Page 33 of When Worlds Collide (Between Worlds #2)

C hristmas seemed to have firmly landed in Seoul by the time the middle of the month rolled around.

Before, it had mostly been the bigger shops that had decorated for the holiday, but now even the smaller shops and restaurants seemed to groan under the weight of gaudy, bright decorations, singing statues and thousands of charming twinkly lights.

Even the plastic-fronted pojangmachas had been decorated overnight – steam curling through tinsel, fairy lights swaying in the brisk winter wind.

Even though Jihoon was technically on Christmas break he still went into ENT nearly every day – either to work on his solo music or for some variation of the many training sessions he did.

I'd never been the kind of person who enjoyed lounging around, so it didn't take long before I started going out into the city, just roaming around.

One of the first things we'd done was buy me a T-money card, which enabled me to use pretty much all the city's transport options – which were numerous. Between that card and the Naver app, it was like having the keys to the city.

Somehow, on my second day of solo exploration, I'd managed to accidentally wander into a tour group.

I was waiting at a bus stop – the wrong one, as it turned out – and got talking to a group of Germans who were waiting for the bus to take them to Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Their plan sounded better than mine, so I gamely agreed to tag along.

I was so busy chatting to the friendly folk, that I completely missed the signage on the tour bus before I got on.

Luckily, the tour operator was kind enough to take payment for the tour when we'd arrived at the Palace.

It ended up being one of the best days I'd had since arriving. It would have been better with Jihoon there, but my new German friends made sure I wasn't lonely.

When I recounted the story to Becka later on, she howled with laughter as I described eating packed lunches on the bus – all while singing ' The Grand Old Duke of York ' – partially in German.

Becka’s photos of LA looked like the set of that year’s Hallmark Christmas romcom had spilled into the whole city, It seemed that everything had been decked in red, green, and gold.

For a moment, I’d felt a pang of regret that I wasn’t there with her, experiencing it the way we’d talked about.

We were going to go out to the bars and get ‘snowballs’.

She’d never explained what those were. Now I fear I’ll never know.

There had been no further updates about the situation with Pisces and the lawsuit, though I asked Jihoon about it often enough. He always responded with variations of the same answer: the company will deal with it.

I couldn’t answer for why I felt such a need to be involved, somehow. It felt like unfinished business. Having it hanging over me, like the spectre at the feast, made me antsy. Like I was constantly waiting for something to come along and ruin everything.

It had started snowing last night, dropping the already freezing temperature outside to several degrees under. People braving the streets were bundled up in coats so thick, and so long they might as well have been wearing duvets.

All of the other members had left to travel to their family’s homes for Christmas.

Jihoon said that even if I wasn’t here, he probably still wouldn’t go home, but I wasn’t sure if I fully believed him.

The way he’d said it made me think it wasn’t the whole truth, but when I’d pressed, all he’d say was that the holiday wasn’t a big deal to his family.

Before the members had left, we’d all gone up to Jihoon’s apartment for lunch.

I’d tried to insist that I really didn’t need to go.

It seemed like a group-only event. I was just a girlfriend, which somehow led to me explaining the concept of a ‘WAG’ – wives and girlfriends - to Jihoon, which led down a rabbit hole of football analogies, which seemed to lead to me being dragged through the door to go upstairs, having lost whatever argument I’d tried to make.

Which… fair.

Thankfully, no alcohol had been involved this time. It turned out Soju hit far harder the morning after, and when I’d woken up after the night I’d met all of GVibes for the first time, I’d felt like I’d been hit with a hammer. Repeatedly.

Though he was scarcely better off, Jihoon had ordered takeout, insisting that something called ‘hangover soup’ would chase away the gremlin using my brain as a trampoline. To my surprise, it had cleared away some of the cobwebs, even if I had no idea what was in it.

This time, meeting all four of them had been more relaxed, if still a little awkward, but I was okay with that.

Being the girlfriend didn’t grant me access into their enclosed world, and I didn’t expect it to.

I was just happy to see Jihoon with his friends.

I felt quite proud of myself for being able to disassociate the group of guys hanging around the apartment from the world-famous group I’d been such a fan of for so long.

Before coming up, I’d baked a fresh batch of banana muffins.

I was a fairly competent cook, but baking was not my strong suit.

Except for these muffins in particular. I’d perfected them over the course of years, and what had originally been a standard banana loaf, had evolved into the best goddamn muffins you’d ever tasted.

The secret was in the batter, but it was a secret I’d take to my grave.

When I’d shyly brought out the box containing a dozen of my best batch, Jihoon had proudly displayed it like I’d single-handedly crafted a Michelin star dessert platter.

“I feel like I don’t know any of you well enough to get you gifts, so I hope this is okay.” I had explained, ducking my head. It had sounded better when I’d practised it earlier, but now it sounded like an excuse.

To my relief, the two youngest members had enthusiastically taken the box from me and immediately devoured a muffin with so much groaning it bordered on obscene.

Seokmin said something to Jihoon around a thick mouthful of muffin. Woojin cuffed him, while the others just laughed. I looked up at Jihoon for a translation, but he just shook his head, a strained expression on his face.

Minjae had politely taken one, but looked up in surprise when he bit into it, and I could tell he wasn’t expecting them to actually taste good. I hid my grin behind my hand.

Even Woojin had declared them delicious.

Well, what he’d actually said was, “Pretty good,” as he nodded his head while chewing.

Jihoon pressed a covert kiss to the side of my head while plucking his own muffin from the box, despite the fact that he’d already eaten two downstairs.

I considered it a resounding success, and was just putting the box down at the kitchen counter when Seokmin came up behind me and said; “I told Jihoon-hyung he should marry the girl that cooks so well.” He shot me a devilish look, an expression I’d seen on his face so often when he was pranking the other guys, or participating in TV show games.

He darted away while I was left to wonder if he’d been joking or not.

No one had wanted to cook, or order in food, so I finally got to see the ramyeon pantry in action, as each member picked their own tub out.

Secretly though, it was still slightly surreal to see five of the most talented men in Korea pile around on the floor, happily slurping noodles.

I tried to keep to the side when they started to exchange gifts, not wanting to intrude in something so personal. I was just happy to sit back and observe.

Woojin gave all of them an envelope with a stack of cash inside and told them to be grateful, which I found hysterical, especially when the two youngest members started bowing down low to him, until he reached out a leg to kick them.

The other gifts exchanged varied in size from a new watch for Minjae, to a gumball machine for Seokmin.

But when they started to look slyly in my direction, I began to feel uneasy. Jihoon pushed me forward, sliding me along the polished wooden floor like a reluctant Roomba until I was knee-to-knee with the others, and Minjae handed over a shiny gift bag, tied at the top with a bow.

My face blazed as they urged me to open it, and so, as graciously as I could whilst feeling so desperately awkward, I reached a hand into the bag, pushing aside the colourful crepe paper until my fingers brushed something warm and soft.

Digging my fingers into it, I pulled it out, revealing a… hoodie.

“We thought it would be your style,” Minjae explained.

I unfurled the top to reveal a relatively plain, black hoodie, but what made it stand out, was across the back, the word ‘Crew’ was clearly emblazoned in stark, bold white letters and underneath was the logo for GVibes. On the front, embroidered across the left side, my name.

“If you ever want to come with us to a show, you can wear that,” Woojin said, surprising me.

“It was Jin-hyung’s idea,” Seokmin said, earning an eye-roll from the rapper.

Sungmin added, “Yeah, Joon-hyung wanted to get you-” But he was cut off by a cuff to the back of the head as Jihoon reached behind me to get to him.

Turning to me, his expression softened. “All our crew wear them, so you won’t stick out.”

“Especially if there are cameras around. The editors know to blur our staff out,” Woojin added.

I was speechless. It was incredibly thoughtful. It made me feel… included, and I hastily blinked back tears as I looked at each member in turn, thanking them. Woojin just nodded at me, but I noticed the slight pink tinge to his cheekbones.