“Oh my god I can’t believe we’re in Paris!” Hara squealed while she pressed her face to the tiny airplane window.

Laughing you grabbed the back of her shirt and tugged her into the seat. “Sit down until the seatbelt light is off you dummy. Besides last time I checked you can’t see the Eiffel tower until we actually get off the airplane.”

She pouted at you. “Awww you’re no fun!”

You rolled your eyes as you waited patiently for the plane to come to a stop at the tarmac. Once the safety lights went dark you rose from your seat and grabbed your backpack down from the overhead compartment. You could just barely spy Super Junior unloading in front of you through a crack in the curtain separating the 1^st class from the rest of the plane. They would be brought to wait in a VIP room until the rest of the staff could join them. Security also needed the time to make sure it was safe for Super Junior to walk through. According to the rumors there were already hundreds of fans camped overnight for their arrival.

It has been over a month since the concerts in China wrapped up and there were only two more stops before the encore in Seoul. Jae-Hwa had been quiet for a short time after the whole contact issue, but as the end of the competition drew closer her tactics continued to grow more desperate. The previous performance left your feet raw after finding your regular shoes switched out with a pair that was 3 times too small. You purposely kept it secret knowing Hara or Ailee would’ve forced you to wear theirs instead. If it got any worse you knew you’d be forced to recruit help.

Shaking those dark thoughts you concentrated on not tripping over your already sore feet. Thankfully it was just a short walk to the VIP room. Upon entering you quickly dumped your stuff on the floor and sank into one of the oversized couches. You tipped your head back and closed your eyes against the oncoming headache you felt forming. With your eyes still shut you felt the cushion next to you sink down under the weight of another person. Peeking one eyelid open you recognized the stoic profile of Kyuhyun.

“Tired?” He asked.

Nodding your head you shifted in your seat crossing one leg over the other in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure from your throbbing feet.

Kyuhyun’s POV

I watched quietly as Mel and her friends entered the room in a flurry of activity. It was pretty obvious the majority of them were bursting with excitement, the exception of course being Melody. In contrast to her friends she looked extremely worn out, proving to me that was the case when she quickly plopped down on the nearest sofa.

I excused myself from the current conversation and made my way over to her.

“Tired?” I asked after claiming the seat next to her.

She didn’t even have the energy to sit up and talk; only nodding in response. Not wanting to disturb her I was about to get up and leave when she shifted positions exposing one of her feet to me. I noticed a peculiar red color spreading along the edge of her pristine white converses clearly not a part of the original design. Without asking I reached down and undid the shoelaces slipping the shoe off her foot.

She sat straight up and glared at me. “What are you doing?” she whispered fiercely.

I was too startled to respond as I stared down at the numerous angry blisters on her feet. Obviously one of them had burst causing the color to bleed through to her socks and shoes.

“Care to explain this?” I asked dangerously.

She quickly snatched her foot back and hid it under her other leg.

“No I would not.” She said before doing her best to ignore me.

“Don’t think that I’m just going to disappear because you choose not to look at me.”

Melody’s POV

Who does he think he is to be so meddlesome? I didn’t ask for his help. I swear SM entertainment purposely picks the maknaes to be super tenacious or something.

“Kyuhyun-ssi can you please just leave it alone? They are just blisters from dancing.” You replied, hoping he’d get the hint to go away.

“Believe me when I say I know what a blister looks like, but this is ridiculous. What happened?”

You pressed the back of your hands to your eyes in an effort to ease the burning before leaning further back into the couch. Without removing your hands you resigned yourself to answering Kyuhyun’s questions with just one name.

“Jae-Hwa.”

“I should’ve guessed.” You didn’t notice him wave over his manager with your eyes still tightly shut. As a result it startled you when you suddenly felt him remove your socks and begin to bandage your feet.

“What are…?” The rest of your words got lost in your throat as you saw the normally prideful Kyuhyun kneeling in front of you carefully cleaning your disgusting feet.

“Relax Mel it’s better if you just let me take care of it.” He smiled. “Besides you don’t want to ruin a perfectly good pair of converses.”

Embarrassed you blushed and looked anywhere but at him.

Kyuhyun’s POV

I was furious with what I’d just witnessed. Needless to say I was irritated with how Mel handled the situation. She clearly has no idea what the proper definition of ‘gone too far’ was. I quickly finished dressing the wounds and walked away without a word knowing that if I’d stayed a moment longer I would’ve scolded her. Instead I approached her partner in crime Hara.

“Hey got a second?” I asked.

Hara gave me a puzzled look, but quickly responded with a yes. Moving into the hall I confronted her with what I’d just seen.

“I take it you know about Mel’s most recent injury.”

Judging by the look on Hara’s face her answer was a big “NO.” Go figure that Mel is too stubborn to complain to anyone.

“I think it’s time we step in and do something.” I told her.

“We already had a plan to catch her in the act on camera, but it’s too hard to keep watch all the time.” She explained.

My mind quickly caught on the word camera and rapidly put a plan together. I quickly explained it to Hara who agreed in a heartbeat. Tonight Jae-Hwa was going down.

Melody’s POV

“Where have you been?” You asked Hara when she walked through the door.

“Bathroom…” She replied evasively.

You rolled your eyes. “Sure ok… Anyways we are about to walk out now. You ready to get our eardrums exploded from the screaming fans?”

She laughed and grabbed your hand dragging you off the sofa. “You bet! Maybe there will even be a few people cheering for us!”

“Yea who knows?” Ailee piped in as she grabbed your other hand. “If not today someday soon they will be here just for us.”

You gave Ailee a pointed stare.

“What a girl can dream can’t she?” She asked.

Laughing at their antics you allowed yourself to be pulled along to the main walkway. The noise assaulted your ears as soon as you stepped through the sliding glass doors. You were sandwiched in-between Hara and Ailee for which you were thankful once the fans began to press in. Basically you were pushed and pulled along until you reached the safety of the vans awaiting outside.

“DID YOU SEE?! DID YOU SEE?!” Hara yelled into your ear as you climbed into the backseat.

“No what was I supposed to see? If you didn’t notice I was doing my best not to be clawed to death by some of the more avid fans trying to reach SUJU oppas.” You replied.

She grinned. “Fan signs!!!”

“Hara of course there were fan signs there always are. What’s the big deal?” Ailee asked from the front seat.

“You mean you really didn’t see?” Hara looked around the van with a look that could only be described as glee.

“Just spit it out already.” Ailee ordered her as her inner diva made an appearance no doubt a result from the long plane ride.

“They were for us!” Hara squealed.

“Huh?”

“I saw at least one fan sign for each of us!”

You sat up straighter in your seat and pulled your remaining ear bud out. “Really?”

Hara nodded. “And guess who had the most?”

None of you had any idea so you had no choice but to wait for Hara to answer her own question. Unfortunately she is prone to dramatics and let complete silence descend in the van before speaking.

“Our one and only Song Melody!”

Shocked you couldn’t think of anything to say. It felt like just a few short days ago that you’d auditioned for SM entertainment and now you were on a world tour gaining your own fans. It didn’t matter that they were still small in number because they were yours alone. Slowly you felt a smile break across your face and before you knew it you were hugging Hara laughing so hard that it brought tears to your eyes.

“We are finally doing it aren’t we Hara?” You whispered to her.

“Yes, yes we are.” She replied back quietly.