Chapter 7

The next day, I woke up an hour before we landed in Korea. I was jet-lagged, and I wanted to be sleeping on my bed so badly. Ayesha was just casually taking pictures of herself, with me joining here and there, while Anurak was chatting away with the director. Finally, we landed in South Korea, and I couldn't have been happier. We got off the plane and walked out of the airport, but as we were walking by, I saw the two kids who were in the same plane as me. I walked towards them and greeted their parents. The kids were excited and took pictures with Anurak, Ayesha, and me.

We were wearing masks as instructed by our agents to avoid attention and media. We got to our hotel, and I quickly took a hot bubble bath. I got dressed in warm, comfortable clothes and spent my day in bed watching movies. But later on, Ayesha came by and asked me to accompany her grocery shopping. We drove to the grocery shop in the rented car our agency booked, and we both bought all the food we were curious about trying out. As we were shopping, a guy wearing a mask and cap got into the shop. He looked suspicious, the way he walked, and how he kept looking behind him and around, plus his face was barely visible. We were wearing masks, but we were not behaving suspiciously. I was curious, and Ayesha noticed it.

"That is probably an idol who is trying to get resources without being noticed, so don't make it awkward for him and move on with your petty life," she said, whispering in my ear and moving on to check other snacks. "Really? Is the media and fans this side very bad? And FYI, my life is anything but petty," I said.

"It's very bad, stop staring, you are scaring the poor guy... oh, I just rhymed," she said as she came close to me, looking for a particular product. "Stop staring, you are scaring and marrying in a wedding, and we jetting for the mooning in the morning and the nighting," I sang as I did little dance moves. "I can't believe that... that actually rhymed without making sense," she said as she laughed. "He looks really freaked out, his hands are shaking, and he can't stop looking around. Let me go and check if he is okay," I said, walking towards the so-called idol. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, and he kinda freaked out. "Hey, it's okay. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," he said as he bowed down slightly. "You don't look so good," I said as I looked around. A few girls stood by the entrance as they looked around. The so-called idol quickly turned and faced the other way around. I understood the whole scenario now. I pulled his hand, and we walked to the back of the shop. "I have been in your situation before. It's terrifying and not so good, but anyways, don't worry. I know how to handle such situations. First, your clothes. They probably saw how you were dressed and hence, you need to change your outfit. I saw some clothes right in that far corner," I said, pointing to the side where the clothes were. He looked in that direction but didn't move as the girls were now looking inside of the shop to spot him. Ayesha came towards us. "And what are you doing?" she asked, looking at me confused.

"He needs our help. Code Detoxify," I said.

She first looked outside and saw the girls who were slowly becoming more and more as they looked around, "Okay, tell me what to do."

She got the clothes for us, and he changed his T-shirt, jersey, shoes, and trousers. We ruffled his hair into messy, and we told him to change his mask and hide his ornaments. He turned away from us and quickly changed his mask and wore a different one. "Now that looks better. Let's get out, but first act natural, and let's go to the till and pay for all this stuff," Ayesha said.

We walked around the shop for a few minutes and went to the till and paid for our stuff. When we walked out, we pretended to be laughing and talking as I held hands with the stranger. As soon as we were far from the shop and away from the crowd of girls, we loosened up and freed our hands.

"Thank you," the man said as he bowed again. "Oh no need. I have been in those types of situations, and trust me, it's not nice at all. I am glad I could help," I said.

"We," Ayesha said, correcting me.

"Oh, sorry, we could help. Of course, not without you," I said, side-hugging her.

"May I know something? Who are you, though?" I asked.

"Uh-Uh, I... I," he hesitated.

"It's fine; you don't need to tell us. Whoever you are, be safe," I said as I waved, getting ready to walk away to the parking lot.

"Wait... since you helped me, let me repay you."

"Repay us how?" Ayesha asked.

"Yeah, how?"

"I can treat you to a meal if you want," he said, unsure.

"Then why are we still waiting here? Let's go," I said, getting excited.

"No wait a minute... what if he is a trafficker or even worse, you don't know how his face looks like, and you don't know his name. How can you possibly just agree?" Ayesha asked me, amused.

"He said he will feed me for free, and besides, don't worry about that. Come to think of it, I have his clothes, shoes, and his phone and wallet. He wouldn't have left these things in my possession if he wanted to kill me, right?"

"I swear you just get more stupid, that's ridiculous."

"Uhm, I am harmless, I swear. If it makes you feel better, I can remove my mask," he said.

"Do it, and while doing it, give us your full name, age, and profession," Ayesha said, folding her hands.

"No, that's not entirely necessary," I said.

He removed his mask, "My name is Choi Yeonjun. I am 23 years old, and I am a member of the boy band TXT," he said as he showed us his face and bowed.

"Ahhh, no way... no freakin way!!" I said, squealing.

"Oh, interesting," Ayesha said as she looked serious but ended up squealing too.

"But it's only fair; you also do the same. For all I know, you could be kidnappers and pretended to help me just to kidnap me later on after winning me over," he said.

"I will go first," Ayesha said as she removed her mask. "My name is Ayesha, and I am an EPA, meaning executive personal assistant. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Anashe Anika Ambani. I am an actress. Nice to meet you," I said as I removed my mask. He froze for a while, "Wow... I know who you are!" he said as his cheeks turned pink.

"Let's wear our masks before we get caught, and we need to go; it's late," Ayesha said as she looked around, as people were now walking around a lot. We wore our masks, "Let's exchange numbers. We will talk more on the phone, and you owe me a date, and I will hold you to that," I said, giving him his things and my phone to write his number.

"Bye bye, see you," he said, waving as we waved, walking away.

"I can't believe you... actually, we did that," Ayesha said excitedly. "Me neither, to actually think that you told me to mind my business. Look who we met... You see, I am a luck bringer," I said as we got to our car.

"Now hold it there; I was being cautious; you were being reckless as always. I have to be your freakin' mother all the time... I will not allow you to put me in that corner. And, by the way, I heard Fathima, the mighty demon of logic, jumped off a tree and got her leg punctured by a sharp small tree bark," Ayesha said as she snickered.

"What??" I asked, with my eyes wide, and she showed me a video Cynthia took and sent it to her. Oh my Word, I couldn't stop laughing. I quickly did a group call, and when they all answered, I was just laughing. Dallin and Cynthia joined me while Fathima was sulking in the background. "I can not believe thee demon of logic did the illogical and jumped off a tree, only to get her leg stuck on a bark... now where did this logic get her," I said.

"Girl... If you are this finished by watching the video, what about me, the one who was there," Cynthia said laughing.

"When Cynthia sent me the video, I just knew that Fathima would not hear the end of this," Dallin said.

"AND SHE WON'T," Cynthia, Ayesha, and I said at the same time.

"Come on, guys, I didn't see the bark. Don't make a big deal out of it," Fathima said.

"No, this is payback for supporting Dallin when he said I was a stillborn and for saying I was a ghost," I said. We got into the car, and Ayesha was driving this time.

"But I wasn't the one who started it; I simply laughed and nothing else," Fathima said, trying to justify her answer.

"Did it hurt?" Ayesha asked.

"No, it didn't... I didn't even feel it when it went in," Fathima said.

"Ah, you should have felt it," Cynthia said.

"The friends we keep," Dallin said.

"Dallin darling, you keep the most amazing friends ever. Not even dogs can amount to us," I said.

"No, dogs are better; they are loyal!" We all said at the same time.

"I miss you guys," I said.

"Ncooow, we miss you too... how's work?" Dallin asked.

"Work, as usual, is okay, just that I am out of the country... well, in Korea, to be specific, for work... Cynthia and Fathima, you guys are in Poland working on that project, right? How is it going?" I asked.

"Good... as planned. And what Ayesha said was actually true, but we will talk about that when we meet," Fathima said.

"I know, I am always right," Ayesha said.

"Well, guys, I gotta love and leave you. I am actually at work, and my boss keeps staring at me like he is about to bite me," Dallin said, whispering.

"Mr. Brown, if I wanted to bite you, I would have done that last night," his boss said in the background.

"JESUS!!!" Cynthia said in her Nigerian accent.

"Aaaaahhh!" Ayesha and I screamed while staring at each other. Ayesha had parked the car, Dallin had dropped the call, "He is cheating on Mr. Park, Jesus, I am Finished," Cynthia said in our broken English that we created in Primary.

We hung up and all sent a text to Dallin asking him what his boss meant. We got into the Hotel, and I went to my room. I ate my dinner and went to bed.

The next day, I was woken up by an alarm, and I took a shower and wore my Grey tracksuit and sneakers. I went to Ayesha's room, and she was also ready. Anurak was also ready, and our director and other staff members were ready. We got into our van and drove off. "Guess who we met last night?" I said lookin at Anurak who was busy on his phone."Jesus?" he said not taking his eyes off his phone.

"Very funny consider being a comedian ...we met Yeonjun from TXT the idol..how exciting,"i said squealing .

"That could be highly possible ...of course in your dreams ,yes you met him,"Anurak said smiling at me.

"I-we met him ,i am a celebrity too you know i dont get why you are being like this,"i said rolling my eyes and turning away from him.

"So director, what will we be doing today... touring?" I asked curiously. "No, we came to work, so we will be working today. Anurak and yourself will have to think of a dance routine. If you check your scripts page 50, that's where your characters will dance with famous artists, like their biggest project ever... The dance routine should accommodate other artists too; you have 2 days to think of something we can start off from," The director said.

"As you can see, this movie is going to be about how our main leads find the rhythm in love. Like they find the beat that Love has, they need to discover the rhythm that Love follows so that they succeed with their dance routine. You see, Love has a specific beat to it, like its own music, so you need to discover that beat for you to dance to it, and when you dance to that beat, magic happens... so you guys need to learn what beat Love has and find the right dance routine," Our scriptwriter and producer said.

"Love has a beat and its own music... I didn't know. Well, that seems hard," I said.

"It's hard for you but easy for me," Anurak said, smirking.

"Ah, really... wow, must be nice," I said, rolling my eyes.

"So this scene will be filmed in Korea, why if I may ask?"

"Anashe, you didn't read your script, did you?"

"Well, I didn't get time to. I had a lot of meetings and things scheduled," I said, rubbing my head.

"Well, here is the script. Read it starting now," the producer said, handing me the script. I know most people will think that this is unprofessional but trust me we do hold script reading sessions before we actually star filming and we discuss the script and the filming .It takes a month mostly due to the fact that there is a lot to do and with busy schedules it's hard to like always be present everyday .I was informed that the script reading would happen after the entire cast had been introduced and also after we have decided everything and how it will go.

Ayesha was sneering, and Anurak was laughing silently. I read the script, pouting, but then got caught in the script, and before I knew it, we had arrived. Our director loves to tell us to read the script so that we understand and know the whole story of the movie so that we are in character and understand our characters before we act them out. It's like when writing a song; you keep singing the lyrics from the start so that you know what to add and what to remove. When we read the script, we do it so that we are able to know how to portray the character, like in the right way and manner.