***

[1:37am] Baek: So… what did you think?

[1:37am] You: Baek, I am so hooked on this show it isn’t even funny!  Everyone is great in it, you laugh, smile, yell and cry all in one episode. Istg if you spoil it for me I will fly to Japan and strangle you.

[1:37am] Baek: So violent, don’t worry I’m not gonna spoil you. Your essay length reviews and live reactions are too good to ruin.

[1:38am] Baek: Plus I don’t want to be strangled or for you to go to jail for maiming Byun Baekhyun. 

[1:38am] Baek: Who is your favourite prince? Be honest, I’ll know if you lie to me, even via text.

[1:38am] You: I mean it’s probably obvious. 

[1:38am] Baek: I know it’s not the 8th. You hate him for some reason.

[1:38am] You: FOR VALID REASONS! He has the spine of a wet rag and wandering eyes. Cannot be trusted. He is why we don’t trust men. 

[1:39am] Baek: So come on. I’m not gonna keep guessing. Some of us performed a 3hr concert tonight and have another one to do tomorrow.

[1:39am] You: The 4th prince. As intended by the show since he’s the lead. But his character is just so interesting!

[1:39am] Baek: Plus he’s hot. 

[1:39am] You: Well that’s just a given. 

[1:39am] You: But it’s more that Lee Joon-gi is a great actor. He just pulls focus. The hair and the mask definitely help with the visual appeal though.

[1:39am] You: Anyway, enough about your super popular show Baek. How was the concert? How’s Tokyo?

[1:40am] Baek: Lmao, I’ll be sure to tell Joon-gi hyung that. ;)

[1:40am] Baek: The concert went really well. It’s been great to have Yixing with us this time, he was so sad to have missed out last tour. Fans have been wonderful and everyone is in good condition so it’s fun. Tokyo is great as well, we always love coming here. We film for our concert DVD tomorrow night I think.

[1:40am] Baek: There’s even talk of a Japanese CBX debut next year which would be awesome.

[1:40am] You: I’m glad it’s going well. I can’t wait until I get to watch one when we go to America. So far I’ve only gotten to see you guys perform 1 or 2 songs at a time, a whole concert will be incredible.

[1:40am] You: Tell everyone I miss them and that I’m looking forward to all of you coming back in a few weeks. I know I won’t see much of any of you with all of the end of year shows coming up but it will be nice to see you guys back here.

[1:41am] Baek: You need to stop watching my show. It makes you all sappy when you msg me lol. But I’ll pass that on. Trust me, we look forward to being home and catching up with you too!

[1:41am] You: :P Go to sleep diva. You have a whole concert to perform tomorrow. 

[1:41am] You: Shut up, I’m allowed to miss the lot of you. 

[1:41am] Baek: I am pretty tired. Need my beauty sleep if I’m to be on a concert DVD.

[1:41am] Baek: And we miss you too. Night night :)

You toss your phone on your bed and sigh. You miss the guys. They’ve been in Japan on tour for a month now and SM didn’t send you as they had a Japanese tutor waiting for them over there. They’d sporadically kept in touch for short English lessons via video call but at the moment you were benched. EXO were huge in Japan so the company’s focus was 100% on making sure all 9 members could deliver their best for their fans.  It would have been nice to see their Japanese audience, they always spoke so fondly of their time in Japan. Plus, you know, you could have had a free trip to Japan. They might be tied to schedules but you would have been pretty free to roam about and explore. 

It was nice to have free time for yourself but you missed the daily interactions with the 9 men that had invaded your life. They’d had the audacity to drop their Lotto comeback, speed through promotions and then jet off to the land of the rising sun, leaving you still picking your jaw up off the floor at how well the high roller mafia style concept suited them.  Junmyeon with that pink hair, Jongdae with the billowing white shirt and wine, Chanyeol with the tattoos, scars and red hair, Yixing ing to the sound of a ka ching, Jongin with black hair and murder, Minseok with the ashy blonde undercut, Kyungsoo’s short black hair and crazy acting, Sehun’s dance solo and Baekhyun hiding that he’d been working out until that damned mv. It was all too much and before you could give them a collective scolding for doing THAT to you, they were on a plane and gone. There was only one word for it. Rude. 

You also knew that when they returned it would be to record their winter album and to prepare for their end of year stages then before you knew it you’d all be off to America. The whole purpose of your tutoring for them was coming up fast and you weren’t sure how to feel about the potential end of working with them in sight. Sure, they were your neighbours and your friends but you’d also gotten a lot of satisfaction out of successfully expanding their english vocabulary (even outside of the private lessons). It was hard to deny that you’d grown very close to them and when the time came to leave and move on to your next contract… well you weren’t going to think about that yet. Your brain just would not let you, or was it your heart? There had been so much activity right before and after they left; Lotto, CBX’s debut, Yixing’s solo debut, Scarlet Heart Ryeo… it was all too much to take in by yourself. Everything was fine. As long as you didn’t dwell on the future. 

The free time provided your brain with an unforeseen amount of time to ponder the what ifs and you did all that you could to keep yourself busy. You’d tried cooking new recipes (the ones that worked you sent photos of to Kyungsoo), watched movies (and sent recommendations to Junmyeon and Chanyeol for ones they should watch), reading and shopping (with added input from Sehun and Jongin), and when nothing else worked you hijacked their gaming console and played immersive sandbox games (even though Baekhyun wanted you to play FPS’s and send him the videos of you failing) and sampled wines or made new cocktails (Minseok was interested in these the most). But it was too quiet. All the time. The nine of them had worked their way into your daily routines without you even noticing it until they were gone. The silence was deafening and it wasn’t until there was the absence of them that you realised how much of your time was now spent with them. 

In an attempt to keep your sanity in check you went to the SM building to see if any of the rookies wanted English lessons in their free time. A handful found time to seek you out and take advantage of your skills. It felt good to be teaching again, it was the one constant that you needed to feel normal while you were in Korea. So teaching phrasing, pronunciation and new words to rookies brought a smile to your face. SM were fine with you doing this ad hoc work as long as it didn’t detract from the rookies’ already packed workloads. Also, they weren’t paying you for it so who were they to look a gift horse in the mouth? You never realised just how many members of NCT there were until you had most of them in your classroom (for want of a better word). Did SM have to make each new boy group larger than the one preceding it? You’d kicked Ten & Johnny out of your class once you realised that they were trolling you with their English skills and reduced maximum class numbers to 5. NCT attendance dropped after that, most of them being too busy to attend and a few that had only attended to watch Ten & Johnny’s charade. Once their numbers dropped more girl group members attended which was a breath of fresh air. Students were students but large groups of males always resulted in a difficult lesson.

Some of the older SM groups sought you out as well. You’d had members from Super Junior and Shinee find you for lessons as well as friendly conversation. A few of you started having a weekly dinner which you enjoyed immensely. The funniest part was that the guys knew that they could make their juniors in EXO jealous that they were hanging out with their neighbour and teacher. There had been no hiding from Heechul, Eunhyuk, Taemin or Kibum how much the EXO guys liked you. That said they definitely weren’t aware of the intimacy you shared with the 9 members, just that you were very close friends and colleagues. Their antics made the absence of 9 men feel less overwhelming and conversations were always enlightening. They had fun but were also not afraid to discuss more serious issues or air their grievances with the industry. 

***

Junmyeon waved as he tried to usher the others out the door. “We’ll see you when we get back.” 

“But it’s like 11am, the show doesn’t start until 8pm!” You pouted. 

“Aww, she’s missed us.” Chanyeol cooed, pulling you into a hug, making you huff. Kyungsoo chuckled and ruffled your hair as he passed you. 

“We have to fly to Hong Kong, go do a practice run at the venue for on site camera work and for our levels. Then we have to go back to a studio that SM hired to practice for a few hours, then back to the venue for hair, make up and wardrobe, interviews, red carpet and the actual award show.”  Junmyeon explained. 

“And food at some point.” Sehun added.

“But you guys only flew in an hour ago! You literally got home 5 minutes ago and now you’re leaving again.” You glanced at Yixing and Jongdae’s tired faces and added. “Have you even slept?”

“We can sleep on the plane before and after the award show. Or on the plane tomorrow. Might even sleep in the car now if you let us go.” Baekhyun grumbled.

“Manager hyung is coming back upstairs guys. We’ve gotta go. Now.” Minseok called from the hallway.

“I guess I’ll mind the couch while you’re gone then.” You mumbled. Chanyeol laughed, patted your head and followed the others as they left the dorm one by one. 

He stopped at the door and turned his head to look back at you. “Make sure to watch noona. We’ve got something special planned!” He winked and then left. They looked exhausted but they were off for another full day of travel and performing. The makeup team have their work cut out for them today if they are going to hide the dark circles under their eyes and the pallid colour in their skin, the kind you get when you are run down and overworked.

Special? What did he mean by special? MAMA stages were always over the top and cool but you’d kind of thought that this year with all of the travel and the international concerts so close to the end of year shows that they wouldn’t have had time to practice anything new. Would it be a new arrangement for one of their hits like the metal version of Mama that you screamed at Kyungsoo about because of how amazing it was or would it be new choreo and stage performances like previous years? Could it possibly be including a non title song like Drop That that would make the entire venue go crazy? You expected a dance solo from one of the dance line but outside of that you were now running an infinite number of possibilities through your mind. 

To prevent yourself from making a flow chart of possibilities and sticking them to the wall like a detective trying to solve a convoluted murder mystery, and definitley not like a crazy person, you decided that you should pack for America. You were leaving tomorrow after all. The guys would be up in first class but you and the other staff members would be in economy, not that you expected anything different. You’d hoped for business class though. A girl could dream.

You pulled your suitcase out from the cupboard and promptly decided that you needed to make a list of everything that you needed to pack otherwise you’d end up repacking at least four times before tomorrow. You’d need warm clothes since it was winter, clothes to work in, comfy clothes and potential lesson clothes. You had no way of knowing if Minseok or Baekhyun would request a lesson while over there but it would probably be their last chance to do it since this trip was the whole reason for you being employed by SM. Once it was over… you didn’t want to think about that. Thinking about that made your insides hurt. You turned your focus back to the task at hand and located the items you’d need for the lessons that you had planned for them if they asked.  Once you finished packing you decided to nap to pass the time. You checked your phone and set an alarm for later in the afternoon then opened kkt. The chat was oddly quiet today which only told you how tired the guys were. 

***

When you woke up you noticed two things. One - you were starving and Two - MAMA had started. That couldn’t be right though, your alarm was supposed to wake you around 5pm. You must have overslept by hours. Thankfully you hadn’t missed their performance yet so you quickly ordered some food to the dorm and watched the other groups perform. Every group was talented and everyone put in that little bit extra when it came to the end of year stages so you had a lot of fun watching what everyone had come up with. 

After what felt like an eternity it was finally time for them to perform. You were nervous and you had no idea why. They were exhausted but they were veterans at this now and you knew that they wouldn’t appear anywhere near as tired as they looked when they were at home earlier today. You’d caught glimpses of the stage outfits during the show and you were in love with the jackets with red lining, the chains, the harnesses and everyone’s hair and makeup looked flawless. They were going to perform Monster but you had no clue as to what other song would make an appearance. 

The lights shone on a platform above the audience and the intro for Transformer started. This was going to be great. You watched the guys execute their sharp dance moves in formation on the platform and heard the screams from the audience. Exo-L’s lightsticks lit up everywhere, making it feel like an EXO concert rather than an award show. The raised platform added drama to the performance as the 9 members lined up and executed their choreography flawlessly. About 30 seconds into the performance you noticed during one move that Chen had become a little bit distracted and as you continued to watch you noticed that he was taking off his jacket and tying it around his waist. He must have split his pants, the poor guy. Ever the professional, he resourcefully fixed the issue and moved on with the performance, not missing any of his lines or any of the choreo. You would not have noticed it unless you were watching him. He carried on like nothing had happened. The performance continued.

Chen ripping his pants. Lay’s powerful dancing. Kai & Sehun’s dance solo, Monster and Baekhyun’s ending dance solo. That on top of vocals, vocals, vocals. If you hadn’t seen them you’d never guess that they were exhausted. The small mistakes were covered up as seamlessly as possible and what they couldn’t cover up they let happen and moved along as though nothing had happened. You’d have to ask Baekhyun about his solo because you were certain that there was more to it than what you saw. He wasn’t one to undo buttons on his shirt without a purpose. You’d sought out a fancam and spotted the metal disc that was covering his heart - it must have been supposed to light up. 

Try as you might you still couldn’t grasp that this performance was just for an end of year show. They did not have to go that hard. EXO were at that level where they could show up, sing a ballad and perform their single but no, these guys had to go ahead and produce a mini movie that tied in to their overall concept from debut.  Even with the performance going as smoothly as planned you were floored by it. 

The guys would be flying home very late tonight so you decided to whip up a late night snack for them and leave it in the fridge for them to devour before passing out. It had to be something Korean, they had only just returned from Japan and were about to set off for America for a few weeks, they had to be craving the tastes from their homeland. Something that didn’t require you to leave the building either. You made your way to the kitchen and searched through their cupboards. They were oddly bare since the guys had been gone for so long. All you could find were various packets of instant noodles and a pack of fried onions. If you went and got some of the beef from your apartment you could make Jjapaguri for them. They’d like that, you were certain of it. It wasn’t too heavy but it would be comforting and it was such a korean dish that it would hit that place inside each one of them that had been longing for korean food, a taste of home, before they left the country again. 

You ended up bringing up most of the beef from your fridge and using it in the jjapaguri along with the noodles from the guys’ cupboards. Your group chat told you that they’d landed in Korea and would be home in about an hour. Traffic at this late hour would mean that it wouldn’t take too long for them to make the trip from the airport to the apartment. You prepared the ingredients carefully and timed it as best you could so that they’d walk in to the smell of the beef and the noodles. In your head you imagined it like in those old cartoons when a character would float to the kitchen nose first because of the delicious smell of the food. If they got held up for too long you could not promise that you would refrain from eating the food, it just smelled too good. 

When you thought that they should almost be home you left a little note next to the 9 bowls you’d left out about their performance and to make sure that they lifted the lid of the pot on the stove. Then you made your exit and headed back to your own apartment. If you’d stayed they’d want to stay up late and talk but you decided that what they needed more than anything right now was a bowl of noodles and sleep. There would be time to catch up once you all landed on American soil.

***

“So remind me again how I ended up sitting with you?” You asked Yixing for what had to be the third time in the past ten minutes. Not that you were mad to be sitting with him, rather you were still processing how it was feasible that you were in first class and the rest of the staff (excluding one manager and two security guards) were in economy. 

“I explained to our manager that I hadn’t been able to have a lesson in person with you for months and I wanted to take advantage of our long flight to go over some words and phrases.” 

You scrunched your face. “But you told me that you hired a tutor for your studio.”

“Shhh.” 

“Your English is better than everyone’s at this point. How on earth did they buy that lie? Since when do you lie Yixing?!” 

“When I miss a dear friend a lot and would rather sit with them on a long haul flight than my manager who snored loudly the whole way back from Hong Kong last night.” 

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. So yeah, I lied. I had good reason to though. I have missed you and I know that you don’t usually snore so I felt like it was a safe bet to get you to sit with me.”

The two of you fall into easy conversation as you catch up on everything that happened while Yixing was away. He tells you all about setting up his studio, all of the issues they had with getting it off the ground, preparing his debut solo and the guilt he felt for branching out on his own. The guys had shut him down on that real fast and hyped him up. They refused to let him feel bad, like he was abandoning them in order to grow as an artist. Some fans, though you refused to call them as such, had decided that Lay’s solo album meant he was leaving EXO and had used them to gain popularity to launch his own career in China. As far as you were concerned those people could catch a door to the face. The Yixing you knew worked even during his down time. He was always making music and to finally see the fruits of that labour made you ecstatic. He told you about how he had made some songs with Jongdae but then lost the flash drive that had everything he’d ever made on it and how Jongdae refused to talk to him for a week. They’d since made up - Dae thought he hadn’t lost the drive but didn’t want to use the songs they created together. As soon as the other knocked some sense into him he felt devastated for Yixing. He lost about 400 files and was so disheartened about it. Baek taught him about cloud storage after that and the importance of backups. 

For good measure you threw in a few English lesson moments to ensure their manager didn’t send you back to economy. 

“Do you think we can get away with putting a movie on with English audio as a lesson?” He asked as he held back a yawn.

“I think we can put it on then you can fall asleep. Everyone else is napping and I don’t think they expect us to do lessons the whole time. We need breaks before revising.” You smiled as you flicked through your options. “What do you want to watch the first ten minutes of before passing out? You must be exhausted.”

“Something light hearted and animated? I dunno, you pick.” He yawned.

“Ever seen Emperor’s New Groove?” You asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Well I recommend watching it again so that you see the whole movie but for now, enjoy the beginning of the movie and sleep well.” You selected the movie and made yourself comfy in your reclined seat. Yixing maneuvered his so that it went completely flat, like a bed, and curled up in his blanket. He napped on and off, too engrossed in the movie to fully check out and get the rest he so needed.. He loved Kronk with all of his being and was perplexed by Yzma to the point of mumbling half asleep questions at you like What happened to the broccoli? Why do they have that lever? Is Kuzko really going to build the water park? Why are the kids Chanyeol & Baekhyun? You answered as succinctly as you could and continued to urge him to sleep. Once the credits rolled you selected the most boring movie you could find and put it on. Less than ten minutes into it Yixing was in a deep sleep.

You smiled to yourself, you’d missed him while he’d been away more than you realised. You missed the others as well but he’d only been back for a short time before they all left you so you hadn’t really gotten much time to hang out. You checked the flight path and saw that you still had about 8 hours left in the flight so you decided to try and catch some zzz’s as well. 

***

You realised that you had a significantly better flight than the rest of the staff but no one was immune to the jetlag or the desire to become one with the hotel bed. If you weren’t actually required at the rehearsal then you honestly would have ordered room service and never left your bed. But unfortunately you actually had to do your job. All eyes would be on you to ensure that the guys could deliver their ments in decent, possibly even great English. The lessons you had tailored for seven of the members would be tested and you hoped that the fundamental lesson had been retained and practiced rather than sidelined by the memories of .

You’d been in concert arenas before but usually you were in attendance as a fan. You’d never been inside one while it was empty. The atmosphere was so different. It lacked the frenetic energy and anticipation from the crowd to energise the performer. Everything echoed. Every word could be heard loud and clear. You were suddenly nervous. What if you hadn’t been as good a teacher as the guys told you you were? What if they messed up? What if it all crashed and burned? You stood side of stage and watched as the guys rehearsed their opening songs, adjusting choreo for the stage, the levels in their in-ears and mics and took in the layout of the arena. One of their managers handed you a headset which you looked at quizzically. You were informed that you would have a mic to translate for the guys if they reverted to Korean or had issues with their ments. They didn’t want the show to come hit a low point or stall due to the language barrier. The look you were given told you that this was a contingency that they hoped to not have to use. 

So you watched and waited for the moment that they would deliver their ments and hoped like hell that they’d remember everything you taught them. You had no idea how Baek or Minseok would do since they’d only had their group lessons with you so they did not have a set way to recall the lines, at least not to your knowledge. Plus they’d been focused on their Japanese recently and traditionally were not the best at other languages. Beak could mimic anyone but he also seemed to only retain curse words in his memory. A prime example being the Cantonese that he picked up at their concert where Yixing was told he had a big and cute . The fans thought it was hilarious but the managers were less impressed with his antics. And Minseok, dear Minseok. Languages were not his forte. He might have started out in EXO-M but he liked to joke that he could barely speak Korean, let alone any other language.

They took their positions and delivered their opening ment. Truth be told it went better than expected. They tripped over some lines and pronunciation but for the most part it made sense and could be understood. As expected Baekhyun and Minseok struggled the most, needing you to read their lines and have them repeat them. They blamed jet lag but you had a feeling that it was the lack of one on one lessons that were the largest factor. Yixing, Junmyeon and Sehun did the best which made sense to you. You took a moment as you watched them in their formation - starting with Chanyeol and ending with Sehun and smiled. You’d done it. You’d gotten through the months of hard work, schedule changes, late nights and homesickness and now you were here. This was a huge event for them and you could tell that they were nervous but excited to see their western fans.  

As they continued to rehearse their choreo for the show you checked your call schedule. In a couple of hours they’d break for a quick lunch then they’d have to start the process of getting changed and having their hair and make up done. Following that they had 3 interviews then just over an hour until the show began. On paper it looked like half a day before the crowds would pour in and the pre show jitters would commence but you knew it would be here in the blink of an eye. 

Once the guys leave the stage you are whisked into a quick meeting with their managers. For the most part they are happy with the level of English that the guys have mastered but they have concerns about some of them forgetting their lines once nerves and adrenaline kick in. “I have had one on one sessions with 7 of the members and taught them a specific way to recall their lines in situations like that. Only two members have been too busy to have this kind of lesson but after tonight's concert I can have those lessons with them if they are required.” You assured their managers that you had it covered and that you were prepared to do additional lessons and coaching to ensure that everything went smoothly.

“What kind of specific ways did you teach them to recall their lines?”  One asked.

“Each member has a different way to recall their lines. For example I paired the lines of Jongdae’s ment with songs that he likes and then tested him repeatedly and in various orders to see how well he could recall them. I paired Jongin’s lines with lines in a storybook, Kyungsoo’s with steps in a recipe, Yixing’s with dance moves. You get the idea. After their initial lesson I would prompt them at random to recall a line from their ment and from that repetitive testing I am confident that my methods have worked.” You responded. This seemed to satisfy their managers but they made sure that you had your levels checked in case you had to translate for the guys during the concert. It was odd to hear your voice echo around the empty venue, it made you very aware of how you sounded, your accent and how much you hated public speaking. You were fine as a teacher but talking to a large crowd, especially one as huge as tonight’s was going to be, caused you some anxiety.

You finished up testing your mic and joined the crew backstage as they had lunch. You grabbed yourself a plate of food and went to sit down but at the last minute Kyungsoo called you over to the table that the members were at. You took your plate over to them and sat next to him. “How is everyone?” You asked.

“ing starving.” Replied Chanyeol, his mouth full of burrito. You laughed at his reply as the others scolded him or shook their heads. 

“I’m tired now but it’ll go as soon as we finish getting ready.” Sehun added as he picked at his rice bowl. “I didn’t sleep well on the flight.”

“He was too busy organising private shopping trips to get rest. He’d made a list of boutiques and designers he wanted to visit before we left and spent the flight drafting requests to visit.” Junmyeon yawned. “As soon as we landed he sent them all off and has been booking everything in.” 

“I want to go warm up some more and go over some moves with Mihawk hyung.” Jongin said as he put his chopsticks down and made motions that he was going to leave the table. “I’ll see you at the interviews noona.” He flashed you a warm smile as he stood, before wandering off to find their choreographer.

You continued to eat as the guys chatted amongst themselves, often including you in the conversation. It was nice to see all of them together again. It brought back memories of early on in your relationship with them when you made them dinner. Food and great company, was there anything better? What impressed you even more was how they joked with the other members of staff. They could easily be dismissive of them but instead they treated everyone like they were all part of one big family. 

You had a quick nap while the guys got ready, some of them also napping in the chair while the cordi noonas did their make up and hair. You’d laughed when they’d told you that they preferred it when the guys slept because they moved less, especially in the beagle line’s case. 

It came up faster than you expected but before you knew it it was time for the interviews to begin. You were there for moral support and to assist in translating. It was not expected for the guys to be able to hold their entire interview in English, not if they wanted to fully express their feelings and meanings. The English was short sentences and easy interactions. Things went well and your favourite interview by far was with Ellie from iHeartRadio. She was Korean-American so she could hold her own with asking questions in English and Korean and could understand their answers, which made your life easy. She made the atmosphere informal and fun, had the guys laughing and joking around which made for great footage for her and her team. It was the last interview of the day and it left the guys happy and excited for the concert. Jongin laughed through almost the entire interview and Baekhyun was repeating english phrases right next to Junmyeon’s ear which was cracking everyone else up. You just knew that ‘C’mon man’ was going to stick around for the rest of this tour.

***

What could be said about the concert to adequately describe the euphoria you felt? The correct words escaped your brain. You’d never experienced anything like it before. It was loud, like so damn loud - fans screamed at the top of their lungs, did the fan chants as best as they could, and gave the guys so much energy. The music was somehow loud enough to be heard over the fans (and probably in a 5 mile radius around the venue) and the members' vocals were clear. The frenetic energy made everyone hyped and you just knew that they’d all collapse once the adrenaline wore off. How they could do this again tomorrow night was beyond you. It seemed like they went non stop for three and a half hours. Sure there were ballad sections or songs with light choreo, sub unit songs and vcr breaks but those ballads required vocal energy, those sub unit songs had less members so each member had more lines and more stage to fill, and those vcr’s entertained the crowd while the guys rushed around backstage and got into new costumes, rehydrated and had their make up touched up. It was an absolute whirlwind backstage and you often felt like you were in the way so you hid near a monitor and let the organised chaos revolve around you. 

The opening songs were a smack in the face with talent. It was ballsy to open with 3 remixes, all incredible - MAMA, Monster and Wolf. Each song was better than the last which seemed impossible since each song presented itself as the best version of that song in existence. As soon as Wolf finished you had a sudden rush of nerves as their introductory ment was about to begin. It was the easiest of the three ments but you wanted so badly for them to ace it. There were a couple of small mistakes but all in all they had done great. The crowd was ecstatic that they’d spoken in English instead of using a translator. Sure the ments were shorter and less playful than ones they’d seen on DVD’s but the guys were far less confident in English than they were speaking Korean or Japanese. 

After the ments came White Noise, Thunder, Playboy & Artificial Love. You renamed this section of the show the thot section because each of these songs and their chroeos were full of sensual moves, grinding and hip trusts. You actually hit Mihawk’s arm when Artificial Love neared its end and the blindfolds came out. He laughed at your reaction but diverted your attention to the monitors to watch Jongin & Yixing’s duo dance. You couldn’t recall if he also closed your mouth when your jaw dropped open at the two of them. 

In true EXO form they followed the thottiest song with the cutest VCR, pulling a 180 on everyone's emotions. The guys rushed past as you watched the clips of them taking ‘you’ on a date. It was ridiculously cute, completely pulling your mind from the gutter (where it had definitely been for the previous 20 minutes). A blur of white rushed past you as they headed back to the stage, 2 acoustic guitars going with them. You waited, anticipating what was to come.

Even though you’d spotted the guitars you still weren’t prepared for the acoustic set. It was heaven to the ears and showcased the absolute vocal talent in the group. It was easy to say that weaker members were hidden by music and backing tracks but acoustic? That laid all the cards on the table and those 9 guys did not disappoint. You smiled the whole way through My Lady, My Turn To Cry, Moonlight, Love, Love, Love, Lady Luck, and Call Me Baby. It was incredible and uplifting. They jumped back into choreo for Tender Love, Love Me Right and Stronger. The concept of time became irrelevant to you at this point. You wanted this experience to go on forever, there was no way you could ever grow tired of seeing them perform. They were at their best while doing what they loved and it showed in their stage presence, their faces and the light in their eyes. 

Another VCR played as they rushed back past you. This time you smiled and called out praises as they went by which earned you a goofy smile from Chanyeol and a bright laugh from Jongin. Jongdae high fived you on his way past and Baekhyun beamed. The VCR was ridiculous. Elf costumes and excessive green screens gave you second hand embarrassment. Then you saw the pointy hats and how low one sat on Kyungsoo’s head and burst out laughing. They were grown men and this section had them dressed in such a childish way. You doubled over as they headed back to the stage.

The lights came up and the EXO elves rushed back out on the stage, yelling, screaming and just hamming it up before jumping into Heaven, Girl x Friend & 3,6,5. The fans ate up the costumes and over the top moves the guys made. Another VCR started and it showed a backstage tape of Tender Love. Someone had given Chanyeol free reign with the camera so he and the guys had filmed their own little clip for the song as they wandered around backstage. It must have been filmed in Korea or Japan by the look of it. As soon as the clip finished another started. This one was opened on Chanyeol & Sehun sitting on stage and rapping then panned to Kai dancing, then Lay, then Sehun. So far this one was your favourite VCR. It had started out showing the playful nature of EXO and ended showcasing the different dance styles of the dance line. 

As soon as the lights came up and the iconic opening pose for Overdose was seen by the crowd they lost it. It was the first song where you could barely hear the guys singing because the crowd was so loud. Transformer (with no split pants this time) and Lightsaber came after. You wished that they had been able to bring their full stage production to the USA because you knew that this song was made perfect by the water and light saber dancing. Sadly this crowd would not have the water section.

It seemed too soon for the second ment to be happening but they had reached the halfway part of the concert. You knew from watching previous DVD’s that this was the longer ment on paper. The final ment always ended up being the longest due to the guys often getting emotional and then spending 15 minutes saying goodbye but this one had the most lines. You felt your nerves return and you fidgeted as you waited for them to catch their breaths and start speaking. You started to relax as they got through their parts. The crowd encouraged them when they flubbed a line or couldn’t remember the right word. It was endearing to watch. You waited, ready to step in if needed but they spoke to each other in Korean to help each other out with words before jumping back into their lines and the fans ate it up. You could feel the pride swelling in your chest at their (and your) hard work paying off. Once they finished the second ment you knew you were off the hook until the end of the concert so you prepared yourself to enjoy what you liked to call the clubbing section. It was high energy, full of choreo and in this case - would involve DJ Chanyeol. 

Sehun, Chanyeol and Minseok were the first to return to the stage. They had given you huge grins as they passed you. Minseok had been bouncing on his feet to keep his energy up. You swore he was like the energizer bunny, never not moving when he was on stage. He would jump and run and dance his heart out, never looking tired until he’d finished the whole show. Do It Together started and the crowd vibed to the song before erupting as Full Moon followed. The other members returned to the stage as the song progressed and once they were all there Chanyeol’s DJ setup was rolled to the centre of the stage. The opening riff for Drop That sounded and the crowd’s energy peaked. It was impossible to be in that venue and not get a hit of adrenaline from the crowd, even backstage. The lights dimmed and the members' shoes glowed as Chanyeol began his DJ set, the guys dancing along and keeping the crowd’s energy at its peak. All you could see was light up shoes doing footwork and you wanted to follow along with the moves. 

The DJ set wound down and fan favourites Lucky & Run followed, bringing the energy down from hype in the club levels to partying with my best friends levels. The guys ran across the stage and somehow still seemed to have energy. You knew if you tried this that you’d barely last one song but the years of hard work and the number of concerts they’d had brought their stamina to these incredible levels. The last VRC played and it tugged at the heart strings. Sing For You was a song that held a special place in the fans hearts and they sang along and waved their light sticks as the guys did their final costume change of the night. Dressed in jeans and Exo’rdium shirts they passed you on their way back to the stage for a final time, the fatigue from the concert finally starting to show on their faces but with that fatigue was exhilaration and joy. They knew they had two songs left and that those two songs would garner a huge response. Once that was done it would be time for the final ment of the night. Then the event would be over. It felt like it had only started half an hour ago but in reality it was nearing the three hour mark. Growl & Lucky One were met with huge reactions from the crowd. Growl being THAT song that had catapulted the group into success and Lucky One being THAT ending song where one member would do the most in the final dance. Tonight that member was Baekhyun and his over the top dancing had cracked the members up so much that whoever was singing had to turn away from him to stabilise his voice. 

It was a party and everyone had had a phenomenal time. It was one of those rare parties where you didn’t want to go home, you wanted the feeling that you had at the end of that last song to last many more hours. But, it was not to be. The guys took their places on stage for their final ment and you watched intently, your throat feeling choked up with emotion because of everything you had experienced tonight. They delivered their final ment well but one they had delivered their lines in English Junmyeon asked over the mic in Korean if they could all say a little more in Korean and have it translated for the crowd so that they could fully express how they felt after their first concert in America. You spoke into your  headset mic and let the crowd know what they wanted to do. Their response was deafening and the guys took that as a resounding yes and started to deliver a second final ment in Korean for you to translate. You did your best to convey the emotions they wanted to get across to the crowd and the gratitude they felt. The crowd yelled out messages of love and support after each member's final ment was translated by you. You didn’t even think about your voice or the public speaking, all you thought about was doing your best to let their fans know how happy they were and how thankful they were. Once you finished Junmyeon’s final words they joined hands and took a bow and held it for the longest time, a sign of respect and thanks to their fans. You shed tears of pride and love as you watched them bow and wave goodbye to the crowd before exiting that stage for the final time that night.