“Oh?” surprise coloured her voice at the new revelation. “EXO didn’t join the festival at L.A?”

“No.” the other person’s voice on the line crackled before sighing. “We didn’t.” 

Ji Min unconsciously pouted and then laughed. She wedged her phone between her shoulder and ear, and though it was uncomfortable, her hands were already taken.

“Chanyeol oppa, don’t be too upset. You guys are still rookies. If you were there, it would be unfair to the other bands like... Nu’Est and B.A.P. SM Town was great. Really.” she tried to soothe him even though she knew they were empty promises.

“Mhm.” He murmured in a quiet assent and all fell silent. Ji Min didn’t want to ask, but in the end, she felt obliged to. “How... did F(X) unnie’s” she used the word respectfully with an exception, “perform? Were they all right? How were their clothes?”

She listened in carefully to his recount of the SM tour. 

-

On the other side, Jong In and Kyung Soo sat on two seats next to another in the EXO home. They were exhausted but satisfied after the twelve hour flight from America, and it seemed some of the members were still riding off the tour high.

“Hyung.” Sehun walked in with barely any clothes on, flinging a semi-damp towel over his shoulder. Kyung Soo clicked his tongue but remained in his seat.

With a flourish of his hand, Sehun downed half a bottle of milk in ten seconds. Joon Myun walked in, also exposing quite an amount of skin. He fumbled around in the sink for a moment before he fixed himself a cup of water.

“Jong In-ah.” for some reason, as Jong In turned around reluctantly, he knew what was going on.

Leader-mode was on. 

“Krystal had to ask for your hand at the finale.” It was an off comment, but Jong In winced.  Joon Myun sighed and ran a hand over his face. He knew who was on his mind. Ji Min was also precious to him as well.

“Look, whatever is between you and Ji Min does not concern me, but at SM Town, we need to show that we are a family. Especially since this is EXO’s first tour.”

Throughout the tense moment, some other members of K and M had joined them in the kitchen, and now they were all listening.

Jong In looked away and swallowed. “Things are fine between me and Ji Min. Really good actually.” he smiled while he thought of her. Kris and Tao looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.

Joon Myun didn’t want to disturb Jong In’s love struck moment, so he just sighed and left the room.

“Hey guys.” Chanyeol strutted in with his phone in his hand.

He placed it in the middle of the large dining table and pressed the speaker button. There was a crackle and a bit of murmuring. “Who is it?” Tao walked forwards and sat down. The others followed suit.

“Tao oppa.” Ji Min’s elegant, bright voice flooded the room and Jong In immediately rushed to the table and leaned over the phone. “Ji Min” he breathed. Sehun pushed him back and greeted her, “Ji Min-ah!” Joon Myun joined them once more at the hubbub.

Her tinkling laugh wafted out of the phone. “Hey guys.” Kris crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. “How are you?” he asked.

“Ayo waddup Kris!” he laughed at her fan girl response. “Yes oppa, I did see you hold that sign up in L.A. But to answer your question, I’m tired. Really tired.” came her reply. 

If Chanyeol had one word to describe EXO’s reactions to her words, it would be epic. Kai immediately frowned and so did Kyung Soo. Kris and Baekhyun got off the walls and came in closer, and the rest of them snapped their heads towards the phone.

“But it’s nothing compared to you guys. EXO K my babies!” she squealed. “Calvin Klein opening was hot wasn’t it?! I chose your clothes.” her tone was proud.

The rest of EXO K hooted loudly in happiness at the good memories. However, Jong In sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his best chest, grinning and shaking his head from side to side.

“EXO M! When are you guys going back to China?” 

Luhan piped up after handing Kyung Soo a piece of apple. “After a few days. We need to finish our recording for EXO twelve and then we fly back.” all of them fell silent at the prospect.

Luhan placed a hand on Sehun’s shoulder. Kris wiggled just that little bit closer to Baekhyun and Tao put his arms around Chanyeol’s shoulders. Yi Xing and Jong In exchanged a comfortable glance.

“...well, guess what?”

Jong In’s head snapped up. “You’re going too?” He somehow had sensed what she was going to say.

Ji Min giggled. “Neh. Just for a few days to collect some materials.”

“Collecting materials only takes a day Ji Min.” Jong In warned her. Everyone went silent again and they looked at Jong In, warning him not to push too far, but he ignore them. He wanted to press on.

“Kai...” his plump lips pulled up a bit at the sound of his stage name, but his interior feelings of defense remained. “Okay fine. I also have a shoot as well.”

Kyung Soo jumped at the opportunity. “Han Ji Min. You told us that you were to have no more shoots during this time. Last time you accompanied our one it went to three in the morning! Manager hyung told us that the staff,” he glared at the phone, “that’s you, stayed till five. What are you doing?”

Chen, Xiu Min and some of the other members began to turn around and walk away. Many people believed that Jong In was the bossiest, but Kyung Soo was far ier than all of them.

The others listened as he berated her. Jong In looked at the table, tracing the lines. He agreed, but placed a hand on his hyung’s arm when he went too far.

“Yes but-”

“No buts Han Ji Min. You are sixteen years of age. You’re still growing and even though we live this life at least Sehun,” the maknae cringed at Kyung Soo’s harsh use of his name, “Is eighteen.”

“Kyung Soo oppa!” Jong In lowered his head even further to bite the reply and chuckle that threatened to burst out of his lips.

Obviously Ji Min had been irked beyond reason now. Her tone raised and the authority grew stringer. 

“I appreciate all your effort,” she was trying hard not too lose her cool. Added to the fact that she knew possibly all of them were listening added to her humiliation. No matter how much she loved them, they were not her blood family. 

“But I did not agree to this! I swear! And really,” on the other line, she ran a hand through her dry, frizzy hair. “I’ve been stuck in the SM building from six in the morning to around one the next day for two weeks now!”

“I’m a model. I’m sixteen, and if people want me on their shows and shoots, then I’m going to be there.”

“But you’re going to lose sleep and lose weight.” Kyung Soo retorted.

Ji Min was just as quick. “Well so are you. You do this because you want to and I do this because I want to.”

There was no excuse. Kyung Soo’s lips pressed into a hard line and before his eyes could set fire to the phone, Sehun slipped away Yi Xing quickly intervened.

“Ji Min-ah, how many days exactly are you staying in China for?”

“Three.” her answer was immediate.

He nodded. Joon Myun gave him a soft look. Yi Xing was always the mediator. “And how many shoots do you have?”

There was no answer and Yi Xing’s voice grew firm and dry. “How many?”

“Seven.” there was no hesitancy in her answer once more, but a lot of resignation. She knew that she was going to work herself to the bone.

Yi Xing and Luhan collectively gasped. Sehun had already left, and Luhan now sat in his seat.

“Ji Min, that’s ridiculous.” Luhan said into the phone.

“... I know.” there was a slight tremor in her voice and Jong In’s grip on the chair and on his shirt grew tighter until his knuckles began to turn white. He worried for his girlfriend’s health.

“Move.” Kris said and the members parted like air. His hands planted onto the table and everyone winced at his expression. Everyone except Jong In. He met Kris’s eyes and nodded, allowing him to speak.

“Ji Min, you know there is no chance for you to eat while you do those shoots.” his words were as cold as ice but his eyes were on fire.

“Are you trying to lose weight?”

Everyone heard her gasp. “God no! Jesus even my mother said that to me!”

“Exactly.” he said bluntly.

“You’re going to expect us, EXO M, to sit in our dorms in China and know that you’re possibly only a few hours or even minutes away, starving yourself and working yourself to sickness and expect that we won’t do anything?” his voice grew louder and rougher.

“That’s incredibly selfish of you Ji Min. We have things to do too! You have a responsibility to take care of yourself not only for you, but for us, and for Kai.” he looked at the younger male who was biting his nails.

“Hyung, stop.” Jong In murmured.

“Kyung Soo already said. You are sixteen, barely an adult-”

“Are you saying I’m a child?” she cried.

“Quiet!” his snap was sharp.

Luhan almost had to restrain Jong In from standing up and lunging at his hyung for speaking to her in such a harsh way.

“Your body is not fit for such-”

Ji Min broke. “I’m perfectly fine!” she yelled over the phone. Everyone went silent.

“I love you guys I really, really do.” she begged. “And I know that you know that I hate being called a child.”

“But what my company tells me to do, I do! And since I’m half owned by SM now, there’s nothing I can say! You know how harsh SM is.” that, they had to admit was right.

“I’m exhausted. I’m worn and I called to see how you guys were. I think, that’s pretty great on my part. I haven’t had food in around thirteen hours, I haven’t had a break in eight hours and I’m about to break something.”

“There are days where I know you guys are dog-tired too but the only person that bothers to ask me how I am is Jong In! He might feel obliged to since he’s my boyfriend but that’s okay!”

“No-” Jong In jumped to his own defense but Joon Myun held him down.

“There’s not one day where I don’t call Kai or Chanyeol because they pick up their phones the most right?”

“Right?!” 

Baekhyun nodded and said loudly, “Yes.”

“But I don’t fail do call all of you at least once right? Once a week at the VERY LEAST! That’s pretty damn good.” she scoffed.

“So when I call you and tell you that I’m going to China with you, please,” she implored. “Please, just be happy. Don’t smother me... I can’t... breathe...” her breathing grew louder and heavier and the atmosphere grew tense.

Everyone leaned towards the phone.

“Min?” Yi Xing spoke.

“I can’t... breathe...” they all frowned. Was she still talking about them smothering her?

But Joon Myun knew something was wrong. He spoke up. “Ji Min, don’t push yourself.” He knew how bad going without breaks was. You’d lose oxygen to your head especially when you were angry and it’d all go downhill from there.

“Min?” Jong In called.

Her voice grew quieter and the concern in Jong In grew until it was an itchy ball in his chest. When she got quieter during an argument, it often meant that she was getting close to bursting. 

“...I’m not... a child.”

“I’m sorry.” Kris apologised first and the rest nodded and grumbled in assent. Her voice was strangely breathy.

Before he could go on, there was a rattle, a loud gasp then a sigh, and everything was quiet once more.

“Ji Min?” Jong In gripped the phone.

“Ji Min?!”

“JI MIN?”

One by one, their yells grew louder and louder until they heard a creak from the phone.

It was Victoria’s voice. “Ji Min-ssi-oh!”

Jong In paled and he shook. His hands screamed with pain from gripping the table but he couldn’t do anything else.

“Luna! Luna! Someone get help! Ji Min-ssi’s fainted!”

That was when Jong In bolted out of the dorms.

-

I'm really proud of this chapter. Everything just flowed really well and the argument came out naturally.

MihiYeobo: hahaha Kai's y time always makes me lightheaded. Thanks for commenting! <3

YifeiLIM91: I cannot get over your username... and your LONG ASSS COMMENT! JFHKSLJDHFKLSDJ YOU MAKE ME HAPPY!!!!

sipeoyo: You are hilarious. really. XD <3

yiling: that's precisely why I made this :) glad to know you agree.

DancingShoes: GOGOGO! HAHAHA thank you!!!

2905-thai_JAE: skdjfhlskdjhfkasjdhf good chapter yeah?