Sight Unseen

Chapter 1

"Hi, guys! It's your girl, Luna, coming at you with another great video. Today, I am going to try Mexican food in Korea to see how it stacks up to the food I grew up with. So, let's get to it," Luna said as she pushed open the door of the restaurant. Her phone was secured to a selfie stick as she recorded herself making her way toward the counter to place her order. She shut off the camera briefly to ask for permission to record the staff.

Having received their permission, Luna turned on the camera again and turned it toward the menu board. "Check it out, guys. They have tacos al pastor, tacos de chorizo, flautas de pollo, enchiladas suizas. They've got a lot of good items. Let's get a bunch of food and try as many things as we can," she said cheerfully. "Y'all know me. No me hago de la boca chiquita, as my abuelita would say," she continued, assuring her fans that she would never shy away from eating good food.

As Luna sat at the table, surrounded by various dishes, she saw two men enter the restaurant. They wore ball caps and cloth masks. Luna's eyes brightened immediately. She switched off the camera, motioning toward the men.

"You made it!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around one of them.

"I told you I would," he replied.

"I know, but you are pretty busy crushing it in TXT," she answered back in a whisper so as to not draw attention to them. She looked at the other man, carefully studying his eyes to try to discern which other member Beomgyu had brought with him.

Just then, Beomgyu elbowed the other man. "Introduce yourself," he prodded.

"Hi. I'm Yeonjun," the man said with a deep bow from the waist.

"I'm Luna," she added, extending her tanned hand to shake his. "Well, sit down, guys," she invited. "As you can see, I got plenty of food."

"Listen, Luna, we don't have permission to appear on camera. I asked. and they said they wouldn't approve any public appearances besides the ones that are already scheduled, but don't mind us. You just do your thing," Beomgyu encouraged.

"Aw, dang. I'm sorry you can't be on camera. It's a good thing I didn't promise my fans an appearance. They would have been pissed," she replied, running her fingers through her wavy brown hair that had thick swathes of gray highlights. Ever since coming to Korea, she had started playing with her hair color. It was so easy there in Seoul to find good stylists who had dyes in every color of the rainbow. But she had settled on an edgy gray that confirmed her rockstar look and went well with the silver hoop nose ring that she wore religiously.

Noticing that Yeonjun had his hair dyed a similar color to her highlights, Luna pointed at her head and said, "Twinsies!" Yeonjun nodded as he stared at Luna's bright smile. Her teeth were impeccably straight in a way that could have only come from orthodontic work.

Yeonjun couldn't help but look at her. Luna's skin was a golden-brown color without the aid of bronzing powder. Her compelling hazel eyes were large and expressive. They were lined with purple eyeliner, but beyond the bold eye make-up, she wore nothing more than some clear lip gloss. He was glad Beomgyu had dragged him there. And he had, in fact, dragged him. Yeonjun had to admit that he had accompanied his friend on this little trip only after Beomgyu had cajoled him for several hours. He had all but given up on meeting new people. Being in the K-pop industry was very complex when it came to making connections with other people. It was always tough to know if people were with you for the right reasons or if it was just your fame that drew them to you, but Beomgyu had assured him that Luna was the real deal.

Beomgyu had met Luna when he saw her at a local park, interviewing passersby about their thoughts on Korean beauty standards. Beyond being the typical food vlogger, Luna liked to take on bigger issues in her videos. After seeing her conduct interviews in Korean with several people, Beomgyu had approached her. From that time on, he had become a loyal admirer of Luna's YouTube channel. He went through the archive of her videos in his precious few moments of free time, and they had begun a friendship, mostly over text. Although Beomgyu was not immune to Luna's stunning good looks, he felt perfectly content having her as a friend. He had, however, brought Yeonjun that day with the express purpose of showing Luna off to him in the hopes that she might be able to break through his current depressed mood. Beomgyu couldn't quite pinpoint the source of his friend's sudden change in demeanor, but he hoped that Luna's influence might pull him out of it.

Both Beomgyu and Yeonjun were pulled from their thoughts as Luna began recording again. "So, guys, look at all this food," she said as she panned the camera around the many plates of delicious Mexican fare. "Where should I start?" she asked rhetorically. "I think I'm going to try the carnitas," she decided. She took a bite of the crispy pork and nodded approvingly.

"They are pretty good. Korean pork is very high-quality. So, they have that going for them. I'm missing a little sweetness from some Coke and a bit of an orange tang that you find in Mexican carnitas, but overall, they are pretty good. The texture is crispy, and they are nice and salty, just the way I like them. So, I'm going to give the carnitas a thumbs up," she declared. "You guys should try them," she urged Beomgyu and Yeonjun.

"Guys, I have a couple of guests here, but I can't show them on camera. But I'm just going to have them say hi and you write in the comments if you think you know who they are, okay?" Luna explained.

"Annyeonghaseyo," Beomgyu said off camera.

"Annyeonghaseyo," Yeonjun echoed.

"All I can tell you guys is that I'm with two of the most handsome men in Korea right now. And let me tell you, I'm still about to get my grub on," Luna declared. "I'm not gonna let these skinny legends throw me off my game," she teased.

Luna continued to record her reactions to each of the foods. When she was done, she turned the camera off and she had the guys give her their take on the various dishes. She noticed that Yeonjun took small bites of each dish, often peeling off the cheese or patting off the grease with a napkin before eating it.

"So, what do you guys think of the food?" Luna inquired.

"It's really good," Beomgyu declared, dipping his fork deep into the refried beans.

"Yeah, it's good," Yeonjun replied, a bit less animated than his friend. "I'm just wondering how many calories are in this," he fretted.

"Calories!" Luna scoffed. "Asking about calories while eating Mexican food is kind of like asking the prices at a fancy restaurant. If you have to ask, you can't afford it," she teased. Seeing Yeonjun's concerned face, Luna retreated slightly. "But I know you guys have to be careful because of your jobs," she conceded.

"I think there is an American saying, 'Thirty seconds on the lips, thirty years on the hips,'" Yeonjun quoted.

"Yeah, that's a saying we have," Luna conceded, "but I've always thought it was dumb." She stood and began to gather the garbage to throw it away. When she did, Yeonjun caught a glimpse of her well-formed bottom. It was toned, but still quite ample. Making no attempt to hide it, Luna wore tight jeans that only served to accentuate her large posterior. Yeonjun smiled secretly wondering if she was ever called up to be in American rap videos. He could envision her twerking those hips beside some American rapper with giant gold chains around his neck. Yeonjun thought Luna was very well-proportioned and extremely gorgeous. He envied her a bit. She appeared to wear whatever she wanted, never worrying too much about making her assets appear less voluminous.

It must be nice, he thought, to not give a shit what other people think about your body.

"Well, thanks for coming, guys," Luna said as she wrapped Beomgyu in a warm embrace and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She did the same for Yeonjun whose spine stiffed a bit at her touch. He wasn't used to hugs and kisses from people he just met, but he chalked it up to her Mexican roots. If he were honest, he had to admit that he enjoyed Luna's demonstrative nature, despite him not being used to public displays of affection.