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Another city, another hotel. A woman looks at her room and sighs heavily tossing her key on a desk and her bag on the floor. She walks to the balcony and pulls open the curtain. She looks down at the city around them. There’s a knock at the door and she casually walks back to it. There’s a man and woman standing there. They have big smiles on their faces. She raises her eyebrow.
“What’s up?” She asks. Although she knows the answer.
“Let’s go eat.” The woman says. The other woman smiles and goes back and digs in her bag real quick then grabs the key from the desk and closes the door to the hotel room.
“It’s so exciting to be on this circuit with both of you.” The man says. He has dark blond hair and wears nice charcoal gray slacks, black tee and hoodie under a blazer.
The woman who spoke wears a black dress with a shawl over her shoulders. She looks back at the other woman. “The concierge told me that there’s a really good restaurant nearby. It has two Michelin stars.” She’s excited.
“Sounds expensive. I don’t have that kind of money.” She states.
“Don’t worry Kiki. We’ll cover you.” The man says.
“I would hope so. This is the eighth time you’ve both taken me out to eat and I end up footing the bill. Soon I’ll be taking the money out of your bags when you’re asleep on the plane.”
“That’s not nice Kiki.” The woman pouts.
“Oh yeah? Well, so is sticking me with the bill.” Kiki says.
“Oh. Here it is.” The man says to change the subject. Kiki sighs heavily. While she enjoys hanging out with these two, she really wanted to explore the city and test out the new app she worked so hard creating.
They enter the establishment and they are seated. While the man and woman are dressed to suit such a fine place, Kiki on the other hand is not. She wears black skinny jeans and a dark blue Henley tee under a black Gothic style hoodie with corset ties on the sleeves and a wings cutout on the back with a large princess style hood.
The man hands each of them a menu and runs through the specials and the wine list. He then bows lightly and walks away. A few minutes a waitress approaches.
“Can I start you with something to drink?” She asks.
“I’ll have a chardonnay.” The woman says politely.
“I’ll have the same.” The man says. The waitress looks at Kiki.
“Just water for me, please.” She says with a nice smile. The waitress bows and walks away. After a few minutes they know what they’re gonna order. The waitress returns with the wine and water.
“You must be ready to order.” The waitress says and pulls out her check pad. She looks at the man first. He orders roast beef and mashed potatoes. The woman orders a filet mignon and roasted potatoes.The waitress looks at Kiki.
“I’ll have the steamed vegetable dumplings.” She says and closes the menu. The waitress looks at her surprised.
“Is that it?” the waitress asks. Kiki nods. The woman takes the menus and walks away. Kiki sighs lightly and looks around at the restaurant. She crosses her legs and looks at her phone and starts typing in the memo pad.
“You’re always writing. Don’t you ever take a break?” the woman asks.
“Only when I’m sleeping.” She answers. What she really wanted to do was explore the city and taste something different than what this restaurant offers. She’s been on the road for little over a year. These two, Abel and Zima joined the circuit only three months ago. They’ve kind of clung to her since the first appearance.
The food is brought out and they enjoy their food. Abel and Zima enjoy talking with each other while Kiki pretends to really enjoy their company. She does like them, but there’s just something about them that always rubs her the wrong way.
They leave her to pick up the bill…yet again. She signs the bill and gets up and leaves. She zips up her hoodie and finds herself walking down a side street and in front of a large building. She sighs lightly and looks around. She opens her camera on her phone and points it at a sign. There’s a second delay and it speaks the name of the street. She smiles and looks at her phone. It makes a map pop up and she zooms in and looks at all the different places.
After a little bit of wandering she finds herself at a local restaurant type place. People are eating and drinking, but she just wants a place to chill. She sees an empty table and sits there.
“What would you like?” a woman asks. Kiki understood her, but wants to test the new app and holds her finger up and opens her app.
“Can I have water and japchae?” She speaks into the phones microphone. She holds it up to the woman. It repeats in her language. And she smiles and nods and walks away to get the water. Kiki looks down at the phone and it creates a little folder of the brief encounter.
After a little bit the woman brings her water. Kiki thanks the woman and bows lightly. She opens an app on her phone called ‘Wonderland’ a game that she and a friend developed for more than a year. Which is about the same amount of time that she’s been on the circuit.
It’s currently in its beta form and select people have been chosen to test it out. So, they are constantly fixing the bugs and updating things. The woman brings the food. Kiki’s been looking forward to this all day. After walking around testing her translator and guide app, she gets to taste some really good food.
Taking a few bites, she’s in heaven. What she was exposed to at home doesn’t even compare, but it was all she had, so she was content. She sets the phone down and watches the screen. It plays through the first scenes. Kiki’s brilliance is seen clearly. Her creativity and finesse shine through. She had to dumb down some of the interactions, but it was all minor. In the end the story is just a series of stories, dirty stories that the player can take liberty with. If all goes well, they’ll probably release a pc version eventually.
She finishes the japchae and the screen stops. A window pops up. ‘You are entering a restricted section without headphones. Do you wish to continue?’
She pulls out her headphones and connects them wirelessly. She keeps one speaker off her left ear and then presses the continue button. A few minutes and she’s tapped on the shoulder. Kiki looks up and after a minute, she holds up her finger. She pauses the game and reopens the app. She hands the woman the phone allowing her to speak into it. After a second she hands Kiki the phone. It translates for her, ‘would you like anything else?’
Kiki smiles and nods. “Do you have a suggestion for something sweet?”
The phone repeats in her language and the woman nods, going to the back. She sees a couple of handsome guys walk in. They find a seat behind Kiki. The guys order some food and something to drink. The woman brings out some donuts. She immediately recognizes them. She bows and thanks her. After a little while longer, the woman brings her some more water.
Kiki smiles and returns to the app. She is very happy that the app works as well as it does. It seems to be asking for something. She decides to hold up her phone and takes a picture, holding her fingers up to her eye like a peace sign. She laughs and lowers the phone looking at the picture. She laughs again and posts it. She goes back to the game while munching on the chapssal donuts.
One of the games within games is a movement game. The object is to move the phone around gently to get the clothes on or off. Kiki decides to start with off and chooses her female character, aptly named Kiki. First she keeps her phone down, but then after three tries she lifts the phone up and starts tilting it side to side.
This automatically gets the guys attention behind her. One of them points. The other two look back and watch her for a minute. Their eyes widen as she’s successful this time in removing her characters dress. Kiki’s pleased with herself.
She sees their reflection and sets her phone down. She takes her headphones off and turns around. She looks at a face that’s heart shaped and very handsome, aesthetically appealing. The other has the cutest dimples. The third has a baby face and blond hair. The fourth has a kind of a long oval shaped face and dark brown hair.
“Was I bothering you?” She asks.
“No.” The dimples says plain and simple.
“Oh. Good.” She turns around and grabs her phone. They turn around themselves. Baby face shakes his head lightly. She exits the game and opens her app, but then puts it in stealth mode. She’s turned on the mic. She leaves the app run for a little bit.
The woman returns. She settles her bill, then uses the app and asks if she minds if she were to stay at the table a little longer.
The woman shakes her head and clears up the table. She scrolls through the transcripts and finds their conversation. They were talking about her game and how she’s scary and that she reminds them of Suga.
Kiki can’t help but smile and laugh lightly. It’s about nine in the evening when Kiki’s phone rings. She puts the headphones back on and answers the call. She gets up and heads out. She waves to the woman before leaving and exits the restaurant.
“Where the hell are you? Abel and Zima are beside themselves.”
“Oh, you mean they feel bad about sticking me with their food bill….again?”
“Kiki, you know what I mean. You get your butt back to the hotel. You have work in the morning.” A man says.
“Relax, will you? You’ll give yourself a heart attack. Besides I’m already on my way back.”
She hears someone exit the restaurant behind her. She moves aside, even though she wasn’t in the way. She just figured it’s only polite. She walks a few feet and stops. The four guys that were behind her walk past. They look at her.
She sighs lightly. Sounds like an argument with a significant other maybe. She hangs up and takes the headphones off her ear.
“Everything okay?” the man with the heart shaped face asks. He’s genuinely curious.
“Oh yeah. I’m fine.” She responds and starts walking. “Have a good night handsome guys.” She says and touches them each lightly passing right through them.
The man with the oval face stops, touched by her. The other three stop and look at him.
“Think we should let her go by herself?” the oval face asks.
“She’ll be fine J-Hope. I think one look would stop anyone.” Baby face says.
“You’ve met your match, huh, Suga?” the dimples teases.
Kiki stops at a corner and opens her phone. She sends a message and sighs lightly. She puts her hands in her hoodie pockets and leans against a wall. Cars zip past. She crosses one foot in front of the other. She wears black puma shoes on her feet.
After a little while a car pulls up. She pushes off the wall and opens the car door.
“Hi, honey. Did you miss me?” she’s sarcastic, but the man in the driver’s seat is not laughing. The four were close when they see the whole thing. Kiki laughs and get in the back seat of the car. She sees the four and waves and blows a kiss with a wink. The car takes off.
“That was careless, Kiki. Do you know what could’ve happened to you?” the man scolds.
“Sorry, Franklin. Abel and Zima stuck me with the bill again.” She says with a sigh.
“Yes. Well, just put up with it a little while longer. I’m talking with their agent to get you reimbursed.”
“This was a 120 dollar check, Franklin. That’s not including all the other cities that we’ve visited since they’ve been with the circuit. You gotta do something, Franklin. Do it soon.”
The car comes to a stop in front of the hotel. He turns around looking at her. “Don’t worry, Kiki. I will. You get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Right. Ten in the morning sharp.” She gets out of the car and goes to her room. She takes the card out and puts it on the desk.
She was gonna shower, but she’s too tired. She’ll do it in the morning and tomorrow after work she’ll upload the data she collected. It’ll help to improve her app and how it works. After a few minutes of lying on the bed, she sighs and gets up and changes into her pajamas.The next day, Kiki’s sitting at the desk writing furiously. She’s been up since about four in the morning. She’s showered and dressed and put her hair in a simple ponytail after doing a couple of braids. She’s writing about a dream she had, four poems have already been written and so far four new profiles have been added to her vast repertoire. There’s a knock at the door. She gets up and opens it, not looking to see who it was nor caring that she left the door open. She goes back to her writing.
“You didn’t even look to see who it was on the other side. I could’ve been a rabid fan or a kidnapper.” The man, Franklin says. He closes the door and crosses his arms. He looks at her sitting on the desk.
“Oh, Franklin. I knew it was you from your knock. We’ve been traveling together for over a year. You’re the only one I know that knocks three times…gently.” She looks up at him.
He wears a light gray suit with a white shirt and ugly tie. He has an affinity for ugly ties. Thinks it makes him stand out. As of right now he’s her editor and manager, but it’ll change after this tour.
“So, what’s up? You can’t be here for the tour. That’s not for another hour.” She says and leans back against the seat. She crosses her leg.
“There’s a creative arts event and you’ve been invited. It’ll be in two days, so we’ll be extending our stay and attending the Writers guild event the next night. You should be so proud. You’re very popular here.” He says and walks out, not even giving her the chance to object.
She looks at the work on her desk and sighs heavily. He peeks in before closing the door.
“Be downstairs in five. We’ll be leaving soon.” He orders and closes the door. After a few minutes, she closes up and locks up her laptop in the safe and puts her tablet in a little bag with a bunch of cute characters on it. There’s writing in Korean, but she doesn’t answer anyone when they inquire.
She sees the five other writers on the tour. There’s Abel and Zima. A fluffy blond woman, a red-haired man and another woman with dark brown hair.
She decides to stand against the wall and looks at her phone. She turns her headphones on and starts playing Wonderland again. She decides to play the matching game.
After a few minutes they all are on their way to the venue. This particular tour was arranged by the three biggest publishing firms and their most popular writers. While Kiki is indeed popular she is not represented by any of the firms. She was invited by one of them and has been on this tour promoting her books and poetry and creating a buzz for the new anthology that will be released at the beginning of the new year.
While everyone is talking to each other Kiki keeps to herself. She plays on her phone. Her bag in her lap, one leather strap wrapped around her arm.
“That’s such a cute bag. Where’d you get it?” one of the female writers asks. Kiki looks up at her, she’s the fluffy blonde, but Kiki loves her features. She lowers her phone down on her bag.
“I ordered it.” She answers simply.
“Oh. What does it say?” the woman’s trying to interact with Kiki, but she’s not in the mood. She flashes an evil smile.
“What do you think it says?” Kiki’s being a smartass now.
“Don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you. I think that’s such a cute bag.” She’s giving attitude back.
“It says mind your own business.” Kiki smarts.
The fluffy blond sits back in her seat, mumbling something under her breath. Kiki doesn’t care and puts her headphones back on. The car finally arrives at the University. This particular event is a type of meet and greet. Seventy five students are invited as well as faculty and even some members of the press were allowed in. While this isn’t meant to focus on just one writer, because they’re all here to promote their work and display their expertise, but what really piqued the press’ interest was the fact that Kiki would be here.
The five and Kiki are escorted in. They like the feeling of being treated like superstars, not really realizing that this is all because of Kiki’s recent success with her ‘Undressed in Moonbeams’ poetry book. They go up to a stage and sit by a podium. There are three cameras all set up.
“I didn’t know that the press would be here.” Another woman says.
“They’re probably anxious for some of our publications.” The last of the five says. It’s a man. He has dark red hair and dark brown eyes and wears black slacks and a v-neck tee. He’s very confident in his looks.
Franklin and the other manager approach them. The whole while they talked, Kiki just kind of spaced out. The press is here to cover the meet and greet, while they’ve been assured there won’t be any pressing questions, they are reporters after all. Kiki has an idea of what they want to know, but not even she knows why these three big firms invited her on this circuit tour, but it’s all moot.
“Okay, we’re gonna be starting soon. Don’t be nervous, you’re all talented writers. You’ve got nothing to fear…” the other editor starts.
“Except fear itself?” Kiki adds. Franklin looks at her and shakes his head. Kiki waves it off and watches as students start to filter in. The two managers walk up to the three reporters and they talk then they all approach.
“Okay, so we’re gonna give the reporters the opportunity to ask you a few questions. Then we’ll start the meet and greet with questions from the audience.” Franklin says. He steps aside and allows the reporters to speak.
“Hello. I’m Kim Jai Won. I’m with the local paper, my question is for Kiki, I was wondering what your inspiration was behind the Silver Nails story?”
“Most of the inspiration for my stories comes from everyday life. I look around and just watching life and people inspires me. Hell, sometimes the strangest things spark a story or poem.”
“I’m Gerald Williams. I’m with The Poets Guild magazine. I was wondering, Kiki, your latest poetry book is varied with the types of poems, but most of them get pretty racy, what was your reasoning for finally publishing those and letting the public see them?”
“What is racy? Everyone’s so worried about politically correct. I wanted to shake things up and remind people that what they feel is good and healthy. Plus, the die-hards can’t help but read between the lines and find the truly dirty.” Kiki answers.
The reporters ask a few more questions, all the while the third doesn’t speak, just listens. Finally before their time is done, he raises a hand.
“I represent the Tech Salon website. Kiki did you know that your app, Translator Mod is the top app; downloaded by more than three million and used as a social media site by over five million? How do you feel about that?”
“Pretty cool. Translator Mod is still in its early stages and it’s constantly being updated and the bugs worked out, but so far it’s a pretty fun app. There’s so much more than just instant translations; it helps with finding all kinds of fun interesting things.” She’s proud of her app.
“Even though Wonderland is still under beta, it’s fast becoming a great game. What was the reason behind creating it?”
“Have you ever been called a pervert?” He stammers and blushes. The other writers chuckle lightly. “Well, I wanted a safe place for it. Creating this game keeps everyone entertained and it’s safe. So, there’s no need to worry about viruses or random attacks of personal information.” She answers.
“So, you’re game can’t be hacked?” He asks.
“I never said that. Anything can be hacked by a good hacker; I’m just saying that most malware and Trojan are eliminated by our Serpent Wall protection, which all the users must download and use. It’s free to download and the users don’t have worry about fees.” She answers.
“So are you still looking for beta testers?”
“I am.” She answers.
“Okay. We have to cut this short. Our meet and greet needs to get started.” Franklin cuts him short.
The meet and greet has started and everyone is getting questions pretty evenly across the board, but Kiki is still getting the bulk, but it’s understandable, her book is the newest release. There were three that had asked about how she felt about being on this tour as a client from a smaller firm. Her answer made the audience laugh.
It’s not the size of the firm, it’s the quality of the work that’s published.That seems to always end those types of questions…at least until the next city. Kiki’s always happy about that. The next part is for them to each read an excerpt from their work. Each one goes and reads their most popular piece. Kiki always reads something different, but this time she decides to read something that’s not even published.Kiki leaves the hotel and once again finds herself walking around the city. She wants to test out the app a little bit more. So, she decides to “get lost” in a pretty busy area. There’s a little park where she decides to sit and relax and people watch.
After a little while there is a sea of young women flocking to the little park. It’s in the early afternoon and they are all excited and have different signs. She opens her app and lifts her phone and records a group of young women. After a couple seconds she looks and pauses the video and the app translates automatically.
‘I love you Jimin!’ and ‘Worldwide handsome’. She smiles lightly. After about a half hour of watching Kiki finally decides to follow. There’s a stage that’s surrounded by people. She looks around and sees a spot that’s a little bit higher ground and heads for it. She stands and watches a little impromptu concert by BTS. The throngs of fans scream and yell their names. Kiki holds up her phone and records the whole thing.
About an hour later, as the concerts ending, Jin notices the familiar phone and taps Rap Monster’s shoulder. He sees just in time for Kiki to lower her arms and smile at the video she captured. They get down from the stage and walk through the crowd. The fans scream as they stop in front of Kiki.
“We meet again.” RM says to her. She looks up at them and gives an evil smile.
“How are you? It’s been a while.” She starts to leave, but RM grabs her wrist. Fans scream. She stops and looks back at him.
“Yes?” She takes a step closers, he still holds her wrist.
After a minute, Jin touches RM’s shoulder. He let’s go. She winks and walks away; pushing through the crowd. The two are escorted away from the crowd. Kiki stands away from the entrance of the park, standing under a large tree; she looks at the concert on her phone. She smiles and posts it on her website. The crowd dissipates. She holds up her phone and does a selfie. She sees four faces in the screen just as the pictures taken.
She looks back and smiles. Jin, J-Hope, Suga and RM stand behind her looking at her. They still wear the clothes they performed in.
“You definitely don’t seem the type to take a selca.” Suga says.
“Oh and what type do I seem?” She turns her phone off and crosses her arms, turning around.
“Well, not the type to play Wonderland.” J-Hope says.
She laughs lightly. “Oh yeah.”
“How were you able to obtain a beta ticket? Word on the web is those are the hardest tickets to obtain.” RM says.
“Yeah. That’s what I hear.”
“So, what’re you doing here? Sight seeing?” J-Hope asks.
“Uh, sure.” She says with a shrug.
“You and your husband?” Suga asks. Kiki looks at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Husband? What husband?”
“You got in his car a few nights ago.” J-Hope says. Kiki thinks for a second and a light goes on in her head. They’re referring to Franklin. She starts laughing.
They look at each other then at her.
“What’s so funny?” Rap Monster asks.
“He’s not my husband. He’s my escort.” She decides to tease them. “He’s paid by the hour.” She continues to tease.
“Wow. Interesting thing to say.” Suga admits.
“Suga oppa! I love you!” a fan says. When he doesn’t respond, she turns at the waist.
“He loves you too!” She yells. The fans scream. That makes the three of them laugh out loud and makes him look at her. She smiles evilly at him and winks. “Aww, you look so cute when you’re mad.” She teases. RM continues to laugh.
Suga just looks away. “You’ve met your match, Suga. She cannot be shook by your look.” RM says. He, Jin and J-Hope finally stop laughing.
“How’d I know I’d find you here?” She turns around and sees Franklin standing there, pissed off, arms crossed.
“Wow. He’s the maddest escort ever.” Suga states. Kiki tries not to laugh, but ends up laughing out loud, kneeling down. She covers her face, still laughing so hard.
“This isn’t funny Kiki. I just got a call and Tech Savvy Nightly wants to do an interview with you.” He says ignoring the four guys. Kiki stands up, she’s changed her attitude and face completely. The anger shows on her face.
“No. I won’t do anymore interviews. I am gonna go back to my hotel room and relax until the event tomorrow.” She starts to walk away. After a second, Franklin sighs heavily and follows her. J-Hope takes a few steps, but stops when he sees the two get in a car.
“Let her go. She’s with that guy.” Suga says and walks away. While he’s interested in the woman, he’d rather go back to the dorm and rest. J-Hope and RM want to go and see if they can find the show. Jin follows after.The creative arts event is gearing up and there are fans lining up to see the various artists, most of which are musicians and singers and dancers. There are a few painters and one street painter. There’s even a small group of crafty artists that were invited. Kiki is the only writer that was actually invited to this creative arts event. She wears black dress pants and a black Gothic style top with a princess style hood that is long with a dark blue furry pouf at the end. The sleeves cover her hands and have corset ties the length of her forearm. The shirt is shapely with it loose just past her bust and a little longer in the back, covering her butt. She walks past all the fans, them not really noticing her. She wears her hair down with a simple beaded barrette pulling some hair back. It’s very wavy, on the verge of curly and her makeup is simple with dark eyeliner and pale rose lip gloss.
“Kiki! Kiki! Over here!” a reporter yells. She stops and looks at them. She stops and stands for minute.
“Who’re you wearing?” a fashion reporter asks.
“A friend designed it for me. The labels called October Moon.” She does a plug for her friend who’s probably watching at home right now. She walks away and makes her way into the building where she’s greeted with a handshake from one of the committee chairs.
“We are so glad you came. We look forward to hearing one of your amazing poems.”
Kiki’s surprised, but still smiles. “Of course. I look forward to it.”
“Great. This young man will escort you to your seat now.” The man says, holding his hand to her. She bows her head lightly and follows the man to a round table with seven other seats that are still empty.
“Excuse me, do you know who I’m sitting with?” she’s genuinely curious.
“Sorry. I do not.” He walks away. This show is like the who’s who of the music world. There are musicians from all over. This looks like an awards show more than anything. She wonders why she was even chosen to come here. She’s heard about this creative arts event. In her mind it’s just a big party. There are things that are on display around the large space. All kinds of artwork and glass work on display.
After about an hour, everyone takes their seats, but Kiki’s table is still empty. Her table mates must be musicians. The whole event starts with an artist doing a painting right on stage. The audience claps after the picture is done. He bows and walks off stage. The next act is a female dance troupe. They do their performance to a piece of piano music.
About a half hour goes by and someone comes and taps Kiki’s shoulder.
“They need you backstage.” A man in a tuxedo says. She nods and follows the man backstage. There’re people waiting to go on, including BTS who are up next. She smiles and watches them go on. From backstage she sees the audience all pumped up. After their performance, they walk offstage.
Two more people go on and then Kiki is up. She walks up to the mic. There is some light clapping. BTS look up and are surprised to see her. She lowers the mic a little.
“In the dead of night. A flash beckons. It summons. A conjuring of images. Bubbling like a pot of stew. Stirred up. Sloshing side to side. A green glow. Burning from within. Smoke slithers. Reaching to the sky. Snaking around silver moonbeams. A halo. A Cheshire smile. Haunting images. A crackling fire below. Snapping and singing. Scent of earth. Enticing the senses. Rustling leaves. Conjuring a wind. Whistling woodwinds. Dead of night. Beckoning forth. Reaching from beyond. A lover. Unseen by sunlight. Beckoning images from far reaches. Only by nights thin veil. Together on fertile soil. A Cheshire smile. Never sees. Never speaks. In the dead of night. A flash. Alone by days light.” (Witches Womb) She reads.
After a moment, the entire audience stands and applauds. She smiles lightly and bows, but before she can walk off stage, a woman and man walk on, the man carries a statue and the woman carries a bouquet of flowers. Kiki is completely lost as to what’s going on.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on?” She nods and smiles a nervous and uncomfortable smile. “Well, this is to award to you, Kiki, the international poetry guilds award of achievement. Your books have reached beyond best seller. Each one, breaking records in every market.” The man says and hands her the glass and gold statue.
“Uh, wow. Thanks. I don’t have to make a speech do I?” She asks, nervously.
There’s laughter. “No.” He answers. The woman gives her the flowers and she bows, walking off stage pretty quickly. She gets back to her seat just to see BTS there. They clap for her. She smiles and sits down at her spot, next to Suga and RM. She sets the statue down on the table.
“Never would’ve expected you to be a writer.” Suga says. He grabs the statue. “Wow. That’s got some heft to it.” He looks at the nameplate. It just says her first name. “No last name?”
She shakes her head lightly. “Nope.” He sets the statue down.
“So, where’s your escort?” Rap Monster asks.
She laughs lightly. “He’s not really my escort. He’s my editor for this special little tour.”
“Makes sense now why he’d be mad at you yesterday.” J-Hope says. She nods lightly.
“Yeah. He hates when I leave, but I don’t always do that, but when I get to a city that I’ve always wanted to visit next I tend to become a trouble maker for him. I’m sure he’s thankful that he won’t have to deal with me much longer.” She states.
“He’s not your normal editor?” Jin asks.
She shakes her head. “Just for this tour. Once it ends at the end of this year I go back home and return to my editor and my publishing firm. I’m only doing this tour for the three firms to encourage new writers to submit their work for this anthology they plan on releasing next year.” She explains.
“Why’d they ask you?” V asks.
“Their own writers weren’t doing the job. I guess, it’s been in the works for three years, but there wasn’t enough interest. So, they arranged this tour and invited me.”
“Find more world class talent, like yourself.” Jimin points out.
“Thanks and you nailed it, mochi.” He blushes lightly. She laughs.The night ends well. Kiki thought she was gonna be bored at this thing all by herself. She was wishing that Abel and Zima were allowed to come along, but now after talking to BTS she’s glad that they weren’t able to come along. She just hates having no one but other poets to converse with and hang out with. Sometimes writers and poets are the most dull people on the planet.
Kiki walks into her hotel room and sighs lightly. Kind of a disappointing evening, but it’s still early. She decides to change clothes. She walks out of her room and heads back out into the city. She wears black skinny jeans and black tank top with a long sweater with a similar hood to the one she had tonight. She wears black sneakers and rainbow no show socks. She carries her phone only and sticks it in her back pocket. She walks through the city and gets lost, not that she couldn’t use her app to get “un-lost”, but she prefers to wander the city and enjoy the beauty of the place.
After about two hours though, she finds herself in the same place as when she first arrived. She looks at a large building of a business of some kind. She looks up at the night sky and stretches her arms up.
“What’re you doing here?” She looks and sees Suga outside. He’s sitting on the steps, chilling.
“I’m lost.” He smiles lightly. He knows it’s not actually true. She laughs lightly. “Okay. It’s not true, but for lack of a better word. I’m lost and loving every minute of it.” She says and decides to join him. She stretches her legs out and leans back on her arms. She looks up at the sky. Stars twinkle brightly.
“I saw you on that tech show. You’re the creator of that mod app and Wonderland.” He says finally.
She looks at him. “You watched the show? I would’ve thought after my little stunt that day you’d never want to look at me again.” She says.
“Well, it pissed me off to be honest, but it also intrigued me.” He looks at her. She raises an eyebrow.
“Oh? Really?”
“Yeah.” He laughs and scoffs. She laughs with him. “And of course, you’d have the full game on your phone. Since you’re the one that created it.” He notes.
“Yeah. I’m glad you guys all enjoyed the game tonight.” She says.
“Of course. Who wouldn’t like a game like that?” She laughs lightly. “So, are the rumors true that people will be able to watch movies on it, when it fully launches?”
“Eventually, but as of right now I’m trying to beat the Christmas deadline. I still don’t have enough feedback. There are five hundred people playing in beta, but still I don’t get proper feedback. I get little nitpick things, but nothing that really helps with the game play or the interactions itself.” She says.
“Sounds like a real dilemma.” He says.
“Not really. Hence why I’ve been playing it every moment I get. I guess I need untainted eyes. So, I let you guys play with it, completely unfiltered.” She says.
“You used us.” She shrugs. “Well, I won’t complain about it. I liked the quick fingers game. That’ll help when I’m up all night writing and need a brain break.”
She looks at him and smiles. A different smile from before. It makes her eyes sparkle lightly. He looks away, blushing lightly. He clears his throat.
“Is that why you’re out here?” She asks.
“Yeah. Everyone is mostly asleep. I think Jungkook and J-Hope are still awake. They’re playing some kind of video game.” He answers.
“At least I’m not alone.” She says and looks up at the moon. It shines brilliantly in the clear sky. “I would love to look at the moon right now through my telescope.”
He looks at her then up at the moon. They just sit on the steps, watching the night sky. He leans back and stretches his legs out. She looks at his shoes. They’re comfortable shoes, a gray blue color. He wears black skinny pants, a black tee with some kind of print and jacket.
“How can you keep your shoes so clean?” She asks. He looks down at them and shrugs. “I’m clumsy, so I guess that’s why I never really wear heels or any light colored shoes.”
“I can see that.” He teases. She laughs and pushes him lightly. He laughs out loud. An old couple that was walking past looks at them. Suga stops laughing, but that makes Kiki laugh harder and put her head on his shoulder, covering her face, still laughing.
He apologizes and bows lightly. She’s still chuckling lightly. Her shoulders shaking lightly. The couple keeps on walking.
“Shut up.” He says, trying not to laugh again.
“Sorry.” She gets out. She takes a deep breath and moves away. He’s secretly bummed out that they’re done touching. “That was hard. They probably think we’re a couple.” She says.
“Shut up.” He’s still smiling and blushing. She sees the funny little smile.
“Aww, you secretly wish that, don’t you.” She teases him. Getting closer.
“What?!” He turns his head and their noses are inches from each other. He swallows hard. His heart beats hard. “You’re crazy.” He tries to hide his stutter. She smiles and moves back.
“Oh, well. You have a good night.” She says and gets up. She brushes the dirt off her pants.
“You too.” Is all he can say. She looks at him and starts walking. He’s trying to stop her, but he can’t move.
She gets a few feet from the building and Suga hears yelling. He gets up and hears Kiki get attacked by a random fan. She falls to the ground, a rock chatters to the ground. She holds her forehead.
“Hey! Leave her alone!” He yells and runs up to her. The person runs away. He kneels down and helps her up. He brings her to their dorm.
“I’m fine. Really.” She tries to protest, but he’s not listening.
“Oh, really? That blood says otherwise.” He says. He takes his shoes off and she instinctually does the same. J-Hope and Jungkook look and sees Suga bringing Kiki into the kitchen. They follow.
“What happened?” J-Hope asks. Jungkook goes and gets a rag with warm water.
“Just another attack. Please, it’s nothing. I’ll go back to the hotel and tend to it there.”
“Hey. You’re here; you might as well stop the bleeding.” Suga says. She takes the rag from Jungkook and touches the wound. She winces, but keeps the rag on the wound.
“You’ve been attacked before?” J-Hope asks. She nods and grabbing the hem of her sleeve, pulls the sweater up and shows a large cut on her arm, from her elbow to almost her wrist. “Whoa. That’s serious.”
“Twelve stitches and a blood transfusion. That’s why Franklin is so nervous about me being alone for too long. I’ve been attacked a total of twelve times. I have a wound on my side from a knife, this scar on my arm, been bruised and broke two ribs, but still managed to continue on with the tour.” She says.
“Who’d attack you?” Jungkook asks. RM and Jin walk into the kitchen. “I mean should we call the police?” He asks.
“What’s going on?” RM asks.
“Kiki was attacked. Suga brought her up here.” They look at him. She looks at them then at him.
“What was I supposed to do? Let her get attacked on the street?” He leans against the counter in front of the sink.
“The police aren’t necessary. It’ll just make Franklin tighten the noose. Besides, I have one more event tomorrow and then I’m onto the next city. At least this attack didn’t put me in the hospital with a blood transfusion. I’m glad.” She looks at the rag. Suga takes it and rings it out. He hands it back to her. She smiles.
“Want something to drink?” Jin asks. She shakes her head. He nods lightly and leans back on the wall.
“Go back to sleep. I don’t need to be fussed over.” She says, trying to be tough, but really she’s just embarrassed.
“You sure?” Jin asks. She nods. He goes back to bed first. RM stands there even after Jungkook and J-Hope return to their game.
“Yes?” She asks. He’s trying to find a way to ask without it sounding really weird…she smiles and pulls out her phone and hands it to him. He smiles and takes it back to his room. She laughs and shakes her head. “Guess he likes that game.”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t.” Suga says. “Come on. The couch is more comfortable.” He says and walks into the living room. She gets up and follows. She sits on the couch and looks at the rag, there’s no more blood. She sighs and drops her arm on her leg. She shakes her head lightly.
“I’m so sorry about this. Who would of thought that they’d find me here of all places. I don’t even know how I found here.” She says in disbelief. He laughs lightly. She looks at him. “Okay. I know. I “got lost” but what’re the odds my attacker did the same thing.”
Two hours later, Suga returns with her phone in hand. He sees her asleep on the couch, legs still crossed, head turned to the left slightly. He sighs and sits down, instead of waking her up, he let’s her sleep and opens her phone, seeing a picture of him as her lock screen. He smiles and blushes. He unlocks the phone by simply sliding and sees calligraphy in Japanese as her wallpaper. He finds the game and starts playing the quick fingers game.The sun’s coming up when Kiki finally wakes up. She opens her eyes and feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks and sees Suga sleeping next to her, his arm around her. Her phone on his chest. It felt pretty good to sleep in someone’s arms. She grabs her phone and opens the phone and sees the time. Her eyes widen. She’s never actually stayed out all night. She moves out from his arm and takes her phone. She speaks softly into it and then hangs up. A few minutes later, her phone vibrates, she pulls out a piece of paper from the pocket of her phone’s case and finds a pen. She writes down a bunch of numbers next to each of their names. She then fixes her hair, taking it out of the French braid and putting it in a low ponytail. After doing that she looks at Suga sleeping soundly. She smiles and leans over and kisses him lightly.
“Yoongi-ssi.” She whispers softly. He stirs and looks at her. “Sorry. I have to get going. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. Then fall asleep on you.” She says. He yawns and stretches and sits up.
“No problem. Felt bad waking you up, then I got into your game. Your phones made the rounds to everyone it would seem. I finally found Jimin playing it.” He answers.
“So, what’re you saying? My phone’s a slut?” She teases. He tries not to laugh, but can’t help it. She laughs too.
“It’s shameless.” He says. She sits back. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes. He stretches again and puts his feet on the ground. He straightens his pants legs out.
“I have to go to this writer’s guild thing tonight and I’d love it if you’d go with me.” She says. He looks at her.
“All of us, right?”
“Well, I was just thinking of you, but if you want, you all can go. I just can’t think of going to yet another event alone and be utterly bored.” She says.
“Oh, um…I’ll have to see. I know we have some kind of interview, but I’ll let you know.” He says. He doesn’t really want to say yes and get her hopes up. He’s not really into going to those types of things, but it seems that neither is she.
“You let me know, but in the mean time, can you let me out?” She asks.
He nods and he walks her downstairs. They walk outside. She turns around. “Well, thanks for coming to my rescue, Yoongi. It was wonderful sleeping with you.” He laughs and blushes. She laughs lightly. He lifts his head and is greeted by a kiss from Kiki. She wraps her arms around his neck. He melts into the kiss and puts his arms around her waist and pulls her in closer. She pulls back and takes a deep breath.
“Keep up with the great music, Suga.” She moves out of his arms and he watches her walk away, until he can’t see her. He turns around and sees the other six, watching. They laugh lightly and give him a hard time.That evening, Kiki’s in her room. She’s getting ready. There’s a hairstylist working on covering up the little wound on her head. The makeup team did an awesome job covering the bruise up and minimalizing the wound itself. She’s wearing a long shirt that could be a dress on her with black leggings underneath. The sleeves are long sleeve with corset ties from the elbow to the hem. She has a dark purple waist cinch with a lace trim. The collar of the shirt is a v-neck with a crystal necklace and simple earrings. She wears wedge bootie heels, her legs crossed. She looks at her phone for the twentieth time in the last two hours.
She’s not surprised, but if not a little heartbroken. It would’ve been nice to have someone there to talk to at the Writers guild. This one, she’s receiving yet another honor. This one she knew about, it’s a type of honor that only a few writers have received. She tried hard to back out, and she almost got any with it, but since being invited to the creative arts thing the night before, she got roped into going to this thing. There are about four other writers who’re getting honored. She looks up at the glass and gold statue and smiles lightly. The stylist is done with her hair, just in time for there to be a knock at the door. The stylist opens the door and Franklin walks in. Kiki stands up and looks at herself in the mirror.
“You ready?” He asks. She takes a deep breath and nods lightly. She grabs her phone and walks out of her room. Downstairs the other writers are waiting. They are dressed very nice. She doesn’t look up; she looks down at where she’s walking.
“Kiki.” She looks up at her name and sees Suga standing in front of a limo, wearing a suit and holding a rose. He smiles lightly. She walks up to him. He holds the flower up to her. She looks at it then at him. Instead of taking the flower she hugs him, putting her arms around his neck. He smiles and laughs, hugging her lightly. Franklin ushers the others into the car and they head out.
“We better head out.” He finally says, still holding the flower. She nods and takes the flower. He helps her into the limo then gets in himself. The door is closed and soon after the vehicle moves. She looks at the rose and smells it. She looks at him and smiles.
“Thank you for coming.” She says. He nods and smiles, looking at her.
“Did I surprise you?” He’s actually hoping he did. She nods lightly, trying not to cry. She has to accept an award. Her first book of short stories has reached an unprecedented two million in over one hundred countries. “By the way, thanks for the beta ticket. The guys love it. I have to say, I’m enjoying the game as well.”
“Oh you found them? I’m glad. I was hoping I didn’t leave them in an out of the way place.” She says, knowing she left them taped on the television.
“Taped to our television? Oh, yeah. That’s an out of the way place.” He smarts. She laughs.
“Well, I wanted to make sure you guys found them. I expect to get some good feedback from you guys.” She says. He laughs and nods.They arrive at the Writers guild event; he gets out then helps her out. He’s trying to be a good escort for Kiki. This is her event. They make it inside and are escorted to their table with the other writers on tour with her. They look at Suga sitting next to her. She looks around and sees other writers that she’s toured with. Some were with her on this tour then left. This is a party and there is plenty of mingling. Eventually, everyone at the table has gotten up and started to mingle, which either of them could care less about. Kiki wasn’t really apart of their group anyways. Abel and Zima will be returning to their home after a while.
She touches Suga’s shoulder and points at a woman. “That’s the woman who invited me on this tour. She spent several months before the tour even started talking to my editor and working out all the details.” She explains.
He smiles lightly. She looks around some more and her eyes widen. She immediately turns the other way, making him look back. He sees a man walking towards them.
“Kiki.” She goes rigid. She looks back at him. “How are you? You still on tour?”
“Obviously.” They both chime. Kiki fights the urge to laugh. “What’re you doing here, Shawn? I didn’t know they invited washed up writers.” She takes a jab at him.
“I’m here with my fiancée. She’s up for hot new artist at next week’s awards. You going? Oh, wait that’s right, you’ll still be on tour until after the holidays.” He jabs back.
She clenches a fist, but Suga puts his hand over hers. She takes a deep breath calming down immediately.
“But I must say, you are very beautiful tonight, Kiki. I might even forget your bad attitude if you want to go somewhere.” He says, leaning down getting closer.
“Her beauty is mine, so why don’t you go handle yourself somewhere private.” Suga defends. Shawn doesn’t know what to say. Kiki turns her attention away, crossing her leg towards Suga. He walks away.
“He gone?” She asks softly. He nods. She laughs. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“Neither can I, but before I could stop myself, the words were out.” He states. She smiles.A couple hours later and everyone sits in their seats. The emcee talks and hands out a few special awards and one of them is for Kiki. She walks up on stage and accepts the award.
“This is not given out everyday. Only very special people accomplish what you did and this is well earned and deserved. You worked very hard young lady.” The emcee says, handing her the award. She bows lightly, accepting the award. It’s a crystal quill and ink bottle on a wood base.
She starts to walk away, but the emcee stops her. “We were told you’d read us a poem.”
“What?” the emcee nods and pulls her back to the mic. He takes the statue from her hands. She opens her phone. She takes a deep breath and then closes the phone, putting her arms behind her. She closes her eyes. “Quietly consumed. Flesh and bone. Hungry all over again. Regeneration over all too soon. Swallowed up. Empty inside. Too far away. Gone forever. Too many days pass by. Dead inside. Left alone. Alongside some lonely road. Cold moonbeams. Caressing flesh. Goosebumps crawling. Raising alarms. Troops deployed. No enemy to fight. Howling screams. A cold halo above. Left for dead. Consuming hunger. Bone and flesh alike. Lying in wait. Kiss sanity good bye. Icy stares. Soft sounds all around. Consuming the ear. Echoing deep. An empty crevasse. Soul torn. Bloody nails. Loud crunching. Echoing all around. Filling eardrums. Pounding in the thoracic. Gurgle the life giver. Circle the drain. Hello cold mother. Consumed. Flesh and bone. Life and death mirror image. A flash in the pan. Like a puff of smoke. Gone again.” (Cold Halo) She opens her eyes and looks at Suga.
Everyone claps, giving her a standing ovation. Suga joins as well. She bows a couple of times and walks off the stage. She rejoins him at the table. They sit, but he can’t stop looking at her. She looks at him.
“What?”
“That was amazing. When did you write that one?”
“You just saw me.” She points at the stage.
His eyes widen. “You just wrote that on stage?” He laughs lightly.
“That, my man, is the true power of our Kiki. I think I’ve seen her write, on the fly, about seventy poems. And that’s just since I’ve joined the tour.” The red haired man says. Suga looks at the man then at the others. They all nod. He looks back at her. She smiles and winks at him.
“Your award, miss.” A man says, handing her the award. She takes it. He walks away. She looks at it and sets it on the table.The night ends and Suga wanted to drop her off at the hotel, but in a few short hours she’ll be heading off to the next city. So, she decided to get dropped off by him. The two walk up to the building, but he doesn’t want to go up and run into the kids upstairs. She gets it and they decide to sit outside. Another nice evening, but this one isn’t clear like last night. It’s a little cloudy.
“Think there’ll be rain?” she asks, looking up at the sky. He just shrugs lightly.
“If it’ll make you stay then I’d wish for it to never stop raining.” He says. She looks at him. He looks at her, a clear blush on his face.
She smiles. “That’s from Heartbreaker. I didn’t know you read any of my stuff.” She’s trying to resist the urge to tease him, but it’s very hard.
“Why do you sound so surprised? I like to read…sometimes.” He says.
“When you’re not sleeping?” She teases. He just shakes his head, laughing lightly.
“Well, even if the clouds threaten to swallow us whole. I’d still have to go. My life is still mine to live. Just as yours is yours to live.” She says.
“That’s not how it went, is it?” He looks at her. She shakes her head. She looks at him. Her phone buzzes. In two hours, her plane will be leaving and she has to be on it. Suga sighs heavily. She stands up and stretches. He stands up with her.
“Thank you. You made it more than tolerable. Even if I didn’t for you.” He shrugs. She holds the award to him. He looks at it then at her. He shakes his head. “Just take it. I want you to have it. You did more for me tonight than any award ever will or has ever.”
He takes it. He looks at the crystal award, her hand leaving his view. For some reason he wants to cry. She steps close and kisses his cheek.
“Keep up the hard work, Yoongi. Keep writing amazing music and melting hearts with your fire.” She whispers. Before she can even move, he grabs her wrist. “What’s wrong?”
“Just one thing…” He looks up at her. “Once more.” She raises her eyebrow. He can’t ask, so he’ll just go for it. He pulls her in for a kiss. She wraps an arm around his neck, but it ends with her phone vibrating. He pulls back.
She walks away from the building.
“Kiki! Fighting!” She looks back and looks up and sees the rest of BTS. She laughs and waves to them. They watch her until she gets in a car and drives off.
Take care, Kiki, he thinks. End © September 8, 2017