“I’m sorry I’m late!” The words spilled from between Yixing’s lips instinctively, his eyes glancing around the small conference room with an air of nervous apology. Chanyeol, stepping into the room beside him, glanced at his watch.

“But we’re early!” The tall young man pouted at Jongin in protest. Turning to Yixing, he said “I’m usually late but I made sure we would be here early today.” The nervous boy thought this over for a moment.

“Oh.” He felt a blush rise in his cheeks, now embarrassed by his earlier loud outburst. Jongin let a small smile twitch at his lips, amused by the shyness of the young man. The other people in the room were occupied at looking at Jongin, as if waiting for him to explain.

“I called everyone in here today because a new intern will be joining us and I think we should all be introduced before we start work for the day. Zhang Yixing, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Yixing shuffled his feet awkwardly, twisting his fingers in the hem of his coat.

“Okay, um, alright. My name is Zhang Yixing, I’m nineteen years old, and I recently moved here from China to attend Seoul University. I’m majoring in Biochemistry and will probably end up doing medical research.” Yixing paused, unsure of what else to say. “I like music and don’t sleep very much.” He finally said, seeming to think that was sufficient information about his personal life.

“I’m Luhan, I’m from China too.” A pretty boy of indeterminable age with big doe eyes said, starting the introductions. He shot Yixing a smile that was hiding some mischief in the corners and Yixing couldn’t help but wonder if he should keep a close eye on this boy. Yixing was then introduced to Minseok, a round-faced boy with a kind smile, Oh Sehun, a young man with an expensive and vaguely arrogant air, Amber, the only girl in the room, and Kyungsoo, an adorable, if serious, young man with full lips and big eyes. Then, a silence fell. There was only one other person left to greet Yixing. The last stranger was sitting in the very farthest seat from the door, completely still and utterly silent. Black eyes peered at Yixing,  cold and cat-like from an angular face. He was the only one wearing a full suit, and a line of piercings ran down the edge of each ear. He just stared at Yixing, who was becoming increasingly afraid that his presence was somehow offensive to the young man. He looked so irritated...

“I, um, I like your earrings!” Squeaked Yixing sincerely, trying to amend whatever wrong he had committed. To his total surprise,  he saw a delicate pink flush appear in the cat-like boy’s cheeks, a sweet smile beginning to crinkle his eyes.

“Oh, wow, um, thanks!” The dark boy chirped as he raised a hand to his ear, tracing one of his piercings with a fingertip. “You’re so nice! I’m Tao. You’re Chinese like me and Lulu, right? So we can talk in Mandarin!”

“Um, sure!" Yixing was in awe of the boy’s sudden change in demeanor, and couldn’t help the shy smile turning up the corners of his own mouth. Tao was surprisingly cute considering he had appeared to be plotting Yixing’s death a moment before.

“Well that’s all of us! You already know me and Jongin.” Chanyeol announced happily, clapping him heavily on the shoulder, almost toppling the shorter boy.

“Don’t hurt him, Chanyeollie. Not everyone’s as tough as me!” Chuckled Amber, lacing her fingers under her chin in a mock-childish show of cuteness and blowing the giant a kiss. Yixing thought her short hair was very unusual and pretty. It framed her face perfectly. He felt himself zoning out, but was suddenly forced back into the present by a voice.

“Thank you for joining us, Zhang Yixing,” Jongin’s voice broke through Chanyeol’s protests and Amber’s laughter, which were filling the room. “Chanyeol will show you the ropes and tell you what you’ll be doing.”

“Yay!” Crowed Chanyeol as way of accepting the task while steering his new friend out into the hallway. As he was dragged away, Yixing idly wondered why Jongin had never called him by his personal name only. It was always ‘Zhang Yixing’.  Chanyeol led him out into the large room between the conference room and the elevator and over towards the few couches and chairs that served as a waiting area. Chanyeol took a seat in one of the armchairs and looked at Yixing expectantly.  When the Chinese boy stared at him in passive bewilderment,  Chanyeol prompted him.

“So, what did you think of everyone?” The tall boy asked.

"They all seemed very nice."

"Yeah? They are pretty cool most of the time. Luhan likes teasing people, Kyungsoo scares me, Tao's a diva, and Sehun's a brat, but they're still the best friends I could ask for." Noticing that Yixing was still standing,  he gestured for him to take a seat. When Yixing looked comfortable,  Chanyeol began to gossip at him benignly about the interns. "Amber actually dating the VP of the public relations office: a big guy who calls himself Kris, and Jongin's uncle is SM's CFO.  His whole family is filthy rich, but he never really talks about them. Minseok and I just applied on a whim and Tao wants to eventually be an SM stylist. Luhan started here to improve his Korean and no one has been brave enough to ask Sehun and Kyungsoo why they ended up here." Chanyeol grinned as he gave him the rundown on his new coworkers,  gesticulating largely while he talked. Yixing nodded blankly, his mind busy filing the new information away to process at his leisure when he next got a free moment.

"Hey, es, we brought coffee!" A loud, unfamiliar voice shouted into the interns' headquarters from the doorway. Startled,  Yixing’s head turned sharply to get a look at the source of the noise while Chanyeol rolled his eyes at the blank space in front of him, a now exasperated smile splitting his face.

“Yixing,” Chanyeol heaved himself to his feet, “Let me introduce you to Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongdae, they’re SM artists.” Yixing stood as well, examining the newcomers. There were, it turned out, two men who had just entered the room.

“I’m hurt! How could you use such a distant term to describe me, your intimate friend!” The taller of the two cried out in mock-dismay, brandishing a container of iced coffees.

“The one wearing too much eyeliner is Baekhyun. Mr. Cheekbones is Jongdae. His stage name’s Chen.” Chanyeol whispered conspiratorially to a very curious Yixing. Jongdae’s slightly wavy brown hair was the perfect mix of messy and stylish, a theme that continued through his leather jacket and t-shirt advertising a band in english. Baekhyun was wearing a lot of eyeliner, but Yixing wasn’t sure he could call it too much. His sleek black hair looked very well-taken care of.

“Too much eyeliner!?” Baekhyun screeched. “I’m famous you know!” Jongdae laughed at his friend’s distress and seemed to finally notice Yixing’s presence.

“Hey, I’m Jongdae. I’m sure you know that Baekhyun and I are the duo EAGLE?” Chen introduced himself with a smirk and an attempt at modesty. Yixing opened his mouth to speak, but Chanyeol cut him off.

“Actually, Yixing just moved here from China, so I doubt he knows anything about you at all!” The tall boy seemed to take pleasure in the way Jongdae’s ego visibly deflated.

“My name’s Zhang Yixing. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said quickly, trying to remedy the situation.

“Oh my gosh, look at him! Isn’t he adorable!” Baekhyun said half-jokingly, shoving the coffee-carrier into Jongdae’s chest and walking over to Yixing. Yixing was expecting a handshake or a bow or something similar to take place, leaving him completely unprepared when Baekhyun instead opened his arms wide and flung them around Yixing’s waist. A shudder ran through his body, hot and cold following each other so quickly that it was almost painful. His breath ceased and his heart froze inside his chest. Revulsion rose in his throat, burning his chest and sinuses with bile, memories rose unbidden to his mind, leaving room for only one coherent thought: escape.

“No, no, please no,” Yixing cried out in his native Mandarin, shoving Baekhyun away. The force of his escape pushed him off balance and he fell to the floor. His hands burned on the carpet as he quivered, face pressed against the ground, eyes tightly closed as he tried to calm his pulse.

I’m okay, everything’s okay. I’m being stupid. They probably hate me now...I should apologize....

He tried to force the nausea to pass away more quickly so that he could open his mouth to say he was sorry.

“Yixing, are you okay? Yixing, can you hear me?” Chanyeol’s warm, deep voice finally pushed through the blood pounding in his ears. Yixing opened his eyes. Chanyeol was crouching close to him, a hand outreached as if he wanted to touch the smaller boy, but didn’t know if he should. He looked completely confused and frightened. Yixing’s eyes sought out Baekhyun. The pretty boy’s eyes were opened wide in shock, hands held out in front of him as if he’d been burned. Jongdae looked stunned, frozen where he stood. They looked so uncomfortable...And it was all Yixing’s fault.

“I-I’m...s-so...so sorry...” he whispered to the room at large as he stumbled upright, almost toppling again. He barely noticed the way Chanyeol instinctively reached as if to catch him before he had bolted past them and out the door. He darted down the hallway, too ashamed and miserable to pay attention to where he was. The door to the men’s bathroom swam before his teary eyes and he ducked inside, desperate for a place to hide away from the stares, his memories, his body’s betrayal...

The room was empty. Yixing slammed into a stall, locked the door and burst into choking, heaving sobs, one hand pressed over his mouth in an attempt to stay silent. He sat on the closed toilet-lid and collapsed in on himself, arms trying to squeeze the guilt and pain from his torso, his teeth pressed painfully against his knee. It was a long time before he could stop the tears. A long time before he felt like he could breathe normally again. Just when he was wondering what he could possibly say to his new acquaintances to apologize for his horrifying actions, he heard the door to the bathroom open and a voice say:

“Zhang Yixing?”

Jongin. Jongin’s here.