Kibum's POV

I exit the stage and head back to the back room before I hear someone call my name.

“Onew Hyung!” I call greeting him.

“Ready for the big debut?” he grins and I simply sigh. “Toughen up,” he laughs. “You and Taemin did great.”

“You were in the audience?” I question.

“No I was in the back. You know that if I was in the audience there would have been a riot.”

“T-true,” I say uneasily.

“2NE1’s performance was great don’t you think?”

I nod my head. “Who exactly was watching?”

“Everyone. The whole thing was live.”

I give a weak smile. “Hyung I’ll see you later. There’s something I have to check on,” I say sprinting away.

I hurry to the back room and search for MeiXing.

Oh god, please don’t let her hate me for being a liar. After all she’s been through, she’s only trusted me and I’ve only hidden myself.

I look around the room and don’t see her anywhere.

“Have you seen a girl about this tall with red brown hair?” I ask a stage hand. “She’s Korean and Chinese.”

He points to the back corner and I see MeiXing’s hair disarrayed on the counter.

“Grandma, I hate Oppa,” she cries to herself. “I can never love a Korean man if you act like this.”

Something shoots straight through me and it takes me a moment before I wake her.

“MeiXing,” I say placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Nnh?”

I close my eyes bracing myself for an angry MeiXing.

“Kibum-yah!” she says wrapping her arms around me.

“Huh?”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t watch your interview, I fell asleep right after you left.”

I left out a sigh of relief. “That’s okay, it was pretty boring anyways.”

She rests her nose against my neck and then flinches jumping away.

“I’m sorry,” she says turning away from me. She grabs a piece of hair and twirls it around her fingers before placing it behind her ear. “I’ve just been really jetlagged lately.”

I grab her hand, “its ok. Come on, I’ll get you some dinner.”

“When you said you’d get me dinner…” she says but her worlds form a question rather than a statement.

“Yeah, I didn’t realize that they would be closed either.” I knock on the glass door and cup my hands around my eyes. “Ajushi-i!”

“Kibum, its ok I’m not really hungry anyways,” she says tugging at my sweatshirt.

“But,” I knock on the glass again. “It’s not even seven; I don’t understand why he would close. Ajushi!”

“Kibum, why don’t we go to the grocery store. I can get a few things and make you an American style dinner,” she says with a pleading smile.

I look back at the shop. “Sure, it’s this way.”

“Omo,” MeiXing says when the doors open electronically.

“What was that about?”

“Look how bright it is in here,” she awes.

“Are your stores in America dark?”

She shakes her head. “No, but everything is much more colorful here.”

“So what are you planning on making?” I ask but she turns around and presses a finger to her lips.

“It’s a secret, I can’t tell Kibum.”

I laugh at her and she links arms with me.

“So where is the bread?” she asks looking from left to right.

“It’s straight ahead,” I say putting my hood up so that I won’t be noticed.

“Where?” she asks tapping her chin.

“It’s dead ahead,” I whisper into her hair. “Kaja.”

She pulls me to the section and picks out a flat bread. “You have basil…right?”

I nod.

“good,” she smiles and tugs my arm pulling me across the store.

“I noticed you didn’t have any of this,” she says pointing at a bag of shredded cheese.

“That’s because I don’t typically eat cheese and it’s expensive.”

She shrugs. “Today is special,” she says and grabs the bag. “One last thing.”

She walks away leaving me behind instead of dragging me by the arm. She slowly taps her bottom lip with her index finger. Her long brown hair falls at her waist and I realize she’s walking a perfectly straight line. Has she always walked like this? I get the feeling that I’m being drawn to her or something.

“Awesome!” she says and takes a jar off the shelf. “So where do I pay?” she says turning around to face me.

I take a step backwards and cough into a fist. “Uh, at the front…I’ll walk you there,” and I totally wasn’t checking you out by the way, you’re just interesting...that’s all.

“Banana milk!” she shrieks and grabs a small bottle from the display. “My grandma and grandpa used to send me this when I was a little girl.” She turns the bottle over and reads the label on the back. “Hmm, but that was only when they would visit family in Osan.” She places the bottle back and advances in the line.

“Mei Xing, are you paying?” I ask not sure if she’d understand the cashier.

“Of course, dinner’s my treat since you did dinner yesterday and lunch today.”

I laugh at her. “Okay, I need to grab a few things but I’ll meet you when I’m done. It’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Sure thing.”

I quickly head to the back of the store and get two Ice pops. Walking up to the register I pickup a bottle of banana milk and rush to pay before MeiXing sees.

“That was fast,” she says hitting me with her bag as soon as I’m done paying. “What’cha get?”

“You’ll see later,” I sing.

She laughs and I get a warm feeling that I honestly don’t understand.

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three writing assignments [tackled]; extra textiles piece [pwned]; photo assignments [beastmode]; graphic design [....happy birthday teach, but i don't think i'm doing well in your class. :( ]

haha anyways i updated as promised, tho its a short update (as always). but let me know what you think. the whole group will be introduced in the next few chapters...i want to say theres about three short sections and then tears T.T and she meets SHINee. oh~yeah her family is going to be a huge part of the upcoming chapters and i'm going to try and make it as understandable as possible. (my sister tells me i'm bad at explaining -.-' ) hope you enjoy.

~MeiMeng

ps. at the end i'm just gonna start posting random songs that have been stuck in my head because they usually are super catchy but not singles..today it's "One Love" by Orange Carmel. I've seriously been humming this non stop and im sure my sister wants to beat me (too bad she's younger and i drive her places :D so i can hold it over her haha)