The next day, you decide to rethink about the time you went through an entire EXO phase. It had been quite a number of months since then. You had known all their inside jokes, all the ships other fans had, and, coincidentially, your one and only EXO bias/favorite had been Tao. And you had spent a whole month just wishing you could meet him. 

So what kind of fate was this?

You remember that back then, you did not like or love anyone and you had nothing to talk about with your friends that was social like that so you had tried to find a band. Kpop had been popular and you discovered EXO, but you fell in love with the Cpop side of EXO instead. You had found friends and fellow fans online and you spent your days dreaming of the EXO comeback. And you realize that you have received something much, much better than a comeback.

You have received the friendship of the one famous person you adored.

Of course, this fateful meeting had revived your former love for EXO, but you try your hardest not to get the feelings you had for Tao back then too. You decide that you will have to try your hardest not to creep him out. It would be harder now that you've met him and now know that he seems so ideal. You kept expecting to wake up and find that it was all a dream; the airport and yesterday. You try blinking several times, but the more you did, the more you find that it is far from a dream. It is very much real.

It's early morning now. You can't sleep due to the differences of time zones from where you live to where you are now. You decide to get up and officially start the day. You shower, brush your teeth, wash up, change, and get yourself some fruit to eat. You see that your grandparents are also awake and you greet them in Chinese.  Then you find your laptop that you had readily packed in your suitcase and turn it on. The firewall on Youtube here made it difficult for you to find what you wanted to find, but eventually you discover the SM website that had the entire EXO playlist (which wasn't that many). The Chinese versions and the Korean versions of "MAMA", "Machine" (which was a favorite of yours from your EXO phase), "Two Moons", "History", "What is Love" and "Angel". Back then, like now, your Chinese wasn't fabulous but you didn't have any videos with subtitles. So you did what you could and listened through the whole playlist.

A good twenty-two minutes later, plus three music videos, you finally shut off your laptop. You feel as if you have spent too much time in the apartment this morning and you long to go outside. After your day with Tao, you know the area a little better but you still felt a little lonely as you walk through the busy streets being the only person to be walking alone. Everyone else seemed to have a friend, a companion, with them and you yourself had no friends that reside in China. Yesterday, you and Tao had agreed that he would be busy with all the preparations coming up. He said that if he had time, he would call so that he could show you more of this city. After all, one could not explore all of Beijing in one day. 

You arrive at a small cafe and get yourself some coffee. You seem to rely on the caffeine a lot these days. You remind yourself to drink less, telling yourself that it wasn't good for you.  You're about to leave the cafe when suddenly your phone vibrates. It's a text.

"1 New Message from TAO".

The message is in English. It says "I have time now. Meet at restaurant?" You know that he means the restaurant from yesterday, the first one you two went to. And you smile. Your day was about to get a lot...brighter. 

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You make your way to the restaurant and see that he's already there. You had gone back to the apartment to find more comfortable clothes than the ones you had on earlier, thinking that Tao would still need time to make it to the meeting place. But now, you see that you were wrong. He must have waited the whole time. 

"Sorry to make you wait." You bow a little. You really are embarrassed to find that you had kept your new friend waiting and then you remember this morning and how you had paused every time Tao's part in a song came up or he showed up in a music video. You felt your cheeks blush a little and you try to control yourself. "How did you find time out of your busy schedule?" You're curious.

"I..uh..Well, I'm actually just on a break." He gives a shy smile. He looks at you with his eyes which look black in the light. His several ear piercings are golden and they shine in the sun. He's just full of shy expressions which doesn't shock you at this point. Other than listening to their album and watching their music videos, you had also explored several little blogs EXO fans had made. Tao was the "maknae of EXO and full of aegyo!!!! <3" (as one fan had written) and you looked up the words. "Maknae" meant the youngest in a group and "aegyo" was someone showing an extreme cute side of them. You had to agree with these fans, Tao seemed to have a completely different presence than the one he had on stage. 

He asks you what kind of place you want to go to today. You think it through and say that you want to go to a park or an amusement park and you tell him that today, you wil pay for whatever needs it. He looks at you and hurriedly says "No! I'll pay for my part. Really." You giggle a little. Or rather, chuckle. He was trying to show a gentlemanly side. 

You two go off and head to an amusement park. You went on as many rides as you possibly could and managed to avoid lines thanks to the kind fans who easily recognized who your companion was. But whenever you two stop to take a break, dozens of fans would crowd around Tao, asking for autographs and photos. Whenever this happened, he looks at you with an apology in his eyes. You smile at him to tell him it's okay. But you feel a strange emotion when it happens.

Huh. You think to yourself. I wonder what that is. You put your hand over your heart and try to think about what it might be but you don't know. Weird.

By the end of the trip, it, once again, is the end of the day. The sun is setting and you and Tao are walking back to your grandparents' apartment. But before he can leave, your grandmother invites him to stay for dinner. He looks at you sheepishly and you shrug. He gladly accepts.

Dinner that day was full of laughs and smiles. He sits next to you the whole time and when something funny happens, you and him look at each other and laugh or grin. You feel insanely relieved and happy to have a friend with you here, unlike other years. It is late when he says that he must leave. A car picks him up and you wave goodbye until the car is out of sight.

You prepare to go to bed, unsure of when the next time you will be able to go out again like that. Then you slowly repeat that phrase in your head. Go out like that. You know you didn't mean dating, you meant hanging out. You're a bit surprised at yourself for feeling like that. 

Your heart feels a little strange. You feel insanely satisfied and happy and you're excited for some reason. You try to find out why, but you decide to leave the mystery for another night. You lie down and fall asleep happily.

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In the middle of the night, an hour after you have fallen asleep, your phone buzzes on the nightstand next to you. "1 New Message from TAO". The phone flashes the message:

Goodnight:)

And then your phone runs out of batteries. Meanwhile, the whole time, you dream of coal black eyes and golden ear piercings, a shy smile and an amusement park date...