Watching Stars

 

“You all will be featuring in a new show, centering around music,” their manager stated. “You will be assigned one trainee group to help give pointers about performing. The groups will then be evaluated on performance and improvement. So basically, if your group passes, you get to stay on the show.”

Luhan wasn't as nervous as his other fellow Chinese members. The whole reason he came to Korea in the first place was to study the language. His Korean was pretty good, if he says so himself so he was happy that all 12 of them got to be in a show together in Korea. Especially a rather tall maknae known as Sehun was happy he got to be with his best friend.

“Yay! Hyung we get to be on a show together! Bubble tea to celebrate?” the said youngster pulled on the older's sleeve. God forbid Luhan would say no to Sehun when he asked for bubble tea so he immediately smiled and nodded.

 

As the two best friends sipped on their drinks, Luhan started to think about their new show. Being a main vocalist, he wondered if he would be able to help the trainee excel. He was never really a teacher. He was always the one being taught.

“Hyung!”

Luhan snapped out of his worried daze and looked at Sehun.

“Huh? What?”

“I've been calling you for the past five minutes,” he deadpanned with his usual stoned face.

Luhan grinned, embarrassed. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I was gonna ask you what shirt I should wear to the recording tomorrow. What do I look good in? Blue or white? Because blue brings out my light skin tone but white looks-”

The older just rolled his eyes before answering, cutting the dancer off. “White.”

 

The recording started at ten in the morning, in a practice room located just ten minutes from their dorm. Since this was their first meeting, they needed to be filmed for the episode. But their other meetings won't be filmed. With other groups like MBLAQ, B.A.P and Infinite on the show, there's no way the editors can fit all this filming in one episode.

The boys entered and immediately greeted the staff who had their cameras on standby. They stood in a long line in their usual places, Luhan being in between Yixing and Jongin. After Baekhyun's very greasy countdown with the slate, Joonmyun immediately started his MCing, talking about their new program. Luhan just nodded along with his signature 'dazed but I'm still cute' smile.

Soon the trainees piled in one by one, greeting their seniors with smiles. Four boys entered the practice room and Luhan laughed at Jongdae's playful whine of the lack of girls in the group.

“Where's maknae-nim?” one the boys asked.

They shrugged.

“Trying calling,” Kyungsoo suggested.

 

As if on cue, the door to the practice room opened and a girl with long black hair rolled in on her skateboard. Her back was facing them so she hadn't see them yet. Her earphones prevented her from hearing them either. As she attempted to do her favorite spinning trick, she finally saw the camera crew and turned abruptly to see over a dozen eyes looking at her, causing her lose her footing and she lost balance. Luckily, she had done this many times before and quickly caught herself before falling on her face.

The girl immediately bowed to greet her seniors, causing the cap she was wearing to fall on the ground.

Jongdae jumped up. “A girl!” he gave her a hug and Kris quickly stepped in to pull the hormonal boy off of her. She just smiled.

She set her things down and sat with her members and greeting them with a fist bump.

“What's your name?” Chanyeol asked.

“Yewon.”

“We call her Wonwon,” one of her members said and laughed.

Yewon just smiled and hugged her knees to her chest, something she always did when she was being self conscious.

“Why are you in a group full of boys?” Jongin wondered.

“Yeah. It's either you're really good at dancing, or they're good at girl group dances,” Baekhyun said.

“In the beginning there were five girls and five boys. But they got voted off last season. There's just us left,” another boy explained.

“Wah, it must be lonely...” Luhan said with a frown.

Yewon pursed her lips, thinking about it. “Sometimes. But they're good to me.”

 

In the middle of Jongin's lesson of, 'how to make y faces on stage without looking constipated', Yewon got an unexpected phone call. It was so urgent that the PD of the program was contacted. She took the call outside. After several minutes, she came back in with a blank expression.

Yewon slightly bowed to the PD while handing him back his phone and stood back in place.

“Where were we?”

After a couple of hours, the crew decided to wrap things up, for they got enough footage of the interaction between both groups. The second the cameras turned off, Yewon collapsed to her knees and started sobbing.

Alarmed, her members ran to her side as the EXO boys just stood there shocked, unable to do anything. Luhan, being a softie for tears, slowly stepped forward, trying to figure out what was wrong with the girl.

Yewon's sobs filled the room as her members coaxed her to calm down.

After a few moments, she finally spoke up. “My mom...passed away.”

Everyone gasped.

Her members hugged her as EXO just watched the scene with a heavy heart. Tao shed a couple tears himself and knelt in front of her.

“Be strong. Keep moving forward and you can do anything you want to do.”

Yewon looked at him with watery eyes and nodded.

He gave her a hug and Luhan had the sudden temptation to push Tao away and hug her instead.

 

The next few days were tough for Yewon but she got through them with the help of her supportive members. Even though they were technically going to go against each other later in the competition, they were still a team this time around and had to stick together.

Yewon being the main vocal, had most of her one-on-one time with the main vocalists of EXO. She had already met with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. Tonight would be her meeting with Luhan. Because of his delayed flight from China, their meeting had to be postponed to late at night.

 

Yewon woke up from her long nap and looked at the clock. She had to be at the practice room soon. She put on a hat, thick jacket and sweats before leaving her dormitory that the program paid for. All trainees were required to live together.

She walked to the practice room with slow footsteps and gasped when she saw a familiar blonde head inside.

“Oh! Hello!” she bowed. “I'm sorry I'm late. Did you wait long?”

Luhan just smiled. “You're not late, I'm just early. Should we start on falsetto or staccato singing tonight?”

“Umm, neither?”

The boy tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows, realizing something. “Why are you wearing that? It's pretty nice outside tonight.”

“I, uh, seemed to have caught a cold. I can't sing.” Then she sneezed as if to prove her statement.

Luhan frowned and walked up to her. “What are you doing here? You should go home and rest!”

“I didn't know how else to tell you. I don't have your number and I didn't want you wait here for three hours.”

 

They stood there awkwardly, staring off into space. That's when Luhan noticed that she wasn't much of a talker but he didn't mind it. He enjoyed the quiet.

“So what are we going to do?” he asked. “Since you can't sing and all.”

“If you don't mind...can you accompany me somewhere?”

Luhan was about to protest because it wouldn't be good for an idol like him to be wandering to places at night, but look in her eyes made him think otherwise and he found himself nodding. He even smiled, but he quickly mentally blamed it on the ice cream he had at the airport.

Yewon smiled and gestured for him to follow her.

 

“It's exam week and it's a Wednesday, so don't worry about anyone finding you. If something does get out, just say I'm some girl that happened to walk by when the picture was taken,” Yewon said while they stepped onto the practically empty subway train.

“But you're not some girl who just happened to walk by,” Luhan said quietly, sitting in the seat beside her.

“I know. But people lie all the time.”

“I don't.”

“See? You just lied. It's practically second nature for us.”

“I didn't lie!” Luhan quickly argued.

Yewon smiled, looking ahead at the BB cream ad in front of them. “Look you're lying again Luhan sunbae.”

The dancer stared at her in disbelief and eventually looked ahead also. He liked the way his name danced off her lips so he gave in. “Okay, maybe I've lied once or twice in my life.”

“Do tell.”

“I once told Jongin that the shoes he wanted to buy were fashionable. But they were horrid.”

Yewon chuckled. “That's not so bad.”

“No! You don't know. They were hideous! Because of my comment, he even bought them in black. In black. I wanted to burn them when they came in the mail a week later. On top of that, he wore them to the airport! Twice.”

As Luhan continued to animatedly rant about Jongin's ugly shoes, Yewon couldn't help but to think that fate couldn't have chosen a more perfect person for her to go on this trip with.

 

They continued their comfortable silence as they walked out of the subway and onto the street. Luhan just followed the girl without a word or protest. It was nice to finally get out for once. He hadn't been free of his managers strong protection in awhile.

Suddenly the girl started running and Luhan blinked a few times in confusion before following her. When he saw the lights, he realized where they were; the Han River.

At the speed Yewon was running towards the railing, anyone would've thought she was about to jump off but she didn't. She leaned on the railing, arms dangling off pretending to touch the water below. Luhan smiled and walked over to her, standing shoulder to shoulder.

“The lights make it even more beautiful,” he said.

Yewon hummed in agreement, closing her eyes, enjoying the breeze. She suddenly sneezed and pulled out a tissue from her pocket to blow her nose.

“Aigo. Why pick tonight to come here? You're sick and all.” Luhan pouted at her.

She didn't say anything and smiled a sad smile. Luhan decided not to press it any further. There must have been a real reason for her to come here at such a time. “So how are you?” he asked. “Your mom...”

“I'm still here aren't I? So I must be doing something right. I'm just trying to get through it. Thanks for asking.”

Luhan nodded and crossed his arms on the railing.

 

The only sounds were the low rush of water and the conversations of the people around them. Cars could be heard in the distance, reminding them that this is reality and they couldn't stay there forever.

“Today is my birthday,” Yewon spoke up.

Luhan whipped his head around with wide eyes.

“Around this time is when the meteor showers happen. My mom and I would sit in our backyard back in America and watch them together til late at night. I'm here by myself you see. My parents live halfway across the world.”

Luhan looked up and only saw black. The Seoul lights prevented them from seeing the sky.

“She told me that she was going to move here with my dad one day and we can visit the Han River for my birthdays instead of watching the stars. She wanted a change of tradition. I was excited and told her okay. But she said she wanted to see a debut stage first. It motivated me to work harder. It's a shame she didn't live long enough to see me finally take the stage for myself instead of just a competition.”

The boy beside her started to feel his eyes water. For just a stranger to share this type of story made his heart hurt. She must really be looking for a way to move past her mother's death. He had the sudden desire to pull her into his arms but their relationship was definitely not to that point yet. Hell, he didn't even know her full name.

“Well you're halfway there. You could win the competition. Win for your mom.”

Yewon looked down, tears threatening to fall. “But I lack motivation.”

“I'll be your motivation.”

She looked up at him with watery eyes and Luhan could feel the walls on his heart fall completely, leaving it open for anyone to take.

“I'll make sure you work hard. I won't leave you alone until you improve. I'll make sure you're staying healthy. I'll be your motivation. And you won't let me down. Got it?” he ordered.

Yewon hugged his torso and buried her face in his chest.

Luhan stared ahead, frozen in shock before he reacted by wrapping his arms around her. “What's your full name?”

“Han Yewon.”

He guessed that their relationship had gotten to that point now and Han Yewon had successfully taken his heart.

 

 

Luhan wasn't kidding.

When had found out Yewon's number, he texted and called her so much the girl didn't even need to look at the name anymore. He'd always text her at midnight, saying the same thing, “Yah...you better be sleeping.” She normally wouldn't reply because she was practicing and he always thought she was asleep so he'd send another text saying, “Good night. Sweet dreams :D”

It wasn't that night that Yewon had fallen for the Chinese boy but it was over the days that they spent talking and training with each other. It was the days Luhan had taken extra care of her. He filled the empty hole her mother's death had created and Luhan was there to stay.

Whenever EXO would go to their practice room to give them more lessons, Luhan always made sure to buy food and water for Yewon, I mean,for her and her members. The EXO boys didn't think much of it. They just thought that he wanted to take care of their hoobaes. It was when Luhan bought chocolate milk, stating it was Yewon's favorite, did the members start to get suspicious. Sehun wouldn't stop pestering Luhan about it.

“Hyung, you like her don't you?” the younger asked one day in the car.

“What?”

“You like her.”

“No...”

Sehun smirked. “Okay good. Because we made out last practice when you went out to buy more water with Kris hyung. And let me tell you, she is one skilled individual. And I'm not talking about her singing.”

Luhan's face turned bright red as he glared at his best friend.

Jongin laughed along with Sehun. “I told you he likes her.”

When Luhan found out his best friend was joking, he practically pinched the crap out of him.

 

It was evaluation day and everyone was backstage, with EXO giving last minute pointers.

Luhan grabbed Yewon by the shoulders and looked at her with his doe eyes. “Don't let me down.”

Yewon smiled. “I won't. You've taught me well sunbaenim.”

“Didn't I tell you to call me oppa?” He wanted to kiss her so bad.

“We're backstage, our relationship is strictly sunbae hoobae right now.”

Luhan looked away. “Right...”

And that night they won the judges hearts and passed onto the next round with flying colors.

 

EXO-M was in China for a show recording and several performance and Luhan was dying to talk to one of the members to see how everything was going with their trainees, more specifically Yewon. He hadn't talked to her for a week now. International texts and calls were expensive as hell.

The second they got home from their schedule, the blonde quickly got on his laptop and skyped Sehun. The boy answered almost immediately.

“Hyung! How was the recording?” his smeared make-up hinted that he had just come back from a schedule as well.

“Good. Have you seen-”

“Yes. We just got back from their practice room. They're improving.”

“Is she eating well? Sleeping well?”

Sehun's smile faded. “Well...”

“Well?”

“Yewonnie kinda sprained her ankle the other day.”

Luhan stood up. “What?!”

“Is he freaking out? I told you he'd freak out. Why'd you tell him? You should've waiting for him to find out himself.” he heard Jongin and someone else murmur from the back round.

Sehun face palmed and stared at the screen, waiting for his hopeless best friend to calm down so they could talk again. After a minute of pacing, Luhan's face appeared again, only this time he had worry lines on his forehead.

“YAH! Dinner is ready!” Kyungsoo's voice rang through the speakers and Sehun's face lit up.

“Sehun, don't you dare leave me for food,” Luhan threatened.

“I'll talk to you later hyung. I love you. Come home safely,” Sehun quickly said and ran off.

The older scoffed and shut his laptop in anger before picking up his phone. Screw the expensive phone bill. He was going to talk to her.

 

The second Yewon picked up, Luhan started screaming. “YAHHHH!”

“Oppa...?”

“Didn't I tell you to take care of yourself and stay healthy?! What about the competition?”

“Ah, so you found out...” Yewon said quietly and stared at her wrapped ankle. “This week is ballad week, so we're not dancing. Hopefully it'll heal enough in two weeks.”

Luhan sighed. “How'd it happen?”

“I was skateboarding and-”

“I knew it. I told you that thing can cause death and injuries and...hey! I can practically see you rolling your eyes over there. Don't make me take the next flight to Korea right now and teach you lesson.”

“...can you?” she whispered.

The boy immediately softened. “I wish I could. I've got another interview tomorrow.”

“Of course. You can't just drop work.”

They continued to talk for hours. Luhan continuing to rant about s, mostly Sehun, and telling predebut stories. The funny stories seemed to cheer her up. Luhan wasn't even mad when his manager scolded him for the expensive phone bill. It was all worth it.

 

It was a week later when Luhan suddenly knocked on the dormitory door, asking for Yewon. One of the other girls in the competition squealed when she came face to face with the idol. She kept spazzing out and Luhan was starting to get impatient. He wanted to see Yewon, god dammit. That's when he looked over the girls shoulder and saw her limping over.

“Luhan?”

He smiled and pushed passed the other girl who was pouting.

“Are you okay?” Luhan examined her up and down.

Yewon just watched him with a smile. She took a sip of her water and tapped her good foot. “Are you done?”

Embarrassed, Luhan scratched the back of his neck. “I, uh, have something to show you.”

At this, Yewon's eyes widened and she tilted her head. Luhan felt that familiar feeling of wanting to kiss her come up again and he tried so hard to push it away. It would have to wait until later. If he lost control now, everything would be ruined.

“What is it?”

“It's not here. Now it's my turn to take you somewhere.”

The girl smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let me get a sweater.”

 

Luhan helped her into the van outside by holding her waist. He couldn't help the blush that formed on his cheeks at the closeness between them. They hadn't been this close since the night at the Han River.

“So, to the spot?” the driver asked.

“Yeah,” Luhan said and buckled Yewon's seat belt for her. “Don't wanna risk it.”

“Hey! I'm not that bad of a driver...” That's when she realized the driver was none other than Baekhyun.

“Oh, Baekhyun sunbae! Why are you driving?!” the girl asked.

“We, uh, kinda had to sneak out,” Luhan explained.

“What?! What if you get in trouble?”

“We won't.” Baekhyun reassured as he stopped at the stop light.

“Yeah. Plus, I don't even care. Because in the end, it will be all worth it. Trust me.” Luhan smiled and took her hand. Yewon stared at their hands and bit her lip.

Luhan smirked at that and nudged her. “So did you miss me? Did you? Did you?” he said in a playful manner.

Yewon couldn't hide the smile on her lips and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

“Oh, guys. Don't mind me or anything. I'm just going to pretend that I practically can't smell the fluffiness coming from you two,” Baekhyun muttered.

The two laughed and Luhan squeezed her hand.

 

They arrived at a building and Luhan got out after looking around, making sure no one was following them. He got on his knees and told Yewon to get on.

“What? No! I'm heavy!”

“Oh shut up, no you aren't. I'm more manly than I look.”

She rolled her eyes and obliged eventually.

“Don't take too long guys. I need to get back to the dorm in three hours to watch SNSD's Tokyo Concert. So be here in two hours or else your sorry asses will walk home.” Baekhyun said, texting someone on his phone.

“I'm your hyung!” Luhan practically yelled.

“And I have the keys and license.”

“Aish...”

 

Yewon thought that they were going through the front door so she was surprised when Luhan started to walk around the building through a dark alley. The fact that it was nighttime did not help the eerie feeling.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“Shh, I can't waste any energy.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have to take the stairs.”

 

Yewon felt so guilty as Luhan continued to climb the stairs to the roof of the building. Just climbing them is hard enough, but with her on his back, it was definitely difficult. She wiped the sweat that dripped down the side of his face with her sleeve and talked to him to get his mind off of the probably very painful throb on his legs.

Yewon sighed. “Luhan, set me down. I can walk. Very slowly, but I can walk. And you're obviously tired.”

“No. You can't climb these stairs without putting weight on your ankle and how is it supposed to heal in time for your next evaluation if you do that? I'm okay. We're almost there. One more floor.”

She just sighed and hugged him tighter and placing a kiss on his temple. The boy smiled and that's all it took for him to persevere and continue his way.

 

When they finally got to the top, Yewon knew exactly why Luhan had taken her there.

He set her down and took her arm to help her to the edge. There was a railing and they simultaneously crossed their arms on it.

“This part of town isn't so bright so you can see the stars clearly. There's no meteor shower but it's still beautiful isn't it?” Luhan asked, looking up.

Yewon looked up and smiled. It reminded her of the times her and her mother would watch the stars together and talk about anything. But Luhan was here now, and he went through all this trouble just for her. She's couldn't be any happier at the moment. She was so mesmerized at the stars that Yewon didn't notice that Luhan was now standing behind her until she felt something cold on her neck. She looked down and saw a silver necklace with a series of circles.

“This is my symbol from MAMA. It's custom made so you better not lose it.”

Yewon smiled and touched it before she turned around to face him. “I won't.”

“Happy birthday!” Luhan said happily and held out his hands.

“My birthday was-”

“Yes yes I know! But you led me to the river and suddenly told me that it was your birthday! I was so shocked. You didn't even give me a chance to get you a present or prepare anything. Do you know how flustered I was at that time?!” Luhan ranted and Yewon just watched him with an amused expression. Luhan never failed to fascinate her.

 

Luhan felt his world stop as she pressed her lips to his.

“Just...shut up,” she whispered against his lips and leaned in to kiss him again but he backed up and held out both hands.

“No!” he yelled with wide eyes.

Yewon tilted her head, confused. Then she looked down with sad eyes. “I thought...”

“No no!” Luhan quickly said, trying to do major damage control. “What I mean is...” he jumped up and down while stomping his feet like a little kid. “That's not how our first kiss was supposed to be like! I had it all planned out. I was gonna hug you from behind and...what's so funny?”

Yewon doubled over, laughing hysterically. “I thought you...aish. Nevermind. Okay. Let's try that again.” She turned around, waiting for him to go along with what he planned.

After a couple of seconds, she thought Luhan wasn't going to do it but then she left strong arms hug her waist from behind. She stared ahead at Seoul's lights, fighting the blush creeping to her cheeks.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Did you plan for me to say it back?”

The boy smiled and nodded before resting his chin on her shoulder. “Yes.”

“I love you too.”

She felt Luhan do little jumps in excitement a few times before he stopped. “Then I turn you around and give you sweetest kiss in the world.” He did what he said and cupped her cheek.

As their lips met for the second time, Luhan used his free arm to wrap around her waist and pull her up so he could kiss her easier.

They pulled away and he looked at her with the most loving gaze. “Wo ai ni.”

 

It was two more evaluations later when Yewon's group got voted off. Luhan consoled her but she assured him that everything was okay. When he asked why, she held up the many envelopes from different companies asking her for a contract. They celebrated by cooking dinner at the EXO dorm, sharing kisses and more memories (even though Kyungsoo interrupted lots of those memories with his constant nagging and yelling at them to not destroy his kitchen).

As Yewon sat there, eating the food, she watched as Luhan and Kyungsoo went on a rant fight and giggled when Luhan closed his ears and ran around the room screaming, “LA LA LA! I can't hear you! Blah blah blah!”

Kyungsoo fumed and went into his shared room with Jongin and slammed the door while muttering, “So immature. How is he the second oldest?”

Luhan skipped over to his girlfriend and kissed her tenderly on the lips before sitting down. “I win! Now I can start eating our-hey. Where's my plate?” he looked around with a pout on his lips.

Yewon pointed in the kitchen. Luhan looked over and he gasped as he caught the two culprits in the act. “OH SEHUN! HUANG ZITAO! Hold it right there!” The two maknae's looked up with big cheeks and anyone could guess what they were eating.

The two boys quickly ran away from their fuming hyung, not forgetting to take the plate of food with them.

 

Luhan banged his forehead on the table and sighed. “Ah...you see what I have to go through everyday?”

Yewon laughed and ran her fingers through his golden locks.

“This is not funny. I'm hungry.” Luhan shook his body back and forth childishly.

“And you have a girlfriend that's willing to share her food. Cheer up babe.”

The boy immediately sat up straight and smiled. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Here. I'm full anyways.” She got up and placed her glass of water in the sink before jumping on the couch and turning on the TV. The EXO dorm was practically her second home.

“Oppa. Hurry,” she said.

“Why?” he looked over and his jaw dropped, almost causing the food in his mouth to fall out.

Yewon had a seductive look on and she winked while using her index finger to gesture for him to come join her on the couch. Luhan immediately started to stuff his face with food and she laughed at his reaction. He put the plate in the sink, already imagining Kyungsoo's nagging but he didn't care. He jumped on the couch and wrapped his arms around Yewon's waist. They laid like that, watching TV, stealing kisses and enjoying each other's presence.

“Let's go on the balcony,” Yewon suggested.

Luhan immediately obliged and took her hand. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, just like he had done on the roof.

“Next year on my birthday, let's go to the same spot and watch the stars fall.”

Luhan kissed her cheek. “It's a promise.”

The girl smiled and was about to kiss her boyfriend until a familiar, obnoxious voice filled the comfortable silence and the door to the balcony burst open.

“AH! What a beautiful night! Oh. You two were here? My bad. Don't mind me. I'll just be standing here,” Jongin said and leaned on the railing beside them as he started to whistle.

Luhan glared at the dancing machine. “KIM JONGIN!”

Kyungsoo's laughter echoed through the dorm. “I always knew that kid would come in handy one day.”