The next day. And the next. And the next. Tao was too busy to hang out with you. But luckily, you had been busy at the time too and wasn't sulking in your bedroom on your computer.  On the first day, you had woken up to a call from Tao saying that he was busy and would try to hang out with you soon. You had easily forgiven him because you knew he was working hard. You had told him to take care of himself and that you were also busy. The call had ended soon after and even though you forgave him, you still felt a little sad that you'd have to wait another day to see him.  You had fallen asleep again right afterwards and then woken up later to visit your cousin. You had spent the day with her. 

The second day, he was too busy once more. But this time, you were prepared. You said it was okay because all the fans were waiting for their comeback.  Today, your grandparents had asked for your help to aid them in their mission to clean the house up a little before more family arrived. Aunts, uncles, cousins, even nephews and nieces, were coming over for dinner. It was a loud and busy day.

The third day, you actually had nothing to do. But for the past two days, you had woken up early to meet your family, etc., so you end up taking a nap early afternoon. Then had gotten a call from another cousin who was only a year or two older than you and she wanted to go shopping with you. You had went with her and bought souvenirs for friends back at home. You couldn't forget about them, of course.

But the next day, you get a call from not Tao, but from Chen instead. You pick up and a chorus of voices say hello to you. They're all calling me? You think to yourself. They invite you to hang out with them and then you hear Tao's voice only slightly louder than the rest. You imagine how this must look. Luhan, Chen, Xiumin, and Lay must be the ones calling. Kris must be in the back with his head in his hands, laughing at them. And Tao must be slightly embarrassed at having gotten you in this mess. Tao tells you that his phone ran out of batteries and that the group wants to go shopping and they want you to come with them.

"Sure!" You say over the noise.

One of them says that they'll pick you up really soon, and then they shout "SEE YOU SOON!" and they hang up. It's so cute that you start laughing and then you quickly wash and get changed. True to their word, they're here in just half an hour's time. They welcome you happily and you get in the car and sit next to Tao (who just happens to have an empty seat next to him). They start driving to a busy shopping district and immediately, chatter fills the air. 

One of the members make a joke about you hanging out with Tao more than the rest of them. And then suddenly, Xiumin looks at you and says, "Wait, aren't you two dating?" You fall silent, your expression freezes, and you look at Tao. Fortunately, he's busy arguing with Kris about something so he didn't hear what Xiumin just said.

"What?" You say. "No!" You laugh it off. It sounds a little nervous, even to you, but Xiumin doesn't catch it. He laughs too and starts to tell a story.

 The car stops and you all get out. It's early afternoon and you're happy to finally go outside even for just a small shopping trip.  At least it's with friends. Shopping trips in China were usually with your mom, grandparents or cousins. But now that you have friends here too, the vibe is a little different. A little more hyper, a little cheerier. A little more like you can fit in. 

Luhan and Xiumin want to go to a small electronics store to get phone keychains, etc.  After five minutes, (having not even walked into the store yet), you realize how crowded their life must seem. Fans were all around them, taking pictures. It's not as if they were touching them or actually approaching them, but they were there, all the time, surrounding them. 

You all walk into the small store and start walking around looking at different phone accessories. You're doing more looking than buying and you see a small keychain that you like. You wonder why they wanted to come here. Before you can even take another step towards the cashier to get the small keychain you like, Luhan tells you that he's done and starts to pull you with him to the exit. They're acting like kids today.  You smile.

They go to a lot more stores, but never spend too long in them. They look around, maybe find something they like, but your theory is that, even if they love them, they don't want to get swarmed by fans. You've heard a few stories about accidents that had happened because of fans. You yourself is a fan, but you try not to ask for anything from them. 

You're talking with Tao while walking down the street at one point. The sun's just going down and it's getting dark. The group is walking onto a particularly busy street and a group of fans come up asking for pictures and autographs. Cameras are snapping; the flashes are too bright. You put up your hands to block your eyes, and someone takes your arm to pull you away from the ruckus. You're not the one getting her picture taken but you've slowly been getting pushed away by the crowd.  

Actually, you had no hard feelings against other fans. There were the ones that always said things like "oppa's MINE!" and etc., but you're a fan too so you know what it means to love someone so much and want to meet them, but never be able to. So as you're trying to get out of the mess of people on the street (mostly teenage girls), you're also trying to get away from the phones they're raising up to capture pictures. The person who had grabbed your arm from before turns out to be Kris, taking the lead as usual.  He must take really good care of the other members. You see that in his other hand, he also has Chen's arm, but they're walking side-by-side as opposed to Kris dragging Chen. Then he pulls you quickly so that you're even with them and Chen starts to joke around and talk with you. You look back and see that the other members are going the other way.

"What about the other members?" You ask Kris. He looks at you and shrugs and tells you that you separate sometimes to go to separate places. You ask him where he's headed then, and he says he's thirsty and asks if it's okay that he pulled you along. You nod and say "of course!" but you wonder when you'll end up seeing Tao again. Kris and Chen go to a small place, somewhat of a cafe, and orders iced tea. Chen gets something too and you order bubble tea. You start to pull out money, but Chen stops you. You look up and he gives you a smile, then says "It's okay. We're going to pay."

It's a very reassuring smile and you smile too. 

What Kris had said earlier ends up being what actually happens. After a few more shops, you end up finding Lay and Luhan at a small store that sells hats, etc. And then Kris calls Tao and the whole groups is together again. It's funny that at this moment, standing with the group at the corner of a street when the night is upon you, you're looking up and seeing that you're the shortest one there. Kris is crazy tall, and Tao's only a little shorter than him. It makes you remember what mystical force gave you the luck to meet these people.

The sky is dark and no stars are shining. The city is still alive with lights; it's a beautiful sight. Even at the late hour and lack of light, people are still on the streets, walking around with shopping bags. Luhan, Lay and Tao are holding the "shopping bags" which are really just small bags full of whatever they ended up buying. It seemed as if they just bought little things.

You all get back in the car and Kris ends up driving again. When you arrive at the apartment, you say bye to everyone happily and open the door, but just before you can hop out, Luhan says "Wait wait wait, I almost forgot!" You look back, confused. He looks around for a second, sees Tao holding one of the small bags and signals to give it to him. He does a little "Oh!" and gives it to him, then Luhan hands the bag to you. "We bought it for you!" You're standing outside the car door as you take the paper bag from him. You don't even look inside it. Your eyes widen a little, and you have a big smile.

"You didn't have to! Thank you!" You do a little bow. Is it okay that you're this happy? You want to give them all a hug, but you rethink it for a second and decides to instead, draw a little heart in the air with your fingers, then "send" it to them. You laugh, and they laugh too, and you wave and say goodbye. You run up the stairs to your grandparent's apartment with a skip in your step. You take out your keys, open the door, greet your grandparents, and tell them that you're tired and need to sleep. A few "good nights" and kisses on the cheek and you're free. You decide to wash first.

Forty-five minutes later, you're sitting on your bed with your wet hair in a ponytail and the paper bag on your lap. The door's closed, a small lamp light is on, and you open it up.

The first thing you pull out is a phone keychain. It's a light blue and has two charms hanging from the string. The first is a little cartoon character with a big smile and its fingers in a peace sign. The second charm was a single word. "FRIENDS" is what it said. The accessory made you really happy. 

The second thing is a silver bracelet, probably not real, with cute little charms on it too. You immediately put it on. They really knew how to pick gifts. All of them were so nice. You walked up to get your phone and put the accessory on. It takes a minute or two since you don't usually use phone keychains. 

You pick up the paper bag to throw it away (you actually contemplated keeping the bag; you were a er for gifts from friends and couldn't spare to throw away things special to you) but you realize there's something else inside.  You reach your hand inside and pull it out.

It's a little ring with a silver band. The band had Celtic knots and was really beautiful. But it was the jewel that was on it that was special. You were hoping this wasn't real. You really didn't want any of them to spend too much on you. The jewel was panda shaped, but it was blue and white. It was absolutely adorable. You slip it on your middle finger. It fits snugly too. And you can tell it's from Tao as you think back to when you bought all the panda-themed school supplies from that day he taught you Chinese. 

You look at the clock. Midnight. Goodnight world, you think. It's a beautiful life.

You sleep with a smile on your face, a ring on your finger, a bracelet on your wrist, and a keychain on your phone. And you look forward to more tomorrows.