“Miss.”

I blinked away my sleepiness as I heard the sound of the driver’s voice from the front of the car. Quickly I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes.

“Are we here?” I asked drowsily.

He nodded and made his way out of the car. I gathered my purse and opened the door. The sun was bright, way too bright. I checked my phone for the time. It had been nineteen or so hours since I left the states. I yawned and stretched out my arms, there were so many lay-overs and I had to spend the night LAX which an experience I never wanted to repeat. I turned my head to look down the street. “Oh my…” The buildings were so tall. The cab driver put my luggage next to me.

“The building right in front of us is your dormitory, Miss.” He stated.

I thanked him, picked up my bags and headed inside.

My apartment style room was average. It had one bed, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. I set my luggage in the closet of the room. As I turned the corner from the kitchen back to the main room, I noticed there was a thick manila folder lying on the mattress of the bed. I sat on my bed and took out the papers inside. The first paper was a welcome letter from the school. The second was my schedule and the third was a heavy stack of papers paper-clipped together. On the front of the first page was a post-it explaining that these were the profiles for my ‘students’. I stuck the post-it absentmindedly on my arm.

Park Jung-su. Birth Date: July 1, 1983. SM Entertainment.

Wait a second…is this, no, it can’t be. I flipped through the first couple of pages.

Lee Hyuk-Jae. Birth Date: April 4, 1986. SM Entertainment. 

Oh. My. Gosh. Am I supposed to be tutoring…Super Junior?!

As I frantically flipped through to the last pages, sure enough, there were pictures attached. I stared at each tiny Polaroid, hands shaking slightly as I tried to stifle the urge to squeal with delight.

Knock, knock.

The noise startled me and I spilled the papers all over the floor, almost falling off the bed. Crap. I’ll pick those up in a second, I thought as I tiptoed over to the door.

I blinked a few times trying to pull myself together as I stood in front of the door. When I opened it I put on my best fake smile.

 “Jade Soria.” The man at the door smiled, he stuck out his hand and bowed slightly. I shook his hand, bowed and waited for his introduction. “My name is Lee Seunghwan. We spoke on the phone a while back. I’m one of Super Junior’s Managers. I’m assuming you read the profiles already?” He raised a brow and pointed to the post-it lamely sticking to my arm.   

Super. Junior. “Uh, yes.” I swiftly pulled away the post-it and crumpled it in my hand.

“Excellent! I know you must be tired but I’ve arranged for your first meeting with the boys tomorrow afternoon. As you’ve probably seen from the profiles, there are quite a few of them to get to know.”

All I could do was nod and smile like an idiot. WHY SO SOON?!

He continued. “I’ll have a van come for you say around twelve-thirty?”

“That sounds good.” My words were so forced and felt unnatural.

Manager Lee pulled out a business card and handed it to me. “This is where you can reach me. The van will be out in front at twelve-thirty sharp. It was nice meeting you.” He grinned and turned to leave down the hall.

I knew exactly who these boys were. I had known for almost a year now. My best friend was the one who got me into their music.

~~~~

“Jade! Listen to this song, will ya?” Minju squealed as she waved her earphone at me.

I sighed. “Don’t you see I’m trying to study?” I looked over at her math worksheet. “Something you should be doing!”

Minju pouted and forcefully shoved the earphone in my ear. “Listen!”

-Hey! ije geuman naege wajullae
jeongmal michil geonman gata yeah
nan neoman saranghago sipeo
jeoldae dasi hannun pal ssaenggak eopsseo hey hey hey..-

“What language is this, Minju?” I asked as my toes tapped to the beat of the song.

She laughed and yanked the earphone from my ear. “I knew you’d like it! You’re always trying to find languages to learn and I‘ve been trying to get you interested in my native tongue!”

“This is Korean?” I asked, staring down at the earphone she dangled in front of me.

Minju had been trying to engage me in her culture ever since we met at a lecture we both had to attend. She had gone alone and so had I. We both ended up sitting next to each other unknowingly in the hall. She was bubbly and full of life, asking me all sorts of questions. At first it was annoying but she grew on me and after that it was history. We were inseparable.

“I burned you a CD.” Minju smirked, sliding over the case under my fingertips. “You’ll like it, trust me. No one can resist Super Junior.”

~~~~

I stared at the business card. Was this for real?! Honestly, I was prepared to be teaching some rich guys five year olds basic English phrases. Yet here I was, having just been told I would be tutoring people whose blood types I could recite. I shut the door and went over to the scattered papers. I bent down and began to organize them from oldest to youngest, matching the Polaroid’s with their profile, meticulously lining them side by side across my floor. I giggled to myself, humming happily like a crazy person. Once I was finished, reality slapped me across the face. I shot up from the floor, staring down at my grubby clothes.

“WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?!”