You could cut the tension with a knife. The massive amount of fans in the huge concert hall all held their breath. The moment Super Junior entered the stage, Fay seriously doubted she would ever hear again. The roars and screams of the crowd made even the ground tremble. And contagious as that atmosphere was, she soon found herself joining the cheer. In a more moderate volume. She desperately wanted to hear more of those amazing voices. And she was not talking about the shrieking fans. Fay looked to her left and right. Her new friends were there with her, losing their minds along with the crowd. They were screaming, jumping around and dancing their hearts out. They all laughed and cried and laughed again. The atmosphere had swept them up and refused to let go. By the time the concert was over, they were part of the crowd screaming for more even though they barely had any voice left.

After it was over, everyone was reluctant to go. But Zoe and Tina were dying of thirst and they decided to buy something to drink so they could slowly wind down from all the excitement. There seemed to be very little to no chance of that. They were still too hyped up. They were talking and laughing as they walked through the gates. Their ears still buzzing.

“I have no idea where to look for drinks,” said Mai.

“Split up?” asked Chiyoko. “Text when you find something.”

“Got it.”

Fay was dragged along with Chiyoko and Tina, but they were soon distracted by the roaring commotion among the ELF’s. A few bright colored messages were gliding over the huge screens by the gates in so many different languages they had wait a while to understand what it was about. Fay could not believe her eyes. She was even beginning to doubt her ability to understand English. They were selecting meet and greets from the bought tickets!

Everybody was frantic, looking at their ticket and some had already started crying in disappointment when their ticket wasn’t one of the numbers on the screen. In a daze Fay stared at her ticket. It matched. She folded the ticket away carefully and felt oddly calm. She misread it. She was sure of it. Or the computer messages were wrong. Any minute now there would be another message saying there had been a mistake in one of the numbers. She stood there at least five full minutes, staring at the chaos around her, when it finally hit her. She won a meet and greet with SuJu. Almost instantly she started hyperventilating. Too much, this was too much. She never expected this. She was just here for an amazing concert and an awesome vacation in Japan. She never would have dared to dream about meeting the idols she flew over for. Chiyoko and Tina were waving in front of her face. She snapped back to reality.

“I… I…”

“Man, I can’t believe our luck. I wish we won that thing.”

Tina shook her head in regret.

“But at least we spotted the drinks. What do you girls want?”

“Coke please,” Chiyoko chimed.

“Nothing, thank you.”

Fay’s voice could barely be heard.

“Ok. I’ll text the others while I cue. Don’t get lost, you hear.”

Tina stalked off while Chiyoko suddenly Fay. Fay startled.

“You,” she said.

“Me?”

“You look insanely distracted. What’s wrong?”

Fay squirmed under Chiyoko’s questioning gaze. She wondered if she should tell her. She was afraid of their reaction, but it didn’t feel right to hide this. Not when they took her under their wings like they had. No questions asked, without anything in return. She took out her ticket and showed it hesitantly. Chiyoko was staring at her intensely. All kinds of emotions flitted across her face. She was slowly turning red.

“I am so tempted right now to offer you my entire savings account for that ticket,” she choked out.

Fay nodded in understanding. Chiyoko inhaled sharply.

“But I’m not going to. You got it fair and square.”

She straightened her shoulders and Fay was amazed at her self-control. It took her a few more breaths before she spoke again.

“Hurry and put that away. There are ELF’s here who would trample you to get that ticket.”

Chiyoko took out her cellphone and started typing a short message. Not two seconds after she pressed send, a loud shriek came from the crowd that was cueing for drinks. Tina came running. Not long after that, so did Zoe and Mai. Out of breath they clung to Fay. Needless to say the quest for drinks was given up.

“Tell me it’s not true.”

“Your ticket…?”

Chiyoko quickly shushed them. They were drawing attention and that was the last thing they needed right now. Fay nodded again. Tina quietly stared at her. She was nearly burning a hole in her head. Zoe fell to the ground in true drama-style.

“No!” she cried. “I can’t believe this.”

Mai clung to her like a baby.

“You’re going to meet them! You’re going to meet them!”

“You must have the best luck in this world, you evil girl.”

“I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

“Hell no, no time to be sorry. We need to get you ready.”

Fay smiled. She felt unbelievably grateful right now. Even though they were insanely jealous of her, they still supported her. Tina grabbed her by the wrist and started dragging her to the bathrooms for a make-up check.

“Just so you know,” Chiyoko said. “You’re buying us drinks tomorrow.”

“Deal.”