Four

Kadence quickly learnt to appreciate the moments where EXO-M was at the company building with it usually meaning some quiet time.  There was still some work to do, when someone needed an errand or Yoonhee demanded company while arranging concepts, but at least she wasn’t running around like a headless chicken.  In her breaks the company had arranged a Mandarin tutor to aide her in understanding the Chinese staff’s orders and sometimes she was allowed to observe the boys’ practice as she completed her homework.

It was one of those moments that Kadence found herself spread in a corner of the dance studio on a Thursday evening, brow furrowed as she tried to understand her notes.  While she usually found herself distracted by the boys’ dance moves at this point the words in front of her held her complete attention, so much so that she didn’t even realise they had called a break until a shadow fell across her page.

“Are you ok noona?  You look like you’re having trouble,” Minseok inquired and she let out a sigh, nodding as she sat up.

“I wrote my notes half asleep and now I can’t actually make sense of any of it,” she said and he bent down next to her, his brown orbs scanning the book.  She had grown considerably close to Minseok over the past week, viewing him as a little brother despite the fact that he was only a year younger than herself.  She enjoyed calling him by the nickname the others had given him and watching as his gaze narrowed at her.  He had taken to calling her Lamb, a nickname that annoyed her almost as much because she couldn’t figure out why he had chosen it.

“You’re own for this one Lamb, my Mandarin isn’t good enough to help with this,” he apologised and she waved him off.  It wasn’t long until several of the other members had crowded around them, Lu Han and Wu Fan both trying to claim the book.

“Jie Jie, what the hell were you doing when you wrote this?” Lu Han asked, blinking when as he finally grabbed a hold of it and Wu Fan peered over his shoulder.  Kadence tried to stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment.

“Shut up!  I was half asleep.”

“Maybe this is why Minseok and Jongdae still so much?” Tao mused, wincing as he received two playful punches and Kadence scrambled to her feet, trying to snatch her book back.

“I think this one says ‘I don’t understand’... how ironic,” Lu Han laughed, lifting the book above his head as the westerner tried to reclaim it.  “Oh but hey, this one says ‘I would like you to’.”

“Well if you would give it back then I’ll fix things,” she huffed and he rolled his eyes, but returned the stationary.  With a small ‘humph’ Kadence sat back down and grabbing her pen began to rewrite the two phrases pointed out into something legible.

Slowly the boys began to dissipate and grab final drinks before they had to return to practice.  The redhead looked up expectantly as Wu Fan stayed towering above her, the boy soon crouching down.

“Are you taking your vitamins?” he asked and she looked at him in confusion, unsure where the question had come from.  He seemed to sense this and cleared his throat.  “You’re unfocused; with our schedule it’s easy to become run down and sick.”

“No I haven’t, I don’t have any,” she admitted and he shook his head, pushing himself and jogging away.  Digging through his backpack he returned a few moments later with a small bottle in his hands.

“It’s not full, but I have a few bottles back at our dorm... so here,” he urged and she took it from him, thanking him as she flipped the bottle over in his hands.  He smiled at her and nodded once before his name was called and he hurried back to the other members, the music starting up once more.

Kadence grinned as she looked at the vitamins, touched by Wu Fan’s concern.  It appeared that his kind, caring nature reached beyond s.  Shaking her head to refocus she pocketed the bottle and returned to the book in front of her.

*  *  *

“Yeah, cool.  I just have to get some designs off Yoonhee for Minah, and then I’ll be straight there,” Kadence told the staff member at the other end of her headset, receiving a positive reply.

She was making her way through the entertainment building, on her billionth task for the day.  She was beginning to get used to juggling all the tasks now, figuring out patterns that cut down time and were more efficient.  Seeing a figure at the vending machine that she had come to enjoy over the past couple of weeks, she sped up.  Wu Fan was scowling at the vending machine, and while Kadence had become used to his serious face, this was clearly aimed at something.  

“Need a hand with anything?” she asked as she approached and his head shot up.  He looked at her for a few moments before letting out a chuckle.  He seemed sheepish as he crossed his arm across his chest.

“I ah, thought I had more money than I do,” he admitted and it was her turn to laugh.

“Lucky for you I was here recently, and don’t have my hands full,” she said and digging into her pocket pulled out several coins.  Holding out her hand he looked at her hesitantly, before taking them.

“Thank you so much, I hate to be in this position,” he thanked her as he slid the coins into the machine, hitting the co-ordinating keys.

“It’s fine, if you feel so deeply you can always owe me a vending machine snack,” Kadence commented with a smirk and he returned it, bending to retrieve his food. “Anyway, I better get going before I get a series of voices yelling in my ear.”

He bowed low in farewell and she waved at him as she continued down the corridor.  She could feel his eyes on her and tried to breathe calmly.  Why she needed to do so though irritated her.  Sure he was tall, handsome and one of the nicest people she had ever met, but that didn’t mean anything.  Just because she was away from home didn’t mean she had to form a crush on the first overly polite guy she met.  Right?  She was doomed.