Salem
Two days had passed since the whole Archy fiasco, and Salem was completely over it at this point. No one dared to bring it up after she explained what happened to Solana and Hyesol over drinks and karaoke.
She was getting used to seeing Min-Ho's face almost everywhere in the city, though it was sort of creeping her out. How did he handle all this fame?
She had heard stories about crazy fans following famous people in Korea, but most of them were idols which made her calm down a bit. Even though they weren't together currently he was still her first real love and his safety was and still is very important to her.
She was tidying up her house so her and Damien could go shopping, she promised him that she would buy him something for his birthday so they decided to spend the day together.
"So what are you gonna get me?" Damien asked while walking to the open living room and watching her wipe off the kitchen counters.
"I don't know that's why you're coming with me." She replied in a duh tone.
"Okay okay, don't tell me this is going to be like last year when you bought me a present but used my card." He looked over at her and sighed.
"I would never do that, plus you already bought the plane tickets...and the hotel rooms." She said the last part quietly hoping he wouldn't hear it.
"I bought the fucking hotel rooms?! Salem are you joking?"
She didn't reply to him fearing his answer. She knew he wasn't really upset but she also knew he hated buying things he didn't know about.
"No." She replied quietly while looking down.
"I don't care about Reign and Sai's room but you're telling me I paid for that bastard to sleep soundly on the first night?" She tensed at the mention of Archy, and Damien seemed to catch on to it because he very quickly apologized.
"Look, i'm sorry I know you don't want to talk about it so i'll leave it alone."
"It's fine, let me get dressed and then we can go, Kang offered to drive us since I don't have a rental or car here. He should be here in 45 minutes open the door when he gets here capisce?"
"Capisce."
"Oh wait before I go do you remember the Korean I taught you so you don't have to use google translate in front of him?"
"I do." Damien stated proudly, puffing his chest out.
"Okay repeat it to me."
"안녕하세요, 세일럼은 곧 나올 준비를 하고 있습니다." (Hello, Salem is getting ready she'll be out soon)
"Your pronunciation was not that good but he'll get the gist, if worst comes to worst use google translate." She said while walking past him to go to her room. "Oh and don't forget to bow."
The day was going fine so far, she practically made Damien do a fashion show for her while she bought him all the clothes he wanted and more, also buying him accessories and shoes.
"Salem this is too much." He said while carrying about 7 bags.
"Oh this is the tip of the iceberg." She replied while shooting him a wink.
"너무 피곤한데, 이제 돌아가도 될까요?." Kang said while dramatically fanning himself and holding his hip. (I'm exhausted can we go back now?)
"아니요, 저는 그에게 주요 이벤트를 보여줘야 해요." (No, I have to show him the main event.)
"Are you talking about me."
"Nope, let's go to the car so we can go to the last place."
The walk to the car wash filled with a lot of complaining. Salem saw maybe one or two, or four other stores she wanted to go into so she bought more gifts for Damien, and a lot of makeup and skincare she wanted. Kang was now holding bags and Damien had twice as many.
"아 아 아 허리가 아프다." Kang was complaining (ohhh, my back hurts)
"야, 너 뼈가 약해." Salem said in an annoyed tone pointing to him (man you have weak bones)
Crybaby one and two finally stopped complaining and it gave Salem a sense of peace and tranquility. She didn't know how Damien would feel about the surprise but she knew he would at least have to be grateful since it was a chance to expand their business. They eventually pulled up to the building and she got out and dragged him out of the car.
"What is this?" He asked confused looking around.
"It's ours, I saw and opportunity to expand our business and make more money, Seoul is really big on technology and I already ran all the numbers it wouldn't hurt us it would only make us earn more especially since our company's products and games are popular over here, this also gives us opportunity to expand to other counties if it goes well." She looked over at him not being able to gauge his reaction.
"So, who's going to start it up?" He didn't see, upset just concerned.
"I wanted you to do it, but you don't speak Korean. I was thinking that i'd stay in Seoul a bit after the trip just to catch up and start it up and then i'll hire someone to take care of it when we're gone it's going to be hectic but I think we can do it." She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
"I know you can do it sorellina, but you tend to overwork yourself and I won't be here to stop you." He moved her freshly done braids out of her face and looked at her tenderly.
"I won't i promise, and you won't have to worry about me i have Kang, and everyone else." Kang looked up at the mention of his name and then looked back down as he realized he could barely understand the two.
"Okay fine, but as soon as you feel like you can't do it anymore i'll be back to take your place okay? Thank you for this amazing birthday gift sorellina." He picked her up and twirled her through the air while pinching her cheek.
Kang eventually took the pair home and he left after Salem made dinner. The two were sitting in the living room watching one of the many variety shows that Salem liked when they heard her intercom go off.
"Who could be here at this time of night?":She looked down at Damien sitting in the floor and he just shrugged.
She got up to go look at the intercom on the wall and to her surprise it was...Min-Ho? She immediately opened to door hopping no one saw him or her together at this time of night.
"여기서 뭐하는거야?" She said in a confused tone as she invited him in. (what are you doing here?)
"Uhhh I don't know how to put this." He waved at Damien and looked back at Salem with saddened eyes.
"Just spit it out."
"You saw my instagram post right?" He asked looking at her hopefully.
"No, not yet iI haven't been on my phone much today i've been with Damien." She started walking to the couch and gestured for him to follow. They both sat on the couch and Min-Ho sighed heavily.
"Well it was a thread of the whole group together excluding the british guy that was here, anyways that's not the point. After I posted that dispatch came out with photos of us at the airport, you know when I picked you up. Apparently they weren't going to release them because they didn't know if it was me but they just did because of my post."
What the fuck. She thought to herself as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Korean media went hard when it came to celebrities and seeing as how she was soon going to get more fame by staying here she didn't know what to expect. She was also concerned because it wasn't even like that, but then again hugging someone of the opposite sex let alone picking them up is a sign of relationships in Korea.
"Okay so what the fuck do you want me to do Min-Ho? I have a business that I just expanded out here I don't need to be blacklisted before it even opens. And you have a career that could end because of this." She looked over at him while still trying to take in how serious of a situation this was.
"I know, but the good thing is none of my fans actually hate you they're all happy about it, they looked into you and know ow competent you are and they love you. It's just I don't really want to clear this up." He gave her that look. The look that he gave her when he asked her to be his girlfriend. That same look that was given when he promised to come back to her. The exact same look that he gave her when they spent countless hours sitting on his old apartment's shitty rooftop while she would explain something he knew nothing about.
No. no no no. This can not be happening again.
"민호야, 다시는 안 되겠다." She looked over at him with pleading eyes. (Min-Ho we can't do this again)
"그거 좋지?" (why not?)
"난 너를 가질 자격이 없어, 난 내 자신을 거의 돌볼 수 없어. 그냥 친구로 지내자." She got up to go grab some water from the kitchen and he was right behind her. (I don't deserve you, I can barely take care of myself let's just stay friends.)
"다시 해보고 싶다."(I want to try again)
"가족과 직업을 생각하면 절대 효과가 없을 거예요. 전 부인의 트로피 부인이 되고 싶지도 않고 부모님의 말씀을 듣고 싶지도 않아요." (that won't ever work think of your family and occupation. I don't want to be your trophy wife and I sure as hell don't want to listen to your parents.)
He watched as she poured the water and took a sip. "You may be right, maybe in another lifetime but I want you to know I was incredibly happy with you and you will always continue to make me happy i'm glad that we still have our friendship i'll be sure to clear that with the press tomorrow, goodnight." He waved once more to Damien and walked out looking deflated.
When he was gone Salem sat back in the couch where she explained everything that just happened to Damien. "Looks like all that serial dating is catching up to you huh?" He joked while holding in a laugh. She threw a pillow at him and rolled her eyes. "Shut the fuck up or i'm telling Matteo."
"Okay okay you win."
She thought to herself that maybe it was time to stop dating for a while. The constant stress of having to deal with men and their issues was never good, they always ended up being or doing something really shady and Salem was so fucking tired of it. She wasn't one who liked to deal with drama and the way she was moving was making her life way too complicated.
"It's your birthday tomorrow and all of you guys go back 2 days after what are your plans for Korea?" She asked looking at the back of Damien's head.
He turned to face her. "I mean knowing you, you're probably going to hang out with me for almost the entire day before you go get drunk with your friends so whatever you have planned i'll just follow along."
She molded her head and looked up thinking if things to do. "Hmmmm, how about we go have a day just the two of us, we can go take pictures, go on tours, and maybe we can have the traditional hanbok experience?"
"I have no clue what any of that is but it sounds good to me."
"Alright then, i'm going to bed in the morning we can head out to the subway and find our way around, sound good?"
"Sounds good." He replied as he kissed her forehead and headed down the hall to him room.
The morning was hectic. She woke up to Damien sitting in the kitchen with Saul, Sai, Reign, Hyesol, and Solana. Solana was going on about how it was Damien's birthday and she needed to make seaweed soup for him as she rummaged through all of Salems cabinets. Damien just watched her in awe. Hyesol and reign were looking through all of her books and putting their grimey little hands on her stuff, while Saul and Sai were watching some soccer game on the tv.
"I love how I can't get any peace and quiet in my own home that I paid for." She said while yawing and walking through her living room to the kitchen.
"Well good morning to you Jagi, it looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Saul replied while winking. In turn she flipped him off and walked over to Damien to wish him a happy birthday.
"buon compleanno fratello maggiore." She said while pinching and kissing both of his cheeks. (happy birthday big brother).
"Thank you Tesoro." he said while patting her head.
"I told your mom I would call them, but I don't know if I should because of the time zones." She was disappointed because she knew he missed his family, he spent almost every birthday with them so this was probably upsetting to him.
"I'm sure they're all awake, they have nothing better to do it's 12 there now hurry up and call."
"I'm scared."
"Okay then call them on my phone, problem solved Tesoro."
"Okay."
She got everyone to be quiet before she called and then she gathered the courage to call Matteo. After the 5th ring he finally answered the FaceTime call.
"Cosa vuoi, idiota, è meglio che sia importante." He hadn't looked down at the phone yet and he didn't realize it was Salem. (What do you want idiot if better be important).
"non è questo il modo di parlare alla tua sorellina." Salem replied with a pout. (That's no way to speak to your little sister.)
He immediately looked down at the phone and stopped what he was doing. "Ohhhh my sweetheart i'm so sorry I though it was Damien being annoying again, what's up?"
"Can you gather everyone to sing him happy birthday, neither of us could be in Italy this year for his birthday and I know he misses you guys."
"How do you even know i'm with the family right now?"
"Because it's almost christmas and you guys always get together the day before Damien's birthday to save time."
"Well you got me there, Mamma just went to bed and Papá might just be going to sleep, how about you call back in the morning hmm?"
Salem pouted, she was disappointed that she had barely missed them and she wanted Damien to have the best birthday without being in Italy.
"Don't pout tesoro i'll call you later okay?"
"Okay." She sighed.
"Ti amo, sorellina."
"Ti amo." She replied before hanging up.
"Damien i'm sad now, can we just watch tv for the rest of the day I don't feel like leaving." She whines while wrapping her arms around his torso.
"I guess your crybaby tendencies haven't changed, and yes we can I don't feel like doing much anyways I just want to go to this club later." He replies while patting her head.
"Yay, i'll get the blankets and popcorn"
"Sounds good to me tesoro."
AN: This chapter is filler, I want to get more into her time in Korea and basically just her without Damien there to guide and help her this also might be a better opportunity for Saul...if you know what I mean 😏