I was about to turn into the practice room where Ryeowook said he'd meet me when I heard someone call my name.

"Minsung!"

I turned around to see Zhou Mi walking quickly toward me in the hallway. I smiled at him, happy to see him look so energetic. Last I had seen him he'd looked exhausted.

"I just wanted to tell you that I listened to some of the songs from the band you mentioned when we were writing a song together."

"Hmm? Which band?" I couldn't remember recommending any bands to him.

"When you were describing what our song made you think of. You said Han Geng's 'Clown Mask' and 'Everybody's Fool' by Evanescence."

"Oh! Oh yeah, I did. So you were listening to Evanescence?" It was hard to conceal the surprise in my voice. Evanescence was a bit dark for him, I thought. It was almost gothic rock, but I loved it because Amy Lee --the lead singer's-- voice was powerful and beautiful. The lyrics were always great at conveying pain. But that's because I had a dark mind and thus sometimes listened to dark music. I went through frequent mood swings (I'm not bipolar, I'll have you know. The mood swings aren't that bad), and when the mood wasn't very good, Evanescence was what I listened to to ease some of the weight on my chest. 

But Zhou Mi seemed too bright for that. I hadn't said it to him as a suggestion, just an absent-minded thought. Still, I guess appearances were always decieving, no matter how dedicated of a fangirl I was, trying to know exactly what my Oppas like, disliked, thought, felt, and learned.

"So what did you think?" I asked. 

"She has a very powerful voice. Really full of emotions. But... I can't understand what she's saying." 

I laughed. "Now Zhou Mi knows exactly how international Kpop fans feel."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't learn Korean until I came here a few months ago. But I've been a Kpop fan for a couple years now. I didn't actually understand the lyrics of a song unless I looked them up, and that was provided another ELF was kind enough to translate it for us and post it online."

He thought about it. "So... you never understood what we were saying?"

"Well, most of your variety programs and dramas got English subtitles pretty quickly. But when it came to your songs, most of the time I didn't take the time to look up the lyrics, so... yeah. I didn't feel like I really had to. It's all about how the song makes you feel. If the singer is good, they can convey the idea even if the words themselves aren't understood."

"So you're saying that we are?"

I smiled again. "Silly question, Zhou Mi. Of course you are. I'm not an ELF for no reason."

"That was good, Minsung! That was good, come on, don't cry!"

I gave Ryeowook a dirty look. "I'm not crying, Oppa, geez. And that wasn't good, that . That note was horrible."

"Okay, okay, you're right. That was terrible."

"Yes, thanks for being honest."

"But you can do it better. Why don't you take a deeper breath before? All the way from your... uh... what's that muscle under your lungs?"

"Diaphragm?"

"Yeah, that! Breathe from there really, really, deeply, and Minsung will be able to blast that note so loud and perfect that the whole auditorium will be blown away!"

"Well now you're exaggerating," I laughed. I knew he was trying to make me feel better for totally botching the song.

"No, I'm not. Minsung-ah is really, really loud. Now you just have to put that into your song. You can do it, Oppa is here to help!"

I laughed, nodding. Well, if he put it that way, I supposed I could do it. He was so adorably airheaded.

"Okay, so can we start over from the second verse?"

"Sure, just let me flip the pages back..."

I was getting ready to start the third verse when suddenly a pair of hands clapped over my mouth and the note choked out like a sputtering flame.

"Hey, Minsung, I thought your Shawol friends were coming this week?"

I yanked the hands off of my mouth, whipping around to face my attacker. "Key-oppa! Why did you DO that?! I was doing so well!" 

"But it was funny!"

"Maybe to you!" I pouted. I was almost making up for my previous screw-up.

"Still, I thought your Shawol friends were coming today! Jonghyun and I wanted to go meet them!"

I tilted my head to look around him, and sure enough, there was Jonghyun, leaning against the doorframe.

"Why do you want to do that?"

"They're American fans! We want to charm them as much as possible!" Jonghyun replied, walking further into the room.

"They're already pretty charmed," I snapped back, "what are you going to do, rip your shirt off?"

Key and Jonghyun exchanged looks, and then Jonghyun shrugged. "That's always a possibility. So where are they?"

"Not here."

"Come on, Minsung, just tell us!"

"Well, they're here to explore the country, so I assume by now they're somewhere very, very far away."

"Hey! You're lying, I can tell. Tell uuuuussss!!!!!!" Key whined, grabbing me by my shoulders and shaking me. Pushing him away, I ran to hide behind Ryeowook. 

"Oppa, make them leave me alone!" I begged him.

"Jonghyun, Key, Minsung and I don't have much time to practice. Don't you have a busy schedule, too?"

"Nope! We're free until Minho gets back from his variety show!" Key yelled with glee, "So we'll leave as soon as Minsung tells us where her friends are hiding!"

"You make it sound like I stuffed them in a closet. It's not like they're here. As much as I'd want to, I'm not allowed to show my friends around the building."

"So where ARE they, then?" Jonghyun asked impatiently.

"They're planning something evil with the members of FASE in a cafe," I sighed, giving in.

"Which cafe?"

I crossed my arms, standing firm. "I'm not telling."

"Come on, Minsung, PLEEEEEEASE? What if we call you 'Queen Be' from now on? Will you tell us?" They looked at each other, and then Jonghyun chimed in with Key. "Queen Be, PLEEEEEEASE?"

"Key-sunbae, your aegyo . So no."

"What about my aegyo?" Jonghyun asked, feeling confident since I hadn't referred to him.

"Yours isn't much better." 

His face fell. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"No no, I know. I have high standards because of Sungmin-oppa and Wookie-oppa."

"HEY! That's not fair, you can't compare us to Sungmin-hyung!" Key yelled.

"Too bad. If you want to find my Shawol friends, you'll have to look for them yourselves."

"Fine. Come on, Key, let's go look through every cafe in Seoul that's safe for idols to visit!!!!"

They disappeared down the hallways, and Ryeowook and I burst out laughing.

"Do you think my aegyo is good? I don't think it is..." he commented.

"That's because you don't have to try to be adorable, Oppa! You just are!"

He smiled, then pinched my cheeks. "Aigoo, our Minsung is so goofy. Now come on, we need to practice. Start over from the beginning!"

When I came back to the dorm, all I really wanted was a shower. After finishing the little bit of time I'd had to practice with Ryeowook, I'd gone to the practice room to dance to "Rockstar," and now I was covered in sweat and fit the Korean stereotype that white people smell really bad. 

When I came out of the shower clean and smelling like lavender, Min Hee was back. I explained to her the event with Sungmin, and apologized profusely for breaking our rule.

She laughed. "That's okay, Mel. If I were you, and it was, say, Taemin-oppa, I would probably have done the same thing. Just try not to let it happen again."

"Right, okay."

"So, you're going to be playing the ukulele for a charity concert? That's exciting. You're really getting your name out there, Mel. I mean, writing songs, then performing the ukulele with a Super Junior member!"

"Well, most people don't really look at the songwriters unless they're really well known, like Brave Brothers. I probably won't really get recognized as a songwriter by the public until SM decides to promote me, and who knows when that will happen. And I'm just kind of a backup for Sungmin-oppa."

"Still! This is good! It's progress!"

"Yeah. Oh, and I talked to Zhou Mi today. He actually listened to Evanescence just because I mentioned it once."

"What?! Daebak! I wish my Oppas adored me as much as yours adore you... but they're always so busy running around with their crazy schedules that I barely ever get to even say anything! And even when I do, I'm always too nervous to get any words out. How do you do it, Mel?"

I decided not to mention my little conversation with Key and Jonghyun. "I don't really know. I guess after the first few meetings, the pure terror that you're going to say something stupid kind of wears down. I mean, you're still a little scared, and you're still really embarassed when you do say something stupid, but the novelty of who you're speaking to goes down a little. You get used to it, I guess."

"You're still not completely used to it, though."

"No, not completely," I admitted, deflating, "I still can barely formulate a full sentence when talking to Sungmin, I still feel a little shy around Ryeowook, and I still try extra-hard to make Kyuhyun like me, because I fear the consequences if he doesn't." I shivered, thinking of the way he'd looked at me when, in a moment of foolishness, I'd laughed at something he did. Just one glance from him could silence anyone. He had the remarkable talent to change his expression instantaneously.

I hugged my pillow to me, putting my cheek on it. "Kyuhyun-oppa is so smart and funny, there's a reason he's my second-favorite. And it's a CLOSE second, too. So I really wish I could talk to him. But he's just so SCARY!"

"Maybe it's all in your head, Mel."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, He says all kinds of things to s, and you don't see them running away from him."

"That's because they're older than him. And they spoil him. Me, I'm an ELF who desperately wants her Oppas to like her."

"From what I know of Kyuhyun-sunbae, he seems to like people who talk back, even if he seems angry. He's not. So I think you're better off if you just be your usual saucy self and face the music later."

I thought about it. She was right, and I guess I always knew it. It was just so HARD to talk to your biases! Fangirls, help me out here!

The second I thought that, four fangirls burst into my room.

"Mel, you would not BELIEVE what happened!" Eliz shouted, running into the room.

"Maybe. What happened?"

"We were talking to Henry and Amber and Tiffany and Krystal, and we were starting to adjust, when suddenly Key and Jonghyun burst into the room, screaming, 'THERE THEY ARE!' " Ali was excited, thus being very loud.

I put my finger to my lips. "Shhhh, EXO is downstairs." I was sure they were expecting a bit more shock than that, but to be honest, I wasn't that surprised.

"Key sat down next to me, since it was the only empty chair, and asked, 'how much you like SHINee?' But I was like, 'um, I'm not a Shawol. Those two are.' " Jacklyn giggled. Admittedly, Jonghyun and Key didn't know what my Shawol friends looked like, just that their names were Elizabeth and Alison, and that they were white Americans. It was still funny, though.

 "So Key ran over to me and Ali and started asking a whole bunch of questions. It was a little overwhelming," Eliz added.

"But Jonghyun sat down next to me and was like, 'So... you not SHINee fan?' " Emily started to giggle, "And I said that no, I wasn't, I was a B.A.P, fan, and he was like, 'but you want to be a SHINee fan, right?' " She laughed again.

Jacklyn plopped down on my bed. "Those guys are shameless!"

I shook my head. It wasn't really suprising to me, I had to admit. I already knew that they were pretty shameless. I was pretty sure that Eliz and Ali knew it, too, but they weren't the ones getting talked to like an experiment.

"But then the FASE members got mad, saying that Jonghyun and Key interrupted their meeting. Henry an Amber tried to push them out, and then Key said that he wanted to be a FASE member, too." 

Min Hee and I exchanged glances. It seemed like something Key would do.

"They finally got them out, and closed and locked the door, but then Jonghyun and Key kept staring at us through the window like creepers. It was impossible to focus on anything, especially when they started making faces at us." Ali giggled, obviously totally enamored by the whole event.

"Well, um, I'm glad you had... fun."

"We got to talk to the two of them SOOOOO much! It was like ten minutes in heaven!" Eliz squealed.

When I first came to Korea, ten minutes with my Oppas seemed like a long time, too. But now I was spending hours at a time with them. Ten minutes would never be enough anymore. It was like a terrible drug. But I wouldn't tell them that.

 My thoughts were interrupted by my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket, but Eliz snatched it out of my hand before I could see who it was. 

"Hey!" I whined, pouting. 

She flipped it open and gasped, then leaned over to show it to Ali.

"What? What is it?!" Jacklyn yelled, and she and Emily ran over to look at it. I probably wanted to know more than anyone, but getting things back from my friends was just like my father with the bowl of popcorn. The harder I tried to get it back, the longer I would have to wait. 

"Woah, how many of their numbers do you HAVE?!" exclaimed Jacklyn, taking the phone from Eliz.

"All of the members of SJ-M. Then I have all of the members of FASE, plus Sunny from Girls' Generation. Why, who was it?!"

Finally they turned the phone back to me, and I snatched it, looking at the text that was up on the screen.

"Seriously, you guys, it's just Zhou Mi saying that the company liked the song we wrote. Nothing to freak out about."

"It's just that they text you. They hold conversations with you. They realize that you're alive, and they know your name, and they pay attention to you. I would KILL to have that!" My friends all nodded agreement with Em, to include Min Hee.

"Well, you know out of all of us, I would be the one most likely to kill for anything. But believe me, it's not like the novelty of this is ever lost on me. It's just... freaking out every time I get a text from them is kind of exhausting." My heart still jumped every time, but I'd been able to choke down the urge to jump up and down and scream by that point.

"Okay, if you say so. Anyway, we're going to visit some of the city's sights today. We're planning on going to the EatYourKimchi Studio! Want to come?"

Yes, I wanted to go. But... "Sorry, guys, I told Sungmin-oppa that I'd be ready to perform for the charity event. So I have to practice."

"We're going to Lotte World..." Em teased. 

"Lotte world?! Okay, I can practice tomorrow. Just let me grab my coat!"

Min Hee rolled her eyes. I'd wanted to go to Lotte world from the very beginning, and tried to get her to go with me, but Min Hee had flatly refused, declaring that amusement parks were for couples, which I thought was kind of dumb, because it was way more fun to go on rides with friends that you could harass and laugh at when they threw up. I mean...