CHAPTER SEVEN:

"So this is how it's gonna be, we'll be opening the show with your first performance. Shin will appear right after your comeback and he's going to join you afterwards but his clothes will be different than the others." said Lee Soo Man, the man behind our latest concept, OVERDOSE.

Actually, he's pretty cool. I've done some research about how he ended up with number 88 in WOLF and I'd say, it's really cool. He's so clever. Cool.

But.. he's still my grandfather.

"He will be in EXO-K and his badge will be Empathy." he continued.

"Empathy?" the other members repeated with confusion.

"Empathy is the ability to sense or know the needs, drives or even emotion of any creature. It's quite simple and unique, right?" he explained.

"Yes. That's really something. I mean, yeah, we should try something new." Suho agreed.

"That's right. I wanted it to be something new. I think it would more interesting that way." Lee Soo Man said.

"Sure it is." Kris, who is sitting beside me, mumbled.

I dunno why but I cant help myself but to look at Sehun. As usual, he's wearing his poker face. He caught me looking at him and gave me a smirk.

After a few more minutes of discussion, we left the meeting room and went straight to the practice room.

"Empathy." I mumbled to myself.

We started working on our choreography, vocalizations and transitions. We spent hours rehearsing and had a 15 minutes break before rehearsing again.

"Hey. You're always quiet." said Kai as he sit beside me in one corner.

"I just dont like talking much. I'm not really used to talk to people especially when I dont know them much." I said.

"Oh, then you should be." he smiled.

I smiled back, not knowing what to say.

"Let's play rock-paper-scissors! Whoever loses will buy bubble tea." he said.

"Sure."

We spent our 15 minutes break just playing rock-paper-scissors.

"Haha, you lose." Kai laughed.

I gave him a glare but he just returned it with a smile. A heart-warming one.

"Let's go buy bubble tea after rehearsals." he said.

I nodded as he flashed a cute smile.

We spent another hour of practice. After that, we all sat down and formed a circle. We need to decide what should we eat for lunch.

"Chicken! Let's have chicken!" Kai cheerfully suggested.

The other members shrugged at his suggestion.

"No Kai, we had it already yesterday." Baekhyun said.

"What shall we eat then?" Suho hyung asked.

"Ah! Let's eat chinese food!" Tao suddenly said while raising his hand.

The other members looked surprise at Tao's sudden outburst.

"Ah! Let's eat chinese food!" Baekhyun mimicked.

Then the other members bursted into laughter. Even Tao.

"Oh I know! Why dont we ask our maknae?" Chanyeol suggested.

"Uhh.. I.. I'm not really hungry—"

"—then don't eat!" Baekhyun interrupted all of sudden.

The other members bursted into laughter again. Err...

"Uh, yeah, I think so." I joked.

"Let's just go into a Chinese Restaurant. My treat." Kris said.

Hearing what Kris said, the other members stood up.

"Come on, come with us!" Kai invited so I just smiled and gladly joined them.

We drove into the nearest Chinese Restaurant. EXO-K members let the EXO-M members order the food since they know what's good and not good.

"Ahh. This one is so delicious."

We finished eating after half an hour. After that, we talked about different kinds of things. As usual, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are the ones who cause all of our laughters.

"Let's buy some bubble tea first." Kai said, pointing to the store nearby the Chinese Restaurant.

"Sure."

"Hyung, we'll buy bubble tea. We'll be right back." Kai said to Suho hyung.

We went to get our bubble tea.

"What flavor do you like?" He asked.

"Uh, I want chocolate." I answered.

"Oh, did you know, all of us used to buy bubble tea when we're still trainees. I remembered back then, Sehun loves the chocolate flavor of bubble tea. He said that he really loves chocolates. He used to buy bubble tea with Luhan hyung." he said.

I just nodded. So that's why he bought chocolate flavored bubble tea last night, I thought to myself.

"Here." he handed me the bubble tea.

We returned to our van and I ended up sitting beside Kai and D.O. They seem so close to each other, just like Baekhyun and Chanyeol or Sehun and Luhan.

Will I be able to have a bestfriend here, too? I thought to myself.

Somehow, I just missed my bestfriend. Her name is Soo Jin.

We have been friends since grade school. Just like me, she also grew up in an orphanage.

After a short drive, we were finally able to return to SME Building. The other members got out immediately.

"Manager Hyung!" I shouted as I get out of the van.

"Yes?" he turned to face me.

"Can to talk to you about something?" I asked.

"Sure."

We isolated ourselves first from the other members and found a place where we could talk quietly and privately.

"So how are you? I'm so glad that you're getting along with them." he started.

"Yeah, anyways, how is the true Shin? Did you find him?" I asked.

"I still haven't heard anything about him, actually." he said.

"Oh. Is that so?"

We had a minute of silence there. Suddenly, my phone vibrated. Someone must've texted me.

Sister Jemma ... Sister Jemma is gone. I'm sorry.

My eyes widened in shock. I felt a tear escaped my eye. I couldn't believe it.

"Shin-ah, are you okay? You're... you're crying." Manager Hyung asked.

"Hyung, can we just talk later? I really really need to make a phone call." I said.

Without knowing the reason, he nodded and went inside the building.

I went to the comfort room to make a call. I dialed the number. After a few more rings, someone finally picked up.

"Yeo..yeoboseo?"

"Hello, is this Shin?" the person on the other line asked.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"It's me, Soo Jin."

It took me a minute to realize that I was already talking to my bestfriend whom I didn't know how we grew apart.

She told me about what happened. That's when I knew that Sister Jemma had been gone for already a year because of cardiac arrest. That thought made me cry.

"Hey, are you alright?"

It was Sehun. His face looks worried.

"Ah. It's nothing." I wiped my tears away and gave him a weak smile.

"Let's go, the other members are waiting for you." he said.

The day went out like a blur. We rehearsed for about 2 hours and had a break. After that, we started rehearsing again and went home.

I need to talk to Manager Hyung.

Translations:

Yeoboseo - Hello (when answering phonecalls)

Annyeonghaseyo~!
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