Page 90 of A World of our Own

“They won’t change you for one day,” I pointed out, “but feel free to request a new room for Melbourne.”

We were only in Sydney today while the group members did a live interview and performance on LNTV, and then tomorrow the tour moved on to Melbourne.

“I’m already texting the travel coordinator,” she said, not looking up from her phone.

“Fine, fine,” I waved tiredly and dragged myself into the bathroom.

As had become the norm for this kind of outing, only a couple members of my team accompanied the group to the TV studio.

GVibes was on for three segments of the show – a prank, a group interview and a performance. The prank was my favourite.

Hidden cameras had been fitted into the lift, and fans who’d won tickets to the live show were directed upstairs in small groups. What they didn’t know was that the lift would stop on the next floor where all five members of GVibes would get in. The whole point was to capture the fans’ reactions when they suddenly found themselves crammed into a lift with their favourite idols.

I watched from the green room. My favourite clip was from a group of young women who didn’t scream or overreact. Instead, they seemed to try to melt into the walls. One crouched down on the floor, while the other two spun around and pressed themselves against the mirrored walls in a truly impressive attempt to not be perceived. I laughed so hard that tears ran down my face, and I had to clutch my stomach.

I moved into the studio for the interview portion of the show, sitting on a stool behind the camera line. It wasn’t a long interview, and the hosts were actually very funny. But around halfway through, I began to feel sick. I got off the stool and sat on the cold, hard ground, leaning against the wall, trying to slow the dizzying swirl of my brain as it sloshed around in my skull.

On a couple of occasions, I caught Jihoon’s eyes from across the brightly-lit stage. He frowned, but I didn’t have the energy to react.

In between the interview and the live performance, I snuck out as the stage was being reset.

I took a taxi back to the hotel, and collapsed onto my bed the moment I got to my room. Whilst I’d been out, Sihyeon had shoved my bed as far away from hers as it could go, which made me chuckle raggedly, which then made me cough, until I eventually fell asleep, still fully dressed.

Much later my phone buzzed, waking me up. I groaned and reached over to grab it, holding it up to my face and then recoiling with a groan as the light from the screen hit my eyeballs with unforgiving force.

Joon

Where did you go? Are you ok?

[Sent 22:03]

I’m fine. I wasn’t feeling well, so I left early.

Joon

Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?