I looked around me and swallowed nervously. There were people everywhere. Waiters and waitresses were walking back and forth serving the guests and being attentive. The paparazzi were holding their cameras ready to snap pictures of EXO whenever they would arrive. “Isn’t this place beautiful?” Jenny gasped, clutching her hands to her chest. I frowned at her “No, and I can’t believe we’re doing something so dangerously stupid.” Of course I had lied, the place was gorgeous but I was furious. It was very rare that I would get angry at Jenny, I could count on my fingers the number of times we had argued....but I would never forgive her for tonight....

Our trip to Korea was to last two months. Jenny and I had stayed with her aunt in Seoul. Our first month here went by so quickly. Jenny was constantly dragging me around to one place or the other. She loved going to concerts, especially EXO’s concerts. While I was not obsessed with them, I had to admit that they were all quite talented and handsome. However nothing had prepared me for what had taken place a few hours ago. Jenny had burst into my room “Ok my aunt’s gone!” she exclaimed as she tossed some clothes in my direction. They landed on my bed with a light thud “What is this?” I asked as I hesitantly unfolded the clothes. I was really confused as I examined them. “Is this a waiter’s uniform?” I quietly read the words inscribed on the shirt. “The Secret Garden……”  “Is this some kind of restaurant?....and why am I supposed to wear this?” I looked up at Jenny puzzled. If she had given me a tight dress and told me that she wanted to go clubbing, that would have not shocked me at all….it wouldn’t have been the first time. This however made no sense. Jenny gave me a smile that made me sick to my stomach, I did not like where this was going.

“Ok so I found out that EXO is going to be at this restaurant tonight!!” She squealed happily. “Okkkkk and what does that have to do with us?” I asked even though I was already beginning to guess what she had in mind. “Look I really really REALLY wanna see them up close, so when I found out that they will be here tonight I came up with this great idea!....I know someone that works there and let me borrow these clothes” “Jenny noooooo no noooo!!” I interrupted her. “BUT! It’s not even a big deal, we’ll totally blend in with the other waiters…..all we have to do is sneak in, serve a few people….and then we’ll meet EXO! We might even be able to get a few selfies with them!!!” I threw down the uniform in despair “Are you out of your mind?!?!?......we could get caught!! We could get in SOOOOO much trouble! We could get dragged away to jail!!” Jenny gave me a skeptical look “Don’t be overdramatic, we won’t even stay that long….pleaseeeeeee” Jenny whined and gave me a pouty face, even though she knew aegyo never worked on me. “Absolutely not!” I glared down at her. “Well that’s alright then I’ll just go by myself….” She sighed as she grabbed my clothes from the floor and started to walk away.

My heart started to pound faster as I closed my eyes and tried to think of what I could do to stop this from happening. I couldn’t call her parents because they most likely would be sleeping and wouldn’t answer, I couldn’t call her aunt because she had gone to attend an important meeting and she probably would have turned off her phone….I was considering tying her up all night when I realized that we didn’t have any rope, or anything else I could use as a substitute. I moaned in frustration; there was only one thing I could do, I had to go with her….I didn’t have any other choice, if something happened to her I would never be able to forgive myself. I angrily stomped towards Jenny and snatched the clothes out of her hands, “we’re not staying long” I muttered as I walked past her to go change. I could hear her clapping her hands behind me.

So here we were! It had been relatively easy to get into the restaurant….there were a lot of waiters already there so we didn’t even have to do much work. At least I had tried to blend in by working as much as I could, Jenny honestly didn’t even try she just continued to pace back and forth waiting for EXO to arrive. “I should be getting paid for this” I grumbled as I poured another customer some water. While the restaurant was open to the public on normal days, tonight only certain people were allowed in such as staff, paparazzi, certain celebrities that I didn’t recognize, and other people that I guessed were either mangers, family, or friends of the celebrities. At the entrance there were guards checking everyone that came in. It wasn’t as crazy as I had expected it to be. There were a few fans outside the restaurant that were kept in check by the guards, but not as many as I had expected. Apparently this had been a pretty secret event, I wondered how Jenny had found out that EXO would be here tonight. I looked around me and allowed myself to smile. The place was truly beautiful, and if I hadn’t been in the situation I was currently in I would’ve really enjoyed it.

The restaurant was called The Secret Garden because it was located in a huge garden. Honestly it was more garden than it was restaurant. The place was decorated in the ancient Greek style making it look like we were in Greece rather than Korea. Instead of walls there were pillars surrounding the eating area. Lights were strung from pillar to pillar, making the place look enchanting. Jenny had told me that it was rumored that Kai and his family had often come here to celebrate his birthday, and that it was one of his favorite places. Suddenly I heard screaming coming from the outside of the garden, I saw Jenny rush past me as she squealed out “EXO!!” I quickly grabbed her hand to stop her from running towards the group. “What are you doing?? If you act like that you’re gonna blow your cover….act natural” I hissed. “Oh you’re right!” Jenny whispered back. She continued to wipe tables as she casually inched over to where the group was coming in. I smiled in spite of myself, this was a bit exciting even I had to admit. Many of the guests were standing by now ready to socialize with the boys. I picked up a pitcher of water and looked up hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the EXO members when a big man with a camera bumped into me causing me to spill ice cold water on my uniform. I let out a small squeak before being able to stop myself, the man was already walking away without a care. “Stupid paparazzi” I muttered under my breath. I tried to wipe the water off of me as best as I could when I heard a voice ask “hey are you ok?” I could feel my face heating up as my head shot up. Looking down at me was the prettiest face I had ever seen a guy have. “Yeah…..I……I’m…” I stammered as the guy smiled at me “Luhan!” an older man called out to him. The guy gave me one last smile before turning to walk in the direction of the older man.

I just stood there in a daze. “Get yourself together!” I whispered to myself. I continued to wipe tables in order to avoid suspicion from the other people there. Suddenly I remembered that I hadn’t seen Jenny in a while. There were people everywhere by now. The paparazzi were pushing each other trying to snap pictures of everyone attending the event. The fans outside had multiplied, and it was getting harder to keep them out. Their screaming could be heard clearly. “This is getting dangerous” I thought to myself. It was time to find Jenny and get out of here before we got caught. I quietly sneaked away from the crowd to look for Jenny. “Where is she?!?!?” I muttered in annoyance. I walked around as casually as I could trying to find Jenny, but she was nowhere to be seen.

I decided to walk towards the back of the restaurant when I noticed some stone steps leading down to another section of the garden. I followed the path quietly calling out for Jenny. I kept going until I came to a dead end. At the end of the path was a little fountain, I went to sit down by it and ran my fingers through my hair. I was getting worried, Jenny was nowhere to be found. “Hwaiting!” I mentally encouraged myself, I was feeling anxious about going back to the party. I sat by the little fountain considering my options and staring at the stone wall that followed the path. Ivy leaves had grown over the wall and was completely covering it. As I sat there contemplating what to do I thought I saw a crack in the wall between the leaves. “That’s a pretty big crack” I thought to myself as I stood up to look at it closer. Once I was right up against the wall I could see the wall had cracked from the top all the way to the bottom. I touched the wall wondering how that had happened when I thought I felt the wall move. I touched the wall again, this time pushing harder; I was right the wall had moved! I tried again putting all my strength against the wall. I gasped in shock as I realized that the wall wasn’t cracked, I had found a secret door that had been disguised as part of the wall. I squeezed in through the door to see what was on the other side. The moonlight was streaming down revealing a small well in the very center of the secret garden. I walked right up to the well, peering down into it. It had the bluest water I had seen, but the bottom of the well could not be seen. It was as if it went on endlessly. The outside of the well looked ancient, and had weird carvings on it. “What are you doing here?!?” my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an angry voice. I twirled around to face whoever had spoken. I gasped in shock when I realized who it was. Even I knew who he was, Jenny always talked about him….his posters filled her room. It was Kai.