October 11^th, 2006

((Jongin))

 

“And this is your schedule.”

 

I grabbed the flaky paper with both hands, gripping it tightly, almost as if it was about to slip away. Then I bowed to the secretary and turned to leave.

 

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, Jongin-ssi,” she called out as I nodded and closed the door behind me.

 

I had finally done it! I was officially an SM Entertainment trainee now. After years and years of practicing and auditioning, I had finally been given my trainee ID and schedule, and had even convinced my parents to let me stay at the SM dorms.

 

All so I could finally meet her again…

 

So, excitedly, I walked out into the hall and started heading over to the room where I was supposed to have my first lesson. Suddenly my eyes caught some movement inside one of the training rooms that made me stop in my tracks. Inside were six guys, all of them in fighting positions: four against two. My first thoughts were that it was a total disadvantage, but the immense height of each of the two guys fighting alone was quite threatening, so I assumed they would be okay.

 

I quietly watched from the tiny window as the fight began. The tall foreigner guy seemed to know what he was doing, managing to defend himself quite well as he blocked and countered with punches or kicks with precise timing. The other one wasn’t as skilled, but still held his ground, making it obvious that he had learned everything he knew about combat from his partner. Still, the fact that they didn’t move away from the corner of the room, ocasionally gained them a couple of good hits from the four shorter guys.

 

“Kim Jongin?! Is that really you?” I heard a voice call for me and turned around from the fight to see Taemin-hyung coming over and hugging me like a koala that hasn’t seen a tree in a hundred years.

 

“It’s really you, Jonginnie! You actually got accepted this time!!” Taemin-hyung squealed.

 

“Of course, hyung. I texted you so, remember?”

 

“I thought you were just bluffing like always.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” I said while I tried to pull free, squishing his face with the palm of my hand and turning his head sideways.  

 

“Oh no! The trainees shouldn’t be fighting!” Taemin-hyung exclaimed as his eyes focused past the door’s window.

 

At that, he easily got off me and ran inside to separate the fight. I followed some seconds afterwards and don’t ask me how he did it (because it’s still beyond me), but, by then, Hyung had already broken down the fight and the four blonde guys were pushing their way out of the room. On the other hand, the taller of the two guys still had the intention to fight back, but clearly tried to restrain himself and wiped some of the blood from his mouth. The other boy was kneeled down on the floor and was whispering softly to someone that I hadn’t noticed and sitting down on the bench in the corner.

 

“Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

 

I didn’t hear the response, but I did see a small hand pointing at the foreigner and the curly haired boy turned his attention to him.

 

“Oh my gosh! Kris-hyung, you’re bleeding!”

 

“Look at, I am,” the taller one calmly stated as he traced the new blood stain on the corner of his mouth with his right thumb.

 

“What happened here? Those four seemed pretty beaten up. Are you guys responsible for it?” Taemin-hyung asked the two giants, trying to look all tough but ultimately failing at it.

 

“I tried to hold back. I swear,” the guy I was assuming was Kris answered as he threw his hands up in a defensive way, shaking his head rapidly. “But in my defense, they started it.”

 

“I’m still going to have to report this, you know…” Taemin-hyung declared sadly. I could tell that my best friend didn’t want to do it, but his serious expression showed that he knew that he had to.

 

“See, Chanyeol? I told you that this was going to happen!” Kris exclaimed, and I swear that he had a now-you-owe-me-money face on.

 

“Would you just explain properly, Kris-hyung?” the Chanyeol guy snapped back.

 

The two continued to argue like that while Taemin-hyung still doubted on what to do.

 

“It was my fault, I’m sorry,” a girl’s voice suddenly whispered. The two boys immediately quieted down and turned all their attention on her.

 

Meanwhile, I flinched at the sound. Why did it somehow sound so familiar…?

 

“Exi-” Chanyeol started to say, and that was when it hit me.

 

 

“Then promise me that you won’t stop dancing no matter what,” I added with a smile and a gentle voice.

 

“I promise, Jongin,” she replied, breaking free from my grip enough to extend out her pinky finger. I immediately linked it with mine and we shook on it.

 

“Hey, how come you know my name anyways?” I asked as I let go of her finger and started to walk back. She quickly followed, almost as if she was scared to get lost or something.

 

“I know everyone’s name. We’ve been in the same dance class for about a year now.”

 

“Well, I really don’t know yours…” I said with a trembling voice. Man, was that embarrassing! I hadn’t expected her to recognize me, let alone know my name or that we’ve been for the same class for so long. I looked at her shyly, almost apologetically, and was about to add some panicked rambling when she smiled warmly at me.

 

“That’s okay, because from today onwards my name is-”

 

 

“EXI!” I screamed out instinctively, not caring if I had interrupted Chanyeol.

 

“Y-Yes?” the girl mumbled, stumbling on her words. When she looked up and locked eyes with me, I knew that she had recognized me because of the wide smile that suddenly appeared across er face. “Jongin…”

 

“It’s really you… I can’t-” I started to say as I walked closer toward the girl, who was sitting on the bench in the corner.

 

“How do you know Exi?” Chanyeol spat at me, suddenly becoming all overprotective of her. He even placed himself in between both of us, blocking her from me.

 

“It’s okay. He’s an old friend, Hyung,” Exi explained and bowed her head to me, smiling softly. “It’s been a long time, Jongin. It’s nice to finally see you again.”

 

“Drop the formalities, you idiot,” I snickered and, pushing Chanyeol out of the way, pulled her into a tight embrace. I heard the girl giggle at my boldness and slowly started to hug me back. I would’ve been happy to stay in her arms all day long, if it wasn’t for the fact that I could practically feel the piercing stares of everyone else inside of the room landing on my back.

 

Exi seemed to notice it too, because some seconds later, she pulled away with the old bright smile I remembered.

 

“I was waiting for you, Jongin! Took you long enough,” she pouted, putting one of her hands over her waist. I was about to protest playfully, but the girl broke out into a gentle laugh and I was suddenly left with no words in my completly open mouth. She had just made my heart skip a beat, like in the old days when I used to watch her dance.

 

“So you’re Exi. Jonginnie here has told me a lot about you!” Taemin-hyung suddenly interrupted, saving me from my silence.

 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, too, Taemin-sunbae. I didn’t know that you were close to Jongin,” Exi said, changing her tone of voice into a formal one and bowing deeply. Taemin-hyung laughed at her reaction.

 

“You really are everything my Jonginnie’s told me you were!” he managed to say while laughing. “Oh! And you don’t have to be so formal with me either. Just call me ‘Hyung’, too, okay?”  

 

Exi’s looked surprised by his sudden friendliness towards her, but ended up sighing and thanking him sincerely with yet another bow, no smile. But Taemin-hyung just shook it off saying that “Any friend of Jonginnie is a friend of mine, too” and smiling brightly.

 

After that, Taemin-hyung said he had to go because he had practice and told us that he was going to let this one go, since he had gotten to meet Exi.

 

“But make sure not to get caught again, you understand? Because, next time, I might not be here to save you guys from getting kicked out because of violence against each other,” he explained. “Oh, and Jongin? Meet me after practice in front of the dorms tonight. There’s something I want to tell you about as a congratulations on making in. Don’t be late, okay?”

 

I nodded as I heard the door close. Typical Taemin-hyung, not even letting me agree to his proposal, just simply assuming that I’ll be there... I guess I have no choice but to go along it now, right?

 

So sighing, I looked back, wanting to continue my conversation with Exi, and saw that the girl was now standing, holding herself up with crutches. That's when I noticed that she had a cast over her right ankle. Most of it was signed with at least five different handwritings (not all of them in Korean, by the way), and  multiple doodles of every color imaginable were spread across it, almost as if it had been showered by a multicolored rainbow.

 

"Exi! What happend to your ankle?!" I asked desperately and in shock.

 

"I broke it... during practice some weeks ago... that's why I can dance right now..." Exi explained with her head hung low, almost as if she felt guilty for something she didn't do. Most people wouldn't have been able to read the fear she had in her eyes, but I could see that it as clear as daylight, which only assured me that she was refering to something really important to her.

 

And that's when, for the second time today, the little lightbulb on top of my head with realization.

 

"Exi... When I asked you to promise me to never stop dancing, I meant that I never wanted you to quit and give up on your dream to become a dancer. If you're hurt and need to rest, then I'm most definitely not going to stop you! Heck, I'll be here for whatever you need!! I'm a trainee now, too, you know! Soon I'll be moving into the dorms and you'll be able to reach me there whenever you want," I spilled out everything without really wanting too. Man, I must've sounded so desperate just then. 

 

But Exi disn't seem to think so because her attention suddenly perked up. 

 

"Wait, so you're the dance prodigy that's going to be moving into the eight floor tomorrow?" the Chanyeol guy (who I had already forgotten was standing there) asked before Exi could say anything.

 

"Yes, why?"

 

"Then we're going to be roommates!!" he exclaimed with a creepy smile. "My name is Park Chanyeol, and that guy here is Wu Yi Fan-"

 

"It's Kris!" the foreigner guy snapped as he pushed away Chanyeol's finger that was pointing at him.That didn't stop Chanyeol from talking loudly with  his surpirsingly deep voice, though.

 

"Then there's Joonmyun-hyung, and Yi Xing-hyung, and Minseok-hyung, and Sehun. Oh, and of course, you already know Exi," he continued, adding a bit of suspicion at the final part.

 

"Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say that Exi, a girl, is your roommate?!"

 

"...I thought you said that he was an old friend of yours, Exi," the guy asked, completly ignoring me. When Exi shrugged in response, he continued. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. But, yeah, that's just how things are. Exi is our roommate, since she stays at the boys' dorm. She has a room and a bathroom all to herslef, though, so we basically just share a kitcken and a living room together, along with the common areas such as the halls and stuff."

 

"I see..." I whispered as the four of us made our way outside the practice room and onto the hallways that led to the other rooms inside the building, splitting up spon afterwards.

 

When I thought that things were going to get better once I became an SM teainee, I could've never been more wrong in my life. Exi was hurt and it would take weeks for me to see her dance again; through some random mistake, she had become the roommate of seven strange boys, including me; and now, I had to deal with Taemin-hyung's crazy ideas!! This was so not how I pictured it to be...

 

But then again, I had finally made it. Hurt or not, I was now able to look over Exi like I have wanted to for years... And right now, the fact that she still remebred me was enough...

 

A/N: Oh, gosh! I worked so hard to finish chapter~ I even ended up writing some of it from  my phone because I don't have my laptop with me this weekend... So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter since it's a little longer than usual. If any of you are curious about the last Sehun chapter, I'll be explaining that in the next chapter, that's most probably going to be posted sometime next week. Probably weekend thought... sorry, but classes leave too much homework and I don't have te time to write even if I wanted to... Once again thanks for reading~~!!! ^_^