Practice is over for now and nobody knew the time until Chun Hua looked at her watch in shock at how fast the time goes. She was too fond of watching Exo dance that she nearly never took her eyes off them. Baekhyun immediately went to fetch a water bottle to drink, Xiumin slumped on the floor as he sighed, thankful that it's break time now, Chen followed suit and sat beside him but not as rashly as Xiumin did, and Luhan calmly dug on his bag to get a clean towel . Others, even though they agreed to go for a break now, Kai, Lay, Chen, Suho, D.O., Tao, and Sehun stayed behind at the center of the room to review some moves.

“How was it?” Chanyeol jumped to stand in front of Chun Hua, sweat covered his face but he didn’t seem tired at all.

 “Amazing~!” Chun Hua complimented with applause.

“What time is it?” Luhan asked randomly, wiping the sweat off of his face with his towel.

“7:30...” Chun Hua answered. “It's gotten quite late.” She muttered. “I think I should head home now.” She then stood up to make her point.

“Wait. I'm going with you.” Luhan stated.

Chun Hua tilted her head. “Why?”

Sehun smirked, walking to his bag and grabbing the water bottle just on top of it. “He’s going to pick up Mei Xin, of course.” He opened his water bottle and emptied its contents. “He is usually gone around these times.”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He playfully punched Sehun causing the other to laugh randomly.

Chanyeol nodded. “Hey, if Luhan hyung is going, can I go now too?” Chanyeol asked hopefully.

“No.” Kris answered curtly, patting the head of the other. “You stay here.”

Chen couldn’t help but laugh at Chanyeol’s failed attempt to be able to get out of practice as he twisted his right foot because of the slight pain that he is feeling from it.

“Let’s go?” Luhan asked getting his bag and hung it on his right shoulder.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Luhan and Chun Hua walked quietly at the busy streets of Seoul, Luhan was pretty distant when it comes to these kinds of things. It is different when he is with the rest of Exo since he is very lively and playful even, his baby face constantly shows up when he is with them. But right now, Chun Hua glanced a look at Luhan. He seems to be just right as he is in his age of 24 now. Not a baby faced kind of Luhan but a normal man in his early 20’s.

“Hmm...” Chun Hua hummed randomly, joining both of her hands together from behind as she lazily stretched a little, feeling good about today.

“What?” Luhan looked at Chun Hua, suspicious of her for some reason.

“Nothing~” She answered innocently. “I'm just happy that I finally met you guys and it’s better than I expected.”

Luhan stayed quiet, he didn’t know what to say about that.

“Mei Xin is such a lucky girl to have known you...” She murmured absently. “I'm sure that she was happy to see you as well.”

The last sentence that Chun Hua said ticked off Luhan a little, glaring at her slightly, minding his manners. “What do you know...” He gritted his teeth.

“What do I know about your relationship between you and her?” Chun Hua butted in. “Oh, I know enough to know the reason why the both of you can be very awkward with each other.” She chuckled, one of her hands reached out to touch the stone walls of a building, gliding till she reached the edge of it. “But then... if you aren’t Luhan... and you are with her almost every day, you would know...” she glanced at Luhan who was surprised by her words, not with the first ones, he knew that Mei Xin tends to share her deepest secrets to her close friends, but it was the last sentence that hit an impact with him.

Chun Hua grabbed Luhan’s wrist and guided him to walk the right direction without him realizing that he had stopped randomly and was about to turn to the wrong one.

“Careful.” Chun Hua whispered and let him go when she was sure that he was back to being conscious. “This is the place, right?” She asked Luhan as she stared up to the name of the building plastered at the front.

“Uh? What?” Luhan asked, still a bit out of it. He followed her gaze and that's when he understood. “Oh, yeah... we wait here for a bit until she comes out.”

I sighed, relieved that my work is finally over. This renewed my spirit even more and so I excitedly gathered up my things to go out of the company building. As expected, there was Luhan in a recognizable distance but near him, I recognized my mommy Chun Hua.

“Mommy~!” I called out with a grin from the other side of the road opposite to hers, waving my hand for her to notice me out of the many passerby that momentarily blocked me from going to her immediately.

As if she really heard me, which I doubt because of many people talking, she glanced at my direction and recognized me which made me all the happier. I saw her raise her hand up in the air, grinning at me.

As soon as the road was free for me to cross, I immediately made my way to Chun Hua, kissing her by the cheek as a greeting. “Mom, you came to fetch me?”

“No.” She answered shaking her head and I pouted at her response. “He did.” She pointed at Luhan who discreetly glanced at us at that moment. “I'm just here because we were heading out together.” She explained.

I tilted my head in confusion. Luhan is usually at the company while Chun Hua was either at home or going everywhere...

Chun Hua gave a sly smile as she moved closer to me to whisper. “I've been to SMent.”

My eyes wide open, I whined. “That's not fair.”

Chun Hua shrugged in a playful grin. “Ask him.” She urged me to confirm it to Luhan.

I frowned at her for urging me to him but found myself walking towards Luhan anyway.

“Hi.” I greeted awkwardly. “So, is it true that...”

Luhan cut me off with a fake disappointed look. “You are so cold hearted, Mei Xin...” He shook his head, a small smile slowly forming from his lips.

Seeing that smile of his made me lose my tension a little and made me smile as I shook my head knowing that he would make me play around a little. “How was your day?” I asked instead of the one question that I really came to him for.

He smiled a little more this time. “It was good.” He answered, nodding his head. “Chun Hua kept on clapping her hands as she watched us practice.” He pointed at Chun Hua who was grinning widely with a slight blush creeping to come out of her face.

I pouted at Luhan’s indirect confirmation. “Eh? Lucky...” I murmured. “So.” I said more enthusiastically. “Should we go home now?”

Luhan nodded, already walking first as I followed from behind and Chun Hua catching up and walking by my side.

I hooked my right arm around her neck. “So... mom... how was it?” I asked discreetly.

Chun Hua smiled. “It was amazing. Chanyeol showed me the lobby area, cafeteria and even the recording room!” Her eyes glimmered in enthusiasm which made me happy for her but at the same time wishing that I could be there as well.

“Oh...” and she clapped her hands once, remembering something. “I met idols too~!” She whispered and began to use her fingers to count what I'm guessing the number of idols that she met. “10 of them.” She whispered. “I even met my ex son-in-law.”

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows, not interested about him. “What's he like?”

Chun Hua shrugged. “Still the same. He still introduces himself with that ‘bling bling’ title.” She snickered.

I giggled, imagining Jonghyun doing the exact thing that Chun Hua described him. “Oh, which reminds me... how did you get to enter SM? Give me the whole scoop.”

“Well...” Chun Hua looked up. “I woke up this morning, falling from the bed around 9 am. Tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. As I got out of the room, I saw no one but a pile of pancakes but there was a note sticking out from the bottom.”

“Wait...” I chuckled. “Mom, you're talking too fast. You woke up that early in the morning?”

“Yeah.” Chun Hua flatly answered, not too pleased with the fact that she woke up that early.

“And?” I urged her to continue.

“And yeah... the note was from Chanyeol and he even signed it. And then after that, since I got my class schedule, I decided to go to my school to familiarize myself with it and after that, I found Chanyeol at a galbi store near the school.” She smiled, now happy.

“And he invited you to the company?”

She nodded. “I think it was because of some people slowly noticing him... so that's why.”

“Ah...” I nodded once thinking that she’s very lucky. “Oh... about your schedule?” I asked her. “How is your sched?”

“Oh. Yeah. It fits my lifestyle perfectly well.” She grinned.

“Really? Why?”

“I start my classes every afternoon.” She explained. “It's just that I would be coming home very late at night.”

“Eh?” I pouted. “Why???” I whined.

Chun Hua shrugged. “Come on, Xin. You're a big girl now.” She poked my arm. “Go to sleep on your own. There’s that room only for you, you know...”

I pouted; worried about the day that would finally arrive that I would be alone in that pad.”Fine...” I gave in, releasing her from my hold, but deep inside, I'm really dreading for that day to come... and what is worse is that, her school starts in 2 days. I sighed deeply. “But mom...” I used my sweet tone to somehow make her soft if that's possible. “We can still share rooms until your school starts right?”

“No...” She sighed and here I knew she was going to lose it soon.  “It's better if you adjust to it now.”

I pouted again. Mommy can be really cold-hearted at times. “At least for tonight then...?” I continued asking with my sweetest voice that I could muster, mentally apologizing to her for being such a spoiled kid at times.

I yawned uncontrollably, trying to scold myself that I shouldn’t act like this during work hours. But I couldn’t help it. I yawned again. It's been almost 2 weeks since I started sleeping inside my own room—alone. Speaking of those days, it was practically like hell for me.

That day ended with me sleeping with Chun Hua for the last time. I'm scared about the fact that I would be sleeping alone tomorrow because seriously I am not used to being alone. Back in Beijing, my mother always thought that girls should be staying in one room as she was back in her teens. And so, us three sisters shared one room in all of our lives. This is my first time stepping out of the boundaries of my parents’ rules and I never thought that I would eventually have to get used to sleeping alone in one room.

The next day was inevitable, I was really scared of sleeping alone but I didn’t show it to anyone—not even Chun Hua. Nothing would make a difference if I keep on whining about having to sleep alone in my own room starting that day. Besides, she would’ve just showed me her cold side once again if ever I did try to convince her of something that she is sure of her answer and I would end up being a loser. I was half thankful that Luhan was there to me home. Wait! What am I thinking? I am being happier to see him now that I am in this situation? I shook my head to get out of the thought. It's dangerous, Mei Xin. I scolded myself. Shaking my head once more in an attempt to shake him off of my mind but failed miserably.

Seeing that look of his that he gave me this morning as he came to pick me up to go to my workplace, that knowing look that made me feel guilty for being too tired because of lack of sleep these days... I also knew that I was beginning to look very horrible even though I put my make up on, but he decided to keep it quiet as we walked the streets... until I bumped into a lot of people. This resulted to Luhan being angry at me for being so careless today and with that, it got me pissed as well. I think it was for the better... I nodded my head for further emphasis but I think it was a bad idea to do so since I feel like my brain just messed up even more.

I sighed.

“You okay?” My co-worker asked me with a concerned look on her face.

I smiled a little. “Yeah. Sorry...”

“You look so tired... are you sure?”

I nodded, trying to reassure her.

“Well okay...” She finally gave in. “You're off will come soon anyway. Have a good rest.” She smiled, patting my back.

“Thanks, unnie.” I grinned at her and watched her leave my cubicle.

As I looked back to my desk, I stared at the pile of works waiting to be finished. “Okay. Let’s do this~!” I cheered for myself and dug my way to finish all of them.

My work caught my attention pretty well that I didn’t notice the time at all. There was so much to do.

“Mei Xin... you're still here?” Another co-worker asked me. I am not sure of her name and I am too shy to ask again. I'm never good with people’s names.

“Ahhh... yeahh?” I answered her with only half of my attention.

“Aren't you going home yet?”

“Just finishing this...” I murmured not even glancing at her anymore.

“Okay...” I heard her say as she walked off.

After my last document, I smiled proudly at myself. I finally finished it... I have a major headache... but I FINISHED IT~! I glanced at my watch and was shocked by the time and immediately hurried my way out. It was so late that Luhan must have given up on waiting for me. I got out of the company building and I was right... he wasn’t at the usual spot. I sighed internally, feeling sad as I continued my walk home. I am sure that I am walking at the right direction... but all these people passing by was making my headache worse to the point that I can only see them in a blur. I panicked a little, feeling myself a bit lightheaded but I held a strong grip on my bag, trying to get a hold of myself. I can't lose consciousness here. I can't lose consciousness here... I just can't! As I started saying that inside my head, my walk got faster, but my vision was still a bit blurry. I saw a figure approaching me and I tried my best to avoid them and thought I did sp successfully but I bumped into something hard instead... and then... nothing.