Six

Kadence stood in front of the bathroom mirrors of the training building, taking in her appearance.  While make-up was no unusual feat for her she had settled on her usual foundation and mascara, reminding herself that tonight was a casual gathering.  Her red hair, which was usually tied up, had been allowed to hang in loose waves and she had done the best she could with a limited wardrobe; dressed in jeans and a singlet shirt, with a grey cardigan over the top.

She looked up as Yoonhee appeared behind her, slipping an arm through her own and pulled her towards the door.  Having dropped their belongings off – with permission – into Minah’s office they were ready to head to the boys’ dorm.  Given that it was only a few blocks away they had decided on walking, planning to stop by a convenience store on the way to pick up some food and drinks.  Ten minutes later they were standing in front of the door, Yoonhee pressing the bell.

“Yay, you’re here!  Come on in,” Luhan greeted as he opened the door, beckoning them inside.  The other five members and their manager were seated around the lounge room and Kadence passed the younger boy the refreshments.

“Are we the only guests?” she inquired as they took a seat and the boys nodded.

“It was Minseok hyung’s idea, you’re his favourite staff members,” Yi Xing informed as Luhan returned with a bowl and cups and Kadence felt honoured with the compliment, exchanging looks with Yoonhee.  As everyone reached for the food she took a moment to survey them.  All looked freshly showered after their day’s schedules and Luhan, Yi Xing and Minseok were already in their pyjamas; the rest in sweats and t-shirts and Kadence felt almost overdressed.

“You should have told us it was a pyjama party,” Yoonhee said with a pout, obviously on a similar train of thought and the others laughed.

“Two girls walking the streets of Beijing in their pyjamas?  Damn, we should have,” Tao joked, ducking as Kadence launched a chip in his direction.

“Watch it you or I’ll wait until you’re asleep and upload pictures.”

“That won’t work, the fans will just find it endearing and swoon over him,” Wu Fan said and she pulled a face, knowing that he was probably right.  The leader was sitting on the floor, looking surprisingly comfortable considering that Minseok was draped all over his lap.

“The cheek of it!  Remember I can easily arrange a wardrobe malfunction dongsaeng,” Yoonhee tittered, waggling a finger towards the youngest member, who visibly cringed.

“You wouldn’t dare, manager hyung can hear everything,” he said and the older man sitting in the corner of the room on a computer, looked up.

“Whatever she does, you probably deserve it,” he replied and Yoonhee and Kadence laughed as several members pounced on Tao.  They soon fell into their own activities and Kadence found herself sitting cross-legged on the couch in deep conversation with Luhan, despite some communication difficulties.  In fact she was so engrossed that she didn’t even notice Wu Fan leave the room until they broke off and she looked around herself.

“Where did Wu Fan go?” she wondered out loud and Yi Xing answered without looking up from the card game he was playing.

“Probably off to his room to phone his girlfriend.”  At the words Kadence froze, her heart starting to pound painfully loud in her chest.

“He has a girlfriend?” she asked, hoping to God that she sounded merely curious and not like her insides had just turned to ice.

“Yeah, she’s a trainee back at SM.  They’ve been going out for a while now, I can’t remember exactly how long.”

“They celebrated their six month anniversary just before we debuted,” Jongdae supplied and she nodded, swallowing thickly.  What the hell had she gotten herself into?

*  *  *

Lying in her bed back at the hotel room Kadence stared up at the ceiling.  She wasn’t sure how she could have been oblivious to the fact; even without fame no one as good looking and nice as him could be single.  Letting out a sigh she dug the palms of her hands into her eyes, wanting to simply shut everything out and sleep.  The day had left her exhausted and she didn’t have much time until she would be back at it again.  Somehow though, despite the millions of thoughts racing around in her head she managed to drift into unconsciousness.

It seemed like the day was never ending as task upon task was given to Kadence.  She had no idea how she would manage it all, having to deal with one thing at a time so she didn’t go crazy.  Muttering to herself as she made her way down the hallway she had to resort to switching off her radio, knowing that she would probably get in trouble for doing so.  Letting out a sigh she pushed the doors to one of the studios open, drawing short as she spotted two figures embracing in the middle of the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” she trailed off as they broke apart and turned to her.  The girl’s face was set in a wide grin, while Wu Fan was scowling as usual.

“No, I’m glad you did... I wanted to show you what you’ll never have,” the girl said, taking the blonde’s hand and intertwining their fingers.  Kadence’s eyes travelled from her to the boy, who was nodding along.

“Yeah... did you honestly think I could actually like someone like you?” he added, looking at her in disgust and she backed away slowly, tears welling in her eyes as she shook her head.

Gasping as she shot awake Kadence heaved in gulps of air, the tears from her dream pricking at her eyes in real life.  With a sigh she hung her head, pounding on the covers around her in frustration.  Silently she vowed to herself that she would get over this stupid little crush on the leader, knowing that no good could possibly come of it.  He was a taken man and she was just a lonely girl, flailing over the first boy who attempted to show her some kindness.