I think, at the end of this crazy adventure, I should just give Soon Young my phone to keep. Not only has he made himself the self-proclaimed DJ of my tiny car—which he has also named The Tiger's Raspberry—but he's also downloaded all of his favorite games to it. I practically have to wrestle it from him when we stop for bathroom breaks or I need to make a check-in call with my parents.
"Soon Young," I say, my hands tightening across the wheel. "Why don't you plug your phone in to charge? We should be rolling into the venue around six." Two hours before showtime. Two hours until this is all over.
I crack my head as the sun continues its journey across the sky, always hurtling towards its daily death. That's the one and only thing I hate about winter—how short our days are. (That, and daylight savings time; sure, the added hour of sleep is helpful when the days are darker, but when summer comes around? There's nothing I hate more than feeling jet-lagged for days after losing that precious hour.)
"Do you want me to drive?" he counters, a smile playing across his gentle face.
I shake my head. "It's okay, I'm fine." My words are distorted by a betraying yawn.
"Zara, if I can survive driving in Seoul traffic, I can survive driving the rest of the way to the venue. Trust me. I got this."
I grip my steering wheel tighter, unwilling to relinquish my grip on my car. Sure, we had survived Soon Young's driving throughout much of Missouri and Arkansas, but now that we were deep in Texas, I wasn't willing to give up driving privileges to an idol. Especially not an idol who needed to be on stage in less than 12 hours, when we still have another six hour drive ahead of us. And the concert is eight hours away. He needed to be rested up as much as he can be before performing in front of his adoring fans.
"Zara, you can trust me with your car. And I guarantee we'll get there a lot faster if you do."
"I promise you, I'm fine to drive. There's no need for you to exhaust yourself before your concert."
The moment the words escape my lips, I realize I didn't sound as convincing as I hoped I would be. When I gave Soon Young the wheel overnight, I had woken up to see him going 90 in a 70 miles per hour zone. Sure, that had shaved about five minutes off our drive in the long run, but he was so unbelievably lucky that no cops ended up pulling us over. I just wasn't sure that I was ready for him to take over again.
"And I promise you that we'll get into an accident if you keep driving us there. You're falling asleep at the wheel, and it's making me nervous," he replies, one of his hands reaching over to steady the wheel.
Dammit, he was right. Without realizing it, the car had begun swerving into the other lane, causing other drivers to shoot me dirty looks as they zipped by. And my speed had dropped to 60 miles per hour.
I slap my hand against the wheel in frustration. "Fine," I reply begrudgingly. "You win this time; I'll find some place to pull over." Even as I said it, I could feel the weight of my heavy eyelids and the exhaustion in my own voice. I never was one to listen to the obvious signs my body was giving me. I always had to keep pushing, keep running, without looking back—even if it meant dashing mindlessly toward a goal.
Soon Young crows in excitement. "Oh thank goodness. I really was worried you were going to drive us into the field for a second there."
I shake my head, but I can't stop the grin from spreading across my face. It was nice to have someone, outside of my family, worry about me. Now, I just had to ignore the warmth blooming across my chest. And the flush expanding in my cheeks.
*****
"Zara," a warm hand curls around my shoulder, jostling me awake. "Zara, I need you to wake up now." Is it just me, or does the voice sound mildly... Panicked?
"Zara!" the voice is shouting now, as the car jerked into a sharp right hand turn.
I jerk awake, my arms flailing about as my eyes shoot open. The car comes to a screeching halt, the front tire bumping against the curb. A few pedestrian's with strollers shrieked as they moved farther up on the sidewalk, their glares strong enough to send my soul shriveling.
"How long was I asleep?" I gasp as Soon Young throws the car into park.
"Six hours. Long enough for us to arrive in Dallas and for the GPS to confuse me," he replies, his face flushed with embarrassment.
Huh, it's weird that admitting that fact was so embarrassing to him. As someone who spends his life on the stage, I would've expected it to take a lot to embarrass him. Or maybe that's just a side effect of sporting a public persona? Even though we haven't spent much time together, something told me that Soon Young is a person who enjoys being the life of the party, while also hating the uncomfortable feeling of embarrassment. I get it; in fact, I probably understand that better than the average person.
"I thought that you were comfortable driving in the city?" I tease. "That you had spent countless hours driving around Seoul and were comfortable with that fact?"
He shakes his head, his teeth worrying at his lower lip. "The concert starts in less than two hours and I'm missing sound check, Zara. Can you please take over and get us to the venue?"
Guilt pulses through my chest, an embarrassed flush crawling up the sides of my neck. I know how awful it feels to be teased when something hasn't gone well (I try to block out the thoughts of being the butt of the joke at almost all of my part-time jobs) and how sensitive someone could be before the start of a major event. And a concert? On a world tour? Nothing could ramp up the nerves more, I am sure of it.
"Hey," I say softly, reaching out to set a hand on top of Soon Young's trembling one. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have teased you like that. Let's switch and I'll get us to the venue, okay? At least with enough time for you to get ready and warm up for the show."
Soon Young ducks his head, a small smile playing on his sculpted lips as he keeps his hand beneath my own. His fingers tighten over the gearshift of the Raspberry.
"I'll walk outside of the car and you can climb over into the passenger seat, okay? I can only imagine how many fans are still wandering around the city and heading to the concert venue."
And in all honesty, I have no idea where we are. Peering out the windows, all I can see is an endless row of high rises built from a mixture of glass, steel, brick, and concrete. I have never been to Dallas before, let alone helped an idol travel half-way across the country in two days to make it to his concert on time. Thank god for the Maps app on my phone; that truly has been a lifesaver over the past few days, although I wince to think about how high my phone bill is going to be next month once the data usage hits.
Soon Young nods, his fingers reaching for his seat belt. Quiet clicks fill the cabin of the car as I reach for the door and run outside, shutting it behind me. A few of the disgruntled mother's from earlier glare at me, muttering under their breath as I dash around the hot hood of my car and wait for passing traffic to blow past where I stand in the street.
Soon Young has my phone back in hand as I slide back behind the steering wheel, the leather warm from where his hands had just been sitting. I'm grateful that no warning lights are on my dashboard—from the wheezing sounds my engine was making, it made me worry that my car was on its last legs. Honestly, with the way my life has been going lately, it would be just my luck if my car decided to choke while I'm in Texas.
"Can I have my phone, please?" I ask, reaching out for the device that Soon Young was protectively holding in his hand. "I need to see the route."
With a disgruntled sigh, Soon Young plops my warm phone back in my hand. He plugs the device into my charger as I flip through the open apps in my background and re-open the maps app. The blue route line zigzags through the maze of Dallas, coming to a halt at the venue. Which, thankfully enough, is only ten minutes away from where we are.
Why was Soon Young unable to get us to the venue? He clearly had a handle on it until he freaked out and woke me up from my power nap (to which I will begrudgingly admit I did need. I feel like an entirely new person now that I have worked off my exhaustion.) Unless... No, there is no way.
A cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. Put the car into drive, merge back into traffic, arrive at the venue, say goodbye to Soon Young. An easy enough plan in theory—so what is this dread that is settling in my chest?
"Turn on some music," I croak, handing my phone back over to him. The directions will play through my car speakers easily enough.
I can feel the weight of Soon Young's stare as he half-turns to face me. "Are you okay?"
I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut before opening them again. "I'm fine, just shaking off my nap."
Neither of us believes me as I flick on my blinker and re-merge with the traffic blowing past on the city street. Ten more minutes—just ten more minutes and then I can focus on saying goodbye.
*****
My hands are trembling as I flick on my blinker and merge with the stream of traffic heading toward the concert venue. I thought K-pop fans were always early, but apparently I was wrong. From my view in the driver's seat, it seems as if the entire Dallas area is packing into this venue to see Seventeen. What is more amazing is seeing the range of ages of people lining up to enter the venue—from disgruntled looking parents to shrieking fans as young as the age of eleven, to the euphoric twenty-somethings. From our spot in the trafficked roads surrounding the arena, we can see a few groups of people circling up, Seventeen's music blasting from a speaker somewhere on the ground.
Soon Young grins and points out the fans thrashing around in a somewhat organized manner. "They're doing dance challenges to our songs," he says proudly. "I've always wanted to run out and crash one of those, but my manager keeps saying it's too dangerous to do so."
I shake my head. "Well, considering you managed to get lost in Chicago and travelled across the US with a stranger, I think surprising fans will be the least insane thing you do on this tour."
He laughs, the warm sound filling the cabin. "I love that you enabled that plan just now."
I shrug. "I've had enough people say 'no' to me throughout my life. I want to be a 'yes' person when I can."
Silence drapes between us like a welcome blanket, warm from spending too many hours tumbling in the dryer.
Soon Young laughs suddenly, startling me out of my concentration as I irritate some staffers who are controlling traffic.
I glance over at him, reveling in the pure joy lining his smooth face. "What is it?"
He shakes his head, his laughter continuing to escape from between his lips. "I can't figure you out, Zara. One moment you're brooding and look like you're on the verge of crying. The next? The next, you are telling me that less people should be saying 'no' to my wants. I can't seem to read your mind."
I shrug. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises."
"Yes you are," he replies, his laughter finally dying off.
It is at that moment that I need to slam on the brakes. I throw my right arm out, pressing it against Soon Young's warm chest to prevent his forehead from slamming into the dashboard in front of him. The last thing we need is to dash to the hospital because Soon Young split open his forehead hours before he's supposed to be on stage.
I raise my eyes from the steering wheel to meet the disgruntled gaze of a security guard. His head is slowly shaking and the frown seems permanently etched into his face as he walks toward the driver's door of the Raspberry, his neon vest shimmering in the sunset.
I don't wait for him to knock along the window, I roll it down with an unabashed smile on my face. A few angered honks sound from behind me, the cars being quickly ushered away by some other security team members.
"Good evening," I say cheekily, trying to throw as much positivity into my voice as I can.
The guy merely stares at me as one of his eyebrows inches toward the edge of his hairline. "Is it? You've circled the arena three times now and have almost run me over at least twice."
I try to contain my wince.
"Ma'am, what's so hard about parking in any of the designated spots you are avoiding?"
"I need to reach the backstage area," I say with a rush of breath. 'I—"
The guard shakes his head. "You and the thousands of other fans here. I'm sorry, but I can't allow that."
I shake my head, waving my hands in front of me. "No, no, you don't understand—"
"No, I understand better than you think I do. You are just one of many fans that thinks they can skirt past our barriers and break into the talent dressing room. Either you park your car in the parking garage or you leave the property. These are your choices."
I open my mouth to argue with the security guard, but before a word can escape my lips, Soon Young is leaning across my lap and toward the open window.
"Sorry," he says in adorably accented English. "My manager was telling security to let this car in. I am a part of Seventeen. You know Hoshi? That's me."
The security guard blinks at him. "You're not pulling my leg right now, are you?"
I huff impatiently. "Can you walkie backstage and verify? He's running out of time to get ready before the show."
The guard waves me off and steps away, the beeping on his walking echoing across the pavement. I glance at Soon Young, who has a hand worriedly messing up his hair. Without hesitating, I reach up and straighten out his bangs, my fingers combing through his feather-soft hair.
"You don't want the makeup and hair team to be more upset with you than they probably already are," I whisper.
I don't think I'm mistaking it when a pink flush rises in his cheeks and spreads to his ears. Warmth of my own is spreading across my face.
"Weren't your staff supposed to let security know that you were arriving later? And in a tiny red car?" I ask, quickly changing the subject. The last thing we need is to acknowledge the strangeness rising between us.
"Yeah," Soon Young replies. "But, clearly, that message was not shared everywhere."
"That's just my luck, honestly. Nothing ever seems to go right when I'm around," I mumble.
Soon Young jerks his attention and stares at me, his mouth agape in horror. "I hope you don't think I blame you for anything that's happened over the last few days. If anything, this road trip has been a highlight of the tour."
I frown at him. "Really?" I can't help but be skeptical of him. I seem to repel people and job opportunities at every turn, so how on earth could Soon Young have enjoyed any moment he spent in my presence?
"Hey," he says, gently taking my hand and squeezing once before letting go. The ghost of his touch danced across my hand. "Stop doubting yourself so much. You're an awesome person to be around, everyone else is a fool for not seeing that."
I furiously blink, dashing away the emotion stinging at my eyes. "Thanks" is all I'm able to choke out.
The guard takes that moment to return to my open car window, a puzzled expression on his face. "I contacted backstage and was able to get confirmation that you two are to be allowed entry to the back entrance."
There is absolutely no doubt that this guard was completely skeptical of our cover story, but that doesn't matter. What matters now is getting Soon Young safety behind the security barriers and backstage—where he belongs.
I give the guard a belated "thank you" as he's stepping away from my wheezing car and motioning to the other security guards meandering around the traffic barriers. I squeeze the wheel beneath my hands as we wait for the metal barriers to be lifted out of our path to the backstage area.
With grins growing on our faces, I pull away from the security point and ease past the barriers blocking fan traffic from the backstage area. My worn tires crunch over the cracked pavement and pebbles strewn about the backstage area. Three semis and two black passenger vans idle in the back, while a handful of staff members dressed all in black smoke by the back door. I pull into an empty parking spot and finally shut my engine off.
"Soon Young, we did it," I say, turning to the grinning idol sitting in my car. "We've made it to your concert!"
So why does my chest tighten at the thought of finally saying goodbye?
*****
A/N: Hey guys! How are you all doing? It's been about two months since I last updated this fanfiction and I finally was able to push through my writer's block and get to writing this story again. But I'm so to announce that I only have two more chapters left before I wrap up this fanfiction. Stay tuned and stay healthy!