I came back into the dorm, where John was sprawled out on the floor, snoring profoundly. Min Hee had her headphones on, trying her best to ignore him. I was still hyperventilating.

Min Hee looked up and pulled her headphones off when I came in. "Hey, you okay, Mel? How did it go?"

"I'm scared out of my fricking mind. I didn't mess up, and I was proud of myself, and then they said that they wanted the song, and then they said they'd contact me for it, and then, and then..."

"Then what?"

"They left!"

"Well, that probably just means that they're going to contact you later about the rights to the song. What's so freaky? If you're going to be a songwriter, you're going to have to get used to this."

"CEO Kim was there..." I almost whispered, still not quite believing it myself. 

"CEO?!" Min Hee half-shouted, dropping open. "Woah, Mel, SM sure is interested in you! You bloody lucky little-"

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," I cut her off, "He's a dangerous person."

"Who told you that?"

"Henry."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, you can't take what Henry says seriously, can you?"

I don't know, he'd seemed pretty serious just then. 

But I'd calmed down enough, at least. Still having business to deal with, I walked over to John's sprawling shape and gave him a series of good kicks in the side. 

"John, you were supposed to be studying while I was gone!"

He jolted up, muttering something in what sounded like Irish. Then he looked up at me, bleary-eyed. "Did you want something, Sweet?"

"Oh, shut up, John. Don't even pretend you weren't conked out on the floor. You lazy little... You're going to fail school at this rate!"

"Wait, wiat, wait," Min Hee interrupted, "I thought he was here to help you study?"

He yawned and shook his head. "Nah, if anyone needs the help, it's me. Just never really got the hang of history, you know?"

"Why do I even bother helping you?"

"Because you're a dear little lady," He joked, then winced and rubbed his side, "That kicks like a horse. Was that really necessary?"

"Yes. Now get up, you lazy bum. We have to finish this homework."

The next day I went to my Korean class, but we were halfway through the lesson when Sunsaengnim got a phone call. She spoke for a minute, then put the phone down and said, "Minsung, Producer Lee wants to talk to you. Something about your song?"

"Yes, it's about a song I wrote for the company. Well, I don't know if I'll be back, Sunsaeng..."

"Congratulations, Minsung. Make sure you study for tomorrow."

"Nae, sunsaeng."

I made my way down to the offices, once again nervous. I arrived at Producer Lee Soo Man's office, knocked, entered, and sat down.

"We've decided to use your song, Queen B. Congratulations."

I nodded meekly, playing with my fingers.

"We're planning on giving it to our biggest solo artist, BoA Kwon. I hope you find that suitable?"

My head shot up. "BoA?! Oh, yes, sir, that's fine!"

He responded with the hint of a smile, then went on, "All we need is for you to sign the song over to us. Then you may go back to your lesson. So take this, read it, and your signature will go on the bottom."

I did, then skimmed it over. It didn't seem like it would be able to take anything away from me that I deserved...

"How should I sign it? My real name? My Korean name?"

"The name to be used officially will be your pen name. However, since this is an official document, it would be your real name. Therefor, you should sign with both."

"Oh... okay." I did so, signing away my full name, and then writing next to it, "Queen Be". 

"I hope you don't mind if I change my pen name a bit."

He glanced down, his lips twitching downwards. "Was their an issue with your previous one?" 

"Well, umm, I..." I remembered Henry stepping between me and the CEO yesterday. I had to be careful what I said. "It's just that I... this seems like a more... impressive pen name. Previously, it almost seemed like it was saying that I was a second place queen. Queen B."

"Are you instead implying that you are the greatest female in this company?" He was eyeing me carefully, just waiting for me to slip up. 

"No, I just think that... 'Queen Be' would be more impactful. As in 'be the queen.' It seems more like an encouragement."

He considered it for a moment. "I suppose you are better at interpretting the English language than I am. But be careful of your own feelings of superiority."

"Yes sir." Did he think i was challenging him? Maybe I shouldn't have done this...

"That will be all, Queen Be," he replied solidly. Like stone. God, this guy was scary. How did any of the artists manage anything? Well, I guess they didn't actually spend that much time talking to him.

"Minsung, can I ask you something?" JiHoo asked while we stretched out before we would start working on our dance.

"Yeah, sure."

"Do you... have a boyfriend?"

I think in the middle of my stretch, I pulled a muscle. Wincing and cursing under my breath, I squeaked, "No. Why would you want to know that?!" He wasn't... asking me out or anything, was he? Because I totally wasn't interested. I was too busy going to school, being a trainee, and trying to stay alive to have even a smidget of time for men. Well, except for the Super Junior members. But that was different.

"I don't want to get in trouble with anyone. And since we were doing this dance together, I was afraid that if you had a boyfriend, he might have a few issues with... what we're doing."

"You talk about it like we're having together," I scolded. "We're just dancing!"

He turned crimson red in record time. I suppose bluntness wasn't something we used when referring to the dirty deed here in Korea. Oops. 

"It's just... the... particular dance we're doing..."

"Hey, you're the one who told me to use my imagination. Something that fit the song. I gave you an idea. You agreed. Just think of it as business. Or you could think of it along the lines of what the song is actually about. If that's what helps you chill out. But we have to do this, JiHoo. You get past your discomfort, and I'll work on... whatever my problem is."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

I suddenly had deja vu. Those words sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember why. "I don't know. I'll figure something out. But we have to hurry up and get our act together, or we won't have the dance choreographed by the test date, let alone practiced. So no, I don't have a boyfriend. So we're totally ok. Unless... you have a girlfriend?"

"...No, I don't. Well, Minsung, I hope you're not creeped out by this dance. And don't think I'm a ert or anything. It's just how I think we should do this. You ready to practice?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. Just don't touch anything I don't give you permission to."

Saturday night Min Hee suddenly tells me that she wants me to go somewhere with her. 

"Uh, sure, I'm not doing too much tomorrow. Why? Where are we going?"

"Just to go visit someone. I don't want to go alone, so I want you to come with me."

"Oh... okay." I was a bit curious, but I didn't want to pry, because it was the first time that Min Hee had directly asked me to go somewhere with her. I didn't want to ruin it.

So the next day I found myself dressed and ready to head out the door, right behind Min Hee. She hailed a taxi and urged me inside, rattling off a street address to the driver, then digging in her purse. She found her phone and started texting, and I peeked over her shoulder. 

"Who you texting?" 

"The person we're meeting."

She was being awfully secretive about this. Was there something she didn't want me to know?

"Is this person a guy...?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yes." Well, it wasn't that it was somebody she liked, because there was absolutely no emotion there whatsoever. 

We pulled up to a somewhat sizeable building, and the driver told us that we'd arrived our destination. Min Hee paid him and then pushed me out of the taxi. I got out and looked up, trying to read the Hangeul on the sign. I was still working on being able to read. Min Hee didn't give me any time, though and pushed me into the doors. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"What? What's the rush?" I walked inside and realized what this building was. 

"Why'd you bring me to a roller skating rink?"

"To work on your coordination and balance!" Henry yelled as he skated up to us. John was right behind him, quite literally. He came skating up from the rink, and, apparently unable to stop, slammed right into Henry and knocked both of them over.

Min Hee and I couldn't help but burst out laughing as we watched them both try to get up. They kept trying to pull each other up, but kept failing and falling over again. Eventually we took pity on them and helped them to their feet. 

Henry coughed. "Well, as I was saying, we're going to spend today helping you to become coordinated. See, I told you I'd help you!"

I looked around. We were the only ones there? How did that work? "This honestly didn't even cross my mind."

"I didn't think it would," He replied, grinning. "This whole rink is ours for the day."

"WHAT?!" I exploded, "But how did you-? Henry, you didn't spend money to-?!"

He just shrugged. "Oh come on, it wasn't that much. Besides, the owners think I'm cute." He waved to a lady behind the counter. "We have all the time, room, and food that we want!"

Awww.... he was so sweet! 

"You didn't have to do this, Henry..."

"No, I didn't. But I wanted to do something for you, since I'm leaving tomorrow. So I recruited your two friends to work with me."

"What do you mean, you're leaving tomorrow?!" It was irrational, I know, but I didn't want Henry to leave. 

"Sorry, but you know that SJ-M's more famous in China than we are here. We've been hanging out in Korea for a while, since the hyungs have other stuff to do for the main group, but we've got some promotions to do. Zhou Mi's been there by himself for a while. I almost feel bad."

Almost? "Why was he by himself?"

"He had stuff to do. Something with endorsements. I don't know. Never paid any attention." 

"You are a terrible person," I scolded, but there wasn't any heart in it. I really didn't want him to go. I'd gotten so used to getting kidnapped by him whenever he was bored. 

"Don't spend too much time away, okay, Henry? Your English'll plummet. And... I'll get lonely."

"Awwwww!!!!" He cooed mockingly, skating over so that he crashed into me and tackled me into a hug. Luckily he was going pretty slowly, or I would've lost my balance and fallen backwards. When he let go, he got back onto the rink and started giving directions. 

"Okay, so since we're here to teach Mel how to stay on her feet before I go, we should get started! Min Hee, go get some skates from the lady. Then we'll come back and we can start!"

We did as we were instructed (The woman was only too happy to help us), then went back to Henry, who was holding on to the edge of the rink while he helped John back to his feet again. 

"Okay, change of plans. Since your British-"

"I'm Irish, you Canadian !" John shouted, falling down again.

"Sorry. Since your Irish friend can't skate, either, we're going to have to split. Min Hee, when I talked to you, you said you could skate, right?"

"Yeah, I used to go to the rink all the time with my friends back in London."

"Great! So you can take this guy," He began, as he let go of John's hand and let him fall again, "and I'll help Mel out."

From the ground we heard a series of curses in Irish, most of which I'm pretty sure were directed at Henry, but stopped when Min Hee rolled over to help him up. "Okay, Henry, this was your idea, so we'll go with it."

"Great!" He replied, snatching up my hand. "Now come on, Mel, let us skate! Ahjumma! Give us some Super Junior!"

And so we went out onto the rink, and he started skating forward, and then... my feet rolled out from under me, and since Henry had my hand...

Yeah, I could see how this was going to go.

It turned out to be crazily fun, though. The owners of the rink blasted "y, Free & Single for us," and Henry kept a good hold on me while I tried to remember how to move forward in the skates. I had roller skated before, but it'd been a while. So I found myself clinging onto Henry with a deathgrip while I tried to control my feet. I thought he'd get impatient or frustrated, but he just continued to remind me that I had to sweet my feet out to the side, and help me up when I fell over.

Pretty soon I was skating on my own (since I actually could already do that, I just had to remember how), and screaming "Y, FREE AND SINGLE, I'M READY TO BINGO!!!!!" and then skating away from Henry as fast as I could. 

"Mel!" I heard him yell from behind me, "Let's try something else! Do you remember how to stop?"

I dropped my toe down onto the brake of the skate, somehow forgetting Newton's second law. Yeah, you know how an object in motion remains in motion? My feet stopped, but the rest of me kept going. So I fell straight forward, getting my hands out just in time to prevent my nose from cracking against the ground.

When I got up, Min Hee, Henry, and John were all doubled over with laughter. 

"Shut up, John, you're even worse than I am!" I screeched, taking off after him, although I was laughing. Apparently John's version of stopping was to run into the wall, because that was where I caught up with him and started to punch him in the shoulder. 

Min Hee, meanwhile, was skating circles around us. Graceful swoops, turns, and spins. She could have been Kim Yuna, from what I saw. She made me look like an ox on wheels. Henry, too, although he seemed too busy dancing to "Break Down" in his skates than doing fancy twirls. 

I don't know how long we were in there, Min Hee holding John's hand and repeatedly trying to teach him how to stay on his feet. Henry, instead, focused on my sense of forward and backward balance.  He had a hand on my elbow all the time, just in case I started to fall over, which happened often enough. Skate, skate, stop, FALL. Get up. Skate, skate, stop, shake... FALL. Get up. Skate, skate, stop... I did it!

"Great! Now do it again!"

Uuuuggggghhhhhh... I am so clumsy! 

"Right foot, left foot, right foot... we're going around the bend! Lean left!"

I did as he said, curving around the bend of the rink as perfectly as was physically possible for me. I was feeling pretty proud of myself until John leaped out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me, making me jump backwards, have my skates roll out from under me, and fall onto my back, hard. It knocked my breath right out of me, and I had to lay there for a second, trying to get air back into my lungs.

Min Hee saw that I couldn't breathe and shoved John over. "What are you thinking, you little rat! You could've hurt her!"

"Nah, she'll be fine," John replied, "She's a tough little weasel."

"Did you just call me a weasel?!" I gasped, struggling to my feet.

"Uh-oh..." He took off down the rink, knowing that I was right behind him.

"Did you know that your balance is perfect when you're angry?" I heard Henry call behind me.

I couldn't help but laugh when John was cowering in the corner, and I came to a stop just in front of him. I gave him a few kicks for good measure, then went back over to Min Hee and Henry, just in time for Henry's solo, "Off My Mind" to come on. He started grinning ear-to-ear, and then held his hand out to me. "You ready to try something more complicated, little sister?"

"So long as you don't let me fall."

"I won't. So take my hand and Baby don't let go," he joked, quoting a line from the song. I laughed, rolling my eyes, getting a good hold on his hand and following him out into the center of the rink, complaining, "You are such a dork."

"I don't know, I think Mel's doing pretty good," Min Hee remarked when we were sitting in the snack section, munching on pizza. 

I rubbed my back, making a face. "My hurts from falling over so much, though..."

John pinched me in the side, making me jump. "Nah, I think it's just because your 's too big."

I punched him in the shoulder and angrily up my soda. 

"I think she'll be ready for choreography with JiHoo now. You get to dance to Mirotic~," Henry prodded, and I fought the urge to kick him under the table, but instead got up and deposited my trash into the bin. "Okay, I'm done. I'm going out onto the rink."

"Geez, you're finally finished?!" I thought you were going to sit there all day! You're such a slow eater!" I heard Henry remark behind me.

"Are you guys almost finished? Henry, don't we have to go soon?" I heard someone ask, in Korean, from the doorway. No way, it couldn't be...

Ryeowook?!