Time: 03:04 p.m.
Place: Strive agency - Aglos's branch [Meeting room]
The 5 idols were waiting inside the meeting room, there was a small table and chairs set around the corner making it look like a dining table rather than an actual meeting table, and a large sofa in the middle of the room with two single sofas each side and a tiny table in front of the couch. There were some long wooden rods at the corner where the door was.
Soon a knock was on the door drawing everyone's attention towards it. "Come in." K.R. answered the door, their manager came inside. "They found her and brought her here." He informed them, Vin's eye sparkled and he stood up. "Is she here?" He asked him in a happy tone. "Yes, She is waiting in the lobby with everyone else but I will give you some advice to hide your happiness, Vin." The manager advised him and everyone else chuckled but K.R. rolled his eyes at Vin. "Yeah…" He flustrated.
"Yes, We need an apology video with her for those angry fans. You should act a bit tough rather than excited to meet her again." K.R. explained to him. "Yes, You are acting like a fan girl right now." J.J. cracked in laughter, and Vin blushed. "Get rid of this blush from your face for a while, Can't you?" Sam ordered him because he was the eldest in the group. "Okay okay, I understand." Vin sat down and his expressions turned to normal. "Send her in." K.R. told their manager. "Okay, Do you want anyone else to record the video?" The manager asked. "No, I think we can do it alone. Maybe it won't be comfortable for her." Joy was the thoughtful one. "Okay then." The manager left them and closed the door behind him.
After 5 minutes the door opened again and a baby face peeked in. "Can I come in?" She looked at them with an innocent face. "You are already in." K.R. answered her without looking at her. "Come in." Joy smiled looking at her, She nodded and came in. Vin tried to hold back his smile and was a little successful to do so. Her eyes were on the ground trying to calm herself down while she held her left wrist with her right hand and stood there like she would stand in front of her teacher back in school. No one knew what to say but everyone was looking at Tiara trying to think of a word to break this silence.
"I…" In the end, Tiara tried to say something and raised her head to face them gathering all her strength. Her eyes met Vin's then she gulped down remembering their kissing moment and feeling guilty to kiss him. She took a deep breath and said "I'm very sorry for what I did. I promise I didn't mean to…" K.R. started to translate her words into Korean just so others can understand better what she was saying as K.R. was the only one who was fluent in English. She looked for their reaction and see if any of them wanted to say something but nothing was there.
"I said sorry to Vin before kissing him as well… uhh... Well.. that's a different thing that he thought I said sorry because I don't know you guys… but I think saying sorry isn't enough for what I did... I didn't have any other way rather than to ki-" Tiara was completing her sentence but K.R. started translating cutting her off.
"jamkkan uli paen anindedo uli paenmiting-e waseo ppoppohaejwossdaneungeoya?" Joy asked something in Korean. Everyone was still looking at Tiara with more confusion on their face trying to hold themselves back from throwing their questions at her while Vin looked a bit taken back. "He is asking… Why you came to our fan meeting and kissed Vin if you aren't our fan or don't know us." K.R. translated Joy's words for her.
"Yes, I told Vin about it… My friend dragged me here just because she wanted to attend your concert but then she dared me to kiss Vin and I had to d-" K.R. didn't wait for her to finish her sentence again and started translating and then Vin started to understand what she meant by 'My friend gave me a dare and I have to do it' at the fan meeting. "geulaeseo chinguga Vin ppoppohalago haeseo haessdago? Sam raised his eyebrow at Tiara.
"So, Your friend told you to kiss Vin and you did it?" K.R. translated his question. "I had my reasons… look, I didn't have any money to buy myself plane tickets and she told me that she won't buy my ticket and leave me here if I don't do it. I was just scared to be left alone here. Plus, She told me that you guys weren't that much popular." She again looked at the floor lowering her eyes. "Of course, It was a lie." She said in a low voice yet it was loud enough to hear. K.R. eyes widened but he gathered his thoughts and started to translate it for others. Vin pressed his lips into a thin line stretching his lips while others looked surprised, not able to accept what she just said.
"I'm sorry" She bowed down gently letting them know that she genuinely apologized for her actions. "Please, Let me go." She requested them. "You can come and sit with us. There's something we need you to do." K.R. acted like the leader he was.
"Mhmm…" Tiara hmmed and went near the table. J.J. gestured toward the empty chair to make her sit down. She nodded and sat down, There was confusion on her face 'What do they need me to do?'. "Look, Even if you pecked at Vin's lip but Vin kissed you back which made every fan of ours angry at you." K.R. explained the situation.
"But it's not my mistake he kissed me!" Tiara said without thinking even once but then she wondered again 'Why did he kiss me?...' Her eye moved to Vin without her knowing she was staring at him with a confused look on her face while he was turning red second by second trying to hold his blush back. 'Don't look at me with those beautiful eyes of yours, please.' Vin internally begged her as her stares were making it hard to control his blushy smile. "That doesn't matter why he kissed you. People aren't hating him but you. Of course, They are upset with us a little but it's nothing against the hate towards you." K.R. explained again but this time it scared Tiara a bit. "But why does it matter if they hate or love me?" She asked innocently. "They don't even know me." She added. Vin smiled a little at her but others just sighed.
"Okay, You don't care what they think about you but we do." K.R. scoffed at Tiara. "If you are really sorry then you have to apolo-" He got cut off by Tiara. "But I apologized already!" Tiara got a little irritated. "Yes, But in front of the camera. So, We can show our fans that there is nothing between you two and you can even tell your reason." K.R. looked at Tiara who was taken aback by his words. "Don't worry we will blur or edit your face." He reassured her.
"Okay then, Let's get it done then I can go, right?" Tiara asked but everyone looked at her in doubt that she just agreed to it without any discussion, Tiara understood their reaction. "I'm just in a hurry." She tried to make their doubt go away but they became more doubtful feeling that there was something wrong. 'This girl really doesn't know us because if she was a fan then she would have wanted more time with us.' K.R. thought to himself which made him believe Tiara.
"joh-ayo, geuleom nog-eum-eul sijaghaeya gessneyo." - "Okay, Then we should start recording." Vin finally opened his mouth, K.R. didn't translate this to Tiara and said. "Okay, Let's start." He stood up.
"Huh?" Tiara looked at him in doubt. "We will record near the sofa. So, We all can fit in one frame." K.R. pointed towards the couch area. "Aah" Tiara stood up with the others and went towards the couch but then weird voices started to come from outside. "Aren't you going to look at why they are screaming?" Tiara asked K.R. "No, It's normal in the agency. There are other idols who are practicing and lots of other things." K.R. explained to her and ignored the screams. "Uhm, But I think these are scared screams." Tiara asked him to look outside again. "No- It's normal." Joy relaxed her. She just nodded and sat on the single sofa on the left side while they set the camera a little far from the table in the middle.
"Don't be… nervous, okay?" Vin said looking at her with worry in his eyes. She smiled at him and nodded a little. "1, 2, and 3." Sam counted and started the camera to record.
Tiara said nothing at first and just sat there thinking about what should she say… K.R. started saying and explaining why they are recording this video and who the girl was with them then it was Vin's turn to speak. "useon, naneun i yeoja-e daehae amugeosdo moleugo uli saie amu ildo il-eonaji anhneundaneun geos-eul bunmyeonghi hago sipseubnida." - 'First of all, I want to clarify that I don't know anything about this girl and there's nothing going on between us.' He said in Korean then again K.R. started to explain how they found the girl and just met her again. He signaled to Tiara to speak with his eyebrows and eyes, She nodded and took a deep breath, licking her dry lips due to her nervousness and fast-beating heart.
She explained everything from the start from how she came here with her friend to how she ended up kissing him with a short little summary at the end she said "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done this and it may have hurt you all and Vin in a way but I can't undo my doing now. I am genuinely sorry." She bowed her head down. Vin looked at her and said, "It's okay, I forgive you and all of them…. forget about it too." Vin smiled showing all his teeth. "Actually, I was never angry on you." Even though his English was broken but it made Tiara smile. K.R. stood up and turn off the camera.
Tiara looked at the clock on the wall, It was 4:43. She stood up. "Okay, I should go now. Thank you. Bye." She said the whole sentence in her one breath and started to go towards the door but Vin wasn't happy about it, He wanted to say something but he couldn't open his mouth. He just wished that she would stop and stay with him a little longer because he wanted to know her more.
Her hands were approaching the door's handle to open the lock but her hands started to tremble. 'What's wrong… Why can't I move my hands forward.' She wondered and then got tensed. 'Is it my angel's instincts? I can feel it… it doesn't want me to open the gate… but why?' She sighed and then looked at the members behind her from the side of her eyes. 'No, I can't do it, What will they think about me? I have to open the door and at least look at why my instincts are stopping me from opening this d*mn door!' Was she an angel? Was she following her instincts from the time she bought the drone at the mall?
All the members were looking at her, She tilted her head a bit right while taking a long breath to gather her courage and she finally opened the door only a little. She peeked a little outside, at first everything seemed normal as no one was there then she started to doubt her instincts and roll her eyes and pulled the door open wide but the moment she put her feet outside of the room she saw someone running towards her, screaming angrily.
He had the same ash-shade skin with red veins, grey eyes, and mouth covered by blood. Her eye widened and her heart dropped skipping a beat. She closed the gate in a hurry and locked it properly.
She was mindblown in horror that she didn't look at the members who were sitting on the couch looking at her and wondering about her sudden comeback. She pushed herself to the door behind her and sat on the floor slowly. Everyone was shocked by her reaction and trembling body. Vin stood up and came to her. "Are you okay?" He knelt down in front of her making her face him, She looked at him with no sense trying to gather all the pieces together to understand the situation and the thing she saw outside of the room.
Vin touched her cheek while everyone else came towards them as well. She stood up immediately trying to act strong as soon as she felt Vin's warm fingers on her cheeks. "I-" She whipped her sweat from the upper of her lips with the help of the back of her palm.
"Maybe you won't believe me but-" She looked at each of them. "There are zombies outside!" She said in a low voice which made everyone laugh except Vin, who looked confused about whether to take it as a joke or not. He seemed worried for her but he started to believe her after looking at the way she was shivering from the fear.
"Guys, naneun geunyeoga nongdamhaneun geos gatji anh-a." - 'Guys, I don't think she is kidding.' He looked at his friends. "geunyeoleul mid-eul geongayo?" - 'Are you going to believe her?' J.J. looked at Vin and asked something in Korean which made Tiara leave out and wondered what are they saying.
"Ne" - 'Yes.' Vin agreed and looked at Tiara who was looking at him for an explanation of what they were saying but he didn't tell her anything.
"They aren't believing you but Vin does. Even I don't believe something like this." K.R. understood her reaction and explained the conversation to Tiara which made her angry because she never like a situation when someone doesn't her even though she always tells the truth. "Okay, Then why don't you go outside and look for yourself, huh?" She scoffed at them forgetting all her fears. "Okay." K.R. said and Tiara moved away from the door. "Don't blame me that I didn't warn you." She said from K.R.'s behind when he was about to open the door then her eyes fell on the wooden rods near the door. She quickly grabbed one of them.
K.R. opened the door slowly but suddenly a woman zombie stuck her head between the door trying to bite R.M. who was taken back by the real-life zombie and everyone else was scared too not able to move or think straight while Tiara looked at all of them with a little disgust expression and then her eye was fixed on K.R. Her upper lips were twitching upside in irritation.
"Do you want to invite her in!?" She yelled at K.R. making him come to his senses, He looked at Tiara with his widened shocked eye. "Move a little and hold the door tight." He did as she said and she hit and pushed the zombie's face out with the help of the rod. "Close it!" She commanded, K.R. locked the door and quickly backed out from the door in horror.