"Did you see the face on that one teen girl when she saw me? her eyes were so big, it looked like they were going to fall out of her face!" I laughed, my hands in my jacket pockets as I walked next to Sungmin. He'd been just so gracious as to take me straight back to my apartment complex, even walking with me to the door. I'd told him he didn't have to, of course, but we all know that I didn't mean it at all.

"You didn't see the guy at first. I thought he was going to fall on his face!" Sungmin laughed, imitating the fall, almost falling into me. 

"Tottally daebak," I chimed, giggling. "I didn't think pretending to be caught on a date would be so much fun. Oppa ran so fast, as soon as they found us!" 

"I had to make it look convincing!"

"You need to work on your game face, Oppa. You were laughing before we even had the bike started!"

I began to go up the stairs of the apartment building, a little bit surprised when he continued to walk next to me. "I'll work on it some more. Are there CCTVs in this apartment?"

I looked around. "Yeah, but they only work about half the time."

"What if someone were to come in here?!" he gasped, "you'd have no evidence, or anything!"

I laughed. "You see that dorm right there?" I asked as we reached the floor just below my own. "That's the EXO dorm. There's enough security around that room to catch an insect crawling under the door, let alone a person. There's at LEAST four cameras just on the stairway. I'm not all that worried about my safety. Personally, I think they need the security, poor guys. Kris told me that half the reason they were moved back to the trainee dorm was because the fans kept trying to get into their dorm. So the company moved them here, because the fans most likely won't look here."

"Woah... they have a really bad fan problem, don't they?"

"It's awful. The ELF are practically saints, in comparison. But when we try to tell them that if they want to be loved as much as we are, they have to tone it down, they just start hating us and saying nasty stuff about our Oppas. It's extremely frustrating."

"Just like usual, the ELF spend their time trying to help other people. It's hard not to love them. It makes me wish that I could meet every single one of them, and thank them. But I only have Qeen Be."

I blushed, opening the door. As soon as it was open, Min Hee flew to the door, a flurry of excitement.

"Omo, Mel, I've been SO excited, I've been waiting for you to come home ALL day, just so I could tell you the news! I finally got a job!" She glanced from me, to where Sungmin was standing, pretending to not be there. "Oh... Sungmin... sunbae. I didn't expect you to be here. Sorry."

"What job?" I asked, curious as to what could excite her so much.

"It's... a restaurant that caters specially to foreigners," she answered, much less excited as she glanced at Sungmin nervously. "They hired me because I can speak English well." Her eyes went again from me to Sungmin, rather suspiciously, "Sungmin-sunbae, it's... a surprising visit. Would you like to come in?"

Sungmin shook his head. "No, I have to go. Congratulations on your job, Min Hee." He put his hand on my shoulder, grabbing my undivided attention. "See you tomorrow, okay? I'll let you decide what we're going to do next time, okay?"

Min Hee looked back and forth between the two of us, her eyes slitted as I choked out, "okay."

He smiled, waving. "Bye, Minsung. Min Hee." 

I continued to wave until he disappeared down the stairs, my head spinning. And then I was yanked into the dorm by my arm, Min Hee slamming the door behind me. "Alright, explain what's going on. NOW."

"I'm sorry I got home late, I had a lot of stuff to do, and..." I excused, pretending I didn't know what she was getting at.

"Oh don't even play at that. Something's been going on with you and Sungmin ever since the day he got you back from the airport. When I found you to tell you about Lily," she hissed the name like a curse word, "You were talking to each other really seriously, and you were even holding hands."

"You SAW that?!" 

"Of course I did. You don't think that kind of thing escapes my attention, do you? Of course not. And then, you disappear after class, only to come back to the dorm at one o'clock in the morning, out goodness knows where, and, in addition, Sungmin walks you home!"

"Technically, he drove me home," I corrected, "He just walked me to the door." 

Min Hee glared at me. 

"Okay, alright, I'll tell you!"

I sat down on my bed, hugging a pillow as I relayed the entre story from the beginning. The scandal, the snow leopard lady, the night next to the river, the motorcycle ride home. Min Hee listened in utter silence, her eyes slitted. 

"Daebak..." she said when I finally finished. "Chincha daebak... You're not making any of this up, right?"

"Nope."

She leaned back so her head rested against her SHINee poster. "That's incredible. And here I thought that I had good news. This is... well, good luck!"

"Yeah. Thanks."

 "So what are you planning for your next date, since he said you were in charge this time?"

"Do you have to call it that?"

"Call it what?"

"Calling it a date just makes things sound weird..."

"But that's what it is. Pretend relationship or not, a date is a date. So do you have any ideas?"

I thought about it, then felt a smile creep across my face. "I think I do. A pretty good one, in fact."

 "No, no, no, no, you have to put your tongue between your teeth and blow. See? THrow, THrough, THorough, beneaTH..." 

Sadly, Sungmin was busy, so my plan wouldn't be put into action until later. Until then, I was stuck with Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and EunHae, trying to teach them how to make sounds in English. Fortunately, the bonus of being so good at English is that I'm able to know EXACTLY how the sounds work, all the way down to what you have to do with your tongue. Please keep comments about "Oh, she's good with her tongue" to yourself. 

I practically hissed at them, emphasizing the "th" sound. "Now this is the 'soft' th-sound. It's different from the 'hard' th-sound, like the one in 'this' and 'those' and 'the'. With that one, you have to put your tongue in the same place, but instead of blowing through your teeth, you actually make sound in your throat. Now, you try."

I listened carefully t them each in turn, watching their mouths carefully. "OH MY GOSH, Donghae-oppa, you got it right this time!"

"Did I?" He did it again, carefully putting his tongue between his teeth. "I think I understand it, Minsung!"

"Good! You're one step closer to a United States debut. Good job, Oppa!" I clapped my hands together, looking down at the notebook. "Okay, what other sounds in this song might you have trouble with..."

"Ya! Minsung, why didn't you tell US we did well?!" Eunhyuk yelled. 

"Oh, yes, you all did wonderful. Great. Especially Kyuhyun. First try. I knew you could do it, oppa!" 

While Kyuhyun grinned, I laughed inwardly at Eunhyuk's expression, because I'd done that on purpose. "Okay, so I think next we should concentrate on 'f' and 'v'..."

I heard a buzzer go off in the kitchen before I could do anything. I jumped to my feet and ran into the kitchen. Ah, perfect. I came out in oven mitts, holding the dessert I'd spent much of my time at the dorm making. "Ah, it turned out great! But you don't get to eat it until you finish dinner!" I added, smacking Eunhyuk's hand away from my beautiful homemade apple pie. 

I looked down at my watch, putting the pie down on a pot-holder on the table and quickly going into the kitchen to grab the actual dinner-- a pot of Japanese-style curry. I put it on another pot-holder and wiped my hands on my jeans. "Well, I guess that's going to have to be your lesson for today, guys. I have to get to class. They're announcing the exhibition today." Before the members could argue, I had gathered my stuff and was out of the door.

I sat next to Min Hee in the auditorium and handed her the tub of curry I had snitched from the dorm for her to have for supper. 

"Do you think it's going to be a live broadcast this time?" So Hee asked, turning around from the row in front of us. "The way people have been whispering, it's going to be a much bigger deal than last time." 

Min Hee and I never got the chance to answer, though, because just then, Kim Young Min entered the auditorium, and all of the trainees had to occupy themselves with shooting to their feet and bowing. He waved us back to our seats and leaned against the edge of the stage. 

"Since you all have classes to go to, we'll make this short. This is about the SM Trainee Exhibition that will take place on November twentieth and twenty-first, giving you a little over two months to practice. What are you practicing for? There will be three categories in which you'll be participating: solo dance, solo singing, and group acting performance. Each trainee is required to do TWO of these three categories. No more, no less. Two. I advise you choose the two categories you are most confident in. Report your category choices tomorrow, and for the dancing and singing categories, which song you will be performing-- to your first teacher tomorrow. Also, we will pick three small group song performances, so choose your partners wisely. That will be all. Please go to your classes."

"Kwon Mei, SoHee! Do you want to try for one of the group performances with Minsung and I?" Min Hee yelled, running after them to catch up to them.

Kwon Mei bit her lip. "We didn't really want to do one of the group performances. It's enough to memorize already."

Min Hee looked down at her feet. "Oh... okay."

"Hey, why don't you do a duet with Minsung?" SoHee suggested. "You two would make an awesome team! You even live together, and get along really well, it wouldn't even be hard."

I looked at Min Hee, shrugging. "It does sound kind of fun..."

"Should we do it?" Min Hee asked.

"Sure! So which two performances are you all doing?" I asked.

"I'm doing the group acting and the dance performance," SoHee replied.

"It's the singing and the dancing for me. I'm a terrible actress," Kwon Mei laughed.

"I'm doing the singing and dancing, too. Because I'm the best at those two. What about you, Mel?"

"DEFINITELY the singing and acting. I'm a terrible dancer; you know that." As the conversation moved on, I saw out of the corner of my eye a face I'd been looking for. "I'll talk to you later, you guys. I have something I have to do." 

As soon as I left the group, I yelled, "Soo Yun!" 

She turned around, glaring at me. Oh no, you're not going to glare me into submission this time, you wench, I thought as I approached her, I have strict orders from Queen Heechul. 

"What do you want?" she sneered.

"I want you to tell me why my performances were stolen and given to some half-Korean girl."

"How am I supposed to know? I think you're just making it up."

"You SAW my performances, Soo Yun. There's no way that any of that was a coincidence. And I know you don't like me."

"What, do you think I stole your stupid videos?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"Are you saying you didn't take them?"

"Why would I want them? Seriously, if I want to crush you, I DON'T need to do something like that. I want to perform BETTER than you, not waste my time with that." Her eyes were steady, and cold as the North Pole. "It's true, I don't like you, because everyone in this company babies you. And that's why I would definitely not do something that low. I have to show everyone that I'm better than you on my own."

I was completely shocked. I had suspected her so much, it hadn't even crossed my mind that it wasn't her. And she wasn't lying, either. She was definitely being serious. Not that she was doing it nicely, but she was definitely not the one who did it. "Well... if it wasn't you... then who could it have been?" I didn't know anyone else in the company with such a vendetta against me. 

She huffed, whipping around to walk away. "If you want to know so bad, why don't you go ask That little kid in your dance class? I'm sure she knows." And then she stomped away down the hallway.

I would love to say that I didn't know exactly who she was talking about. Really, it would've been much more pleasant that way. Unfortunately, I did. I knew exactly who she meant. 

In our class, there was a very shy girl of around ten years old that acted at least three years younger than she actually was. She was quick to burst into tears, always had a doll in her backpack, and never came to any of the group events because she wasn't old enough. I'd never made fun of her, that I could remember, but, even worse, I'd barely even acted like she'd existed.

There was no denying she was talented. At the duet exhibition, she'd stood much tougher than some of the older trainees, and had made it through the round. She could dance better than I could, but was always just a hair too shy to really feel like she had a presence. 

Her name was Oh Soyu.

I went  back to Min Hee and the other girls, and explained what I had discovered. We agreed to go to class together, but let me confront the little girl by myself, hoping to be as gentle as possible. 

We walked together, walking into the room, all very tense. Now that I thought about it, she HAD been present for all of my performances, always sitting in a far corner all by herself. It wasn't that I never tried to talk to her, it was just that she always moved as far away as she could whenever I got close. 

Still, the questioning had to be done, and one could only be so gentle.

I walked over to her, crouching so that I was at eye level with her. "Soyu?"

Her neck snapped up, her child's eyes huge. She started to scramble away, but I caught her arm, only making her look up at me with even bigger eyes. "Minsung! She cried, struggling to get away."

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said immediately, relaxing my grip on her arm. "But you have to tell me the truth, alright?"

"W-w-w-what truth?"

"Soyu, did you, or did you not, steal my performance videos?"

"Steal?! I didn't steal!" But, unlike Soo Yun, her eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape.

 "The truth, Soo Yun." 

"I don't steal!" she said again, struggling to get away.

"Soyu, You're embarassing yourself. This is just between you and me, okay? If you don't want to embarass yourself, we can go out in the hallway and talk about it, just the two of us..."

"NO!" she screamed, tearing her arm away from my grasp. "No, I'm not going ANYWHERE with you!" She shot to her feet, stretching up to her full height. I had never heard her speak so loudly. Apparently no one else had, either, because suddenly everyone was watching us.

"Soyu, I'm not trying to hurt you. If you just tell me the truth..."

"YOU ALREADY HURT ME!" she screeched, a wail that would come from the throat of a Fury. "You do it every day. But you never cared, did you?"

Her eyes narrowed into ice, and suddenly she looked much less like a child and much more like I had looked when I was her age: a girl whose own anger had made her grow up far too fast. "You want the truth? Fine. Yes, it was me. Lily is my stepsister. I gave her the videos so she could come here and force you out of the company. And she will, you know. She's ten million times more talented than you are."

Her eyes flisked around the room, at all of the shocked trainees. "Is this what you all wanted? To bring me down just because I'm a kid?"

"But why would you DO something like this? What did Minsung ever do to you?" one of the guys asked hesitantly.

"I was an ELF, too." She half-whispered, her face full of a hate I had never seen from her. I'd never really seen much of anything from her. She'd always been so quiet. Not so much, right now. "All I wanted was to talk to them, to maybe see them once in a while. I would've been happy. And when I made it into the company, it was like my dream had come true. And then you came along."

She was crumbling, tears leaking down her cheeks in a stream. "You took everything from me. They always talk to you. They always look at you. Sungmin-oppa is dating you. And I just fade into the background, and they never even realize I exist. All because you're an American ELF. Because you can write songs in English. Because you're the ELF Queen. Without that, what do you mean to them? Would they even care about you?"

This last attack rammed into me like a spear. It left me breathless, frozen in place.

"Well, we'll find out when Lily gets here, won't we? Because you won't have those little advantages anymore. We'll see if my Sungmin still wants to date you. I give it a few days."

I was still frozen in place when she pushed past me and across the room, ready to leave. 

But she never got the chance, because there was Sunsaeng, standing firmly in the doorway.

"Oh Soyu. Come with me."

"Why do I need to do that, sunsaeng?" She squeaked, suddenly her usual shy, afraid self again. It was amazing how much pure rage could transform a person. I'd seen it in action myself.

"So you can tell everything you just told the class, to the management office. Maybe you can keep yourself in the company. Most likely not."

"What?! NO!" she screamed as he grabbed her by the arm.

He looked at me over her head. "I'm sorry, Minsung. You were right, we did have a spy in our class. I apologize for letting her victimize you."

He pulled her out the doorway, and I heard her scream. We all ran to the doorway to see what was going on, just to see her staring, eyes the size of golf balls...

At Heechul.

"How much did you hear?" she cried, staring at him.

"Just about everything. You've been a pretty bad girl," he said calmly. It was scary, actually. I knew instantly that he was not good Heechul just then. Poor Soyu would get no kindness from him when he was like this.

"Please, please, don't tell Sungmin-oppa! PLEASE!" she pleaded, fighting against sunsaeng's grip.

"I can't promise anything."

"NO!" She screamed, as Sunsaeng managed to yank her down the hallway. 

Our class could only watch in horror as we tried to figure out what exactly we had just learned.

I, on the other hand, knew exactly one thing from it.

The ELF were not perfect. They couldn't be. They felt jealousy, anger, and hatred, just like everyone else. It's just that most of us had already grown out of it.