"...have been to California for about two years to improve my singing skills. That´s maybe the reason, I am the only one speaking English here. It´s hard for Koreans to get the pronunciation right, you know. But don´t worry. I know that you got assigned to be my bodyguard. I´ll teach you some basic Korean so that you won´t get lost somewhere-” Minho laughs. His voice is deeper than his appearance may let you think of. I guess, he´s a great guy. Somehow. But I´m so tired and stressed, that his nonstop talking gets on my nerves.

"Hey, don´t you ever stop talking,” I sigh without even turning toward him.

I am completely busy concentrating not to faint in this heat.

Minho laughs again.

"Yeah, that´s one of my bad habits, I guess. When I get too excited about something, I tend to talk a bit more than usual. I´m not like this all of the time. Uh – I mean – I´m SO EXCITED for us to go on a world tour! Can you believe it! IX is going WORLDWIDE! We´ll be-”

I stop to get the white and black dots out of my sight.

My head´s spinning.

"Everything all right?”

A small hand lands on my arm.

Aren´t Koreans supposed to be less touchy?

Why is he so loud and clingy?

I don´t get him!

"Yep! Just fine,” I press out and take some deep breaths.

"You sure? You´re sweating a lot – like A LOT!”

"Could you just stop talking for one fucking second!”

He takes his hand back and for a second, there is silence.

Until he tells me “Stay here!”

Where would I even go? His footsteps stride away and I´m alone in the middle of the sidewalk somewhere in Seoul.

A feeling of being completely lost pops into my mind. When have I felt like this the last time? I vaguely remember sand and a small, old village. 

Fuck!

I can´t go there right now! Anytime! But not now!

Sand and stones and-

"Here, some water for you.”

Something ice-cold gets pressed into my hand.

I open my eyes.

Brown, almost black eyes look at me, while he holds a bottle of water in one of his hands. When I wrap my fingers around the cold surface, our hands touch for a split second. Minho pulls back while I open the cap and start drinking.

God, this feels awesome!

"Okay, now that you have recovered – what clothes are we looking for?” 

Aaand he´s talking again!

We have been walking past a few stores.

But even from where I´m standing, I can tell that those clothes won´t fit my body. They´re too small and slim-fit – if you could even say that.

"I don´t think any of this will fit me,” I tell him and wave at a store window. Minho looks at me with quite an amused expression and his eyes follow my arm movement. “We could try if you liked the clothes. But that wasn´t my question. What clothes are we looking for? Do you need comfy clothes? Or special clothes for your job? Or tight clothes so nobody could grab-”

"AAAAHHHH!”