He Liked Her Shoes

Chapter 12: Sunny South Florida

The flight from Atlanta to Miami felt over before it started when compared to their initial flight from South Korea. San-hoon already knew Melody would not be at the airport or the hotel; she lived here. They decided to wait until after the concerts to meet. It would be a hard wait, but he knew she worried about being a distraction and causing trouble, so he promised to stay focused.

Melody never bought tickets for KPK's Miami performance. She wasn't sure what the future held before her trip to New York and the concert was sold out almost the moment the dates and venues were announced. But a frantic phone call from James Wednesday morning was her lucky break. He had been contacted by the stadium. They were having technical issues with their computer system that even their IT guys couldn't figure out. She needed to head out there pronto.

Wanting an initial assessment, she contacted the IT head, Robert Waters. She knew the concert was tomorrow, they would need a quick solution. Once she arrived, Mr Waters escorted her to the main control room. It provided a panoramic oversight of the entire stadium. The massive windows provide a perfect view of the entire stage, front and center. KPK, with their support crew, were already practicing. She could hear them humming and mumbling with the music as they leisurely went through the motions. But she'd be too busy making sure they had a successful show to watch.

After examining the actual code, Mr Waters was amazed that she had figured it out, but realized it would take them several hours to fix. While it wasn't the absolute best solution, it would correct the immediate error the quickest. She ran through the patch with the six techs who would split the work; divide and conquer. They started almost immediately.

Her phone chirped. A message from San-hoon. She could see the phone in his hand.

>Where are you
>>>Here
>HERE?!
>>>Computer issue at stadium for your show. Here fixing it.

She could see him twisting this way and that, trying to figure out exactly where she was. She sent a selfie, which included the stage and the band, to the group text. As they received the image, they huddled together. She sent another message.

>>>Look at the big window.

In unison they turned their heads toward the control center. She waved with her whole body so they could see her. They were suddenly pointing and waving in response.

>>>I'll try to see you, but I need to get to work so you can have an awesome show.

They replied with thumbs up as she returned to the work station.

Before they broke for dinner, Mr Lee insisted on finding out the status of the situation. They had not been able to do a full dress rehearsal. Mr Waters escorted him into the control room, explaining that they had a tech already working on the problem. She was confident they would have it fixed by that evening.

"Melody?" Mr Lee was surprised to see the girl.

"Hi Mr Lee, welcome to Miami." She bowed.

"You two know each other?" asked Mr Waters, confused.

"Yes," admitted Mr Lee, "but not as well as maybe we should."

She wasn't sure how to take that. He was speaking English, so maybe it didn't translate correctly? She hoped that was the case.

"I think we can have it wrapped up by 8pm. You should be able to do a quick run through, even if it's not a complete rehearsal, just to ensure you're satisfied with the results." She would continue on professionally, she would worry about the suspicious look later.

Just before exiting the room, he turned, asking in Korean, "Do they know you are here?"

"Yes," was all she answered. She wasn't sure how to interpret his expression as he left the room before heading to the stage to share the updated schedule.