Monsta in Disguise (editing)

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I'm not one of those girls. The one that spends all of her time obsessing over idols, dreaming about what it would be like to date him or even marry him. I don't set their random photos as my phone background, or stalk their member profile online. And heaven forbid, that I am definitely not one of those girls who writes fanfiction about their favorite idols. But around here, it seems like I'm the only girl who doesn't. The normal has now become the abstract. I just don't understand why everyone is so obsessed. They're just people who excel in singing and dancing, and happen to be slightly more attractive than the rest of us. Okay, so I've already admitted that I'm not a fan girl, but another shocking fact about me, might be the fact that I don't even really like kpop all that much. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. 'A teenage girl who lives in South Korea, who doesn't like kpop? That's pretty uncommon!' Well folks, here I am, an endangered species. Anyway, enough about my unusual rejection of popular culture around me. You're probably thinking 'why is she telling us this, and how is it relevant to this story?'

Well I'm about to tell you.

My story starts with a boy named Jooheon. Actually...he's in the rest of the story too, but that's beside the point.

Jooheon used to be my neighbor. He was like the big brother I never had, since I have always been an only child. My parents and I moved in next door when I was 8 and he was 10. My first memory of him was a a smiley boy with a basketball standing at my front door asking if I could come out and shoot basketball hoops.

We played some sort of sport or game almost every single day after that. We walked to school together in the morning, and walked home together after, even after he entered secondary school while I was still in primary. We were inseparable.

Six years later, he left to be a trainee at Starship entertainment.

It feels like its been a lifetime since then, but it has only been 3 years.

I watched him on every episode of No Mercy, and prayed he'd make it to the end.

The other day when I got home from seeing a movie with my friends, Jooheon's mom was at my front door waiting for me. She ran over to me cheering, and told me the news. In that moment, time seemed to stand still. It had been so long since I'd seen him, so for some reason a small part of me was always expecting him to just come home one day, like old times...at least for a visit. The excitement outweighed the melancholy and heartache because I knew that Jooheon's dream was finally coming true.

He was going to finally debut with a group that would be called Monsta X.

Immediately after she told me, she pulled me inside of her house and called Jooheon. I honestly had no idea that she could just call him like that, and I was hoping I would get the chance to talk to him as well. It had been so long... Every time I tried to contact him, I had never been able to get through to him. My small glimmer of hope was quickly diminished as she asked him to put on his manager. Her conversation continued for over an hour. By this point I was passed out on the couch, only to be woken up by cheers of excitement from her after she hung up the phone.

Boy did she have some news, and that is why I am packing right now. She somehow convinced his manager to let me come and see him. She had to lie a bit and say I was his sister, but after growing up so close during our childhood, I basically was, so it wasn't really a lie.

Now that brings us here. We have come full circle.

So, just to reiterate, I'm not doing this for the music, the fame by association, or the idols. I'm doing it for Jooheon.

After shoving the last few things into my suitcase, I zipped it up and scurried down the stairs to the front door. My driver- oooh, I feel so fancy saying that- my driver will be here any minute. Then I'll be off. I'm going to stay with Jooheon for a month before he debuts with his group, and as of right now, I'm a bit terrified. For one thing, he doesn't know I'm coming, and secondly I haven't seen him in 3 years. And third, I just remembered that I have to act like I'm his sister. This is going to be a long month.