Chapter Text
“They’re doing fantastic aren’t they?”
I glanced away from the stage towards the voice that came from behind me and smiled. It was their manager, Min, his face beaming with pride as he glanced out at the guys. “They’ve really worked incredibly hard to get to this point.”
I looked back out towards all of them and could feel the huge smile on my face. “They have, and it shows with every move they make.” I felt an overwhelming amount of pride and happiness surge throughout my body as we both stood there and watched them. I still couldn’t help but wonder just how I made it to this point and found myself reminiscing once again.
I've been with JYP now for almost a year, and with Stray Kids for almost as long. I started off as a simple intern; I was there to simply help do whatever needed to be done. I didn’t mind it, even with the pay being practically nonexistent, I was happy to be at the JYP building. My hopes of possibly one day seeing and meeting Stray Kids one of my end goals, it kept the motivation high to do anything anyone asked of me.
The first couple weeks I was here, I never really saw them, just heard about them constantly. I never imagined I would ever reach the level of working or interacting with them as I am now, but at the time just knowing I worked in the same building as them was enough to make me happier than I had ever been. One day when cleaning one of their practice rooms, an all too familiar person walked in on me.
Normally when I clean, I always have my earbuds in and the music turned up to a deafening level. It was particularly late that night and I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the building, so of course that meant I could sing while I cleaned. I became lost in it until I finally looked up in the mirror and felt my whole heart on the verge of convulsing out of my chest.
“Shit!” I screamed much louder than I intended. The small bucket I was holding with water now rolled across the floor, its contents glistening everywhere as I had thrown it up in the air when I jumped. “I’m so sorry!”
The man quickly ran over to the small counter in the room and grabbed some paper towels before he came towards me. “No it’s my fault! I’m sorry, I just…I heard someone singing and wasn’t sure who it was.” I watched in sheer amazement as he bent down and laid the paper towels on the ground, waiting as it quickly saturated each towel with the spilt water. “I think I created an even bigger mess for you. I’m so sorry,” he said through a small, embarrassed chuckle.
I shook my head and dropped to the floor to help him finish drying the water up. “You don’t need to be doing this! I—I got it.”
He quickly glanced up at me, his dark eyes sparkling from behind his blonde bangs. “Absolutely not. Not only did I cause this mess, but I scared you, watched you without you knowing, and almost gave you a heart attack. The least I can do is fix the issues I caused.” He looked back down and meticulously gathered the paper towels into one neat pile. “Plus this is a much easier mess to clean up than I’m used to.”
I wanted to speak but my mouth wouldn’t open. I couldn’t believe he was here…talking to me…and treating me as if I’m just—well, a normal person and not a low ranking employee of his company.
He stood up and ran back towards the corner of the room where a small trash can sat and brought it back to where I was. He quickly gathered all the wet paper towels and tossed them into the trash can, clapping his hands together once he was finished. “I can take this out too. It looks like you had already emptied it.”
I still sat on the floor, my gaze locked on him and unable to say a word. He looked down at me, his smile growing wider by the second. He chuckled softly and bent down, setting the trash can off to the side of him. “Hey? You uh…you didn’t have a heart attack, right?”
I came back down to reality and quickly shook my head. “I’m so sorry!” I half yelled at him. “I just…I never thought I would get the chance to talk to you!”
His smile never leaving his face grew wider as the tips of his ears burned a fiery red. “You’re clearly a STAY it sounds like.” He ran his hand through his hair and looked away, his cheeks now matching the same red hue as his ears.
“Y-yeah I am…I’m sorry this must be weird for you.”
He looked back over at me, his eyes locking with mine as he tilted his head to the side. “Actually, no. You're not the first employee here to be a fan of ours.”
I felt a slight twinge ping in my chest at the word employee. He wasn’t wrong though, in fact I was kind of lower than an employee as my status of intern. He seemed to notice the change in me as he quickly started apologizing again. “That’s not what I meant!” He said, his hands waving in the air as he sat down on the floor next to me.
I couldn’t help but start to laugh. I rubbed at the corners of my eyes, the warm sensation of tears pooling in them as my laughter became more difficult to stop.
“I think I broke you…” he said before he himself started laughing softly.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “You’re exactly how you are in all your live videos, you know that?”
His eyes grew wide as he quickly looked away again. “Ha, you mean awkward?” He said in a shy tone.
“No, not awkward. You’re more intimidating than anything if I’m being honest.” I felt my nerves start to take over as he looked back at me. I quickly turned away and rubbed my fingers along my arm. “You’re just…I don’t know…you’re…you.”
He held his hand out towards me as he motioned for me to stand up with him. I hesitantly took it and felt as if I was in some sort of dream state once our hands met. “Well I would certainly hope I’m me. I’d hate to be anyone else.” He let go of my hand and looked around the room. “Did you clean this all by yourself?”
I nodded and looked around. “Yeah, it wasn’t all that bad. Honestly, cleaning all the mirrors is the hardest part.”
He nodded and snickered under his breath. “Wow, I’m impressed. This is one of our larger practice rooms.” He looked back over at me and tilted his head. “By the way, your singing is very beautiful. That’s what drew me here.”
I felt my whole face reach a temperature of a thousand suns as I quickly looked away from him. ”Th—thank…y-you” I said slowly.
He brushed his hand against my arm and once again chuckled slightly. “Hey, calm down. I’m nobody special.”
I jerked my head up and locked eyes with him. “Yes you are!” I quickly slammed my hand against my mouth and took a step back. I can’t believe I just said that out loud.
I expected him to turn and walk away but instead he took a step closer towards me. “Thank you, that means a lot uh…” he looked at my shirt, a puzzled expression gracing his face as he locked eyes with me again. “What’s your name?”
“Y/N”
He smiled his huge toothy smile and extended his hand once more. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Y/N, my name is Christopher, but you probably know me better as Bang Chan.”
I shook his hand and found myself starting to calm down. His grip was tighter this time compared to when he pulled me up off the ground as he finally let go of my hand. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and let out a small sigh. “Hey sorry but I have to take this. I hope to see you around!” He waved as he turned and headed towards the door, his phone quickly going to his ear.
And just like that he was gone. I stood in the same spot for I don’t know how long. Long enough that my feet started to go numb. I gathered my supplies and headed toward the door myself, looking back in to make sure I left nothing behind. I flipped the lights off and pulled the door shut as I walked down the hall, my mind still replaying what had unfolded not too long ago.
“I met Christopher Bang….I actually met him!” I replayed that same statement over and over in my head the entire way outside. Somehow managing to drive myself back home, all while still reliving that small interaction that I had with him.
It was a sheer stroke of luck at that point that I even saw him that night and for that, I was happy. I never dreamed I would see him again, let alone reach the level of relationship I have with him today. If only I knew then what I knew now, I might have been able to win him over sooner.
“Hey….Y/N.” I finally snapped back into reality to see Min snapping his fingers next to my face. “Where did you go? I’ve been talking to you for the past ten minutes and you’ve been in a complete trance.”
I shook my head and felt the small droplets of sweat bead on my forehead. “I’m sorry! I got caught up reminiscing again I guess.”
He crossed his arms and swayed on the heels of his shoes, the sound of his laugh drowned out by the loud music. “You know you’d think the woman who captured Chris’s heart would pay attention when he’s on stage.”
I looked around and noticed the many different members of the production and stage crew around us. “Min!” I hissed through clenched teeth.
He smiled and leaned down to speak directly to me. “You’re fine. No one could hear me over their performing. Besides, they’re paying extra close attention. This is their job after all.”
I slowly looked back around and noticed he was right. Not a single one of them was paying any attention to us. They were all focused on multiple different things involving the stage, the guys, the lighting. Min and I were nothing more than furniture at this point.
I looked up when I heard the ending of Maniac draw near. This was the time when they would take a short but well needed break. They’d only have about ten minutes, but ten minutes was more than some venues would allow.
Min tugged on my sleeve as we both headed towards one of the back rooms. This is where they had left the majority of their personal items as well as where all the snacks and drinks were. I looked around at the vast assortment of drinks and laughed. “What?” Min asked as he grabbed a bottle of water off one of the tables and took a large drink.
“Nothing. I just couldn’t help but notice the surplus of pomegranate juice here.”
Min shrugged his shoulders and winked, a little tik of his he has when he's in a good mood. “I’m tired of hearing Han complain about there never being any when we have shows. So I put that at the top of the list. Think this is enough?”
I counted all of them and shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, 12 bottles might not cut it. You might be getting demoted, buddy.” I gently pushed his arm as we both laughed amongst ourselves. We took a seat on one of the small couches and waited for the guys to show up. They had just left the stage and were more than likely being escorted here before they had to change their outfits.
“They’re doing incredible,” I said quietly. “I figured they’d be nervous with this being the first tour concert in a long time.”
Min leaned back and pulled his leg up over his knee. “I think they are nervous, but the excitement of it all is keeping that hidden. All of them, regardless of the stress it may bring, they love the stage. But,” he took a quick drink and looked back at me. “I guarantee you they’re going to sleep like the dead tonight. This has been a toll on me so I can’t imagine what they're feeling right now..”
We both looked up as the door opened and a unanimous “Snacks” rang out across the room. Changbin and Hyunjin were the first two in and immediately headed towards the tables full of snacks and quickly chose their favorites. Han trudged in behind them and slumped down on one of the other couches in the room, a very dramatic sigh escaping his mouth. Lee Know, Seungmin, and I.N joined in at the snack table, their excitement echoing throughout the room as they all seemed to choose something different. Last but not least Felix and Chris came in. Felix quickly ran over to Han and sat down on his back, his huge smile beaming from ear to ear as he lightly bounced up and down. Han laughed underneath him as he squirmed, trying to get free.
Min and I stayed where we were. We didn’t need to interrupt the small break they had and we certainly didn’t want to put them behind. I glanced away from Felix and Han when I felt someone sit down beside me. “Alright you two, break it up.”
Chris weaseled his way in between Min and I and continued pushing Min further away. I felt the all too familiar redness rush to my face as I felt the overwhelming heat radiating from his body. They’d already performed over ten songs and still had well over 15 more left to go. He leaned back against the seat and lifted his arm up to rest on the back of the couch. “What did you think?” He asked happily. He had very unique ruby colored contact lenses in his eyes tonight and I couldn’t help but find myself staring at them. They almost shimmered when the light hit it just right.
“You guys are doing amazing! I seriously don’t know how you do it!” I said excitedly.
I felt him lean in closer as he shifted his weight around in the seat. “Hmmm, well, it's definitely not on my part. I know the rest of the members are amazing but I’m just kind of…well me.” He laughed a very small laugh and shook his head. “And don’t you even think about telling me I’m wrong. Either of you!” He pointed a finger at both Min and I, knowing we were going to say something. Chris always puts himself down and both Min and I always fight him on that. Lately he’s been trying to shut us up before we have the chance to say anything but that’s never stopped us before.
But before we had the chance to say anything to him, a young woman knocked on the door and drew all of our attention towards her. “You guys have around five minutes left. You’re all needed in dressing room 1 and 2.” She nodded her head and quickly ran back down the hall.
“Hhh, some break this was,” Lee Know grumbled from the chair he’d claimed in the short amount of time he was here. They quickly all gathered their trash and headed back out into the hall. Chris however stayed where he was. “Aren’t you going to go with them?” I asked curiously.
He shot Min a quick look which made him get up and follow the rest of the guys. He took a deep breath in and laid his head on my shoulder. “You know we have a fan signing after this right?”
“Yeah, I do.” I slowly leaned my head down on his but quickly chose not to. I was afraid to mess up his perfectly styled hair, and the last thing I needed was Kimberly from hair and makeup to come and hunt me down.
His hand made its way up to my thigh as he started tracing small circles against my silk slacks. “You don’t need to stay that late for me. Why don’t you head home after the concert?”
His light touch sent shivers throughout my body as if it were the first time he’d ever touched me all over again. I leaned away and watched as he raised his head up off my shoulder so he could look directly at me. “But why?” I asked, the undertone of annoyance not hidden at all in my tone.
He lifted his hand up to my face and gently caressed my cheek. “Because I said so.” He leaned in closer, his voice dropping lower as he locked his eyes with mine. “And you’re going to listen to what I ask of you, aren’t you.” The hold this man had on me was unrealistic. I slowly nodded without realizing as I watched his dimples peek out on his cheeks from his smile growing. “Good girl.” He quickly kissed my forehead and ran towards the door, his jacket already completely off of him before he made it out into the hall.
I let my head fall back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling as my heart continued to race. I still could feel the ghost-like feeling of his fingers against my leg as once again my mind started to race with the many thoughts of him.
My name is Y/N, and I’m an average girl living a not so average life. I’m the secret girlfriend of one of the world's most famous K-Pop idols, Christopher Bang, leader and overall founder of Stray Kids. And this is the story on how that came to be.