The 17^th of November arrived and not soon enough, Chen, Baekhyun and Sehun were getting antsy as the days went by. As soon as they woke up, the plan was in motion. Sehun was being more bratty than usual, Baekhyun was being more annoying and Chen was trying his hardest to blend into the background. The only thing that could possibly hinder their plan was their new head manager. He was a real hard nut and wasn’t afraid to get physical if they got too rowdy. They weren’t even allowed to call him hyung, they were only allowed to call him Jung-nim.

Everything had gone according to plan so far; they all got ready in time, got to the airport on time, caught their flight on time and got to the tv station on time. Showtime. Chen made sure he was the first in changing into his stage outfit and the first into the hair and make up chair. Meanwhile, Sehun was having disputes about his stage clothes and continued to throw tantrums about it. Chen’s hair and make up was done when he heard Sehun blatantly refuse to go on to stage if his demands weren’t met. This cued Baekhyun to step in.

“Why do you have to be such a spoilt brat Sehun?” asked Baekhyun mockingly.

“Why do you have to be such an annoying little Baekhyun?” retorted Sehun.

“Where’s the hyung you bastard?” Baekhyun began to advance upon him.

Sehun stood his ground. “I’ll show you respect when you ing deserve it.”

That’s when Baekhyun lunged at Sehun and threw him on to the ground. Chaos ensued as the members and managers tried to pry apart Sehun and Baekhyun. Chen chose this moment to slip out.

He was running through the corridors trying to find the dressing room of “Freedom”, that’s what his previous members’ group was called. Of course everything was written in Mandarin but Chen had kept up his Mandarin studies despite having little activities in China. Chen knew it was silly but it made him feel like he was still connected to his ex EXO M members. He had been wondering around for some time and he knew sooner or later his manager would come and find him. He was contemplating flirting with a young worker for directions when 5 people passed him.

Chen stopped, turned and stared. It had been years since he last saw them and although they changed slightly, to him they were still the same. Yixing could feel someone staring at the back of his head intensely. He turned around and saw that it was Chen. He knew EXO were going to be performing too but he didn’t think he’d have a chance to meet his previous members.

Yixing thought that his mind was playing tricks on him. “Jongdae?” he decided to call out.

“Yixing ge.” Replied Jongdae with watery eyes.

No other confirmations were needed. Yixing had always been a tactile person so he ran to Chen and scooped him up in a hug.

“I missed you so much ge.” Jongdae said as he hugged him back.

“I missed you too Jongdae.” Yixing said as he hugged him tighter.

Soon the Freedom members turned around to see what was going on and saw Yixing hugging Jongdae. Minseok walked up to them and started hugging Jongdae too.

“So you missed your ge but you didn’t miss your hyung?” he teased.

By now Jongdae’s tears had started to fall. He turned around in Yixing arms, because Yixing didn’t want to let go of him, and hugged Minseok back.

“I missed you too hyung. I haven’t had a decent coffee since you left.” Minseok lightly slapped the back of Jongdae’s head causing him to let out a shaky laugh.

Zitao was the next to join. “Funky JD hyung! Did you miss me too because I missed you loads.” Zitao was beginning to cry too.

“Of course I missed you my baby panda.” Jongdae said was he ruffled Zitao’s hair and wiped away his tears.

“Did Joonmyun hyung and Sehun miss me too. What about Baekhyun hyung, Chanyeol hyung, Kyungsoo hyung and Jongin?”

“We all missed you. We missed everyone.”

“Are they all here? Can we see them?” Zitao lifted his head as he frantically searched for his past members.

“Yes they are but I can’t promise anything. I’m sorry Zitao.” He said candidly.

Zitao tried to bury his head further into Jongdae’s chest. “It’s ok hyung, seeing you is enough.”

He then turned to Lu Han. “Yo yo yo ge!”

Lu Han’s face split into a smile. He voice cracked with emotion as he said; “Yo yo yo Chenchen!”

He tried to give Jongdae a man hug with 3 other people hugging him but Jongdae managed to pull him into a real hug. “Is it me or did you get manlier?”

“I got manlier.” Lu Han said as he tried very hard not to cry.

Yifan watched this display with a sad smile on his face. On one hand, he wanted to join them and tell Jongdae how much he missed him. On the other hand, he still remembered all the hurtful things Jongdae had said when he left and he didn’t know if Jongdae really missed him or wanted to see him. So Yifan awkwardly stood there and let them hug.

After a few minutes of hugging, Jongdae slowly began to untangle himself from everyone and walked up to Yifan. Once he was standing right in front of him, he dropped to his knees and hugged Yifan’s legs. To say Yifan was surprised was an understatement.

“I’m so sorry ge. I said the most hurtful things when you left and I’m really sorry. I was angry and upset but I shouldn’t have said that. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness but I’m asking for it anyway. Yifan ge, will you forgive me for all the hateful and hurtful things I said about you?” Jongdae begged.

Yifan was stunned. He looked down at the tear stained face of Jongdae and hoisted the boy up by his shoulders. He tried to wipe away Jongdae’s tears with his huge hands but Jongdae just kept crying.

“Ge will forgive you if you forgive ge for walking out on you without a word.”

Jongdae hiccupped. “I forgave you a long time ago ge.”

“Then there’s nothing to forgive Jongdae.”

Jongdae gave him a watery smile. “Thank you so much ge. I missed you.”

Yifan pulled him into a hug. “I missed you too Jongdae.”

A second later, Chen was ripped off from Yifan’s body. Before he could comprehend what was going on, he received a hard slap to the face. Minseok grabbed Yixing and Lu Han before they could intervene and gave them a look to stop them from saying anything.

“You idols are all the same. You think once you get a grain of success you can just act however you like but you can’t. You think because you’re the only member to have gotten a solo album you get treated differently, well think again. You still have responsibilities Kim Jongdae. You and your bratty members need to learn that. I keep telling the company that if they send you off to the army maybe you people would learn some discipline but they don’t listen to me. I don’t know how your previous managers handled you bastards but you do not have me in the palm of your hands like your stupid fans and you will learn to obey me and take orders seriously.”

Jung began to bodily drag Chen away.

“Jung-nim please wait-” Jongdae received another slap before he was finished.

“No. We go on stage in 30 minutes and I don’t have time for your bull. Now because of you Joonmyun’s going to get slapped for the third time today.”

“What?” Jongdae said in disbelief.

“Every time a member misbehaves, I slap the member and then the leader. Why? Because after all these years the leader should be able to control their members. Apparently Joonmyun can’t do that. The Baekhyun and Sehun incident cost him 2 slaps and because of you he’ll get another.”

Jung dragged him away before he could say anything else. Minseok released his hold on Yixing and Lu Han’s arms when he was gone.

“Why did you do that Minseok?” asked Lu Han angrily.

“Hyung we should’ve done something!” protested Yixing.

“If we did, then Jongdae would’ve gotten a worse punishment later.” Reasoned Minseok.

Yifan in before there were further arguments. “You guys were so angry you didn’t pay attention to Zitao.”

Luhan and Yixing turned to look at Zitao who was holding his phone up. “I recorded the whole thing.” Zitao said softly.

Alright guys this is me wishing you Happy Holidays in advance as I probably won't be around that time to do it.