A few days later, I found myself amidst my daily routines again, almost as if that frightening incident had never happened. I had gotten the rest of the weekend off but everything else remained pretty much the same. Despite having complained about my diet, the only that changed was the addition of a boiled egg and some more choices of fruits.

I also hadn't seen him since that day, and even though I really missed having such a comforting presence around me, I was glad to have some space to empty my mind and calm my heart. Although I often felt the need to text him and relay anything interesting that happened throughout my day, just like how I'd been doing so for the past while, I stopped myself from doing it. And when he texted me, I tended to keep my responses a bit briefer than I would normally write, and avoid meeting up with him as much as possible.

It would be better for the both of us if we stopped spending so much time together; it just...seemed wrong. I couldn't do this to Minnie.

Walking into the cafeteria alone tonight, it seemed much emptier than usual. With EXO's international activities, they were often gone for some short periods of time, and the other senior groups barely ever had a need to stop by the company building, so it was quiet with only the groups of trainees around. I picked up a tray and got the regular meal, same as most other days. Sitting down in my usual seat in the corner, I pulled out my phone to keep me company.

I found myself remembering Luhan's words about how he would convince me to become an EXO fan, and that's when I realized that up until now, I really didn't know anything about EXO at all. I only knew some of the members on a personal level, but of course that couldn't be the same as what they show their fans, or what they're like as a group.

Maybe I should learn more about them, more about the other members too. And maybe I could even actually pick a bias...

So when I my phone, I started scrolling through some EXO pages to see what they had to offer. There were a lot of fan accounts about what the boys wore for their most recent performances, what their new hairstyles looked like, and any memorable things they did during performances and encores. There were also a lot of fan-taken pictures of their recent appearance at the airport, as well as screen caps from the music show performances, and even some fan-cams from their recent concerts. I started by looking at one of the fan-cams of their live concert performances, but immediately regretted my choice once the loud high-pitched squeals of surrounding fans came on.

That seemed like something the fan-girl on the bus would do.

When I came to this list of EXO songs, something caught my attention. There were audios of Chen's solo songs, which made me hesitate a little, heart thudding for just a second. It was a pleasant surprise; I hadn't heard him sing solo before, and before I could convince myself otherwise, I pressed the play button.

I immediately fell in love with his song "Best Luck", a beautiful soundtrack for a drama series. His smooth, melodic voice graced each note lightly in his limitless range, flawlessly even when the key changed near the end.

It was strange yet familiar, the tidal wave of emotions, everything I had tried so hard to block from my mind, erase from my heart.

Why do you have to make me feel like this again? Why does everything lead back to you?

I remained frozen still after the song ended softly, in a gentle whisper that seemed to linger through the air. Not knowing where to go next, I just let the related links take me to the next page. This one was a compilation of some anecdotes about Chen at various fan signings, all of them making him sound so sweet that I was left cringing. I found it hard to imagine, not that it wasn't true, but it's just that his playful and mischievous side showed more with people close to him.

But maybe he just doesn't show it through his words.

Chen helping me with music theory, always trying to help me adjust, even saving me that time...

A few related links later, something caught my eye that immediately made my face redden, and I speedily flung my phone away from me on the table, face down.

What the hell was that?

Chen-booty appreciation page?

Oh my, what kind of fandom is this? What on earth are fans doing these days? There's was no way I was looking at that, I wasn't going to become one of those fan-girls. Was the fan-girl on the bus like this too?

The worst part is that I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me even just a bit curious.

What do these fans talk about anyway?

I looked around me surreptitiously, hoping that no one in the cafeteria had noticed my outburst earlier, and slowly reached for my phone. The screen was still lit up, and the bolded link on the colourful page almost seemed to be beckoning me to go check it out.

I gave in.

I already had a feeling of what to expect, going off of what I image the fan-girl on the bus would've told me, and what I saw was no different. The page was basically a collection of pictures of Chen's "booty" from all of his performances and public appearances. Apparently fans felt the need to have an appreciation page for it. Along with the pictures came a long string of descriptions like "cute", "fiiiiine", and even "illegal", in the mix of random fan-girling spamming.

Huh, does his actually look like that? 

"Hey hey, wow I haven't seen you in a while. You're looking much better though." A musical voice drifted over, making me jump from my seat in blind panic. Faster than a blink of an eye, I grabbed my phone, locked it, and hid it in my bag before anyone could see anything.

It was then when I realized that I just did something so horrifying and would rather die than have Chen see that....Chen who was standing in front of me in real life, looking like the airport fashion model he was.

I tightly squeezed my eyes shut then covered them with my hands in case they decided to drift into some dangerous territory on their own.

An abrupt burst of melodic laughter greeted me as I heard him set his tray on the table and sit down across from me. "Wae? Why are you like that?" In my mind I could already picture his amused face with his twinkling eyes and mischievous grin. "Does my makeup from the photo shoot earlier make me look that good?"

His comment did in fact perk up my interest, and I then slowly moved my hands away, taking a peek at him. As he said, he did appear to have makeup on from earlier, though it wasn't anything too drastic. His double eyelids were more defined with the help of a dash of eyeliner, creating more of a mysterious edge, and I could see that his angular cheek bones were also emphasized. His newly highlighted chestnut brown hair was shaggily styled down today, his bangs nearly sweeping straight into those smoldering eyes. With all that put together, the funky Chen that I knew was transformed into one hot editorial model.

"Huh, well since you're staring, I guess the makeup does make me look really good then." He said nonchalantly, but was unable to hide the teasing quirk of his lips.

I quickly covered my eyes with my hands again, this time more hiding from embarrassment while at the same time, face-palming from his sass. I heard him chuckling before he started to eat his meal.

After a while, I slowly uncovered my eyes to see him struggling with opening one of the containers, his eyebrows furrowed and mouth set in an innocent pout. His expression contrasted so much from the previous editorial model look and from what I had previously seen online, that I burst out laughing. I couldn't imagine what fans would talk about online if they saw him like this...

He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me with a questioning look. "What?" He half laughed, exasperated at my reactions, almost whining a little. "Wae? Why are you like this today?"

"Just curious, but do you have any idea what your fandom talks about online?" I asked, unable to stop my laughter. He raised an eyebrow, giving me a half questioning, half judging look. "Don't tell me you actually spent time stalking me online and ended up reading some of those things."

I tried my best to hold back my snicker, then picked up my stuff. "Well it's time to go; I'll see you later!"

I threw out the trash and dropped my tray off, then glanced back to see his figure still sitting there. He then turned around and raised an eyebrow at me questioningly.

Hmm, maybe I should comment on that online fan page, just to confirm its validity. 

Did that escalate too quickly LOL so much crack DID Y'ALL THINK IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL CHAPTER 
So I'm guessing there was a time when you guys were all innocent before you got into this fandom life ;) 
omg I'm actually so excited for the next chapter ~~