It's the day.

The day of arrival.

They day I've been waiting for since I heard about the boys in China.

The day when 6 will become 12 again.

Today I will focus on being happy and not get distracted by thoughts of Kai and how messed up everything is.

I'm awake by 8am due to sheer anticipation and excitement. I spend a couple of hours tidying up my apartment just in case and researching possible activities that we could all do for the next few weeks. Paint balling? Sound painful but fun. A weekend trip to Jeju? Possibly.

I'm most excited about seeing the looks on everyone's faces when they see each other for the first time in a long while. I'm 99% sure that none of the boys in Korea know about my plan and surprise and I'm actually impressed with myself that I have managed to blow this plan and secret to shreds.

I spend quite a while deciding what to wear and doing my hair. I settle on leather leggings and a long white Micky mouse top and put my hair in a high pony tail. It falls down my back like a long black rope. I spend a painful twenty minutes attempting to do winged eyeliner before giving up and settling for mascara.

Before I know it it's 4pm and Sujin's name appears on my phone.

"We're downstairs." She says.

I give Saja an excited hug and bury my face in his fur.

"Wish me luck!" I mumble. His black eyes blink blankly at me before he stumbles over to his feeding bowl.

As I'm locking the door to my apartment, there's the sound of footsteps in the hallway and Kai appears.

My heart sinks and there's a familiar fluttering in my stomach. He's dressed in jogging bottoms and a white vest top. His hair is plastered to his face with sweat and the veins on his arms stand out stark against his skin like green snakes.

I turn to walk past, assuming he doesn't want to talk.

"Where are you going?" He asks. He says it quickly as if it was a split second decision to say the words.

"Oh, just out. With Sujin."

I turn and look at him. He's staring back at me, dark eyes unreadable but intense as always. Finally he bites his lip and nods.

"Come home safely."

"I will."

He nods again before turning to unlock the door of his apartment.

"Kai," I call, just before the door shuts. It slowly opens again and his face appears, curious and almost hopeful. My legs twitch, almost as if my body expects to me to walk over there and hug him. But I don't of course. "Thanks for the cupcake."

His eyes lower in what seems like disappointment and he nods.

"S'okay." He was quietly before shutting his door.

I lean against the wall, still staring at the place where his head just was. My hearts beating hard, as if it's trying to punch me for being so stupid. I want nothing more then to knock on his door and fall immediately in to his arms and pretend that the argument was nothing and I am fine now. But I can't. There's only so long I can fool myself in to thinking everything will be okay. This break is what we need.

With a deep sigh, I push myself off the wall and leave the apartment block.

I step out into the December air. It's quite mild and I can see the sun struggling to shine from behind the clouds.

"Ara!" Sujin calls from the other side of the road. She's stood next to a girl who looks a few years older than us with long blonde hair and a bright smile. She gives a cheery wave as I cross the road.

"Hey Sujin," I say, "And you must be Hyoyeon."

"Yup that's me; it's nice to meet you!" Hyoyeon says. She has a lovely open and genuine smile.

"It's nice to meet you too! I can't even tell you how grateful I am that you're doing this for us."

Hyoyeon opens to speak but Sujin swerves in.

"Let's see if you're still grateful after we arrive there. If we arrive there."

I frown, puzzled and Hyoyeon rolls her eyes.

"Sujin thinks my driving is dangerous."

"Sujin you can't even drive," I laugh.

"And!" Sujin protests, "You don't need to be able to drive to observe the speeding limits and laws of the road. Which you don’t follow!”

“If you thought she was that bad you wouldn’t have suggested her as a mode of transport,” I ruffle her hair which I know she hates.

“Exactly!” Hyoyeon sticks out her tongue, “So no more complaints. I’m glad to be involved in this anyway. I love surprises and it’s great what you’re doing for your friends. Sujin told me all about it.”

“Ah thanks, hopefully it will all go to plan!” I say nervously.

“It has so far” Sujin shrugs, “So there’s no reason why it shouldn’t now.”

“We’d better get going,” Hyoyeon looks at her watch, “Their plane lands at about 5 which gives us roughly fifty minutes to get there.”

“On second thoughts, it’s probably best that you don’t stick to the speed limit this time,” Sujin says, getting into the van, “I have a feeling we’re cutting it fine.”

“Do you think we’ll be late?” I say, getting into the back seat.

“Not if I can help it,” Hyoyeon says firmly, tying her hair up and starting the engine. The van bursts into life and seconds later we’re streaming down the road.

“Woah,” I squeal as I’m thrown backwards into my seat.

“See what I mean,” Sujin shouts over the roar of the engine. Shakily my hands locate the seatbelt and I strap it firmly across my chest, sending out a couple of prayers that we actually make it there in one piece.

Shops, people, life becomes a blur outside the window as we whiz down the road, Hyoyeon swerving around cars and traffic like an expert racing driver.

“You guys haven’t met these Chinese guys before have you,” Hyoyeon says as we hit the expressway.

“Nope but I’ve seen pictures,” Sujin says. “Old ones though.”

“Me too, so we vaguely know what to expect.” I say.

“Basically 6 tall Chinese looking guys.”

“Well two of them are Korean,” I point out.

“But they still kind of could pass for Chinese,”

“Talk about confusing,” Hyoyeon laughs.

“Do you think it’s going to be awkward,” Sujin muses.

“Hopefully not,” I say, but there’s a nervous fist in my stomach, “Everyone always sounds so friendly and fun on the phone.”

“I’m sure they’ll be great,” Hyoyeon says, “They must be similar to your friends here in Korea since they were all such close friends so I’m sure you’ll all get along.”

“I hope so,” I sigh. “I’m looking forward to everyone’s reactions the most,”

“I bet Suho will cry,” Sujin laughs “And I know Sehun’s going to sob like a baby when he sees Luhan.”

“I bet they’ll all cry,” I smile, “Especially Chanyeol, he’s a big ball of emotion.”

It’s ten past five when we finally pull up to the airport and there’s a long queue to get in to the car park. After waiting for fifteen minutes and only moving a centimeter, Hyoyeon tells us we should go ahead.

“I’ll wait in the car park for you guys,” She says, “There’s no use us all staying waiting in this never ending line. You guys should be on time to meet them.”

So me and Sujin get out of the van and carefully weave our way through the line of traffic and into the airport.

It’s busy inside on account of it being the day before Christmas Eve. Families bustle around, Mother’s dragging their slow kids by the arm and Father’s and sons struggling with suitcases. We reach the space in the airport were all the departure screens hang from the ceiling.

“Know what terminal it is?” Sujin attempts. I shake my head and her sigh joins mine.

My eyes scan down the long list of departures until the yellow writing is a blur and my eyes swirl.

"Any sign?" Sujin says.

"Nope it doesn't seem to be here..." I frown.

"Let's go and ask," Sujin suggests.

We approach the customer help desk.

"Hey I was wondering if you could tell me where the departure gate is for the two o clock flight from Beijing China."

"Which airline please?" The receptionist says, tapping at her computer.

"Air China."

"Ah yes, the flight was delayed by half an hour so the passengers are just departing the plane now."

"Perfect," Sujin says, relieved, "Which gate is it?"

"Arrival gate 14, right at the other end of the airport, would you like a map?"

"Right at the other end of the airport." I repeat slowly.

"Is it that far that it requires a map?" Sujin gasps.

"If you walk fast you should be able to make it before the passengers come out of the gate." The receptionist smiles.

"Thank you," I say and without another word I grab Sujin by the arm and hurry off.

"Did you even check the map," Sujin says, struggling to hold the map up in front of her face.

" Yeah it's straight, and anyway we can follow the sighs." I pant. We swerve around people dawdling in the airport. "We have to be there to meet them on time, we can't just leave them standing there waiting for us."

I pick up the pace to a jog.

"Oo a spa, Oo a casino OH WOW AN ICE RINK. Ara look!"

And to my amazement Sujin begins to slow down and wander off in the direction of the ice rink.

"Sujin will you focus," I hiss, grabbing her arm so hard she squeals. "Have you forgotten why we're here?"

"I like ice skating," She pouts sheepishly.

"You know what," A stitch has begun to slice across my side, "I'm not going to waste this precious energy by talking to you."

We clatter to a stop at the lift. There's a crowd of people bunched around with numerous suitcases and bags and pushchairs.

"We're not getting on this lift," I sigh "or probably the next one."

"I hope you're not..." There’s a look of growing horror on Sujin’s face.

"Come on let's take the stairs." I say firmly.

"Nooooo I wasn't built for running up the stairs," Sujin cries, but with no mercy I pull her over to the escalators. They stretch up high, each step mocking us.

"You might as well leave me down here, this is where I will end up after the first few steps."

"You should have majored in drama," I begin our tiring ascent on the stairs, "Never have I met someone so naturally dramatic before."

"You should be in the army," She pants, "As like the unrelenting fitness trainer."

Finally we make it to the top of the stairs.

"There it is," Sujin gasps.

For a moment we stand there staring at the beautiful sign reading "Arrival Gate 14." Like it's a free Korean BBQ

"I don't think they've come out yet," I say noticing the people standing around the barriers of the gate with various signs held up.

"We should have made a sign," Sujin says disappointedly. " I can just imagine it, it would have had EXO in big letters and then 6+6=12,"

"Technically it would be 6+2 since it's only us coming to meet them and not Suho and the rest of them-"

"Must you ruin the idea?" Sujin slaps me across the head, "Seriously and truly does it give you joy in life to kill an idea."

"Only your ideas," I say sweetly, putting my arm around her shoulder.

"Why are we best friends," She snarls, shrugging my arm off, "Life without you would reduce my blood pressure by miles."

Before I can reply there's a commotion at the gate. We both turn our heads to see the first passengers off the plane arriving through the gate. It's almost like watching a fashion show as people walk down the long passage of the gate with their suitcases.

"I'm nervous," Sujin says suddenly, grabbing my arm.

"I'm nervous too," I whisper.

Sujin turns me away from the gate to face her, holding me by the shoulders.

"We can do this," She says firmly, a frown of determination on her face.

"We will not be intimidated by six potentially very good looking guys," I say, matching her frown of determination.

"We will be confident and welcoming and carefree," Sujin says.

"We will try hard to hide our awkward sides from view."

We hold up our fists and shout

"Hwaiting!"

Feeling much more confident and determined I turn back to the gate.

"Oh. My. God." Sujin breathes, pushing her hair out of her face. My own eyes widen and my breath seems to stop.

Because there they are. Walking out of the gate like six models.

Kris at the front, dressed in tight black jeans and a white shirt with the first few buttons undone. His blonde fringe falls into his eyes and he reaches a hand to casually push it out of the way. Next to him is Tao, his blonde hair hidden under a beanie hat, dark eyes intensely surveying everything around him. He’s dressed in black jeans and a leather jacket with a silver chain around his neck. Behind him is Jongdae, his brown hair messy as if he’s just woken up. In fact his eyes look tired and he bites his lip, sleepily rubbing a hand over his eye before turning his head over to his companion. I can see the sharpness of his jaw line all the way from over here. His companion is Minseok and there’s a lovely smile on his face as he looks around the airport, obviously happy to be back in his home town. He’s wearing a pristine white jumper the matches the whiteness of his teeth as he chuckles and shies away from someone trying to poke his cheek. The poker in question is Lu Han, adorable Lu Han with his milky skin and wide brown eyes. He’s wearing a stripy jumper and on a milkshake. His chestnut brown hair is tied up in a cute pony tail and his cheeks hollow as he happily on his milkshake. And then next to him is Yixing, headphones placed tightly on his ears. He’s dressed in jeans and a vest with a blue cardigan thrown over top. His brown hair is swept over to the side and he’s wearing black glasses that really suit his face. He smiles softly to himself and a dimple appears in his cheek. All of sudden he looks over to where me and Sujin are standing and I see his mouth make a ‘o’ of surprise. Taking off his headphones, he taps Jongdae’s shoulder and points over to us. Jongdae’s face breaks out into a lovely wide smile and I can see his mouth saying ‘Ara, look that’s Ara!” And then they’re all walking over towards us, pointing and laughing and smiling, and Sujin grabs my arm in excitement, and my nerves and anxiety leave my body and I am just filled with pure and simple happiness because they are here. The six boys from China have arrived.

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A/N: Hey guys! This is a long update for a change! I hope you all enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes! See you at the next chapter!!