chapter five; 

                 too deep to back out

» M! Countdown Pre-Recording Stage: Clahan 

Luhan walked through near the stage of the M! Countdown set. Right at this moment he was looking out for his 'wife'. Clara was supposed to be performing a pre-recording for the M! Countdown show, but Luhan couldn't find her anywhere. "Where is she?" He stood in one spot and looked around him.

Unknowing to Luhan, Clara was being the playful girl that she was. She saw Luhan walking around the set, and followed him sneakily like a ninja. With already dressed up for her performance, Clara quickly came behind Luhan and tapped his right shoulder. When Luhan turned to the right, Clara went to the left and laughed as her tricked worked. "Gotcha." 

Luhan turned to look at his 'wife' and smiled, "There you are baobei." He spoke in Chinese, which took Clara a moment to figure out. "Are you calling me baobei instead of darling?" She answered back in Chinese. Clara's face was flushed at the nickname. 'Baobei' literally meant 'baby' in Chinese, but it was often used to call someone else in a relationship, sort of an cute nickname. 

The older boy nodded, "I figured that it suited you better then darling." He gave another charming smile. Clara smiled back, "Baobei sounds nice! I have a new nickname for you too. Instead of honey, I'll call you Deary."

Luhan tilted his head in confusion, "Why Deary?"

"Well to me you look like a deer, so deer turns into deary. Get it?" Clara smiled as if she made the biggest achievement of her life. Luhan liked the idea of the nickname, but not so much that Clara said he looked like a girl. "Are you calling me unmanly?" He jokingly asked.

Clara shook her head, "No no no. I didn't mean it in that way!" She seemed to take Luhan's question too seriously, so Luhan tapped her head in reassurance, "I'm joking." He laughed.

Clara gapped and hit Luhan's right arm lightly. "What was that for?" Luhan asked amused at Clara's new found openess. 

"Just cause..." Clara mumbled. The producer then came up to the couple, "Clara-ssi, it's time for you to perform."

Clara nodded, "Alright," she turned towards Luhan, "I'll be back, wish me luck!" She walked towards the stage and waved bye.

"Fighting baobei!" Luhan yelled back, which caused Clara to turn around one more time and smile widely. 

Luhan walked closer to the stage to get a better look at Clara's performance. She stood in the center of the stage, with a makeup artist fixing up her hair and doing last-minute touches. Once Clara was all done, she fixed her micset and waited for the music to start.

Luhan has never heard Clara's perform in person, but seeing her now was different from watching the music videos and digital tracks. His face was in awe as Clara danced on stage, keeping her voice in tune and strong through the whole thing. "Ouh.. she's good."

Once the music stopped and Clara was finished with her singing, she speed walked off the stage and towards Luhan. "How was it?" She smiled in anticipation. 

Luhan clapped, "It was amazing, you're a great singer." Clara looked to the ground and her smiled widened, "Thank you deary." She said in English this time. Luhan has noticed by now whenever Clara speaks in English her voice sounds more confident and mature compared to her cutesy tone when talking in Korean.

"Clara-ssi is your first language English?" Luhan asked.

Clara nodded, "Yep, I learned Korean at home but didn't speak much of it until I became serious in wanting to sing in Korea."

"Where did you learn Chinese then?"

Clara thought for a second, "Well I started in high school as a language course, then in college, but studied it hardcore when I became a trainee. Why do you ask?" 

Luhan shrugged, "I find it cute, that's all."

Clara giggled, "Cute?" She wasn't sure to what Luhan was referring to, since this conversation seemed a bit odd.

"The way your voice changes when you speak different languages. You're Korean tone is really cute." Luhan poked Clara. The younger girl just looked at her husband weirdly, "Oppa you are really weird sometimes."

"You too!" Luhan said in defense, laughing. Clara nodded, "I agree with that." 

"You're not supposed to agree with that baobei." Admitting one is weird isn't a proud thing to say.

Clara shrugged, "Oh well~ I'm your wife, so you have to learn to live with my craziness." Luhan chuckled, "That doesn't seem so bad... Anyway. Don't you need to change?" He pointed to Clara's revealing stage outfit, which he tried not to oogle at. "Oh! I forgot, be right back." Clara ran into her dressing room, but with Luhan following behind. 

Once Clara got dressed into her casual clothes, she stepped out of the dressing to room to find that Luhan was nowhere to be found. "Aish..." She looked around, but didn't move from her spot. Suddenly an employee came up to her and handed Clara a red rose with a note attached. "For you." The employee then left. 

Clara sniffed the rose and then opened the note. Written on it was:

"Head to backstage, there will be a surprise." 

Clara bit her lip in excitement, and walked towards the backstage. She looked into the camera, "I wonder what oppa has planned..." 

The backstage of the M! Countdown set was mainly for idol stars to practice and sometimes used as storage. Luhan stood there with the of EXO-M setting up something. 

"Hyung why are doing this for Clara-ssi?" Tao sat up from the floor and wiped his hands.

Luhan smiled, "Last week Clara won her first M! Countdown award, so I want to congradulate her for all the hard work she has done."

"Aigoo, you're being such a good husband." Chen wrapped his arm around Luhan's neck and . Luhan punched Chen, "You would do the same thing!"

The boys finished up what they were doing, and Luhan went to dim the lights. "Hide hide." Luhan pushed Xiumin and the others behind a wall set.

Clara opened the door to backstage and squinted her eyes from the darkened room, "Luhan-oppa?" Her voice echoed through the whole room. No one answered. "Oppa? Deary?" She repeated all of Luhan's nicknames.

Behind the wall set Xiumin elbowed Luhan, "She calls you Deary." He laughed silently at that. Luhan just gave the baozi a smack.

Clara walked further into the backstage and was caught by surprised when the lights brightened. "Omo!" In front of Clara was a projector screen with big words saying:

"For my Baobei Penguin"

On a blanket in front of the screen was an assortment of penguin dolls, in a circular patteren.

"Moyah!" Clara squealed happily, looking around for Luhan. Then the boys of EXO-M came out from behind the wall. Clara covered , she did not believe any of what was going on. Luhan came up to her and bowed, "This is for your first award Clara-ssi." Xiumin set a boombox on the ground and music started to play.

Clara recognized the song imm, it was 'Lucky'! The boys performed the song, but this time in Korean. Clara watched in giddyness and clapped along to the song. When it came to Luhan turn to sing, he came up closer to Clara and sang:

"The day I wore nice clothes

The fact that I met you like that, lucky

It's because I did good in the past"

Luhan gave Clara a wink, which caused the girl to smile shyly and look to the ground. No one has ever serenaded to her like this before, but Clara was liking it very much. 

The boys did a simple dance with the song, though still cute in its own way. Clara knew the song by heart, so she was able to sing along. Once the performance was coming to the end, Luhan aimed his microphoe towards Clara. She then sang the last few lines:

"So lucky to have you, So lucky to be your love, I am. Hmm~" 

She finished the last note of the song and the music came to a stop. Clara applauded the group for their great performance, though she wasn’t quite sure what to say. There was 6 good looking boys in a room with her, and Clara already had a hard time not blushing in front of Luhan. “T-That was a really great performance.” She was able to say, “But what is this all about oppa?” Clara looked to Luhan and gestured towards the penguin dolls and the other EXO-M members.

“To congratulate you for your first ever music award.” Luhan picked up one of the penguin dolls and handed it to Clara. Clara held the doll in her hands and giggled, “You did all this… Thank you oppa.” She looked shyly into Luhan’s eyes covering half of her face with the penguin dolls head.

“It’s no problem, you deserve it baobei.” Luhan patted Clara’s head softly and her hair a bit, causing her bangs to ruffle. Clara fixed her hair and then looked to the other EXO members. She bowed politely and waved, “Hi I’m Clara, Luhan’s…. wife…” She trailed, her face was getting pink and should feel her shyness kick in when all the boys stared at her.

The rest of EXO-M bowed back at Clara, though they stood awkwardly at a distance away from the couple. Clara giggled nervously and looked back at Luhan's face. "If I have to be honest.. This is not how I picture meeting you guys." She said rather bluntly but it managed to make the boys laugh. 

Luhan decided to help out Clara, "Clara do you all their names?" He knew that since Clara knew who he was, she would know the rest of EXO. Clara nodded, "Yeah, I know all twelve of guys." 

"Try naming all of us." Xiumin spoke up. Clara smiled, "Is that a challenge?" Xiumin nodded, "Yep." 

Clara thought for a second, "Alrigh, but if I guess all your names right you have to answer whatever question I have about Luhan-oppa." She pointed to the boy standing next to her. 

Chen laughed, "I'm okay with that. On the count of three. 1, 2, 3!"

Clara pointed to each member as she called out their names, "Xiumin, Lay, Chen, Kris, Tao, and Luhan-oppa." She said the names so fast, that at first the boys didn't think she really named them all. She clapped, "See, I told you."

Kris then waved his hand, "No you need to name all 12."

Clara pouted but answered anyway, "Kai, Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O, and.... Sehun!" She smiled in triumph and clapped. The boys clapped, slightly impressed that should knew all the names. 

Chen laughed, "Clara-ssi did you research on us before today?" Clara blushed at the question, "Hm... I just learned over time." She was slightly lying. After EXO debuted, Clara took it upon herself to know every little thing about the group. 

"Anyway what's your question?" Tao asked.

Clara looked up at Luhan's nervous face and patted his arm. "I think I'll save my question for another time." She giggled, "I don't want to ruin this moment." She hugged the penguin in her arms, "But it was very nice of you guys to do all this, next time we meet I'll treat you to something." Clara smiled sweetly and bowed once more.

Xiumin decided to take the first move. "Clara-ssi please take are of our Luhan, he make look cute and say he's a man, but really he's a gentle heart." He teasingly wrapped his arm around Luhan's neck. Clara laughed, "Don't worry, so far he's been the one taking care of me."

The boys bowed to their new 'sister-in-law' once more and then left the couple to themselves. Once they were gone, Clara crouched down and laughed, "Aigoo that was so embarrassing!" She held tightly to the penguin covering her face with her hands.

Luhan patted Clara's head, "No it wasn't, it was cute." Clara lifted her head to look at Luhan's charming face and warm smile. "I still think it was embarrassing... I did not imagine meeting my in-laws like that." She was about to stand up, but Luhan naturally offered his hand to help her up. "Next time I'll warn you when you meet them." Luhan helf Clara's hand and shook it lightly. 

Clara just smiled, "That would be awesome oppa." The two held onto each other's hand the whole time until Luhan let go. "I have something to show you." He took hold of the penguin in Clara's arms. Stuffed under the penguin's scarf was a pink colored folded paper. "Here." 

Clara looked confused at the paper. Unfolding it Clara read what was written on the paper. 

"In case if my Baobei Penguin gets lonely.. 010-XXX-XXXX."

Clara's eyes widened, "It's your number!" She was in shock. "Oppa you don't have to give it to me if you don't want to."

Luhan shook his head, "No I want you to have it. It could help us become closer."

Clara looked down at the paper once again. "I'll make sure to text you as soon as I can. But I'm a horrible texter." She giggled, "But I'll try hard for you." Her line was cheesy, but it made Luhan smile in joy. 

"I'll be waiting for your text."  

-----

INTERVIEW

Q1: Why did decide to call Clara-ssi 'baobei'?

Luhan smiled widely, causing his cheek bones to stand out. "In China baobei is used to call someone if you care about them or in a relationship. But in this sense... Clara reminds me of a cute baby, which is why I called her baobei." He laughed, "But I also want to get to know her better. So calling her baobei might help."

Q2: How did you feel about the nicknames?

Clara bit her lip and lowered her head, "In all honesty, I was so happy when oppa called me baobei." She ruffled her bangs, "I feel as if that the nicknames will break that barrier." Clara drew a line with her hands but giggled, "I really like nicknames."

Q3: How was Clara's singing?

"She is a very good singer." Luhan said sincerely. "Clara is usually very talkative and playful, but when she sings it's like a whole other side of her. She's more mature and confident, it surprised me." He laughed.

Q4: Were you surprised?

Clara nodded furiously, "When I saw the dolls, I knew something else was prepared. But when the all of EXO-M came out to perform I was so shocked! No one has ever done this to me before. But even in the boys were performin I just looked at Luhan-oppa" She laughed, "Sorry everyone."

Q5: Why did you prepare the event?

"I said it was to congratulate for her award winning, but I actually did it so I could give her my number in a big way." Luhan chuckled, "Clara seems to be that type of girl to like big romantic gestures, so I did it. Plus her shy expression is cute."

Q6: Are you going to text Luhan?

"Of course! For him to go all the way with the performance and giving me his number, I can see that oppa really means all this." Clara messed with her bangs, "Normally I don't text a lot. But I'll do my best for him." 

 AUTHOR'S NOTES 
So this chapter is solely Clahan since it was too long to put Kairi with it XD Typing is still too slow at times, but I manage. Looks like Clahan are stepping up in their relationship~ To me if Luhan was to be on WGM he would try everything to get to know his 'wife'. As for Clara... she just really likes Luhan. EXO-M came by to visit, don't worry you'll see more of them much more. I decided to add a new section after the end of each chapter. The interview is to see Luhan and Clara's real thoughts, just like the real WGM show. I will do this for Kairi too but I won't do it every chapter. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, Kairi is on its way.