Chanyeol leans his body against the wall and slumps to the floor. He is panting and sweating like a man who had just completed a marathon. Cold perspiration trails down his back like droplets of rain sliding down a car window.

Their practice hours are getting longer day by day, since they are making a comeback this December. Glancing outside, he sees the leaves shrivel and fall from the branches of a tree. The cold winter that's slowly approaching makes the time appear to move slower. 

He runs his long, lean fingers through his unkempt brown hair as his dark eyes roam around the room. They cling on Baekhyun and Sehun, sprawl across the floor, their chests heaving up and down to take in huge gulps of air. Behind them, Suho hyung and Jongin wear solemn expressions on their facades, probably discussing whether or not they should include the last move into the routine. Across the room, he sees Kyungsoo sitting all by himself, singing his verses of their song under his breath. 

Sighing, Chanyeol takes out his phone from his backpack and checks if there are any calls or messages. He chews on his lips as soon as he realizes there's none. He wants to call his family terribly but at the same time terrified of letting his emotions get the best of him when he hears their voice. 

Don't get him wrong; he simply wanted the best for them, and that's giving the impression that he's perfectly happy and fine in this new life of his. It's not that he isn't. He is truly grateful to finally achieve his dreams of becoming an idol. But sometimes the pressure exerted by this industry weigh more than what he could bear. 

"Chanyeol-ssi!", someone calls out, and he's instantly woken up from his reverie. 

He looks up, startled; his hands fumbling to put his phone away in his bag. 

He sees someone waving at him and realize it's Kwan, one of the staff working at SM. Kwan wasn't his real name, but everyone called him that because he has the physicue of a body builder. And he doesn't mind it too. Chanyeol makes a mental note to ask Kwan what his real name was when he has the chance. 

Kwan is hauling a big sack of bag that seem like it weighs a ton but his face remains composed like he is hefting a sack of cotton balls. He places the bag gingerly on the table located at the far end of the room where they usually eat when they have a tight practice schedule to even have the chance to go out and grab a bite. 

Chanyeol quickly pulls himself up and walk towards the table as the other members follow him as soon as they notice Kwan and the huge sack of bag situated in front of him. 

"Is this the packages for the whole month?", Baekhyun gasps, a few strands of hair poking from the opening of the cap that he wears backwards on his head. 

"This is for today only. There's still three more sacks outside just like this one", he explains, obviously amused. "Your fans are very kind to drop gifts for you every day", he continues as he takes out a long cylindrical wrapped gift and tries to peer inside it.

"Yeah, they are. But they don't have to do this. We don't really need most of this stuff to be honest", Suho says with a hint of guilt in his voice. 

The other members nod, but still they circle the table and take out the gifts inside the bag to open it. Chanyeol stands at the back, uniterested about the gifts except for a white little envelope marked with his name on it in cursive. He had totally forgotten about it as his mind was immensely preoccuppied with memorizing dance moves and the ache from missing his family too much.

Kwan sees Chanyeol peering from the back, his head swerving left and right as his eyes examine the table. Kwan slowly takes out a white envelope from his jacket and lifts it up for Chanyeol to see. "Ah, Chanyeol-ssi, I almost forgot." 

Chanyeol's ears perk up when he hears his name, and sees Kwan holding out his hand with a white envelope in his grip. Chanyeol's heart starts to beat faster, suddenly nervous when he catches the sight of the envelope, but accepts it from Kwan anyway. 

"It was right on top of the sack. Luckily, I found it first before it flew away." Kwan explains, his mouth curving into a satisfactory smile. 

Chanyeol nods and stares at the envelope in his hand. He traces his name using his fingers that was written neatly in cursive on the envelope, the same handwritting everytime. 

"What's that?", Jongin asks, swinging his arm around Chanyeol's shoulder. When Jongin sees the familiar envelope, his eyes widen.

"Hyung, you still receive this? It's been a month." Jongin asks, unable to mask the surprise tone in his voice. 

"I know." Chanyeol sighs. He is also flummoxed by the letters. Then without further ado, he opens the seal carefully and tilts the envelope so that the content would fall on his palm even though he already knows what it is. 

A single wood shapped acute isosceles with two equal corners rounded and a third corner rounded to a lesser extent plops onto his palm. A guitar pick.