A/N: Hello everyone! I just want to say thank you for all the views you have given me. I already hit past 100, and to be honest, it was way more than I expected. To everyone who voted, commented or just reading it. Thank you so much.
Taking time out of yours lives to read my story really means a lot and I hope you are all enjoying it!
Stay safe out there guys! <3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Normal: Korean
Bold: English
Underline: Japanese
Italicized: Thoughts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hello everyone! Welcome back to Music Bank! We just finished up some amazing performances by our groups didn't we?!" The male host asked the girl next to him.
"Absolutely! We have so many amazing people behind us, it's going to be hard for everyone and us to choose a winner" The female host answered. A huge amount of groups were standing behind them as they were talking. Shinji, who was on the sidelines couldn't help but slightly cringe at the way they were exaggerating everything.
"Let's see who are the top two female groups for this month!" The male host yelled pointing at the screen in front of them, while one played at the back for the audience. An image of two groups popped up, one was Twice and the other was Iz*One.
Shinji could already hear the deafening sound of the crowd cheering for both groups. "And I thought Jacob was a passionate fan."
The two groups albums were shown on screen with both of the numbers starting at zero. The number began to go up, and Shinji was impressed as both of the groups had relatively similar numbers by the end of the count. Twice and Iz*One both had 114,000 points until the bonus point were awarded. A bonus of 20,000 points were shown at the top.
Shinji took a look at the girls and saw them holding their hands tightly. He then shifted his attention to the other group. Thats when he noticed one girl form the rest. "Oh! It's that Japanese girl from before."
The 20,000 bonus points moved to the middle of the screen for a couple of seconds. Shinji crossed his fingers, hoping Twice was going to take it, even though he'd feel bad for the other group losing. The number then quickly moved to the left where Twice's album was, and in that moment confetti exploded from above and lights were flashing all over the stage.
"TWICE TAKES THIS MONTHS MUSIC BANK FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW!" The male announcer screamed clapping.
(A/N: I have no idea how this music show ranking stuff works, so imma wing it. Why? Because I do what I want)
The whole crowd went insane as the the other groups behind them began clapping and congratulating them. The female host walked over to hand the prize over to Jihyo and gave her a hug as well. The other Twice members walked over and hugged the members of Iz*One, while the latter was also congratulating their win.
Shinji was not vocal like the crowd but clapped nonetheless. Everyone that performed today was amazing, but obviously since he's a staff of Twice, his bias is towards them.
Jihyo took the microphone from the female host after she offered it to her and began thanking everyone. She thanked their fans ONCE's for always supporting them and being the greatest fan club any could ever ask for. She thanked her company JYP for all of their help with their music. She continued to thank the staff who helped them prepare themselves everyday. Lastly she thanked Soojin their manager who always had to put up with their crazy antics, which made the crowd and the other groups laugh, since the latter could most likely relate.
"Thank you everyone! WE LOVE YOU!" Jihyo screamed with her members. Confetti flew up into the air once more as their song Feel Special began to play. The members of Twice began to bow to the other groups present as everyone began to leave the stage. Jihyo, handing the mic back over to the hosts so they can close the show.
"Thank you very much!" Were the words that was coming out of the everyones mouth. If it was one thing you could take from living in Asia, specifically Japan or Korea, was that everyone thanks each other way too much. Soojin and Shinji stood at the sides as other idol groups passed by congratulating the girls once more as they left.
Eventually the group they were pitted against would come by, give another round of hugs when congratulating them for probably the 155th time or so. While the girls were hugging it out, a certain Japanese girl with shoulder length hair noticed Shinji who was drinking a bottle of water.
"OH! YOU!" Sakura exclaimed pointing at Shinji. The girls looked to where Sakura was pointing and looked at Shinji. Soojin cocked and eyebrow at the young man as he... Proceeded to look behind him checking to see if she was calling someone else. He then turned back to the girls and then pointed at himself.
"Me?" Shinji asked with a blank look on his face.
Sakura quickly squeezed past her members and walked straight up to him. "Thank you for the pastry you gave me. It really helped"
"Ah, that. No problem. I hope you liked it" Shinji replied back. He felt an ominous gaze coming from one the members of Twice. Although he couldn't really pinpoint who.
"I have to repay you somehow..." Sakura quietly mumbled placing her hand under her chin, trying to think of a solution.
As the Japanese idol was brain storming ideas, a very pretty girl with black hair walked up beside her and bowed towards Shinji. "Ahem..." She began by clearing her throat, she looked kind of nervous, she didn't even make eye contact with him.
"H-Hajimemashite... My name is... Kwon Eunbi... I'm the... Iz*One of the leader" Eunbi greeted. Sakura looked at her like she just kicked a puppy. The J-line members of Twice lightly bit their lips, trying to stop a smile forming on their faces. Shinji on the other hand sucked his lips in to hide the smile forming on his face as she introduced herself.
"That was pretty cute" Shinji thought. Eunbi stopped, her eyes looking upwards as if trying to think of something else to say. However, Shinji decided to make life for her a little bit easier by replying back in her native tongue.
"Nice to meet you Eunbi-shi. My name is Park Shinji, I'm the assistant manager of Twice" Shinji greeted back. Sakura looked at him impressed as did some of her members. Eunbi on the other hand stared at with her mouth open in disbelief. "Iz*One of the leader huh?" Shinji quietly said so only Sakura, Eunbi, and Soojin, who was beside him, could hear.
Sakura began laughing covering her mouth while Soojin snickered loudly but tried her best to compose herself as if she didn't do anything. Eunbi on the other hand...
"AHHHH! This is so embarrassing!!" Eunbi shouted covering her face to hide the red forming on her face.
"Hehehe! It's okay Eunbi-shi, your Japanese is actually pretty good. I'd give your pronunciation a ten out of ten!" Shinji complimented to try to help compose the flustered leader.
"Ugh... You could have stopped me from embarrassing myself" Eunbi whined her hands slipping off of her face as she frowned.
"I'm sorry Eunbi-shi hehehe. You had a good thing going" Shinji chuckled.
"Anyways!" Eunbi exhaled heavily trying to move on from the topic. "Thank you for helping out Sakura. We were running late so we didn't have the time to properly sit down and eat"
"It's no big deal. I'm just glad it helped" Shinji replied noticing a vibrant smile from the Japanese idol, causing him to, for a split second to blush.
"If you'd like, we were on our way to a ice cream shop after the show, if you'd--"
"Come with us!" Sakura interrupted her hands clasped together with the same vibrant smile.
"H-Huh? N-No. I couldn't. Wouldn't it be awkward if I went with you girls?" Shinji asked his expression showing that he wasn't really comfortable with the idea.
"Well, it seems that Sakura and you got a long pretty well. You can just stick with her if you'd like" Eunbi suggested. Shinji scratched his head at the idea and began to think, not noticing two girls from Twice staring holes into him.
"Please? It would bother me for the rest of the day if I didn't thank you" Sakura pleaded bringing her clasped hands close to her chin, staring at him with doe eyes.
"U-Uh.. I-I mean... I-If y-you're okay with it then..." Shinji stammered his eyes looking to the side to avoid Sakura's doe eyes. A small visible blush forming on his cheeks.
"YAY!" Sakura pumped her fists in victory.
"Shinji-oppa" A voice called out grabbing the young man's attention. He turned to see who had called him, and it was Jihyo who was smiling at him. Though, this smile felt kind of unsettling to him. "We have a busy schedule today, so maybe right now isn't the best time?"
"H-Huh? O-oh right..." Shinji nervously laughed.
"Actually" Soojin spoke up. "Our next activity isn't until the next hour or so. So, Shinji feel free to go" She said looking up with a smile.
"Oh seriously?" Shinji replied back enthusiastically which irked Jihyo a little bit.
"B-But I'm sure this is a good opportunity to teach the ropes of being a manager right?" Sana added with Jihyo nodding her head. Some of the Twice girls eyed the two girls oddly, wondering why they seemed so adamant on keeping him here. Jeongyeon on the other hand was hiding her smirk enjoying the reactions the two were giving her.
One other Twice member, Tzuyu, looked at her unnie's in disbelief. "I was just joking about Sana liking Shinji, but I guess she really is slowly falling for him. Jihyo... Never thought Jihyo would like him either..." She thought as her gaze wandered to the boy that had caught her unnie's attention. "Interesting..."
"No. We have time after we get home so I'll teach him then. Enjoy yourself Shinji-shi" Soojin replied smiling at him. Sana and Jihyo quietly scoffed only being heard by the members of Twice. At this point Jeongyeon began giggling, Momo was surprised that Sana felt so strongly about it. Chaeyoung and Dahyun equally felt confused but also sad, since they wanted to spend sometime with him. Mina was more or less playing a mobile game. Tzuyu was off in her own world thinking about something.
"Yay! Come on let's go before it gets busy!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly, running and grabbing Shinji's arm. That action caused Sana and Jihyo to do a double take, which in turn made it difficult for Jeongyeon to contain her laughter.
Shinji was in shock as he didn't expect her to grab him. He unconsciously began following her as she dragged him along with her.
"Ah! Sakura wait!" Eunbi shouted following after her. The rest of the girls from Iz*One apologized on Sakura's behalf before quickly following behind them.
"Wow... This guy has some luck. Already making friends with other idols" Soojin commented
"So lucky huh Shinji? Getting to hang out with a cute girl..." Sana thought as she sat down with a huff.
"You better come back as soon as your finished Shinji" Jihyo threatened in her head as if he could hear it.
"Yaah... I feel bad for Shinji-oppa" Dahyun quietly whispered as she observed her unnie's wearing the look of death on their faces.
"Jihyo-unnie looks like she's preparing a whole lecture for him..." Chaeyoung shuddered. "Let's not bother them today..."
"Agreed" Dahyun nodded as the two quickly walked away.
"I honestly was kidding about the whole crush thing but..." Jeongyeon started. She along with Momo were sitting in their change room, their outfits already taken off and back into their civvies. "It seems they do like him to an extent"
"Well... I think Sana is sort of angry that Sakura was able to make him blush and stutter. She teased him and he didn't retaliate like he did with her." Momo answered looking at her phone.
"I think thats stretching it..." Jeongyeon replied.
"Oh. Maybe she thinks that Shinji is her target to tease, so she feels that Sakura is taking it away from her?" Momo suggested looking up from her phone.
"Ooooh~! That's a good theory" Jeongyeon clapped. "But what about Jihyo? I've never seen her act this way with anyone, especially guys. She isn't one to just crush on someone because of looks"
"Hm..." Momo tapped her chin a couple times thinking of a possible reason. "Well... He's really kind, caring, thoughtful, hardworking, and he's comfortable to be around. Maybe it's nice for her to be taken care of for once, and she can't help but like it?"
"Wah... Daebak Momo... When did you become this smart?" Jeongyeon asked in disbelief.
"WHAT THE?! EXCUSE YOU" Momo yelled throwing a pillow at the short haired idol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Um... Shinji-san..." Sakura started. The group was headed to the ice cream shop and there quite a bit of people walking taking photos. Needless to say, Sakura had let go of his arm and was walking in behind him, as if he was their body guard. "If you don't mind me asking. How old are you? My members just want to know so they address you properly."
"Ah. I'm 21 years-old. " Shinji answered slightly moving his head back to her while being loud enough for the members to hear. "You can speak informally to me though. It feels awkward when people talk formally"
"Really? Awesome!" Sakura cheered.
The group had finally made it to the ice cream shop, and thankfully the line was non-existent. Although afterwards the shop will probably be packed because an idol group went there. The group headed inside and were greeted by the staff, who, after seeing who they were, tried their best not fanboy, fangirl and more importantly faint.
The girls greeted them back politely waving at them. The groups body guards stood outside the store as to stop people from going in, since it would be a safety issue. The girls began to line up, conversating what flavour they should get, as there was a multitude of choices.
"Shinji-oppa, what do you think you're getting?" Sakura asked as she browsed the menu above the cashier.
"Hm... Uh... What is that?" Shinji browsed over to the gelato side and read them out loud as they were written in English letters. "Uh... Fior De Latte? Stracciatella? What's that? Oh! They have pistachio!"
Upon speaking English, Sakura as well as her members stared at him in disbelief. Sakura had her mouth open in awe. "Y-You can speak English too?!"
"H-Huh? Ah yeah. I was born in Canada, so my first language is English." Shinji replied.
"Wow... Shinji-oppa, you're Trilingual..." Another girl with wavy blondish hair spoke.
"You know... Now that I think about it. I only know Eunbi-shi and Sakura's name." Shinji said, causing the girls to almost instinctively line up and introduce themselves.
"Hello! My name is Choi Yena one of rappers of the group! Sorry for the late introductions!" One of the blondes in the group said bowing.
"Hello! My name is Lee Chaeyeon, i'm the main dancer of the group. Nice to meet you Shinji-oppa!"
"Kim Chaewon! Nice to meet you Shinji-oppa!"
"Nice to meet you Shinji-oppa! My name is Jo Yuri"
These two almost said it the exact same time... They looked at each other with a raised eyebrow as if they were offended by each other.
"Hello! The name is An Yujin! Hope we'll see more of each other Shinji-oppa!" Yujin said with a wink. Shinji chuckled nervously as he looked at the next member.
"Hello Shinji-san! My name is Honda Hitomi!" Hitomi was quickly followed by a short cute girl next to her.
"Nice to meet you Shinji-san. My name is Yabuki Nako! Yorushiku onegaishimasu!" Nako bowed.
"Oh! Sugoi. Three Japanese members? Hajimemashite Yabuki-san, Honda-san" Shinji bowed back. He then turned to the last two members, to which one of them was as tall as Yujin.
"Hello! My name is Jang Wonyoung! Nice to meet you oppa!" Wonyoung made a peace sign while sending him a wink. "I'm 16 years old~!"
"16?!" Shinji exclaimed, startling the the girls except for Wonyoung who laughed at his reaction. "Ah! Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to react that way! Well, no I sort of did but..."
As he rambled on Wonyoung's laugh became stronger with the rest of the girls joining in. "I understand oppa. A lot of people are surprised by it! Hehehe!"
"I'm really sorry" Shinji apologized once more lowering his head. He looked back up to see the final member, the one who was impressed at him knowing three languages.
"Hello! My name is Kim Minju, if you don't mind... Can I practice English with you sometime?" She asked lightly lowering her head.
"Hm? Of course. Happy to help" Shinji smiled.
After the introductions, everyone had ordered what they wanted. Everyone chose different flavours, some being quite adventurous while others stayed with the good old classic flavours. Sakura had ordered matcha ice cream with varying intensities. Shinji on the other hand decided to get something bougie and got Vanilla bourbon.
They all took a seat in the shop and the guards started to walk inside guarding their table that was isolated. When that happened, everyone began pouring in to take videos and pictures of them. Shinji, knowing if he sat with them, would cause unnecessary problems.
"Oh? Shinji-oppa, where are you going?" Chaeyeon asked as the girls turned to the boy was leaving their table.
"Oh. I was just going to stand here and eat. I feel like if I would stir some unnecessary problems for you if I sat down" Shinji replied. The girls looked at each other understanding what he meant, but felt guilty since he was their guest and he had to stand. "Don't worry about me. Just enjoy yourselves"
The girls mood went down, especially Sakura's. She and Eunbi invited him and now he's standing by himself eating. Sakura began poking her ice cream with her spoon, not interested in eating anymore.
"I feel really bad for Shinji-oppa..." Yuri whispered to her members.
"We invited him too..." Chaewon continued.
"I was supposed to pay him back... I should've known this would've happened..." Sakura complained finally taking a bite of her ice cream. A huge one at that.
"It's not your fault Sakura. Don't feel so bad" Nako assured rubbing her back.
"Still..." Sakura whined pouting. She watched as Shinji finished his ice cream and threw it out to the garbage. He leaned against a table taking out his phone to browse whatever he was looking at. He then suddenly looked up from his phone and his eyes met with hers. He turned facing her so the crowd couldn't see his face or hands. He smiled and made a peace sign under his waist. Sakura realized she must've stared at him for a while so she quickly looked away in embarrassment whilst stealing an occasional glance.
Shinji knew that Sakura looked a little down. He also wished he could sit down and talk to them. That's when an idea popped into his head. He waited until Sakura stole another glance at him, yes, he noticed she was doing that. When their eyes met again, he mouthed wait to her, which caught her attention.
Shinji turned around so his back was facing Sakura but she could see his phone. He began typing in random numbers into his phone. Sakura titled her head in confusion, but when Shinji began tapping the side of his phone Sakura got it.
Sakura quickly brought up her phone and began typing in Shinji's phone number. The girls noticed Sakura's change in mood as she began quietly giggling to herself. Nako who was beside her, subtly leaned in to see what she was doing. She was adding a random phone number... Eunbi, who also sat next to her peaked as well, and the two nosy members watched her change the name of the number to Shin-Chan. Nako giggled as Sakura literally put a picture of Crayon Shin-Chan as the profile picture.
"Is that Shinji-oppa phone number?" Eunbi whispered. Sakura nodded her head without taking her eyes off her screen. She sent the first message which was a simple...
Kkura: Hi hi! :3
Shin-Chan: Hi Sakura!
Kkura: This was a genius idea!
Shin-Chan: I'm glad you caught on otherwise I would have to ask your body guard to give you my phone number lol.
Kkura: I'm really sorry you couldn't sit with us TT
Shin-Chan: It's okay! You don't have to feel bad or you'll end up making me feel bad
KKura: Still TT We invited you and you end up standing by yourself.
Shin-Chan: It's okay Sakura, it's not your fault
KKura: THIS DOESN'T COUNT THEN >.<
Shin-Chan: Huh?
KKura: This doesn't count as paying you back!
Shin-Chan: Hahaha! Then what do you suggest Sakura-Chan?
Sakura visibly blushed when he wrote that, and didn't go unnoticed by Nako and Eunbi. The leader flashed her smile as he eyebrows went up and down.
Nako on the other hand, "Wa... Sakura-Chan? Bold" She said covering her big grin as she spoke. The girls suddenly became curious at what Sakura was doing, but unfortunately they couldn't walk over to see as it would've looked suspicious to some people.
"What's going on?" Minju asked who was sitting next to Eunbi.
"Sakura is texting Shinji-oppa right now. Trying to set up another pay-you-back date" Eunbi replied with a grin and a quote unquote finger gesture.
"Oooh! Juicy!" Yujin excitedly said rubbing her palms together.
"Hora! Sakura say something!" Nako nudged, snapping Sakura back into reality.
Kkura: How about we go to a cafe? You can choose!
Shin-Chan: Okay! Sounds good. I know a good spot near where I live
KKura: Then, when should we go?
Shin-Chan: Uhhhh
Shin-Chan: Are you available the day after tomorrow?
KKura: I am!
Shin-Chan: Awesome! I'll text you the time tomorrow :)
KKura: Ok!
*BZZT*
A messaged popped up on his screen. Shinji looked at the sender was Soojin-noona. "Must be time to head back..." Shinji thought.
Shin-Chan: Sakura I have to head back now. Say goodbye to the girls for me okay?
Kkura: Ehhh!? You're leaving? TT
Shin-Chan: I do have a job after all haha
KKura: Okay...
KKura: Do you mind if text you later on today?
Shin-Chan: Of course not
KKura: Okay! I'll talk to you later then!"
Shinji and Sakura both looked up at each other at the same time, with the young man flashing a quick smile before waving good-bye to her. He then looked to Eunbi who looked slightly confused at what was going on. He waved goodbye to her as well and she got the message. She lowered her head with smile watching him as he had to push through the crowd to leave the shop.
After he was out of sight, Eunbi began nudging Sakura trying to grab her attention. She seemed to be really enamored to her phone. "Sakura! What happened?"
"Were going to meet again on Friday" Sakura answered trying her best tp hide her excitement. Upon hearing her words, Eunbi and Nako began to squeal on the inside. "Why are you two so excited?"
"I mean... Doesn't this count as a date?" Nako asked her hands cupping her cheeks.
"E-Eh? D-Date? W-Why would you say something like that?" Sakura stuttered a blush slowly forming on her cheeks.
"Oh please Sakura... A guy and a girl going out together. Just the two of them? It basically screams 'i'm on a date'" Eunbi continued waving her spoon around. The other girls heard the word date and began leaning in slowly to listen in.
"I-I think you two are reading into this way too much... We just met today" Sakura began to shrink in her chair confused about the situation.
"Yeah, but you guys hit it off like that" Eunbi replied snapping her fingers.
"Ahhhh... Unnie please..." Sakura whined holding her head. "Even if it was a 'date' I only I think it would be. Shinji-oppa probably just thinks were hanging our as friends..."
"Hmm... Well if you say so" Eunbi replied, dropping the subject as Sakura seemed to be getting uncomfortable talking about it.
"There's no way he would think of it as a date right?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: That's it for this chapter. Thought this was a good opportunity to introduce another character. Though we'll be focusing more on Twice for the next few while eventually getting to other groups. ^^
Thank you guys!