American Debut Part 3

It was evident that Dominic was happy with what he got. I could see it as he went over to our booth hurriedly and did the dare without hesitation.

He went over to someone who was checking out Alpha's merchandise booth and placed his hand over a girl's shoulder. "What do you want to get? It's on me."

"Oh my God…" the girl squatted down and started crying. Dominic became concerned so he slowly put his arms on her shoulders and asked if she was okay. She slowly stood up and hugged Dominic. She was really happy to see him today. Apparently, her mother just passed away last month and she heard our song 'Smile Flower' and searched for the English translation. She found the lyrics really meaningful and that's how she became a fan of ours ever since.

I was up next. I drew a very nice dare. It might be cheesy, but I was willing to do it anyway. This got me excited as well. Without hesitation, I approached the nearest fan from our booth and hugged her from behind. Her friends saw my face and started squealing and screaming. The girl on the other hand was surprised was trying her best to see my face. I slowly let her go. When she turned around, she immediately squealed and hugged me tightly. Like the others, she started crying out of happiness. I chuckled and gave her a pat on the back telling her how thankful I am for their support. We introduced ourselves and I found out that her sister who just recently got admitted because of an accident was the REAL fan. She became a fan along the way because of her sister. I gave her two signed copies of our album and told her to give it the other one to her sister. I was genuinely happy that I got to give something in return to my fans.

It was finally Yo Chul-hyung's turn. He actually called Victoria-noona to ask her permission. Surprisingly, Victoria-noona was calm about it. Even Yo Chul-hyung was shocked at how calm she was at treating this. It was as if it was the calm before the storm. But I we were probably thinking about this too much.

His hand was shaking as he reached inside the mystery box. As he pulled out the dare, the booth managers turn to him and said, "Don't worry. Dares here are safe and well thought of. So you don't have to be afraid."

He gave off a wry smile before he unfolded the paper. His eyes suddenly looked dead when he saw what it was.

"Hyung? What is it?" Zee asked as he headed over to see what it was.

When he finally saw it. "Just take the punishment."

He shook his head and forced a smile. "For the fans right?"

He slammed the paper with the dare on it on the booth table and started heading to the direction of our merchandise booth. I immediately got the paper to get quick look of what the dare was about. Zhang took a peek and said, "Oh my God. He's so screwed."

Meanwhile, Yo Chul-hyung turned his sights to one of our fans. He then approached someone who was holding a lot of Alpha merchandises, particularly Yo Chul-hyung's merchandises.

"Excuse me? Miss?" He started a conversation.

"Ye-" The girl turn to him with a smiling face turning into a shock.

"Yeah. Can you come with me for a sec?" Yo Chul-hyung didn't waste any time and grabbed her hand and started walking back to the booth. Along the way, they both started doing small talks. He even held some of the girl's merchandise. Hyung then told her about the dare. The girl was still happy nonetheless. Yo Chul-hyung finally calmed down and smiled at her. I bet the fan was head over heels for him at that time.

Then there were two more left. Matt-hyung took the dare with a smile on his face. He was the most excited one among us. This guy was the most daring member in Alpha. Why do you think he became the prodigy of fighting?

As soon as he saw what was on the paper, he was kind of disappointed. It wasn't as challenging as he thought. Well, that's according to him. After putting the paper down, he immediately took off his mask and approached a nearby stranger and grabbed her hand. The girl was about to pull her hand away but when she saw who it was she smiled and did the cutest giggle that I ever heard.

Matt-hyung then held both of her hands and stared at her lovingly. She was blushing so much from what was happening. Hyung asked for her name and she told him her name. Matt-hyung then smiled at her. "Devina… I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for supporting our group. Thank you for supporting me." He ended it with a wink before the girl shyly asked for a hug. Of course, Matt-hyung happily gave her one.

After watching that, Seiji-hyung was excited with his dare. He picked up the last piece of paper that was meant for us. He checked it and laughed. He immediately turn to search something. When he found what he was looking for, he started heading to the area.

There were a group of people huddled together and were checking on some merchandise from different idol groups. I was curious as to what his dare was so I checked the paper that he left behind. I chuckled. "Seems easy enough. 'Join in on a group of stranger's conversation'. A piece of cake for him."

When he was close enough, he started listening to the conversation. They seem to be arguing which one they should buy. He saw that his doll was one of the item of choice. So immediately took of his mask and cap and said, "Personally, I'd pick Seiji Hayashida from Alpha."

They all turn as if they were angry towards the person who suddenly jumps in their conversation. When they saw who it was, they immediately broke into laughter and screams. Seiji-hyung then opened his arms to hug each one of them. They were really happy to see him. These group also had a background story. They didn't know each other, but because of Alpha, they were able to meet each other and became good friends for almost a year now. That's why they were so thankful for us.

Hearing this conversation, we immediately went over to greet our fans and we took some pictures with them. We also bought some of our merchandise for them. We even signed it. We told them that instead of being thankful towards us, we were more grateful towards them.

With that, our dares were done. After everything was over, all of us were in a good mood because we just realized how popular we were in America even before we debuted here. Also, it was a great chance for us to get to know some of our fans.

The organizers then approached us and told us to change to some other clothes and put our disguises on so we could go and roam around the non-VIP section. We were so excited that we even raced towards the dressing room like a bunch of kids.

Minutes later, we were in different outfits and were in the non-VIP section just checking things out. Even with our disguise, we were still catching some of eyes. Some brave girls even approached us and asked for a photo not knowing who we really were. It would cause chaos if we ever did reveal who we are.

We were enjoying our time just going around and randomly buying some handmade merchandise by our fans. We also bought some food because we were starving. Suddenly, we heard an announcement to clear the floor. Suddenly a voice was counting down starting from 20. We knew immediately what this was. So we quickly finished our food and placed our drinks somewhere safe before we joined the huge clearing.

As soon as the countdown hit zero, the first song played. Thus, the Random Dance Challenge for this year's NYC KCON started. We immediately went in the middle and danced every song that we knew. A lot of people in America really love KPOP. It was amazing to witness and to be part of it secretly was just nice.

One of the event organizers then approached us and told us that they were preparing security. They said that 2 songs after "Like Ooh Ahh", they would play the entire first half of "Call Me Baby" and they wanted us to reveal ourselves as a surprise for the crowd. We were also getting excited to see the reaction of the people. Especially from our fans.

We waited patiently and eagerly as we listen to each song. As soon as the countdown for "Call Me Baby" started, we started going to the middle. The people were looking at us weirdly because the song didn't start playing yet and we were already there. We took off our masks and we could feel the ground quaking as the people screamed and cheered.

As soon as the timer hit zero, the song started played. We were THE finale for the random dance challenge for NYC KCON 2015. It really was a privilege. Surprisingly, the people didn't even mob us but just cheered and chanted. In the end, we were able to perform in peace.

As soon as we ended, the people approached us and kindly asked for some photos. They didn't mob, just slowly took some photos and asked for some autograph. Then the security took us away to safety. The fans weren't sad about it because they know that they'll be seeing us tonight when we perform. This surprise only pumped them up.

Ever since we came to America to debut, we've only been greeted by good vibes. It was just amazing. I hope our performance would come to a good close.

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"This is it guys!" I yelled as I jumped up and down to warm my body up.

The rest of the members of Alpha were doing their best to shake off the nerves as well. I could sense that Zhang was the most nervous one of all. I went over to him and patted his back. He gave me a forced smile.

"You good? What's keeping you?" I asked bluntly.

"I don't think I can hit the notes when we get to the middle part of the second song. I'd probably be exhausted by then." He admitted.

I smiled at him. "Hey. It's okay. Don't put too much unnecessary weight on your shoulders, man. We're here to carry it with you. Look."

He turned around to see the other members smiling at him. He could not help but tear up a little before smiling.

"Don't get soft on me now, Zhang-ah." Yo Chul-hyung said as he fixed his in-ear monitor.

Zee slapped his back. "Just do what I do. Don't dance on your solo parts so you can sing better. Besides, this is a live performance on a big stage, not Inkigayo. And to top that off, we all know what you can do."

"Thank you." He said plainly with a smile on his face.

Then the door to the backstage then opened revealing five familiar faces. Yo Chul-hyung then stood up and froze.

"Surprise?" One of the girls said, unsure of what to say.

"Babe? What are you guys doing here? Are you performing too?" Yo Chul-hyung said.

Victoria-noona nodded. "Apparently, it was a last minute decision by the company. We'll also be announcing something at the end of our performance."

As soon as she said that, the rest of the members of f(x) had a gloomy expression on their faces. We didn't bother asking because it might be a sensitive topic for them. We told them to just enjoy the show and to have fun together.

BTS came down soon after and went inside the back stage. They were huffing really hard from the lack of oxygen. Each of the groups were to perform 3 of their songs and believe me. It was really tiring.

Seeing their reaction, we immediately rushed over them to lend some of our portable oxygen tanks and masks. They happily took it as we helped calm them down. The demand is just too high. With our choreography, it would probably be worse.

"It's… your turn guys… The stage is yours." Hoseok-hyung tried to joke in between his breaths. This guy is seriously full of energy.

I patted his back. "Rest up, hyung. It's our turn now."

The rest of the BTS members gave us a thumbs up as we head to the stage when all the lights were off. We did a cheer on stage as Matt-hyung led us to it. The screen was playing what we did earlier today. From doing the dares down to the random dance play. The fans seem to enjoy it. It was obvious that there were a few who didn't know who we were. Soon, a couple of videos were shown from all the award shows that we've been on and all of our other achievements. It had subtitles too so the people could understand. We could hear a lot of "wows" and "no ways" from the crowd.

The video ended and the music began to blast out of the speakers. We then started off with "Growl" which was not that tiring. The fans were singing instead of chanting. That was how popular this song was. It wouldn't be an award winning song in MAMA if it wasn't.

Next up was "Call Me Baby". This was a little bit tricky because the transition between songs was really clear because of the change in tempo between the songs. Some of the members were even just freestyling and weren't dancing when it came to their parts. Still, we didn't let it get to us. Besides, we were the first and only group who didn't do lip sync.

Finally, there was a short pause before we transitioned to the last song. I could hear some of the member's breathing on my in-ear monitor. But the more I watch them, the more I realized that they looked like they were enjoying this more than I did. It got me pumped up as well. That is why after we got into formation for our last song, I smiled and tried my best to forget my exhaustion and just focus on the moment.

The last song finally played. In Adore U's intro, the crowd was saying it for us. That Zee didn't have to do anything. They really know our songs. It was such a fun song. It wasn't a serious song but it was like a confessional song. That is why after getting into it, I wasn't even feeling like I was tired at all. Thankfully, the last part of the song, we were going to do a freestyle and just let the crowd sing. The song finally ended, and I could hear everyone's heavy breathing.

Suddenly, an instruction from the Sound Engineer's booth sounded in our ears, "Stay on stage. We have a surprise for you and the audience."

Then a familiar song starts playing. It wasn't our song but it was a song that I wrote for a group in this world. I face palmed myself, when I saw them coming up on stage. The logo on the screen changed from Alpha's logo to JYP Entertainment's logo with another logo at the bottom of it. Beside that logo was ours.

They started running towards us and gave us hugs. Jiwoo was the first to run towards them and approached her girlfriend. That's right, Twice flew over from home to surprise their American fans. The rest of the members came to hug us. Mina was stuck like glue to me. Dahyun was also hugging me from the side.

We were really close. This scene showed the people that it was clear. They started singing their song "Cheer Up". They released the song right about the same time as we did. It was a hard fight between our song and theirs. "Adore U" won 8 out of 10 times because of "Cheer Up".

The crowd sang the song with them. We also joined them. Before they did their dance for their dance-break, we were asked to head down so they can perform the rest of the song for the fans and make their American Debut as well.

After their performance, we met them back stage and we started catching up. When we were promoting for our songs, we didn't get to see each other that much because of the schedules. So it was just a great time to catch up with fellow labelmates.

But something's bothering me…

Why is Dahyun leaning over my shoulder?

"I know what you're thinking, JayB-oppa. Just let me rest like this for a while. You're the only person in Alpha that I'm comfortable doing this to. The flight was exhausting so just please let me rest." She said nonchalantly.

"Okay." was all that came out of my mouth before giving her a smile. This brings back so much memories.

Suddenly, Yo Chul-hyung jolts up and starts looking for something. He started freaking the other groups around. Matt-hyung became worried and went over to him. "Everything alright, Chul?"

He didn't respond. We realized that he was looking for the remote since f(x) was giving a speech right now and the TV in the backstage was connected to live feed so we could see what was going on.

"Here's the remote, hyung." Zhang said.

Yo Chul-hyung just grabbed the remote and started turning the volume up. It was hard to hear what they were saying earlier, but now that we actually heard it. Our hearts started to break.

"Thank you for all the love and support that you have given to our group. Again, we're sorry for not telling you ahead of time but today…" Victoria-noona tried her best not to cry but she suddenly broke down.

Yo Chul-hyung just dropped the remote. He was equally as devastated as they were. He suddnely mutters softly, "Oh babe… why didn't you tell me anything?"

Amber-noona decided to finish what she was saying because she was the only one who wasn't crying among the members. "Starting today… f(x) will be retiring and disbanding. Thank you once again."

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