Talks about the ert thief circulated our classroom early Friday morning. They were saying that our classmate's sister's friend's cousin was attacked last night on Astral district. I rolled my eyes at that. More signs that it was just groundless rumors.

"Isn't that close to our neighborhoods?" Lu Han asked me with a frown.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Please. Don't tell me you really believe them."

Lu Han shrugged but he still looked worried. "As I said, it can't hurt to be careful "

"It's not like you have anything to be worried about anyway," I said, remembering the supposed modus operandi of the ert thief. "He only targets pretty girls. And last time I checked-" I gave him a once-over, "you're not even a girl."

Lu Han just stared at me in response as if I already knew what he was thinking. I didn't, of course, but he didn't take his eyes off me.

I coughed and broke our eye contact first. "What?" I snapped at him. He could be so unnerving sometimes.

He shook his head at me as his mouth started curling into a tiny smile. "I can't decide if you're just pretending or if you're really clueless."

When I didn't say anything and just glared at him, his smile widened as if annoying me had been his goal right from the start.

"Obviously, I'm not worried about myself." He gestured to the space between us. "Between the two of us, who do you think is the pretty girl?"

It didn't really register at first, what Lu Han said. And when it did, I burst out into laughter, because clearly, he must have been kidding. He couldn't have implied that he was worried about me, much less thought that I was pretty. Lu Han just raised a brow at me as if I had gone crazy.

"Ha. Funny." I coughed awkwardly as I looked anywhere but at him. Thankfully, our homeroom teacher finally came in at that moment, saving me from further embarrassment.

I soon forgot about what Lu Han said because Jaeni came over around break time and started talking about the fan signing event. It was all I needed to get hyped up.

"Are you sure you're not coming?" I asked Lu Han one more time after classes ended while he was walking with Jaeni and me to the bus stop.

Lu Han scrunched his nose. "Please don't keep letting me imagine myself asking for Lunar Sages' autographs." He was visibly shivering at the thought.

"Fine." I relented before he'd start "insulting" my boys again.

Lu Han just grinned at my sullen expression.

We weren't taking the same bus so Jaeni and I went ahead of him. Unfortunately, we didn't have extra time to go home and change and look divine since the event was starting in an hour. Not that I was aiming to wow them, but still, it wouldn't have hurt to look a little bit fabulous in front of Sehun. Oh well, it wasn't like he was gonna remember me anyway.

Jaeni and I started gushing right away the moment we arrived at the venue. One of the things I liked about fangirling is the community.  I was surrounded by people who love the same group and music that I do. It wasn't always the case so it felt like a validation of my interests: I wasn't weird after all, and I wasn't alone. 

We waited with bated breath for the members to appear, and when they did, the screams were endless. The energy was overwhelming. I didn't think I could survive the next hour and a half.

We screamed, we squealed, we yelled out their names. By the time we were allowed to go up close and have our albums signed, my throat was hoarse and my voice sounded scratchy. And then finally, Sehun was right in front of me, smiling at me as if I was someone important.

"Hello there. What's your name?" 

I had braced myself for it but who was I kidding? No amount of preparation would have shielded me from Sehun's brilliance.

When I didn't answer, Sehun's smile just brightened even more. "I don't bite, you know." He started writing things on my album and then looked up to me with another smile. "Nice to meet you..." He trailed off as if waiting for me to fill in my name.

I swallowed and gathered whatever courage I could find. "