The Prince of K-Pop || Bang Chan FF

Chapter Three

          A year came and went for Naty with many new and exciting things. Her 100k followers turned into 435k followers and her sponsors more than doubled. Her YouTube channel, that had been forgotten long ago, suddenly was revitalized and she was growing a pretty sizable following on there too.

          It seemed to her, almost all of the things she had wished for came true.

          There was only one thing missing.

          Though Naty had no hope of ever seeing Bang Chan again, she kept her promise. She studied Korean every single day to the point that she could carry a conversation with strangers. She was even a favorite at the local Korean BBQ that turned their establishment to a Noraebang every Saturday night. Even if she never spoke to Bang Chan again! Her life had become much larger being trilingual and she would always be thankful of that.

          But she could not deny the lingering dream.

          Naty had told no one about meeting Bang Chan. There was a close call when a photo from a famous Instagram photographer went viral of a couple embracing at the airport. Some of her followers speculated that it was her with a mysterious man but she was able to deny everything—though she did keep the photo as her lock screen. Naty also reinvented her dinner with Bang Chan into a surprise dinner with a handsome man she met in Greece but left it as it was. Just one dinner that she would never forget.

          The memorable dinner made it hard for her to stan Stray Kids though. Before meeting Bang Chan, she was happy to catch glimpses of interviews and Chan's room. It was hard to watch that after actually being present for the real thing. She did listen to their music and gushed with her followers about the new releases. It was the newest comeback that had her followers enthralled.

          Even still. There was the lingering dream.

          After feeling the realness of a Chan hug...Naty's dream evolved into slightly more. A hug and a kiss on the forehead that left her very weak in the knees. She shook her head at the thought. That was just a fantasy that she needed to desperately forget. Especially with the Bang Chan dating rumors.

          It had been going around that Bang Chan was dating another K-Pop Idol. He had begun saying many suspicious things on Chan's Room—like questioning Stays how they would feel if any of the members dated someone—and the new album release contained a very emotional love song. There were also photos of him being at certain girl group concerts alone and all while certain members of girl groups were constantly attending SKZ shows too. All the evidence seemed to stack up that he was in a relationship with someone special. Naty felt simultaneously jealous and happy for the man.

          Naty rolled her eyes at herself as she moved through her apartment. Her eyes were glued to her phone as she looked through her scheduled posts and the clips of reels she had queued. Ideas sprang from looking at every surface of her Instagrammable apartment. She designed it to be content at every inch which meant business for every centimeter.

          A notification popped up on her phone from KaKaoTalk. As always, there was the small thrill that dissolved into pleasure when she saw it was one of her friends in South Korea. She had met the two of them on a language exchange app, along with four others, and maneuvered that into genuine friendships that went in each direction. The two that lived in South Korea were women named Eunji and Soojin while the others came from all over. The six of them were to meet in six months in South Korea where Eunji would house them and show them around.

           The message was from Soojin which was not a surprise to her. Despite it being first thing in the morning there—8 am for Soojin and 7 pm for Naty—Soojin was always quick to send her friends a good morning message. Naty replied happily and asked if she had any good dreams. Immediately there was the indication that Soojin was typing and it was clear she would not stop for a while.

          That was just like Soojin. Naty imagined that after her second paragraph she would delete it all and just send a voice message. It was refreshing to know how consistent her friends coul—

          —her phone rang.

          Naty froze as she looked to see it was from KaKaoTalk but it wasn't Soojin calling.

          It was Bang Chan.

          She blinked a few times, thinking that it had to be a dream, but the phone kept ringing. Naty took in a deep breath and pressed the phone to her ear, "Yeoboseyo?"

          The sound of Chan's laughter filled her entire being and brought her to collapse on her computer chair. He repeated the greeting and continued to speak in Korean, "Wow, you have really been practicing! I'm so impressed."

           "Thank you," she paused, her Korean slipping through her fingers with her nervousness but still she managed to get through, "I wasn't expecting to hear from you."

          "I'm sorry, were you waiting to get a call from someone else?" there was that sincerity in his tone that she missed.

          "No, no, it's just..." she felt embarrassed saying the words but she said them anyway, "I just assumed that you forgot about me."

          He let out a sound of disapproval, "Definitely not. I do apologize for taking so long to call you, though. Things have been a little hectic with the tour."

          "Oh, you're on tour?" she hoped her tone implied that she was joking about not knowing.

           Chan's laughter bounced out of the phone and into her apartment, "Yes, we're on tour. We're actually going to have one of our shows in California next week. I was wondering if you'd like to come."

          "Yes!" the word left her mouth before she could even register that she did not live on the West Coast and instead lived across the country. She immediately felt the strain of not having disposable income but knew she would not give up anything to see Chan. Naty decided she would do something she always recommended against—wiping out her savings account.

           "Great, I'll add your name to the guest list. You just have to go up and show them your ID and you'll be escorted right in," his voice sounded so pleased.

           "Wonderful, wonderful. Except I just remembered I live on the complete opposite coast," she chewed on her bottom lip as she turned to her computer and began searching up flight tickets, "Which days exactly are the shows? I'll look for tickets now."

           There was a moment of silence on the other line in which she thought she heard people whispering to each other.

          "Chan?"

          "Excuse me," he laughed nervously, "I'll just pay for the trip and room. Don't worry about it. Just send me your full name and your birthdate and all that important stuff. How long do you want to stay? We're in town for a week but we only have three shows booked for the weekend."

          "I..." Naty was stunned into silence.

          "Don't worry. We're all inviting friends so you won't be alone and you're not chained to me. You can do your own thing. I'd like for you to see one of the shows and maybe catch up but it's not necessary," his tone was different than she had heard before but it was still the sweet comforting Chan.

          "I can't let you pay for my whole trip!" she scoffed, finally getting her brain and her mouth to work at the same time.

          "Wow," his voice got soft, "I can't believe you gave up on Stray Kids again."

          "Fine! Fine! Fine!" she snapped angrily, "I'll message you my information right now."

          "That's what I like to hear," he chuckled in a way that sounded so sweet she could not believe she was still able to type her information on the phone, "I'm going to have to let you go now but Naty, one more thing."

          She pressed send and put the phone back to her ear, "Yes?"

          "Make sure to bring that dress."

          Naty was stunned into silence. All she could manage was to croak out was a weak, "I'll see what I can do."

          He laughed a goodbye while she ran to her bed and screamed into her mattress.

         She was going to California! She was going to see Bang Chan again!