The concert was a success, yet again! It was incredible. The stage directors added extra pyrotechnics and a whole lot of harness assistance. At first, we were a bit apprehensive with the extra stuff, SMent is known for pulling the extremes a lot. I remember SM letting our SHINee hyungs dance their Lucifer and Sherlock in an elevated, small square-shaped platform that was getting wetter by the second by the added fountain of squirting water surrounding it. They could’ve slipped. Good thing they didn’t. They added fireworks at the end of our History performance, which is loads of awesome.

After the concert, Yunho hyung invited us for a group dinner with the other artists. So we were given around 20 minutes to prepare at our individual hotel rooms, change into comfortable clothes, freshen up, and rendezvous at the hotel lobby to wait for the vans to pick us up and drive us to a nearby restaurant. We had this big conference-like room all to ourselves. Thank you for the privacy.

“So our beloved EXO won’t fly back with us, huh?” Shindong hyung call out from one end of the table. What’s good with having a concert with all of the SM artists is the the opportunity to bond with the sunbaes.

“I heard they still have an interview tomorrow morning. Right, Kris?” BoA noona chimed in. I was seated with a couple of the Super Junior hyungs – Hyukjae hyung, Donghae hyung and Shindong hyung. Leeteuk hyung is now serving his mandatory military service. There was also Minho hyung who was sitting beside Minseok hyung. And I was sitting beside Kris gege.

“Yes, noona.” Kris answered back after swallowing a spoonful of his food. “Some morning talk show invited us for a live interview.”

“Sounds good.” Donghae hyung patted Kris at the back. “You guys take care of yourselves while we’re gone. So when will you fly back to Korea then?”

“The afternoon after the interview actually.” Kris laughed. “Manager hyung says we can’t stay long.”

“That quick, huh? No room for shopping?” Minho hyung joked at me. He knows my love for shopping all too well.

“I-I could still drop by a few shops, I guess. Right, gege?”

“You can buy stuff at the airport, too.” Now everyone laughed at Kris gege’s witty reply. “The airport has plenty of stalls to buy from.”

And now we’re faced with a familiar scene. Hello, warm spotlights, DSLR shutter clicks, and a studio full of fans with a friendly and inviting MC beside Kris. And once again I am at the far end of the lined-up members. With Kris and I being the tallest, SM thought it would be best for us to flank the member line up during interviews and introductions.

“Today we have guests all the way from South Korea,” Introductions are being made. Then applause was given. And a practiced We are one commenced after that.

In the middle of the interview, the MC explained to the audience that there were a couple of fans who were privileged enough to talk with us via phone call. They allowed three fans for that. The first one was a Kai-biased. It was kinda funny how the whole conversation was a mixture of Oh my god and all throughout. Poor thing must have been hyperventilating. The second one was a huge fan of Exo-M as a whole. She even gave us individual encouraging words before the exchange of goodbyes and take cares.

“And now we have our last caller,” there were three telephone-like rings and…

“Hello, Kris?” a female voice was heard.

“Oh. Hello there. Who might this be?” Kris answered in straight English.

I didn’t quite understand the reply but I’m pretty sure I heard the name Vanessa.

And Kris’ eyes mimicked Kyungsoo hyung’s.

So Vanessa called. I looked at the other members and confusion could be seen from their faces. They don’t know who this Vanessa is, and we aren’t really fluent enough in English to understand the whole conversation.

“Vanessa, ho-how have you been?” Kris started off. He was pretty excited. I know I got his hopes up about meeting Vanessa and stuff, but I sure as hell didn’t believe myself one bit. I didn’t believe they’ll actually have a conversation in Canada!

“I’m good! I-I’m in university now. It’s my senior year and I’m hoping to graduate soon.” Vanessa has this sweet voice. Basing on her voice alone I bet she’s very charming in person.

The MC was smiling beside Kris. This is terrific news for the tabloids afterwards. Childhood Friends Meet Each Other After Being Separated For Almost Half A Decade, I could see the headlines. “So is it safe for me to conclude that Vanessa and you, Kris, are childhood best friends here in Canada? You did live here for quite some time before, right?”

“Yes. Vanessa and I were classmates back in high school.” Kris couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden turn of events. “Oh wow. How long has it been…”

“Quite long, Kris…” Vanessa answered Kris’ rhetorical question.

Then there was silence in the studio. Awkward silence, might I add. Even the audience respected the silence. Everyone was quietly anticipating who from the two of them would break the stillness.

“Hey, Nessa…” and it was Kris, “I’d love to chat and exchange talks with you before we leave back to Korea. Like, I’d really love that. Could we… Could we meet later after this?”

“Ooh… This sounds really nice and sweet,” the MC was loving what was happening. The members were still confused though. Kris really didn’t tell them anything.

“Will it be all right if I ask for her number after the show?” Kris turned to the MC. I don’t understand even half of what just transpired, but I guess they’ll be meeting up after all. Wishes do come true then.

“This is... This is just.. Oh wow, Tao.” Kris was pacing back and forth in front of me after we were escorted back to the studio lobby to wait for our manager. Both of us went outside first. After a few seconds later we heard the footsteps of our members.

“Hey, what was that about?” Luhan poked Kris from behind with one eyebrow raised and head tilted to one side. “Was she one of your girlfriends before?” And a sly smirk formed from Luhan’s lips.

“Jesus, Lulu. You make it sound like I’ve had plenty of girlfriends before I met you guys.” Kris played with Luhan’s hair. Luhan gege doesn’t really look and act, if I may add, like a 22-year old. Even the fans think so, too. He throws paper airplanes on stage and jumps like an energetic kid most of the time.

“But she was your girlfriend, right?” Yixing pried even more, not satisfied with Kris’ answer. He slowly approached Luhan from behind and joined him with interrogating Kris.

Kris stood beside me. He placed his arm over my shoulder and unconsciously pulled me closer to him, “She’s a close friend,” and smiled.

With some odd blessing from up above, our manager allowed Kris to meet with Vanessa. The odds are with him. But there was a condition, of course. He can meet with her only that Vanessa will be the one to come to him. So that means she’ll visit us here in our hotel then.

“We’ll just meet at the hallway outside our room, hyung. You guys won’t need to go out.” Kris was smiling like an eight-year old waiting for a basket-full of cookies and marshmallows.

“Wait, what?” Yixing raised his head from being plopped on a pillow. “Personally, I wanna meet her.”

“Me, too, hyung.” Jongdae was sitting beside where Yixing was.

I guess everyone is actually excited to see Vanessa. I have to admit, I am as well. I don’t want to meet her. I just want to see her. Just seeing her is enough for me.

Kris stared at us, half-expecting that we would want to meet her. “Um, okay. I already texted her the hotel address, so she’ll be here in a few. We could meet her together outside.”

“What does she look like, Kris?” Minseok hyung just came out from the bathroom and upon hearing that we’ll meet her, he joined the group discussion. “Is she pretty? No, wait. Stupid question,” He waved his hand back and forth like he’s saying no. “Of course she is. I know you have good taste, Kris.”

Kris smiled innocently, “Well, she’s shorter than me, of course. Long brown hair, but I dunno know how she looks like now though.”

“What made you like her?” Luhan sat up straight on the bed. And everyone went silent. I guess everybody was curious about that.

Kris still had that sweet smile on his face. He’s enjoying this conversation. He likes reminiscing Vanessa. I don’t blame him, she was his girlfriend before. “She’s a kind and warm-hearted person. Really generous and a good individual all in all. It’s hard to hate her.”

I stood up quietly and walked towards the door.

I opened it and went out.