.four. room change

The ride from the hospital to the SM housing building where many of the idols lived was about a half hour, and Lu Han spent it mostly on his phone, since he noticed that Tao was too busy looking out the window in an attempt to avoid a conversation. As soon as the car stopped in front of the building, Yena was once again relieved that she didn't need to talk to anyone right away. She climbed out of the car and scanned the crowd of boys for the SM Representative that had picked her up from the SM Town studio building and taken her to the hospital to meet the other boys. She couldn't just walk into the building and expect to find her way around on the first day, she didn't even know which dorm belonged to Tao, much less which floor they were even living on.

Lu Han walked ahead of her, only pausing for a second to look back and see if she was following. When he noticed that she--who was dressed up as a he--stood there frozen on the sidewalk next to the car, he smiled at her and took a few steps in her direction. He then placed a hand on her shoulder and asked a question, his dark brown eyes searching for hers. "Good to be back, Tao?" He asked her in in Mandarin with a friendly smile on his lips. 

Yena was taken by surprise by this--the fact that Lu Han spoke her native language. Lu Han sounded like a perfectly Chinese name to her, but she couldn't be too sure. In Korea, idols often changed their names to something that was more appealing to their fans. Still, she knew from her brother that there were three other Chinese members in EXO, but she didn't know who they were since they had all greeted her in Korean back at the hospital. She realized now that it was because of the filming that was getting done for the afternoon broadcast on Tao's health.

Yena blushed bright red and nodded in response to his question. 

In the next second, she stepped away from his close proximity to her and raced ahead to catch up with the representative. The rest of the boys walked ahead of them, eventually leaving them behind. As the boys loaded into the elevator, Yena remained in the lobby with the representative from SM. She had many more questions before she could be left in a living quarters with eleven boys she didn't know, but who certainly knew her--or her brother, anyway.

"Am I going to get my own room?" She wondered, eyeing the suit dressed man.

He shook his head. "Everyone has a room partner. Yours is Kris, the boy who hugged you first at the hospital."

Mr. Touchy Touchy she recalled from his greeting, and it was natural that he had been so relieved to see her. He had been worried about Tao's health. But for Yena it was still so bizarre that he would hug her and linger for so long. She didn't quite have the same feelings of fondness towards him that her brother might've had. If she had to be honest, Kris was the last person she wanted to be told she was paired with. There was nothing wrong with him as a person. The problem was that it was evident Kris and Tao were very good friends and she was afraid he would quickly catch on to her lie. 

"Can I get a new room partner?" She quickly and insistently requested a different room mate. Remembering the way he had given her the necessary space in the car--as well as the way in which he had made her blush so easily--she added the question, "What about Lu Han? Is Lu Han available?" Her dark eyes watched the SM representative in anticipation as she waited for an answer.

The man shook his head. "Minseok and Lu Han are room partners. That was the way they were assigned."

The young girl pouted upon hearing the response--fearing that she might get caught in her lie before she had even started. "You need to make that room change for me. That boy--Lu Han--was the only one who didn't pressure me into having to speak to him. The only place I'll feel comfortable is in that room." Yena pleaded, sounding rather desperate. If Kris was very close with Tao, it would only be a matter of time before he would start suspecting her. But if she put distance between them by changing bedrooms, she could continue lying and pretending she was the same boy everyone knew and remembered. Thinking about sharing the room with someone who was concerned for her, yet still gave her personal space, was very comforting for the twenty year old. She didn't doubt the other boys had good intentions, but she didn't want to say anything which would screw anything up. SM had to help her make that room change. It was in their own best interest.

The representative seemed to think about it for a moment, until he finally decided it was the best course of action. "I'll talk to Minseok and ask him if it would be okay for the two of you to switch rooms."

-

She had followed the representative up to the floor where everyone was staying--the sixth floor of the housing building which housed SM Entertainment's five active groups and their solo artists. The entire floor looked like an apartment building with doors to her left and right. At the very end of the hall was a stairwell to the right that led to the other floors and a door that went out to a balcony with picnic tables adorned with parasols for protection from the sun. On the opposite end was a lounge room with a television, couches, and games for the boys to play on their free time.

Yena walked into the empty lounge room while the representative went to talk to Minseok. 

Sat on one of the couches in the room, she wasn't sure how long she waited before the representative returned to her. But it hadn't been very long, since she felt like she had only been sitting there for about five minutes.

The man entered the room, and Yena got back on her feet, waiting for good news. "I talked to Minseok," The man began to explain, his expression so serious and unreadable. "At first he was reluctant to accept, but I convinced him by telling him that you wanted to practice your Korean with Lu Han, since he seems to be better at it than the rest of the EXO-M members--the ones who aren't Korean of course." 

EXO-M. 

That was one thing she knew about and remembered from back home. She didn't know who the members in the group were, or what they looked like--apart from Tao of course. But she had a friend back home who was always playing their music and trying to convince Yena to give them a chance. She never did, and looking back on it, she knew it could have helped her now with all the names she needed to remember.

Yena sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"Your things are in room 227M, and your new room is in 221M. Go pack your things and take them to your new room." He instructed her, and then left her in the dorm building. From that point on, Yena knew SM wouldn't do very much more to make her comfortable and that she would have to fend for herself.

She left the lounge area and walked into the now empty hallway--since the other boys had already returned to their rooms by now. The rooms directly across the lounge were all labeled with numbers followed by the letter M, which she assumed were for the Mandarin speaking idols--or members in Mandarin subgroups like her brother Tao was. The ones on the same side as the lounge were labeled with numbers followed by the letter K for Korean speaking idols--or idols belonging to Korean subgroups. She had to walk about three doors down to reach the room she was supposed to share with Kris. 

As though knowing it would be open, she grabbed the doorknob and pushed opened the door. Inside was Kris sitting on the bed, typing away on his phone with a look of pure concentration. He didn't even flinch--didn't even acknowledge Yena--as she entered the room. No doubt he already heard the news that she had requested a change in rooms and there would be tension as well as maybe even bad blood between them because of it. Yena didn't want that to happen--Tao and Kris were apparently good friends--but it was something she had to do. Yena walked over to her side of the room and went to the closet, picking up an empty luggage and placing it on her bed. Slowly, she began packing her brother's belongings, her eyes avoiding Kris the entire time. She felt strange and embarrassed in his presence.

She was nearly done packing when Kris spoke to her for the first time since she had been in the hospital. "So, what's the real reason you asked for a room change?" He asked in Mandarin, beginning his question with a long sigh. He looking up from his cellphone screen and looking at her, but she continued to avoid his eyes.

Yena gave a small shrug of her shoulders, telling the same lie that the representative had told Minseok. "Lu Han's gonna help me with my Korean."

"Right. Of course." Kris scoffed and gave a roll of his dark brown eyes. His tone of voice was cold, and in managed to intimidate Yena. He clearly didn't believe an ounce of what Tao was saying.

"Fine." Yena sighed, finally turning to look at him with the most convincing lie she could manage to create. "They forced me to move into Lu Han's dorm because they said my Korean needed a lot of help." By they she had been talking about the people of SM Entertainment. Though they hadn't been the ones to force her into that decision, she did think they were responsible for many of the other things her brother did, or didn't do. Like visiting family. Because of his busy schedule, Yena hardly ever saw her brother anymore. She accredited that to SM. After a short pause, she added, "They said he was the one Chinese member of EXO-M that had very good Korean language skills and mine aren't so great. They wanted someone who could help me, but also understand me."

"Well that's true." He agreed that the excuse was something plausible. Yena shot him a surprised look. As her supposed friend, he could have at least denied the fact, if only to make her feel better.

As she finished packing, she pulled her luggage off the bed and heaved a sigh. "Well, I'm off. But don't worry. I'll be just down the hall. Its not like you won't be seeing me every day."

Still, it was obvious to her that Kris was upset to see Tao leave.

-

a/n: sorry that i haven't updated in a while, everyone. i started school this week and it has been very stressful. but now i'll rty to keep posting updates regularly since this story is posted with more chapters somewhere else.

thank you all for reading and have a great week!

-clary xx