“You are dead to me.”

 

“Oh, come on. I was doing you a favor.”

 

“I don’t want to hear it.”

 

Jongdae would have found this conversation funny the first time, but it’s been a week since then and Luhan and Kyungsoo were still arguing about it. “You’re so lucky you weren’t there.” Jongdae muttered to his other best friend as they sat down for lunch in the crowded cafeteria.

 

The bickering duo sat beside them, a constant spew of dialogue ringing in Jongdae’s ears. Well, to be honest, Luhan was the only one really speaking. Kyungsoo was mostly glaring at his tray of kimchi fried rice and stabbing innocent steamed vegetables.

 

Baekhyun laughed, scooting himself closer to Jongdae. “I told you to skip. You could have hung out at the beach with Yeol and I. We water skied and built sand castles!”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Jongdae grumbled, flicking a piece of rice at his friend. “Don’t rub it in my face. Where is he anyways?”

 

“He mentioned something about showing a transfer the ropes around the studio. You know, since he’s a composition major.”

 

They’ve started to settle into the school semester without many mishaps, thankfully. Jongdae got all of the classes he wanted and was fortunate enough to share them with at least Baekhyun or Kyungsoo.

 

“Did he ever find his lucky guitar pick?”

 

“Nah, he probably left it at home or something. He made me sleep in the Exodium after you guys left that night to look for it, so I wouldn’t get in his way. I’m glad we invested in those quality beanbag chairs or else I’d be sleeping on the floor.”  

 

After the welcoming ceremony, Jongdae helped Baekhyun and Chanyeol unpack their stuff. They were in Liebestraum hall too, a few doors down from Jongdae. The two of them were inseparable most days and were adamant about living together since last semester, so Jongdae thought it was pretty strange that they didn’t go for a double. But, it all made sense when he and unfortunately, Kyungsoo were tasked with moving all of Baekhyun’s furniture into Chanyeol’s room so that the other room could be converted into a studio/recreational center. It was a pretty neat idea, Jongdae admitted. Even Suho was impressed and agreed that it didn’t violate any school rules so long as they put the rooms back to normal after the year was over. Baekhyun calls it the “Exodium” and leaves it unlocked so that anyone can use the room to study, nap or hangout without being subjected to the loud commotion that’s usually found in the downstairs common area.

 

“Hey, before I forget, Suho wants us to meet him in the Exodium after dinner today. He’s making some kind of big announcement,” Baekhyun said, getting everyone’s attention at the table.

 

“He already texted us about it earlier this morning.” Kyungsoo had an unimpressed look on his face.

 

“Don’t glare at me like that.” Baekhyun replied, rolling his eyes, “I’m just the messenger.”

 

“Do you know what it’s about?” Luhan asked curiously. It wasn’t that uncommon for Suho to do these large group meetings, but it was still pretty early in the year for anything major to talk about. He’d usually discuss scheduling study groups or volunteer opportunities around the school. 

 

Baekhyun shrugged. “Not sure, but he seemed pretty excited about it.”

 

“Are you talking about Suho’s text?” A tall blonde guy said nonchalantly as he seated himself next to Luhan, hunching over the table to accommodate his irritatingly long legs.

 

“Yeah,” Luhan replied, snatching a fry from the guy’s tray. “You got the message too?”

 

“A-huh. He even tried to text me in Chinese,” he replied, showing Luhan his phone screen littered with a mix of Korean and Mandarin letters. Like Luhan, he was Chinese, but moved to Korea on a scholarship from the University. “By the way, lend me your theory notes for Professor Jung’s class.”

 

“Yifan, the semester just started. I can’t believe you’re already behind.” Luhan scoffed, pulling out a notebook from his backpack and handing it over to him.

 

“I’ve been stuck in back-to-back meetings for this Fall’s contemporary program. Producing is harder than it looks, dude,” he replied, slightly offended. Yifan was one of the lucky students who got a part in arranging the Fall showcase, along with Kyungsoo who is participating as an actor.

 

Kyungsoo nodded in agreement. “I barely make it to my classes after rehearsals. You’re probably stuck in the studio 24/7.”

 

“Isn’t Professor Heechul in charge of the contemporary stage this year?” Jongdae inquired. “I heard him talking about finalizing production schedules.”

 

“It’s actually Professor Sunny this term. We finished scheduling before the semester started. Professor Heechul was talking about next Spring,” Kris said. “They’re choosing the final production teams and concepts. I think they’re going to announce it next week. So, Jongdae, Baekhyun, pro-tip, if you’re still interested, auditions are probably going to happen in October.”

 

“Nice, enough time to perfect my vibrato technique,” Baekhyun said with a sly grin. “Do you think they’ll let us bring our own materials for the audition?”

 

“I doubt it,” Luhan said, standing up to clear away his empty tray. “They wouldn’t even let us use our cellphones during the whole process. I almost missed one of my finals!”

 

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo mumbled as Luhan picked up his friends’ other empty trays to dispose of in the dishwashing bins.

 

“It’s pretty killer.” Yifan said in sympathy. Jongdae agreed. He’s already made a mental list of what he needs to do to ace the audition. Only around 10% of the junior and senior class get to be a part of the program, so it’s a big deal for anyone wanting to snag the attention of large and affluent production companies. “If you want more details, you can ask Suho about it. I slept through most of the meetings to be honest.”

 

Jongdae and Baekhyun looked at each other in surprise. They didn’t know Suho made it into the Fall program as well. Before they could ask Yifan more, Luhan came stumbling back with a familiar friend in tow.

 

“Yifan, I found your other half!” Luhan exclaimed as he pulled up a handsome jet-black haired boy from behind him. Giggling, the boy jumped onto Yifan’s lap and planted a disgustingly mushy kiss on his lips. Baekhyun visibly gagged and Kyungsoo stealthily moved himself away from the lovey-dovey couple.

 

“Hi baby, I thought you had class?” Yifan murmured sweetly, wrapping his arms tight around his boyfriend.

 

“We got let out early.” The boy smiled shyly, a surprising change of character to how he acted a moment ago. He fiddled with the holes in his ripped jeans and pouted. “I texted you, but you didn’t respond.”

 

Jongdae mirrored Baekyun’s uncomfortable look as they watched the couple with undisguised revulsion. Yifan nuzzled his face into his boyfriend’s neck. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn’t get a chance to reply yet.”

 

“I sent it to you 10 minutes ago.”

 

Yifan visibly winced at the steel tone of his boyfriend’s voice. “I’ll make it up to you, Taozi. I promise.”

 

“And, how are you do that, gege (aka older brother in Chinese)?” Tao asked mischievously, playing with Yifan’s blonde hair.

 

“We’ll if that isn’t my queue to leave…,” Jongdae stood up abruptly, honestly speaking for all of them.

 

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Luhan quipped up as all of them quickly packed up their things and moved away from the couple. 

 

Tao looked at them with a small sad frown, “Where are you going? Can’t you stay longer? I haven’t seen you guys in forever.”

 

“Uh, sorry Tao. We’ve got to get to class,” Baekhyun said hastily. They weren’t immune to Tao’s puppy dog eyes, but they weren’t as whipped as Yifan.

 

“We’ll catch you later tonight at Suho’s meeting thing.” Luhan said amiably.

 

Tao’s eyes visibly brightened. “Oh, okay! See you then!”

 

Yifan and Tao continued to talk lovingly to each other even after the rest of their friends booked it out of the cafeteria. It was pretty gross and quite honestly, made everyone feel awkward to be in the same room as them. But, Jongdae was happy about their relationship progression. Before the two left to study abroad in China, Yifan would always maintain a cool persona in public and was pretty sparse about showing any kind of PDA. He was probably embarrassed about causing a scene, but Tao always ended up feeling hurt about it afterwards which made Jongdae feel like Yifan wasn’t really into the third-year. Even holding hands was a rare occasion. To be fair, they were always lovey-dovey in private or in the presence of close friends, so Jongdae and his friends unfortunately suffered through most of their relationship. But, today’s surprisingly mushy encounter was a stark contrast to their past interactions. It seemed like Yifan was becoming more and more receptive to Tao’s affections, so maybe Jongdae was wrong about it being one-sided. He wondered what happened during their time in Xi’an. Luhan probably has a lot to say about it.

 

“Hey, $50 if Tao and Yifan end up making out at any point of Suho’s meeting tonight,” Baekhyun nudged Jongdae with his elbow.

 

“No way,” Jongdae replied instantly. “I’m not losing money to you. Find someone else!”

 

 “You should make a bet with Chanyeol.”

 

“Good idea!” Baekhyun exclaimed excitedly.

 

“You’re so evil, Kyungsoo,” Luhan replied with a laugh.

 

            Baekhyun started typing something up on his phone. Almost immediately afterwards, he gave a large shout in glee. “Ha! Chanyeol better have that 50 bucks ready.”

 

 

. . .

 

 

Okay. So Jongdae didn’t actually mean to be running late to Suho’s meeting. It was totally unintentional. He was tired, and his alarm didn’t wake him up from his afternoon nap.

 

“Nice of you to finally join us, Jongdae.” Suho said placidly as he sheepishly opened the door. They were seated in a large circle around the room, a total of 11 of them. Jongdae rushed to sit next to Baekhyun who patted an open space on the carpet floor between him and Luhan. As soon as he sat down, Baekhyun nudged him on the side with a large grin. He waved a crisp $50 in his hands and pointed to Chanyeol’s frowning face.

 

They were all pretty relaxed as far as Jongdae could tell. Kris was lounging on the plush recliner with Tao in between his legs, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kai and Sehun were squished together on two large beanbag chairs, Kyungsoo was sitting in the swivel chair next to the keyboard and recording studio equipment while everyone else was chilling on the floor like Jongdae. To his surprise, his eyes met with none other than Yixing, sitting cross-legged right across from him.

 

“So, what did you really want to tell us, Mr. Kim?” Baekhyun started off with a teasing tone in his voice.

 

Suho put on a small smile and took a deep breath. “As you guys know, I’ve been working on getting my non-profit, ROOTS, to teach music to underprivileged kids started for a few years now. And as of this semester, it has finally been approved by the University. They’ve already accepted the project budget and dozens of kids have signed up.”

 

“That’s amazing, Suho!”

 

“Congrats, man!”

 

Suho gave an appreciative laugh. “Yeah, yeah, thanks. It’s great and all but…” he sighed and put his head down to face the ground, “But, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle all of the duties as I had initially planned for the program. Just yesterday, I found out that Heejoon backed out of the Fall showcase and they offered the orchestra conductor position to me. Since I was already committed to making ROOTS work, I wanted to refuse, but…” he looked meaningfully at Xiumin, “I was convinced that it was not an opportunity that I could miss out on. I’ve never really thought that I was going to be a conductor after graduation, so this would probably be my last shot at it.”

 

In the past two years that Jongdae had known Suho, the conductor had only two passions in life: music and children. Suho has been working on creating this non-profit program since his freshman year, spending countless weeks with the University to find a way to help children in their area. Heck, Jongdae even proofread a bunch of grant letters and community board speeches for him. Chung-Ang University had a lot of money because of famous alumni donations and sponsorships from performing art centers and production companies, so Suho saw no reason as to why they couldn’t use some of those funds to become helpful ambassadors in the community.

 

If there was something that Jongdae really adored about Suho, it was his compassion.

 

Suho continued, “I’ve been waiting for years for ROOTS to finally come to fruition. I’ve already prepared the teaching schedule, lesson plans, and classroom details for the whole program. But, now that this conducting thing showed up… I don’t think I would have time to be physically in the classroom with these kids as well as rehearse without hurting the quality of either activity.”

 

“Can’t you postpone the program until you’ve settled your schedule?” Chanyeol asked.

 

Xiumin explained further, “It’s a new organization, so once it’s been approved, it’s immediately under a trial period for 6 months. If it doesn’t go well or gets cancelled, they’ll cut funding or more likely, scrap the whole program all together. It starts next week with or without Suho.”

 

“If I couldn’t find someone to take over the duties that I couldn’t handle, the University will send one of their board members to take over the program for me. But, after speaking with them over and over again, meeting after meeting to approve ROOTS, I know they’re only in it for the good publicity.” Suho’s eyes furrowed in determination. “I’m not just going to hand it over to people who don’t care or know a thing about music.”

 

“And so, that’s where we come in.” Sehun concluded with a large exaggerated but accepting sigh. 

 

“Yes,” Suho took his time to look at each of them. “I need you all to become high school music teachers for the next 6 months.”

 

“Um, Suho.” Kris started. “Listen, first off, congrats. It sounds like a great program.” He stretched his arms behind his head and continued, “I’m down to do it, but I don’t think I’ll have the time, also being part of the Fall production and all.”

 

“Same for me,” Kyungsoo added. “If it’s happening during the school day, I don’t think I can squeeze anything between classes and rehearsals.”

 

Suho smiled understandingly. “I know this is pretty sudden and by no means are you obligated to do anything, but I hope you can at least try to be there for at least a couple classes. It would be a great opportunity for them to learn from all of your different experiences.”

 

Xiumin stretched out his hand to hold Suho’s in solidarity, he cleared his throat. “Think of it as practice. The best way to know if you’ve mastered your skills is if you can teach it, right? I know Suho is kind of asking for a lot, but it would mean the world if you could help out.”

 

 “Wait, back it up, back it up.” Baekhyun held his hand up in protest. “Do you really want us to be teachers? I mean like, do you seriously want ME to be teaching young kids how to sing loud high notes?”

 

“He makes a good point.” Luhan commented, “We don’t even know how to teach kids. Like I get it being a TA and stuff, but kids are a whole different kind of field. We don’t exactly have the experience.”

 

“Not to mention the right credentials,” Jongdae remarked offhandedly.

 

“Guys, you aren’t actually teaching courses in a standard high school curriculum. It’s sort of like an elective or extracurricular activity.” Suho clarified, “From what I’ve read online and in official student educational pamphlets, only two of us need to have a certified teaching credential. I, of course, have one.”

 

“And I have one,” Yixing stated lightly. Although he’s only briefly met the guy twice now, Jongdae didn’t really peg him to be a teacher. From what he gathered from Luhan, who unfortunately has noticed his small crush on Yixing, the theater major was specializing in dance and spent most of his time in the dance studio, honing his moves and sculpting his perfect abs (Luhan’s words, not his). So, not only did he have time to become an amazing artist, but he’s also kind and loves working with children. Can his crush get any bigger? 

 

Suho nodded. “Right. Yixing was the only other person I knew who had a teaching credential, so I asked him to sign the program application to fulfill the standard requirements. But, I am fully prepared to take 100% responsibility of ROOTS.I know this is a big commitment, so please think about it this weekend. I’ll email over a tentative schedule of how it would work, so you can get a better idea of it. Does that sound okay for everyone?”