Chapter 20: Tied Up

Chanyeol

The vibes in the practice room doesn’t feel good.Youngmin (Yeah we don’t actually use respective words for our demonic CEO),he watches us right now and his presence doesn’t help at all.He’s not like Sonsaengnim Sooman who help us improve,he comes here just to watch his robots and tell them they all look stupid.

"Kris?!Do you call that a dance?!You look so lifeless!Do you know how to dance at all?!"The music stopped when he yelled pointing at Kris hyung. He’s extra annoyed with Kris Hyung today and we don’t even know why. KRIS HYUNG IS FREAKING SICK YET HE HAD TO PRACTICE! ARE YOU JUST GAY FOR HIM?!WHY DON’T YOU DANCE HERE YOUNGMIN?! I was gritting my teeth to prevent myself from exploding and I could feel that we are all holding back.

"Mianhee…Kris hyung is sick...I think he should rest first"Suho said calmly but the smug faced CEO didn’t even seemed to be concerned.

I could hear everyone’s hard breathing. It’s 2am and we’ve been practicing to death for 9 hours straight. How I wish my powers were real, so I could burn this demon back to hell.

"Sickness is just an excuse for laziness"He said as he crossed his legs. I can already hear Baekhyun's breathing from being pissed so I tied him up using both of my hands before he could claw CEO.”We can’t be delayed in the shooting schedule,it already cost me a lot!” Wow?How does filming in a box cost him so much?!And can he make it less obvious that all he ever wanted from us is money?! “You Chinese guys makes my head ache!Are you all back up dancers to the Korean members?!” We all looked at him with disgust.That’s foul,offensive and racist!

“Take back what you said”Tao and Suho are both pulling Kris’ arms for him to calm down. I can’t look at his face. He can accept every bullet being shot to him but he can’t just let others to hurt s. That’s what I admire him the most…He’s a true leader.

“Why would I deny the truth? Most of the Chinese members don’t do anything at all. You’re all just pain in the as---“Before we knew it, Kris hyung had already escaped Tao and Suho’s grip.We ran to catch him before he could eat him alive.

“YOU ING OLD MAN! STOP TALKING LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING! WE EQUALLY WORKED HARD HERE AND DON’T TELL ME THAT WE’RE WORTHLESS BECAUSE WE’RE ING BRILLANT AND WE LAY YOU ON THE BED OF MONEY”Kris’ voice echoed all over the practice room and we’re hugging him tight to calm him.

“Gege stop…This will make you sicker…”Tao was crying and Suho keeps his bow.

“You don’t know how hard we tried just to fit in…We Chinese members don’t even remember the smell of our own home and we don’t even get to hear our family’s voices often…”Kris hyung’s tears started to fell and the pain he is feeling stabs each one of us.”Luhan is such a promising singer,he sings until he perfects every note. How dare you call us back up dancers when we have Lay? Tao is even breaking his bones every day for his stunts that you call lame…Take back everything you said…” I can’t help but to cry with him. It’s just…It’s so exhausting.

We didn’t start like this.

We were all dreamers that aimed to be an artist. We wanted to make a difference and inspire people. We started so happy and positive about our future but I can’t tell if we have that spirit any more. We’re just all tired.

Youngmin’s expression was still cold and cruel. Even the crew looks at him with disgust but they can't help us for they know this monster feeds them and t. The room is filled with our sobs and it makes me sadder remembering all the laughter we shared in this practice room.

Kris hyung lost his consciousness. And the demon just walked out of the room as if nothing had happened.

They didn't even brought Kris hyung to the hospital no matter how we beg and curse. He told us that this incident must be kept a secret because we can't afford to have a scandal before our promotion.Even I must go to my schedule as if everything is normal. This situation just makes me puke; our company’s system is all ed up thanks to the head Demon.

"Just go...We'll take care of him..." Suho tried to smile.They are inside the van now except me and Kyungsoo who have to go somewhere for our filming.

"I wish I could make porridge for him"I tapped Kyungsoo's back as he sighed heavily.

"Don't worry for our family,I'll cook for them.Just work hard but please eat and sleep on the way too arasso?" Chen sticked his head out of the window.He sounded like a mother and we felt like fathers who have to go to work.

Manager is driving us to the filming location. My seatbelt makes me feel trapped and hopeless.Kyungsoo was dropped off first and I felt lonely sitting alone here in the back seat.My phone vibrated and I felt relieved after seeing the caller's name.Donghae Hyung.

“Hyung…” I told him everything as if a dongsaeng confiding to his hyung. I felt a lot better after telling him and he was practically spitting fire in the other line.

“THAT MONSTER NEVER CHANGED!FREAKING ANNOYING WHY DO HE HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT TO US?!HE SHOULD BE A FATHER FIGURE NOT A MONSTER” I decreased the volume before manager could hear anything. His voice is too loud even though I’m not using the speakers! “SUJU IS ALREADY OLD IN THIS BUSINESS AND I THOUGHT HE’S DONE HOLDING OUR LEASH BUT ING OLD MAN!HE STILL MEDDLES WITH US!AFTER ALL OF MY OBEDIENCE!I EVEN FOLLOWED HIM WHEN HE TOLD ME TO ACT GAY!” I suppose to feel sad for him but I can’t help but to laugh! I just covered my mouth so he could not hear me.

“What did he do this time to make you that mad?”He breaths in heavily and I prepared my ear for the next bomb that he was about to drop.

“HE’S THROWING ME AGAIN BACK TO CHINA!HE SIGNED ME UP FOR A DRAMA AND UGHHH I HAVE TO MEMORIZE MANDARIN SCRIPTS AGAIN!!!”

“That …”

“This means that I have to be far away from Dara again”His voice started to become soft and sad.My ears flinched when he said the word Dara and I don’t know but,it’s automatic.”Keep an eye on her for me will you?But don’t try too much to surpass my ranking in her fanboy list.I’ll disown you as my brother if you do that”