Every child dreams when they are little. Mari had aspirations to become a singer. She had the talent, the voice, the face and even the people to help her. She had everything going for her and was accepted into the very agency that I’m working for today. I wanted to become a photographer. Mari would joke around and say that she will be the beauty in front of the camera and I will be the beauty behind the camera. Together—we would be the perfect combination. It was a dream and that was all that it was. Just a dream.

I couldn’t tell her back then that I had no interest in photographing famous celebrities. If our plans had worked out, she probably would have been the only famous person I would take pictures of if I had to. I wanted to travel across the world, photographing the tips of mountains to the lights of the ocean. Filming celebrities always seemed to be a waste of artistic abilities when there were so much more breathtaking scenes to be observed. 

But—dreams rarely come true.

The lead photographer for the EXO documentary looks over the images and marks off which ones will be included in final production. “Seul, I will need some more pictures of Kai. Yeol, a few more of Sehun. They’re both practicing in Dance Room 5. I’ll need the completed shots by end of day tomorrow.” He claps his hands together and dismisses the group to finish up our work. Seul and I head over to the dance room and as we open the door, loud music pours against our eardrums. 

I find Sehun sitting in front of the mirrors and drinking water as he monitors his performance in the video camera. As he sees me approach him, the edge of his lips curl into a smile. “Yeol.”

"Not Yeol," I remind him. "Nuna.” 

"Yeol flows off the tongue better than Nuna. Do you not agree?" he nudges me against my shoulder.

"Only if you are my age, young one," I reply dully and show him my camera. "I need some more pictures of you for the documentary. Can you show me some pretty faces while you’re dancing up there?"

He stands up and brightly says, “Anything for my Yeol—nuna.” 

I shake my head disapprovingly and check over my camera settings. The group of boys stand in position while Seul and I wait for the music to start. As the loud beats vibrate through the room, I watch Sehun through the camera lens and start capturing his image while he moves to the sound of the song.

'How is that a boy? That is a man, Yeol. Definitely a man. Rainbow parrot man.' Mari says and whistles enthusiastically.

I ignore her comment because as I review the pictures, I find something alarming. Sehun is grimacing as if he is in pain. “This doesn’t feel right,” I whisper to myself. As I click through the images on the camera, I try to look for clues as to why he seems to be hurting while dancing. I am aware that it could be that he is tired but this isn’t fatigue. The dark gray jacket he wears covers his arms and chest. I zoom in on one of the pictures and notice a marking on the upper side of his chest near his shoulders.

Mari senses it too and her tone completely changes. 'Choi Taejoon.'

I’m almost afraid to confront Sehun about the bruise. I saw it partly on his chest—not even sure if I saw it correctly and don’t want to jump to any conclusions. I’m even more afraid to know if there are other bruises just like it, hiding from my eyes. He’s the youngest out of all the members but Mari was young too. Age does not seem to be a factor when it comes to Manager Choi. 

There’s no bias when it comes to Manager Choi. I think that he could even put harm on an old grandma if it meant to have his way. The thought that he uses violence to get what he wants makes me believe that he is one of the worst human beings I have ever met.

As the music stops, Sehun massages the place where I saw his injury. He tries to put on a happy expression, “So, how did the pictures come out?”

I don’t answer and slowly move my arm towards his jacket. I know for a fact that anger is rising inside of me but I also feel a tinge of need to protect Sehun from harm—like an older sister would protect her younger brother. As I lift up the right side of his jacket, his entire upper right arm is bruised in blue and purple, a clear contrast to his pale, creamy white skin. “Sehun—

"It’s nothing," he walks away from me to grab his water bottle.

I hold back everything—all the urge to run to the very person I know is responsible. “This is not nothing. What happened?”

"I said it was nothing, Yeol."

"If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be hiding it under a thick coat, would you?" I reply sternly. "I want to help. I am not like other people around here to just ignore this obvious abuse. I don’t care what happens to my career if it meant taking down the person responsible for this. You just have to tell me the truth, Sehun."

He sighs, “I—walked into a wall.”

I sit down next to him and stare ahead into the room. I’ve heard all of the excuses in the world. Slipping down the stairs. Hitting the wall. Falling off of the bed. "You really don’t expect me to believe that now do you? I’m old but I’m not hitting Alzheimer’s just yet.”

"Worth a try," he chuckles, "but it’s nice to know."

"Know what?"

Again, he gives me that same look as the one he gave me in front of the elevators. “It’s nice to know that you care.” 

"If I don’t—who will?" I smile weakly—hoping that one day—I will catch the man responsible for inflicting this kind of brutality on young children. Children are supposed to dream—not be put into a lifelong nightmare. "So—you’re lips are tied? You won’t tell me who did this?"

He shakes his head and downs the rest of the water. 

"Fine, fine. I can only help so much." Turning around, I grab my bag and look inside, pulling out a healing balm. After finding out what happened to Mari, I always carry it just in case there are moments like this. "Lift up your jacket."

Sehun gasps, “Nuna! I am only 19. What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” He folds his arm into an ‘X’ formation, fearing that I’ll do something provocative to him.

My shoulders fall but I’m reminded of how Mari said Sehun exuded a serious presence. None of that is present at this moment. He’s definitely a child. I open the top of the cream jar and hand it to him. “Oh, so—now it’s nuna?” I smile, “Put it on. It’ll help you heal faster.”

He laughs and takes the cream. “You have no idea how addictive your smile is, do you?”

I ruffle his hair, “Yes—I’ve heard that many times. I’m sure others have said your smile is quite poisonous.” I put my camera back into my bag and stand up to leave for the photography lab. 

"You’ll come to love it," he yells after me as I walk out of the dance room.

Seul and I make our way to the photography room. She’s the photographer in charge of Kai, Suho, and Baekhyun. Seul has a love hate relationship with Kai that she is too afraid to admit. Even with my short span of working with her, it’s easily seen that she is uncomfortable photographing Kai. He is her favorite in the group but hates the fact that she can’t take a proper photo of him. “I barely got in five nice shots of Kai. It’s ridiculous. I am known for my steady hands but every time Kai comes along, all my nerves come loose. I can’t even stand up straight.”

I laugh at her and offer her some advice, “Increase your shutter speed—to the highest your camera can offer. It’ll decrease the number of fuzzy photos.”

"I’ve tried. I mean look—steady right?" she holds out her right hand and like she says, steady as a rock. Seul then pulls out a picture of Kai in her backpack and instantly, her hands start to shake to the point where one would think she is hyped up on ten espressos. 

"Tripod. It’s the only way," I start walking but then look back at Seul, "Wait—you keep a picture of Kai in your book bag?"

Her eyes widen and she hides the picture, “Uh. No. Of course not. I’m not obsessed with him.” She dodges the question and lies, though obviously—only an idiot would believe that she doesn’t obsess over him.

I shake my head, “The moment you stop denying your adoration for the boy, the faster your hands will stop trembling.” As we begin walking again, Seul and I hear yelling over in the left corridor. She pulls on my hand and ushers me to walk the other way. “What’s going on?” I ask, turning my attention to where the noise is coming from.

"Just ignore it. It’s none of our business."

I tell Seul to go on ahead first and I’ll catch up later. Yumi reminded me that the other photographers are too into their careers to be bothered with Taejoon issues. I had a feeling that the person yelling was in fact Taejoon. “I’ll meet you in the lab.”

"Yeol, just come with me. It’s not worth it."

It was very much worth it. Mari was worth it and if I was here for her when she was in this building, I could’ve saved her. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t be gone long.” Seul didn’t want to leave me there alone but again—I know the reason why she didn’t want to stay. As she disappears from view, I grab my camera from my messenger bag and position it at the corner of the wall, letting me see what is happening in the hallway. As I expected, I see Manager Choi Taejoon standing in front of a young girl. 

"You can’t even get that one dance move down, huh?" he pushes her head with his right hand. She almost loses her balance with each strike while her hair falls messily over her face. Her tears are so quiet as they fall from her chin down to the cold tiled floor. "You’re just so useless. Why did this company even accept such an inept person?" With each sentence, he pushes her head with an obvious strength. I close my camera, seeing enough and return it to my bag. I stand up and pretend to review some files as I walk in that direction. 

I look up from the pictures in my hands and smile towards Taejoon. “Afternoon Manager Choi. Yumi asked me to run these images by you before I finalize them.”

He looks at the girl and gives her one last push on the head. “Work on the dance choreography all night. Do you understand me?” The girl quickly nods and wipes her tears as she heads back into the dance room. 

Taejoon shakes his head as he watches her disappear into the room. Once his attention is diverted towards me, his tone and attitude completely changes. He puts his arm around my shoulder and I’m positive that we are no where near the point of touching. The only type of physical contact I want with Taejoon is twisting his arm around and snapping it at the bone. “I won’t have to worry about you talking with Yumi and mentioning what you saw, now do I?”

A threat. A small threat but nevertheless a threat.

I motion a zip at the lips and reply with what he wants to hear. “Of course not, Taejoon.”

He nods his head, his graying hair moving along with the motions. “Good. Let’s see those photos now.”

I can not even imagine why he still has his arm around me. I mentally make a note, reminding myself to burn my shirt once I get home. 

"These are fine. They’re just of Sehun. He doesn’t add much value to the group so these will do," Taejoon hands back the photos.

"He’s a wonderful dancer, has loads of charisma and charm. That counts for something, doesn’t it?" I defend the boy.

We walk down the hallway, while he laughs at the compliment I gave to Sehun. “Dancer? He takes ages learning one routine. It was a nightmare getting him ready for the group. He barely made the cut. I still don’t understand why they insist on putting him with the main dancers.”

Finding it no benefit to keep on arguing, I motion down to the pictures. My only weapon for now is my smile and I show him just that. “Well, thank you for looking at the pictures. I still have some work to do so I’ll leave you to it then.”

When he is out of hearing range, my hands clench into a ball to the point where I wish I could hurl it into the wall. I hate that man and I am going to do whatever it takes to give him exactly what he deserves.