K.R. and Sam felt something weird in her behavior when she talked about fiction as if she was sure about what she said. "Anyways, Do you know exactly where they are in this building?" Tiara started to peel the wood again.
"Uhm, yeah… It's-" K.R. hesitated and started acting weird which made Tiara curious, she stopped peeling the rod and looked at him with confusion. "Yeah, It's..?" She knew something wasn't right. "Don't worry, It's in the same line of the corridor." He faked a chuckle. "What room are they in?" She asked again because he didn't answer her straight. "Well, You see… We are in a corner room like the last room in this corridor." K.R. tried his best to answer. "Hmm?" She hmmed, letting him finish. "So, They are on another end of this corridor." K.R. answered in a low voice while Tiara's lips parted and her jaw almost dropped in shock.
"Do you know how hard it was to get in just next room?" Tiara was shocked and angry. "I know… that's why we aren't asking you to go again. We will go on our own." K.R. tried to calm her down. "Just don't talk to me and tell them it will take some time before we get to them." Tiara continued doing her work. "What time is it, anyway?" Tiara asked them. "7:18" J.J. replied. "Okay, Then I think you can go around 9 when I am done with this." Tiara didn't look at them and K.R. stood up and went towards his parents who were still sitting on chairs. '7:18, huh? I couldn't take my flight… maybe Kaashi took it and is safe now?' She thought.
"jonglyohaeya habnida live session now." - 'You should end the live session now.' J.J. suggested to Joy because the comments were getting desperate now. 'Who is she!?' 'What's her name?' 'She should stay away from our TR-X!' 'Keep her away from my Vin.' 'Show her face!' 'You shouldn't be with her!' 'Why are you listening to her?' 'Throw her out of the room! She doesn't deserve to be with you all.' 'I wish I was at her place instead of her.' all the commenters weren't happy, they all were angry at her which made J.J. and Joy uncomfortable.
Tiara got done with one wooden rod and made it sharp enough to attack them. She got up from her seat and was on her way to grab another rod but then she noticed J.J. and Joy who were uncomfortable. She decided to ignore them and grabbed one rod and was about to sit but then she noticed them looking at her which made her even more curious.
She got up and went near them. "What happened?" Tiara asked with concern. Joy's grip got tighter to hold his phone making Tiara more curious and confused about the situation.
"kkeutnae" - 'End it' J.J. whispered. "I'm sorry." Tiara apologized and snatched the phone out of Joy's grip and comments blasted on the live stream after seeing her face on camera, Her eyebrows knitted trying to process what was on the phone and then she looked at the comments which were going up without any pause making it hard to read them but as far as she could read they were talking about her.
'So this is the girl who kissed our Vin.' 'How dare you kiss our Vin!' 'Did she just take Joy's phone out of his hands!?' 'She looks like a child.' 'She is probably 16 and still kissed our Vin thinking there's any chance for her with him.'
These were some comments she could read. She just stood there and became a statue. "You were talking about me?" She turned the phone's screen toward Joy and J.J. and Sam gulped down because he was sitting with them the entire time. There were no expressions on her face making it hard for everyone to read how she felt at that moment then she looked at the comments again. Her blood started to boil but she controlled it because she knew she was the one at fault.
" Excuse me!" She said and threw herself between J.J. and Joy forcing them to make some space for her. She got fit between them because her body was small and thin.
She put her brave face on and started to read the comments again. 'It should be me in your place, Stupid horny girl!' It was the first comment she read out loud. "Then come here and protect them all and I don't need to tell anyone what type of girl I am nor do you have any right to talk about me in any way." She replied to that comment. "You guys don't know what's the situation here. It's not a movie! It's a real-life you guys are talking about... It's very hard to survive here." Even though there was anger in her voice her facial expression was straight.
"I know I am at fault and I apologized to everyone already. I didn't do anything wrong to you that means you have no right to talk dirt about me." She faked a smile.
'Stand up, How can you sit with Joy and our J.J. baby!' It was the second comment she read out loud. She looked at both of them and then looked at the screen again and smirked. "You all are just jealous and talking nonsense. You should be worried about their lives right now and not about whom they are with. Disgusting!" She made an ugly face and ended the live and looked at Joy in anger.
"You shouldn't have done it. Why did you tell them that I am the girl who kissed Vin!?" She stood up in anger and gave back the phone to Joy. "Or why did you even show me in your live? Letting them know that you are with a girl when you know they are obsessed with you?" She screamed again and Vin ran toward her and hugged her.
"Sorry… I-" Joy stopped searching for English words. "It was a mistake… " J.J. tried to explain but he started searching for English words as well, They all looked at Tiara for a reply but she didn't say anything because she was shocked after Vin hugged her. She was at a loss for words too, her body was very tiny in front of him that everyone else could barely see her body. Somehow, She found peace, she felt safe in his grip. "Please, Don't shout. Zombies will attract." He tried his best to talk to her in English. She realized that he wasn't hugging her for her emotions but for the zombies. She pushed him away in anger. "Don't touch me!" She accused him.
"Don't talk to me now, Leave me alone!" She sat on her couch again and started peeling the second wood. Everyone was upset now, They knew they did wrong but now, they were lost thinking about what should they do. Should they pamper her? Or Should they leave her alone as she said?
K.R. came near her and knelt down on the ground near her making her face him. "I know what they did was wrong but you shouldn't have taken his phone out of his hands. They saw your face that moment." K.R. said in a soft voice.
"What do you mean? They already showed me before that." Tiara pointed toward J.J. and Joy while Sam tried to be away from her pointing direction to not to be in her accusation. "No, The fans only saw you sitting on the couch not your face." K.R. threw the truth in her face. "B-but… They told them I am the one who-" Tiara was going to say something but K.R. stopped her. "I know they shouldn't have told them that you are the girl who kissed him and now you are stuck with us but still they didn't show your face." K.R. tried to reason with her.
"Do you think that the government or the reporters will keep our identities discreet when we get out of here?" She looked at him for an answer but he just struggled. "No! Because I know once we get out of this dumb place, our identities will blow up all over the news and the headlines will be 'Zombie apocalypses survivors!'" She put her left hand on her head.
"Look, I don't wanna talk about it." She started to peel the wood again and ignored everyone else while Vin looked at her and tried to understand what should they do. K.R. got up and went to his parents again and started talking to them and Vin sat on the small couch in front of Tiara.
They again started to talk in Korean talking about Tiara in front of her without her knowing. "We should post her apology video ourselves before everything gets messier." Vin suggested everyone. "Yes, I think you are right." Joy sighed. "Should we blur her face now or not?" J.J. questioned. "We should ask her about it." Vin suggested. "No, Don't ask her. She is already angry." Sam scoffed.
"By the way, What are your names? I only know Vin." She asked them without looking at them continuing her work while everyone looked at her and then looked at each other.
"Sam, stage name. Kim Sam-Son, real name." Sam introduced himself and then looked at J.J. " J.J. stage name. Jeon Ji-Su, real name." J.J. was a little shy while introducing himself.
"Joy, stage name. Yun Hyun-gi, real name." Joy felt weird. "My real name is Min Tae-Hee." Vin smiled. "I know." Tiara said in a low voice. "K.R. stage name. Kang Nam-Gil is my real name. I'm the leader of this group." K.R. said from his chair. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Tiara Sharma and I am a freelance artist." She took a glance at them for a few seconds and went back to her work then their parents told her who was their son and this way Tiara got to know everyone with whom she was stuck.
"Uhm…" J.J. tried to get her attention. "Ti-" J.J. tried to take her name but he was afraid to do so. "Ti-" He tried again. "If you wanna say something then say it already." Tiara still didn't look at them.
"Can we blur you?" J.J. tried to ask her but failed badly. "What!?" Tiara gave her attention to him now. "I- We-" He stuttered. K.R. noticed and went to them. "They want to ask if we should blur your face in your apology video or not because as you know they all already saw you so I think there's no point in blurring your face now." K.R. explained to her.
She rolled her eyes and started peeling the wood again. "Just to whatever you want." There was irritation in her voice.
After listening to her, they started their chitchat in Korean again. "Then we aren't blurring her face because it's hard to edit." J.J. said hurriedly. "We even don't know how to edit a video. Thank god she doesn't mind us not blurring her face." Joy laughed. "Okay, Post it then but make sure to put good words for her in the caption so they don't spread hate toward her." Vin was worried for her and her reputation.
While they prepared the post, she continued peeling the wood that her hands started to pain. She gave up after peeling only three wooden rods as it was hard to peel with a scissor. She went toward the window on the other side and sided the curtain a little to look outside and there was only one zombie roaming around who didn't notice her. She set the curtain again and lay on the floor to relax her whole body thinking about the next step.
'I wish I could just fly away but I can't leave them all alone here like this.' She sighed and looked at them talking to each other. 'But I think they can survive on their own. I should just fly away." She was having second thoughts. 'No, What if they can't and die here… I will regret my whole life.' She turned her face to the wall beside her and closed her eyes.
Time: 9:27 p.m.
Tiara opened her eyes and looked around, Everyone else was relaxing on the couch and the chairs but no one was talking now. 'Should I wake them up? Because it's time they should go and bring the others here.'
Suddenly. K.R. opened his eyes and put his hand inside his pants pocket. His phone was vibrating. He saw the time before picking up the call. "Hello, Yes…" "Yes, We are coming there." "We- We fell asleep." He was freaking out while talking to the person who was on call.
He cut the call and stood up and woke up the others. Explained his plan to everyone else in Korean which he discussed with Tiara earlier.
Tiara raised her hand wanting to say something. "Yes?" K.R. asked her. "Won't it be good if we all go there and just stay in that room with them instead of bringing them here?" She questioned and suggested another plan which got everyone else confused and they all struggled to choose between both plans.
"I mean it will be good if we all go there because we will have more people for protection and then we won't have to walk twice… Do you know what I mean? Like first go to that room and then come back here." She tried to explain and then K.R. translated to everyone. They all hesitated at first but then they agreed because they knew it was better than sending only a few people out there between those eaters. "They all are agreeing." K.R. told the situation to Tiara. "You have pretty good plans." K.R. complimented her and smiled. "I know." She happily agreed with him.
Tiara stood up and packed the water bottles which she found in the other room earlier and packed the ones she found in the same room where they were staying in her bag then she took one of the sharp rods from near the couch. "Let's go." She put the rod on her shoulder giving a nice pose. 'I should turn off my phone. What if I don't find a charger to charge it and it runs out of battery?' She thought to herself and switched off her phone.
Everyone got up and took all the rods they had but 3 rods were less according to the people as there were 11 people but they had only 8 wooden rods from which only 3 were sharpened.
"It's okay, Just stay behind us for our protection." Tiara reassured them. 3 people who didn't have wooden rods were Joy, Mrs. Kim, and Mrs. Kang. Joy gave up his rod willingly because he wanted to record this deadly adventure they were going on.
"naneun nae insaeng-eseo dangsin-eul sinloehabnida." Mrs. Kim smiled at Tiara but she was confused about what she just said to her. "She said that she trusts you with her life. Maybe because you saved her life before." K.R. translated it to her and she smiled genuinely this time. "Thank you for trusting me." She replied happily and then again K.R. translated.
"Okay then, It's time." She took a deep breath and moved her feet to the door.