Broken Hearts and Crystal Tears

Time seemed to fly by the next few weeks. The rest of the girls’ teasers were released. In a blink of an eye, there were only 3 weeks till SUGAR’s debut. But before that, they still had a showcase. Everyday they practiced from 14-16 hours, waking up at around 7 and going to bed at around 2. Days of sweating, sore throats, and lack of sleep made the girls homesick, but they continued on.

Sometimes the girls would be blank when someone asked them a question, or they would fall asleep on a 20-minute car ride. Minnie and Summer’s relationships were on hold at the moment, both too busy to have free time.

Finally after realizing how tired they were, the company decided to give SUGAR a few days of vacation. They were going to Beijing for 4 days. Before leaving, Luhan told them some places to make sure to visit and things to eat.

The trip was a feisty one. Loading the vans with bags and bags for their trip, the girls were excited. Finally, they could have break!

For Tae, since she came from a somewhat poor family, it was her first time riding an airplane. She nervously gripped the armrest, and when the plane took off, she felt her stomach drop. It was one of the most extraordinary feelings she ever experienced, and she squealed. For most of the ride, she looked out the window, repeatedly saying, “We’re FLYING. ABOVE THE CLOUDS!” Minnie rolled their eyes and said, “Duh.”

However, not everyone enjoyed the flight. Summer had a bad reputation with planes. On the takeoff, her stomach felt uneasy, but she managed to hold it in. During the turbulence while Tae was enjoying herself, Summer bent over, reaching for the sick bag.

Tae was not being helpful. “WHY ARE YOU SICK, SUMMER? THIS IS SO FUN!!”

“Excuse me,” Summer quickly said, running to the bathroom. After puking her guts out, Summer returned to her seat, her face green.

~One hour after takeoff~

The plane finally landed, and Summer was so glad to finally be in Beijing that she got out of the plane as fast as possible.

The first place SUGAR went to was their 10 star hotel. Docked with a swimming pool, a heated hot tub per room, and soft, nice beds for everyone, this hotel was the best. Also, none of the members had to spend a single penny because SM had provided the trip.

The first thing the girls did was sleep. They slept for the longest they had in several months: a total of 12 hours. It might not seem much, but to them it was like heaven.

After the long night of sleep, the five members went to the local nearby restaurant to eat sushi. Summer loved sushi, and her nauseousness had finally worn off, so she could actually eat.

The first day was dedicated to only sightseeing. They went to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and Tiananmen Square. Even in China, there were a few people who recognized them. They smiled eagerly, signed a few autographs and took some pictures. Dinner was at a fancy restaurant where they ate the infamous Beijing Duck.

The second day, they climbed the Great Wall. Halfway through, Tae got super tired, so they raced each other back down. Tae was last, heaving and glaring at the others while they laughed at her.

On the way back to their hotel, they decided to ride the subway instead of riding a taxi. Like always, the subway was crowded with people. There were exactly 5 empty seats, which the girls gladly took. Sore and tired from the long day of walking, they plopped down. They closed their eyes for a while to rest. Without noticing, they slowly fell asleep.

Summer felt someone tap her shoulder, and her eyes quickly snapped open. “Huh?”

There was an old lady standing in front of her. “Zhe shi zui hou yi zhan le. Ni men yao xia qu ma?” *Translation: This is the last stop. Are you getting off?*

Not knowing what the old lady just said, she just smiled. She looked up at the electronic map. They were at the LAST STOP? They had missed their stop!

She quickly shook the other members awake. “Guys, we’ve missed our stop!!!”

Minnie looked up, startled. “What should we do?”

Hailey bit her lip and looked around. “Okay, first, let’s get off. Then we can ask around.”

Yoomi nodded. “Fast thinking, let’s go.”

The five SUGAR members raced out of the subway. The only girl around was a girl in her late teens walking around. The five of them approached her, trying to remember the Chinese they learned in their training at SM.

“Uh...ni how?” Tae tried to speak Chinese.

The girl laughed, and spoke in perfect Korean. “Nice try on the Chinese there, but I can tell you’re Korean. Annyeonghaseyo. I’m Zhang Muhan, and you five lovely girls look pretty lost.”

Summer’s jaw dropped. Her Korean was impeccable, and she was Chinese!

Hailey quickly responded. “Yes, we’re actually a ban-”

Minnie butted in before Hailey could say anything more. “What she meant, is that we were lost, and we need a ride to our hotel.”

Hailey glared at Minnie, and said under her breath, “Why did you cut me off?”

Minnie responded just as quietly, “She might think we’re bratty if we say we’re an SM band-to-be.”

Hailey nodded and shrugged. “Okay, you’re right.”

Muhan was still staring at them expectantly. “So, where is your hotel?”

Yoomi told Muhan the directions to their hotel, and Muhan nodded. “Got it. So sorry, but I got another passenger on my car. I hope you don’t mind.”

Tae shook her head. “Of course we don’t mind! You’re the one who’s doing the nice deed for us, after all.”

Muhan smiled. “Ah, you five girls are so sweet. By the way, what are your names?”

Each SUGAR member gave a short introduction to themselves, and Muhan led them to her car.

The passenger seat window rolled down, revealing a girl, also in her late teens.

“Hey!” she yelled from the car. “Muhan, Zhe xie ren shi shui?” *Translation: Muhan, who are these people?*

“Oh, these are a few girls I found super lost! They’re from Korea. Is it okay if we can drive them to their hotel before we go shopping?” Muhan said in Korean.

The girl nodded. “Sure! I’d be terrified if I was in their place,” she also said in fluent Korean, and gave a huge grin to the SUGAR members.

Hailey looked excitedly at her group members. “These people are so nice!” she exclaimed.

Muhan overheard, and laughed. “Aww, thanks! Let’s go!”

The members jumped into Muhan’s 11 seat car, and buckled up.

Muhan started the engine, and they drove to their hotel.

Muhan dropped the girls off, and they ran to the hotel door, but the girl in the passenger seat stopped them.

“Wait!” she called. “I’m Peng Tianyu by the way.”

Minnie smiled. “Nice to meet you!”

“Thank God there are some people who speak Korean here. We could’ve been lost for who knows how long!” said Yoomi.

They walked into their hotel to find their manager pacing by the lobby desk, looking at his watch and glancing at the man on the phone. He finally looked up and saw the SUGAR members. He ran to them, yelling, “There you girls are! I was worried sick! You were late two hours! Where have you been?”

“We’re so sorry. We accidentally fell asleep on the subway and missed out stop. But luckily two girls were kind enough to drop us off.”

“Lost? In Beijing? Omigod, that’s probably the worst situation you could have been in if it weren’t for those girls.”

“Agh, I’m tired.” Tae sighed.

Hailey smirked. “No, it’s time to go FOOD TASTING!”

“Are you sure about this? There’s some pretty weird food in China…” said Summer.

“Yup. And we’re going to eat it, weird or not,” Minnie said while grinning at Hailey.

~9:00 pm, after a quick rest~

“This place is HUGE. So many people, so many stores!” squealed Yoomi.

Summer inhaled deeply. The countless smells of exotic foods and spices mixed around her and wafted into her nose, sending a tingling sensation. The heat radiated off her body and gave her energy that she had never felt before. She was ready to live her life to the fullest. So cliche, but it was all that came to mind.

“So what should we try first?” Minnie’s word interrupted Summer’s train of thought.

“Let’s start with the classics. Meat kebabs and tanghulu!” said Tae.

After finishing off those quickly, they decided to try the more...interesting food choices. There were deep fried seahorses, scorpions, snakeskin, silkworms, cicadas, starfish, sea urchins, shrimp, corn, etc. And literally EVERYTHING was on a stick.

They ate until they were stuffed, not caring about their strict diet for just one day. They tried even the most disgusting looking ones, which were surprisingly good.

When they were at once again, another food stand, Minnie pointed and said, “Hey, aren’t those the girls that drove us back to our hotel over there? Muhan and Tianyu?”

“Yeah, you’re right!”

“Who are the two people with them? Let’s go find out!”

Yoomi lightly tapped Muhan on the shoulder and she spun around.

“Oh, hey! Nice to meet you lovely girls again!”

Hailey smiled. “The food here is sooo good!”

Tae nodded in agreement, and said, “Who are the two other people?”

Minnie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be rude, Tae.”

Tianyu laughed, “It’s okay. This is Li Zitao, and this is Liu Hangyu.”

Zitao and Hangyu waived, and all of the SUGAR members waved back.

The four girls and SUGAR, together, went to the riverside to watch the view.

But a pretty face does not determine one’s personality, does it?

Notes

I KNOW I KNOW, WE'RE HORRIBLE >< Please give us some slack...so much homework!!
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Love,
M and I