Keep Me Grounded

March 1st- China

"How long has it been since you've been to America?" Ten asked me one morning.

I was packing for our three month trip out of China. Well, three months was the estimated time we would be gone. Nobody could say for sure. We were performing five days in each city on this giant tour. The tour stopped in a confirmed three cities in America, but SM had cleared our schedules for the rest of the year, just in case other cities wanted us to go there.

There was no real name for this tour. A lot of us were calling it the Asian Pop Experiment. All of the current Kpop stars would be performing. We were lucky to get invited because we were linked to NCT. WayV was technically part of the giant and evergrowing group, but we were based in China. Funny how that works out for someone who was half Japanese.

I looked over to Ten. "Two years," I told him. "I'm kind of nervous about going. You should come with us. I know you can't perform, but wouldn't it be nice to see everyone? To hang out and have fun?"

He laughed. "I wish I could. But, you know they won't let me go if I can't perform." He put his broken leg up on my desk. "Besides, you'll have Mark with you. I'll only be a third wheel."

I shook my head. "You know you won't be a third wheel. It's not even like that."

Ten chuckled. "Right. Have you told that to his mom lately? I'm pretty sure she disagrees."

I smiled. "Mrs. Tuan is my mom. Even if she thinks of me as her daughter-in-law."

He smiled. "You might as well have fun for me. I'll take care of your cat and everything around the house." His smile faded. "Will you see your mom?"

I shook my head. "No reason to. She stopped talking to me when I found out about my dad. The wound of that secret is still too fresh for me to go out of my way to see her."

Just then, the door to the Jack-and-Jill bathroom that YangYang and I shared opened. Our youngest poked his head in. YangYang, Ten, and I had all become super close since I had moved into the house. It might've been because we all were fluent in English while the others weren't.

"What do I pack to go to Las Vegas?" YangYang asked. "I have no idea what the weather's going to be like."

"Shorts and tank tops, mainly," I told him. "It'll be warm, Little Sheep."

He smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I'm a little nervous, to be honest."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "You of all people have nothing to worry about. And, if you do ever have any questions about what do say or do, you know I'm here for you."

My little sheep continued to smile. He walked into the room, collapsing face-first onto my bed. I reached over and ruffled his curly brown hair. It had been a while since the managers had made him cut it, and it was showing. I could hear Ten's chuckle from across the bedroom.

"You are the mother of the group." He said.

I smiled, looking up at him. "Of course, I am. I'm the only girl in the group, after all."

"Kun would like to argue that he's the mother of the group," YangYang said.

"He is," I replied. "He's Momma Bird."

Ten and YangYang laughed. The door opened, and Lucas poked his head in. He gave us a small pout then walked into the room. Lucas spoke some English, but not a ton. He walked over to me, towering over me. Lucas was six feet tall and I was barely over five feet. I will never understand why they thought it was a good idea to put a tiny female in a group of all men.

"No fair," Lucas whined. "Why are you saying things that the rest of us can't understand? Noona. That's mean."

I smiled. "Oh, Baby. Don't worry. I'll tell you everything on the plane ride to America."

Ten wasn't going with us to America, so that meant I would be sitting next to Lucas on the plane. He won a game of rock-paper-scissors against WinWin for the spot. He knew that I didn't like flying, so he promised to hold my hand the whole way there. I laughed when he told me that. Right when XuXi opened his mouth to respond, the door opened again. HaNa, my manager, poked her head in.

"Come on, everyone. We need to leave soon." She said.

YangYang huffed, pulling himself off of the bed. Lucas pushed past her out of the room. I zipped my suitcase, turning to her.

"I'm all ready," I told HaNa. "And it took a lot of self-control not to stuff Ten in the suitcase."

She laughed. "I think SM would kill you. You'll be okay without us, won't you, Ten?"

He puffed out his cheeks in a pout. "I guess. Don't keep my wife away from me for too long."

She rolled her eyes. "She's my wife. Come on, Yuna. If you're done packing, let's wait for the others in the living room."

The boys weren't done packing until the very last second. I grew impatient. Getting through the airport was always a nightmare with this group. Fans always caused a fuss. Two hours before our flight was supposed to leave, we were finally all gathered in the living room. Kun came to the middle, beckoning us to surround him. Our leader pulled us in close.

"Alright, everybody. This is our biggest tour yet." Kun said. "Let's do our best to make our fans happy and impress our seniors. Ready?" We all nodded. "Good. Hands in."

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WeiShen V!