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            “I wish I could just stay here… forever.”

​            You murmured to yourself as you stared at the cup of hot chocolate you were holding in your hands. You sighed and looked up, your eyes scanning the interior of the café that you’ve entered an hour ago. You were seated in the corner at the furthest end of the café – which has been your favourite spot since you’ve found the café a few weeks back. Every evening without fail, you’d come by and simply enjoy your hot chocolate as you observe people running along, doing their own things. You enjoy that – people watching. Noticing minute details made you feel as though you have a somewhat special connection with the one that you’re observing.

​            After a long day of walking and exploring the city, you were looking forward to browse through the pictures that you’ve taken with your trusty camera. After slotting in the memory card into your laptop, your hand reached out for the cup of hot chocolate that was placed on the table. As you waited for the notification to pop up, you took a sip of the drink and gave a small sigh, savouring the delicious taste that you really love. You looked around the café and noticed that it was fairly empty, except for you and a few couples. Realizing that, you smiled to yourself. This was exactly why you loved coming to this place, not many people are aware of its existence and you were thankful for that. It’s not as though you despised people or anything, it’s just that you don’t like being in crowded places, especially when you’re alone. And indeed, you are alone. No friends, no family.

​            Don’t take it the wrong way, you have friends and family. But they’re not with you at the moment. They’re safe back home while you… you’re in Seoul. It took a lot of persuading and reassuring before your parents allowed you to go for a short holiday on your own. Seeing that you’re only 19, they were extremely worried to let their only daughter fly off on her own to a city far away from where they’ll be. Thankfully, your brothers were able to reassure them that you’ll be fine, ‘cause you’re independent and responsible enough to take care of yourself. Besides, you promised to update them every single day, which was why you’d always bring your laptop along to the café.

​            As you looked at the pictures that you’ve taken that day, you couldn’t help but smile. You loved every shot that you took. Seoul is definitely a beautiful city and you believed that entirely. Just as you were admiring a picture you took of the Gyeongbokgung palace, a notification popped up at the bottom right of your laptop screen. It’s an email from your brother. You smiled, knowing that it is a reply to the one you sent yesterday, updating your family about your adventures so far. After a few minutes of typing your reply and attaching a few pictures to share with your family, you clicked the send button and grabbed your cup of hot chocolate.

​            “I wish I could just stay here… forever.” You murmured to yourself as you stared at the cup of hot chocolate you were holding in your hands. You sighed and looked up, your eyes scanning the interior of the café that you’ve entered an hour ago. It was then that you noticed a pair of eyes staring right back at you. It belonged to a guy who was sitting right across the room from you. When your eyes met, he quickly shifted his eyes to his friends next to him who were laughing over a joke that one of them had cracked. He also shifted his head so that you couldn’t see his face that was blocked by his friend who was sitting opposite him. You raised a brow and continued observing the guy and his group of friends. They were always there whenever you went to the café. Usually they’d reach around ten minutes after you settled down. However, today you felt that they looked oddly familiar.

​            All 4 of them were wearing comfortable clothes – hoodies and tees. One of them had huge round eyes and he was listening intently to what his friend was sharing. You could only see the back of the person whom you presume was sharing a story with the others. As compared to the other 3, he looked like a giant. He’s definitely much taller than his friends. Every now and then, he’d turn to look at the other two next to him and you noticed his strong and defined jawline. Your eyes moved on to the guy sitting next to him. He had his arms crossed on the table and was nodding every now and then as he listened to his friend’s story. Finally, you looked at the one who caught your eye earlier. He had a serious look on his face as he listened to his friend talking. You had this feeling that you’ve seen them somewhere before but you can’t seem to place a finger on it. You gave a small frown and decided to continue looking through the forum for any updates of your favourite girl group; KARA.

​            You were scrolling down the forum when you noticed the advertisement of a new album release by a boy group at the end of the website. Curious, you clicked on it and waited for the article to load. A picture of 12 rather good looking guys were staring right at you and beneath it were hangul characters, which you decided to ignore since you weren’t able to understand much either. Your eyes scanned the 12 faces one by one. It was then that you heard a ‘ding!’ going off in your head. You glanced up at the four boys again. They were now laughing their heads off and were oblivious to their surroundings. You looked down at the picture again.

 ​            “They’re…” you whispered.  “EXO…”

 ​            “Woah…” you whispered as you continued staring at the 4 boys who were now huddled quite closely together and appeared to be in an intense discussion. It was your first time ever to encounter a celebrity right before your very eyes. And not to mention, this was EXO you’re looking at! You can’t believe that you’re in the presence of the group (well, a small portion of the group) that has caused sensations among kpop fans all over the world. You mentally hope to yourself that you’d be able to remember this moment for the rest of your life.

​            As you were still staring at them, trying to confirm the fact that they are indeed members of EXO, suddenly the one whom you made eye contact with earlier turned his head and stared right back at you. You wanted to look away immediately, which was a reflex since you disliked making eye contact with strangers, but somehow you couldn’t. His eyes were staring right into yours and you could feel your cheeks slowly burning. There was also a hint of a small smile playing on his lips. Finally, you managed to tear your eyes away from his and immediately got back to your laptop. You could feel him still staring at you but you remained determined not look up again.  You moved the cursor every now and then, pretending to be absorbed in whatever that you’re doing, when in reality, you were actually trying to calm yourself down in order to prevent yourself from doing anything stupid or embarrassing.

​            After a few minutes, you finally resumed scrolling through the KARA forum; reading updates about their current promotions in Japan. Seeing pictures of your 5 favourite girls made you smile but it also made you wish that they’d have a comeback in Korea soon ‘cause you missed seeing them on tv, especially variety shows. Giving a small sigh, you leaned back into your seat and stretched out your arms in front of you. Your eyes shifted to the digital clock at the bottom corner of your laptop screen. It’s already half past ten! Realizing that you’ve been there for nearly two hours, you quickly shut your laptop and gathered your things. Standing up, you grabbed your camera and slung it over your shoulder. As you walked to the door, your eyes unconsciously scanned the café. It was then that you heard loud whispers coming from the other side. Curious, you looked in the direction that the whispers were coming from and saw 4 gorgeous pairs of eyes staring right at you. You felt your heart skipped a beat and the heat rushing to your cheeks. While maintaining eye contact with you, the one with the big round eyes nudged his friend next to him, the one whom you’ve made eye contact with earlier. You shifted your eyes to look at his friend and felt your heart rate accelerating when you saw him looking at you with a sheepish smile. Not knowing how to react (also, not being able to ignore the voice in your head saying that he probably wasn’t even smiling at you), you gave a small smile before your hand grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. As you stepped out, you swore you heard the 4 guys giggle. Literally, giggle. Oh my God.

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​            “One more week to go, huh?” you muttered to yourself as you looked through your planner. After being in Seoul for nearly a month, you’ve grown accustomed to the lifestyle there. Besides, it was a break from reality back home, from school and work. Even though the vacation’s gonna be over soon, you can’t help but be thankful for the wonderful memories that you’ve gained from this trip. You then placed your planner inside your bag and got ready to head out.

​            You hummed softly as you made your way to the nearest subway station to your guesthouse. You loved walking on the streets of Seoul. The neon signboards and hangul characters captivate your attention. Because of your interest in languages, it was easier for you to learn Korean and you were thankful for that. Atleast you were able to read the signs on the streets, which definitely helped to reduce the number of times you got lost as you explored the city. Finally, you’ve reached the subway station.

​            “Hmm… where should I go today?” you wondered aloud. Having been there for nearly a month, you’ve pretty much went to most of the tourist locations so you don’t really know where else you should go. As you were staring at the subway map, you overheard a conversation between two teenage girls around your age. Of course, you couldn’t be bothered to eavesdrop as you could hardly understand what they were saying, but you heard something that caught your attention.

​            “… today… EXO fan-meet…” one of the girls gushed to her friend. They were giggling and couldn’t stop talking about the guys.

​            You raised a brow. You’ve never been to a fan-meet before. Besides, you hated crowds and also, you preferred to be in the background and supporting quietly. As you sat on the bench, waiting for the train to arrive, you took out your phone and typed ‘EXO fan-meet’ into the search engine. Instantly, dozens of links popped up and you had to filter through them to find the latest and most relevant one. Scrolling down, you saw their picture again. Your eyes lay on Kris who’s one of the 4 that was at the café along with D.O, Suho and… Kai – the one who smiled at you. Your heart began to beat rapidly against your chest as you recalled the memory of that particular night a week ago. Since that night, you stopped going to the café, not because you didn’t want to see them, but because you were afraid that they won’t be there and you’d end up disappointed. You sighed as you put away your phone into your pocket and made your way to board the approaching train. Besides, seeing them at the café was the luckiest you could ever get right? Nope, you were wrong. Very wrong.

​            “Okay… now how in the world do I get to there?” you wondered aloud as you looked at the map near the entrance of the subway. After a day of sightseeing, you decided to test your luck and go for the fan-meet.

​            “Do you need help?” you heard a gentle voice coming from behind you. Immediately, you straightened up and turned around. A girl, with fair skin and long luscious hair stood staring at you with a kind smile on her face.

​            “Uhhh… well, I guess so. I’m actually on my way to EXO’s fan-meet.” You replied, making sure that you enunciate every word clearly as you were unsure if the girl was fluent in English.

​            “Oh! Then, we can go together! I’m heading there as well.” The girl replied, gleefully clapping her hands together. She was fluent in English and for the first time since you reached Seoul, you felt at ease knowing that you could finally have a decent, proper conversation without having to worry about saying a wrong thing in Korean. It’s not that you can’t converse in Korean, but you took a while to get the right sentence structure in your head which in turn, makes the person waiting for your reply feel awkward. As you two made your way to the fan-meet location, you found out that the her name was MinHee and she's 3 years older than you.

​            “Woah, I should call you ‘unnie’ then!” you joked, as you softly nudged her using your shoulder as you walked side by side. Even though the 2 of you just met, somehow you were able to get along very well. It was probably due to the fact that both of your personalities are rather similar to one another. You also found out that MinHee is also a fan of KARA and when she mentioned that she might be able to get an autographed album for you, you pulled her into a tight hug and promised to treat her something in return.

​            “You definitely should!” she responded, laughing. “Besides, if it weren’t for me today, you wouldn’t be able to see EXO in person!”

​            Laughing, both of you finally made your way to the location of the fan-meet. It was held at an amphitheatre.  Not surprisingly, the seats were all nearly occupied with fans that came fully prepared with their high-quality cameras and of course, fan signboards. You looked around at the fans, unable to hide your amazement at their dedication and energy level. They were all singing together as they waited for the event to start.

​            “MinHee-ya! Over here!” you heard a shout coming from somewhere near the front. You turned your head to look at MinHee, who was already making her way down the steps.​            

​            “There you are!” she shouted back, before grabbing your hand and pulling you along down the steps. “Come on, my friends are over there!”

​            “Ya, you’re late again!” you heard a girl shouting right into MinHee’s ear. She was standing next to the girl who called you guys over earlier. You couldn’t blame her; you could barely hear your own thoughts amidst all the chanting and screaming of the fans.

​            “Sorry guys!” MinHee simply replied with a grin plastered on her face. “Anyway, this is someone whom I met just now. Hope you guys don’t mind her joining us!”

​            The three of you exchanged introductions. You found out that their names were MiYoung and JiMin, and that they had been best friends since high school. You were glad to see that they were completely welcoming of you and treated you warmly. Shortly afterwards, a staff stepped on stage and told the crowd to settle down. The four of us immediately sat back on our seats and waited, along with numerous other fans. We were lucky that our seats were right in the middle, allowing us a clear view of the stage. You were seated between MinHee and Miyoung (the one who called you guys over). Every now and then, they would mention something to one another and giggle. Surprisingly, you were able to understand what they were talking about thanks to the ‘lessons’ from numerous variety shows that you’ve watched.​            

​            “KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” screams and squeals filled the amphitheatre when the 12 breathtakingly good-looking guys stepped on stage, waving to their fans. Unknowingly, you joined in the fun along with the other 3 girls with you – chanting and singing along to their songs. Even though you weren’t so familiar with all of the songs they performed, you waved your lightsticks and swayed your body along to the music. You also did not forget to take some snapshots of the guys with your camera, for memories sake.

​            Finally, the guys stood in a line and on cue from their leader, Suho, they greeted the fans with their trademark greeting. Instantly, the fans went wild with screaming and shouting. Flashes from cameras could be seen going crazy every time any of the members had any form of interaction with the others. One by one, the members greeted the fans – some even adding in fanservice, like doing a heart pose with their hands and whatnot. You stared at them, completely transfixed. Ever since that incident at the café, you looked up their videos online and you were finally able to memorize all their faces and names. Never has it occurred to you that you’d be seeing idol stars in real life. You smiled to yourself, knowing that you will never forget this moment.

​            After around an hour or so, it was already time for the fan-meet to end. The ‘aawwwwhhs’ and ‘boooooos’ from the fans were deafening. The EXO members couldn’t help but chuckle at the fans reaction. One of the taller ones, Chanyeol, took the mike and comforted the fans by thanking them for all their support and that they’ll see each other again soon. Hearing that, the fans started cheering wildly again. After a few more comments by the members, they finally waved one final goodbye and got off stage.

​            “Wow…” you muttered aloud, causing MinHee, MiYoung and JiMin to turn and look at you. You were still seated and trying to process the whole event that had happened in front of your very eyes. The girls simply laughed at your reaction and pulled you up from your seat before leading you out of the amphitheatre.

​            “Girls, can we just hang around for a bit?” JiMin suddenly mentioned as they were about to reach the top of the steps.

​            “Sure, why not?” MiYoung replied as she plopped herself down on one of the seats that was vacant. You turned to look at MinHee and saw that she too was seated. Noticing that you were still standing, she gently pulled your hand till you were seated next to her.

​            “Besides, it’s going to be crowded. Let the crowd disperse a little before we go.” She explained. You smiled and gave a small nod. Honestly, you didn’t mind because back home, whenever you went to events with your friends, you’d suggest the same thing.

​            After a few minutes, MiYoung dragged us to the nearest toilet, which was located backstage. Thinking that it’d probably be empty by now, you joined along. Once you girls reached the toilet, you saw a bench on the other side and walked there instead. You turned and told the girls that you’ll wait for them there. They nodded and before entering the toilet they jokingly warned you not to run away. You simply laughed and gestured them to quickly go in.

​            You sighed as you sat down on the bench. Your eyes scanned the corridor. It was a rather long one and was empty. You looked down and noticed your shoelace untied. You bend down to tie your shoelace. Just as you were done, you heard a door open and voices coming out from it. Thinking that they belonged to the girls, you looked up expectantly. Your eyes nearly popped out from your sockets when you realize that you’re not looking at MinHee, MiYoung or JiMin. But instead, you’re staring straight at EXO.

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&&&& there you have it! The very first chapter. Do let me know what you guys think so far okay! :D