Scrolling through the cramped pages of Korean Pop news sites, Soomin had her legs tucked indian style, her mug of hot chocolate in hand, hair in a messy bun with a couple stands of hair falling on the sides of her face. Sighing in content as she took two quicks sips from the hot beverage, her eyes strayed to the trending topic of this warm saturday afternoon. 

"SM Entertainment releases teasers for newest addition to the family - EXO"

Eyebrows raised with curiousity, she clicked into the article and read it with mild interest. The quick reading left her slightly hyped with the group, wanting to see if they would hit expectations. They were from SM afterall, home to some of KPop's finest. She then hastily typed in the search engine for more information about the members and she found them with ease. "Woah, they must have loads of fans." she mumbled to herself, eyes scanning the page. "THEY ALREADY HAVE AN INTERNATIONAL FORUM?" she gasped, a little shocked at how this new group is gaining popularity as fast as her search engine worked. 

"Hmm, 12 members. 2 sub-groups. One active in Korea and the other in China. Oh! They're all older than me!" she continued mumbling, taking in information. She was 18 this year, 19 Korean age, and coincidentally, she was two months younger than the youngest of the 12. She scanned the photos of the 12 and found them extrememly pleasing to the eye even though she has more than enough opportunities to look at good looking man. She is a translator at the ever famous YG entertainment afterall. She had a small fangirl smile hung on her face as she looked at the pictures a little clearer. 

This was how Soomin got to know the group of boys that may very well be her greatest friends in the future. 

Soomin followed news of EXO whenever she could and was a registered member of the groups' forum. That even earned her joking grumbles from BigBang whom she is currently assigned to teach the Chinese language to. It has been three good months since she has found out about EXO and her gaze would always fly towards the Chinese leader. Sure, he was handsome, tall, has a ily low voice to go with the Greek God-like looks. He was well-versed in 4 languages, 3 of which she knows fluently and to top it all off, he was apparently really good in Math back in his school days. All the more reason for all the girls to swoon at him. 

But surprisingly for Soomin, the main reason why she became infatuated with the EXO-M's leader was in fact, his eyes. They were so hauntingly beautiful. Filled with all the unspoken hardship and happy times he've been through. Rationally speaking, people would probably think Soomin was being dramatic. Can you really see that much through someone's eyes? 

In time, she heard little rumors here and there about Kris's past, his father, his family. Most of which came from everyone's curiosity about the tattered and old bag he carries around, everywhere. Some say it was the last gift his deceased father gave to him, others say otherwise. She knew better than to listen to all these without a pinch of salt. But, deep down, she knows there was just that little crack in the corner of his heart from something hidden in his past. 

Sweat dripped down the side of her neck as she stood in the long queue with a long line of fangirls waiting to see their idols in person. Of course, Soomin had that intention just like everyone else. But the girl had an additional intention other fans probably don't. In her hands was a little box, a nice shade of blue, clutched firmly in her palms along with EXO-M's debut album, MAMA. 

She fiddled with her fingers constantly, trying to fight the nervousness bubbling up. Slowly, the queue moved and Soomin was just one spot away from Kris. She looked up at him only to see a playful smile hung on his face, eyebrows raised, as if wondering why isn't she moving forward. Lightly giving her head a shake, she moved to take the spot in front of the leader. 

He took the album from her hand and started signing it. Like a gift exchange it was, when he passed the signed CD back to her, she passed him the well-wrapped box. "Do you mind keeping it personally? Like with you. And not with the other presents?" she said slowly, but steadily, her hopeful eyes boring into his. Seeing her eyes, he gave her a nod, not knowing why he did what he did. He slipped the box into his pocket without anyone noticing as she went towards Lay who was sitting next to Kris. As Kris was signing for the girl next to him, he couldn't help but look over at Lay and the girl. He wanted to see if she gave him a gift as well. 

Back in the dorm, Kris was pouring himself a cup of ice water as the other members filled into the living room one by one, seemingly all drained from the event earlier in the day. Just then, the manager walked into the dorm with bags fille with gifts and fan letters from earlier and placed it in front of the boys. "These are yours. You guys just take your time and sort them. Go rest and do it tomorrow when you have your afternoon free." he gave instructions as he walked to the bathroom. 

The gifts in the living room reminded Kris of the little box sitting snugly in his pocket. He took long strides to his room and fell on his bed and opened the little blue box. Inside was a pair of silver earings shaped like a pair of angel wings and at the bottom was a folded letter. The words were small and neat like that of a girl's and it was written in 3 languages - Korean, Chinese as well as English. He was slightly inpressed as he started reading the letter. 

The letter was filled with words Soomin wanted to convey to Kris. And these words conveyed the feelings she felt from simply looking at his eyes. Adding on to the surprise, whatever it was that she said, Kris agreed. It was like she knew Kris like he himself when no one ever quite fully did. From the two paged letter, he almost felt like he met his long lost bestfriend. Unknowingly, a smile was hung on his face as he read the letter a second time.

The letter was signed off as Soo Min and it had a return address on it. The man contemplated the stupid idea of writing back to the girl. He started pacing back and forth the small bedroom, mumblingly to himself. "She's a fan, Kris. Are you stupid?!" he said to himself. "But she sounds so sincere..." the other thought butted in. In the end, he read the letter a thrid time and made up his mind. 

He sat in front of his desk, pen in hand, legal pad in front as he started to craft out a reply to his now secret pen pal, Soo Min. 

Letters came and went for close to six months now and the two knew each other as much as they knew about themselves. Letters were written about how their day was, what sort of adventure their friends have put them through this week, what sort of music they have been listening to, occasionally a little story-telling of their personal past. 

Kris was packing his desk this evening before he started his reply to Soomin today when he arranged all her reply letters in a medium sized, slightly rusted metal box. " 98, 99, 100..." he counted the envelopes. "Woah, 100 letters already? This is probably the most I've written in 4 years." he said to himself, a little bemused. Realising the 100 mark, Kris decided he was going to ask his bestfriend (who he doesn't exactly remember what she looks like)/ secret pen pal for her cellphone number. 

He quickly wrote his reply, not forgetting to ask her for her number as he gave a sigh of content, sealing the envelope and placed it neatly in his dest drawer for him to post the next morning. 

Like every other day, Soomin was excited at the prospect of recieving a reply from Kris. She found the letters very comforting for her. She gently opened the letter with a letter opener and she quickly glanced through the latest letter that was written in English. 

"He wants my number?" the girl said, feeling a little more than surprised.