I was TS entertainments new non-korean, American acting trainee. I had been at TS for about 3 months now. I had yet to make friends, as I was busy with my acting and Korean language class. I was almost fluent in Korean by now. The only friend I had was my manager, a woman in her earlier 30’s with a husband and 3 year old son. I had been in 6 commercial’s, 2 of which I was the main actress. I had been in one mv as a background character.

I was doing my usual thing, sitting in the café alone. I had a coffee in front of me along with my notebook in which I kept my secret obsession, fan fiction writing. I had my headphones in and was listening to my favorite playlist, which I had named Exotic~Baby. You can guess what was in my playlist.

I closed my notebook and leaned my head on the window next to me, wondering when my next job would be…and when people where going to actually start seeing me. I felt invisible here honestly. I had run into a few of my sunbaes but as far as I knew none remembered me. I guess it didn’t help that I was slightly awkward and shy with people I didn’t know well. I let out a sigh as I looked down at my Ipod, changing the current song to a more upbeat one.

I saw a tray slid into my peripheral and looked up. I felt my face scrunch up in confusion as six boys sat down at the booth with me. It wasn’t just any 6 boys though, it was BAP. I didn’t understand. I mean, if it had been the trainees then maybe, but THE BAP. I was sure they didn’t even know I existed.

“Annyonghaesaeyo,” Yongguk greeted me with his gummy smile.

I looked around the table. Yongguk was seated beside me, Daehyun beside him, Himchan across from me, Jongup beside him, and Youngjae beside him. Zelo had pulled up a chair to the end of the table. They were all smiling at me and I felt my face turn pink as I lowered my head.

“Annyonghaesaeyo sunbaenims,” I replied, my hair covering my face as I bowed as well as I could in such a confined space.

Daehyun said something that I barely heard.

“Mianhabnida,” I said as I turned down the volume, “I didn’t hear you.”

“You’re the new trainee, Makaela, right?” he repeated.

I nodded slowly.

“So you’re not Korean?” the question came from Jongup with surprise.

I smiled at him and shook my head, “I don’t even look it.”

“But your Korean is very good,” Jongup replied.

“Kamsamnida, Jongup Sunbaenim,” I replied, blushing again as I dipped my head, “I’ve been studying very hard these last 3 months.”

“What are you listening to,” Daehyun asked as he reached across Yongguk to take one of my headphones out.

“Nothing!” I exclaimed as I slapped a hand to my earbud.

It was too late as Daehyun placed the tiny speaker in his own ear. I blushed crimson this time and covered my face, a bit mortified. He grinned and chuckled.

“Rain sound, nice choice,” he replied as his part came up and he began singing softly along.

“So you’re a Baby?” Zelo asked.

I nodded hesitantly, my hands still covering my face.

“So which one of us do you like most?” Himchan asked.

I peeked out from between my fingers. This was the first time Himchan had spoken and he was smiling gently at me.

Yongguk shoulder bumped me, “It’s alright. They won’t get mad.”

I took my hands away from my face and placed them in my lap. I shifted uncomfortably and the earbud Daehyun still had in fell out. It landed in Yongguk’s lap and he picked it up, placing it in his own ear. He grinned as What’s Poppin began playing.

I sighed as I began something I never thought I would, “It’s actually complicated. You each have your good points, and….” I trailed off trying to find the correct way to explain this.

“Go on,” Himchan encouraged.

“Well, I have three friends back in the states and we each have a member who is our bias. Zelo is Vanvan’s bias, Jongup is D’s bias, and Youngjae is Jane’s bias. Himchan is mine,” I said the last part while staring at my hands.

I heard Himchan softly say yes. I grinned down at my hands, just waiting for what was next. Honestly, I loved fangirling and could feel myself loosening up. Fangirling always brought out the non-awkward, less-shy side of me.

“What about me?” Daehyun asked.

I looked up to see Yongguk soaking in the information. I looked past him to see Daehyun pouting. I grinned at them both. I paused my music and sat the device, along with the headphones, on top of my notebook.

“Well you and Yongguk are special. You two are shared biases. It’d be wrong to try to keep either one of you to ourselves, not that we haven’t tried. We had a saying: Perfect Yongguk is perfect and y Daehyun is y,” I replied, noticing their smiles, “There was also creepy Himchan is creepy, awkward Jongup is awkward, underage Zelo is Illegal and Youngjae is just too smart for all this mess.”

Zelo’s eye’s showed confusion, “How am I illegal?”

I puffed out my cheeks before replying, my cheeks yet again tinged with pink, “Well, you aren’t quite 18 yet. You were born in ’96, which is the same as Jane, Vanvan, and D, but not me. I’m older than you by a few years, so they always picked on me for saying things about you.”

“Things? What kind of things?” Yongguk asked, “Wait, how old ARE you?”

“Things like how good looking Zelo is and similar things,” I explained biting my lip, highly embarrassed about this conversation now and switched the subject by answering Yongguk’s other question, “I’m 21. I was born in ’92.”

 “Noona,” Zelo, Jongup, Youngjae, and Daehyun called out together.

“And that makes Yongguk and me your Oppas,” Himchan said smiling.

I nodded, smiling happily that I avoided the first question so well.

“So why aren’t you eating?” Himchan asked.

“Well…I wasn’t hungry when I got here, so I just grabbed a coffee. I’d been studying for some time,” I replied, nursing said coffee cup in my hand even though it was empty.

“Go get food,” he demanded.

“But, Sunbaenim…”

“Nope, as your Oppa and favorite, I demand you go get food now,” Himchan said sternly interrupting my refusal.

“I’ll go with you,” Yongguk offered as he slid out, causing Daehyun to hastily get up. 

I looked at Himchan, but saw no hint of give in his expression. I sighed and got up, following Yongguk to the counter.

“So what’s it like being a Baby? I’ve never actually been able to talk to one for long,” Yongguk wanted to know as we waited for my food.

“It’s pretty cool. Nothing like EXO’s fanbase,” I laughed taking my food from the lady with a bow, “Sometimes those psychotics make me want to choke them. Don’t get me wrong, I love EXO just as much as I love BAP, but EXO has some of the worst saesang fans ever. Besides their saesang’s the rest of their fanbase is just as awesome as the Baby’s.”

He nodded as we made our way back to the table, “How long have you been a Baby?”

“Well, since debut. Though I was a fan of yours before BAP’s debut, but I don’t think that counts,” I shrugged as we sat down.

“So what’s the best part about being a Baby?” he asked.

“Besides you guys? Hmm…the ships!” I said grinning.

“What’s that?” Jongup asked.

“In our situation it’s when a fan pairs two…or more…of our members together,” Yongguk explained.

I stared at him, my spoon seconds from my gaping mouth. I blinked a few times as Himchan and Daehyun laughed. Zelo and Jongup looked slightly appalled. Youngjae had no reaction. Bang Yongguk did not just admit he knew what a ship was, did he?

I returned my spoon to my bowl, composing myself before asking, “You actually know what ships are?”

He nodded his confirmation.

“What do YOU do in your spare time? Read fan fiction?” I questioned, a grin on my face at the image of him reading some of the fics I had read.

“No, but I did look up the term after hearing it from some fans a couple of times,” he said.

“Oh…” was all I had.

“So what are some of the popular ships?” Himchan asked.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Youngjae beat me to it.

“DaeJae is the one of the more popular ones,” he said as he took a bite of his rice.

“Do YOU read fan fiction then?” I wanted to know.

He nodded. The rest of the guys looked at him.

He shrugged, “What? I enjoy reading and some of them are hilariously ridiculous.”

“The majority are in English,” I replied.

“So…I have a top quality translating program on my laptop. And I can read some English, thank you,” he exclaimed.

“O~kay then. Well, what are some others?” Himchan pressed forward.

“BangLo,” Youngjae commented again.

I huffed, “I hate that ship!”

“Wae?” Zelo asked.

“Nothing to do with you or Yongguk personally. I just don’t like it. I prefer BangHim and JongLo…much more age appropriate. Though…it is totally your fault that ship is shipped so hard,” I explained.

“How is it Zelo’s fault?” Yongguk asked.

I sighed, “There was that one episode of Ta-Dah where you mentioned something about going back to the dorm to sleep and Zelo made the comment, and I quote, “I want to sleep with Hyung”. Yeah, that phrase has bad connotations.”

“So DaeJae is a consistent ship?” Daehyun asked quizzically.

I nodded chewing on the cookie I had, “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love the DaeJae couple.”

Suddenly my Ipod lit up. I picked it up and noticed the video call icon. I typed in my password, put my headphones in, and answered the call.

“Mianhabnida Sunbaenims,” I apologized.

“It’s fine,” Himchan said and continued eating.

Yongguk wasn’t paying too much attention. Neither were the others. I shrugged as the video finally loaded.

“Unnie, how’s it going?”

“Jane! It’s going good. How have you been?” I asked my friend, though she was more like my little sister.

“The same as last night when I called you. Made any friends today?” Jane asked.

I shook my head, but before I could respond Yongguk popped his head in front of mine.

“Who is that?” he asked.

I pushed his head out of the way as Jane screeched, “Was that YONGGUK?”

I took my headphones out as she began fangirling rather too loud for my ears to handle. I watched and when I thought she was done I responded to her.

“Are you finished? Nod once for yes, multiple times like a chicken for no,” she nodded once, “Yes, that was Yongguk. I’m actually having lunch, which should be over soon, with them.”

"Can I say Hi to them?" she asked as soon as I put my headphones back in.

I took my headphones out of the jack and turned it to face each of the members in turn so she could say hi. When I turned it back to face me she had a pout on her face. I sighed, knowing she wanted something.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Can I talk to YoungJae Oppa?" she begged.

I rolled my eyes, "Let me ask him first. YoungJae, would you like to talk to Jane?"

He shrugged his shoulders and nodded. I handed him the Ipod. Jane began speaking and YoungJae looked at me questioningly.

"Hold up Jane...I have to translate. Now repeat what you said."

She repeated it and I translated it for Youngjae.

He replied and I translated it to Jane.

"Do you want..." I began translating her next question then stopped, "I am not asking him if he want's to date you, Pabo!"

"Ah...come on!" she begged.

"NO WAY!" I stated firmly.

"Ehh...can't blame me for trying. Bye Unnie, Bye Guys," she said as she hung up.

I rolled my eyes, "Sorry about that guys."

"Don't worry about it," Yongguk said, "We have to go, later Makaela."

I waved to them as they left, leaving a few minutes later myself.

*A few days later*

I just got to the company when my manager called me.

"Yah, I need to see you. Can you come to my office?" she asked.

"Neh. Of course Manager-nim, I'll be there in a minute," I said as I headed to the elevator.

I walked in, quietly closing the door behind me, and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

She smiled at me and I smiled back, "I have great news for you! You're going to be in a music video as the female lead."

I stared at her, "What! Whose?"

I was excited. This was my first music video. This could be my big break. My moment...depending on whose music video it was.

She smile became larger, if possible, "Take a guess!"

"Aww...that's no fair Unnie!" I whined.

She clapped, "Aigoo, you're so cute," she flapped her hands, "Alright, I'll tell you. It's BAP's new song."

I shook my head in disbelief, "Really? BAP?"

She nodded, "Yeah, they've known for a few days that you were a big candidate. It was just made official an hour ago that you were definitely going to be their female lead."

"That's awesome. Omo, this could be the start of my career!" I said excitedly.

My manager steepled her fingers and looked at me, "There's one thing though. You'll have a kissing scene with one of the boys, we're unsure of who that will be at the moment, but we hope that you can handle it."

I nodded curtly, "Of course! I will be the utmost professional. No need to worry Unnie, its only work after all."

                        *Few hours later*

I was in one of the practice rooms, studying Korean a little more after my acting lessons. I’d been studying for a few hours now and decided I needed a break. There didn’t seem to be many people at the company at this time of night so I grabbed my Ipod and searched through the songs. I chose one and sat it in the Ihome on one of the desk.

As Stop It began to play I started to sing along. I was dancing some of the choreography, but a lot of it was just stuff I was making up on the spot. It was all cutesy and clumsy. I wasn’t a dancer after all and I knew the dance had to look downright silly, so I was thankful that no one was there to see it.

I realized after the song ended that I was pretty out of shape. I was exhausted from running and jumping around like an idiot so I fell to the floor on my stomach. I laid my chin in my palms and kicked my feet up, kind of slumber party style, and laughed at my own silliness. ‘It would have been embarrassing if anyone saw that’ I thought to myself.

No sooner than the thought had crossed my mind I heard clapping. I quickly jumped up and blushed, turning to see Yongguk standing in the door. I was now doubly embarrassed. Yongguk and I had become close over the past few days, even chatting via text, so for him to see my horrible dancing. Especially to one of his group’s songs…that was the worst thing I could have imagined.

“That was cute,” he told me walking into the room.

“No, that was embarrassing,” I replied as my cheeks got redder.

He smiled and walked closer to me. I bent my head, hoping that my hair would obscure my face. I wasn’t sure he had seen my blushing, so I was trying to hide it. I couldn’t figure out why, but I always ended up blushing around any of the members. Every one of them would comment on how cute it was, but I wished I could stop it.

I felt his hand on my chin as he lifted my face so he could see it, “You’re so cute when you blush.”

I was frozen as he leaned in to touch his lips to mine. It was a quick, soft brush of his lips.

I gasped, “Yongguk Oppa! What are you doing?”

He laughed, “Well, you are going to have a kiss scene in our mv.”

"But the male lead hasn't been chosen yet," I replied as I stepped back and crossed my arms, glaring at him.

He shrugged and said, "Well, we all know it's going to be me."