He was polite, just like the others, but it was not like he gave me the same warm welcome as Taekyu did. He shook my hand, but there was no smile or anything. You might have thought that I would be disappointed but the opposite was true. Every single thing about Minho was perfect in my eyes, even his cold blooded stare and his lack of friendliness. I had never expected that even one member of HALO would be pleased to hear that there would be a journalist living in their house from now on, so I wasn’t offended by the hostile behavior Minho had towards me. Maybe it was even better this way, because if he had acted like Taekyu, I would have been dead on the floor by now. The distance he kept between us helped me survive, to keep me standing.
All eight of them had gathered in the dormitory on the sixth floor. Jungsu led me from the hallway to the living room where the members that hadn't come to the door sat on two couches, curiously staring at my foreign face as I came in.
A thunderstorm raged through my stomach. I had played this scenario in my head so many times already but now that it was reality everything just went blank. I didn’t know what to say, what to do or what to feel. Expressing my feelings was never a talent that I possessed. Sure I knew how to be happy or sad or surprised or scared, but there had never been a moment in my life where my feelings just overloaded to the point that I didn’t seem to feel anything at all.
I silently watched how Minho walked past me and threw himself on one of the couches next to Donghae, who seemed extremely shy because he only glanced at me for a few seconds before he went to stare at his feet. Hyukjae was sitting next to him and stared at me as if I was Beyonce which made me feel slightly uncomfortable. The extremely handsome Shinwoo was even more handsome in his natural habitat. He smiled at me, stood up and walked towards me to shake my hand. I didn’t do anything else but stare at his perfect face. His eyes were so dark and big that you couldn’t go around them. ‘Let’s have a peaceful time together,’ he said. I wanted to nod but somehow I had turned into a statue and just kept staring. He laughed, patted my shoulder and walked back to the couch. No one else had the courage to do the same as he did so it was up to me to walk towards them and introduce myself.
I completely panicked. How was I supposed to live my life here if these eight guys had such an effect on me? This was horrible, I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve listened to my English teacher. Dreams are dreams because they aren’t supposed to come true.
I was about to turn around and flee, but Jungsu saved me.
‘Well guys, this is Sky, our new housemate! She will be living with us until the day we all leave here, so let’s take good care of her, shall we?’ he said. There was a certain tone in his voice that sounded like a mother teaching her children some discipline.  
Like a robot I managed to walk towards the couch. They probably didn’t expect it because I was a foreigner but I bowed for them and while my face was hidden behind my red hair, while I was standing in that ninety degree bow, I managed to say some words.
‘Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Sky. I am so sorry for rudely intruding in this house and I hope you will all forgive me for it and that we will have a great time together as co-workers and friends.’
Woah, did I just really say that? It felt like someone else was controlling my body. I heard someone standing up and when I lifted my head again, Youngmin was standing right in front of me. It startled me and I took a step back. He shook my hand and smiled. ‘That’s okay, welcome to the dormitory,’ he said. His hand felt safe and I lost a bit of my scare. I even managed to shyly smile back. A bit uncomfortable I walked to the members that I hadn’t greeted yet and shook their hands one by one. Donghae and Hyukjae both smiled at me. There was only one member that had the same hostile glare as Minho while he shook my hand and it was Tabi.
I never really paid any attention to Tabi. He was my former roommate’s bias but I didn’t think he was that interesting. Sure, he was handsome and his extremely low voice was amazing, but on variety shows or press conferences he never really said anything. His thick eyebrows frowned when he shook my hand quickly. His eyes were so intense that I had the feeling he could see right through me, as if he could read my mind. After our greeting I avoided his glare as much as I could.
Jungsu and Taekyu carried in my suitcases and dropped them in the hallway. I was still standing in front of the couches and felt extremely awkward.  Everyone kept staring at me and no one was really talking. Shinwoo asked me if I had a safe trip and if I had dinner yet, but after the answer on both questions was yes it became quiet again. It was Jungsu that saved us all from the painful silence after he returned from bringing the suitcases.
‘Please sit down, Sky. Do you want some coffee, tea?’ He pointed at the empty spot on the couch next to Donghae, the spot where Minho was sitting just a few seconds ago before he stood up and went to sit at the kitchen table, away from the awkwardness. Donghae moved a bit closer to Hyukjae on his other side to make more room for me. I would have never dreamed of sitting next to Donghae on a couch. He was my favorite member after Minho. My heart was beating like crazy when I took place next to him. I didn’t dare to sit comfortably. I almost fell off the couch in this position but I was just not used to being so close to my idols yet. Maybe after a few centuries it would get better.
‘Tea is fine, thank you,’ I said to Jungsu. He left the living room to go make it in the kitchen and the awkward silence returned. Jungsu was the only member that I dared to start talking to at the moment. Especially Tabi and Minho seemed off limits when it came to talking. Minho was reading the paper on the kitchen table and pretended like I wasn’t even there. I couldn’t help but glancing at him once in a while, since he was so perfect. Even though he wasn’t wearing any make up and I could clearly see he had some skin trouble, he was still insanely handsome. The fact that he didn’t have baby skin like Taekyu made him more manlier and I loved it.
‘So Sky, did you know? You have come at an excellent time. Tomorrow we start with the preparations of our very first studio album.’
It was Shinwoo that decided to start a conversation and I was extremely grateful for that. He seemed to want to break the ice with me and I gladly accepted it. ‘Yeah I know, I saw it on the MFK twitteraccount yesterday. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s like a dream coming true to see you guys prepare for an album.’ I tried to sound as modest and humble as possible. I didn’t want them to believe I was some rude paparazzi that worked her way into the dormitory to find some scandals to write about.
‘First we have a press conference about your blog though. We’re gonna have one hell of a time at the office once everyone knows about it,’ Tabi said. I totally forgot how low and fantastic his voice was. It almost took my breath away. As a fan I didn’t get to hear that voice very often apart from his raps in the songs, so hearing him talk was something unexpected. His voice had a great impact on my nerve system. I had to concentrate my view on a coffee stain on the table to regain my sanity.
Woah, I didn’t expect that to happen.
‘I’m sorry for the inconvenience I will cause the next few weeks,’ I whispered. I wasn’t religious or anything but Tabi’s voice almost sounded like he was a god, reprimanding me for my stupid action.
‘That’s okay, we chose this ourselves! We are actually glad that you came up with such an interesting idea! And don’t worry I don’t think the press will be that bad. I mean, Blue Prince had this variety program once where they gave home stay to two international students and they were female as well. Sure it was only for a month, but I think we’ll survive,’ Hyukjae said. His words made me feel warm inside and I smiled at him, even though he was still looking at me like I was some foreign alien goddess or something.
‘So have you decided in what order you want to follow us around?’ Youngmin asked. I looked at him and had that safe feeling again, as if I was looking at my own brother. He was the most awkward one of HALO with his weird dances, his interest for bugs and his two turtle pets, so it was pretty funny that he seemed the most normal one to me. ‘I think I’ll just go from the oldest till the youngest,’ I answered. I had thought about this so many times and this was the best order I could come up with. In this way, there was no way they could accuse me from being biased or anything (yeah I kept it a secret that Minho was my bias because I didn’t want to cause any trouble). This way Minho would also be the fifth member to follow around and that was absolutely perfect because that week would be the week I became a permanent employee. If I somehow messed up with Minho which was most likely since I was extremely clumsy especially around the people that I worshipped, at least I would still have a job within the company.
‘So the order will be: Jungsu, Shinwoo, Tabi, Youngmin, Minho, Hyukjae, Donghae and Taekyu,’ Shinwoo confirmed. I nodded. I looked around and it seemed that no one had any problem with this order, until my eyes met Tabi’s again.
His message was pretty clear even though he didn’t say a word.
Don’t come near me or I’ll destroy you.