“Hyung-nim.” Kai bowed once more, his face turning pale, accentuating his black eye bags so he looked almost haunted.

This man was the Trax’s manager, the toughest manager known to ever work in SM Entertainment. Rookies trembled at the sight of him. Apparently he only softened up called them by their first names after their first few mini-albums.

He eyed Kai and Ji Min critically, impassive. “Kai, when you’re done here, come talk to me.”

And then he left, leaving a trail of emotional destruction in his wake. Ji Min let out a shaky cry of confusion and Kai immediately took her in his arms; his strong fingers gripped her arms.

Kai scanned his eyes over Ji Min’s face before he pulled her in for a bone-crushing hug. He knew what was coming. “No matter what, we stick together right? Okay?” his tone was slightly desperate as she searched his face.

Ji Min knew however, the two of them had a bond that was so complicated, so confusing but so utterly wonderful that they just understood each other.

“An idol group is supposed to make you feel as if you are living their dream with them.” She took his face in her hands and ran her thumb over his bags.

“You, make me feel comfortable. With you,” she leaned her forehead on his, “I feel invincible. Nothing can bring me down. I feel alive.” Kai bit his lip at her sudden confession.

Although he felt the exact same feelings, he always had a little bit of trouble expressing them. Kai was shy.

“I love you.” He whispered and pressed his lips against hers once again.

The moment felt like it lasted forever.

They could feel their own heartbeats and could feel the breaths of each other and each pulse of their love growing stronger.

Kai trailed his fingers up Ji Min’s arm, and she closed her eyes. Goosebumps appeared where his fingers left a hot trail and she sighed in content.

Her own hands went around his waist and up his broad shoulder blades and gripped his shoulders like she was holding on for dear life.

When they finally pulled away, it had been five minutes past the time that Kai needed to be in rehearsal with the other EXO members.

“I have to leave.” He whispered, his voice laced with deep regret and reluctance.

Ji Min nodded slowly. She wanted to be selfish and go with him, but that would just be inviting danger into their wonderful little bubble of a world. And she wasn’t going to let that happen, not when Krystal was around.

Kai sensed her apprehensive manner and tucked her hair back into the neat up-do she had fashioned.

He leaned his head down so that his wet lips were lightly brushing against her cheek bone

“There’s nothing you should worry about. Nothing but what I’m going to get you for your sixteenth. And you should be excited, not worried.” He breathed against her neck, sending shivers up both their spines.

She grunted in response. Her mother had a party planned, and every single girl dreams of an epic ‘sweet sixteenth’ birthday, and her pabo of a parent had asked Kai to come along when they were both clear that Kai would be promoting.

After all, their debut would be in April and her party was in May.

Ji Min pressed herself closer to her boyfriend. “I have to go to a shoot and a show tonight, but I left you and the oppa’s food including cookies and a few small boxes of kimchi. I also bought Sehun and Tao oppa’s the new books they’ve been asking for.”

As she walked to her bag to show him, Kai let a smile spread across his face.

Although he was exhausted beyond imagination and he needed sleep desperately, seeing Ji Min and listening to her speak just re-boosted his motivation and drive to work.

Last month, Soo Man had mention something along the lines of working with N.Soo’s young models.

This was prior to their Calvin Klein and High Cut shoots, and the meeting was not yet planned, but when he said it, all thoughts turned to Kai, who was hiding a grin under his face. He knew that Ji Min was going to be there.

“I don’t want you to go.” He confessed as he walked towards her and gripped her small waist. Kai’s baritone voice rumbled through her and she blushed, slipping out of his grasp.

“And who says I want to?” Ji Min was being a tease – her natural personality. Their intertwined fingers separated and grabbed her wallet and phone. She pressed two fingers to her own lips and then saluted, giving him a cheeky grin.

She pulled his chin towards her and stood on her tip-toes, “I have to tell you something.” He fully pressed his torso against hers and put his chin on top of her head. For a model, she was a little on the short side.

Just as she leaned in to tell him, she ripped herself away and laughed loudly, sending her newly curled hair bouncing off her shoulders.

To Kai, she looked like an angel.

Ji Min pressed another quick goodbye kiss on Kai’s lips and winked, running out the door.

He didn’t want time to pass, so Kai slowly walked towards the rehearsal room, thinking about how the two of them met.

In all reality, it was much of a fairy-tale scene. It was Sooyoung’s birthday and all of the SM trainee’s and artists were invited as well as a few other well known friends and family.

Kai and Ji Min hadn’t actually seen each other until the very end of the party when they were lining up to go to the toilets – with Ji Min chattering away like the chatterbox she was -, but when they did, Kai couldn’t take his eyes off of Ji Min and she stopped talking altogether.

It was her who made the first move – which was pretty shocking since Ji Min was a strict believer in tradition; the guy proposes and confesses.

She had made her friend who knew Xiu Min pass on her modelling business card to Kai. As the two passed each other in the hallways when they were departing, Kai caught her wrist and whispered, “hello” Into her ears.

Ji Min blushed and did the exact same.

And then, he watched her disappear into the night, the only light radiating off her white toga-like dress and diamond earrings.

It was the ultimate meeting – a goodbye accompanied by a blissful hello.

It was also the start of their torrid and secret love affair.

Ji Min hid her age from Kai for the first few weeks, especially seeing how utterly wonderful he was to her, and when he found out, sure it was a shock, but he got over it seeing her anxiety and just stuck with her.

The EXO members often saw Kai running in either just in time or even a few minutes late to class with his hair looking severely wind-blown and his cheeks, lips and forehead all read.

He always blamed it on the cold weather and the run from the dorms to the dance practice room, but they all knew very well that the dorms were around fifty meters across from the practice rooms and it was spring – his stories were complete and utter bull but they looked over it, just to see what was going on.

A few weeks had passed, and Kai’s habit of not being able to keep secrets was really taking a toll on him.

There was many times where his hyung’s and Se Hun would catch him with his mouth open, about to say something but then chickening away from it.

For those guys who wanted to know everything ie. Kris and Baekhyun, it pissed them off to the point where they snapped at him, calling him a goldfish.

And when it finally got out, Lu Han was furious.

He was irritated with the fact that Kai had gotten himself a girlfriend just months before they were to debut and the fact that she was fifteen years of age just horrified him.

If they had been over twenty, the almost full three year would’ve been alright, but she hadn’t even graduated from high school! Hell, she was in year eleven (Ji Min started a bit early) and still had two full years left!

But no matter what, Kai refused to even budge from his place, continuing to see her and put his own career at risk.

Finally, his band members gave up. They could all see just how obsessed he was with her, and when they finally scored the chance to meet Ji Min, they could see why.

She was fifteen, but the aura she gave off was so incredibly mature and y, she could easily pass off as a uni student.

When Ji Min had her modelling clothes on and her make-up was all done up and perfect, she even bordered the line to looking like a noona towards Kai.

Slowly as January passed and February came, the members grew warmer towards her the more they knew her.

For a girl her age, she was incredibly word-wise and intelligent. Kai even whispered to Tao that even she had her fair share of heartbreaks in her young life, leaving her to resort to her work and her modelling job.

As Kai approached the door to the room, he stopped and sighed. The music was pumping and the vibrations ran down his body.

He lightly rested his hand on the handle and pushed the door ever so slightly to peek at his friends dancing.

A sudden wash of anxiousness overcame him and it nearly took his breath away.

If his relationship got out, what would happen to his friends? No matter how close Ji Min was to his heart, he had known these people since he entered the building, some of them even getting close to five, six years of friendship.

He wasn’t going to let one mistake unravel all that.

And besides, it wasn't even a mistake.

But, Kai was a persistent boy, and walking into that practice room, he had more resolve than ever to hold onto the two things he wanted; stardom and Ji Min.

He wasn’t going to let either one of them go, no matter what happened to his own life in the meantime.

Chanyeol stared as the face of EXO walked absent-mindedly to the floor and began stretching his muscles.

He was genuinely worried for Kai. Chanyeol had heard what the Trax’s manager had said when he caught the two and feared for what would happen to the boy. He was already getting less sleep than he ever got.

Kai closed his eyes, immersing himself in the music. Every single beat washed away his bad thoughts and left him cool, calm, and almost a little weak.

He and Ji Min had been very good at hiding their relationship so far, even when she was on the set of the W Magazine photo shoot. Kai only had one slip up that day…

The cameras were rolling and the air was thick with the stench of hairspray and powered make up.

People rushed everywhere, touching up the three members of EXO’s hair, smoothing out their shirts and retouching Seohyun and Yoona’s make up.

She had appeared out of nowhere.

Kai had sensed her before anyone else did from her signature perfume she always wore – Bvlgari. His body tensed up and he was a nervous wreck before she had even stepped onto the set.

When she did, all the time stopped in the world for him.

Though they had just seen each other the day before, she had changed her hair from a light brown shoulder cut to a black pixie bob, her smoky eyes and red lips gave her a y burlesque look but her denim jeans and woollen sweater suggested something more innocent – an angel.

Ji Min met his eyes with her own surprised ones and a loud giggle escaped her lips which she immediately covered with a felt-gloved hand.

Her style was classic, timeless.

Their set producer introduced her to them as his current favourite teen model, not aware that EXO were already very close with the girl.

She was to supervise and check their clothing. Every single time her gloves brushed against his clothes, Kai’s heartbeat would increase and she would linger there for a moment before swiftly moving on to the next.

While they were filming, Yoona and Kai shared a joke with the others and as they bowed and chanted, ‘We worked hard!’, she twiddled her fingers at him in an inconspicuous little wave, and he smirked before covering his face with his hands, trying hard not to show such emotion on the screen. 

But on the inside, his heart was bursting with joy, excitement and fear.

It was almost a little thrilling to be honest, I mean, when you think about it, the two were in a secret love, and meeting in an area where everyone was blissfully unaware of the truth yet staring at it in the face was just a tad hilarious.

That was the last time they had seen each other until today.

When Kai had finally managed to force Se Hun to ask their manager about the ‘girl on the set’, he was devastated when he reported back that it was unlikely that they were to work together, let alone be in the same room.

They were debuting, and being seen with such a beauty was not even though of.

Ji Min left for Tokyo the next day, and Kai wallowed around the SM Entertainment building, waiting for his girlfriend to come home and into his arms.

If only they could pause time and run away, be forever young and enjoy the time they had together. He would cherish every single moment.

Of course, now that they barely saw each other, it just made each meeting all the more precious.

“Kai!”

But alas, that wasn’t going to happen.

 -

To all my wonderful subscribers...

I want to eat you.

You are amazing!

I started this fic with absolutely no idea what the plot was going to be like...

I just knew I needed to start a story on Kai.

So, I hope with your comments I can steer the stories in the most unexpected and infuriating ways you can imagine and yet satisfy your romantic sides...

Aww i'm so sweet.

evil chuckle.

Till we meet again,

InToXi-.