Dating an Idol

Six: COME BACK HOME

"I can't talk to you right now," I said to Skye as I handed him his coffee.

"I'll wait," he said as he accepted the coffee from my hand. "When will your shift end?"

"You don't understand. People might recognize you here," I said in an undertone.

"Nah, I doubt it."

I found myself lightly shaking my head. He clearly has no idea how popular they were right now, even here in the Philippines.

I looked around and was relieved that no one seems to be paying attention to him. Yet.

"I'll be right there," he said as he eyed an empty table in the farthest part of the café.

And before I could protest, he spun around with his coffee in his hand.

But just as he spun around, two teenage girls who walked in the café just a few seconds ago, approached the counter. They were basically behind him but he didn't notice them right away. He almost bumped into them if he was not quick enough to dodge them.

He almost lost his balance. Thanks to his quick muscle reflex, he didn't trip off. But the sudden movement caused his hoodie to fall off his head, revealing his coral-colored hair. Which, automatically, caught everyone's attention.

I watched as the teenage girls' eyes widened in surprise.

"Skye? Are you Skye of Crest 88?" said one of the teenagers.

"Ohmygod, you're Skye! Yes, you're Skye!" exclaimed her friend.

That got everyone's attention. All the other customers were now looking in our direction.

"I'm sorry but you got the wrong person," Skye said as he fumbled to put his hoodie back on.

"No, I think it's you! I couldn't be wrong! I'm your fan!" one of the girls insisted.

"OMG! It's you! It's really you!" the other one agreed.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Let me just get my phone! I need to take a selfie with you!" said the first girl as she rummaged inside her backpack to look for her phone.

I went to Skye and grabbed him by the arm.

"I think you got the wrong person. Please don't create a scene here. You're making our customer uncomfortable," I said to the girls before I pulled Skye and led him somewhere.

I quickly brought him to the manager's office. He just let me drag him.

Mael was startled when we went inside the office without even knocking.

"Yes? Is ---" His voice trailed off when he noticed that I wasn't alone. He looked confused as his eyes were fixed on Skye.

"I need your help," I said.

"What's the matter?"

"There's a little commotion going on outside. I need you to pacify those fangirls," I said.

"Fangirls?" Mael repeated. Confused.

Then he looked at Skye and I watched as sudden realization dawn on him.

"Oh, damn! You're Skye! What the f**k are you doing here?" He instantly turned into a fanboy.

He rose from his seat and crossed the distance that separates us with a few long strides.

"I mean how did you get in here?" he asked, still in disbelief.

"This is not the right time to fanboy," I told him. "You need to be a*****e manager first. I need you to deal with the commotion outside, please."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course," he said. "But how did you really get in here?" he turned to Skye once again.

"Oh, c'mon." I lightly pushed Mael out of the office door. He was hesitant but he obeyed.

I peeked from the doorway to check on the situation outside and was even more worried to see a little crowd gathered at the center of the café. It looked like the other customers had now joined the two teenage fangirls. They were all gushing as if they still couldn't believe what just happened. They got their phones ready, too, as if they're waiting for Skye to come out of the office any minute.

I closed the door and looked at Skye. "This is bad!" I told him.

He just shrugged off his shoulders and, with his hands on the pocket of his loose hoodie, started to pace back and forth in front of me.

I know he was trying to act cool but he was really worried. I could read him easily.

"You need to call your manager," I said.

"Nah, I'll just sneak out of here," he said.

"Do you really think that you can just sneak out of here that easily? And we have no other way out. There's no crew exit or anything. That's the only way for you to get out," I explained. "You really have to call your manager before this gets out of hand."

Yes, I was worried. Really worried.

"I told you not to come here," I added.

"But I wanted to see you before we leave," he said.

He meant it, I could see it in his eyes.

"Are you going back to Korea?" he asked.

"I don't know. I didn't get any feedback from the audition yet," I said.

"Please come home," he said.

"I really don't know. I don't even know if I passed the audition."

"You don't have to pass the audition to go back to Korea. That's where you live."

I sighed.

"Your father needs you," he added.

I was stunned. "What do you mean? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's… he's okay. No need to worry. It's just that… you know... he misses you, too."

I haven't talked to my dad since we left our home. He was mad when I decided to go with my mom. He said the moment I leave with my mom, he'll forget that I ever exist and that he has a daughter.

"I doubt it," I said.

He hasn't even contacted me ever since I left home so I doubt if he really misses me.

"But you really have to come home," he said.

I was about to say something when his phone rang. He picked it up.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I just needed to grab something really quick," he said to whoever he was talking with on his phone.

It must be their manager, they must have noticed already that he's missing.

"There's a little problem, though," he said. "I think you need to pick me up."

Pause.

"Unfortunately, people recognized me and I can't leave the coffee shop right now. I think you need to come and fetch me," he continued.

I saw him squint. And from the looks of it, it seemed like he was being yelled upon by whoever he was talking on the phone right now.

He gave them the name of the coffee shop and said "thank you" before he hung up the call.

I took a peek from the doorway once again and was surprised to see that the crowd had now doubled in number. I closed the door right away.

"Where were you staying?" I asked.

He gave the name of the hotel. It wasn't really that far from the coffee shop so in my calculations, his manager will be here in five minutes or so.

The thought suddenly made me sad. That means I only have five minutes left with him.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked him, worried.

"Yeah, of course, I will."

"You'll get in trouble with your agency, right?"

"I'll have an earful but I'll be fine."

"You shouldn't have come here." Though I am not really sure if I mean that.

"It was worth it, though," he said.

"What?"

"It was all worth it. Seeing you again," he said.

I couldn't answer. I just held his gaze as I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. I had to swallow hard to get rid of that imaginary lump.

He reached out for my head and ruffled my hair. "You take care, okay?"

"Y-yeah. You, too," I answered in a shaky voice.

He pinched my nose like how he used to do when we were still kids and said, "I'll be waiting for you back home."

That's when the door to the office flung open to give way to Mael. He closed the door behind him right away.

"Those people are crazy!" he said.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I dunno. Skye of Crest 88 is here in my office right now so how can I be okay?" he said with his eyes fixed on Skye. "Hi, I'm Ismael. Mael for short. I don't know if you still remember me but I was in the audition with Yuri." He extended a hand to offer Skye a handshake.

"Yeah, of course, I remember you. You did the 'Love Shot' cover," Skye said as he took Mael's hand for a shake.

"Damn, you really did remember me. Yes, that was me," Mael said, surprised. He was still in awe. "He remembers me," he turned to me.

"Uhm, can you at least take a selfie with me? I promise, I won't post it on social media. I just needed something to prove to myself that this is not a dream. That you really walked right here in my office," Mael said.

"Yeah, of course," said Skye.

Mael got his phone out of his pocket and excitedly posed for a selfie with Skye. He took three shots.

That's when the door to the office flung open again and five people came barging in. Three were Koreans, I recognized them from the audition.

"Are you okay?" asked one staff member to Skye.

"Yes, I'm good," he said to them.

"Good," he said before he fixed Skye's hoodie, pulling it down to cover most of the exposed part of his face.

But before he could lead Skye out of the office, Skye looked at me and smiled. But his smile didn't reach his eyes this time. It was empty.

Watching the staff lead Skye out of the office was making me sad, too. I couldn't disregard the possibility that this might be the last time that I will see him this close.