Zeal's APPARTMENT
...….
YP Entertainment, Seoul
I am tired. The receptionist stands up to greet him. I enter the manager's office.
"You've come? Please sit." She says beckoning him to sit. "Here's a gift from my side. I see that you and the translator are not getting acclimatized to each other. I've have a gift for you. I hope this will help to fix your relationship." She says pushing an envelope on the table.
I wonder what it could be. As I start ripping the edge to open the letter, the door clicks open and…I don't know what to say. We've been awkward since I read her personal diary. I have been so nice to her but she just sees me as a hooligan. She s annoys me and that's the universal truth.
"Good Morning, ma'am! Hello Mr. Zeal." She says as she sits down in the seat beside me and I resume the process of opening the envelope.
Ooh what could be there? Money? A coupon to buy music gadgets? Worse, a library card? I was excited and nervous. I take out two rectangular pieces of paper.
"AMUSEMENT PARK TICKETS!?"
I want to sue this company.
LOTTE WORLD, Seoul
"Why are we here?" I think as we reach the entrance.
"Are you both friends ?" the person scanning the tickets with his hands says scanning them with his eyes. "Nah, more like mortal enemies." She says. Here are your wrist bands. We wear them. "You look like an ice- cream? Didn't you have anything better to dress up?" I say with a grin. She was wearing a beige colored jeans with a baby-pink balloon crop top.
"I am sure 90% of your beauty could be removed with a Kleenex." She says with a 'screw-you' expression. I ignore her and walk towards the map. Sunshine was percolating through the clouds. Little kids were creating havoc and their parents were talking among each other. It was crowdy but I don't know why my heart was feeling quite happy. "Let's ride the Ferris Wheel." I say. "Hmm..no" She says.
We walk to the Roller costar. We take seats at its tip. It starts moving slowly. An odd feeling starts tickling my shoulders. It starts moving in circles. With a jerk it moves to a tangential line towards a water tub. I am gonna die, I don't know swimming. The ride moves underwater. After 5 minutes it comes back to the starting point. We were fully drenched as we were not wearing water proof clothes. "Horrendous experience" I say. "You almost blew my eardrums. Even god would have become deaf because you shouting his name so loudly." She says mockingly.
"Let's have Fairy floss?" she says pointing toward a vendor. "You mean cotton candy?" I ask. "It's called fairy floss." "A fancy name by Ms.Facilier." He says to her. They move to the vendor. "Can I get a fairy floss?"-"Can I get a cotton candy?" Our words clash at the same time. "Sorry kids we neither sell fairy floss nor cotton candy here." "Then what is this?" We ask as it looked too much like what we wanted. "It's Merlin's Beard" the old man says with an ear to ear to ear smile which makes his skin fold. "Gosh." "Two of it, please." We say avoiding the use of the name.
"I am feeling cold" she says. Evening had started to set and the breeze was blowing and we hadn't bothered to change our clothes. We walk towards a store in the shape of creepy house. Neon lights was shining brightly from its window. A perfect ghost house, I think. "Hello!" a cheerful lady exclaims hopping from her seat. She was oddly dressed with overdone makeup. "I believe you want to buy some clothes." "Yes" she replies. We emerge out of the changing rooms after a few minutes. We were dressed in Hogwart's robes.
She was dressed as a Ravenclaw student and I was dressed as a Slytherin. We stare at each other and then move our heads away. We didn't have any option, we had to wear them. We come out of the store. Night had set in. "Let's have coffee and then head back home" she says. I nod.
We move towards a coffee house under the colorful lights of the frenetic city lights. I was feeling the odd stares of the people around us but I was happy. She wasn't doing anything except sitting in front of me leaning on the table but I was feeling my whole universe spinning around her centre. Even taking a sip of my coffee was like taking a sip of eternity, the star, the moon, never tasted so good. "Would you be my friend ?" She asks in a low voice. I wish you could hear all the words I am too afraid to say, I think. You are so brave and ebullient that I had forgotten that you were suffering...
The window was open and the damp breeze flew through his head taking the memory away. It was the first day of his new life.
He stands and moves to the washroom. After some time he emerges from the washroom, with a white towel wrapped around his waist. He looks into the dressing mirror. Just moments before dark blonde locks were attached to his head. He runs his hand through his hair that stretched over his scalp, thicker than the stems of the plants in the evergreen forests. His hair were red now. They were coarse to touch, all trace of softness gone. This was the new him. He had to be tough and composed. It was time that the nice guy finished, the tough one was ready to take its place.
Zeal's APPARTMENT
Zeal was sitting on the couch reading a file of papers.
"So what is the schedule for the day?" He asks.
"We will go to the music studio where your first song 'Me and You' of your album 'US: My Universe' will be recorded. At 12 we will start for the location of the shooting of the song. It will take us around 3 hours to reach there. There is a rehearsal shooting at 15:30. The final one is at 17:30, as we have to capture the sunset for the video. At 21:00 there is a party with the crew members to celebrate the shoot of the first song of your first album." His manager says.
"What about my school?" He asks.
"Today was supposed to be your first day but because the album is being released early so the songs have to be also shot early, so you will be going to the school from tomorrow. We have already talked to the principle about your schooling. They are ready to adjust some classes according to our convenience. You will attend school from 6:00 to 15:30. After which we will pick you up and drop you to the music studio." His manager replies.
"I still don't know about the girl who is shooting with me" He says nonchalantly.
"Oh, yes. Her name is Sua. She is also under our agency. 'Me and you' will be her debut song."His manager says.
"What are the dates of recording for the other songs?" He asks.
"3 OCT: You in Me
6 OCT: Touch
9 OCT: First Love
10 OCT: Memories
17 OCT: Stay
23 OCT: I'll Be Waiting for You
26 OCT: Strangers" His manager replies.
"Ok." He says.