Untitled, 2018

Chapter 10: Glued to the Door

Riti
________________________
My dudes, I was more than a little scared. It was broad daylight, sure, but I had strayed a little and wasn't sure where I was or where I could get a taxi in the back alley maze I had just entered.

I saw one of the guys who was staring at me from a distance stand up. I guess I stood out because I wasn't Korean, but getting mugged wasn't my idea of a study abroad experience, so I stopped and turned around. Except I wasn't exactly sure which way to go. Just then, I heard a really loud voice call out, "Hey sweetie!" I looked up ahead and saw this bulky dude in his 30s standing by a parked car. I looked around me to see whom he was calling, and finally pointed to myself and mouthed, "Me...?"

"We've been waiting for you a while! Where did you get lost, silly?" I just stood there, a little scared now. He turned his head towards his open car door, as if listening, and popped his head back up. "What are you waiting for? We'll take you back to the office and you can see the marketing director." He hesitated. "Though you should check which restroom you're entering first."

I waited for a few more seconds before I realized whose car it was, and then slowly walked over to it. I guess I'd been avoiding him this whole time but it was better than being lost in sketchy neighborhoods. The man saw me approaching and sat down in the driver's seat, not giving a second glance, so I cupped my hands and looked into the back of the car. Jimin was sitting and watching me, and when I looked, he stuck out his tongue. I quickly opened the door and sat in the car, squished as humanly far away from his as possible. I was expecting him to say something, but between awkward glances from the driver to me, I figured he wasn't going to say anything. Ferrying a stranger was probably not okay either, so I decided to play along.

I cleared my throat and started in English, "I'm glad I ran into you out there! It's great to have made friends at the company building like that! What exactly do you do?"
I saw his lip curl into a sneer as he shot a glance at me, as if saying, "Friends? As if." Though his voice came out very amicable as he said, "No problem! I am in entertainment at the company!" First of all, fake. Second of all, everybody is in entertainment in the company- why couldn't he come up with a better explanation? Whatever, I wasn't going to say anything.

"Where are you staying?" he finally asked, to which the driver's eyebrows shot up. That did sound a little sketchy if you're trying to keep tabs on your idols, I guess.
I sighed and gave him the address of a cafe close to the hotel to seem less suspicious- the one Hanna and I had gone to. Jimin merely said, "Sir- did you get that?" and the driver grunted in response. As we drove I squished myself to the car door and looked anywhere but at Jimin. I heard him sigh and mutter something or another a few times. He hates me, oh my god. Jimin hates me and it's my fault... Wait, why is it my fault again?

I twiddled my thumbs, still in shock that I was sitting in a car with a world class celebrity- my favorite one at that. What in the world... If I was in my right mind I would be crying or excited or something, but rather I was more scared and exasperated by everything going on. I tried focusing on the view outside but the view was dulled by the darkened windows, I guess for privacy. Once we got to the cafe, it was already 5:30 pm, and the driver parked and immediately stepped out to give us privacy as Jimin called out behind him, "Wait you don't have to—"

Too late, he probably realized something was fishy. We sat awkwardly for a few minutes before I worked up the courage to say something.
"Have you told-/Why are you-" we said simultaneously. I had many things I'd always wanted to say, to ask, but in front of him, and in such a situation— it wasn't going to happen. So I sighed aloud.

He piped up. "I've decided to trust you." "What?"
"You don't seem like a bad person or a journalist, but I still need to ask you to not tell people about my relationship." Oh. Forgot about that. Then I scoffed at myself. Of course that's why he was following me around; it's not like he wanted to sit and chat, idiot. I don't know what my hopes were up for but I hated myself for being that idealistic. I stepped out of the car as Jimin called out after me. "Wait. Are you okay from earlier? And why were you at the university-"

I turned around to see his face in almost comic shock when he saw his phone, and I leaned down with curiosity- it was an unfamiliar name. "Yes sir. Of course I'm available to talk tomorrow, sir." I backed myself out of the car again, and Jimin glared at me angrily. I knew Jimin. Anger wasn't his thing. The only reason he'd gotten angry so far was because of his girlfriend. His cheating girlfriend. What- did he get busted?

Jimin pulled away from the phone to mouth, "Hey! How could you?!" And I just left, annoyed. If he was having a secret relationship he needed to take better care of who found out or not. I wouldn't tell on him, and the fact that he was blaming me was stupid. I tapped the driver's arm to get his attention and thanked him for getting me out of the situation earlier, and he smiled shyly. As I walked away, Jimin rolled down his window and whisper-yelled "How much did they pay you?" tauntingly. I whipped my head around and glowered at him, but their car pulled away. What was his deal?

Later that evening I took a shower, put on some nice clothes and makeup, and met our team in the lobby, which left as soon as Hanna arrived to the hotel. The six of us split into cars by gender, I realized with amusement. Hanna let me know that the next day she would accompany me to BigHit, but early in the morning, since we had to meet a different entertainment company after lunch. Good, then. We'd likely not have to run into Jimin if we got there really early in the morning.

At the restaurant, I ventured to ask about the three men we met at BigHit earlier that made Kang and Chocolate so uncomfortable. Wang almost dropped her fork and looked pointedly at Kang. "They actually showed up there? You should have told me earlier." "I don't want you to panic. They just took one of the contacts, don't worry."
Jon grumbled, "Aqua Entertainment preferred them to us. They called in today."
I looked around, and Hanna and I seemed like the only ones confused. "Yeah but who are they?" I asked.
"They're a rival research group known for doing very sketchy things to get ahead. They 'formulated' their research project idea within days of us making ours public. But they're a lot more money-hungry. They'll try to steal our contracts with other companies on this, our research if they could, make ridiculous promises that guarantee them a lot of money from the company, and I wouldn't put it past them to use other dirty underhanded tactics to get ahead." Jon responded.
Kang sighed, "Now we're suffering because they're claiming to be able to help struggling companies improve for cheaper claims to their research once it's out."
I thought for a moment before saying, "What if we position ourselves more as a marketing firm ourselves? We're already doing all the necessary research for a very extended period of time, too. It would just involve handpicking the right research to go to the right people to help them out. But only if they let us see into all of their operations, because that's going to help our research out."
The adults became silent in thought for a while and I just continued to chew on my food as the conversation digressed.
It was Wang who brought it up again. "Riti- we're a little swamped right now but I like your idea. Is there a way you could have this idea written out... as a comprehensive plan for BigHit's marketing director to see by tomorrow? They're our prime subject for something like this. It's short notice but it's probably the only window we have for such a change to our idea. If you need help, we'll be up till 11 anyway. So what do you say- can you do it?" Kang and Jon looked at me expectantly.

I laughed nervously. In case you were curious, when your boss asks, you can't just say no. So I smiled and said, "Yea sure! I'd be happy to!" -miss watching the kdramas I had wanted to catch up on tonight? Nope. But also, they said they would be awake till 11. How long do they think a presentation like this takes to make? I sighed and pulled out a notepad I have in my bag for times like this. What a dedicated student. As we were eating, I barraged them with questions of what we can and can't do as a research group. I don't know if they appreciated their meals and conversation being imposed upon but the deadline was strict, so whatever.

By the time I was done perfecting and running through the presentation a couple of times, it was 3 am and I was too exhausted to do any more. It would have taken far less time if I hadn't taken the pains to make it in Korean. Anyway, I figured I'd just wing the rest- I was alright at that.

And I just remembered that somewhere out there a cute Park Jimin was likely feeling tortured over getting in trouble because of his possibly cheating girlfriend, but definitely pinning his frustration on me to find someone to blame.

As it turned out, I eventually found out I was right.