I felt like a stranger. In dance class, I felt completely ashamed. When I walked in, everyone looked away, like they weren't able to meet my eyes. It wasn't my fault! I wanted to scream to them. I wanted to tell them everything that had happened, and explain why JiHoo had left, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything, because I just couldn't put myself over Kangin.

Sunsaeng saved me, at least temporarily. "Okay, okay, kids, it looks like there's a problem we're going to have to fix. See, I've been told that JiHoo, who was going to be performing with Minsung at the charity concert, has left the company. There's no way someone can learn his choreography fast enough, so, I'm sorry Minsung, but you'll have to bow out of the competition." 

He sounded apologetic, not incriminating. It was like he pitied me. I wanted to cry, but I just nodded instead, focusing on the floor to avoid everyone's eyes. 

"Since Minsung and JiHoo will no longer be performing, we'll have the third place team go with Min Hee and SoHee. You'll have to practice your dance more. You can go to Dance Practice Room 4 to practice. the rest of you are with me." His eyes landed on me sympathetically. I couldn't look at him.

After all of the work I had put in to make my partner dance look good, the steps we were covering in class seemed painfully simple, even for me. It was frustrating and disappointing.

Before I left, Sunsaeng pulled me aside and said, "It's really a disappointment. You guys had a really concrete concept. I was surprised by you, Minsung. Keep up the good work; you'll get another chance."

I hoped so. I hadn't expected much from dance class, but when the chance to get my name out had become tangible, I hadn't realized how much I'd wanted it. I hadn't wanted to step on m classmates for it, but now that it was gone, I felt empty. 

I walked out of the classroom, taking deep breaths so that I wouldn't start crying. I walked through the lobby toward my vocal training class, thinking that maybe I should get a cup of tea to cheer myself up. Then a smell wafted into my nose, and I focused my eyes to see someone holding a cup of green tea under my nose. Surprised, I looked up.

"Tiffany?"

She took my hand and put the teacup into it. "Drink it. It'll make you feel better."

"How did you-"

"Know?" She shrugged. "Found out through the grapevine."

"My classmates were talking about it, huh?"

"Caught me." She smiled and winked. "Hey, that . But it's not your fault, okay?" 

She leaned in closer to me and whispered, "Thank you for taking care of Kangin-oppa. If anyone else were in that situation, they would've done the same thing."

She knew about that, too?! 

"You just got your first real feel for being a celebrity! Now you'll be prepared to handle it from now on."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"When you're an idol, there'll be a lot of people that love you, even when you don't know it person by person. It takes a bit of getting used to. And you can't get too attached to your dance partners. Your partner should have known that."

Well, apparently he was attached to me before we were even partners, I thought bitterly. "Thanks, Tiffany, that helps a lot." was what I said instead. It did help, but I still felt like a complete jerk. I was turning into Jessica.

I didn't realize that I'd said it out loud until Tiffany exclaimed "Don't say that! You're not! Your classmates are jealous. Really. I could tell just by listening to them. So don't beat yourself up about it. What you need to do is to practice more, smile bigger, and work harder, so that way when your SJM Oppas come back, you can show them how great you've become! Right?"

I bit my lip. Was it like that?

"Right?" She asked again.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I got it."

"Good. Now drink your tea. I have to practice with Taeyeon."

I buried myself in my work. Counting the days until SJM returned, I spent every waking minute studying, practicing, working. I started exercising regularly, going up on the roof of the apartment building when it was sunny to do so, in order to get a tan. Sometimes I'd drag Min Hee up with me. I dug into my homework and studying at school, bringing several of my grades from B's to A's. I spent more time on dance practice, both during class and when I was at home, making it all more fluid and controlled, in addition to choreographing songs myself. I spent more time with my ukulele, playing through chords until I could move smoothly from one to the other. I started to write down on paper the tunes that came to my head, along with the lyrics. Sensei was becoming proud of my singing voice, I had focused on improving it so much. I even fixed up a lot of Key's jewelry, to pay back my debt for the CDs.

In spent a lot of time examining myself inwardly, too. I went to Min Hee's performance with SoHee, and the third-place team's performance, and led the crowd in cheering as loudly as I could, even though I could have been the one up there instead. I opened up to my classmates both in school and in dance class, even if they didn't like me. I learned their names, and what they liked and disliked. To appease my dance classmates, I made jewelry for the girls and cupcakes for the boys, and made jokes and let them laugh at me. Eventually, I think the anger started to peter out. Even in school, my classmates spent less time glaring at me, and some of them even started to talk to me.

Only a week before SJM was scheduled to return to Korea, I had seen significant improvements in myself, and the way I treated people around me. Tiffany's advice had really hit a chord in me, I guess. I didn't want to be like Jessica. I wasn't like that, and I would make a conscious effort never to be like that. And I wanted to impress my oppas. I wanted Kyuhyun to forget that I had pretended not to speak English, Ryeowook to forget that I was a clutz who had almost knocked him unconcsious. I wanted to prove to them that I was worth all of the time they had given to me back when I didn't deserve it.

Six days left. I was aching to see Henry again, and show him the song I had written about what had happened with JiHoo. Writing that song had helped me figure myself out, and fix those problems.

Five days left. I was almost done with fixing Key's jewelry. Some of it looked even better than it did before he broke it, if I do say so myself. 

Four days left. I had just painted my nails with a brand new bottle of polish and was now reading my Korean history textbook, humming Super Junior-M's "Perfection". As soon as my nails dried I had to start my nightly excersizes and dance practices. That week I had challenged myself to come up with an energetic dance for SuJu's "Rockstar". 

Three days left. I encountered Tiffany and Sunny in the SM lobby after my vocal lesson, and they invited me to come eat dinner with them. When I said that I wanted to, but had to think about my roommate, they invited Min Hee, too. Sushi supper! It was a lot of fun. Girls' Generation wasn't so bad.

Two days left. It was starting to be difficult to stand still. I was so anxious that I could barely do anything for longer than five minutes before I had to get up and do something else, then end up coming back to it ten minutes later. I did more and more excercise to work off the extra energy, leading to even more hunger that I had to ignore. But at least it took my mind off of the coming day.

Last day. They'd be coming back at around three in the afternoon the next day. It took every ounce of control I had not to run around the dorm screaming at the top of my lungs because of all the anxiety.  As it was, Min Hee yelled at me for attempting to wear a hole in the floor from pacing back and forth so much. Finally I pulled out my phone and sent Henry a text. 

"Could you just come back already?!"

"Can't. Have to finish variety show. Sorry! but hey, I have this great story to tell you about Eunhyuk in Taipei."

"That sounds interesting. A lot has happened back here, too." A bit of an understatement. I wasn't even sure if I was the same person anymore. It's amazing how much a person can change in a short amount of time.

"Well, we can tell each other tomorrow! And you can tell Kyuhyun, too!'

"How about NOT telling Kyuhyun," I texted back. He just sent back a smiley face, then a picture of him, Ryeowook, and Sungmin holding a sign that said "Supporting Queen Be from Taipei!" in English, Korean, Japanese, and I assumed the Chinese characters said the same thing. Henry was in the middle holding the sign, and Sungmin and Wookie were making a heart.

The message I sent back was "O.O AWWWWWWWWW!!!! That's SO adorable! Henry, I think I'm going to cry!"

"No, don't cry! If you cry then Ryeowook's going to cry, and then Eunhyuk's going to cry, and then the variety show staff will be really confused about what's going on and might start yelling at us! Wait until tomorrow. THEN you can cry."

"*Sniffle*, okay, I'll try to hold it in until then."

The day had finally arrived. I'd taken extra time that morning to make sure my nails were painted perfectly, and that I was dressed nicely, and that my hair and makeup (I know, "Mel was wearing makeup?!") was all just right. I was so nervous that I reacted to every little thing like I'd been electrocuted. I desperately wanted to ditch school and greet them at the airport, but I couldn't. I would have to wait until I went back to the company, which wouldn't be for hours after they arrived.

 I went to dance class, cranking through the steps at warp speed because i was so excited. I would go see them as soon as my vocal lesson was over. Just a bit longer...

It turs out that I didn't have to wait that long. Midway through showing the class the arm pumping I had come up with for "Rockstar", the dance practice room was suddenly filled with a whole bunch of ridiculously handsome men.

"Mel!" I heard Henry yell. 

I stopped what I was doing immediately and ran to tackle him with a hug.

His eyes were wide as usual, even though there were dark rings under them. But nonetheless he seemed excited, blurting out a string of rapidfire words.

"Neihggdoapalwhnuijsdttoinloerwzsaawetbinjifsfefdekichin!" was all that I heard.

"Henry."

"FsfpojughdodffvhpenEunhyukhfefhdfbofbgghdfoopgbgaifebeb!"

"Henry!"

"GfasperaslsdfegdvtjynbfgaadfetytuopilfdfsfsDonghaeaxingtaoehspdhfio!"

"Henry!"

"Srbrgthtwerhbnfjogtojyhngotyyjgig!"

"HENRY!" I yelled, finally getting his attention enough for him to stop talking for a second. "I can't understand ANYTHING you're saying!"

His mouth froze in the open position. "Oh... sorry. I must've been still speaking Chinese."

"Yeah. I can't speak Chinese, remember?" 

The members that had walked in with him were snickering, even though he had switched to English. But I guess my facial expression was pretty easy to read. 

Finally I looked past Henry and tried to determine which members were there. EunHae, Sungmin, Ryeowook, Siwon, and obviously Henry. The only ones missing were Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi. 

Scratch that. Just Zhou Mi.

Kyuhyun walked through the doorway as if he owned the place and strolled right up to me. 

"Hey! I remember you!"

Crap. Crap crap crap crap! He remembered! My cheeks were turning bright red. 

"So I guess your name's not Sopia, huh?" He couldn't pronounce the "f" in Sofia, turning it into a "p" instead. It was extremely endearing.

I shook my head. "No, My name isn't Sofia." I took a deep breath, remembering my resolution to myself. "My nameis Melissa, but you can call me Mel. That's what Henry calls me. Or Choi Minsung. Or Queen Be. You know what, Sunbae? You can call me whatever you want." The words were spilling out of my mouth faster than I could control them again. Maybe I hadn't changed very much at all. 

Kyuhyun grinned at Sungmin. I calmed the fangirl urge to squeal. "Umm, anyway, Kyuhyun-sunbae, I'll just sum it all up and say that I am a native English speaker, but I really do speak Spanish. And I wasn't trying to harass you or anything, I just wasn't sure if I should have let everyone know I was a Super Junior fan, or the company might not accept me. So I apologize." I gave a ninety-degree bow, and the other members cheered. It was really hard to stay cool with all of them watching. Especially Sungmin. 

Kyuhyun just shrugged. "That's okay. You're a really bad liar, anyway."

That's Kyuhyun for you. Straight to the very truth of the matter, no matter how vicious it is. 

I blushed and bit my lip. I tried to keep my cool by greeting the other members. "I've met most of you already. Except Siwon-sunbae." I bowed to him, at a slightly smaller angle, since it wasn't an apology. "Annyeonghasseo."

He just waved. I didn't know what to say to him, so I went back to the group as a whole. "I'm really happy you all came to say hello. I've missed you all in Korea."

"Especially Sungmin", I heard Kyuhyun mutter.

If my face could've gotten any redder, I think it would have. "I don't even know... I'm really glad you all thought of me. I'm really honored, and... I don't think I could have been happier as an ELF."

"Hey! I just remembered! Eunhyuk got you a present!" Henry shouted, grabbing his hyung and pulling him forward. 

I looked up in surprise. "A present? For me?" I squeaked, pretty much unable to believe it. 

"Yeah, it's from me and Donghae." He handed me a box, and, feeling the eyes of all of my classmates, I opened it. It was full of little bee-shaped candies. I almost died of a heart attack right then and there. 

"Omo, Oppa, they're so cute!"

"We had to keep making sure Eunhyuk didn't eat them on the way back, though," Sungmin piped up.

I laughed. I could see that happening, since I knew how much Eunhyuk liked candy. 

"Thank you so much, Oppa!" I wanted to hug him, but I wasn't sure if I should. Turns out I didn;t have to, because Donghae gave me one instead. And then proceeded to ruffle up my hair. 

"Gack! Fishy, don't do that!" 

He just laughed, and I found myself facing Sungmin and Ryeowook. I was so happy by then that the tears were beginning to spill over. "Oppa, Sunbae, I'll do my best to be a good ELF. I waited a long time. Ryeowook-oppa, can I... give you a hug?"

"Sure! Group hug!" He yelled, and soon enough I found myself being lifted off of the ground and squeezed so hard that I couldn't breathe. I was laughing as hard as my breath would allow, still crying with happiness. But even when the breath was returned to me, I found my feet still not on the ground, because the members had fallen over, and now lay in a pile on the floor underneath me. Apparently the person who had picked me up (Wookie) had underestimated my weight and fallen backwards, falling into his hyung (Sungmin), who tried to maintain his balance by grabbing onto a nearby member (Kyuhyun), only resulting in bringing both of them down, and then Kyuhyun, being tricky as usual, tripped Eunhyuk, who naturally had been leaning on Donghae, therefor both of them fell down, and so the pile resulted. Henry, of course, had to be a dork and sit on top of the pile. And then of course, since they didn't want to injure the ELF (me), they rolled the pile over so that I wasn't on the bottom, putting Henry there instead. The only member left standing was Siwon, who, in addition to Sunsaeng and the rest of my dance class, was laughing his off. 

Absolute hilarious chaos: SuJu as usual. 

I got up first, then helped Sungmin up (since after all he is my bias), all the while laughing so hard my stomach hurt. When he took my hand to get up, I felt a little bit of electricity shoot up my arm, and I tried to ignore it. 

"Um, well, that was embarassing." I giggled, looking up at him. He just laughed. "You sure do make things interesting, Minsung!" 

I was pretty sure that was a compliment. That was a compliment, right? 

When Kyuhyun got up, he dusted himself off and used my head as an armrest (which, to tell you the truth, I hate people doing, but since I was so completely in heaven right then, I didn't give a crap at that moment), and said, "We're going to have to keep an eye on this ELF. She's trouble." 

"Why thank you, Kyuhyun-oppa. I learn from the best, you know. No better inspiration for a troublemaker than Cho Kyuhyun-shi!"

The other members laughed, but he just yelled "Ya! Reowook-ah! You can't even stay on your feet?!"

Ryeowook-ah. Point proven. 

Trying to change the subject, I asked, "Umm, most of SJM is here, but... where's Zhou Mi oppa?"

Henry answered, "He was really tired after the flight, so he went to sleep. The rest of the group came with me when I said I was going to go bother my pet."

I made a face at him. "Yeah, thanks," I replied, feigning sarcasm. 

"But we had so much fun! Hyung, don't you think we'll have to do this again?"

He hadn't specified which hyung, but Kyuhyun answered. "Yes. We're going to have to come here every day, so we can teach her how to be just like us!"

"That doesn't sound like such a great idea," I replied, referring to the previous dog-pile event. 

"Especially not if you're going to take away all of her practice time like this!" Sunsaeng interrupted, "You guys are taking my class time! You can talk to your favorite ELF later. You boys need to get some sleep. Now get out of here!"

Pretending to be scared, most of them ran out of the room, but Sungmin stopped and said, "See you soon, Queen Be! Hey, could you write us a song like the one you wrote with Kangta-sunbae?"

"Get! Get out!" Sunsaeng yelled, pushing him out the door before I could respond with how completely willing I was to do anything that Sungmin asked me to. I was putty in his hands. Write a song for him? Of course I would!

Sunsaeng came back into the room. "Back to practice, class! Just because Minsung's Oppas came doesn't mean that you can stand there and gawk! They're just a bunch of troublemakers! And Minsung!"

I straightened up at the sound of my name, "Nae, Sunsaeng?"

"How in the world did you get them to like you so much?!"

That was an extremely good question.