Kris might be young… but he’s not blind.

                Though he was only about to turn 22 and was still very much a rookie, he knew about the world that is KPOP. How dirty it could be as much as it was beautiful. He hadn’t been with SM as long as the rest of his labelmates but he saw. He knew. He saw how Hankyung performed so hard, defeated all struggles and yet look what happened. He saw – and could still see – how Henry Lau and Zhou Mi were very much members of Super Junior. Their members loved them a lot. Yet, still there they were; outcasts.

                Things were getting better. He wasn’t blind to that either. He could see how slowly but surely foreign artists are gaining the much deserved recognition and respect from the fans. Yes, they weren’t Korean… but that’s by blood. He loved Korea. It gave him the greener pasture so to speak. He’s a Korean by heart.

                Yet, he couldn’t help but think… How would he end up in the long run? What would his efforts and hardships result to? He knew he and his groupmates were lucky – that they got to promote in China in front of their fellow countrymen. But would it always be EXO M and EXO K? Never just EXO? Sometimes, he really didn’t even want to know the answer.

“You know, for someone so young… you really think a lot.”

Kris couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “We’re just the same age… You just happen to be a few months older, that’s all.”

“You’re still young. All thing’s considered.” A grin made its way to her face as Sooyoung settled down on the practice room floor beside him. “So what’s up, Kev?”

He had to look away, hoping and praying that his face wasn’t as red as her shirt. Throughout their training years, he had been trained to be one thing and one thing only; to be Kris. It never really did bother him how everyone called him by his stage name as if it really was who he was. He was no longer Wu Yi Fan or Kevin Wu. Just Kris. Then all of a sudden this tall, loud, shikshin of a woman who called him differently from everyone else came waltzing into his life. He didn’t know what bothered her more – the fact that she was one of the rare people who called him by his real name or how it made him feel.

“Not much… just catching a breath.” He suddenly grew uncertain of what he was going to say next. “Uh… We met Hankyung hyung backstage in China.”

Sooyoung arched an eyebrow in interest. “The next time you run into him, tell him to get his back here... and that Heechul oppa misses him so much.”

The EXO M leader had to laugh at that. “I don’t think he’ll appreciate that coming from me.”

“Well, then tell him it was from me.” She rolled her eyes this time around. “He’ll understand it. I promise. So you don’t need to worry yourself. Hankyung oppa is really nice, you know. Shy… but nice.”

“I’ll let him know when I get the chance, almost-noona.”

The tall brunette sat up straighter. “What did you say?”

“Almost-noona.” He snickered at the look of confusion on her face. It was adorable, really. “What? We’re the same age but you’re still older than me in a way. So there you go – almost-noona.”

“You and your bright ideas.” The SNSD member shook her head, pulling her long legs closer to her chest. “So what were you thinking about earlier, dear leader?”

                He actually thought of what he was going to say. Should he tell her? Should he give her an answer that sounded so much like Kris, the dependent, reliable leader of EXO M or should give her an answer that was very much Kevin, the young man who was a foreigner in the land he worked for and who had been away from home for so long? The more he thought about it, the more one answer came clearer and clearer. If there was one thing he could say about the woman beside him, it was that she always saw everyone for who they were.

She was never quick to judge, having this uncanny ability of reading people like they were merely books. It really didn’t surprise him that she was like that, taking into account all the things she herself went through to get to where she was today. Kris lowered his head a fraction, avoiding her gaze. Taking a deep breath, he finally answered her.

“How do you do it, almost-noona?”

                Sooyoung blinked at the question, opening instinctively to answer only to shut it again. Slowly, a smile made its way across her beautiful face. As a young rookie, she knew that there was so much burden on his shoulders especially since he was the leader of one half of a high publicized boy group. She had been through that kind of pressure too and she knew what he felt, what he really was asking about.

“It’s not easy.” The leggy shikshin answered carefully, staring straight ahead of her. “You know, sometimes they forget that we’re people too; that we get hurt, feel tired, lose hope at times. Being called anorexic, a … Yeah, you have to let them slide. You gotta make sure it doesn’t affect you. But those words do. I let them slide but they still leave a wound somewhere in me.”

“But it’s not true what they’re saying.” Kris protested immediately, finally looking up from his feet. “You’re beautiful, almost-noona.”

“I know.” She smiled gently; her gaze locking with his. “I’m not saying it because I wanna brag or anything like. I’m saying it because I know who I am. I believe I’m beautiful just the way I am and I don’t need anyone to tell me otherwise.”

Kris heaven out a sigh, looking away again. “So what should I do?”

“You’ve just started, Kev. You’ve got a long, long way to go just by how SM’s promoting all of you.” Her reply was rewarded with a snort from the man beside her. She then rested her head on the crook of his neck, causing Kris to stare wide eyed at the crown of her head. “Just know who you are, Kev. You can’t go wrong that way.”

                He didn’t bother to say anything more after that and so did she; the two silently staring ahead of them. Anyone could walk in on them anytime and for some reason, he didn’t quite bring himself to care that he was supposed to act like Kris, the exo-leader, one of the hoobaes of majority of SM Town. So he gently laid his head above hers and let out a contented sigh.

Laughter filled the room soon after as both Sooyoung and Kris relaxed even more with each other’s company.

They were going to be just fine.