The Fan-Signing 3

Young-seo's POV

I had been listening idly to the end of the conversation between Han-gyong and the fan he was talking to, the fan I had been talking to had already moved up, so I simply waited for their interaction to come to an end. I had watched as she blushed at a compliment Han-gyong had given her. I had noticed, with interest, that she had managed to take his guard down; even if she did not realise she had.

I see the fear in her eyes as she introduces herself in Korean. Despite her obvious nerves, she has not stuttered once. I find this quite impressive. I want to conduct a little experiment on this girl to test how strong her determination is. Casually, I smirk and nod. She is confused- exactly my plan. "Was my pronunciation off?" she asks curiously. I decide to go for it. "No, it's not that," I pause and smile, leaving her in suspension. "It's just that you are cute."

I see her eyes widen fractionally before she utters, "I don't know what to say." I raise my eyebrows at her modesty. "England, yes?" I ask her with genuine interest and she nods, calculating a response. "How old are you?" I ask curiously and I am satisfied to see that this isn't a question that she'd thought I'd ask. "Twenty-three," she says quietly and I understand now why she is being so cautious, I am quite a few years older than her and so I guess she hoped she could pretend that she was the same age as me.

Suddenly, a memory resurfaces, the faces of Namgi and Han-gyong when they had been twenty-three; and Ju-yung when he was twenty-three - a faraway feat of the imagination it seems but only two years ago. They had all been so fresh-faced and new to the world, especially Ju-yung as the maknae (the youngest), the most sheltered to the outside world as a cause of his young fame.

Fading back into reality, the fairly large room and the chattering surrounds me again and I remember y/n standing in front of me waiting for me to continue our conversation. I realise then that this girl is the same as the one back then; able to make memories of the members resurface with simple things like her age.

I look back up and make eye contact with y/n. I can tell that she is smart enough to realise that something is up. "You're really nice, we should hang out sometime." I feel the words leave my mouth but I am watching the conversation from afar.

I know that the feelings that have been stirred within me are ones that rarely awaken, in fact, I think I have only felt this way once before and it somewhat scares me. She agrees with what I have said and carries on talking, but the atmosphere has shifted and we are both aware of a truth untold. (Side note: see what I did there? Lol)

As our conversation draws to a close, I see her scribble something down on a slip of paper in scrawling, sloping handwriting that has been terribly rushed and she pushes it towards me. Her phone number stares back at me. I go to thank y/n but she has been replaced with the next fan gazing at me eagerly. I prepare myself for the request of aegyo, wondering about the feelings that I have just experienced after 5 years of casual relationships.

Y/n's POV

The aura of brilliance and flashing smile fills my vision and the smooth defiance of his features sends my heart beating in a frenzy. His boxy smile and light brown bangs are irresistible and I instantly feel comfortable. Although all we've done is made eye contact, it feels as though we've known each other for years.

Maybe it is simply his personality that makes me feel this way, the way he seems to be able to read a person so quickly and assess whether he wants to talk with them or not. I have spent plenty of hours- even a few years of my life imagining a conversation between us two. So many different situations and settings.

The voices of the members and excited fans echoes around the room and the number of people packed into one place make the white room warm. On top of the summer's heat and the number of people, I am heated by my nerves and I am almost surprised that no one has fainted yet. I guess this is why the members always carry handheld fans with them, I couldn't imagine being sat in here all day.

Tae-hee waves a little hello at me and I laugh genuinely and introduce myself with as much confidence as I can muster. The first thing to come out of his mouth is, "What is your favourite anime?" I giggle, "Anything cute, I guess." I reply, smiling sheepishly.

I have a geeky chat with Tae-hee, blushing when he grabs my hair and starts to play with it. "Let's watch anime together sometime." He whispers under his breath and then discreetly passes a slip of paper with his number on.

I am dumbstruck by his actions. Tae-hee gave me his number? My brain stops functioning as I stare into his dark eyes, looking for an answer in their depths to no avail.

"I'm trusting you," he says sternly and I nod obediently. Why would I give someone else his number without his permission? Of course, he must trust me to give me this information, unless he is playing a silly trick on me. I look directly into his familiar eyes with a look that said I was going to keep my promise.

Then he swiftly kisses my hand, acting all nerdy again, many fans scream in excitement, hoping Tae would do the same for them and I quietly move on, almost numb with excitement and joy.

Tae-hee's POV

I greet the next fan with a grin and notice the subtle calmness of the girl stood before me. She says her name is y/n and I instantly ask her what her favourite anime is. When she answers I take note of how she seems to be a romantic type.

We talk about anime and videogames and I say that it would be fun to watch anime together. Impulsively, I play with her hair, it slips through my fingers smoothly like waves rolling over the shore. It is a beautiful dark colour that I think would look so pretty in a plait.

My mind is spinning with the scent she carries and her nervous smile makes my heart race even though I've only just met her. I am three or four years older than her but I have never been too bothered about age gaps.

She is certainly not perfect, her hair has been messed up by the wind outside, she has a few spots on her face and she is not an athlete by any sorts, she has dry hands and her face is not symmetrical, but that doesn't matter when she so clearly has good intentions and is able to hold conversations that are interesting.

I write my phone number down quickly and take a glance around me before whispering, "I'm trusting you." The answer I need is found in her eyes; the steely determination that I find there convinces me that she will keep her promise.

As she turns her attention away from me in what seems like reluctance, I grab her hand and kiss it flamboyantly, playing it to the cameras as mere fanservice. However, my heart is beating rapidly in my chest at the thought of seeing her again.

She stares back at me in some form of shock but I can see that I haven't crossed the line, so I just smile and nod to her to carry on moving. I place my fingers absentmindedly to the lips that had just touched her delicate hand and internally scream like a small child on Christmas Eve. The anticipation of seeing her alone makes my hands shake.

Y/n's POV

Jin-ho is already looking at me when I turn my attention on him and he smirks at me confidently. I am once again overcome with shyness, mind working in overload. Looking into his flirty eyes, I remember smut about him I wrote when I was still a lovesick teenager. I suppress my horror at this memory and instead attempt to impress him.

I playfully roll my eyes at him and hand him the things to sign. Fansign meetings are so short. They have so many fans to meet, I feel sorry for them. The hours they spend sitting in here, not able to walk out into the summer breeze and admire the blue skies and local shops. Even if they were allowed, I suppose they would be instantly surrounded by paparazzi and fans, completely ruining any peace they have wanted to have.

I tell Jin-ho that he must work really hard and I admire the determination and passion he has. It has always amazed me how he seemed to be able to just keep moving along as if nothing could hurt him and how he liked to act like he was invincible when really, everyone is fragile and this man had been broken before. The least I could do as someone who cared for him, albeit a stranger, was to genuinely tell him how I feel about him.

He thanks me in an almost shy fashion before gently lifting my hand to compare it to his. The satisfaction on Jin-ho's face is clear as he realises how small my hands are. I giggle and tell him that I have baby hands. He asks me my height next with an expression that seems to be something like joy and I tell him that I am 5"3(160cm).

His eyes light up and he exclaims happily "You're so small!" Jin-ho then carefully cups my face in his hands teasingly. "I think that being small is cute," he says under his breath making my heart stop momentarily. He breaks eye contact, red in the face.

With a sudden burst of confidence, I reach up and remove a piece of his gorgeous black hair from his forehead. As he turns to me in surprise, I say with sincerity "Thanks, that means a lot."

I try to take my hand away from his face but he grabs it swiftly and holds it in place before uttering "I hope we meet again." I mouth "Me too" at him and he smiles affectionately.

I must be living in a fantasy world, a dream, because this would never happen to the real me, the one who stumbles over things and can't hold conversations with new people without some form of awkwardness.

With a final smile in Jin-ho's direction, I turn to the final member (Guess who!). All too soon this experience will be over and I will be back home in England, back to work and remembering this experience like a faded daydream.

(1848 words)

Author's Note

Uwu! How exciting. I know y/n's POVs are shorter but they will get longer I promise! Thank you to all lovely readers! The fan signing is nearly over. What will happen after? Thank you for reading :)