Seventeen

“What do you mean he has no substance?” Yoonhee pouted as Kadence and her made their way into the SM building early the next morning.

“Yoonhee, he makes the character look like he has the emotional range of a plastic spoon,” the redhead replied with a roll of her eyes as she urged her friend to lead the way up the staircase.

“Well you know what?  I don’t care, cos he’s hot.”  Kadence laughed with the comment, and slung her arm around Yoonhee’s shoulders.  At this point in time she didn’t know what she would do without the Korean girl.  Just when the stresses of the impending trip to LA and everything with Wu Fan were creeping up on her, Yoonhee arrived at her doorstep with one of her favourite dramas.  Sure the acting wasn’t brilliant, and the storyline overused, but at that moment it was more than a welcome distraction.

Her laughter was cut short as someone brushed passed them and both girls turned to find what was obviously a staff member rushing down the stairs with a boxful of personal belongings, and obvious tear stains on her cheeks.  Kadence’s brow furrowed at the sight, wondering what had happened.  With another comment from Yoonhee though, they fell back into their previous conversation.

Entering the staff kitchen Kadence immediately placed her bag in her locker, nudging Yoonhee in the side as she did so.  It felt like they had walked into a funeral room, with several workers standing around exchanging hushed whispers.  If she had a knife, Kadence felt she could have easily cut the tension with it. 

“Has something happened?” she asked, and everyone in the room looked towards her.  It was a few moments before anyone answered.

“Ahn Sooyeon was fired today.  They found out she was having... ‘intimate relations’ with a Super Junior member,” an older lady explained and Kadence immediately felt sick.  She glanced at Yoonhee who had grabbed her arm, a shocked look on her face.

“That’s very unfortunate,” Kadence muttered, trying to act normal as she excused herself.  The stylist followed her and as soon as they were outside the room, Kadence ran a hand through her hair.

“Wow, I mean I know it’s written in our contracts, but I always thought that was more of a deference,” Yoonhee said, watching as the redhead took a shaky breath.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I mean it’s not like anything has happened.”

“Apart from making out with him.”

“Yoonhee!  I meant nothing will come of it; therefore I have nothing to worry about.  He’s made it clear that moment is to be put in the past and he’s moving on with his relationship with Gayun.”

“And yet I swear you almost had a heart attack in there,” Yoonhee mentioned, placing an arm around the westerner and she let out a sigh.

“I know.  I guess it just hit me that if things had happened any differently it could have very well been me,” she said softly.  The Korean’s face softened and she pulled the girl into a hug.  “Thank you Yoonhee, I’m glad I have you.”

“You’re welcome Kay.  Now as much as I would love to keep you here, and maybe eat some ice cream, both of us need to start work or we’ll be packing our belongings as well,” the girl said and Kadence let out a laugh.  Pulling back she squeezed the Korean’s shoulder and offering her a smile, slid on her headset.

“Morning all, Kadence is on the clock,” she spoke into it as she walked away from her friend and let out a groan as she met several voices on the other end demanding tasks of her.

*  *  *

“Jie jie, can you please bring a bottle of water to the fourth practice room?” someone asked in her ear and Kadence’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head upon hearing it.  Almost dropping what she had in her hands, she managed to save them from meeting the ground and pressed her fingers against the headset.

“Luhan, what the hell are you doing with a headset?!”

“One of the staff members left it lying around here on their break.”

“Oh my god, Lulu, you know everyone else with one can hear you right now?” she cried and heard a whine in response.

“Please Kay, I’m dying of thirst and we’re not allowed to leave the room,” he begged and she rolled her eyes, placing several objects on an in tray.  Letting out a deep sigh she massaged her temples.

“If I find myself with a spare moment and I’m passing by I might drop one in.  Might,” she hissed and he thanked her before the line went dead.  Several moments later several laughs sounded and she hoped that Minah hadn’t heard.  Getting in trouble was the last thing she wanted.

Deciding that Luhan needed a smack around the head anyway, she headed towards the practice room, stopping by a vending machine.  Entering the room she strode towards the younger boy, tossing him the bottle and punching him a little less than gently in the arm.

“Ouch jie jie, that hurt,” he pouted, before bursting into a grin and bundling her into a hug.  “But thank you very much, you’re a life saver.”

Letting her go, he quickly unscrewed the lid and began guzzling the liquid down as the other members made their way over to her.  She had just been pulled into another hug from Minseok when she spied Wu Fan standing near the door with Gayun by his side.  Their eyes met and he held her gaze, shaking his head as he placed an arm around her shoulders and led her from the room.

But this time Kadence knew better.  She could tell by his movements that he wasn’t trying to hurt her with a callous display of ownership.  His actions spoke a thousand words and she read every one of them.  He had obviously heard about Sooyeon’s fate and wasn’t turning his back on her because he didn’t care about what had happened between them.  He was trying to say that he could never bring himself to put either of them at risk.  As Minseok broke away she plastered a smile on her face and forced herself to pretend that she couldn’t feel Wu Fan’s absence in the room.

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I wish to apologise for the large gap in posting; though no doubt adee will probabl be the only one to read this.  In part the gap has been because living with friends doesn't leave me much time to sit down and concentrate on writing.  It's also to do with a waning muse for this; though I do hope to finish it, there's only a few chapters left anyway.  With that said, I hope this chapter is ok.