"Luhan? Is everything okay?" you pressed, coming to squat by Luhan.

"I should be asking you that" Luhan responded, a sad smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" you questioned, taking a seat beside him.

"I should be the one asking you if you're okay." Luhan reiterated, resting his arms on this propped knees. 

"Why are you down here?" you continued, avoiding the question.

"Answer the question, the fact I left you standing there tonight is already eating me up inside" Luhan admitted, looking down.

"Is that why you're sitting here at 3 in the morning?" you asked, casting a worried look.

"Eun Mi, please answer me." Luhan plead, a hint of strain in his voice.

"I'm feeling better, really. I just had some personal things going on. I'm sorry you had to see me like that" you finally responded. There was a pause before you continued. "But, why are you sitting by the front door, did you really go to the arcade?" you queried, the 3am mood making you feel light and carefree.

"I wish; I think it will be a long time before any of us will be going to the arcade anytime soon." Luhan answered, pulling his feet closer to him.

"You should get some sleep, it's been a long day today" you urged, standing up. You extended a hand out to Luhan, giving him a small smile as you did so. Luhan took you hand and hoisted himself off the ground.

"You should get some sleep too Eun Mi, you're always worrying about us." he began, pulling you up the stairs, his hand still grasping yours. Luhan led you up the stairs and outside your door, his hand still tightly holding yours.

"I was serious before, don't get injured without me from now on. You're always busy worrying and taking care of us. Let us take care of you too." Luhan gently instructed, finally letting go of your hand, placing his two hands on your shoulders. "Understand?" he prompted, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Yes" you whispered back, nodding.

"Good. Now, sleep." Luhan ordered, opening the bedroom door and pushing you inside. As the door closed behind you, a warm feeling had spread inside you. Luhan was finally warming up to you, whatever you had done to displease him before seemed to slip away and you couldn't stop the smile creeping on your face.

----

"Rise and shine, Eun Mi" a sweet voiced greeted as you stirred awake. Lay had slid into your room, an apron tied around his waist.

"Oh no, did I oversleep?" you panicked, reaching for your phone.

"No, you're still up before the boys, I just got up to cook some breakfast." Lay answered, drawing open the curtains, the sunshine spewing into the room. "How are you this morning?" he asked, sitting softly on the bed.

"Good. Let's smash this Beijing showcase" you grinned, shooting Lay with a finger gun. Lay grinned along, his dimples showing.

"I'll let you wake up, I'll be downstairs making breakfast if you need me" he informed, making his way out your door. Truthfully, you were still feeling emotionally empty but with Luhan and Lay's comfort you had felt much better. As you began getting ready, you could hear the boys all stirring awake.

"Luhan, did you take my socks?" you heard Sehun ask, your door wide open.

"Sehun, you left them in your shoes last night." Suho replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Kaiii, where did you put my nice face wash?" Chen called from the bathroom.

"Chanyeol took it" Kai blamed almost immediately.

"PARK CHANYEOL" Chen shouted, the sound of Chanyeol scrambling in the hallway ensued. By the time you were walking out your bedroom door, half the boys were already down in the kitchen.

"Breakfast is finished" Lay called from the kitchen and soon enough all twelve boys were in the kitchen.

"How did you sleep?" you asked Suho, taking a seat beside him.

"Quite good, I'm feeling energised for our Beijing showcase, hopefully it'll be as successful as our Korean showcase." Suho admitted, looking around at the rest of exo.

"Look guys, our fans have already uploaded photos and videos from our showcase on SNS." Baekhyun excitedly announced, showing the rest of the members his phone. The boys all crowded around Baekhyun's phone as they began reading through the comments.

"Wah, they liked my solo stage" Tao gushed, taking out his own phone to monitor the comments.

"See, I told you they would" Chanyeol grinned, poking Tao's side. You decided to let the boys monitor the comments and collected the empty bowls to put in the dishwasher.

"Boys, I want everyone ready to go and by the front door at 9:25am" you quickly checked Lay's watch. "That gives everyone twenty minutes." you announced as you began setting bowls into the dishwasher. The boys were all still preoccupied with checking the SNS as they strolled out of the kitchen. Lay had instead come by you, squatting down, placing bowls inside the dishwasher with you.

"So, what did your fans say?" you asked excitedly, noticing the happy smile on Lay’s face.

"They said a lot of sweet things on how well we did at our showcase, and lots of encouraging messages to cheer us on for our Chinese showcase" he replied, equally excitedly. With four hands on the job, the kitchen was all clean and restored to its original nature in no time. As you made you way into the lounge room, Kai and Sehun were found practicing their dance stage, a smile plastered on each of their faces.

"Eun Mi, how do we look?" Sehun asked as he danced.

"Woahh, you guys look cool, so handsome~~" you happily exclaimed as you waved around your water bottle pretending it was a light stick. "E-X-O! E-X-O! E-X-O!" you began chanting, matching your 'light stick' along with the beat. As the boys finished up the dance stage, Chanyeol had come into the living room, his own water bottle clutched in his hand.

"Ahhh, wasn't that a wonderful stage by Kai and Sehun. Very cool. Did everyone enjoy it?" Chanyeol began MC'ing, pointing his 'microphone' towards you.

"Yes!" you called back diligently, waving your 'light stick' excitedly around.

"What is going on…?" Chen walked in, a confused expression over his face.

"Up next, the one, the only, Chen of Exo!" Chanyeol announced through his water bottle, pushing Chen forward. Chen was still confused at what was happening but still accepted Chanyeol's water bottle when offered. Chen clutched the water bottle in his hands and struck out into the first verse of What is Love. Just as Chen's part finished, Baekhyun had begun to sing his part in Korean whilst walking down the stairs. Kai, Sehun and Chanyeol had now joined you in the make shift audience side of the room and were all swaying their arms to the song. As Chen and Baekhyun finished singing at the chorus, Chen had thrown Chanyeol's water bottle back at him whilst Baekhyun went to go high five Sehun. Although you hadn't quite slept enough the night before, just being around exo filled you with energy and you didn't know what kind of shenanigans they would be up to next.

"T-minus 10 minutes everyone" you called, circling your mouth with your hands and shouting up towards the second level. The vans were due any minute now and the latest you could leave without being late was 15 minutes. By now, D.O and Luhan were the last two everyone was waiting on. Your phone had buzzed indicating that the vans had arrived and seconds later Hyun Kyun had made his way into the house.

"How was the morning?" he asked, coming to stand beside you after the boys all greeted him.

"Yeah, not bad. We're just waiting on D.O and Luhan now." you replied, checking your watch.

"You start loading the boys onto the van, I'll check up on them." Hyun Kyun instructed as he set off up the stairs. You led the 10 boys outside, where the two vans were rumbling on the drive way. The boys began piling into the vans as you heard the closing and locking of the front door. Whilst Luhan entered the van closest to you, D.O and Hyun Kyun had quickly made their way into the other. Once Luhan was safely in the van, Kris had nudged Luhan slightly, asking if everything was okay. You slid close the door before sliding into the passenger seat. Your van trailed behind the first one as they both set off for the Beijing venue.

---

"Could I get two more sets of microphones set up and some tape covered over these wires" you instructed to some of the staff around you.

"Eun Mi, outfits have been delivered, can you please go to the back door to deliver them to the dressing rooms" the manager instructed. You paced towards the back door where you saw the boxes that you had packed up in Korea stacked on the floor.

"Have all the microphones been checked and on standby?" the head piece chimed.

"Check and check" Hyun Kyun replied back. You checked your clipboard and ticked off the corresponding task.

"Dressing rooms have completed setting up" you informed into the head piece, further ticking off another task.

"That's everything, all managers to front stage for first full run through." Youngjun ordered.

You took a big swig of water from your water bottle as the boys began their rehearsals. The rest of the day had flown by with you rushing all over the venue. Among the breaks the boys were still energetic and excited for tonight, but through your quick glances, you could see Luhan sat on the floor, silently drinking his water and looking at his phone. You had meant to check up on him but the preparation for the showcase had taken up your time. Once you finally got a free slot, the exo boys were all busy getting dressed and ready for the showcase. You had peeked into the change rooms to see that Luhan was currently in the make-up chair. He had his eyes closed and his phone clutched in his hand.

"30 minutes until the showcase begins" Youngjun reminded as you checked your watch to confirm. By now, most of the boys had finished getting ready and were all resting in the changing rooms.

"How long now?" Xiumin asked, as he strolled towards you, a nervous vibe coming off him.

"30 minutes" you answered, as he shook his arms.

"Don't be too nervous, you'll be great" you comforted, placing a hand on his shoulder. Luhan had now finished getting ready and joined the rest of the boys and you took this opportunity to finally check up on him.

"Are you alright?" you whispered, his attention on his phone again. Luhan looked up from his phone screen at you before nodding ever so slightly.

"I'm fine" he whispered back, almost inaudible.

"Sure?" you affirmed. He gave a small nod before your ear piece sounded once more.

"Eun Mi, please begin rounding the boys up and be on standby by the main stage. You grimaced slightly at Luhan before walking away towards the door.

"Alright exo! Follow me!" you called over the chatter, the boys beginning to gather around you. You did a quick head count before setting off towards the main stage.

"Exo are secured on standby, ready to go" you confirmed, a confirmation replied you. As all 13 of you waited against the side lines you looked over to see that Kris and Lay were now in conversation with Luhan, Lay with his arm around Luhan's shoulders. Luhan had a solemn look on his face as he talked with the two. Luhan's solemn look remained throughout the show every time he'd come off stage. As the individual stages came to a finish you finally had another chance to check up on Luhan. You handed Luhan a water bottle as he came off the stage and into the side area.

"Luhan, is everything okay?" you urged, as he took a full mouthful of water. Your eyebrows bundled in worry as you watched as Luhan trailed behind you towards the changing rooms. He handed the water bottle back to you as the two of you continued walking. Even after drinking the water he hadn't bothered replying and you had repeated yourself in case he hadn't heard you the first time. Again, no response.

"Luhan!" you called, grabbing onto his wrist to stop him in his tracks.

"What? What do you want?" he stressed, an annoyed look on his face. Although you both knew he was stronger than you, he didn't seem to be pulling away from your grasp.

"What's going on?" you stammered, a little taken back at Luhan's sharp response.

"What do you mean ‘what's going on?’ Exo is having a showcase right now, I'm trying to get changed. You, of all people, should understand ‘what's going on’ here." he spat, his brows furrowed. You took a sharp breath, surprised at Luhan’s harsh, patronising tone before you replied.

"I meant what's going on with you! You think I don't know what's going on? I think you're the one that doesn’t understand the situation here. I'm concerned for you Luhan, you're acting strange. Please, just tell me what is going on." you stressed, feeling your temper rise slightly.

"Listen here, Eun Mi. You're my manager, not my Mum, not my sister, heck you're not even close to being my friend. What right do you have to worry about me? Just worry about yourself, you wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for some stupid scandal reporters." Luhan snapped, sending a million daggers right through you before he continued. "Listen, I don’t know what you think is going on here, but just worry about being our manager and I'll worry about being Luhan from Exo" he concluded, before breaking free from your grasp and striding into the change rooms. Your hand fell from where Luhan's wrist used to be, all your ideas of Luhan finally warming up to you shattered within minutes and you felt your heart strings tighten ever so slightly. You let out a shaky breath as you felt your head whirring with Luhan's words.

You're not even close to being my friend.

You swallowed back the forming lump in your throat before the ear piece chimed once more with an instruction, snapping you right back into reality.

Anyone still reading?

If so, sorry for being so slow ><

Ps: Good news is, I've written a lot of the future chapters, so hopefully, after I've plowed through more chapters, updating chapters will be quicker.

Leave me some love down below~~