Fuck you get my point!” she yelled already annoyed, you burst into laughter, “stop laughing, this is serious!” You wanted to stop laughing, but you had met few people who looked so cute and at the same time funny in a situation like this.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” you said, taking a deep breath to mitigate your laughter.

“I’m going to kick your ass,” she said annoyed, and then sighed, “anything else you need to know?”

“Not really,” you shook your head.

“Cool, now, I must give you some recommendations and warnings,” she leaned back in the chair, “Minjeongie is… fuck, that girl really is like a black hole, no matter how much is inside her, she always wants more.”

“Well, that’s a pretty accurate analogy.”

“You should be especially careful with Aeri, she really likes playing with fire,” she sighed, you guessed she was remembering all the trouble she had given her, “you know, she doesn’t abandon her American ways.”

“I’m not surprised, she looks like something out of Mean Girls.”

“I loved that movie when I was a little girl. I liked Lindsay Lohan so much…” she said going off the deep end for a second, you stayed silent watching her, and when she realized what she had said she blushed, “Ehm, like I was saying. Ning likes to drink, she’s not an alcoholic, but she likes it, and when she gets drunk she tends to get into trouble.”