A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

- Colin Powell -

“Alright, we take five!” the stage director shouted through his head mike to the crowd in front of him. He turned to look at the camera screen and discussed some details about the stage with his assistant while the crowd of twelve and dancers collapsed onto the stage floor.

Several staffs ran up the still in its way to completion stage and started fanning the boys as they gulped down hydrolytes from their bottles like fish out of water. Once done draining the liquid, they wiped themselves with towels, occasionally grumbling complaints to each other

“I think he’s a robot,” Chanyeol said softly. “He’s not even breaking a sweat under this blazing sun.” He nudged towards the stage director, who was now barking orders at the construction crew with his megaphone and sunglasses on.

“That’s because he’s standing under the shade with a big fan blowing at his direction,” Se Hun answered sulkily, half wishing he’s the one in that privileged position. “Look at me; I’m going to be looking like Kai by the time we are done.”

“Hey, this is natural y look!” Kai argued from one side, his face buried underneath his towel as he lay tiredly on the ground.

“How much longer are we doing this? I think my legs are going to snap off if we continue dancing under the sun,” Chanyeol chipped in again, a tad too whiny for everyone’s likings. But no one said it to his face because they were all too tired to care. Or that they secretly agreed with him.

“I could do this routine even in my sleep,” Baek Hyun finally agreed with Chanyeol. “I know it’s our first ever concert and we should be giving our all, but we need a break too. My throat hurts from all the singing.”

The rest murmured throngs of agreement in their own grunts and groans. At one side, Kyung Soo rolled over and sat up in his position, choosing to stay out of the conversation. Like the rest, he was tired as well and the soles of his feet really hurt. But unlike others, he preserved his energy as best he could and concentrate on what’s important right now, which is the looming concert two weeks from now.

He wiped the sweat from his face, breathing heavily through his mouth and eyebrows furrowed. In his mind, he was going through the choreography over and over again, thinking of ways to perfect them. Dancing was not his forte and he found that despite his best efforts, he sometimes missed beats and made mistakes onstage.

“Kai, can you show me again that last routine?” he requested shortly, his large eyes boring into the lead dancer.

Kai groaned, “Hyung, we are taking a five. Can’t I show you later?”

“Five minutes later we are resuming the practice, you can’t show me then,” Kyung Soo retorted. Climbing to his feet, he continued, “Come on, get on your feet.”

The younger guy turned to their leader for help, eyes pleading even, to put a stop to Kyung Soo’s madness. The petite main vocalist has boundless energy and stamina when it comes to work, and he was forever expecting everyone to catch up to his pace. Even though Kai was just as serious during practice, the younger guy actually knows when to take a break.

Thankfully, even before Suho could come to Kai’s rescue, the manager did. He came armed with Kyung Soo’s smartphone. Everyone looked up when the man called for their attention. And snap!

Kyung Soo blinked several times rapidly when he heard the oh-so-familiar click sound from his phone. Before he could process what just happened, he heard the other members burst out in protest.

“Hyung, I looked horrible with all these sweats and messy hair!”

“Oh my God, I was wrapping my head with the bloody towel! Now I’m going to look like an idiot!”

“What’s that for, hyung?”

“This is going on Instagram,” the manager hyung replied casually as his eyes were glued on the screen, navigating his way on Kyung Soo’s phone.

“But that’s my phone,” Kyung Soo pointed it out.

The manager looked up, grinned devilishly, and tossed the phone back to him. “You are welcome, Kyung Soo.”

The guy caught his phone and quickly looked at the screen to see the picture of tired boys all sprawled on dirty ground covered in sweat and no make-up. It was already on Instagram with caption, ‘Concert practice, fighting~’.

Rows and rows of messages popped up again, the fans at their best again. He stared in horror at his own non-make-up face, round eyes and messy hair in the picture. And since he was in such a hurry this morning, he didn’t even stop to shave so now everyone would see his growing stubbles at the chin and upper lip. Fans would not like to see this side of him!

“Hyung!” he shouted in annoyance as everyone clambered around him to see the photo which was now most probably being circulated far and wide in the Internet.

The members started complaining about themselves all at once as they wrestled each other to take a closer look at the phone screen. Kyung Soo rolled his eyes and returned his attention back to the page, just on time to see a new comment popped up.

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

- Colin Powell -

Kyung Soo smiled. ‘Thank you…’

*

Mi Kyung smiled to herself, satisfied with the message she left on Instagram, as more and more encouraging messages continued to flow into the main page of ‘EXO Little Giant’. She laughed softly when she returned her eyes to look at the picture, especially at those pair of shocked, large round eyes.

EXO has been one of her favorite boy bands. She has been following their music since their debut, at first dismissing them as just another flower band. But she learnt the better. Her top favorite member is the ever surprising Do Kyung Soo.

Despite his cuter outer appearance, she was really impressed to hear him sings for the first time. He was easily the shortest member in the group, the taller members in their average 183cm, and he was always been made fun of for being small. But he made up for that by being one of the strongest members in the group including having a kick- wrestling move he’s always using on the members; and the deep tone and flawless, velvet rich voice, who can resist that?

He was no perfect man and was definitely not her dream guy. No, Cho Mi Kyung sets her standard way higher than that. If anything, Do Kyung Soo was just another guy. Back in those days, he was just another pretty face. But these days, he became of her Internet life.

“Who’s that you’re looking at?” Hana’s voice cut into Mi Kyung’s thoughts, making her jerked slightly in her seat and hurriedly clicked away the page.

She turned in her chair to look at her friend, who was peering over her shoulder, hairs in curlers, and grinning. “It’s just some random strangers’ posts online. It’s nothing, Hana.”

“That’s EXO's Instagram,” Hana pointed out flatly. “You’re following EXO on Instagram? Since when do you become a fan?”

Mi Kyung blushed guiltily. In their clique of friends, being a fan of pretty boy bands were equivalent to being one of those squealing hormonal teenage girls, and those girls are not cool. She and her friends were about elegance and sophistication. Boys go after them, not the other way around. Admitting to her friend that yes, she is following EXO on Instagram is like admitting that she’s lost her touch.

“Uh… I was…”

“It’s alright, Mi Kyung, I understand,” Hana said coolly. She walked away from the table and plodded herself onto the fluffy king-sized bed, flipping through the piles of monthly gossip and fashion magazines. “They are the trend now and all over the Internet. It’s hard not to notice them when you’re on the net all the time.”

She looked up from Vogue and added, “You need to get out, Mi Kyung, take a break from all the staring at the computer.”

Mi Kyung heaved a heavy sigh at that advice. It’s always the same advice. – Go out more; stop locking yourself in the room and stare at the computer!

“Hana, I have no need to go outside. I’m fine here.”

“You are following EXO on Instagram,” Hana rebutted with a slight drawl in her tone, a habit Mi Kyung noticed was starting to get on her. Were the others that annoying as well? And just as judging?

“I followed many others as well,” Mi Kyung defended quickly. She scrolled through her list and recited few of them: “See, Alexander McQueen, Coco Chanel, Vogue Korea, Elle Korea…”

“Yeah but you’ve been following them since ages ago,” Hana replied shortly. “But this EXO…” She placed the magazine down. “Mi Kyung, we all said they are a bunch of flower vases. And here you are, following them on…”

“There is no longer ‘we’, Hana!” Mi Kyung snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have only one follower on Instagram and that’s you. The ‘we’ you are talking about, the other friends, I no longer matter to them.”

The facial expression of Hana’s face softened. She didn’t blame the girl for the outburst, rather, she pitied her. Cho Mi Kyung was at the top of the hierarchy before the accident and now, she was nobody. No one really cared about her anymore, let alone adding her into their friend list. Overnight, she became the social pariah.

“You still have me,” Hana finally said smilingly. “I’m here for you.”

“I know… Thank you, Hana,” Mi Kyung answered. She looked at the stack of homework Hana has been helping her with and quickly added, “…for everything.”

“You’re welcome. And as a friend, take it from me. Following EXO on Instagram, not cool.”

Mi Kyung laughed. It might not look cool to Hana but that’s because she doesn’t know who Kyung Soo really is.

My apologies to all my readers... m(-_-lll)m 

It's actually been more than a month since I updated this story. Haven't been getting much Kyung Soo's feel these days. But then I saw him on the new drama and I was like OMG! He's such a cutie pie ~ >.<

This chapter is not much but I promised it'll get better!! I just need to lay down the foundations first. Till next chapter~ ^^