Sehun’s POV

At that moment, the once deadly silent room came to life with reporters shouting, photographers snapping 100s of photos and general commotion amongst the SM staff. No one knew what to do. No one could possibly see this eventuality coming. Not even I knew what my response would be until about 5 minutes ago.

“Well I’m afraid I have to bring this press conference to a close but if you could all remain in this room I will be with you shortly,” the manager shouted, trying to be heard amongst the sea of noise below. I doubt any of them heard him but nevertheless we were ushered off the stage from the back exit so that no reporters could ask us any questions. One look at my manager’s face when he practically shoved me out the door told me that I was for it.

We had only just arrived in the dorm when my manager started to have a go at me in front of the rest of my members as well as the other assistants.

“What the are you trying to do here, Oh Sehun? Are you trying to sabotage this company? EXO? Your position as an international idol? You had one ing job, you good for nothing prick. To say everything that we had prepared you for, and not say anything stupid. Min did that job perfectly and she’s only been in this industry for a month or two. Why the hell did you find the need to it up and cause a scene? You’re just one cog in a giant wheel. You’re not a proper rapper like Chanyeol, or a dancer like Jongin. We don’t even have to ing replace you. We didn’t replace the other two and they at least brought something to this group. You don’t. So don’t think for one ing second that you can be someone special and change the face of this industry. You’re not a pioneer. You’re a follower.” We were all stunned into silence at that moment. Us EXO members are used to being shouted at, on a daily basis almost, but never ever like this. I should be feeling hurt right now, or angry, or something. Yet I didn’t. I was completely void of all emotions and my manager’s words just didn’t touch me at all. Instead they just went right over my head as I opened my lips to respond.

“Well if you’d please excuse me, this follower would like to sit in his room and stare at the four walls.” I took advantage of the shock on everyone’s faces to make my quick escape before they could do anything to stop me. It was only after I locked the door to my room that I could hear the sounds of retaliation. But I didn’t care. It’s about time that I got my priorities straight. Because of my career as a pop idol I put my work over my love life, using women as tools to get rid of my s and frustrations. But that’s no way to live. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I got kicked out of EXO. At least then I’d have no reason not to pursue love. Min has my heart now, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. She said she didn’t have feelings for me at the press conference, but like manager hyung said she was doing what she was told to do. She’s already being manipulated by the system, I can tell. The Min I once I knew who didn’t give my playboy charms the time of day was fading away. I couldn’t let that happen.

I have a new goal now. Making Min mine. the rules, that damn Kim Jongdae who thinks he can have her, everything else. What does all that matter when you can achieve a great love to last the ages?

Min’s POV

My mind was a whole mess of emotions and it was all getting too much. But the biggest feeling was surprise. I was absolutely shocked at everything Sehun had said and done, His personality had done a complete U-turn and now he was a completely different man to who he was when I first met him. Or maybe this is who he had always been, but it took until now for him to take off that damn playboy mask.

As happy as I was about Sehun’s new personality, it made things even more complicated. I thought that if he just kept being a -crazed then it would be easy to fall out of love with him and carry on with my job. But now, I love him more than ever. But you can’t. It won’t do you any good.

When the manager was still busy shouting at his lackies, I made my exit and quietly slipped away into the first empty room I could find. None of the EXO members would mind, I’m sure. I just needed some time alone with my thoughts and no one would notice I wasn’t there anyway.

Or so I thought. I’d barely sat down on the chair in the room when Nari walked in. She was still her happy, bubbly self but you could see the concern in her eyes. I gave her a small smile as she sat next to me. Even though I didn’t really want to be disturbed, it was touching to know that she noticed pretty much immediately that I had walked off somewhere.

“Hey Min how are you holding up? It’s still pretty intense back there.” I wish I knew how to answer that. I didn’t know how to feel. How should I feel?

“Honestly I don’t know,” I admitted which caused Nari to engulf me in a big hug.

“I had no idea that Sehun was like that at all! I didn’t think that he had a nice bone in his body and look what he did for you. I think it’s so romantic.” I could practically see the fangirl hearts in her eyes but it wasn’t all that simple. She still doesn’t know the whole story.

“Yeah it’s nice,” I replied and from that Nari narrowed her eyes at me. She knew something was up. Damn I wish I was better at acting.

“What, you don’t like him? I thought you did. I mean I know that we dolled you up for the one on one time with our members to ‘teach him a lesson’ but I knew that you cared for him more than you let on.” I was shocked at what Nari had said? Did I really show feelings for him then as well? Perhaps I loved him all this time,since when I fell into the meeting room, but I didn’t know it. Or rather you knew it but you were in denial.

“Hey how do you anything about that? I don’t even know my feelings about him. Or anyone else for that matter.”

“Anyone else you say?” she asked, cocking one eyebrow. How do I always fall into traps with my choice of words? Because deep down you want to tell the truth.

“Nothing forget what I said I don’t like anyone else. I don’t even think I like Sehun.” She rolled her eyes and I knew my feeble attempt to dig myself out of the hole I was in was in vain.

“So in other words you do like someone else and you definitely like Sehun. Spill it, Choi Min. Now.” She was a much better observer than I thought she was.

“Me and Chen… kissed.” It felt weird saying that out loud, but it also made it much more real. It wasn’t just a schoolgirl fantasy. It actually happened. And that’s when I realised: I’ve never kissed Sehun. And it’s not like I didn’t have the opportunity to kiss him. He’s tried and I’ve always tried to escape. Yet Chen made a move on me once and all I could think was how much I wanted to kiss him. Maybe that’s a sign.

“You what?!?! When?! How did I miss this ?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner!!!”

“Before the press conference…” It really did sound quite bad when I said it like that. I kissed an idol before attending a huge event all about how I was allegedly in a relationship with another idol. What was I thinking? You weren’t thinking you just wanted to kiss Chen’s face off.

“I knew it! I just knew it! I’d seen the way he cared for you and how happy you are around him.” How she sees all this stuff is beyond me but right now that wasn’t important. From the beginning of the press conference until now I hadn’t really given Chen and what happened much thought. But now he’s the only thing I could think about.

“But what’s the point? They’re international superstars, I’m a girl from Nowheresville, South Korea.”

“Maybe, but they are both in love with you all the same.” Just as Nari said this, Chen strolled in with a shocked look on his face when he saw the two of us.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting you guys in here!” He seemed enthusiastic, not annoyed and I felt my heart melt when he smiled brightly at us, as if there was nothing wrong at all which was far from the truth.

“Is this your room? I’m so sorry I just needed to get away from it all for a bit I’ll leave you alone.”I stood up to go but Chen shook his head, still smiling angelically.

“No don’t worry, please stay. Seeing you in here was a nice surprise.” There was a moment of comfortable silence in the room, which Nari broke quite quickly.

“Well I’ll get going. If you’re done with the little chat with your manager, then it means Tao will be too and he’s probably going to want to go out for bubble tea. Min would you like some?”

“Err mango & passionfruit would be nice. Thanks Nari.”

“No problem. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.” I could tell from the devilish glint in her eye that her leaving had nothing to do with bubble tea. I sighed at her dirty mind but I appreciated what she did nonetheless. Chen and I really needed to talk.

“Lovebirds? What’s that all about?” I blushed because I hoped that he hadn’t heard that part. He flopped down on his bed and then patted the space next to him and I came over to lie down next to him, albeit reluctantly. Not because I didn’t want to be close to him, I did, but I didn’t want someone to walk again and then I’ll have even more drama on my hands.

“Oh nothing I just told Nari about our kiss that’s all.” My voice was trailing off towards the end and I could see Chen chuckle at my embarrassment.

“I’m that good of a kisser eh?” He winked and even though I could tell that he was just joking, I was about to nod profusely and say yes. “I can tell something is on your mind.” I sighed in defeat.

“First Nari, now you. Am I really that transparent that everyone can read me like an open book?” He shook his head and lowered his voice while looking directly at me.

“Not at all. Only those of us who really, truly care for you can see what you’re thinking and feeling.” We just kept on looking at each other for a moment, neither of us realising that we weren’t saying a word. But that’s how deep our connection ran. Just being alone together was enough for us to be content. “You’re thinking about Sehun, aren’t you.”

“Not right now, no.”

“But earlier? Isn’t that why you walked off on your own? So that you could figured things out?”

“That’s not the only reason. I wasn’t just thinking about him. I was thinking about you too.” He looked at me, full of confession, and grabbed my hand.

“I won’t make you decide, Min. I don’t want you to get stressed and have trouble sleeping because of me. If you choose Sehun in the end, for whatever reason, that’s okay. But my heart won’t stop beating for you. I’ll still give you the world, whether you’re my friend or simply mine.” My heart was pounding in my chest. What girl doesn’t want to have a guy tell them that? Things with Chen would be so simple. Even though he’s an idol, that would only be a small bump in the road. My mother back home would always tell me to pick a good boy from the village, as he will grow into a good man and father. She never approved of the troublemakers who would go and wreak havoc. Sure, Sehun’s behaviour has changed, but will it last?

I had so many questions in my head and Chen could see my distress. He gave me a chaste kiss on my forehead and all of a sudden I felt at ease. Everything I was experiencing was new and scary, but he made it easy. “Try and hush your thoughts. It won’t do you any good to think about such difficult questions over and over. If you put your faith in me, I’ll guide you through this thick cloud of darkness into the light. All you have to do is say yes.” He was tracing patterns in the palm of my hand as he spoke. And that’s when I decided I wasn’t going to think about whether I’d rather be with Sehun, or with Chen. I’ll just try and live every day like this whole misunderstanding never happened. I’ll be happy, be myself, and laugh like there’s no reason to feel sad. If I end up with one of them in the end, then I do. But constantly debating who I have stronger feelings for is just getting too much for me to handle.

“Okay. Yes. I trust you.” We smiled at each other but it wasn’t enough. This time I initiated the kiss. I wanted it. Needed it. And this time it wasn’t as innocent as the first. There was more intimacy, more passion, but he was still tender and loving with the way he touched me and held me. Neither of us had the intention to go further than kissing. Neither of us wanted to. Being able to kiss each other like this was more than enough.

Sehun’s POV

“There must be something I can get you,” Tao asked for like the 6th time. He was at the foot of my bed, looking as cute as ever but I still couldn’t even bring myself to smile. I wanted to tell him to bring Min but I knew he couldn’t do that. I hated being apart from her. It was like there was hole in my heart only she could fill. But for now bubble tea had to do. If only to stop my best friend from worrying so much and to get myself some much needed silence.

“Bubble tea is good I suppose. You know, the one I usually get.” Tao did a happy dance and he just looked so bright and carefree as he did so. If only I was like him.

“Great I’ll have them put in extra tapioca pearls and draw smiley faces on your cup and everything! I’ll be back before you know it!” And before I could say anything, he was skipping out the door whistling a tune to a song we wrote together.

I sighed when the door closed behind him. Although I was the one who asked him to go, the room felt so empty without him there. If I do get kicked out of EXO, one of the things I’ll miss most is Tao. Now that he was gone, there was nothing for me to do here. My phone was still with my manager, as it was standard practice for us to hand in our phones for press conferences and I really wasn’t interested in getting it back. My laptop was in the living room somewhere and I couldn’t be bothered to get it because I didn’t want to see my member’s faces. Not right now. The only person I wanted to be with was the only person I wasn’t even allowed to see.

Knocking on the door was what interrupted the nap I had decided to take. I assumed it was Tao but when the door opened, it was actually my manager. I was expecting him to shout at me, or be angry, or something. But instead he was neutral which was surprising.

“Follow me to the situation room. There’s something I think you’ll be interested to see.” I did as I was told and instead of asking questions I decided to keep my mouth shut. My brain was too tired to try and decrypt his words.

All the usual people were in the room - all the members and managers - but there were also two others. Nari, who was smiling brighter than the sun for god knows what reason, and Min. My beautiful Min. I wanted to run up to her and hug her and twirl her around the room. But for now I just stuck to smiling at her softly. “For once, your actions weren’t actually that stupid after all,” my manager began, gesturing to the screen in the room which showed an article on Naver.

BREAKING NEWS: EXO’S SEHUN in love with assistant Choi Min! Read the confession here!

I looked over at the other screen where comments from that article were being displayed. I was expecting them to be hateful and mean but most of them weren’t. The comments with the most upvotes were saying things like ‘Omo this is like a Kdrama!’ ‘She’s so lucky I want to date Sehun!’ and ‘MinHun forever!’ I couldn’t believe it. After everything that happened with Baekhyun and Taeyeon I was sure that fans would never want any of us to ever be in a relationship.

“Apparently Min herself has become a role model for all the fans across all fandoms, not just those who love EXO. She makes their fantasies of being together with their favourite idol seem more real,” one of the members of senior management explained. This all sounded good to me, but I knew better than to believe it straight away. There must be a catch. There always was.

“So what does this mean?” I asked, choosing my words carefully. My manager started smiling and it was really unsettling.

“You’ll be happy to hear that from now on you and Min will be a couple. We will add public appearances together to your schedule and with any luck it’ll cause EXO’s ratings to skyrocket and for the new albums to be flying off the shelves.” I wanted to jump the joy. To hug and kiss Min so hard that she would feel glad to be a woman. But when I looked at her face, I didn’t see euphoria. I saw a tired girl who was being forced into something she didn’t want to do.

She was telling the truth about not loving me. And because I blurted out my feelings in front of every newspaper representative in the whole of South Korea, we’re a couple until stated otherwise. What have you done.

Hey guys! So what did you think of this chapter? Are you team MinHun or team MinDae? Let me know in the comments below!