As Do Kyungsoo sat in the black transportation van all by himself, his thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. He stared at the screen. “Hyung.” He whispered. Quickly, he pushed all thoughts aside and greeted his older brother enthusiastically.

“Hyung! It’s been a while.”

“Kyungsoo! My little brother’s grown already, when’s the wedding, man? You better come here quick before mom faints from too much joy.”

Kyungsoo feels slightly dreadful but that is overridden by the joy in his brother’s voice and the unmistakable happy cries of his mother in the background. His stoic face soon turns into a warm heart-shaped smile, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the driver.

“Anya~! Don’t listen to that. You might as well read a manga because all of that is rumour. I hear mom, can I talk to her?”

Kyungsoo’s hyung laughs and gives his phone to their mom, who was currently watching a small news station report her son’s new found (amazingly romantic) publicity.

“Kyungsoo? You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend? Is her name Nayeon? From the ‘shy shy shy’ group?”

Kyungsoo can almost imagine his mother doing the dance move. He smiles despite cringing at her words.

“Mom, it’s just a misunderstanding. A lot of people misinterpreted the whole thing.”

His mother, however, completely ignored what he had just said and continued pestering him.

“Twice! That’s the name of the group. Wow Kyungsoo, my baby boy with such a beautiful lady. Your pictures are everywhere! It makes me so proud to see my son finally next to a lady!”

Kyungsoo was glad he did not have his phone on speaker, for his mom was showering him a whole lot of talk which one would be embarrassed if their friends heard. But could he really blame her? They haven’t seen eachother in a little over a year due to his hectic scheduling. Of course she would miss her little idol.

“Mom, please don’t get your hopes up.” Kyungsoo says with a grin. “I won’t be dating any time soon. So you can just focus on hyung and Jessica right now, okay?” He hears his hyung scream his name and this makes Kyungsoo laugh even more. He wondered what it would be like if he was there laughing along with them, eating fish ball soup and watching television comfortably in his own home.

“You won’t be dating??!! My Kyungie won’t get married?! How is that possible, wow you rascal, you really like giving your mom white hairs.” His mother says in such funny desperation that the two sons couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Right now Kyungsoo was not really thinking about it, but his words had more weight than first thought. In a way, he knew that he couldn’t really date anyone due to his busy schedule and well, him being an idol.Too much press. Too much publicity. Lack of privacy. It was just all too troublesome. It was even more so now that he’s witnessed what can happen; just look at Beakhyun and Kai. Maybe in a few years he can start, but he was sure he was gonna be way near his thirties. The time for marriage would be just around the corner, and then he had his enlistment. There was no way Kyungsoo could get to know someone that quickly and settle down before he enlists. I mean there was always after enlistment, but at that point Kyungsoo does not know if he has the energy to suddenly get into the dating game. At first Kyungsoo was devastated by this, but it seems like as years went by, him and some of his other members came to accept it. Nonetheless, his mom didn’t need to know this, to her he was just joking around.

“Mom is really digging this Nayeonsoo thing, Kyungie.” His brother says while eating an orange. Kyungsoo has been so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the two speakers transferred phones.

“Don’t call me Kyungie. And I guess she is. We’ll just let her be happy.”

There was a strange silence on the other end. It sounded like his brother moved outside the noisy living room where his mom was and into a closed bedroom.

“Yea, we’ll let her be happy… Kyungsoo, I-I haven’t seen her this joyful since dad died.”

“How is she, hyung?” He whispers. The tone of the light-hearted conversation completely changing as the driver drove them under a tunnel. Kyungsoo watched as the many warm lights flew past them.

“She’s...she’s getting better. She’s smiling and laughing again.” Kyungsoo could hear the faint smile on the other line. Kyungsoo closes his eyes as he feels the familiar feeling of guilt squeeze his stomach and make its way to his chest.

“H-hyung, I’m sorry I can’t be there with you guys. I-I know how much she misses me. And it isn’t fair to make you do this by yourself, you have work too- and...I’m so sorry.” Kyungsoo’s voice echoes the teary voice of a devastated child. Kyungsoo loved his job, but he hated the sacrifices he had to make. Especially his family sacrifices. Once news of the death of his father, the company gave him a month to mourn with his family. One lousy month. One month was not in anyway enough time. Kyungsoo doubts there will ever be enough time to make things better.

“Don’t worry. I quit my job so I could be with mom at home.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened.

“What!? When?” Guilt and panic started rising once again and this time, it made its way to his hands.

“Relax, Kyungie. Just a couple months ago. It was worth it in the end because mom seemed to have gotten a lot better since I started living with her again.”

“B-But why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve done something…” Kyungsoo holds back a groan. He knew how much that job meant to his brother. Years and years of business school, crappy internships, and exhausting work, to finally reach his dream job in a big company. He only had it for a year before it got taken away from him.

“They’ll take you back right? They must know the circumstances.” At this point Kyungsoo was grasping at strings here.

He heard his brother sigh. “No, they said they couldn’t. They needed an available manager fast, and I ran out of my employee leaves.”

No, no. This couldn’t be happening. “What about Jessica? Didn’t you guys plan on getting married next year a-and starting a family. Y-you can use my salary, hyung. I’ll pay for everything. I~”

“Woah, don’t worry. Jessica understood, and we decided to put off everything until mom gets better and things become stable for us again. And no Kyungie, do not give me your salary. You are already helping us a lot with our finances, you do not need to pay for my family as well.” His brother adores his little brother for being so kind and generous, despite things not being his fault at all.

Kyungsoo was defeated. How is it possible his mood could’ve went down even more since exiting the dorms? “If I could stop all of this and be with you guys I would.” Even though there was only him inside the van plus his driver listening to the radio, he still whispers it to himself, making sure no one else in this world heard.

“Yah~! Don’t say that. We need you there. Mom does not need two unemployed sons, am I right? Besides, you’ve heard and I’ve seen how happy she is seeing you on television and on the news for your talent and praise. She wouldn’t want to take away your success.You wouldn’t want to take away her main source of happiness right now, Kyungie, don’t you?.” His brother sensed the darkening mood and wanted to light up the situation. Phone calls with his brother was scarce so they shouldn’t be wasted emoting. Kyungsoo wiped his glassy eyes as he noticed them nearing the entrance to S.M Entertainment.

“I have to go, hyung. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Alright little bro. Keep on doing what you’re doing okay and don’t worry! Remember, mom’s getting better thanks to us, thanks to you. Fighting Kyungie!”

Kyungsoo stepped outside the van into the gloomy weather. His manager was standing holding the door open for him as he tried to avoid getting wet by the rain. He motioned him to go faster, as there were now a lot of fans screaming huddled around the block as result of EXO’S D.O’s arrival.

“Hey how are you, long time no see!” His manager greets him once the doors are shut behind them and they are in the warmth of the building.

“Same old, same old.” Kyungsoo is proud of how normal his voice sounds despite all the turmoil happening inside him.

“Ahh that’s good that’s good! Well today is going to be an...interesting meeting. Mr. Lee’s direct proposal.”

Kyungsoo perked up at this. “Ah really?”

“All the staff are buzzed about it. I guess it’s big.”

As they neared a corner to the elevators, Kyungsoo spotted a young girl holding a banner that had in big bold letters ‘Nayeonsoo’ written on it.

“I guess it is.”

~~

It was a similar situation to the start of everything, where all the girls were in the van and Nayeon was once again wishing her seat would engulf her and transport her to another universe. Only this time, the girls were not making fun of her as much (note she says ‘as much’ thanks to two evil little girls named Dahyun and Chaeyoung). Nayeon knew what was coming, yet no matter how much she mentally prepared herself, it seems like the nervousness only grew.

“Shh..don’t worry, Nayeon. It won’t be bad, I promise.” The loving motherly Momo patted her shoulders. It was only then she realized her large teeth were actually clattering against each other. Oh how embarrassing!

They hurriedly rushed in the entrance of the building. Similar to Kyungsoo, she saw some not so subtle Nayeonsoo banners amongst Once’s. It only increased her heart rate more.

The group of girls were brought into a banquet hall, where brunch was served in assortment of salads and sandwiches. Nayeon would’ve been eagerly munching everything down, but her anxiousness forced her to restrain herself. She watched as her friends spoke with each other animatedly, and she only hopes whatever happens in this meeting brings good to their group, not harm.

It was a little more than half an hour of Nayeon laughing her thoughts away when a manager calls her in and separates her from her group.

Oh god here it was. She meekly stood up and bid goodbye to her group members, who were giving her cute signs of encouragement. As soon as they left the group, her manager told her that she might want to clean up inside the bathroom to make herself look presentable.

This took her off guard. Now she knew this wasn’t just some normal meeting. “W-why?”

“I don’t know. Manger Kim just relayed the message to me.”

Fear instantly struck Nayeon’s heart. For a wild second, she wondered if Kyungsoo would be in the meeting as well. She imagined him sitting attentively, looking quite worried, until finally she walked in and his expression changed to one of annoyance. Ah no! That just made it worse! If Kyungsoo was in there, Nayeon had to be prepared.

“O-Okay. I will just go to the washroom! 5 minutes please!” The girl gave her manager the best sweet smile she used whenever she had to MC, and dashed for the restroom wondering if her makeup was still intact, if her hair was brushed, and wondering how the introduction to her long apology to Kyungsoo would start.

~~

Kyungsoo patiently waited in the penthouse floor, eyeing the two unfinished teacups and two drained shot glasses resting on the floor table wearily. Him and his manager spoke about the potential outcomes of this meeting and what it meant for him and his group. There was no doubt this was about Nayeonsoo, Kyungsoo knew it right away. It was just a matter of ‘what.’ What were they going to do? Were they going to punish him in some way? Maybe they were here to give him a lecture about interacting with female idols, and possibly work on a way to contain the strong flames of the rumour. Yes, Kyungsoo was certain it was the last one.

Finally, the office door handle turned, and upon seeing the entering figure, Kyungsoo’s eyes widened to saucers.