I awoke the next morning to the sound of “Trap” as my alarm.

“Henry.” I grumbled, reaching to silence the offensive object.  “I don’t even know when you had the time to do that…”

I stumbled towards the kitchen to make a pot of coffee and was surprised to see Kat emerging from her bedroom. 

“Morning, love!”  She responded cheerily, with a sleepy smile.

“You’re up?  I’m shocked!”

She shrugged her shoulders with a yawn.  “My body doesn’t know what time it is.  Might as well try and get to used to some sort of schedule.”

Our morning was spent chatting; mostly me relaying the details of what she’d missed between our skype conversation and her arrival.

“Geez!  This Kris kid has really got some nerve!  I’ve only just met Tao and Sehun and I’m already super pissed at the guy for screwing them over!” 

I nodded, sighing.  “I know, but it’s a really hard situation to figure out.  I don’t know what sort of stance I should take because we’ve never even met the guy.  We don’t really know what happened… because they haven’t exactly been all that forthcoming with the details…” My voice trailed off; it came out as more of a grumble really.

“Well, I tried real hard to get Jin to dish on the way here from the airport.  That didn’t work.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “I get the feeling he’s only helpful when he feels like it.”

I laughed.  “Yeah, but he has been a big help.  Let’s try not to piss him off, okay?  He’s someone I don’t think I’d ever want to make angry.”  I shuddered at the thought.

We ate an early lunch before getting showered and ready.  As we made our way towards the elevator, Kat pointed across that hall to the sign posted next to 1211; the red sharpie “x” over the “12” still visible. 

“You suppose that’s some angsty way of sticking to Kris?”  She commented.

I sighed.  “I dunno, but I’m starting to wish I had my degree in counseling as opposed to teaching.”

Jin could be found, once again, legs crossed and paper in hand.  This time, I beat him to the punch line.

“Shall we be on our way, Sir Jin?”  I said, mocking.

He flashed a genuine smile as he stood, folding his paper.  “You ladies are awfully popular this morning.” 

I looked at Kat.  We both looked back to Jin, confusion written on our faces.

He motioned us towards the car.  We followed, eager for an explanation.  Once we were seated and buckled in, he continued.

“I’ve received five phone calls this morning.  Tao, Sehun, Chanyeol and Henry have requested your presence at their dance practice.”

Kat smirked.  “Requested our presence or Allie’s.”

“Katty.”  I hit her playfully on the shoulder.  “Who called twice?”  I inquired; curiosity getting the best of me.

“Tao asked specifically for the ‘pretty blonde noona’.” 

I smirked at Kat, watching her jaw drop.  We had reached a stop in front of SM. 

“Yeah, but think about this logically.”  I said; a very serious look painted on my face.  “If you were learning English and you needed to hear it conversationally, ‘Full House’ would be a way better show to be watching than ‘Saved By The Bell’!”

After showing Kat around a bit we had retreated to our office with coffee.  We’d been discussing ‘lesson plans’ when a knock came at the door.

“I completely disagree, ‘Saved By The Bell’, all the way!  Come in!”  Kat called, after getting her two cents in.

The knob turned and the door opened slowly.  We both watched as a sheepish looking Suho entered, his eyes widened when they landed on Kat, the newcomer.

“Oh! Annyeonghaseyo!  Suho imnida!”  He said, bowing. 

“Suho, this is Kat.  She will be tutoring with me.”  I motioned towards Kat. 

She bowed towards Suho, respectfully.  “Nice to meet you!” 

“Suho is the leader of Exo.”  I explained.

“Oh… neh.”  He nodded his head, beaming proudly.  “You know our music?  Exo?”  He asked, looking at us expectantly.

We looked at each other and then to him, shaking our heads with guilty expressions on our faces. 

“Chincha?”  He looked shocked for a moment, but his expression changed to resolute.  “Arasso, Arasso. You come… watch practice?  Now?” 

“Sure, Suho!”  I agreed, with a smile.

He turned to walk out the door, motioning for us to follow.  “Ttarawa.”

“Anything you say, gorgeous…” Kat muttered under her breath, following him.  I chuckled, closing the door behind us.

We followed him into the practice room with the cloud backdrop.

“Al!  We’ve seen this on a video before!  Remember?  We watched that one group with the dumb name!”  She screwed her face up in thought.  “I’m so curious, yeah.”  She sang.  “Remember?  Those guys!”

A light bulb went off in my head.  “That’s what it was!  I walked past here yesterday and I couldn’t figure it out.  But that means those guys work here too.  We gotta figure out who they are.  Knowing us we’d end up insulting them and not even realize it!”  I said, laughing. 

It was only then that I noticed the eleven pairs of eyes silently watching our exchange.  I stopped laughing and nudged Kat. 

“What?  Oh… Hi.”  She said, awkwardly. 

“Yehpeudah.”  Said Tao, quietly while staring in Kat’s direction.  He received a smack from the boy on either side of him; Xiumin and Sehun.

Suho then stepped forward, clearing his throat before counting off. 

“We are one! Annyeonghaseyo!  Exo Imnida!”  They said in unison, bowing.

Kat clasped her hands and held them over her heart with a huge smile, her eyes wide.  She looked over the group before turning to me.  “Can we keep them?  Please?”

I laughed at her before turning back to the boys.  “Hello again!  This is my best friend and your other new tutor.  Her name is Kat.”           

She bowed towards them and they bowed back respectfully, murmuring their ‘hellos’. 

The moment Exo’s last song concluded Henry jumped up.  He appeared to barking orders in Korean.  I took the opportunity to seize the cell phone he’d deposited along with his keys and some other random belongings on the floor where he’d previously been sitting. 

I turned to Kat.  “If you were a dude, what would be the absolute last song you’d ever want to hear coming from your cell phone when it rang?” 

She took the phone from my hands and got to work.  She showed me the song she’d chosen before placing his phone back on the floor.  I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from snorting.

“Oh, wait.”  I picked up the phone once more and turned the camera on.  I snapped a quick photo of the two of us and changed it to his background image before replacing it. 

I looked up to see that Henry was still immersed in whatever it was he was doing.  He hadn’t noticed a thing.  When he’d finished giving out directions only six of the eleven members stood with him on the dance floor; Kai, Lay, Sehun, Tao, Xiumin, and Luhan.

Finally, his attention returned to us.  “I haven’t gotten all the kinks worked out of the choreography for my next song, so I can’t show that one to you yet.  Plus my dancers aren’t here and these guys don’t know it yet, so we’ll just show you ‘trap’.  Is that cool?”

“Henry, you dance just fine.  Let these guys take a break.  Do it on your own.”  Kat scolded.

“Naw, these guys are good.  They’re all dongsengs.  I gotta exercise that muscle every once in awhile.”  I could’ve sworn I saw all six pairs of eyes roll at the word “dongseng”. 

He nodded to D.O. who was stationed at the sound system.  He pushed a button and the track began.  Already familiar with the piano melody that woke me that morning, I grinned, looking expectantly towards the group assembled in front of us.

Henry’s performance was good.  Real good.  He sang throughout a majority of the performance and I was surprised at how much he’d improved since high school, already having been a standout.

I was also impressed that in addition to their own choreography, the six ‘backup dancers’ seemed to know Henry’s song almost as well as their own.  If they didn’t, they sure made it look like they did. 

Kat leaned over, in a whisper.  “These boys are like machines!”

I nodded in agreement, staring openly.

After the first chorus, Henry called out to us.  “This is supposed to be Taemin from Shinee’s part!”  Kai slid towards the center, obviously his stand-in.

I felt Kat hitting my shoulder.  “Shinee!”  She hissed out of the corner of , never taking her eyes off the dancing men.  “That’s the group with the dumb name!”

I nodded and turned my attention back towards the performance.  Luhan was now at the center.  “This is Kyuhyun’s part!  He’s with me in Super Junior M!” 

As the final chorus played, Henry moved to the center once more.  In unison, the seven boys pulled towels (that neither Kat nor I had noticed somehow,) from their pockets.  Once their choreography with the towels concluded, they tossed them at Kat and I, most landing at our feet, Henry’s landed on my head.

That was on purpose, you effer.  I grimaced at him.

As the music wound down, the dancers moved to the sides, leaving Henry, front and center. 

“I’m supposed to have a piano for this part and the opening.”  He closed his eyes and used his fingers to mimic the action, his finger most likely moving correctly on their own accord. 

Musicians...  I muttered in my head, jealous of his natural ability of which I had little.

At the end we all clapped.  Henry walked a few steps before sinking to ground, facing us, his breathing still heavy.

“So, what’d you think?”  He smiled at both Kat and I expectantly. 

Kat’s expression remained neutral as she caught my eye and I matched mine to hers.

“Well, it was alright, I guess.”  She said, bored.

“Yeah, I mean, you were pretty good in high school.  But Hen, I think you’ve gotten worse!”  I lied through my teeth.

He looked at both of us, obviously trying to mask his surprise.  “Oh…  That bad, huh?”

Kat burst out in laughter.  I joined her, smiling towards the confused ginger in front of us.  “Hen, we’re totally lying.  You were fantastic!  I wasn’t lying when I said you were pretty good in high school, because you were.  But now… you’re fantastic!”

He grinned, obviously pleased and relieved to hear the praise.  “Now I really can’t wait until you hear my new song.”

“I look forward to it!”  I told him, seriously.

“Well, I’m exhausted.”  Kat told us.  “The combination of jet lag and all this testosterone…” She shuddered.  “I better get home quick before I say something I’m gonna regret.”

As if he’d heard Kat’s cry, Jin appeared in the doorway to the practice studio.  “Ladies, shall we be off?”