They were readying themselves to appear on stage of KCON LA 2018, on Sunday 12th of August 2018. It felt so unreal. More than a year ago, they wouldn't have dreamt to be on such a stage. Let alone on a stage in Los Angeles in the United States of America.

"Don't get your hopes too high up," Youngmin said.

"What? Why not, hyung?" Dongho asked.

Their leader, Jonghyun, answered: "He means, that that massive audience is probably there for our hoobaes, not for us. Maybe they'll just cheer us on, to be polite, but... as he said: Don't get your hopes too high up'." All of them sighed. It still felt unreal for them, to give a performance for such a big audience. A big foreign audience.

"Hyung, I don't care," Dongho started. "Even when there's just one single fan for us out there, let's just do our best. That way we can make that fan happy. And that's what counts!" Apparently Minki approved of this. He nodded emphatically: "Yes, hyung, we should do that!"

It wasn't 'one single fan'.

There were dozens, maybe even hundreds of fans in that audience of thousands. On their way on stage, the Nu'est W members caught dozens of signs, with their names on it, that cheered them on. Not 'one single fan', but 'dozens of fans'. And dozens of signs that were even written in hangul! They knew that it happened with real popular groups. But for them? Signs in hangul? Here? On foreign soil?

It felt as if they had stepped into a fairy tale and it affected Minki so much that Jonghyun covered his microphone and hissed: "Performance first!" That woke Minki and he gave a single nod to their leader.

And they gave their performance. With everything they had.

Back in the changing rooms they were surprised by Minhyun: "Hi. I just watched your performance. That was awesome! Just wanted to say that personally to you, and also get you some drinks." At those last words he pointed at the bottles on the table. "I can't stay, I still have some schedules with Wanna One."

"Wow, thanks! How did you get he..." Jonghyun started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. A man came in, bowed slightly, looked at Minhyun with an apologetic look and tapped on his watch. "Ah, already?" Minhyun said disappointed. He looked back at Jonghyun with a heavy sigh: "Sorry, I really got to go." He fiercely hugged every member, before he rushed away with a "See you soon!"

At the end of the show, when they were on stage again, to say goodbye with all the other performers, they still felt immensely overwhelmed by their emotions, by the many signs they saw with their names on it, by the cheers of the audience. They were so dazed, that they didn't dance along with the music like the other artists did. They just stood there. Some fast whispers among themselves. Some waves to people in the audience. But apart from that, they just stood there. It still felt so unreal, a fairy tale, an impossible dream.

Hours later in their hotelroom, after they had showered and changed for the night, they were together, nibbling snacks and enjoying drinks in a satisfied silence. They still felt a bit overwhelmed by all the happenings leading up to this day. Overwhelmed by the fact that here in a faraway country they had so many fans. Overwhelmed by the fact that the cheering after their performance was more than 'just polite'.

Suddenly Dongho, Minki and Youngmin realized that their leader was very very quiet, hadn't touched the snacks and drinks for a few minutes. As they looked up, they saw his face, his tears and a quivering smile, while he was looking at an empty wall.

As Jonghyun noticed them all watching him, he wiped away his tears. And his smile became even wider. He, like they themselves, must have been thinking about everything that had lead to the performance of today, how it had started a little more than a year ago with feelings of agonizing despair. That's why they all understood the meaning of his words, when Jonghyun just said:

"We did it!"