The Fifth Member

Chapter 2: Life is a highway

The music was banging on in the studio and my sweat was running down my back and dripping from my face. "Fuck!" I yelled out loud after yet again, not getting the step right. I was alone in the studio, and I was trying to get my head straight, but my thoughts kept on running around, making me confused. The music stopped suddenly, and I looked in the mirror, my old dance teacher was standing there, looking at me with pitiful eyes. "You need to take a break and drink some water" she said. I walked over to her and drank some water from my bottle. "What's going on?" she asked. I didn't answer. "Emilia you can answer, or you can go home, I'm not going to let you keep on dancing like that without any supervision" she said. I sighed. "I meet Ash, and he has lied about who he is, and he wants me to go to Korea with him and his friends" I said. She looked at me, "so you meet Asher at boys of the century's concert? And he is giving you a one-way ticket out of this shit?" she asked, she was smiling. "How did you know?" I asked. "My daughter is a fan, just like Sandra, and it was kind of obvious. I had seen photos of his outfits and they matched the outfits he sent you and the fact that he didn't even tell you who he was made me believe it even more" she said. "So, I was just the blind one?" I asked, she nodded, and I sat down. "Go with him, you have always said you wanted to go to Korea and be a backup dancer, right? Now you have the chance" she said and sat down with me. I looked at the old wood floor, the floor I have danced the living hell out of for almost 15 years, the floor I had cried on multiple times, both of happiness and sorrow. The floor knew my history, and it knew my thoughts, it didn't judge me for my dreams or for my choices in life. "I don't think I can leave all of this behind" I said while I tapped my water bottle. "Nonsense, what are you leaving behind? Pressure, childhood memories, some good and some bad, me and your school friends? Does that really matter to you?" She asked, her tone had a bit of sass in it. "You matter, this studio matters, Sandra matters. I don't want to leave you all behind" I said. "Girl, get your ass up and stand in front of the mirror with me" she said and stood up, I stoop up beside her. "Look into the mirror, what do you see?". I looked and I saw myself, I was looking like a hot mess, my hair was everywhere, my eyes were red from frustration, and my clothes were soaked in sweat. "A very tired person" I said. My teacher laughed. "I see a very talented and hardworking girl, who is wasting her chance in her childhood studio. A studio that can't help her anymore, a studio and a teacher who will always think of her and wish her the best" she said and touched my shoulder. "You have worked too hard, for too long to let this pass. You need to go; I'll cheer for you from here. Just text me, and I'll watch you" she said. "I wasn't invited to dance, I was invited to be there, that's it" I said and walked over to the window. "Damn, that brain of yours sure is working overtime" she said. I looked at her. "Ash knows how you can dance, he can and will surely help you. You have sent him videos of you dancing, pictures of your medals and of your smile. You really think he wouldn't help you?" she asked, looking dumbfounded. I stopped, not knowing what to say. "Please leave and take your medals with you" she said and hugged me. I busted into tears and hugged her back, thanking her for everything.

It wasn't easy to have 3 suitcases with me on the train, but I made it work. I had a black leather jacket on, a black t-shirt, black jeans, a black cap on, a mask and even a pair of sunglasses just to be sure as Ash said. It was a bit hot, but not too bad. I the train I didn't have the jacket, mask or sunglasses on, but when I got off the train, I put it all on. I was really tired and had bought a coffee at a café near the station at home before my train arrived. I didn't even drink coffee normally, but I did help a bit. When I was sitting on one of my suitcases, waiting for Ash and the others, I saw a lot of cars pass me, they were all from some type of press or news channel, heading for the airport. I realized the importance of me not getting recognized, it wouldn't end well. I just kept sipping my coffee with my mask hanging from one ear while I had my sunglasses on. I had just finished it and thrown it out when a car pulled up, I looked at it, waiting for something to happen. Then a window rolled down, I could see the guys smiling and waving at me from inside. I waved back and the chauffeur helped me with my suitcases. I got in and sat in the front seat of the car. "We'll just take a suitcase each and say it's ours, you'll play staff as if you are there to help us through the crowd" Ash said, "Crowd? You mean the journalists?" I asked. "Not quite" Hyun said and smiled. I got confused, but when we got to the airport, I saw what they meant, fans. They were everywhere. The guys put their masks on and got out of the car. I put mine on as well, my heart was pounding, and my palms were sweating. There were so many people, almost more than at the concert. The guys stepped up and started waving at the fans, they screamed and the flashes from cameras went off. The chauffeur and I got the suitcases out of the car, they didn't have a lot of luggage with them, I looked at the chauffeur, "Is this all?" I asked, he shook his head and point to another car. "This is only their personal stuff, that is all their stage, makeup and other things. Some of the staff's stuff too" he said. I took a minute to take the information in. "How much are we going to take care of?" I asked, almost scared of the answer. "Oh, only this" he said, I was relieved, it was only, 7-8-9 suitcases. Okay, 9 was a lot but it was way better than the 20 suitcases the other staff members had to take care of. "Good luck" the chauffeur said and closed the back of the car. I looked at him, "what do you mean?" I asked. "Oh, I have to stay here, I'm only hired for the transport, Here, I'll help you" he took a rope and tied all the suitcases together. "Now you only have to pull one, the others will follow" he said and gave me the first suitcase. Then he wished me good luck and drove off. I looked at the guys and then a staff member came over. "You have to walk now, you can't just stand there", she started walking with me. We got the suitcases checked in without a lot of problems, but it was a bit hard to control them, so I did lose one, it got loose and drove away, but Kang caught it and gave it back to me, laughing at me. I couldn't help but laugh too, it looked way too funny. When I laughed my mask got loose and almost fell off, Kang helped me put it on again though and we didn't think much of it. We boarded the plane, and I could finally relax, but about 4 hours into the flight, Jiho spoke up, loudly. "Life is a highway and Boys of the century are going against the traffic" he said, we all looked at him. He turned his phone around and it was an article. It was in Korean so I couldn't read it, but it was a picture of Kang, helping me with my mask, you couldn't see my face at all, but you could see it was Kang. "Let me translate. Kang-Dae, the rapper of the boy group boys of the century might have a hard time separating work and private life, Is this staff member maybe his latest lover? And will she make it to Korea or be left behind?" Jiho looks at us. "So close, and yet... you still managed to catch the eyes of the press" he said. I started to apologize but Kang told me to stop since it was his fault. "Emilia, they didn't recognize you, it's going to be fine. You can change clothes and they won't know" Ash said. "But how? All my clothes are in the suitcases" I said. He looked at the guys. Jiho took his big jacket off and took his hoodie underneath off as well, so he sat in a t-shirt. He then gave me the hoodie and put his jacket on again. "I would like it back, but this might help you a bit" he said. I looked at it and made my way to the toilet. I changed my hoodie and took my jacket off, giving it to Ash, who put it in a bag, which was given to a bodyguard. "Are you sure It will work?" I asked, and the guys nodded. "The article didn't say "latest lover" for no reason, we have hidden a few girls like that before" Hyun said and laughed while hitting Kang's shoulder. He didn't say anything. Suddenly I could feel someone touch my head and I looked up, Jiho was standing there, "sorry, I just think the press might recognize you if you have the same cap on" he said and took it off. My hair fell down in my face and I moved it out of my face. "Here, let me" Jiho said and leaned forward to me. His brown eyes looked into mine, he smiled and started to touch my hair. He put the hood and the hoodie up and tugged my hair in under it. "Didn't you have curly hair at the concert?" He asked, "yeah I did, I have naturally curly hair but most of the time I just straighten it, curls can be a nightmare to have" I said. Jiho put his hand on top of my head and looked into my eyes. "I think they looked nice" he said and sat back in his seat. I looked out the window, down at all the small cities while trying to calm my pounding heart down. The guys were nice and all, but I don't think they know how good-looking they are, and how easily they make a girl nervous, I didn't even like them that much and yet, they still affected me.