“I just… I’m a 19 year old away from my family. It’s just so hard you know,” Milan shared as she rested her back on her chair. “I know that feels,” Sehun offered a high five which Kai received. “We maknaes stick together about that,” Kai said as he smiled. “But… At least you’re in Korea while mine’s an airplane away,” Milan sighed. “That’s the hard part. Yeah, we are in Korea, in the same city too but we can’t meet with our family because of the busy schedule,” Kai told her.

“We all go through that. But to have success, you need sacrifice right?” Tao told her. “Sacrifice huh…” She sighed. “I’m just too weak to sacrifice this, to sacrifice the time I could possibly spend with my family,” she added. “With that sigh, you let go a bit of happiness. Lighten up a little,” Chanyeol told her. “Where’s the cute and happy Mil we came to know?” he added as he smiled.

“Well, I don’t know. I introduced myself as a heartless woman so…” Milan avoided his gaze. “Mil-ah, just stop it. We don’t like seeing a beautiful person like you be all sulky,” Sehun said, before chuckling a bit. “Beautiful huh. I wonder about that, oppa,” she smiled a bit. “Why don’t you have confidence in your face?”

Her stay with EXO was really fun for her. It made up for the times their fans would bully her. Of course, some sasaeng fan leaked a photo of Milan spending time with them. The other fans might not know but the Korean fans knew who Milan was and they weren’t going to let her go easy with their future ‘husbands’.

“I’ll be going now,” Milan said after thanking for the food. “Be careful on your way out. And please tell us if anything happens,” DO said as he put the dishes into the sink. “I will, don’t worry. You know that nothing ever happens to me,” Milan lied before getting her bag and going out.

As she was entering the university, Milan got glares from the girls. Some whispered as she passed by them. Some laughed at her boyish clothes and some can’t believe she got the opportunity to live with EXO. “I knew it was going alone,” she muttered under her breath. Ynna’s classes will start later than her so she was rather lonely. And she was scared no one could protect her. She doesn’t want to rely on EXO and she doesn’t want any controversy to spur.

As if nothing was already spurring since the leaking of the stolen photos.

“Look who decided to show up to class.” A beautiful lady wearing branded clothes said as she confronted Milan. They were taking Music together for a few months already and she was rumoured to be the one who leaked the photos. “Why aren’t you looking at me, flirt?” She said as she held Milan’s face with one of her hands.

The rings hurt Milan’s cheeks and she flinched a bit but she avoided that woman’s gaze. “What do you want, Sora?” Milan asked, clutching her fists under her desk. “Why don’t you scoot your back to that poverty-filled country of yours and get away from my boyfriends,” she told Milan. “Sora, aren’t you such a delusional person to think they’re all your boyfriends? Knowing EXO, they will never hit on a girl like you,” Milan hissed.

“Let’s see about that, dearie,” Sora said as she released Milan’s face. Milan lightly rubbed her cheeks as she watched that devil’s silhouette go to her respective seat. “How dare she call the Philippines poverty-filled? She doesn’t know my country well if that’s the only thing she could say. My people are hardworking enough. My country may have poverty but we’re striving to stop it,” she whispered to herself.

After class, Milan went to her locker and found her things sabotaged. Her notebooks’ pages were torn. Her locker’s door was filled with lipstick markings and her pens were scattered to who-knows-where. Even her posters of SHINee were destroyed. Her referenced books were missing. It’s either that or the pages were missing.

She stepped back in shock. She didn’t know the fans could get this far. A white note suddenly fell from the locker and she picked it up. There was EXO’s hexagon on top and she read whatever was on it in her mind:

If you don’t get away from them soon, you’ll regret it, Milan de Vega. You don’t want to mess with the wrong fandom after all.

She immediately dropped the note and stepped back once again. The locker slammed shut and she saw Sora, smiling from ear to ear. “So you want to mess with us, Milan?” She pronounced every syllable slowly to have Milan understand the situation.

This isn’t what I signed up for.

This is surely a side-effect.

I never wanted to work for EXO so I can get the attention of the sasaengs.

Milan tried to look tough and straightened her back. She pointed at Sora and said in an angry tone,” I am here for work and work only, Sora. I never wanted to go out with those boys. If I had a choice, I would’ve worked with a girl group but Mr Lee—“ She stopped herself from continuing and breathed in. “I expected this from someone in a poor family,” Sora snapped.

“Poor? It’s on, girl,” Milan practically pulled Sora’s hair and almost slammed her to the ground if Ynna didn’t appear. “Calm down, you two!” Ynna almost screamed. “Oopsie, didn’t want to strain my vocal chords,” she coughed a bit. “Milan, go to your next class quickly and Sora, try being a little angel for once. My friend has gone through enough for her whole stay in Korea! Do you want to hear from other countries what Koreans do to foreigners, huh?” Ynna snapped, glaring at Sora.

“You are such a disgrace to the fandom, each and every sasaeng,” Ynna said as she pointed at Sora’s chest. Her eyes showed anger. Even Milan was getting afraid. “But who am I to tell you what you should do? You can’t even follow what EXO says. They are already mad that some fans are overreacting on the people around them. EXO is getting fed up of you people going into their privacy that I applaud Xiumin-oppa is able to hide his sister from the media. They love their fans and you’re just abusing their love. So, Sora, who do you think you are?”