Ravi showed up at my room one morning a few days after our video watching escapade. I made it a habit of leaving my door open whenever I could, with the hope of attracting visitors. As I expected, though, I received none. There were some awkward moments when members of VIXX would casually walk by and catch my eye. Generally, they would hesitate awkwardly for a moment like they wanted to stop and say hello, but would opt to keep walking. Only Ravi would even dare wave at me.

“Come on in, Ravi,” I called from my desk as the slightly hesitant, rhythmic knock came from the doorframe. It was his first time entering my room since our first real introduction, and I could see the trepidation in every move he made, his tall frame accentuating the awkwardness.

“I’m trying to act like this isn’t weird for me, but,” he paused as he tiptoed through my admittedly messy room, “this is weird for me.”

I threw him a smile as I swiveled in my chair to face him properly, “Thanks for doing it anyway. You’ll get used to it.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” he said with a dry laugh. Suddenly he noticed the box on my bed. “You got a package,” he pointed out, as if the mere idea of me recieving mail was foreign.

“Oh!” I had mostly forgotten about it, as it had arrived early that morning. Quickly, I leaned back in my chair to reach for it, brushing it awkwardly with my fingertips until I managed to roll it into my palm, carefully balancing it until I plopped it into my lap. “It’s American candy my manager sent me. Want to try some?” I asked as I pulled it open.

He looked at the box as if it contained a rare artifact. It was packed to the brim with Hershey’s, Reece’s, Laffy Taffy, the works. “This is perfect,” he whispered.

“What?” I asked cautiously, bringing the box a bit closer to my body. He was starting to weird me out a little bit.

He looked up, a wild look in his eyes. “Follow my lead,” he whispered. Suddenly he ripped open a standard Hershey’s bar and took a big bite. “Oh my god, American candy is soooo delicious,” he practically yelled out into the open hallway, his voice muffled with the chocolate on his tongue. “I left our door open,” he whispered to me, his chocolatey grin making him look like a little boy.

Like a light switch, my brain caught what he was trying to do, and I beamed back at him and his brilliance. “Oh yeah,” I began to yell, “You can’t find it anywhere around here. I’m so glad my manager sent me this little box.”

“Such a shame that it’ll be gone soon,” Ravi upped his volume, then sat still, pausing in the quiet. We stayed still, as if movement would break the illusion we had created. We heard hesitant footsteps nearby and Ravi’s grin widened. “It’s working.”

It was like leaving food out for stray puppies. Eventually they would come. Hyuk’s little face peered round the doorframe and into my room. “Ravi?” he asked timidly, as if he were committing some grave crime just by standing there.

“Come in,” I insisted quietly, “we actually have plenty," I explained, shaking the packed box to prove my point.

“Oh Hyuk,” Ravi continued loudly, “so nice of you to join us. I thought we weren’t going to be able to share this delicious candy with anyone!”

“But,” Hyuk quietly regarded the large box, his face perplexed.

“Shh!” Ravi hushed, “We’re trying to lure in the rest of them.”

Hyuk’s face lit up. “Oh!” he took a moment to think, “Thanks so much Ravi,” he raised his voice now, “This is so delicious!”

I tossed him a peanut butter cup to try. The ruse wasn't working as quickly as I would have liked. Thinking, I peered into the box and spotted something. I knew American candy was somewhat of a novelty around Korea, but it was still present. My manager had sent something that was a bit more unique. Maybe that would do the trick. Grinning, I gave one last bellow, “My manager even sent me Mexican chocolate! So fancy!”

Ken and Hongbin practically tripped over each other getting to my door at that point. “Is it all gone?” Hongbin asked desperately, panting slightly. His eyes were wild as he looked between Ravi and Hyuk with accusatory glances as if they were criminals for eating the candy without him.

With a laugh I tossed them both chocolate bars to ease their fears, “Come in,” I invited, gesturing to the bed and chairs around the room, "Don't mind the mess."

N tried to look casual as he walked by my room, going so far as to whistle as he strolled along, “Oh!” he feigned surprise as he glanced pointedly into my room, “Fancy seeing you here!”

I rolled my eyes at him, but Hyuk spoke up before I could call him out on his horrible acting, “Come in leader-N! So much delicious candy!”

N smiled warmly as he quickly obliged, finding a seat on the bed. He looked at me before speaking in a low voice, “Leo is outside trying to decide whether or not to show his face.”

After thinking for a moment I spoke slowly and deliberately, “I’m so glad you’re all here. Now we can make important decisions regarding this music I’m writing!”

“You wouldn’t,” Leo’s grumbling voice was quiet as usual, but it clearly came from right outside my room. I smiled inwardly to myself for, once again, guessing his character correctly.

“Get in here, Leo,” N called sternly, his voice reminiscent of an angry mother. “You can’t hide anymore.”

Reluctantly, Leo slunk into the room like a feral cat. I tossed him some of the cinnamon Mexican chocolate. For whatever reason, I thought he might like it. It suited him. “Thanks for visiting me, guys,” I said happily as I unwrapped a peanut butter cup of my own, pretending as if they weren’t baited here like fish.

“Thank you for the candy,” Ken said suddenly, his mouth stuffed full of taffy.

“You’re all welcome to stop by at any time, you know,” my voice grew insistent as I tried to convey my sincerity. “We practically live together now, and I’ll probably be staying here for a few months at least." I paused to pop the candy in my mouth, continuing with a partially full mouth, "Might as well stop pretending to be strangers sooner rather than later.”

They were all quiet then, whether because they were thinking or because their mouths were stuffed full of sugar, I couldn’t really tell. Finally, N looked to me, “So how is the song coming?” To be honest, I was glad to change the subject.

“Well,” I started, looking at the papers strewn about my room, “I have a lot of ideas, but I’m hesitant to finalize anything until I get to work with you all individually." I scanned the room quickly before settling my gaze back on N, "Should I just go in age order?”

N nodded quickly as he a stray smear of chocolate from the corner of his mouth. He must have caught me watching as he quickly raised his wrist over his mouth to cover it, hiding his shame as he spoke, “That’s fine. So when do you want to start?”

Despite his silly antics, I was pleased to finally get down to business. I was happy to have them all finally get over their fear of my cooties and bring them together, but I was also anxious to start. My brain was starting to hurt from sorting out all of my ideas, “Can we meet tomorrow?”

“I’ll come get you in the morning and show you to the recording studio in the basement,” he gave me his usual warm smile as he slyly reached for the candy box to sneak another Hershy's bar.

Shaking my head slightly to myself at his failed atempt at subtlety, I decided to let it go. Instead, I turned to address the rest of the room. “Alright then,” I looked around, “Leo and Ken, I hope you’ve learned that Taemin song, I’ll be testing you both." I could see Leo's face scrunch as if he had just smelled something vile. Regardless, he stayed silent. Ken, on the other hand, looked genuinely excited, as if he were excited to face the challenge.

"I won't let you down," he assured me confidently, standing abruptly in his chair, taffy rappers gently raining from his lap. "Oh ," he mumbled, "Sorry!"

As Ken scrambled to clean up the mess he made, I looked to the remaining members. "The rest of you: I’ll be testing your ranges to see what I really have to work with.”

With that they all started to file out of the room, save for Ravi, who continued to lounge comfortably in the plush chair by the door. To my surprise, Leo lingered at my door frame for a moment longer once the rest were out of earshot, “Can I have another one of those?” he asked quietly, nodding his head toward the pile of Mexican chocolate I was hoarding.

I thought for a moment, taking one of the round blocks of paper-wrapped chocolate in my hand. Looking up, I caught Leo's eyes, much softer and kinder than I was used to. That is, of course, he noticed me watching. A small frown pulled at his small mouth as his gaze hardened. Rolling my eyes, I wordlessly tossed him the whole block. He caught it with a satisfying thud, and disappeared without a sound.

Ravi sighed happily from his comfortable throne, wriggling his back to settle deeper into the chair cushions, “Well that was more successful than I expected."

“You did good,” I sat back into my desk chair, rocking back carefully onto the back legs, looking at the carnage of wrappers all over my room. Ken had only cleaned up about half of his mess, and N had been surprisingly wanton with his wrapper disposal. With a sigh I ignored them, “There’s a piano in the recording studio, right?” I asked absently, lazily returning my attention to Ravi

“Of course.” He sounded almost offended that I even needed to ask.

“Good,” I said pensively, formulating my plans, leaning forward in my chair, sending the front legs violently into the short, cushion-less carpet. “Let’s hope this next week goes well, then.”

Ravi seemed unfazed by the sudden loud noise as he continued to speak calmly, "Well I know I’m looking forward to my Mira session,” he said with a smirk.

“Honestly,” I said with a sigh, “there isn’t much to be done with you." When he looked genuinely disappointed, I continued, "You’re already really good at what you do. It might just be your standard vocal range test to see what harmonies I can work you into.” I shrugged lightly at the statement, unsure of what else to say. I was certainly not an expert in rapping to begin with, so I could only critique him rhytmically.

“Sounds fine to me." He recovered his smile gracefully, finally swinging his legs off of the arm of the chair to sit up properly. "Maybe we can have a rap battle then.”

I laughed at the prospect. The idea was outrageous, “Well you already win unless we do it in English.” With that statement, I realized something, and I sat up a little straighter to propose my idea, “That’s what we’ll do!”

“What?” he asked, clearly surprised by my sudden outburst, his distinctively not-blue eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“We’ll work on your English pronunciation!" I declared firmly, proud of my newfound plan.

To my disappointment, he groaned loudly, covering his face with his hands as he leaned back into the chair again, his hips nearly sliding off of the seat as he slouched dramatically, “Or don’t make me speak English," he mumbled through his fingers. "Make Hyukkie do it, he’s been practicing his English.”

My eyebrows rose at that piece of information, “Really?” When Ravi nodded, his hands finally sliding off his face, I thought about it. “Then maybe I will make him do it. You might just be off the hook, then.”

“Yes!” Ravi hissed as he pumped his fist victoriously. “I guess I’ll see you in,” he paused, counting silently on his fingers as he stood up, “four days!”

“Four days,” I agreed, watching him as he moved to leave. “Thanks,” I said suddenly, causing him to pause and regard me curiously. "For luring everybody here," I clarified, offerring him a sheepish little grin.

He stopped suddenly at my words, his face softening as he looked at me, “No, thank you,” he insisted. His eyelined eyes were usually so intense, but with that little calm smirk of his, those dark eyes managed to look impossibly soft and king. With one last smile, he gave me a little salute and was gone, his long legs striding down the hallway.

Alone, I sighed quietly to myself. I had given plenty of master classes before, but this was new territory for me. I had six collaborators, each who needed different one-on-one instruction. I wasn't exactly trained as a teacher, so they would have to suffer through my training my way. Regardless, I was confident that these guys just needed a little bit of work to figure out their true potential. Maybe I was just being over confident. Maybe I was just kidding myself because I had already become emotionally attached, no matter how hard I tried not to. Objectively, each one was talented in their own ways, so they had that going for them. I just had to try and get them so that it made sense to have all six of them together, not just a combination of six different voices just for the sake of having them. I guess the next six days would determine how delusional I had become.