One summer day in the year 2022...

Sheri’s POV:

The first thing that I noticed waking up was a large, repeating vibration that was coming from the other side of my bed; like someone was jumping up and down thinking it was a trampoline. The next thing that I notice was the uncontrollable giggling and then happy screams.

“Eomma! Wake up! Wake up! Today’s the day! Today’s the day!”

I groaned and rolled over and opened my eyes to see my sweet, yet very excited, six-year-old jumping on the spot next to me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Seheun-ah?”

“Yes, Eomma?”

“What did I say about jumping on beds?”

“Uhhhh…. That only monkeys jump on them?”

“Are you a monkey?”

“No~”

“Good. Now, should you be jumping on the bed?”

He quickly sat down, knowing that he could’ve gone to ‘time out’ if he didn’t listen. I smiled and leaned over to pull him down next to me so we could snuggle.

“Eomma~!” He complained as I tried to go back to sleep. “We have to hurry and get ready~!”

“But I’m sleepy~….” I mumbled into his hair. He gave out a loud ‘Hmmm!’ and crossed his arms.

“Ok ok. What are we supposed to do today, again?” I giggled at how cute he looked while he scoffed at my question.

“Don’t you remember?! You’re supposed to help chaperone my class while we go visit the radio station for my school’s ‘end of the year’ trip!”

I feigned forgetfulness and gasped. “What?! That was today?!”

Shock was evident on his whole face. “You really forgot!?”

I laughed and shook my head. “No silly Billy~ how could I forget when you’ve been non-stop talking about this day for a MONTH!” I gave him a quick squeeze. “Now, go and see if your Grandpa is up yet while I go make breakfast.”

“Yes ma’am!” He climbed off my bed and sprinted out the door. It took me about ten minutes to wash my face, get dressed, and put a little make-up on before I was in the kitchen and taking out ingredients for breakfast. After living in South Korea for almost ten years I finally found a way to mix the traditional Korean breakfast with the traditional American, and, not to brag, but my boys sure did love eating it every day. Well, more like every other day anyway.

I was whisking the eggs when a sweet old man wearing red footie-pajamas came strolling in with Seheun tailing behind him. “Eomma! Haraboji’s awake!”

I looked over my shoulder and gave my six-year-old a stern look. “You didn’t wake him up on purpose, did you?”   

The old man gave a hearty laugh and shook his head. “No no~ Don’t worry; I was already up when Seheunie knocked on my door. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I was watching the early morning NEWS.”

That didn’t sound good. “Abeonim…” My voice cracked a bit with worry. He noticed the meaning behind it but gave me a cheerful grin. “Don’t worry, darling. It’s not my back. Just had stuff on my mind, that’s all.” I didn’t buy that at all, but let him get away with it anyway. The only bad thing about being a daughter-in-law is that you can’t have an argument with your father-in-law.

I finally finished cooking breakfast and we tried to quickly eat while Seheun went on and on about what he expected to do and see during the field trip.

“I wonder if we’ll be able to talk while on air! Oh! And maybe even get to meet a few DJs! That would be so COOL! Wouldn’t it, Eomma?”

I laughed and nodded in agreement. “That would be SO so cool. Now finish your eggs so we can go. Did you brush your teeth yet?”

He gave me a blank look, then quickly shoveled the eggs down his throat and ran to the bathroom. Leaving me and my father-in-law laughing at how cute that was.

       Both Seheun’s school and our apartment were in Sinsa-dong in Gangnam, while the radio station was in Cheongdam-dong. So with both the distance and the amount of time we were held up in traffic, the whole bus ride there took about an hour. But seeing Seheunie’s big smile and sparkling eyes was worth the trip.

 I stayed in the back of the group with some of the other parents and watched as my Seheunie was excitingly chatting with his two best friends, Hyowon and Eunji, while their teacher led them into the building. I smiled at the innocent sight. Yeah, today was gonna be a very fun and special day.

---

Seheun’s POV:

As our teacher led us into the building, my best friends and I were asking each other questions that we knew we couldn’t answer, yet we asked away anyway. Hyowon and I were focused on questions about how everything worked and how the DJ was able to organize everything in such a short amount of time, while Eunji was mainly focused on what celebrities she’d be able to see and possibly getting their autographs. Hmmph! Girls…

Our teacher, Mrs. Lee, met up with our tour guide who introduced himself as Nam Jihoon, and said that he was one of the script writers for one of their radio shows.

He started the tour and slowly led us down a long corridor with many rooms and windows. He explained what radio show each room held during this time and even told us which one had a special guest in them. As he spoke, I couldn’t stop my eyes from growing as big as dinner plates. Everything was so amazing! Especially when he took us into one of the rooms and explained how the circuit board worked! Hyowon and I looked at each other in awe while he did that.

A little while later, Mr. Jihoon announced that we were gonna have a lunch break and told us to be ready because he had a special surprise for all of us afterwards. Usually I would’ve joined in with everyone else’s screams of excitement, but I was too busy trying to figure out a way to find a bathroom. I spotted my Eomma talking to my teacher and ran up to her.

“Eomma~! I really have to go to the bathroom~!” Usually when I told her that, I would do the potty dance, but I didn’t want to get embarrassed in front of my classmates, so I just awkwardly stood in front of her with a pain-like face. She furrowed her brows and looked back at my teacher.

“I don’t know my way around here, what should we do?”

My teacher just smiled. “I can take him and ask someone that works here. They’ve got to have one close by.”

“Are you sure you want to take him?”

“Yeah! Of course! Plus, a teacher might get a better response than a parent.”

Eomma smiled at her. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Thank you Ms. Lee.” She then kneeled down and put her hands on my shoulder. “Sweetheart, Ms. Lee is gonna take you to the bathroom while Eomma stays here and hands out food to your friends, is that ok?”

I nodded and smiled. “Yes, Eomma!”

She told me to ‘be good’ and watched as Ms. Lee led me to one of the workers, which happened to be Mr. Jihoon.

“Excuse me, Mr. Nam?” She caught his attention and then motioned down to me. “This little guy needs to use the restroom; do you happen to know where the closest one is?”

“Sure do!” There was a gleam in his eyes when he looked at my teacher. Well, can’t blame him, she WAS pretty. Mr. Jihoon offered to take me there himself, and Ms. Lee took it after seeing that a fight was going on between three of my classmates and her assistance was needed to break it up.

When she left, Mr. Jihoon started leading me down a several different hallways while telling me a story about a ghost that haunts the station. I had to try really hard to not role my eyes the whole time because 1) Ghost stories aren’t scary, and 2) I didn’t believe in them. If Eomma says that aren’t real, then they aren’t real.

We finally got to our destination just as his phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket. “Hey buddy, I need to take this real quick. Mind going in by yourself?”

    I nodded and he turned around fast enough to miss the judging look I gave him. I have been potty trained for over four years now, why would I NOT be able to go in by myself?! Hmmp! I turned around and went in to do my business. By the time I came out, he was still on his cell phone and hadn’t even noticed me standing right behind him.

“… So the auditions for the next season are going to be held in about two weeks. I need you to tell the other writers that we need to look for UNIQUE people this time. Not the usual ‘My friend is depressed, so put her with a super model’ thing. That’s been done for about three seasons strait already! We need something new… What?......... How should I know how many people are going to be there?! No one’s even signed up yet!.....”

What in the world is he going on about? I sighed. This was a problem. He was still busy on his cell, he STILL didn’t notice my presence, and I didn’t know my way around here so I can’t go back by myself. Sometimes it being a kid…

I leaned against the wall in annoyance and got bored really fast. I looked around the hallway to see if there was anything to do or look at and came up with nothing. There was nothing there. No windows, no rooms other than the bathrooms, and not even any posters! I was about to sigh again when a certain movement caught my eye. I looked over to it and gasped in wonder.

Fluttering around in circles was a butterfly. I watched it fly around half amazed and half confused. What was a unique looking butterfly doing inside a building like this? Actually, what was it doing here in Korea? I’ve never seen any kind like it before!

Curiously, I got closer to it, and to my surprise, it flew right in front of my face and landed on my shoulder. I looked at it and could finally see its wings. They were like a platinum-kind of blue with a dark black trim around it. What astonished me the most was the fact that it almost looked like they were glowing a kind of whitish-blue aura.

After a while, it suddenly flew off my shoulder and I had a nagging feeling that I should follow it. So I did, without even thinking of where or WHO it was taking me to.  

---

Third person POV:

Park Chanyeol grinned and waved as the fans screamed and took pictures. He, Sehun, and Suho and just got done getting their hair styled and were now exiting the hair salon. They weren’t the least bit surprised when they met the group of fans waiting for them outside. After being one of the world’s most famous K-pop Boygroups for almost ten years they were practically expecting it just about every day.

Their managers helped them merge through the pack of screaming people and they safely got in their van. Sehun let out a sigh of relief and looked quizzically at his hyungs.

“Was it just me, or were there more of them than usual?”

Suho shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Today is Channie’s comeback day.” They both looked at the said person, who just grinned again. For the past two years, Chanyeol was busy doing his duty as a civilian of South Korea and serving as an active officer in the army. Although his service ended a couple weeks ago, today was the day that he would officially make his return in the entertainment industry. Man was he excited, and he would be even MORE excited if he knew what he was going to do today.

He scratched the back of his head and gave the leader a quizzical look. “Hyung, I forget. Where are we going again?”

Suho’s eyes looked up as he tried to remember today’s agenda. “Right now we should be heading towards the radio station. There’s an Elementary school field trip going on there and we were hired to help them out with the kids a bit. Then afterwards we have to meet up with the rest and perform our comeback song on ‘Inkigayo’.”

“Hmmm… doesn’t sound too busy today.” Sehun said through a smile, which Chanyeol copied. They both had perked up when they heard the words ‘help them out with the kids’; that made the whole day worth looking forward too because, well, working with kids was the best thing about being an Idol. Not only was it fun, but there was also a unique feeling of happiness while looking at a child’s smile.

Since they were already in Cheongdam-dong, it only took them less than a half-hour to get to the radio station. They then climbed out of their van and went in to be greeted by one of the Station’s head writers. She gave them the run-down on what would happen during the live viewing and proceeded to give them the script for the day. Now all they had to do was wait for the rest of the Exo-K members to show up, which were Kai and D.O. Baekhyun was still finishing up his Military service and would be back in a few months along with Chen.

“I’m going to go get a bubble tea. Anyone wanna come with?” Sehun asked, pointing over to the radio station’s café. Suho looked at his watch. “I think I’ll just wait for them here. Knowing Kyungsoo, they’re probably on their way right now.” Chanyeol couldn’t help but imagine the older member forcing a sleepy Jongin into their car while growling about how late they were going to be.

Sehun then looked at Chanyeol, who just gave him a sheepish grin. “Actually, I haven’t been in this place in two years. So I kinda wanted to look around before the show started.”

The maknae shrugged an Ok and walked off to get his precious drink. Suho warned Chanyeol that he needed to be in the show’s room in an hour before walking over to an arm chair and sitting down, leaving Chanyeol to start his exploration of the radio station. He started by walking into a random hallway and looked around. Nothing really changed much in the past two years, the only noticeable change were the posters that hung on the wall. Two years ago they were mainly for shows like ‘Real Man’, ‘Law of the Jungle’ and ‘Show Me the Money’, but most of them had been recently replaced with hit shows that were popular today.

As he moved on, Chanyeol heard a chattering of voices and decided to see what was up. He crept closer until he knew its source was right around the corner. He peeked around it and saw the radio station’s small cafeteria; he saw the large group of little kids and knew they were the group that he and the other Exo members would meet later on. He watched them in excitement for a bit then proceeded to his exploring. He entered another hallway and stopped when a particular poster caught his eye. He walked to it and looked it over.

The poster was an advertisement for MBC’s hit reality-variety show called ‘Wanted’. Chanyeol knew of it and had even watched a few seasons before his Military service started. What he understood of it was that it was like a mixture of ‘Hello, Counselor’ and ‘We Got Married’; the writers of the show would read the worries that people would have of their friends or family member’s love life and would help them find the perfect significant other for that friend/family member. They mainly chose that person from a group of famous people. The couple he remembered the most was a female Middle School teacher and a famous Hockey player; they clashed a lot because the Hockey player would try to get her to skate with him while she just wanted to read. It sure did surprise everyone a year later when they actually got married.

I wonder if their baby is born yet… His thoughts took him back a couple months when he first saw the article. I bet it’s gonna look super cute!

He was contemplating on what gender it would be, when someone cleared their throat and brought him back to the present. He looked away from the poster to see a man smaller than him looking back with contemplation. The man looked to be about 5’10’’ with hair dyed a light brown and kind blackish-brown eyes. He wore a Platinum-blue dress shirt tucked into black slacks and shoes.

“Can I help you?” Chanyeol thought he could see a slight light radiating off of the other man’s body but he knew that was impossible, so he pushed the thought away claiming that it was just a trick of the lighting.

“You’re Exo’s Park Chanyeol, right?” The man asked, walking closer to the taller male. Chanyeol nodded and gave him his signature grin. “Yep! The one and only!”

He was expecting the man to ask him for an autograph or to take a selca with him, but instead he just looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t you be with the other members right now getting ready for the show?”

Chanyeol’s grin faded a bit. “Do you know what time it is?”

“11:40…”

Crap! He had ten minutes to get back to the others! He was about to take a step down the hallway, when a question popped into his head.

What was the room number again?

He groaned outwardly as he remembered that he forgot to ask where the scheduled room was before he started exploring. He looked back towards the man.

“uhhhh…” He scratched his head. “You wouldn’t happen to know WHERE the room would be, would you?”

The man smiled and nodded his head. “Sure do, just follow me.” Chanyeol obeyed and walked next to the man as they headed down the long hallway. An awkward silence hit them really quickly and Chanyeol, being the beagle-like person he was, didn’t like it one bit. He noticed the man next to holding a book and decided that to be his topic of choice.

“Sooo…..” He started off. “Can I ask what kind of book that is?”

The man smiled at him and then at the book. “It’s a fictional novel with a slice-of-life-like plot.”

“Is it good?”

“The best I’ve ever read! In fact, this is actually the third time I’ve read it!”

Chanyeol’s eyes grew wide and he tried to stifle a laugh. Man, if Baek was here he’d be teasing the poor guy non-stop for being a book worm.

The man asked if he wanted see it and then handed it to him. Chanyeol looked at the front cover; the title of the book was ‘Breaking the language barrier’ and on the cover was a boy and girl with their backs towards each other and talking on two phones that connected them. He was about to turn it over to read the back when the man next to him stopped and gestured towards a room.

“We’re here! This is the room that Exo is scheduled to meet up in.” He announced. Chanyeol nodded and was about to hand the man his book back, but he was already walking way.

“Uh, hey! Your book!” The giant dashed after him but, for some reason, his long legs couldn’t help him catch up to the smaller male. He saw the man turn the corner and was about to do the same when something even smaller bumped into him. Because he was larger, the collision didn’t faze him at all, but it did make the other fall down onto his . Chanyeol looked down to see an Elementary-aged boy on the floor looking up at him confused.

“Sorry about that, kiddo. You ok?” Chanyeol knelt down and helped the kid back up. This gave him the chance to get a closer look at the kid and what he saw shocked him a bit. The boy looked Korean with natural dark black hair and slightly slanted eyes, his skin tone was a pretty light tan and Chanyeol knew that the kid was going to be popular when he grew up. What made Chanyeol think twice about the kid’s heritage was his eye color. It was a mix of white and dark blue which reminded Chanyeol of lights dancing on water. Yeah, this kid is DEFINATLY going to have girls swoon over him soon.

“Hey, you’re part of the group here on a field trip, right?” He watched the kid dust himself off. “Shouldn’t you be with the rest of your friends?”

The boy opened his mouth to respond when someone ran up to them, panting.

“There you are!” Chanyeol recognized him as one of the script writers for the radio show that he and the other Exo members were about to guest star on . The giant frowned a bit, trying to remember his name, but came up with nothing. “I was looking everywhere for you! Why’d you slip away while I was on the phone?”

The boy frowned a bit and bowed. “Sorry, Mr. Jihoon. I just saw something interesting and yet weird, so I followed it.”

“What did you see- Oh! Hey Chanyeol-shi! What’re you doing here?” Jihoon finally took notice of Chanyeol’s presence and smiled. The giant gestured to the kid and held up the book.

“I was on my way to return this to a person that worked here and ended up bumping into this little guy.” He laughed a bit and looked down. “Hey kiddo? Did you happen to pass by a man wearing a blue shirt a couple of minutes ago?”

The boy looked up at him in confusion. “Man in a blue shirt? You’re the only person that I met while walking down this hallway.”

Chanyeol’s eyes grew big as he looked down the corridor that the kid had come from. There were no doors at all and was only connected to one other perpendicular hallway, which is probably what the kid took to get here. If he was right, then who or what was Chanyeol talking to only a few moments ago?