I stepped out of the airport and the mid-day humidity hit me like a wet rag. Summer in Atlanta was in full swing, and this was not even the hottest part of the season. Nikki was waiting for me in the pick up line. She jumped out of the car and hugged me. She held me at arm's length and looked at my face. She said, "something is different. How could you have changed in less than 3 weeks?" She looked at me and gasped. "You met someone, didn't you? I expect a full report on the way home! You will provide details." I promised to tell her everything but first I had to let people know I had arrived safely. "Wait, I am your people. What people are you talking about? You have no other people!" she exclaimed. I pulled her close and told her to smile for the photo. "Let's get you loaded up and out of this heat!"
We loaded my suitcases into the back of her SUV and climbed in. The kids were at school so it was just us. I had missed my best friend, but I missed Minhyuk more. Once I got fastened in, I texted Halmeoni and Minhyuk. I sent him the selca of me and Nikki with a note, "I landed well and Nikki is taking me home now. I love you."
Nikki was only casually into K-pop, but she loved watching K-dramas with me. She knew Monsta X because of how much I talked about them and tried to pull her down the rabbit hole. As she drove, I shared the highlights of my trip. I told her about all the places I had visited, especially the spots from our favorite dramas, about meeting Halmeoni and staying with her, and about meeting and hanging out with Monsta X. I filled her in on everything except the romance. I was saving that for later, but she wasn't giving up easily and kept prodding me for information.
We got back to my apartment and Simon was happy to see me. To demonstrate, he rubbed against my legs, meowed, and then moved away from me so I could not pet him. He was punishing me for being gone so long. I laughed at him and told him I had missed him too. We wheeled my luggage to the bedroom, and I fell back on the bed. It did feel good to be in my own bed again, I had to admit that. Nikki plopped down beside me, propped on her arm, and resumed her interrogation. Her face was lit up and she poked my arm playfully. I looked at her and started laughing. It felt good to laugh. I released a lot of my tension just then and felt a little brighter.
"So, now the good stuff. You have my undivided attention. Who is he?"
"I surely do not know what you mean," I feigned innocence.
"Come on, I see it. You met someone. I hear it in your voice and I see it in your eyes. Spill it. Is he hot? Is he Korean?? Did you do it?" She said that last one in a loud whisper. I could not help but laugh at her. Nikki was a widowed mother of 2 young teenagers and lived vicariously through me, now that I was single again.
"The answer to all those questions is YES. But you won't believe me when I tell you." My arm was over my eyes. I turned to face her and propped on my hand.
"Try me," she leaned in closer.
"Well, you know I hung out with Monsta X," she nodded.
"Was it the hot bodyguard? Wait, no... a trainee? Oh man, those trainees are young. No, it wasn't that... let's see... was it an intern?" I could see all the pistons firing in her brain as she thought of possible scenarios. Her imagination was running wild... but not wild enough.
"Not exactly..." I paused and she poked my arm to continue. "It was better than anything you are going to imagine," I paused for effect. "It was... Minhyuk." Nikki started laughing and rolled back on the bed.
"Oh Sunny, that was good. Now tell me who it was really." I opened my phone and showed her the selca of us that morning. Then I pulled down my top to show her his mark. She sat up and took the phone from my hands as her eyes grew huge. She looked back and forth between the two, "are you serious? Wha...HOW...?" her voice went up about 3 octaves.
I took the phone back and looked at him again. My heart filled with love and with sadness at the same time. "I honestly don't know. Remember Halmeoni that I told you about? It kinda started with her. She is I.M's grandmother and very sneaky!"
"You have got to be kidding me right now. Did you win the lottery too?" she asked, only partly joking.
"In a way, I guess I did. Oh Nikki, I miss him so much. My heart feels like it was ripped in half and part of it stayed in Seoul. What am I going to do?"
"You are going to get on with life, Sunny. We are not going to go through that again. You are strong and you can survive this. It was just a fling and you will be over him in a couple of weeks. You just need to get back to your routine."
"The problem is that it truly wasn't just a fling. We said 'it'. Both of us. I have never felt this before. It is different than it ever was with Jackass."
"Wait, you said the 'L' word?? Are you serious? Why would you do such a thing? You were only there 2 weeks!"
"Because it is real. I promise it was not just a fling. I tried to convince myself that it was nothing more than a fangirl crush, believe me I did. But it turned out to be much more. We even put a lock on the tower rail."
"Sunny, he is a world-famous K-pop star... A lock at Namsan tower?" she paused then shook her head and continued, "he has his share of girls, I am sure. I mean, look at him!"
"That is exactly my point. He could have anyone he wanted yet he chose me. And you don't know my MinMin. He is not like that. He is a precious, beautiful man who is sensitive, thoughtful, intelligent, bright, witty, and sensual. He is not out for a one-night-stand or a fling. And if he had wanted a fling with me, we would have done it in the janitorial closet and been done."
"Girl, you got it bad don't ya?"
"Apparently I do," I sighed. I picked up a pillow and hit her with it. She caught it and we just started laughing. My phone dinged and it was Minhyuk. He was video chatting me. I answered the call and scooted closer to Nikki. I introduced them and then said, "Nikki was just about to go to the kitchen. Wasn't she?" I pushed her off the bed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you two lovebirds have a nice chat. I will be out here... all alone... and probably listening at the door." I threw another pillow at her and she ducked. She stuck her tongue out at me as she closed the door behind her.
"I am glad you got home safely. I miss you, Noona. The guys wanted me to tell you they miss you too." Just then, Hyungwon popped up on the screen and waved, "hi Noona!", then Wonho and Shownu, and then finally Changkyun, Joohoney, and Kihyun followed suit. "I only have a minute. We are in dance practice now and break is almost over."
"I miss you too, MinMin. I can't wait to see the new choreography. Will you dance for me soon?"
"Yes, I will dance for you. I want to take you dancing. I want to take you on another proper date. The kind that people have where they don't have to hide." His face darkened for a moment and I saw a flash of anger. It disappeared just as fast.
"Let's handle one thing at a time. First we have to be in the same country!" we laughed and chatted for a couple of minutes before he had to go back to work.
Nikki opened the door and poked her head around slowly in case another pillow was headed her way. I motioned her to come in. "You may be right about him, hun." I shot her a look and she just laughed. "Come on, let's go get food. I am starving!"