“I’m sorry!”

Erin squeaked as she accidentally bumped an American tourist. She didn’t even spare the person a glance and just continued running. She really wasn’t much of a ‘social’ type. Every time she looks a person in the eye, she always freaks out. The moment she stares into those pools, she suddenly feels getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Which is really something since her physique is already petite. What more when she actually tries to talk to them. In all of her lifetime, she can count the people that she can talk to, without her knees shaking and her forehead sweating, just with the fingers of both of her hands.
 

A total of seven people.

Two of which are her parents. The five left being her only friends.

Talk about anti-social.

And naturally, like most stereotypical anti-socials, her usual companions are her gadgets. The most important of all is her laptop. Every second she’s not hanging out or doing stuff related to school and her everyday life, she’s seen fiddling with her laptop. It’s either writing fanfics or doing something K-Pop related or playing online games and surfing the net. And if one gets absorbed in playing online, you tend to be competitive.

Which leads to the reason why she was running in the first place.

She lifted her head high, trying to catch the black lump of hair her friend and their group’s maknae, Kiara, has. As absurd as it sounds, they were having a race.

In the friggin airport.

And what made it more entertaining and exciting was the fact that the airport was jam packed. She cursed. Why did she have to be born vertically-challenged? And why did puberty didn’t even visit her at least once? She was already 19 for crying out loud!

Glancing at the blue sign, she found that she was already in Gate Five, which means that there are five more Gates to go until somebody wins. Five more Gates to go until they can finally go to the place where they were absolutely dying to visit. She couldn’t help but feel the warm feeling in her stomach and grin. But at the mean time, she shook the feeling away and fuelled her competitiveness. Where was that maknae?

Squinting her eyes, she finally caught sight of Kiara. She smirked seeing that she was also having a problem trying to tear through the crowds. I should at least use my height as an advantage now, she thought. She searched for an opening in front of her and once again commented on how the Philippine airport was just too crowded. Did everyone schedule their flights all in the same day?

Finally, she found an opening and ducked. It was easier trying to find a way there than pushing other people. The only disadvantage was that she wouldn’t be able to monitor her enemies’ movements. Now that you mentioned it... Where was Mitzi?

Mitzi, the second oldest in their group, was the third and final contestant in their little Airport Run. But ever since she miraculously disappeared when they were racing up the escalators, Erin concluded that she just quitted because there was no prize. Mitzi-unnie needs to get really motivated to get serious anyway, she shrugged. She probably went back to Xyriel-unnie and Rina.

A few meters behind them, Xyriel (the eldest) and Katarina (maknae and Kiara’s older twin sister), the only sensible members in their group, were trying their best acting as if they don’t know the other three. Well, their efforts were futile. Rina, as a matter of fact, was an exact replica of Kiara. Their only difference was their hair. Rina has straight and Kiara has wavy-curly. Some people, who saw Kiara running ahead of them a few seconds ago, gawked at Rina. Their expressions clearly tell what they were thinking.

“W-what? H-how? But she was just running a few seconds ago!? How did she end up being there?”

On the other hand, Xyriel, being the lady and wonderful unnie she is, can’t help but give worried glances to the direction Erin and co. bolted. She was obviously worried about her dongsaengs. Well, what if they were suddenly arrested for over speeding?

Erin grinned as she ran past Gate 8. She finally managed to overtake Kiara. Just two more gates to go and she’ll be crowned winner. Pfft... It was already predicted since the start of the race anyway.

She increased her speed as she passed Gate 9. Almost there. Almost there. Almost-

A hand grabbed her arm roughly, causing her to suddenly stop and slightly jerk backward. Taking advantage of Erin’s unbalance, Mitzi, the owner of the hand, sprinted as fast as she can to the finish line. The reason why she disappeared a while ago was because she made a little detour, but managed to catch up just in time. Dazed, Erin blinked for a few seconds but after realizing what was happening, she activated “Godspeed mode”, catching up to Mitzi and elbowing her, trying to stop her unnie. They both slowed down, so engrossed in trying to stop each other that they didn’t notice that Kiara was about to cross the finish line. They only realized this after hearing her triumphant squeals. “OOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! KYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! I won! I won! I won!” she screamed jumping up and down. Mitzi and Erin just stared at her with their mouths open. How can they forget about her?

A few minutes later, Rina and Xyriel arrived. Kiara was still squealing her head off and Mitzi and Erin had really weird expressions on that the two just had to scoot away. And face-palm. Hard.

“Calling all passengers on Flight 2088 to Korea, please proceed to Gate 10.”

Everyone of them stopped and stared at each other--the previous atmosphere gone--with wide smiles on their faces and completely giddy with excitement.

Goodbye, Philippines. Korea, here we come!  

Xyriel, staring out the window whilst listening to the music in her phone, has finally achieved serenity after the overly exciting events that passed. She sighs as she thinks that she can only dream of such happiness. The kid behind her has been kicking her seat non-stop, much to her dismay.

Lee Xyriel, the daughter of a wealthy businessman and heir to an international company, shouldn’t even be here in the first place. Why was she flying second class anyway?

A girl that had grey shoulder-length hair, with pink streaks, started snoring rather loudly beside her. Park Mitzi’s the name and she was her friend, along with three others seated at the opposite side. Mitzi’s snore was a constant reminder of how Xyriel’s bank account suddenly dawned zeros.

One regretful afternoon, Xyriel had entrusted her debit card to none other than the one named Park Mitzi and Kunieda Kiara. Both seemed enthused with the fact that they had a filthy rich friend and spent a whole lot of cash. The ATM card was terminated and Xyriel’s parents are still arranging some papers to renew the now empty card.

They bought numerous KPOP merchandise, a hell lot of food and a Yalos Diamond TV. Why did they buy a television set that’s studded with 160 diamonds? Oh, that’s right; because it was sparkly. They would stay up all night, just by watching the TV glow, and become very sleepy in the morning.  Thus, the snore reminder became a thing.

Xyriel glances on the opposite side as she heard an even louder snore. It belongs to Mitzi’s partner in crime, Kunieda Kiara, a Japanese girl that had an identical twin sister named Katarina. The only distinct feature they had in physical appearances is their hair; Kiara had curly hair while Rina had straight hair. Although when you get to know them, their personalities differ greatly. Kiara is carefree, optimistic, and cheerful. On the other hand, Rina often comes off as a cold person but truthfully, she’s just very protective of her twin.

Comfortably lodged between the twins, Nini (also known as Erin) snored quietly as she slept peacefully. Not forgetting what and who bound them all together, Cha Erin’s passion for KPOP was a little more intense than any normal fangirl out there and that passion was the beginning of everything.