Chapter Forty Two

“Welcome to your voice messaging system. You have-3 unheard messages. First message:”
“Hey Ileana, it’s Kai. I managed to convince the Technology ministers’ secretaries to let them see me under the pretense that I have a glitch. Hopefully they won’t open me up before I have a chance to explain. Anyways, the meeting’s sometime tomorrow and I’ll give you a call afterward if I don’t see you before the next meeting. Bye.“
“End of message. Next message: ”
“Ileana? It’s Chen. Getting a meeting with the Foreign Affairs ministers was tougher than it needed to be. I had to pull all the strings I could in order to see them for a mere ten minutes. I don't think you realize how much you owe me. So, I expect you brewing me teas for weeks. Prepare yourself.”
“End of message. Next message: "
“Ileana, where the heck are you? I’ve just, jeez, just thinking about it makes me angry! Those women…they’re unbelievable! Never in my life have I met such difficult women. Get this, I go to this meeting, they take one look at me and told me to leave. ME. I tried all the tricks in the book and they kicked me right out. I don’t know what I’m going to do now. They won’t even let me in the damn building. Sorry about this Ileana, it’s just…those women! I guess we’ll talk about a different course of action in the next meeting. Bye.”
“End of messages, home menu. If you-“

Ileana hung up the COMM in her apartment and processed the messages. It seemed like they hit their first obstacle with the Women's Quarter, of all the sections. Ileana tried to figure out what to do with the Women Quarter's ministers as she tracked her way to the kitchen. She started organizing what she got from Sector K’s plaza on the kitchen counter. She frowned down at the baby portion which took up half the counter. She really had no idea what she was supposed to do with them. She finished folding a small pale yellow onesie when the doorbell rang.

She cruised her way to the door and opened it to meet a casual Kris. He gave her a gentle smile, “Hi, can I come in?” She in returned blinked up at him. Not really seeing a reason to say no, she stood to the side and allowed Kris access to her apartment. She looked past him and saw no one had accompanied him. She slowly closed the door.

“Is there something wrong?” She asks, not really getting why Kris was visiting her.

“No, everything’s good.” Kris reassured her. “I just thought I could maybe drop by for a visit. You said you were feeling a little cooped up in here earlier today…but I can leave if you would like me to, I won’t take any offense.” Kris motioned to the door. She brushed past him and gave him a small grin.

“It’s okay. I was just sorting through some things I bought earlier today. If you want to hang around while I do that and keep me company, that’s fine.” She backed up in the hallway leading to the kitchen, watching as Kris took off his shoes.

They both arrived in the kitchen and she motioned for him to take a seat on one of the barstool resting by the kitchen island. She poured him a glass of water and passed it to him before she busied herself with folding again. He drank the water when something caught his eye.

“Isn’t that…for a baby?” Kris asked, staring at the piece of clothing Ileana was folding.

She rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah. Didn’t you know? I’m two months pregnant. I didn’t find out until today either.”

Kris chocked on his water accordingly. He whipped his hand against his mouth and tried to calm himself. “You must be joking.” He said through coughing.

“Believe me when I say I wish Chanyeol was joking when he was trying to convince the Labour minister about our plan. Now, look at me, stuck having to organize several presents for a baby that doesn’t exist.”

“But how does you having a baby convince the Labour minister?” Kris eyes her stomach a little before she notices and wraps her arms around it.

“The minister’s sappy about children, all right? Chanyeol said stuff like wanting a better future for his wife, aka me, and his unborn child and the minister ate it right up. I guess I should warn Suho about this, in case the minister brings it up.” She winces, picturing Suho’s laughter in her ears.  She notices Kris pondering expression and leans down on the island.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

“I'm thinking that Chanyeol’s brilliant and that I should have brought you with me when I was convincing Sector M's Labour minister.” Kris smirked with a twinkle in his eye. Ileana jokingly glared and shoved Kris lightly.

“No thanks, one pretend husband is more than plenty.”

“What about a real one?” The air went tense and Ileana took a step away from the island.

“I’m too young for a real one.” She says as she turns around to face the counter and folded the remaining baby clothes.

“Not here, you’re not.”

“Yeah, but I’m not from here.” She made sure to accentuate the last word and sent Kris a meaningful gaze that told him to drop the topic. There was a few moments of silence before Kris sighed.

“I’m sorry. I’m being senseless.” Kris admits and ruffles his hair in irritation. Ileana bit her lip hard, wanting to tell him it was okay but she knew it would be a lie.  Kris abruptly sits up from his barstool. “I’ll take my leave now. Sorry to disturb you.” He takes a few steps back and pauses. “Am I the only one who misses the connection we had?”

Ileana swallows her discomfort. “No…” She murmured out in reply. She wasn’t sure why he was asking. It would just make things more difficult in the future.

“Okay.” He whispers and looks down while bitterly smiling, “At least I have that.” He looks up and nods to Ileana before turning and walking away. She listens to his footsteps echoing down the hallway and then a door closing.

She promptly lets her forehead meet the countertop with a thud. She squeezes her eyes shut and curses the guilt away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, the doorbell rings again. She whines to herself as usual and forces her body to the door. She wakens a little when she comes face to face with an aggravated looking D.O

“Can we talk?” He says, his voice clearly not open for argument. She nods cautiously and lets him in. They walk into the living room and share the couch. “You need to do something about Sehun and Kris.” He says bluntly while massaging the sides of his temple.

She rapidly blinks, completely being taken aback, “Have you been talking to Baekhyun or something?”

“No. But I’ve been getting headaches due to their stupid rivalry. I could barely stand the meeting yesterday. By the way, what did you say to Kris last night? I’ve been having the biggest migraine because of it.” D.O moans and leans back on the couch with his eyes shut.

She stumbles with her words, trying to understand what was going on. “H-How do you even know I saw him last night? Does this have to do with your….seer-ness?”

“Yes. Since Kris and Sehun’s feedback energies are very concentrated, I’m having a difficult time blocking their influences.” D.O explains. “I’m begging you, please talk to them soon.”

She sighs, “I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to talk to them soon. I didn’t realize it would affect you so much.”

“I may be the only one being affected physically, but the others are being affected in other ways too. We need to be united right now and this is putting a strain on that unity.”

Ileana nodded, “All right. I’ll talk with Sehun after I finish work today.”  At least that gave her the day to sort her words out and D.O seemed pleased enough with the plan. “How are things with you besides that?”

“Good. I’ve contacted Sector K’s Medical and Citizenship ministers and have them on board now. We’re really close, Ileana and that’s why you need to sort this issue with Kris and Sehun as soon as you can.”

“I understand.” She says in lowly. D.O nods and stands up from the couch. She walks him to the door and bids him goodbye. Ileana sighs as she closes the door. She glances to the wall clock hanging a few feet away and gasps. She hurried to her room and makes her way to her wardrobe. She quickly changes into a new outfit, thanks for her shopping spree from the day before, and leaves her apartment.

When Ileana arrives to her secretary desk, she barely has enough time to place her things down before the phone rings, “Hello. This is Lay’s office secretary, Ileana,  how may I help you?”

“Where’s my tea?”

“I just got here, Lay.” Ileana rolled her eyes and placed her satchel in a drawer.

“Yes, so where’s my tea?”

“Well, I would go make it if someone wasn’t talking to me on the phone right now.”

“Then tell them you have something very important to attend to at this very moment and it cannot wait. Because I want my tea. Now.”

“As you wish.  Boss, I have something very important to attend to at this very moment and it cannot wait. So, have a good day.” And she hung up the phone.

You guys are troopers. I'm sorry for such a long wait for such a short chapter. I could feed you reasons like my work being dumb but, I still feel like I should do better. I'm sorry. :(

Anyways, things are about to nitty gritty soon. You guys pumped? But before I go and write, a thought came to me. One that I was kind of against at first but after reading some comments, it left me a little more open minded. So, the question is:
ALTERNATE ENDINGS: YES OR NO?
Answer in comment section~~

OR

OR BOTH? Tell me guyss~~

In regards to the poll from last update: 
I'm planning to do a long oneshot/shortshortshort short story with a Sandman concept (ie: the tale where there's a man that come to you at night and uses sand to make you fall asleep). Looks like Lay is DOMINATING.

I think both Lay and Kai work for a Sandman character. For Lay, his eyes do it for me. They seem so endless and it seems they hold so much knowledge in them. I just love pictures of him like the one above, which really show his charismatic side (I love his playful side too of course). It's just gahh.

I also feel like Kai would work well because he gives a mature yet inexperienced feel at the same time, which I think I could incorporate well into a Sandman concept oneshot.  
Either way, I won't write the oneshot until this fic is done and the poll will be active until then. So, haven't voted yet? VOTE NOW. 

Same thing with my next story. In the last chapter of this story, I will include a short description of each concept I'm interested in and you guys can hopefully vote accordingly. Not telling you the concepts til then though teeheee ~<3

Also, comment replies will now be in here. Why? I tried it in my other fics and like it better. Teehee. So yeah. Here we goo~~ (I have some catching up to do...)

COMMENT REPLIES:

@SapphireSeptember - Ooo, pretty username ^^ Thank you so much for the lovely comment! I'm glad you like the setting, plot and interactions. I know there's a lot of alien!fanfics out there with EXO where they go to earth instead of the OC going to EXO. Thanks for giving this story a chance :)  And I accept your laughter as a comment, no worries lol. 

@Neesanessa - Thank youu, I'm all better now, sorry for taking a while to update though /lesobs. I'm bad :(

@yeollikeabuffalo - AHAHA, there you goo Sandman explained ~~<3

@Roseclear -  Goodness! That must have taken you awhile! Thanks for reading up til this point :) And thanks complimenting my writing, so nice :')

@zombiecandy - BACON DESERVES SOME STORY TIME. He didn't really appear much in the teasers, so I was like now that all the teasers are out of the way, *throws a bone to bacon lovers* And thankkk you, I'm all better now :)

@fy-exotics - ...I will if you read mine? Not to be rude, but don't advertise in the comment section, especially if you haven't bothered to read this fic (Maybe you have, I don't know...but moving on). If you want to advertise, please do it on my wall like everyone else. 

@xXBubblizXx - LOL, I was surprised by how many people liked the Chanyeol/unborn child scenario. Ahaha, I'm causing you some grief, aren't I? My badddd *troll face* Lol, it's okay. I'm not going to force you to comment. Comment when you want to dearie, dearie. :) SLEEP, sleep is important <3 Aahaha, yeah haven't been able to update much. I'm sorry :(  YES, you can call me unnie. I would feel honoured ><" 

@skuxasianchick - Ahaha, glad you liked it. It was a of genius, didn't realize the scenario would be so popular teehee. Thank youuu~~<3

@NinjiPandi - But, we love him that way of course XP

@LALULALIDO - Chanyeol=boss. Of course. Just saying. He's good with his words ;)

@parktaemi - Yes, yes he is. :P

@toblerone - Lol, yup. He's a little genius :P And I thought it seemed like a neat scenario, I wanted Ileana to contribute when convincing one or two ministers :) I'm surprised so many people liked it lol. 

@GDbaby700 - :D Yayy. And Chanyeol is a super genius behind all that frizzy hair. XP

@Jaerin - IKR! I can totally see Chanyeol pulling this scenario in real life, except with more snark? Maybe? Lol.

@xLadySakurax - XP

@nikkayheyy - LOL <3

@lilenur - Lol, glad you liked last update XP My bad, my bad. I hope the pictures in this update make up for it. :P 

@Serene - Yeah, I more imagined her to be 18 years old-ish (so I guess a senior in high school). I'm sorry if that ruined how you imagined her, I should have left that a little more open ended :(

@citedFriedRice - Your username made me giggle :) Teehee, Chanyeol's got the moves/words. 

@Lullycream - Mhm mhm. It's been a while for Luhan and Baekhyun deserves some screen/word time :P I'm glad you liked the dialogue. I like to think my strong suit is dialogue when it comes to writing. >> If fanfics were like scripts, I would shoot these fics like no tomorrow. Dialogue=easy, describing everything else=not so easy. Oh well. Some things just can't be said using dialogue (gosh, what am I saying now, so irrevlant). Lol, Chanyeol was a taste of comic relief. I get those urges when I write too serious for too long, I'm like *throws derpy Chanyeol* DO SOMETHIN FUNNY, GOOOO. 
Lol, maybe I'll kill them all off. WHAT WILL YOU DO THEN?! D:D:D:!! And thank you for your concerns, Imma all better. :) Now, just need to sleep some more and I'll be all set. 

@shiningdream - Oh! Hello! Welcome :) I'm really glad you think the fic's creative :D Happy happiness. Ahaha, thanks for liking that line too. I might have put too much thought into that one XP. 


Thanks to all the comments! 

Onto giveaway!

*Throws a stripping Kris...*

*But then Chen walks in out of no where and blocks your sight...cause he's a troll*

Damn that Chen. Ruining the moment like that! *leglares*

Kay bye now~~<3