Minah stopped by her dorm first. She dropped off her stuff, taking only her purse with her. There was no need to carry all those textbooks and binders, after all. She put her cellphone, her dorm key, and her wallet in her purse. Then, she returned to the music room, where she had promised she’d meet Chanyeol.

 

He was already there. He smiled widely when he saw Minah approach.

 

“Hey!” Chanyeol greeted, smiling widely. “I almost thought you’d bailed on our agreement!”

 

She shook her head. “I just.. went to my dorm first. I’m sorry..”

 

He laughed and ruffled her hair, much to her surprise. “Aish, stop apologizing,” he said kindly.

 

“Sorr— ah. I… umm.. Okay.” Minah stammered.

 

“It’s fineee,” Chanyeol said, poking her cheek. Minah flinched in surprise. What was with this guy? According to everyone, the EXO boys never made friends with outsiders… and yet Chanyeol was talking to her. He was even touching her. What was going on?

 

“You needa get over your shyness,” Chanyeol said teasingly. “You’re never going to get a boyfriend at this rate!”

 

Minah stayed silent. Chanyeol suddenly grabbed her hand. “Let’s go!” he grinned. He began to walk through the hall. Minah followed, but she slid her hand out of his.

 

“People will see,” she murmured. She looked around nervously, hoping that no one was around. The mere fact that she was standing in his presence was more than enough reason for those crazy fangirls to come harass her.

 

Chanyeol sighed softly, but did not argue with her. He narrowed his eyes in thought and tapped his chin. “I hope I’m not wrong about her…” he thought. He relaxed his face instantly stood straight, remembering that Minah was walking next to him. He smiled at her and continued leading the way. He led her towards the entrance of the school.

 

A few minutes later, the two were outside. There was a group of boys sitting on the steps, waiting. When they heard footsteps, they stood up and turned around.

 

Chanyeol stopped Minah suddenly. “Stay here for a moment,” he instructed. “I’ve got to go tell them something first.

 

“Okay,” Minah replied, looking at the boys anxiously. They stared back. Chanyeol ran over to his friends.

 

 

“Hey,” he greeted.

 

“So, you really brought her,” Baekhyun replied. 

 

“Yup.”

 

“You’d better not be setting us up for destruction or anything,” Baekhyun said, looking slightly worried.

 

“Hey, chill out. Alright guys. Confession time,” Chanyeol said. The boys all looked at Chanyeol, their eyebrows raised.

 

“You guys were wondering how I was so sure that Jung Minah was the right one, remember?” The boys nodded, urging him to continue. “Well, I was kind of interested in her personality from the first day of school, when she knocked into Kris. She didn’t squeal or become excited or anything, she seemed sincere. And later that day I purposely talked to her in the middle of class to see what her reaction would be. Naturally, the whole class focused on her. She didn’t look smug or anything, so that proves that she doesn’t want our attention like all the other girls do.”

 

“Uh huh… but that’s not good enough,” Xiumin raised his eyebrows. “We’re talking about a group of friends that have been together for over ten years. One girl can ruin all of that. How can you be so sure that she won’t destroy us?” 

 

Chanyeol grinned. “Well aren’t you a cautious one! Of course it wasn’t enough, which is why I did some research on her last night. I anonymously talked to a bunch of people, and turns out..” the boys leaned closer to Chanyeol.

 

“Turns out, she’s a loner!” he shouted this, like it was something to be proud of. He immediately looked at Minah, hoping that she hadn’t heard that. Much to his relief, she hadn’t. She was biting her fingernails nervously, as if she was scared that the boys were just toying with her, that they didn’t really want her here.

 

“She’s a loner,” Chanyeol repeated, lowering his voice considerably.

 

“So?”

 

“So, that means that she isn’t popular. She doesn’t care about ranks and stuff. Which means she probably doesn’t care about our popularity. Which means… she won’t attack us or bring a horde of girls like Luhan’s ex did!” He looked at his friend. “Sorry if that offended you, Hyung. I didn’t mean it in a mean way.”  

 

“That’s alright,” Luhan replied. “It’s true, anyway.”

 

A smile was slowly forming on Tao and Sehun’s faces, while some of the other boys began to look hopeful. The others, however, still looked unconvinced that Minah was a trustworthy girl.

 

“I still don’t think it’s enough proof.. I mean, it seems pretty cool and all, but she could be a closet ert. That’s even worse. What if we befriend her, and she thinks and does… weird stuff when we’re not around?” Chen said, cocking his head to the side.

 

“Ew, don’t think like that! It’s fine as long as you don’t know about it. I bet a lot of our current fangirls are little erts. And they’re open about it. ”

 

“I guess…” Chen said, still a little doubtfully. “Is that it, then? Nothing else to add to your argument?”

 

“Course I got more,” Chanyeol grinned creepily. “I never come unprepared. Today I talked to her again in music. Oh and remember that she was scared when Kai blocked her way this morning. More proof. Anyways, in music I did something very risky, and I accidentally made her the center of attention again… She was really scared when all the crazy girls started to accuse her falsely. She didn’t retort with something like ‘You’re just jealous that Chanyeol oppa talked to me!’ or anything. Instead, she looked like she wanted to crawl into a corner and pretend to be invisible. I told her I was sorry for what I did, and she forgave me. She acted.. normally to me. It was the most amazing feeling ever. You guys have to talk to her. I really don’t care if this doesn’t last. I don’t care if she becomes cocky and popular in the future. At least I’ll know what it feels like to be ordinary for once.”

 

“Is the feeling really that great?” D.O asked.

 

“Yeah, it’s absolutely wonderful,” Chanyeol said dreamily. “All my stress just instantly disappeared. When we talked I wasn’t some rich guy that would inherit a huge corporation in the future.. I was just Park Chanyeol. I could tell that she didn’t see me the same way as those fangirls. I’m guessing she just doesn’t care about things like this. But that just makes her so much better, you know? She won’t treat us differently. I’m sure of it.”

 

Kris looked at Chanyeol uncertainly, although he didn’t say anything. Lay stepped forward. “I kind of want to meet her now…”

 

“Me too!” Sehun piped. Tao nodded furiously in agreement.

 

“Well, I’ll go bring her over then.” He turned and ran over to the anxious girl without waiting for the opinions of the other nine boys. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Chanyeol said. “I know it’s been like ten minutes. You must’ve been bored.” Minah lifted her head and gave Chanyeol a little smile.

 

“That’s alright, I’m fine.” she said.

 

“Come over and introduce yourself to the guys,” Chanyeol coaxed.

 

Minah eyed the boys a little fearfully. She took a deep breath and walked over slowly. “Annyeonghaseyo,” she greeted politely, bowing at EXO. “My name is Jung Minah. Chanyeol brought me here today...”

 

Suho stepped up. “Hello, Minah,” he smiled, though a bit uncertainly. “I’m Suho.” He nudged his friends.

 

A boy with large eyes smiled at Minah. “Hello,” he said. “My name is Luhan.” His huge eyes made him look like a deer.  

 

“Hello,” Minah replied, smiling nervously.

 

“I’m Sehun,” a bored looking boy said. His lips curved up, and Minah figured that he was smiling. His eyes, though, continued to look dull and uninterested. Maybe that was just his natural face… 

 

Sehun stepped to the side to reveal another EXO member. “Hello… My name is Lay.” He smiled shyly at Minah, and she noticed that he had an adorable dimple. She smiled back and bowed. “Hello Lay.”

 

“Yo, Minah.” She turned to see a boy with sharp features smiling sweetly at her. “My name is Chen.” She could not resist grinning back at him.

 

“Annyeong~” a boy waved. He looked a bit irritated, but managed to cover it up with a smile. “My name is Baekhyun.”

 

“Bacon?” Minah asked hesitantly. His name was Bacon?

 

“Ah… not Bacon.. Baekhyun.” He repeated.

 

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Minah blushed.

 

He smiled. “That’s alright. A lot of people get it mixed up.”

 

“I’m Kyungsoo,” a boy smiled. He, too, had large eyes, and they made him look surprised. “But please call me D.O.”

 

“Hello D.O,” Minah bowed.

 

“Hi!!” a tall boy with black hair shouted. Minah flinched instinctively. He looked awfully mean… But then his face broke into a grin, and he instantly became adorable. He had natural dark circles under his eyes, making him look like a panda.

 

“Ah! I’m sorry.. did I surprise you?” he asked, lowering his voice. Minah nodded hesitantly. The boy smiled apologetically. “Sorry~ My name is Tao!”

 

“Hello, Tao,” Minah smiled.

 

A baby-faced boy with brown hair waved at Minah. “Hello! I’m Xiumin. Nice to meet you!”

 

“Hi Xiumin,” Minah greeted. “Nice to meet you too!” He beamed at her, and she grinned back. These boys weren’t as terrible as she had originally thought… They were actually nice.

 

“And you already know me,” Chanyeol said, giving Minah a thumbs up.

 

Another boy stepped up. “I’m Kai.” Minah recognized him as the weird smirking boy who had blocked her way earlier. Nevertheless, she still greeted him politely.

 

 

The boys quieted down, waiting for their last member to introduce himself. Suho nudged him, but the blond boy just crossed his arms and stared. Minah shrank under his gaze. Maybe they weren’t ALL nice after all..

 

“Kris.” He finally said. Minah gulped and nodded back. He raised his eyebrows. “How rude, you aren’t going to say anything?” he growled huskily.

 

“U-Um. Hello, Kris,” Minah stammered. Yep. Kris was definitely rude.

 

“If you’re going to be clumsy you should at least be polite,” he snapped.

 

“I’m sorry about that, it was an accident! I guess I was kind of nervous on the first day of school. Just for the record, I haven’t tripped since then…”

 

He snorted, but didn’t reply.

 

“Errr,” Lay said, trying to break the tension. “Do you guys … want to play some ball?”

 

The boys looked around at each other slowly. Did girls play basketball? Probably not.. What did they do?”

 

“What do girls do?” Sehun asked, speaking his mind. D.O and Chanyeol facepalmed themselves, while Baekhyun and Chen snorted. Kris remained emotionless, although Minah could’ve sworn she saw his mouth twitch.

 

“Umm… Well.. They do normal stuff, I guess. I wouldn’t really know, since I’m kind of strange. I’m somewhat of a loner, and I don’t associate myself with those typical girls at JunKang. I guess they go out a lot? To shop or eat, maybe.”

 

“So boring,” Sehun noted. Kai poked his dongsaeng, warning him not to offend Minah.

 

Minah giggled. “Yeah, it is pretty boring,” she agreed. “Personally, I don’t like going shopping. It’s such a waste of time.”

 

“Then what do you do?” Tao asked.

 

“I like to read, sing, play tennis,” she shrugged. “Stuff like that. Nothing special.”

 

“You sing?” Baekhyun asked, interested in where the conversation was going.

 

“Yeah, a little bit. I’m not that good, though,” she laughed.

 

He raised his eyebrows. “I’ll be the judge of that. Sing for me.”

 

Minah’s eyes widened. “I-In front of all of you? Umm… I’m kind of shy…”

 

“You’re going to have to sing in public eventually,” Chanyeol broke in. “We’ll be performing next Wednesday, remember? “

 

“Wait what is going on?” Kai held up his hand. “What performance?”

 

“Oh, I picked Minah as my partner today in music,” Chanyeol explaned. “We have to sing a duet together.”

 

Kai shook his head. “So that’s the ‘risky thing’ you were talking about earlier?” he mumbled. “What a bad move. Now Minah will get targeted by all the other girls. Right now it doesn’t matter whether she really is different or not, but the fact that you just put her in a lot of danger. Don’t you know what those girls are capable of?”

 

“But… I … Er..” Chanyeol scratched his head nervously, not knowing what to say. Since when was Kai such a defensive person? Minah listened intently, taking all of the information in. True, the reason why Minah was getting so much crap from the other students was because Chanyeol approached her, but it wasn’t exactly his fault that he was so popular..

 

“Umm.. Ooh! Practice in front of us! We’ll be your audience!” Xiumin clapped, trying to break the awkward atmosphere. All of the boys gradually joined in the clapping. Everyone except for Kris.

 

“Sing for us! Practice in front of us! Sing!” they chanted. Chanyeol looked at Minah and grinned widely. “They’re not going to stop until you say yes,” he said, laughing slightly.

 

Minah clenched her jaw stubbornly, but eventually gave in to the whooping boys. “Alright, fine,” she agreed reluctantly. “But you guys better not laugh!”

 

“Yay!” Chen fist pumped the air. “We get to hear meimei sing!”

 

“Meimei?” Minah asked, slightly confused.

 

Chen nodded. “It’s a Chinese term meaning ‘little sister’. Lay taught it to me. It’s like saying noona or dongsaeng, except in Chinese.” He grinned. “So you’re my meimei!”

 

“Ah,” Minah nodded. “Then you’re my oppa.”

 

His eyes widened, and then his mouth broke out into a wide smile. “Yep!”

 

“Hey, I want to be called Oppa too!” Tao whined.

 

“Too bad,” Chen punched Tao playfully. “You’re younger than her. Only I can be Minah’s Oppa.”

 

Minah giggled at the sight of the two boys. She had misjudged EXO wrongly. They weren’t unkind at all. The rumors that she had heard about them must’ve been horribly wrong. After all, information tends to alter slightly as it spreads to more and more people. Minah knew this fact from experience.

 

“I kind of understand why you guys are so popular now,” Minah smiled. “it’s cause you’re all so funny and easygoing.”

 

“No,” Kris spoke, much to everyone’s surprise. “We don’t talk to other people. You’re the first. That isn’t the reason why we’re popular. We’re popular because we’re rich. And handsome. ”

 

“Eh? Am I really the first..? I mean, I heard from my previous roommate that you guys don’t talk to others, but I just assumed that was fake.. because you guys are here talking to me.” 

 

“We’re here talking to you because –“ Kai’s words were stopped by Chanyeol, who put his hand  over Kai’s mouth.

 

“No special reason why,” Chanyeol corrected. “We just got tired of hanging out by ourselves. We wanted to meet someone new, and I decided to bring you because you’re my partner in music, and you seem pretty chill.”

 

“Oh,” Minah nodded. She suddenly sighed. “This is going to get me so much hate from the other students..”

 

“Don’t worry about that,” Suho smiled comfortingly. “it’ll stop eventually. And we’ll definitely protect you, since it’s our fault you’re being harassed.”  

 

“Thanks..” Minah said, a little sadly. “You know, it’s funny, because I had been trying so desperately to slide by high school unnoticed, and yet here I am, talking with the school’s most popular boys.”

 

“Aw, that’s no way to live!” Suho smiled. “You’re supposed to enjoy life! Where’s the fun in being a loner all the time? This is a good opportunity for you to meet new people and make new friends.”

 

“Well, I already have two best friends..”

 

“It’s not the same, though,” Sehun interrupted. “We mean like going out with a lot of people, not just one or two. I bet you’ve never been to a club or a huge birthday party. ”

 

“Nope,” Minah shook her head. 

 

“See? That’s what I mean!” Sehun said. His emotionless face suddenly brightened. “Oh, we’ve got to take you out and introduce you to new things.”

 

“But first things first,” Chanyeol butted into the conversation. “Hang out with us.”

 

“What do you mean? I’m here right now.”

 

“Yeah. Hang out with us again, just like today. We want to get to know you better.”