One morning, Sehun approached the front door of the SM building.

            “I wonder if Kai is here already?” he said to himself. “I bet he is, just because he loves dancing so much.” Then, he noticed something moving in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look. It was another boy, wearing a beanie but with black hair showing slightly, and he was walking toward Sehun. Sehun stood in wonderment. He had been a trainee for a few years and recognized most of the other trainees, especially the boys. He didn’t recognize this boy.

            Sehun decided to go greet him. As he walked up to the boy, he felt a strange tingling in his chest, almost as if something were pulling him toward the newcomer. They stopped, looking at each other apprehensively.

            “Hello,” the boy spoke first.

            Sehun felt like he had something in his throat, preventing him from speaking. This new boy had a cute voice. His skin was tan like the color of chocolate that Sehun liked a lot. The boy’s beanie seemed to be pushing out his cheeks a little more, making his face appear rounder and softer. His eyes were dark, round, and double-lidded, and conveyed a foreign but laid-back gaze. He was a little shorter than Sehun, and his shoulders were narrower.

            “Uhhh, hi,” he responded. He felt that his shoulders and knees were turning into mush. He was confused; he had never felt this before when meeting a stranger. “Are you a new trainee?” he asked, swallowing audibly and attempting to remain calm.

            “Yes, this is my first day here. My name is Luhan. I’m Chinese,” the boy replied.

            “Luhan? Chinese?” Sehun giggled, covering his mouth with his hand.

            “Is something wrong? Your face is turning red,” Luhan said.

            “Luhan, can you tell me how to say ‘I love you’ in Chinese?” Sehun said, still smiling.

            Luhan’s face scrunched up a bit. His eyes became uneasy. He turned away and started walking away from Sehun. When Sehun noticed what was wrong, he quickly skipped in front of Luhan.

            “Wait!” he called out, stretching an arm in front of Luhan. They stood looking at each other’s faces again. Luhan turned his face away slightly, watching Sehun with the corners of his eyes. Sehun gasped nervously and straightened his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I guess that was too strong. Can you tell me how to say ‘I think you’re cute’ in Chinese, then?”

            “Why are there so many gay boys here?” Luhan whispered in Chinese.

            “Is that how you say it?” Sehun sighed, relieved somewhat. “I’m really sorry for scaring you.”

            Luhan turned away and began stepping hastily back toward the SM building. Sehun followed closely behind.

            “Can we walk together?” he suggested. Luhan said nothing.

            “Can I touch your face?” Sehun asked. Luhan walked faster.

            “Can I hold your hand?” Sehun asked. Luhan swallowed anxiously as he reached the door. As he reached out to open the door, Sehun reached out and touched Luhan’s outstretched hand. Sehun’s other hand rested on Luhan’s lower back.

            “Luhan, you seem tense,” he said with a slight grin.

            “Can’t we at least go inside so no one sees us?” Luhan suggested. “And stop touching me.”

            “Why are there so many gay boys here?” Sehun repeated what Luhan had said in Chinese, thinking he was saying something else. Luhan couldn’t help but smile and laugh. Sehun was struck with adoration. This boy’s smile and laugh defined the epitome of all that was cute and adorable. Sehun laughed in response.

            “You have no idea what you’re saying, do you?” Luhan exclaimed, smiling.

            “What? What did I say?” Sehun asked. “You weren’t translating? What did you say?”

            “I’ll tell you some other time,” Luhan replied. His face became serious again. “Seriously, though, please stop touching me. People will start staring.”

            Sehun took his hands off of Luhan, and followed him into the building.

            As they walked through the short hallway, Sehun decided to break the awkward silence that had fallen.

            “Luhan, how old are you?”

            “I’m 20. Are you trying to decide how polite you are supposed to be with me?”

            “20?” Sehun gasped in surprise. “I thought you were my age or younger. I’m only 16.”

            “Aren’t you supposed to be calling me ‘hyung’ then?”

            “But you’re shorter than me, and cute,” Sehun said. “How can you be older by so much?”

            “What did you just call me?” Luhan stopped and looked at Sehun.

            “I said you were shorter than me,” he replied nervously.

            “What was the other thing you said? I’m shorter and ---”

            Sehun’s mouth hung open as he tried to think of something else to say.

            “How do you say ‘short’ in Chinese?” he said.

            “Are you calling me short?” Luhan said, his face serious.

            “Not short! I’m not calling you short...I meant, uhh, ‘little’!”

            Luhan looked at him sternly.

            “I said I thought you were cute,” Sehun said, his head turned away shyly. There was silence again as Luhan looked at him. Then, after a few seconds, Luhan spoke up.

            “We barely met just 5 minutes ago and you’re already flirting with me?”

            Sehun’s face reddened and he swallowed.

            “Don’t you think it’s weird to be flirting with an older man from another country?” Luhan suggested.

            “Hyung,” Sehun said as he turned back to look at Luhan. “Actually, I was hoping you were older than me. I like calling you hyung. It makes me like you more.”

            Luhan swallowed nervously and continued walking, with Sehun following only a step behind.

            After a couple more quiet minutes, they came to the dance practice room. It was empty at the moment. Sehun sighed in relief.

            “I wonder where the others are,” he said.

            “Others? How many others are there?” Luhan asked.

            “Enough to fill this room.” Sehun turned to Luhan. “Hyung, what position do you want to be when you’re put into a group?”

            “I think I want to be the singer and dancer.”

            “Dancer? I’m a dancer too!” Sehun said, excited. “You can dance here now, since there’s no one else here. I’ll watch.”

            Luhan stared at him apprehensively.

            “Hyung? Can I...can I hug you?” Sehun asked shyly.

            “We barely know each other,” Luhan responded. “Why do you always want to touch me?”

            “You look soft and huggable,” Sehun said, reaching a yearning hand toward Luhan’s face. Luhan didn’t move away. Sehun’s right hand contacted Luhan’s cheek. It was as soft and smooth and as baby’s cheek. Sehun took a step closer, reaching up with his other hand. He caressed Luhan’s face and smiled, not noticing Luhan’s worried look. Then, they heard footsteps behind them. Two boys entered the room.

            “Sehun? What are you doing?” one of them asked.

            “Is that the new trainee? He doesn’t look like anyone we know,” the other one said. “Hey, Sehun, you’re creeping him out.”

            “Kai! Lay! I was wondering where you guys went!” Sehun exclaimed excitedly. He let go of Luhan. “Where were you?”

            “We were in the bathroom,” Kai said. “Who’s the new guy?”

            “This is Luhan. He’s 20,” Sehun said. “We just met a little while ago.”

            “He’s 20? That’s older than me!” Lay was surprised. “Is that why you were doing that thing with him just now?”

            “Luhan, Kai and Lay are both really good dancers too. And Lay is Chinese just like you. Maybe you two can become friends too?” Sehun said. Luhan looked up at Lay.

            “You’re Chinese too?” Luhan asked him in Chinese. Lay nodded. “Has Sehun always been like this?” he asked. Lay smiled and nodded again.

            “You guys will be good friends,” Kai noted. “Sehun, should we practice our dancing now?”

            “Luhan?” Sehun said as Luhan walked toward Lay.

            “I feel much more comfortable with Lay than with you,” Luhan said.

            “But why?” Sehun asked.

            “I can stand right next to him and he hasn’t flirted with me or tried to touch me yet.”

            “Flirting?” Lay repeated. “Oh, I see how it is.”

            “I thought we had something special...” Sehun said quietly. He turned away and hid his face in his arm.

            “Sehun, it’s not that way,” Luhan said. Sehun started shuttering. Luhan went up to him and touched his arm. He could see Sehun was crying.

            “What did you do, Luhan,” Kai whispered.

            “Sehun-ah, why are you crying?” Luhan asked calmly. He gently patted Sehun’s back and looked into his face.

            “You don’t want me around you,” Sehun whimpered.

            “It’s not like that,” Luhan explained. “You’re just too attached to me and I haven’t adjusted to it. I’m just not used to being loved so much by someone I know so little about.” He Sehun’s back and stood in front of him. Sehun looked up.

            “Love?” Lay repeated to himself, almost laughing. “All Sehun knows about Luhan is that he’s 20 years old and Chinese, and he’s fallen in love? When will he learn…”

            “Little?” Sehun gasped, tears streaming down his cheeks. “How do you say that in Chinese?”

            “Xiao,” Luhan said. “Xiao. Why do you want to know?”

            “I wanted to give you a nickname,” Sehun answered. Luhan put his face closer to Sehun’s face and looked into his eyes.

            “What nickname?” he said.

            “Can I call you Xiao Lu? For Little Lu?” Sehun asked. Luhan smiled warmly and pulled Sehun to him, embracing him and putting Sehun’s head on his shoulder.

            “Yes, you can, Sehun-ah,” Luhan said. “Only you can call me that. It will be our own name.”

            Sehun smiled through his tears, hugging Luhan tightly and crying from happiness.

            “I hope we get to train and debut together,” he said. Luhan acknowledged his statement by closing his eyes and nodding, tears about to leak from his eyes too.

            Kai and Lay, standing at the side, were awestruck.

            “How are we supposed to feel about this?” Lay whispered to Kai.

            “I don’t know,” Kai whispered back. “Maybe we should just ignore it and not bother them about it.”

            “Ignore it? But what if we have to debut with them?” Lay asked worriedly. “If we do end up being put together, they’re going to be like this a lot.”

            “Don’t worry about it,” Kai said. “I doubt they would put us all in a group together.”

            They watched silently as Luhan and Sehun continued hugging.