A/N : I hope you like this chapter. Have fun reading :D

CHAPTER 13 : Realize

MINA’S POV

“Woo Jin-ah!” I cried out helplessly, waiting for him to come to the water’s surface. But there was nothing. “Woo Jin-ah!” I shouted. I was about to plunge right onto the pool but in an instant, he came into view, I gasped in relief and immediately took the towel beside me and helped him get out of the water.

“Gwaenchana?” I asked worriedly.

He nodded, although it was obvious he wasn’t okay, he darted a glare at Luhan who had been standing still like nothing happened. Rage ran across Woo Jin’s face, and although he tried to hide it, I knew he wanted to hit Luhan.

“Mian, I slipped.” Luhan said tediously.

By then Woo Jin’s face had displayed intense anger, he made a fist and stood up. I panicked and grabbed his hand tightly - I wasn’t going to let them start a fight. Luhan however, was not helping at all. As soon as he saw Woo Jin restrain his anger, he revealed a smirk that said you are a coward.

“You.” Luhan turned to me, “Living room. Now.”

I didn’t say a word as he headed inside the house, instead I directed my concern to Woo Jin who looked like he was going to fall apart any minute.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?” I examined him, “Maybe we should go to the hospital? Get an X-ray?”

Woo Jin’s anger disappeared at once, and was replaced with a smile.

“Why are you smiling?” I asked, partly annoyed about how he wasn’t concerned at all.

“If I knew you’d be this worried, I would’ve thrown myself to the pool earlier.”

I rolled my eyes, “Stop jok-“

“What part of now did you not understand?” Luhan suddenly called out.

“I’m sorry… I have to go there.”

“I know.” Woo Jin said, looking down.

“You can go ahead, I’ll go home after.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

I led Woo Jin to the gate, making sure he was not hurt anywhere else. As soon as he had called a cab, I ran to the living room where Luhan was waiting, sitting comfortably on the sofa with his feet on top of the table. I was annoyed - there was no other way to describe it. I had never been pissed off at Luhan no matter how mean he was to me, but today he had crossed the line, without even any real reason to do so.

“What is wrong with you?” I blurted and watched him go into complete shock, “I don’t care if you’re mean to me, I don’t even care if you embarrass me. But who said you had the right to do that to Woo Jin? That was just irresponsible, unreasonable and downright cruel!” I shouted breathlessly before realizing how stupid I was, “- Sir.”

For a while he was silent “Are you finished?” he asked with a blank expression.

I looked down and whispered, “Yes.”

“I don’t tolerate workplace relationships.”

“Wha-what?” Workplace what now?

“If you want to keep working for me, you can’t date anyone.”

I swallowed, not knowing what to say and why the topic even came up, “I can’t date anyone?”

“Well you can always quit.”

“I’m going home now.” I said, avoiding his eyes. I was irritated by how he could even come up with such rules.

“You’re going home now?” he repeated. Who’s repeating what now?

“That’s what I just said.” I uttered before walking away.

LUHAN’S POV

I had a strange mixture of feelings - uneasiness with Mina’s overwhelming concern for Woo Jin and amazement with how she actually had the guts to shout at me. She even used my line, it almost became comical. In an instant though, what I had done flooded into my head. I actually kicked Woo Jin. What the hell was that? I rubbed my face with both hands, frustrated and confused with my actions. Lay then came down from his room, laughing really really hard.

“What is up with you?” I asked.

He held his stomach, unable to stop himself from giggling, “I m-mean - seriously, you couldn’t think of any other way but kick him to the pool? You could’ve just pulled Mina away but you kicked Woo Jin to the pool!” he laughed between his words, “That’s just classic Lu, even for you.”

“You saw that?” I asked uncomfortably, “I slipped.”

“C’mon, don’t give me that. I know you better than anyone else, probably even better than you.”

Then can you explain to me why I did that? Coz I myself am confused.

“Look, if you like Mina, all you have to do is say so.”

“Me? Like Mina? LIKE?” I sneered in disbelief, “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.”

Lay had a cunning smile, “I’m just saying Luhan, you better decide on what you feel before you regret it.”

“I don’t have time for nonsensical things like that,” I said, “You should know that too better than anyone.”

“And what is that with the whole ‘you can’t date anyone’?” he chuckled boisterously.

“It’ll affect her job.” I said.

“Pfft, you’ve had ten assistants before Mina Luhan, and you’ve never stopped any of them from dating.”

“Well,” I said defensively, “None of them were as scatterbrained as Mina.”

“Hmm, they should change that whole ‘love is blind’ thing to ‘love is in denial.’”

“Are we going to keep talking about this? Coz I’d really rather sleep.” I said before leaving Lay to laugh it off on his own.

MINA’S POV

When I got home, I started feeling like a timed bomb, there were so many things that happened, so many emotions. I can’t even breathe easily for one day. Woo Jin had confessed, Luhan had gotten worse, and I actually shouted at him. I wanted to think about things logically, decide about what to do with Woo Jin, what to do with Luhan, basically what to do with my life. I stayed up till morning thinking about the proper action to take. But in the end, there was nothing.

When I arrived at EXO’s the next day, Luhan was already up and about. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. Everyone was obviously in a hurry though, and I remembered that they had a recording today. Luhan didn’t say a word to me, and I on the other hand, focused on preparing his things. We got to the studio a little while after, and the first few hours were spent practicing their new song called “Realize.” It was a ballad about a guy locked in heaven who falls in love with a girl from earth, and eventually realizes that there was a way for them to be together. It was amazingly bittersweet, and when EXO sang it, it was just so moving, I knew right away it would be a hit. When Luhan sang his part, it was like Paris all over again.

The sweetest thing is always what you can’t have

The closest thing is always what you can’t reach

In heaven, when I look into your eyes

I realize that you’re all I’d ever need

I was like on a trance, coz when Luhan sings he turns into a completely different person. I reminded myself of how mean he was last night, but it was just not possible not to be moved by his voice. At that moment, I realized I could never really hate Luhan for long.

It was already nighttime when the recording ended though they were still asked to comeback tomorrow for some finishing touches.

“Check the records room, get a copy of the song lyrics.” Luhan ordered.

“Mina, could you do me a favor too and call the shuttle to pick us up now?” Kris asked.

“No problem.”

I headed downstairs first to the lobby and asked the receptionist for the shuttle to be prepared, When I went back upstairs, I headed for the records room, but was interrupted by the face of a witch.

“Yeol Ra.”

“Unni!” She looked around to see if there was anyone near us, “What do you think you’re doing here?” She immediately changed.

I let out an ironic laugh, “What do you want?”

“Where’s Luhan?”

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the studio. She shoved me to the side, and fixed her make-up before entering the room. I shrugged the bad vibes off, and entered the records section. I was astonished by how huge it was, and bewildered about how I would look for the song lyrics Luhan needed. There were about 30 shelves all lined up in columns, filled with dusty books and CDs.

“I can do this.” I said aloud before scouring the first shelf.

I stopped in my tracks when I suddenly heard footsteps on the far side of the room. My heart pounded upon hearing shallow breathing that got louder and louder rhythmically. I pretended to be brave, and slowly scanned each column, peeking if there was someone -or something. The dim lighting of the room and the chilly air became a nightmare to my frightening imagination. My sweat turned cold and shivers started running up on my spine.

When I got to the last column, my pulse hammered, I held my breath and peeked slowly… slowly….

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!”

“What the-?” Luhan’s pale face had scared the life out of me.

I panted repeatedly, clutching my chest tightly, “You -you should’ve kno-knocked or something.”

Without a care, he took a piece of paper out of a folder that said EXO, “Let’s go, I’ve found the lyrics.”

I was still catching my breath when we got to the door. Luhan turned the knob, and paused, and turned it again and again. But he couldn’t open it.

“Let me.” He moved aside, and I almost kicked the door open but it was jammed.

“Did you lock it when you came?” he suddenly asked.

“Why would I lock myself in?” I said and instantly, I knew who was behind the whole thing. Yeol ra, that witch actually tried to lock me in here. She probably thought I lied to her when she didn’t see Luhan in the studio.

“Did you bring your phone with you?” Luhan asked.

“No, it’s in my bag. Did you bring yours?”

“It’s still in the recording room.”

“That’s fine. EXO will notice we’re missing.”

Luhan sat on the floor, “No they won’t.”

“Why? It’s obvious - my bag’s still in there, your phone’s still-“

“I told them to go ahead.”

“WHAT? WHY?”

“I was planning on practicing some more, that’s why I needed the lyrics.”

I sat a bit far from Luhan, and realized that we were doomed. I was panicking inside, thinking of a dozen possibilities that could happen. But Luhan, for some odd reason, kept his calm. I actually thought he would be annoyed, but he was just sitting comfortably, reading the lyrics of “Realize.”

“You can stop staring anytime.” He said blandly, catching me off guard.

I cleared my throat, “I- I wasn’t uhm…”

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Do I li-like it?”

“The song, I mean.”

“Oh.” I pursed my lips. “Yeah, it’s very moving.”

There was silence for a while. I smiled and thought how me and Luhan never really talked. It was always about the job, or about his cruel remarks, but nothing mundane like just now.

“Can I ask what’s your favorite part of the song?” I asked, wanting to continue the conversation.

He looked distantly, “The part where the guy realizes that the only way they could be together was if the girl dies and goes to heaven.” I was shocked when he asked me back, “Yours?”

“When the guy decides to keep that a secret, so the girl will never have to die.”

We both sighed, and startled by our similar actions, we looked at each other, and looked away just as quickly. The silence then lasted for minutes. He was probably internalizing the song, while I contemplated on how sad it was. When I glanced over at him, I could tell he was already trembling from the coldness, there was no heater in the room, and I realized that if that continued, he would get sick. I stood up and tried the doorknob again, hoping that Yeol ra had a bit of conscience to unlock it, but no. No surprise there.

“Your jacket’s outside, I’m sorry” I turned to Luhan, worried, “Wait, I’ll try to look around for-“

Luhan held my wrist before I could take a step. “Sit here.”

“Sit there?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“No, I’m going to try and look for a-“

“Do you really think there would be a jacket here?” He snapped, “If you want to help, sit beside me.”

Without any comeback to retort with, I sat beside him, his shoulders grazing mine. It was quiet except for the broken pattern of our breathing and the tremor of the air conditioning. I swallowed in nervousness, I wanted to look at Luhan beside me but I was scared that If I did our faces would be too close to each other. After a few minutes, Luhan’s head fell on my shoulder, my body tensed all over, and I grabbed my knees tighter for support. I felt my heart pumping like it was about to explode,

“Luhan?” I called to see if he would wake up.

And when he didn’t budge, I shut my eyes in defeat. This is going to be a long night.