*Author's Note* Thank you all for being patient with me :D Sorry I haven't been able to get my internet back at my apt :( Good thing we have wi-fi, huh? Newho, just a lil' note that when you start reading about Emelia, that section was written by http://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/398169 so feel free to check out her profile and read her stories, too ;) Hope you enjoy!

                I was having such an amazing dream about Emelia, when I heard conversations in the background gradually become louder. The words weren’t making sense with the dream pattern, and I desperately tried to cement my feet to the floor of my dream to keep from waking up. No such luck, though. Shifting my body to a sitting position, I wearily sat up and rubbed my eyes.

                “Oh, you’re awake? We didn’t have to drag you out of bed this time?” Kiseop chuckled. I shot him a death glare that shut him up real quick.

                “Well, I was having a really nice dream until I heard someone talking in the background…” I grumbled. Kiseop tried to downplay his role in it, but he knew I caught him red-handed.

                “The others should be coming over in a few minutes. Since we all took our showers last night, we won’t have to worry about scrambling to get that done. You want some cereal, Dongho?” Kevin asked a bit chipper than normal.

                “Seriously, how are you so vibrant in the morning? Is there something you’re taking that I don’t know about? Whatever you had, I need some of that!” I stretched and let out a humungous yawn.

                “Well, the concert last night really wiped me out and I felt like I slept for years. Guess I’m just a bit hyper about what we’re going to do today.” Kevin grinned. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head, not buying his answer. Maybe he might have met some nice girl here, too. Could be a possibility.

                “Sure…whatever you say, Kevin. I call dibs on the bathroom.” I moseyed my way over there, gathering that Kiseop and Kevin had already gone since they weren’t rushing for the door. Once inside, I closed the door behind me and started my morning routine. I noticed that I was starting to drift off into my dream world again, as I faintly heard the door to the room open and close. More voices were echoing on the opposite side of the bathroom. After I brushed my teeth, I gave myself one quick glance in the mirror and twisted the doorknob to greet the rest of the U-Kiss members.

                “…So, what’s this? It looks like a picture of her. Why is it lying here on the bed? Did Dongho sleep next to it last night?” Eli held Emelia’s picture in the palm of his right hand as he bounced on the bed Dongho slept on.

                “Maybe. Kiseop and I fell asleep before he did. The three of us were reading our fan mail when we came back. Perhaps it was the last one he read before he passed out.” Kevin spoke up. Eli had a cheeky grin on his face as his eyes caught sight of the letter on the nightstand.

                “Oh ho ho…what is this gem I’ve found???” Eli’s fingers snatched it up. Kevin tried to dissuade Eli from reading something that wasn’t his, but Eli just shooed him away. “Ah..ah..ahem…” Eli made his voice sound like a girl as he started to read it out loud. “Dear Dongho, I hope you get the chance to read this letter. I want to let you know…” Before Eli could continue, he felt his shirt being yanked from behind with a powerful force.

                “Give…it…back…NOW!” I growled with fire in my eyes. Eli cowered in fear and immediately tossed the letter and photo to the side of the bed.

                “Sorry, Dongho…it was just a joke. Mianhae…mianhae! I’ll just be…uh…over there with the rest of the guys grabbing some breakfast…” Eli avoided as much eye contact with me as he could. Before I could say anything further, he bolted over to the opposite side of the room.

                “I’m sorry, Dongho…I tried to stop him.” Kevin spoke softly.

                “It’s not your fault. He’s got it coming to him. That was nothing compared to what I have planned.” I smirked. Kevin’s eyes got big and he pretended he didn’t hear my last statement. I securely placed Emelia’s letter and photo in the front, small compartment of my backpack. “So, what’s the first thing on our agenda today?”

                “As far as I know, we have an interview with one of the local tv shows here in Singapore. I hope we get asked some questions that aren’t redundant. It’s been three years since we’ve last been here…maybe that will give them a reason to ask us something new.” Kevin replied.

***

                An hour and half later, we were in the studio that Kevin spoke of earlier. The MC was very down-to-earth and had a great sense of humor. The questions were surprisingly ones we hadn’t really touched on topic-wise. Then there was a section where some fans had submitted a question each one of us would answer. This could get interesting. The envelopes were sealed and shuffled before being spread out for us to choose from. When it came my turn, I read the question out loud.

                “Describe a secret about another U-Kiss member that no one would know about.” I handed my envelope to the MC and stood there for a moment. I had to make this “secret” memorable and something that would be remembered for a long time. Moments later, an evil thought popped into my head. I brought the microphone up to my mouth and explained everything in my native tongue. Because the MC spoke in English, I turned to Kevin, who was standing beside me, and said “Kevin-hyung, translate please.”

                “Ok. So when we live together, like in Japan, umm, Eli would actually go around… (he motioned from the waist down with his hands) uhmm…very…”

                “y?” The MC filled in.

                “y…yes…uhhh…” Kevin continued, trying to elaborate further, but not knowing quite how to explain it.

                “ !!” Eli piped up. I knew he was making it seem like he was laughing along, but I was wondering if he was squirming on the inside.

                “Yes, …” Kevin confirmed.

                “Really?” The MC asked in shock.

                “I was going to say that, but the fans would get too excited.” Kevin laughed.

                “Don’t don’t. The part, no!” The MC reiterated.

                “ . Yes. ‘Cause he likes to walk around very comfortably without clothes. But, at first Dongho didn’t know that, so when he was walking in and saw Eli (Kevin again motioned in front of himself) like that, he was really surprised. But now, it’s just normal for us to look at Eli .” Kevin explained. Everyone was dying of laughter at this point. Soohyun almost fell down from laughing so hard.

                “Ok. It’s not a hobby, but before I take a shower, I take off all my clothes.” Eli stuttered, trying to redeem himself.

                “Of course! You have to do that!” The MC empathized.

                “When I’m about to go to the shower, I get distracted…for a couple HOURS.” Eli said in all honesty.

                “He’ll talk on the phone or make ramen.” Kevin made hand motions to show him cooking the noodles.

                “So I’ll just walk around…” Eli motioned over his body

                “Getting ready for the bath?” The MC interrupted.

                “Getting ready for the shower, yes.” Eli finished.

                “That’s a really great reason. Again, distracted for hours. Wow!” The MC said with a boggled expression on his face. After all of us recovered from my question, he transitioned to the next segment.

***

                Emelia’s head was on her desk and her arms were hanging down lifelessly on both sides as she stared blankly outside the window. The bright blue skies contrasted her current feelings of lost, devastation, and anger. Yet, it seemed as though the silver lining to the clouds that were smattered in the sky conveyed the blissfulness that fought off her being completely swallowed by her dark mood. Meeting UKISS again after 3 years, being called up on stage, and having the opportunity to be close to the boy of her dreams were nothing short of a miracle! But DongHo’s cold expression kept invading her mind. Too caught up in her train of thoughts, reality came crashing in by her teacher’s shrieking voice. “EMELIA!” Her head shot up immediately, causing her tumbler to fly off her desk. The sweet aroma of lemon tea quickly filled the room as the fluid flowed out. “Shoot!” She mumbled under her breath, glancing over to see her teacher’s reaction.

                “What is wrong with you today?!” Her teacher furrowed her eyebrows at Emelia. “Clear up the mess and make sure you hand me today’s essay by tomorrow.” She then turned to the remainder of the class and announced, “CLASS DISMISSED!” As soon as her teacher was out of sight, Shirley quickly came to Emelia’s rescue with a mop in her hands, clearing the sticky mess on the floor.

                “Thanks Shirley” Emelia let out a faint smile.

                “I’m really concerned, about your behavior and about the text you sent me last night! C’mon girl, you can’t bail on me now! Our flights, hotel and fan meet tickets are booked!” Shirley waved her hands up in the air dramatically, dropping the mop on the floor. “SERIOUSLY, what IS the problem?!”

                Emelia looked down at her hands, flicking her thumbs and index fingers together; a habit she’s notorious of doing when she’s nervous. “Well, if you remembered clearly, my 2013 resolution is to get a photo with DongHo.” Emelia took a deep breath before continuing, “Maybe it was a bad idea after all…I don’t think DongHo really likes me… ” Emelia picked the mop up from the floor and placed it at the back of the classroom.

                “What makes you say that? Yeah, he treated the fans a bit coldly, but he’s known to be more reserved around fans…” Shirley tried to sound convincing, but failed miserably as the uncertainty in the tone of her voice gave it away.

                “Are you kidding me?” Emelia packed her things on the table. “Did you see his reaction when I said he is my bias? He didn’t even bother to come and stand next to me! I bet if I said Eli was my bias, the first thing he would have done was shove AJ aside and stood by me.”  Swinging her bag pack over her shoulders, Emelia turned to face Shirley with an icy cold stare. “To add on to my misery, he said I was THIRTY-TWO! Do you know how embarrassing that was? In front of the whole crowd! Plus, during photo taking time, it took him AGES to finally decide to stand beside me! “

                Shirley grabbed Emelia by the arms stopping her from leaving the room, pulled out a chair, and gestured for her to take a seat. Emelia grudgingly obliged. “Well… yeah… I know… but you know… maybe he meant to say TWENTY-two?” Shirley chose her words carefully as she tried to remember every detail of that night. “Wait a minute!” Shirley shot Emelia an evil smirk. “You didn’t look convincing either! If I didn’t know any better, I would think AJ was your bias instead. You might not have realized it, but the two of you were glued to the hip almost half the time!”

                The massive information was slowly but surely sending signals up to Emelia’s conscious. Her nervous habit of flicking her thumbs and index fingers started again. “I did, didn’t I? Oh my, what if DongHo thinks that way too? I… I… it’s not like what it seems… I was… I was very nervous… and… I… don’t know how to deal with rejection… like… what if DongHo rejected me? So… the safest place to be was… standing right where I was… with… AJ…” She stuttered.

                “Even more reason for you to come with me so you can make things right. Show DongHo how much you really like him! If you don’t go to Jakarta, you will be stuck wondering how it could have turned out. I know I will never hear the end of it from you!” Shirley emphasized her point.

                Emelia shot up from her seat, pacing up and down in panic. The sudden urge to redeem herself placed her mind in a whirlpool, scrambling her thoughts. Emelia had a huge crush on DongHo for four years, and he didn’t even know of her existence. However, now that it was out in the open with the Singapore concert, she didn’t want him to have the wrong impression of her! Finally, she stopped pacing, and with determination looked up at Shirley. “You’re right! I have to show Dongho that I really like him. Let’s do this!”

***

                I was relaxing on my bed in the hotel room, when I heard a knock on the door. Shuffling my feet, I dragged my body over and looked thru the peephole.

                “Hey, Eli…what’s up?” I answered as I leaned up against the door frame.

                “Oh good, just the one I needed to speak to. You got a few minutes?” Eli spoke as he dug his hands in his pockets.

                “Yeah, sure.” I shrugged as I opened the door wider for him to enter. Eli shook his head and motioned for me to join him in the hall. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” I called out to Kevin and Kiseop before closing the door behind me.

                “So,…um…about earlier…” Eli trailed off. I was wondering if he was referring to the interview and me exposing his “secret.”

                “A lot has happened today…you’ll have to be a tad more specific.” I replied, urging him to go into more detail.

                “Do you hate me?” Eli sighed.

                “Huh? Where is this coming from?”

                “Well, of all us guys to choose from and all of the things to talk about, me and my lack of clothing was the hot topic today…” Eli blurted out. Ah ha! I was right…

                “I admit, it was a bit of a payback considering how you’ve been treating me since last night AND this morning. You want me to clue you in on something? I’m hoping it’ll be something you’ll forget shortly after… I will never have the strength that you have. What I lack for in terms of muscle, I make up with my brains. Eli, there may be times I am the annoying maknae and make all of your lives a living hell, but I could NEVER hate you. If it ever gets to that point, trust me…you all will know!” I bent my right knee and placed my socked foot up against the wall.

                “So, does that mean we’re good for now? No more jabs below the belt?” Eli ran his left hand thru his hair.

                “Well, if you stop giving me a reason to, I won’t see what the issue will be…” I smirked. Eli knew I had a point.

                “Fair enough. Truce?” Eli extended his hand and I grabbed it in mine. He gave me a half-hug and patted me on the back.

                “Hey Eli, can I ask you something and get your honest opinion?” I asked.

                “I’ll try my best.”

                “You think I stand a chance with Emelia?” I bit my lip as I waited for his response.

                “Who?” Eli asked, with no recollection of whom I was referring to.

                “You’re kidding me, right? All of the taunting you’ve been giving me about her…”

                “OH! So, THAT’S her name. The girl that was brought up on stage last night? Wow, you’re that serious about her???” Eli interrupted.

                “I don’t know how to explain it, Eli… I can’t stop dreaming about her! The fact that she’ll be at the Jakarta show gives me hope, y’know? Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t give it much thought. Have you ever felt that way about meeting some of the girls that we’ve seen from our shows?”

                “A few. It never really led to anything, though. I guess that’s just one of the things that we’ll have to get used to with our jobs. Unless our KissMes are from Korea, there’s probably not much chance we’ll see them on a regular basis. I mean, we can always try to keep in touch, but even then our schedules may prevent us from doing that. In addition, giving out our personal information is a touchy subject. How do we know the girls we give that to will keep it to themselves? I know you are very reserved in that aspect…I guess what I’m trying to say is…be careful.” Eli playfully punched my shoulder.

                “You didn’t answer my question…” I groaned.

                “No?” Eli looked perplexed.

                “Do you think I stand a chance with her?” I looked right into Eli’s eyes. He knew I was being serious.

                “I guess you’ll never know if you don’t get a chance to talk one-on-one with her. But, how are you going to find an opportunity to be able to do that?” Eli replied seriously.

                “Well, I was hoping you’d help me out with that…” I ventured. I knew I was asking a lot. I had my hook and line; I was hoping Eli would grasp at the bait I was dangling before him.

                “Uh, how? I’ll do what I can, but you know as well as I that I’ll be limited to what I can do.”

                “You make it sound as if I want you to jump thru a burning hula hoop. Aigoo!” I tried to downplay my plan, making it seem like there wouldn’t be too much of a process involved. “Neither of us knows what type of tickets she has for the Jakarta show. Say she does have ones for the fan meeting…maybe you can see about letting me have some time to hang out with her? I don’t know. I’m just thinking of the possibilities. Throw me a bone!”

                “Okay, you bring up a good point.” Eli grinned. I liked where this conversation was going! “Maybe I could even try to see if she still likes you as her bias, right? Then I can relay the information to you.” Eli had a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear.

                “Looks like all we can do is pray for the best!” I said out loud, but was talking more to myself.

                “If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out. I’m glad we’re on good terms. Leaving with Jaeseop and Kevin tomorrow for our uBEAT debut, it’s one less thing to worry about!” Eli reached into his pocket and pulled out the card key for his room.

                “I wish you guys all the best! I feel almost like a slacker with not having anything scheduled over the next month or so.” I replied sheepishly.

                “There’s a reason for that, Dongho…you need to get all the rest you can!” Eli said seriously. I nodded my head. He started to walk down the hallway to his room two doors down from mine.

                “Eli…” I called out. He turned his body to face me. “Kamsamnida.” I smiled genuinely at him.

                “For what?”

                “About Emelia…” I said just loud enough for him to hear. I could feel a blush starting to creep up in my cheeks.

                “No problem, Dongho. That’s what family is for, right?” Eli winked. He waved and a moment later was entering the room he was staying in.

                “Everything okay?” Kevin called out as I closed the door behind me.

                “Huh? Oh, yeah…just guy stuff. Nothing major.” I responded.

                “Cool. Well, I’m going to bed. Won’t be long before I have to get up for my flight tomorrow.” Kevin yawned. Kiseop was lying on his bed playing on his phone with his earbuds in.

                “Hope you get the rest you need. Good night, Kev.” I watched Kevin smile before turning out the lamp beside his bed. After going to the bathroom, I collapsed on my bed and laid my head on the pillow. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out.” Eli’s words echoed in my head. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but something told me that my next encounter with Emelia would make those words come true. Finding my backpack, I ped the front compartment and pulled out her letter and photo. Making sure my back was to the guys, I started to re-read the words in her letter. Saying a quick prayer, I stared at her picture one last time before I drifted off to sleep.