Luana

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It takes me about three hours to unpack my clothes and other items into respective places in my room.

Around 5:30 pm I quietly come out of my room. I hear noises from the living room I'm guessing is the TV.

I peep into the room and see Eliška with a girl with short blue hair. The girl is listening to Blondie as she excitedly tells her something.

"Who are you?" I jump as I hear a voice behind me.

A girl peeps beside me to look into the room. "What are you looking at ?"

"Oh Luana , you're finally out of your room" Eliška shouts.

"Hey everyone " the girl I'm assuming is Luana walks past me into the living room.

She's wearing a green crop top, white button up sweater with baggy ripped jeans. I notice she has a thicc lower half. Her very long wavy hair is in a ponytail. She's a bit sun kissed but really pretty with wide eyes, full lips and thick eyebrows.

"Who is she?" Luana settles into the second TV couch at the other side of the room.

"Oh" Eliška spots me shyly standing at the door "Liliana! Come here. Why are you there?"

I walk in reluctantly. "Hi everyone."

"Sit here" Blondie points at the space beside Luana. I awkwardly walk across the room and sit down.

"How are you feeling? You unpack well?" She looks genuinely concerned

"I'm okay"

"What about you Lulu "

Luana who is with the remote going through channels slams the remote on the couch. "How many times have I told you to not call me Lulu "

I hear a bit of an accent. I'm not so sure from where.

"But it's cute"

"Don't!"

"Okay " Blondie remains smiling "but did you unpack well? Any troubles with your room?"

"No. Thanks for asking " Luana does a total 180 and smiles sweetly at her.

Okay...

"Hi, I'm Mariah " it's the girl sitting beside Blondie. She has short blue hair, alot of piercings, I see she has grey contacts on. She's wearing a very short skirt with a spaghetti strap crop top. I hear a very familiar accent.

She must be feeling cold wearing that in the air-conditioned room.

"Hello" I try to smile but I'm sure it looks forced

"You seem nervous" I immediately recognise an Australian accent. That's what stanning a group with two Australians does to you.

"I am a bit nervous. First time on my own"

"How old are you ?" She asks.

"I'm 18" I respond "you?"

"I'm 18 too" Mariah says

"I'm 20" Blondie says .

Well that's shocking. With her doll eyes and cute button nose. I thought she'd be the youngest at 16 or younger.

"Luana say yours" Blondie urges Luana

"I'm 19" Luana says to me

So we're all adults.

"Min-su is 18 too. She'll soon be back" Blondie says

"She's the Korean member. I'm from Australia" Mariah says

"i guessed that" I say

"It must be my strong accent . Atleast you didn't call me British like a certain someone." She stares down at Luana

"I didn't know okay?" Luana says "I'm Brazilian"

Oh so that's the accent.

"And I'm from Czech Republic" Blondie smiles at me. I notice her accent is faintly there.

"Oh this is a very ... " I search for the word in my head "diverse group"

"Yes!" Blondie claps " I'm so glad JYP is including diversity"

"Are you sure it's not just for attention?" Mariah says "clout. To get people talking "

"A group thrives on attention. We need the attention anyway if we want to be relevant" Luana says

"Do you think we'll be accepted?" I ask

"They better accept us " the sassy Brazilian says and continues changing channels.

Eliška and Mariah laugh.

"So what next?" Luana slumps on the couch.

"Well, min-su's making dinner" Mariah says "Have you both tried any Korean meals since you got here??"

"No" Luana says

"Yes, I had some for lunch at the company " I explain

"Yeah, the company building was spot on. Real tidy and well-organized, mate! "Mariah says

"Building? I saw Momo and Dahyun from twice" Eliška says with pride

"Really?" Luana faces us

"Yes. Momo looked so fit. Dahyun is a lot paler than I expected" Eliška's eyes bulge in excitement "but they were both really pretty with flawless skin"

"She's always been the fairest. I was really keen on catching a glimpse of a Stray Kids member." Mariah says

"Same" I agree "who's your bias?"

"Changbin" Mariah replies

"Okay okay. My bias is Hyunjin " I cross my legs to contain myself  from fidgetting in excitement. "honestly all members are so talented it's hard to pick one person "

"Exactly. " she points at me in agreement "I remember my first bias was Felix right, then seungmin has this unique personality that had me fantasizing,... "

"Fantasizing " Eliška's mouth is agape.

"Well stays are the most delusional fandom. We take pride in our delusions. " she raises her shoulders in pride. "then I think I saw Jisung had  a piercing..."

"A piercing made you switch biases?" Luana stares at her in disbelief

"Obviously not. he's the ace of the 4th gen, but gotta say, Changbin's just turned up the heat outta nowhere. Totally hooked on his dark vibes, that's my type"  she twirls her hair on her finger

"You mean emo boys" Luana deadpans

"Absolutely, not leaning towards the emo vibe here. Talking about the guys who sport black, maintain that chill demeanor, and consistently drop some wisdom." Her eyes gleam with passion as she elaborates, highlighting his intelligence, inspirational lyrics, and how much she looks up to him. "It's not just about the serious stuff – his humor shines through, complemented by impressive rap skills, and the added bonus of having been part of a school dance team and choir. It's the full spectrum of awesomeness!..."

"Yo! His singing is painfully underrated. It's so smooth and soothing " I add

"Yeah! I could go on and on about him but I don't want to bore you guys" she waves her hand dismissively

"No please continue " I shift closer to their side of the couch.

Luana clears her throat " hi, we're still here" she smiles at me

"Oh right" I awkwardly look at the floor.

"Awww it was nice seeing you talk freely. " Eliška stares at me like she's watching a baby struggle to stand.

I don't say anything to that.

"You guys don't stan straykids?" Mariah directs her question to Eliška and Luana.

"I'm a casual listener" Luana says

"Favourite song?" I ask

"Limbo" she says in a heartbeat

"Ooh" Mariah and I chorus.

"Interesting and impressive choice. I was expecting a title track."

"I prefer their more emotional songs." Luana simply says

"Cool. Eliška?" Mariah turns to Eliška.

"I'm more of a pop fan. I listen to mostly twice, TXT and seventeen" Eliška says

"New jeans?" I ask

"Na" Eliška shakes her head

I'm surprised she doesn't listen to new jeans. She looks like they would be her alts.

"That's surprising" Luana sits a bit closer to the edge of the couch to get a good view of Eliška

"Right?" Mariah nods at her statement

" I don't really like their sound" she remains quiet a few moments after that. She must be done talking about that.

Our attention moves to the TV that I'm just noticing is showing a cooking show.

That conversation flowed seamlessly. We may be different, from different countries, continents but one thing unites us, Kpop.

"Damn I'm hungry" Mariah rubs her stomach.

On cue , a black haired girl walks into the room from the front door with two grocery bags. She's wearing a white shirt, pink crop top with a pair of pink flats. Her front hair styled into a fridge, she lets her hair fall on her back and shoulders.

"Good evening" she shyly smiles at us

"Hello Min-su " Eliška skips to the door to welcome her

"She must have been a fairy in her past life" Luana whispers to me

"Who?" I whisper back to her

"Eliška. She's so damn bubbly "  Luana looks like she's cringing

"How have you guys been ?" Min-su says as she struggles to free herself from Eliška hug

"We've been good " Eliška let's her go with her signature smile " a bit hungry though "

"A bit?" Mariah gets up " we're starving " she collects a bag from the floor where Min-su dropped it earlier.

Min-su looks at me for about three seconds. Eliška notices her stare "oh this is..."

"I'll be back shortly " Min-su cuts her off and goes into the hallway. We hear a door slam shortly afterwards.

"Uh... is she always like this?" I ask Mariah and Eliška that have been around since yesterday.

"She's a bit closed off but still approachable"

Didn't she like me?
Is it because I'm African?

"Don't overthink anything" Luana drops a reassuring hand on my thigh " if she doesn't have the decency to welcome you then that's on her not you!"

...

Song recommendation for the chapter

Stay - Zedd ft Alessia Cara

***
Why do you think Min-su walked away?

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