Call Me Noona

Chapter 19 - Surprise

With no sign of Minhyuk on fancafe or social media for several days, things seemed to be settling down a little. There were pleas from many fans for the troublemakers to back off. There were requests to expose them and report them. There were still plenty of antis to go around though. Thankfully, I had not had any more visits to my door. I charged my regular phone and turned it on again. It took a while to clear off the unwanted junk.

That afternoon I got a text from my friend who ran a coffee and K-pop shop nearby. I had organized a cup sleeve event there for the boys' debut anniversary last year. She asked me to stop by after work because she needed to talk to me about something important. I told her I would be by around 6.

I wasn't sure what it was about, but I was a little concerned. I was sure she had heard about me and Minhyuk by now. Traffic was a nightmare getting over there and I arrived just after 6. I walked in to a packed house which suddenly erupted into cheers. I jumped and screamed a little. SeoYeon, the owner, walked up to me and gave me a big hug and said, "welcome to your first Sun-Hyuk fanmeeting!" I was incredibly confused and looked at her blankly, "Sun-Hyuk?" I asked, still not quite comprehending the situation.

"Well it was either that or Min-Ny," she giggled. "Sunny, these people are here to support you and Minhyuk. Look," she gestured to a wall where photobooths were usually set up during events. There was a blow up of one of the photos of us in the park with a huge flower heart around it. There were notes written all over it showing that they were cheering for us.

I looked around the room and realized that most of these people had been here for my cup sleeve event, many of them I knew by name. One spoke up and said, "Eonni, we love you and Minhyuk loves you, so we are here to cheer you on!" The others started chanting 'Sun-Hyuk! Sun-Hyuk!' and I cried. Again. I was such a bundle of emotions lately! The girls, and a few guys, rushed around and we had a huge group hug. I excused myself to the restroom for a moment to freshen up.

I splashed my face with water and looked in the mirror. This was completely unexpected, and I wanted to tell Minhyuk some good news. He had been on edge a bit since the visit at my door and then my meltdown. The other members were concerned too and checked on me regularly in our group chat. I had tried not to tell Halmeoni, but she could hear the tension in my voice when we talked, and she had social media. I took a deep breath and dried my face. I checked the time. It was just after 7 AM in Korea and I hoped he was sleeping. I did not want to wake him.

As if he could sense me thinking about him, he called me on video chat. He had just woken up and called me from bed. It was so good to see his sleepy face. I could breathe again.

"Something very cool is happening here right now. Do you want to see?"

"Of course, I do! Where are you? What is happening?"

"I am at my friend's coffee shop and there are people here supporting us! You might want to put on a hat real quick first," I giggled at his disheveled hair. I wanted to run my fingers through it and snuggle up against him, but instead I walked into the main room and turned my phone around so he could see the crowd. One of the girls spotted his face on the tiny screen and screamed, "Minhyuk!! It's Minhyuk!!" the others turned to see and it got so loud that no one could hear Minhyuk talking. I held up my hand and asked them to be quieter so that we could hear him.

"Hi everyone!" He said to them in English. "What is going on? Do you all know my Sunny-ah?" They screamed again that they do. I walked him over to the wall and showed him the tribute. "Wow! That is for us? We have a couple name!" He laughed when he read 'Sun-Hyuk' on the photo. He couldn't believe it either.

"How much time do you have to talk? Wait, why aren't you asleep?" I heard giggles behind me.

"I have to go the studio to film for the show, so I had to wake early" we were speaking in English, but he switched back to Korean for a moment, "bogo sipeo, jagiya". The room erupted again. Any K-pop or K-drama fan knows that phrase means 'I miss you', or more literally 'I want to see you'. Minhyuk just smiled brightly at their reaction. I could tell this made him happy. "I have a few minutes. Can I talk to Monbebes again?"