EXO-M looked down at Chanyeol, smug smirks on all their faces. "Chanyeol-hyungggg... Looks like someone's determined to make a mark on the choreo-noona!" Tao smirked, raising his eyebrow as he folded his arms over his chest and looking at the embarrassed pair on the floor.

"Yah! Tao-ssi. I recommend you shut your mouth, considering how I saw you looking at Ms. Nana-ssi." Liz murmured, tilting her head slightly as she surveyed the now abashed Tao. "And remember, I have Cat on speed dial and can immediately inform her and Nana."

"Sehun-ah does too!" Xiumin chirped, pointing at the maknae in the corner, causing him to look over with a confused face. The boys laughed, and despite herself Liz did too, shaking her head.

"Not what I meant. You all better behave, especially since I have some good news for you." Immediately the members snapped to attention, looking at her reverently. Grinning and nodding, she stood up, holding her arms behind her back and pacing in front of them, watching them squirm with curiosity. Finally she looked at them through her lashes, biting her bottom lip. "Well, the President called me today... and he told me that you are going to be filming your first music videos in a week!" The members cried out in excitement, but she cleared to regain their attention.  “That means you all have to commit whole-heartedly to your rehearsals.  I expect you to be on time, be serious, and put all the effort you can into your practice, understand?”

The members cheered, crying out promises to practice even when she’s not there, always be improving and more, and even a few of them promised to go on performance based diets, which made her laugh until tears came, shaking her head.

“Okay then!  EXO-M, show me your stuff!” 

The rest of rehearsal went very well, the boys obviously taking her words to heart as they pushed themselves to their limits, hitting every step, motion, note.  Warmth filled her heart as she saw them all crumble to the ground at the end of rehearsal, exhausted with their efforts but still with determination gleaming in their eyes.  After murmuring around some basic notes and tips, she dismissed them all, sitting cross-legged in the corner with her notebook, writing down the events of the day.  Her teachers had told her she’d still receive credits for her classes if she could present her journal at the end of the process, so every night she diligently wrote down every correction she had made, every change she had made to the choreography.

The members had all left, and she was alone in the quiet studio.  After a few moments of the only sound being her pen on paper, she stood and walked to the stereo, clipping her iPhone into the dock.  A soft classical medley came over the speakers, and she lifted to her toes, stretching her arms above her head.  Quickly she turned around the room, pirouetting around the space with reckless abandon, spinning faster and faster.

In her distraction she didn’t hear the door open, nor the steps that padded quietly toward her.  Strong arms encircled her waist, and she froze, feeling someone’s breath on her neck.  “W-Who are you?”

“You’re a beautiful dancer.” A deep voice murmured, one that sent chills up her spine as she recognized the husky tones. 

Turning around, she looked up into Chanyeol’s eyes, and her heart stopped at the look he had; as if she was the most important person in the world.  “Channie… You should go home.  Get some rest.  We have a lot to do in the next few days.”

He smiled, shrugging loosely as he allowed his hands to rest lightly on her spine.  She looked so small in his arms, so delicate that his heart jumped to his throat.  “It doesn’t matter.  I don’t need too much sleep.”  Reaching up he gently ran his finger along her jawline and to her ear, then placed his hand behind her head.  “But I did need a good-night kiss…”  Leaning forward he gently pressed his mouth to hers again, leaving her breathless with his tenderness. 

When they pulled apart, Liz stammered nervously for a moment, unable to look him in the eye.  “I like you, Chanyeol... But if we’re to make it through these music video shoots we really need to focus… We can’t let our… our feelings get the best of us right now…”  Hurt slashed across the normally cheerful boy’s face, and Liz’s heart sunk as he saw him nod and step back from her, folding his arms across his chest.  “Channie, I-..”

“No, no I get it.  It’s fine.  You need to focus on your job, and I do t-too… It’s fine.  Good night.”  Without giving her time to apologize, he his heel and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him. 

For what felt like hours she stood there, staring at the door, her heart sinking to her feet as she realized what she had done.  Shaking her head to clear it, she grabbed her iPhone from the dock and notebook, and shoved it into her bag and with tears streaming down her face.  As she walked from the room, she heard someone call to her from the hallway but she ignored it, not wanting to talk to anyone right now. 

However the pounding of feet signaled someone was running up to her, and as she shoved her boots back on Sehun appeared around the corner, panting as he looked at her.  “Are you okay Liz-ah?  What happened?”

“Nothing, Sehun.  I’m fine.”  She murmured, not looking up at him.  Wiping her face with her sleeve, she straightened and slung her bag onto her back.  “What do you need?”

“I-I wanted to ask you something… about your sister.”

Smiling faintly, she looked up at him and sighed.  “What do you need to know?”

“I want to get her something… I don’t know what, but… something.”  He nervously rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling his feet on the floor.  “Truthfully I want to ask her to go watch me at the filming, but I don’t know what to do.”

The nerves the boy was feeling touched her heart, despite how sore it was from her run-in with Chanyeol.  Smiling, she bit her lip as she thought, shoving her hands into her pockets.  “Try something sentimental.  Something that means a lot to you, to show her that you care.  It’s a bit too early for the usual jewelry route, otherwise I’d suggest doing that, so try to think from the heart.”

Grinning he nodded, bowing.  “Thank you!!  I think I know exactly what to do now.  Thank you, Liz-ah.  And are you okay?  Were you crying?”

“I’m fine, Sehun.  Now go back to your dorm and sleep.  We have a long week ahead of us and if you want to impress Liz at the filming you better get some rest.  Good night.”  Bowing slightly toward him, she shuffled to the elevator, pressing the button to go down to the main floor.

Once she was in the privacy of the elevator she leaned against the wall and stared blankly into space, her head spinning at the thought of what she had said to Chanyeol.  Did she do the wrong thing?  No, it’s true, they need to focus on the task at hand instead of on each other, but did she have to say it so harshly?  Grumbling to herself she quickly walked out of the elevator, sliding her sunglasses on, despite the late hour. 

As per the norm, when she stepped out of the building she was greeted with screams of girls who were desperate to learn anything they could about the new group.  “Liz-ssi!  When are they debuting?!”  “What are their names!”  “Are they pretty?!”  “Please Liz-ssi, tell us something!!”

Fed up, she whirled around on her heel, glaring at the crowd of girls.  “That is enough!! Leave them alone!  They have enough on their plates to deal with than to worry about a bunch of saesang fans desperate to meet men they don’t even know!  In fact, they’ve probably walked by you on the street and you didn’t give them a passing glace!  The only reason you care is because they’re idols, not that they’re talented people who give their all to do what they love.  You don’t really care!!”

The screams of rage that came from the girls were earsplitting, and soon Liz was overwhelmed by the crowd, fists flying and grabbing at her hair.  She cried out in pain as one girl grabbed her ponytail and pulled with all her might, screaming something about how she dare she accuse her of such things.  Another saesang kicked her in the stomach, causing her breath to rush out of her, stars dancing in front of her eyes as she gasped for breath.  The sharp taste of blood hit her tongue and she gagged, trying to cover her face as more fists flew.

“LIZ!!!!!”  A scream echoed from the entrance, and Cat appeared around the corner, having come back to pick up her sister.  She ran down the hallway into the crowd, shoving the girls away as hard as she could.  A stray fist caught her in the jaw and she staggered back, dazed for a minute.  With a snarl she leapt onto the nearest girl, the one gripping Liz’s ponytail.  “Let her go!!”  She screamed, wrestling her away from her sister and interposing herself between the two.  Cat eventually wormed her way to curl up around her sister, protecting her from more blows with her own body.

Whimpers of pain escaped her clenched jaw as she grabbed the only semi-conscious Liz to her chest, tears sliding down her cheeks.  Suddenly their attacker’s screams seemed pathetic in comparison to the roars that came from 12 voices they knew so well, and the girls scattered, leaving Liz and Cat curled up on the ground whimpering. 

The members surrounded them quickly, forming a wall between them and the saesangs.       Xiumin and Suho ran over to the girls, looking at them nervously, while the rest of the guys glared at their attackers.  “You better move, I know wushu!”  One of the girls cried, stepping forward into an attack stance.

“That’s cute.”  Tao snapped, stepping forward and dropping into his own stance.  “How long have you trained?  Three years?  Try fifteen.  Now I recommend you leave, before something happens you may regret.”

The rest of the guys glared daggers at the saesangs, and after a few moments they scattered, hearing sirens in the background.  Once they were gone they immediately whirled around, looking at Liz and Cat, who were sitting against the wall of the building.

Liz had a black eye and a bloody lip, while Cat had bruises covering her arms and back, with a vicious one on her jaw.  Sehun darted over to her, nervously running his hands over her arms and back, checking for broken bones and the like.  Chanyeol clearly wanted to run to Liz, but held himself back, allowing Tao to kneel next to her, looking at her lip and eye.  “Nothing broken here that I can see, Sehun?”

“No, I think she’s okay… What were you thinking?!  You could have been hurt!”  He demanded, looking at Cat with a concerned expression.

Cat’s jaw tensed, and she pulled away from his hands.  “She’s my sister, and she was being attacked by YOUR fans.  I wasn’t about to let her be bloodied to a pulp in front of me, now could I?”

Sehun paused, then nodded, nervously taking her hand in his.  “I just don’t want you to be hurt…”  He murmured, looking down at their intertwined fingers.   “I… I don’t think I could bear it.”

“Well… everything is okay... They’re both okay.  Liz got the worst of it, though… She should probably go to the hospital.  She might have a concussion.”  Chanyeol murmured, looking at Liz with an intense expression, swallowing hard.  “Liz… Please.  Let me take you.”

About to protest, she looked up at the look on his face, and sighed wearily.  His eyes were terrified and watery, clearly he was on the verge of crying, but didn’t want to lose face in front of the rest of the members.  Sighing, she nodded, accepting Xiumin and Chen’s hands to stand up and shakily lean against them, clenching her eyes shut as the world spun around her.  “Fine…”

Without needing more invitation, Chanyeol scooped her up into his arms, nestling her head into the crook of his neck, and barked to someone to call an ambulance.  Luhan scurried off to do so, and Kris walked to the front desk to explain to the guard on-duty what happened.

“You should probably go too, Cat-ah.”  Sehun murmured, looking at her in the eye.  “You could have fractures you don’t know about.” Tears welled in the maknae’s eyes, and he clenched them shut, letting them roll down his cheeks.  “When I saw you in that mob, screaming and crying, I-I have never felt so much fear before…”

Whimpering, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist loosely.  “I-I’m sorry, Sehun-ah… I am.”  Tears stained his shirt as she gripped the back, knotting her fingers in the loose fabric.  “I’ll go to the hospital…”

Sirens blared from the street, and the members ushered Cat and Liz into the ambulance, with Liz on the stretcher and Cat seated next to her.  Chanyeol and Sehun refused to leave their sides, and were also squeezed in, Cat eventually curled up onto Sehun’s lap to give the technician more room.  The 10 others ran into the building, clearly intending to follow them in SM’s van to the hospital.

The ride felt like it lasted hours to Liz, especially when they turned sharply or hit a bump.  Groaning, she held her hand to her head and murmured about feeling dizzy.  Suddenly a sharp wave of nausea came over her, and she sat up, gagging and covering .  A bucket appeared under her head and she retched, coughing and spitting into the bucket.  As she murmured her apologies the technician smiled and waved her concerns away.  “It happens all the time.  I’m afraid the streets aren’t the best in this area… and it’s worse with your potential concussion.  Why don’t you try to sit up for a while?  It may help.”

Nodding, she held herself up as the technician adjusted the stretcher to a seated position, then leaned back wearily, holding her head.   A few minutes later they pulled into the hospital, and Liz was wheeled out into the emergency room, blearily answering questions about her allergies and past injuries; most being dance related.  Sehun and Cat were ushered off into another room where she was also to be tested for a concussion and any other broken bones. 

Liz eventually made her way to her room, a doctor hovering over her with a flashlight, murmuring something about dilation and confusion.  Blearily Liz waved her hand at him, then looked over, confused as to how an IV had been inserted without her knowledge.  “What the…” She mumbled, looking at Chanyeol, his face spinning in her vision as the world around her began to get fuzzy.

“Liz… Liz are you okay?  Liz!? LIZ?!”  His voice became anxious as her head tilted back, unable to keep grip on reality.

“…Chanyeol?”  She managed to murmur before she fell back, succumbing to the blissful darkness.