It was true. Chanyeol was not her real biological brother, but, even though he knew, he still treated Sera the same, as if they were bonded by blood, and refused to hear anything different.  None of his brotherly affections had changed when their parents finally decided to tell him, if anything, he’d become more protective of her when he knew, which was a little time before she did. It had been his idea to tell her, thinking she deserved to know. But the question now was, how did Sehun know?

Her eyes stung a little from the tears welling up as she stuttered a reply. “How did you-?”

“He told me when you first started coming here,” Sehun interrupted, looking bored at her sadness. “So, I think it’d be best if you weren’t sorry horrible to oppa, don’t you?” He smiled a sickeningly sweet smile at her, and Sera finally let a single tear drop down her cheek. It made no sense, why would Chanyeol tell him? Why would Chanyeol tell anybody except for Baekhyun, whom she was closest to in Exo?

“Why? Why do you always do this? Hurt me, taunt me? It makes no sense. Fine, I do it to you too, but you take it too far. You always take it too far,” her voice got quieter and quieter as tears spilled out of her eyes, and before she knew it, she’d run out into the corridor, collapsed against the wall in a state of tears. Sehun simply walked out seconds later, slowly beginning to go down the corridor that the members had walked down just five minutes before. She watched him go, and let her face fall into her hands as he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Her tears had since stopped, and she continued to stay in her position until she heard voice calling.

“Sehun? Sehun! Where are you? You stupid Maknae?!”

Her ears recognised the familiar voice almost immediately, and she quickly ran her fingers under her eyes, trying to be okay while the voice got closer and closer.

“Sera?”

“Hey,” she answered weakly.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She felt Baekhyun slide down the wall to sit beside her, his eyes watching her, waiting for an answer. When no reply came on her part, he reached his arm around her, squeezing her lightly and comfortingly. “Sera, it’s me. You can tell me anything, remember? I don’t like seeing you upset.” Her eyes found his, and he instantly knew what was wrong.

“Ah that bastard!” He exclaimed. “What the did he do?”

“H-He said that Chanyeol told him about me. Why would he do that?”

“Tell him wh- oh,” Baekhyun realised. “Chanyeol didn’t tell him. He overheard our conversation in our dorm when Chanyeol was telling me. When we caught him, we dragged him inside and made him swear not to say anything.”

“Well, he said something,” she said miserably. Lifting his hand, Baekhyun slightly pulled her head to rest on his shoulder, him lightly her head soothingly.

“I’m so sorry, Sera,” Baekhyun said softly.

“Don’t apologise! It’s not your fault!” She insisted.

“Should I talk to him?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine,” she answered quickly, not wanting Sehun to take Baekhyun talking to him as bait to taunt her some more.

“Well, I’m going to anyway,” he stated, gently lifting her head off of his shoulder and standing up, brushing down his black skinny jeans. “Now, where is that Maknae?” He asked half to himself and half to the girl, until asking her directly. “Tell me.”

“I don’t know,” she answered bluntly. He raised an eyebrow at her, ready to question her answer when an imaginary light bulb clicked on in his brain.

“I bet he went to the manager's office to make me look stupid,” he stated, as he took off down the corridor, Sera running after him and shouting for him to stop as best she could.

Once they’d both arrived outside the office (with Sera arriving a considerable amount of time after Baekhyun), he told her to wait outside quietly while he slipped inside, unseen, and Sera watched through the little window as he stood behind the other members, pretending as if he’d never left. Seeing nothing happen, she turned away from the window and sat down against the wall, waiting for them to come out.

When that time came, over ten minutes later, she stood up almost immediately, and waited for the other members to pass before confronting Baekhyun, who gave her a quick wink and reassuring smile as he passed her, to which she answer with a raised eyebrow. What is he doing? she wondered, as she jogged to catch up with him.

“Did you talk to him?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“No,” Baekhyun answered. “I’m going to talk to him in the practice room when we’re alone. So, go home with Chanyeol, and I’ll speak to you later, okay?”

She nodded, but, being herself, obviously wasn’t going to obey Baekhyun’s request.

Half the members were already leaving when they arrived back, Sehun included until Baekhyun stepped in.

“Dude, can I talk to you?” He asked the younger boy, stepping in front of him. Sehun eyed him suspiciously, but nodded slowly as he stepped back into the practice room, now empty, with Baekhyun following him. After telling her brother she’d left something in the room, and that she’d be five minutes, she quickly settled herself outside the door, a little ajar so she could listen in to the conversation that had already begun.

“It was only a joke! I wasn’t going to tell!” Sehun’s voice protested from inside the room.

“Joke, my ,” Sera mumbled to her herself, continuing to listen after her statement.

“Seriously? You tried to joke about that? We told you not to tell anyone, especially her! It could ruin her if it gets out,” Baekhyun was seemingly being calm about the entire thing, but Sera could easily recognise the annoyance beginning to rise as he continued on. “You know you made her cry, right? She’s never cried before today, Sehun. God, why do you have to be like that to her?!”

“I-I knew she cried, but honestly-” Sehun stopped, for a second, he thought his eyes caught a flash of long brown hair the the crack of the door, and when he looked again, he realised. It was her. And he quickly gestured to Baekhyun so he could see her too. “I won’t say it again, happy?!” Sehun exclaimed, still carefully watching the door.

Sera heard Baekhyun sigh purposely, which she didn’t know, but it made her leave nonetheless, feeling as if the outcome of the conversation was already decided.

“Okay she’s gone, carry on what were you saying,” Baekhyun instructed.

“I know she cried, but honestly, I can’t even describe how bad I felt, I just didn’t know what to do, so I left.”

“Why did you say that in the first place?”

“B-Because...”

“Sehun, that’s not an answer.”

“It’s because I don’t know how to act around her, okay?” He blurted out. “I’ve been here since I was twelve, I don’t know how to act around pretty girls. I’m a stupid typical boy, okay? And I don’t exactly know what to do about it.”

“That’s the reason?”

“Yes.”

“So you like her?”

“No!”

“Tsk, whatever,” Baekhyun shrugged. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. I know I’ve been a complete to her, I’ve always known it, I just hated ruining my pride, so I never did anything. I didn’t know what to do, and I’m really sorry,” he apologised, to Baekhyun’s relief and surprise.

“Just talk to her. She’d easy to talk to once you get to know her, she’s just like any of us,” Baekhyun explained. “Just be careful though, she’d probably still upset and mad, and I know from experience that she can easily sprain your arm just by punching it once. She’s probably coming again tomorrow, I’d try and talk to her then,” he finished, picking up his bag and leaving the room, saying a quick goodbye to youngest member before the door closed behind him.

Sehun dropped to the floor, hugging his knees.

“,” he muttered.

~~

“What did Baekhyun have to talk to Sehun about?” Chanyeol asked, once Sera had climbed into the passenger seat of her brother’s car, shutting the door behind her.

Her shoulders shrugged, not wanting to imply she knew anything as it would result in her having to tell Chanyeol her encounter with Sehun earlier, and Baekhyun, for that matter.

“It’s fine, I’ll just ask Baek tomorrow,” Chanyeol answered his silent sister, switching the engine on and beginning to pull out of his parking space. In the side view mirror, Sera made out Baekhyun walking out of the building now behind them, on his way to his car. She suddenly wondered what they’d talked about after she left, given he’d come out almost ten minutes after her.

When the Park siblings were around half way home, Chanyeol had yet another question for the girl.

“Why were you outside our manager’s office?”

Sera froze. She never thought of making an excuse for that, and she couldn’t exactly say that she didn’t know. In the end, she decided to just play it off with some aegyo and sibling love.

“Because I just missed you so much, Oppa! And I got really scared in the practice room by myself!” She cried, grasping onto her brother’s arm not too tightly to ensure he didn’t crash. Chanyeol laughed at her little roleplay, but only for a second before he became serious again.

“Seriously. Why?”

“I just told you why,” she answered with as much honesty in her voice as possible.

“No, the real reason why. You wouldn’t come to the office just because you missed me.”

She turned her head to the side. “How do you know?”

“Aish. Park Sera we live in the same house, I will get it out of you-!”

“I just came with Baekhyun, okay?” She interrupted.

“Why was he with you in the first place?”

“He-He came looking for Sehun, and I just came back with him.”

“Where was Sehun? Why was Baekhyun looking for him?” She shrugged again. “You do know! You can’t lie to me.”

She had no choice, Chanyeol would be suspicious all night until she told him. She’d just have to tell the truth.

“Sehun was in the practice room when you all left. And we argued a little bit, before he said he knew about the adoption,” she confessed.

“The ad-, I told him not to say anything about that! I told him to keep his mouth shut. I’m going to break his stupid perfect face.”

“I-It doesn’t matter, honestly. Baekhyun’s already talked to him.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“You really don’t need to. I’m fine. And he said he wouldn’t say anything again anyway.”

“I do need to say something. How dare he say that. I know he’s done some things to you, but this takes it way too far.”

“Which is why Baekhyun spoke to him.”

“I’m still saying something.”

“Fine, just don’t tell him to apologise or anything, it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Deal,” he agreed.

The two didn’t speak again the rest of the way home.

~~

“So, how were both your days?” Their mother asked, once they’d sat down for dinner, though she didn’t really sound particularly bothered.

Sera looked to her brother, slightly shaking her head to warn him not to say anything.

“It was fine,” she answered for the both of them, Chanyeol nodding in agreement. The family meals were always the same, their mother typically and unenthusiastically asked how their day went, and the siblings both replied with the same boring answer, whether it was a lie or not. No stories, no experiences to share.

It was torture.

Once being excused from the table, Sera ran up to her room as fast as she could, falling flat faced onto her bed. Everything came back to her while she lay there, in a tsunami of thoughts. Tears ended up staining her pillow with makeup as she thought of all the things Sehun had said and done to her over the past six months, and how today topped all of that off. As much as she disliked the idea, she would have to face him sooner or later. Baekhyun had already talked to him about it, so it may not be as bad as she thought, but the thought of her brother talking with him too made her worry about the extreme awkwardness of her future trips to SM if he did.

“If you’re crying over Sehun, don’t. He’s not worth it,” someone said from the doorway.

“I’m not crying over Sehun, I’m frigging crying over what he said,” she muttered, not even bothering to face her brother. “Now what do you want?” She questioned, a little too harshly for her brother to answer straight away.

“I can hear you through the wall, Sera.” He sighed. “It’s not going to get out, he won’t say anything to anyone else, he only told you he knew to tease you.”

“Well, he’s not very good at teasing is he,” she mumbled.

“I know, I know. But he’s young, I don’t think he grasped at the concept of being logical yet. Even around girl groups he’s either shy or stupid.”

“I suppose,” she answered, agreeing with her brother only so he would leave.

The sound of her closing door and the creak of the corridor signified Chanyeol’s departure, and she let out a huge sigh as her head hit the pillow again. Catching the time with her eyes, she realised she been lying there for hours; it was already ten thirty. Deciding to get some sleep, she snuggled herself under the covers and buried her head into the pillow, hoping it would let her thoughts rest for a while.

~~

School the next day was just six hours of worrying. She couldn’t concentrate properly, which resulted mostly in her getting in trouble in most lessons, still worrying about after school.

She hated when she got like that, always worrying for something that most probably at the end wasn’t worth the stress.

“Are you meeting, uh, K-A-I?” Sera mouthed the letters to Hyomi, stood in the hallway near the lockers as the time came around to the end of the day. The other girl nodded in reply, looking around to make sure no one had noticed what Sera had said. “Well, don’t let him be late with the bubble tea this time, I need one,” Sera continued.

“Okay, uh, why?”

“Baekhyun talked to Sehun yesterday because of something he said, and I don’t know if he’s asked him to apologise to me or talk to me or something. Because I really don’t want him to.”

“You’ll be fine, okay? I promise,” Hyomi reassured as she hugged her best friend.

“I hope you’re right,” Sera sighed.

Saying goodbye to her friends at the end of the day, and after being given a reassuring hug from Hyomi, Sera headed off in the direction of SM yet again, worrying enveloping her body as she got closer.

Realising that after the first five minutes, walking as slow as possible was only raising her worry level, she began walking at a normal pace, still stopping every five minutes to calm her nerves.

The closer and closer she got to the building, the more she wished he wouldn’t be there for some reason; that he was ill and had to take the day off, or that he simply couldn’t face her. Any of those situations would’ve made it a little better.

She took a deep breath as she entered, giving the usual security guard a weak smile as she passed him.

Her face fell in dismay as she reached the lobby. She knew her wishes wouldn’t have come true, she just thought she’d have a bit of time to prepare, not realising she’d see him so soon.