Streya couldn't describe what had plagued her better than the word boredom. Taemin had officially left for his SUPERM tour about a week ago, BlackPink had gotten busy doing... well she didn't know, Somi is working hard on her music. She would hang out with her old members but they all had also gotten busy around the time she wanted to hang out.
Streya was happy to find out that Yona's agency had got her an acting role, the first one out of them to start acting! She'd probably be the only one too because hariN has had no interest in it, Streya is shy and gets out of character, and Kori is focused on her art projects at the moment.
So while everyone is busy Streya's management team asked her to prepare what she wants to have in her second Japanese album. That wasn't that much of task to keep her busy though. She had already had songs prepared for her second album while working on her first one. They just need to go through the producers which they are at the moment, then be presented to the choreography, art, and directing team, and lastly the styling, photography, and videography team.
It's times like this when she wished she wasn't always so ahead of herself. And now with everyone gone, she is left to think about how boring life is without them.
She's not really too close to any groups anymore, she kind of feels out of place. Maybe it's because when she was first solo, she only spoke with Shinee and her company mates, but now that most of Shinee has enlisted and Taemin's away and she's in a new company, and her old friends aren't really her friends, Estrella has never felt more unsociable.
To be frank this is one of Nam Estrella's biggest flaws. Constantly working and getting many things done, then facing a massive burnout with no one to fall onto because all her focus is on her work. Her worker lifestyle worries those close to her because she's lost a lot of hobbies since first debuting. Nowadays everything she does is just too busier herself when she has no work, no true passions, or activities she likes to indulge in on her own. Looking at her life from an outside perspective one might say it's pretty sad without anyone there for her.
When work is no option, she's tired of sleeping and laying around all day, or has taken Boston on too many walks his short legs can handle; Streya turns to the gym. A sociably acceptable place to zone out and why not? It's good for her body anyways.
Weight used to be an internal struggle for her, with internet comments always being thrown at her, she had gotten used to mindlessly working out. Cardio, waist slimming, back workouts, and all the other things she's done on repeat. Yeah body fat was burned and weight was lost but the people behind screens were never pleased.
Streya over time had accepted she did what she could and it was time to take pride in her body. Like her face and voice, her body is also unique, she was healthy; she started building a slim figure after losing her teenage baby fat, and she ate meals. If the public couldn't accept her just being healthy, why did she have to worry about them?
Now when Streya goes to the gym she has no thoughts of losing weight to please strangers, but to simply continuing her healthy lifestyle. She's grown quite fond of the toned physique she has built, and she didn't want to lose it.
But despite her already been there for almost an hour, jumping rope at different speeds she was getting worn out and out of breath. Hey, jump rope is hard...
'Why does everyone have something to do but me... this feels like when I was a kid.'
'And this cardio is gonna have me beat too..'
Her smartwatch vibrated, glancing down she saw the text notification icon so she slowed down her jumping before stopping.
"God my legs are jelly." She muttered and made her way to quickly sit down by her bag and stretch. She unzipped her sweater and fanned her face. Her phone screen illuminated the sweat on her face while she opened the text she got.
Jamie Hey wyd?
Jamie Want to get dinner together
Jamie I miss you
Streya I miss you too!! But yeah actually I'm pretty hungry
Jamie Great! Wanna do 7?
What do you feel like eating??
Streya Can we do 7:30 I'm super sweaty and gross,
I just finished my workout.
Jamie Yeah sure, should I invite some friends?
I bet you're so lost and lonely without Taemin taking you
out almost every day
Streya How did you know? :( Ugh I'm one of
those girlfriends huh ...
Jamie Mmm I figured since you're not active on
instagram or in the group chat
Streya Yeah sorry I've just been so shut out recently
just taking everything slow cause I'm sad
Jamie It's cool, as long as you call me more <3
Streya Duhh. And how's pizza?
Jamie 7:30 it's a date ;) Shower stinky, I'll text you who I invite
Streya Yes mama!!
'Geez she's a mind reader.' She smiled.
She took a few gulps of water and threw it in her gym bag and packed her rope and towel. Streya wobbled up and stretched her legs out, getting rid of the shaky feeling. She threw a wave to the worker at the counter and started walking back to her apartment. She had just about an hour to be ready. Not a problem.
The gym is pretty close to where she stays so the walk was refreshing and brief. Just as she unlocked the pinpad to her apartment her phone went off, she closed the door and pulled her phone out.
6:00 pm Feed Boston
She dismissed her alarm and opened the blinds and curtains in the living room. "Boston, come on bud! Pick your dinner, chicken or kibble!" She whistled a few times to get his attention from where ever he was, her room assumingly.
(How dare you forget what boston looks like! Just playing hehe)
His nails clicked on the wood floor as he ran to greet her. "Boston!" She cooed. The short dog danced around her as she opened his dog food and treat cabinet. Taking out some new dry food and some canned wet food she put both on the floor for him to sniff.
He pawed at the bag trying to get inside so she took his bow from the floor and scooped some for him. She set it down and patted his back while he started eating, Streya grabbed his water bowl and poured the rest of her water bottle into it for him.
"Okay enjoy, I'm gonna shower now please don't scratch at the door."~
Streya washed her hair and body, ridding herself of the sweat from her workout. About mid-way Streya got excited. She was gonna finally have someone to hang out with! To make herself feel more presentable Streya started shaving her legs, and used her strawberry body gel, when she finished she even made an extra effort and moisturized her legs with a strawberry and cream scent.
She took about half an hour so Streya dived into her closet looking for an outfit.
'What is pizza wear? What does one wear to a pizza date?'
She was stuck between three options; super casual streetwear, streetwear, and baddie in black vibes, but since it was just pizza she was leaning towards casual street wear. Her phone caught her attention when it rung.
Jamie Ashley, Peniel, and BM are coming along too, that good?
Streya Mmm yes mama!!
She grabbed some brown pants, a checker cropped tank top, and a brown purse to match. Quickly getting dressed she flopped non her vanity chair and started doing her makeup. Nothing to serious, just a light wing, blush, tint, and mascara. She squeezed some body foundation onto her hand and started to cover her visible tattoos. Her stars on her collar bone, the doves on her shoulder, bunny wrist one, her forearm tattoo, her other wrist tattoo, and her inner elbow one. She just smeared and patted the foundation on and set it with powder when she finished.
She was doing surprisingly well on time, but probably because her whole look for the night was pretty simple. It was only 6:50, but Streya still slipped a pair of white fashion shoes on, and packed her small purse with what she needed.
Streya What pizzeria?
Jamie I'll send you the address
Streya got the location, she checked herself in her body mirror before leaving the bedroom to the living room. She checked to see if Boston ate his food and she saw a couple crumps in his food bowl, his water is fine. She saw the dog laying on the couch, she smiled and went to pat his head before telling him bye.
While walking she put the pizza place on maps and it was actually a little further than she thought. It said it would take 30 minutes walking distance, so she started to speed walk a little since it was already almost 7.
By the time she got there her hair had dried a bit thanks to the small breeze that had picked up when she was on her way. She pulled her facemask on and texted Jamie and told her she was there and found a booth by the window. She sat at a bigger corner circular booth to make sure there would be enough room for everyone.
"Hello, welcome in! What can I get for you?" a server approached.
"Ah- thank you, but I'm waiting for some friends." Estrella said, the server nodded and pulled back the menu she offered. "Can I get you water while you wait?"
"Yes please. Oh and can you hold onto this for when it's time for the bill?" She fetched her card from her purse and handed it to him. He nodded and placed it in his server's book and when to grab her water.
He came back with a glass of water and set it down, "Thank you."
Jamie Don't worry babes we're 5 mins away
Streya's leg started to bounce up and down a little, she was a bit nervous but excited to have contact with people that were outside of the few she spoke to normally. She removed her mask and took small sips while scrolling through instagram.
"Ah- excuse me. Nam Estrella-nim?" the same server who brought her her water came back. She smiled at him, she could tell he was smiling under his mask too.
"Yes?"
"Oh-" He put a hand over his forehead, "My girlfriend and I are really big fans of your music, I can't wait for your next release." Streya's heart fluttered with happiness and her cheeks blushed.
"Oh thank you!" She motioned to the seat in front of her, he quickly scooted in. "I can't wait to have it released, I have all the music finished up. I'm actually just waiting for my company to prepare the rest. Thank you for supporting me."
"Oh I'm so happy, I've been a fan since your debut as an artist! I was in my first year of high school!"
Streya's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh, really?" He nodded, "Wow thank you so much!" she reached over and grabbed his hands to shake while bowing her head, "Really, thank you for sticking with me for five years!"
He shook her hand back, "Thank you for making music for us! Um- I have to get back to work now, but thank you for letting me sit and talk with you...can-"
"Oh no problem, should we take a picture together?" She asked excitedly, the boy nodded excitedly and got his phone out.
She stood next to him and they posed for a couple of pictures, "Take care of yourself!" He said and quickly bowed, she returned the bow and watched him leave to go back to work. Streya sat down with a grin, which only grew when she heard the doorbell rung and Jamie and her friends walked in looking around for her.
Streya stood back up which got the group's attention, they started to walk to the booth while greeting her. Jamie pulled her into a tight hug, "Hey babe, sorry to make you wait." Streya rocked her back and forth in the hug, "It's okay it wasn't a bad wait."
They pulled away, "I'm glad. Strey this is Ashley-
"Hi, it's so nice to meet you!" Ashley said while shuffling to hug Streya, "Hi, it's nice to meet you too sunbaenim"
"Oh no please call me Ashley!" The older woman chuckled.
"Ah okay Ashley unnie.
"-and this is Peniel-"
Peniel and Ashley scooted past each other and he came to give Streya a soft side hug, "Hey it's nice to you, you can also just call me Peniel."
"Hello Peniel oppa, it's nice to meet you."
He and Ashley scooted into the booth.
"-and that's BM." Jamie finished with the introductions and scooted behind Streya to sit next to Peniel.
BM reached a hand out to shake it, "Nice to meet you Streya sunbaenim."
Streya chuckled, "Yeah no, Streya is just okay." He laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Alright alright, but it's nice to meet you Streya, my names Matthew."
"Nice to meet you too oppa." He laughed a little but followed her as she sat in the booth. She sat between Jamie and Matthew.
The server quickly came by once everyone was seated, "Hello welcome in, can I start everyone off with drinks?"
They all gave the waiter their drink orders but Streya just stayed with her water. "Alright what kind of pizza should we get?" Matthew asked.
"Mmm let's try a Chicago style one." Ashley suggested, "Oh I heard this place has good Chicago pies!" Streya said excitedly.
"Lets get a thin crust supreme." Jamie suggested, "What size do we want the Chicago?" Peniel asked. "Wait lets get that one in medium since it's a thick pizza and the supreme we can get in large?" Jamie suggested.
"Yeah alright, that sounds good." Matthew said everyone voiced their agreements, "Do y'all want anything else? I kinda want hot wings." Streya said.
"Oh yeah, that sounds good!" Ashley nodded.
Their waiter placed their drinks down and refilled Streya's water, "Alright is everyone ready to order of do we need some more time?"
"Um I think we're good man." BM said. The waiter nodded and got his pen and pad out, "What can I get everyone?"
"We'll get a large thin crust supreme, a medium classic Chicago style, and..."Jamie let Streya finish off the order, "And can we also get a pound and a half of hot wings?"
Their server nodded and wrote everything down, "Okay I'll get that out as soon as I can."
"So Streya, this is our first time meeting you. What do you like to do?" Bm asked.
Streya smiled and scraped her hand, "Um well I honestly kind of do the same thing. I work on music till it's done, work out, I like to go out and visit cafes. Most of my friends have been busy so I just work out most of the time."
He nodded, "Tell you what, next time you're bored or everyone's to busy. Just call us up." He handed his phone to her to add her contact in. Her smile grew, excited to have more friends.
"Yeah, here add to mine too." Ashley said and handed her her phone. Peniel also passed his over. Jamie patted her back, "See Star, socialization is nice. Right?" Streya giggled and nodded as she finished putting her contact into Ashley's and then Peniel's phone.
"Yeah, um I lost contact with a lot of friends I had. We all became busy and interacted less and less." She explained.
Jamie nodded, "Yeah and most of her friends now, are her producers. Which I think encourages her to stay in the studio even more."
"Well that's okay, it's hard to keep up with friends. Especially if they're idols too." Ashley said. "Yeah I can hardly keep up with my members." Peniel joked.
They laughed and Streya spoke up, "I have trouble keeping up with my dog..."
The table echoed with laughter but quieted down once they saw pizza making their way to them. Their waiter came back with both pizzas they ordered and went back to get the wings. After a short photo sesh, they dug into the fresh pizza. Streya was not a fan of the Chicago style so Jamie took her slice instead.
Ashley ended up ordering alcohol for the table as they all got to know Streya better and told stories together and asked questions.
"So is there any old friends you wished you stayed close with?" Peniel asked Streya, the question coming from her mentioning that half the contacts in her phone she hardly messages.
"Oh yeah plenty, but I think I miss hanging out with the NCT members that I was friends with. They were really fun and nice, I would see them a lot when I would visit Taemin; before and after we started dating. I used to be close with Seventeen too, when one of us was promoting we would send coffee trucks or make time for dinners, I think I only message Seungcheol oppa every so often."
"Ahh, were you close with any female artists? I don't think I've seen you or your group on any varieties with other girls." Ashley asked.
Streya thought for a moment but shook her head no, "Not many, just some Red Velvet girls, Twice, and (G)-idle, and Jamie... If we interacted with any other girl groups it was on our own accord, which was usually us introducing ourselves backstage at shows. I don't know why the management did us like that." She admitted.
"Yeah, I remember JYP being very controlling of who gets put on what and being very picky when it came to who's hosting, and who else is a guest." Jamie said.
"Damn, that fucking sucks." Bm muttered before taking a bite of his slice.
Streya nodded, "Yeah, which brings me to this. Thank you guys for coming, I've been a little lonely and bored since Taemin left. I'm glad I got out today and got to meet everyone."
"Aww" Ashley cooed and put her hand to her heart with a pout. BM pretended to shed a few tears and pulled her into a rough hug, rough because he gave her a noogie. Jamie smiled and leaned her head on her friend's shoulder.
"Damn we better not lose contact, or else it's gonna feel real fucking awkward." Peniel said half joking. Everyone laughed and agreed.
After another hour the group was full and just picking at the food, the conversation topic switched all over the place from music, people they want to work with, planning future hangouts, having Streya guest on Dive Studios, bucket lists, Streya's dog.
A mini argument happened when they were gonna pay the bill until they realized the paper the waiter set down was a receipt and wrapped in it was Streya's card. Ashley reached for it while Bm and her went back and forth about wanting to treat everyone for the meal, but she stopped talking when she realized it was already paid.
Ashley groaned, "Ugh Streya if you weren't so far I would pinch you."
"Wait why?" Jamie asked.
"Ashley held her card up, "She already paid, this is the receipt, not the bill."
Peniel straight up started laughing while BM and Jamie nagged Streya for doing that. She had her hands up defensively, "It's okay its okay, next one can be on yall." She winked. Everyone got their things together when everyone started calling for managers/ taxis to take them home. They left inside the restaurant and waited at the outdoor seating.
Jamie pulled Streya's arm, "Hey do you have any plans tomorrow?" She asked.
"No, I was just gonna gym in the morning and chill at the bark with Boston. Why?"
Jamie gave her a smile, "Can I stay the night?"
"Yeah, of course! We gyming tomorrow?"
"Ummm. We'll see." Jamie mumbled.
"Alright yall, my manager is here. I'll catch yall later. Streya it was good to meet you." Matthew Stood and gave everyone hugs while saying bye.
A taxi pulled up and Ashley went to it and asked who it was there for since both she and Peniel called one. She came back and told Peniel it was his.
"Okay goodnight everyone. Are yall gonna be okay? Do you want me to wait with yall till your rides get here?" He asked the girls.
Another taxi pulled up behind his, and Ashley stood up. "I'm good mine just got here." She hugged Peniel and Jamie and Streya. "What about you two?" She asked the two girls.
"Oh, my place is not far we're gonna walk." Streya said.
"Are you sure?" Ashley asked. They nodded, "Yeah it's cool, she literally lives up the street a bit." Jamie said and pointed to her apartment which was in the distance.
"Okay be safe, bye love yall." She and Peniel waved and got into their taxis.
Jamie smirked and put her arm around her best friend, "So.. what did you think of them?"
Streya laughed, "They're cool. I like them. You didn't have to gatekeep them this long, but they're definitely cool."
"Shut up. I did not gatekeep, you recluse" Jamie laughed and hit her arm.
______________
The girls made it back to Estrella's apartment safely. They took their shoes off and Jamie hung her bag on the coat rack and slipped an envelope out before going to the couch. Streya went to her fridge and pulled out a sprite, "Do you want a soda or water?"
"Umm, I'll take water, hurry I have some news for you." Jamie patted the couch excitedly.
Streya came back with their drinks and sat down with her, throwing her back on the coffee table in front of the couch. Jamie fanned herself with the closed envelope, "I have some exciting news for my love sick puppy."
Streya was confused at the name but waited for Jamie to tell her what was up.
"You'll never guess who slip into my DMs..." Jamie paused to allow her to guess.
"Umm. Uhh. Umm..... I don't know." She shrugged
Jamie chuckled, "Kai!" She handed the envelope to her to open, Streya started to unseal it and remove what was inside. "Oh really? What did he say?" She asked, genuinely surprised.
Streya unfolded the paper that was in there and stared at what had been hiding in the folded paper.
A lanyard with two VIP cards.
And a not one, not two, but six condoms.
Jamie held back her laugh as she watched Streya's face. Her brows were furrowed, confused at what she was holding. She moved the condoms to the side and stared at the papers and lanyard.
"Oh my god."
'That's a SuperM lanyard.'
She grabbed one of the cards and flipped it over, it read "SuperM London VIP Special Access" the other read "SuperM Paris VIP Special Access"
Streya gasped and looked at the paper in her hands, it was a printed ticket to the London concert, the next page was the ticket for the Pairs concert, and the next page had three plane tickets paper clipped together.
One to Paris, then Paris to London, then London back to Korea.
At the speed of light, Streya threw herself at Jamie, "Oh my god, oh my god! Thank you so much! How did you get all this?"
"Kai messaged me what he had planned and asked if I could pick up the tickets and everything. He had left it at the reception at Sm before he left. He said he and his manager got everything ready before tickets for any show had gone on sale. And they just put everything together before they had to leave."
Streya stared at her with her mouth open and eyes wide. "I know right, I had the same reaction!"
"Stop that is so sweet of him!" Streya gushed.
Jmaie laughed, "Some wingman right? He said he even had to talk Taemin out of getting you tickets for all the shows here in Asia."
They laughed, "Oh my god, I'm so excited. He had planned this to good." Streya said and held up a condom. The girls laughed again.
Jamie stood up, "So come on girl, it's never too early to pack, you have two weeks till you leave."
Streya stared at her with a dumbfounded look, "Jamie. I have two weeks. I don't think I need to pack now..."
"It's never too early!"
Unedited.
And doneeee jeez that was so hard to write but I pushed through, I got this idea from @straytan20
They had reached out and messaged me all the way back in December! I didn't realize how long it had been, I am an unreliable writer... But finally, I've got something out. I've changed a few things but the credit def goes to them!
Everyone say thank you!! <3
But this made me realize that I shouldn't take requests or try to incorporate the ideas others give me, I mean it took nearly SEVEN MONTHS to get this out! @straytan20 I'm so sorry it took so long, plz don't hate me :(
But yeah guys I don't think I'll take requests or anything of the sort bc I don't know how long it would take and I don't want to disappoint yall.
This is kind of an unofficial part one, the next part would obvi be Streya going to Europe for the shows
I've had a hard time thank you for staying and encouraging me with comments and votes. I just find it so hard to come up with ideas for this book then I lost motivation. I appreciate every one of yall and see you in the next part.