Thursday morning.

“Ba-ba-ba-ba-banana…” The Banana and Potato song of the Minions started playing on Xiumin’s phone as his alarm tone in the morning. “Ba-ba-ba-ba-banana…” It kept on ringing and successfully woke Xiumin up.

Xiumin got his phone and turned the alarm off without opening his eyes yet. He put his phone under his pillow once more and tried to sleep but a thought suddenly came in his mind – him kissing Jun Hee’s cheek. He furrowed his eyebrows and opened his eyes slowly. He then got up from his bed while shaking his head and slapping his own cheeks from the thought.

He headed to the bathroom and washed his face still with his eyebrows furrowed while putting an effort to open his eyes wide. He brushed his teeth and stared bluntly at himself at the mirror. He then rinsed it off with water and gargled it slowly while his eyes were still half open.

Someone suddenly came in and joined Xiumin in the bathroom. Xiumin tried to open his eyes, only to see Chen, putting toothpaste on his toothbrush. His eyes got widely open as he spit out the water in his mouth, as if Chen had fully awaken his mind, body and soul.

“Good morning hyung,” Chen said, his eyes were still half open as well. He got some water from the sink and put some in his cup as he brushed his teeth lazily.

Xiumin on the other hand looked at Chen, as if he was seeing a ghost. “Ch-Chen?”

“Hm?” Chen asked. He was deeply concentrated on brushing his teeth.

“Am I dreaming?” Xiumin asked himself. He didn’t want to face Chen yet.

Chen suddenly slapped Xiumin’s cheek with a blunt expression, while Xiumin groaned because of pain. “It hurts right? Now you’re awake,” Chen said and continued brushing his teeth.

“Did he do that on purpose? N-Now I’m awake? Yes, Xiumin, Jun Hee’s not your girlfriend and one of your friends likes her, why would you kiss her?!” Xiumin thought to himself. “C-Can you slap me again?” Xiumin asked.

Chen slapped Xiumin harder. “Can’t you slap yourself? I’m feeling a bit guilty slapping someone older than me,” Chen said. He then gargled some water from his cup and spat it out as soon as he rinsed the toothpaste off of his teeth already.

Xiumin scratched his head. “Are you awake, Chen?”

“Hyung, you really need to slap yourself, don’t you?! Can’t you see me standing here in front of you?” Chen asked sarcastically.

“Are you… Are you busy today? Is it okay if we talk?” Xiumin asked.

“We’re talking already hyung,” Chen said in a monotonous voice.

Lu Han suddenly came in with a blunt expression as Chen and Xiumin had a while ago, with Kris following him. Lu Han put toothpaste on his toothbrush and put some on Kris’ brush too. They both looked like they were in a funeral.

Lu Han had not yet talked to Mei for two days already. He still didn’t know how he will explain his reason for kissing her. Kris on the other hand had no communications with Angela either for the past six days, after Angela asked for a cool off.

Chen and Xiumin watched the both guys as they brushed their teeth lazily as well.

“Anyways, Chen… We must talk.” Xiumin said and suddenly felt sweat dripping from his forehead.

“Yeah… Sure…” Chen said and walked to the living room. Suddenly, he bumped Tao, who still had his eyes closed, that made his whole body awaken.

“DAMN IT TAO, YOU SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST PUT AN EFFORT OPENING YOUR EYES!” Chen said, almost shouting.

“My bad, gege…” Tao let out a sigh. “I had the best dream last night and thought that I might stay on that dream if I still had my eyes closed,” Tao said, earning a whack from Chen.

“How could you be so foolish, Tao?” Chen said and went to the living room.

“Breakfast is ready,” Lay said, with his eyes still half open.

“Yi Xing gege, why are you still in the midst of reality and dreams?” Chen asked.

“Shut up. I’m tired of cooking, can D.O. substitute for me?” Lay said as he sat on the dining table.

Chen chuckled. He sipped some of the tasty congee which Lay cooked. “Aigoo, this never fails to satisfy my apetite, gege. You should be giving some of these to Angela,”

“A-Angela? How’d you know about her?” Lay asked with his eyebrows furrowing.

Tao pushed Lay a bit and squinted. “Don’t act like you don’t know gege. You just confessed to her in Tokyo, didn’t you?”

Chen stood and chuckled as he walked to Lay and cupped his cheek with his two hands. “I love Angela because her smile’s the only thing I’d totally go crazy for – a smile that I would totally fight for over other men,” Chen teased as he said the exact words Lay told Angela during the ‘I love you because…’ spin-the-bottle game. Lay on the other hand just chuckled quietly, as a dimple formed on his right cheek.

“Will you just go back to your seats and eat? You’re making my head turn,” Kris said and gave everyone a look.

Chen and Tao looked at Lay, who was looking at the ground from the embarrassment. The two youngest members of the group went back to their seats and concentrated on their congees once more.

“Ya, Xiumin gege, Lu Han gege, what seems to be the problem?” Tao asked. His two geges still have not yet eaten anything from the congee served in their own bowls. They were only looking at it without any expression.

“I-Is there something wrong with the congee? Does it taste weird?” Lay asked, a bit nervous about his cooking.

“No… I just feel like a bum today…” Lu Han said, his eye bags got deeper from stressful thinking. Lay patted Lu Han’s back, already getting the reason why Lu Han acts like that.

Chen looked at Lu Han’s eyes, noticing the black circles below it. “Damn, gege, you’re getting weird… Last time you were all kissing us like a maniac… Now you look so depressed… Are you on high?!”

A hand suddenly hit Chen’s forehead, making him groan. It was Kris’ hand. “Shut up. No one’s allowed to take illicit drugs here, alright? And stop those kinds of jokes Chen, they’re not funny,” Kris said coldly.

“Yaaaaaa! Why are you so agitated today gege?! And why do all of you look like hopeless persons? AISH, I’m getting frustrated!” Chen said as he sat up straight on his chair. “Oh by the way, Huang Zi Tao, could you just tell me, what your dream was, just to enlighten up this gloomy atmosphere?”

“O-Of course not! It’s none of your business,” Tao stammered and continued eating his congee.

Chen whacked Tao’s forehead. “You bumped me a while ago and you didn’t even say sorry! Now, you own me a story!”

Tao scratched his head and continued eating like he didn’t hear what Chen told him.

“Ya!” Chen called Tao’s attention once more. “Just tell me what it’s all about,”

Tao swallowed the soup first before talking. The others on the other hand paid attention to him. “About me,” He giggled and earned a hit from Kris.

“Ya, just tell it! You call yourself a man?!” Kris said, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey, stop hitting Tao! Don’t you pity him? He’s already foolish and by hitting him more, he might be much stupid!” Lay said sarcastically patting Tao’s head.

“It’s his fault! Why don’t you just spoil your dream so we could stop hitting you?!” Chen complained.

Tao rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll say it,” Tao chuckled once more. “I dreamt of a girl…”

The members paid attention to Tao, as they stopped eating their congees.

“She was wiping my sweat after I practiced wushu…” Tao looked at his geges who seemed so into his topic already. “She was looking at me, like I was the only man born in the world! Her eyes were so innocent, her nose was perfect, her skin was flawless white, her eyebrows was perfectly laid on her face that when she smiled, I thought I’ve already reached heavens…”

Everyone was having their own imagination of their dream girl. Lu Han could not help himself but think of Mei; Lay and Kris had the same thought – imagining Angela wiping their sweat as well; Chen looked up the ceiling, imagining Jun Hee’s smile; and Xiumin tried to stop himself from thinking about Jun Hee, but what could he do, he’s still thinking of Jun Hee no matter how hard he try to prevent him from doing so.

Tao continued his narration. “I suddenly felt like I was in a cloud nine. I felt so light, like I was-“

“Can you stop being so descriptive and elaborative, I feel like reading a novel!” Kris interrupted Tao while everyone stared at him. They were also interrupted from their wild imaginations. “I mean, do you think we’ll also feel like we’re in a cloud nine in reality?! Come on you were just dreaming, just tell us what happened!”

“But that’s what happened! I mean, I don’t know I feel like falling for that girl already! Her smile – I always see it in my dream!”

“You feel that way too?” Lu Han asked like an obsessed admirer.

Tao nodded with a sincere look on his face.

“Just tell us what happened after she wiped your sweat, would that be okay?” Kris said in a monotonous voice.

“Okay, after she wiped the sweat off of my face… I dropped my wushu stick, without any intentions of doing so…” He held his chest and looked somewhere, as if, the girl was in front of him. “I felt the rush of the beating of my heart, feeling ner-“

“Tao, you’re doing it again…” Kris said with a blunt expression.

“Oh, you’re right!” Tao said and giggled. “As the wushu stick escaped my hand… I cupped her cheeks that fitted perfectly on my hands… I leaned in closer… closer… closer…”

“HUANG ZI TAO, JUST TELL US YOU KISSED HER.” Kris said, trying to end the discussion.

“That’s the problem gege…” Tao let out a deep sigh. “Our faces were inches apart… The tip of my nose reached hers… She already closed her eyes, giving me a signal that I can already kiss her… But reality woke me up from the beautiful dream, my alarm clock suddenly roared, and as I opened my eyes, she’s gone out of my sight… That’s the reason why I tried to close my eyes as I walked to the bathroom a while ago, and I bumped Chen gege a while ago. I still want to kiss her, but when I tried to close my eyes, the dream never came back, and that’s the moment my whole soul woke up from the reality.”

“Wow, Tao’s already growing up! I’m so proud being a gege!” Chen said and clapped his hands.

“But Tao…” Xiumin suddenly spoke up, with his eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s this girl of your dreams?”

Tao giggled. He moved his index finger towards him, gesturing for his geges to move closer to him. The elder boys did as what Tao told them to, while Tao leaned in closer and whispered, “Park Jin Ra,”

“REALLY?!” The five elder members shouted.

“B-But wait, who’s Park Jin Ra?” Chen asked, confused from what Tao just said.

Tao chuckled. “My job’s done, I spoiled everything already,” He stood and so did Lu Han, Kris and Lay, leaving him and Xiumin in the dining room.

“Ya, hyung, do you know who Park Jin Ra is? Wait, what are the real names of the S Ori mem-“ Chen was suddenly cut off by Xiumin.

“Chen,” Xiumin called, his face serious than sincere. “I… I did something wrong…”

Chen suddenly got surprised from the change of mood. He turned to face Xiumin and get a better view of him. “What is it hyung?”

Xiumin bit his lip and scratched the back of his nape. “I… I kissed Jun Hee on the cheek…”

Chen couldn’t believe with what he heard. He let out a snicker and looked at Xiumin with his eyebrows raising, “Y-You what?”

“Last night, I also prepared an individual surprise at her at the rooftop… I just want to surprise her myself since I want to make it different from giving gifts to her, like what I did in the past four years we’ve been together… But something happened that wasn’t on my plan… I… kissed her on the cheek last night… without any intentions of doing so,” Xiumin said slowly as he looked on the ground, as if he was swallowing every word that came out of his mouth.

Chen looked at Xiumin with a straight face. He tried to process everything in his mind for three seconds without moving a bit. He suddenly stood and aggressively pulled Xiumin’s collar, making the elder stand. “YOU TOLD ME YOU’RE NOT INTO HER! YOU PROMISED HYUNG!” Chen shouted, making the other boys of Exo-M go back to the dining room to see what happened.

“I-I didn’t kn-“ Xiumin was about to explain yet Chen stopped him from doing so.

“I TRUSTED YOU!” Chen shouted aggressively, enough for the Exo-K members to hear. Kris pulled Chen, from Xiumin, yet Chen gripped on Xiumin’s collar tightly. “I TRUSTED YOU HYUNG!” He repeated, that made Xiumin’s heart sank.

“What’s happening here?” Su Ho, who just came in because of hearing Chen’s shouting, asked. He just intended to check what was happening in the Exo-M’s dorm since he heard the noises and got worried.

Kris got successful from pulling Chen away from Xiumin, yet he still tries to get near to Xiumin once more. “LET GO OF ME KRIS HYUNG! LET ME TALK TO THIS TRAITOR FIRST!!!”

Xiumin looked on the ground and sighed. Lu Han quickly went to his side and tapped his back. “What’s happening Xiumin gege?” Lu Han asked.

“Hey, Chen, stop saying such things to your hyung!” Kris warned.

“I talked to you about it Xiumin hyung, didn’t I? You told me you’re only friends with her!” Chen said like he didn’t hear anything.

“I didn’t do it on purpose...” Xiumin spoke at last. “I-“

Chen shoved Kris’ arms away from him that the elder almost fell on his . Good thing Tao held his back and kept him in his balance. Chen on the other hand pushed Xiumin hardly, “How could you tell me that it wasn’t intentional? Of course you planned doing that!” Chen pushed Xiumin once more. “You didn’t go to her birthday so you could surprise her also?! That’s sick hyung!” Chen held Xiumin’s collar once again that made Kris alarmed. He tried to pull Chen away from Xiumin once more.

“I know you like her also as much as I do… I’ve seen you, but I was just trying to hold on to what you said before - that you’re only treating her like your little sister,” Chen said with disgust on his voice.

“I DON’T! I mean, I swear I don’t have any intentions of liking her!” Xiumin said.

Chen snickered. “I’ve been hurt enough hyung!” He pointed his index finger to Xiumin. “Every time you look at her, every time you hold her hand, every time you- DAMN IT! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LET HER LIVE ON HER OWN?! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST VANISH IN HER WORLD HYUNG?!”

“I CAN’T LOSE JUN HEE!” Xiumin couldn’t control his emotions anymore. “It’s not that I’m in love with her! I just can’t lose Jun Hee by my side Chen!”

“Chen gege… likes Jun Hee?” Tao asked Lay, who was silently watching beside Tao. Lay didn’t answer, like he haven’t heard Tao’s question.

Chen snickered. “SHUT UP HYUNG. That’s too much drama! Face the reality! You like her, that’s why you kissed her, didn’t you? And since you know that I also like Jun Hee, you’re trying to get her first before I get her away from you! Isn’t that the reason why you don’t want to lose her?! HUH?!”

Xiumin got silent. He didn’t know what to answer. He was just too confused of what he did, and what’s already happening.

Chen held Xiumin’s shoulders and shook him aggressively. “ANSWER ME HYUNG!”

Xiumin pushed Chen away from him. “COULD YOU LET ME EXPLAIN FIRST?!”

Chen sighed. “I don’t need your explanations. The only question here is if you like her or no…”

Xiumin couldn’t answer the question. He just couldn’t say that he doesn’t want Jun Hee. “Tao’s dream was real… When you’re in that moment, Chen… When you’re in that exact moment… It’s that inexplicable feeling of ‘feeling nothing’… It’s like being unable to think… And the cloud nine’s when you finally press your lips on to the girl’s soft cheek… and then everything in your world seems to vanish, even yourself… The only thing in the world that is present is that girl you’ve been attracted to… It wasn’t on my plan Chen, believe me. It just happened. Yeah, that’s the exact sentence… It just really happened without me knowing why and how,”

“And you’re expecting me to believe that?” Chen asked, now with a calm voice. Chen shoved Kris’ arm away from him again and finally let go of Xiumin’s collar. He quickly walked out of the scene, leaving the six boys dumbfounded.

“Hey Chen, come back here,” Kris said and followed him so he could stop him.

Su Ho stopped Kris from doing so. “Let him be alone for a while hyung. Let him find out the solution on his own,”

“How could this thing happen Xiumin hyung?” Kris asked.

“I don’t know either…” Xiumin said while his knees got weak. He sat on a chair, where he was seated a while ago.

“What have you done Xiumin hyung?” Lay asked.

“I kissed Jun Hee on the cheek… Without knowing how and why it happened… That’s all,” Xiumin narrated.

“So you like Jun Hee?” Lay kept on asking.

“I don’t know either,” Xiumin said.

“Either ways, Xiumin hyung… I’m trusting you on this problem like how you trusted me with my problem before… And I know you can handle this…” Kris said and patted Xiumin’s shoulder. “I’ll find a way to calm Chen down… Maybe later when he comes back,”

Xiumin nodded and breathed heavily.

“Guys, let’s leave Xiumin gege first and let him process everything in his mind first… Xiumin hyung, tell me when you need our help, we’re just by your side…”

“Thanks,” Xiumin said and bit his lip.

Meanwhile at S Ori-K’s dorm… Jino and Iseul were at their own scheduled practices for their performance in the SM Town Live World Tour III in Seoul. Cho Hee and Sun on the other hand went to their school. The only ones left in the dorm were Jun Hee and Na Rae, who will be having vocal training sessions later in the afternoon.

“Ya, Jun Hee unni, didn’t you have a good sleep last night?” Na Rae asked.

“Huh? W-Why?” Jun Hee asked.

“Look at your eyes, there are deep circles forming below it…” Na Rae said as she looked at Jun Hee’s eyes.

“Aigoo, don’t mind those. I think I just got super happy last night that I wasn’t able to sleep that much,” Jun Hee said and let out a fake chuckle. She held her left cheek – the exact place where Xiumin pressed his soft lips onto. “Was I dreaming last night? If I was, what kind of dream was that?!” Jun Hee mumbled.

“What?” Na Rae asked, unable to hear what Jun Hee was saying.

A sudden knock cut their conversation. Jun Hee took the initiative to open the door, to escape Na Rae’s interrogations.

“Chen oppa?” Jun Hee asked as she saw Chen with a serious expression on his face.

“Jun Hee,” Chen called and pulled Jun Hee for a hug. He hugged her tightly, as if the stress comes out of his body when he does that.

Jun Hee was shocked from the sudden hug. “Ch-Chen oppa, is there a problem?” Jun Hee asked, trying not to sound uncomfortable from the hug. She just thought that Chen could be facing a deep problem that he only needed a hug. And with that, she hugged Chen back, and patted his back.

“I don’t know what to do anymore so I thought of running here instead, to clarify things,” Chen said and pulled away from Jun Hee so he could face her.

“H-Huh? I don’t understand Chen oppa…”

Chen looked directly on Jun Hee’s eyes. “Don’t be surprised...”

“W-Why?” Jun Hee felt nervous as Chen slowly spills the words out of his mouth.

Chen let out a deep breath and continued, “I like you… more than a friend could like his friend...”

Jun Hee tried to process everything in her mind. Chen likes her – she just doesn’t know how to react and what to say.

“I’m not pushing myself to you, Jun Hee… I just want you to be aware of my feelings,” Chen explained.

“Wait… What’s the matter? I mean, why are you saying these things to me all of a sudden?” Jun Hee asked.

“Nothing. I just want you to know my feelings before anyone else confesses to you,” Chen said. He then scratched his head and bit his lip. “I’m… I’m going,”

“O-Okay,” Jun Hee said awkwardly and waved goodbye to Chen. Chen on the other hand did the same thing. As Jun Hee closed the door, Na Rae came towards her.

“Unni, what was that?” Na Rae asked.

“I don’t know… He… He confessed his feelings towards me and it’s so awkward!” Jun Hee said. “Shoot. How do I handle things like this?!”

“Just act normal like nothing happened…” Na Rae advised.

“BUT IT’S AWKWARD HOW WOULD I ACT LIKE THAT?” Jun Hee panicked and ended with a pout.

Na Rae suddenly chuckled. “I’mma tell this to every one!!!” She quickly got her phone and sent a message to the other S Ori members, stating what just happened between Chen and Jun Hee.

Jun Hee on the other hand, didn’t mind what Na Rae was doing. She was just restless. She wanted to call Xiumin to ask for an advice, yet every time she thinks of Xiumin, the thought of the kiss just comes back, making her a bit awkward to her best friend too.

Afternoon came… The news about Chen confessing to Jun Hee had spread all over the members of S Ori and Exo. S Ori thought it was a good way to tease Chen and Jun Hee since they weren’t aware that there is a problem between Chen and Xiumin until…

“K-Kris?” Angela said as she opened the door when she heard someone knocked. She felt distracted seeing her boyfriend again. For six days, she hasn’t seen or talked to Kris since that’s what she wanted. She wanted to find what’s best for her – being with Kris or being without him. Yet as she saw Kris, standing in front of her, everything about the cool off suddenly faded, and she felt like hugging her boyfriend tightly again, yet she tried not to do so.

“Angela I need to talk to you,” Kris said, trying not to say the word ‘babe’ so she could not feel his presence, since it’s what she wants. It had hurt him seeing her like this. He wasn’t used to this. He wanted her back, but for him, Angela’s happiness is what matters most.

“A-About what?” Angela snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Kris calling her by her name.

Kris looked around. “Can you come outside for a while?”

***

Kris and Angela sat at a bench near a staircase. Angela tried not to sit close to Kris, and so did Kris. Angela played her fingers while Kris stared at nowhere.

“Chen’s mad at Xiumin gege…” Kris started. He narrated what happened this morning, while Angela listened in shock. Her feelings got distracted from what Kris was telling her. “I don’t know what to do anymore as a leader, so I thought of running to you…”

“So that’s the reason why Chen suddenly confessed to Jun Hee this morning…” Angela mumbled. “Does the Exo-K members know about this?”

“Definitely,” Kris said and nodded.

Angela got worried for the two members. She then scratched her head, unable to think of anything. Kris on the other hand watched her carefully. He realized how much he missed his girlfriend. The way she scratched her head from frustration, the way her eyebrows furrow from concern, the way she bite her lips when she can’t think of any solution to a problem – Kris completely memorized it. He wanted to hug her tightly, yet he just couldn’t.

“Well…” Angela at last spoke. “For now, remember that you can’t take sides. Even if the other one has a greater point, or even if the other one’s wrong, you just can’t take sides since you’re the leader. Your focus is how to make things right, instead of looking for their good points,”

“How do I make things right?” Kris mumbled.

Angela held Kris’ shoulder. “Don’t rush it, but you must make sure you’ll be making progress every day,” Angela gave Kris an assuring smile.

Kris on the other hand pursed his lips. “Thanks,”

Angela nodded. “So I guess I have to leave,” Angela stood and so did Kris.

Kris raised his hand and waved. “Bye,”

Angela on the other hand waved her hand too. “Bye,” She left Kris and went back to their dorm.

Evening came. Chen finally got back at their dorm… Everyone was silent as he got inside the dorm. Tao pretended to watch TV silently together with Lay while Xiumin, Lu Han and Kris were inside their respective rooms.

“I…” Lay suddenly broke the awkward silence. “…cooked dinner,”

Chen smiled and nodded. “I already ate, thanks though,”

Lay didn’t know what to say anymore so he looked back at the TV.

“Uhm… Lay gege, is Xiumin gege inside his room?” Chen asked, as he kept the smile on his face.

“Y-Yeah,” Lay nodded.

“Is he mad at me?” Chen asked.

“That I don’t know… But I’m sure he was shock by your sudden aggressiveness,” Lay replied hesitantly. He didn’t know what Xiumin really feels, but he just said what he observed.

“Alright,” Chen said and went to his room.

“Gege,” Tao called as he sat beside Lay abruptly. “Why does his mood seem to change?”

Lay raised his shoulder without any interest on the topic.

The next day... It was the day for BoA to feature Se Hun as her partner in her ‘Only One’ performance in Music Bank. Lu Han came at the studio to support Se Hun.

Meanwhile at S Ori-K’s dorm…

“Sun unni! Let’s watch Se Hun oppa’s performance with BoA sunbae!” Cho Hee invited.

Sun was reading a magazine and turned her pupils to Cho Hee’s direction. “You mean live?”

Cho Hee nodded.

“Why?” Sun asked and flipped another page of the magazine.

“I-I just want to watch BoA sunbae’s performance,” Cho Hee said and played with her fingers.

Sun stood and crossed her arms and let out a sarcastic laugh. “Tell me Cho Hee, who’s the real reason why you’re going to watch that performance live?”

Cho Hee scratched her head. “Both of them, of course!”

Sun sneered. “Really?” She said sarcastically.

“Aish, fine, if you don’t want to, I’m just going to call Baekhyun oppa instead,” Cho Hee said and looked for Baekhyun’s number on her phone.

Sun laughed. “Aigoo, wait until Baekhyun oppa goes mad at you for being a supportive ‘yeobo’ to Se Hun,” Sun teased.

“Shut up,” Cho Hee said with a straight face. “Baekhyunnie oppa!” Cho Hee called, trying to make her voice sweet.

“What? Wait, let me guess… Is that a favor?” Baekhyun asked on the other line. He already memorized every action Cho Hee does.

“Uhm… Yeah, a bit… Something like that,” Cho Hee said and looked for other words to describe what she’s going to say to Baekhyun.

“Whatever, I’m hanging up,” Baekhyun said coldly.

“YA! Wait, it’s not a favor!”

“Then what is it?” Baekhyun asked.

“Do you like to watch BoA sunbae and Se Hun oppa’s performance? I mean, live in the studio?” Cho Hee asked in an inviting way.

“NO.” Baekhyun said tightly.

Sun laughed as she heard what Baekhyun said, since she went near Cho Hee’s phone to hear Baekhyun’s answer to Cho Hee’s invitation. “Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”

“No! We can just watch that on TV, Cho Hee,”

“But it’s different when it’s live!” Cho Hee tried to convince Baekhyun but she just couldn’t. “Fine, I’ll go there by myself. THANKS A LOT BOY FRIEND!” Cho Hee said and quickly hung up.

Sun was laughing hard at Cho Hee, earning a whack from her. “Seriously, you’ll go there by yourself? You might get lost Cho Hee,” Sun said in a honeyed voice.

“Shut up unni,” Cho Hee said as she put on her beret and went outside the room.

“Take care of yourself!” Sun said.

***

As Cho Hee got outside the dorm building, she was suddenly surprised seeing Baekhyun standing in front of it. She tried not to look at Baekhyun and pass by him, but Baekhyun took her hand and stopped her.

“Ya, I’m coming with you!” Baekhyun said and turned Cho Hee so she would face him.

“I thought you don’t want to? I’m going by myself,” Cho Hee said and tried to free herself from Baekhyun’s grasp.

“Yeah, I changed my mind…” Baekhyun said with a mischievous smile.

“Really?” Cho Hee asked, raising one eyebrow.

Baekhyun nodded, still keeping his mischievous smile.

Cho Hee narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this,”

Baekhyun giggled. “Well… I have a favor too,”

“What is it?” Cho Hee’s face got inexpressive.

“EAT ALL I CAN, YOUR TREEEEEEEAT! Let’s go!” Baekhyun said and pulled Cho Hee.

“Y-Ya! I didn’t agree to that yet!” Cho Hee said yet she has been pulled by Baekhyun.

Meanwhile at the SM Building… Jino and Onew were having fun in their last practice...

“Hey Jino, do you want to eat out later after practice?” Onew asked as they had a five-minute water break.

“Sure, I’m a bit hungry too,” Jino nodded.

“Where do you want to eat?” Onew asked.

Jino thought for a moment. “We’ll see, after we practice. I’m fine everywhere,”

“Okay, Onew and Jino, last run for today,” the trainer called.

***

Cho Hee and Baekhyun sat at the front row of seats in the studio. As BoA’s performance came, Cho Hee’s heart began to pound, as if she was also going to perform.

Baekhyun noticed Cho Hee’s hands and feet are trembling from nervousness and excitement. Cho Hee kept wiping the sweat off of her face using her handkerchief.

As BoA’s back-up dancers formed a circle around her, Cho Hee felt her pulse pumped loudly, to the beat of her heart. And then, a few seconds later…

“GO SEHUNNIE!!!” Baekhyun cheered.

Cho Hee’s mind got lost as Se Hun walked slowly towards BoA. As she watched Se Hun carefully, she felt like every one vanished, except for her and Se Hun, together with the piano adlib that was playing softly on her ears. She suddenly imagined herself in place of BoA – Se Hun slowly walking towards her, and after two steps, he bent his upper body a bit and ran towards her, aiming to reach the palms of her hands; and as their palms touched, he slowly stood up without losing the contact of their palms – their faces inches apart from each other with Cho Hee’s eyes leveled exactly at Se Hun’s plump lips.

“Ya, Cho Hee, you’re… red!!! Are you alright?!” Baekhyun asked, distracting Cho Hee from her imagination.

Cho Hee woke up and had heard the loud cheers of the fans once more. She then turned to Baekhyun with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me, boy friend,”

Baekhyun kept blabbering things about her health, yet Cho Hee was so focused in Se Hun’s performance. She noticed Se Hun’s expressive eyes, which were enough for him to give the emotion of the dance. His collarbones that were exposed due to his revealing undershirt made Cho Hee much distracted. It was just enough for her to say that Se Hun isn’t just an eighteen year old dancer; Se Hun is a man – her ideal man.

After the show, as promised, Cho Hee and Baekhyun headed to a restaurant just near Yeouidodong, Yeongdeungpogu, Seoul (where KBS new wing hall is located, which is the place where Music Bank is broadcasted). They went at ‘Paul’, a restaurant located at the ground floor of Marriott Executive Apartments where different kinds of French cuisine, mainly pastries and sandwiches, are served.

“Cho Hee what do you want to eat?” Baekhyun asked, while his eyes were still focused on the menu, while his mouth was already drooling from hunger.

“Hmm…” Cho Hee thought for a while. “I think I’d like to have this La Salade Atlantique,”  Cho Hee pointed at the picture on the menu.

“Okay. Miss, give me an order of that,” Baekhyun said as his eyes were still wandering through the menu. “I’d like to have one La Salad Fermiere, one Saumard Epinard and one Croque Madame,” He said and gave the waitress a smile.

“Is that all you need, sir?” The waitress asked while Baekhyun nodded. The waitress got the menus from their hands and left them.

“Y-Ya!” Cho Hee called, keeping her voice low.

“What?” Baekhyun asked without any expression.

“HOW COULD YOU ORDER A LOT?! We’re only two persons here… And I don’t have much money right now!!!” Cho Hee murmured as she panicked.

Baekhyun chuckled. “How could you possibly think that I’ll let my dearest girl friend treat me? Of course Cho Hee, I’m your boy friend; I’m responsible whenever we eat out,”

Cho Hee blushed and chuckled. “You’re serious with that?”

Baekhyun winked. “Why do you always blush?! Gosh, are you crushing on me?!” He asked suspiciously.

“Am I blushing?!” Cho Hee asked, her eyes growing wider.

Baekhyun nodded. “Yeah. And even a while ago when Se Hun’s dancing with BoA sunbae,”

“R-Really?” Cho Hee asked while she played with her hair.

The waitress suddenly came back, serving the foods they ordered.

Baekhyun quickly got a spoonful of his salad. “So, what makes you blush Cho Hee?”

Cho Hee on the other hand got pieces of vegetables from her salad. “Things or qualities a girl wants with her ideal man,”

Baekhyun blushed. “S-So you mean, you-“

“No, I’m not crushing on you,” Cho Hee said with a straight face. “But what you said made me blush. I just thought of my ideal man telling that same thing to me. Oh my, boy friend, I don’t know why but I think you’d be a good boyfriend! Well, not for me, for other girls, I mean,”

“Yeah right. Of course I am, can’t you see how handsome I am?” Baekhyun giggled. He sliced some bread and put it on Cho Hee’s plate. “Eat that, and get some of my bread, I won’t be able to finish this,”

“Thanks,” Cho Hee said and did as what she was told.

“So Cho Hee…” Baekhyun said, while slicing his bread. “Do you like Se Hun?”

Cho Hee was drinking juice when she almost choked from the question. “W-Why are you asking me that?!”

“Because I can read it on your face like it’s a widely opened book.” Baekhyun said and looked at Cho Hee teasingly. “Seriously, your face can’t hide it, Cho Hee. And even your actions!”

“Y-Ya! You must be misunderstanding-“ Cho Hee was about to explain herself yet Baekhyun cut her off.

“You blush when he’s there. A smile forms on your lips whenever he performs. You watch him carefully when he performs, like you’re an avid fan girl. I can tell it Cho Hee, you like our maknae,”

Cho Hee stopped munching her food and stopped eating. “A-And so what if I like him?!”

“So you really like him?” Baekhyun asked with a smirk.

“Oppa…” Cho Hee said and nodded embarrassedly. She raised her bread knife in front of Baekhyun’s face. “TRY TELLING IT TO HIM OR THIS KNIFE GOES DIRECTLY ON YOUR FOREHEAD,”

“Fine,” Baekhyun said and Cho Hee brought her knife back down on the table. “But is it okay if I invited him here? ‘Cause I actually did…” Baekhyun said and tried to give an innocent smile to Cho Hee.

“W-WHAT?! WHY’D YOU DO THAT?!” Cho Hee panicked. She had the feeling that Baekhyun will definitely , once Se Hun’s in the restaurant.

“I was actually going to invite Lu Han hyung also, but he has a practice with BoA sunbae for her next performance of ‘Only One’,”

Cho Hee paused for a moment and glared at Baehkyun. “AISH!!! I’m going to leave you here!!!” She said and stood from her chair, still keeping a glare at Baekhyun.

“Why are you leaving? I just came here,” Someone suddenly interrupted that made Cho Hee slowly look behind Baekhyun. Cho Hee’s heart skipped fast, as the guy looked at her with a sly smile. “Sit down yeobo,” Se Hun said and sat beside Baekhyun.

“Heard that girl friend? Sit down!” Baekhyun commanded.

Cho Hee slowly sat down on her seat and froze on her spot. “I’m actually done-“

Baekhyun cut Cho Hee off. “Se Hunnie, I don’t want to sit with you! I need my own personal space!!!” He pushed Se Hun away from him, making him stand up with a surprised expression on his face.

“Why are you suddenly like this? You often cling your arms to everyone especially with Chanyeol hyung…” Se Hun asked, who was now walking towards the seat beside Cho Hee.

“Y-Ya, you’re going to seat here?!” Cho Hee asked.

“Why, you don’t want to?!” Se Hun asked, his eyes getting big.

“B-Baekhyun oppa invited you, therefore you must be sitting beside him instead!!!” Cho Hee said, pointing to the seat beside Baekhyun.

“No way! If you let Se Hun sit here, I’ll be saying your secret Cho Hee!” Baekhyun warned.

Cho Hee snickered. “As if you can do that! You’re a great friend oppa, and I know you won’t be able to do that ‘cause you know what will happen to our three-year friendship if you spill that,”

Baekhyun pressed his lips together and thought for a while. “Let’s just ask Se Hun. Se Hun, are you going to sit with me, and know what Cho Hee’s secret-“

“No, Se Hun oppa, sit with me instead!” Cho Hee cut Baekhyun off and pulled Se Hun to sit beside her. “Aigoo, how dare you Baekhyun oppa!”

Baekhyun giggled. “Se Hun, what will you do if someone like Cho Hee’s crushing on you,”

“YA BYUN BAEKHYUN!” Cho Hee called, while blushing. She was looking straightly at Baekhyun’s mischievous smile, feeling like she wanted to pull Baekhyun’s fringe or give him a whack at the moment.

“Well…” Se Hun started with a low and gentle voice. “It would be…” Se Hun looked at Cho Hee, giving a mischievous smile. “It would be an honor,” He said and chuckled, his eyes almost closing. Baekhyun joined him laughing.

Cho Hee blushed though she knows Se Hun was only playing along. She whacked Baekhyun and Se Hun’s head and furrowed her eyebrows. “Shut up the both of you,”

“Se Hun-ah, do you know that Cho Hee’s crushing on you?” Baekhyun asked in a teasing tone.

Cho Hee’s world stopped. Her eyeballs grew big; fell open.  She couldn’t say a word and couldn’t even move.

“Of course, I know that ever since we met,” Se Hun said playfully, munching some of Baekhyun’s bread.

“No, Se Hun, seriously,” Baekhyun said, his voice low, trying to be serious from what he’s saying.

Se Hun looked at Cho Hee in amazement. He giggled and leaned closer to Cho Hee, whose cheeks were already burning red. “Is that true, Cho Hee?” Se Hun asked flirtatiously.

Cho Hee looked at Se Hun, without turning her head and using only her pupils, being frozen on her seat. “H-How could you think of that?” Cho Hee asked, leaning away from Se Hun.

Se Hun laughed and clapped playfully while Baekhyun watched quietly. “Seriously? Omo, I can’t believe this,” Se Hun bit his lip and covered his mouth with a smile on his face. “Aigoo, Cho Hee,” He kept on giggling, that teased Cho Hee a lot.

“Sh-Shut up! I’m leaving!” Cho Hee said and walked out of the restaurant.

“Hyung, are you serious?” Se Hun asked, one more time.

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows as a sign of approval. “Can’t you see how much she blushed when you leaned in closer to her side?”

Se Hun giggled. “I did,”

Afternoon came. It was time for Xiumin, Lay, Sun and Jun Hee’s last practice for their performance in the SM Town Live World Tour III in Seoul which will be held at the Seoul Olympic Stadium located at the center of Jamshil Sports Complex in Songpagu tomorrow, August 18, 2012.

As Xiumin and Jun Hee saw each other at the practice room, they were a bit awkward to look at each other’s eyes. Jun Hee tried to be comfortable, sticking to Sun where ever she goes. Xiumin on the other hand sat on a corner while listening to music. Lay was the only one practicing by himself, since their trainer’s not yet around.

After practicing the whole routine, Lay looked at Jun Hee and Xiumin, who were noticeably distant from each other. He got a bottle of water and sat beside Xiumin.

“Hyung,” Lay called.

Xiumin put off his earphones and turned to Lay. “What is it?”

“How’s it going between you and Chen?” Lay asked.

Xiumin let out a deep sigh. “He still doesn’t talk to me, until now…”

“Last night, when he came home he was asking if you’re mad at him… And I said maybe you were just shocked with what had happened. I think he has calmed down already,”

“I’ll talk to him later, if he really is,” Xiumin said and nodded.

“Did you know that Chen already confessed to Jun Hee?” Lay asked.

Xiumin nodded and played with his earphones. “I’m kind of disappointed with myself, Lay. There’s a part of me that makes me feel guilty, but there’s also a part of me that…”

“That what hyung?”

“N-Nevermind. I think the more I talk about it, the more it will happen,” Xiumin said and scratched his head. She looked at Jun Hee, who was busy talking with Sun.

“You like her don’t you?” Lay asked. Xiumin gave him a ‘what’ look on his face. “Do you like Jun Hee?” Lay rephrased his question.

Xiumin sighed. He smiled, yet sadness can still be seen on his eyes. “That’s what I’m trying to avoid, Lay. The more I talk about it, the more it seems to happen,” Xiumin repeated.

Lay snickered. “You don’t have to avoid those feelings, hyung,” Lay advised.

“No… I don’t want to be selfish, Lay… Besides, Jun Hee’s just like a little sister to me. See the age difference? I’m 22, she’s only 17. I’m not e.”

Lay chuckled. “Age doesn’t matter nowadays,”

“Shut up,” Xiumin said and chuckled. “And another thing is that Chen deserves her better. I am ‘nothing’. Chen’s ‘something’. Do you get that?”

“Hyung, how’d you become ‘nothing’?” Lay asked.

“Chen has it all… The looks, the voice, the brains, and even if he’s not so good into it, he’s precise with his dance movements and a fast-learner… Compare him to me: I’m old for Jun Hee, I do have the voice, but it isn’t enough like Chen has. You see, Chen’s better for Jun Hee. And I think I’m just destined for her to be her friend,”

“Hyung, you only need to please Jun Hee’s eyes, not a talent manager’s eyes,” Lay said that made the both of them laugh. “So the most important thing right now, is Jun Hee’s point of view, not everyone’s point of view,”

Xiumin pursed his lips. “There are just so many things in my mind right now, Lay… And I’ve decided to avoid having feelings for her… Since Chen had her first, I must neglect these feelings from now on,”

“But hyung…” Lay furrowed his eyebrows, “…since when did you have feelings for Jun Hee?”

“I don’t know. As what I’ve said before, the only thing I know I’m feeling is that I want her to be by my side always,” Xiumin said and lowered down her head.

“B-Baozi oppa?” Xiumin’s head abruptly rose from the voice that called her. It was Jun Hee’s. She was standing in front of him, with her hands at her back.

Lay looked at the two ‘best friends’. “I… uhhh… I’m going to practice by myself for a while,” Lay said and left Xiumin and Jun Hee.

Jun Hee sat beside Xiumin. “I’ve heard what happened… between you and Chen oppa…”

Xiumin’s eyes grew wide, as he turned to Jun Hee. “How did you-“

“I was with Chen oppa last night… He asked me out for a dinner because he told me he felt down that night. So I ate out with him and he told me what happened,”

Xiumin nodded. “I’m sorry about what happened during your birth-“

“It’s alright,” Jun Hee cut him off with a reassuring smile.

“Okay, everyone, I’m sorry I’m late!” Suddenly, everyone’s attention was caught by Greg S. Hwang, their trainer and choreographer for their dance break. “Everyone gather here and I have to talk to you,”

Xiumin and Jun Hee smiled at each other and went to the trainer.

***

“Seodullo seodulleo oneulman pyeonghaengno(hurry, hurry, only today, the pa-)…” Iseul tried to practice Chanyeol’s rapping part for Two Moons after the practice she had with Chanyeol for their performance of the song ‘Sugar’ tomorrow. “Aish! I forgot the word yeollineun(opens)! And it should be pyeonghaengtongno(parallel)!” She scratched her head and repeated. “Seodulleo seodulleo oneulman yeollineun pyeonghaengno- AIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!! Why do I always go wrong on that part?! I’m Korean, but why is this word so hard to pronounce than English words?! Pyeonghaengtongno, pyeonghaengtongno, pyeonghaengtongno, pyeonghaengtongno!” Iseul kept on repeating. “How could Chanyeol oppa pronounce every syllable here perfectly?! Aish, if he can do this I can also do this!” Iseul threw a fist up and repeated the line again, but she just couldn’t pronounce ‘pyeonghaengtongno’ correctly.

Chanyeol suddenly came, without Iseul noticing. He then watched and listened to Iseul trying to do his rapping part in Two Moons.

“AISH! IT’S PYEONGHAENGTONGNO WHY CAN’T I PRONOUNCE THIS FREAKING WORD?!” Iseul complained. A laugh suddenly distracted her which came from Chanyeol’s. She furrowed her eyebrows and pouted.

“Y-Ya, why are you laughing?” Iseul asked, with embarrassment written on her face. Chanyeol on the other hand kept on laughing, this time, harder with his hands on his stomach and his body almost lying on the floor, like he didn’t heard Iseul’s question. “Why are you here? I thought you went home already?!”

“No, I didn’t. I thought of going back to the dorm with you, when I suddenly heard you rapping Two Moons!” Chanyeol laughed once more and tapped the floor hardly.

“Ya, don’t laugh!!!” Iseul said, her face turning into a frown. “D-Don’t laugh!” She repeated, tears forming in her eyes while slapping Chanyeol’s foot that was on the ground.

But still, Chanyeol would keep on laughing, causing Iseul’s tears to fall on her cheeks. She felt humiliated and embarrassed and since she was sensitive and too conscious of herself, she couldn’t resist her emotions and cried. She tried to stop herself from doing so, but she just couldn’t because her tears kept falling. So instead of stopping herself from crying, she just wiped her tears away with her hands.

“Aigoo,” Chanyeol didn’t stopped laughing, yet reduced it by letting out chuckles. He got Iseul’s hand and stopped it from wiping her tears away. He got a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe Iseul’s tears. “Stop crying, Iseullie… Chanyeollie oppa will teach you how to rap that part,”

“Chincha(really)?” Iseul sniffed while Chanyeol kept on wiping his handkerchief on her cheeks gently.

Chanyeol nodded. He brought down his handkerchief and laughed. “Aigoo, why are you so- Aigoo, you’re still a baby, Iseul,” Chanyeol said and chuckled. He stood and offered a hand to Iseul, helping her stand. Iseul accepted it and stood in front of Chanyeol.

“What now?” Iseul asked still sniffing.

“Aish, stop crying it makes me guilty!” Chanyeol got Iseul’s hand and pulled her out of the practice room.

“Y-Ya, where are we going?” Iseul asked.

“I’m going to buy you a milk tea,” Chanyeol said.

“Chincha?” Iseul’s mood brightened up. “Your treat?”

Chanyeol nodded with his big grin and a thumb up.

***                                            

“Wow, I just love chicken so much!” Onew said as he munched a chicken drumstick from Kyochon’s honey series chicken.

Jino chuckled. “Oppa, do you think you’ll be able to finish these all? I think my stomach’s about to burst; I can only eat up to two chicken drumsticks!”

“Aigoo… Ah, take these out and give it to the other S Ori-K members. I think they’ll be liking that too,” Onew said and passed the bowl of chickens to Jino.

“O-Oppa, these are too much, we only eat a little because we’re trying to balance our diet,” Jino stated.

“Wow, you’re so disciplined!” Onew complimented. “Taeyeon noona won’t even keep track of their diets like what you’re doing, unless their comeback is near!”

Jino laughed. “Because I’m y, everyone else have to be y also,”

Onew laughed as well. “Damn it, why do I have this feeling that it won’t be a day with you when you won’t say that phrase?!”

“Don’t worry, my other friends feel that way also, oppa,” Jino said and chuckled.

Onew kept on laughing. “Aigoo, I think you have to meet Jonghyun. Both of you are so conceited, I think it would be a war when you meet,”

“It would be an honor! But Iseul might kill me, since her first bias was Jonghyun sunbae before she liked Minho sunbae,” Jino revealed.

“Really? How about you?” Onew asked.

“It feels awkward to tell this to my idol!” Jino said embarrassedly as her cheeks turned red and her deep dimple on her right cheek came out.

Onew pointed her dimple and giggled. “That’s amusing me right now, it’s so cute!”

Jino held her right cheek and smiled. “That’s the sign of my abnormality. How could a dimple reach my cheek?!” She vented, still making Onew laugh.

A beep cut Jino and Onew’s conversation off. It was Jino’s cellphone – Jun Hee was calling her.

“Oh, oppa, let me answer this call for a while,” Jino asked for permission.

“Sure,” Onew said with his two thumbs up.

Jino accepted the phone call. “Hello?”

“Hello?” A different voice answered. It wasn’t a female’s voice, and obviously not Jun Hee’s. It came from a man.

“W-Who’s this?” Jino asked, her eyebrows furrowing and her smile fading.

“Jino, this is Xiumin,” Xiumin said.

“Oh, oppa! Why?” Jino snapped.

“Jun Hee’s…” Xiumin’s voice was shaky.

Jino got nervous with the tone of Xiumin’s voice. “What happened to Jun Hee?” She asked, as she sat straight on her seat, getting alarmed.

“Sh-She’s at the hospital, unable to breathe well…” Xiumin said.

Jino’s eyes grew wide. “W-What? W-Where are you? I-I mean, what hospital?!” Jino asked, panicking.

“Jasaeng Hospital of Oriental Medicine. It’s the nearest ‘trusted’ hospital in Apgujeong,” Xiumin replied.

“Okay, got it. I’ll be there, wait for me,” Jino hung up. She noticed Onew was looking at her with concern on his face. She let out a sigh, a bit embarrassed that she needs to leave her sunbae. “Oppa, I have to go. Something really important came up,”

“Is Jun Hee alright? I heard you say ‘hospital’,” Onew asked,worried for his hoobaes(juniors).

“I hope so… They said she was unable to breathe well, so they brought her to Jasaeng Hospital…” Jino said, trying to calm herself down from the shocking news.

“Do you know how to get there?” Onew asked.

Jino scratched her forehead. “I’ll just… I’ll just find a way to be there,” Jino sputtered. Her mind was going blank as the news keeps on spinning around her head.

“Don’t worry,” Onew smiled and held Jino’s hand. “I’ll just come with you,”

Jino smiled and bowed.

***

“Oh Jino, you came at last!” Xiumin said and hugged Jino, like her little sister. Jino hugged back and after that Xiumin released her. “Oh, Onew hyung,” Xiumin bowed respectfully.

“Don’t ask me why I’m here,” Onew chuckled. “I was having a lunch with Jino when you suddenly called,”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t-“ Xiumin said yet was cut off by Onew.

“No, it’s alright,” Onew said and flustered a smile. "It's an emergency,"

He suddenly noticed Sun was crying on one of the chairs behind Xiumin while Lay was patting her back. She stood and hugged Jino as she walked in front of her.

Jino patted Sun’s back. “She’s going to be alright, Sun,”

“It’s my fault, Jino,” Sun kept crying. “I wasn’t giving too much effort on dancing a while ago, that’s why we kept on repeating… It’s my fault,”

“It’s alright… The doctors can handle her,” Jino tried to comfort Sun as she continuously patted her back.

“It’s my fault Jino,” Sun repeated, making Jino panic. She didn’t know what to do anymore, so she released Sun and just held her shoulder.

“Nothing’s going to happen. Don’t panic, arasseo?” Jino said, as if she was also telling it to herself.

Lay stood and crossed his arms. “Though it’s your fault, we can’t do anything about it anymore. Jun Hee’s already hospitalized and you can’t change that,”

“I know…” Sun said and lowered her head down.

“So stop blaming yourself because it doesn’t matter anymore, right now,” Lay said coldly.

Sun frowned as her eyebrows furrowed. The tears on her cheeks kept on falling down and she can only wipe it away with her hand.

Onew patted Jino’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry but I have to go. I still have a schedule with SHINee,” Onew said.

“Oh, it’s alright oppa. Thanks for bringing me here,” Jino said and bowed.

“Minseok!” Onew called Xiumin’s attention. “Take care of my partner; we still have a performance tomorrow, arasseo?”

Xiumin chuckled. “Ne,”

“Bye Jino, good luck for tomorrow. I know we can do it,” Onew said with a fist up.

“Ne, sunbae. Thanks. You too,” Jino said and flustered a smile.

“And… Don’t worry too much. Jun Hee’s going to be fine,” Onew said as he patted her shoulder. “I’m sorry that I can’t do something about it,”

“Aigoo, it’s alright oppa, bringing me here was a big help already,” Jino said. “And thanks for the chicken treat a while ago,”

“Anytime,” He then waved his hand and left Jino with Xiumin, Lay and Sun.

Suddenly, they saw someone running to them.

“Chen!” Jino said in shock.

“What happened to her, Jino?” He asked, referring to Jun Hee.

“How did you know about this?” Jino asked.

“The manager told us about it,” Chen replied.

“Excuse me are you Jun Hee’s friends?” A doctor suddenly called their attention with two nurses behind him. Chen quickly went near him.

“What happened to her, doctor?” Chen asked worriedly. He was still catching his breath from running so fast, just to see what had happened to Jun Hee.

The doctor puckered his lips and sighed. “Her heart rate’s slow than the normal rate, but it is not the reason why she’s having the chest pains. We’re still trying to see what causes these chest pains and breathing difficulties.  The good news is there’s nothing to worry about her right now because she’s fine and she may leave the hospital and come back home tomorrow morning… But the bad news… is that I’m recommending her to avoid tremendous activities, such as dancing and being stressed, for a year,”

“W-What?!” Xiumin exclaimed. “You can’t do that! Jun Hee loves her job being an idol, and that involves her dancing! And she’s a great dancer, you can’t put an end to that!” Xiumin complained.

“I’m sorry,” The doctor patted Xiumin’s shoulder, “But that’s an order. If you can’t stop involving her in such activities, you might not see her dancing forever. You see, if she won’t avoid these activities, her chest pains will get worse and might lead to serious heart problems,”

Xiumin felt his knees weaken. He knew how much Jun Hee loves being an idol and he knew how much she worked hard for it. Chen on the other hand watched him, without him noticing.

“So is that what we can only do?” Chen spoke up again.

“I’m sorry to say this, but as soon as possible, I think she needs to leave the girl group for a while since she can’t do the activities an idol is required to do. If she cannot do so, just make sure she’s ready to face a harder challenge than this,”

“That’s it? You won’t even give us a medical prescription to stop these chest pains?!” Chen asked, his mind already panicking because of Jun Hee’s health.

“We cannot prescribe anything yet, since her case isn’t severe. And there’s nothing wrong with her, it’s just that her body needs to rest - a different kind of rest, a rest for a year. After a year, we’ll see how she’s doing, and she might be able to join you once again on stage,” The doctor stated.

The four idols looked at each other with worried expression on their faces.

“So if you have no further questions, I’m leaving you here,” The doctor said and left, together with the nurses behind him.

Xiumin sat down on one of the chairs behind him. He rested his elbows on his lap and rubbed his face with the palm of his hands. Chen sat beside him and patted his shoulder.

“She’ll be fine hyung,” Chen said.

Xiumin got surprised by the sudden gesture. “Chen…” Xiumin uttered.

Chen snickered. “I know you think I’m still angry at you… Indeed, I am… But I can’t stay like that, since we’re in a group. Hyung I just need you to tell me honestly if you like her or not. Then that’s it, I’ll be fine. It already hurt me that you kissed Jun Hee on the cheek, making me feel like she likes you than me, and being so close to her. But what hurts me the most is the fact that you’re not telling me the truth,”

“What do you think is the truth Chen?” Xiumin asked, his eyes looking directly at Chen’s eyes.

“Why would you kiss her if you don’t like her? That’s what’s on my mind hyung. So I think you like her,” Chen replied.

Xiumin turned his body so he could face Chen. “The truth is that… I’m confused, Chen. I’m totally confused of what my heart tells me and what my mind tells me. It’s like both of them are talking to me at the same time, that’s why I can only hear them vaguely…”

Chen looked down on the ground. Xiumin on the other hand stood and went inside the room.

Lay went to his side and sat with his elbows resting on his lap and his fingers joint together. “You know what Xiumin hyung told me this morning?” Lay asked, without looking at Chen.

“What?” Chen asked curiously.

Lay smiled slyly as he turned to look at Chen. “He said he doesn’t want to bring up topics about what he feels, because the more he talks about it, the more it seemed to happen…” He tapped Chen’s back. “Xiumin hyung’s a good friend Chen… There are persons who think what they feel are better than what other persons feel… But Xiumin hyung’s different… I know his feelings have already developed for Jun Hee, yet he can only deny it, since he knows you like Jun Hee so much and he’s giving his way for you.”

Chen snickered, but was paying full attention to what Lay was saying. “I wasn’t asking for him to do that. I even want him to tell me whether he likes Jun Hee or not,”

Lay rolled his eyes. “Xiumin hyung told me that he only want what’s best for Jun Hee. And he thinks you are the best for her, Chen. Now prove him that you really are, because right now, what I’m seeing is that he’s better than you,” Lay said and walked away.

“Y-Ya, Lay oppa, where are you going?” Jino asked but Lay just waved. “Ya, did you have a fight?” Jino asked Chen.

Chen shook his head. “No,”

***

“Oppa, you’re here,” Jun Hee greeted as she woke up from her deep sleep.

“Oh goodness, Jun Hee you’re awake!” Xiumin said, while one of his hands was holding Jun Hee’s hand while the other was patting her head.

A tear suddenly fell on Jun Hee’s cheek. Xiumin quickly wiped it away. “W-Why are you crying?” He asked.

“I’m… I’m afraid oppa,” Jun Hee said as her tears kept on falling on her cheek.

Xiumin chuckled yet he was worried for Jun Hee. “Don’t be afraid, Jun Hee. The doctor said you’re fine and you may leave this hospital tomorrow morning,”

“Baozi oppa… I know that I can’t do activities that will tire me ever since I auditioned as a singer…” Jun Hee continued like she didn’t hear what Xiumin said. Xiumin on the other hand paid attention to what she was saying. “I didn’t want to give up on my dreams, that’s why I still pushed myself to reach it… Little did I know it will end up quickly…” Jun Hee said and her tears kept on rolling on her cheeks.

“Shhh…” Xiumin hushed. He wiped Jun Hee’s cheek using his thumb and patted her head. “You’ll be alright, and your dream won’t end. Just keep the faith, arasseo?”

“But the doctors already advised me not to train for a year… And I guess if Lee Sooman sunbae knew about this, he’ll quickly suspend me… or what’s worse is that he’ll fire me,”

“No, he won’t… He won’t let go such an excellent singer like you…” Xiumin wiped the tear on her cheek once more, “…with an amazing dancing skills,” then he brushed Jun Hee’s hair behind her ears, “…with a beautiful angelic face,” then looked at his hand and intertwined his fingers with her fingers, “with a simple aegyo that everyone would die for…” he then cupped Jun Hee’s cheek with his other free hand, “…and with a heart that is totally loving and caring…” He pressed his lips on Jun Hee’s forehead and his lips formed a smile. “No one can ever let go of you Jun Hee,”

Jun Hee blushed and chuckled at what Xiumin was saying. She patted Xiumin’s back and pulled him for a hug. “Xiumin oppa, you’re the best,”

“The best?” Xiumin’s heart beated loudly. It was something he never expected Jun Hee to say. It was like a key for being the ‘something’ he knew he wasn’t.

“Yes. You’re the best, I can’t say anything else,” Jun Hee said and hugged Xiumin tighter.

Xiumin just smiled. He then patted Jun Hee’s back. “You’ll still be performing on stage Jun Hee, don’t worry,”

Jun Hee cried on his shoulder as soon as he said that sentence. Will she still really be performing on stage?

***

Meanwhile at S Ori-K’s dorm…

“Damn it!” Cho Hee said and threw her beret somewhere in her room. She violently put her shoes and put it on their shoe rack.

“Ya, Park Cho Hee, where have you been? Shouldn’t you be home earlier?” Sun asked.

Cho Hee rolled her eyes. “I went shopping after eating with that Byun Baekhyun oppa and Oh Se Hun oppa!”

“And what did you bought? A bag of accessories?!” Sun asked in horror.

“YES! PROBLEM?!” Cho Hee asked, her face turning red from the stress.

Sun put her hands on her waist. “What’s going on Cho Hee? You shop whenever you’re stressed. Will you calm down for a sec?”

Cho Hee sighed. “Baekhyun oppa just revealed to Se Hun oppa that I’m crushing on him,”

“Y-You’re crushing on Se Hun oppa?” Sun asked.

“Are you deaf?!” Cho Hee agitatedly asked.

“For real?!” Sun asked who really can’t believe what’s happening. Cho Hee on the other hand replied with only a glare on her face. “OH MY GOSH, CHO HEE! Congratulations, you now learnt how to crush on someone!!!” Sun said and wrapped her arms around Cho Hee, making Cho Hee push her.

“Shut up unni,” Cho Hee rolled her eyes. “But damn it, he really told Se Hun oppa! Now I’m so awkward with him!!! Can you imagine what happened?! Se Hun oppa was beside me when Baekhyun oppa was telling it to him!!!”

Sun burst out laughing. “Damn it, that’s epic, Cho Hee. But I feel the courage there,” Sun said and patted Cho Hee’s back.

“Shut up, will you?” Cho Hee said as she got her pajamas inside her closet. “I’m going to change my clothes, get out,”

“Can I call Se Hunnie oppa? I wanna-“ Sun said but was cut off by Cho Hee as she pushed her aggressively outside the room.

“DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, I DON’T CARE ANYMORE!!!” Cho Hee said and banged the door.

“FINE, I’LL TELL HOW MUCH OBSESSED YOU ARE!” Sun shouted.

“DO THAT AND ARE FRIENDSHIP’S OVER!” Cho Hee shouted while changing her clothes.

“HEY, I WAS JUST JOKING!” Sun said.

 

The day for SM Town Live World Tour III in Seoul came. It started early in the morning with a simple parade of the SM Town artists. As usual, the artists had performed the songs they are promoting.

Meanwhile at the backstage…

“Jun Hee, will you really be okay performing?” Xiumin asked worriedly.

Jun Hee chuckled. “Aigoo, oppa. Performing on stage is what I love the most! How could that be my weakness?”

Xiumin chuckled as well. “I’m just concerned with your health…”

Jun Hee pinched Xiumin’s nose. “Don’t be. There will be plenty of fans cheering for me that would encourage me to perform safely… So don’t worry, I’ll be strong on stage,”

Xiumin nodded and smiled.

And Jun Hee did as what she promised Xiumin. The whole performance of Greg S. Hwang’s choreography was a success. Jun Hee hadn’t felt any chest pains making everyone feel relieved.

***

“Ever since I fell in love,” A spotlight shone on Jino, while she was slowly going up on stage with a white cocktail dress, while everyone extremely anticipated her partner for the song Vanilla Love. “I can only see you… My heart is beating so fast…”

After the drumbeats, Onew came with a dazzling smile, running behind Jino, making everyone scream. Jino continued singing and waited for the signal for her to turn to Onew.

“To know your heart by the look of your eyes, to stay close together even when it’s hot,” Onew sang while doing the little fancy steps they had practiced. He looked directly at Jino’s eyes with a bright smile on his face and Jino did the same. They both parted ways as they reached the chorus, walking at the different sides of the stage.

“‘Cause I love you,” Jino sang with a sweet voice, making everyone squeal while she was walking to the center stage.

Onew, who was at the other side then held his chest. As he saw Jino looked at him, he winked at Jino and giggled mutely. “I love you…”

Though Jino heard that line a lot of times, she was still distracted from that sentence when it comes from Onew’s mouth. She felt her heart flutter by the thought of her Onew sunbae say those words to her.

“’Cause I need you,” Jino sang, trying to keep in mind that she’s still performing on stage and she needs to control those fan girl feelings for Onew.

“I need you,” Onew sang like he really felt every word in the song. He walked fast as he saw Jino already reached the center stage. He run for a bit yet kept on singing.

As he reached Jino, he held one of her hands and looked directly into her eyes, making Jino’s hand get sweaty and cold from nervousness. She tried to relax by swaying her head side by side to the beat of the song.

“If I don’t see you even for one day, I want to give you a kiss...” Onew sang the line with his soft voice that mesmerized not only Jino’s ears but her heart as well. She felt like all the nervousness just faded away, just by the sound of Onew’s gentle voice and Onew’s sweet smile. “I want to kiss, the sweet you,”

As Jino heard and saw that every word came out from Onew’s mouth, she felt blood ran to her cheeks. She faced the audience and fans to hide her burning cheeks from Onew, and just chuckled to it.

Onew flicked Jino’s nose that made her face him again. “I’ll hug you until you can’t breathe and are about to burst,” He then raised their hand to their side and looked at it as he interlock his fingers through Jino’s. “Until the end of time, I’ll love you…”

Jino’s mind went totally blank. It was the first time a man interlocked his fingers with hers, and she felt overwhelmed having her first experience with her idol. She felt the familiar fan girl-feels again in her heart, making her completely forgot that she was on stage performing something.

Onew pulled Jino’s waist closer to him, making Jino snapped out of reality. Oh, right, they were going to do some waltz and a dance that they had practiced. Jino smiled apologetically towards Onew while the man understood.

They had success in fulfilling Lee Sooman’s objective which was to have a ‘sweet performance’ on stage, as a lot of fans have discovered the cute coupling between Jino and Onew. As the performance ended, the fans called them as the ‘Tofu Coupling’ as both idols have the same milky white skin tone like those of a tofu.

After Jino and Onew’s performance, it was Iseul and Chanyeol’s turn to make the fans go crazy. Iseul went out on stage with a pink tee and a highwaist denim shirt together with a 5-inch high heels, probably to reach Chanyeol’s height and started the performance.

“Channie, where you at?” Iseul asked in English and gestured her hand on her eyebrows, like she was looking for Chanyeol.

“A-YO WADDUP ISEUL!!!” Chanyeol shouted as he appeared on stage, making the fans squeal and shout from excitement.

“My lips like sugar…” Iseul started to dance and shake her hips with the background dancers behind her, while Chanyeol was still on his way to Iseul.

As Chanyeol reached her, it was the time for him to rap. Every time he felt like he was going to mess a pronunciation, he quickly turns to look at Iseul’s eyes, feeling comfort whenever he sees her. Iseul sometimes raps with him whenever Chanyeol gives her a sign – raising his eyebrows whenever he doesn’t remember a line or the correct way to pronounce a word.

As soon as the song reached the bridge, Chanyeol and Iseul finally did a bit of a touchy dance which they had practiced for weeks. He stood at Iseul’s back and held her hips. Iseul on the other hand held Chanyeol’s neck as they both rotated their hips to the beat of the song.

“You like my sugar, my sugar…” Chanyeol’s hand trembled, as he tried not to completely hold Iseul’s hips.

Iseul on the other hand kept chuckling, feeling Chanyeol’s hands tremble on her hips. “Aigoo, we’ve practiced this for like almost a month,” she thought.

Iseul then turned to face Chanyeol, as part of the dance. Chanyeol’s hand was still on her hips while Iseul’s hand was still on his neck, but this time, they have to keep an eye contact – which was awkward for the both of them.

“You’re so sweet, so sweet…” Chanyeol tried to pronounce everything correctly, but he really felt nervous being so touchy with Iseul. “THESE ARE JUST HIPS, CHANYEOL. YOU WON’T BITE THEM, AND WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?!” Chanyeol kept thinking that he forgot his next line, good thing Iseul sang it for him with a glare. She still tried to smile that she looked like smirking.

“Oh gosh, Iseul don’t look at me like that, you’re turning me……………. WHAT THE HECK I AM NOT A MANIAC!!!” Chanyeol breathed in and breathed out.

Iseul winked before turning once more and they both did another set of the touchy hip rotation-dance that made Chanyeol much sweaty.

“Sugar…” The song ended while Chanyeol and Iseul danced freestyle like they were in the club.

“Ya, oppa why are you so close to me?!” Iseul complained as the stage got down for their exit. They didn’t know their microphone were still , so the audience heard what she complained making them laugh.

“Ya, I’m not close, you’re the one who keeps on dancing in front of me!” Chanyeol defended himself, making everyone laugh harder.

“HEY, SHUT UP! We haven’t turned off the microphone yet!!!” One of the producers said while scratching his head from his embarrassment.

“REALLY?!” Chanyeol and Iseul said in unison and kept pointing out at each other for their own faults.

 

The concert ended with all of the idols on stage playing around with their friends and with the other members of SM Town. The fans enjoyed seeing their idols from different groups come together and joke around with each other. Some fans made couplings when they see compatible idols go together.

“BYUN BAEKHYUN!” Taeyeon called in a loud voice, so she could be heard from all the fans’ cheers and noise in the stadium.

Baekhyun, who was just beside Taeyeon turned. “Yes, noona?” Baekhyun responded. He didn’t call her sunbae anymore, since Taeyeon told her not to call her with the honorific when they filmed the Twinkle Music Video.

“Job well done!” Taeyeon said and raised a thumb up.

“Oh, I’m sorry noona, can you repeat what you said?” Baekhyun asked since he wasn’t able to hear what Taeyeon said from all the noise.

Taeyeon held Baekhyun’s shoulder and tiptoed to reach his ear. “Job well done; keep it up!” Taeyeon tried to speak loudly so Baekhyun could hear her, which was successful.

“Oh,” Baekhyun giggled with a blush. “Thank you, noona,” Baekhyun said and bit his lip. He then bowed a bit to Taeyeon while she chuckled. “Oh, noona, look at that girl, I think she wants to take a photo of us,” Baekhyun pointed some fan near the stage and turned Taeyeon to the girl.

Baekhyun held Taeyeon’s back and they both gave a v-sign to the fan while they flustered a smile. They, then, both waved their flags and kept walking and chatting.

Cho Hee looked at Baekhyun and Taeyeon, feeling a bit jealous seeing her friend hang out with another girl. She didn’t know why, but she kind of wanted to play around with Baekhyun too. She felt lonely, since she didn’t have anyone to talk to. Sun was busy playing around with Kai and Chanyeol with the confetti. The other members had their own worlds and she felt a bit out of place.

Suddenly an arm was suddenly on her shoulders and as she looked beside her, she saw Se Hun holding his flag while biting his lip. Cho Hee felt her blood rush to her cheeks and she froze on her spot biting her lip too. She then played with her flag to distract herself from what she feels when suddenly Se Hun called her name.

“What?” Cho Hee asked, turning to Se Hun.

Se Hun kept waving his flag. “Was it true?”

“The w-what?” Cho Hee asked like she didn’t know anything and played with her flag again.

“That you like me?” Se Hun asked and chuckled.

“Why are you here?! Go away!” Cho Hee shoved Se Hun’s arm away from her and walked away from him, still trying to hide her red cheeks.

Se Hun held Cho Hee’s arm gently and caught her. “Sorry.” He chuckled that made Cho Hee glance at him for a moment. “I thought you were all alone earlier and maybe you need someone to cheer you up,” Se Hun his dry lips from the embarrassment and scratched his nape with a light chuckle.

Cho Hee gave him a look and crossed her arm. “You’re serious?”

Se Hun nodded with a timid smile. “Don’t you like me being around you?”

Cho Hee looked up the stars and breathed out heavily. “Let me think for a second,”

“Like me or not, I’ll still be around you,” Se Hun teased and got Cho Hee’s arm. He then pulled her to the other side of the stage, trying to get some confetti and throw it at her.

“Stop it Se Hun oppa or I’m going to poke your eyes with the flag’s stick!” Cho Hee said brutally.

Se Hun snickered and leaned forward to Cho Hee. “As if you can do that to me,” Se Hun winked mischievously and pulled her once more going to the other side of the stage.

***

Lee Sooman gave the idols a two-day rest after the concert, which was good, especially for Jun Hee’s condition. He still haven’t talked to Jun Hee yet, but S Ori and Exo’s manager knows her condition already.

The afternoon after the two-day rest Lee Sooman gave SM Town…

Someone knocked on S Ori-K’s dorm… As usual, Jino would open it.

“Kyung Soo oppa!” Jino hugged D.O. as she saw him.

“Aigoo, you only haven’t seen me for two days and you missed me that much already?!” D.O. said as he hugged back Jino.

Jino released D.O.. “Didn’t I tell you last time when we saw each other that I’ll let you meet someone?” Jino asked with a smirk.

“Wait! Before I meet those two, I have something for you,” D.O. said as he flustered a smile on his face.

“What is it?” Jino asked.

“Ta-da!” D.O. brought out a lunchbox that he was hiding from his back earlier. “My special kimchi spaghetti, for you girls!”

“Wow! Thanks a lot oppa! Now let me introduce you to them,” Jino said as he pulled D.O. inside the dorm.

“Them? Who are they?!” D.O. asked curiously.

“Wait there,” Jino said and went somewhere.

“Oh, hello D.O. oppa!” The other S Ori-K members waved to him as they were watching a movie.

“I cooked kimchi spaghetti for you,” D.O. bragged.

“Woah! Now I’m craving for it! Where is it?” Sun asked.

“It’s with Jino, but I don’t know where she-“ D.O. explained but was suddenly cut off by Jino.

“Kyung Soo oppa!” Jino called behind D.O.. As he turned, he almost fell on his as he got surprised seeing Jino’s two new pets. “Say hi to Kimchi and Sunny!!!”

“Omo, Jino, I almost had a heart attack!!!” D.O. said as he held his chest. “Wow, this is cool, how’d you get them?”

“Our dog, Shelley, which lives in my family’s house, gave birth to them last August 14… They’re both pure Shih Tzu,” Jino said while looking at both of her new pets with admiration.

“Aigoo, kyeopta(this is/that is/these are/those are/you are/it is cute)!” D.O. said, his eyes getting little because of too much smiling while he patted the heads of the two puppies.

Jino chuckled, totally liking the way the sides of D.O.’s eyes crinkled while he was smiling, and the way it got smaller due to too much smiling. “Aigoo, best friend, your eye smile suits you rather than those big eyeballs of yours!”

D.O. pouted. “It kind of hurts my jaw!” He complained. “But because these little creatures are so cute, I can’t resist to smile like this,” He chuckled as he got Sunny from her hand.

“Aigoo… Look at these two, you look like a family!” Na Rae teased.

“Oh, I like that!” D.O. said, his smile getting wider. Jino on the other hand squinted at him. “I mean…” His smile faded away, “…I like the idea that we have puppies as our children,” D.O. laughed and the others did as well. “Ya, speaking of the puppies, why didn’t you tell this to me earlier and to the other Exo members? I’m sure Kai will love it if he sees them,”

“K-Kai oppa?” Jino asked.

“Yeah, remember he have puppies as well, named Jjanggu and Monggu?” D.O. reported.

Iseul shoved D.O. a bit. “As if you don’t know how ‘close’ they are!” Iseul said.

“Didn’t the swan worked out? He said it was the solution to that problem,” D.O. asked with a blunt expression on his face. “Ah, I mean the swan-looking-duck origami…” D.O. laughed from his mistake making everyone else laugh.

“Aigoo, I thought it was a swan also!!!” Cho Hee mumbled and laughed as well.

Jino was laughing when her expression suddenly changed. “Speaking of that origami… DAMN, I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR MY RAP CLASSES TRAINING WITH HIM!!!”

***

“Why are you late Jino-sshi?” Han Ji, their rap trainer, asked.

Jino smiled sheepishly. He looked at Kai who was lazily leaning his back on his chair, while playing his fingers that were resting on his desks. His head was bent down yet he raised his eyebrows and his eyes were looking at Jino, waiting for her to answer the trainer’s question.

“Honestly… I forgot that I have training today,” Jino said and scratched her head.

“Aigoo, you can’t be forgetful. You’re a leader; you must always keep track of dates!” Han Ji said, her voice pitch getting higher.

“I actually forgot that we have a training today too,” Kai interrupted. “Good thing our leader, Su Ho hyung, woke me up and told me that we have a training today. I guess it isn’t Jino’s fault, I guess it’s just the stress since we had a lot of schedules for the past week,” Kai said and glanced at Jino for a second.

“Oh come on, stop reasoning out.” Han Ji crossed her arms and stood. “Lee Sooman sunbae gave a two-day break for the idols, and you’re telling me you’re still stressed for the past week? Do you want to have a ‘forever-break’?”

“No, seonsaengnim, I was just-“

“Fine, no training sessions for this week, that’s it. Train by yourselves. By next week, I want both of you to master the song, ‘Up’ by Epik High, got that?!” Han Ji said, getting ready to leave as she fixed her things.

“W-Wait seonsaengnim… So I’ll only sing?” Jino asked.

“Yeah, you only need to sing,” Han Ji said and nodded. “I’m kind of putting the blame towards that man, you know,” Han Ji whispered to Jino.

Jino bowed as the girl left.

“I covered you up, and what did I get, a punishment,” Kai said as he slapped his forehead.

Jino felt guilty with what Kai said. “S-Sorry… Why did you even cover up for me? I can explain myself! I didn’t even ask you to do that for me!”

Kai chuckled. “I’m not blaming you duckling head,”

“But the way you said it makes me feel guilty,” Jino sat down on one of the chairs and pouted. She then puckered her lips and breathed heavily.

Kai turned to Jino with a smile. “I’m just feeling sorry that I’ve done that. Have you heard Epik High sunbae’s ‘Up’ already?”

Jino nodded lazily and after a few moments, her eyes grew wide realizing something.

“I’m sorry that I’ll be giving you a hard time…” Kai kept blabbering while Jino’s mind panicked.

“W-Wait!” Jino said, her voice almost shouting. “I don’t think I can do Park Bom sunbae’s strong vocals! O-Only Jun Hee unni is in charge of hitting such high notes!” Jino looked to her front with her eyebrows furrowing from fear.

Kai scratched the back of his head and sighed. “I’m really sorry Jino…”

Jino tried to clear her thoughts for a moment. After her mind calmed down a bit, she turned to Kai. “It’s alright. We’ll figure things out together,”

“Are you sure? We’re only given a week…”

Jino let out a heavy sigh. “Aigoo… I guess this will be a tough week for the both of us…”

Kai slowly opened his mouth, realizing he was about to yawn. He scratched his eyes and brought his hands down on the desks lazily, that it almost hurt him. “Have you signed my list of things?”

Jino nodded. Kai on the other hand smirked. “So you’re calling me oppa from now on?”

“What’s your problem?!” Jino asked with her eyes narrowed that made Kai laugh.

Meanwhile at Lee Sooman’s office…

“Aigoo Kim Jun Hee…” The CEO inhaled deeply and let it out with a blow. “As much as I want to, I just can’t ignore the problem right now…”

Jun Hee lowered her head down. She knew where this conversation’s going to lead to.

“It’s hard to lose such a talented girl like you…” Sooman continued. “Don’t worry, if ever you come back, I’ll surely make you debut quickly,”

“Sunbae…” Jun Hee called as she looked up to Sooman. “It’s not the life of being an idol that I want…”

Lee Sooman furrowed his eyebrows and paid attention to what Jun Hee’s going to say.

“I don’t want to own the stage either…” Jun Hee looked at Sooman’s eyes, like it would let him feel what she feels inside. “I just want to stay as a member of S Ori… I don’t want to debut all by myself sunbae,”

“Why is that so?” Sooman asked curiously.

“Sunbae, those girls are the reason why I could sing confidently and smile at the cameras right now... If I cannot come back on stage as a member of S Ori and someone else fills me in, I’ll be happy to be their supporter…” Jun Hee said as she tried to hold back the tears that were already forming on her eyes.

“I don’t get it Jun Hee… If ever you debut again, there would still be people loving you… And if you lack confidence, I’m sure there would still be people supporting you... Your talents are precious; you just can’t throw it away like that,” Sooman advised.

“I’m not throwing it away, sunbae… My dreams are with S Ori already. I’ve already had this mindset as their member. I have plans for them and goals that I want to achieve with them… I would be happy seeing S Ori continue fulfilling my plans and goals for them by themselves, if ever my health condition hinders them to get it. That’s why it’s alright for me not to debut anymore, if ever you make me leave the group,”

“Jun Hee…”

“Sunbae, I’m not really asking for you to make me stay in the group. Being with them for the past years was like a dream come true already. I’m not asking for more to come for me. So… I’m fine leaving the group and the whole agency,”

“Are you sure with that?” Sooman asked, looking at her directly in the eye.

Jun Hee swallowed her breath as the tears almost fell on her cheek. She nodded with a smile. “Yes,” she mumbled in a weak voice, trying to hold back the emotions she felt inside her heart.

Evening at S Ori-K’s dorm…

“Come inside oppa,” Jino said as she led Kai inside their dorm.

Sun, Cho Hee, Na Rae and Iseul were watching a movie when they heard Jino and Kai going inside their dorm.

“Chin-gu, can you see what I’m seeing right now?” Iseul whispered to Cho Hee, her eyes focused on Jino and Kai.

“Of course, I’m not blind!” Cho Hee sarcastically replied as she tried not to look at Jino and Kai suspiciously like what Iseul and Na Rae were doing.

“It’s Kai oppa, Cho Hee! Kim Jong In! Exo-K’s Kai!” Iseul emphasized as she scratched her eyes, thinking she was seeing the wrong guy.

Cho Hee hit Iseul’s head. “I know chin-gu! I know!”

“It’s just sooooo unbelievable seeing them together…” Iseul said with her eyes narrowed.

“Makes me suspicious…” Na Rae butted in, with her eyes narrowed too. “Last time, a weird duck origami; this time, going in our dorm… Is he courting our precious leader?”

Kai heard all of Na Rae, Iseul and Cho Hee’s conversation yet he ignored it, since he knew it would be awkward if he butted into their topic.

“Uhm… Girls…” Jino walked to the four clueless girls who were sitting comfortable at the couch. “Wait, where’s Jun Hee unni?”

“At the room, sleeping,” Na Rae replied.

“Okay… Anyways, Kai oppa and I are going to practice a piece for a week, so don’t be bothered if he’ll be here often,” Jino announced.

The four other members nodded as a reply. Jino felt relieved having this response, knowing that the girls won’t be thinking of anything malicious going on between her and Kai. She went back to Kai with her hands inside her pocket.

“Ya, Jino, are those dog food?” Kai pointed bags of dog food lying on the table.

“Eh?” Jino picked both bags and examined it. “Oh, this came today? Who delivered it?”

“Min Hyuk oppa!” Iseul said, almost shouting.

“Really?” Jino chuckled. “I didn’t know he knows where we live,” Jino put the bags of dog food inside the cupboard.

“You have a boyfriend?” Kai asked.

“Hell no!” Jino said defensively.

“Aigoo, our leader hasn’t had a boyfriend yet and I guess if she ever had one, he’d be the most perfect guy in the earth!” Sun commented.

“Really? Omo, I didn’t know you like me, Jino?” Kai teased.

“Haha, funny,” Jino laughed sarcastically. “Shut up,” Her face turned into a straight one and she went to Kai’s side to start talking about their plans for the song Han Ji gave them.

 “Then who’s ‘Min Hyuk’?” Kai asked curiously.

“Secret.” Jino said as she sat down on her chair.

“Seriously, I’m really curious,”

Jino giggled. “Let’s start because those kinds of topics wastes our time,”

“Fine,” Kai finished the conversation about ‘Min Hyuk’ with his arms crossed. “Wait, you have dogs here?”

Jino’s expression brightened up. “Yes, we do… Puppies actually… Do you need to see them?” Jino asked.

“Yes, please,” Kai said, almost pleading.

Jino ran somewhere in the dorm. She came back holding the two puppies in her arms. “This is Kimchi and this is Sunny,” She introduced each puppy to Kai.

“Aigoo, kyeopta,” Kai praised with a chuckle. He patted both of the puppies’ heads with a big smile on his face. “How old are they?”

“2 weeks old. Our dog, Shelley, that’s living in my family’s house, gave birth to them last August 14, 2012, before Jun Hee’s birthday,”

“Ohh… That’s why their eyes are still closed…” Kai said as he got both puppies carefully from Jino’s arms. “Aigoo, they’re so cute! I remembered Jjanggu and Monggu’s infant days….” He left out a soft chuckle while his eyes were focused on Jino’s puppies. “You must take care of these two… They’re sweet precious things that are too good to lose,” Kai advised.

“Yes,” Jino nodded. “Shall we start studying the song now?” Jino asked.

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot!” Kai said, scratching the back of his head.

A few minutes later, someone knocked the door that distracted everyone’s attention.

“I’ll get it!” Iseul said, knowing Jino would always open the door. But since she didn’t want to interrupt Jino and Kai’s study session, she had the initiative to open the door instead. As she opened the door…

“Hi Iseul,” A tall boy greeted him with a lazy expression on his face.

“Oh, hi Se Hunnie oppa!” Iseul greeted, loud enough for Cho Hee to hear.

Cho Hee’s eyes grew wide and blushed. She tried to stand up and go to her room to avoid Se Hun but Sun kept pulling her back on the couch to sit down.

“Ya!” She said and slapped Sun’s hand, yet it was no use. Sun was too strong to pin her on her seat. It annoyed her more when Sun stuck a tongue out at her teasingly. All she could do was to scratch her head from annoyance and wait for what was to come.

“Is Kai hyung there?” Se Hun asked while he was still at the doorstep.

Iseul nodded. “Yes. Come in if you like,” Iseul invited Se Hun inside and the boy did as what he was told to.

“Hi Kai hyung, hi S Ori-K,” Se Hun greeted while waving his hands timidly.

The five members of S Ori who were present at the moment greeted as well. “Hi,”

“Ya, why are you here?” Kai asked.

“Kyung Soo hyung said dinner’s ready,” Se Hun announced.

“I’m not eating dinner, I’m full,” Kai replied and turned back to Jino.

Se Hun snickered. “You only saw Jino and you’re already full?” He mumbled with his arms crossed.

“Ya, I heard that!” Kai gave Kimchi and Sunny to Jino and stood.

Se Hun gave a v-sign to Kai and smiled innocently. “Peace,”

“Go away,” Kai commanded.

“Fine,” Se Hun said tightly. When he found out he had nowhere to go, he went to the back of the couch where Cho Hee was seated. He went behind her, with his face inches behind Cho Hee’s ears. “Hi Cho Hee,” Se Hun greeted.

The other three members, who were watching with Cho Hee turned their attention to Se Hun who was too close to Cho Hee’s  face. Cho Hee on the other hand ly to see Se Hun’s nose inches away from hers that made her blush like there’s no tomorrow.

“How was your day?” Se Hun asked in a melodious voice as he flicked the bridge of Cho Hee’s nose.

Cho Hee rolled her eyes and focused at the TV screen, turning away from Se Hun’s face, trying not to smile. “It was… normal?”

Se Hun walked in front of the couch and sat beside Cho Hee. He then put his arm at the edge of the couch’s backrest, hesitantly trying to wrap his arm around Cho Hee just to . Cho Hee on the other hand was sitting like a statue. Her eyes moved down to look at Se Hun’s hand which was nearly touching her shoulder. She slowly faced Se Hun once more, yet when their noses almost touched, she quickly turned away from him.

“Why are you here?” Cho Hee asked without looking at Se Hun. Her eyes were trying to focus somewhere Se Hun doesn’t exist.

Se Hun bent forward with his head doing the same. His eyes focused at Cho Hee, trying to get her attention away from where she was looking at. “An errand… But actually I also thought of going here because of you,” Se Hun giggled.

Cho Hee on the other hand wanted to laugh, but she tried to hold it in. She closed her eyes for a second, breathed with her nose and opened her eyes once more. “Can’t you talk to me without being this close?!”

“What?!” Se Hun said with a chuckle and with both eyebrows raising. “I like seeing your face,”

Cho Hee gave him a glare, but her cheeks were deeply burned. “SHUT UP,” was all she could say. She pushed Se Hun, but Se Hun held her hands tightly, causing her to jerk a bit.

“Your hands are so soft, I think I won’t be able to let it go,” Se Hun said as he rubbed his thumbs on the palms of Cho Hee’s hand with a mischievous smile.

“Oh my, this is sick!” Cho Hee stood up and pulled her hands from Se Hun’s grasp yet Se Hun was strong enough not to let go of her.

Se Hun stood up and giggled. “Ya… I was only playing around Cho Hee,” He then patted Cho Hee’s back.

“Are you done flirting?” Kai suddenly butted in.

“Shut up,” Se Hun said as he let go of Cho Hee’s hands.

“Let’s go back to the dorm; seeing you flirt with someone makes my stomach churn,” Kai mocked.

Se Hun walked to Kai and lightly punched his shoulder. “You’re flirting Jino anyways,”

Kai let out a snicker. “I’m not… And if I do, I’m way better than your style,” He smirked and used his index finger to shove Se Hun. He then left the dorm while Se Hun squinted, following his hyung.

 

An alibi as what it sounded to be, yet Jun Hee wasn’t asleep for real. It was only a way for her to hide how bad she feels for the day. She was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and resting her chin on her knees.

She sighed and got something under her pillow – a familiar circular box. She opened the box and saw three buns which gave her lots of memories, the happy ones.

As she pulled out the buns from the box, she tried to remember what each bun was for, based on what was written on Xiumin’s note. “First, the white bun stands for your pure aegyo…” Jun Hee chuckled looking at the white bun. She then wiped her tears away and held the blue bun. “The second bun, the blue bun, means to smile always…” She then put the blue bun down and got the pink bun. “Third, the pink bun means to enjoy what you’re doing and always think of the bright side.”

“I’m sorry,” She looked at the pink bun and examined it carefully, as her tears started to fall on her cheeks once more. “But I think it’s time for me to give up on what I enjoy doing…” Jun Hee said and buried her face on her pillow.

Her phone suddenly beeped that made her stop from crying. She sniffed and tried to make her voice sound normal.

“Hello?” Jun Hee answered her phone.

“Jun Hee are you crying?” A familiar voice asked.

Jun Hee sniffed. “W-Who’s this?”

“It’s Chen…”

“Oh, hello oppa! I’m sorry I didn’t check who the caller was and just answered the call… Why’d you call anyways?

“Wait, were you crying?” Chen asked, concern can be heard from his voice.

“A-Aniyo, it must be my voice on the phone…” Jun Hee tried to cover herself up.

“Ah… Can you come outside the dorm for a while? I’m here at your dorm step…”

“Chincha? A-arasseo, I’ll be there,” Jun Hee hung up and tried to wipe all the tears away. She put powder on her face and fixed her whole self, so Chen could not notice her depressed aura.

As she got outside the room, the girls were surprised to see her.

“Oh, unni! You’re awake! Jino unni cooked dinner for us today!” Iseul invited as she was on her way to the dining room.

Jun Hee tried to smile. “I-I’ll eat later, Chen’s outside the dorm waiting for me,” She said with a weak voice and went outside the room.

“Is she alright? She seemed to be a bit gloomy today,” Iseul murmured.

“I hope so...” Jino mumbled as she looked at the door where Jun Hee left.

Meanwhile outside S Ori-K’s dorm…

“Jun Hee!” Chen called with a bright smile on his face. It quickly faded away when he saw Jun Hee’s swollen eyes.

Jun Hee lowered her head, knowing that Chen already noticed her eyes. Chen cupped her cheeks and tried to raise it to see what happened to her. As he saw that Jun Hee’s eyes were really swollen, he put her hands on Jun Hee’s shoulders and looked at her eyes sincerely. “Tell me, what’s the matter Jun Hee?”

Jun Hee felt the tears forming on her eyes. She didn’t hold it in anymore, thinking it was useless. “Tell me you won’t tell S Ori…”

Chen nodded and furrowed his eyebrows. “I promise, I won’t,”

“Chen oppa…” A tear fell on her cheek and soon, much had followed. “I might leave S Ori… soon…” Jun Hee mumbled with a weak voice, as her emotions ate her energy all up.

Chen’s hands trembled from the news and released Jun Hee’s shoulders. “W-What?” Chen asked, trying not to believe with what Jun Hee announced. “N-No Jun Hee, not because the doctor told you to do so, you’ll be doing that! W-We’ll find a professional doctor, better than that doctor-“

“No oppa… It isn’t because of my health condition…” Jun Hee said that calmed down Chen. “I already talked to Sooman sunbae a while ago… And I think it’s the only option for me,”

Chen hugged Jun Hee tightly. “Shh… He won’t do that,” Chen said, while patting Jun Hee’s back.

Xiumin was at a wall just few meters away from where Chen and Jun Hee was. He was about to visit Jun Hee when he heard her whole conversation with Chen. He felt his whole body weaken but Jun Hee’s cries made him strong enough to run outside the dorm building and go straightly to the SM Entertainment building to talk to their CEO.

As he reached the building, he saw Lee Sooman about to go to his car, with his bodyguards and secretary behind him.

“Sunbaenim!” Xiumin called which stopped Sooman from walking to his car.

The CEO turned to Xiumin and waited for the younger to reach him.

“Sunbaenim,” Xiumin called again, trying to catch his breath from running and bowed respectfully to Lee Sooman. “I’m sorry to interrupt you at this time…” He was still breathing heavily, yet he tried hard to continue with what he wanted to tell the CEO. “But I have an important matter to discuss with you…”

“How could that be so important that you can’t even wait for tomorrow to discuss that?” The CEO asked with a chuckle.

“It’s about Kim Jun Hee sunbae,” Xiumin said, his voice a bit weak.

The CEO’s smile faded away hearing Jun Hee’s name and his face got serious. “What about her?”

Xiumin thought for a moment, and breathed deeply. Suddenly he fell on his knees and knelt on the ground. “Please don’t let her leave the group…” Xiumin said trying to convince the CEO. “J-Jun Hee’s happiness is when she’s on stage, doing what she loves… Please don’t take it away from her,”

“Xiumin, stand up,” The CEO said, trying not to get attention from the different staff going outside. “Ya, stand up,”

“I’m begging you sunbae, please don’t let her leave the group…” Xiumin continued like he didn’t hear anything.

“Xiumin… You know that I can’t do anything about it… You were there when the doctors recommended her to take a long break. I don’t want to lose Jun Hee in the company, but I don’t want to lose Jun Hee in this world either. It would be painful to see her having a hard time…”

“Sunbae… You’re smart! I know you can still think of a way so she could not leave the group… Please, think of something sunbae… Don’t let her leave…”

“Xiumin, do you want your friend to have much severe health problems? Jun Hee’s life is at risk; I can’t just sit on my chair and watch her performing without doing anything!”

Xiumin stood as he got irritated with the argument. “Sunbae, that’s why I’m asking you to think of another way for her to still perform! Something that won’t bother her health,” He suddenly grabbed the CEO’s collar and as he did that, the CEO’s bodyguards got his arms, trying to pull him away from the CEO. “Jun Hee gave her full efforts for this company’s success! She only needs to perform because that’s what she loves, why can’t you just give it to her sunbae? WHY?!”

“Xiumin, calm down!” The CEO said. His bodyguards had successfully pulled the younger away from him. “I already talked to her and gave her an option… Since her talents are excellent, of course I won’t be able to let go of such a skillful girl like her… I told her that she could rest for a year and if ever she wanted to go back to the company, I’ll be willing to make her debut as soon as possible… But she refused to. She said she’s only happy to be a S Ori member, and if she doesn’t come back as a S Ori member, it would be best for her to quit,”

“W-What?” Xiumin said, his whole system calmed down. He felt the tears in his eyes were already forming. And as a second passed, a tear streamed down on his cheek, while he froze on the spot thinking what the CEO just said.

“And that was her final decision,” Sooman patted his shoulder, went inside his car together with his bodyguards and left him.

He then went back to S Ori’s dorm and found Jun Hee and Chen, still together on the bench. Chen seemed to be still comforting her, as he kept on patting Jun Hee’s back.

“I’m sorry that I cannot do anything about it anymore, Joyong Hee,” Xiumin mumbled as he watched Jun Hee smile at Chen. A tear fell again on his cheek, as he felt real sorry for his best friend. He quickly wiped it and breathed out.

“Thank you, Jong Dae oppa,” Jun Hee said, with a forced smile.

Chen chuckled. “Just because we talked about some things seriously, you already called me by my real name…”

Jun Hee chuckled. “Just to be more comfortable… Sometimes it’s better when we call someone by their real names, because it kind of signifies how much you’ve known someone for a very long time… Well, don’t you like your name?” Jun Hee asked.

“I like it very much…” Chen smiled and looked into Jun Hee’s eyes. “Especially when you call it,”

Jun Hee felt a rush of beating in her heart that she felt blood rush on her cheeks. “A-Aigoo, ya, stop joking around,” Jun Hee tried to let out a snicker and looked away from Chen.

“Hey, Jun Hee… I actually went here to give you something…” Chen said as he reached his pockets and got a red box.

“W-What is it?” Jun Hee asked, turning once more to Chen.

Chen opened the box and revealed a golden necklace which had a heart-shaped pendant with a diamond at the center. “This,” Chen said and got the necklace from the box.

Jun Hee looked at it with awe. “W-Why? I mean, there are no special occasions today,”

Chen turned Jun Hee so that her back was facing him and put the necklace on Jun Hee. He bent a little closer to Jun Hee’s ear and replied, “Because everyday’s a special occasion when I’m with you,” Chen chuckled with his cheesiness.

Jun Hee turned to Chen as soon as he finished putting the necklace on her and slapped Chen’s arm lightly, “Stop joking around, it’s… cheesy!” Jun Hee squinted.

Chen chuckled. “Fine, but it was a bit true…” Chen held the pendant and looked at it while smiling. “I’m not demanding or asking you to wear this necklace every day, but I just gave you this to remind you that your heart is as strong as the diamond at the center of this pendant... Well, you may think that your heart is the reason of your weakness these days, but I know, there will be a point when you’ll see that your heart is also your strength… So don’t feel bad about it Jun Hee,” Chen cupped Jun Hee’s cheeks. “You have a great heart… And that’s the reason why I fell for it,”

Jun Hee felt her tears stream down by her cheeks, as she got touched from Chen’s message. “Jong Dae oppa,” Jun Hee hugged Chen that made his heart flutter. “I don’t know how to thank you right now… You’re making this lonely night feel a lot better,”

“Really? I’m happy that I made you feel better,” Chen smiled and patted Jun Hee’s back. “Stop crying, alright?”

Jun Hee nodded and let go of Chen. “I have a strong heart, don’t I?”

Chen nodded and wiped Jun Hee’s tears with his hand. “You’re stronger than who you think you are,”

 

The next day, there were no schedules and the girls went to their schools to study again…

Iseul was busy cramming on a homework given to them yesterday when she was absent. She was so into it that her head was almost kissing her notebook. Suddenly, someone hit her nape that her eyes almost hit her pen. Luckily, she missed it and turned to her back to see who did that.

“Hi, Iseul. You’re such a good actress during your concert,” Cherry said with her eyes narrowed.

“A-Actress? What are you saying?” Iseul asked. She was clueless of what Cherry was saying.

Cherry rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Mina glared at her with her arms crossed too. They both walked towards her like they were looking for some fight.

Cherry snickered. “As if we don’t know how much you were disrespectful with Chanyeol oppa! He’s your sunbae how could you just tease or bully him on and off camera? You’re crazy!”

Iseul’s eyebrows furrowed. “We’re used to that!” She defended herself and went back to work.

Mina pulled some of Iseul’s strands of hair, making Iseul groan from pain. “Don’t turn your back when we’re talking to you!!! You’re really annoying!”

“Chanyeol oppa and I are used to that relationship, don’t worry about him, he’s fine!” Iseul said, trying not to make the conversation long since she really needs to finish her work.

“We know! But why do you have to be so touchy with him?! You don’t have the right to touch our oppa! You flirt!” Cherry said.

Iseul stood up. Call her any nicknames, just don’t call her flirt. “I’m not a flirt, and I was never a flirt. I only did touchy dances because it was the choreographer’s steps. Don’t blame me for doing that, please,” Iseul said, got her notebook and bag and went outside their room. She continued working on her homework outside the room to stay away from the fight.

Meanwhile at Exo-M’s dorm…

Kris was lying on his bed, thinking of something to do with the problems going on with his life. Chen’s still mad at Xiumin. Even though he hides it, the leader can tell it, seeing Chen not talking to Xiumin. Lay was still suspicious about him and Sun, and even though he doesn’t tell it, that issue’s still not done. He doesn’t know how to tell Sun not to crush on him, since it isn’t a crime to crush on someone, but he’s worried that her feelings for him might grow into something more serious than just a simple crush. And lastly, the most important person in his life, Angela, seems like he does not exist in her life anymore which hurts him a lot.

“Aigoo… What to do?” Kris thought to himself as he rests the back of his head on the palms of his hands on his pillow. Kris stared at nowhere, trying to think of plans that might be good enough to fix everything and make things back to normal.

“Don’t rush it, but you must make sure you’ll be making progress every day,” Kris remembered what Angela said. “Make sure I’ll be making progress every day…” Kris mumbled and sat up straight on his bed. “Progress every day?” Kris narrowed his eyes as an idea popped in his mind. A smile then formed on his lips and he quickly changed his clothes and got ready to go somewhere.

Afternoon at Exo-K’s dorm…

“What time does Jino goes back from school?” Kai asked D.O.

“Woah, are you going to fetch her?" Baekhyun asked and flashed a smile.

“N-No! I’m just waiting for her to go home so we could study the piece we’re going to perform in our advanced rap class,” Kai said while wrapping up something.

“Well, about her dismissal time… I think her class ends at 4 in the afternoon…” D.O. looked at his watch. “Maybe by now, she’s on her way home… What’s that?” D.O. pointed at what Kai was wrapping.

Kai giggled. “A gift,”

Baekhyun hit Kai’s head. “Of course it’s a gift we’re not blind! And you, D.O., stop asking vague questions! Well the question is… Whom are you going to give that?” Baekhyun asked suspiciously.

“S-Someone you don’t need to know!” Kai said and went back to his room.

“Aigoo, that awkward man,” Baekhyun complained and suddenly pushed D.O.

“Why are you pushing me?!” D.O. asked.

“I was just bored. Do you think he’s courting Jino?” Baekhyun asked.

“No! He can’t do that,” D.O. said defensively.

Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrowed. “Do you… by any chance… Do you like Jino?”

D.O.’s eyes grew wide. “O-Of course! She’s my best friend, that’s why I like her!”

Baekhyun smirked. “You know what I’m talking about, Do Kyung Soo… Stop playing safe…”

D.O. raised his eyebrows. “W-What are you talking about? Shin Min Young’s my best friend!”

“And so? Love starts with friendship,” Baekhyun cheekily said.

D.O. glared at Baekhyun. “Then what do you call your relationship with Park Cho Hee! Explain it! Love starts with friendship, right?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” Baekhyun stood and left D.O. in the couch.

“Silly balladeer,” D.O. said and shook his head.

Suddenly, Chanyeol came outside from his room, all dressed up with a cap on his head. He was about to go outside the dorm when Baekhyun called his name.

“Ya, where are you going?” Baekhyun asked.

Chanyeol pointed the dorm’s door. “Outside? Why?”

“Of course you are, you’re all dressed up! Well, what I meant was, where exactly are you going?” Baekhyun asked.

“Uhm… I’m just going to check something… Uhm… Just… Damn, I’m going to be late, I have to go! Bye!” Chanyeol quickly went outside, leaving Baekhyun dumbfounded.

He then went straight to Iseul’s school and tried not to be noticed by a lot of people by hiding behind walls. He waited until Iseul came out of her school, until he saw her walking slowly with her head lowered down. He quickly ran to her and held her arm, making Iseul surprised.

“OMO,” Iseul said and held her chest.

“It’s me, your Chanyeol oppa,” Chanyeol murmured.

“W-WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” Iseul asked hysterically. She quickly looked around her and pushed Chanyeol towards a place where no one can see them.

“Well, I was… I was walking when I suddenly saw you walking!” Chanyeol tried not to sound like he waited for Iseul for how many minutes.

“And where are you heading?” Iseul asked.

“Uhm… It’s none of your business!” Chanyeol argued.

“Fine. But next time don’t go near me when I’m in school!” Iseul said and continued walking.

Chanyeol got surprised with Iseul’s cold words. “W-Why?!”

“Just… Leave me alone!” Iseul said coldly. She walked away from him while Chanyeol watched him.

“Fine! I won’t go near you and I won’t talk to you, if that’s what you want!” Chanyeol argued. “Hey, wait! Where are you going? That’s not the right way to your dorm!”

“It’s none of your business too,” Iseul said without looking back to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol got pissed with Iseul’s attitude and decided to go back to their dorm by himself. “Aish, I was planning to give her a treat, but if she doesn’t want that, FINE! It’s not my loss,”

 

Kris headed at S Ori-M’s dorm after his ‘preparation’ for his idea. He suddenly saw Kai outside S Ori-K’s dorm (which was beside S Ori-M’s dorm), hesitating to knock on the door.

“Ya, what are you doing there?” Kris asked.

Kai hid his hands behind his back. “Uhh… N-Nothing, I just have to talk to Jino…”

Kris walked towards Kai. “About what?” He stopped as soon as he got near him.

“We have to work on some song and present it to the trainer without any flaws…” Kai replied.

“Okay,” Kris said and went back in front of S Ori-M’s dorm.

“And what about you?” Kai asked.

“Nothing, just visiting the girls here,” Kris said, pointing at S Ori-M’s dorm.

“And what about the girls here?” Kai asked, pointing at S Ori-K’s dorm.

“Well, I might do that later,” Kris said without looking at Kai’s eyes. “Why don’t you knock?”

Kai looked at him for five seconds and began knocking on S Ori-K’s dorm with shaky hands. Sun opened it, revealing that Jino wasn’t still in the house, yet invited him to come in the dorm. Kai glanced at Kris before going in, while Kris raised his eyebrows as a sign of permission to go ahead.

Kris then turned to S Ori-M’s dorm and breathed deeply. He then got his phone and called Angela, yet Angela won’t answer.

“Damn, I guess I really have to knock…” Kris thought and did as what he told himself.

Jie opened the door with a bright smile on her face. “Hi Kris gege!”

“Hi,” Kris said timidly. “Is… Is your Angela jiejie inside?”

Jie nodded. “Come in,”

“Well, I don’t want to come in but…” He got something inside his pocket. It was a white envelope that seemed like an important letter. “Please give this to her,”

Jie got the envelope from Kris’ hand and examined the envelope. “Did you fight, appa?”

“Huh?” Kris asked, not wanting to answer the question since it would require him to explain a lot of things from someone who doesn’t know his relationship with Angela.

“Angela jiejie… Well, she doesn’t seem like she’s on her right mind now… No, I mean… She’s like present in the dorm but it feels like she doesn’t exist in here…” Jie uttered.

“I-I don’t get it Jie,” Kris shook his head.

“Like, these past few days, she often locks herself in the room, telling us she’ll be sleeping… But when she goes outside for meals, her eyes… it would look so swollen… And her eye bags got bigger than before! Even a BB Cream can’t hide it…” Jie narrated feeling a bit broken hearted from what she’s telling Kris.

Kris’ eyes furrowed. “Was this all my fault?” He thought. He then looked into Jie’s eyes full of worry and pain in his heart. “Just… Give that envelope to her without telling her that it’s from me… And don’t worry about us, Jie. Your Angela jiejie and I are alright…”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause from how I see it, it doesn’t look alright,” Jie said suspiciously.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to your jiejie,” Kris patted Jie’s head and went back to his dorm.

Meanwhile at S Ori-K’s dorm…

“Aigoo, at last you came, Jino!” Kai said and stood as he saw Jino going inside their dorm from school.

“Oh, were you waiting for me?” Jino asked.

Kai nodded. “The song, remember?”

Jino scratched her head. “Ah, yeah,”

Kai pulled Jino to the dining room to sit with him so they could study the song right away.

“Ya, too much skinship isn’t allowed here!” Sun pointed out. “Our Jino is still a baby, okay?”

Kai snickered. Suddenly, he interlocked his fingers with Jino’s. Jino gasped from the sudden gesture, like she felt an electric impulse from her hands towards her heart that made her heart thump. “How about this?” Kai giggled.

Jino put her hands away from his, feeling awkward with the position. “Ya, let’s just study,”

“What’s this?” Kai laughed. “You’re still awkward with me holding your hands? We did this when we’re in Tokyo for about two to three hours and you’re still awkward?” Kai teased.

Sun slapped Kai’s nape. “Ya, Kim Jong In oppa, take care of our precious leader, alright? She’s really ‘precious’!”

“Yeah, fine,” Kai said and turned back to Jino.

“Are you done studying the first verse?” Jino asked.

“Wait!” Kai said and gesture his hands for Jino to stop speaking. He then flustered a bright smile and got something inside his pocket.

Jino’s eyebrows furrowed, wondering why Kai was so lively today. She waited until Kai showed her a box, wrapped in a fancy duckling gift wrapper. She then chuckled from the weird design. “How do you know a lot about ducks?!”

“I’m not just y, I’m smart,” Kai said, pointing a finger to the side of his forehead. “Open it,”

“Why? Is this for me?” Jino asked.

“Uhmm… Partly, it’s for you,” Kai said and giggled. “Open it, quickly!”

“Aigoo, so excited,” Jino said and tore the duckling gift wrap, which she felt a bit guilty for since the gift wrapper was so attractive for her. She then opened the little brown box. Inside the box, she saw two golden dog tags in a black strap. One has Kimchi’s name imprinted on it while the other one has Sunny’s name on it. Both dog tags where addressed to S Ori-K’s dorm and had S Ori-K’s mobile number imprinted on it.

“Do you like it?” Kai asked, looking at Jino’s eyes which were focused on the dog tags. “Won’t you tell your puppies that their Kai oppa has a gift for them? That isn’t for you, silly,” Kai said patting Jino’s head.

Jino fixed her hair and scratched her nape. “T-Thank you sunbae… Oh! I mean, oppa,” Jino said and blushed from embarrassment.

Kai chuckled. “My pleasure for the two cute puppies,”

Jino then got her two puppies outside their room and put the dog tags on their necks. “It’s classy; it suits the both of them!”

“Of course, I have a good taste,” Kai boasted.

Jino rolled her eyes and carried both of the puppies, letting them rest on her lap. “Ya, Kimchi and Sunny! Say thank you to your Kai oppa,”

Kai bent down and reached for the paws of both puppies. “Aigoo, that looks cute Kimchi, keep that beautiful puppy eyes, alright?” Kai giggled and turned to Sunny. “Oh, are you jealous, Sunny? Sorry, you have beautiful eyes too;” He then held both paws of the two puppies. “Kai oppa likes the both of you so much,”

Jino smiled by the sight of Kai talking to both of her puppies. It was lovely, seeing Kai’s gentle side on the puppies. It felt like all of her awkwardness towards Kai’s intimidating looks and snobbish side faded away.

“Now that, looks like a real family to me,” Na Rae commented while she was watching the whole scene with Cho Hee and Sun.

***

Angela went to the rooftop, since the letter that was sent to her says, “Go to the rooftop at exactly 5:30 PM.” She went there, since Jie told her that the person who sent the letter was someone she trusts a lot. She was expecting to see someone at the rooftop (more of like expecting Kris to see there because of the obvious penmanship), waiting for her. But instead, she just saw a mini-table with different kinds of food served on it. It was only a table for one person, since there was only one chair and one plate. She then sat down, still expecting for someone to come. A music suddenly played, as she realized there was a radio near her. It was “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt. She then realized there was a letter lying on her plate.

She got the folded paper and opened it.

“Y-Ya!” Angela said as she stood up from her chair. “W-Where are you?” Angela shouted, and tears streamed down on her cheek. “Show up!!!”

Though her voice was loud enough, there was no sight of Kris’ body. She looked around and waited until someone to come, but still, there were no Kris.

“KRIS!” Angela shouted, already crying. “You’re unfair, I want to see you too! Where are you tall man?!”

“Babe, I told you not to look for me!” Kris shouted. He was standing at the door to the staircase.

“SHUT UP!” Angela said and ran towards Kris to hug him. “I hate you so much,” Angela said and hugged Kris tightly.

Kris chuckled and hugged Angela back. “What are you saying? You’re hugging me right now, is that how you hate someone?”

“I HATE YOU BEING SO ROMANTIC!” Angela said and kept crying.

Kris laughed. “Babe, I miss you,”

“I missed you too,” Angela said and closed her eyes, loving what her ears are hearing – Kris’ heartbeats.

“How long are you planning to hug me babe?” Kris asked teasingly.

“Forever,” Angela uttered.

Kris laughed. “Aigoo, I love you so much. You’re so sweet today,”

“I love you too,” Angela replied.

 

The next day, Lay had dance training together with Iseul and some other trainees once more with Greg S. Hwang. This time, Iseul was on time and Greg was present during the training.

During break, Iseul tried to approach Lay, but the incident last time hunts her a lot. “L-Lay oppa,” She tried to call him with her weak voice.

“Hm?” Lay asked and turned to Iseul with a smile on his face.

Iseul gasped and tried to act cool. “C-Can I ask you something?”

Lay sat beside Iseul. “You can always ask me anything, Iseul,” Lay reassured.

Iseul got confused by the sudden change of Lay’s mood towards her. “W-What was the reason… why you were so… n-nothing, nevermind,”

“Is that all about the time when you kept on repeating the dance I taught?” Lay asked.

“Well… Yes,” Iseul said sheepishly.

“I just wanted to see whether I can trust you or not. Well you trusted yourself a lot, so I guess I can really trust you with Kris gege and Angela’s relationship,” Lay said with a soft voice.

“Oh… So you’re not mad at me anymore?” Iseul smiled.

Lay nodded, a dimple forming on his right cheek. “I’ll treat you milk tea later,” He patted Iseul’s head, stood and went back to practicing.

Iseul smiled and followed Lay.

***

“Park Cho Heeeeeeeeeee!!!” Baekhyun shouted while knocking at S Ori-K’s dorm.

Cho Hee opened the door with a glare on her eyes. “WHAT?!”

“Hi! I miss you girl friend!” Baekhyun was about to hug her, but Cho Hee pushed him.

“I don’t miss you so go away!” Cho Hee said coldly.

“Aigoo, what’s wrong with you?” Baekhyun asked. “Oh, was it because of Se Huuuuuuuun?” Baekhyun said teasingly.

“Shut up,” Cho Hee rolled her eyes. “Just go to Taeyeon unni, maybe you miss her more than you miss me!” Cho Hee said and closed the door.

Baekhyun got surprised with what Cho Hee said. He knocked again and called her name. “Ya, Park Cho Hee open the door!!!” Baekhyun commanded, almost shouting.

Cho Hee lazily opened the door. “What?!”

“What do you mean by that?” Baekhyun asked.

“Nothing, I just got carried away,” Cho Hee said and looked on the ground.

Baekhyun chuckled. “Were you jealous with Taeyeon noona?”

“N-No, of course not!” Cho Hee said and tried really hard not to look at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun on the other hand bent down and looked into Cho Hee’s eyes. He put his hand on Cho Hee’s back and pushed her closer to him with a smile. “Really?”

Cho Hee felt her cheeks burn. She tried to push Baekhyun away from her but Baekhyun kept on teasingly pushing her closer to him, closer to his face. “Ya, stop it Byun Baekhyun!”

“Then answer my question,” Baekhyun leaned towards Cho Hee’s face.

“Stop it, I’ve already answered your question!!!” Cho Hee said as she kept on trying to push Baekhyun. “Will you stop? You know that I blush a lot when men do this to me!!!”

“Really?” A man suddenly butted in. Cho Hee and Baekhyun turned their heads to their side, only to see Se Hun. He walked towards the two ‘best friends’ with a timid smile on his face.

Baekhyun then let go of Cho Hee. “What are you doing here, Se Hun?” Baekhyun asked with a smile on his face. He was a bit disappointed when he let go of Cho Hee because of Se Hun’s interruption. He missed teasing Cho Hee since he wasn’t able to see her for the past few days.

Se Hun kept walking towards them, with hands inside his pocket. “Nothing,” Se Hun stopped as he reached Baekhyun and Cho Hee. He then looked at Cho Hee who was now looking on the ground and flicked Cho Hee’s chin, raising it so he could have an eye-to-eye contact with her. “Just visiting my admirer,”

Cho Hee shoved her head away from Se Hun’s fingers that flicked her chin. “Stop playing with me, the both of you,” Cho Hee said.

“Ya, I’m not playing with you,” Baekhyun said, holding Cho Hee’s arm.

Cho Hee looked at Baekhyun’s hand that held her arm tightly. Suddenly, a hand held her other free hand. It was Se Hun’s.

“You know, what I’m saying was true. You like me, right?” Se Hun said with a sly smile.

Cho Hee shoved Se Hun’s hand away, making him jerk a bit. “Shut up, I don’t care if it’s true or not.” She then turned to Baekhyun. “And you, what do you want? I’m not jealous with Taeyeon unni, alright?”

“Wait, let’s talk,” Baekhyun said not letting go of Cho Hee’s arm. “I want to talk to you, seriously,”

Cho Hee looked at Se Hun and glared. “Are you here just to tease me or you needed to say something too?”

Se Hun looked at Baekhyun for a moment and looked back to Cho Hee. “Well, it seems like Baekhyun and you needed to talk about something important… so I guess I’ll see you later,” Se Hun said.

“Okay, then that’s good, let’s go Cho Hee,” Baekhyun said, pulling Cho Hee away from their dorm’s doorstep.

“Y-Ya, where are we going?” Cho Hee asked with her eyes opened widely.

“You don’t need to know,” Baekhyun said and just pulled Cho Hee with him. Cho Hee on the other hand had no other choice but to follow Baekhyun.

Se Hun’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why would she be jealous with Taeyeon noona? Are they… in a relationship? I thought Cho Hee likes me?” Se Hun thought to himself.

“Oh, Se Hun oppa, you’re here!” Na Rae said as she saw Se Hun at their doorstep.

Se Hun looked at her without any expression. He then walked away like he didn’t hear Na Rae greeted him.

“What’s with that man? Why was he so snobbish today?!” Na Rae asked herself.

Meanwhile, at the CEO’s office…

“You only have three days Jun Hee,” The CEO announced.

“T-Three days?” Jun Hee asked in horror.

“Yes. We already found a new trainee to replace you…” The CEO said, without looking at Jun Hee’s eyes. He then sighed and looked at Jun Hee. “If you ever reconsider… and think of going back here, you’re always welcome to debut,”

“I already have my word sunbae. And that’s to be loyal to S Ori. Send my congratulatory message to the new trainee,” Jun Hee bowed to the CEO and left the room.

As soon as she left the room, her emotions took over her and the tears quickly streamed down on her cheek. “Goodbye… S Ori…” Jun Hee thought to herself.

“Jun Hee?” A man asked. She turned to see Chen with a concerned look on his face. “What happened?”

“I might leave a bit sooner oppa,” Jun Hee said and tried to force a smile.

“W-What?!” Chen asked in shock.

“Don’t worry, it’s alright… I just feel sad about leaving S Ori since I’ve been so attached to them,” Jun Hee said.

Chen pulled Jun Hee for a hug. “Of course, who wouldn’t be sad about this?!” Chen patted Jun Hee’s back. “We’ll think of a way to bring you back to S Ori,”

“No, Jong Dae oppa… It’s alright, it’s done…” Jun Hee uttered.

Meanwhile at a coffee shop…

“Why did you bring me here?” Cho Hee asked coldly.

“I don’t know, maybe I just need to say sorry?” Baekhyun said with a bright smile on his face.

“There are tons of things you have to say sorry for. Which one of them are you referring to?” Cho Hee asked.

“All of them?”

“Then I won’t just forgive you like this,” Cho Hee said and stood up yet Baekhyun stopped him. He then pushed her to sit back on the couch and signaled for a waiter to come.

“Wait then,” Baekhyun said and whispered something to the waiter.

The waiter then served a coffee with an “I’m Sorry” on it. Cho Hee was amazed by how it was put on the coffee and laughed in awe.

“How?” Cho Hee asked.

“Not only that,” Baekhyun said and a music suddenly played in the café’s radio. He suddenly stood up and sat beside Cho Hee, so she’s the only one who could hear him sing. “Hello my love, marshmallow, come next to me…”

“Y-Ya, Baekhyun, what prank is this again?” Cho Hee asked.

Baekhyun put a finger on Cho Hee’s mouth to silence her while his eyes were closed. “Say yes, raise your fragile head and say yes, please say yes…” He then opened his eyes and flustered a smile to Cho Hee.

Cho Hee looked around, afraid that people might see them. She suddenly saw every tables and chairs with a sign saying: “RESERVED”. Could it possibly happen that Baekhyun reserved the whole place for the both of them?

“Only you, even if the world breaks in half for me, it’s you! No matter how much I think I only want you, it’s the truth…” Baekhyun hit the high notes perfectly as he looked directly on Cho Hee’s eyes that made Cho Hee’s heart thump fast.

The song ended with a blushing Cho Hee. Baekyun got the cup of coffee served for Cho Hee. “Now will you forgive me?” Baekhyun asked.

“Fine. I do!” Cho Hee said and got the cup of coffee from Baekhyun’s hand.

“That’s my girl friend!” Baekhyun said and chuckled.

“How could you sing awesomely?!” Cho Hee mumbled.

“What?” Baekhyun asked, hearing nothing.

“I said you’re the worst rapper ever!” Cho Hee said and drank her coffee. “Hey wait, did you… reserve this place?”

Baekhyun nodded. “For our privacy,” He then held Cho Hee’s hands with a smile on his face.

“Stop holding my hand it makes me blush,” Cho Hee uttered and pulled her hands away from Baekhyun’s.

Baekhyun chuckled. “Aigoo, you’re so cute,”

“I don’t believe you,” Cho Hee said.

“I’m an honest man,”

“So?”

“Seriously Cho Hee, I thought you already forgave me?”

“Yeah right.”

 

Night came.

“The number you dialed is busy at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep~” The receiver said, as Jun Hee tried to reach Xiumin. She wanted to speak to Xiumin so badly but Xiumin won’t answer his phone.

Meanwhile, Xiumin was at his room busy doing something on his laptop. Since the day the CEO refused to plan something for Jun Hee to stay, he had locked himself up in his room, eating his meals in front of the laptop. He had been working on something that he made him so busy that he couldn’t even sleep properly during the night.

His phone rang for the fifteenth time. It was Jun Hee. She had been calling him for hours yet he won’t answer. He didn’t want to hear Jun Hee’s voice. Not now.

But his phone rang again, that he couldn’t resist not answering Jun Hee’s call. And so he did.

“Hello?” Xiumin said.

“Baozi oppa! I need to talk-“ Jun Hee said, trying to make her voice sound lively.

“Can we talk some other time, Jun Hee? I need to finish something,” Xiumin said, his eyes were still focused on his laptop.

“But Baozi oppa-“

“No buts, Jun Hee. Please?” Xiumin said as he kept typing something on the keyboard.

“F-Fine,” Jun Hee hang up the phone and Xiumin did the same thing.

The next day, Lu Han was scheduled to perform with BoA for her Only One performance in Music Bank. While they were at the backstage…

“Lu Han you rea- Oh, what’s that?” BoA asked as she saw Lu Han flipping pages of a mini-photo album. It was really small, that only wallet size pictures could fit in it.

He quickly put it inside his pocket and stood when he saw BoA. “Oh, sunbae, you’re here…”

BoA smiled. “What was that?” BoA asked.

“Uhm… Some photo album…” Lu Han said sheepishly and scratched his head.

“If I’m not mistaken… I think I saw Mei…” BoA said and chuckled.

“S-Sunbae…” Lu Han doesn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to lie to his sunbae. “Well… Yeah, she’s in this photo album…”

A smile formed on BoA’s lips. “You like her?”

Lu Han nodded. “How do I ask the CEO’s permission for me to court Mei? I mean, I’m sure he’ll be mad at me if he knows this…”

“Well the CEO’s considerate about relationships. You just have to show him that you can balance work with your love life. And… I think it’ll be okay if the fans love your coupling… The CEO would have great pleasure if he knows that the well-known coupling in the company is for real, since there would be tons of fans who’ll support that,”

“Really?” Lu Han said and looked down. “Can I get an advice from you sunbae?”

“I’m already giving you, Lu Han,” BoA emphasized.

Lu Han chuckled. “Well… How am I going to say this… Uhm… What if she’s mad at me? How can I be able to do the first move?” Lu Han asked.

“Mad at you? Why?” BoA asked.

“Well…” He scratched his head and went near BoA. “I… kind of… accidentally kissed her lips,”

BoA’s eyes grew wide from shock. “Well that one’s a bit fast dear! A lot of girls hate those moves, especially when you’re still on the ‘getting-to-know-each-other’ stage…”

Lu Han sighed. “I think I’m doomed,”

“Don’t lose hope,” BoA put her palm on Lu Han’s shoulder. “She’ll understand. Express to her how you really feel rather than explaining it,”

“Huh? How’s that?” Lu Han asked.

“BoA-sshi, please be ready, you’ll be performing after ten minutes,” A staff suddenly called, cutting off their conversation.

“Okay,” BoA replied. “Shall we go now? Are you ready?”

Lu Han nodded.

Meanwhile at the SM Building…

“Sunbae, please reconsider,” Xiumin insisted.

“Xiumin, a trainee already signed a contract to replace her. Besides, Jun Hee quitted much like voluntarily,” The CEO explained.

“You call that voluntarily?! She quitted because she didn’t had a choice sunbae!” Xiumin argued.

“Xiumin, what makes you think that she didn’t had a choice? I kept on reminding her that she can always go back here and debut whenever she want to,” The CEO drank a cup of coffee served on his desk.

“Sunbae, do you think she wants to debut by herself?! She’s a human, sunbae! She gets attached to people! Of course, S Ori’s the only group she wants to be! Putting her out of the group was like getting an egg from a bird’s nest!”

“There’s no other way to let her stay in the group!” The CEO stood.

“There is!” Xiumin said and also stood from his chair. “Check my plans,” He then gave a USB to the CEO while the CEO hesitantly got the USB from Xiumin.

***

Jun Hee secretly packed her things, so that she’d be able to leave the dorm as early as possible on the day she had to go out of their dorm.

After she finished packing up her things, she then cooked a lot of food for S Ori’s dinner.

“Wow, what’s the occasion, Jun Hee unni?” Jino asked, seeing the different kinds of food served on their dining table.

“Nothing,” Jun Hee chuckled. “Can you call the S Ori-M members? I want them to be here too,” Jun Hee said, trying to hold back her tears.

“Okay,” Jino said and went out quickly to call the other S Ori-M members.

As the whole group was gathered, everyone looked at Jun Hee, waiting for her to announce why she had to cook plenty of food.

“Well, I just want to thank all of you for being nice to me… And our goodbye stage is coming soon… I hope… w-we’ll still be the best when we comeback on stage again,” Jun Hee said, as tears streamed down on her cheeks.

“Hey, why are you like this, Jun Hee? Of course we’ll still be the best! Your voice was one of the reasons why we had a successful debut!” Angela said and wrapped her arm around Jun Hee.

Jun Hee tried to force a smile and nodded. “A-Anyways, let’s eat,”

Jino looked at Jun Hee. She felt like something’s wrong with her, that she’s hiding something from everyone.

“Woah, Jun Hee, you’re the best cook ever!!!” Sun praised.

Jun Hee chuckled. “Aigoo, you always say that,”

“Because it’s true!!!” Sun said.

“Or maybe it’s just because every food you eat is delicious?” Jun Hee asked.

“Of course not! It’s just your cooking’s the best!” Sun said with a thumb up.

“Sun unni’s right! This Kimchi Bokumbap’s the best!” Zhu said and ate a spoonful of Kimchi Bokumbap.

“Aigoo, even the juice is perfect! Why are you like this Jun Hee unni?” Iseul asked.

“Isn’t it weird? We keep on praising Jun Hee unni’s cooking but we’re not inviting her to eat!” Jie said that made everyone laugh. “Unni, come on, join us,” She invited Jun Hee to sit beside her.

“Okay,” Jun Hee said and went to sit beside Jie.

***

It was a Saturday morning and all of the idols didn’t have any schedules for the whole day. Lu Han dressed up and tried to look good, just to look presentable to Mei. He already made his decision – to tell Mei what he really feels, no matter how Mei will feel about it.

He knocked on S Ori-M’s dorm three times with his trembling fists. He felt his knees shake too and tiny drops of sweat were formed on his forehead. He was restless. It was like he was about to ride on a rollercoaster ride once more.

Someone opened the door slowly, that it made his heartbeat fast, thinking it was Mei. But to his surprise, it was a different person – Jie.

“Hi gege,” Jie greeted with a groggy voice. She was still in her pajamas that made Lu Han think that she just woke up and got up from the bed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you?” Lu Han asked in guilt.

“No, it’s alright. We just had our breakfast. What made you come here, by the way?” Jie asked with a little smile formed on her lips.

Lu Han felt the sweat on his forehead drop slowly on the side of his cheeks. His heartbeat got faster than how it was a while ago. He felt his hands and knees tremble yet he still controlled his balance. He then cleared his throat and started, “I uhh… I’d like to talk to Mei…”

Jie’s mood suddenly brightened up with a mischievous grin. “You may come in, you’re always welcome in our dorm gege,”

Lu Han’s eyebrows twitched, seeing Jie’s sudden change of mood. “O-Okay, thanks,” He went inside the dorm and sat on the couch when Jie told him to.

After a few seconds of waiting, Mei appeared in front of her, who still had a damp hair since she just took a bath. And of course, she had already changed her clothes when she faced Lu Han. :)

“L-Lu Han,” Mei uttered in surprise.

“Hey,” Lu Han greeted with his already shaking voice. He cleared his throat once again and stood. “Mei, I know you’re kind of mad at me… N-No, I mean, I know you’re mad at me, but… uhm… Wait, can we sit down for a while?” Lu Han scratched his head. The things that he was going to say, which he memorized and practiced last night just suddenly got out of his mind when he saw Mei once more. It was a long time, and he surely missed her a lot.

“Sure,” Mei said and sat on the couch, which was just in front of Lu Han. Lu Han on the other hand followed, and sat on the couch, where he was sitting a while ago.

Lu Han tried to search again for the words he had to say, but Mei just totally made his mind blank. “Are you mad at me?”

Mei sighed. “I told you before, Lu Han… I’m not mad at you. I’m just looking for the reason why you did that,”

Lu Han puckered his lips. “Could you give me like five minutes before I answer that?” Lu Han asked, his face was totally red, and he was all sweaty.

Mei looked at him in confusion. “O-Okay…” Mei said with a thumb up. She then stood, but suddenly Lu Han got her arm.

“W-Where are you going?!” Lu Han asked hysterically.

Mei’s eyes grew wide from shock. “I’m just getting you a glass of water since you look like you’re about to collapse from I don’t know, maybe from nervousness cause even your hands say it…” Mei said, feeling Lu Han’s cold hands tremble.

Lu Han quickly removed his hand from Mei’s and held it with his other hand. Mei on the other hand got what she was planning to get a while ago and served it to Lu Han.

“Here,” Mei said, passing the glass of water to Lu Han. “Relax, I won’t bite.”

“Maybe you’ll do if I’ll tell the reason,” Lu Han said before drinking the glass of water. In just one sip, he finished it all.

“Do you need some more?” Mei asked.

Lu Han shook his head with his eyes closed. He then let out a deep sigh and raised his head. As he opened his eyes, he looked directly at Mei’s eyes. “The reason why I kissed you last time… was because…”

Mei raised her eyebrows, waiting for the answer to come out of Lu Han’s lips.

“B-Because-“

“Hi Lu Han gege! What brings you here?” Angela asked, her eye bags were already gone, as if she had a good sleep for a month.

Mei and Lu Han sighed. Angela suddenly realized that she needed to give the two a time to talk. She then left awkwardly out of the scene.

“Say it,” Mei commanded.

Lu Han nodded and proceeded. “It’s because I really-“

“Mei, I saw your underwear in my closet, how could you put it there?!” Zhu suddenly shouted from her room.

Mei felt her cheeks burnt and her eyes grew wide from embarrassment. hung open that she couldn’t even look at Lu Han’s eyes.

“I think you should… uhm… fix that first?” Lu Han said, pointing to the hallway to their room.

Mei sighed. “Let’s just… finish this talk first,” She then insisted.

“O-Okay… It’s just that-“

“YU MEI LI! I SAID YOUR UNDIES-“ Zhu suddenly stopped shouting when she saw Lu Han sitting on the couch with Mei. “Oops… S-Sorry Mei, I didn’t know…”

Mei sighed. “Jiejie, don’t you remember Angela jiejie gave us undies that had the same design?” Mei said with a hand on her forehead.

“Oh,” Zhu said with her index finger up. “I remember! During Valentine’s day, that’s why there were hearts on it!”

“Oh my gosh, jiejie,” Mei said and covered her face in embarrassment.

Lu Han on the other hand tried not to laugh nor listen to what they were talking. He dared not to look on Zhu and Mei’s face, just so not to set up an awkward atmosphere.

Angela suddenly came. “Zhu, I know you’re still fixing your room… Why don’t you continue fixing it right now?” Angela said as she held Zhu’s shoulders and led her to her room, leaving Mei and Lu Han once more in the living room.

Mei was so embarrassed that she could not put her hands off of her face. Lu Han chuckled without any sound and continued with what he was going to say. “It’s just that everything about you is so admirable, Mei. The way your hair falls perfectly on your back, the fragrant smell of your perfume, your eye smile that totally makes me melt… Even the embarrassed look on your face is so beautiful. It makes my heart totally flutter when you look at me in the eyes… And when we were playing that time... I honestly, didn’t know that I did it. I mean, I was looking into your eye smile that time… And then when you winked at me, everything in my mind was… I don’t know I can’t think of anything else… It was just you were so attractive… that my heart fluttered so much… And then… Kiss…” Lu Han just looked at Mei with a serious expression on his face.

Mei on the other hand slowly put away her hands that covered her face yet she dared not to face Lu Han. She was still on the verge of doubting what Lu Han told her. Everything he narrated – it was just so unrealistic. She didn’t know if it was the answer she was looking for, but what’s more confusing to her is that every word that escaped from Lu Han’s lips just made her heart flutter.

“Those are just words…” Mei thought.

Lu Han cleared his throat and stood. “Well, th-that’s all I have Mei… An unclear explanation of the reason why I had to do ‘that’. I told you, it wasn’t really my intention… I don’t know what came in my mind that I have to do that but…” Lu Han sighed and walked to the way out. “I don’t know, I just hope you’ll forgive me…” He then left the dorm, closing its door gently, leaving Mei speechless.

Mei breathed deeply. “Those were just words that come from the sweet tongues of men in this world. Don’t let yourself fall for it, Yu Mei Li,” Mei mumbled, looking at the place where Lu Han sat.

“I think he’s sincere,” Angela suddenly butted in.

“How’d you know he is? You can’t just read his thoughts with his face or the way he said those things to me,” Mei defended.

“Mei, you don’t use your brains when you look into a person’s feelings. You use your heart instead. Don’t be too cold, Mei. He only wanted you to forgive him. He didn’t ask you to give back what he feels for you,” Angela advised and went to the kitchen to get some fruit.

Mei’s eyebrows furrowed. She suddenly saw something familiar from Lu Han’s seat. It was the mini-photo album, Lu Han always brings with him. She then got it, examined the cover, and saw Lu Han’s name on it. “Omo, he forgot something,” Mei said and ran out of their dorm, when suddenly, something dropped from it – a Polaroid shot of her during the SM Town Concert in Seoul that happened recently. There was a caption below it, saying: “At a concert like today, this girl’s my strength and inspiration. Whenever I see her, it feels like every sweat is just a drop of water that washes away the stress I have. But since I can’t go near her, I’ll just take a photo of her. Aigoo, I miss her so much.”

“What’s this?” Mei asked while catching her breath from running. She flipping the pages of the scrapbook, seeing her stolen Polaroid shots:

But was suddenly cut off when Lu Han got it from her hand. "W-What did you saw?" His eyes grew wide from shock. “W-Where did you get this?”

“You left it a while ago in our dorm…”

Lu Han hit his own face. He then scratched his head from embarrassment. “W-Well… Th-that’s…” He let out a sigh to make his whole system relax. “Y-You know my feelings for you so I guess that thing’s understandable…” He kept his head low, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Mei nodded and smiled at Lu Han. She then turned to walk back to the dorm, when Lu Han suddenly caught her arm.

“Hey… Are you still mad at me?” Lu Han asked.

Mei turned to face Lu Han. “No… Just surprised,”

“Disappointed?” Lu Han asked worriedly.

Mei shook her head. “It’s alright,”

“You sure?”

Mei nodded her head. “I’m going back,” Mei turned her back to Lu Han once more.

“No, wait,” Lu Han stopped her and went in front Mei. “D-Don’t get it the wrong way! I’m not asking you to like me back… It’s really okay for me to be just friends,”

Mei chuckled and continued walking. Lu Han followed her and whined. “Yaaaa, why won’t you answer?” Lu Han asked, keeping his head low.

“I have no more comments,” Mei assumed. She didn’t really feel anything… She was just touched by the things written on Lu Han’s mini-photo album for her.

Lu Han scratched the back of his head and gave way to Mei. Mei on the other hand puckered her lips and tiptoed. “Well, how do you want me to react?”

“I-I wasn’t expecting you to react on my sudden confession…” Lu Han stammered.

Mei laughed. “Okay, then we’re done here.” She quickly walked away from where she and Lu Han were standing and felt a bit curious of what Lu Han really feels.

“Yu Mei Li!” Lu Han called and ran to Mei. As he reached Mei, he held her hands and looked at her in the eye. “I-I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask this but… are we friends again? Because I’m happy if we are friends,”

“We are always friends Lu Han…” Mei replied.

“Will we hang out again?” Lu Han asked with his eyebrows raised.

“I’ll think about it if you’ll ask me,” Mei crossed her arms. “Do you still have questions ‘cause I think I won’t be able to go back to our dorm now?” Mei said sarcastically and laughed.

Lu Han chuckled. “Last one… Can we hang out right now? I really missed you,”

Mei laughed from the sudden question. “Fine, let’s do that because I missed you too,”

Lu Han’s lips formed into a smile, one that was about to reach his ears from the total happiness he felt. Everything seems to be alright once more and he cannot ask for more. But somewhat in his mind he was bothered – will he be Mei’s friend forever? Won’t he try making his move yet?

***

Meanwhile Iseul went to a vacant practice room in the SM Entertainment building. It was the room where Chanyeol helped her practice his rapping parts in their song, “Two Moons”.

She then reminisced what had happened that time. She also remembered how she rudely asked for Chanyeol to stay away from her, which she didn’t really intend to do. She felt really guilty and stressed about balancing her studies with her friends causing her to ruffle her hair.

“Aish, I’m going crazy!” Iseul complained and kept on ruffling her hair.

“Why is that so?” A gentle voice asked.

Iseul ly to see Lay walking towards her and sitting beside her. “L-Lay gege…”

“What is it that makes S Ori-K’s maknae crazy?” Lay asked.

“It’s… It’s just that… well…” Iseul stammered while trying to fix her messed up hair.

Lay then combed her hair with his hands and tried to fix it. “Is it some kind of a love problem?”

“NO, of course not, that’s gross,” Iseul said and rolled her eyes.

Lay laughed. “What so gross about love?”

“N-Nothing… What I meant was, it’s so gross to be crazy because of love,” Iseul said and played with her fingers.

“You look so innocent Iseul. I really wonder what’s bothering you,” Lay asked and tucked Iseul’s hair behind her ears.

Iseul sighed. “Okay, I’ll spill it. It’s my school gege… There are two Chanyeol gege-biased fans there and they keep on violently getting mad at me for I don’t know why…”

“Really? How violent?” Lay asked, a smile forming on his lips as he got interested with the topic.

“Like pulling my hair when they’re talking to me; throwing my lunch pretending that they spilled it but as a matter of fact they did it intentionally… I feel like I’m Geum Jan Di from Boys Over Flowers!” Iseul said hysterically. “Oh, do you know that drama?”

“Yeah, Tao often watch that,” Lay said and chuckled.

“But I bet Geum Jan Di’s life was harder since she doesn’t fight back. Well in real life, you have to! I don’t actually fight back verbally but I try to talk to them properly… But what do I get?! Still the same old treatment! This is really frustrating!!!” Iseul kept on talking, not knowing anymore what to tell Lay first.

“Just don’t mind them. And of course tell your manager if they’re already hurting you,” Lay adviced.

“Well gege... That isn’t the reason why I’m getting frustrated…” Iseul said timidly and looked on the ground. She played with her fingers once more, trying to get some focus from it.

“What is it then?” Lay asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ch-Chanyeol gege… I kind of disrespected him…”

Lay laughed. “What’s new, Iseul?!” He asked and kept laughing.

“N-No, it was actually different with the way I treat him. You know that we always tease each other, right? Well, that was a normal thing for me and maybe for him too… But last Wednesday was different. Totally different that I regret what I have said…”

“Why?” Lay’s expression changed into a serious one. “What did you told him?”

“It’s my fault gege. I was too affected by my two Chanyeol gege-biased classmates that time, I think I have put my anger on them towards Chanyeol gege. When I saw Chanyeol gege that time, I was stressed out from all the school works that I have to catch up and from all the bullying of those two obsessive fans. I was not in the right mind, words just spilled out from my mouth…”

“Do you want me to tell Chanyeol about it?” Lay asked gentlemanly.

Iseul smiled weakly. “The fact that there are girls disliking me because of Chanyeol gege made me feel pissed that I had put my anger onto him. It’s okay, Lay gege. I think it would be best if Chanyeol gege and I won’t be seen together by some fans because they don’t like our pairing anyways,”

“Not because there were two obsessive Chanyeol fans, you’re going to give up your friendship with him, thinking their opinions are generally right,” Lay said and held Iseul’s shoulders. “Iseul, you’re not Geum Jan Di right? Show them that. Show them that you’re not weak and that you’re not afraid of them. Where was the confident girl I asked to dance all over and over again without knowing the first steps of the dance routine? Where was that girl who trusted herself that she could do it although she had been humiliated a lot?”

Iseul smiled and felt relieved with Lay’s words. “Thank you gege, it felt really nice to hear those words of encouragement,”

Lay scratched the back of his head. “Well think of this as an apology for being rude to you last time,”

“Aigoo, that’s nothing… It just scared me,” Iseul said and chuckled.

Lay patted her head and chuckled too.

***

Sunday came.

Kai and Jino were busy at a practice room, tracking their progress with the task Han Ji gave them. They already finished the song, it’s just that sometimes Jino would hold back in singing high notes.

“Ugh… I think I won’t be able to do it,” Jino said and ruffled her hair from frustration. They had been repeating the song for the 30^th time yet Jino would sometimes get the wrong pitch. “Why can’t I have consistency with the notes I hit?!” Jino complained to herself, burying her face on her palms.

“Hey, calm down, you just have to keep on practicing…” Kai said and patted Jino’s back.

Jino on the other hand didn’t move. She was really frustrated and stressed with the song they are trying to cover. “I really need some vocal coach right now because I’m literally dying,” she exclaimed and raised her head with a pout.

“I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything about it…” Kai said and scratched his head. “Shall we take a break? You can’t force your voice to hit those high notes for like 30 times,”

Jino sighed. “You’re right… Maybe we should take a break.” Jino nodded and puckered her lips.

Kai patted Jino’s head. “Don’t stress yourself too much. I was the main reason why we’re doing this… So I guess our trainer won’t put the pressure on you,”

“But I was the reason why it happened... If I wasn't late that time...” Jino said and held her forehead.

“You can do it, just don’t hold back. I mean, there are times when you can perfectly hit the notes so I’m sure you’ll be able to hit those notes again… Maybe there are times when you hold it back because you think you won’t be able to do it? Ah! I got it, I now understand why…” Kai said and stood up. He then went in front of Jino and held her shoulders. “Don’t think that you’re just the sub-vocals of S Ori-K, and only Jun Hee is responsible for hitting those high notes. You are here because you are a singer. And if other singers can do it, you can also do it as well. Just believe in your own skills, okay?”

Jino looked at Kai’s eyes carefully and saw sincerity with his words. She smiled at Kai and nodded. “Yes, I can do it,” Jino said and nodded once more.

“Great,” Kai said and patted Jino’s head again.

Night came.

Jun Hee’s bags were prepared and she was ready to go. She hid it inside her cabinet, just to prevent the other members from worrying or panicking about her condition. She knew that if they knew, it will only stop her from leaving the group and the entertainment.

She took a deep breath. “I have decided. Fighting, Kim Jun Hee.” She encouraged, raising her two fists up.

She could not sleep. But then she closed her eyes, trying to smell the fun atmosphere of the dorm. She will definitely miss this. She closed her eyes, trying not to look at the dorm anymore. It would only make her feel the longing for it.

The hours passed by, and the members were sleeping soundly. Carefully, she went out of her bed, changed her clothes and looked at her wristwatch. It was the time. The time that she’s ending the life she dreamt of.

She pulled her bags from her cabinet quietly, trying not to wake her roommate, Na Rae. She tried not to focus her attention on the said member and on the room anymore by quickly leaving the room. She then left a note on the dining table saying:

She placed it with trembling hands, feeling her tears were about to fall. Seeing the dining table makes her remember how the S Ori members would praise her cooking, how they talk just like a family, how they laughed with each other’s jokes or even tease each other.

“It’s not a goodbye. I’ll still support this group,” Jun Hee thought to herself, keeping herself feel calmed.

She held the doorknob tight, still controlling her tears. It was as if the doorknob tells her not to go outside anymore, but she had to.

“U-Unni?” A voice called.

 

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A-YO WADDUP GUYS!!! It’s been a long time since I updated this fic... Sorry :(((( Btw, remember that this fic starts at August 16, 2012 and ends at August 27, 2012… So it has been stuck in my laptop since last year… I just couldn’t concentrate in updating it since I had lots of school work to do. AND OH MY GOSH IT’S SUMMER!!! HOT SUMMER AH HOT HOT SUMMER!!!! :”””> I’mma update and update and update!!! =)))))