Once I had retreated to my room, I wanted to sleep immediately, but there was something of great importance I had to do. I whipped out my phone and composed a quick text, ‘Met your boy Taemin. Cute kid, super sweet. You got lucky.’ I tossed my phone onto my nightstand, and with that I was able to fall asleep, content with my accomplishments for the day.

I woke very suddenly, jolting up in my bed. I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I called them mom-mares. Nightmares in which I found out my mother wasn’t really dead. Sounds nice, right? Well they’re always horrible in some way. She’s secretly a mass murderer, or was captured and tortured, or some other terrible thing. The dream faded too fast for me to remember anything except her face. Since she had died when I was just two years old, I didn’t know her at all, but I still remember her face. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the image from my mind. With a frustrated sigh, I glanced at my clock. It wasn’t too long until I had to wake up anyway, so I managed to will myself out of bed, my body not quite cooperating yet.

Once I was dressed and ready, I sat at my desk, staring blankly at my laptop. There wasn’t a lot of work left for me to do until the boys learned their vocal parts. Luckily I wasn’t bored for long as a knock sounded at my door. I leaned over, just barely able to grasp the handle, pulling the door open. “Oh it’s the birthday boy,” I greeted when I saw Hyuk standing in my doorway. He was grinning, holding papers in his hands.

“Good morning, Halley,” he stepped into my room, settling on the usual chair. “I have good news for you,” he said happily, his bright smile relieving some of the residual fear from my rough morning. Hyuk had that innocent joy about him that made him such a pleasure to be around. When I didn’t immediately answer him, he held up the papers he was holding, clearly a printed webpage, “Looks like we won’t be keeping you captive anymore.”

That caught my attention, “What?” I asked, leaning forward, but pulled the papers away, keeping them out of my reach.

“Let me read it to you,” he insisted, settling himself deeper into the chair as he looked over the papers. He cleared his throat deliberately, “Jellyfish Entertainment released a statement this morning that shocked the Kpop world. Late last night, Mira (Halley Browne, USA) announced that she was staying in Seoul, asking fans for help preparing a birthday party. A massive fan meeting was held outside the Grand Hyatt Seoul, where hundreds of Mira fans gathered to see the star. Additionally, YG’s G-Dragon and SM’s Taemin also arrived to meet the famous American. Speculations ran rampant all night, with fans across the country theorizing, but finally the mystery has been solved. An official PR statement was released by Jellyfish Entertainment confirming that Mira was brought from California, USA in order to collaborate with their idol group VIXX. It was in fact Lee Sanghyuk, the group’s youngest member, whose birthday is today. According to Jellyfish, Hyuk used his birthday budget to throw his new friend an American Independence Day party in lieu of celebrating his own birthday. In return, Mira called upon her many Korean fans to help repay the favor. CEO Hwang Sejun had this to say: ‘Mira is very attached to the boys already. She has been here a month and has held master classes for each of them. We look forward to seeing the results of her expertise and efforts’. Fans of VIXX and Mira alike are sure to agree.” Hyuk looked up at me happily when he finished reading.

I took in the announcement, processing it carefully. Finally, I sighed in relief, “Thank goodness.”

“We can all go out together!” he said excitedly, looking back down at the article in his hands, “And you can go out and see Seoul,” if I had to guess, Hyuk already had an itinerary in his mind for me, and I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“I’m so glad,” I admitted, “It’ll be nice to get out every once in a while.”

“Also, there are tons of people who want to meet you, I bet,” he speculated, “If GD took the time to come see you, I bet you’ll be the talk of the town,” he grinned at me.

“Only when I’m not working with you guys,” I reminded, “We still have a lot of work to do.” That reminded me of something, “Oh, did Leo give you guys your folders?”

“I got my green folder, yes,” he teased, emphasizing the color.

I laughed, “I thought it was a nice touch.” I paused, thinking, “Shouldn’t we be helping clean up the America Day stuff?”

“That’s why I’m here,” he said with a grin, “The rest of the guys wants us to stay here. They say it’s not fair for you to clean your own party, and it’s my birthday.”

“That’s awfully nice of them,” I assumed ‘them’ was pretty much exclusively N. I imagined the rest of them whining that it was more work for them. But, no matter, I wasn’t about to complain.

When I looked back to Hyuk, his face had fallen some. He must have noticed, because he looked directly into my eyes as he spoke earnestly, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my birthday.”

I was caught off guard, but my chest clenched seeing his sad face. Of all the VIXX members, Hyuk probably had the most openly expressive face. It was close between him and Ken. “It’s okay,” I relented, despite my lingering frustration on the subject, “I’m really touched that you threw me that party. It really made me feel like a part of your little family.”

He seemed quite pleased at my words, his smile returning to his face, “Well, you are!” he said suddenly, “Even though you’ll have to go home, I know you’ll always be our Mira noona.”

Oh Hyuk, he knew how to pull at my heartstrings. “Of course I will,” I said warmly, “even if one of these fancy SM or YG dudes get me to collaborate with them, you guys will still be first in my heart,” it was cheesy, for sure, but I had no other way to express my feelings. Regardless of whoever else I might work with in the kpop world, I doubt I’d be able to forget these six talented young men who got me into this mess in the first place.

His smile grew, and he stood from the chair, leaving his papers behind. He climbed up onto my bed with me, giving me a tight hug from the side, “Thanks, Mira.”

I managed to pat his head as he held on to me, “Happy birthday, Hyukkie.”

“What’s all this then?” we both looked up at the sound of a new voice from the doorway. Ken’s smirking face looked at the two of us, but Hyuk didn’t let go.

“We’re having a moment, hyung,” Hyuk said dismissively, making no indication of moving.

With my free arm that wasn’t holding on to the birthday boy, I reached out to Ken, beckoning to him with my hand, “Get in here.”

He laughed, but gladly obliged, joining us on my now very crowded bed, “Let me know when the moment is over,” Ken whispered loudly, “We have to go set up for the next party.” Despite his words, Ken wasted no time getting comfortable. I had to admit, after our horrible game getting to know each other, I did legitimately feel much more comfortable with Jaehwan. I just hoped it didn’t take that much suffering to get closer to the rest of them.

“Okay,” Hyuk said suddenly, as if he were satisfied, “We can go now.”

Ken snickered again as he hopped off my bed, “Alright then, boss, lead the way,” he gestured to Hyuk, who did just that, leading us all out of my room and down the hallway. Ken and I walked side by side behind the youngest. He gave me a little nudge as we walked, “That was quite the stunt yesterday.”

I shrugged, “More people showed than I expected,” I admitted. I had half expected my popularity overseas to be grossly exaggerated, but I had been pleasantly surprised at my short-notice turnout.

“Korean fans are very,” he paused, clearly trying to choose his words wisely, “enthusiastic.”

We reached their door before the conversation could go any further, and N was there waiting for us. “Get lost, Ken?” he asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

“We had a moment,” he parroted Hyuk’s earlier comment with a wink as he brushed passed his leader.

N rolled his eyes, but recovered quickly to grin at Hyuk and I, “Come in, come in,” he ushered us through the door before closing it behind us, “We have way too much stuff, Mira.”

Immediately I saw that he was right. The amount of party materials I had gathered from the night before was enough to start up our own retail store. I huffed, thinking, “Well I guess you guys can save some of your birthday budget for a year or two,” I rifled through one of the bags, taking a quick inventory of what was most common, “It’s not like any of this stuff goes bad.”

I took a look around the room, all of the USA gear totally out of sight now. The rest of VIXX was already hard at work sorting through streamers or inflating balloons. As N and Hyuk (who insisted he wanted to set up his own party) left me with the giant sacks, Hongbin seemed to appear out of nowhere, “Good morning, Mira!”

“Hey Hongbin,” I looked up from my stash of party hats I was judging.

He crouched next to me, “Cake is out of the fridge,” he spoke as he inspected the hats I had placed in my ‘good’ pile. “Man they really pulled through, didn’t they?”

“Hm?” I looked at him as he held a pink fluffy hat. With a chuckle I realized what he meant, “Yeah, I think some of the people who showed up last night thought bringing something was some sort of mandatory entry fee.”

His dimpled smile appeared, “Well it all worked out, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, Hyukkie read me the PR announcement, so that’s even better,” I turned to him, a tiny, sparkly silver top hat in hand. “Hold still.”

He looked at the hat, and then at me, then back at the hat. I think he realized that resistance was futile, and he slouched in defeat as I clipped the hat to his soft dark hair. “I’m glad we can still have a party for Hyuk,” he spoke, his voice very slightly less chipper than before.

I couldn’t help but giggle just a little bit, “I’m glad, too.”

“You know, he and I didn’t get a long at first,” Hongbin spoke quietly as he fiddled with some of the other party favors.

It seemed like a strange time to bring something like that up, but I’d be damned if I turned down an honest conversation with Hongbin, “What happened?”

He finally leaned back, sitting on his behind instead of crouching, indicating he wasn’t going to move any time soon. “Actually, it’s strange,” he fiddled with the strap of one of the hats as he spoke, “We were on a reality show together and they just plopped us in a field until we talked it out.” He laughed once, smiling at me again, “Strange how that actually works sometimes.”

“You seem pretty close now,” I pointed out.

“Yeah,” he nodded as he looked out to the common room, pulling his knees to his chest, “All six of us are like brothers. We’re not always best friends, but we can count on each other, you know?” as he finished, he looked back to me with a little smile.

I smiled at him, “Yeah, I’m a little jealous,” I answered honestly. “I like the freedom of being solo, but you guys make me wish I could be a part of this.”

His face lit up with his smile, his dark eyes shining, “Well you get to be a part of this for a while longer, right?”

“Right,” I agreed, reaching up to straighten his tiny silver top hat. I decided it would be my goal to ensure he would wear it for the rest of the day.

“Cute hat!” N plopped down next to Hongbin.

Hongbin touched the little hat briefly before shrugging. Apparently he had already surrendered to the idea that it was there to stay, “Thanks, hyung.”

N turned to me, “So I’m glad we made the announcement about working with you.”

“Me too,” I said, smiling at him. But I noticed his smile was a bit strained, “Okay Hakyeon, what’s wrong?”

He sighed, “My phone’s been blowing up with people asking questions.”

I cringed slightly, “Sorry,” it was like my family back home when the media caught wind of something.

“So many people want to meet you,” he took out his phone, apparently scrolling through pages of messages.

“I’m kind of a big deal,” I smirked playfully, glancing at him out of the corner of my eyes.

He groaned, “I guess we can’t hog you anymore.”

“Hey,” I turned to look at him properly, “I’ll let you decide who’s worth meeting.”

Seeming to think for a long time, he came to a conclusion, “You should probably meet Henry.”

“Henry?”

He nodded, “I’ll set it up sometime, but for now,” he stopped to look around before grinning at me again, “you’re ours.”

All of this hubbub with meeting the rest of the kpop industry was already wearing on me. Meeting Taemin was legitimately a pleasure, and that GD guy seemed interesting, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. I knew that there’d be a pony show, but individual meetings might be pushing it. Maybe I didn’t know what I was missing, but part of me wanted to just stick with these six guys I had worked so hard to get to know. I realized my feelings were pretty hypocritical considering how much I wanted to get out just a days before. Then again, I wanted to get outside, not integrate with the Korean entertainment industry. I sighed quietly to myself as I resolved to tough out the initial media storm before I could think about settling back to how things were.

“Mira?”

Apparently Hongbin had spoken to me in the midst of my introspection, and I had missed it. I shook my head to clear my head, “Sorry,” I said, “zoned out there for a minute,” I looked at him, his face mildly concerned.

He narrowed his eyes at me slightly, “I just asked if you had any plans for us tomorrow.”

I looked between him and N, thinking, “Well you all got your vocal parts, right?” when they both nodded, “So I guess I’ll let you guys practice those tomorrow.” I paused, calculating in my head how much time they might need and what order I wanted to go about doing things. “No practicing together yet,” I pointed at N, the most likely member to want to help the others.

“But Mira,” Hongbin started.

“Don’t worry,” I interrupted him, “I’ll work with you individually before we get everyone together.”

He seemed relieved and N nodded as well before coming to a conclusion, “So group practice in a few days?” he asked.

“Seems reasonable,” I agreed.

N stood, brushing himself off, “Guess you have time to socialize, Mira,” he smiled at me.

I sighed loudly, “I’m not sure how much I can take,” I admitted, “Plus I just promised one-on-one time to whoever wants it.”

“Dibs,” Hongbin said with a smile.

N tapped his chin, thinking, “Well, let’s do this: Hongbin tomorrow, then you can meet people Monday, then you can schedule another session that next day, and we can start together Wednesday.”

I raised my eyebrows at him, “Making plans?” I laughed. Usually I was the one with the structure.

He sighed, “Management wants to know when we’ll be free to start making public appearances again.”

“Ah,” I thought about it, “Well give it a little bit of time since the announcement was just made. Give it at least a week for the media buzz to die down.”

“I should go do that now before I forget,” N mumbled, clearly to himself more than to us, and he wandered away.

I looked at Hongbin, who was watching his leader slowly retreat, “I’m glad I’m not the leader,” he lamented quietly.

“Oi!” Ravi called to us from the other side of the room, “How long does it take to pick out party hats?” he was clearly agitated as he was breathing heavy from inflating a few too many balloons.

Hongbin touched his tiny had absentmindedly, “Guess we’d better help, huh?” his dimpled smile appeared again as he stood from his spot, “Are those all the ones you picked out?” he pointed to the line of hats I had in front of me.

“Yeah,” I began to stand as well, grabbing the five hats on the way.

The rest of the day was nothing terribly flashy, but it was the nice, intimate affair that Hyuk hoped for. It was calmer than N’s party, and we actually just sat around eating yet more cake and talking about nothing important, really. Even when N returned from his brief meeting with management, we didn’t speak a word about work.

As with the other get-togethers, the three loveseat-style couches were perfect for six people. So to deal with the extra bodies, a pile of pillows and blankets was assembled as a makeshift extra couch. At some point, Hongbin and I were up, cleaning up the destroyed carcass of the cake in the kitchen. Once we were satisfied, we returned to the common room where Hongbin’s seat next to Leo had been occupied. Occupied, that was, by the rest of Leo’s sleeping body.

With a shrug, Hongbin went to sit on the pillow-couch instead, and I moved to join him. “Guys,” N whispered, “We have to do something to him!” He seemed a bit overly excited, but Ravi, Ken, and Hyuk seemed to be already on board, conspiring to prank the sleeping lion.

I looked over at Leo, sleeping peacefully, though he was a bit too tall for that particular piece of furniture. He had ditched his usual sweater for a baggy sleeveless shirt with basketball shorts, so at least he was almost certainly comfortable. “I don’t know,” I said hesitantly, hoping their plans didn’t directly involve me this time. Scaring N was one thing, but for some reason, this made me more uneasy.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Ravi nearly tripped on the pillows as he approached me to whisper, “We have an idea.” The look in his eyes told me that my hopes of avoiding their schemes were hopeless.

I sighed, “What do I need to do?” I asked, resigned.

“Nothing much,” he smirked, “Just need you to sit.”

“On him?” I asked incredulously, my eyebrows knitted in concern.

He stifled his usual hearty laugh as he shook his head, “No, no, come here,” he beckoned for me, scooting along the front of the couch. He stopped in front of Leo’s sleeping face. Carefully, he leaned over and slid his hands under Leo’s head and neck.

“Careful, Ravi,” Ken called quietly, “he’s not as heavy of a sleeper as you.”

“Not saying much,” I heard Hyuk mutter, “We could carry Ravi to the roof and he wouldn’t wake up.”

It was hard not to laugh, but I didn’t want to risk Ravi’s life by waking Leo up at that point. Finally, Ravi had lifted his friend’s head high enough, and he looked at me over his shoulder, “Sit, Mira.”

“Uh,” I was apprehensive about this ‘plan’ of theirs, but arguing would not help, so I simply complied, slipping onto the couch gently before Ravi set Leo’s head unceremoniously in my lap. I held my breath, careful not to move a single muscle in my body.

Ravi must have noticed, “Relax,” he said with a laugh, “it’ll be better if he wakes up on his own anyway.”

I let out my held breath, but I still was incredibly aware of every twitch of my leg and every breath Leo took. I had no idea what to do with my hands, so I settled on laying one on the couch’s arm and the other along the back. But after a while, the rest of us fell back into our usual banter, and I was finally able to relax. I had mostly forgotten that Leo was asleep in my lap until my arm along the back of the couch got tired and I moved it to the soft hair that was conveniently readily available to me. It didn’t really hit me that I was Leo’s head until he shifted under my hand. I nearly jumped in my seat, but the fear of waking him kept me still.

“Uh oh,” Ken teased, interrupting our conversation, “Looks like Taekwoon might be waking up.”

He seemed to still under my hand, and I briefly considered moving it, but… his hair was so soft, and this seemed like a unique opportunity that would be a shame to squander. Eventually, I shrugged a little and resumed combing my fingers through his hair, inspecting the deep red color. And then a sleepy little contented moan escaped from Leo, and the boys all fell silent.

I felt the heat rise to my face as I once again froze in place, my hand still entangled in his hair. “That was the cutest noise I have ever heard!” N spoke up suddenly, his face dominated by a huge grin, and the entire room erupted in laughter.

Leo stirred, rolling over to try and face away from the noise, but my body was in the way. This seemed to finally be enough, and he groaned as his eyes began to crack open. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was my face, which was no doubt red and contorted in horror. We stared at each other for a long moment. I couldn’t hear the laughter anymore as I watched Leo’s deep, dark eyes search my face, clearly still disoriented. All at once I remembered that I still had my fingers laced through his hair, so I very slowly removed it, hoping in vain that he wouldn’t notice. A strange look came over him, as if he had finally put two and two together. He reached out and caught me by the wrist, stopping my retreat. From his gentle grip and the still-tired look in his, I could have sworn he was going to return it to his hair.

“Woah now, Leo,” Ravi’s voice cut through us like a knife, severing whatever little world Leo and I found ourselves in, “It was my idea, not hers,” Ravi continued in a panic as he circled the table to reach us.

Leo, fog broken, leapt up to his feet, releasing me. He didn’t speak, just took two intimidating steps toward Ravi, who instantly started to backpedal. I finally breathed again as I watched yet another episode of ‘violent’ Leo as he chased Ravi into the kitchen.

I looked around at the rest of the boys, who were all still in various stages of laughter. A smile finally returned to my face, “What was with Ravi?” I suddenly asked, unsure of why he seemed so urgent.

“Ah,” N’s laughter slowed as he returned my look, “I think Wonsik was worried Leo would take out his anger on you.”

“Hm,” I considered the thought, and while I was absolutely sure nothing of the sort would have happened, I could at least appreciate the concern. Angry voices could be heard from the next room. I stood, “I should probably make sure one of them isn’t dead,” I said with a chuckle.

Ken gave me a little wink, “If you’re not back in ten minutes I’ll call an ambulance,” he called after me as I shuffled away towards the kitchen.

I was able to hear their voices as soon as I got near the whitewashed room. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I heard Ravi cough out. “I overreacted!”

I rounded the corner to find Leo, doubled over with Ravi’s head locked firmly under his arm, “Um,” I spoke up quickly, alerting them to my company.

“Mira!” Ravi took advantage of Leo’s moment of distraction to wriggle out of his grasp, coming toward me. He rest his hands on my shoulders, “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said incredulously, “You’re the only one who was scared,” I pointed out.

His face fell a little bit, and his eyes relaxed. It wasn’t fair. Despite my resolve to let him go, my chest still clenched when he looked at me like that. At least I was pleased to find that it did hurt somewhat less than before, so I managed a smile. “I’m glad,” he spoke softly, his voice low. He was clearly embarrassed to have jump to conclusions, and he simply slunk away, leaving Leo and I in the kitchen.

The two of them clearly had quite the scuffle. Leo’s breathing was still a little labored, his lips slightly parted as he straightened his back, running a hand through his hair- the hair I had been playing with just moments earlier. He must have tracked my eyes, his hand falling to his side, “I’m sorry they got you involved again,” he finally spoke.

“Don’t be sorry,” I spoke as I moved closer, leaning on the counter, “It’s been fun every time I get roped into your shenanigans,” I pointed out, distinctly remembering scaring the out of N on his birthday. I especially recall Leo having quite the good time as well.

He seemed to relax some, leaning against the counter opposite me, “I guess it’s not fair for me to get mad being the target this time,” he muttered, but I spotted the tiny remnant of a smile on his face.

I shrugged, “It was fine until Mr. Knight in Shining Armor there showed up,” I said with a little laugh.

Leo actually rolled his eyes and sighed at this, “We should probably go back to Sanghyuk. It’s still his birthday,” changing the subject, he pushed off the counter, moving to head back to the common room. At the threshold he stopped to look at me, raising his eyebrows as if asking if I would follow.

Without a word, I nodded, following suit. Luckily no snide comments were made when we returned to the birthday together. Instead, Hyuk was happily reading the card the rest of the boys had written for him. I was a little surprised when Leo chose to sit with me still, but I was happy he didn’t feel awkward about the little prank we pulled earlier.

“Mira,” Ravi said suddenly, holding a tablet in his hands, “I have something for you.”

“What, you’re giving her a present on my birthday?” Hyuk asked in mock disgust.

Ravi laughed loudly, “Trust me, it’s not a present.” He walked over and handed me the tablet with a piece of paper taped onto it, “You gave us homework, now I’m giving you some.”

“A tablet?” I asked softly, reading the list on the page.

“I connected it to our internet so you can start doing research,” He pointed to the page, “This is a list of songs and artists you must learn about if you’re going to start meeting people.” It was strange to see Ravi so stern, but I genuinely appreciated it.

I looked at the list again, making sense of it after the explanation, “Alright,” I flipped the page up, seeing the list continue, “Quite the list.”

He returned to his seat, “That’s just the beginning,” he teased, “It’s a big kpop world out there, you know.”