A/N: English, Thai, Chinese, Korean

duizhangkris187: hey, jewel, you there?
 

***

Your first three final exams are today. You walk into the office where the professor who's proctoring your first exam waits. "Annyeonghaseyo," you greet him quietly.

"Do you want to start now or in five minutes?"

"I'll just start now."

The test paper stumps you for a half hour. You can't think of anything except Sehun's accusatory glare. The way Kris didn't follow when you left. How you shouldn't have accompanied them to the Weekly Idol set.

Your fingers whiten on your pencil. Jewel Lee, look at you. You grin to yourself in disgust. Mocking, derisive. Two days with a bunch of celebrities and you turn into a useless idiot.

"If you want to give up…" the professor comes toward you.

"It's alright," you smile wearily at him.

You shove all thoughts of EXO from your mind. Kris leaves scars but you manage to drag him out as well.

"I'm alright now."
 

***

what's up?
 

***

You have your last four exams today. You get up early to get coffee, only to crawl back into bed when you remember why you probably shouldn't go to Jihye's. It takes an immense mustering of your will for you to go and fill in those annoying bubbles. It's like they're taunting you. It's the easiest thing in the world, but it gives you too much time to think about-

Who invented exams? They're so useless.

***

hey, how have you been?

***

Exams are over. You weren't really able to sleep last night, but you wake up early. And restless.

With the prospect of an empty day ahead of you, you contemplate going to Jihye's anyway. After all, I was already planning on going there before I met- You grab the thought and crush it.

Jihye's is out of the question. Plus, for once, you're dissatisfied with the idea of sitting still all day. You want to move. No, you want to hit something.

Cracking a smile, you don a pair of loose black pants in lieu of your favorite genie pants and head out to find a Muay Thai gym.

You detour far around the clump of squealing college girls near the gate to campus.

***

where are you? you'll never guess what happened today

***

"Phew!" You collapse by the wall. There's a good burn in your muscles. After being away from Muay Thai for some time, it's taken you all of yesterday and this morning to get the hang of it again. I'm so lucky I found this place.

Your phone chimes a tri-tone. Glancing at it, you groan. Not another one.

Unknown number

1 new message

", I hope you die! Don't go anywhere near MY Kris oppa," you read dully. "Lovely." I need a new number.

"Jewel, you're as good as I am, and I'm the one who's supposed to be training you," Wiwat complains, coming over. "You make it look so pretty."

"No, training with me," you correct him. "And I sure hope not. I'm supposed to look intimidating."

He wrinkles his nose at you. "You? You're even shorter than I am!"

"To be fair, I'm average. However, you, my friend, are considerably below average."

He pouts and changes the subject. "How do you manage to look so beautiful even when you're covered in sweat?" he leers, pretending to drool.

"Oh, gross! Stop it, you!" You hit him.

"Gack!" he clutches his chest and pretends to fall over, wounded.

He smiles as you laugh for the first time in days.

***

hey

***

"Let's go out to lunch," Wiwat suggests. "I know you live on air, but I don't fancy spending another lunch break sitting and watching you murder my poor equipment." She needs to eat something.

"Not hungry," you grunt, twisting and lashing out at aforementioned equipment.

"Well, I am. I'm going to lock you in here if you don't come with me," he threatens.

No. The prospect of being alone, not so long ago one you cherished, fills you with dread. You unwrap your hands and toss the fabric to the side of the room. "I'll come."

Victorious, Wiwat ushers you out of the room. "What do you want to eat? Thai food? Chinese food? BBQ?"

***

talk to me

***

You're returning from lunch with Wiwat again when someone approaches you on the street. The two of you come to a sudden halt, surprised.

Disappointed, the man shakes his head as he examines you. "Too short," he pronounces, and rather unwillingly takes a photo. "Here," he says loftily, holding out a card.

YG Entertainment, you read.

"No thanks," you refuse and try to go around him. He reacts late, in disbelief at your cool refusal.

"Do you know how much of a privilege this is?" he demands, keeping pace with the two of you.

"He's kind of annoying," you confide to Wiwat, walking faster.

"I think you should listen to what he says," he suggests out of the blue. "There's nothing to lose."

Rolling your eyes, you stop walking suddenly. "Good point."

The man jerks to a stop, slightly breathless.

"Talk," you demand. "I'm giving you thirty seconds to explain what you want." He wants to argue but gives up and starts to explain as you start counting down.

"I'm a talent scout from YG Entertainment. Big Bang, 2NE1, Se7en-"

"Don't know them."

He's at a loss for half a second. "I want you to come to the agency for an audition-"

"Nope, I'm good, thanks," you cut him off firmly.

"That wasn't thirty seconds!"

"Too bad," you smile nicely. "Not interested."

He watches you ascend the stairs with Wiwat, dismayed. She's too short anyway, he tries to comfort himself. Somehow he feels like he's just missed a huge opportunity.

***

duizhangkris187: i miss you

Kris shuts his laptop gently and escapes from the oppressive atmosphere of his empty room. He shakes his head and collapses onto the couch when Luhan looks at him hopefully.

Suho sighs. The three of them are in EXO-M's dorm. The rest of EXO have gone to get dinner, but today, the three just don't feel like pretending nothing is wrong.

"She's still not online… She hasn't been online since last week," Kris says dismally. He has sent you a message every day. Seven messages. Pending.

"I can't believe she really meant not to contact us again," Luhan murmurs, flipping blankly through the channels on the TV.

"She even went so far as to get a new SIM card," Suho observes.

"I can't believe she could cut me off, just like that," Kris groans, clutching his head in his hands. I even went to look for you. He cringes, reminded of the swarming girls. "We were friends for years, goddamnit!"

"That bastard maknae Oh Sehun," Suho mutters angrily.

The three of them haven't spoken a single word to Sehun off camera for a week. The world doesn't know anything is wrong, though. They're good at that.

Luhan appears to be hit the hardest. He makes multiple trips to Jihye's every day. It isn't only to look for you though. He just wants an excuse to be away from Sehun, who stares at his favorite hyung whenever he's nearby. Luhan makes a point of getting an Americano every time, purposefully avoiding looking at the bubble tea section of the menu.

It's not that Kris doesn't want to see you again. He does. Very much. He just can't afford to appear weak. The same goes for Suho.

"Hey, Weekly Idol is on," Luhan says, subdued. "Do you guys want to-"

"Yes," Kris and Suho quickly agree. I want to see her again.

The door opens. Everyone comes in, even Sehun. He sits down tentatively next to Luhan and looks hurt when the older turns slightly away. He's still angry.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol rush to sit in front of the TV, anticipating your appearance. Though they didn't have much serious interaction with you, they still miss you. You put up with their jokes so well. Jongdae sits quietly down next to them. You were so laid back.

Kris knows. Jewel just has that effect on you. He heaves a sigh.

Kai and Lay aren't much better. Kai, who had teased you about your dancing. Lay, who had wanted to cultivate it.

Tao misses the big sister that he temporarily had. He misses the way you made the duizhang act. He plops dejectedly down, resting against Kris' legs. His ge tousles his hair with an absent-minded hand, not even noticing its post-workout sweatiness.

Minseok doesn't understand why everyone is so worked up about you leaving. Sure, you're pretty, but you disrupted their lifestyle so much.

Kyungsoo is ambivalent towards you. He wants you to come back, though, because frankly, your departure has split the group apart. The two leaders are so cold all the time. They do their duty but there's nothing there anymore. He's had enough. Also, you're shorter than him.

"She's on- I mean, it's starting!" Tao yelps as you appear on screen.

Sehun looks up and sighs. I only wanted to make her realize… to stop her from being hurt. I wanted her to leave. But now that we're like this… I want her to come back.