Gratefulness~ pt.3

We take the bus at 4 am. I predict that there's going to be a lot of people at six, so we can get to the venue before them. The nightime in Helsinki looks beautiful but it's not as beautiful as it was in Hong Kong. I miss that place. And the lifestyle. There was always something happening everywhere around the town.
We scuttle past the dark bus stops and eventually we hop off at the right spot. We thank the driver and drag our stuff out.

There's no one at the stadion. Wow. How can that be, I wonder. We roll out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags on the ground and sit down to wait. Although, it's almost the end of the summer, it's still warm and even the nights are tolerable.
"What are we going to do with these when we get in?" Sara asks and touches her sleeping bag.
"I guess they have some lockers or cloakroom inside."
"Yeah. Or then we should just throw these somewhere inside, so that we can get to the front row. At least I myself don't need this rag anymore."
"Yep. That's a good idea", I say. Sara pulls her phone out of her bag and connects it with mini speakers. She starts playing and singing Big Bang's songs. I laugh.
"Well! We have to know the lyrics, so that we can sing along", Sara laughs and at the very moment we hear rustle from a bush near us.
"What a freaking city rabbit is that?" I exclaim fraightened. Soon a twenty-something couple scrambles out of the bushes and they giggle themselves until they notice us. We stare at them suspiciously.
"Did you come to see Bik Bankey too?" the man asks. They are wearing dubious decayed clothes and they seem to be even more weirder. I don't even dare to guess what year they did shower last time.
"Heehee, it's a really good band", the woman smiles and they sit down a few meters away from us. We look at each others' eyes with Sara and shurg. Crazy people.

I wake up when Sara starts poking me.
"Wake up! We will get inside soon!" she shouts to my ear and I get up quickly.
"Jinj-ja?" I ask overly excited and Sara answers me immediately:
"Ne!" we laugh in unison and the girls behind us look at us with cocky faces. Stupidos. They don't even understand what we are talking. Finnish people can be so sullen sometimes. I start missing the Asian Big Bang fans. I felt like one with them, dancing inside the Arena along 'Fantastic Baby'.

The doors are opened exactly at 6 pm and we are among the first ones inside; only a few rude youngsters have passed us in line while we were sleeping. I get the tickets out of my handbag and show them to the inspector who's smiling at us friendly.
"Follow that man", he says and points at the guard man standing next to the doorway. Somehow he seems so familiar... We look at each other with Sara and wonder what's going on. The guard man looks at us and makes a hand gesture. We follow him bravely and another deja vu...
"We get to the front row", I whisper and Sara glances at me.
"So, we were queuing for nothing?" she snaps. "But... Cool!!"
But we don't just follow the man to the first row and that would be useless anyway because we were almost first in the queue. Instead, I see that a dock has been built next to the stage. The gate says "VIP Only" which is kind of comical because then all of the fans would belong there.

The guard man opens the gate and we walk up the stairs and sit down on our own red chairs. We are so close to the stage that we could almost trip someone. Sara is giggling way too excitedly on my left side.
"Umm...! This is so unbelievable! Joakim is the best!"
I can see the rude teenagers standing down on the ground and I utter a laughter. F you!

The stadion starts to fill up and slowly people get up to the VIP dock as well. We sit in a row and on each table in front of us is a water bottle and a new kind of BB light stick. There's also roses and Big Bang's new CD's on our tables. Sara starts to grope her CD right away.
"How cute and thoughtful have the organizers been!" she admires.
The lights go off and I can see the last VIP people coming from behind the stage. A tall slim woman and a man who looks a lot like YG sit down at the opposite end of the row.
I gulp of nervousness. What if he or the members will recognize me? We are so close to each other that it's not completely impossible. Before this I had no problems with this kind of situation. But, on the other hand, the spotlights are directed right at the idols, so they can't really see the audience. I trust in that.

The front doors are closed and the new promotion video for the new CD starts playing on the big screen. "Hello, Finland!" the members greet in unison and then the video shows us the promotion pictures and MVs.
"Waaah! I can't wait! Come on stage already!" Sara is screaming next to me and luckily two seats behind her are empty, so, she's not disturbing anyone. I smirk.
"Soon they will --"

The video explodes and at the very moment the members appear and walk to the front as the background music plays. I look at them for long and it looks like they have only become more handsome. The members lift their hands on their foreheads and they observe the crowd.
"Pretty much people", Taeyang says to the mic and the fans scream.
"We have fans in Finland!" Daesung exclaims with his sparkly eyes smiling.
"Yey!" TOP joins the conversations and they hug each other gladly. Do they remember that I was from Finland, I think to myself.

The concert starts and we enjoy the performances, even though, at certain moments I feel a little uncomfortable. The new music is very catchy and I dance a little with my friend. The new choreographies are genius and I have nothing to complain about their new looks either. Like always, the show is perfectly planned and every one of their songs sounds even better when performed. The spotlights flash in different colors, the screen shows awesome graphic landscapes and explosions, the cannons shoot smoke in the air... Okay. This is freaking cool.

I sip my water after the fifth song and glance at Sara who's taking pictures with her phone.
"Let's take a pic for Instagram!" she says and turns the lens to us. She smiles and I do a peace sign. Sara writes: "Best time of my life feat @mineadarling ! #BIGBANG #CONCERT #OMG #BIGBANGTOUR2015 #KPOP❤️"
The members are talking and laughing on the stage.
"Now we would like to have someone here to party with us", Seungri says and views the crowd. The fans are screaming their heads off.
"What about you, girls", Daesung points next to the stage and squints. One spotlight is placed right in front of us.
"If you are girls", he laughs. "I can't really see because of the lights."
Sara pulls my sleeve. "Is he talking to us?!" she screams and looks at me with her eyes as big as plates. Always so excited...
I nod. She squeals.

"Come here!" G-Dragon shouts and he clearly doesn't see who we are. This can't be happening for real... But at the same time I really want to see his expression, will he recognize me?
Sara takes my hand and pulls me up. Daesung walks to the stairs near us and gives his hand. I let Sara go up first. Sunny Daesung helps her and she giggles. Then he reaches to my direction. I look down, so that he wouldn't recognise me right away, and I walk up the stairs.
We are standing in the darkness and Seungri describes the next song. I hear the crowd shouting jealously. Sara looks at me with her eyes sparkling of joy and excitement. She's trying to behave herself.
"I will die here", she whispers and shakes.
Then I see G-Dragon turning to us. He smiled at us to make us feel comfortable but it just makes it worse. Sara looks like she could melt on the stage at any moment like a candle. I shove her with my elbow. She laughs akwardly and focuses on breathing. I just stand there blankly, not knowing how I should act like.

I realize that Taeyang is staring at us and actually has been staring for a good while now. He looks at me sharply and I can see a light on his face when he realizes... He nudges GD who's standing next to him and looks at us again. I can read from his lips: "Geu yeoja Mineeha inga? (Isn't that girl Minea?)"
G-Dragon glances at me weirdly and gets confused. I cough akwardly and look the other way. The song starts to play and the show begins. The boys sing normally and I play through the song as well. I can see a camera man photographing us like crazy from the media dock. He must know too. I'll end up in a magazine again, I sigh.
Taeyang comes to me at the end of the song and dances with me for a few moves and laughs with me. As the music fades away, he walks Sara first to the stairs. But he doesn't let me go just like that.

"Backstage after show", he says with a serious face and I nod a little. Then he pushes me to the stairs and I rush to my own seat.
"Did he say something?" Sara is still shaking. The next song starts playing.
"Um, yeah. Nothing big. I'll tell you later", I shout through the loud music and Sara understands and starts to sway along.

The revenge is waiting for me.

Notes