-001: exo-
Harsh LoveThe sun gleamed into the windows of the Park household, illuminating the residents inside. Members of the family were at that moment eating their breakfast together, in silence, mostly, just like any other day.
Park Sera sat beside her brother at the overly large table for a family of three, scrolling through her newsfeeds as she munched down her breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast, completely ignoring the other two Parks. Living mostly a silent life around her family, she didn’t talk with them as often as she did with her friends, causing most ‘family times’ to be soundless.
While scrolling, she sighed aimlessly as she saw yet another photo of Exo come onto her twitter feed, with yet another girl screaming about them. It could get annoying most of the time, slightly because it was constant, she never got a break from seeing their faces, but mostly because one of the members was her own annoying older brother, who had looked over her shoulder when she sighed, seeing if it was what he thought.
“Do I seriously look that bad on pictures? Maybe I should turn the left side of my face to the camera instead of the right?” Chanyeol wondered, peering further over her shoulder to look at himself closely.
“You can’t be that ugly in some girls’ opinions. Cha Sungmi is going massively crazy over a couple of airport photos of you,” Sera muttered, shaking her head at the girl on the screen.
“You know I could meet them if you brought them here.”
“I don’t want them to come here. It’s already weird enough that they’re practically in love with my brother, let alone what it would be like if they actually knew you were my brother. Plus, I don’t like her that much anyway. Too fangirl-ish for me.”
“Aish, okay,” Chanyeol sighed. “Oh, and by the way, if you want a lift home, you need to come to SM again.”
Turning to her mother, Sera pleaded for help, but the woman just shook her head lightly. “I’m working ‘till late, sorry,” she answered boredly, not even bothering to look up from the newspaper she was reading.
Her daughter sighed, letting her head fall and bang onto the table in frustration. Eleven members of Exo were great. They were welcoming, kind and fun to play around with; there was just one who was nothing like that.
“It won’t be that bad. You survived last week, didn’t you?” Chanyeol rolled his eyes.
“Barely,” Sera mumbled. “But fine, I’ll come. I’ll be there at half four.” Lifting her head, she placed her phone face down on the table and crossed her arms, annoyed.
“Just talk to Baekhyun and Chen,” Chanyeol suggested, standing up from the table and picking up his training bag.
“I plan to. Just keep Sehun away from me, got it?” Her eyes glared at her older brother, warning him even further with her deathly stare.
Sera and Sehun had always hated each other. Ever since Sera had begun going to SM Entertainment to get a lift from her brother, he had not once been pleasant or said one nice thing to her, and tended to make a stupid comment or taunt her whenever they crossed paths or when he had a chance. Naturally, she returned all his comments with the same amount of harshness in order to keep at his level, to show she wasn’t any less than him.
“Should I go to the practice room when I get there?” She continued.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.Unless they send me to get bubble tea like they did the last time.” Chanyeol answered, sighing at his bandmates getting him to pay for the said drink.
Sera nodded as an answer, finally halting her glares towards her brother, as she gave both him and her mother a kiss before heading off the catch the bus.
~~
Once at school, and the end of tutor had passed, Sera went straight to her locker to put her books for the day away. She had just opened it up when a voice called her name.
“Sera!” Called her best friend, Moon Hyomi, skipping down the hallway to meet her. “What’s wrong with you?” She asked, noticing Sera’s frowning face as she got closer to her.
“I have to go to stupid SM if I want a lift, and-”
“that prick Sehun is going to be there?” Hyomi recited, remembering the exact words that Sera said everytime she had to go to SM, which was a lot. “Uh, if you’re going to SM, could you give this to Jongin for me?” she requested, handing Sera an envelope.
“Of course,” Sera answered, understanding why Hyomi couldn’t give it to Kai herself. She and the boy had been secretly dating for just over six months, a few weeks after Sera had introduced Hyomi to all of the members. The couple had only told Sera and Chanyeol, and not even Exo’s manager had been informed of the relationship as of yet. They had to be careful.
“Thanks,” Hyomi answered gratefully, giving her friend a quick hug before they headed to their lesson. Even though it distracted her for a few minutes, the conversation was still no help to Sera’s worrying for after school.
~~
As expected, the end of the day came way too quickly for Sera’s liking, and it was time to leave for hell.
Hesitantly making her way to the building, she began stopping every few seconds, wondering if all this was worth it, and if she should just walk home, even though it took over an hour.
Being simply just too lazy to walk, especially after the long day, she eventually just decided to stay and bear it, however bad it may be. Greeting the security guard with a smile, she entered the building. He was used to seeing her by now, Chanyeol had to drive her home most days.
After entering the lift, she pressed her thumb on to the 20th floor button, and folded her arms, leaning her back against the lift as the digits on the little screen count up from ‘G’ to ‘20’, ending with a ding when it got her desired floor.
Stepping out, her ears caught the sound of a voice talking, and immediately recognised it as Kai’s.
“Kai!” She greeted once they’d seen each other.
“Hey, what’s up?” He answered. Looking around her, Sera realised there were people all around, and pulled him away before giving him the envelope. She smiled at him before she took her leave and they went their separate ways. He’d just been on his way to fetch some bubble tea, of which she politely declined some when he asked her if she wanted any.
After the encounter, she once again set off down the corridor, hardly any time passing until a familiar, Canadian accented voice said her name. “Park Sera, nice seeing you here again,” the voice said cheerfully. The girl smiled to herself, wondering if the person could cheer her up from her bad mood.
“Henry Lau, how are you?” She greeted, a smile on her face for a second before she realised where she was going.
“I’m grand!” He called, still being halfway down the corridor from where she was.
Everytime Sera had gone to the entertainment company, Henry would’ve always greeted her at some point or another, whether it be in the lobby or on the way to the practice room like that day, it would always happen. Henry was nice and a good, cheerful person, and he was the type of person on days like that one to cheer you up when all she wanted to do was shout about the unfairness of her situation.
“Are you okay?” He asked once seeing her expression when he caught up to her, being the second person that day to see her moping face.
“I’m fine,” she answered. “My brother’s giving me a lift again. I was just heading to his practice room.”
“Exo's is near Super Junior's! I was just walking back there. Do you want to walk with me?”
“Sure,” she answered, the smile returning to her face. She had to admit that Henry was by far one of the nicest people she’d ever met, and he spoke English like she did, though he was native, and she’d only learnt it from lessons.
Talking as they walked, Henry told her about his newest come back song, and Sera talked about her day at school, though there really wasn’t much to say.
Time passed quickly and it eventually came to going their separate ways, with Sera stopping outside her brothers practice room while Henry continued onto his own. Upon opening the door, he waved a quick goodbye to the girl, before entering the room and shutting the door behind him.
Taking a deep breath, Sera prayed that Sehun wasn’t in there yet, and opened the door, letting herself in. The first few times, she had knocked before she entered, but she sometimes interrupted their practice when she did that, so these days she entered of her own accord.
Unfortunately, she immediately realised her prayers hadn’t been answered when her eyes found the devil boy sitting on the floor and laughing about something with Luhan. It was such a harmless thing, but seeing her worst enemy laughing was a screeching violin to her ears, the worst sound she could possibly imagine at that time. She glared at him for a few seconds, but after realising he was taking absolutely no notice, she began scanning the room for her brother, eventually finding him in the corner of the room sitting with Baekhyun. Thankfully he looked around the room just at that time, his eyes finding her and his hand waving her over to the two.
“Ja, Sera, did you see Kai on the way here?” He questioned, while Sera noticed Baekhyun holding his stomach.
“Yeah, he was going to get bubble tea, right?” Sera answered, lowering herself to the floor.
“Ah, I need bubble tea now!” Baekhyun groaned, as he dramatically lay on the floor, pretending to be in pain. His hands began grabbing onto her leg, as his usual withdrawal from his heaven drink kicked in.
“Ja, Byun Baekhyun stop that!” She squealed, though still laughing.
“Sera, if I marry you will you buy be lots and lots of bubble tea?” He asked cutely, looking up at her and widening his sparkly eyes.
“Bit uncalled for Baekhyun,” Chanyeol chuckled, but didn’t hesitate giving a slight glare to the older boy.
Baekhyun laughed as he turned to Chanyeol. “I’m joking. But will you buy be bubble tea anyway?” He turned back to Sera as he asked the question, sticking his bottom lip out into a pout as his eyes widened once again like a little puppy.
“I would… If I actually had any money,” she sighed.
“It’s your own fault, you shouldn’t buy so much Exo merchandise!” He exclaimed happily.
“Pfft, you wish. I get that for free,” she laughed.
“Then what do you spend it on then if not fabulous Baekhyun mugs?” Baekhyun asked as seriously as he could.
She shrugged. “BTS stuff-” she began until she saw Baekhyun expectedly glaring at her for her answer, which she promptly laughed at. “And makeup,” she added. “This face doesn’t come naturally you know,” she laughed, referring to her face in a cute aegyo motion with her hands. Strangely, for a second, she thought she caught Sehuns eyes on her, but she brushed it off, dismissing it once she looked again and saw him talking with Luhan. She was mostly silent after that, like the others waiting for Kai to come back.
~~
“About time, Jongin,” Baekhyun muttered, once Kai’s voice was finally heard walking into the practice room.
“Sorry, I got into a conversation with someone at the shop,” the dancer explained, as he passed Baekhyun his bubble tea and winked at Sera as he said it. She knew exactly who he’d gotten into a conversation with.
The girl watched as Kai handed each and every member a bubble tea, before taking the last one for himself, and everyone sip it slowly, a sigh escaping their lips, until they had to start their practicing again.
Starting off with 'History’, Sera found a small bit of space at the back of the practice room where she danced along to it, as it was her favourite song. Wolf and Mama soon followed afterwards, and most of the members collapsed from exhaustion after they’d finished, especially Kai, who had worked the hardest throughout.
After throwing almost a whole bottle of water on his flushed face, Chanyeol approached his sister, and explained that they had to talk to their manager for a little while, after which the siblings could go straight home. Sera nodded and stayed seated, the others members filing out of the room, as she pulled out her phone. She decided to call Hyomi, to see how her friend’s meeting with Kai went, given that she was obviously the one he went to meet. Unfortunately for her, however, she didn’t notice the remaining member who hadn’t left the room.
“Hey, how was it?” She greeted once Hyomi had picked up.
“It was great, sorry to the members that he took so long with the bubble tea though, we haven’t seen each other for a while and we lost track of time while talking I suppose,” Hyomi answered, giggling a little.
“I’m glad you’re happy with him. He came back really late though, so everyone was annoyed,” Sera laughed.
“I’ll try not to keep him for too long next time then. Anyway, how is it with the prick?”
“He hasn’t spoken to me, and they all just left to go see their manager about something.”
“Good. If he bothers you, tell me, okay?”
“Okay.”
After saying their goodbyes, Sera hung up and laid back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling in thought, for some reason concerning herself with the worry of why Sehun hadn’t bothered her that day. However, once a voice interrupted her thinking, she knew exactly why: he was waiting for this.
“Who was that, Sera-ah? Kai’s girlfriend?”
Pulling herself up almost immediately, she spun on her heel to greet the voice, a scowl crossing her features while a smirk crossed his.
“Don’t speak to me like that,” she snapped.
“You don’t have to speak to Oppa like that, do you?”
“In what world, are you ever my ‘Oppa’? You’re an , that’s all,” she answered, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.
“No need.” He glared at her intently, seeming to be searching for something he couldn’t see directly, and she suddenly felt rather intimidated by him. “Why do you even need to be here? I don’t get it? Can’t you walk?” He questioned, taking a step closer to her.
“It takes an hour to walk; I doubt you’d do that. And my brother offered to take me home, so I accepted, is that such a problem?”
“Oh come on, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not-”
He took another step forward, and another, his hands in the pockets of his jogging bottoms as he leaned in beside her ear. “I know he’s not your real brother, and I know you’re adopted Sera. I know… Everything.”
Comments