I have to conscientiously keep myself from making a remark about how he sleeps with one every night, but I manage to stay quiet while he answers.
“I mean, I work with the trainees, so I see potential idols every day. Every now and then I have a session or two with someone who is established,” he explains, turning a corner and putting a finger up in front of Harper. “And no, I cannot tell you who any of them are.”
“And that’s fine. We’re just excited to be here!” Alita hurries to say, like she’s worried we’ll kick them out if they don’t seem appreciative enough.
“I know you are.” Jase smiles at her, then points to a wall that holds an impressive array of awards won by Task Force groups from all over the world, most of them belonging to RYSING.
The girls immediately shriek and run over, pointing and squealing as they recognize specific wins, then trying to get selfie angles just right to capture the statues in the background.
Jase checks his phone while they’re occupied and practically beams when he sees the latest text. “Oh, good, everyone is here.”
As if he hasn’t done enough recently to prove that he is a stellar best friend, this moment would assure me he is one of the most fantastic people I could ever hope to know.
“Do you want to see one of the dance practice rooms?” Jase asks, nearly causing a collision as they trip over each other to say ‘yes.’ “There are a couple, so hopefully one will be open.”
“Oh my god, imagine if it’s one we’ve seen in a video,” Alita gasps once we are paused outside the door and Jase is punching in the code to unlock it. “We could be in the same place they filmed a rehearsal for VOXbox!”
“I regret to inform you they are all identical,” I tell her. “So just assume whichever one it is would be one you’ve seen.”
Jase peeks his head inside, pretending like he doesn’t know what’s waiting for them. “Anyone in… Oh, hey…” After someone calls out to come in, he leads the girls into the massive space.
Clueless, they’re right behind him, until one of them inhales sharply and stops, causing another crash, this time with me caught up in it, too.
I untangle myself and move to the side, out of the way enough to see three expressions of complete shock—eyes popped, jaws dropped—as they realize RYSING is gathered in front of them.
“Surprise!” Jase yells, so deeply pleased with himself and what he’s been able to pull off.
One of the girls squeaks, somebody swoons, and I’m almost sure I hear someone say they’re about to throw up. I can’t really tell who’s who because they’re standing so close together, clutching each other for support, that they’re kind of indistinguishable.“What the fuck?”comes from somewhere in the middle of the cluster.
All six members are smiling, patiently biding their time while their guests try to remember how to breathe as Jase steers the girls toward their favorite idol group.
“RYSING, meet three of my former students,” Jase introduces, pointing to each of them in turn as he says their names. “Girls, meet RYSING. I think you know who they are.”
“I’m going to faint,” Savannah mutters just before she drops into a squat like she needs to put her head between her knees.
The next few minutes are a mix of joy and chaos as the members are their charming selves and the girls express their repeated disbelief and try not to cry. Eventually, everyone sits down on the floor, in a misshapen sort-of circle. I stay off to the side, more than happy to just watch this all happening.
Chita, ever the diplomat, eases into a conversation by asking Harper, Alita, and Savannah how they like Seoul and what their trip has been like so far. The other guys jump when there is an opportunity, attempting to ask questions of their own in English and answering what they can when one of the girls is brave enough to ask something.
It’s fascinating to watch Sun—Lux for the time being—in a situation like this. He’s comfortable and casual enough, but he’s still ‘on.’ There are little things that are just a bit different between Lux vs. Yung-Sun, and I’ve never really had the chance to see it in real time. I’m impressed with all of them, as I usually am, that they are so willing to come to the company on a day off, as a favor for a friend, to meet fans. Without anything on their schedule, they could have been anywhere, but they chose to be here because Jase asked them to.
Tang and Ryo have to excuse themselves for appointments after a while, and everyone gets up and huddles together for some group photos. Careful hugs are exchanged and gifts are given—some Seoul-exclusive RYSING merch, now autographed of course—before Tang and Ryo exit, Chita soon behind them to get in somestudio time.
Nikko hangs back because of Jase, but I know that Lux and Lalo stay behind for a little bonus bias time for the girls.
I can’t hear the whole conversation from where I’m checking email on my phone, but I see Lux gesture to something Harper is wearing. She blushes instantly, flustered by his attention and the compliment. I completely understand; he has that effect on me, too. Still, even now, when I think I may have adjusted, he’ll turn that smile my way, or look at me, eyes dark and hungry, and I’m reacting the same as a teenage girl being flattered by her idol bias.
“Alita! You cannot ask him that!” I turn in the direction of the exclamation, seeing Lalo looking surprised but amused, with Jase mildly horrified at whatever Savannah was scolding her friend for. Nikko appears to be doing his best to try not to collapse into laughter.
“I’m sorry!” Alita snaps back, then says, “No, I’m not. I’mnotsorry. When else am I going to have a chance to ask him to choke me?”
Jase rubs his temples and announces it’s time to let the guys get back to their days, then starts trying to shoo the girls toward the door. Lux poses for a few selfies with Harper, who is still all kinds of pink, and I can’t help but notice when Lalo stands between Savannah and Alita for one last shot, he places his hand high on her shoulder, about as close to her neck as possible without actually curling his fingers around her throat. She looks deliriously happy, and, honestly, I’m proud of her for asking for what she wanted.
I wave goodbye when Jase escorts them out to the next stop on their tour, a coffee shop nearby with a lot of cool k-pop memorabilia. As soon as the door closes behind them and it’s only the four of us left, Sun walks straight into my arms as Nikko and Lalo start immediately rehashing what just happened.
He slips his hands around my waist, head against my chest, seeming content to let me hold him. I press a quick kiss to his temple, thankful for an unexpected quiet moment in themiddle of the day. I know we can’t stay that way, not here, and I let him go reluctantly. “So, that was wild, huh?”
Sun steps back, laughing. “They were cute. It was fun to be able to surprise them like that. I like having a chance to talk to fans when it’s small groups and we can actually have conversations.”
