The radio interview had ended smoothly. Yura had noted that Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Junmyeon spoke most, whilst the other members sort of had to be coaxed into speaking. The management staff seemed to be a little agitated with the group; it showed more on their faces when the group had left the SBS building to go to the car park. Gathering in front of their three cars, the manager called them to attention.
"You need to remember to laugh at their jokes. If only a few if you remember to laugh and humour them and the rest of you are set like stone, netizens will start critisisng you. And you all need to try and speak up. Letting only a few members speak will give you all round critisism; you for not speaking and making them do all the talking, and them for not letting you speak." The young men were quiet as they took in the scolding, avoiding the management team's eyes. Junmyeon stepped forward and bowed to his waist.
"We apologise. We will work harder." He apologised. The members followed suit and bowed. There was a tense silence and Yura couldn't take it. Tapping the manager's shoulder, she cocked her head to the side. He followed her a little distance away from the main group.
"Yes, what is it?" The manager asked, seemingly impatient to get home.
"Would it be alright if I drove them all in one car? I don't think anyone wants to deal with an awkward atmosphere for twenty five minute journey. So if one car drives in front and the other behind, we can definitely make it back safely." The manager seemed hesitant.
"Can you drive a manual?"
"Completely, I can also steer boats." Yura confirmed, looking incredibly pleased with herself. Checking her drivers license over and not finding any fault, the manager couldn't argue with her.
"Fine. When you're ready, just give a thumbs up outside your window. I will be in the car following you to make sure that you are going the right way." Yura's eyes narrowed. You don't trust me. She felt irked by his brisk attitude but felt that it was more of a cover up. Gratefully accepting the keys to the luxury van, she turned to the group of young men who looked puzzled. Grinning, she opened the door and cocked her head.
"Everybody in."
"All of us?" Jongin asked, surprised. Yura nodded. Silently, Sehun, Chanyeol and Junmyeon took their stationary places in the back seats, with Baekhyun taking up the last of the four back seats. Minseok and Yixing sat on two of the three seats in front of them. Jongin and Kyungsoo sat on the two seats behind the driver's seat and Jongdae seated himself in the passenger seat. Yura's head shot in his direction from her position in the driver's seat, a surprised smile on her lips.
"You want to keep me company?" Jongdae nodded but said nothing. Looking in the rearview mirrors, she could see that the other members were also looking a little droopy.
"Guys? Do you feel upset about something? Was it because you got scolded?" Yura raised her voice so that the whole car could hear. The vehicle was filled with objections.
"It's just that, we can do so much better, and we're always being told about this kind of thing. It's rather hard to adapt to the situation." Minseok stated.
"Well of course. How you behave during interviews shows part of your personality. If it isn't within your nature to jump up and answer questions and if it isn't in your nature to sit still when you have a good answer to a question, it will definitely be difficult to adapt, no matter how many times you're corrected." Yura stated, reaching into her bag when she saw Jongin's smile in the rearview mirror.
"Alright guys, since you guys aren't talking, I'll make noise. I wonder how many of the songs on this playlist you' know." Yura declared, unable to bear the unshifting silence. Using her phone cord, she connected her black iPod nano to the car's speaker system. Jongin and Kyungsoo shared a look. The vehicle was filled with chill R&B beats as Crush's 'OASIS' began to play. Noting that Yixing had started bobbing his head to the beat, Yura stuck her left hand out of the window and gave the other cars a thumbs up, starting the engine. As instructed, she waited until one of the cars had left, following behind it.
"Song-nim, it looks like you're good at driving?" Jongdae's statement seemed more question like as he observed the way she handled the wheel.
"Well, I've been driving for twelve years. I was taught by a good friend and I got better with practice." She used one hand to make a salute gesture, not once removing her eyes from the road and the car leading them. By the time the song reached the second chorus, the whole group was singing along. Yura giggled when they increased in volume at Zico's rap part, laughing out loud when they all tried to imitate his pitch changes, but overexaggerating them. After several songs, Yura could feel that the atmosphere had lightened greatly in comparison to when they'd started the journey. SHINee's 'Everybody' came on. It seemed to be a group favourite because the members each sang a different part, Sehun joining in with Jongin on Minho's parts. Yura decided to join in with Minseok on Key's part, jigging her head from side to side, much to Jongdae's amusement. When she caught him staring as she stopped at a traffic light, she pursed her lips together and shook her head in a wriggly pattern, causing him to burst out laughing, as well the the members sitting behind them, Kyungsoo smiling instead of laughing.
Continuing on, Yura nodded, satisfied.
"Much better." She said to herself in English. Turning down the volume so that Jonghyun's 'Déjà-Boo' played low in the background, she spoke up,
"Right, I fully plan on getting to know you. Since you want me to talk about myself when we get you home, I will take this chance to find out the minimum about you. Everyone must answer me. We will go in a winding form: firstly Jongdae, then Kyungsoo, then Jongin, then Minseok and Lay, then Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Sehun. Cool? Cool." The members looked like a split between surprised and confused, but Yura continued.
"Firstly, what type of sweet, snack or dessert do you like? Jongdae." She prompted.
"I like sweet honey sponge cake."
"Sweet. Kyungsoo?"
"I like Korean fish cakes."
"So, not fish cakes from other countries?" Yura joked. Kyungsoo smiled at her humour.
"Jongin?"
"Me? I like eating dumpling skin churros."
"That sounds really light. Do you eat it often?"
"No, because I really love them so I eat them in excess when I get the chance, so I can't have them too often otherwise I'll be lagged with oil." Jongin admitted.
"Aw. Minseok?"
"I love mocha bread."
"You have flavoured bread over here?" The group nodded. Yura exhaled, impressed.
"Lay?"
"I like sweet pancakes. They taste really good." Yixing answered firmly, as though to dispell any doubts Yura may have had about the aforementioned pancakes. She nodded, interested.
"What about you Suho?"
"For me, mandupi pizza's really good. It's small, so it packs the right amount of nutrition."
"I might try that." Yura murmured, following the leading car around a roundabout.
"Baekhyun?"
"Chapssal donoughts." He answered straight away.
"Chanyeol?"
"Ddeokbokki, ddeokbokki!" Yura laughed at the adoration for the food in has tone.
"Sehun?"
"Gyeran bbang. I like it a lot." The maknae answered coolly. As they waited for the car in front of them to enter the gates, Yura's phone began to ring at the same time she noticed the horde of girls standing at the entrance to the SM building. Sending Jongdae a grateful smile when he handed it to her, she put the phone on speaker.
"Hello?"
"Drive slowly so that you don't hit anyone. At times, the fans will bang on the car- don't be phased by it, just drive as close to the front door as you can, but don't let any of the members out until the staff have managed to clear a path for them." The manager barked down the line before hanging up. Yura didn't look up but she felt Jongdae wince back from the device as she eased the SUV into the open driveway of the company building. She felt herself tense when the horde descended upon their vehicle, grateful for the totally tinted windows and windsheild. Out of the side rearview mirror she could see a group of males from the management team making their way to the car, most of the females having gone to stand by the entrance. They'd probably get jumped if they were to make contact with the members. Yura thought, jumping when someone knocked on her window. The manager leaned on the frame to block all view of the inside.
"Get ready to get out. Yura, you need to get out quickly as well. If they see you come out after them, they might..." Yura nodded in understanding, quickly unplugging her iPod and putting it together with her phone and its cord back into her satchel, slinging it over her shoulder. Glancing back, she checked,
"Everyone got their stuff? Make sure nothing's loose. This crowd looks rowdy." The young men nodded, Kyungsoo holding the door handle, waiting. Yura looked over at Jongdae, who was watching her. She nodded at him.
"OK guys, on three. One. Two. Three!" She, Kyungsoo and Jongdae pulled their doors open simultaneously. Yura rushed around to Jongdae's side, where he was being escorted by one of the male management staff members. Kyungsoo and Jongin exited the car and the fans started shrieking and pushing forward. They quickly followed their into the building, ignoring the fans that shouted their names. Minseok and Yixing left in a similar fashion. As Chanyeol made his way forward, Yura told him to wait and let the others be ready.
"We'll go in a group so that you've got more of a shield. They're getting pushy." She explained. The moment they were ready, she ushered them into the cocoon of management staff, locked the car and followed closely behind the group. She could hear some fans questioning who she was, but she decided not to tickle the flame yet and dashed in after them.

*0*0*0*0*

It was just past five thirty when the group managed to slump down in the company cafeteria. Yura, who'd had to give the keys to the vehicle to someone so that it could be placed in the company car park, walked in to see the EXO members either sitting with their heads on the table or debating whether or not they should get something to eat.
"But we can't order takeout. They put a lot of salt in their foods." Junmyeon said.
"Yeah, but we can't get street food either, we won't be full enough." Chanyeol argued. Yura watched them, thinking. The manager walked into the refectory, silencing the group as they sat at attention. He held the bag that the management unnie had used to collect the groups' phones.
"Song-ssi, set these out on this table for me." He commanded. Yura took the bag from his hand and started to lay the phones on the table behind the manager, putting them face down as she noticed they pretty much all had different phones and phonecases, arranging them in colour likeness so that the hotter coloured four were above the more cool coloured five.
"When you take back your phone, go and wait by the entrance. We've called taxis to take you back to your dorm. Chanyeol-ssi."
"Yes." The tall rapper stood up immediately. The manager indicated the table with his head. Chanyeol collected his backpack and his phone, walking out of the cafeteria. The manager continued. Baekhyun, Junmyeon, Jongdae, Sehun, Kyungsoo, Lay, Jongin, Minseok. Yura followed Sehun to wait for the other members at the entrance and watched. He's letting the members leave in the order of how much they spoke during the interview. Yura thought, baffled. He's not letting them forget about what happened. The thought made her feel incredibly frustrated. Weren't they tired enough already? Couldn't they get a break? There were two cabs, so she sat in one while the manager sat in the other. This time, Baekhyun, Sehun, Chanyeol and Jongdae sat in with her, but unlike what she had thought they would be like, they were silent once again.
"You guys must be really tired, huh?" She asked. They nodded slowly, as though the movement required a maximum amount of effort. Fortunately, they reached the dorm quicker than she expected. As the manager got to paying the drivers, she quickly entered the building with the group, shocked to see that there was a fair sized group of fans standing in front of  the apartment block, screaming when the members waved at them. After the door was opened by building security, they entered the elevator and waited for their floor to come up, sighing when the doors closed and the fans could no longer see them. Yura clapped her hands together, drawing the member's attention.
"I know! Shall I make you something to eat before I begin my in depth intro? At this hour, I can make rice omelets, if you like? They only take a minute." The members stood straighter in surprise, sharing looks and nodding eagerly. Reaching the door, they met a man standing in front of it. After scanning her thumb and index finger, they tested if they worked, which they did on the thumb lock, which happened to be in place of a keyhole. Walking in, Yura gaped. Forget dorm, these guys were living in a pretty awesome apartment. Through a door on the right, she could see that the living space had large puffy dark brown sofas following a rustic red theme and a large television leaning on the wall. One closed door indicated a downstairs toilet. The kitchen was viewable as soon as one entered the dorm, walking down the corridor. It was very modern with a black worktop and large cream tiles that had smaller grey tiles creating a horizontal line to split the upper and lower halves of the area. The fridge was gigantic and it had several post-it notes stuck onto its black surface. Yura felt her jaw drop when she took in the kitchen island. It had an electric hob and oven on one side, whilst the other three had been shaped to form a natural dining bar with three luxury stools per side, two red sides with red stools and one side with three orange stools.
"Your place is styling and profiling." She said to no one in particular, taking in the area with an impressed eye. Their place was almost as awesome as Johnny's. Kyungsoo and Junmyeon gave her a quick tour of the cabinets, showing her where the pots, plates, cutlery and ingrediants were before offering assistance. Yura turned them down and told them to go and put their stuff away as she washed her hands. The other members hopped off the wide spiralling stairs that were at the very back of the ground floor, hidden by the entrance corridor, and claimed a stool each, watching as she started making their food.
"So, Yura-nim." Baekhyun started. Yura glanced up at him as she began cracking eggs.
"I think now's a good time to start talking."