“I am here! And now let us dance the night away!” Chanyeol danced as he entered. He always had to make an entrance that was dramatic when he was happy.

“You finished your recording?” Minseok asked, “Where is Kyungsoo? I thought you were together.” they all casually ignored the gray suit.

“Oh we were, but he had to make a trip to the washroom,” Chanyeol said, “why are you all standing and staring at me like that?”

“Hyung, you hit that uncle,” Jongin said.

“What! What uncle?” Chanyeol whipped around to see the gray suit, “oh my god, I am so sorry! Did I hit you! I swear I did not mean to!”

Being ignored and having suffered the injury, ignited fury in a grey suit, as he shrugged off Chanyeol's helping hand and marched towards Junmyeon.

“I know you know,” he seethed.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Junmyeon replied. By this time Jongdae and Minseok had gotten up and formed a wall with Junmyeon to hide Jongin.

“Are you trying to implicate our impeccable leader?” Minseok asked with a tilted head and a challenge in his eyes.

“Whatever, Mr Jongin, we will be releasing a statement and a few photographs of yours of recent events….”

“The events I was supposed to attend you mean,” Sehun said. Baekhyun almost back paddled out of the room when he saw the gray suit. He was relieved when Jongdae approached and dragged him out of the room, excusing himself.

“Ugh, yes, we will let you go to the next ones,” the grey suit said, “I have more pressing matters to discuss. Like…”

“Let me?” Sehun asked incredulously, “Hyung, he said, let me!”

Junmyeon smiled at Sehun, while Minseok just burst out laughing. Gray suit ignored them both and looked at Jongin,

“As I was saying, we will be releasing pictures and statements confirming you and Krystal are dating. We will need you”

“Wait a minute, confirming? What? We were never that close,” Jongin asked, stepping forward.

“It is just a formality to help your numbers”

“Our numbers will rise whenever we step on the stage,” Minseok said as he casually draped his hand around Jongin's shoulder.

“Our numbers, Hyung, he said help our numbers,” Sehun said as he laughed.

“This is not a joke. We are doing this for your good, don’t mock adults”

“Then you should not mock us,” Junmyeon said, “and actually listen to us. Don’t make these false controversies, fans are pretty quick to know lies. It will only hamper us.”

“We know what will work or not!”

“Then why didn’t it work with Baekhyun Hyung,” Sehun asked, “why was he so distressed for a week before we had to apply for an off? If you knew, then why didn’t you know how negatively fans' anger will affect us?”

“It was an exceptional case”

“Well, every case is exceptional, isn’t it? Then why insist on using the same technique?” Jongdae asked.

Minseok felt Jongin's shoulder shake under his hand as they continued to argue. He turned Jongin towards him, “Jongin? c'mon, look at me,” he said gently and softly.

“Hyung, they won't, right?” Jongin whispered.

“No, we won’t let them, don’t worry,” he reassured, “we will talk to…” his voice was cut off by the sudden angry burst of the gray suit

“It has already been done!”

“What has already been done?” Jongdae asked.

“We have had the media follow Jongin and Krystal for their outings for a month now! They have evidence and we have already released a statement today.”

“You sent them on purpose? For this?” Sehun asked, “Without even informing them? Do we now have to be scared to interact with everyone in the company? So that we don’t get caught in fake rumors?”

“Why?” Jongdae asked, “Why would you? You could have informed us! We could have done variety shows, gone on boot camp or anything for that matter! Why this? Why?” Junmyeon and Minseok gave him a stink eye for his whiny tone.

“This has nothing to do with you!”

“It has everything to do with us. Our members, our maknae, our group, so, yes, it has everything to do with us,” Junmyeon quipped.

“All I need is to inform Jongin to go for a few more outings now, nothing to speak to you all!”

“I won’t do it!” Jongin screamed, “I don’t want to!”

Jongin had been known to be polite from the beginning. Bowing machine, epitome of gentleness and kind manners had been his calling cards, along with dancing machine. So his screaming surprised everyone. Everyone in the room, stunned by the loudness of Jongin's voice, could only stare at him. They had never heard him scream or even speak at that volume. He could have waited for more words to be spoken, but in the silence of the room Kyungsoo stepped in. Once Jongin saw him, he rushed towards Kyungsoo. He bent forward to hide his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder

“Kyungsoo-ah” he sobbed.

“Jongin-ah, what is wrong?”

“Kyungsoo-ah, they want me to….” Jongin heaved deep breaths to control what he felt. 

Kyungsoo scanned the room, until they rested on the leader. Junmyeon lifted his chin towards the doors, to which Kyungsoo nodded. With his hand on Jongin's back, patting it and drawing circles. His eyes scanned again and found the gray suit. He bowed his head to the gray suit who returned the greeting.

“Let us go and grab something for our guest,” Kyungsoo said. He turned Jongin to rest more on his shoulder.

“Seriously Hyung,” Sehun snickered at the politeness of Kyungsoo. An elbow jab from Junmyeon, he coughed to cover it up. 

Chanyeol stared at the pair. 

He wanted to join them, more like protect them, but he did not even know what was going on. When Kyungsoo looked at him, he could muster just enough to smile at him. He must not have done a good job as Kyungsoo looked at him questioningly. He shook his head and looked away. He prayed his jealousy was subtle, at least let it be subtle today!

“Chanyeol,” he said, surprising him.

“Yeah?” he asked hesitantly, wiping his hands on his pants to ease his nervousness. Still not looking at Kyungsoo

“You coming?” he asked and suddenly Chanyeol couldn’t not look at him. His face was a question mark personified. He stared with mouth open at Kyungsoo. His gaze slipped to Jongin. Jongin opened his eyes just as Chanyeol's gaze fell on him. It felt like hours to them, when it was just a few seconds before Jongin nodded. Chanyeol never ran so fast to reach them.

Actually, that was a lie, he always ran that fast towards them.