::C h a p t e r O n e:: {Welcome to China}

"Take care! Call me when you get settled, okay?" Jessica squeezed me in her arms.

The airport was rather empty today. Usually, this airport is packed with people traveling almost all the time, so this is strange to see it so... lonely.
"Of course, Jessi." I assured. I turned to the taller, but younger, girl next to her.
"I want you to skype with me! I want to see Taeyeon and Hyoyeon again, too!"
"I'll be sure to do that, Krys." I nodded and hugged her once.

"Don't forget about me, noona!" There goes the overly attached "brother" of mine. He wrapped his strong, slender arms around me and squeezed me tight as he swayed me side-to-side as if I were a ragdoll.
"How can I forget about you, Jonginnie?" I struggled to get words past my throat. I could barely breathe.
"Yah! Kim Jongin, you're going to suffocate her!" Jessica slapped his arm.

Jongin let me go with a slight pain, but soon it was fogged over by his smiling eyes.
"I'm gonna miss you, Tiffany noona. Call me if you need me, alright? I'll be there in a jiffy!" He assured.
"Sweet boy." I giggled as I messed up his nicely done hair.

"Flight 98; from Seoul to Beijing, now boarding." The Innercom suddenly announced.

I sighed, "well, that's me! See you all in three weeks. I'll miss you guys!" I blew them kisses and ran off to catch my flight.

"Bye, Fany noona!" Jongin called as he watched me go away.
"Bye, Jonginnie!" I called back.

I made it to the terminal just in time to get past and find my way to the plane entrance.

I was asleep when my ears started popping. I opened my eyes and made a face as I held my ears, trying to stop the painful popping.
"Ow." I whined over and over.
By the time the plane landed, my ears were still recovering from the painful popping. I winced everytime they popped, and people looked at me like I was crazy. I guess they weren't feeling the same pain.

When I collected my carry-on, I went towards the terminal to find my other stuff.
I was looking around to see where the baggage claim was, but since everything was in Chinese characters, I didn't know where a single thing was. I began asking people in the two languages I know best, Korean and English. If they didn't understand me, then they would just ignore me. It began getting annoying everytime I tried to ask for directions, when everyone seems to be busy or in a hurry, but most of them are trying to ignore me. 

"Hmpf!" I huffed in frustration, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Stephanie Hwang!" A sudden voice exclaimed.
Two arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders and jumped on my back. I squealed as I tried to stay up and hold this person's weight.
"Kim Hyoyeon, get off!" I whined as I tried pulling off her arms.
"NO!" She held me tighter. It took a little more strength, but I finally got her weak spot. I began to fiddle around her rib cage, and she immediately let me go, laughing.
"You're the worst!" She said in between giggles.
"Finally, someone I can speak to!" I sighed in relief after regaining my breath. "Hyoyeon-ah, where's the baggage claim?"
"There." Hyoyeon pointed behind me.

The baggage claim was behind me this whole time?!
"Wow, Fany. You don't bother to learn a bit of Mandarin before coming to China?" Hyoyeon mocked.
"Watch it, Hyo!" I threatened. It didn't do much, since everyone knows I'm not as tough as I make myself seem. I can be tough when I'm pissed off to the max though.

"C'mon Fany-ah! Taeyeon is waiting back at her bar!" Hyoyeon pulled me to the baggage claim to get my stuff, and dragging me out the airport after.

It didn't take long before we made it to Taeyeon's sports bar. The parking was basically empty, too. Business must not be doing well today, I guess.

"I'll take you to where you have to stay after you meet everyone, okay? Right now, everyone is dying to meet Taeyeon's best friend!" Hyoyeon smiled as she got out the car. I hesitated before opening my door and following after her.

"Everyone?" I questioned.

Taeyeon never said anything about meeting her friends.
What if they don't like me?
What if they don't understand me?
I hate language barriers!

I sighed as I got out the car and slowly made my way to the glass door of the bar. I pushed it in and walked through. There was chattering going on; there were two guys sitting at the bar talking to Taeyeon and Hyoyeon, whom were on the other side of the bar counter. Taeyeon smiled widely when she saw me. She ran around the counter and ran to me with her arms open.

"Mi-Young ah!" Taeyeon exclaimed as she squeezed the life out of me. "I missed oh-so much!"
"I missed you too, Taengoo!" I giggled as I squeezed her back with the same amount of force.

The two boys at the counter turned their seats and stared at me with curiousity.

Taeyeon let me go and placed one arm around my waist as she nudged me towards the two new faces.

"Tiffany, these are my good friends." Taeyeon gestured to the two.

One was very kind looking, while the other looked rather intimidating.

"This is Zhang Yixing, or as we like to call him, Lay." Taeyeon gestured to the kinder-looking one.
"Hello, Tiffany. You can just call me Lay, if you'd like." He smiled. I was taken back by his use of Korean. I smiled back, showing off my signature eyesmiles.
"Hello, Lay. You're Korean is really good."
"Thanks, I tried my best to learn for you."

I blushed from embarrassment.
"Aw, that's very sweet of you, Lay." I giggled.

"And this is Kris Wu Yifan. He's a little scary looking, but he's actually a total idiot."
"Look who's talking." Kris scoffed. His eyes landed on me and his smug look quickly turned into a sweet stare with a kind smile.
"Hello, Tiffany. I'm Kris. I heard you can speak English, too, so don't hesitate to speak to me in English if it makes you feel more comfortable."
"He's saying that because his Korean ." Hyoyeon said from the other side of the bar. I tried to restrain my laughter, but it was difficult because it was Hyoyeon; she makes everything funnier than it actually is.

Kris laughed sarcastically at her. He looked at me again and smiled sheepishly.
"Ignore her, my Korean is perfectly fine." He said in English.

Taeyeon made me lunch while we all talked with each other. I learned that Lay was a daycare teacher and Kris worked in a Gucci store. Hyoyeon was a dance teacher at an all girls school; and I found that very impressive for a girl as young as Hyoyeon. Just as we were laughing at Kris' fail attempt at being funny, Taeyeon's phone went off.

"Oh, it's him!" She squealed as she ran out the bar.

"Who's 'him'?" I asked.
"Another friend of ours." Lay said. "I forgot why Taeyeon is so happy he's here, though. They aren't dating the last time I checked."
"Of course you'd forget why, Lay." Kris shook his head.

"You'll find out soon, Tiffany." Hyoyeon smiled at me, ignoring the other two.

"Find out what?" I asked.
"Something..." Hyoyeon snickered.

What?