Job Offer
Behind The Mask
Kim Hyeri’s / Your POV
For the past few days, you were being watched carefully by the EXO boys. They will make sure that you went home straight after work, follow you if you had to go shopping and would take turns in pairs to guard the front yard at night so that you won't sneak out. You fought back at first but listened to them in the end when they showed no sign of ever giving up. However, you were forming plans to escape without getting caught secretly by watching their movements closely. You were just waiting for the right moment to execute your plan.
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It was a normal school day. You went to school with the boys as usual, opting to ride with Luhan since he was a safe rider. When you arrived in school, the fangirls rushed to meet their kingkas and gave you glares which you totally ignored. Chanyeol came forward and hooked his arm through yours before dragging you to class while chatting loudly.
"Don't you ever get tired of talking?" You asked Chanyeol.
"Not really." He replied with a huge grin on his face.
As the both of you reached class, Yerin approached you and greeted you warmly. You gave her a small smile before taking your seat. Chanyeol, on the other hand, started talking to Yerin animatedly.
"Don't worry about Riri. She'll open up to you soon. She was like that to us too at the beginning but she became friendlier after some time." Chanyeol comforted Yerin when he saw her crestfallen face after your non-enthusiastic reply.
"Thanks, Chanyeol oppa." She smiled gratefully at him.
"No problem!" He beamed back.
You heard their whole conversation since Chanyeol was pretty loud and you felt slightly bad for treating Yerin that way. However, you just felt that you had to be cautious of her for some odd reason. You laid your head down on the table and brushed it off, falling asleep soon after.
RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!!
The lunch bell sounded, startling you awake. You looked around in a daze at all the students rushing out.
"Huh? What's happening?" You questioned sleepily.
"Lunch, noona." Sehun replied.
"You slept through all the lessons. Unbelievable." Kai shook his head in amusement.
"You really can sleep through anything even when the class was making so much noise during free period." Tao added in.
"You should sleep too, Tao. Maybe your eye bags will disappear." You commented.
"I've tried. It doesn't work." He sighed at his useless attempts. You patted his shoulder sympathetically.
"Don't worry. It makes you look like a cute panda." You blurted out your real thoughts about him unintentionally.
"Cute...? Panda...?" Tao repeated.
"Mhmmm." You nodded your head absentmindedly.
A few seconds of silence passed until it finally dawned on you what you had just said.
"." Your eyes widened as you turned to face a blushing Tao.
"Ummm... Lunch. We should go." You awkwardly grabbed Chanyeol's and D.O's arms before dragging them to your normal lunch place.
Kai and Sehun followed along, chuckling as they did so. "Panda, are you coming or what?" Kai turned his head and smirked at the still flustered Tao.
"Yeah. Yeah." Tao stumbled off his seat and hurriedly trailed after the rest.
You leaned your back against the tree as you ate your sandwich. You noticed a few of the guys missing.
"Where's Suho, Luhan and Baekhyun?" You asked.
"They went to help a teacher." Chen replied.
"What's up with Tao?" Kris asked after a while.
"Somebody called him a cute panda." Chanyeol exclaimed. At the statement, Tao turned a deeper shade of red.
"Who?" Xiumin curiously questioned.
"Riri!" Chanyeol pointed in your direction. You blinked several times when everyone stared at you.
"You called Tao a cute panda?" Lay asked, disbelief written on his face.
"Yes, I did. Get over it." You snapped, earning you chuckles from the boys. You rolled your eyes as you continued eating.
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Suho's / Luhan's / Baekhyun's POV
Suho, Luhan and Baekhyun had just finished helping the teacher to carry a few stacks of books to his office and were on their way to have lunch with the others. However, as they passed by a classroom, they heard a small commotion going on. They were about to just pass by it when a familiar voice caught their attention. They intervened and found the school queenkas picking on Yerin who was sobbing on the ground with bruises all over her body.
"Yah!" Baekhyun growled at the queenkas who whimpered in fright when they saw the furious expressions that the three boys had on their faces.
"Who gave you the right to beat up people? First it was Hyeri and now it's Yerin. Maybe I should beat you up instead so you can feel the same pain." Luhan threatened as he stepped forward, making the queenkas cower as they shuffled back.
However, Suho held him back. "An eye for an eye makes the world go blind." He advised wisely.
"Let's settle this using another way." He added.
In the end, the queenkas were accompanied by Luhan and Suho to the principal's office while Baekhyun accompanied Yerin to the nurse's office.
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Kim Hyeri's / Your POV
Lunch was almost ending but there were still no sign of the three missing boys. You decided to head back to class before the bell rings and on the way there, you bumped into Suho and Luhan. They told you about the little incident that they encountered.
"Mmm... The rest are getting worried. You guys should meet them. They're still there." You told them before going off.
You thought nothing of the bullying incident involving Yerin, not knowing that it would lead to something else.
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A few days later, Sunday...
Sunday came around sooner than expected. The boys and you were lazing around the house. You were pigging out in the kitchen with D.O, Chanyeol and Sehun. Tao and Kris were in EXO-M's room trying out some wushu moves. Kai, Lay and Baekhyun were listening to music in EXO-K's room. Chen, Suho, Luhan and Xiumin were watching tv. In the midst of all of these, the ringing of the doorbell could be heard.
*Eh. That's weird. Who could be visiting?* You thought as you got up from the table to open the door, revealing a man in his mid-fifties clad in a black suit. Behind him stood a flustered Yerin.
"Ummm... How may I help you?" You asked the man.
"Hello there, dear. I'm Jang Donggeun, Yerin's father. May I come inside? I have a few things to discuss with you and the boys." He politely asked you. You nodded your head as you stepped aside to let him and yerin through.
When theu entered the house, the boys scrambled off the couch to let them sit and Suho turned off the tv. Soon, all of EXO and you were gathered in the living room, waiting for the guest to speak.
"Ah, yes. Let me introduce myself. I'm Jang Donggeun, Yerin's father. I came here to thank you for befriending my daughter and for saving her twice. The first time from a group of gangsters and the second time from a group of bullies. Yerin told me everything you guys had done for her and I'm really thankful for your help that I just had to meet you in person. I don't know what would happen if you weren't there. Really, thank you so much." He thanked us sincerely as he held Yerin's hand.
"You're welcome. We're happy to be of help." Suho replied politely followed by a chorus of 'yeah's from the rest.
"If you ever need anything, please do tell me. I'll try my best to help you in return of what you've done for my daughter." Mr Jang continued.
"Thank you for your kind offer but we don't need anything." Luhan replied.
"Well, don't hesitate to tell me if you do." Mr Jang smiled warmly.
An awkward silence soon ensued before Mr Jang spoke again.
"Actually, I have another thing to discuss about. I was thinking since you boys are so good at fighting, why not you work as my daughter's bodyguards? I'll be glad to give you a high pay each. How about it?" He offered.
"You only said boys. What about Hyeri noona?" Sehun questioned.
"Ummm... I don't think a girl is cut out for this kind of jobs." Mr Jang hesitantly replied.
"But noona can fight pretty well for a girl." Sehun retorted.
"It's ok. You guys can take the job if you want. I still have mine." You quickly responded. The boys all stared at you.
"We'll think about it." Suho finally said.
"Okay then. Here's my number. I expect a reply from you soon." Mr Jang handed Suho his information card before he stood, followed by his daughter.
"We'll take our leave now." He bowed before leaving.
"I'm so sorry for the sudden intrusion." Yerin apologised before following her father.
"Well, that was interesting." You thought aloud.
"Yeah... I guess you can say that." Chen agreed.
"What about the job, hyung?" Tao asked Suho.
"I don't know..." Suho trailed off as he looked at Kris for his opinion.
"Why are you looking at me?" Kris raised his eyebrow.
"You're also the leader. What do you say?" Suho asked.
"We were given time to think. So why don't we just do that? We can tell that guy our answer another time." Kris nonchalantly replied.
"True." Suho agreed.
"Woah. The gia- I mean Kris actually makes sense for once." You teased. The boys laughed at your statement except for the one being teased.
"Very funny, shor- I mean Hyeri." He smirked.
"Pshhh..." You rolled your eyes at his remark.
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The following day, you woke up to your alarm clock and did your daily morning routine. Before going for breakfast, you went out to the mail box to get the letters. One of them was a notice from the hospital.
To The Guardian of Patient Choi Hae Jung,
We would like to inform you that the medical bill for last month has not yet been paid. Please pay the amount due as soon as possible or the patient will not be able to undergo next month's treatment.
"Aish." You mumbled and sighed heavily after reading the letter.
"What's that?" Kai suddenly popped out of nowhere and snatched the letter away from you.
"Yah!!! Give that back!!!" You chased after him as he ran away from you while reading the letter.
Kai suddenly halted once he entered the kitchen, making you bump into his back. You stumbled a few steps back but managed to regain your balance. While you were distracted, Kai had passed the letter over to Suho. By the time you realised that the letter was with Suho, he already finished reading it.
"Kim Hyeri." Suho called out to you.
*Oh . He never calls out a person's full name unless he's pissed. He's scary when he's like this and he never gets pissed easily.* You gulped.
"Neh?" You answered.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked.
"Molla." You shrugged.
"Molla?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Ok... Maybe the hospital bill increased by a teeny tiny bit and I couldn't pay it fully on time." You confessed.
"A teeny tiny bit?" He interrogated.
"Ok fine. By a lot. Sheesh." You surrendered and told him the truth. He sighed at your answer.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Suho asked.
"I didn't want to trouble you guys and it's my problem to begin with." You sat down at the dining table.
"We're a family now so it's our problem too. We're always there for each other." Suho took the seat right across from you.
"Family?" You questioned.
"Yes, family. You're like our younger sister." Suho answered before he took your hands into his.
"Please, don't keep problems like this to yourself. We're here to help. You need to trust us. We've been together for a few months now, don't you think we should have the right to know about stuff like this. Halmoni is important to us too." Suho continued.
*Family. I thought I would never have one again. But these boys have opened up to me so warmly and all I've ever done is push them away. Maybe it's time for me to learn to lean on someone and trust again.* You thought as you pondered on Suho's words.
"You're right. I'm sorry." You apologised.
Suddenly, a crowd of grinning and cheering boys came rushing over to you, engulfing you in a tight hug.
"Yay!!! Riri admits that we're family!!!" Chanyeol cheered.
"Noona!!! I'm so happy!!!" Sehun beamed.
"Group hug!!!" Luhan exclaimed, making everyone join in the hug.
"Can't... Breathe... Need... Air..." You huffed, trying to pull away from the tight hug. The boys eventually let you go but they still had genuine smiles on their faces, even Kris and Kai. You couldn't help but to smile along as well.
*I have a new family now.* You happily thought.
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EXO's POV
"Hello? May I speak with Mr Jang please?" Suho asked the other person on the line.
"Yes, how may I help you?" He answered.
"Annyeonghasaeyo. This is Suho. Is the job still available?" Suho asked.
"Oh, Suho! Of course! Will all 12 of you be taking the job?" Mr Jang questioned.
"Yes, all of us will." Suho confirmed.
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