"You are saying he looks like your first love?" Lili shouted, while jumping up, but then looked around and calmed down.
"But it can't be him. I never saw Haru again, but my father told me he left… I think I cried for like a week when I learned about him…" Lucy was as confused as Lili was. Obviously, it left a strain on her ability to bond with people so there was no chance she only dreamed about that.
"And… was it really that he died? Couldn't there be some miscommunication?" Lili asked the same question Lucy had been asking herself since she saw Haku.
"I have no idea. He just looks totally how Haru would look if he grew up. Maybe he is just… similar to him. But the age is the same, the nationality. Heck, even the name is similar to what I called him. Haru, Haku… similar." Lili was tapping her finger on her knee.
"But he is an idol. You can't just show up there and say, 'I think he is my first love, can I see him?'" Lucy nodded, agreeing with her statement.
"They would think I'm either nuts or an obsessed fan." There was no solution for her. She could only watch him from afar, through the internet, and decide for herself if there were any more similarities.
"Okay, let's say you became Gami and your bias is Haku then?" Lucy nodded, trying to sort out the situation for Lili.
Lucy really liked the songs and was pissed at herself a bit because she missed out on something so good just because of the prejudice she had.
"You know that in the k-pop world, the more albums you buy, the bigger chance you have to get into fansign. And there you can ask your idols some questions…" Lili noted and Lucy looked at her, confused. There was an option like that?
"How often will that happen? The possibility... how high is it?" Lili shrugged and her face suddenly looked a lot sadder.
"I never wanted to waste money. I always bought only all the versions and some merch. And with that, my chance of fan call is practically zero." Lucy was shocked. That was called marketing. She had to admit one thing. The companies knew how to make money…
"Merch?" she asked, not confused, but more like curious.
"You know, posters, cards, stands, albums, lightsticks, memberships and other things… There is a lot to buy. But in Czechia, it's harder to get those things. Not many sites have it and if you buy from foreign sites. The shipping and duty tax is horrendously high, and it takes ages for the merch to come…" Lili sighed and Lucy did, too. That was nothing new. Every time she wanted to buy something from abroad, she would almost make herself broke.
"But let's stop talking about this. I'm actually curious why you ended up in that place. And why you couldn't tell me you were going away… actually," Lucy started, took a deep breath, and then her nature completely changed.
"Are you nuts?! Leaving with a stranger in an unknown city? Do you wanna be fucking abducted?!" she shouted, and Lili had to agree with her. She was dumb to follow Yitian, but she couldn't explain that she felt somewhat safe with them.
"I know, I'm sorry. I swear I'll tell you I will be going somewhere else with him." Lucy was speechless. Did she actually want to go again?
"He was that big?" she asked because she didn't see any reason Lili would be so infatuated with a person she met once and embarrassed herself by falling into his crotch.
"Shut up. How can I know? I was too embarrassed to notice!" Lili yelled out and threw a pillow at Lucy.
Actually, Lucy had to admit that the guy was actually handsome. And he looked fit. But Lili wasn't that type of person. She was never interested in the faces or physiques of potential partners. Otherwise, she would already be in a relationship.
"Lulu, he invited me to see their game tomorrow," Lili said, totally shocked, raising her eyes from the phone. And Lucy was equally shocked.
"He what?!" she exclaimed, and even more when she saw the messages. They added each other on WeChat? When?! But once she saw the address, she calmed down.
"I think I know where this is. Give me a second." Lucy grabbed her laptop and searched for the address that showed the gaming venue. It really was a public date…
"Do you want to go?" Lucy asked Lili. It was only her choice whether to go or not.
"Can I go? Alone?" Lili whispered, shyly.
"Alone?!" Lucy couldn't help herself but shout out. She put her hand on Lili's forehead to see if she wasn't sick.
"I feel I want to go alone, and you can go and buy some merch… I feel like I will be safe." Lucy was staring at her, questioning her sanity, but what else she could do? Lili was an adult.
"I will drop you off and pick you up. And you will write me a message that you are okay every half an hour." Lili agreed and happily answered the messages.
The next day, Lili really ended up in the gaming venue and Lucy went in search of a music shop. She was fortunate to find one where they had kpop albums.
To her surprise, it wasn't that expensive, but she needed to save some money for later or for an emergency, so she decided to buy only two different albums, only one version of them. And decided to place an order for the rest in the original e-shop.
"They will soon have a comeback. Are you excited too?" the clerk that was scanning her item asked. Lucy was surprised she asked her in Cantonese because usually she would be asked in English.
Her look showed she was not a foreigner as much as fishes weren't foreigners on the land. Green eyes, pale skin with freckles and long wavy ginger hair weren't exactly typical for Asians.
"Yes, I'm excited," Lucy answered, and smiled at the girl. It was true. Yesterday she managed to follow those guys on every social media she could find and staggered upon the comeback photos.
That was partially the reason she couldn't buy more albums today because she found a shop that was selling video calls with albums and she just had to try it. So Lucy bought forty sets, all three versions included, and tried to not cry in broke. Hoping that she could speak to Haku at least one time.
At least once… she hoped.