The boys gathered around the living room with Suho in front of them. “What do you think of her?” He had a smile on his face as he asked them. “I think she’s a fun girl,” Sehun said as he relaxed on the couch. “I think she’ll do us good as an improvement of EXO,” Xiumin gave a thumbs-up. “Second the motion,” Luhan said as he nodded. “Mr Lee said we should avoid falling or having any interest in her, okay? It will be dangerous for her if any of us did. She’s here for work and not to get a boyfriend. Our fans are scary and if they get a hold of a wolf dating a composer, she might get in trouble. Deal?” Suho said as he looked at s seriously.

“Deal!” All the members shouted. “Anyways, who wants to eat? I’m hungry, I want some jjajamyeon,” Baekhyun stood up and rubbed his stomach. All of the members’ hands flew up at the mention of food. But for the first time, their minds were also distracted by a girl and by the same girl. “Milan,” DO whispered to himself. “Don’t worry, Kyungsoo-hyung. Your girlfriend won’t get jealous of our composer,” Kai joked. “Jung-hee-ssi is not the jealous type and she’s not my girlfriend,” DO slightly frowned. “She’s only my best friend,” he added.

“Why are you so silent today, Suho?” Xiumin asked as he caught up to the leader. “No… Nothing,” Suho shook his head. “Is it about APL?” Xiumin looked at him. “She has a lot of secrets hidden and I think it would be important for us to know her secrets,” Suho answered. “It’s fair for her to hide her own secrets like we have ours,” the older one said. “Even so, there’s something suspicious on how she acts around us, like she’s hiding something. When I saw her talk to Mr Lee, they were slightly arguing about something. As if she never wanted to work with us,” Suho explained. “Ye, and so what? It’s their business, and if we snooped around, wouldn’t she be angry suddenly?” Xiumin told him. Suho nodded. “I guess you’re right, hyung.”

“And like I almost wanted to tell her something but she complimented me so I’m alright with that,” Baekhyun joked. “She even told us saranghae~” Chen chimed, almost laughing. “Hyungs, you are crazy. Because you two are her friends’ bias. But not her bias so she didn’t say that with heart,” Sehun said before laughing. “In another point of view though, she complimented Luhan-hyung too much of his looks,” he looked at the manly member, having his hands in his pockets and walking with pride. “I’m not that handsome though. At least she didn’t think I’m pretty. I hate it when fans say that,” Luhan slightly frowned. “Yes, yes, because hyung is a manly person. Being called pretty is not manly,” Sehun joked.

“Don’t fool around with me,” Luhan pinched Sehun’s arm which made him squirm. “Aw, hyung is bullying EXO’s baby,” Sehun acted as if he was a child. “EXO’s baby? You look like EXO’s hyung,” Baekhyun joked. Chen and Luhan laughed which left Sehun frowning at them. “Someday…” He muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile…

“I hate lying to those boys. It’s just a big hole in my conscience, Rae,” Milan told her close friend who was working as a barista. “It was your choice, Milan. You wanted to keep your whole life a secret to the world and here you are, attacked by what people call conscience,” Reina said as she refilled Milan’s cup. “Thanks. Ah, this is all my fault, I will work with them until that girl debuts and this would be so hard and they will end up knowing,” Milan said. “They will, they will. Those boys aren’t stupid. But until then, do you want to tell them or let fate make them know?” Reina looked at her friend as she sat across her. “I don’t know,” Milan whined. “I’ll tell them when time says it’s for the best,” she added before sighing in distress. “Good. Anyways, how’s Ynna and Mae?” Reina asked as she laid her head on the table.

“Ynna’s doing well in training. Her body’s getting better for goodness sake. She may debut once she turns 20. But still, she still dances as bad as she did back when we were in high school. She really would fit Chen-oppa. And Mae is still outside the EXO dorm I think. The members would find her somehow. If they know how to find stalkers. She’ll be one of those scary sasaeng fans, forcing Baek-oppa to marry her someday,” Milan said as if those were the most obvious things in the world. “And you?” “Still pretending to be that inexperienced girl in a foreign country. They don’t know Ynna and I are friends too. Because they shouldn’t know SM’s plan with me.”

“Anyways, don’t you have somewhere else to go? Maybe learning French and Korean?” Reina teased before standing up. “Hm, yeah,” Milan chuckled. “Do you have my clothes?” she asked. Reina nodded. “Of course, they’re in the staff room,” she pointed at the door near them. “Gamsahabnida (Thank you),” Milan chimed before going in.

Back to the kids…

The members were gobbling up all the food they could eat. DO was really happy with his curry ramyeon and Lay was happy with his cheese sticks. “By the way, Baekhyun,” Luhan called for Baekhyun’s attention who was chatting with his beloved Chen. “Hm? What is it, hyung?” His head popped up. “You look ugly today,” Luhan answered with an innocent expression on his face. “Well, hyung, you look girly today,” Baekhyun smirked, which earned him Luhan’s glare.

“Buy me the jacket I saw yesterday, hyung,” Tao wrapped his arm around Kris’. “No, you have your own money,” Kris said as he drank his juice. “Please,” Tao pestered. “Hand me that plate,” Chanyeol called up to Suho. “Thanks,” he said when he received it. Xiumin was sitting cutely on the edge, in front of his clean plate. His innocent eyes looked at the younger members who were noisy. “Hey, do you trust her?” Xiumin finally asked the question troubling him. “Maybe,” Luhan answered. “I think we can trust her. She seems like a good girl, just a killjoy sometimes,” Sehun said as he took a mouthful of rice.

“What about the other members of the vocal line plus Lay and Chanyeol? You’ll be spending a lot of time with her,” Xiumin looked at Chen, Baekhyun and DO being the main vocalists of the group. “She doesn’t look like she can cause harm to us. She’s even weak with the cold, not offense to you, hyung,” Chen smiled brightly. “As long as she won’t judge me, I have no troubles with that girl,” Baekhyun answered. DO only nodded silently like he was keeping something to himself but the members preferred not to ask. “How about…” Xiumin turned to Suho.

“I’d prefer not to trust her for now. Maybe she would backstab us without us ever expecting,” Suho reasoned. “She might even collect our underwear and sell them on eBay,” Baekhyun joked. “Seriously though, she doesn’t look suspicious but she doesn’t look innocent too,” Tao said. “Let’s just wait and see to see what might happen,” Lay suggested. All of them nodded at this idea.