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​            “Oh crap…” you automatically mouthed. Your eyes were still fixed on the group of boys who also had the exact expression of shock on their faces as they looked over at you who were still sitting on the bench, awkwardly interlocking your fingers together. You immediately tore your eyes away and looked down, pretending as though there was something interesting on the floor. Just when you felt like your heart could jump out from your throat since it was beating so hard, you heard another door open and immediately made your way over to where the girls were coming out from. You could feel the members’ eyes on you as you tried to walk as quickly as you could to reach the girls toilet.

​             “What took you so long?” you whispered angrily to MinHee, who had a shock expression on her face when she noticed your harsh tone. You weren’t upset or anything though, just that you wanted to get out of there as soon as possible ‘cause you couldn’t stand it anymore. Just as MinHee was about to open to give a reply, you felt a strong pair of hands gripped your elbows and turning you around. You were now (again!) face to face with the members of EXO who all looked confusedly back at you.

             “Oh my God! It’s them!!” you heard MiYoung whispering excitedly from behind you. She was the one who had grabbed you by your elbows and pulled you in front of her; making you like a shield as she peeked from behind your head to look at the boys. You felt like shoving her hands away but seeing how genuinely excited your new friend was, you didn’t have the heart to. Instead, you just stood there, trying your best to avoid looking at any of the members in the eye.

 ​           “Umm… we know you’re all busy and are in a rush…” from the corner of your eyes, you saw JiMin taking a small step forward and stopping next to you.

​            “But, would it be alright if you guys could sign this for us?” You turned and saw JiMin holding out photocards of the members. Waiting for the worse, you held your breath and you could also feel MinHee and MiYoung tensing up as they waited for the members’ reply.

​            “Sure, why not!” you heard a rather low voice reply. You looked up and saw Chanyeol grinning at you guys. You noticed the other members were also nodding and gave a small shrug as though they were saying, “why not?” Instantly, you felt a gush of wind on your back as both MinHee and MiYoung let go of their breath that they had apparently been holding on.

​            Slowly, your eyes turned back to the group of guys who were now making their way to your direction. Once they were about a feet away from you, JiMin held out the photocards once again, but this time she handed some markers for them to use as well.

​            “Woah, how did you manage to get these?” Chanyeol suddenly exclaimed as he looked at the photocards on his hands. You glanced at his face, worried that he might be angry for some reason. Instead of an angry expression, he had a somewhat satisfied and proud look on his face as he kept his eyes on the first photocard – a fan taken picture of himself. The other members were now trying to see the photocards and were all crowded around Chanyeol.

​            “Oh, an admin from the fanclub gave them to me as a gift.” JiMin simply replied. The members merely nodded as they continued to look at the cards, amazed.

​            Shortly after they were done signing the photocards, the four of you were bowing and saying your thanks to the members. As you lifted your head after a bow, your eyes were locked onto Kai’s, who was standing in front of you. Immediately, the memories from the café came flooding your mind and you felt your cheeks burning as you quickly look away from him, praying that he wouldn’t recognize you. Just as you were about to grab the girls’ hands and get the hell out from there, you stopped when you heard Kai speak.

​            “Do you guys want to…” he mumbled softly. “Take a group picture?”

​            He was staring straight at you as he said that. Clearly surprised, the girls were stunned and merely stared at him – trying to confirm that they hadn’t misheard his last sentence. Seeing their reactions, Kai gave a forced laugh and raised his hand to scratch his head awkwardly. The other members were staring at him with their brows raised. The one standing next to him, Baekhyun, shrugged his shoulders and turned to you guys.

​            “Yeah, let’s take a group shot!” he said as he pulled the two members by his side – Kai and Chen – over to where you guys were standing. Seeing that, the other members followed suit and started positioning themselves. Realizing something, you stepped forward and took out your camera. All of a sudden, all 15 pairs of eyes were on you. You felt heat rising to your face as your eyes scanned their faces.

​            “I’m taking the picture…” you muttered lifting the camera to your face. MinHee looked around and slapped her own forehead. There were no staff with the members and so they hadn’t really thought of who was going to take the picture for them. Since you had your camera with you, you decided that it would be best if you were the one who took the picture.

​            “Put it on timer!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, his eyes opened wide, as though surprised by his own suggestion. The other members gave small ‘aaah’ as they nodded and patted him on his back. However, the only available ‘tripod’ was the bench so all of you had no choice but to bend your bodies down. MinHee and MiYoung stood next to their favourite members – Luhan and Sehun. Some of the members willingly sat on the floor and continued to reposition the others. As you waited for them to get ready, you tried to find a suitable spot for yourself to run to and stand after clicking the shutter. As though he was reading your mind, Kris spoke.

​            “Once you've pressed the shutter, go and stand next to Kai!” he said, pointing to Kai who was standing in the corner and looking at you with a small smile. You swallowed and gave a small nod.

​            “Okay, ready?” you asked them. Once they all gave you thumbs up, you pressed the shutter and quickly made your way to where you were instructed to stand. You could feel your cheeks burning as you stood next to Kai. Just as you were trying to calm yourself down, you felt him turn his head to look at you.

​            “Hey.” He softly whispered. You turned your head and were shocked to find his face inches away from yours. Startled, you took a step back but somehow your foot was positioned wrongly so you were about to fall. Just then, you felt a strong pair of hands holding on to you. One arm was on your elbow while the other was behind you, around your waist.

​            “Smile.” Again, he whispered against your ear before turning to look at the camera. You were certain that your face was as red as a tomato but somehow you still managed to look into the camera lens and gave a small smile before it flashed. Soon, you felt his arms leaving your body. You straightened up and mumbled a soft ‘thank you’ before going to your camera.

​            “Yah EXO! What’s taking you so long?!” a sharp voice came from the end of the corridor. You looked up at others and saw the members grinning and giving small ‘oops’ to each other before responding to the owner of the voice, who was now walking towards them. It was their manager. You’ve seen him before in pictures and thought that he could be a nice, calm person, but the aura that's exuding from him right now was definitely intimidating.

​            “Sorry hyung, we were just interacting with our fans.” Suho replied, his voice calm and reassuring. The manager turned to look at us.

​            “It was our fault, we asked for their signature,” MinHee spoke up.

​            “We’re sorry to have caused you trouble.”

​            “No, it wasn’t your fault!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

​            “It’s the least we can do for our fans.”

​            Hearing his response, the manager broke into a smile. You felt your body relaxed as you saw him smile, knowing that you girls were not going to be in trouble.

​            “Well… we’ll get going now.” You said, not wanting to cause any more delay for the EXO members with their busy schedule. You then turned to the girls and they gave you a smile before nodding their heads. After saying your thanks to the members and the manager, you were about to turn around and walk away when you heard someone talk.

​            “Wait!” all 4, no wait, all 16 of you (including the EXO members and their manager) turned to look at him, Kai. Ignoring the questioning stares from s and manager, he kept his eyes on you.

​            “I still don’t know your name.” He said softly, but it was loud enough for you to hear. You felt your tummy doing flips and your heart felt like it was about to fly out of your ribcage.

​            The members and the girls looked from Kai to you. Something weird was definitely going on. Before anyone could say anything, Tao nudged Kai and whispered something in his ear. Eyes wide open, Kai immediately stuttered,

​            “I mean… w-we still don’t know y-your names…” 

​            The girls laughed and nodded their heads.

​            “I’m MinHee,” she introduced herself. Pointing to the 2 standing on her other side, she introduced,

​            “And this is MiYoung and JiMin.”

​            “Nice to meet you.” Both of them said simultaneously. You were nodding your head at their introductions, not realizing that you have yet to introduce yourself. You felt a soft nudge from MinHee. You turned to look at her and saw her motioning her head to the members, mouthing ‘your name’ to you.

​            “Oh right.” You muttered. You heard someone chuckle from the members but didn’t know who it was.

​            “And I’m Hana.”

​            “Nice to meet you girls.” The manager finally said. He had a soft smile on his face. You returned his smile, along with a small bow. After exchanging a few more words, the 4 of you were finally outside, taking in the fresh air. Neither of you said anything as you guys made your way out but the moment you looked up at the girls, all 4 of you started giggling before finally laughing all out.

​            “I… c-cannot believe… t-that actually h-happened!” MiYoung managed to say amidst her laughing.

​            You could only nod in agreement to her statement since you were still having fits of giggles. After a while, the laughter finally died down and you were now deciding on a place to eat since it was nearly time for dinner. Thankfully, MiYoung has a car so you didn’t have to squeeze into the subway during the rush hour. Just as your hand reached the door handle, a black SUV drove by. You noticed the tainted windows rolling down. Thinking that it’s probably nothing, you simply shrugged and pulled the door open.

​            “Hana!” you heard a rather familiar voice shout your name. The parking lot was empty except for a few cars. You turned your head to where the voice came from and realized that the black SUV was slowing down. You squinted your eyes to get a closer look. You felt your eyes budge as you recognized the face that was now peering out form the SUV.

​            Chanyeol. And he was waving at you with a huge grin plastered on his face. You waved back, ecstatic that an idol star recognized you. Just as the SUV drove past you, your eyes caught sight of the person sitting next to Chanyeol – Kai. And in that short moment, you swore you weren’t seeing things. He winked at you. Kai. Just. Winked. At. You.

​            Soon, the SUV left the parking lot. You were still standing fixed at your spot and completely stunned until MiYoung craned her neck and shouted your name.

​            “My dear Hana,” MinHee called as you slid into the car. “You are completely star-struck.”

​            The 3 girls started laughing as MiYoung drove out of the parking lot and not long after you couldn’t help but join in because you knew that they were right. You were, indeed, completely star-struck.

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