I’m not sure how long I sat in that studio with my head in my hands. I guess I was still processing what had just happened. I should be ecstatic. I was successful; I convinced Leo that he was perfectly capable of what I wanted him to do. He gave me his real name and used mine, even if he didn't sound terribly happy about it. Why, then, could I not leave that room? Maybe if I left I would realize I had just daydreamed it all and Leo would be waiting, scowling at me in the lobby. Not to mention I was emotionally exhausted. I was used to musical exercises, and I had a lot of stamina for that sort of work. Regardless, Leo's particular brand of quiet brooding had gotten under my skin. And yet, it was like there had been a moment. A moment where he let everything go- his distaste for me, his insecurity, and his general lack of cooperative spirit. It had been a great moment, but there was something in the way he ran away from the situation that made me fear that it was all for naught. Perhaps I had pushed him too far.

“What did you DO to him?” a voice called from the doorway. Ravi sounded panicked, borderline livid when he stomped towards me. Then he saw me there in the corner, and his face turned from anger to concern. “What did he do to you?” he asked again, his voice suddenly quiet and warm as he quickly knelt in front of me on the short, dense carpet. I saw his eyes grow wide as he inspected me, “Did he hurt you?”

From the barrage of questions Ravi threw at me, the last one is what brought me out of my silent reverie, “What?” I asked him, genuinely unsure of what he was talking about, or what gave that impression. Had Leo been seething so much upstairs that Ravi was afraid he would strike me? Ravi gently reached out and touched my neck where Leo had held me. I supposed that explained it. He had gripped me a little too tightly, apparently. “No, he didn’t hurt me,” I assured, trying to sound as genuine as possible, trying to keep my voice level.

Gingerly, he took my chin in his hand and turned my face, assessing the damage. Unsatisfied, Ravi looked around as if searching for clues, and I saw his brows furrow, “Are those Leo’s clothes?”

I realized just how incriminating the scene really was. I was bruised and battered, Leo's clothing was haphazardly tossed onto a nearby chair, and I was huddled in the corner like an injured animal. I was desperate to change the subject when I spoke quickly, “It worked."

“What worked?” he asked incredulously as he stood up, bracing himself on his knees as he righted himself. He seemed disinterested in my subject change, but I was happy he was humoring me with the question. I watched as Ravi roamed to the chair, gathering Leo's jacket and over-shirt.

“I got him to do it,” I continued, still watching him from my seat in the corner, my rear beginning to go numb from the constant pressure on the unsatisfyingly hard floor. “The harmonies.”

“It took you to start world war three in here to get him to sing with you?” Ravi finally laughed as he spoke, the bright sound of his laughter a stark contrast to his usually deep, rumbling voice.

I laughed along with him, perhaps a bit too much, as Ravi glanced at me as if I’d gone just a bit crazy. Perhaps I had. “Yeah I guess it did,” I admitted with a little huff, recovering from my slightly manic giggle fit. “He’s not easy to work with.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” Ravi finally lightened up a little as he spoke again, returning to my corner to sit next to me. “Are you okay?” he asked seriously, leaning forward slightly so his dark, coal-lined eyes met mine in earnest.

I felt my breath catch as I suddenly processed how close his face was to mine. His alarmingly blue hair was in my peripheral, but nothing could distract me from his admittedly handsome, masculine face. “Yeah," I breathed, my eyes briefly drawn to mouth, his lips parted slightly as he stared at me with concern. Snapping myself out of it, I managed to give him a warm smile as I spoke again, "I'm just exhausted."

Whether he noticed my roaming gaze or not, he didn't let on. Instead, a small, toothy smile spread across his face. “He won’t tell us what you did,” Ravi said, clearly trying to get me to tell.

“I might have gone a little far,” was all I said, finally sitting back to let my head rest against the juncture of the corner walls, breaking our stare. I felt my face pull down into a frown.

Thankfully, Ravi left it at that, “Should I be scared?” he joked, nudging me gently to bring me back.

My eyes slid shut for a brief moment as I decided to let my unease from the day go. For now. I really appreciated Ravi coming to find me, even if his first intention had been to scold me for traumatizing Leo. He seemed to be the type of guy who knew exactly what needed to be said. His light teasing did the trick. I opened my eyes again, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye to give him a little smirk in return. “Only if you choose to be difficult,” I teased back, relieved.

“Ready to go back?” he asked as he once again hauled himself to his feet. He held out a large, wide hand for me to take.

I paused, looking at the helpful offering for a short moment before taking it.“Yeah, I think I’ll need as much rest as I can get before I have to deal with Ken tomorrow," I admitted as Ravi helped me deftly to my feet.

Ravi didn't just help me up. He insisted that he carry me on his back. Normally I would adamantly object to such a thing, but I genuinely appreciated the gesture. After some awkward scrambling, I managed to cling to his back, my arms wrapped around his neck. Silently, he carried me up the stairs and back to my room. Once we made it, he hesitated for a moment before putting me down, “You know,” he started as he turned to face me, tugging at the hem of his shirt to straighten it out, “you said we were always welcome to come see you. You know the offer stands for us, too, right?" He paused to give me one of his genuine lop-sided perfect white toothed smiles. When I simply watched him warily, he continued, "I know it’s a little scary that all six of us live in there, but at this point I don’t think anyone would get upset.” He suddenly stopped speaking again, his smile fading and his brows knitting together for a moment, “Maybe give Leo a day or two to recover. He looked like a zombie when he got home.”

His sentiment was appreciated, and his warning understood. I threw him a brief, but weary smile, “Thanks, Ravi. I might have to come visit you at some point." I thought quickly for a moment, running through my imaginary scheule through my head. "If I’m as successful with everyone else as I was with Leo, we’ll be able to get to writing right away.”

“It’s not all about work, you know,” he said quietly, giving me a noticeably sadder half-smile before giving me a little weak wave before he disappeared beyond my doorway.

I sat idly on my bed where Ravi had carefully placed me just minutes before, attempting to write out plans for the rest of my week. It was nearing the end of June now, meaning that almost a month had passed when I arrived in Korea. I felt like I had accomplished very little in that time, but I didn’t mind. I was oddly at home here. If I was honest, I was enjoying the time away from my usual hectic life back in The States. It helped that Jellyfish Entertainment was great about staying out of my way. I hardly interacted with anyone from management with only the occasional visit from Mr. Kim, who I learned was the head of the Public Relations department. As I stared at my pages of notes, sighing quietly to myself, I felt eyes on me from the hallway. I jerked my head to ease my anxiety, but instead of an empty doorway as I had assumed, I saw a blur of someone trying not to be noticed. The dark hair narrowed it down to Hongbin, Hyuk, Ken, or N. Actually, it was pretty obvious who it would be. “Hyuk, is that you?” I called out to him.

Hyuk’s face appeared around the doorframe, his eyes like that of a guilty dog, downcast and droopy. “Ravi told us to leave you alone, but I was worried," his statement was both a confession and also a declaration. Hyuk was a teenager, and I knew that, but never did it show as much as in moments like these. He still felt obligated to follow his older companions' orders, but was still testing the limits of his independence- no matter how innocent the intention.

His words brought a smile to my face, and I patted an empty spot next to me on the bed for him to join me. I couldn't say I knew him well yet, but every interaction I had with Hyuk was an absolute pleasure. He was truly a sweet kid, despite being well on his way to adulthood. “Why would you be worried?” I asked him warmly, though I was sure I knew the answer already.

“Leo hyung looked angry, or scared, or both when he came home today,” he started as he settled next to me. Now that he knew he wasn't in trouble, he was suddenly eager to speak. “Ravi looked angry when he left, too, but by the time I was able to come find you, I saw Ravi carrying you on his back." His voice was quick, as if he had a time limit to tell his secrets. "Can I ask what happened?” he looked over at me, his eyes still full of worry.

I chuckled lightly to try and break the tension, “Leo and I didn’t exactly get along at first, and you know how he is." When I got a nod in confirmation, I elaborated, "We worked hard today, and I think it’ll be okay now.” I had no desire to go into details, so that would have to suffice for Hyuk.

He seemed unconvinced, his eyes piercing me as if he could read my mind. Then suddenly he hopped up pointing at me in accusation, “Noona!” he reached out toward my neck, but stopped within a hair’s breadth of my skin, as if touching me would cause me to shatter, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I insisted, swatting his hand away gently, “he barely touched me, I’m just so pale that my skin turns red easily.”

“I know Leo can be scary and violent, but not like this,” he shook his head emphatically, his voice growing quiet and uncharacteristically seriou. “Mira, this will bruise.”

As he fussed over me, I wanted to just tell the kid what happened, but for whatever reason, I just couldn’t. I was too tired, and I knew he would have a million questions before it was over. The emotional whiplash of the day was just too hard to explain properly.  “I promise, Hyuk, it wasn’t even his fault. If he had legitimately tried to hurt me, he wouldn’t have come home without bruises himself.” He smiled at this, and I was relieved that he seemed to finally believe me. The matter of the bruise was concerning, though, “I suppose I’ll need to make a scarf out of something. No need to walk around with suspicious bruises.”

Hyuk continued to watch me silently, clearly deep in thought. I took the opportunity to inspect him in return. He was only 18, and already had been in the industry for two years according to the information I had been given. Being able to debut so young is supposed to be an honor, but it was concerning. I hadn’t spent much time with Hyuk yet, but at least it seemed he was given liberty to act his age with five older brothers to both tease and take care of him, especially with N and Leo seven years his senior. Watching the other members treat him like a proper little brother warmed my heart, though I was unsure how that would translate when it came time for rehearsals and actual work time. He seemed perfectly content to sit here quietly with me in that moment, though, and I had to admit, it was a nice change of pace. That innocent face of his made it hard not to want to look out for him. “Are you happy here, Hyuk?” I asked suddenly, breaking the quiet.

He looked at me, bewildered, “Shouldn’t that be something I ask you, noona?”

I rolled my eyes, “You can just call me Mira,” I reminded, but then paused, “Actually, my name is Halley.”

His eyes brightened significantly at the introduction, “Halley,” he repeated.

Actually, he had repeated it rather well, “Your English pronunciation is pretty good, Hyuk,” I pointed out.

“Thank you!” his voice was cheerful as his smile widened, “You can call me Sanghyuk sometimes, if you want.”

“Okay then, Sanghyuk, tell me something about your big brothers that I might not know already,” I challenged, happy to have a change of subject.

“Ooh,” he hummed for a little while as he thought, his hands gripping my bed frame as his long legs dangled off the long side of my bed, “It’s N hyung’s birthday soon!”

I sat up at this revelation, “Really?” Birthdays were something I didn't even think about. I was notoriously bad at remembering friends' birthdays, and was never really a fan of celebrating birthdays to begin with. Then again, back in Los Angeles, the birthday parties my peers through were a bit too... exravagant and lavish for my tastes. For some reason, though, a birthday party with these six guys seems like it would, at the very least, be entertaining. I was sure they would have plenty of stories for me once it was over. I supposed I should schedule them a break for that day so they could celebrate however they pleased. I could probably use a day to myself, anyway.

“Yeah, June 30^th!” clearly Hyuk liked birthdays.

“That’s the day after I’m supposed to work with you!” How had no one mentioned this to me yet? “Do you guys have something planned?”

“Of course!” he said, lowering his voice, as if N himself was lurking nearby, “we have a cake and everything!”

“Well I’m glad it’s after everyone’s had their rough days with me,” I gave him a playful nudge as I spoke, “you all can celebrate together.”

His brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to speak, but a sound in the hall caused us both to jump. “Hyukkie!” it was N’s voice that came through. Huh, I guess N was lurking nearby afterall. By that time the sun had gone down and I only had one little desk lamp to light the room. It was getting late.

“Gotta go!” Hyuk whispered, hopping off the bed and heading for the door. He gave me a warm smile and a wave before scampering down the hall.

“Hyuk, didn’t Ravi say to leave poor Mira alone?” I heard N’s voice slowly fade as they headed back to their suite. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Ever the mommy, N.