C H A P T E R 2
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

“Where exactly am I?”

Mei Hua had her eyebrow raised as her finger traced the rim of the cup in front of her. One of the guys—Kyungshoe? Kyung, something— had made delicious green tea for all of them. They all gathered around the living room, you could say, and sat on the floor and ground. Steaming tea and the smell of warmth wafted the air, filling the room with a feel of a comforting home.

“Well, I suppose you’re not at home anymore, are you?” Sehun spoke, an idiotic smile on his face. A well earn thwack on the head was received to Sehun from Jongin. The latter rolled his eyes, scoffing.

“Aren’t you a smart one,” Jongin muttered. Sehun smacked the older on the arm. He crossed his arms and huffed, puffing his cheeks out cutely.

Tapping furiously at his laptop, Baekhyun spoke, “You said you spoke words from the music box, correct?” He glanced up momentarily, just enough to catch her nod before looking back at his laptop. “Then somehow, those words teleported you here, to our world. That music box is a teleportation device!”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “So you’re saying that this music box,” she motioned, lifting up barely off her lap. It gave her some sort of comfort, an object that made her feel safe, almost. “Allowed me to teleport between your world and mine?”

“Absolutely,” he grinned, pushing his frames up slightly as it slipped down his nose. “Now, I’m not sure if it would work to bring you back to your dimension. The separation of your particles and atoms are just phenomenal! How could this ever happen? How did your atoms even rearrange themselves to become, well, you again? Better yet, how did your atoms manage to travel themselves all the way—“

“Oh shut up and stop being a nerd,” a voice near the door spoke, his voice laced with annoyance. Baekhyun pouted, crossing his arms as his glasses slipped down his nose yet again.

All heads, including Mei Hua’s, turned to face the door. A tall man was standing there. He was rather handsome, his hair cut short and styled up nicely with little effort. He was wearing a tan colored trench coat; a scarf tangled itself around his neck. He had a bag in one hand, warm coffee in another. He brought in the smell of summer rain in with him into their home.

“Oh, Chanyeol-ah.” Luhan spoke, a smile creeping onto his lips. “Where have you been, we’ve been looking for you.”

“Around,” he spoke, walking past them and into the kitchen. “Why? I mean, you guys know that I go around every now and then.”

“I’ve been wondering where you went,” Baekhyun spoke, standing up and walking over to where the latter stood. “Need help with that?”

A nod escaped from the taller, “Please. That would be lovely.”

Proceeding with his offer, Baekhyun spoke as he placed the contents of the bag away. “As I was saying— before this idiot giant interrupted me— is that, you did an extraordinary thing by coming here, Mei Hua.”

A scoff was heard, “Oh just shut up, Baek. You’re being a total nerd again.”

“It’s not my fault, Yoda.” Baekhyun murmured, a scowl on his lips. “You know science is a thing I love and cherish.”

“Anyways…” Luhan spoke, an apologetic smile on his lips. “Where did you even find that?” He asked, a finger pointing at the box before letting it drop.

“Where did you even come from?” Chanyeol asked, rejoining the group with a pouting Baekhyun trailing behind him. He let out a little groan from a kick the latter gave to him. He shot back a glare before mumbling, “Not to be mean or anything, just out of pure curiosity.”

Before she knew it, Mei Hua was bombarded with questions— many, in which, were about her personally. She let out a little chuckle, shaking her head as she watched the boys fight over some silly questions.

“Bang Mei Hua. Chinese and Korean. 18 years old. Blood type AB. Born and raised in Seoul, Korea. One brother. Graduating from high school this year. Back at home, we call our world ‘earth’. I found the music box in my attic when I was cleaning it. And no, I do not have a boyfriend, Kyungshoe.”

“It’s Kyungsoo.” He corrected with a grumble.

“Chinese and Korean?” Luhan asked, his eyes twinkling with hope. He was the only Chinese speaker out of his friends; he was somewhat lonely without another person to speak Chinese to.

She nodded, “Yup. Mei Hua’s my Chinese name. Min Hee’s my Korean name. You can call me whichever you prefer.”

“Does that mean you know Chinese?” He asked, scooting a bit closer with wide doe-like eyes. Sehun rolled his eyes. He wrapped his arms around the latter’s waist and pulled him back. “Yah, hyung.”

“I do,” Mei Hua chuckled softly.

“Asa!” Luhan cried out with a grin, “Speak Chinese with me!”

“Hyung.” Sehun spoke, an edge to his voice. Luhan grumbled and glared at the younger before pursing his lips into a thin line.

“We have more things to worry about, hyung.” Baekhyun spoke, laptop in hand as he leaned against the table. The boys were still bickering oblivious to Baekhyun’s voice. Mei Hua glanced up, meeting the male's warm eyes with her piercing ones. His eyes scrunched up into little crescents as he smiled. He moved closer to her, laptop on his lap as he spoke, watching the little scene unfolding in front of their eyes. 

"I'm sorry about them, you know." He spoke. Mei Hua found herself fond of the male's voice. There was something about it that made her want to just sit there and listen to him speak for hours. His eyes were glued to his laptop as typed away, possibly to find something about her appearance here. "They're not usually like this. Maybe it's because you're the first girl we've had at our place..."

"Wait what?" She blurted. There was no way she could have been the first girl they had here. Look at them! I mean, what?

Baekhyun blinked, repeating himself once more. "You're the first girl we've had at our place. It's probably why they're acting this way. They're usually a tad bit calmer than they are now. Sure they're hectic but were a big family so..."

"Calmer? Them?"

He nodded, "hard to believe, yes. They're usually occupied by other things or out and about with one another."

She shook her head, unable to process the group of immature and rowdy boys as calm. She pursed her lips, eyes rolling as Sehun tickled Luhan. A devilish grin was spread on the younger's lips. Kyungsoo was scolding Jongin about their game earlier. Cheating was brought up and Jongin made a face. 

"I wasn't cheating!" He growled, crossing his arms.

With that, another round of arguments erupted. And this time, even Baekhyun joined in. Mei Hua sat there, scowling as she watched the boys. She had her arms crossed, the scowl on her face grew with every passing minute.

"Yah!" She shouted, grimacing at the boys who were still arguing. "You guys never told me where exactly I got teleported to!" She growled to herself as she was ignored almost immediately. Arms crossed, she sat there with a huff. She contemplated whether or not if she should just kick all of their butts.

A yelp escaped her lips as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her upwards. The grasp soon loosened completely, leaving her skin buzzing from the warmth. A sudden tug on her wrist yanked her gently towards the direction the lanky figure was dragging her too. She glared at the hand around her wrist. 

"Ya—"

Her body collided into the figure in front of her and caused her to fall back onto her bum. She winced slightly in pain and opened , ready to snap at the person. She was interrupted by the tall man, who spun on his heels to face her and to speak.

"This would probably be your temporary home for now. Until we find a way to get you back to your home planet." He spoke, his deep voice reaching her ears with a pleasant sound. He gestured to the landscape filled with an abundance of trees and flowers behind him, a small smile stretched on his lips. 

"Welcome to EXO planet, Mei Hua."