Whispers filled the practice room as each of the members heard news about a new girl going to their dorm. They say she’s a great composer but she’s not good in Korean. The others would look at Kris who practically grew up in Canada but he shook his head, telling them they can handle themselves. They were nervous, though some already dated before. This girl was different, they were sure. She is from another country after all. A country they knew has a lot of their fans. And this girl might not be one of them. The only one missing in the room was EXO-K’s leader, Suho. He was always late but this was rather later than usual.

When he finally came, they saw a girl by the door, completely covered by layers of coats. They observed her closely. She sneezed. She was darker than all of them, even Kai. Either that, or the lighting is bad. She didn’t have the stereotypical Asian eyes they have. She was rather tall though, but they didn’t know if her age suited what she looks like. She was wearing glasses and thick earmuffs and her scarf was tightly enveloping her neck, as if she wasn’t used to the climate in South Korea.

“Who’s she?” The youngest member asked, pulling back his platinum blonde hair with his left hand. Suho’s expression was rather unreadable. They weren’t sure if he was excited or troubled by the girl’s appearance. While the girl was looking around the room, maybe dazzled by how many mirrors there were. She wasn’t really paying attention to the members which was something new to them.

“She’s called APL by her fans and also the critics,” Suho answered in Korean. “And our manager said she will help us in making the songs, and also translating them in more languages than just Mandarin and Korean,” he added as he pursed his lips. All of them were surprised but they tried not to show it. The oldest member only nodded at the idea, thinking maybe it was good to branch out to other countries than just Korea and China.

“Please introduce yourself,” Suho looked back at the girl. The girl just stared at him for a moment then slowly walked towards his side. She didn’t look comfortable getting all the stares but she kept it in.

She took a deep breath and finally said,” I’m Milan de Vega and Mr Lee suggested that I should be helping your group, EXO, to have a more international influence over music.” She didn’t look interested in helping them but they slowly grew excited to know they had another companion on their journey towards to being legends like Super Junior.

“Do you know each of the members, APL?” Suho’s English sounded peculiar but Milan easily understood what he said. She nodded as she scanned each of the member’s faces.

“I’ve done my research, Suho-hyung and let me just say you all look better personally,” she complimented. But there wasn’t a smile accompanying that compliment. So they weren’t sure If she was telling the truth or not.

She still looked shy though. She didn’t look at their eyes and instead their foreheads which Suho was rich of.

“Everyone, we’ll aid her in learning Korean since she can’t speak English all the time and she won’t understand us always,” Suho told s.

Tao raised his hand and then asked,” Do you know Mandarin?”

“Youdian. (A bit) I studied it a bit back when I was in high school,” she said. The pronunciation was actually accurate and the Chinese members were impressed. And also, they felt relief. They can talk to this girl in Mandarin.

“Do you have basic knowledge of Korean?” Suho then asked. The girl slightly nodded, as if she was hesitating.

“I was always stuck in a class full of KPOP fans after all. It was unavoidable to learn the language a bit,” she said as her left hand grabbed her right arm. “Anyways, can I watch you practice? It will be interesting to watch your performance live and unprepared after all,” she clasped her hands.

She removed her hoody then let her long black hair fall down. She was really slightly darker than Kai and she had hazel almond eyes. The members were first staring at her, as if memorizing how she looked but then rushed to their places when they saw her glare. She sat herself in front of them and as they danced and sang, she was writing something in a brown notebook.

“Nuga dasi bokeol geulub-e? (Who are in the vocal group again?)” She accidentally asked in Korean. The members were slightly amazed how she said that in an accurate way. “What are you all doing standing around? Where are the people in the vocal line?” She then growled at them. Baekhyun, Suho, Luhan, DO and Chen all lined up in front of her. She observed them and had a comment for every member.

She stopped walking in front of Baekhyun.

“So you are Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun to be exact. You are the comedic one of all of EXO huh. And the most erted too, I’ve heard. It doesn’t look that way, with you always wearing conservative clothes. You have a high vocal range, I can tell you that,” she said before walking in front of Suho.

“Kim Joon-Myeon or EXO-K’s leader, and mother, Suho. Your face is funny,” when she said that, the members erupted in laughter. “But seriously, you look better personally. You act as a true leader and do things for your members discretely. Trained for a long time and look where it got you. You’re determined and try your best though there is a possibility of you to fail. Your voice is lower than Baekhyun but still a high range. But it’s very limited, try to expand your vocal range,” she added, pushing her glasses back.

Then she walked in front of Luhan and looked like she was either flustered of his presence or just amazed of how he looks right now.

“L… Luhan right?” She tripped on her words and as she noticed that, she shook her head and continued on her cold composure. “Luhan, real name is the same. One of the oldest in the group, I presume. Really determined to learn Korean and like most of you, afraid of bugs. You have many fans swooning because of your appearance, even the guys like you. But you said yourself you’re manly.”

Luhan nodded at the comment.

“Shì de, wǒ shì nánzǐhàn (Yes, I’m manly),” he said.

“High vocal range, higher than Suho’s. Good. Just don’t scrunch up your face when hitting a high note,” she said before proceeding to the next one.

DO looked uneasy but he tried to look at Milan in the eyes.

“DO, pronounced as Dio, am I correct?” DO nodded as an answer.

“Do Kyungsoo to be exact, the lead vocalist of EXO-K from my observations. Along with Baekhyun, your low but at the same time high voice compliments with his. I always look forward for your duets like of the song “What Is Love?” and also when you, him and Chen sang “Miracles in December”. I look forward working with you,” she said before going in front of Chen.

She scanned Chen from head to toe and Chen tried not to laugh. He stood as straight as he could and she finally spoke,” Chen. Chen. Chencing Masheen?” The members laughed at the sudden phrase. Chen smiled at Milan kindly and nodded.

“The lead dancer of EXO here,” he jokingly said.

“You could’ve fooled me,” Milan chose to ignore his moves. “Anyways, I can say you have the best vocals in this group and I’m not being biased since I only recognize you as the camel dinosaur of EXO. Large range, you can have a really high and low voice and you can sustain your notes very well without making a weird face,” Milan looked at Luhan who was getting embarrassed.

“But I have to say, not relating to voices, you need to learn from Kai with the dancing,” she gestured at Kai who was slightly laughing at the back.

By now, the members slowly came to like the girl. She was weirdly comical. And was observant of whatever EXO does and not in a creepy way like the other sasaeng fans which scared them.

“Don’t expect me to be easy on you because I do my work seriously. Mr Lee said I will sleep in your dorm but of course, not in one of your rooms. He told me to sleep on the couch for now. Any questions, EXO?” She told them as the vocal line sat with their members.