Sometimes I think I never quite comprehend how big Nate’s band is and how famous they are and how there are probably millions of girls all over the world that would die to have any one of them in their beds and how… I probably should stop with the comparison. But I meant what I said, though, I still can’t believe how big they get in the course of nearly 5 years. I looked around the stadium that they’re going to perform in tonight in Tokyo and it could easily fit at least 20,000 people in it, or if I might add, 20,000 SCREAMING teenage girls. The guys are still going over their rehearsals and I already took a bunch of pictures so I’m safe at least until the show begin. I sat on one of the benches below the stage and just watched the guys rehearsing their routine again. When I looked over at Lee and Silver, I instinctively picked up my camera again and started taking pictures of them; these two clowns are easily the most fun to shoot. I’ve always had a thing for dancers and Lee and Silver are arguably the best dancers of the group. As I was taking pictures of Lee and Silver, Lee somehow noticed that my camera was directed at him and started waving at me with a stupid grin on his face. I quickly put down my camera and rolled my eyes at him, and when the choreographer told them to take five, he started skipping, yes he was actually skipping, towards me and threw himself on the bench beside me.

                “Buster, whatcha doin?”

                “Uh… building a pyramid, what does it look like to you?”

I guess Lee was pretty amused at what I just said; cause then he just blew up laughing. As he laughed, I again instinctively picked up my camera and snapped a few pictures of him. I don’t know why, but there was a certain quality in his laugh that I knew would just look awesome on film. Of course he realized what I was doing and stopped laughing, looking at me with a curious expression on his face.

                “Did you just take a picture of me when I was laughing?”

                “Yeah, you got a great laugh you know that?”

He broke into another grin and nodded his head in approval at what I just said and I could just laugh at that, cause he looked so much like a cocky jerk with that look on his face.

“Good to hear, good to hear. Although I have a feeling Hyukjae won’t like to hear that very much.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as Lee mentioned Silver, wondering to myself why on earth Silver won’t like to hear what I said about Lee having a good laugh. I see no correlation there, whatsoever.

                “What does he have to do with what I said?”

                “Oh come on, don’t tell me you honestly don’t know.”

                “I’m… as lost as a little pig in New York City, please clue me in.”

                “Okay, let me try this.”

I was even more clueless when Lee suddenly put an arm around my neck and brought his head closer to mine. I seriously thought he was about to kiss me, or something, but then he whispered into my ear,

                “Don’t be too obvious but just glance at Hyukjae and tell me if he’s looking at us or not.”

I slightly took a quick glance at Silver, who was currently lounging around on the stage, and surely enough, he was looking at the direction of me and Lee with a wondering look on his face. He looked away not long after that but looked back just a second later and this happened a couple times for as long as Lee was putting his arm around my neck. Then I just felt like I went into some epiphany or something and I realized what was happening. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, pointing back and forth from Lee to Silver. Lee let go of me and looked satisfied at the sheer dumbfounded expression I was supporting on my face.

                “Silver has a crush on you?!”

That satisfied look on Lee’s face was instantly wiped away as his jaw hit the floor after what I just said. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, grumbling about something in Korean. Okay, this doesn’t look good.

“Aish, are you really this dense, woman? We’re both straight and the dude’s got a crush on YOU!”

“Oooohhh.”

Okay, so I was wrong when I thought that Silver has a thing for Lee, or for thinking that he’s gay, for that matter. I mean, I know that Lee and Silver had been friends for a long time and they always joke around gayly on stage so I always thought that they’re secretly gay even though I know that they had several girlfriends in the past cause they were just so weirdly close. But then again, I was actually surprised at what Lee said; Silver had a crush on me?

                “Lee, does he really?”

“Oh yes, he does. It's been like that for a few years but he just... never really do anything about it. You’re just his type, you know, quirky and unusual. He was so obnoxiously excited when he found out that you’re joining us for tour.”

I was about to dig deeper about this from Lee, but then the choreographer called him to go through the routine again.

                “You owe me one major story, Lee.”

                “That can be arranged.”

And to my surprise, just before he stood up from the bench we were sitting on, he planted a quick kiss on my cheek which prompted me to throw an almost furious glance at Lee.

                “What the ? Do you have to?”

                “What? It’s fun to mess around with Hyukjae every once in awhile.”

I could just shake my head agitatedly at Lee, who was grinning like a mad man released too early from a mental institution. He turned around and left towards the stage, leaving me with the curiosity that just grew within seconds after Lee told me about Silver. I casually looked towards where Silver was rehearsing and saw that um… well, he was looking at me. At that point, I believed what Lee said.

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My first day on this tour was CRAZY, and that’s me putting it mildly. I had such a blast during the show that I just couldn’t stop grinning and smiling for the whole night. The guys are so much fun to shoot and I practically could feel my index finger went numb from clicking on the shutter non-stop throughout the show. The energy that the guys were putting out and how much they looked like they had fun on stage was a pretty euphoric moment for me to see and to shoot. Their show had me smiling, laughing, and sighing from the sheer heart and soul that they’re putting on to that show all at the same time. And I also need to point out that… Nate never looked more beautiful to me than he was tonight. I don’t know if a man can be associated with the word ‘beautiful’ but that’s the only thing I can think of. I’ve seen his performances on DVD before but it never moved me as much as seeing it live tonight. He looked like he was truly alive when he was there on stage, truly on his element, looking like he was loving every second of it. That’s a side of Nate that I know I’ll always cherish and love. When he was really passionate about something there’s almost like a fire was lit up inside of him, making him look even more powerful and unstoppable. And it really showed as I was looking through what possibly thousands of pictures from the first day of the tour on my laptop. I sat leaning on the headboard of my bed in the hotel room that I was staying in with my laptop resting on my thighs, lost in my own world as I was developing and adding touches to the pictures I took. The guys were now at their designated hotel rooms after the show wrapped tonight, most probably doing random things before getting their beauty sleep. Although I distinctly remember that Lee and Silver were bent on going out for drinks after the show, I didn’t think that they’d actually go through with it, seeing as the show was tiring enough as it is and it was now nearing midnight. So I was kinda surprised when I heard the doorbell to my room rang. I put my laptop down on the nightstand and walked towards the door, peeping into the small hole and found Nate outside of my room.

                “I thought you’re asleep already.”

I said as I opened the door for Nate and walked back towards the bed, picked up my laptop and resuming the same position I was in before Nate came.

                “Without talking to you first? What’s the point of having you around on tour, then?”

I grinned at Nate as he said that and got back to what I was doing before, going over the pictures that I took tonight. I felt the bed shifted with the added weight on it as Nate also sat leaning against the headboard beside me.

                “Maddie, lean.”

I patted on my left shoulder on sure enough, not a second later, Nate already had his head rested comfortably on my shoulder. What he said earlier has always been his code of when he wanted to do that ever since we were kids. Although if I really thought about it, doing this back when we were kids would just look cute, whereas now, well let’s just say seeing a guy who’s more than six feet tall totally built in muscles, holding a white fluffy pillow and leaning his head on a shoulder of a girl who’s about half his size, would be a little weird for some people. But he liked doing that until now so, how am I gonna say no to that? I’d jump into a moving traffic for this guy, let alone do this. For quite some time, we just sat there in silence, keeping our eyes fixed on my laptop screen. Our relationship honestly had gotten past the point where we have to keep talking to fill the silence, there were those times when we could be in this exact same position and not talk for a good hour or so cause that’s how much we enjoyed each other’s company. But as I felt Nate’s chest heaved as he let out a sigh, I knew I had to say something.

                “Is everything okay?”

                “Tiffany and I just got into a fight.”

There’s no denying that the little twitch I felt on my chest always had something to do with the mentioning of Nate’s girlfriend’s name. Even though I wished so hard that it would disappear it just doesn’t. I leaned my head on his and just decided to ask, I hated seeing him worked up even if it’s just a little bit so I wanna get to the bottom of this, even if it is about the guy that I love and his girlfriend. Man, the irony of it.

                “What’s it about?”

                “It’s not that important, really.”

                “But it’s important enough that it made you got into a fight.”

                “She just… hasn’t really got me, that’s all.”

I sensed the finality in his voice; he didn’t wanna talk about it anymore so I just decided to drop the subject altogether. There really was no point in pushing it out of him if he already closed himself to it. And then, out of nowhere, there were loud bangs on my room door and what sounded like at least three guys screaming, ‘buster, come on!’

                “What the ? Are they trying to wake the whole damn hotel up?!”

I said angrily as I put my laptop back down on the nightstand and stood up from the bed while Nate just giggled at me.

                “God, Maddie, tone the cussing down, will ya?”

                “But these mutherers are just so…”

                “Maddie!”

                “Okay, fine, I’ll ing stop!”

The result of my endless rants was Nate laughing like crazy, saying to himself softly ‘you’re a piece of work, Maddie’. As I got to the door, I peeked through the peeping hole to find Lee and Silver checking each other’s outfits out, looking ready to go somewhere, I think. Wow, I didn’t actually think that they’d really go out for drinks. So I opened the door and put one hand on my waist and the other on the handle, ready to slam the door back on their faces, if you ask me.

                “What do you two clowns want?”

                “Didn’t I say we’re going out for drinks after the show?”

Lee said with the fakest innocent look that I’ve ever seen, I swear to god, cause in reality Lee can even put Satan to shame just by how crazy he is.

                “It’s midnight, Lee.”

                “All the more reason to go out and enjoy Japan’s night life, right? Come on, buster, let’s go!”

                “Urgh, fine, but you’re paying for the drinks!”

                “No, Hyukjae here will be VERY happy to do that for you.”

So apparently Lee wasn’t joking when he said that Silver likes me cause Silver’s face suddenly turned into a frown with the faintest blush when Lee said that. Yep, I know what you’re thinking, a blush? And the weirdest thing is that it also somehow made me feel a little bit uneasy about being around Silver now when it used to be so freakin simple. I mean, I always thought that Silver was quite attractive plus he’s a dancer and he can rap and I always had a soft spot for guys who can dance and was into the hip hop thing but those things suddenly became obvious when Lee told me that he thought Silver likes me, thus making me a little nervous to be around him. Wait, what? Nervous? What the hell is wrong with me? Dammit, Lee, you ruined everything.

                “Fine, wait a sec, I’m gonna get changed.”

As I swung the door closed back again, I heard Silver yell while stifling a laugh,

                “Wait, is that Siwon there? Is he watching you get changed?”

                “Yeah, and he’s to that too! Happy?”

                “NOOOO! We wanna be there too!!”

And that second scream was surely coming from Lee, followed by the two of them breaking into a loud laugh. Oh my god, I stand corrected when I said that those two are crazy, cause they are abso-muthaing-lutely out of their minds. I walked towards the bed to Nate, who was clearly amused at what was happening cause he looked like he can pretty much swallow his fist that he used as a filter to keep himself from laughing out loud.

“Come on Nate, let’s join those two crazy clowns and spike their drinks, or something. It’s gonna be fun.”

I moved my eyebrows up and down and Nate then proceeded into finally laughing out loud. Whoa, so I must’ve looked totally silly, huh? Well, I didn’t care if I looked like an idiot, as long as it got him laughing and cheery again, that’s all I want. He stood up from the bed, looking ten times livelier than when he came to my room and just hugged me out of the blue.

                “THIS is why I love you so much, you know that?”

God, does he know that what he said had just made me the happiest and the most miserable girl in the world at the same time?

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*FLASHBACK*

                “There, that should do it. Take a rest now, okay?”

Aunt Grace said as she finished fixing the bandage on Alice’s arm, applying the gel that the doctor gave her on the cuts on her face and tended the bruises on her jaw. She casted one more worried look at Alice and knew that she had made the right decision, although she knew that this would probably sadden Alice more than anything, but she couldn’t go through any more of watching her niece put into this kind of position again. She didn’t wanna see that look of sadness and defeat on Alice’s face again. Alice understood the look that her aunt just gave at her and she really had nothing to say to what Aunt Grace had decided for her, she couldn’t see a way out of this. The one thing that worried Alice was how Siwon’s gonna react to what Aunt Grace had decided.

“Siwon called again just now. You have to see him, Alice, let him know what happened. He’s on his way over, he didn’t care that you didn’t wanna see him. To be honest, that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Alice broke into a small smile when she heard that. Yeah, that didn’t surprise her too. She had been avoiding Siwon all afternoon since the beating that she had to endure earlier at school. The situation now had gotten worse than before with the kids at Alice’s school. What started out as simple name-calling and spiteful words had escalated into a full-on physical assault. At first it was a little shove here and there every time Alice walked by, the typical pushing Alice’s books until she dropped them all, and all of that somehow elevated up to the point that Alice was cornered in some secluded part of the school and having five boys beat her up until she out. The school’s security guard found her abandoned there and immediately rushed her to the hospital. Those boys that beat Alice up were the same boys that Siwon got into a fight with a few months prior, the same boys that practically made her life at school a living hell. Apparently those boys didn’t take it so lightly that Siwon was fighting them back for Alice and decided to use Alice to get back at Siwon, and to teach Alice ‘a lesson’ as they so kindly put it before beating her up. For some reason, Alice didn’t want Siwon to know about this because she knew that he wouldn’t react well knowing what happened. So for the whole day, after the beating happened, Alice practically cut all contact with Siwon, although judging by how frequently he called in the past 3 hours, Alice was pretty sure he already found out about what went down. Both Aunt Grace and Alice looked up when the door bell suddenly rang throughout the house repeatedly. They smiled at each other, already knowing who’s at the door. Aunt Grace stood up from the bed, planting a quick kiss on Alice’s forehead as she did so.

                “Break it to him gently, okay. I have a feeling he won’t take it well.”

                “Okay.”

Alice said, nodding her head at what her aunt told her before she left the room. Alice took a deep breath and letting it out slowly, silently preparing herself for what’s gonna happen once she told Siwon everything. Just a few seconds later, the door to Alice’s room opened, revealing a flustered-looking Siwon. His face immediately fell into the saddest look that Alice has ever seen ever since she knew Siwon. He slowly walked towards the bed and sat beside Alice, examining the cuts and bruises on her face and the bandage covering her right arm

                “Did they do this to you?”

Siwon’s voice was laced with so much fury that it surprised Alice; she had never seen him this angry before. She almost lied and told him that it wasn’t them, but she thought that he already figured it out. So she just nodded her head to answer his question. Siwon’s jaws visibly tightened at that, both his hands curled into a fist and he never looked more dangerous than he was that moment.

                “I’m gonna KILL them.”

Alice was surprised again when Siwon suddenly stood up and headed to the door, looking pretty much like he was gonna make real of what he said.

                “Nate, please stop! It’s not gonna make anything better!”

“But look what they did to you, Maddie! Are you seriously telling me that you’re gonna let them get away with it?!”

Turning around from the path he was about to take towards the door, Siwon spitted out those words with so much agony on his voice that it somehow brought tears to Alice’s eyes. Ever since the beating happened until now, Alice had successfully refrained herself from crying and not one drop of tear fell. She didn’t wanna give those boys the satisfaction of knowing that they had brought her to tears because of what they did. But now, seeing her best friend and the boy that she loved looking every bit like he was also suffering from what happened to her, hurt her even more than what those boys did. Siwon’s demeanor softened down dramatically after seeing his best friend broke into tears. He always knew that Alice was never the one who easily cry at anything, so when she eventually does, it must’ve been something that really troubled her. He quickly rushed and sat beside her on the bed, swiftly pulling her in a hug and let her cry as much as she wanted too, cause he thought she deserved it.

                “Aunt Grace is sending me to live in the US. I’m leaving next week.”

To Siwon, hearing Alice saying that out of the blue, literally felt like all the joy inside him getting out, and leaving a gaping hole inside of him. For as long as Siwon can remember, Alice has always been his best friend, someone who practically can read him inside out because that was how well Alice knew him. Even though the other kids in their school find it weird and kept telling Siwon to just not be friends with Alice, Siwon just couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do that. To him, Alice was too special.

                “Uh… when… when is this decided?”

Alice pulled herself away from Siwon, wiping away her tears and feeling like she just died a little inside after hearing the stutter in Siwon’s question, no doubt from the shock of the news she just told him.

“Right after Aunt Grace heard about what happened to me. She called her sister who lives in L.A. and just pretty much… arranged everything for me.”

“Is there nothing we can do about it? I’ll talk to Aunt Grace, I’ll… I’ll tell her I’m always gonna be with you and I’ll go with you anywhere, I’ll make sure you’re always safe. Or… I can… I can call my dad and he can arrange… anything for us. I don’t… I don’t want you to leave.”

“Look, we can still see each other on the summer cause I’ll go back to Seoul on that time.”

 “But still, that’s not…”

Alice couldn’t help but to broke into tears again, this was just too hard. She already predicted that he won’t take it well, but she didn’t think that it would be this hard on him. Siwon sensed what was going through Alice’s mind and immediately shut up, knowing that it was hard enough on Alice as it is, and she didn’t need him to freak out as well. So he tried as hard as he can to just kept silent as Alice leaned her head on Siwon’s shoulder, sobbing softly.

                “Maddie, give me your pinkie.”

Siwon said suddenly, although with a questioning look on Alice’s face, she did what she was told. When Siwon caught her pinkie finger and intertwined it with his, she got what it meant.

“Maddie, promise me you’ll always be my best friend no matter what. And I promise I’ll always be yours no matter what.”

A smile slowly appeared on Alice’s face at what her best friend just said, which also brings a smile to Siwon’s face as well.

                “I promise.”

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Uh oh, did Donghae just spill Eunhyuk's secret? Kekekeke :P Aaaandddd there you go chapter 5... Enjoy! :)