A few days later, Joshua’s POV

 

I honestly never thought that I would ever give a stranger my number but since I did it made me feel a bit concerned.

 

My life had always been simple so I wasn’t put into situations where I had to really think on the spot. Then again, she did seem like a very nice person and it was hard to come across a girl who didn’t flaunt what they did or did not have.

 

Margo was a simple looking girl with distinctive features that made her stand out. I wanted to get to know her more and see what she was really like under that shy exterior.

 

“Joshua” I jumped in my seat then turned around the find The8 looking at me with expectancy.
 

“Yes?” I love The8 to death but sometimes it was difficult to get him to understand that I wasn’t always paying a good deal of attention to everything. Good lord he almost made me jump out of my skin.

 

“Guess who’s at the door.” With that he left the room quickly and quietly.

 

I frowned a bit, stood up and headed out to the common space in the dorm. When I saw who it was I smiled. “Hey man, what are you doing here?”


“You know, I thought I’d stop by and say hi.” Vernon said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug.

 

Hoshi and The8 stood by the side waiting to say hi to him as well. Vernon pulled away and beamed at the three of us.

 

“Vernon is there something you come to tell us?” Hoshi asked.

 

A smile played on Vernon’s lips then it became a wide grin. He nodded and explained to us that he had gotten us tickets to a small concert that involved only the best performing students from our school, the American International Performing High School, and the Broadcasting School. All three would have students performing for 3 hours straight but it was an event that no one from those schools missed.

 

“Jun, S.Coups and Jeonghan will be performing right?” The8 had always wanted to perform in the event as well but could not get Hoshi nor I to do it because of other arrangements that had been made for that day.

 

“Yeah, but I don’t think they’ll be performing together. I’ll be performing with S.Coups, Wonwoo and Mingyu though.”


Out of the corner of my eye I could see a look in Hoshi that changed. I turned to face him completely.

 

“Hoshi, what are you thinking?”


“Well…the thing is…Jun and Dino asked me to join them for a performance for the event.”


As soon as he said that, I saw The8’s heart fall 10 stories in his body. Here’s some background on him for a quick second. He has always loved to dance, and sometimes sing. But dancing was his main focal point and not being asked to join his friends in a performance was just heart crushing.

 

I walked over to him and gave him a hug. He deflated slowly in my arms and I very carefully glared at Hoshi and Vernon. The two looked at me as if to say that they didn’t know what to do.

 

“The8, don’t worry about it. You’re a great dancer. It may have been that they forgot to tell you.”

 

He shook his head sadly and started talking in Chinese. I pulled away so that I could look at him face to face.

 

“The8, please speak Korean.” I wanted to help him but I didn’t know how to help. Then my phone vibrated and I knew I had gotten a text.

 

I checked it and I saw a message from Margo. She wanted to know if she could meet up with us and when would be most convenient for us.

 

I decided to call her. It would make things simpler. Before I did, I looked at Vernon and Hoshi.

 

“You two need to help him for a bit. I have to call Margo.” I dialed her number and waited for a moment before she answered.

 

“Hello?”


“Hi Margo.”


“Oh hi Joshua. I wasn’t expecting you to call.”


“I figured that it would be better.” In the background I could hear the other two trying to calm The8 down but is seemed like he was getting farther and father away from us.

 

“Is everything ok there?” Clearly she could hear it too.


“Do you speak Chinese?”


“Well…yes. I’m fluent. Why?”


I knew I should have said something about that sooner but too late now.

 

“Do you think you could talk to The8? He’s speaking in Chinese and we don’t know any.” There was a slight pause, then she answered.


“Hand me over to him.”


I walked over to The8 and handed him the phone.

 

“Wei?”


“Hi Minghao. Wo shi Margo. Ji zhu wo?”

 

“Shì de, wǒ jìdé nǐ.”

 

His voice was quiet and softer. Much more so than normal and I was just hoping that she could help him out.

 

As they talked on the phone, The8 slowly because to speak in Korean and so I guess Margo had to changed which language she spoke as well.

 

When it looked like they were done, he handed me the phone, stood up and went to his room.

 

“So, how’d it go?” I spoke to her in English rather than Korean. I also had no idea if she spoke it or not and if so, to what extent.

 

“It went well. He’s very sweet if I may say. He works really hard though from what I got out of the talk.”


“He’s all of that and more. I just wish he could see it himself. But, that’s not why you texted me, you wanted to meet up?”


“Yeah, could I come by your dorm?”

 

“Sure. How about 12?”


“Sounds good. See you guys then.” She hung up and I put away my phone. Since she was coming over, this meant that she would have to meet the rest of us. I could have her meet them later but today seemed like a good time.

 

Vernon and Hoshi stood together talking quietly in Korean glancing at The8’s bedroom door. I walked over to them.

 

“Guys, we have to get the rest of the members to the dorm within the next…” I looked at the clock “15 minutes. Can we do that?”

Vernon nodded and started calling some of the others. Hoshi did the same. In the mean time I walked down the hall to get The8 back out of his room.

 

In my mind I kept thinking about Margo. I haven’t even known her that long but something about her was intriguing to me and I wanted to know more.

 

End of Joshua’s POV

 

You grabbed your bag and guitar as you left the house. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze.

 

As you waited for the bus to come by, you thought of Joshua, The8, Hoshi and Woozi. They were all very good-looking and seemingly very nice. This was difficult to find in a person in LA. Yes people were nice but sometimes the two qualities escaped being together in one being.

 

When the bus came, you got on and sat down quickly. You glanced at the people around you. When you felt confident enough you began to play your favorite song from when you were growing up. It was called An Jing in Chinese but in English it meant Silence.

 

You loved to sing practically anywhere you could find the space.  Which wasn’t hard considering all you needed was a place to sit with you guitar.

 

While you sang, people on the bus began to turn their attention to you with interesting and admiration. By then you were off in your own world just singing from memory, matching the lyrics with the tune that was always playing in your mind.

 

When you stopped singing, you noticed that your stop was coming up very soon, everyone clapped for your impromptu performance.

 

It put a smile on your face knowing that people could enjoy things in life, even if you couldn’t always enjoy life.

 

 

***

 

 

The campus that Joshua, The8 and Hoshi lived on was big but very nice compared to most school campuses you’ve seen before. But you were not here to go sight seeing, you were here to find out more about the strange boys you met the other day.

 

“I guess this is it?” You looked curiously at the plaque on the building. “St. Agnes Jones, Building 401.”


You walked into the building to find that it was just as nice looking as the campus. Everything was clean, well managed and sophisticated. It seemed like a place they would live in, just considering how gentlemanly Joshua and Minghao acted.

 

There was a key in the middle of the lobby that had the names, room numbers and floor that everyone was staying on in the building. You quickly found the room number and floor you were looking for under Minghao’s name. It seemed to be that they labeled it from youngest to oldest in each room.

 

While you waited for the elevator you saw a Woozi entering the building out of the corner of your eye. You turned around and waved at him. He noticed you instantly and came over at once.

 

“Hello.” His voice was soft and calming.

 

“Hi. Are you here to see the others?”


He nodded and held the elevator door open for me then pressed the second floor button. Then he noticed the guitar in your hands.

 

“Do you play?”


“Sometimes. I play wherever and whenever I get the chance, which really isn’t that often.”


“Really? You should play for us then. It would be nice to hear it coming from someone else for a change.”


You were about to ask him what he meant but the elevator stopped on the second floor before you knew it and had to get off. Woozi lead you down the long hall to a door labeled in English, Korean and Chinese.

 

“This is their room. Just to warn you now, they may have not cleaned today because they didn’t have a dorm room inspection. Though I doubt they would actually leave it messy fi you were coming over.” He nocked on the door twice and it flew open in a matter of seconds.

 

The first thing you saw was a pair of dark brown eyes, black hair and very charming facial features.


“Hey Wonwoo. What are you doing here?” He tilted his head to the side a bit.


“Hi Woozi, Hoshi told me to come over so I did. Who’s this?” He looked at you with kind eyes and smiled a bit.

 

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Woozi pushed past Wonwoo and you followed after him.

 

“Margo!” You turned to find Joshua leaning against a wall with a smile on his face. “So glad to see you.”


“You too Joshua.” You blushed and tried to hide it from the latter who in the end saw it anyway but said nothing. He didn’t want you to know that he saw.

 

“Come into common area, we’ve got some people to introduce you too.” Joshua took your hand gently and brought you into another room. There you found many new faces who were all starring at you intently.

 

“Whoa….”


“Guys, this is Margo. Margo, meet my other friends.” He looked at the others than back at you. “Guys, please introduce yourselves one by one. Dino, why don’t we start with you?”


You turned to see the kind named Dino. He was short, had black hair and a very cute smile.

 

Before he introduced himself, he stood up and bowed. “Hello, my name is Lee Chan but you can call me Dino.”


“We all do. Hi, I’m Vernon.” Vernon had a bit of a smart- air to him. He seemed to be that guy in the group who would fire back with a snarky comment and find it hilarious. Vernon, like Dino, was also short. However, he had light brown hair that was parted in the middle of his head.

 

“I’m the 1004(Angle) Jeonghang.” He stood up and bowed just like Dino, but unlike Dino, he was tall with blonde hair. He seemed like a very nice person right off the bat.

 

“I’m Junhui but everyone calls me Jun.” You looked at him for a moment and knew that he was Chinese. It didn’t matter if his Korean was practically perfect, you could still tell.

 

“Hello, I’m Seungcheol but I’m more commonly known and called S. Coups.” He was also tall with dark black hair. He too seemed like a very nice person who was protective.

 

“I’m Mingyu.” If the being tall meant that you were 5’ 7’’ then that was no comparison to Mingyu. He had to be at least 5’ 10” with silver hair parted to the side of his head.

 

You turned to the next guy in the line. Wonwoo. He sat looking at you calmly but in a certain way that made you blush. This was visible to Joshua who did not like what he saw.

 

“This is Wonwoo. He’s one of the better looking guys in our group.”


 Wonwoo. It never occurred to you that these 13 boys would all look so good. But Wonwoo just took the icing on the cake for you.

 

“I’m DK.” He was tall and very charming looking.

 

“And finally we come full circle to our sassiest member, Boo Seungkwan.” Joshua had a smile on his face as he saw the others expression.

 

“We also call him Diva Boo, which will become very clear soon enough.” Woozi said, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets and a rather smug look.

 

“I am not a diva. You guys are just jealous of me.”


You laughed a bit. These guys didn’t seem so bad thus far. You wanted to get to know them. Suddenly you felt your guitar being pulled away from you.


Joshua took the guitar and examined it. “Very nice. Antique?”


You nodded shyly. “It was from my mom when she was a kid.”


“You play?”


Again you nodded your head.

 

“Hm…” Joshua thought for a moment, then looked back at you. “Why don’t you play for us a bit then? I’ll even join you.”

 

He handed you your guitar back and ran off to get his. While he was away the other members started talking to each other. As far as you could hear they were talking about you but even if they were, you couldn’t bother to care very much.

 

You knew what would happen if you got involved and you knew what could happen if your heart beat just a little too quickly or a little too slowly. Regulation was the key and if it was not kept in balance then everything would fall to pieces. Literally.

 

“Ok Margo, come over here and let’s play something.” Joshua sat down and started to tune his guitar.

 

The others made space for you to sit next to him. As you sat down you noticed a small piece of what looked like athletic tape sticking out from under his sleeve but you didn’t say anything.

 

“Margo?”


Hearing Joshua call your name made you come back to reality very quickly and blush a rosy color.

 

“Sorry,” You looked down for a minute then began tuning your guitar “I didn’t mean to stare…”

 

The others looked at you, waiting until you could play. Joshua cleared his throat and opened his mouth to ask a question.

 

“So what song should we play? Have you ever heard Because of You?”


“Yeah, I love that song.”


“Good.” The latter smiled, appeared to blush, looking down at his guitar and beginning the tune.

 

“Oh gosh…Let’s see if I remember this.” You began to play, it was a bit shaky at first and it seemed like you had forgotten most of what you had learned. However, with Joshua’s help you slowly began to gain back the feeling. You even started to sing a bit.

 

“Geunaldo biga wasseotji

Hanchameul geudaen mareobshi

Nareul bara bogiman haesseo”

 

The others smiled and soon Woozi, Joshua, Jeonghan and Seungkwan had joined you in singing.

 

Once you and Joshua finished the song, you closed your eyes as everyone clapped their hands and smiled.


“That was great Margo. Did you teach yourself?”


“Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was 6. My mom always played the guitar for me as a kid.” Looking back at the guitar you suddenly remembered that you did not take your medication that morning. Then realizing that it was 4:30, you were 3 hours behind on the schedule.

 

“Oh, I have to go.” You stood up but just a little too quickly for your body’s liking and you felt a bit dizzy.

 

Joshua shot up from his seat and held your arms steadily. His expression, along with the others was filling with concern.


“Maybe, I should take you back to your house.” He said calmly.

 

You agreed to let him bring you back to the house. Minghao and Wonwoo offered to go with you. Joshua told them to help get you out the door and into the car once he pulled it out.

Once you all were loaded into the car, Joshua started heading for your house. As he drove you slowly began to fall asleep. Minghao noticed this and moved closer to you so that your head wouldn’t be like one of those bobble head figurines that you put on the dashboard of a car.

 

“Hyung, she’s a sleep.” Minghao whispered so as not to wake you.

 

“That’s ok. She seems to be light enough that we can carry her into her house.”

***

 

 

When you woke up you found yourself in your room under the covers. You yawned and got out of bed.

 

You could heard voices coming from the lower level of the house so you  walked down the stairs to find Joshua, Minghao and Wonwoo standing in the kitchen.

 

“She should be fine Josh.”


“You’re right, but I still feel bad just leaving her like that.”


“There’s not much we can do at this point. Let’s just go back to the dorm.” Wonwoo said. Clearly he was getting tired too.

 

“Alright. Let’s go I guess. But I’ll leave a note for her. Wonwoo, you’re driving.”


The latter groaned and started to complain. Minghao rolled his eyes and signaled for Joshua to toss him the keys.

“Just don’t trash the car while I’m in here.” He said with a smile.

 

“I would never hyung.” With that Minghao and Wonwoo left the house.

 

Joshua grabbed a piece of paper and a pen then began to write on it. When he finished the note he signed his name very carefully but quickly, set down the pen then left the house. He closed the door behind him with a quiet click.

 

You let out a deep breath then went to the kitchen to see what Joshua had written.

 

“Hey Margo,

            We left your house a little while after we dropped you off. I hope you’re feeling ok.

            Joshua Hong

            P.S. I forgot to ask you this but, would you like to join me and my friends to go to the Arts Gala for the top three schools in LA? Almost all of my friends are performing and I would really like for you to come. Just…think about it.”

 

You set the note back down and went upstairs to get your medicine in before 5:30 came around. Otherwise really would have gone down. 

 

As you grabbed your pill bottle, you thought about the invitation to the Gala. It sounded fun and it could be a nice way to get to know him better as an individual rather than part of a larger group of people. Joshua was a sweet person who seemed to have a lot of love in his heart. It was a nice change for once. But going to this with him, well….it may or may not be a good idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey guy! Here's another chapterof the story, I hope you all like it. Also, Chinese is my first offical language but I have since forgotten most of what I spoke. Thus I am having to relearn EVERYTHING, so if my Chinese is wrong here, please pardom my mistake.

 

Anyway, I am now working on a new chapter so please anticipate it ^^

 

       -XuMing