Tao saw Elena tense up, then heard the girl’s voice saying his name.

“Ohmigawrsh! Isn’t that EXO’s Tao?”

He cursed in his mind, realising he had been recognised.

“Pretend you don’t know me.” He whispered quickly, hoping to at least keep Elena out of trouble. He really didn’t want their relationship ruined by fans at such an early stage.

He followed this by pulling his scarf up again but it was too late. Mutters ran through the bus and the two girls who had spotted him first had moved closer, one of them already with her cellphone up, probably taking a picture.

“Ohmigawrsh, ohmigawrsh, it totally is him!” One of the two girls squeaked, practically bouncing.

“Oppa, I love your music!” The other one exclaimed, inching even closer.

Tao forced a smile, bowing slightly and muttering: “Thank you for your support.” On the inside he cursed again and again, wishing he could grab Elena and run out at the next stop.

Another voice, this one from somewhere behind him, whispered; “Who’s that girl next to him? The foreign one. I think I saw him talking to her.”

“Why would Tao be talking to some foreign girl? Oh, you don’t think he’s dating her, do you?”

“What?! No way! She’s not even that pretty! Stupid foreigner probably doesn’t even know who Tao is.”

Tao wanted to punch them for insulting Elena but instead he kept the smile plastered on his face, doing his best not to look over at her. He felt horrible for trying to ignore her but by now the two standing girls were looking over at her curiously.

Elena herself was freaking out just as much, although for different reasons. Her thoughts were more along the lines of what could happen to his career if they found out about them. She knew how idols often lost a lot of popularity if they started dating and she really didn’t want to cause problems for Tao. So she did the best thing she could think of, she looked at the girls in a confused manner, as if she couldn’t understand a word they were saying, before reaching past Tao to press the stop button.

“Excuse me.” She said in english, standing up. Her stop was here and, although she didn’t want to leave Tao alone with potentially crazy fans, she figured the best thing she could do was to convince them she didn’t know him at all by playing the dumb foreigner. Tao stood up to let her past him and Elena caught a worried look in his eyes as she went past. She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way before moving to the exit, hearing someone say;

“Told you he wouldn’t be talking to some random foreign girl. It was just a coincidence.”

As Elena stepped off the bus she glanced back at Tao, now stuck sitting with one of the two girls who had spotted him first next to him. She was saying something while the other one still held her phone up, probably asking if she could take her picture with him or something.

Guilt filled Elena as she watched the bus drive away. She could only hope Tao would make it out okay.

***

When Tao got to the studio his manager was waiting for him by the changing room entrance.

“I assume you know, you can’t take the bus anymore after this.”

Tao grimaced. He had only been on the bus for around fifteen minutes after Elena left but more young girls had entered the bus and recognised him because of the first two still buzzing around him. He had smiled and nodded and had his picture taken before barely making it out at his stop. It didn’t surprise him that it was already on the internet.

“What did they say?” He asked miserably. He had so been looking forwards to taking the bus with Elena from now on. Actually talking to her instead of just admiring her from afar.

His manager handed him his phone, one of their main fan pages open on it. There were several pictures of him sitting on the bus, a couple where Elena was visible next to him. Already there were lots of comments, the main ones that caught his attention were ones that asked who the foreign girl was and ones that stated they’d now start taking the bus in hopes of seeing him or the other members.

Tao cursed, out loud this time. Normally he was always happy to see his fans, it made him feel appreciated in a way nothing else ever did. But at this very moment he wished he wasn’t famous at all. “I’m really sorry, manager-nim.”

His manager sighed. “It was bound to happen eventually. Hey, don’t look so glum now. At least they didn’t spot you before you talked to the girl, right?” Tao smiled faintly. “Although, I must say… you have to be extra careful about people finding out about the girl. Normal girls often buckle under pressure from dating famous idols, not to mention the relationship’s still new so you don’t even know if it will last. Now I’m not just thinking about your career here, EXO has a fair amount of sasaengs and obsessed fans, I wouldn’t want anything happening to your girl. Try to keep this relationship a secret for as long as you can, alright?”

The manager must have noticed the expression on Tao’s face because he quickly added; “Ah, I didn’t mean to worry you, Zitao. You can have a perfectly good relationship, you just need to be careful where you go on dates, okay?”

“Yeah…” Tao hadn’t even considered the sasaengs, he’d only been thinking Elena would feel uncomfortable with so many girls around him and that she might get comments like the ones on the bus. He felt terrible. Maybe it would be for the best if he didn’t see her again. It wasn’t fair to put her through all of this. But the thought made him sick to his stomach. He couldn’t stop seeing her, not now when they had finally been on a date. Tao had never felt so strongly attached to anyone, not this fast anyways. The intensity of his feelings still scared him a bit but not as much as it had at first. Now it was settling in as a small piece in his heart that refused to do anything that would make him lose Elena. He would just have to be more careful.

***

‘I’m really sorry I left you in there. Is everything okay?’

Elena hit the send button. As a first text it really . She had written it several different ways on her way to class and during it but in the end she decided on short and simple. Now she felt bad for not having sent it right away. Her first class was over, it had already been almost an hour since she left Tao on that bus. He was probably busy now with practice or something, staring at her phone like that was useless because he wouldn’t be able to reply for at least...

Elena’s phone growled at her, signalling a new text.

‘Everything is fine :)

It was better to leave, I don’t want the fans to bother you. Are you okay?’

She smiled at her phone and wondered if she was blushing. He had been worried about her? She quickly texted back.

‘I’m good, just glad they didn’t bother you too much ^^

My first class just ended. How’s your practice going?’

Elena forced herself to pack up her things quickly and head out of the classroom while she waited for his next reply, which came more quickly than she could have hoped.

‘We just had a short meeting at the studio, we’re heading to a different place now and we haven’t arrived yet.

How was your class?’

Ah, so that’s why he could reply so quickly. Elena texted back, telling him the class had been quite boring but it was okay because her next one would be fun. Even though she normally wouldn’t bother to tell people how her class had been she remembered his genuine interest back at the café and it made her reply honestly. She didn’t dare ask what he was going to be doing but she allowed herself to type: ‘I hope you have fun at your thing :)’

Then Elena was disturbed from staring at her phone by a hand on her shoulder.

“Morning, Elena-ssi!” It was Min-ji, smiling brightly at her. “What’s that, waiting for texts from your boyfriend?”

Elena blushed at the word boyfriend. “He’s not… well, at least I don’t think I can call him that yet.”

“But you want to.” Min-ji teased. “You two planning your second date already?”

Elena shook her head as her phone growled once more, causing Min-ji to laugh.

“Your ringtone is so fitting right now! I mean, I know it’s not him but to have your phone growl like EXO is just perfect for getting a text from a guy named Zitao!”

She laughed some more as Elena looked at the text. Tao told her it would probably be lots of fun and wished her luck in her next class, they had just arrived so he wouldn’t be able to text more just now. He actually apologised for that and Elena could just picture the adorable expression on his face.

‘Don’t worry about it, I have to go to class now too.

Good luck (*・ω・)ﾉ’

“Oh, putting cute emoticons in your texts, eh?” Min-ji observed over her shoulder.

“I always use emoticons.” Elena protested.

“Sure, sure. But how often do you bother to add that little star that makes it extra cute?”

“I… um…” Min-ji laughed at Elena’s embarrassment and the two walked towards their next class.