(Guide Us to) A Million Stars

3

The next day I worked on my lesson plans and the day after that I taught my first English lesson. I met my students at a nearby library, a one hour session with Wooshik and a one hour session with Areum. I then called Auntie to see if she wanted to meet for lunch. While we made plans I could hear a deep voice in the background ask her a question. Then I heard Auntie sigh.

"Suni...Taehyung wants to know if you ever had a hot dog."

I giggled. What a funny question. Who hasn't had a hot dog? My heart started racing when I realized Taehyung was wondering if I ever ate a hot dog. Like, that meant he was thinking about me. And maybe, he wanted to meet me somewhere and share this experience that I'll pretend I've never had.

I heard more talking in the background and then Auntie said, "We were learning about names of food and he said he would like to go on a fieldtrip and practice in real life."

"Tell him I've never had a hot dog," I replied, excitement in my voice. Maybe too much excitement as the people in the library started looking at me. Before I left, I checked my appearance in my compact mirror and reapplied some foundation to my olive-toned skin.

Auntie told me to meet them at a restaurant near HYBE so I quickly left the library, found the right bus and arrived in front of the company building. I looked for a place called "Myungrang Hot Dog" and found Auntie, Taehyung, and his bodyguard, Chan, waiting for me in front of the door. We waved to each other. Taehyung was fully in disguise wearing a purple hoodie, hood pulled over his head, with a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a face mask.

"Oh, corn dog!" I exclaimed when I reached them and saw the pictures on the window.

"Suni, this is not a corn dog...this is Korean hot dog," Taehyung said as he moved his head from side to side.

I smiled. "Then I can definitely say I've never had a hot dog."

Inside we ordered our food and sat down to wait. "How are you?" I asked Taehyung, who was sitting across from me and still wearing his disguise.

He yawned. "I am tired. I got a lot of stress."

"Oh? I can imagine. You guys just released an album and you have a world tour scheduled." I looked from him to Auntie. "I guess your lessons are going to end soon."

It made me a little sad to think about that but at least I was hanging out with him now. "What do you do when you are tired?" he asked me.

"Umm...I take a nap. Or drink some coffee."

"When I cannot sleep, I get mad." He removed his sunglasses and squinted his eyes toward the ceiling, seemingly to concentrate on his words. "Not for people...but for me. I get mad for me."

"At me," Auntie corrected.

Taehyung pursed his lips. "I do not know what I am talking about."

"Hey, you're doing good. At least you're trying." I bent my arms and moved them in a circle in front of me and tried to hype him up. "Go Taehyung, go Taehyung!"

He laughed and copied my moves, big boxy smile on his face. We did this until Auntie nudged me in the side. When the food arrived, we all took our corn dogs from the tray. I took a bite of mine and my eyes got big.

"Mmm!" I cried out as I looked around the table. The three of them nodded their heads in agreement as we all enjoyed our food. The rice flour breading, kimchi seasoning, and sugar made it the best corn dog I'd ever eaten.

Auntie held out her corn dog near my mouth. "Do you want to try mine?"

I looked at the hot orange liquid dripping from the stick and nodded. One bite told me it was a bad idea. The heat of the spicy sauce burned my mouth and I started coughing. Auntie put her food down and searched for a napkin. Taehyung, looking concerned, reached across the table and held my bottle of water up to my mouth, gesturing for me to take a drink. "Okay?" he asked.