ENJOY ♥

It's been a while since i updated, so i advise reading the last chapter to just...get a recap.

What’s all that whispering?

As I came back to consciousness, I could hear numerous voices talking quietly around me, although I couldn’t make out what they were saying properly. I heard some movement nearby and then Tao’s hoarse voice, in some kind of attempt at whispering.

“Guys, he’s waking up!”

There was lots of shuffling and then everything went silent as I opened my eyes. I was greeted by Tao’s face less than an inch away from mine.

“Aish!! Get the hell away from me you creeper!” I yelled and jumped back. Tao smiled at me, his eyes turning into slits.

“Good morning, Minseok hyung.” He said in a bright, chirpy voice.

I raised an eyebrow at him. He wasn’t usually this bright and energetic in the mornings. He was acting suspicious. “Yeah, same to you.” He smiled again and moved back, nodding his head in satisfaction.

“Kyungsoo made some food, come get it before it all gets eaten, ok?” He informed me. I waited for him to say something else, but nothing came. He turned and left the room. I frowned and crawled out of bed. Maybe they’ll do it later together…

I grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe and made my way over to the bathroom. After a quick, hot shower, I got dressed and came out of the bathroom, tossing my pyjamas and towel into the room and then going to the living room. The guys were all over the place, eating, getting dressed, packing their things, and they didn’t even see me coming in.

“Oh you’re here, hyung?” I heard D.O’s voice from behind me and turned to see him coming out of the kitchen with a bowl in his hands. “Here, eat this quickly, and then we have to go.” He said, handing me the bowl. I look down into it to see the steaming liquid.

A smile spread across my lips. “You made seaweed soup?”

D.O turned around and nodded with a smile.

“Why?” I asked.

He looked at me blankly for a second, with his wide eyes. “Oh, no particular reason. The guys said they didn’t want anything heavy to eat before practise, so I made that.”

My face fell. “Oh… I see.” It wasn’t for me…

I quickly swallowed down the soup dejectedly and, after rinsing the bowl, returned to my room and sat down on the bed. Doesn’t seem like any of them remember. It’s ok…maybe they will remember soon. It’s still too early yet. “Come on, guys, move faster! Daesuk hyung is waiting outside for us already!” I heard Suho’s voice come from the living room. I let out a sigh and got up from the bed again, grabbing my backpack and loading a hoody, a couple changes of clothes and my iPod into it. I found most of the guys already making their way out of the apartment when I returned to the living room.

“Let’s go, Hyung!” Kai clapped me on the back as he, too, left the apartment. Do they really not remember? It was a little strange since they normally remembered every other year, so how had they forgotten this time? Maybe because we were in a different environment now…? I sighed again and turned towards the last person in the apartment.

Kris was smiling down at his phone. I had a pretty good hunch what, or rather who, was making him smile. I wouldn’t have expected this love struck fool to remember at all. “Kris…we are leaving.” I called out to him.

“Huh? Oh yeah…let’s go!” He hastily shoved his phone into his pocket and grabbed his bag, making his way out of the door behind me. I waited for him to lock the door, but instead, he turned around to me with a suspicious look on his face. “Go ahead; I’ll just lock the door and come.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

“Uh, no!” He looked uneasy now. “I just…uh…” It was almost as if he was racking his brain for something to say. “I wanted to, uh…” He pulled out his phone and shook it in front of him. I got the message. He wanted to call Sirrah. I chuckled and rolled my eyes.

“Okay, got it. Hurry up, don’t keep us all waiting, ok?” I told him as I turned around. I heard him let out a sigh of relief as I made my way to the van. Daesuk hyung wasn’t looking very happy as I shuffled into the vehicle.

“You need to stop taking so long getting ready, Minseok. It’s a hassle waiting so long for you…” He said, in an irritated tone. I hadn’t made him wait before, and I still wasn’t the last one out, but I instantly felt bad.

“I’m sorry, Hyung…I’ll be faster next time.” I ducked my head, my cheeks turning pink as I squeezed to the back of the van. Suho smiled apologetically at me as I went past him, making me feel a little better. A few minutes later Kris came running towards the van and squeezed in, apologizing quickly to Daesuk hyung. Surprisingly, he wasn’t scolded. Pfff…unfair.

I pouted as Daesuk hyung put the car into gear and set off. This was going to be a long morning, I could tell already. I was squeezed between Kai and Sehun, with D.O sitting in front of Kai and leaning back to talk to them. They were talking excitedly about some upcoming event they had heard our manager back in Korea talking about. I listened for a few minutes, in confusion, before I asked Kai what they were talking about.

“Shhh, Hyung. It’s too troublesome to explain it all to you. You should have listened from the beginning.” He said with an annoyed tone. Wow…what?

“Yah! Is that any way to talk to your hyung?” I snapped at him.

“Sorry…I’m just saying.” He shrugged. Aish, this brat. So rude…

I sighed and shook my head. And so they carried on with their conversation. A few minutes passed.

“Hyuuunnnggg…lean oveerr! You’re taking up all the space!” Sehun cried, pulling the corner of his jacket out from under me.

“I’m on my seat! What are you talking about?” I frowned at him.

“You’re obviously not. You’re squishing me...i think Trainer Hyung is right, you need to exercise more.”

I jabbed my elbow into his ribs. “Arrghhh, HYUNG! That hurt!”

“That was the idea, brat! I do not need to exercise any more!” I pouted my and leaned my head back on the seat. Meanies.

I didn’t talk for a few minutes, and kept my eyes closed. It was relaxing and helped me to calm down. The calm didn’t last very long though. As soon as I opened my eyes, I was greeted to the sight of Tao and D.O looking at me and snickering about something. I sighed. “What are you two laughing about?”

“Oh…nothing.” D.O said, trying to keep a straight face.

“Spill it.” I said again.

“Really, it’s nothing…oppa.” Tao giggled.

“Don’t make me hit you, Peaches.” I narrowed my eyes at him and he stopped short. “Now what is it?” Tao looked at D.O for some backup.

“Oh, it’s nothing really. We were just wondering whether you bothered checking your pants before you put them on this morning…” He was holding back laughter.

“What…?” I looked at my sweatpants. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them…and then I saw it.

I closed my eyes and sighed, at the same time D.O and Tao burst out laughing.

“You should take a picture at post it all over the fanboards.” Baekhyun said, turning around with his phone and pointing the camera straight at the fist-sized hole in my crotch. I had underwear on, don’t worry.

“YAH!! PUT THAT CAMERA AWAY BEFORE I KILL YOU!” I yelled at him. He snapped a picture anyway, and then showed it to Chanyeol who started guffawing. I could feel my face heating up and I lunged out of my seat towards him…only to be pulled right back by Sehun and Kai.

“Oh, lighten up, Hyung,” Kai smirked at me. “It’s just a bit of fun.”

“Fun? That’s my dignity on the line here!” I shrugged him off and then turned towards the maknae with a stern look. He let go himself. The rest of the ride was spent with me arguing with Baekhyun to delete the picture off of his phone, which only led to him sending it to the other members too, and from there sent to a couple more people back in Korea. This was going to spread like wildfire now. Next headline in the news: EXO’S XIUMIN FLAUNTS HIS PORORO UNDERWEAR!

FML.

We finally got to the Abbey Road Studios and all poured in.

“Right boys, I’ll be back to pick you all up in about 5 hours.” Daesuk hyung said turning around to exit the building.

“But, Hyung where are you going?” I asked him.

“I have things to do, kid. Stop being so nosy.” He turned around and narrowed his eyes at me. What…?

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I was just asking…geez…” I pouted and turned away. We were left here with Harang noona who stepped forward when the person from the studio came out and introduced us all. K was led into the recording booth first, while M was taken to a waiting area with a café in it. Yay, food!! I started moving towards the counter…

“There we go…the baozi goes straight to the food. What was Sehunnie saying in the car, Minseok-ah?” Luhan’s voice came from behind me. I stopped and turned around to him with a scowl.

“I didn’t have breakfast…” I informed him. Or did I?

“I’m pretty sure Kyungsoo gave you that seaweed soup…unless I’m mistaken.” He smirked.

“I’m a growing boy!! I NEED MORE NUTRITION THAN THAT!” And with that I stomped off towards the counter. GAH! Why is everyone so mean today? It had to be today as well… They’re probably doing it on purpose! There was a pretty cashier at the café and I smiled at her as I walked into the open eatery. She smiled back, but it looked bored and forced. Wouldn’t be surprised, she probably had to do this to every person who walked in. In fact it wasn’t very different from what we had to do in front of our fans. Always act happy and excited, even when all we want to do is sulk and crawl into bed and sleep for a few days without waking up. I bought a sandwich and a packet of chips and a drink and a cake. It’s not too much, is it?

Apparently, it was, judging from the look on Luhan’s face when I got back to the little table they were all sitting at. “You sure you have enough there?” He said in a mocking voice.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Why so mean? “Yeah, I got enough. Thanks for asking…” I said blankly and then bit into my sandwich while the other guys started giggling around me. I quickly lost my appetite, but I finished my food nonetheless. I didn’t want them to know they were having an effect on me. We sat around in the café for a little under two hours making small talk. Well…the others were making small talk – every time I asked them something, I was either ignored or I got a snarky comment as a reply. It was really starting to bother me, so I gave up and just entertained myself on my phone. A couple of the guys got up to get some drinks and snacks, and after that every time I looked up, I saw the cashier in the café fixing her hair and throwing flirty smiles our way, especially at Luhan and Kris. Kris was too absorbed in whatever he was doing on his phone to even notice she was looking at him, while Luhan was making a point of ignoring her. It was kind of amusing. She looks like she’s enjoying her job a little more now.

But the amusement she was providing wasn’t nearly enough. I was hitting the lowest level of boredom when K walked into the café with Harang noona.

Finally!

“Come on guys, it’s your turn now.” She said to us, as K threw themselves on the chairs.

“Good luck everybody!” Suho smiled at us as we walked past them behind Harang noona. Chanyeol was Hi-Five’ing everyone as he went by them, but when he got to me, he just skipped past me and went onto Tao who was behind me. What the hell? Normally that wouldn’t really have gotten to me, but they were already being so mean to me, that small gesture really got me mad. I huffed and carried on walking. I don’t care, anymore. I’m just going to ignore it all.

We got into the recording studio and we greeted the people inside. The sound engineer sitting at the mixing console said something in English, to which Kris replied.

“What did he say?”  Tao asked.

“He said they will try to get this done as soon as possible, so we should try our best. And I told him we will work hard, so make sure you do, guys, ok?” We all nodded.

“Ready?” The engineer asked and we all nodded again. We moved into the waiting room, and one by one we were called into the recording booth to do our parts. They all got it perfect within two to three tries. Finally it was my turn.

“Uh…Shoomeen?” The engineer asked me as I walked into the control room. I nodded, suppressing a smile at the way he had said my name. He gave me a small smile and then waved me into the recording booth with the sheet of my lyrics. And so, I put the headphones on and the music started playing. I got a feel for it, and then started singing. Once I finished, I looked over at the control room. The engineer looked happy and then turned to Harang noona. She nodded at him and then leaned down to the mic.

“Minseok, he says it was alright, but we will try again, ok?” I gave her a thumbs up to let her know I was ok with that. And so I tried again. After I was done this time, I looked up to see the engineer shaking his head. Third try, I was cut off in between.

“Not good!” Came the voice from the speaker. I frowned. Damn it, I have to try harder. We tried again but again I was cut off in the middle. I was starting to feel pretty embarrassed now. What is wrong with me? Why can’t I do this properly?

“Minseok-ah, let’s take a break shall we? Then you can try again.” Harang noona said through the mic. I nodded at her and then walked out of the recording booth dejectedly. I didn’t know why I was doing so badly, it hadn’t happened before. I walked into the waiting room to four snickering boys.

“Looks like someone’s been having trouble singing today!” Chen giggled.

“Why am I not surprised?” Luhan gave me a look full of mockery.

“Shut up, you guys…” I sighed and sat down on one of the couches, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

“Four times already and still not done.” Lay said. “That’s kinda’ bad.”

I opened my eyes and glared at him. “I said shut up.” I could feel myself getting angry, and I didn’t want to be angry, so I tried to block their voices out and just concentrate on breathing. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked to my left to see Kris sitting down next to me.

“Don’t worry about it bro, just try your best ok? It happens sometimes, don’t sweat over it.” He patted my shoulder reassuringly. I smiled at him. Finally someone was being nice.

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little better. He nodded in acknowledgment just as Harang noona came back in.

“Come on, Minseok, let’s do this, eung?” I let out another sigh and then got to my feet. Here goes nothing.

Another two tries and still no good response. This was not a good day for me.

“Let’s stop now, Minseok, we will just make do with what we have now.” Harang noona said to me. Freaking great….they’re gonna ‘make do’. Sigh…

“Thank you, Shoomeen.” The engineer said and I gave him a weak smile. I didn’t feel like smiling at all. I felt so down. The other guys walked into the recording booth to do the harmonies and backing vocals, and with them came their disappointed looks too.

“Don’t mess this up too now, Minseok hyung!” Tao pouted at me. I scowled at him, wanting to hit the little brat. Since when did these kids get so rude?! Aish, ignore it Minseok, ignore it. I blocked out all other thoughts and concentrated on the singing now. I was still getting a few snide remarks here and there and they were really starting to chip my confidence but I kept my attention off of them. Miraculously, within another hour, we were done with all the other vocals and the engineer, Noona, and the guys were all cheering in success. I couldn’t find it in me to join in, so instead I just walked out of the booth towards the café. I could hear whispering behind me as I exited the room, and I wondered what they were talking about. But I quickly assumed they would just be commenting on how bad I did. What else?

Walking into the café, I could feel six pairs of eyes following me. I plonked down on one of the chairs, placing my arms on the table, and put my head down on them.

“How did it go?” Suho asked, but I didn’t answer him. He asked me again as the rest of M and Noona walked into the café. Damn it, I should have answered him. Now he will get an overly exaggerated version of the story from these monkeys. Sigh…

“You don’t want to know, Hyung!” Tao called out to him. “You cannot imagine how many times Minseok hyung messed up! It was terrible!” And with that the rest joined in too. Not long after that, Daesuk hyung returned from whatever he had told me off for asking about.

The sound engineer came out and shook hands with him, told him it had been a pleasure working with us, and then we said our farewells. “Come on get in the van boys. We are low on time today.” He said. Now we were off to practice the dance routines. Sigh…

“Why did we have to do both things today, Hyung? We could have done practice tomorrow…?” I asked him as we walked to the van.

“Minseok, you know that the rest of our days are going to be busy. I know what you have to do, and when you have to do it – that’s why I was made your manager.” He snapped, glancing back at me.

“Yeah, I know that but still we have more time tomorr-”

“Minseok, you don’t see anyone else complaining, do you? So you should stop too.”

I went silent. God, why is he so angry today? I huffed and got into the van that we had finally reached.

Worst. Day. Ever…

Seriously.

I ignored everybody as we drove to the dance studio; or at least tried. They were going on and on about all the mistakes I had made in the recording studio, while I stared out of the window and furiously tried to block out their voices.

Dance practice went just as bad. After every few minutes Daesuk hyung, who was supervising us, would start yelling at me for messing up. I was seriously starting to reach my limit. No one else was getting any crap, only me… and I’d seen Chanyeol and Kris mess up twice as many times as I had. I was about to just throw my hands up and go sit in the corner, but I knew if I did that I would just get even more from everyone, so I persevered through it.

Just concentrate on dancing, just concentrate on dancing…

Finally after what seemed like a year, the two hours of practice came to an end. Yay, now I can go home!

I was so ready to just curl up in my bed, and sulk until I fell asleep. To hell with it being my birthday. Worst birthday ever!! Bah….We got in the van and made our way back. Once we got there, everyone scrambled out of the van and started making their way towards the apartment. I was one of the last to get out since I had been shoved in the back of the van.

“Minseok, stay in the van.” Hyung said to me as I was getting out.

“Why?” I huffed, without looking at him.

“Because I told you to, kid. I need to have a talk with you.” He gave me a look in the rear view mirror.

“I don’t want to talk.” I told him coldly and proceeded to leave the van.

“Minseok!” Hyung turned around and glared at me. “I told you to stay in the van…”

Oh my God…is he for real?

I didn’t want to sit and talk to him about crap. I just wanted to go inside and rest. But the way he was looking at me, I knew I’d just get myself in more trouble. “God!” I ran a hand through my sweaty hair, and slumped back down into the seat.

“Good luck, bro!” Kris patted my shoulder as he stepped past me out of the van, while Kai just snickered.

F M L

I watched the guys laughing and talking as they poured into the apartment, while Daesuk hyung and I pulled out of the parking slot again. How I wished I was with them, going into the apartment right now… I hate this…

He took me to some nearby café.

“Sit down.” He said as he went off to the counter. I put my head down on the table. The guys would be showering, getting into clean clothes, relaxing, eating…and here I was with Hyung, in my sweaty clothes, about to have some stupid talk I didn’t want to have. A minute later I felt a vibration on the table, and looked up to see Hyung placing down a coffee and muffin in front of me. He nudged it my way, and I took it with a sigh. He took a sip of his own coffee and placed his elbows on the table, giving me a serious look. “So tell me, Minseok, what’s wrong?”

I looked at him blankly.

“What do you mean what’s wrong?!” I snapped at him.

“Well…why’re you having such a bad day today, is all I’m asking.”

“Why don’t you ask everyone else that?” I clamped my jaw shut and turned my head away from him. So stupid…

“Has everyone been upsetting you today?” He asked, and I nodded. More than just upsetting. “How do you feel right now?”

“Tired, dirty, sweaty… like .” I snapped.

“Language, Minseok.”

“I don’t care…” I mumbled. I was entitled to being angry.

“Alright, I understand. You’re not happy. Just don’t take anything anyone said to heart, ok? That includes stuff I said. I know I was kind of harsh on you today, and I apologize for that.” That apology instantly made me feel better, and I looked over at him. He gave me a small smile. “I’ll get the other guys to give you an apology too, ok? So chill out a bit. I know you’ve had a hard day but let’s try to put it all behind you, alright?”

I regarded him for a minute, and mulled over his words. No point being angry I guess…we all have our bad days, and I’m sure the guys weren’t purposely trying to be mean…I suppose it just kind of happened…

“Ok,” I smiled at him. I felt a lot better now…like a weight had been lifted off me.

“No hard feelings then?” Hyung grinned at me. I chuckled at his words.

“No…no hard feelings. Although there might be, if you don’t get me home soon so I can get out of these dirty clothes…”

“Alright, alright…let me at least finish my coffee. Stop rushing me! Eat up!” He nudged the muffin at me again. I took it gratefully. I was pretty hungry after that dancing. We made small talk over our coffee, but after a little while that died out too….and we were just sitting there in the busy little café looking around. We had been here for at least 40 minutes now, and I was starting to wonder what on earth Hyung was waiting for. He kept checking his phone as if he was expecting a call or something.

“Can we go now, Hyung?” I asked him.

“Uh..yeah! Let me just finish my coffee.” He gave me an awkward smile. What on earth?

“You sure you’re going to finish that? You’ve been at it for a while now…” I eyed him.

“Of course I am, why else would I still be sitting here…?” He mumbled. He was acting fishy. What is he up to? Another five minutes passed, and he checked his phone about 20 times in the period. I was about to question him again when his phone rang.

“Oh Kris…what’s up.” He said enthusiastically. I heard his voice talking on the other side, although I couldn’t hear what he was saying. “Yeah, I was just talking to Minseok about some stuff, I’m bringing him back now…Yeah….Ok…see you in five minutes then! Bye!” He looked at me. “Ready to go?”

“Uh…yes I have been for the past half hour.” I looked at him incredulously.

“Ok! Let’s shoot then!” He grabbed his phone and wallet, and took off. I shook my head and followed him. We drove back to the apartment in silence, although I was wondering why he was driving so slowly, especially when there weren’t even many other cars around. Maybe he’s just having a weird day. He had those occasionally. We finally got to the apartment after crawling there for 10 minutes, and I got out.

“Have fun Minseok! See you later!” Hyung called out behind me. I turned around and waved at him, and then made my way to the door. Finally…now I can shower and get into bed. I’m so ready for this. But my plans changed when I got to the door. I could see it was open, and the living room light was shining through. I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

What in the name of baozi is this?

I know...i know...it's been a long time coming. It's been almost a year since i last update, and i'm pretty sure you all hate me by now. O_O

Sorry guys! I really don't know where the time went, i've had the most hectic time this past year, a lot has happened, good and bad...but! I'm glad i could get this chapter finished.

I know it was boring...it was meant to be that way. But things should get interesting from the next chapter!

I hope you guys enjoyed it nonetheless and look forward to the next chapter! I can't promise when it will be posted, but i can promise it will be good :)

Love you all! <3

Adee!