“Sehun-ah, where are you?” Suho’s soft voice could be heard over the phone.

“I’m still at the company. Is your schedule over yet?”

“Mm, it went well. Are you okay? Chanyeol told me what happened…” he seemed almost apologetic, as if he was the one at fault.

“I… I’ll be fine, Hyung. Don’t worry about me,” Sehun said, knowing the leader would worry regardless, but trying to convince him anyway. It was a blatant lie that he was fine, of course. He dared anyone else to be fine after being surrounded by a bunch of screaming fans on all sides, pressing in on him, to the point where it felt like he was literally drowning in people, hands trying to grab him from every which way. Some of these hands had landed on very uncomfortable places, even as the Manager struggled to make his way through to him. Luckily, it had only been a minute or two before reinforcements arrived and they'd been able to leave quickly. He'd shuddered in the van, trying to push away the feeling of all the people around him.

“I’m so sorry, Sehun. If only I was there I could have-”

“Could’ve what? There’s not much you could have done, Hyung, and we both know it. If you were there, you would’ve needlessly gotten caught up in it too.”

“But still…”

“No! Look, Suho-hyung, it’s not your fault that those fangirls decided it was perfectly acceptable to… to do that, and I’m frustrated enough as it is without having you blame yourself as well! Manager-hyung was right there and he got to me out of the mob quickly enough that nothing happened. Much. I’m just a bit shaken up and I’ll be fine soon enough. Okay?” Sehun said sharply. He was beyond sick and tired of how the leader always seemed to take the blame for everything onto himself, even things he had absolutely no control over. He was going to worry himself sick one of these days.

Suho just sighed and wondered how they’d come to this point. He knew everyone had worked hard to get where they were, some for longer than others, but he was already beginning to see that it was a lot different than what it was cracked up to be. Sure, they had seen glimpses of the uglier side of fame, with the fans’ disturbing sense of ownership over the stars, especially once Exo had started preparing for debut and had gotten to shadow a few of the other groups on their schedules here and there. But they’d never had to experience it firsthand before their debut and they had fast learned that it was a whole new ball-game when all that fanaticism and single-minded interest was focused on them. That was still manageable, but what hit them especially hard was when some fans -if they even deserved to be called that- crossed boundaries that should never be crossed and took liberties just because they were “supporting” their idols so sincerely.

“You there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I’ll be here if you need to talk about it later, okay? I’m just heading to the dorms now. Are you coming home soon?”

“I know. I’m probably going to go back soon.”

“Good. See if Kai is still practicing. He needs to rest before he dances himself to severe exhaustion.”

“Yeah, I will. Last I saw him, he was still practicing. God knows the idiot is probably still there,” Sehun said, rolling his eyes. “See you at home, Hyung.”

He hung up the phone and grabbed his stuff from the floor, heading out of the practice room in search of Kai. Kai. Really, he’d never seen anyone so bent on proving himself before he’d met the guy. He was always practicing something or the other. Most of the time it was dancing, which he seemed to live for. If not that, it was rapping, or singing, or one of the many other myriad activities that they’d all received some training in. The only thing wrong with this was that he tended not to know or heed his own limits and often overworked his body, sometimes to the brink of collapsing.

    In the beginning, most everyone who met him thought he was going overboard and just trying to show everyone else up, but soon realised that Kai competed with no-one but himself. Maybe except Taemin-Hyung. He had a remarkable capacity for pushing himself to the limits, and would often practice till he literally couldn’t move any longer if left alone. The managers had to keep reminding him not to push himself so hard that he was unable to do his best in his scheduled performances and activities, and the members had quickly learnt to keep a close eye on the second youngest member of the group, making sure he got enough rest to function.

    Sehun’s frustration mounted as he searched through all the regular rooms that Kai usually preferred, to no avail. Kai wasn’t replying to his texts, so he was trying to decide if he should just give up and go home. He decided to check the room Taemin usually practiced in, and to go home if he didn’t find Kai there. As he neared the door, he heard someone speaking and sped up, hoping it was Kai after all. But as he peered through the small glass window in the door, he saw that it was Kyungsoo Hyung’s errand girl talking on the phone, looking irritated.

    He didn’t really know her and normally he would’ve left right away after realising she wasn’t Kai, but he continued to stand there as his curiosity kicked in. What was she doing here? Hadn’t Kyungsoo-Hyung said she was still a rookie trainee? And did she not realise the time? It was past two-thirty in the bloody morning!

    As he stood there, bits and pieces of her phone conversation drifted to him and he got the gist of it. Enough to understand that she seemed to be a lot like Kai in that she didn’t know when to stop. Even as she promised her friend she was sorry for worrying her, she started dancing just as soon as she hung up, showing no signs of heading back like a sensible person would. And she was making the same mistake over and over again… Just watching it was driving him crazy.

    He had one step in the door before he even realised what he was doing. He hadn’t really intended to do much more than just show her what she was doing wrong, but she seemed so happy and grateful for the help that he couldn’t help but stay and watch her dance. She wasn’t a natural, that much was obvious, but she seemed to have honed her skill through meticulous practice, and her hard work and effort showed in the way she danced. He was surprised to realise that he was pleased that she was a good dancer. He didn’t care enough to examine that particular reaction any more closely though.

    When he’d dragged out the interaction as much as he dared, he made to leave, turning back at the last minute to strongly suggest she leave as well, considering it was now well over three in the morning. If he wasn’t an idol with terrifyingly dedicated sasaengs stalking every move of his, he might have offered to walk her home. Maybe not even then; he was never the gentleman type…

    As it were, it was extremely fortunate that he walked out the room when he did, as his Manager was walking that way, and he was able to quickly distract the man from the practice room. At least now he knew Kai was home already, probably dead to the world, the lucky bastard. He cheerfully followed the Manager to the exit, all thoughts of the horrible incident that afternoon far from his mind. I wonder if there’s still any food left at the dorm, I’m starving...

A/N: Hello! Here's the Sehun POV as promised. I'm not entirely sure about how it turned out, but I'm hoping it's okay. I actually had a longer chapter in mind and some more stuff written but decided that this length was best for this chapter. I might do another Sehun POV somewhere down the line, but I'm not too sure how good I am at writing from his POV so...

P.S. Did you guys notice my lovely new poster? Isn't it beautiful? shin-oppa from Pomelo graphics created it for me, and I just love her for doing such a great job with it. And don't you think it kind of fits especially with this chapter, with Sehun watching Min from behind?