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Anna sighed as she rummaged through another rack of clothing. Nothing was standing out to her today. She picked up a hanger, glancing over the shirt on it before putting it back on the rack.
"Defintely NOT my style."
She looked up as she saw multiple teenage girls running past the shop's windows, all with their phones out in front of them, some of them were even yelling, but Anna couldn't hear what they were yelling about.
"Hey Ash!" Anna yelled over her shoulder to her friend who owned the boutique.
"Do you know what's up with all of the girls and women going crazy around here today? There have been a flood of them."
Ash shrugged her shoulders and continued checking out her customer. "There is supposed to be some Korean music group doing a fan signing on the top floor or something. Maybe they are all here for that."
Anna rolled her eyes, "Well all of the screaming is annoying. You'd think that they would realize that "idols" are really just normal people."
Ash waved goodbye to her customer and came to stand by Anna, peering closely at her friend.
"Okay, what's wrong?"
Anna squinted her eyes back at her friend.
"What do you mean what's wrong?"
Ash wrapped an arm around Anna's shoulders.
"Look boo, you know I love when people are angry and full of hate and loathing BUT you have been downright rotten for the past few days. As your friend and even more importantly, your roommate, I'm afraid that it's time for you to snap out of this funk." Ash says the last part while gripping Anna's shoulders and shaking her gently back and forth.
Anna smiled and shrugged her friend off.
"I know! I know! I'm working on it, I promise!"
Ash grinned toothily, "Good! And in the meantime, you can try these on because I know they will look FAB-U-LOUS on your curves!" Ash started throwing piles of clothing onto Anna's arms before shoving her down the hallway to the fitting room.
"Fine but friend's get a discount right?" Ash just waved her away and went to help the customer that just walked in.
Anna stood in front of the mirror looking at the third outfit that Ash had picked out for her. The black jeans with rips at the knees really would pair well with the black combat boots she had worn that day. The red plaid shirt outlined her chest just perfectly and helped to flatten down her stomach.
"Ash may be super bossy but she sure knows how to dress a girl!"
Anna thought appreciatively.
Anna stepped out of the fitting room to look at her herself in the long standing mirrors when she ran face-first into a chest.
"What the hell, excuse you!" she grumbled as she stepped backwards.
Anna looked up and stared straight into the most beautiful male face that she had ever seen, except for the fact that his looks were slightly ruined by his panicked expression. Anna could hear a commotion outside of the shop that sounded like the group of females that ran by earlier, all still clamoring.
"Where is he?"
"Which way did he go?"
"I think he went into this store!"
Anna heard the door open and the man's face paled even more.
"I-"
Before he could say any more, Anna grabbed his hand and pulled him into her fitting room.
"Quick! Step up on the chair and squat down!"
The man did as she said and she proceeded to throw a few clothing items over him in an effort to hide him. Anna heard footsteps run into the dressing room and they both froze.
"Do you think he's in here?" there were loud voices asking as people started knocking on dressing room doors and opening them.
Anna waited until they were almost to her door and then she started talking loudly, "Oh god, why do I have to be so bloated today? Nothing is ever going to fit! Fucking periods!"
The man looked at her with panicked eyes and she just shrugged back at him. At her voice, a small knock happened on her door and a timid voice said, "Ma'am.. have you seen a tall Asian man around here?"
Anna looked over at the man on the chair and he gulped.
"NO.. sorry! I've been in here struggling with these stupid pants."
"Oh! Sorry!" The voice said and all of the footsteps proceeded out of the fitting room.
Anna raised a finger to her lips to shush the man who was about to speak. He clamped his lips tightly shut and Anna poked her head out of her stall. When she didn't hear anything she looked back at the man.
"Stay here for a second okay?"
He nodded silently.
She proceeded to walk to the front of the store to look around. It looked as though all of the fans had left. Ash walked up to Anna, putting her hair up into a messy bun.
"Anna, I'm going to close my shop for an hour to go grab food. Those fans that came in here had my blood pressure rising and now I need sugar." Ash laughed and swung her purse onto her shoulder, "Do you want to come with?"
Anna shook her head. "I think I'm just going to stay here and look around some more if that's okay with you." Ash nodded while looking through her purse for her wallet.
"Yeah that's fine, just lock up with the extra key if you leave before I get back."
Anna watched Ash lock up and then she ran back to the fitting room. The man had climbed down from the chair and was now sitting in it, looking exhausted and worried.
"Hey...so..uh.. all of those crazy girls left. So I guess you're safe now."
The man grimaced a smile and slowly stood up, limping slightly on his right foot. Anna noticed and reached out to grab his arm to help steady him.
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
He nodded his head slowly.
"I think I twisted my ankle when I was running. Um.. thank you for helping me, by the way. I didn't know what I was going to do."
Anna shrugged, "It's not a big deal or anything."
The man shook his head and looked down at his long fingers, nervously intertwining them.
"It really is a big deal. I love our fans but they can also be... a little scary sometimes.. especially since I was alone."
Anna leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looked the man up and down. Her first look was right. He was gorgeous, beyond gorgeous actually. He had short black hair with an undercut, he was tall and lanky with tanned skin, although his face had garish pale makeup on it. He was dressed in black leather boots with silver tips, black leather patchwork pants, a white skin tight t-shirt, a blacker feather covered jacket and a burgundy choker. His eyeliner had started to run from the sweat that was beading his face, creating tan streaks going down it . She also noticed that his arms and hands were a good three shades darker than the skin on his face and neck.
"I'm assuming you're a member of that band that was doing a fan signing on the top floor?"
He nodded and put his hands together in front of him. "Yes, that's my band. I'm Seonghwa."
"I'm Anna. It's nice to meet you."
He smiled at her name and she couldn't help but think how gorgeous his smile was.
"So.. why were you being chased? Did you not have security or something?"
Seonghwa shook his head. "We had security. I just...." he paused and bit his lip.
"You just...?" Anna prompted.
He heaved a heavy sigh and began speaking again. "We were done with the fan meet and were supposed to be leaving but I had to go to the bathroom. When I came out, everyone was already gone. So.. I tried to walk around to find them"
Anna's eyebrows shot up.
"That's really dangerous dude!"
He nodded and looked down at his hands, his fingers were nervously intertwining with each other again.
"Did you try calling anyone?"
He shook his head, "My phone was dead so I left it back in the hotel to charge."
Anna looked at the ceiling, wondering how on earth she got herself into this mess.
"Oy vey! Well.. Maybe you can find them and then it will all be good."
Seonghwa looked down and then rubbed his hand over his face.
"I would try but...what if what happened just now... happens again?"
"You have a point there." Anna agreed with him.
Suddenly Anna had a brilliant idea. "What if we disguise you and then you can walk around however you want?"
Seognhwa's head popped up, "What kind of disguise?" he asked intruiged and took a step closer to Anna
Anna nervously chuckled and sidestepped to the door. "Stay here just a second!" She left the fitting room and raced to the men's section of the store. After going through a few racks she found exactly what she needed and headed back to the stall, grabbing her purse on the way.
Anna walked into the stall and Seonghwa looked curiously at the bundles that she had in her hands. "We are going to do a makeover!"
~*~
After trying on a few different items, Anna decide on Seonghwa wearing a semi-fitted pair of jeans, a black t shirt with a black zip up hoodie, black converse and a black baseball cap. She took a step back to admire her handiwork but she frowned instead. Seonghwa saw her expression and looked into the mirror confused, as he had thought that he looked good.
"What's wrong with it?" he asked questioningly. They were so different than the style that their company's stylist made him wear. He loved it! He felt more like himself than he had in years. However, Anna's eyebrows furrow.
"It's not the clothes..it's the makeup."
Seonghwa gulped. "The makeup? What's wrong with it?"
Anna rolled her eyes, "We have to get rid of it, of course! You still look too much like YOU with it on. "
He nervously took a step back. "I uh... I don't go out into public without makeup."
Anna cocked her head to the side and studied him. "Never?"
He shook his head. "Why not?" he shrugged.
"Our management team doesn't like it and without it I...well.. I don't like my face."
Anna bit her bottom lip and looked at him as understanding dawned on her. "Song.. I get it but can you just trust me?"
He stared at her for a second and then briskly nodded. After all, she basically saved his life. She motioned him to sit down on the chair and so he did. She took out her makeup wipes from her purse and stood between his long legs.
His breath hitched slightly when she stepped in between his legs and leaned in close to touch the pad to his face. She was so different from the standard females that he usually dated. She was medium height, had light green eyes that had golden rings around the pupils, she had a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheekbones, a perpetual blush on her cheeks, making them look rosey. She wasn't wearing a lot of makeup, just some eyeliner and eye shadow, and you could slightly see where she had acne scars on her cheeks. She was also a lot curvier than girls he was normally interested in. But for some reason being in such close proximity was making his palms sweat and his breathing shallow. Plus she smelled absolutely amazing and a smile that could light up a room
If Anna noticed though, she didn't say anything, and for that he was also thankful.
Anna slowly and methodically wiped the makeup off of Seonghwa's face. His natural skin color started showing up and her heart started to pound. When she was done she stepped back to look at him and felt her breath catch. He was HANDSOME. Not just a normal handsome but a "So handsome you only see it once in your life," type of handsome.
Seonghwa turned his head to look into the mirror and he groaned,
"I hate the way I look."
Anna frowned and stepped in front of the mirror, leaning down until she was almost touching noses with him. She said quietly, "This may not be my place to say so but with your makeup you are gorgeous but without it..I do not think I have ever seen a man as handsome as you are. Okay?"
He nodded softly, his eyes widening for a second before his his lips started quirking up into a half smile.
"Okay Anna if you say so."
She nodded, "I definitely say so!"
She put her makeup wipes back into her purse.
"By the way, your natural skin color makes you look like a tanned sexy god. You should think about showing it off more often."
Seonghwa felt a blush immediately crawl up the back of his neck and onto his ears. He had people say things like that before but for some reason, it didn't affect him like it did when Anna said it.
They walked together to the register and Anna laid out all of the tags to the clothing on the counter, calculated the total and started laying out money beside it. Seonghwa put his hand on her arm to stop her.
"No, wait. I'll pay for all of it."
Anna arched an eyebrow. "Song...do you even have American money on you?"
He slowly shook his head no as the full weight of his situation fell on him. "No..." he sighed "Our manager has all of that."
Ana nods, "I figured as much. I have to pay for my stuff anyway so I will just pay it altogether and we will figure everything out later okay?'"
Seonghwa nodded in acceptance. Anna left a letter for Ash briefly explaining why there are so many tags and cash on the counter. She then grabbed Seonghwa's hand and headed to the front door
~*~
Once outside of the shop, they looked around at all of the people bustling about.
'Well Song.. what do we do first?" He shrugged and at the exact same time his stomach growled very loudly. He grinned sheepishly.
"To the food court!" Anna said, taking his hand in hers and pulling him along the way. They decided on sharing a pizza and sat down at a table after receiving their food and drinks. They both hungrily dove in and Anna laughed as all of the toppings and cheese on Seonghwa's piece slid off of the curst and onto the plate. Seonghwa mimicked her laugh and they grinned at each other. After a few bites in silence Seonghwa looked over at Anna.
"So did you really not know who I was or were you lying?"
She laughed outright at his question. "I seriously had no clue who you were. I have never really listened to Kpop music. I only knew a band was here because my friend, Ash told me about the fan meet.
"Ash is the friend who owns the store?"
Anna nodded. "Yeah, it's been open for..two years now."
"Oh.. okay. She has good taste. I liked a lot of the things I saw there."
Anna smiled, "She really does! Owning this store has been such an amazing thing for her. I've loved seeing her grow and blossom with it."
Seonghwa watched the emotions play across Anna's face as she continued to talk about her friend and he couldn't help thinking about how pretty she was when she was excited about something.
"So I sing, Ash owns a store... what do you do?"
Anna ducked her head shyly. "I write." Seonghwa looked up with interest.
"You write? As in...?"
"Well, I'm currently working for the local newspaper on various articles that they assign me but I want to start writing books. It's always been my dream to be a published author."
Seonghwa smiled, "I would love to read some of your work, if that's okay."
Anna dug through her purse and handed him a business card. "The link on there is where you can find all of my online published articles."
He looked it over, memorizing the link before putting it into his jacket pocket. Anna finished off her drink and sat back.
"That pizza was actually not the worst for food court pizza."
Seonghwa agreed and started cleaning up their mess, taking it to the nearest trash bin to throw it out. He placed his hands on his hips and looked around at the people surrounding them,
"It's so crazy not to have fans recognizing me and trying to horde me. I feel like a regular guy." he laughed.
Anna grinned, "Oh they may not recognize you, but plenty of women have been noticing your hot self walking around." she wiggled her eyebrows playfully at him and he erupted with laughter, putting his hand over his mouth to hide his smile. Anna pulled his hand down and scrunched her nose at him.
"No need to hide such a gorgeous smile Song." He blushed and shyly scratched the back of his neck.
"I've just gotten used to doing that. A lot of people said that I look like I'm in pain when I smile so I just started hiding it."
Anna shrugged her shoulders, "Hey, being in pain can sometime be hot." As soon as she said it she realized how it came out and she felt the immediate blush as it traveled from her chest to her scalp.
Seonghwa honked out a loud laugh and leaned in close to her. "You, Anna, are absolutely delightful. I never know what's going to come out of your mouth."
Anna playfully pushed his face away from hers, "Careful there SONGhwa or I'll have you singing a different tune." Seonghwa grinned even harder, he had never had someone flirt to blatantly and openly with him and he loved it. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smirked down at her, straightening to his full height. "I don't think I'm something you could actually handle."
Anna's gaze narrowed at the challenge.
"You're on."
~*~
Ten minutes later they were gearing up for a game on 1-1 laser tag. Seonghwa fastened the straps to his vest and looked over at Anna who was doing the same.
"This isn't exactly what I meant."
Anna stuck her tongue out at him. "Put your actions where your mouth is Sir. I win and I get to choose our next activity, no matter what it is. You win and then you get to choose." Seonghwa felt a shiver run through him when she said Sir, and he buckled the last buckle of his vest in to place.
"Deal."
~*~
Three games later and Seonghwa was the victor, much to a disgruntled Anna's disatisfaction.
"I'm sorry, but what were you saying before? Putting actions where mouths were?"
Anna groaned and smacked him on the arm. "Just tell me what you want us to do next you win hog."
Seonghwa roared in laughter at her annoyance with his winning.
"You're not a bad loser, are you Anna?"
She snorted and started to walk past him, "Fine if you don't want to decide then I guess I'll just leave."
His hand shot out and grabbed Anna's wrist, halting her next step. He slowly pulled her towards him and grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I didn't say I wasn't going to decide what we were going to do."
Anna find herself captivated by his dark brown eyes. Her eyes shifted lower to his full bottom lip and she had the urge to slowly suck on it. Seonghwa saw her stare and he leaned closer to her, wondering what it is about her that was so intoxicating to him. He tipped her chin up and slowly started to lower his face towards hers. She responded by lifting her face toward his, eye fluttering closed. At the last second, right before their lips were going to touch, he grinned wickedly and pulled away.
"Let's go watch a movie."
Anna blinked rapidly, trying to clear her head. "W-what?!" He smirked at the incredulous look on her face.
"I saw a movie playing that I want to see, let's go." He grabbed her hand and lead a confused but amused Anna to the Movie Palace.
~*~
They had opted for just drinks since they had just ate and settled in to watch the horror movie that had just opened in theatres.
"You didn't strike me as the horror movie type." Anna said as she placed her cup into the holder.
"Oh there's a lot about me that people wouldn't realize." he whispered to her. She cocked her head and he just chuckled to himself, sliding down in his seat to get comfortable. The movie passed by quickly, some parts were ridiculously fake and others were scary enough that even Anna was jumping.
Somehow during the movie, their shoulders had wound up touching and now their fingers were crossed with each other's.
Seonghwa leaned in to whisper in Anna's ear. "Your hands are the perfect size for mine. I like holding them." She smiled and whispered back, "I like that you like that." They looked into each other's eyes, the air around them heating, and right before they were about to lean in, they were interrupted by a blood curdling scream from the screen.
Anna jumped and quietly shrieked, hiding her face in Seonghwa's shoulder. He moved their cups to the floor, lifted up the arm rest and scooted closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his chin rested on her hair and they stayed like that for the rest of the movie.
~*~
After the movie it was almost time for the mall to close when Seonghwa realized he could use Anna's phone to download his bands' chat app and tell them where he was.
"I'm such an idiot." he angrily said to himself. Anna put a hand on his arm to calm him. "In your defense... you were being chased by rabid fans." She watched his lips quiver, trying not to smile and she grinned playfully at him, fully ready to bug him into smiling.
Seonghwa's band mates responded immediately, all of the messages filled with relief and said that their manager was on his way to pick Seonghwa up.
Anna leaned back against the wall outside of the mall and looked up at Seonghwa standing beside her. In the moonlight he looked like a dark fairy tale prince and she couldn't help thinking that if he was someone else and they were somewhere else then maybe she could fall in love with him. She shook herself out of those thoughts and turned her attention to the gum wrapper she was holding in her hand from a few moments earlier. An awkward silence filled the air until Seonghwa cleared his throat.
"Anna... I want to say thank you. Today could have been an absolute disaster. Not only did you save me, but you helped me to stay safe and you helped me have a day as if I was a regular peron. You treated me like a regular guy and that means a hell of a lot to me. I want you to know that."
Anna smiled and took his hands in hers as he came to stand in front of her.
"It was my pleasure. I'm glad that you were safe as well and that your ankle is feeling beter."
He winked down at her and gave her a really tight hug. Anna wrapped her arms around his lean waist and breathed in deeply, he smelled like heaven, even after running around all day. Seonghwa leaned back and looked down into her eyes. His heart was pounding so hard that he was sure that she could hear it. She stared back at him wide-eyed, her breathing catching as he lowered his face to hers once again. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she tightened her fingers into the fabric of his jacket.
"SEONGHWA!"
They jumped apart guiltily as they hear a man shout Seonghwa's name. They look back and see the manager racing towards them. Seonghwa grinned and walked quickly to meet the man, Anna trailing not far behind.
"Seonghwa! I'm so glad you're safe! We were so worried! We had people looking everywhere for you!" Seonghwa bowed to his manager and then patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm safe, all thanks to Anna."
"Anna?" his manger asked confused.
Anna stepped forward. "Hi..uh..I'm Y/N."
The manger bowed to her multiple times, taking her hand in his. "We are so thankful for your kindness. Truly. If there is anything we can do..?" Anna started to shake her heard no but Seonghwa interrupted.
"I actually owe her money for the clothes I'm wearing. She helped dress me so I wouldn't be recognized." The manager started to pull out his wallet but Anna waved him away.
"It's okay, think of them as a present from a new fan." Seonghwa and Anna grinned at each other and the manager bowed to her one last time.
"We need to go before we miss the next flight."
Seonghwa stepped forward and pulled Anna into a hard hug before stepping back. Anna didn't say anything as she watched him leave but she waved goodbye and a sickening feeling rolled through her stomach.
Anna finally made her way home, Ash was out at a party so Anna had the apartment to herself. She took a long shower, almost sad to wash off the lingering scent of Seonghwa's cologne. She grabbed a hot cup of tea and went to lay in bed to work on her latest article for the newspaper.
She was just about finished with the first draft when her phone lit up. It was the messaging app that Seonghwa had downloaded. Anna had forgotten it was on her phone.
She opened the message and was surprised to see it was from Seonghwa.
"Anna... thank you for everything today. You gave me so much in a short amount of time and I will always be grateful. I didn't want to say goodbye and I still don't. So I was thinking that if you wanted to keep this app on your phone.. I won't tell anyone if you don't"
Anna bit her lips and squealed in happiness, wiggling down into her covers. She grinned and typed out a response.
"Mr. Park Seonghwa, you've got a deal."