Dont Wanna Cry

Chapter Two: Hello

I wish I could say the first few of days that followed resulted in us waking up at a reasonable hour, listening to Joshua Hong's recommendations and hitting the busy streets of Seoul and coming back to our room to shower and sleep. Or at least venturing out of the hotel walls and acting like tourists, complete with endless photos and emptying the remnants of our wallets. Or even just being a productive guest of the South Korean society but then I'd be lying.

Instead, we somehow managed to wake up at noon (Erin included) and most of the time, we couldn't be bothered to change out of our PJs for breakfast, err I mean lunch downstairs in the lobby.

There was something about walking into the restaurant like we owned the place in our sleepwear and bedhead with the host or hostess leading us to our table with a polite nod and smile and Chan greeting us  and placing our orders enthusiastically. We managed to have simple conversations and we even taught him a couple of words (and he may have taught us some as well.)

From there, we either retreated back to our room to watch Netflix until dinner or whoever was hungry, or went outside to chill by the pools. Netflix provided a series of romcoms and popcorn on the floor when the scene didn't go according to the script or gave us an unsatisfactory ending, as well as tears from Haley and myself when happily ever after happened. Erin may have teared up once or twice but that was about it. Dinner came in the form of a nice Italian cuisine in a box when we couldn't be bothered to go downstairs or a proper meal we took turns making to save money. Any leftovers we had went to the desk clerks, happy bellhop and eager waiter when they were there. They were reluctant to accept it at first but eventually warmed up to the idea they were getting free food.

I think the only time we stepped foot outside was to check out the curious coffee shop since there didn't seem to be any other nearby ones, at least according to Google maps. But our gracious host always answered any question we had, no matter how ridiculous it may have seemed.

"Finished already?" Joshua asked amusedly one night when we three of us had descended after spending an entire day lounging about. It only took Erin 20 minutes of mental preparation to make a brave phone call down to the lobby to ask for something insignificant for her to hear one of the three familiar voices for us to treat them to dinner.

"More like, still agetting started. I'm sorry it took us so long, but we thought since you were in for a long night, a lunch break would be nice."

Joshua shook his head politely. "Actually, we're almost done for the night, but I was about to send the boys out for lunch."

"Oh, well we um have a couple of boxes here if you'd like them. We already ate a slice each but we'd be more than happy to stay for dessert if Chan is willing to serve us."

"You ladies spoil us too much. I may actually get used to it and eventually miss you when you leave." He nodded to Jun and Seokmin who were inconsequentially immersed in a video game on the computer, and beckoned Boo to join him since the boy was happily sweeping the floor. He then made a phone call to the restaurant and most likely told Chan to come over as well. (And I guess he placed three orders of dessert because he came out with his hands full.)

Because the lobby was dead except for the one, two, three..eight people, they decided to sit where they pleased and yelled to each other from across the room, but didn't like being to far away from each other, so in the end, we were all sitting in a circle in the middle on the floor. The boys looked so at home, it was easy to forget they were working. The phone would occasionally ring and Josh would spring up to answer it, always sounding pleasant and calling for another employee to send either a forgotten essential, a last minute meal or booking an activity for the morning. He looked like he enjoyed it though, the sincere smile never leaving his face...even if meant his pizza would grow cold. The noise died down momentarily to say jal meokkgessseumnida (잘 먹겠습니다, I will eat well because of you) and all but devoured their lunch and joke around. Eventually, I picked up the empty boxes and set them aside so they wouldn't bug the boys.