“Responsibility”

                “One day. One day in and you already messed up,” Keith begins to bark at me, pacing around in front of me and the members of EXO. He even tries to look smug by brushing his black coat away, revealing his beige suit, and placing his hand on his waist. “Wow, you’re far more useless than I thought.”

                I bite my lower lip, trying as hard as I can to not bark back. Who does he think he is, yelling at me like this? Keith has been a nasty piece of work to me ever since I can remember but this is childish. He shouldn’t even be here!

                Keith finally notices that I’m trying my best to ignore him so he walks up to me, both arms firmly resting on his waist, with a stern yet unintimidating look on his face, “What you did tonight is humiliating. You sent two text messages, telling Mr. Tak that you’re on your way. Two! You were supposed to be here hours ago!”

                “And you’re supposed to be in the UK, handling my company,” I say lowly, accidentally letting it slip out as I keep my gaze on the floor. I bite my tongue, quickly regretting what I just did.

                I watch his leather shoes as he takes a few steps closer, “You’re talking back to me now—?”

                “That’s enough, Mr. Harrison,” I hear Mr. Tak interrupt. “There’s no need for an argument tonight. I’m sure Ms. Harrison had a good reason to take the boys out so late.”

                I freeze right where I stood as I grab the sides of my jeans nervously. As I look up, Keith backs away, looking defeated, only to reveal Mr. Tak behind him with his arms still crossed. A lump gets caught in my throat—how the hell am I going to explain him why we were out so late? “The boys wanted to spend more time out in Vegas and I was a nice enough nanny to let them”? Haha, no. He’d fire me right here, right now if I tell him that.

                Though, before I could think of a lie to tell, Kai speaks up behind me, “We’re really sorry. Noona and Suho-hyung really wanted us to get back as soon as possible but we begged them to let us spend more time out.” Well, so much for trying to get away with a white lie.

                Mr. Tak raises a brow, “Is this true? Suho? Alice?”

                Again, before I could respond, Suho speaks up while placing a hand on Kai’s shoulder, “Yes, it is. We’re very sorry. Please don’t blame Noona. We hung out at an empty bar and had a few shakes and sodas to drink. Perfectly harmless.”

                I open my mouth to add something, anything, but then Chanyeol’s hand finds its way to mine as he stands next to me, clutching it, stopping me. I glance up to him and he flashes a warm smile without looking at me. I close my mouth, knowing now that I should keep quiet or else I’ll ruin everything.

                Mr. Tak looks at the members before looking at me. Slowly, his expression begins to get calmer before he heaves out a sigh, “I have nothing against letting you boys have fun but please be more responsible next time. Update us as much as possible so we know where you are and what you’re doing, so we can send more escorts to assist. Keep in mind that EXO is an internationally famous group.”

                “T-Thank you, sir,” I say, finally finding my voice. “I’ll be more responsible next time. Thank you.”

                Mr. Tak just nods and smiles before letting himself out, while ushering Keith out as well. Once he’s gone, I breathe out because I swear I was holding my breath during the entire conversation. Thank goodness he doesn’t bite at newbies.

I turn back to the boys and they all let out a sigh of relief. Suho even places a hand on my shoulder and smirks at me, “We’ve got your back, Noona. Don’t worry.”

“That was scary,” I hear Xiumin say as he breathes in deeply. “Let’s never do that again.”

“I’m with hyung,” says Baekhyun before laughing. Every member then laughs along. To be honest, I still can’t believe that I’m older than only two members of this group. They all act like children off-stage, off-camera. But I’m glad they do—they also know how to get out of trouble like kids.

I look at them until my eyes fall onto Kai, who is now standing directly in front of me. He’s laughing along with them, a sight I never thought I’d see so soon. I bury my hands in my jean’s pockets shyly before speaking, “Thanks for saving me. I didn’t know how to explain what happened to Mr. Tak. So, thanks for doing it for me.”

Kai turns to me with a small smile still on his face, “Well, we did force you to let us hang out somewhere. Plus, I mostly forced you. It was my responsibility to get you out of the mess I pulled you into.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Jongin,” I say, slightly surprised, as I place a hand on his shoulder. “It’s nice to know that you actually care.”

Kai lets out a small laugh before his smile disappears. He brushes my hand away and begins to walk away, “Don’t think too much about it.”

Now, he’s back to being a bit of a prick. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

I finally say good night to the boys and Lay walks me out, ruffling my hair like a child. We have an early flight tomorrow and I do not want to disappoint Mr. Tak again.

Though, as I begin walking towards my hotel room, I find Keith just outside my door. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking straight at me. I gulp, hard, as I begin to walk slower, approaching him. Beads of sweat begin to form on my forehead because I really don’t want to talk to him again.

He straightens himself out, making me tense up, and walks towards me with his arms still crossed, “Rough first day, Alice?”

“Nothing I can’t handle, Keith,” I say as I look at my feet, avoiding his gaze. He never fails to make the hairs on my body stand in tension and I hate it, especially now.

“You know, the company is doing quite well under my management,” he says in English, boasting as usual. “It’s doing better, actually.”

                I couldn’t stop myself from scoffing, and replying in English, “Doing well in Europe while their boss is in America?”

                Then, I feel a sharp sting on my right cheek as Keith’s hand flies up to smack me. My own hand finds its way to the aching area as I look up to him, bewildered. This is the first time he has ever laid a hand on me. He can get on my nerves but he would never backhand me, until now. I stay there, shocked and confused.

                “Don’t you dare talk back to me like that, Alice,” he warns me, his voice low, before grabbing a handful of my hair to pull me closer. “Remember, you follow me now. I’m the one who gave you a chance to save the company. The company that’s rightfully mine.”

                “Keith, we’ve talked about this a million time over. My father and your father explained this to you,” I say with a shaky voice as I return to looking at my feet. “You know how the tradition goes—”

                “To hell with that!” he shouts at me, pulling my hair along. “I’m older than you. The company was supposed to be passed down to the eldest!”

                I begin to feel my body tremble in fear and shock as heat begins to build up around where he backhanded me, “No, the company will always be passed down to the eldest child of the previous owner. The previous owner was my father, not yours. I’m the successor—”

                Keith pulls my hair again, harder this time, “The company is rightfully mine and it will be mine.” He finally lets go, throwing me to the carpet ground before walking away with a smirk plastered on his face.

                I feel hot tears beginning to form and threatening to fall. My cheek even feels a lot more painful. Only now do I realize that letting him get a hold of the company, of that much power was a great mistake.

~-~-~-~

                EXO’s staff and airport security were in charge of escorting us from the hotel to the airport so I was relieved of duty until arriving. I honestly can’t remember where the next stop is because I’m still a bit dazed and sleepy. It doesn’t matter, though, because I’d don’t want to waste one morning of silence without having to run around, hand-holding every member of EXO, literally and figuratively.

                Though, once at the airport, I’m back with nanny-duty. Thankfully, the boys are easy on me this morning so I just had to fetch them drinks before lounging in the boarding area with them. They’re all awfully quiet, not that I’m complaining. They’re all either on their phones or sneaking in a nap, facemasks on and a few hoodies and caps too.

                I stand up to rearrange our luggage, piling them closer to us when Sehun grabs my wrist, standing up as well, “Noona, leave them alone. You should just sit with us—the bags will be fine.”

                I smile at him softly before putting down the bag I was holding. I guess I’m not used to traveling with a famous boy group—I’m still conscious about our stuff even though the boarding area is practically empty.

                I stand next to Sehun as I briefly look for a vacant seat, before he lowers his facemask under his chin and smiles back, “You’re fairly tall, Noona.” He then places a hand flat on my head before gesturing sideways towards his shoulder, letting it pass just above it.

                I try not to blush as I playfully swat his hand away, “You’re just too tall.”

                “Whatever you say,” he says, smirking, before grabbing my wrist again and ushering me to sit between him and Suho, who is awake and happily watching us.

                I sit comfortably as Sehun scoots a bit closer to me and rests his head on my shoulder. I couldn’t help but flinch, but he doesn’t budge and proceeds to take a nap. I smile at him as I momentarily place my head on his, receiving a whiff of his sweet-smelling perfume.

                I hear Suho giggle as I lift my head away, making me turn to him, confused, “What is it?”

                “Oh, nothing,” he says, still smiling at me. “It just looks like you have the approval of our maknae. He’s really starting to like you, Noona.”

                I let out a chuckle, placing a hand gently on Sehun’s head, “I feel like I should prepare myself to hand-hold the maknae more often.”

                “I heard that,” Sehun says without even bothering to lift his head.

                Suho laughs again before placing a hand on my knee, the one nearest to him, “You can handle it, Noona. And you need to take care of EXO as a whole with me.”

                I my head sideways, confused, “I thought I’m the only nanny in EXO?”

                “Don’t call yourself that. You’re our Noona,” he says, before playfully poking my cheek. “And I’m EXO’s leader—so we’re a team from now on.”

                I smile at him, genuinely, before I my cheek begins to feel hot until it slowly stings. My smile fades just after Suho turns away. I place a hand on my burning cheek as I remember the events that occurred last night. I didn’t get to sleep much, really. My mind was too preoccupied.

                Keith’s angry face flashes through my mind and I had to stop myself from flinching away.  It scares me to think that letting him have temporary control over the company will fill his head with the need to feel superior.

                Thankfully, he’s probably on his way back to Europe by now—as he should. I just need to keep my distance from him and hope that my younger brother can keep the company together if Keith can’t.

                Though, my thoughts get disturbed when a hand is suddenly placed on my shoulder. I nearly jump, surprised, before Chanyeol leans forward, closer to me. I feel Sehun wake up, as well, as he lifts his head slightly.

                “Noona, if you think your biggest challenge is EXO, think again,” Chanyeol announces with a nervous smile, loud enough for the other members to surely hear. Then, he shows his phone to me, revealing a photo…of me. It’s not a “selfie” or anything like that—it’s a photo of me sitting in this airport right now, with Sehun’s head still on my shoulder as he takes a nap and Suho’s hand on my knee as we talk.

                I snatch his phone from him and begin to scroll down to the comments. I only read a few of them but a couple is already far too much for me.

                “Who is she?”

                “Why is Sehun’s head on her shoulder?”

                “Who’s that girl talking to Junmyeon?!”

                “ARE THEY DATING?!”

                “I’ve never seen her before!”

                What does every internationally famous boy group have? Fans. And EXO’s fans are not so glad to see me with them.