Nineteen

When Kadence arrived at the SM building two days before the trip to LA she was so frazzled she barely noticed anything was off.  It was by chance that she had stopped to fix her shoe and while doing so observed a small group of trainees bending over a phone and muttering excitedly.  Just as she was about to move on they looked up, pointing at her and she hugged her bag close as two of them walked up.

“Yah, you work with EXO-M don’t you?” one asked and Kadence nodded uncertainly.  “What’s going on?”

“Huh?  Has something happened?” she questioned, both girls giving her daggers and scoffing at her apparent cluelessness.

“Come on Hyo, she doesn’t know anything.  She won’t have any details,” one of them spat, the pair turning around and heading back to the others.  Kadence stood staring after them for several seconds, wondering what was going on.  Had something happened to one of the boys?  Surely Luhan would have messaged her though?

With a furrowed brow she continued on her way to the third floor, now highly aware of the people who were whispering between themselves.  Whatever happened was worthy of news and she picked up her pace.  Pushing open the door to the staff room she was practically pounced on by Yoonhee, the girl barely waiting for her to put her bag down before dragging her back out.

“Congratulations!” she cried, a massive grin plastered on her face as she flung her arms around Kadence, the redhead standing awkwardly.

“Thanks... though I’m not sure what for?” she stammered and the Korean pulled back, a puzzled look crossing her face.

“What do you mean?  I’m talking about Kris and Gayun breaking up...didn’t you...?” Yoonhee said and Kadence’s eyes grew wide.  “You didn’t know?  Shoot, I thought he must’ve broken up with her for you.”

“Clearly not,” she murmured, blinking repeatedly as she tried to soak in the news.  So a break up was why everyone was whispering to each other, and why she had been approached by those trainees.  Knowing she worked with the boys they clearly expected her to give them the inside details; however she had known nothing.  And why should she?  Wu Fan and herself had already decided on a course of action; or lack of, and whatever reasons his relationship had ended didn’t concern her.

As Yoonhee stood in front of her, chewing on her lip however, Kadence couldn’t help but want to find the boy.  To ask him what was going on and why things had fallen apart when he said they were good.  She could remember his words clearly, the way he had made it clear that his attraction for her was no reason to destroy a perfectly good relationship. 

Her friend’s touch brought Kadence out of her reverie and she shook her head, planting a brighter expression on her face.  “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you at all Kay.”

“It’s fine Yoonhee, it was much better to find out via your enthusiasm then any fame hungry trainees,” Kadence said, her smile now genuine and she gave the Korean a gentle poke in the side.  “No come show me your latest sketches before I’m buried under the mountain of work I have to get done.”

*  *  *

“Wow noona, you’re stronger than you look,” a voice called out and Kadence glanced over from where she was carrying several less than light bags.  She rolled her eyes at Minseok as the boy’s cheeks puffed up with his grin.  “I would challenge you to an arm wrestle, but I’m scared I’d lose.”

“Kim Minseok, if you don’t stop that cheek you’ll be getting a lot more than an arm wrestle,” she replied through gritted teeth, struggling down the hallway towards the elevators. 

“You’re so mean to me noona, and here I was about to help you,” he said, pouting over exaggeratedly at her and she rolled her eyes as one of the bags was taken from her grip.

“Says the one calling me manly.  You don’t have anywhere to be that I’m going to get in trouble for keeping you, do you?”

“Luckily for you we were just given a break while manager hyung goes through some stuff with others,” he informed, flashing her another grin before it momentarily fell.  “Although I was busting for the bathroom.”

“Then go, you idiot.  I’ll be ok from here, just down the elevator and to the truck,” Kadence assured him, though he looked at her sceptically as she pressed the button for the lift.  “Honestly, I’d rather not have you pee your pants in front of me.”

“Yah, I wouldn’t do that!  But fine... just don’t injure yourself okay?  We’re too busy to nurse you this time.”

“Yes Doctor.  Now go,” she shooed, making actions as the doors slid open with a ding.  With another look that made her want to reach out and pinch the boy’s cheeks, he turned away, allowing her to step into the elevator.  Just as she was about to place the bags on the floor she felt the weight of them lift away, gasping as she spun around.

Wu Fan looked at her apologetically as she placed a hand over her heart, asking a question before hitting the basement button.  Kadence willed herself to calm down, but the awkward atmosphere that engulfed them once the doors closed did little to help.  She tried to think of something to say to break the silence, chewing on her lip.

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Gayun,” she eventually said, wincing internally at her choice of conversation.  He glanced over at her, smiling sadly and nodding.

“Me too, but don’t blame yourself please.  I’ve been thinking over a lot of things since our last conversation, and about how I said I shouldn’t compromise what I have with her.  I... I realised I already had by falling for you; Gayun didn’t deserve my heart and mind not being with her one hundred percent.  So I decided to end things with her and try and figure myself out,” he babbled, taking the bags once more as they reached the basement and the doors opened up. 

“Oh... I’m still sorry though; I’ve put you in a difficult situation,” the redhead apologised, halting as emotion welled up within her.  “I didn’t ever mean to ruin your relationship.”

“Didn’t I just say not to blame yourself?  How did you ruin it Kay?  Apart from simply being yourself.  I was the one that came onto you, not the other way around,” he pointed out, turning back to face her and letting out a sigh.  “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, I just had to be honest with myself and my relationship.”

“How can I not feel guilty Kris?  You’re telling me it’s not my fault... but it is really, isn’t it?  Before I came along you were perfectly happy together,” she started, unable to stop the shaking of her voice or the tears building up.  “I tried you know, to stop myself falling when I found out you had a girlfriend.  But I couldn’t, and even then I fought it because you were supposed to be so madly in love with her you’d never look at me twice.”

Wu Fan’s face was set cold and hard, but as he stepped towards her she couldn’t help but notice the warmth in his eyes.  “You make it kinda hard not to look twice you know.  But I’m okay with everything, or at least I will be.  Even if I felt happy before, clearly I wasn’t entirely so or you’re right, I wouldn’t have strayed.  So you haven’t ruined everything, you’ve just delivered me some time for self reflection,” he said, and she closed her eyes as his thumbs wiped away the tears.  “Now can we please get these bags to the truck before I’m late for practice.”

“God yes, I don’t want to be at anymore fault when it comes to you,” she replied, her voice cracking slightly with the humour.  Taking a shaky breath she stepped away from him and plucked up one of the bags before he could oppose.

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Hey guys! So finally another chap for you, I'm so sorry it's been so long. -_- I was out of the country and then moved into a new place and I've been having trouble adjusting.  But I was hit by a muse to write a chap on this, and here we are.  I hope it's okay, things are really starting to wind up now.  I know I have one more chapter to go, the question is how it will end up looking as to whether an epilogue will follow or not.

But for now, enjoy.