Chapter04

"Okay, guys. Here's the music," your manager said, walking over to you and handing out the sheets one by one.

"We'll wait for you," Suho said. "We should get together and get dinner afterwards."

"Sure," Hyoyoung replied, grinning widely.

"Come and listen to the song," he said as he led you all into the recording studio. The five girls took up all the room on the couches, leaving you to sit on the floor.  

Once he had the music, you all nodded your head to the beat. You liked the song. It wasn't really the cutesy type and had some dub step in it.

"Like it?" the producer asked.

You all nodded happily. It's not like you could've said 'No, I hate it. Make me a new song.'

"We have to divide up parts now. Who's the main vocal here?"

EunA raised her hand proudly. "Me."

Slowly, he figured out the parts and gave each of you your part to practice.

"Let's try it now. See what it sounds like."

Without any recording material, the six of you just sang your parts as he played it on the piano so you could hear the pitches.

When it came to your rapping part, you perfected the first part, but stumbled upon the last few lines. The producer tried helping you, slowing it down for you so you could get the words and the beat.

With his help, you finally got the words and beat down.

"Finally," you heard someone mutter under their breath. It was probably Mi Sun.

At around 8 pm, you finished recording and EXO-K was still outside waiting. However, they fell asleep.

"Oppas!" Haneul shouted, and instantly, they all shook awake, startled by your maknae's loud voice.

"Mm?" Kai asked groggily. "Oh, right. Let's go out to eat now."

"I'll call EXO-M," Baekhyun said, taking out his phone.

"EXO-M's going to come?!" EunA squealed.

"Yeah, if they can," Suho said. "Aren't you going to invite Gemini-K?"

"Of course," Joo Eun said while smiling. She turned to you. "Ashlee, call them."

Luckily, you were forced by Soo Man to exchange numbers with the entire group. You dialed Anna's number since she was the same age as you and she spoke English, too.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi…" you said tentatively. "Gemini-M and EXO are going out to dinner now. Can Gemini-K come? Are you guys busy?"

"Wait," she said.

You heard her asking their manager and then a loud, "NO! You must practice! This is no time to be playing right now!"

"I don't think we can make it," Anna said, coming back on the line.

"Oh, it's okay. Maybe next-" You were cut off by the sound of the dead tone of the other side hanging up.

Why did she hang up on me? Don't tell me she hates me, too. This just gets better and better, doesn't it?

"Well? What'd they say?" EunA asked. All eleven eyes turned to you.

"They can't make it. Their manager won't let them," you said, biting your lip.

"That's fine!" Chanyeol said. "I guess it'll just be the 18 of us."

For some reason, ' just the 18 of us' seemed a little strange to hear.

——-

When you got to the restaurant, EXO-M was already there. You all greeted each other, bowing.

Kris and Luhan came up to you while you were waiting for them to clear a table for the 18 of you to sit.

"Hey, Ashlee. Long time no see?" Kris said coolly.

"How's it going?" Luhan asked, smiling.

"Good," you responded, lying through your smile. "You?"

"Things have been fun. Much better than training. It gets better," Luhan said, secretly trying to hint that everything will turn out okay in the end.

Finally, a table cleared up and you all got to sit down. Since none of the girls wanted to sit next to you, Luhan offered you a seat next to him. Hesitating at first, you took it, seeing as there were no other seats left.

"I see one boy is not enough…" Mi Sun whispered in your ear as she walked to her seat that Haneul had saved for her.

One boy is not enough? What is that supposed to mean? I don't have a boyfriend nor a crush, so where is this boy coming from? I haven't had a boyfriend since 3 years ago during my second year of training. We were dating even before I