Page 46 of When Worlds Collide (Between Worlds #2)

I wasn’t watching where I was going, because I couldn’t see a damn thing behind the massive set piece I was carrying. It was made to look like a cloud, but it was not soft or fluffy, and it was currently digging into my stomach.

Suddenly, my foot went out from underneath me. I dropped the set piece and felt my body following it down.

“Ah, fuck,” I cried involuntarily, seeing the hard, cold ground coming up to meet me.

Except it didn’t, thanks to the sudden grip around my waist.

I flailed for a moment, regaining my balance and planting my feet firmly on even ground. The arms that had grabbed me still banded around me, and I had to twist to see who my saviour was. And to also tell them they could let me go now.

“Gamsahmnida,” I said with an easy smile that froze on my face when I saw the person – still – holding me.

It was Min Taeyang, the lead dancer from Sol8, and the man I’d met at the ball, who apparently had such a poor reputation that Jihoon had seen fit to literally drag me away from him.

And here he was, holding me so tightly I could barely move.

“It’s you!” I stuttered involuntarily.

Taeyang’s arms released me as he frowned down at me.

“Have we met?”

He peered at my eyes, like he recognised me through them.

I straightened up, pushing hair from my face, trying to regain my composure.

“Ah, no, I don’t think so,” I said, ducking my head. “I need to get back, thanks again.”

“Wait,” Taeyang’s hand reached for my arm, halting me from reaching down to pick up the set piece lying on the floor.

“What’s your name?”

I peered up at him, and for a whole second I debated giving him a false one, but I couldn’t see how I’d pull that off long term. So, with a resigned shrug, I said, “Kaiya.”

I knew the moment he put it together. The flash of recognition in his widened eyes, the way his mouth pulled up on a grin.

“The pom!” He cried, and then lowered his tone after looking around to see that everyone else around us was too far away to hear.

“So, this was the ‘this and that’ you’re in Korea for?”

“Something like that.” I kicked at a stone. “I really need to get back.”

“Yeah, hold on. Weren’t you there with-”

Without even meaning to, my hand shot up to his face, covering his lips with my fingers. In the next second, I yanked my hand away, raising it to my own mouth as I stared, wide eyed in horror.

“I’m so sorry!” I gasped. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

But, far from the shock or annoyance I would have expected to see on Taeyang’s face, he laughed.

“Ah, I see,” he said in a low voice, before he tapped the side of his nose. “We all have secrets, sweetheart. I’ll keep yours if you keep mine.”

Then, he winked at me before turning around and walking away, leaving me standing there, stunned, wondering what the hell had just happened, and what secrets of his I was supposed to keep.

“Holy hell,” I cried, pulling my shoe off one of my swollen feet, as I sat on the cold, cracked concrete. “I’m so looking forward to getting into bed tonight.”

My feet were killing me after running around a set all day, resetting the scene in-between takes.

‘Set’ was actually a generous term for the dilapidated, weed-strewn industrial parking lot that ENT had chosen to film in.

I glanced down at my watch, not surprised in the least to see that I’d already topped over twenty thousand steps, and it wasn’t even 6:00 pm yet.

Hana crouched down next to me with a soft groan, tiredly pushing her hair out of her flushed face.

“Tell me about it. If I had to move that godforsaken drum platform one more time…”

She pulled her hands down her face, slightly shiny with exertion, and I was sure I looked no better.

I croaked a laugh at the memory.

“Putting it on wheels was a genius plan, though.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I just wish we’d thought of it about…” she looked down at her own watch, “nine hours ago?”

I laughed so hard I rolled over onto my side, my entire body completely spent.

Hana was silent for so long that when I eventually stopped laughing, I looked over to see her focused on something on the ground.

I followed the trail of her eyes down the length of my legs, but she seemed to be looking at my bare foot, the vines and flowers I had tattooed there standing out starkly against the black of my jeans, and I remembered that while more accepted now, tattoos were still a bit of a taboo in Korea.

Hastily, I shoved my sock and shoe back on, before flopping back to the ground and throwing an arm over my eyes. Hana prodded me.

“Yah, don’t sleep here. Let’s go get something to eat.”

I rolled back up and eyed her with interest.

“Did you say food? Oh, thank God, I’m starving!”

“Yeah, I could eat a whole horse. Let’s go.”

She rose to her feet, wincing slightly, before extending her hand to me. I eyed it speculatively, before reaching out for her. She was stronger than she looked, pulling me to my feet with ease.

We got back in the mini bus with the other production team members, but got dropped off before going all the way back to ENT, as Hana said she knew a good place to eat just outside of Gangnam.

“Barbecue,” I sighed in appreciation as the little restaurant came into view, the enticing smells wafting out on the cold, January breeze as the door opened, and a laughing group of people walked out.

It wasn’t so busy inside that we needed to wait for a table, so we sat down and Hana called out for drinks.

“Holy hell, I needed this,” I sighed in relief as I came up for air after chugging my beer.

“Slow down there, England, I don’t wanna carry you out.”

Hana found it hysterical to call me ‘England’, whereas it seemed less funny when I called her ‘New Zealand’, after learning she was raised in Auckland.

“I won’t get drunk,” I promised. “This beer is medicinal. It’ll make my feet hurt less.”

She scoffed. “Maybe you can get your boyfriend to rub your feet later.”

She waggled her eyebrows at me over her own bottle as she tipped it up to drink.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know why you keep insisting that I have a boyfriend,” I protested.

“Because otherwise they wouldn’t let you near any of the boys.” She grinned.

“Come again?”

Was that an actual thing? I’d heard that single women weren’t allowed to work with male idols – I’d just thought it was bullshit made up by netizens.

Hana nodded solemnly.

“Only women in serious relationships are allowed to work with the male groups, or soloists. Haven’t you noticed all the eonnies this week?”

I hadn’t noticed, actually, but now that she mentioned it, all of the other women had been noticeably older.

It hadn’t even crossed my mind, and hearing it confirmed made my stomach lurch.

Director Kang already knew about our relationship, but what if others found out?

This felt so much bigger than just a dating scandal.

Or at least, it felt like another mile of land mines I needed to navigate.

“That feels a bit gross,” I admitted, pulling a face, but Hana just laughed.

“It’s how it is. Dating scandals end careers.”

She shrugged, while I tried to pretend like the beer in my mouth hadn’t just turned sour. I struggled to swallow.

“How come you’re working with them then?”

The band we’d been working with all week was most decidedly all male.

“I have a fiancé,” Hana sounded proud of the fact, although it took me by surprise.

“You’ve never said!”

“You’ve never asked!” she fired back, poking her tongue out at me, turning my shock into laughter.

“Yeah, I guess I never did,” I conceded. “Go on then, tell me all about him.”

“His name is Jihyun.”

I almost spat my beer out.

“Yah, watch it,” she chided, tossing a napkin at me as I spluttered, trying not to choke.

“Jihoon? Like… the visual from GVibes?”

I wiped at my mouth, trying to wipe away whatever expression was on my face.

Hana laughed in that weird, slightly too enthusiastic way that she had.

“Wouldn’t that be hysterical? Oh, I’m dating one of GVibes, look at me.”

She pounded her tiny fist on the table, making people on the tables around us look over.

“Not Baek Jihoon,” she rolled her eyes, “Lee Jihyun, I met him at uni.”

I still marvelled at how quickly her accent would change, when she’d say something in Korean and then switch immediately to English. I envied her.

“Did he study entertainment management, as well?”

I took a sip of beer, trying to soothe the slight sting from coughing it up before.

“International business studies,” she said with a flippant wave of her hand. “But that’s why I was allowed to switch from that patchwork girl group.”

And again, I’m struck by her callous tone when referring to the girl group we’d seen in the cafeteria on my first day. They had, indeed, been disbanded, and I often caught myself wondering how they were doing.

“And that,” she said, those dark eyes laser focusing on me, “is how I know you’re seeing someone. And,” she raised her voice, “why I think he also works at the company.”

Hana pointed at me with a small, but pointy fingernail and an equally sharp smile. She sometimes reminded me of a piranha. Small, but I wouldn’t want to go swimming with her.

“Because the company must know your boyfriend, to let you work with the boys. Who is it? Is it one of the executives? Is that why you moved to Korea?”

Her questions came thick and fast, and it was like being under fire from a semi-automatic; pop, pop, pop.

“Whoa!” I chuckled, albeit weakly, “chill with the third degree. I moved to Korea to pursue a career in music, and Director Kang knows I don’t have a boyfriend. I guess that rule isn’t as firm as you think.”

“Uh huh.” Hana eyed me speculatively.

“Anyway, enough about me. What are your life ambitions?” I pointed my bottle at her, trying to deflect the attention off of me.

“I just want to help groups succeed.” She said it so seriously that even the glint in her eyes turned hard, just for a second. It was a normal enough thing to say, a normal enough ambition, even. But the way she said it… it gave me pause.

“I want to be a group manager. When they get the all-kills, it’s going to be because I was there, behind them, pushing them. And if anything gets in the way of that… I’ll remove them.” Her gaze seemed to focus on something in the middle distance, seeing something I couldn’t.

“Them?”

“Hmm?”

“You said ‘them’?” I pointed out, watching as her eyes refocused on me, narrowing slightly.

“Did I?” She giggled. “I meant ‘it’.”

“Uh huh. Has anyone ever told you you’re very intense, Hana?”

If anything, her giggle became more… pointed.

“I’m just very focused. Ah, the meat is here.”

And this time, when her sharp gaze focused on the platter of meat brought to our table, I couldn’t help but study her. Suddenly, I fully believed that she’d find a way through anything that got in her way. Or anyone.