Color Me Scarlett

The lights swarmed around me as I moved on the dance floor. My body moved and swayed as natural and carefree as a goddess. That’s what they had taught me. My low heels had begun to form blisters on my feet, but it would have been worse if I had to wear higher heels as I do in western clubs. Koreans are short, so there is no need. My blue, flowing mini dress twisted and flew about the room like waves. My ears were invaded by the booming bass of the too-loud speakers for such a small room but the other customers were too engrossed in their partner to be bothered. For them, the world around them was gone, and all they cared about was the person right in front of them.
It was perfect.
As I moved about the room, my hands lingered a little too long near a purse here, a wallet there. None of them would even notice until at most tomorrow, when it was too late to pinpoint the culprit in the drunken haze memories of the night before. Korean bars are the best.
After the music began to slow down, I took a break from my prowling to sit down and grab a drink with my new money.
“And why is such a beautiful lady dancing alone at a club?” I heard some drunk whisper in my ear. I smiled and bit my lip as I turned around.
“So you speak English, then?”
“You speak Korean!” He exclaimed with a smile. “That is one of the only phrases I know in English!” He admitted, laughing.
“Well, I’m glad you came to talk to me, even if you can only say a few words in English.”
“Wow! Your Korean is so good! Very Good. Very Good.” He finished in English. I gave a little giggle. “Do you want to dance? I’d hate for you to leave tonight without having any fun.”
I looked over at the dance floor. “Uh… I don’t know…” I said hesitantly, feigning shyness.
“Please. Just one song. And then I’ll leave you alone. Promise.” He put up his hands in the air, innocently.
I smiled. “All right.”
And then I made him get lost in the music. We danced and circled around the other couples and slowly, I inched closer and closer to his body, until we danced mere inches from each other. I let my hands run down the sides of his chest to his back. His hands encircled my waist. Slowly, my hands fell further and further down. And then I kissed him. Not very much. Just enough, and then I slid away into the darkness of the flashing strobe lights and sweating bodies, leaving him breathless.
Outside, I counted my income for the day. From random purses around the room, I had collected at least 1200 Yuan. Then I reached into my pocket and began counting the money from the man’s wallet and smiled. Another 600 Yuan. Foreigner hunters always came loaded.
I pulled out his drivers license. His name was Hyun Woo Young, age: 32. I grimaced. Old pervert. I raised my eyebrows as I examined his business card. He works for Samsung. Surprising, I thought to myself. What is a Samsung worker doing at a club at—My thoughts were interrupted with a yell. “Hey you! You took my wallet!”
I glanced up at Hyun Woo and then looked away in annoyance.
“What do you want?” I complained.
“My wallet!”
“Oh, this? You can have it back.” I tossed him the wallet and he fumbled to catch it.
“Where’s the money?” He demanded.
I smiled and shrugged. “Well, you didn’t ask for that.” I turned around and started to walk away.
“Police! Police! Help, she’s a theif!” I heard him yell. I didn’t think much of it, until I glanced behind me to find that police, quite unfortunately, had been nearby the club that day, and were advancing toward me.
“Miss, excuse me?”
I pursed my lips and whipped around, breaking into a sprint. After a few moments, however, I ditched the heels. They could try to trace the origin of them if there is any investigation. I bought them in Korea anyway.
I was fast. Even in my dress and lacking shoes, I was faster than them. The soles of my feet had long been adjusted to rough terrain. Clean streets of Seoul, Korea were nothing in comparison to the desert in Arabia. My feet slapped on the pavement as the police began to give chase. I looked back and laughed at their faces, which looked pained and exhausted from all the running.
I thought about stopping and fighting them. It’s always entertaining to fight police, but then I remembered my position, and I realized staying low would be better. I then began looking for a route to lose them. I dodged through alleyways until I had lost them briefly. There it was. The crowd, perfect for my escape. They were all walking quickly, likely going home from work. I began to run faster, ready to be safe again.
Suddenly the crowd began parting rapidly and before I knew it, I had hit a wall, and I fell hard. My vision began fading black around the edges…
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He pulled the hat further over his head while in the store. Due to the crazed fans, he had gotten separated from the other members after leaving the studio. He glanced outside and pulled the sunglasses from the store over his face. These will do, he thought. There were no fans outside, just the regular people walking to wherever they were going, unnoticed. What would it be like to be them?
He shook the thought away. It wasn’t important It wasn’t that way, and he was living his dream. He couldn’t think about those things. He quickly grabbed a thick jacket from one of the racks and checked the price on the hat.
“Is that all for you?” The cashier asked politely, and began scanning the items. She wiped her eyes and lazily tapped onto the screen. “That’ll be 1200 Yuan, please.”
She finally looked up at him, and his jaw dropped. “Are you… Oh, my gosh you’re Chen! From Exo!” She exclaimed.
He smiled politely and nodded.
“Can I get a picture please? My daughter would love it!”
“Your daughter? How old is she?” He asked, again, politely. He glanced anxiously again outside the window.
“Oh, she’s eight! She is such a huge fan!” She began fumbling in her purse for her camera. “I’m so sorry, this is terribly childish of me.” By this point, some of the other customers began snapping photos in his direction. He began gathering his things. When she turned around, He smiled and posed for the picture, and then she took a picture with him. She said her thanks and then he rushed out of there.
His new look was much more obscure, however it proved no help. The other customers from inside had followed him and took pictures outside. The situation was slowly unraveling. He wasn’t sure which way he should go, or where the hotel even was.
He began to try to walk, but then the screaming erupted and he froze and dared to look back. The swarm of sasaengs had formed and they were heading directly for him.
The situation erupted. He broke out into a sprint, the crowd behind him continually growing. Like a child, he dodged and weaved through the other people, yelling sorry each time he ran into someone.
He looked ahead of him and was relieved to see police officers running toward him to his aid. “Thank you so much for—” he began.
He smacked into the ground hard.

Notes