The company allowed us a few days to recuperate after Eunmi’s accident. I didn’t think the girls had it in them to sing and dance and charm like normally. We pretty much stayed holed up in our dorm, feeling the safest in our home away from home. Yun was the only one who went out, not letting Eunmi’s accident cramp her social life.

She came home one day, with a piece of paper held tightly in her hands. She chucked her heels off and sprinted to the middle of the living room, eyes sparkling with excitement. I had been tidying the living room when she came in such a different state. “What? Did the company decide to offer you a modelling contract after all?”

“No, read!” Yun shoved the piece of paper at my chest.

I opened it up and read it quickly. “Um…”

“You’re hesitating?” Yun looked at me like I was declining an invitation to raid a fashionista’s closet.

“What’s going on?” Hana asked, coming out from the kitchen.

“Our Exo-sunbae’s want us to come over for dinner,” Yun whispered.

“What? WHAT?” Hana responded even crazier than Yun.

“Why is everyone yelling?” Minjung demanded from Eunmi and Hana’s room.

“Hey maknae, do want to see Chanyeol and Baekhyun?” Yun had a determined look in her eye. I didn’t like that look.

Minjung proceeded to scream and I could only picture her jumping up and down and disturbing Eunmi’s nest.

“Everyone calm down,” I said sternly. God, was I the only one who wasn’t boy crazy?!

“You’re not thinking of declining, are you?” Yun dared me to say no, especially when all the other members were so gun-ho about this.

“No, I just…” What did I want to say? “First of all, we have to make sure this is okay. What if they have fans already and they camp out by their dorm? If they spot some good looking girls going into their dorm, the paparazzi are going to have a field day!”

Hana’s head lowered first, “Unnie, why do you always have to be so level-headed?” She slunk back to the kitchen, trying to raid it for something both yummy and nutritious.

“Secondly, Eunmi is on medication, so we have to be careful of that too.”

“Did you take yours yet?” Minjung asked of Eunmi. She must have nodded no, because Minjung bounded out of Eunmi’s room to find said medication.

“Your lectures always have three points,” Yun prodded me. She was going to be the last one to back down.

“Thirdly,” I obnoxiously waved three fingers in front of her face, “We have to get up early the next morning.”

Yun’s head whipped to our calendar that listed our schedules and smiled triumphantly at me. “No we don’t.”

I pretended to be confused, looked at the calendar and then pounded my fist into my hand. “Oh darn. I forgot that Sanghee told me to mark it on the calendar!”

I found the marker and started to write out what was in store for us that morning. Yun and Hana hung over my shoulder while Yun sounded out what I wrote as I wrote it. “Pho-to-shoot-for-tea-ser-ssss. Photo shoot for teasers?” Hana and Yun stared at each other until their brains caught up with their ears and then slowly they both had matching foolish grins. “We’re finally getting ready for our teasers?” They jumped up and down together in jubilation. Minjung, not one to miss out on some silliness, joined them instantly. They started singing ‘We’re shooting our teasers’ over and over to every tune and melody that was in their arsenal. It was cute really.

I made my way to Eunmi, not allowing her to feel left out. “Mimi, do you feel up for going on a small trip?”

She smiled happily to me, in her quiet way. “To see our sunbaes?”

“Even better,” I said, sitting next to her, “They want to cook us some nice food and coo over our injured member. You’re going to get some much attention you won’t know what to do with it!”

I expected her to be happier with what I said but she seemed to wilt a bit. “What if I embarrass us?”

I hugged Eunmi, cautious of her injury. “You won’t. I have complete faith in you.”

I brought up the meet-up with Sanghee and she wasn’t the least surprised. She admitted that her and one Exo’s managers whom she was close with had already been mentally pairing us up. I looked at her as if she had three heads and she laughed heartily at me. “What? Us managers have to kill time sometimes.”

“I don’t even want to know who you paired me up with,” I groaned.

“Or do you?” Sanghee said in a suggestive voice and I fled before she could terrorize me anymore.

So, with a lot of pomp and secrecy, the five of us were standing awkwardly in one of the most chaotic rooms I had ever encountered. It seems that the boys were… just a tad bit hyper in result of girls coming over.

I led us in a bow, hoping someone would take notice of us so that I didn’t have to yell and go all leader on them. Finally a boy with the largest pair of eyes I had ever seen stopped in front of us, taking us in with his eyes.

He greeted us and we bowed again. “My name is Kyungsoo,” He introduced himself. “I’ll be your chef for the day.” Minjung giggled. Kyungsoo started to smile at her laughter and Hana demanded to know what was on the menu. “It’s my specialty,” He said with secret look and wouldn’t reveal more.

“You’re here!” Luhan said loudly, tugging a boy who looked like he didn’t want to be tugged around. “Say hi Sehun,” Luhan prodded the new boy.

“Hello,” Sehun said, not even bowing.

“Where should Maia sit?” I said, looking around. “She shouldn’t be standing for too long.”

“Oh!” Luhan released Sehun and pointed to a couch. I started to move forward and recognized no one was following me.

“Oh for god’s sake, they aren’t going to bite!” I said in frustration.

“Chanyeol might. He likes to do that,” Luhan mentioned casually. Like that was helping any.

“Come on Maia, let’s get you settled in so the boys can fawn over you,” I cooed to Eunmi. I bodily escorted her to the couch and was happy to notice Kris came over to Hana to chat her up. Yun didn’t hesitate to insert herself between Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. That left Minjung with stars in her eyes and frozen at the entrance by herself. I should have known I would become the babysitter today.

Luhan sat carefully beside Eunmi. “Lay told us that you were hurt because of dance practice.” As it turns out, Lay was Yixing’s stage name, Luhan informed me. Eunmi nodded shyly, tracing the pattern of the couch with her finger.

“She’s going to do an amazing backflip stunt. We’re going to be talked about when we debut,” I proclaimed proudly.

Eunmi blushed at the compliment and tried to dig herself deeper into the couch. Luhan peered curiously at Eunmi, “Are you the main dancer?”

“Talitha, get your over here!” I shouted. “Maknaes,” I mumbled, shaking my head.

“She can’t be any worse than ours,” Luhan chuckled and then nodded his head in Sehun’s direction.

“That’s your maknae?” I said in complete befuddlement.

Luhan nodded and laughed hard at my reaction. “Not that he acts like it though.” Sehun sported a slight smirk for a moment and then it disappeared and his poker face was back.

Minjung still hadn’t managed to move yet. “Are you really just going to stand there?” Jongin asked her with a straight face. Upon gaining attention, she scurried to my side, Jongin’s laughter following her.

“Unnie,” She whispered when she reached my side. “Help me.”

“Talitha, this is Luhan and Sehun,” I introduced her to the two boys. “Talitha is our maknae but she can also sing pretty freaking well too.”

“Andromeda~!” Baekhyun sang my name from across the room and I winced at his tone.  When I didn’t reply he started to sing Shinee’s Replay and I found myself wanting to disappear from this world very quickly. Yun’s stormy face wasn’t a good sign either.

“Mimi, do you need some water?” I asked rather loudly.

“Please.”

I made my way to the kitchen, where Kyungsoo was diligently creating a masterpiece. “Glasses?” I asked. Kyungsoo pointed to the cupboard and I filled Eunmi’s glass. “Do you need any help?” I wondered.

“No,” Kyungsoo said with a kind smile.

I was about to strike up a conversation with the nice boy that was cooking for us except I was rudely interrupted. I should have known better than to put myself in a corner that someone could trap me in.

“Jinae,” Chanyeol barked and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Long time no see. How’s everything going? Run into any other boys lately?”

“I’m fine, Chanyeol,” I said, removing his hand from my shoulder.

“We missed seeing your pretty face at the company,” Baekhyun said.

“I’m sure you did,” I said, not believing him for a second. “Why are you over here when you could be talking to my very attractive friend over there?” Yun was still talking to Jongdae, but had now gained the admiration of Suho and another boy I had yet to meet. That didn’t stop from her eyes slowly gravitating towards me. I sighed inwardly.

“She’s got enough admirers,” Baekhyun waved his hand away. “We want to talk to you.”

“Unnie!” Minjung desperate voice appealed to me through the massive volume of chattering.

“I have members to take care of,” I said haughtily. “If you’ll excuse me.”

I gave Eunmi her water, which she started to drink gratefully. Luhan had actually coaxed her to speak a little bit and I was satisfied. Minjung had called me because Jongin and Sehun were trying to convince her to sing for them. Kris and Hana had settled into a conversation with Lay. It seemed like Hana had broken her shell and was telling a funny story while Kris translated for Lay. Yun had forgotten about Baekhyun and Chanyeol and was soaking in the attention of the other boys.

“Talitha, just make a deal. If they will perform a song for you, you will in return,” I tried to be the peacekeeper.

Jongin and Sehun exchanged sly glances. They both snapped into mirroring choreography. I had to try not to drool over their stances and robot-like commitment to the dance. Minjung was sending me looks of pure fear after they had high-fived each other. I knew what I was going to have to do.

“Does anyone have a speaker for my phone?” I wondered out loud, waving my phone around.

Zitao sprinted to his shared room and came back with hook-ups for me and everything. He helped me set up and soon a crowd was forming. “We’re idols for god’s sake! Do we really have to show off to each other?” I huffed.

“You never know what our company might make us do,” Suho said with a twinkle in his eye.

I sent Minjung a pointed look and she mouthed a thank you in my direction. “What shall you be performing for us, all mighty leader?” Hana prompted me.

“Leader?” Jongdae asked, looking confused.

“Isn’t she too cute and young-looking to be the leader?” Baekhyun sighed heavily, like he lost something important to his life. They agreed astutely.

“Hello, my name is Andromeda and I’m from the girl group Nebula,” I bowed and started as if I was performing in front of cameras and fans.

“Don’t forget your pose,” Yun reminded me.

I adjusted my stance, even though I was going to have to change it to do what I was about to do.

“Nebula,” whispered Eunmi in soft reverence.

“Can you imagine hearing Exo and Nebula in the same sentence?” Kris nudged Hana and she briskly shook her head in agreement.

“Music Zitao,” I said. I was going to regret this. But if Minjung needed saving, then I was willing to sacrifice myself. On cue, Zitao pressed play on my phone and music slowly poured out. We all knew what song it was.

“Listen boy. My first love story,” I started and the giggles started. I lip-synched the whole song, danced all the choreography and by the end of my performance of Gee by our sunbae’s Girls’ Generation, I had everyone applauding, laughing or in awe of my mini-concert.

“And you say you’re not cute,” Chanyeol said with a wide grin.

“I think she’s cute,” Lay said to no one in particular and I felt a blush forming on my face.

“You’re making her blush!” Jongdae hooted.

“Unnie is pretty and cute and brave and y and talented,” Eunmi spoke up in my stead. I normally would be happy that she’d interject but she was not helping my situation one bit.

“Sounds like my ideal girl,” said Kris, wriggling his eyebrows for dramatic effect. Hana`s shoulders slumped at the sound of it.

“You wouldn’t like me,” I denied immediately. “Someone funny and bright would suit you more. Like Carina.” Hana had an enigmatic and pleased smile on her face from that comment. Ah, someone had a crush.

Kyungsoo delivered his specialty: kimchi spaghetti. The other members whined when there was no way Kyungsoo could possibly make enough for my group plus his. Minjung tentatively shared hers with Zitao. Jongin stole some from Yun’s when she was too busy flirting with Sehun. Hana fed some to Chanyeol and his eyes rolled back in his head in a silly salute to Kyungsoo’s cooking. Eunmi graciously donated her bowl to Minseok, because of her stomach not being able to handle anything heavy yet, and he became the envy of all the boys. I leaned over to donate some of my noodles to Lay, who had been so nice to compliment me and almost gave Suho an eyeful of my cleavage before I noticed what he was staring at and getting red about. It was a frenzied suppertime, to be sure.

When we got back from our visit, new friendships formed and flirty exchanges passed, the girls were in a titter. Yun had managed to snag Jongdae, Minseok, AND Suho’s number, which was satisfactory to her. Even though Minjung had been terrified the whole time, she wouldn’t stop talking about how her oppa’s were all so nice and good looking and funny. Eunmi said she thought Luhan was funny, which was something for her to comment anything. Hana said that Kris had promised to help her work on her rapping rhythm, that sneaky girl, like she needed any help. They also took a moment to gush on my Gee re-enactment. They wanted to do a cover once we debuted and I had always been against it but according to Exo’s reactions, we probably should.

The trip had definitely raised all their spirits and suddenly they were very excited for tomorrow. We had some big changes ahead of us. If only we had an inkling as to what kind of whirlwind was about to run through our lives.