The following day, everyone slept in until it was almost noon. Once I was up and about, the boys all showed up at my door, clearly dressed with the intention of going out. “Good morning, Mira!” N sang happily as I stepped out of my door, “We’re going to the fair!”

“What?” I couldn’t help but shake my head, assuming I had misheard him. “The fair?”

“It’s our last day off for a little while, right?” Hakyeon hooked his arm in mine and began leading me down the hall. “Plus,” he continued, the rest of them close behind, “it’s a good opportunity to film some stuff for VIXX TV.”

Glancing over my shoulder I saw that Ravi had some very obviously fake microphones with his and N’s name on them. Hongbin had a rather pricey looking camcorder in tow. “Alright then,” I resigned myself to this little escapade. Once downstairs, we all piled into a van.

“Everyone fasten your seatbelt!” N called from the front seat, “Jaehwan is driving~” he sang as he faced forward again.

Somehow I had ended up in the very back between Ravi and Leo, with Hongbin and Hyuk in the two middle row seats. “Hongbin,” Ravi spoke up suddenly as soon as we started moving, “Let’s start filming.” As Hongbin began to start up the camcorder, Ravi’s voice called to the front, “Hakyeon hyung, did manager give you a challenge?”

“Oh!” N turned around quickly, “You’re right! It had something to do with Mira,” he murmured as he thought hard for a moment.

“Me?” I asked incredulous, suddenly a little nervous to get wrapped up in their silly games again.

N snapped his fingers, “Right, if we can go the whole day without her touching the ground at the carnival, management will buy us fancy dinner!” he announced confidently.

“What,” I looked around at the guys who seemed relatively unfazed.

Ravi nodded sagely, “Alright, ready Hongbin?”

“Wait, wait,” I interrupted, “Are we really doing this?”

Ken laughed from the driver’s seat, “Of course, noona! We’re hungry boys, you know. We’ll do anything for good food!”

With a sigh, I sat back in my seat. Clearly there would be no debate on the subject. Hongbin turned around with the camcorder, “Ready Ravi hyung?” he asked, clearly ready to go.

Ravi found the silly plastic mic with his nameplate on it and nodded as he adjusted the black beanie on his head. Hongbin gave a silent countdown with his fingers then pointed at Ravi, who instantly started speaking, “Hello! This is real V! VIXX TV! It has been a while since we’ve been able to film,” his voice was quick and confident, clearly very well practiced. “Ah!” he said suddenly, “This is the viewers’ first time meeting Mira noona!” he turned to me, “Will you say hello to the fans?” he put the fake microphone to my mouth.

I tried not to laugh, hiding it with a wide smile, “Hello! My name is Mira, it’s nice to meet you!” I spoke quickly, giving a little bow.

“Ahh,” Ravi approved with a little crooked smile of his own, “As you can see, Leo hyung, Mira, and me are stuck in the back seat. But we’re not sad, because we are going to the carnival!” A collective ‘Yay!’ sounded through the car. I glanced to Leo to my left, only to find him looking wistfully out the window, clearly wanting nothing to do with the camera. “Today our managers have given us another challenge,” Ravi’s voice grew seriously, “We are playing ‘The Floor is Lava’ except that Super Heroes VIXX are immune! So we must ensure that our lovely guest Mira does not die a horrible death, right Hyukkie?”

Hongbin turned the camera to a smiling Hyuk, “We will carry her until our last breath!” he announced proudly, placing a hand to his heart.

“Good, then Hyuk has volunteered to go first,” Ravi spoke plainly, smiling as the camera swung back to him.

With a laugh, I punched him gently in the shoulder, “That’s not nice, Ravi!”

“Ow!” Ravi dramatically flinched from the punch, “The violent American emerges!”

The car erupted in happy laughter, but N spoke up from the shotgun seat, “As VIXX’s leader I will carry her first!”

“But hyung,” I heard Hongbin speak as he turned the camera on himself with Ravi and I visible in the background, “She’s just as tall as you!”

We all relaxed as we laughed and smiled, passing the silly banter back and forth until there was a good point to cut. Hongbin temporarily closed the camcorder as we continued driving. Finally, we reached our destination- a relatively small fair that reminded me of the old state fair I used to visit in elementary school. Once we had piled out of the car, we made our way to the carnival entrance.

“Ready, Halley?” N looked at me expectantly.

I sighed, “Really?” I couldn’t help but look to Leo for help, but he was suppressing a smile. I generally could count on him to agree with me whenever I fought one of N’s silly ideas, but apparently I did not have that luxury today. Despite his reluctance to take part in filming, he was clearly amused by the ‘challenge’. Resigned, I nodded to N, “Okay.”

Awkwardly, N hoisted me into his arms. Hongbin began filming immediately, and Ravi held N’s fake mic in front of him, “This is Leader-N beginning our carry-Mira challenge. We have arrived at the carnival,” he stopped to breathe for a bit, “And as leader, I am delegating this task to responsible driver Ken!”

They all laughed as N unceremoniously shoved me into Ken’s chest. “It’s okay, Mira noona, I am not weak like old lady Hakyeon,” He grinned as he pulled me up in his arms like a princess.

“What did you say?” N stepped toward Ken threateningly but it seemed to have no effect as Ken simply turned and started skipping away.

I couldn’t help but squeal girlishly as I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold on tight. “Come away with me, my lady!” he called out loudly, and I heard the rest of them running to catch him.

“Enough, enough,” Ravi huffed as he stepped in front of the camera again, “Carry Mira challenge, continue!”

Ken managed to carry me like that for quite some time as we simply walked around for a while, taking everything in, taking quite a while to decide what to do. The boys did a fabulous job pandering to the camera, with the exception of Leo, who did his best to stay off frame unless he had to. Finally, we came to a conclusion to ride the tall wavy slide featured at the far end of the fairgrounds. “The stairs don’t count as ground, right?” Ken suddenly shouted, looking rather worried.

I laughed, “They don’t count, you don’t have to carry me up the stairs,” I reassured him, patting his pouting face gently.

“Someone will have to catch her at the bottom,” Hyuk slipped next to Ravi in front of the camcorder.

“I’ll do it,” Ravi volunteered with a smile, “Ken hyung did valiantly on the carry Mira challenge.” They all applauded quietly as Ken bowed with me in his arms.

The slide had three lanes, so Ken, Hongbin, and I ran up the stairs together. Slides were a simple pleasure that I had quite forgotten until the moment we all pushed off the top together. Ken screamed theatrically as we went over the little bumps in the slide, and it only lasted a moment, but it was actually quite fun. As advertised, Ravi waited for me at the bottom, scooping me up before I even reached the very end of the slide, “Up you go,” he spoke to me quietly, giving me a little smile. I was relieved when my chest didn’t feel a single pang. He was just my best friend playing a silly game with me. I was so happy. I didn’t have time to reflect on it though, as Ravi gave me a little hoist, “Ken hyung, you carried her like this the whole time?” he called out.

“Yeah because I’m a real man,” Ken shouted back, flexing dramatically.

Ravi shook his head and looked to the camcorder, “Ken hyung may be a real man, but I am a smart man,” he turned and walked toward a bench, setting me down carefully. He turned and gestured to his back, “Hop on, Mira.”

As I clung to his back, it was clear that this was, in fact, the smarter way to go about this silly challenge. I became a backpack, holding his waist with my legs and holding my arms over his shoulders and across his collar. We even rode the carousel together as he continued to speak to Hongbin’s camera, “Mira here has been working us so hard that this is our first day off in a long time, right?”

“Yeah,” Hongbin replied, grinning at me from behind the camcorder screen, “And this will be our last for a while, right?”

Ravi sighed heavily, “Noona we are but young boys. You must give us more breaks!”

I rolled my eyes, “I am your evil American dictator. You must do as I say.”

“Yes noona,” Ravi replied sadly, hanging his head. In a sudden mood change, he looked at Hongbin, “Bean, you’ve had the camera too long, it’s your turn to take the American burden!”

“Hey!” I smacked Ravi on the head.

“I will take her,” Hongbin replied calmly, handing the camera to Ravi as the gentle ride came to an end. I continued to sit on the plastic horse as Ravi slipped off from in front of me.

“And now we see our work of art Hongbin will take the fair lady on his tall and strong back,” Ravi narrated as I scrambled onto Hongbin’s back as gracefully as I possibly could. As Ravi had said, Hongbin was clearly quite strong. He had carried me before, and his back was nice and stable. If I had to guess, he probably could have carried me the rest of the day with no problem.

We made our way off of the little ride, rejoining the rest of VIXX, “Ah lucky Mira noona gets to ride Bean,” N piped up with his little fake mic, “So where should we go next?” he turned and asked the rest of the guys who were milling about behind him.

We resumed walking around aimlessly, looking at the various attractions and shops. With Hongbin's strength and stability, I was able to comfortably use my arms as needed instead of having to use them to support myself. At some point I was given the camera to film Ravi and N rambling on about something or another, but Hongbin and I were mumbling to each other, almost certainly drowning them out in the audio.

“The hyungs are very boring, aren’t they?” Hongbin muttered.

“Mmm,” I hummed, “They’re good MCs, but I think they’re not sure what to say right now.” As N and Ravi faced each other, I flipped the camcorder and the preview screen so we could see ourselves. Positioning the camera so both our faces were in view as I rested my head on his shoulder, “Plus don’t you think VIXX TV fans want to see their famous work of art visual Lee Hongbin?” I wiggled my eyebrows as I delivered the admittedly cheesy line.

“Yaah,” he groaned, but his grin stayed, “don’t say things like that, you sound like Ravi.”

“Hey!” N’s voice roared, “What are you guys doing?”

“We’ve been caught,” I whispered to the camera, flipping it around.

“Nothing, hyung, just fixing some settings!” Hongbin lied, but his laughter was certainly not convincing.

N stomped over and snatched the camera out of my hand, having to jump a little to reach. He looked into the camera and spoke seriously, “Mira noona is corrupting our sweat Bean.” He walked with the camcorder in hand back to Ravi and the rest of them. “But we have to complete our next task!” he spoke enthusiastically, looking around, “VIXX will all get matching tattoos!”

The boys all mumbled to each other at the idea as we strolled to one of the open-air stalls, where an elderly man was applying those press-on temporary tattoos to small children. As we approached, he greeted us kindly. “How are we all going to agree?” I asked Hongbin, linking my hands in front of his chest as I craned to look.

“Easy,” he replied quietly as Ravi explained the process to the camera, “We all like Spongebob.”

The way he said it was adorable. “Spongebob Squarepants?” I clarified.

He laughed, “It sounds so different when you say it.”

“Because I say it right,” I teased as he began to walk again, everyone lining up to get their tattoos.

“Hongbin, put Mira in that chair so she can get hers too!” N instructed, pointing to a chair next to Leo, whose arm was covered in a wet cloth as his little tattoo was applied. It was a good choice, then, that we were all smart enough to wear sleeveless or short-sleeved garments today, as the choice of location for everybody was the upper arm. Hongbin set me down gently, ensuring my feet never touched the ground.

Leo looked as unimpressed as ever, but he managed to give me a bit of an amused glance as I picked out my own Spongebob tattoo. I stuck my tongue out at him very slightly as the old man gave me my own wet towel to press. “Aah,” Ravi’s voice distracted me, “Mira noona can make Leo smile.” He was holding the camera now, “Our serious Leo hyung is always amused by the American,” he was speaking like it was a nature documentary.

Out of nowhere, N showed up to chop Ravi aggressively, “Yah Ravi, you’ll make Leo angry.” Wrestling the camera back from Ravi, N went to find Hyuk. “Hyukkie, it’s your turn to take Mira noona, I don’t trust her with Bean anymore!” I rolled my eyes slightly. They became way more ridiculous with a camera on. As soon as the little bright Spongebob tattoos were displayed proudly on each shoulder, Hyuk approached me.

“Hyuk fighting!” he cried to the camera before crouching down to help me onto his back. I could tell he was not quite as sturdy as Hongbin, but he held my legs tightly. “I gotcha,” he said more to himself than to me. “Ba-bam!” he sang happily as he straightened up.

“Thank you Hyukkie,” I crooned, petting his head gently once he stood before linking my hands in front of him adding some security to my position on his back.

Ravi came up to us, fake mic into Hyuk’s face, “How does it feel Sanghyuk?”

He laughed, hoisting me up a little higher on his back, “Like a big pet monkey.”

“Hey!” I gave him a little bop on the head, but laughed regardless. “So what now?” I asked MC Ravi as I leaned forward a bit to give my muscles a break.

“We need to play the carnival games!” N clapped once, as if he had just remembered. And just like that, we were off again. Clinging to Hyuk was rather fun, as he kept conversation with me even while the others were continuing their silly antics for the camera. At last we found the rows of carnival games.

“I’m not very good at these,” I admitted once we had all gathered together.

“You and Hyukkie will be a team!” Ravi announced.

“I’m not good at them either,” Hyuk laughed.

It didn’t matter, though. We had fun failing at the carnival games. As expected, Leo became a tad bit too competitive and insisted on playing every game until he won. Hyuk and I as a team didn’t mind. Having me on his back was a burden so even if he had been particularly good at the games, he would have been disadvantaged. We even tried having me play from my perch on his back, but it was too unstable. The closest we got was the ring toss, but of course Leo’s focus and dedication to competition outshined everyone. That is, of course, until we got to the end of the line and the classic game of shooting targets for points was all that was left.

“Hyukkie,” I suddenly spoke up.

“Hm?” he asked as the camera swung around to focus on the two of us.

I smirked a little, looking into the camera, “This game uses guns, right?”

“Fake ones, but yes,” he answered, clearly unsure of where I was going with my questioning.

“What country do you associate guns with?”

I saw Ravi grin behind the camera as Hyuk suddenly perked up, “America!”

“Where am I from, Hyukkie?” I teased.

“America!” he repeated, twisting his head to get a glimpse of me.

I pointed to Leo now, raising my voice in a serious declaration, “I will win this game for my trusty steed Sanghyuk!”

“Oooh, a challenge,” N spoke, mystified.

“What prize should I win for you?” I asked Hyuk, who was still grinning at me over his shoulder.

He thought for a moment, “You should win that cowboy hat!”

“You got it,” I said confidently as Hyuk positioned himself at one end of the counter. I had him take a couple steps back and lean forward so I was closer to prone and could use my arms freely as I got used to the feel of the old style rifle.

Ravi approached us, once again ing the plastic microphone in my face, “American native Halley Browne has challenged Korean-born Jung Taekwoon to the classic Olympic event of Rifle shooting. Miss Browne, how do you feel coming into this event?”

“Well, Kim Wonsik, I’m feel pretty confident,” I started, giving a pensive nod, “I know Mr. Jung has dominated all of the events thus far, but for the pride of my home country, I absolutely must win.”

“There you have it folks,” Ravi turned to Hongbin, who had managed to get the camcorder back at some point, “Now let’s interview the pride of Korea, the lion himself, how are you feeling?” he turned to Leo, who had set himself up at the opposite end of the stall.

“I’ll still win,” he said simply, looking straight ahead at the targets.

“Confidence,” Ravi spoke, his voice in awe.

The stall owner, clearly unamused by our antics, finally collected our meager entry fee and the game began. As I had admitted earlier, I was not the best at carnival games. However, my father was always adamant about me taking self-defense classes, including a firearm handling classes. I had rather enjoyed that, and took several more classes on the subject. After just a few shots, I adjusted to the horrible sights of the plastic rifle. I focused as best as I could until the bell rang signaling the end of the game. I looked over to Leo, one eyebrow raised as I blew at the end of my fake rifle before setting it back down.

“No way,” Leo muttered as the final score popped up. I had nearly forgotten I was perched on a living person as I nearly tumbled off of Hyuk when he jumped up in joy. Luckily my reflexes were quick enough to wrap my arms around his neck before I fell.

“Careful Hyukkie,” I laughed quietly as I re-settled myself. I looked up at the board, and a grin crossed my face. I hadn’t totally smoked Leo as much as I thought I would, but it was still a decisive victory.

The stall owner gestured to the giant stuffed animals reserved for the highest scores, but Hyuk shook his head, pointing at a classic style cowboy hat instead. Presented with the hat, Hyuk took it happily, “For you!” he said as he glanced back at me, placing the hat on my head, “Now you really look like an American.”

“As if I didn’t already?” I adjusted the hat on my head. “Thank you Hyuk,” I said sincerely, giving his cheek a little kiss, ensuring the camera was pointed elsewhere.

Our attentions were demanded elsewhere, however, when the sound of Ravi’s wailing alerted us to Leo, chasing him away from the stall. “I assume Ravi made some snarky comment about him losing?” I asked Hongbin, who swung the camera towards Hyuk and me again.

“Exactly,” Hongbin replied with a little laugh. “N will round them up soon enough.”

The three of us and Ken all hung around talking for the camera while N wrestled Ravi away from Leo’s grip. Hongbin filmed as much of it as he could, but we were all a bit relieved when the three of them returned in one piece. “Welcome back,” I greeted, making eye contact with a still-agitated Leo. He seemed to relax a little, smirking as he glanced up at my cowboy hat. He didn’t need to speak in order to tell me that I looked silly. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to hold my smile a bit to tell him I didn’t care.

“Alright!” N announced, a bit short of breath, “It’s starting to get a bit late, so it’s time for the best part!” We all looked at him expectantly. “Food!”

We all perked up at the idea of carnival food. “Hyukkie,” I whispered to my noble steed, “is Korean fair food good?”

“Of course,” he responded, but I noticed that his voice was a bit tired, devoid of its usual chipper tone. It was true that he had been carrying me longer than anyone else had. We were lagging behind the excited bunch, only Leo, who was avoiding the camera, was nearby. I didn’t want to alert Hyuk of my plan, so I stared staring into the back of Leo’s head, willing him to turn around.

Finally, he turned around, feeling my eyes on him. He gave me a little questioning look, and I simply responded by twitching my head towards Hyuk. It took him just a second to realize what the issue was. Quietly he stopped, grabbing Hyuk by the elbow. “Leo hyung?” Hyuk asked quietly, but obeyed when Leo dragged him towards a bench.

“Put her down,” Leo said simply, pointing to the little wooden seat. When Hyuk looked at him curiously, he sighed a little, “It’s my turn.”

Hyuk glanced at me, and I just gave him a little thumbs up. “Okay,” he smiled a little, letting me stand on the bench. I took a moment to stretch my legs before looking to Leo expectantly.

He turned his back to me, “Hop on,” he murmured as I clamored on.

“Woah,” Ravi’s voice reached us, “Leo hyung has taken the American cowboy away from our Hyukkie.”

I felt Leo tense under me. “Thank you, Leo,” I spoke softly into his ear as I rested my head on his shoulder, doing my best to distract him from the heckling.

He relaxed under me as he glanced at my face out of the corner of his eye, “Ready to get something to eat?” he asked me quietly as he began walking to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Mm, let’s go,” I smiled, waving at Ravi who was holding the camcorder once again.

There were stalls lining the center walkway of the fair with food of all kinds. A lot of it I didn’t recognize at all, but we stopped at every single stand, ordered one or two things, and shared it. Leo treated me like an actual pet monkey, taking a piece of the food and passing it to me. I was a particular fan of the spicy rice cakes. However, since I was using a good amount of energy to hold myself up, most of the time he had to feed me directly. It didn’t bother me, especially since most of the food was on scewers.

That is, of course, until Ken had to point it out. “Look, look! Leo hyung is feeding Mira noona!” he cried, turning on his cutesy voice again.

Leo froze, and I was worried that mine AND Ken’s life were in danger. I gave him a little squeeze, reminding him that I was there. Thankfully, he simply gave Ken a death glare instead of giving chase, “I have to,” Leo explained quietly, “she can’t use her hands,” he pointed to my hands that were clasped tightly across his chest.

“Stop teasing,” Hyuk spoke quietly to Ken, “or he’ll drop her.”

We continued like that, sharing just about every food imaginable. I generally tried everything. Except for blood sausage. I had tried the Scottish variety a while back and just thinking about it almost made me wretch. As we were about to finish our buffet of carnival food, something caught my eyes, “Leo, Leo, what is that?” I squirmed as I tried to get a higher vantage point, causing Leo to grumble and hold my knees tighter, trying to hold me still.

“Corndog,” Hongbin answered dubiously, giving me a curious look.

“But it’s covered in French fries!” I cried.

N laughed, “They’re not like that in America?”

“No! That’s genius!”

In the end, they bought me one to have on my own. Happily, I ate it with Leo’s help as we made our way out of the fairgrounds. As we crossed out of the gate, N and Ravi cheered, “Carry Mira challenge, complete!” they high fived and turned the camera on Leo and me, but Leo kept walking. “Leo,” N called, “you can put Mira down now.”

Leo kept walking, ignoring them. Only once we got to the car did he let me go, gently letting me down into the vehicle. “Thanks, Leo,” I smiled as I crawled back to my spot in the back of the car. He merely gave me a little nod, ensuring his face was as serious as ever when he faced the rest of the group.

It was clear the rest of the members had done the video outro back at the gate, since Hongbin had closed and powered down the camcorder before he piled into the car with the rest of them. We were all quiet for a while as Ken began to drive us away. “That was nice,” Hakyeon finally said, turning around in the shotgun seat to grin at us.

“You two are so silly when the camera is on,” I commented looking between Wonsik and Hakyeon.

N laughed heartily, “It’s not that different from normal.”

“True,” I laughed along with him, as I removed the silly cowboy hat from my head, straightening my hair a bit, “Just a little louder.”

“Well we need to narrate what’s happening,” Ravi explained rather seriously, “They like it when we do that.” He paused to look at me, “Thanks for playing along.”

Ken interrupted us, “So where are we going for dinner?”

“Didn’t we just eat a ton of food?” I asked incredulously, gauging the mood of the boys around me. I mostly just saw shrugs.

N, however, continued to grin at me as he craned his neck around his seat, “If we go somewhere fancy, by the time we actually get our food, you’ll be hungry again.” He turned around finally, making what I could only assume to be a phone call to management for direction. He spoke quickly to Ken before turning back to the rest of us. “I hope you like it,” he spoke back to me, his grin returning.

I had been to a Korean Barbeque in America before, but it was nothing like this. We all sat around a little grill, playfully fighting over food between the seven of us. Even though we had all had consumed a decent amount of junk food at the fair, this food was so delicious and so well-seasoned that we all stuffed ourselves to the point of being uncomfortable.

“If you guys ever come to America,” I finally spoke after a long quiet after our food had been entirely consumed, “I promise to feed you just as well.”

My promise did not have the desired effect, however, as the silence grew awkward. It had meant to be hopeful, rather than finite. Hakyeon, seated to my right, placed one of his hands over mine on top of the table, “When we come to America.” His promise was much more somber and much heavier than mine had been. And we all knew it was not a promise he could really make.

“Let’s go home,” Leo spoke, his quiet voice piercing through the awkward silence. The bill had been paid and everyone had finished, so silently, everyone complied, thanking our servers generously as we left.

Thankfully, the mood brightened as we drove home, mostly driven by Hyuk and Hongbin doing an excellent job retelling stories of the day in silly ways. “Everyone got to carry Mira for at least a little bit today, right?” Hyuk asked the car, just as we were pulling in to the little courtyard in front of Jellyfish Entertainment Headquarters.

“Hakyeon barely counted,” Ravi whined from next to me, “He dumped her on Ken immediately.”

“I am weak!” N lamented, though he did not seem to be sorry at all.

I laughed as we all piled out of the van, “At least he tried, right?”

“It’ll be a good VIXX TV episode,” Hongbin examined the camcorder, popping the tape out as we entered the building, leaving it on the unsurprised receptionist’s desk. “Hopefully they’ll edit and upload it by the end of tomorrow!”

“Ah, tomorrow,” N sighed, leading the way as he trudged up the stairs, “We will spending most of the day on the Sukira radio show, so be ready with who you might want to call for the friendship quiz or whatever that guy has planned for us.”

I looked over at Ken who was by my side on the stairs. He simply smiled at me, patting my head, “Don’t worry Mira, we’ll help you.” Satisfied, I kept walking, deciding not to worry about it. When we made it to my room, I picked up the pace to my door, stepping in front of N.

“Thank you so much for today,” I pulled N into a hug, who seemed startled to have me initiate for once, but he recovered quickly, wrapping his thin arms around me.

“You’re welcome,” he answered quickly before letting me go, looking at Ravi expectantly. “Good night, Mira.”

In turn, I pulled each of them into a hug. Mostly they were happy with the gesture. Ken went so far as to spin me around once before handing me off to Hongbin, whose hug surprisingly gentle. And finally only Leo was left. They all looked at him expectantly, but he simply stood there, glaring at them.

There was an awkward moment where I considered just going into my room, but Ravi was on the case, speaking up loudly, “We’ll just get going then,” he physically grabbed the guys around him and turned them around, dramatically walking away. They all seemed to catch on pretty quick, turning their backs so that Leo could give me a quick and rather rough hug. Clearly he did not have much practice in the activity, but I couldn’t help but smile up at him once he let me go. His eyes met mine for only a brief moment, his hands still touching my shoulders as his face twisted into a tiny, restrained smile. And then, very suddenly, he turned and caught up with the rest of VIXX.

“Good night, guys,” I waved after them before retreating to my room for the night.