“Do you think they’re coming?” Helena checked the time on her phone for the fifth time in the last minute and sighed.

“I don’t know.” I really didn’t know. I kept repeating that moment in my head, trying to remember if I’d done something wrong, wondering if I, at least, had done enough. I hated waiting. I hated not knowing.

“That’s it. We’re past the half hour mark.” Arms hanging helplessly at her side, Helena stared at the glass doors behind me while her smile faded.

“They’re not coming…” Tatiana’s tone was so faint that I wasn’t even sure if I had only imagined her voicing my own thoughts.

“They’re coming. It was an offer they can’t refuse.” I didn’t know if Bia was trying to reassure us or herself, but the confidence in her voice was not so clear anymore.

Tatiana took a few steps around us, stretching her arms above her head. “If we leave now, we can still go to class…”

The wind ruffled my hair. It was a particularly hot September afternoon and I was glad for the sudden cool breeze.

“Just give them a few more minutes” I told her, with my back still turned to the door. “It’s not an easy decision for them.”

I was so sure they’d take our offer when I was scribbling that note that I didn’t even consider any other possibility. Now that it seemed clear they were not coming with us, I didn’t know how to react. It felt odd watching all the cars speed on the street in front of me and the people walking past us. It was just another normal day for them. Nothing had really changed. Except that I had just lost the opportunity to meet the members of my favourite band, maybe take a picture with them, hug them, even if it was just for a brief moment. And my friends, they would blame me forever because the note thing was my idea. Stupid note and stupid idea. Stupid me.

“They’re coming!” Bia yelled, pointing at the mall. “God, they’re coming!”

I turned around in time to see them running up the escalator. Jonghyun was leading, followed by Minho, Taemin and Key, who was pulling Onew by the hand.

They were almost reaching the doors when Tatiana grabbed my arm with panic all over her face. “What do we do now? Oh God, what now? We didn’t think this through!”

“Top floor party?” I asked out loud so the others could hear me.

“Top floor party!” Helena cheered, as the boys reached us.

I watched as Jonghyun jogged through the automatic glass doors, the sunlight shining on his flawless skin, his big hands messing up his blond hair as he stopped right in front of me.

Hoping my friends would follow my lead, I grabbed his hand and led him across the street and into the building in which I lived. We waited for the others inside and it wasn’t until I noticed Helena looking down at the space between him and me that I realised we were still holding hands. Unsure of what to do, I hesitated for a moment, but ended up letting go of his hand. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, but I really didn’t want to push my luck or make things weird. Or weirder.

“We should split into two groups because we can’t all fit in the elevator at the same time.” To my surprise, my voice came out steadier than I would expect in such a situation.

After a minute of discussion, Jonghyun, Minho, Tatiana and me got into one of the elevators while the others shared the second one. Tatiana was standing in front of me, closest to the door and I was standing between the two boys. They were standing so close to me that their arms were touching mine. Their skin was burning hot and it felt as though my arms were on fire.

The ride to the 5^th floor started very silent and awkward because Tatiana was too shy to strike up conversation and I was too busy trying breath and not to go into spontaneous combustion. Around the 2^nd floor, they shared a couple of words in Korean and giggled. I didn’t understand any of it, so I took it as an opportunity.

“Now in English, please” I told Minho, looking up at him over my shoulder.

He leered at Jonghyun and then just looked away, smiling. I turned my head to glance at Jonghyun but he was also smiling and not looking at me. Crossing my arms on my chest, I stared at the elevator door.

“You seriously won’t tell me?”

“It wasn’t important.” Minho finally said.

“He said you’re very pretty.” Jonghyun blurted out and I felt Minho punching him lightly behind me.

My mind was spinning, rendering me unable to speak, so I just uncrossed my arms and kept staring straight ahead until the elevator stopped and the doors opened up again.

The second elevator stopped as we were getting out into the hall. Helena had her keys ready to open the door to the apartment we shared so I let her go first and stayed behind with Jonghyun and Minho still standing by my side.

“Welcome guys” she said as she stepped in. “It’s pretty small, but it’s home.”