#wang gae

PROLOGUE

The customs officer who'd welcomed the previous passenger into the country with minimum fuss, despite grubby jeans, a bare chest and tatty leather waistcoat, was becoming more and ore pedantic in his inspections of Jackson's Fendi luggage. And on the tail-end of a delay plagued flight from HKG, Jackson was becoming more and more anxious to get it over with.

"Fair go man" he said irritably. "Do I look like a sleaze-bag drug courier?"

"I couldn't say sir," the man informed him, his face expressionless as he flicked his eyes over Jackson's crumpled designer sports coat. "But the sniffer dogs didn't seem to think so."

Despite himself, Jackson grinned at the subtle, ironic humor of the man's response. He'd missed the Korean trait of blending dry, cheeky wit with perfectly straight face. The small doze of it now reminded him he'd re-entered the pretention-free zone of his second home.

After the hectic place of his China existence as a producer, song writer for Wang productions, in a business climate that worshipped over-achievers and workaholics, Jackson was more than ready to embrace the more laid-back attitude of his second home country. For all that television and guesting's he's worked on by himself, JYPE operated for him and only a fraction of effort is required since he has his managers and label to handle Got7 work for him, his commitment as compared to the kind of work he did in China seemed more , not less, professional.

When the customs clerk finally cleared his luggage, it was with an easy smile and an uncomplicated, "Welcome home, Mr. Wang"

Maybe it was the language, the accent, but somehow those words sounded a hell lot more sincere than all those routine "have a nice day's he'd been on the receiving end of for several months. More than once he'd been tempted to snap back with, Don't tell me what kind of day to have! If only for the sake of seeing if that would generate an honest, impulsive response. Though to be fair, he reasoned, steering his luggage trolley towards the exit , that particular habit hadn't started grating on him until Jaebeom had, and -

"Seunie! Jackson! Oi! Over here!"