Beyond The Spotlight (Karina X Male Reader)

Chapter 1

Y/N was just an ordinary 20 year old guy trying his best to survive comfortably in this cruel world minding his own business.

One fateful day, while running errands in the heart of the city, Y/N found himself caught in a whirlwind of fans surrounding a venue.

Curiosity piqued, he inquired about the cause of the commotion. To his surprise, he discovered that aespa were there for a surprise fan meeting.

Y/N POV

"Excuse me may I know what's going on here?" I asked one of the citizens from the crowd holding their phones up.

"aespa is here right now!" The fan excitedly told me hopping on her spot.

I glanced forward to see the big stars of K-pop walking towards the stage as they start introducing themselves. It honestly made me excited too even though not having that much interest in the kpop industry.

As I stood among the crowd, my eyes met one of the member's for a fleeting moment. In that instant, a connection sparked-a glimmer of recognition that transcended our different worlds. Our gazes lingered, and for a brief moment, it felt as if time stood still.

I didn't know the word on what I was feeling that time. Starstruck? Maybe. But it felt very different.

I shook of the thoughts and continued watching them doing their things on the stage.

Not long after, the fans started lining up to meet the members and that was the cue for me to bounce out as I had no intention to get their autographs. Meeting and seeing aespa face to face though was kind of tempting to me but I remembered that I was here to run some errands.

I continued my way to the store to buy some supplies for my apartment. I live in an apartment splitting the rent with two other friends after we had just graduated together.

I managed to be financially stable for now after working part time during my school days and of course with some support from my parents who was living in the US. I was raised in New York, attending the high school there and moved to Korea after managing to receive a scholarship for the college here.

The goal now was to find a job to make sure that I still have a roof to live under.

On my way to the store, I was yet distracted again but this time it was my tummy grumbling. I decide to go take a quick bite first before continuing my journey. That quick bite wasn't as quick as I wanted it to be.

After almost an hour, I finally arrived at the store to buy some supplies for me and my friends. As I was busy walking through the aisle, scanning through the shelves, someone bumped into me.

"Oh- I'm really really sorry miss. I should've been more careful" I apologized to the masked lady and held her shoulders to balance her.

"It's ok, I should be the one apo......." She said and froze after making eye contact with me. ".... apologizing...." She continued softly.

"Uhm are you ok miss? Are you hurt or something?" Confused by her sudden reaction, I quickly scanned through her body looking for unwanted injuries.

"No no! I'm not hurt" She waved her hand as I sighed in relief.

"Thank god. I'm sorry once again, I should be going now" I sighed in relief and tried to excuse myself from her to continue browsing the store.

"No wait!" She suddenly said after I had walked a few steps ahead.

"Hmmm? Do you need help on something?" I turned around to ask her but she remained quiet. After a brief minute she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you just now" She apologized and bowed this time.

"Hahaha it's fine, as long as you're ok" I chuckled.

"Have a great day miss" I waved my hand goodbye and continued my way.


Karina POV

It's him. I'm pretty sure this was the same guy that I made eye contact with during our surprise fan meeting just now.