Tao

“You need to focus on your posture more. You don’t want to be easily knocked over,” I told Baekhyun.

He fixed his position. “Like this?”

I nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Your posture and stance is now strong.” I’d been helping the other guys learn martial arts, with Xiumin as my “assistant teacher”.

Kris barged into the room and said for us to follow him into the living room for a meeting. Everyone gathered there, including Yoona.

“We need to let our allies know that we’re in trouble and ask them for help,” he started in a low monotone voice, a tired expression on his face. He probably hadn’t been sleeping much- none of us were, actually. “Infinite and Teen Top are our allies. We will pay them a good amount of money in exchange for their help.” Kris glanced at me. “Tao, arrange for a meeting as soon as possible.”

“Got it,” I replied.

Suho stood up for his turn to talk. “I’ve been thinking of the consequences of going to war with Big Bang. No doubt they have powerful allies and from the things I’ve heard, they’re a pretty tough gang. But…” His eyes landed on Sehun and Yoona, who were holding hands. “This is a risk I’m willing to take. Not only for Yoona and Sehun, but for all of us. For Exo’s future. We will stand alongside each other and fight together. This is my job as your leader. I will lead Exo and win this fight. So let’s continue working hard and grow stronger!”

That night, I was lying in bed and couldn’t sleep. Suho’s words were echoing in my mind. I remembered my past- I had never belonged anywhere, always lost and alone. I didn’t have any goals or even a purpose, until I was accepted into Exo. They were my family, my life, my world. Maybe it hadn’t fully impacted me until this moment, because now I was realizing just how much I loved Exo. No matter who tried to get in our way, we were going to take them down. We would take down every obstacle, overcome every hardship, and keep working our way up the ladder towards the very top.

That was my goal, my dream. My purpose.