"Samara, but everyone just calls me Sam."
"Well Sam, welcome to New Yawk," Marcia said in her best Brooklyn accent. "We've got plenty of room here so feel free to camp out."
Leila's phone rang and she got up to answer it, taking the conversation to the kitchen.
"Hey honey, what's going on?"
She flushed at the endearment. "Hi G.K. How was the press conference?"
"Boring as usual. Smiled a lot, took a lot of pictures, reporters asking about my private life."
"I take it that photo with us came up."
"It did. So what? I'm not going to hide you or anything. Anyway, what are you and your roommate doing later?"
"Right now we're hanging out with my sister."
"Your sister...she's here?"
"Yeah, she came up to stay for a while." Leila would fill him in later as to the reason for her sister's impromptu visit.
"I was calling to see if you two wanted to have dinner with us. Noel's returning to Korea in a day or two, so we wanted to have a kind of 'going away' party. Definitely bring your sister along. I'd like to meet her."
And I'm sure she'd like to meet you too, knowing how nosey Sam could be. Besides, she'd have fun hanging out with Boom, Young and Kwan. Those three would make sure of it.
"Let me ask them and I'll call you right back." She chuckled. "I may have some explaining to do. About you."
When Leila walked back into the living room, Marcia and Sam were watching Rodan and laughing themselves silly. She looked at them and shook her head.
"Hey, you guys up for dinner?"
"With who," Marcia asked through a mouthful of popcorn.
"With G.K. and the guys. Kai's fiancée Noel is headed back to Korea and they want to have a goodbye party for her."
Marcia let out a whoop. "I am so in!" She was up and out of the living room in seconds, an imaginary trail of smoke following behind her.
Leila laughed, at her friend, before looking over at her sister who remained unmoving. "Guys? What guys?" Sam asked her inquiringly.
Leila went to sit next to her, "Well I've been seeing this guy..." Sam's eyes widened, "And you didn't tell me?" She asked quickly. "Well to be honest it hasn’t been very long and I couldn't tell you earlier, you know with everything..."
Sam nodded stopping the rest of her sentence, “Tell me about him."
Leila swallowed. Damn Paul for his crappy timing. Taking a deep breath she told her sister everything about her and G.K.
Afterwards, she glanced at Sam who just smirked.
"Wow my lil’ sis snagged a pop star.” She teased. “And I'll get to check this guy out if I come tonight." Leila nodded, "Well you can count me in."
Leila regarded her sister, "We don't have to go if you aren't up to it. I can invite him over another time."
Sam laughed as she patted her sister lightly on the hand, "Its fine, no point in me moping around your house, eating myself to death. Besides, you try stopping Marcia...she's probably dressed and ready right now." Leila laughed hard, standing up, followed by Sam.
"Well you know, it won't be all bad...these guys are all pretty cute." She said with one guy in particular in mind. Sam shook her head, walking toward Leila's bedroom.
"No thanks, they can keep all that cute to themselves, I'm not getting involved with anyone any time soon."
Chapter Fifteen
Leila, Marcia and Sam were ready when G.K. and the guys arrived at their front door.
"Hey there sexy," Leila murmured to him as she ushered everyone inside. He placed a quick but tingling kiss on her lips.
"Hey yourself. You look beautiful."
All four men filed into the loft, standing in a line as if waiting for introductions. Having them all standing together dressed in dark well fitting suits was almost too much for one woman to handle. The amount of male beauty was staggering.
Leila shook her head, chuckling. “You guys remember Marcia." The young woman sent a finger wave in Kwan's direction. "And this is my sister Sam." Gesturing to each of the guys she continued, "Sam this is G.K., Kwan, Kibum, and..."
"I'm Young," he said, boldly stepping forward to take Sam's hand. He bent down and placed a small kiss on the back of it.
Leila and G.K.'s eyes widened. Her sister ran a nervous hand down the front of her black chiffon dress. "It’s nice to meet you Young," she said softly.
"The pleasure is all mine," he replied, eyes locked on Sam's face.
Leila watched the two of them curiously.
"Are you ladies ready to go," G.K. asked, interrupting the moment.
Leila nodded and grabbed her bag and a jacket. Marcia, Boom and Kwan were chatting as they headed out the door followed by Young who seemed unwilling to let go of Sam's hand.
Sorry Paul, she thought with a self-satisfied smile. Looks like my sister's traded up.
The ride to the restaurant was filled with the usual joking and banter from the guys, who made a point to include Sam in their antics. Leila was happy to see some of the sadness gone from her sister's eyes, even if for only a little while.
Instead of the usual van, they were riding in a black limousine which had Marcia and Kwan singing about 'living like a rock star'".
"Where's Noel and Kai?" Leila asked.
G.K. lifted their joint hands where they sat on his thigh, kissing the back of hers. "They decided to ride separately to the restaurant. He thought the limo would be too crowded."
Kwan snorted. "That's what he told us. What he meant was 'Noel and I are going to take longer because I have to love her down before she goes back to Korea'."
Leila, Sam and Marcia looked at each other then burst out laughing.
G.K. just shook his head, giving Sam an apologetic smile. "Please don't mind him, he says crazy things like that all the time. He can’t control himself."
"He’s just jealous because Kai has someone to ‘love down’...as you say,” Boom shot back at Kwan.
"Me? Jealous?" Kwan went wide-eyed innocent which brought on fresh laughter from the women. "I am not jealous. I'm tired of having my room next to Noel's and hearing those two through the walls."
Boom and Young clapped their hands over their ears. "Too much information."
"Well you asked."
"Okay." G.K. cleared his throat, obviously wanting to change the subject. "Can we please not discuss my cousin's sex life?"
Through hiccups Marcia managed to gasp, "So where are you guys taking us?"
"Midori," Kwan answered. "Noel made the reservations." Leila and Marcia were impressed. "That's a great restaurant," Leila said. "I've heard they have really good Asian fusion cuisine."
"And pretty expensive too," Marcia added. "Now I really feel like I'm living large."
"It better be great. In fact the food better be amazing, especially since I told Kai I'd pay." Kwan grumbled, drawing laughter from everyone. "I still don't know what made me say that, especially before I even knew where we were going."
G.K. rolled his eyes at Kwan's attitude; he would have paid, even if the food cost a million dollars. The men of T4L were close, and would do almost anything for each other. Including, spending a small fortune on food, for Kai and Noel’s enjoyment.
The limo pulled up to the restaurant and the driver, a distinguished black man with salt and pepper dreds, came around and opened the door.
Chivalrously, G.K. assisted Leila from the car, followed by Marcia and Kwan. Young assisted Sam, sticking by her side like glue, and Boom alighted last.
Inside the restaurant, they were shown to a private room that had been enclosed by glass, the room containing lush plants, and a large low sitting round table, with huge colorful plump pillows surrounding it.
Leila put an extra sashay in her step, knowing that she, Sam and Marcia had to be the envy of a lot of the women in the restaurant. In her humble opinion they all looked fierce, and were being accompanied by a fashionable quartet of gorgeous men clad in modern fit dark suits. She was sure, at the very least, some of the patrons were curious.
The restaurant offered customers both eastern and western style seating. Feeling festive, the guys had elected to keep the eastern style seating, without any chairs. G.K. helped Leila down to the low table as she adjusted her dress accordingly.
Kai and Noel hadn't arrived yet which Kwan couldn't resist mentioning as he sat down.
"See what did I tell you? They're going to be late."
As he spoke, the server escorted Kai and Noel into the dining area.
Kai was outfitted in a dark suit like his band mates. Noel wore a pale pink Grecian-style dress, the hem hitting just above her knees.
"Are you complaining already?" Kai teased the other man. "We weren't
that
late."
"We were busy," Noel said, a secretive smile crossing her full lips.
Boom laughed. "I bet."
Noel smiled shyly when she spotted Marcia and Sam. “Well hello! You must be Leila’s roommate and sister. Kai told me you were coming, thank you for dealing with the hooligans while I was gone.” She said with a gesture in the other’s direction.
The three women laughed amongst the men’s protests.
Kai ushered Noel into a seat as their server came into the room to take drink orders.
Everyone ordered something alcoholic save for Young, who sheepishly ordered a soft drink.
He looked at Sam when she gave him a curious look. "I'm not the legal age for alcohol in America," he explained, blushing slightly.
"Is it not twenty-one in Korea?" Marcia asked the group from her spot beside Kwan.
"No to drink in Korea, you only have to be twenty… in Korean age." Kibum told her.
Korean age?
Leila thought.
Marcia stole the question from her mind, "What's Korean age? It’s different from the rest of the world?"
The young women looked puzzled, so Kwan explained. "In Korea the day you're born, you are considered one year old, as it is considered your first year of living."
G.K. continued, "So in Korea, you're one year older, than what they consider you in the west."
Sam eyed Young warily before she asked, “So how old are you?"
"Well in Korea I'm 21, in the states I'm 20."
Sam's eyes widened slightly, before returning to normal. "So young..." she murmured, leaning back slightly.
Young visibly deflated, at her borderline dismissive comment. It wasn't noticeable to most, but G.K. saw the exact moment Young's genuine smile was replaced with a forced copy of one.
Once the subject of age was approached, Marcia grabbed it by the horns, asking each member of T4L how old they were.
"Do you want Western or Korean age?" Kibum asked.
"Just tell them your American age." Kwan rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to be older than you are."
Kibum huffed. "Fine.
"Well, Kai and I are both twenty-four in western age." Kibum responded. "I'm twenty-six" Kwan said. "And I'm twenty-five," G.K. finished.
Kwan looked at Sam as if saying 'your turn', but she laughed off his question. "You never ask a lady her age. Don't you have any manners?"
"Of course I have manners," he answered as Boom and G.K. gave very audible snorts. "But you're really pretty. You have nothing to hide."
Leila watched her sister flush and lower her lashes coyly. A few hours ago she'd been bawling like she'd invented it. Now here she sat teasing Kwan.
Sam smiled at him, "Wow you're a charmer huh?" Kwan's grin widened, "Trust me, I can do a lot more than just charm you." He said with a wink.
G.K. took a moment to look at Young, noticing that his jaw tightened a little more with each passing second.
If he doesn't stop gritting his teeth soon, he's going to chip one.
G.K. surmised.
When Sam opened her mouth to retort again, Kibum interrupted. "Enough, Kwan if I have to keep listening to you try and flirt, I'm going to lose my appetite," he leveled Kwan with a look, "And if I lose my appetite, I'll have to kill you." He finished, causing the entire table to erupt in laughter.
As his mirth subsided, Kwan protested, "Don't hate on my macking skills." Sam raised an eyebrow at Kwan, "Is
that
what you're calling it? Macking?" She challenged. Kwan leaned forward on the table, closer to Sam, who sat across from him.