It had been about 20 minutes since I called Eli and told him I was done packing. I stared at my suitcases and sighed. It had taken way too long to repack them. The phone rang I jogged through the house to get it.

                “yoboseyo”

                “It’s me. Open to door. I forgot my key in the room.” Eli said, sounding quite out of breath. “And don’t let your face be seen when you open the door.” I could hear the sounds of people in the background. They were really loud and were making it difficult for me to hear.

                “Do what?” I said kinda loudly.

                “Open the door and ---.” He said again. All I caught was open the door. So I did that and was met with flashes of cameras.

                “Is she your girlfriend? Are you living with him? What is your name? How old are you? Can you speak Korean? Was she the person you were on the phone with?” they yelled. The paparazzi were crowded around the door and I stood there, shocked.

                Eli shoved his way inside and yanked me in the room as well. He slammed the door and looked down at me. “I’m guessing you didn’t hear me say don’t be seen.”

                “Yeah, no I didn’t hear that. So… will you have a scandal?” I asked, sadness creeping out in my voice.

                “Yeah, but I can resolve that real quick. We can do what they did on that show Full House… ya know the one with Rain?”

                “Yeah I saw that… wait get married?”

                “Yeah, we can say we’ve been married for a while now and that the baby is mine.” He said, deep in thought. “I know someone who can get us a license and we get married at the courthouse. Of course they can get in trouble for lying about the date we got married but that’s okay. They have done it before and still haven’t gotten caught.  

                “Oh … okay. But she or he won’t look Asian… how do we explain that?”

                “We’ll leave a grain of truth in it. You were attacked a few months after we got married and got pregnant. I want to raise the baby as my own. Ya know. Stuff like that. It’ll be really believable I think because I was on a talk show a few months ago talking about how I want a family soon.”

                “Oh, so how do we explain me with all my bags?”

                “We won’t move them right now. You ready?” he said motioning to the door. I nodded and grabbed my purse.

                “Let’s go.” I said. He opened the door and put his arm around me and pulled me close. I wrapped my arm around his waist and snuggled into him. The two of us looking the part of a real couple.

                “Who is she? Are you dating? What is your name? Are you from the states? Are you from New York?” they called out.

                “Excuse me.” Eli said rudely. We made it down the hall and pressed the button to the elevator. “Don’t try to hide when we get on the elevator. It looks like you have something to hide.” He whispered. I looked at him, smiled and nodded.

                The doors opened and the paparazzi were still screaming at us. They didn’t try to get on with us surprisingly but they did continue to take picture after picture.

                “We’ll have a press conference in three days. Until then leave my wife and I alone.” He said right as the doors closed. You could hear the screams of questions even as we went down in the elevator. I leaned into him and sighed.

                ‘This is gonna be a long nine months… wait! I just thought about something. I can’t divorce you. My family doesn’t believe in it. So you’ll either have to stay married to me or just we pretend we are married.”

                “I don’t mind. I mean what guy wouldn’t want to see your pretty face every day?” he said while watching the numbers go down.

                I smiled and didn’t say anything else. I simply stayed in the warmth of his arm over me. The doors opened and a few more paparazzi were standing in the lobby with their cameras aimed at us. They didn’t say anything as we walked from the elevator to the door. His car was sitting there idling and the doors were already open. I climbed in the car and buckled my seatbelt as he closed my door. He jogged around and climbed in.

                The ride to the practice building took no more than 10 minutes and with my new Super Junior CD playing, much to Eli’s dismay who thought we should listen to some American music. We parked and walked into the building hand and hand just in case there were any more paparazzi waiting to get more pictures. Once inside, we let go of each other and I followed him to the practice room.

                “5,6,5,6,7,8!”

                A tall man was dancing in the front of the room, while the boys mimicked his every move. Eli jumped into his place and picked up immediately. I sat down and watched. They were practicing for their newest song, Neverland. I was bobbing my head to the recording of the song when I realized that they were actually singing. Their voices sounded so perfect together that I was pretty sure that it was a CD.

                As they rehearsed, I wandered around the room and played with DongHo’s dog. He was asleep when I first came in but when he woke up, I kept him company. A few hours passed and manager Woo brought them 5 huge bags of chicken.

                “Okay, you guys have worked hard. Enjoy! I’ll see you all later.” He said before walking out the room. The choreographer grabbed a box of chicken, bowed and left.

                “NOONA!” DongHo cried out as soon as the choreographer left. He attacked me with a hug and squeezed me tight. “I missed you this much.” He said, letting go of me to show me how much he missed me. Then he hugged me again.

                “DongHo she is carrying a baby. Let’s not hurt it by hugging her to tight.” Kevin said before biting off a huge chunk of chicken.

                “Yeah, let’s not kill my kid.” Eli said before handing me a box and a bottle of water. “You feeling okay?”

                I nodded, “Yup!”

                “It’s not your kid.” SooHyun said.

                “Yeah it is, after all she is my wife.” Eli said with an over exaggerated wink.

                “Huh?” SooHyun replied.

                “I told paparazzi that she was my wife.”  He said calmly before eating a piece of biscuit.

                It was quiet for about 2 minutes. Then Alexander exploded.

                “YOU DID WHAT?” he screamed.

                Everyone stared at him in complete shock.

                “I told them she was my wife. They were asking if she was my girlfriend and why we were living together and well that was the plan I came up with that Imani agreed with.”

                “You agreed to marry this idiot?” Xander asked me with shock written all over his face.

                “It was that or get branded as the who hangs out with U-KISS.” I said softly before nibbling on a piece of chicken. I sipped my water and ignored all the looks being aimed at me.

                “You do know it wasn’t you fault. Right?” Kevin said softly. “You’re not a .”

                “I know. I just feel like that's what people will think of me." I said before biting off a peice of chicken.

                Kibum stood up and walked over to me. He sat down and hugged me. “ You know… I think that you are pretty amazing.” Eli stood up and walked out the room.

                “Where are you going?” I called out.

                He didn’t answer me, so I jumped up and followed him.

                “How are you so strong? I’ve known you for about a week and a half and I've seem I’ve seen you look like a victim once and that was when you told me you were scared. I don’t understand it.”

                “I’m not strong. Heck, I’m the weakest person I know. But I’ve been doing a whole lot of praying, for one and I have you guys.”

                “Okay, but you are one brave little chick. You came to a new country alone after something like that. I don’t get you.”

                I laughed unemotionally. “I’m not brave either. I’m none of the things you mentioned. I’m just a girl who, a few months ago, turned 18 and won’t let a little boy stop my dreams. I mean I know that I don’t fit in here at all. I’m sure most of the people here think I’m crazy for being here but it’s my dream to live here and to study here. So what if I have to stop that dream for a few years. I’ll still do it.”

                I didn’t realize I was crying a little until Eli walked over to me and wiped my face. “Why are you crying?”

                “I don’t actually know.” I replied. He pulled me into a hug and we rocked back and forth for a bit.

                “Feel better?” he said looking down at me.

                “Yeah, even though I’m not sure why I was crying in the beginning haha.”

                The guys all suddenly came out the room, Kevin holding my purse and Eli’s jacket. He handed us our things. “We are about to go home.”

                “Finally you guys can leave my house.” Kiseop said. Kibum shoved him and then jogged to his car.

                “Bye guys! See ya Saturday!” he called out before whipping out the parking lot.

                “I don’t understand why he drives like that whenever we leave practice. He drives normally everywhere else.” SooHyun said with a reprimanding tone.

                I laughed a little and followed Eli to his car. “Bye guys! See you Saturday!” I called out as I climbed in his car.

                The ride to his home was really quiet, Eli was getting tenser and tenser as we neared his home. “I think there will be a lot of paparazzi outside my complex.” He said softly.

                I didn’t respond, because I knew he was right.

                Once we got to his well our building, I saw them. There was a huge mob of people. Some fans but most of them were paparazzi. They all rushed his car and started taking pictures. He drove through the throng of people as fast as he could without killing anyone and went to the parking garage. They started to follow but the security guards stopped them. He parked and told me to hurry out the car.

                Once in the elevator, he pressed the letter P. He lived in the Penthouse? The elevator moved quickly up the building and soon it was opening. We walked about 5 feet before we reached a door.

                ‘Um so this is my house. It looks really manly cuz I’m a man and all but the nursery looks like a baby! Or well it looks good for a baby.”  He said before pulling out his key and pushing open the door. I laughed a little and patted his back. 

                 "It's Okay." 

                I looked around in awe. “This is so pretty or manly… but it’s really nice!”

                He laughed a little. “Come on I’ll show you to your room, which is right next to the nursery.”

                I smiled and followed him. First we saw my room which was a deep purple and pure white.

                “I love it!” I squealed! “It’s so… me!”

                He laughed again and showed me the bathroom that was connected to his room. “If you ever need me for anything just come through here. It’s the fastest way and if you’re throwing up I’ll hear you.”

                I nodded and followed him out the room to the nursery. It was green and yellow and had a zoo theme. “I asked them to do it this way just in case it wasn’t a girl. But it will be a girl.”

                I laughed. “Okay Ellison what ever you say.” I said before going back to my room. “Oh crap! I don’t have any clothes!”

                “Oh I have some sweats you can borrow.” He said before walking to his room. I followed him and sat on his bed. His room was black and white with red accents. It looked like the ultimate bachelor pad. “Here ya go,” he said tossing me some sweats and a long sleeved gray shirt.

                I thanked him, went to my room, changed and climbed into my bed. I wondered about what my mom thought of me. She probably thought I was sleeping in a little dorm with a girl whose name she couldn’t quite remember. She wouldn’t think that in 9 months she’ll be a grandma. But she’ll never know.

                I sat up and went into the bathroom. Eli was in the brushing his teeth. He looked and me and cocked his head to the side.

                “I want to fake my death.”