I heard the footsteps distancing from me. My book signing was so exciting! I could still feel my heart beat pounding feverishly. I'm glad that the event went successfully, of course, all the credits and hard work goes to my one and only Unnie who came to NY a few days before me to arrange the events. I don't get how she does it, but she does and I'm glad that she's my manager.

Gosh...I'm tired now. My neck is sore and my hands sure have gotten stiff. Why is the hotel appearing so far when it's just a few more blocks away...?

"I could take the cab," I said to Unnie.
“No." She said.
“But why?" I asked.
“Because the hotel is just a few kilometers away and you have fine legs, so walk.”
“I’m tired! What is even with that reason of yours?" I annoyingly clicked my tongue.
“We are not wasting money on cabs.”
“So, you could have said so before instead of giving me a silly reason." I rolled my eyes.

Eventually, I ended up walking which is cruel of Unnie because she has no idea how petered out I am. I swear, if the hotel doesn't arrive any minute now, I'm gonna holler myself a cab--I suddenly halted and looked at the poster that was stuck on the door of the convenience store.

It was a poster of EXO. I can't say I wasn't surprised to see their poster stuck on this door but on another note...They looked so attractive. It was a poster for their upcoming concert in NY. My nerves turned zestful and I guess I might have hopped a few extra times as if I saw the real EXO in front of me.

I don't remember for how long I had been staring at the poster but the next thing I knew was that I was inside the store, wandering through rows of junk and more junk. My stomach growled, and my mind was now hunting for the perfect food that would fill my tiny--no, wrong description. My big stomach. I feel like I could eat two burgers, three fries, a bucket of chicken wings and four cups of soda in one go.

I'm kidding. I can't do that.

I grabbed a few packets of my favorite chips and went to the one section where my heart eagerly wished to go. There were just two bottles of Coke in the rack which made me kinda proud that my baby is famous, I mean, come on, who doesn't like Coke, right?

I grabbed one, but unexpectedly, at the same time, someone else grabbed the other bottle and once again, unexpectedly, we both opened the bottle cap and drank concurrently. I took a long sip, the guy whose face I couldn't see took a long sip and yet again, our movements coincided. We both placed down our coke and let out that tiny, fizzy, amazing-feeling burp.

Having heard each other's embarrassment, we finally caught a glance. However, my eyes widened but his didn't. Although, he was good at covering his face with a red 'Bull dog' cap, there's no mistaking that he's EXO's Chen!

W-what is he doing here...? Wait, he came to drink Coke, right?

Of course, that's the only reason he might have come here, no, I mean he must have some work here, maybe grab a few things to eat--Ugh, why am I blabbering to myself? Why do I have to care? It's not like I don't care...I just have to stay out of their business...

Chen slightly chuckled, then walked past me to the other shelves. I guess he was standing near the noodle section...Maybe If I just see what his favorite types of noodles is--NO! I-I can't do that! I have to get out of here as quickly as possible before I do something regrettable!

Swiftly, I headed to the counter, paid for my junk and left the store. As the door behind me closed and as the guy at the counter looked at me weirdly, having the expression of, 'Is this crazy lady alright?', I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm my jabbering mouth down. It was a good move of mine to get the hell out of that place because if not, then the next big headlines thing you would see on the morning news would have been 'EXO'S SASAENG FAN FOUND STALKING EXO'S CHEN!'

Whew...I saved myself from happening that.

I still had some of my coke left to drink. I took a sip and right then a fresh, cold blow of the wind brushed my face like feathers. I must say, the feeling was quite spectacular. On a cold night, having a cold coke with nothing on my mind is just the simple things that would make anyone happy. I guess I'm smiling dumbly right now but who cares. It’s one damn night...

Just then, a big red truck took a turn from the street and stopped near the store. I was surprised to notice the name of the truck as it came to a halt. COKE was written all over. However, because the truck took up my entire view that I was enjoying, I shuffled to the side a little, ending up at the rear of the truck.

I then heard a sudden 'meow' and saw a ginger color cat resting at the wheel of the truck. I don't know why, but impulsively (because of its cuteness, maybe) I jogged over and knelt in front of it. The cat meowed again, and I caressed its head. It looked more like a boy than a girl, judging from his manly whiskers and low eyelashes and cute, round eyes. I softly scratched its nose and he slowly started to sway his tail. Yep, I know my ways around cats and I'm proud of it--Suddenly, while I was pleasing myself and giving it as much love as I could, the cat abruptly turned around and walked away to the opposite street.

Confused and annoyed, I tried to go behind it. But something happened...Something that I gotta tell you all in a slow motion. As I was about to reach out to the cat, the man who was taking out cartons of coke (I noticed him but didn't notice him at the same time) kind of lost his balance a little and bumped into me. This startled me, and I looked back at him while attempting to catch my balance. But what was about to happen was that since the truck had covered the sight of the road, I didn't see a taxi driving the same road I was gonna stumble on. And my mind went completely blank except that one thought…that I was gonna die. I could hear the loud honking of the taxi. It was approaching fast, and I wished I could do something to turn around. However, I think God heard me because what took place thereafter, still makes my heart beat faster and a faint melody overlaps my surroundings. A strong hand grabbed my arm and pulled me towards itself, turning me around and away from the speeding cab and saving me from a disastrous accident.

I closed my eyes. My body went numb for a while and my heart pumped slowly. Though, I could feel my hands touching something hard and fabric. I was too scared to open my eyes yet, but I did anyway because I could still feel the cold breeze patting my cheeks and my hair. At first, I saw darkness with a hint of red in front of me but then, as I innocently looked up, I was met with a worried face.

I went speechless. I wanted to take a step back, but I couldn't. Everything around me was blur and the only thing that was in focus was his face. Nevertheless, without speaking anything, he lightly pulled me away from the road and onto the footpath.

I realized that I wasn't breathing until I had stepped on the platform. “Are you okay?" He finally spoke, and I hastily nodded.

"You sure you aren't hurt anywhere?" I nodded again. The uneasy expression on his face slightly faded and his narrow slits averted at the person behind me. I recalled that if it wasn't for the guy who was taking out the cartons, I wouldn't have experienced the near-death trip.

I swiftly turned around, my face gradually lighting up with rage and my eyes burning with annoyance. The guy was as shocked as I was while I was readying myself to go to heaven, but I didn't care. I marched over and curtly pointed my index at him. "You!" I yelled, and his eyes widened in anxiety.

"Couldn't you see what was behind you?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to--" A faint sound of clinks and clanks could be heard from the trembling carton of Coke.

Wow, I guess I went too far with my tone..."Forgive me! I apologize for bumping into you, Miss... I really am sorry!" Well, I would forgive him, but it was a matter of life and death, I can't just let him go so easily. Maybe I should just sue him or something” --A-As an apology, please take this!" The guy suddenly held out the carton of vibrating Coke in front of me. His sincere expression changed my mind on suing him. However, upon seeing such a large carton, my eyes shot fireworks. "Are you sure?" I asked dazedly.

"Yes! I absolutely would want you to have it all for free! Besides...because of me, you would have--and also because you dropped the coke you were having." He glanced sideways at the broken bottle of cola that had rolled and stopped in the middle of the road. I was a bit startled upon realizing that the bottle had slipped from my hands in shock at that time. Nonetheless, I happily took the box from his hand before he could change his mind. It was a bit heavy, but I could manage to carry it till the hotel.

But a sudden logical issue occurred to me regarding the incident.

Sure, I was saved by EXO's Chen and all but what if he couldn't save me at the right time? What if I was now somewhere far on the road with broken arms and legs and an injured brain or in short, a lifeless body? What would have happened to my sister? What would have happened to my parents who were in LA oblivious to such accidents? A carton of coke won't change that, would it?

But maybe two cartons of coke would. "Listen, what you did, be it by mistake or purposefully, it was dangerous and highly unavoidable."

The soft expression on the guy slowly turned pale. Probably he was afraid of what I was going to do; most likely sue him for instance but nah, like I said. His sincere expression had me give up on that idea.

"Just imagine what would have happened to my sister and my parents and my entire family." He was actually imagining and unexpectedly, his eyes started to sparkle. I ordered myself to not go too far in matter of depressing articulation and immediately came to the point before he would shed tears and make me look like the bad guy.

"A carton of coke won't change my mind of suing you." Yes, this seems like a good way to hint him.

I waited with narrowed eyes, hoping he would understand my 'message'. But the guy just looked at me with almost tear-filled eyes. What is he? Ten?

"Or I could just sue you." I tried again but..."No! Please don't! I beg you! this is the only job I have--"I sighed because this person definitely didn't get my indirect message.

"Dude," Out of the corner of my eye, a capped character approached the teary guy and placed one hand on his shivering shoulder. "She's asking you for another of those boxes."

--

"T-this is...heavy..." The guy had kept another box on top of the one I already was holding and apologized for the seventh or eighth time, I guess.

He then grabbed a few himself as easily as if he was holding empty cardboard boxes and hastily took them to the store. I couldn't see the other half of my view which was going to be a major obstruction till my way to the hotel.

You know what they say, right? Too much greed leads to misfortune.

Anyway, now that I have these boxes I can't just give them back to him. Why not just take it to the hotel? It's a small distance...but I can't see anything.

"Excuse me," The familiar voice suddenly spoke. I tried to look at him from on top of the boxes. I heard a faint chuckle. "Do you need any help?"

I can't be too proud and say, 'No.' I have to take his help or else I might bump into someone or something and who knows what might happen to me again. After all, it's one hell of a risky job that I have burdened myself with.

"Is it alright...?" I asked.
"Sure, no problem." And then instantly, the excruciating heaviness died off from my hands. As he lifted the box, I could finally see his face. He smiled at me and asked, "Where do you stay?" For a few seconds, I was so mesmerized by his voice and his eyes and the way he smiled at me that my words were tangled in my tongue. I wanted to speak properly, but it all came out in a drought. "Stay at...Hyatt...tel..."

He confusedly narrowed his eyes.  "You mean, Hyatt hotel?"

I nodded.

"Ah," His slits widened in surprise. "What a coincidence, I was about to go there myself. Let's go." He gestured me to lead the way and as nonplussed as I was, I did.

He kept a fair distance with me; not too close, not too far. We didn't utter a single word. Except, there was only silent air passing through the abyss between us. Strangely, it wasn't awkward. I mean, I did feel a little uneasy and a random, thousand questions popped up in my mind to ask him, but I kept my mouth zipped because he is just helping me and unlike others, I don't want to take this as some kind of an advantage. A little but deep 'thank you' will be enough at the end for him and for me as well. I ignored the faint beating of my heart that was pumping hard for no reason.

By the time I was immersed in my thoughts, we had already reached the hotel. What I thought was a long-distance trip, had now turned out to be a small, yet an overwhelming trip. The doorman opened the door and finally, I took a deep breath as the warm lobby unfroze my cheeks and my nearly itchy nose.

We walked over to the elevator and I pushed the button with my elbow.

I looked at Chen and he was patiently waiting with me, however, I soon realized that it was enough of him to help me until now. From here on out, I have to take these boxes up by myself because I can't just let THE EXO MEMBER help me like this. What if he has some important work but I'm keeping him? The faults on me...

"Uh, thank you for helping me...You were a great help, but you can give me the box now. I can manage it from here." I smiled and extended my handful of hands forward for him to keep the box.

"You're welcome but It's okay. I'm going up too so there's no problem. Besides, I can't just let a lady handle all the heaviness herself, can I?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't wanna be called a jerk." He chuckled.

"N-no, I didn't mean that. Just that, you're Chen's EXO and I can’t keep you--"

"What?" He tried to hold back his laughter.

"Sorry...wait…that came out wrong…I mean, EXO'S Chen, so, I can't keep you from whatever work you have. Of course, you might be so busy and yet I shamelessly asked you for help--"

Just then, the faint ting of the elevator sounded, and the doors slid open.

"The lifts here." Chen impassively said but wouldn't give back the box. I sighed deeply noticing how much I had unconsciously blabbered.

"Oh!" Chen's out of the blue startle made me look up from staring at the letters on the box. My eyes grew even wider like two supermassive black holes as I saw Suho, Xiumin, Kris and Kai come out of the lift. I stumbled a few steps back and stood still; mesmerized by their beauties. I swear, if any more of these unexpected encounters happen, it will be the death of me. Most likely due to a heart attack or choking on my own saliva or even suffocation.

"Hyung, what are you doing down here?" Chen asked. They didn't notice me, I mean they did but they didn't. But they did notice the box in Chen's hand. How lucky the box is that Senpai's noticed it...?

There's a one percent possibility though that this may all just be a dream but why be negative when you are ninety-nine percent positive?

"We were headed to the gym," Suho said. 

"Where were you? The manager kept calling so many times,” Kris complained. “You even left your phone in the room."

“Oh damn! I forgot that Hyung called me to meet at the cafe--"

"What's in the box?" Xiumin asked, distracting Chen from his utter concern.

"Ah, this?" Chen snickered, "It's not mine, it's hers." He looked at me and at once, the four of them turned their sculptured heads toward me. I literally was about to faint, and I don't even know how I'm managing myself right now...

--

5 minutes later.

They were all laughing, and I had to endure the embarrassment I was receiving. Sure, what Chen said was all true and they didn't mean to laugh at me like that but at least they can understand my feelings and try to keep a straight face, right? Why does this have to happen to me...? I had no choice but to nervously laugh back as well because it's a joke so why not take it as one.

No, don't care about my feelings, I'm alright. I'm doing just fine.

I wanna die...

"So that's what happened," Chen concluded.

"We are sorry for laughing--" Suho glanced at me but I don't think he meant that sorry because he couldn't stop laughing.

"It's okay," I mumbled.

"Anyway, nice to meet you," Kris said. "I'm Kris and I'm guessing you know the rest of us?"

"Yeah..." I nodded.

"Great, well, it was nice knowing you--" He raised both his brows and waited.

"Ari," I said softly. I seriously couldn't bring my voice to get higher than this.

"It was nice knowing you, Ari but it's also a pity that we have to leave now."

I flinched a little and quickly bowed. "I'm sorry for keeping you all here...I didn't mean to--"

"No, it's not your fault. It's okay," Kris laughed. "Then, goodbye." He gave one last smile and turned around to leave.

"Bye bye." Xiumin waved at me and left behind Kris. Kai gave a slight nod (and I felt my cheeks burning in flames) and left towards the gym.

"Chen you need to quickly meet Manager or else--" When just then, Suho's phone rang. He glanced at his phone and immediately picked it up. "Ah yes, Hyung, Chen is here."

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T HE COME?!" I heard the person on the other end yell. Chen flinched, his eyes apologetically looking at Suho's who was deeply thinking about giving a decent excuse.

"I--I will tell him to come to you right away--"

"I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR HALF HOUR ALREADY! TELL HIM TO COME RIGHT NOW OR ELSE I'M GIVING THE SCRIPT TO JONGHYUN!" I don't know if the manager was really shouting or if Suho's phone was on speaker but I was certain that for Chen, it was the most embarrassing moment he could imagine.

Before Suho could reply, the manager cut the phone.

"I will go..." Chen sighed.

"You better," Suho rubbed his forehead. "Before he changes his mind."

"Ari," Suddenly, Chen turned towards me. "I'm really sorry but I have no choice and my manager is waiting for me--"

"It's okay," I grinned assuredly, eventually, he is EXO's, Chen. "You can go."

"I'm really really sorry!" He apologized and slowly and carefully placed the carton back in my hand, "Sorry!"

"It's o--kay..." I heaved as I felt the heaviness cramping my hands. Yet again, I couldn't see what was in front of me.

"You think you can handle it by yourself?" I heard Suho's calm voice from behind the boxes.

"Y-yeah...I can get some help..."

"I'm sorry too, I would've helped but I have to go..."

"It's alright--Thank you for your concern though."

"Then, goodbye."

"Yeah..." I heard the footsteps distancing from me.

Ugh, so heavy...I need to find someone to help me.

I looked to my side and saw a guy in a blue staff uniform. "E-excuse me!" I called out and he looked at me, "Can you help me with these boxes?"

"Um, I'm a little busy, miss, but I'll send someone right away. Please hold on." The guy kept me on hold and walked a few steps forward. He was about to head to a room when, fortunately, he found a guy wearing the same type of uniform coming down from the stairs and sent him to me. I saw the guy approaching and was relieved to get this burden off me. I can't say I wasn't afraid of my hands breaking...If that happens then my career as a writer will be for nothing! I know I'm thinking too much but hey, anything can happen, right?

In the end, my negativity vanished when the box was lifted from my hands.

"Thank--" I looked up and my mind went completely blank. "You..."

Where did the staff guy disappear to...?

The one who took my box was none other than...Kai.

"W--what?" I blurted in surprise.

"You seem to be in need of help." He said.

"Yeah but--the staff guy--"

"You have a problem with me?" He narrowed his eyes.

"N-no... just that--" I myself had no idea what I was saying or thinking. My mind was spinning but the only focus that was clear was his. Everything around me came to a standstill and out of sight.

"Just that?" He repeated.

"Aren't you busy...?"

"No."

"R-really?" My heart thumped louder than a drum.

"Really, but if you want to handle this stuff on your, then--," He tried to keep the carton back on my hands but I impassively pouted, making him take back the box.

"I mean, I would've gone to the gym but not in the mood," He chuckled awkwardly. "Or do you maybe have trust issues?"

"N-no, nothing of the sort..." I vigorously shook my head.

The elevator doors opened, and Kai waved his hand for me to enter first.

"Sorry for giving you trouble..." I said. I could now feel the hotness from my cheeks getting thicker and my palms were sweating from nervousness.

“No problem." He smiled and followed me.

The doors closed. Instantly, an awkward, self-conscious, heart whacking atmosphere was filled around me and Kai. I wanted to speak to calm myself down, but my lips were stitched.

Why did it have to be Kai...I'm happy, no, I'm more than happy but my heart aches because it's been beating restlessly and I'm sweating and I'm sure that I'm making the situation uncomfortable for him...Nevertheless, I like this feeling. It's something I only read or wrote in the books but now that it's happening to me, I can empathize with the protagonists.

"You know it's rude to not talk to someone when they're helping you, right?" He said, glancing down at me sideways.

I looked up at him, my eyes blurring upon his sudden beginning of a conversation. His sharp jaws and refined features were glowing under the bright light.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to--"

"You didn't mean to?" He repeated.

"I--I'm just a little nervous." I finally replied, hinting him with a subtle truth.

"Nervous? Why?"

"Because--" The lift doors opened and for a few moments, I stared at him. I didn't know why I was staring at him, but I just couldn't stop myself from doing it.

"Uh, isn't this your floor?" He stopped the doors from closing and skeptically looked back at me.

"It...it is..." I slightly shook my head to get back to my senses and got out of the lift. Kai followed me till my room and the fact that he was with me the whole time struck me like lightning. I wonder where I hid my screams and chokes and the entire bundle of fangirling emotions.

I stopped at my door and turned around. Even though Kai was standing there with the box in his hand, he still appeared like a model (modeling for Coke)

"Thank you..." I said breathlessly, and I doubt my voice reached him.

"I love you." He said and placed the box in my hands, obstructing the view in front of me. All I heard were footsteps departing and the waves of my heartbeat stopping.