It's Bagels time!!! XD

Please enjoy! ^^

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On Friday, Els and her friends woke up extra early. Today they’d start practicing for the upcoming SM Town shows and once again, the time in which they were supposed to learn everything was awfully scarce. They quickly grabbed some food from the kitchen and headed towards their first practices. Els was happy she wouldn’t be practicing alone, as Kelly and her both had received parts as background vocals for some of the ballads. Riki, on the other hand, had gotten a dancing part and Sen had gotten a dancing slash acting part so, sadly, Els wouldn’t be seeing much of the other two girls in the coming days.

Els was very happy to see that their main coach would be their usual vocal coach. She was a friendly middle-aged woman who always seemed to have carried a liking towards Els and Kelly. She did seem a little more tense than usual and she instantly set the tempo very high but Els figured that was just the stress.

She split up the group of trainees according to vocal range and handed out individual sheets for everyone to study. After twenty minutes or so, they started singing.

After their first lesson, Els and Kelly went for a quick meal in the cafeteria before moving on to more practice. Els was glad that singing practice wasn’t as tiring as the dance practices for the award show had been. At least this teacher realized that making them work too much was not the way to go. She sent all the trainees home around eight o’ clock and advised them to not speak for the rest of the evening, in order to not strain their vocal chords.

“I can’t believe she wants us to not speak at all outside of practice!” Kelly exclaimed as the two walked through the company hallways, on their way to the dance studio. “Doesn’t she understand that I have things to talk about?!”

Els rolled her eyes. She knew Kelly wouldn’t be able to stay silent for long. “Well she has a point.” She shrugged.

“I guess” Kelly murmured. “I’ll try and be careful I guess. But I’m not living mute for the next five days!”

They walked up to the dance studio and peeked inside. On the dance floor, a formation of four guys was giving it all they had. Els recognized Eunhyuk, Taemin, Kai and Luhan. As she looked a little further, she saw Riki sitting on one of the benches in the back with a few other girls. When Riki noticed Els and Kelly in the door opening she came jogging up to them and joined them in the hallway.

“We just came to say that our practice is over so we’re going home.” Els said. “Is that okay?”

“Oh my god, lucky!” Riki gasped. “Your teacher must be awesome! I’ll be here for a while. Noah's being a little again” She sighed. “Oh and Sen went home about an hour ago so she’ll be at home already.”

“Or she’ll be with Kris” Kelly added matter of factly.

Riki laughed. “True. But anyways, I’ll go home later with the rest of the guys. Don’t wait up for me; it’s going to be a long night.”

Els and Kelly left Riki to her practice and went home, happy to be getting a full night of sleep.

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The next couple of days were a little stressful but mostly fun, as rehearsals seemed to be going pretty well. They practiced with just the back up singers most of the time but from time to time; idols would come in to practice all together. Up until now, they’d had some of Super Junior come in to practice their ballads, they’d had Jonghyun and Onew from SHINee come in for their special rendition of ‘I want it that way’ by the Backstreet Boys and Taeyeon and Chen had come in to practice their cover of Babysoul’s ‘Stranger’.

On Wednesday, another pair of idols came to practice. Els was busy focusing on her notes when she noticed out of the corner of her eye a pair of boys appear in the doorway. It was DO and Baekhyun. They quietly stood by the entrance, observing the trainees. When Baekhyun’s eyes found Els’, he flashed her a happy smile and waved. Els momentarily lost her focus because of this and forgot to start singing again when the chorus began. She looked down, blushing and hoping her teacher hadn’t noticed.

When the song ended, the teacher called forth the two guys.

“Alright” She began, clapping her hands together. “Let’s practice all together at once, there’s no time to lose people!” She shouted, ushering the two boys in front of the class.

She the song and soft guitars started to play. It was such a cheesy song, Els thought, trying to hide a grin. Not that the cheesiness was a bad thing necessarily but it was a little funny. DO was the one who started singing. His voice sounded beautiful and smooth and his pronunciation pretty good as well. She glanced at Kelly momentarily to find her gazing dreamily in DO’s direction. Again, Els had to suppress a little grin.

She became a lot more serious though when the chorus started because it was her queue to start with backup vocals and also because Baekhyun had begun singing. The boy sounded amazing, Els thought as she watched him. His English wasn’t as great as DO’s but it didn’t matter because Baekhyun was giving it all he had and all Els could think was: ‘Hero’ by Enrique Iglesias has never sounded this good.

Baekhyun lifted his eyes then and looked Els straight in the eye as he sung the last line of the chorus. At once, the room temperature seemed to have risen considerably and Els felt herself getting hot in the face.

She’d never felt this way before. A guy had never swept her off her feet like this but she wondered how real it all was. Baekhyun was a very social being and he was pretty much always friendly with everyone. Els really wondered what she meant to him because sometimes, she’d feel like they were pretty intimate together and Els would get the feeling that maybe, possibly, he might like her the same way she liked him. However, Baekhyun had many friends and for all she knew, she was just one of the others and nothing more. In any case, Els was too afraid to make a move herself so for now, she just waited by his side, trying not to fall too hard for him.

Rehearsals with DO and Baekhyun went really well and everyone was sent home pretty early once again. Baekhyun had continued to make eye contact with Els throughout the song and afterwards he came running up to her happily.

“What did you think?” He asked excitedly. “Do you like the song?”

Els smiled. “It’s great.” She replied. “It’s, um, really emotional. But I really like it.”

Baekhyun continued to smile at her as they left the practice room together, talking about the upcoming shows. They decided to go home and eat together with DO and Kelly. DO made some of his fine home cooking and the four enjoyed a nice quiet evening at the EXO-K dorm, chatting.

“I’m getting really nervous though” Els said, referring to SM Town.

Baekhyun’s hand came to rub her back gently. “There’s no need to be worried, Els” Baekhyun reassured her. “You’ve practiced enough.”

“But we already leave this Friday morning!” Kelly exclaimed suddenly. “That’s in less than two days!” The panic was clearly apparent in her voice. It was obvious she’d forgotten completely about the coach’s rule of trying to rest your vocal chords as much as possible outside of practice.

“Don’t worry about it.” DO said softly. “You guys were great today, so you’ll be great at the show. I’m sure of it.”

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After dinner, DO and Kelly went to bed but Baekhyun and Els had moved over to the couch. Els didn’t really feel like sleeping. She hadn’t slept very well in the last few days, because she was so nervous so she figured she might as well stay up a little later.

Baekhyun flicked through the TV channels casually until Els suddenly yelled out for him to stop.

“I love this movie!” She said excitedly.

Baekhyun chuckled at her enthusiasm. “What is it then?”

“Pride and Prejudice” Els beamed.

Baekhyun smiled and set down the remote, agreeing to watch wth her. Els loved the story of Pride and Prejudice. She’d read the book too. It was quite funny watching the movie this way though, because it was dubbed in Korean which made it an entirely new experience. Baekhyun seemed to like the movie as well, although there was one little thing on which Els and Baekhyun couldn’t agree: Mr. Darcy.

“He’s so stupid!” Baekhyun called out.

“No he’s not! He’s just socially awkward.” Els defended her beloved character.

Baekhyun just pulled a grumpy face at the screen. Unlike Baekhyun, Els really liked Mr. Darcy. She’d always thought he was really cool and handsome so she couldn’t help pointing that out to Baekhyun however, the boy didn’t seem to like it very much. Baekhyun kept countering Els’ statements with childish comments.

“Oh come on, admit that the lines are cheesy!” He said.

Els turned to the boy. “Fine, some of the lines are cheesy, but what’s wrong with that?”

Baekhyun chuckled then. “Oh, you like that kind of stuff?”

“Well, no. I mean, it depends." Els said. "Like, when a guy comes up with a stupid and predictable line like ‘Oh you have something in your eye’, that’s pretty dumb but Mr.Darcy is not like that at all. He’s classy.”

Baekhyun shook his head laughing. “I’m never going to understand girls!”

The two kept on watching in silence for a while, actually enjoying the movie up until the moment where Darcy and Elizabeth kissed. Baekyun rolled his eyes dramatically, letting out a sigh.

“See! Isn’t this romantic?” Els pointed towards the TV screen.

“Pshh romantic shmantic!” Baekhyun mocked. He pulled Els’ arm away from the screen. “Did you know that I’m like, one thousand percent cooler than that guy?” He said and then, he wrapped his own arm around Els shoulder and pulled her against himself.

Els could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. He was so close to her now and once again she wondered what all of it meant. After the initial shock had worn off, she came to rest her head against his shoulder softly as they watched the rest of the movie together. His hand ran gentle over the fabric of her sweater and she could feel the rising and falling of his chest.

The odd part was that when it was over, Baekhyun let go of her and he said goodbye to her like nothing had happened. Els was really quite confused as she headed for her own dorm. What was up with him? She figured that maybe she was giving him the wrong signals but she really just didn’t know. She’d never been in a situation like this before. She just hoped he wasn’t playing with her on purpose.

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The last day of practice was a little more stressful than the previous days. Their coach kept making them repeat the same melodies over and over again to try and perfect any little flaws that might still be hiding within the performance. Around eight o’ clock in the evening, Kelly’s voice started to hurt a little and she was sent home early to rest her voice and she was forbidden to speak up until they’d left the country.

Els and the rest of the trainees went on for a long, long time, getting everything just right. It was nearly one in the morning when she left the practice room. She quickly checked to see whether Riki or Sen were still at the company but found out those two had gone home already as well, which left Els all alone. She didn’t really know any of the other vocal trainees well enough so she decided to just head home by herself. She was still a little scared of doing stuff like this. She was pretty sure Jang Mi wasn’t going to corner her again anytime soon however, walking home alone still wasn’t exactly the most comforting thing to her.

Els’ luck seemed to have completely abandoned her because when she walked towards the exit, she could already see through the glass door that it was raining. It wasn’t some miserable little drizzle either; it was more like an ocean of water being poured all over humanity. She groaned as she stood in front of the exit, not wanting to go out there. She’d forgotten to bring an umbrella too. She thought of maybe staying a little longer, despite their teachers request to get as much sleep tonight as possible.

She was just about to go and sit down in the lobby; to wait until the rain was over, when she noticed a familiar face coming towards the building. She opened the door and let Baekhyun in.

“What are you doing here?” Els asked surprised. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Baekhyun smiled sheepishly. “Well, yeah. But I didn’t want you to go through this weather alone so…” He held up a big umbrella in front of him.

Els couldn’t believe this boy. “Seriously Baekhyun, you really need your sleep tonight.” She said.

“Oh you know I always have energy!” Baekhyun grinned widely. “Don’t worry about me.” He said and he pulled her with him.

Els giggled. “Okay then.” And she took his arm and headed out the door.

Despite the heavy rain, the two walked very slowly. It was as if they were wandering through a park on a summer’s day or something. It was really nice though. The weather wasn’t too cold and the rain made soothing sounds as they walked. She held onto Baekhyun’s arm, strolling beside him and enjoying his company.

When they came up to the side door to their building she let go of him and let him shake out the wet umbrella as they stood shielded from the rain under the little shed above them.

“I can’t get it closed.” Baekhuyn laughed as he struggled with the umbrella.

“Come here” Els chuckled. She took the thing from him and fiddled with it. It seemed to be stuck indeed. She tugged on it a little more though and then, with a pop, the thing clicked closed. She turned back around towards Baekhyun. As she handed him the umbrella she noticed him grinning a little. She frowned at him but then he spoke up.

“Um…” He began, unable to keep in his grin. “You’ve got a little something in your eye.” He said before leaning in closer to her face hesitantly.

Els didn’t have the time to react to the stupidity of the line because Baekhyun had come in and kissed her softly on the lips. When he pulled away after a few seconds he smiled unsurely, biting his lip.

“Was that really lame?” He asked, looking down at his feet.

Els smiled, blushing. “Maybe just a little bit.”

Baekhyun nodded and then raised his head to look Els in the eye. “But you didn’t mind right?” He asked hopefully.

Els’ blushed even more then. She just shook her head at him because she knew that nothing sane would come out of if she started to speak. Baekhyun broke out into a smile too then and leaned in a second time, pressing his lips against Els’ softly and wrapping her into a tight embrace.

It might have had something to do with the sound of the pouring rain around them but the entire thing felt so magical. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him a little closer. She would have never guessed it but Baekhyun apparently did have a shy side to him. She wondered whether that was why it had taken him so long.

When he pulled away a second time he took hold of both Els’ hands.

“I really like you a lot.” He said, looking down at her.

“I like you a lot too.” Els managed to reply, still blushing like a tomato but it didn’t matter how lame or simple her response had been because Baekhyun’s face lit up immediately upon hearing her say it.

“So you’ll be mine?” He asked.

Els smiled and nodded before being pulled into a tight hug that she wished would never end.

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BAGELS FOR EVERYONE!! <3 <3 <3