Seohyun trailed behind Taeyeon and Tiffany as the three girls made their way to SNSD’s manager’s office. She wondered what this was about, as he had only called the TTS subunit to his office. Maybe a new schedule? But SMTOWN Live was coming up, and they had been spending most of their time preparing for that.

 

Taeyeon twisted the knob to the office, and Seohyun quickly walked in behind her and Tiffany.

 

Luhan stood next to EXO’s manager, along with EXO K’s Chanyeol, D.O, and Sehun. Seohyun locked eyes with him instantly, and she couldn’t tell if she was nervous for having to work with him again or happy to have an excuse to spend time with him. She hated how SM made her feel like one of the best things that had ever happened to her was wrong, like she was committing some kind of crime.

 

“Girls, you will be in a special collaboration with these four boys from EXO at the SMTOWN Live concerts. The song you will be performing is American, “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love Again” by Usher, but it’s a Korean remix. I hope you will be ready for this challenge,” SNSD’s manager announced at once.

 

EXO’s manager nodded. “You will begin practicing now. The lyric sheets and choreographers are already in the practice room.”

 

Seohyun could barely process all the information she was receiving at once. Collaboration stage? With EXO? With Luhan? She quickly bowed with her unnies and the EXO members as the seven left the office together, walking down towards the practice studios in an awkward silence.

 

Taeyeon led the way into the room, finding two choreographers in there already and a pile of papers with lyrics written on them.

 

Seohyun lingered behind a little bit so she could catch Luhan’s eye as he walked in, but he seemed to be purposely looking at everyone but her, even as they began to practice together.

 

After four hours of practice, Seohyun felt exhausted. She lingered behind again as her unnies and the EXO members left, knowing Luhan would stay behind too so they could practice and talk as usual.

 

When they finally all left, Luhan turned to look at Seohyun. “Hey.”

 

Seohyun met his eyes for the first that day and saw the usual excitement to see her in them, but there was something else behind it.

 

Defeat.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked instantly. Luhan seemed surprised, then smiled tightly. “Nothing. Why?”

 

Seohyun walked up to him, grabbing his left hand in both of hers. Luhan’s eyes widened even more, as she rarely ever initiated skinship. “You don’t have to lie to me, you know. You can tell me anything.”

 

Luhan sighed, and the defeat in his eyes washed over his entire face. “You shouldn’t have to bear my burden.”

 

“I should,” Seohyun refuted. “That’s what I’m here for.”

 

Luhan looked down at her face and saw her gentle smile. “Alright then,” he relented, leading both of them to the sofa in the corner of the room. They sat down together, hands still clasped tightly, and Seohyun spoke first. “So what’s going on?”

 

Luhan sighed, looking away from her, almost in shame. “EXO is failing.”

 

Seohyun froze. “What do you mean?”

 

“We’re not doing as well as we should be,” Luhan admitted. “The management is considering us a failure.”

 

Seohyun couldn’t believe her ears. “But you just debuted! They can’t just jump to conclusions like that!”

 

“Well, you know them, only caring about their money,” Luhan said bitterly. “And to them, we’re a waste of it.”

 

Seohyun sat in shock, not really sure what to say. “Is that why you’re collaborating with so many sunbaes? Is that why we’re performing together?” Luhan just nodded in response, still not meeting her eyes. “Look at me, jagiyah.” The word slipped out of before she could think about it, and Luhan quickly spun around to face her.

 

“What does that mean?” he asked out of pure curiousity.

 

Seohyun felt her cheeks grow warm. “It’s a term couples call each other,” she stated as matter-of-factly as possible. Her embarrassment and regret seemed to fade, however, when Luhan smiled his usual bright smile, the one that made his eyes shine, for the first time that day.

 

“Really? Like 宝贝?” Luhan spoke in Chinese.

 

This time Seohyun was curious. She always was about his native language. “What does that mean?”

 

“Jagiyah, apparently,” Luhan responded, grinning even wider. “Can I call you that?”

 

Seohyun blushed even harder. “Of course, jagiyah. But we’re not done talking.”

 

Luhan’s grin seemed to fade again as he remembered what they were talking about in the first place. “What did you want to say?”

 

“I just wanted to tell you, you’ll make it,” Seohyun said weakly, knowing her words were worth next to nothing. “I know it doesn’t mean anything, but I believe in you, jagiyah,” she added, trying to get him to smile.

 

It worked. “It means everything, 宝贝,” Luhan replied, the softest smile she had ever seen spreading slowly across his face. “谢谢你。”

 

Seohyun leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder as he slid an arm around her waist. “不用客气。”