Nugunga mandeureotgo, eonjenganeun kkaejyeo beoril eoreumui. Seongbyeok. Geu soge naui eolgul, gildeullyeojin allakhame manjokhan eolgul.

                Groaning at the sudden song, I covered my face with my arm, trying to shut out the tune. The song kept playing, irritating my mind, making me stay fully conscious. After a few moments, I finally realized it wasn’t going to cease, so I sat up and ran a hand through my messy hair.

                “Ugh, why did I set you so early? Yunho, Changmin, I love your music… but you piss me off when you wake me up.” I grumbled at the device as I turned the alarm off and grabbed my brush.  After making sure I didn’t look like a complete mess, I got up and left my room, being very aware and quiet. I made my way into the kitchen to find Kris sitting with two cups of some steaming drink, one for him and one on the opposite side of the table. “Good morning, Canadian.” I greeted in English and was met with a small breathed laugh.

                “Here, sit, there’s coffee here for you.” I smiled at him and sat down. “We’re the only one’s up right now, so you’re safe.” I looked up at his words after I sat across form him and cocked an eyebrow.

                “What is it that I’m safe from?”

                “You’re safe by only having me to ask you about yesterday instead of everyone else.” He took a sip of his drink and motioned for me to drink mine as well. Letting a small bit flow down my throat, I instantly felt warm. “So, why don’t you tell me?”

                “There’s nothing to say about that Kris. I was tired from the day and I slept on the plane.”

                “Just give it up now, Jihyun, we both know that’s a lie. You don’t get that puffy-eyed and look so depressed when you get up from even a really deep nap on a plane. Why won’t you tell me?”

                “Why are you so nosy?” I shot back and glared at him. He smirked as he shook his head and looked away.

                “Why can’t you just tell me? Do you not trust me or something? Is that it?”

                “Why do you even care?”

                “Morning guys, please speak Mandarin, I can’t understand a single thing you’re saying.” I jumped a bit at the voice, and looked back to find Tao sleepily stumbling into the room. “How did you sleep mei-mei?”

                “I slept well, thank you.” I replied in the language he could understand. He smiled and nodded. “How about you? Here, sit with me.” I moved so Tao could sit next to me, and patted the spot. The youngest male smiled and plopped down next to me.

                “It was good, duizhang?” He looked up to his leader who just nodded and went back to drinking again. I sighed at and shook my head at him. “Mei-mei, we have schedules today, but we’re going to the practice studio later tonight. Are you coming with us or just heading straight there?” The cute male looked at me with big eyes and I shook my head.

                “As far as I know, I’m not to attend your schedules with you, so I’ll probably be at the studio for most of the day. Why?” Tao’s eyes grew larger if that was even possible and he jutted his bottom lip out slightly in a pout. “It’s not my decision, you know that. What, are you going to try aegyo or something?” The boy straightened up and started to raise his hand as I heard a faint English ‘Oh god no,’ from the other side of the table. My eyes flickered to the other male for a moment, before fixing on Tao. He raised his fist to his cheek and adorably did a ‘bbuing bbuing’ to me.  I cocked my head to the side at his cute movement, but only let out a slight chuckle and ruffled his hair. “Nice try, doesn’t work on me.”

                “How does it not?” Kris’s voice came a little louder than it should have and I ‘ssh-ed’ him harshly. He glared at me before drinking again and I shook my head.

                “Sorry Tao, I have a little brother. I’ve seen it all, and it doesn’t affect me.” The younger male pouted again as I drank my coffee.

                “Jihyun?” Looking up, I met with Exo’s manager holding out a file. “For the first week, you’ll just be helping them here and in the practice studios, after this week, you will be joining us on all of the schedules, so be prepared for it.” I nodded at the man and took the folder, scanning through the documents quickly before standing up and patting Tao’s head.

                “See? It won’t be too long before I can go with you, don’t pout Tao.” I smiled at him and he nodded energetically. Turning, I washed out m cup and dried it, putting it in the cupboard with the others. I made my way into my room and got dressed quickly, grabbing my gym bag and purse. I left the dorm with the address and key the manager gave me, and left to go dance, knowing that I would be spending around seven hours with the choreographer, and left alone for another three of four hours. A sigh came heavy on my breath as I hailed a cab.

                “Mei-Mei! We’re here!” A bright voice welcomed my ears and I stopped my dancing to look up. All of the Exo-M members entered the room and set their belongings down. Tao bounded over to me and smiled. “You look really good dancing to our songs, mei-mei, how did you learn?”

                “Same as you; choreographers, practice, and a lot of determination.” I smiled at him and fanned my face. “I guess you should get started?” He nodded and I pulled out a chair to sit and watched the group practice.

                Sitting in the metal chair with one leg crossed on my lap, I analyzed their movements in the practice room. My eyes flickered between each of the men, noting little details here and there. I placed a few fingers on my lips in concentration.

                As the song came to a close, the men turned their attention to me. I looked at each of them intently before standing up.

                “Just as I though. You guys perform better when you have a large audience watching. From here thugh, there are a few things to be corrected. Go back to where Xiumin starts the yelling section.” I crossed my arms as the males got into position. I walked up to Chen and pushed him a bit to one side, then repeated my action with Lu Han. “You both need to remember to find a window of sight between the other members here. The audiences want to see you, not some shadow on the floor. Now, go to Kris’ part.” They advanced and I stopped them. Standing in front of Kris, I was given a dark look from the male, one with more spite than his normal expression. “Do you want help or not? I haven’t even started on coaching your variety show personalities and acting yet. Lee Soo Man made it very clear what he wanted from you, and what I needed to help you with, but I can leave now and let you fall.” I harshly spat at Kris, who silently rolled his eyes and glared at me. “Suit yourself.” Shrugging, I the balls of my feet and started walking towards my bag. Before I could take more than three steps, a hand secured around my wrist and firmly held me back. Looking back, my gaze fell upon Kris, silently looking away as he held my wrist. ‘Would it kill you to say something?’ Sighing, I took my hand back and repositioned him to his place. When he took his stance, I bent down and patted the inside of his right calf. Immediately he widened his legs and I nodded. Standing straight, I looked at him with a ‘just-go-with-it’ look and he nodded. I stepped back and the music to the section. “Go through this again.” Watching them practice through the movements, I nodded my head approvingly.

                We spent another few hours in the practice room, shifting their positions to be seen, making certain moves harder in a more disciplined fashion to look manlier and less fluid, doing the opposite in other places, and fixing their expressions depending on the place.

                “Jihyun!” I looked up and Lu Han smiled gently. “A few of us are going to go get something to eat. You practice with Kris for a bit, okay?” He cheekily grinned as he pulled everyone but Kris and I out of the room rapidly, leaving me just staring after them, dumbfounded.

                “Okay…” My voice trailed off and I looked at Kris. “Well, what do you want to do?” I honestly felt awkward around him. From his nosiness this morning, to how I didn’t know if he remembered me and what happened between us that long time ago.

                “Let’s just run through the whole song. Dance through it with me.” He gruffly ordered with his deeper voice and I shuddered slightly. “Is something wrong?” I shook my head and started the music for ‘History’ at the back before standing next to him.

                I started moving just as I had learned from studying and copying the choreographer’s dance steps, watching Kris’ movements in the mirror. I stopped about halfway through, and rewound the song a bit.

                “You were really stiff there. You need to let your body flow through some of these; otherwise you look kind of awkward. Let me see you try to make this smoother, as if you’re charming a girl.” I pressed ‘play’ and watched him dance again. I swear he became stiffer in his movements. Stopping it again, I rewound and shook my head. “If that’s you trying to charm a girl, you need a lot of work in both dancing and women.”

                “I don’t see a problem with it if it’s worked for me before.” He smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

                “You’re talking about the dancing, right?” I raised an eyebrow with a disapproving glare and he laughed.

                “Sure.” He sarcastically nodded and I rolled my eyes. I pressed play again and shoved him out of the way.

                “You need to let your body flow, like the rivers back home.” I let my body do all the work, showing him how the smoothness of my moves were far better than the awkward, choppy cut-offs he was doing. As he stepped up to try again, he couldn’t get the flow right, so I stepped forward and took his arms, guiding him, and forcibly moving his body to ‘flow’ like mine had. “You are the leader, so strength has to be a part of how you command, but you lack finesse. That delicate precision is what will get you further.” I lowly spoke, and looked up into his eyes, realizing that we were incredibly too close.

                “Are you still talking about the dance?” He whispered, letting his eyes fall down for a moment for piercing into mine. He smirked lightly, leaning forward so only a few centimeters separated us.

                “Mei-Mei! We brought both baozis back!” I stepped back and looked over to Lu Han and the others who barged into the room, walking towards them. Xiumin smacked Lu Han’s arm slightly and I laughed at their cuteness. I watched Lu Han set up the food, and glared at Kris for a moment, before looking out of the window.

                “Aish.” I muttered to myself as I ran a hand through my hair. ‘What the hell was that about?’ I thought to myself as I took a deep breath, feeling my heartbeat racing in my chest. “And today is just the first day…” I kept my voice below a whisper as I exasperatedly glanced at the leader’s figure on the opposite side of the room. ‘You better not be like this every day.’

---

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back.... ish. Sorry about not updating for a week, I just got discharged today.

The doctor decided to keep me for longer in the hopsital to monitor me because of the concussion. While I'm not complaining too much because of the very nice (and hella cute) nurse I got to talk to, the doctor wouldn't let me be on my computer long enough to write a coherent chapter.

UGH!

Oh, and for those of you who might be curious, that song is TVXQ's "Maximum".

Anyways, I hope this is okay for now, I'm resting well, so I'll try not to keep you guys waiting for so long next time.

Thank you guys! I love you all so much! <3

~ Lynn