I woke up today knowing that it wouldn’t be easy. The first day of school was always one that made me nervous, and now I was going to a school in a new country. I had already been given a series of maps and directions for taking the buses here, including the bus routes that would take me from the dorm to the school in the mornings, and then from the school straight to the company to practice in the afternoons.

I got up super early, still feeling the last traces of jetlag, and unable to sleep with such jittery nerves anyway. I quietly got ready, trying to not be such a bother to the other girls who were still asleep. It wasn't easy sharing everything with everyone.

Right before leaving the dorm, I looked into the mirror, adjusting my new school uniform. It fit very well and the formalness of it made me look slightly older. I almost looked my age for once.

The bus finally came, and I greeted the bus driver politely, murmuring some of the only words I knew in Korean. I wasn't surprised that the bus was fairly empty; it was still quite early in the morning and the stop by the dorm was one of the first few stops, being a little far from the school.

I sat down on a seat near the back, behind the back doors of the bus. It should be easy enough to get off and make a beeline to the school. I plugged in my headphones and looked for something on my phone that would distract me from the constant nervous flutter in my stomach.

Baby don’t cry, tonight~

The memory of his beautiful voice suddenly echoed through my head and I then quickly searched up their group, EXO.

A flood of videos, songs, and fan-cams came up, everything from their debut so long ago, to the most recent comeback they just had. I picked the live performance of Baby Don't Cry, not only wanting to hear the rest of the song, but secretly wanting to see the guy with the amazing voice.

The song started softly with a piano playing as the members got ready to sing. I found myself immediately focusing on him, on his expressions that seemed to match with the feel of the song so well. Although I couldn't understand the words, the emotions and the music seemed to express more than what could be formulated into words anyway.

Will I also be able to sing like that one day?

Suddenly, a loud outburst from a girly voice sounded right beside my ear, knocking me out from my thoughts.

I jumped up, startled, as a hand suddenly hit the back of my seat. I looked back to see a girl who looked like a middle school student, her animated eyes gazing at me expectantly. Her bangs were swept to the side, revealing her round forehead, and she had a button nose and small mouth.

She asked something else in a string of fast and excited Korean, leaving me wondering where one word could've ended and another started.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't speak Korean." I replied hesitantly, awkwardly gesturing my arms as if they'd help convey my message.

"Oh," she rolled her eyes, a small smile appearing on her lips, "I was just asking if you were also an EXO fan too." She surprised me with her smooth English, as fluent as mine.

"Wow you speak English? Thank goodness someone here can understand me." I sighed, feeling a small sense of relief.

"Well duh, I'm going to the same international school as you." She pointed at her own uniform which I hadn't noticed before, but it was the same one that I was wearing. So I guess she wasn't a middle school student, but also a high school student who just looked really young, like me. "So as I was saying, you're an EXO fan right?! Oh my gosh, who's your bias? What's your favourite song by them? What about your favourite EXO show?” She squealed a little before turning to me expectantly again.

What did she mean by who's my bias? Is that like my favourite member or something? "Umm… maybe him?" I pointed at the guy with the nice voice.

"Oh my gosh, really?! Chen's my bias too!"

Chen...is that his name? Is he Chinese too?

"Don’t you just love his amazing voice, his sweet smile, his sassy personality, there's just too much to name!” She said, squealing some more. "Oh yeah, what’s your name?"

"Rachel. Wha-"

"Well Rachel, here's our stop. I'll see you tomorrow!" She exclaimed, quickly hopping off the bus before I could even process what had just happened.

Korea seemed to be filled with interesting people.

A few days later, I found myself in one of the small classrooms with my Korean teacher. I was starting to learn the Korean alphabet, which wasn't actually as hard as I had thought. 

"It's your dinner break right now. You are dismissed." She said. "Practice hard and I'll see you in a few days."

"Kamsahamnida" I replied, bowing my head and quickly leaving the room. 

I walked rapidly to the nearest elevators, wanting to use my break time as efficiently as possible, since it was so short. 
Just as I was about to get to the elevators, the doors started to close. I stopped running, ready to wait for the next one when suddenly, a hand reached out from inside the elevator and kept the doors from closing. My eyes followed the arm up to the persons face.

Standing there, was the guy.

The amazing vocalist of that group- EXO. The guy with the nice eye-smile. 

"Kamsahamnida" I said shyly, dipping my head. I went into the elevator and was about to press the button when he pressed the same button. 
We sort of glanced at each other awkwardly a couple of times, but remained silent. I was sort of hoping that he would say something as last time he seemed to have wanted to say something to me, but I didn't know any Korean so it's not like I could've replied anyway. 

As we arrived at the floor, he gestured for me to go out first. I left and headed towards the cafeteria. The smell of delicious Korean food drifted to me as my stomach grumbled, starving from another long day. 

Clearly I was too focused on the food that I didn't even notice when the guy walked past me and opened the door of the cafeteria for me, waiting for me to go through. 

"Neh, kamsahamnida." I said again, having it being the main word that I knew. I walked through the door towards the food counter.

"Annyeonghaseyo!" I greeted the cafeteria lady. I grabbed a tray and she passed me a plate half filled with food. My heart sank. It seemed that the portions were getting smaller and smaller due to the extreme dieting. With a sigh, I sat down at a small table in the corner of the cafeteria alone and started eating. 

I looked up to check the time when I saw the guy walking over to his friends or groups members. His tray had what seemed like actual food, instead of what us trainees got. I quickly wiped the thoughts from my brain and focused on not eating too fast, so that I could feel fuller. 

Gradually, the cafeteria got quieter and quieter. The big group of guys had left and the only people left in the cafeteria were a few trainees here and there. I was scraping up the last of my food when I suddenly felt someone sit down across from me. 

I stifled a gasp, startled.

It was him, the guy with the nice voice!

My heart seemed to jump out my chest again, and my thoughts jumbled into a blind panic of "why is he here?" and "did I steal his table?". If he noticed my surprised expressions, he didn't seem to react, though he had a light smile gracing his lips the whole time. His hair was a dark brown, parted at the side in a style different from what I had seen in those EXO videos. Even so, his warm milk chocolate eyes remained the same.  

"Annyeonghaseyo," he greeted, dipping his head slightly as I did the same. He then asked something hesitantly, in Korean. I blinked, giving him a blank look, causing him to seem to understand. "English?" He then asked, and this time I nodded. 

"Do you speak English?" I asked him back, already thinking it would be too good to be true.

"Little bit. Not very good." He chuckled. "ni shuo zhong wen ma?" (Do you speak Chinese?)

My eyes lit up in recognition for the first time in what felt like forever. There was finally someone who could speak the same language as me! "wo hui! ni ye shi zhong guo ren ma?" (Yes I can! Are you Chinese too?) I asked, thinking that he probably was, based on how fluent his Chinese was.

"Ahh...wo bu shi. wo shi han guo ren, ke shi zai EXO-M li, suo yi hui jiang zhong wen." (I'm not. I'm Korean, but I'm in EXO-M, so that's how I know Chinese). I was surprised at how good his Chinese was. 

"Ni jiang de hen hao!" (You speak really well). I said, giving him a thumbs-up sign.

"Xie xie." (Thank you), he said, looking down slightly before meeting my eyes again.

"Oh, I heard your singing yesterday when we had variety show training," I said, trying desperately to make conversation. I couldn't just lose the opportunity to talk to the only person that I could talk to without a language barrier. "It was simply amazing. Your voice, it's just too good." I complimented, hoping that this was the way to make a good first impression. 

"Ahh, thank you," he replied back, this time in English, with the kind of eye smile that lit up his whole face. We paused awkwardly for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to say, before we both broke into embarrassed chuckles.

"So, uh, what's your name?" I asked, trying to be more social and not retreat into my introverted shell.

"My stage name, or Chinese name, is Chen, but my real name is Kim Jongdae. Yours is Choi Yoonmi?" He asked, his bright eyes gazing at me expectantly. 

"Yeah, that's what I use here, but actually my real name is Rachel." I replied, telling him my English name. 

"Ra-i-chel..." He said slowly, turning each syllable of my name into Korean syllables, rolling it off his tongue fancily. "It's a very pretty name." 

"Why thank you," I replied in English, a smile creeping onto my lips.

"I think you dropped this the other day?" He pulled out a folded sheet of paper from his pocket, opening it up to show me the map of the company building that was missing from my folder.

"Oh yes, thank you! That's just what I needed." I said, bowing my head as I took it from him. I thought back to the day I dropped my folder, vaguely remembering the picture-perfect couple and the guy's clear brown eyes.

No wonder Chen had looked so familiar.

Suddenly, I remembered that my dinner break should be ending. I glanced quickly at the clock, noticing I was already five minutes late to my vocal practice, and that was definitely not going to leave a good impression.

"I'm sorry but I have to get back to training now. My break actually ended five minutes ago." I stuffed the map into my bag ran rapidly to the door, heart pounding in anticipation for how much trouble I'll be in. 

Sorry for not updating as soon as usual; I'm stuck studying for my upcoming exam >.< 
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