Page 51 of When Worlds Collide
“Kaiya, this is Lee Sungmin.”
“Hello, Kaiya-ssi.” He said, smiling broadly at me.
“Informal is okay,” Jihoon said to Lee, who looked at Jihoon before saying, “Okay,” Looking back at me, he held out his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you.” His voice was heavily accented, and I could tell he had to think about the words, but hell if he wasn’t better at English than I was at Korean, so…
“Annyeonghaseyo, Lee Sungmin.” I replied, taking his warm hand and shaking politely, probably putting equal amounts of effort into the words, but going off his delighted expression, I can’t have buggered it up too bad.
“You speak Korean?” he asked in English.
“Badly,” I replied, shaking my head, even as I felt my cheeks heating.
“He speaks bad English.” Ace came up behind Lee, putting his hands on his shoulders, which Lee immediately shrugged off with a cry of protest. Ace jumped out of reach with the grin I’d seen so often in Lives and during interviews. It was surreal to see it in real life. Turning his attention back to Jihoon and I, he moved over to us and held out his hand, which I took and shook lightly.
“Hello, Kaiya, I’m happy to meet you.”
I was starting to think we’d been sold a lie about the English proficiency of these guys. They were always lamenting how terrible each other was, but frankly, I wasn’t seeing any evidence of it. A suspicion was starting to form in my mind, and I glanced up at Jihoon with slightly narrowed eyes, but seeing his attention fixed on his younger members in front of us, I decided to leave it. For now.
“Why are you here?” Jihoon demanded as he moved his hand from mine to snake around my waist. While I enjoyed it, I was surprised at the blatant – and frankly territorial display. It was a deliberate gesture; his hand was too firm to be anything but. It felt like he was making a statement here, in private, where he couldn’t in public.
The gesture was obviously not lost on the other two either, as they both glanced down to where Jihoon’s hand was firmly on my hip, before looking back up.
Seokmin spoke up first.
“It’s Christmas,” he declared, as if this answered the question, gesturing expansively at the tree.
“We did not think Kyungsoo would decorate before enlistment,” Lee picked up the explanation.
“Did Kyungsoo tell you to decorate his apartment?” Jihoon turned a steely gaze on Lee.
“No,” Seokmin answered brightly, "he does not know we’re here.”
Lee rolled his eyes and batted the younger man on the arm, before turning back to me.
“We thought we would help. To make Kaiya feel welcome.” He grinned broadly at me, and despite my reservations, hell, my complete bewilderment, I found myself grinning back at him. His expression was so open that I kind of couldn’t help it.
Looking at both of them standing there, in plain and unassuming clothes, so far removed from any of the designer or stage outfits I’d ever seen them in, they were just a couple of Jihoon’s friends, and not the idol group I’d spent the past few years admiring.
Jihoon sighed, but the gesture was so exaggerated I could tell he didn’t really mean it.
“It’s just a tree, no…” he looked down at me and made a gesture with his hand, like he was holding a ball.
“Oh,” I said, picking up the hint, “baubles.”
Jihoon nodded, “No baubles. No decorations.”
“Ah,” Lee said, wagging his finger and eyebrow in admirable synchronicity. “We know where these things are. Seokminee!” he called out to Ace, who had wandered away to look at the memorabilia on the shelves. Hearing his name, Seokmin looked over. Lee said something to him in Korean, and at my confused expression, Jihoon translated for me.
“He’s telling Seokmin to get the boxes.”
This became self-evident, as the youngest member crossed the room to the wall behind the sofa and pressed open a discreet cupboard I’d not noticed. He rummaged for a few moments, moving things aside, before pulling a large box out from the recess and dragging it across the wooden floor to where the Christmas tree stood, bare of ornamentation.
Lee walked over before kneeling down next to Seokmin and together, they popped the lid off the box, revealing a tapestry of colour I could see from where I stood.
“Jackpot,” Seokmin said, his accent sliding over the plosive sounds.
Irresistibly, I joined them at the box of decorations, dragging Jihoon with me, although he did drop the hand he’d clamped around my waist.
