thirteen: highways and byways
strange bedfellows13
highways and byways
“Kim Joonmyeon! Kim Minseok! Zhang Yixing! Byun Baekhyun! Do Kyungsoo! Kim Jongdae! Park Chanyeol! Oh Sehun! E-X-O!”
The loud roar of fan chants resonated through Irene’s ears, hitting close to home. Her husband and his group –at least, whoever remained– were in the middle of a heated breakdance, and the crowd was going wild. It reminded her of a time when the names fervently being called were Seulgi’s, Wendy’s, Joy’s, Yeri’s, and hers.
But those days were long gone. Not that Irene really minded anymore.
“Look, Sungwoo, there’s your dad,” Seulgi whispered to little Sungwoo, who she was carrying in her arms, while jabbing a finger at the stage.
Every comeback was the same. The girlfriends, wives, and children would be huddled together backstage, cheering on their men from a distance. It was a family gathering of sorts, one that Irene had grown accustomed to over her years of being Sehun’s official significant other. Usually, she would solicit Seulgi’s help in sneaking her and the children into the building, before the paparazzi and fans could catch shots of them.
That day, there was one thing different. Next to the group of women and children was a lithe, tanned young man, standing at the corner with a wistful expression on his face. Everything about him screamed “idol”, but he was, for once, a spectator rather than a performer.
Irene knew about it. Of course. Sehun had been babbling all week about how six months after the scandal, Kai was still barred from performing with the group. It didn’t matter that six months had passed. It didn’t matter that he had spent weeks still practicing with the rest of them. It didn’t matter that it was the group’s long-awaited comeback – a scandal was a scandal, and he was to sit out. Back in the day, Sehun had been subject to the same plight, waiting a full year after he married Irene before he could come back to the stage. Unspoken rules of thumb, Sehun had said.
Her gaze flitted to Seulgi, who was still doing her best to entertain Sungwoo. She didn’t as much as glance at Kai, who had shifted over to talk to Taeyeon and her kids. Irene diverted her attention back to Sehun, who was dancing, rapping and just doing his thing as he always did. Everyone was in their own world, despite being very much in reality.
It was strange to think that a lot had changed, when it almost seemed liked nothing had changed at all.
“Daddy, you were so cool!” Sungwoo cheered, waving one of the EXO light sticks that Irene had handed to him earlier. The look he gave his father melted the hearts of all the men and women in the waiting room.
Sehun scooped his son into his arms. “Really? Give me a kiss on the cheek, Sungwoo.”
The boy heartily obliged, forgetting that his lips were stained from all the ice cream he had been eating and planting a series of smudgy kisses on his dad’s cheeks. Sehun, Irene and everyone else in the room quickly realized the mess the boy was creating and broke into laughter.
“Be careful, Sungwoo!” Irene admonished, patting his lips with a napkin.
“That must be only lipstick mark on Sehun that Joohyun approves of,” Suho joked, earning him a shove in the ribs from Irene. “What? True story!”
“I’d like to see your future girlfriend approve of anything else!” Irene shot back.
Across the room, Baekhyun threw the older man a mischievous look. “Assuming he even gets one, at his age.”
The entire room erupted in laughter again, with Suho lunging for Baekhyun and chasing him around. Seulgi cupped a hand over and chuckled quietly. Considering how guarded she had been towards EXO over her years of performing, partly due to company interference, she had grown used to the atmosphere in the waiting room whenever she went with Irene for one of Sehun’s performances. The once prim-and-proper boys had morphed into a rambunctious lot, with Chanyeol and Baekhyun taking a good amount of credit for the chaos. But Seulgi quite liked it – it reminded her of her days with her members in their waiting room.
Her eyes involuntarily fell on Kai, who was playing with Baekhyun and Taeyeon’s children. Minhyuk, Baekhyun’s older son, was munching on some gummies and Kai was trying to get the child to feed him some. After some intense sweettalking, the boy finally caved, reluctantly offering Kai the smallest gummy he could find. A small smile crept on Seulgi’s face.
It had been months since their terse exchange. Originally, Seulgi had wanted to apologize. Or at least, finally talk it out with him. She had drafted and deleted so many messages to him that she had lost count. But Kai hadn’t sent her anything either. Not even after she and Jaehyun had gotten back together. Probably because they had gotten back together. As far as Kai and Seulgi were concerned, the both of them were back to square one – “hellos”, “goodbyes”, and silence.
“Hey Seul,” Suho called, fracturing her thoughts, “your man is here!”
Seulgi turned sharply, catching the sight of a smiling Jaehyun by the doorway, bowing profusely. His crop of silver hair was back to bronze, probably for his drama serial. He did say he was going to be dyeing his hair in the morning, and honestly, he did look quite good–
She looked at Kai, whose eyes met hers for the first time since the start of the day. She turned back to Jaehyun before it could get any harder to look away from Kai’s sad, sunken face. She rose to her feet, took her boyfriend by the arm, and politely entertained all the quips and jibes she got from the watching crowd while making a beeline for the door.
“You’re being strange,” Seulgi observed, looking at Jaehyun through narrowed eyes.
They had managed to dodge the teeming throng of staff members, idols and fans, at least to one of the hidden back staircases. They hurried down, fingers still intertwined. Teenage Seulgi would have been horrified at the recklessness of it all, but thirty-two-year-o
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