Chapter 15 What Do You Know About K-pop?
What Do You Know About K-pop?
Tae
Julia’s first date hadn’t exactly gone according to plan. But from what she had told him about the disaster, that had nothing
to do with her and everything to do with the douchebag she was out with. If Tae ever ventured into Fullerton, he might just
take a couple turns looking for Michael Obsessed-with-Wagyu Lee. What an ass.
Truthfully, there was a tiny part of Tae that was kinda glad it hadn’t gone that well. He wanted Julia to find love. He really
wanted Julia to stop blaming herself for her bad dating history.
But he, personally, was having a blast spending time with her. And these practice dates gave him a built-in reason to do so.
The more they hung out together, the worse the itch got to keep hanging out and wasn’t anywhere near being satisfied.
Tae hadn’t been imagining the shy smiles and too-long looks they’d shared. Light touches, laughs that came naturally, honest
talks that felt safe.
But what he didn’t need to be doing right now was confusing Julia. Not when he himself was confused about his own life. Their blossoming friendship felt almost too precious to take a greedy chance on more.
Tae looked down at his phone and reread Julia’s text message and smiled. What do you know about K-pop?
This was going to be fun.
Turned out the second setup was supposed to be with an up-and-coming Korean musician from New York who was on tour and would
be in the Los Angeles area for a concert. Julia only knew that his name was Young Kim, which could be his real name or his
stage name, and it could basically be one of a hundred Korean K-pop artists out today. Tae didn’t have a lot to go on when
it came to the man. But he could get Julia more acquainted with K-pop in general.
It couldn’t have been a better scenario. Tae thought about Grandma Song’s advice: add a personal touch and help Julia have
some fun. This was right up his alley. But with only a week to do it, Tae had to get to work.
“I just sent you a Spotify playlist. Listen to it on repeat. I think you’ll like it,” he said into the phone.
“I usually only listen to my nature-sounds playlist in the background when I’m working. And at home, I prefer silence. If
I’m in a real mood, I’ll put on some Taylor Swift. But that’s very rare and about it.”
“But this is research, Julia. Get your notebook out, and list the songs you like from this playlist. We’ll build from there.
I’m gonna send you some of the translations and links to the music videos as well.” Tae was not going to let her off easy
with this one.
“Tae, this is a lot. My date is next week, and honestly, I have so much going on at work right now,” Julia whined. He found
that whine more and more endearing.
“Granted, it’s not a lot of time. But Julia, you have to listen to K-pop to understand it, to appreciate it.
You have to hear what the music and the words are saying.
You have to see the choreography to feel the magnitude of the talent of these groups.
It’s easy to write them all off as overproduced minions of an entertainment machine.
But the ones I’m sending you are different. Trust me.”
“Do I have to become a professor of K-pop? Can’t you just give me a few words to use when answering any questions so I don’t
sound like such a newbie?”
Even if the date didn’t work out, Tae really wanted Julia to experience K-pop the way he did. In his gut, he knew she’d like
it. And in a way, he didn’t want Julia to find him silly for liking it too.
She sighed on the other end of the line. “Okay, fine. But if this affects my sleep patterns, I’ll be really grumpy. I need
a certain number of hours of silence a day to keep my mind focused and prepared for sleep.”
“I don’t want to say that I doubt you, but let’s give that theory a challenge, shall we?”
She hung up without saying goodbye.
Tae wasn’t offended.
Julia was meeting Young Kim at his concert on Sunday night where he would save her a ticket at the box office. Apparently
it was sold out, but Tae hadn’t heard of any big groups coming to town. Though, he didn’t keep track of all the new ones.
It was amazing how K-pop had suddenly become such an international phenomenon.
The night before the concert, Tae asked Julia to come over to his place by eight o’clock. It was a lot asking Julia to come
down to south Orange County from the Westside. Hopefully Saturday traffic would be light. But he needed to set everything
up here. She didn’t complain or seem to mind, so he wasn’t going to worry.
Julia had never experienced a K-pop concert before.
She didn’t know about light sticks and fan chants.
He was going to expose her to the basics.
And even though she wouldn’t walk into tomorrow night’s date a stan, she at least wouldn’t be shocked by what she experienced.
She might even enjoy herself. And a relaxed Julia would be a better conversationalist.
Julia rang the doorbell at exactly eight o’clock. Tae opened it to find her in jeans and a hoodie, just as he requested. He
smiled at the dressed-down version of the powerful K-beauty CEO. Casual Julia was even more stunning.
“Hey there, how was traffic? Bad?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I took PCH down past the airport, and then it was a straight shot down the 405.”
“Good, I’m glad.” He stepped out of the way and let her in. “We’re gonna be out back,” he said as he took them down the stairs
to his studio where the sliding glass doors to the lower half of his backyard were.
He stopped and turned to look at her, putting his face close to hers.
She leaned back a tiny bit, startled. “What?” she asked.
“Look at my skin,” he said. “It looks amazing. That snail stuff is magical,” he said.
Julia smiled wide. She let the back of her hand lightly make its way down his cheek. “Your skin does look incredible. Soft.”
Her voice was almost a whisper. He reached for her wrist and held her hand there. He wanted to kiss it, to kiss her. But he
cleared his throat and took a step back, dropping his grip.
“I, um, can probably get you a full tube of it, if you’d like to continue with this skincare regimen. I’ll get some of the
new sunscreen as well,” Julia said.
Tae nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak.
Julia’s focus moved past Tae and around the place he’d made into a home. “Wow, you did a great job renovating down here. It’s
looks amazing,” she said.
He followed her gaze as she took in the subway tiles he’d done for the kitchenette backsplash, the headboard he’d built from reclaimed barnwood and stained gray, the navy velvet love seat he had reupholstered that fit perfectly in the corner. She lowered her gaze to the polished concrete flooring.
“These are great area rugs. Nice choice. Tae, you’ve always had such a great eye for space planning, aesthetics, and design.
You should do this for a living.”
Tae tried not to immediately put his guard up the moment Julia mentioned working or what a career should or could look like
for him. He was ultrasensitive to this line of conversation with most people. Always feeling like what he was doing now wasn’t
respectable enough. But he knew she wasn’t nagging him. She was just observing.
“Thanks, Jules. Hey, we’re gonna be out here,” he said, opening the door to the backyard, changing the subject.
Julia followed him outside, and he heard it: the small gasp she let out when she saw what he had prepared. Here, in Tae’s
backyard, he’d created a mini concert venue. He’d strung lights between all the trees, laid blankets out on the grass, hung
a huge white sheet up for a screen, and had the projector ready. He even built a mini stage with the wood from some old pallets
his parents had out in the shed. And on the main blanket, he had two fully charged fan light sticks that he’d borrowed from
some neighborhood girls and set to blinking purple, a bottle of wine, pizza, and a concert DVD ready. Maybe it was a little
overboard.
He worried it was a little too cheesy, janky even. But he couldn’t afford to get her tickets to a real K-pop concert, even
if one had been playing in town tonight. This would have to do.
But seeing Julia’s eyes in awe as she took it all in made it worth it.
“What is this?” she asked in an amazed whisper.
“It’s your first BTS concert. I’m so glad you like the music. I had a feeling you would. Their message is just as powerful
as their talent. But when you see what they do when they perform on stage, you’ll be amazed. So for tonight, let’s enjoy the
show.”
Maybe some would say this was childish or corny. But K-pop had shaped Tae’s life growing up and to this day, and he wanted to be the one to introduce Julia to BTS. Their music had gotten Tae through some of his darker moments the last few years.
“Tae, this is so cool! Okay, I’ll admit it. You were right. I really like their music. Some of their songs are serious bops.
And the lyrics, touching on mental health and societal issues, are powerful. I wasn’t expecting it.”
Tae smiled, letting out a relieved sigh. Julia got it. He had hoped she would.
“Well, it sounds like you’re already a member of the BTS ARMY. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Randall Park, Jimmy Fallon,
the Jonas Brothers . . . oh, and John Cena . . . all ARMY. You’re in good company.”
“Well, if John Cena is ARMY . . .” she said and smiled.
Tae liked this. He liked that he could share this side of himself with Julia without feeling foolish. He liked that she could
tease him and it made him laugh. She felt like an equal in these moments, even though in reality, she was way out of his league.
“What’s all of this?” she asked, pointing at all the supplies Tae had prepared.
“Come over here and have a seat. This is the light stick I was telling you about. For BTS, it’s called the ARMY bomb. But
other bands have slightly modified versions, and they’re called by different names.”
“I had no idea this subculture existed. It’s like a world in and of itself. How did you get into K-pop?”