Page 7 of Wish Upon a K-Star
H yeri waited impatiently in the lobby of the Bright Star building.
It was Chuseok. Which meant the trainees had the long weekend off. Most of them were going home to visit their families. The rest were international trainees or had families who lived too far away to visit on a quick weekend trip.
Hyeri’s mom and dad were still in LA, but Hyejun-oppa’s company was also giving them today off. And when she’d seen him last month, he’d promised he’d take her to Everland. She’d only been in Seoul for a few months, and she was still too nervous to go all the way out to the amusement park alone. So, she had to depend on Hyejun to take her.
She glanced at the last message exchange with Hyejun.
Hyeri: Are you coming to Bright Star today?
Hyejun: yup.
Hyejun still refused to hang out with her most of the time. But he’d promised to come on Chuseok. She’d made him pinkie swear it—even though pinkie swears were a little immature for her at the ripe old age of thirteen-almost-fourteen, but it seemed to have worked, since he was on his way.
Hyeri spotted him coming through the large revolving doors and sprinted over before he could even make it to the security desk.
“Oppa, I’m ready! We can go.”
“Hyeri? What?” He frowned at her before moving past toward the security desk.
“Oppa, what are you doing? You don’t need to go inside. I came out to meet you. Let’s go.” She started pulling on his arm.
“I don’t have time for this.”
His phone dinged and he read the message before turning away from the security desk.
Hyeri thought that meant he was finally ready to go. Then she heard a familiar voice call out behind her. “Junie! Waseo?”
Hyeri blinked in disbelief as she turned to see Minseok and Jongdae striding over.
Immediately she started to blush, shifting to hide herself halfway behind her older brother. But Hyejun didn’t seem to care about protecting her and her major crush from Minseok. He stepped forward and clasped hands with his friend, pulling him in for a one-armed hug before repeating the gesture with Jongdae.
“You ready?” Jongdae asked, slapping Hyejun on the back.
“Ye, Hyeong. Is it really okay?”
“Yeah, my uncle says that no one is using the studio today. We can record the guide track with the high-end equipment.”
“Amazing.” Hyejun grinned. “Let’s go.”
“Hey, Hyeri, I didn’t see you there,” Minseok said, the only one to acknowledge her so far. He spoke English, since her Korean wasn’t that great, and she swooned a bit over his light British accent. “Did you come to see your oppas record?”
“Huh?” She blinked up at him. He was so vibrant. Most would argue that Jongdae was more conventionally attractive, but there was just some spark in Minseok that made it so Hyeri couldn’t look away. She knew when he debuted he was going to be a huge star. “Oh, no. Oppa said he’d take me to Everland today.”
“Ugh, Riri, seriously?” Hyejun rolled his eyes.
The childish nickname made Hyeri blush. She’d asked her brother to stop using it now that they were both trainees. She glanced at Minseok to see if he was laughing at her, but he was just glancing at his phone.
“I can’t take you today, okay?” Hyejun said. “Let’s just do it another time. Or you can wait until Eomma comes to visit.”
“What?” Hyeri’s whole body slumped in disappointment. “But you promised!”
“I’m busy today,” Hyejun said, turning to go through the security turnstiles with Jongdae.
Hyeri rushed after them, the turnstiles slamming into her hips before she remembered to scan her ID card. She caught up with Hyejun just as the elevator arrived and grabbed his arm. “You pinkie swore!”
“That’s kid shit, Hyeri. You’re too old to believe in that.” Hyejun pulled his arm away so hard that she stumbled back.
“Junie, come on,” Minseok said, then turned to Hyeri with a smile. “You okay?”
He was satisfied when she nodded and gave a shy smile back. The kid was adorable and she always laughed at his jokes. To sixteen-year-old Minseok, that’s all he needed to like a person. “Can you wait just an hour? Oppas need to record this track and then we’ll all take you to Everland.”
“We will?” Jongdae said, eyebrows rising in surprise. “It’s Chuseok.”
“Is your family doing something?” Minseok asked in Korean.
Jongdae scowled and glanced at Hyejun’s kid sister. But he remembered her grasp of Korean wasn’t that good yet. And it wasn’t really a secret that Jongdae’s dad worked so much he never had time for family things, even on Chuseok. He sighed. “Fine, you’re right. I don’t have anywhere to be.”
Hyejun interjected with a whine. “It’s going to be so crowded.”
“Be a good oppa.” Minseok punched Hyejun on the arm, but it was soft and playful. “Plus, it might be nice to get an outsider perspective on the track.”
“What could she know about music composition? She’s a kid,” Hyejun said. And Hyeri sent him a glare. Why did he constantly need to treat her like she was a child when she was only two years younger than him?
“Bright Star doesn’t admit dud trainees,” Minseok said. “She’s training in music production just like the rest of us, right, Hyeri-ya?”
He grinned at her and she smiled back, heart racing from being the focus of his attention. He really was so handsome. “Yeah, my teacher says I’m doing great in my lessons. I’ll give my honest opinion if you want.”
“Fine.” Hyejun sighed. Then he sent Hyeri a hard glare. “But you have to be completely silent while we’re recording! Or I’m not taking you.”
“You won’t even know I’m there!” she promised, crossing her heart.
Hyejun scoffed at the motion, and she thought she heard him mutter that she was such a baby before turning to go into the waiting elevator with Jongdae.
“Come on, Hyeri-ya.” Minseok held out his hand for her, and she felt a deep blush rise up before she took his hand, letting him pull her into the elevators.