Milan almost laughed at what Mae said. The main reason was she said she was protecting her, which wasn’t true. She was there because she was stalking EXO. And connecting to their wi-fi too. The never ending wi-fi. She then started walking towards Ynna’s place. She was sure she’ll get dressed up by her again. But she was shocked to see Ynna, being nervous and panicking about something.

“What’s up?” Milan asked as she approached her. “I’m… the company said I’ll have laser surgery right now… so I don’t have to wear any glasses,” Ynna said, fear filling her face. “I’m scared but I don’t have a choice,” she added, slightly trembling. “All of SM’s trainees go through that, Ynna. Don’t worry,” Milan patted Ynna’s back. “You can do it. Fighting,” Milan made a fist with one of her hands. Ynna sighed. “I want to cry. What if the surgery failed?” Ynna said as she wanted to unlock her apartment and just trap herself in there.

Milan then practically pulled her towards the usual route. “Don’t be a chicken. You don’t have to wear glasses after this, unlike me,” Milan blabbered while pulling her. She went on trying to convince Ynna to be brave about this, removing the fact there are a lot of surgeries in her future. “You need pain to achieve beauty, Ynna,” Milan made a fist. “You can do it. Jjayo! (Fight!)” she said, reminding her of what their Mandarin teacher used to tell them.

Ynna just sighed. On their way to school, they talked about what happened yesterday. Ynna almost fainted yesterday, when she knew about the surgery and because she was really tired. Having vocal and dancing lessons was hard. And she was going to have acting lessons next year. They spent a couple of hours in school and then they went to the SM building.

“Here we are, I guess this is goodbye for now,” Ynna said as she smiled a bit at her best friend. “When’s the surgery?” Milan asked. “This weekend,” Ynna sighed. “Anyways, want me to dress you up here? I think there are clothes SNSD-sunbaenim left,” she said as she pointed the inside of the building. “No thank—Oh wait, I have to attend the mall show,” Milan face palmed herself. And as if on cue, suddenly, EXO was exciting the building.

“Look, it’s Mil!” Tao pointed. Milan was trying to avoid their gazes and ducked behind Ynna. “You look silly, Mil. We see you,” Sehun laughed. “So this is your best friend. Nice to meet you, I’m Chen,” Chen offered his hand to Ynna for a handshake. “Umm… Umm…” Ynna almost panicked. She always loves Chen. And it never changed for the passing years. Milan coughed to snap Ynna out of her daydream.

“Ynna, my name that is. Nice to meet you,” she took his hand and shook it. And it’s likely she won’t wash that hand again. “So she’s an SM trainee,” Lay nodded as if he discovered something new and acceptable. “How long have you been a trainee?” Suho asked. “Just a few months maybe.  I started college here and stuff with Milan,” Ynna gestured. “You’re going to college, Milan?” Milan hissed at Ynna and then returned to her calm presence.

“No, she means, I help her study since I teach her things. Composing is enough for a living,” Milan answered. “Oh, look at the time. My teacher will scold me if I don’t go up faster. Bye, guys! Good luck with the mall show or whatever!” Ynna said before going in the building.

“We need to dress you up,” Sehun said as he looked at Milan from head to toe. “What? Why?” Milan asked as she tilted her head. “It’s a mall show!” “And so?” Instead of answering her question, Luhan and Baekhyun took Milan in their arms and pulled her into the building. “SNSD-sunbaenim’s clothes,” Suho muttered from behind. Milan felt like she was getting kidnapped or something.

Or worse, she’ll wear feminine clothes.

“There,” Kris threw some clothes at Milan and she didn’t have a choice but to catch them. Those clothes, she guessed, were so expensive that if she ever gets those kinds of clothes, she’ll just have them displayed. “Wear those,” Kris ordered. “Baekhyun will do your make-up right after now go!” Suho said as he pointed at the dressing room. “But…” Milan pleaded. “GO!” Tao told her. And she was left with no choice but to follow what she was told.

After a few minutes, Milan was already wearing the clothes Kris picked and her face was beautiful with Baekhyun’s skill in applying make-up, especially the eye liner. She looked like EXO’s muse right now which she didn’t want. Or else, the fans will kill her. “Let’s go,” they said as they ran to the vans. Fortunately or unfortunately for Milan, she was stuck in the van with Chanyeol, Luhan and Kai.

And she didn’t know where she could sit. “Umm, ahh, I’ll be in the staff’s van,” Milan said, in attempt to close the door but Xiumin managed to stop it. “You can squeeze in if you don’t want to sit on anyone’s lap,” he said as he smiled. “But you won’t be able to breathe,” Milan said. “Then I can sit on Luhan’s lap and you’ll sit in my place. Deal?” That was a hard bargain since Xiumin was right between Kai and Chanyeol. “Alright then,” she nodded and they arranged in their respective positions.

Chanyeol took quick gazes Milan who was just staring at the action of her ship. Why is XiuHan so cute? She was too distracted right now. “So I heard you told Baekhyun something important,” Chanyeol said. “Um, yeah. And I’m sure Baek-oppa won’t tell anyone about it,” Milan said as she put her hands on her lap. Chanyeol was curious what it was though. Baekhyun didn’t answer him when he asked last night so it may be something big. But he also doesn’t want to invade Milan’s privacy.

Then they finally arrived at the mall. The fans were all looking forward to EXO. And Milan didn’t exit the car just yet. She was in there until it parked to be safe of their fans. She quickly went backstage when she entered the mall and wished the boys good luck. “EXO, let’s love!” The boys shouted before performing onstage their new song “Eclipse”.

Milan just watched them in the side lines. It was rather nostalgic to watch these boys. They improved so much as time went on. She remembered when she watched MAMA 2012 or was it 2013? She thought Kai was Taemin, which was her ultimate bias. She never minded EXO back then and all she knew that EXO fans were ridiculous. They always compared the two groups and so she hated the fandom plus EXO. She was influenced and it developed into joining the fandom and covering their songs.

And now, she’s standing backstage in one of their shows. And now, she’s their composer, she writes their songs. It was so fast that she wasn’t able to process it all. It felt like it happened yesterday when she joined the fandom. She smiled rather goofily watching them enjoy onstage and doing fanservice.

After an hour or so, the mall show ended. And actually, Milan wasn’t in her greatest condition. She was shivering after it all and hugging herself. Wearing thin clothes for consecutive days wasn’t such a good idea now. And she always rejected the idea but the people around her were stubborn. “Mil?” Suho hurried when he saw Milan already resting her head on the pole. She didn’t respond much, she looked daze and like her weight was already on the pole.