The next few days flew by. I had absolutely no memory of how I got into the hotel that night, though the boys assured me that I had walked in under my own power, with Geth on one side of me and Teddy on the other. I had awakened to an alarm on my phone, considerately set by Matty, at 8:00 AM, to be ready for the boys' 11:00 AM interview on a local TV show, after being properly made up by Mel this time.

After a quick lunch, it was on to a radio show, where the DJ actually spoke English, so I just sat silently and watched; then it was back to a suite to rehearse. I didn't actually know when they ate dinner, because I left before they were finished.

The film crew had followed them all day long. I was obviously in the footage of them at the TV show, standing demurely in the back, translating, but I appeared nowhere in the footage at the radio station. The only evidence I was there at all was when someone said something funny; no matter how often we told him not to, Ronan kept looking off-camera at me to share the laugh. During the rehearsal, too, the boys kept talking to me between the songs about random things, until finally I just said I was tired and went to my room.

The following day was show day at the Nagoya Dome, so again, it was crazy, starting with breakfast and culminating with a huge, energetic show.

I wore an A-line dress that came to just above the knee, pretty tame for the average girl, but daring enough for me. It was white with pink polka dots, kind of retro, from the same thrift store on Melrose, and I'd bought it because it reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. It wasn't necessarily "thrifty" in price, but I couldn't resist it. There were a lot of raised eyebrows from the boys, and a wolf whistle as I was walking away that I was pretty sure came from Ronan, but they had the grace not to say anything, for which I was grateful. I was glad that I'd splurged on the strappy sandals, too, as they were the exact perfect shade of pink.

After the show, as usual, the boys were on a bit of a concert high, talking faster and louder than normal. They had decided that, because of the earlier than usual start time (7:30 instead of 8:30), we had time to go out to eat somewhere. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about Nagoya, so we would have to figure out some other way to find a place to go.

I looked on my phone for a Japanese equivalent to Yelp! and found a steakhouse kind of place that had good reviews, and told the boys about it after they were all showered and smelling very, very good, as usual.

"Uh, guys? I know I'm supposed to stick close to you and everything, and I'm not trying to get out of that, but I was thinking maybe after nearly a week of having me in your hair every single minute, you might want a night out on your own?" I floated the idea hesitantly. I didn't want them to think I was shirking my job, but I didn't want them to feel smothered, especially if they wanted to seek feminine company other than mine. "Seriously. I totally won't mind if you don't want me to go. Nagoya is a pretty cosmopolitan city; most restaurants will have someone who speaks enough English to understand what you want. If you'd rather I just scoot back to the hotel..."

They looked at me like I'd just started speaking another language.

Ronan recovered first. "What are you saying, Tink? You gone off us? Already?" He put his hand to his heart. "I'm hurt, lass. Truly."

"No, I told you, it's not that I don't want to go, I just thought if you guys, wanted me to, you know—I mean, if you wanted to, um, meet some people, some, um—" Why did this always have to be so awkward?

Gethin grabbed me by the elbow in a come-along gesture. "Let's get going, Tinker Bell. Stop talking nonsense. You don't want to waste that pretty dress on the likes of us, do you? You look like a delicious bit of candy floss in it; I could just eat you up. Now hurry up, before I go and do it." He made as if to goose me, though he stopped just short of the actual gesture, thank goodness. Teddy tipped me a wink, and grabbed my other arm, and between the two of them, they practically lifted me off my feet.

"Guys, careful, this dress is really short!" I pleaded.

"You hear that, boys, Tink's going to flash us!" the post-concert Ronan yelled, and we ran down the hallway toward the waiting car.

The waiter was young enough to look like a college student, and flashed a very nice smile as we finished ordering. He was very flirty, especially for a Japanese person, asking where I'd learned the language, and if one of the boys was my boyfriend. And of course I had to deal with the requisite glances at my chest, though I was so careful that my lovely polka dotted dress showed no cleavage whatsoever. I put it down to his age and maybe inexperience, and I also noticed a few of his male coworkers were watching him, so that could also have played a part.

After he finally left, the boys, who had watched and listened to the whole exchange with amusement, got an abridged translation of the whole thing, and of course, the teasing began immediately.

"Gee, Miss Foster," said Teddy in his best American accent, "maybe you're the one who wants to 'meet someone'. Should we leave you alone?"

"He really fancies you, Tink," said Ronan. "He's cute, too. You should get his number."

I stared at him, eyes narrowed. "Why? Aren't we leaving tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, you're right." Ronan nodded. "Skip the number, just bring him back to your hotel room tonight." He grinned at me.

Of course, I started to blush.

"Ah, Tink, we wouldn't tease you if we didn't love you," Gethin said, putting an arm around me.

We spent the time while we waited for the food taking pictures of ourselves and looking at social media. The boys had done a good job keeping me off of their accounts, though it really galled Ronan, in particular, to do so.

"I don't like it," he complained petulantly. "She's here with us, she's part of the tour, one of the best parts, one of the most fun parts, and no one can even know about her." He air kissed in my direction, and I blew a kiss back at him. "So far the only part of her that's shown up on my Instagram is a corner of her little dress. It's ridiculous is what it is. I have the nicest pictures of her and I—"

"Her and me," I automatically corrected.

"Her and me," he repeated, with a smile at me, "and no one can see them but my sisters and you lot, and you already know what she looks like. And we look great together, don't we, angel?" He looked at me for acknowledgement.

"Yes, Ronan, we do, we look wonderful together," I agreed. "Who cares if no one can see them? I mean, how do you think I feel? I can't even tell anyone I'm with any of you. Talk about frustrating."

Just as we were finishing dinner and I was about to suggest we go, a group of girls approached our table. They were Japanese, but not the kind of Japanese girls I was used to, not the kind who were at the boys' concerts, not the kind I'd known in my grandparents' neighborhood.

These were party girls, hair dyed incredible colors, designer clothing and accessories, cosmopolitan in every way. It was a little surprising to find them in Nagoya. They would have looked less out of place in Tokyo. Or Milan. They looked a little too predatory and urban for what I considered provincial Nagoya, though I'd actually never been to Nagoya before.

"Hi, aren't you guys UK Crush?" The one with a blue streak dyed into her hair said. Her English was just that, English, with a very posh accent. She had obviously been educated somewhere in England, at least for a while.

At Teddy's cheerful nod, she turned to her three friends. "See? I told you!"—she turned back to the table—"I knew it was you guys straight away! I saw you three years ago when you played Wembley on Christmas Eve. You were spectacular!"

"Thank you," said Ronan with a grin. "Always a pleasure to meet a happy fan. We just had a show tonight, over at the Nagoya Dome, great fun. The Japanese fans are wonderful."

"Well, I'm Hiromi," she said with a dazzling smile, holding out her hand. "Please call me Romi; that's what everyone does."

"Hello, Romi," said Teddy, holding out his own hand. And around the circle she went, from Teddy to Ronan, to Matty, to Gethin, until she got to me.

"You're not in the band," she said with a laugh.

"Well spotted," I said with a smile. I held out my hand. "I'm Aileen, their interpreter."

"Lucky, lucky you," she said, shaking my hand. "How did you manage to get this fabulous job?"

"Like you said, it was luck," I said with a shrug. I picked up my wine glass and finished what was in it.

"Nice work if you can get it," she said with another smile.

"Yes," I said. "It is, definitely."

She turned back to the boys. "We were about to go to a really fun club, and we'd love for you to join us. The DJ's top notch, the music's super fresh, and you can get just about anything you want there, it's really incredible for Japan, especially considering it's not even Tokyo."

The boys looked at each other, but I couldn't get a read off them, whether they wanted to go or not. I decided to play it safe.

"I'm ready to go back to the hotel, so I'll just catch a cab, if that's okay with you guys," I said, trying to make eye contact with my cute waiter for the check.

"Hold on, no one's said we're going," Teddy spoke with a frown.

"Oh, please say you'll come," one of the other girls spoke up. She was truly stunning, tall and thin, with the look of a runway model.

"How about if we wait out front for you guys to talk it over?" Hiromi-just-call-me-Romi suggested. "You can finish up in here, pay up and whatever, decide, and we'll meet out front in a bit and go from there? Okay?"

"Sure," said Matty, speaking up uncharacteristically. He watched them go, rolled his eyes and said, "Can we please just get the hell out of here?"

"Wait a minute," I said. "I think you guys should go out." I caught my waiter's eye and made the universal signal for the check, holding an invisible pen and writing on my palm. He nodded and hurried over.

"I don't mind going out," said Gethin, "but I don't particularly feel like spending the evening with that lot of barracudas."

"Just because we go with them doesn't mean we have to stay with them," said Teddy reasonably. "We can just take them in our car to get directions or whatever, and split up when we get there."

"I don't mind going out," said Ronan affably. "Or I could go back to the hotel. Either way."

"I don't want to go," Matty said mutinously. I'd never seen him look so upset. "Geth's right, those girls look horrid." He yawned ostentatiously.

"Like I said, we don't have to stay with those girls," Teddy said. "When we get there, we can meet—" He paused briefly, and his eyes cut swiftly to me and back to the boys, "—different girls, if we want."

"See, this is what I wanted to avoid," I interjected. "I didn't want you guys to feel like you couldn't be yourselves, like you couldn't speak freely, because I was here. You want to go out and meet girls? Go. Feel free." I didn't mean for the words to come out sounding so resentful. I tried to backtrack, to take some of the bitterness out of my tone. "Please, don't let me put you out in any way. I have to use the bathroom. Talk about it while I'm gone."

I picked up my purse and left the table, maybe more abruptly than I intended. I tried not to make it look like flight. I went into the bathroom, used the facilities, splashed cold water on my face, and leaned on the counter. I gave them about five minutes, then returned to the table.

"So? What's the plan?" I kept my voice neutral as I paid the check.

"Split decision," Gethin said. I looked at him.

"I'm not going," Matty said, somewhat defensively.

"Oh, Matty, are you sure?" I asked him. "It'll probably be fun, and who knows when you'll get the chance again? With guides and everything? Even if they are horrid barracudas?" I added with a smile. "Teddy's right, you can ditch them as soon as you get there, I'm sure there will be very nice, normal type girls there you can talk to, who'd be thrilled to meet you."

"I don't give a fuck; I don't want to go," he said. "Sorry," he automatically added.

I waved off his apology. We stood, and all of the boys took off for a bathroom break before heading out. I waited for them at the front of the restaurant, but inside; I didn't want to have to make small talk with Romi or her posse. Teddy came out first, oddly embarrassed. He looked at me briefly, eyes sliding away, then coming back to me again.

"You know, you could come with us," he suggested. "I bet Matty would come if you did. He wouldn't want to go back to the hotel alone."

"No thanks," I smiled. "I'm not dressed for nightclubbing, and they're not really my thing, anyway. Besides, how much could you guys truly relax and enjoy yourselves if I were there?"

He playfully pushed my shoulder. "You're one of us, Foster, you know that. Wherever we go, you go. It's not a problem. And you look beautiful, always." He stepped closer. "You sure?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

Gethin walked up. "Sure of what?"

"Just trying to get her to come with us," Teddy explained.

"Not a good idea, mate," Gethin said. "I don't fancy the idea of pulling drunken Japanese blokes off her all night long. You saw how that waiter was drooling over her. And he was one of the polite ones. Imagine twenty of him, only with a few drinks in them, and horny as hell. Not my idea of fun." He smiled at me. "No offense, love."

I sketched a curtsey. "None taken, sir. In fact, I think in a weird way it was a sort of compliment, so I thank you." I didn't bother to say that it didn't particularly sound like my idea of fun, either. I suppressed a shudder at the thought of being surrounded by inebriated strangers.

Ronan and Matty arrived, and we left the restaurant. Predictably, the Japanese colored hair brigade were over the moon, and not too terribly sad I wouldn't be accompanying them, though the girl with the magenta bob was upset that Matty wasn't to be part of the party. They had obviously divided the boys up, and Matty was probably to have been hers for the evening.

He gave her as close to a venomous glare as he could accomplish with his gorgeous eyes, and we hailed a cab.

She passed his glare on to me, and I couldn't resist scoring a cheap point by taking Matty's hand to have him "help" me into the cab. He put his other hand on my back so it looked like we were quite intimate, and we both had huge grins on our faces when the door swung shut. I gave the driver the name of our hotel and we sat back, companionably silent for the drive.