“What?”

Kris couldn't believe what he was hearing. Were his ears deceiving him? He was sure he cleaned them yesterday, could it be that his ears already collected enough dirt to mess up his hearing? Kris furrowed his eyebrows, deep in thought. No, he decided, there's no way my ears could've already gotten that gross so quickly.

“Kris, are you listening?” Kris snapped his head up. He looked over the big wooden desk and saw his father shaking his head disapprovingly.

Kris insincerely apologized. He looked at his father in desperation and asked, “Are you really asking me to plan the annual EXO Airlines Banquet?” Kris wanted to make sure what he was hearing was correct. His dad would never trust him with a project this big. Especially not one that was as big as the annual banquet.

Also, Kris really didn't want to do it.

Mr. Wu nodded, apparently not seeing a problem with what he was asking of his son. Kris laughed humorlessly. Did his own father not know how unorganized and irresponsible he was? “You do realize that if you trust me with this, we'll end up having the party in a broom closet with a box of Cheez Its to pass around for dinner, right?”

His dad gave him a pointed look, and Kris just looked right back. Mr. Wu sighed, clasping his hands on top of his desk. “You're not giving yourself enough credit, Kris,” he said. He raised and eyebrow at his son. “You did plan my birthday party last year, did you not?”

“What are you- oh.” Kris stopped mid question when he realized what his dad was talking about. Last year, a huge birthday was planned for his father, and all credit went towards Kris. “Right, you're party,” he muttered, remembering the elaborate event his mother planned that he took credit for. “That was totally different,” he said. He didn't want to tell his dad that it wasn'thim that planned the party, but he didn't want to be stuck planning this party either.

Mr. Wu held a hand up to stop Kris from talking anymore. Kris bit his lip, trying his best not to disobey his dad. If there was anyone Kris actually respected and listened to, it was his father. “I don't see how it's any different. You planned my birthday event and it turned out wonderful. Now do the same for the annual banquet.”

Kris cursed himself for taking credit of all of his mother's hard work. He wasn't actually sorry about claiming his mom's work as his own, he was sorry that it came back to bite him in the . “But dad,” he whined. If he couldn't get out of this by speaking like an adult – maturely and respectfully – he was going to have to resort to the childish way – whining and throwing someone else under the bus. “I don't know how to plan this. There are just so many things to do and so many things to prepare beforehand. Don't one of the flight attendants usually take care of this? Victoria plans it every year, make her do it!”

His father shook his head, silencing Kris once again. “You need to start pulling your weight around here.” Kris just raised an unconvinced eyebrow. “I'm serious, Kris. If you don't start doing your fair share of work, you're going to have to face the consequences.”

Kris called bull on what his father was saying.

Mr. Wu's shoulders slumped and he sighed, leaning back into his seat. “Alright, I give up,” he muttered defeated. He finally told Kris the real reason why he was going through all of this trouble. “I've gotten some complaints.” When Kris started to get mad, his dad shushed him. “Don't be upset at these people. They're from various people and it's almost as if they all came together and unanimously decided to complain about you at once.” Mr. Wu chuckled, but Kris was not happy. “You really must've done something this time.”

Ignoring his dad's lame attempt at humor, he gritted his teeth in annoyance. “And what did these complaints say?”

His dad pulled out a stack of index cards. Kris recognized them immediately. The pale gray cards were for one thing and one thing only; Complaints. “A couple were about how you never do your fair share of work,” he said, reading off the top card of the stack. That was definitely Kyungsoo, Kris bitterly thought. Kyungsoo is so dead when I get my hands on him.

“The next one,” Mr. Wu said, pulling Kris out of his thoughts, “was about you, and I quote, 'being a butthole for confiscating my Nintendo DS'?” Kris raised an eyebrow at that one, and even Mr. Wu looked very confused. He turned the card around and Kris saw him laugh when he read the name. “It was from Jongdae,” he said, chuckling. “You should probably give him back his DS.” He deposited the card into the trash can and moved onto the next one.

“There's a few more, but this one caught my attention.” He picked up the card, cleared his throat, and read it out loud. “'We, the flight attendants, feel as if Wu Yifan-” Kris narrowed his eyes when he heard his real name, “-does not respect us. He's always degrading us on and off flights and we all want a stop put to it, and we want to see some punishment doled out for him.'” Mr. Wu looked at his son and shook his head. “Have I taught you nothing about how to treat women, especially your coworkers?”

Kris was all too ready to defend himself, though. “Okay, honestly, most of those are exaggerated and-”

“I don't want to hear any more of your excuses.” Mr. Wu shuffled a few papers into a stack and handed them to Kris. “The decision is final. You will be planning the banquet this year. Everything you need to know is in that packet. This banquet better be the best one yet, or you're going to face your punishment, do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Kris muttered, getting up from his chair.

“However,” Mr. Wu started to say, and Kris turned around hopefully. “you may recruit three other people to help you plan this.” He looked at Kris sternly. “But god forbid you make them do all the work too.”

“Why, me? I would never!” Kris said dramatically, feigning innocence.

Mr. Wu rolled his eyes, and dismissed Kris. “Tell me the names of the people by the end of the day.”

Kris nodded and mock saluted his dad. He was in a much happier mood now that he was allowed to make three other people help him. And he knew exactly who he was going to recruit.

Kyungsoo.

Jongdae.

And one of the flight attendants.

Kris chuckled as he walked out of the room. Serves them right for complaining about him.

Mr. Wu massaged his temples. “God bless those poor people,” he mumbled. He suddenly thought of something and was quick to grab a post it note and pen from his desk drawer. He wrote a reminder to himself and when he was done, he stuck it on the edge of his desk. The post it was bright yellow, so he would not miss it nor forget about it.

Give bonus to people Kris chooses to help him.

He chuckled slightly as he read the memo over again. “They're going to need it after working with Kris.”

Hey guys! Haven't updated in a while, huh? Sorry about that. School and life got in the way. But then yesterday the layout messed up and I was just like, well. Might as well update it now. Deadline is still whenever, so there's not rush whatsoever. 

OH AND the applicants list will be updated after I finish this, so yeah. Check that in a little bit if your app is still not there. Thanks!