Chapter 3

Aisha Kim

Oh my gosh.

I actually talked to Jongin.

Well, wrote, but still.

And what's even more exciting, I gave him my number.

And he actually texted me.

I'm actually having a very good day, and that hasn't happened in a while...

I re-read his text, over and over, smiling to myself until I heard someone come into the dance room. I quickly saved his number into my phone and faced the newcomer. I could tell by the way she stood she was probably my dance instructor. I bowed to her and smiled when I came up.

"Hello, Kim Aisha." she said. "I'm your dance instructor Park Sooyoung. You and three other girls which you will meet later will be your new family. Right now I'm going to be seeing all of you separately. After this month, we'll see how well the four of you get along."

I nodded in understanding, and wrote in my notebook I'm excited about this experience. But how am I supposed to communicate with the other girls?

"You'll probably learn how to speak." Sooyoung said, handing back the notebook after reading what I wrote. I promptly dropped it when I heard that. I've tried speaking. . . It just doesn't work. No sound comes out, and it hurts so much...

"C'mon, you can't stay mute forever, especially in this line of business. Now, I like the mask thing you're doing, maybe the head manager will let you keep it. Adds diversity and such. Wait a moment. . ." Sooyoung must've noticed my eye color now.

Yes they're my actual color, I wrote after picking up my notebook.

"Extraordinary. . ." she said softly. "Anyway, back to business." She walked over to the sound system and plugged in her phone. "Let's begin our lesson."

To: Jongin

Msg: Are you done with practice yet? I just got out. Soooo sore!! ;-;)

I waited for a reply.

From: Jongin

Msg: Yah! I'll meet you halfway *\(^-^)/* yeah I know how you feel :-/

Awe, his little emojis were so cute! I gathered my belongings and headed out the door. Since it was still my first day I just went walking in the direction Jongin and Sehun went earlier. Of course I knew all the boys in Exo. Well, I didn't actually know them, but you get it. I was going to have a fangirl moment when I got home that's for certain. His tall frame came into view a few moments later. He smiled when he saw me and walked to me.

"Hello there." he said, looking down at me slightly. His smile made my fangirl faint. I smiled wide, and adjusted my mask before we began walking together.

"So, did you find anything else about your situation?" he asked. I nodded enthusiastically and proceeded to write as fast as I could about what I found out.

I'm going to be meeting three other girls soon, the head manager is going to let me meet the other girls by the end of the month. . . But there's a problem, I have to learn how to speak.

"But isn't that a good thing? Learning how to speak?" he asked.

Well, yes it would be nice. But my vocal cords were damaged when I was very young. But obviously I know Korean and I know English as well. I'm scared I'll lose this chance if I can't learn how to talk. . .

"But if they're damaged, then you really can't help it. They shouldn't force you to talk when you know you can't." he said. He sounded slightly annoyed.

I know, but I want to try.

"Don't hurt yourself too much. Training is brutal enough as it is. You'll see soon." he said. I nodded. "If you want, I could help you with speaking." He looked away shyly as we made it to the exit.

I decided to be bold and squeezed his hand. His eyes widened. I promptly let go and looked away, feeling myself blush. It was so hard not to turn into a flamboyant fangirl at that moment. We stepped into the bustling Seoul city and he finally spoke.

"Where do you live? I'll take you home."

Stepmother would kill me, but I don't care anymore. That witch can go boil herself. I wrote down my address. He smiled.
"Hey, that's in the suburbs. I'm guessing your mom just dropped you off?"

I shook my head and wrote stepmother.

He nodded in understanding. We got into the car that was waiting and off we went. Jongin spoke to the driver about dropping me off at my house and it made me feel exceptionally special and extremely giddy. Suddenly I felt very shy and instead of making conversation I looked out the window and watched Seoul go by. I heard my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked down and read the message.

From: Jongin

Msg: Are you okay? .-. You look overworked already...

I looked over at him and he rose his eyebrows with concern. I nodded and he relaxed, then reached out his hand to me. I hesitantly put my hand into his, a risky move and the fangirl screamed inside while I blushed.

"I think you have trust issues, if that doesn't sound too rude." he said. I nodded in agreement, because I do. Ever since stepmother entered my life, I don't trust as many people anymore, and I really shouldn't trust k-pop idols.

He tugged on my hand, pulling me dangerously closer to him. He captured my eyes with his dark ones. "You can trust me." he said softly. Usually I had a million thoughts running through my head, but that sentence silenced everything. I shook my head, putting some distance between us, but he pulled me back to him, taking my other han