Through The Tow-In Wave

“WOAHHH!” I readied myself to pop the party poppers. By distancing myself away from the table and positioning at the corner of the room, the confetti won’t land on the feast of Tai’s lifetime.

“WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Umberto moved in front from me, taking the camera with him. Getting shivers of goosebumps all over him just from witnessing the poppers in my hand, he covered himself underneath the ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY‘ banners and balloons.

Seriously, does he think that alone will be enough to not get ambushed by a pre-planned poppers?

“TAI! MY BOY! YOU HAVE MATURED!” Yutaka cried into the pillow. The balloons flew away from his outburst causing it to land on the camera. Umbie furrowed his eyebrow only for Yutaka to just shrug it off.

“I CAN FINALLY DRIVE A CAR!” Tai’s face was smothered in smugness, which quickly vanished under my glare.

The four of us screamed as Tai blew out all the candles on the cake as soon as the poppers went off one by one. I did two, followed by Yutaka who did three and Tai ended it by doing only one.

Because he couldn’t hold himself back before gobbling down a bite onto the cake.

The cake was a three tier cake, each layer coated with different flavors and decorative toppings. Not only that but the whole table was covered with the greasiest fast foods ever delivered.

It’s been a week since Tai signed the contract, and the shoot is finally happening next month.

With practices wrapped up and the concepts finalized one last time, the company is going to be a nightmare about his diet and skin care. So before that happens, he is enjoying his freedom to the max capacity before getting locked away in gym.

Internationally, Tai is now 17 years old.

On the other hand, in South Korea he is now 18 years old.

Due to a simple math equation:-

International Age + 1 = South Korean Age

Because here, you are considered 1 year old at birth itself.

“Just because you can drive now, doesn’t mean you have to.” Yutaka pleaded with his number one customer, who was more focused on the cake we baked on the live stream with Blueys.

“I don’t care! I am old enough-” I showed Tai the screenshot I took of a very normal birthday message from the chat.

It’s from the account : AMYXTEI.

Who else could it be other than DANNNAS maknae Anna’s secret fan account.

AKA his girlfriend of two years.

AKA the devil who punched my guts and made me their messenger pigeon.

“Oh well, hyung….I will need someone to teach me how to drive. Will you teach me?”

At that Yutaka lunged from the couch onto Tai’s lap, causing them to topple on top of each other.

Also, note that the cake Tai was eating fell on both of their faces.

“Bluey, please buy our albums so that this mere zookeeper can pay the dog’s and guerrilla’s medical bills on time.” I bowed to the floor, amusing our fashionable, dashing cameraman.

“Seriously, why is the chat blowing up like this?” Umbie looked puzzled, and eyed me for being the main reason.

“Isn’t it a good thing?” Tai asked me, trying to clean off the lemony yellow frosting from his face. Yutaka helped him with the wet-wipes Umbie prepared, along with hand-sanitizers, tissues and all the cleaning supplies…. you could name.

“Yeah, but not for the reasons you might think.” I looked past Umbie’s frustrated, crooked smile, knowing that translating and reading Korean at the same time is a bit tedious at times. The language barrier was a constant point of friction in his household.

I can’t tell much, but from what I have observed…..

He isn’t that fond of his Korean side as much as he is with his Italian side.

“You did great. Let me take care of this.” I took care of the camera and the tablet while Umbie jumped right into the fun.

As a native speaker, I understood why Umbie was finding so uncomfortable from reading those messages.

bly123 >>>> AWW! TAI CAN FINALLY DRIVE HIS FALSHO! :D

BLU%433 >>>>IT WAS AS IF YESTERDAY HE DEBUTED AT 14! :o

yui4ever7 >>>>HE’S SO MUCH STRONGER! LOOK AT YUTAKA! WE GET IT! 

um&YU143>>>>HAHAHA! THE ZOOKEEPER STRIKES AGAIN!

K01&OT7 >>>> I WONDER WHAT BRIBE DID HE USE THIS TIME? ANY GUESS??????

DUNEY4+3 >>>>SO DEWY, MUST BE WHAT UMBIE MUST BE THINKING! ^^

In between, there were texts like these :

#OT4BD >>>>Finally! He’s 18! That means I get to hit on him!

I$$@(((: >>>>My favorite booty call is legally adult! yayayaya!

0|1£>>>>So….. are we gonna do what we think we are gonna do?

There were more of these, but they were being deleted almost as fast as I could read them.

Now, I get to witness and understand Umbie’s confusion at the chat.

Though the viewer count is showing 420, the messages are getting filtered and replaced with sweet comments I mentioned before.

So that answers the abundance of messages, but the source is something I can’t be very sure of.

Or better yet, very sure of.

That leads to the only one possible person.

“Alright lads! It’s night out for me.” Bracing for the opposition I knew was coming in

3…

2…

1…

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Yutaka waved before getting back at the arm wrestling match with Umbie, who was clearly struggling.

“No issue, boss!” Umbie surrendered, nursing his defeated hand.

Tai nodded with a thumbs up, with cake stuffed in his mouth.

I was stunned at their reaction as soon as I walked out of the room.

Usually they would tell me to stay with them or beg for few minutes.

It’s nothing wrong to be noted of but….

I just couldn’t shake the feeling.

I haven’t told them anything about me and VechNos current situation aside from that kiss.

But, keeping them ignorant of the situation is the safest way possible in case law enforcement come into play.

With all those reasons, I finally have the guts-and the balls-to call that qr code number.

Just for precaution measures, I brought a burner phone from my allowances on way back from the bakery date.

Why did I think of that?

For the past whole week, I have been constantly thinking about her astonished eyes, asking me the same question….

What is it that you like about me?

For all I know is don’t have any feelings of hatreds towards her or even simple comfort. I can be myself around her and keep my guards up while discussion the show’s motives.

I could still recall her loud coughs and heavy breathing from the hall, hopefully she realizes how dumb it was to wear that suffocating headpiece with a fever in the middle of winter.

Not that she ever told me she had fever, but her fatigue made it very obvious on the tape.

The show decided to take a break upon the skyrocketed reviews over the live show to the point that Mr Choi is demanding for higher budget.

We might even get the chance to prerecord the footage.

Which explains my unexpected two weeks off.

But I still had my leader’s duties to manage, which took up most of my free time.

I looked across the table with our schedules pasted on the nearby wall, with Tai constantly on the run for ads, and the producing duo, Yutaka and Umberto, making deadlines for our new song tracks.

In between the dating shows, we did manage to promote our music on a two-three talk shows, each of them accumulating a 100K views up to the latest date.

I was still quite satisfied with this comeback’s performance. Somehow, despite all the drama, it was going better than we had predicted with all that drama….

No point in reflecting the past.

I grabbed the phone and dialed the number, each tone stretching the silence, making the wait more dreadful.

And when she spoke, the silence wrapped around me, isolating me in my own dorm.

“Hello?”

“H-h-h-hi! It’s Lane. You know the guy you are goin-ning on a date show with?”

“Yes, VechNos here. I was a bit surprised. It took you a split second to announce your alliance with me, but it took you this long to call me? What is this hypocrisy?”

“I-I-I can explain-”

“We can do that face to face. Considering you already left the birthday stream, I suggest you go to the bookstore you come so often. I saw it on your profile.”

“Right now?”

“Yes! When else? The shoot is gonna reboot on December 1st. By then, we must have some level of chemistry built up for the views to go up. For now it was all the drama that kept it going. So, without it, what are we left with?”

“Dry conversations?”

“That too. What I mean is DEAD AWFUL CRINGE CHEMISTRY. We need to fix it up.”

Then she hung up on me.

Unbelievable! What kind of audacity does that girl have?

I made my way out of the dorm, tip-toeing down the staircase and into the lobby with (what I hoped was) grace.

Only to be stopped by the very person I have been avoiding all week.

My boss.

“Jiseok, it’s been a while. How about we have walk? Also catch up?”

I pulled down my cap down and nodded, following him out of the company.

I adjusted my denim jacket, at the same time fixed my shoelaces walking down the very familiar route.

I wiped my hand’s sweat around my jeans hoping the moonlight doesn’t give it away to the walking, living ruler right next to me.

I felt the cold swift wind cut through my lungs, making my teeth shatter each second.

I couldn’t help but force my feet to move along with him, causing some tears in my thighs. The amassed lactic acid in my shoulders were seeping through the nerves, causing burning sensation all over my back.

“I think you were 12 when you won that underground Hip-hop battle in America. You were so short back then and look at you all so grown and towering over me! How the times fly!”

I didn’t expect him to start off with our humble origin.

Back then in LA, I used to sneak out at midnight with my roommate, Donnie, into the hoods for these mischief hangouts. We used to write such bad raps that were like commercial breaks for the adults there to enjoy.

Thankfully, there were teens who were very generous to battle with us in rap and dance categories, causing us massive crybaby sessions and growth spurts.

By the time I was 12, me and Donnie were dominating the whole battles.

“Cookies and Creams.” I reminisced our off brand racist, yet cultural duo name.

“You and that black boy got caught in a gun fight right after that win, didn’t ya?”

I froze in my steps. I counted back from a hundred and exhaled, but by then Boss was already right up ahead.

“Poor tweens, trying to break into the music industry. Only one to be on the stage, while the other laid down. If it weren’t for the police, Do-Shin and The Garrisons would have lost you that day.” The moon didn’t come out under the protest, making me regret for some light.

“B-b-but, you called-” My voice crocked up, causing me to cough along my breathes.

“Yes, I did call the police. But you might not be so fortunate next time when I am not around.” He patted my back before going back in.

What did he want-

Donnie-

I don’t-

I-

“Donnie….”

A girl in the moonlight, whipped her head down, towards the whimpering fallen, presumably drunk man, who laid on his stomach on the path.

With such dirty, muddy puddles and a garbage dump nearby, it’s a known fact that no sane person in their right minds would fall asleep here.

But the issue is this is no such man of such a vile description.

It was the exact opposite.

One she never expected to have met up here.

A bit way too early for the sudden meet and greet.

“LANE? You good, bud?” She crouched down, flipping him on his back.

“Vid, isn’t that the LANE guy from the bookstore?” A slender man in jumper helped the fainted man up and onto his back.

“The post I showed you? Yeah, carry him. Please.” She mouthed the last word in silence, not immediately bowing her pride down. The man knew refusing is not a choice in her world.

Plus, he does enjoy helping others.

“I own you this piggy ride, Lane.” The man in gray stripes chuckled and marched on from the chihuahua in green highlights and a oversize violet coat of pockets.

After a dilemma of consent and urgency, she thoroughly checked him top to bottom for any bruises or any other injuries indicating anything that might have caused him to be like this.

“What happened to him? Some sort of extreme panic attack?” She cleansed her hands from the sweat he built-up. Her eyes already scanning the dark intersection of three paths, calculating where a perpetrator could have vanished.

They were heading north towards the streetlights and the pathway next to the highway.

The path towards the bookstore was 20 minutes away from the nearest metro station.

It was situated southwest from where she and her friend came by walking.

Nobody, expect for an old elderly who they dropped off personally to his home, ever ran into them.

That only leads to east.

“That’s where he came from. His company.” She hissed at her intrusive thoughts parachuting onto varies conclusions.

“Look, detective. I ain’t no party pooper, but this guy needs urgent care. Fast.” He propelled the fainted into a more secured position with his white scarf wrapping them both into a bouquet. The girl at once quickened their pace, while holding him from the back.

“Let’s head for the bookstore. Maybe not the best at time, but far away from the lens.”

Her eyes locked onto a hooded figure behind a pole, a flashy camera rig in hand.

“Go, now! You, perv! LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO HIM?”

The figure bolted, but not before the camera had whirred, potentially capturing everything—the cracks in Lane’s armor, and the girl desperately trying to hold him together.

“I WILL SUE YOUR PHOTOS-”

“VIDYA! Get a hold of yourself!”

That dragged back the seriousness of the situation instantly shutting down her hands of grabbing that paparazzi’s neck collar over a cliff.

“We can go after those pictures later! You can text your hacker colleagues about it, just like that birthday stream!” The man reassured her, letting her to blow off some steam elsewhere.

But, for her …. it meant letting them get passed while pushing her into the ditch.

“What the heck am I supposed to do now?” She cried back at him.

“Comfort him! Just like how he helped you with your coughs. Pull him out of it!”

The man eyes glowed in a plea for her to lose the stiffness she craved out from herself. As in some development over her character and relationships with people in general.

“Goddammit!” She cursed along the clouds, fading away from the midnight sky.

Causing for the impending thunderous noise to begin it’s roar.