A/N: English, Chinese, Cantonese, Korean

You show up the next morning at Jihye's, 7 am. Since you haven't spoken to Kris and the others since noon yesterday, you're not sure what they're doing today. Although you've been alone virtually every hour of the day for the past year, you feel some discontent at the prospect of being alone today. One day with Kris and his friends and you're turning into a clingy idiot, you chide yourself.

Though you seem debate over whether or not to call Joonmyeon or Luhan, potentially waking them up, it's already been decided. If I'm up, they don't need sleep either, you reason. They're probably awake anyway.

Just as you sit down with your drink, phone in hand and preparing to dial, the door opens.

"Gah! Uh, J- I mean, noona," Sehun stutters upon seeing you, immediately avoiding your gaze. He ducks his head further under his black hoodie, sunglasses slipping slightly.

"Sehunnie, annyeong~" you laugh at his discomfort as you purposefully provoke him. "Are the others up yet?"

"Ani." It's clear that even if he doesn't dislike you, he distrusts you and wants to keep his distance.

"Buying drinks for your hyung-deul?" you ask.

"Ani, just bubble tea for me and Luhan hyung," he answers testily.

"Aigoo, shouldn't you buy the others their drinks too? Or is Luhan hyung special?~" you tease.

He flushes. Oops, hit a nerve. "If they want drinks they can get up early like me before we go to the salon," he defends himself, conspicuously avoiding the second part of your question.

"Araso, if you say so." Without warning, you slip out of your seat as he orders and waits.

"Excuse me? I'd like the other ten regulars, please." You smile sweetly at the barista as he measures out the tapioca pearls to cook. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Sehun looking taken aback.

"Arasoyo. Please wait a moment," he says this last to Sehun. "The tapioca may take a few minutes to cook."

"Ah, arasoyo," he mutters, going to sit down, seemingly indecisive about something. You follow him after paying, sitting opposite. Several times he seems about to speak, but after looking up and seeing you observing him, he presses his lips together nervously and goes back to staring out the window. As someone passes, though, he jerks and turns quickly to face the inside of the café, away from the door.

"Yah, you're all so paranoid," you complain. "Nobody's out yet, it's 7:30!"

He doesn't answer.

Two girls enter the café not long after, contrary to your statement. Ah, hello, es. What are you doing here? "Yah, Chaeyoung, why do we have to get up so early?" one complains. "And why are we in this shabby little café?"

"Stop complaining, Jieun-ah, We have class at 8, in case you've forgotten. You wanted to get coffee and this is the only place open this early," Chaeyoung reminds her.

"Well, we're not doing it again…" Jieun yawns.

"Oh, it's that girl," Chaeyoung observes snidely as they turn to find a booth to wait in. "Jieun-ah, it's the girl from America."

"Who's that with her?" Jieun asks, curious. "He looks like he's messed up or something, why would he wear all that in this weather?"

"He's probably a retard, her cousin or something that she's taking care of."

Your teeth clench but you wave at them, smiling brightly. You hate people who judge by appearance. "Hello, Jiou, Chaeyeon," you greet, deliberately getting their names wrong.

They glare at you. "Look at how fake she is," Chaeyoung pretends to gag, loudly. "You can totally tell she got plastic surgery. Her nose and eyes are so unnatural. She was probably even uglier before surgery."

You suppress a giggle. So that's the reason for the cold treatment.

Jieun agrees, though slightly quieter. "She's just a spoiled brat. I bet her parents paid for it." She hesitates. "But, unnie, what if she hears us?"

"She can't even understand us. Look at her! You'd think she'd learn Korean before coming to Korea," Chaeyoung sneers.

Sehun's shoulders spasm slightly at that. He seems to be amused.

Aigoo, Chaeyoung-ah, you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I see.

"Unnie, I think she's Korean though," Jieun answers in a whisper.

"Excuse me, your drinks are ready," the barista calls. Sehun makes to get up, but you stop him with a hand on his arm. He looks up, startled, as you wink at him.

"Arasoyo," you call, not taking your eyes off Sehun. "You stay here, araso?" you say gently, making sure they overhear, before going to get the drinks. "I'll take his as well," you tell the barista.

"Omo. She knows Korean, unnie, otteokhae!" Jieun whispers.

Chaeyoung looks like she's trying to gather herself. "So what? It's not like we said anything that isn't true," she huffs unconvincingly. "And it looks like I was right about there being something wrong with that guy."

"Come on," you say to Sehun, jerking your head at the door. Head lowered, he follows you toward the exit, footsteps stuttering slightly as Growl begins to play on the TV.

"Oh! It's EXO!" Jieun exclaims, pleasantly distracted. She points at the screen as Sehun bolts for the door.

"Good riddance. Jieun-ah, let's not come here in the future, araso? Weird people come here, I don't want to be around them," you hear Chaeyoung say. Please, don't. "The American and the retard, god, I feel soiled."

"Unnie, aren't EXO oppa-deul so attractive?" Jieun sighs, not paying attention.

"We'll see them soon at the fansign," Chaeyoung reminds her just as the door closes.

You look at Sehun as you walk to find him glaring back at the café with an expression of incredible distaste. He's even lowered his sunglasses for the full effect. "God, why do we have fans like that? If they show up at the fansign I'll have them kicked out."

"I thought you loved all of your fans," you comment innocently.

He ignores that and instead rounds on you. "Why do you let them talk about you like that, noona? Why don't you stick up for yourself?"

"Why are you so worked up about it?" you fire back a question of your own. He's speechless. Why is he? You answer him. "Sehun-ah, I don't care about people like that. If I get angry about mere words, I'll just be playing into their hands. They don't have power over me because I refuse to respond to the way they make themselves feel better."

Sehun looks like he's thinking about this as he takes the two bubble teas you offer him. "What are you, some kind of Buddha? Or are you just like Chanyeol hyung, a happy virus?"

You wrinkle your brow and decide to clear up the matter. "I don't care when people talk about me. But I nearly got up and roundhouse kicked Chaeyoung when she called you a retard."

"Wae?" Sehun wonders. "I mean, look at what I'm wearing, seriously," he mocks himself. "You said it yourself, it looks ridiculous."

"I can't stand it when people insult my friends," you admit. "I may make fun of them myself, but nobody else can. I'm rather selfish like that."

Sehun doesn't say anything. Does that mean… she thinks of me as a friend? Even after the way I've been treating her?

Silently, he reaches out to help carry some of drinks. You let him, smiling slightly. "Why did you buy them?" he asks abruptly. "You only know Kris hyung."

"Kris' friends are my friends," you tell him.

"Hyung-deul will want to pay you back."

"Ani. You bought them," you say breezily. He looks at you, surprised, but you just look ahead as the building comes into view.

"Noona?" he asks tentatively, as if needing to change the subject. "Are you coming with us on our schedule today?"

"Do you want me to?" you ask. He wasn't expecting that question; he trips slightly as the two of you step into the elevator.

"Y- I mean, I don't mind."

"Well, we'll see. I might or might not tag along today, depending on how much of a hassle I'll be."

He nods wordlessly.

When you follow him into the EXO-K dorm, nobody is up yet except for Joonmyeon. "Oh, annyeong, Jagi," he waves tiredly. "Is that for me?" He says, brightening, as Sehun hands him his drink. "Aigoo, gomawo, our caring maknae, this is a first," he coos, ruffling Sehun's hair. "Go wake the others up."

You stifle a laugh at the latter's discomfiture before placing the drinks on the coffee table, taking them from his hand before he goes. "You're the only one up, oppa?" you ask.

He smiles slightly at the familiarity. "At least in K, yeah. I don't know about M, though. Kris hyung is definitely still knocked out, if you're looking for him. He's always the last one to roll out of bed." Suho says without you asking.

"Ah," you laugh. "What leader material."

"Kris hyung does take care of us though," Suho admits. You nod. You know that he's that type.

"I'm going to go bring them the drinks," you tell him, leaving.

"Wake them up if they aren't up already," he calls as the door shuts.

***

You look at the door for a second. The keypad taunts you. Input the code? Don't input the code? Scare them? Don't scare them? Shrugging, you punch in the code and push open the door. It can't be that surprising.

Once inside, you're greeted by a familiar scene. Chen stands in front of you, slack-jawed in his t-shirt and shorts. Uh oh, déjà vu. You lift the bag before he can utter a word. "I brought drinks?"

He shuts his mouth, wide-eyed. "How did you know our code?"

"You should really change the keypad to one without the different tones," you say conversationally.

"Daebak," he breathes, reaching for his drink. "How did you know what I want?"

"I didn't. Man, you have a lot of questions. Are the others up yet?"

"Minseok hyung is up. He's making his bed." Your eyebrows rise. "Neat freak," he says by way of an explanation.

"Kris isn't up yet?"

"Hyung will be the last one, for sure," he laughs.

"Ani, not today," you shake your head, walking into the hallway. You can hear English coming from the last room, snippets of someone sleep-talking. "Why, hello, Kris," you murmur, opening the door. He's flung the covers half off his body, and is dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He has a headband holding his hair off his face.

"Ani, I want green tea ice cream," he mutters, flinging an arm out as you narrowly dodge.

"Yah, wake up, giant," you pat his face.

"不要(no)," he grumbles.

You try something. "Wake up, you're late for school!"

He bolts and panics, falling out of bed. "What time is it?"

You collapse on the floor laughing. "This is brilliant! Your face, oh my god!"

"Yah, what happened?" Minseok appears at the doorway. Seeing both of you on the floor, he rushes inside. "Gwenchana?!"

"沒事，沒事 (nothing, nothing)," Kris flaps his hand at Minseok, muddled.

Still caught by surprise, Minseok answers: "好(okay)," earning an amused glance from you. How cute. Turning to you, he asks, "How did you manage to wake him up?"

"He sleep-talks in three languages?" you ask him in turn, still giggling.

"Mm," he nods. "It gets the rest of us pretty curious because we can only hear part of what's in his dream. It usually sounds pretty intense, though."

"Ah," is all you can say. You decide not to ruin his image of the leader's dream antics. "Up you get." You prod Kris' midsection with your foot, but he doesn't move.

"Five more minutes," he groans.

"No, get up now," you insist. When you get no reaction, you roll over to place your head near his ear and whisper: "I'm going to draw on your face if you don't get up now. With permanent marker."

"No!" He sits up, frantically smoothing his hands over his face and checking for smears. After a moment, he looks up to see the other five members of M at the door. "Uh. Good morning?"

One by one, they greet you and leave to get ready. Kris groans. "You couldn't have let me sleep a while more? They're going hog the bathroom for ages," he complains.

"You take the longest in the bathroom, 隊長 (duizhang)," Luhan retorts, sticking his head back in briefly and giving you a small wave.

"Quit whining and come get your drink," you cut Kris off when he tries to argue. Giving in, he gets up like a man of eighty and trudges tiredly outside.