A chapter that is longer than the usual! I'm probably the slowest fic writer on this planet, so please forgive me for such slow updates... /sobz

Luhan and Tao turn at the street corner, and Soon Tofu was nearing in sight. As they approach the shop front, they notice a familar figure.

Kris is standing awkwardly, just a few feet away from the entrance of the restaurant, not blocking the way of other incoming and outgoing customers. Kris is really tall; really, really tall. Although Luhan has known Kris for so long, he still never understood how Kris managed to grow this tall. It's even more noticeable now that other customers are walking past him to enter the store, making him look like a giraffe in the middle of a crowd of ants. A group of girls walk past him and whisper comments about him, all of them blushing in unison. Kris keeps his usual poker face (more like bish face lululul) on, eyeing them with a cold glare. The girls get so intimidated, escaping his stare, and enter into the restaurant. He loosens up his stare, shoulders slouching a bit, sharing his weight with the wall of Soon Tofu. Kris looks up and sees Luhan and Tao approaching him. His face automatically lit up, smiling at the two as they get closer.

"Hey! You guys got here fast", Kris smiles as warm as the sun, "And Tao, you're here too!"

"Tao didn't eat breakfast either, so I told him to comes with us for brunch. Ughhh, I'm so hungry! There better be no line up to get in, I don't want to starve", Luhan pouts, staring blankly into space. Tao looks at the two of them, and chuckles lightly. It funny to see his geges (gege; older brother in Chinese) act so cutely around him, it makes him feel more comfortable.

"Don't worry, I already got a number half an hour ago, I knew you'd say yes to eating at Soon Tofu anyday. There's only about one table before us when I called you, so there should be a free table by now, let's go!". Kris leads them in, opening the door for them. First Luhan walks in, followed by Tao. Kris winks at Tao to usher him in, making Tao slightly flustered. Kris was right, just as they walk in, their waiting number is called. The three of them are lead to the upper level of the restaurant, directed to sit at a booth seat by the window. Tao is about to sit, only to feel a gentle hand on his back, lightly pulling him back.

"Tao, you sit here", Kris pointing at the opposite side of the table. "You look tired, you should sit here to keep the sun out of your eyes. And look", shifting his eyes up to where the plasma TV is located, "Star King is on, and they're doing wushu right now". Just when Kris is about to join Tao by his side, Luhan swiftly slides onto the seat beside Tao.

"I'm going to sit beside panda~", Luhan chimes, snickering wickedly. Kris beams at Luhan and mouths, I'll get you back. Luhan sticks his tongue out in protest, none of this being noticed by Tao because he has already buried his face into the menu. They chose their meals quickly, all of them too hungry to really care what they are going to consume. After placing their orders, Tao puts his backpack on his lap and pulls out an entertainment magazine.

"Ouuu, is that the latest issue of W Korea?", Luhan asks curiously. Though the three of them are Chinese, they are quite up to date with the Korean entertainment industry due to their field of study.

"Yeah, and that new boy group, EXO-K has a pretty long photoshoot section to themselves considering they're rookies... No, wait, they haven't even debuted yet". Luhan tenses up, and Kris did notice that. Tao opens up the magazine, flipping through the pages of advertisement, arriving on the first page of the EXO-K spread. They're a bunch of flower boys, some of them containing quite androgynous features, but leaning a tad more towards the masculine side. Luhan leans in closer to take a better look.

"Whoa... They're all really good looking", Luhan says in awe, scanning the faces on the page. The two of them are so interested in the magazine, it made Kris lean in to see too.

"Hey... I think that's the group that Professor Yoo said is debuting next week. Let me check my email, hold on". Kris pulls an iPhone out of his pocket, his thumb in quick motion, tapping and sliding on the screen. Luhan loses his attention on the magazine and locked his eyes onto Kris as he checks his phone. The food had arrived but they are so focused and unmoved by the aroma of their food.

"Ah, here it is. Hey Kris, this is Prof Yoo and I hope you're doing well this weekend. This is kind of last minute, but I just got a call last night from my friend who is the PD of Music Bank. Two of his cameramen are on vacation and there are some problems with their flights, therefore they are unable to return in time for this upcoming episode's recording. He's looking for two temporal replacements, and I was hoping that you and Luhan can do it. Please let Luhan know, and get back to me as soon as possible on whether you can take this opportunity.", Kris pauses to look at Luhan who is still staring at his phone, "So, that's that... What do you think?"

"Luhan, do it! This is such a good opportunity! If you do a good job for this, maybe they'll ask you to intern at KBS", Tao convinces Luhan, seem to be even more excited than Luhan. Luhan's face is still blank, but he snaps back and composes himself, finally looking at Kris after the first time they talked about EXO-K.

"Uh...", Luhan mumbles slowly, "Yea, I guess I'll do it...", talking in a blur, reluctantly. He pulls his bowl of ja jang myun to him, begin stiring with his chopsticks.

"What's with that answer?", Kris grabs his spoon, "What? You don't want to do it? I thought you were looking for a job. Tao is right, this will be a good chance to show them your skills."

Luhan chokes. Trying to cough and sooth his throat, Tao pats his back and gives him a cup of water. "YES, I mean no, no as in yes'', Luhan's words in broken syllables, not really making much sense. ''I want to do it. Sorry, I'm just really out of it... And oh I'm hungry! Yes, hungry...", once again avoiding eye contact with Kris, and even Tao.

"You are acting so strange right now", Kris raises his eyebrow, "you sure you are okay?"

"Yes, I am sure", Luhan tries to reassure Kris, Kris does not seem too convinced but drops the questioning.

"So I will reply Prof Yoo that we can do it then", Kris changes his focus to Tao, "Tao you should come too, we can use an extra hand". Tao nods happily in reply, mouth too full of bibimbap goodness to be able to speak. The three of them then talk about their individual schedules for the following week. Being one of the most talented and hardworking people in the program, Kris is very popular when it comes to being invited to do local theater gigs. Tao is talented also, but because of his young age, not many people request him for paid jobs, though now that he is well known around the campus because of his occasional TV appearances. Tao mentions that he recently got an offer to be a stuntman for an upcoming movie, but he still has yet to decide whether he would take the position since it is a long term commitment afterall. Luhan on the other hand, also falls under the talented category... but very lazy. Luhan is not a boring person, not anti social either, but rather lacking initiative when it comes to socializing. He ended up being the only one out of the three of them with absolutely nothing but classes to attend to the upcoming week.

"Well, now you have the MuBank job, so that is something to do! Good job Luhan, you finally have a life", Kris teases in a cold, dry, sarcastic tone. Luhan glares at Kris, but sighs in agreement.

"I can't really argue that, because you're kind of right..."

"Don't stress over it too much, I'm honestly just teasing."

"Kris ge is so mean", Tao blushes, "Maybe something good will happen on your work day at KBS, who knows right?", he says cheerily. Luhan really hopes so too, praying actually. They finish their meals and paid the bill, removing themselves from the restaurant. As they step out the doors, Tao is distracted by a phone call. From eavesdropping on his conversation, Kris and Luhan concluded that it is a girl on the other line, because they heard a really loud squeal of Tao's name.

Kris observes Tao with curious eyes，paranoid about this phone call. Tao notices Kris, his eyes flicker out of embarrassment and walks a little further away to continue his conversation. After a few minutes, Tao returns to Luhan and Kris.

"Who was that?", Kris questions.

"That was my jie jie (jie jie; older sister in Chinese), Victoria", Tao answers. Luhan could have sworn Kris exhaled and relaxed his veiny, fisted hands. "She caught onto an earlier flight from China, so now I need to go and pick her up from the airport."

"Righto, you said she was staying for a month right?", Luhan recalls. Tao nods in response, eyes on his phone, checking the airport app on his phone.

"I better go now, she just got off the flight and probably will be out of customs by the time I arrive. I will catch you guys later!". Just as he is about to leave, he turns back, facing Kris, "Oh and Kris ge! Thank you so much for treating me to lunch!", he gives Kris a hug before he runs off towards the bus stop. Kris stood there like a tree, unmoved and lifeless.

"Yah, do you like Tao that much?", Luhan waves his hand in front of Kris' face, "You can't be serious... Do you... Have a thing for Tao?!"

Kris snaps out of it and shakes his head vigorously in denial, "No, I do not! I treat him like a younger brother, that is all!". Luhan eyes Kris, judging him. Ever since little, Kris has always had a thing for cute things. But the older he got, the more he denies it. Luhan was never the one to like cute things, but Kris made him start a liking towards it, so now it seems like Luhan is the cute cousin out of the two of them. Luhan doesn't blame Kris though; Tao is cute, a very cute dongsaeng indeed.

''Now what? Class is cancelled and there isn't really anything to do... Do you want to go out to karaoke tonight? Yixing and Jongdae are going tonight and they asked me to go too.''

''No'', Luhan hesitates, looking away, ''I'm going to hand in my assignment and then go back to the dorm. I'll go to karaoke another time though.'' 

''Hm, alrighty then, your call. Bye!'', then Kris strides off towards the parking lot. Luhan makes his way towards the fine arts faculty building, walking through the campus, making turns here and there. He walks through a tunnel that serves as a shortcut to his faculty building, its interior walls covered in graffiti art. The university allows this tunnel to be graffiti, it has been tradition for arts students to use. He is nearing the opposite side of the tunnel when something on the wall catches his doe eyes. It was a huge fanart graffiti... Of EXO-K? Damn, they've gotten really popular and they haven't even debuted yet!, Luhan compliments them to himself, his mouth curving into a half moon.

Luhan finally arrives at his faculty building. He enters into the elevator, ascending up to the floor he needs to go to. His assignment is to be handed in digitally, so he has his usb out in his hand, ready to get rid of this assignment that he has been working on for weeks. Ding, and the elevator doors separate. With his eyes on his usb, Luhan wasn't looking at where he was going (yeah, I just noticed that I'm makin Luhan a clutzy boy in this fic OTL), and bumps into someone when he exits the elevator. His usb is knocked out of his hand, nearly dropped into the gap between the elevator floor and the building floor. A gloved hand catches Luhan's blue, Disney, Scrump usb just inches above the gap. (In case you didn't know, Scrump is that bean bag toy that Lilo gave to Stitch [I think])

''Aish, becareful!'', a soft voice tells Luhan. The voice is familiar, Luhan looks up to see if it's the person he identifies this voice with, and he was no mistakened.

''Yixing! I'm so sorry! And oh god, thank you for catching this! My weeks of hard work would've fallen to its death bed if you didn't catch that'', Luhan breathing hard, looking as if his heart leaped out of him.

''No worries, good thing I have fast reflexes'', Yixing hands the usb back to Luhan, the two of them stepping out of the elevator, ''but what kind of usb is this? How old are you? Jesus. (I really want to type Krisus, but I won't LOL)''

''Don't judge me! Kris got that for me for my birthday last year. It's a 16GB usb too, I don't want to put it to waste... Plus'', his cheeks turning to a shade of pink, lips curled into his mouth, ''It's cute........''

''Yeah okay, whatever you say then... Oh, are you coming to noraebang (noraebang; karaoke in Korean) tonight? I told Kris to ask you.''

''He already asked me, and no, I'm not going tonight, sorry'', Luhan bows in apology. 

''Why? You're done this assignment anyway! Plus you didn't come last time either. You should come. This noraebang is new and they have a lot of Chinese songs with Chinese subtitles!''

''I know, but I can't. I'm uh, busy tonight! There's a new show that I want to see.''

''What new show?''

''I can't remember the name'', Luhan looks at his watch, ''Yixing, I need to go hand in this assignment before the due time which is in about... Ten minutes! I'll talk to you later okay? Bye!''. Luhan rushes off and disappears into the far end of the hallway.

''Why is he in such a rush? It's like he doesn't want to talk to me or something...'', Yixing scratches the space behind his right ear, tilting his head to the side.

Luhan successfully hands in his assignment on time, with five minutes to spare. He unplugs his usb and heads his way back towards his dorm apartment. Walking into his dorm building, he walks past the security guard at reception, nodding his once to greet him.

''Ah Luhan-shi, back so early already? You're not going out today?''

''Ani, I didn't feel like going anywhere, I just want to stay home today.''

''But it's so nice out today! You should go out more often, it's good exercise.''

''Ehe, I suppose so. I'll go another day though'', Luhan waves goodbye to him and unlocks the door to his dorm apartment. He goes back into his room, throwing his backpack onto his bed, and walks over to his desk to turn on his laptop. He pulls back out the usb and plugs it into his laptop, clicking open file when the notification pop up appeared on his screen.

''Finally home, and now that I'm done my assignment...'', he moves his mouse, clicking on the folder that says photos. Turning his head back to check and make sure no one is at home, he is reassured and proceeds to clicking into another folder. This is a folder that Luhan refuses to show others. When his precious usb nearly dropped into that gap, it wasn't the assignment that he was worried about. He can easily retrieve it from his laptop again and just talk his way out of getting into trouble for handing in the assignment a little later. It was this folder that he treasures so much, because in there, roughly one hundred photos were stored, all labelled in numerical order; photos of something that he is scared that his loving cousin will make fun of him for because he has never taken an interest towards this kind of stuff before...

They were all candids and some posed shots, every photo released up to date of that group Kris was so uninterested in earlier; EXO-K.