It had been over an hour. I shifted from foot to foot as I tried to peer between the shoulders of the fans in front of me.

“How much longer?” I murmured to my sister, knowing she would be able to pick up my voice in the crowd. She edged up onto her tiptoes and flopped down again with a huff. “About another 15 people.” I nibbled on my lip, yelping as a hand swatted my shoulder. “Sorry! Sorry!” I quickly pressed my lips together and looked up at my best friend, aka my little sister, giving her my best puppy eyes. She chuckled and shook her head.

“You’re going to end up making your lip bleed again, you know.” I sighed, shoulders slumping in resignation. “I knooooow” I whined. “Can I help it if I’m nervous?”

She raised an eyebrow at me, earning a mirror of the gesture in return. I was starting to regret bringing her with me… or to be more precise, dragging. I knew that look far too well, after all, it was one that she had copied from me, and sure enough… “This was your idea! Besides, everything’s going to go perfectly. Why? Because you’re awesome!!” As if to prove her point, she enveloped me in one of her insanely tight hugs, causing me to groan at the pressure on my ribs.

“Alright! Alright! If I agree can you stop lecturing me? This could be the single most important night of my life. I’m allowed a little anxiety, aren’t I?” She tilted her head to one side for a moment before nodding and releasing me. “A little. Like… a half of a teaspoon.”

I gave her a withering look. “There are measurements for anxiety now?” She giggled and nodded, bouncing on her toes and looping an arm through mine as we ambled forwards to keep up with the line. “Yep! I made them myself. It’s kind of like the nut scale.”

I stared at her for a moment or two before realisation dawned and my face lit up. “Oh! You mean the one where we figured out you’re a peanut and I’m a cashew?” She nodded and I tapped my chin, brow furrowing slightly. “So… does that mean that a half a teaspoon is equivalent to one freakout and a few tears, or would the tears take it up to two-thirds?” After a moment, she shook her head. “No. Tears are like coconut. Hear me out!” she quickly added before continuing. “Coconut takes up more space than flour, so half a teaspoon of coconut is less weight than half a teaspoon of flour. So if you have a half a teaspoon of tears, that’s more like a tablespoon of freakout.”

We shuffled forward a few more inches as I nodded. “So if I want tears, I can’t have freakout because that would take me over my anxiety quota?” She nodded. Well damnit. I sighed. “I guess no tears then, because I can’t afford to spend all my quota on freakout. Even though you know I’m going to cry when I get there. It’s just guaranteed. I cried when I had to replace my lamp, for God’s sake!”

“That just shows you’re a caring person.” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Well, yeah, but that’s not caring, that-“ I froze, the wide eyes from my sister driving home three things. First, she hadn’t spoken. Second, the voice hadn’t even been female. And thirdly, that voice didn’t come from in front of me, but somewhere behind and to my left. Swivelling slowly on my heel, I first saw an amused smile, then a chin resting on a hand, pen crooked through a finger, and finally a very familiar pair of eyes squinted in amusement. Squeaking in surprise and embarrassment, I darted behind my sister, slapping my forehead in frustration. So much for a good first impression.

I peeked out from behind her at the sound of a chuckle and gave the guy a meek smile. He leaned forward on the table at which he sat, head tilting to one side as the face beside him turned to look at the three of us in curiosity. “So was that a half teaspoon or more of a quarter?” He asked, blatantly fighting to keep from bursting out laughing. I felt the eyes looking down at me from my side, waiting to see what I would do. Frowning slightly, I folded my arms and stepped out from behind her, chin raised defiantly as his eyebrow curved upward in curiosity. “I’ll have you know, that was not anxiety. That was something entirely different.”

“And what’s that?” My mouth opened for a moment before closing again, my brain going blank. I didn’t expect him to call my bluff! “I’ll let you know when I figure it out” I mumbled, pouting slightly. He stared at me for a moment, eyes wide, before he suddenly burst into raucous laughter, the other men to his left turning momentarily from their conversations to peer at him in confusion. He waved them off and they soon turned away again as he reached a hand across the table. I set mine in it tentatively and he quickly stood up, pulling me close to the table and reaching across to ruffle my hair. “Cute!” He cooed, his expression brightening even more as I gave him a half-hearted glare. Plunking down in his seat again, he grinned at me, hand still wrapped around mine. “So, what’s your name?” I opened my mouth to speak but was beaten to it by my sister, who eagerly stepped forward and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“This is my eonni Robin, but most people call her Birdy, but you can call her Min Ah, because that’s her Korean name, at least I think it is, I keep forgetting if that’s her name or mine because I never use my Korean name but she does because she’s so into Korean culture and she’s alw-“ I reached up, pinching her lips closed without taking my eyes off the guy, giving him a small smile. She mumbled a sorry out of the corner of , having the decency to look sheepish.

“What she said” I muttered as I edged a little closer to the table, not wanting to be too loud and interfere in any of the other conversations going on, eyes dropping to the wood surface. The smile softened and he leaned forward into my line of sight, looking up at me. “Nice to meet you Robin! Kim Namjoon.”