“…” I stayed quiet as I spotted my cousin. Or actually the people he had brought with him.

“Dani!” He exclaimed, rushing towards me with open arms.

“Yah. You wanna die?” I asked him. He tilted his head in confusion. “Why the hell did you bring your whole group?! You even brought your friggin' hoobaes! Fangirls will kill you in their excitement!” Somebody yelled.

“See? Well, at least now they’ll kill you for me.” He smiled apologetically and scratched the back of his head. I turned to the group he’d brought with him. 

“Run. I’ll meet you at the car.” I gave them a quick wave and sprinted. I was NOT about to get caught by fangirls after a 15 hour flight. No freaking way. Fangirls are some scary .

 

I neared the black van. And 15 minutes later 11 very exhausted and jumbled boys.

“15 minutes,” I said, “That’s a record. Congrats.” My cousin, who was huffing and puffing, gave me a thumbs up. I chuckled.

“Let’s get going. We don’t want a rerun of that, do we?” Despite their exhaustion all of the boys vigorously  shook their heads. Must’ve been some fangirls. I opened the doors, let the boys in and then hauled my bags into the van. I took a seat and finally took a look at the boys in front of me.

“'Sup,” I greeted, “I'm Danielle, you can call me Dani or whatever. I'm this idiot's cousin.” I introduced myself to the familiar faces as I gestured at Jinki.

“Nice to meet you~ I didn’t know Onew-sunbae had a cousin of this age!” A guy smiled, he had been smiling since I first saw them and even when they came running to the van.

“Baekhyun is the name!” He said, the smile still on his face.

“We call him Bacon, though.” Another boy added, he kind of looked like Taeman.

“And the fans call me Kai.” He smirked.

“And what do I call you?” I asked him.

Bacon and a few of the others chuckled, while yet another guy said, “Jong-In.” I nodded, “And you are..?” I prompted.

“Kris.” “Kris was raised in Canada. He speaks English too.” Key told me.

“Cool beans.” I said in English, “I lived in Canada-land for a while, when I was younger.” I told him.

“This is Sehun! He’s our maknae!” Baekhyun chirped. I saluted Sehun and he mumbled a hello.

“And this panda is our other maknae, Tao.” Jong-In added. I waved at him. “Annyeong.” He said softly.

“I’m Luhan.” Another boy introduced himself with a crooked smile.

“How’d you know we were hoobaes?” Jong-In suddenly asked me.

“I’m psychic.”

“What?!”

“Joking.” He gave me a look.

“I don’t actually live under a rock. Contrary to popular belief. I know EXO. You guys aren’t bad, not bad at all.”

“So we introduced ourselves for nothing?”

“No, this way I know how you want to be addressed, rather than calling you something you might dislike being called. Duh.”

“…Right. Duh…”

“How old are you?” Baekhyun asked. “In Korean system I am 17, I suppose.”

They stared at me, “Jinjja?” Kris asked me.

“Yup.”

“Call us oppa!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

“We’ll see. Calling you Bacon is too much fun at this point.”

He pouted. “Aish, don’t do that. Please. No pouting, like that.” I said. I’m sort of weak against that kind of thing.

“So, since you know EXO, who is your bias?” Jonghyun asked curiously. This seemed to pique the interest of the others as well.  That troublemaker.

“I don’t have one.” I said.

“Of course you do!” Jonghyun pressed. The others looked at me expectantly. Aish, what to do.

“I am having trouble picking.” I simply said, but Jonghyun wasn’t giving up, “Between…?” I glared at him.

“Fine,” I sighed, “I have a maknae thing, so Sehun and Tao are on the list. I heard Baekhyun likes punk, which is awesome. So he definitely scored a spot on my list. Kris is multilingual and Canadian of all places! So him too. And Tao is a panda. Lay is a unicorn. And Jong-In, he’s a rapping swagger turtle.”

“I am a… What?!”

“Swagger Turtle.”

“…It got weirder with every explanation….”

“When picking an SME bias, looks aren’t counted. Simply because all of you could be supermodels. ‘Cos that’s how SM rolls.” I added

“….Thanks?”

“WAIT!!” I suddenly exclaimed. Something had caught my eye.

“Driver-ahjussi! Please stop! HAJIMAAAA!” The car came to a sudden halt.

“What?? Why? What’s wrong?” Onew asked me.

“Coffee!! If you want, you come. ” I grabbed my bag, opened the door and jumped out of the car, sprinting towards a Starbucks. Everybody just stared at the open door I had jumped through.

“What the…”

Onew facepalmed himself as Minho patted his shoulder. “She’ll be back soon. You know how she is.”

“Yeah…” Onew replied. A few minutes later I re-appeared with a Soy Caramel Frapuccino in my hand.

“Nobody wanted coffee?” They all shook their heads.

“Pffsh.” They looked at me, “What? I love coffee! But escaping fangirls comes first.” I took a sip of my Frapuccino. They laughed and agreed.

The car stopped again, “We’re here.” The Driver-ahjussi told us.

“This is not the same place as last time.” I noticed. Key nodded.

“Yeah, we have joint dorms now. They’re co-ed and divided in rookie dorm buildings and regular buildings. The rookies building has EXO, B.A.P., Ailee, Eric Nam , Nu’est, BTS, Lee Hi, Akdong Musician, WINNER and GOT7. You stay in the rookie dorm until two years after debut. Our dorm, building A,  has Infinite, U-KISS, 2NE1, Teen Top, MBLAQ, BEAST, LEDApple,CNBlue,Big Bang and Miss A. The other regular dorm, building B, has Block B, f(x), SISTAR, B1A4, Super Junior, and Girls Generation.Well, actually there are more groups, but I really can't be bothered with remembering everything.” He explained.

“And where will I be staying?” I asked. The SHINee members didn’t meet my eyes. Uh-Oh.

“Well… Uh.. You see.. The rookie building is the only one left with a room… And in that building… There is only one room left… In the BTS dorm… They're a boygroup.....” Key told me, the last part barely audible, with an apologetic smile.

“No. NO. No offence, but I’m NOT living with adolescent males which I HAVEN'T EVEN MET YET! I am a freaking 16 year old girl!” I shrieked.

“You don’t have a choice.” A voice said.

Taemin and Jonghyun’s eyes widened and they bowed. The rest of us turned around to see their founder, Lee Soo Man, grinning together with Kim Youngmin, the CEO. I glared at him as the rest of SHINee and the 6 EXO boys bowed at their boss.

“Of course, I do. This goes against my human rights!”

Lee Soo Man shook his head, “We made a deal, remember?” He took out a bunch of papers. Printed at the top was  “CONTRACT”. Grrr.

“We help you, you help us.” Onew looked at me. I looked away.

“You signed?? You said you’d ne-“

“I know.” I growled, “I had no other choice.”

I gritted my teeth and faced SME’s CEO, “Fine. But you have to keep your end of the deal too.”

He nodded, still grinning in satisfaction. “ In that case I’ll see you soon.” He said as he walked off.

Onew turned to me, “What was-“

“Yah! Are you gonna make me carry all my luggage up all these stairs by myself?” I said, signaling the end of this topic in our conversation. So we brought my stuff upstairs. Once we were upstairs I spotted B.A.P.’s Zelo.

“Yah~ Who is that?” He asked curiously.

I put my stuff down and introduced myself, “I'm Danielle, call me Dani or whatever. I’m your soon-to-be neighbor. And his cousin.” I said gesturing to Onew, who had managed to stub his toe, drop my bag and then trip over my bag. Zelo nodded.

Then I noticed the skateboard in his hand, “You board?” I asked.

“Ne~!” He replied happily, “And you?”

“I used to.”

“You can call me Zelo, by the way!” He exclaimed. I nodded. Suddenly there was a crash. I spun around to see…

 

Onew. On my bag. On the ground.

“Did you just…? With my…? And then..?” I freaked and ran over. Then I saw something that made my eyes widen and my heart stop for a second.

“My limited edition, Japan only, Starry Sky Original Festival Season!!!!” The UMD lay broken on the floor.

“I’m fine.” Onew muttered.

“And my poor PSP!”

“Sorry?” I shot him a look and then returned to grieving over my broken UMD.

“Well, you can go to Japan soon enough, if what I read in your contract is correct.” Onew said pointedly.

“…I can explain.”

“Please do. You said you would never become and idol. Ever.”

 “It’s the only way.” I sighed.

“For what?”

“For… I can’t say. Yet. But I need the money. And God knows I will never ask my parents.”

Onew sighed, “Fine, I’m just worried.”

“I know. I’m sorry, but just trust me for now, okay?” He nodded.

“I need to do this myself. And at least I don’t need to be a trainee first…”

“YOU DON’T??” I turned around to see SHINee and, a now complete, EXO looking at us.

“Sorry,” Jong-In said awkwardly. I shook my head, “It’s fine. I guess you are my sunbae now.” Then the rest of EXO introduced themselves and I introduced myself as well.

We were going over some new house rules, when a man in his mid-twenties burst in, “Annyeong! Kwon Jungmin imnida. Call me Jung! I’ll be your manager from now on.” He smiled.

“Yah. Shouldn’t you be the idol instead of me? Dude, you’re gonna steal SuJu’s manager oppa’s Prince title.”

He laughed, “Nope! You’re the idol here!”

“Unfortunately…” I mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Your fans will be called Lilies! And-“

“What? Why? I’m expected to have fans?”

“Of course, you’ll have fans! As for your fanbase name, we were told that your favorite manga is Usotsuki Lily! And Sajang-Nim said you’re like a lily! Pretty, but poisonous.’ As he put it. ”

“That damn old man.” I gritted my teeth.

“Now, now! Can’t have you talking like that about Sajang-Nim! Anyway, your fancolor will be Matte Black!”

“I have a fan color. Great. Just great. At least it's black.” I said sarcastically.

“Yah! Stop interrupting!”

“Ne, Jung oppa.” I said.

“You called me oppa! Aish! How cute!” He hugged me tightly and pinched my cheeks. I just met him, what’s up with him? He's just like an ahjumma.

“Y-yah! Let go!! Can’t… Breathe…!” He let go. I dusted myself off.

“Your debut song is called ‘No Regrets’ the album is called ‘The Beginning’ and your stage name will be just Danielle. Your debut is in 3 weeks on Inkigayo. Your schedule is in here.” He handed me an agenda.

“’Kay,”

“No going out in public too much. Sajang-nim wants you to keep a low profile and let you surprise everybody with your debut. So everybody keep quiet, okay?”

“’Kay.” Oh, and no eating after seven.”

“ ‘K- What! Not even lollipops?? Gum? Chocolate??”

He shook his head, “Don’t forget to come up with a greeting! Today you have a free schedule, but tomorrow hell begins!”

He grinned. “Get it? Begins? The Beginning? Your album?”

“Yeah. Got it. Ha. Haha.” Why is he so excited?

I looked into the agenda, starting tomorrow I had training everyday, lots of it. And some recording in somebody's MV.

Oh, … The week after that it was mainly training and shooting the MV, including promo pictures, teaser pictures, poster pictures etc. The week after that was all training with my debut on Sunday. And the week after that was mainly promoting and shooting for a drama.

“…That’s a lot.” I said.

He shrugged, “I’ll be here at 7.00! Be ready by 7.30 latest!” Then he left.

What the ?

“Good luck with that!” Jonghyun said, starting to walk away.

“Yah! This isn’t happening! I don’t even want to be an idol! This isn’t happening! This can’t be happening to me!” I cried,

“That damn old man! Making me do all this!” I stomped my foot,

“Yah! Can’t I try talking to him? I’m sure it doesn’t need to be like this!” I tried to convince myself, trying to bargain on my miserable fate,

“Eottohke…. I’ll never be able to do all this… I don’t even want to…” I said miserably,

“But if I’m doing it anyway I might as well do it right. I guess there’s nothing I can do, other than my best.” I resolved.

The others watched in awe as I went through the 5 stages of grief in less than a minute.

“Sunbae, is she okay?” Sehun whispered to Onew.

“Honestly… I’m not sure…” Onew whispered back.