(Dongho's POV)

Kevin was helping me skate and I finally was able to stand on my own! "YAY! Thanks Hyung! This is so-" I was interrupted by the sound of an angel's laughter. I looked back carefully so I wouldn't fall but ended up dropping to my knees. Marlee was hugging Eli...

"Ya! Dongho, if you stay down there any longer you'll be frozen!" Kevin waved his hand in front of my face, bringing me back to reality. I shook my head and let Kevin help me up. I tried not to show any emotion on my face but I couldn't hide it in my eyes. Kevin looked at what I saw and patted my back. "Don't worry, Dongho... She's just... teaching him how to skate! When I was helping you someone could've easily thought we were hugging too..." But that's different, Hyung.

I sighed and put on my best smile. "You're right... It's nothing." And with that we went back to skating.

(Kiseop's POV)

I tried helping Soohyun skate because he was clearly failing at it, but he's too stubborn. "I'll get a hang of it soon. It's not that different from rollerblading, right?" I tried hiding my laughter from our leader but had to skate away so I could laugh without being punished. I ended up bumping into Hoon and making him fall over.

"Ah! My bad!" I helped him up but he seemed to be another world. His eyes were glued to whatever was behind me. I turned around and saw Eli holding on to Marlee for dear life. A smirk crept onto my lips but then I remembered Hoon. I looked back at him sympathetically and said "You like her too?" He looked at me with a weird face and scoffed.

"No! Of course not! She's not even my ideal type. She's almost as tall as me! Come on, Seopie!" Hoon stated in a rather fast manner and scooted away from me with the help of the wall.

Poor Hoon... He can't even see what's so obvious... I should do something about this...

I skated smoothly over to Marlee and Eli and screamed in excitement. "AH! You're such a good teacher! Eli's doing so well!"

"Haha, thanks! Although you should really try skating on you own now. I'm not always going to be able to skate with you!" She bowed to me then said something to Eli smiling. Aish, why did I not take English class seriously... Oh well, just ignore whatever it was she said. Follow the plan!

"Um, well I was just wondering if you could go over and help Hoon. I tried helping him but he's too scared. Maybe if a pretty girl offered to help him, he'd try?" I smiled sweetly at her but on the inside I was laughing the most evil laugh in the world! She turned to Eli and asked something. He started speaking and pointing at Hoon so I'm sure he was just translating. Eli smiled at her as she skated away towards our poor Hoonie, but turned to me with a deathly glare.

"Could you not see we were bonding there?" Eli said in a hushed but evil tone.

I gave him such an innocent look and said "Sorry, I just want everyone to have fun..." And I skated away doing my own thing.

(Marlee's POV)

I slowly went up to Hoon and tapped his shoulder. He looked up at me with a surprised look but smiled. "Hello!" I giggled at his cute accent and greeted him.

"Hello. Do you need help?" He chuckled a little bit and nodded, so I took his hand and held out for the one glued to the wall. He straightened himself up before letting go and taking my hand. His knees and hands were shaking really bad. He must be really scared... "It's ok, Hoon. I got you." I gave him a reassuring smile and waited for him to nod his head before slowly moving away from the wall. He kept looking at his feet but I said "Hoon!" to get his attention. "Watch." I moved my feet in a swivel, wavy motion and he mimicked me. I then showed him how to stop, but he ended up running into me because he couldn't stop. I looked up at him laughing but I stopped when I saw how intensely he was looking at me. My heart skipped that spilt second our eyes connected the way they did. I looked away and slid beside him and put my arm around him to keep him from falling. I continued teaching him and he was really improving. I guess Kiseop was right about me being a good teacher.

~~~~later~~~~

I noticed a few of the guys were leaving the rink but I think I know why judging by my stomach growling. "Are you hungry?" I asked Hoon.

"Yeah, you?" He asked. How can he not hear my stomach? *grrr* UGH! SHUT UP! I laughed and nodded my head hoping he still couldn't hear it.

When we reached the others I sat between Kevin and Hoon while we took out skates off. When I was putting my other shoes back on I said "If yall are hungry this place has great pizza in the concessions." Kevin lit up at the word "pizza."

"Oh my gosh! YES! I need pizza NOOOW!!!" He stood up and led all of us towards the scent of cheesy deliciousness. I looked around to make sure we didn't lose anyone and I noticed Dongho was still trying to put this left shoe on so I decided to wait on him.

When he finished tying his shoe I grabbed his hand and skipped towards the concession stand while singing "Pizza! Pizza! Pizza! Pizzaaaa!" Dongho laughed at me but ended up singing along. We caught up to the rest of the guys and they had already bought three boxes of pepperoni pizza. We sat down and started munching away happily.

"You know... it's kinda weird that we haven't been recognized yet." Kevin said looking around at the other skaters. Most of them were couples more than likely around college age.

"Well... Kpop really isn't popular around here. I'd actually be surprised if yall were recognized... No offense." I said after swallowing my last bit of pizza.

"Then how do you know us?" AJ asked. I looked up at them and saw Eli translating what we just said to the other members.

I smiled thinking about that glorious day I discovered the world of kpop. "Actually I just kinda stumbled upon a music video on YouTube and it was in Korean so I just started learning more about Korea and kpop and then I found Ukiss." I was still smiling but Eli's look on his face made my face drop. "What?"

"Which band was it that you saw first if it wasn't Ukiss?" He stared me down so I looked at everyone else but they were making me even more uncomfortable.

"Um... It was Super Junior." I answered just to get them to stop staring at me.

Everyone seemed to be happy with that answer. "AH! Super Junior is so cool!" Kiseop screamed gaining the attention of a nearby couple. I just laughed at him and carried on the conversation. Yall have no idea how thankful I am that yall are here right now... Thank you.

After every single slice of pizza was devoured we headed back to the van. "I'm so fuuull!" Kevin whined as he leaned against the window.

"Maybe because you ate half a box... and you stole my crust!" Eli stated obviously annoyed that he didn't get to eat the best part of the pizza.

"Sorry, Hyuuuung!" Kevin said with the cutest aegyo. I giggled at him when suddenly my pocket vibrated. I ignored it the first time but it kept buzzing, meaning someone was calling me. I took my phone out and saw my mom's picture on the screen. "Aw! Is that your mom?" Kevin pointed.

"Yeah. Um, could everyone be quiet for just a second? My mom's calling." I said loud enough for those in the backseat to hear me. I answered the phone and right away I had to take it away from my ear because my mom was yelling so loud.

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU JUST LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING TO ME? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I WOKE UP THIS MORNING? YOU COULDN'T EVEN LEAVE A NOTE???" I just stared emotionless at my phone but started speaking.

"Mama... Mama! Calm down! Let me speak! ....I did text Daddy this morning so I figured he would just pass that information on to you..." I didn't want to say anything too obvious so the guys wouldn't be too worried about me... I guess it's already too late for that though. My mom's so loud for someone that keeps a sweet southern belle attitude in public.

"OH HE DID! HE SHOWED ME EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID! HOW COULD YOU NOT LIVE WITH US? WHAT HAVE WE EVER DONE TO YOU THAT WAS SO HORRIBLE THAT YOU WOULD RUN AWAY?"

"Mama, I didn't technically run away. I have my own home on campus..." I kept speaking very softly hoping she could do the same.

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Guess not....

"Mama, could we please talk about this later? I'm kind of in the middle of something." I sighed hoping that some time would calm her down.

"Oh, we'll be talking about this alright. And is Hannah really more important than your own family? NO! Come home for dinner tonight and bring her along too if you feel so attached to her!"

"I'm not with Hannah right now. You know her family lives in Memphis." I rolled my eyes wondering if she really thought Hannah was my only friend. Well... I guess she would be kind of right.

"Well whoever she is, just bring her! You better not be late! 5pm SHARP!" She yelled and hung up.

I just put my phone in my lap stayed silent for a few minutes. "Oppa, could you turn the radio on please?" He looked at me through the rearview mirror with worried eyes but did as I asked. I felt bad for making the environment so awkward but Dongho took my hand and squeezed it. I gave him a slight smile and did my best not to cry in front of them. I'm a really ugly crier and I just met them yesterday. No way was I going to let them see me at my worst yet.... or ever.

I didn't tell Eli anywhere specific to go so he was just driving around. "Hey! How about we go to that movie theater? I'm sure we could all use a break from using our legs, right?" Eli laughed trying to lighten up the mood.

I looked up and smiled. "Yeah! That sounds great! What kind of movie would yall like to see?" I looked around to everyone hoping I didn't ruin their whole day.

"Action!" "Horror!" "Comedy!" "A romantic comedy about two people who are an unlikely match but under difficult circumstances are forced to be around each other and they end up falling in love!" Everyone looked at Kevin wide-eyed but I busted out laughing!

"HAHAHAHA!!!! OH MY GOD, KEVIN!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's the best thing I've heard all day! HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" I couldn't help but laugh at the way he said it. It felt really good to laugh and I could tell this day was getting better. Everyone else then started laughing but I'm pretty sure it was because I snort when I laugh really hard like that. haha oh well.

We ended up watching a romantic comedy and so far Kevin was spot on about the plot. I was sitting between Hoon and Eli and I felt a little uncomfortable. I loved being with Eli but that moment my heart skipped was when I looked at Hoon... Eli noticed me not paying attention to the movie so he took my hand and dragged me out of the theater and into the hallway. "Sorry for dragging you out like that but I feel like you need to vent out some things... You can tell me what was going on back in the van..." I stared at him but I knew he would find out eventually. I took a deept breath and started explaining.

"Ok... So I'm supposed to be on break right now and we're supposed to leave the dorms during breaks but last night I just... had to go back to my dorm..." I looked up at him and he just nodded his head. "I left because... I'm like the black sheep of my family... There's a reason why no one around here listens to kpop and I think you know why..." I knew he was bullied during his childhood here in the States. "So my family always puts me down for liking kpop and wanting to go to Korea for that reason... And yesterday was just too much for me to handle so I left and went to the art gallery and... that's where I met yall." I went to look up at him again but Eli hugged me tightly before I could. *ba-dump* My heart skipped a beat. Oh no... This can't happen. I can't be falling for two different guys... especially when they're best friends! This is so horrible! I'm such an awful person for-

"It's going to be ok... I'm going to- um, we're going to help you through this. You can count on us." Eli pulled back and gave me a reassuring, heartfelt smile. I couldn't help but smile back at him. I wanted to hug him again, but I remembered the conversation my mom and I had earlier.

"Oh and... um... my mom wants to meet yall apparently... She said I needed to be back for dinner and she said to bring whoever I was with... Yall don't have to if-"

"No, it's ok. I told you we're going to be there for you and that's what we'll do. I've dealt with this situation before and now that I'm older and wiser, I can handle it better. Don't worry..." He grabbed my hand and led me back into the theater.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello again! If you didn't understand the whole "There's a reason why no one around here listens to kpop." thing... it's racism. It's a sad and harsh reality I have to face here and many people, like Eli, have dealt with and still do deal with it firsthand. I really hope this doesn't offend anyone because I'm totally against racism! Like I said in the foreword, this story is based on issues I'm facing now. I try my best to love everyone but I am human and I can be judgmental like everyone else. The difference is I judge based on a person's character not how they look....

Now that that's out of the way! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! How do yall like sneaky Kiseop? And I feel bad for my poor Dongho! :( It's weird for me to have him say "Noona" when he's actually a year older than me... I think I'm doing a good job of adding some drama... right? Let me know if there's something I can improve on! I'd love to hear from yall!

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