“I’m super tired!” Luhan exclaimed, stretching his arms.

“Me too! My arms and legs are aching all over from all those stunts,” Tao whined. Kris walked up to him and started pounding his back lightly with his fists.

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks, Kris Hyung.”

“Time to watch dramas!” Chen exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across his face. Xiumin ran over to high five him.

“I’m going to learn to cook all the Beijing dishes!” D.O. announced, folding his arms and smiling proudly.

“No more dancing for the next few days,” Lay breathed, stretching his back and bending backward.

“Of course. It’s backbreaking hard work, you know,” Chanyeol said. The other members looked at him and sniggered.

“What?!” Chanyeol frowned.

The EXO boys were walking back to their hotel in Beijing after a breathtaking performance at their Beijing debut showcase. It was night.

“Well done, Chanyeol Hyung. You’ve improved a lot,” Kai patted Chanyeol’s back.

“Thanks, I couldn’t have done it without Jiyeon,” he beamed.

Kai slipped his hand back into his pocket.

“Well... yeah,” he replied, uneasily. The mention of Jiyeon’s name made his heart flutter. He shut his eyes as he allowed images of Jiyeon to fill his mind.

You know, I really, really miss you. Even though it’s only been one day.

“She’s like one of us right now. It’s as if we’re missing one member,” Suho muttered.

“Did someone say Jiyeon? I miss Jiyeon too!” Luhan whimpered, skipping over to Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

“Me too...” Sehun smiled to himself, feeling his face turning pink.

Baekhyun glanced at Sehun smiling to himself.

Silly maknae, he thought. Smiling for no reason again, as if he’s trapped in a different dimension.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the members, Sehun closed his eyes and whispered a wish to the night sky.

I wish you were here with us, Jiyeon.

“Oh Sehun! Quit spacing out, you’re lagging behind!” Luhan chirped, grabbing Sehun’s arm and pulling him back to the rest of the group.

“Hey, a penny for your thoughts?” Kai looked at Sehun.

Sehun opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, a gush of chilly breeze greeted him. A faint trace of Kai’s cologne (or whatever that remained) entered his nose.

That scent again, Sehun thought, remembering how Kai and Jiyeon had disappeared before the Seoul showcase, and how evidence pointed to the fact that they were alone together. Recollections of Jiyeon’s disconcerted responses flooded his head.

“Uh, Jiyeon, there was this thing caught in your hair,” Sehun handed out the sequin to her. Again, the sequin looked vaguely familiar.

Jiyeon turned a little pink when she saw the sequin.

“T-thanks, Sehun oppa,” she grabbed the sequin from his hand.

Unconsciously, Sehun began imagining certain far-fetched possibilities between the two. His countenance fell. 

“Nothing much, Hyung. Secret,” he responded frostily.

“Right,” Kai smirked.  

Sehun watched Kai from the back, and felt a sense of guilt. He knew that it was wrong to be green of his own band mate.

What am I even thinking? How can I be jealous of my own hyung, he hardly even speaks with Jiyeon, he sighed.

They finally arrived at their hotel after a long walk in the cool night.

“Have an early night, everyone. You’ve all worked hard to achieve a successful debut showcase! A good first impression is tantamount to your success in the future! Tomorrow we can all sleep in, and you are free to go sight seeing for the rest of the week before we return to Seoul,” Manager Ma announced.

“Oh yeah!” The boys cheered.

“So, where shall we go tomorrow?” Kris asked the rest of the group.

“The Great Wall of China!” Chen clapped.

“Yeah, let’s go see it!” Baekhyun said.

“No way!” Tao protested, scrunching up his face.

“I’d rather sleep in the hotel and go for a swim, you guys go ahead,” Kai yawned. (A/N Now we know why Kai’s so tanned! LOL)

“Don’t be lazy, Kai!” D.O. flicked Kai’s forehead.

The entire group started bickering about their sight seeing destinations for the next day, and was soon beginning to attract attention of passers-by.

“Who’s that bunch of boys? So noisy...”

“They look like the newly debuted SM group, they are even speaking in Korean!”

Kris stopped in his tracks when he heard people mumbling in rapid Chinese about s. He realized that the probability of EXO’s cover being blown on the streets of Beijing in the middle of the night was very high. He pressed his fingers against his temple when he realized he had to bring the squabbling under control.

Aish, why am I always the one having to do this, he sighed.

“Fine, fine! We’ll decide tomorrow, quit arguing!” he barked, glaring them down. Everyone stared at him in silence, stunned.

“Yes, duizhang.” They mumbled, like naughty kids being punished.

“I want everyone in their rooms in five minutes!”

Jiyeon’s POV

“Okay, that’s it for today. Good work, everyone!” I bowed to my students.

“Thank you, seonsaengnim!” they chorused.

I watched them as they left the studio, one by one. It was the fourth day since EXO left for China, and since I returned to Enigma, temporarily. I took over my old classes to relieve Woojin. The poor guy had been deprived of gaming for months. And besides, I didn’t really want to stay at home all day long.

“You done, Jiyeon?” Ha Eun walked into the studio.

“Yup,” I nodded.

“Let’s go get some dinner,” she suggested.

“Okay, give me a sec. I need to wash up,” I told her.

“Alrighty,” she gave me a thumb’s up and walked outside to talk with Hyunjoon.

The three of us decided to go to a nearby roadside stall for barbequed beef.

“Mmm, I really missed this,” I salivated as I stared at the beef being barbequed. The aroma was so tempting I could gobble up an entire chunk of beef on the spot. Yes, I really missed it that much.

“Yah, stop drooling all over and leaving your ‘mark’ on the beef!” Ha Eun swung her chopsticks in front of my face. I leaned back and pouted.

“You’re so mean.”

“Whatever, you pig.”

I stuck my tongue out at her. She did the same back.

“You guys are seriously childish,” Hyunjoon laughed.

“Ugh, whatever.” Ha Eun rolled her eyes and sighed.

My phone suddenly rang.

>>>Incoming call: Unknown<<< 

I answered the call, despite the caller being unknown.

“Yeobuseyo? This is Song Jiyeon.”

“Ah, Jiyeon-ssi! I’m Kim Young Min. You remember me, don’t you?” the person on the other line said.

I gasped. Omo, why is the CEO of SM calling me? Did I do something wrong?

“O-of course, Mr. Kim! Why would I forget you?” I laughed nervously. I crossed my fingers and bit my lip. Ha Eun and Hyunjoon stared at me questioningly. I quickly put my finger to my lips, and did the cutting throat action.

Both of them seemed to understand and nodded.

I stood up from my seat and walked outside the stall, lest it was too noisy.

“Ah, I heard you’re on a one week break, right?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s because EXO is in China right now,” I answered. Please don’t think I’m skiving or anything, CEO-ssi. I really need this job!

“I know that, Director Kang told me. Anyway, are you interested in taking up a short assignment?” he asked.

I sighed in relief. Thank goodness it was nothing bad, just a new assignment! Seems like there’ll be more money rolling in from this new assignment if I take it up!

“Sure, yes I am very interested!” I exclaimed animatedly.

“You seem very enthusiastic about this! It’s something similar to what you have done. You see one of our choreographers, Jillian Meyers, has to return to the US in two days. Will you be okay overseeing a group’s dance practice? You don’t have to teach them from scratch, you just have to mentor them to perfect their movements,” he explained.

I paused to think for a bit. Well, since I’ve practically taught EXO the entire MAMA choreography and a little bit of History, and it all turned out quite well, such a thing should be fine for me, shouldn’t it?

“Yes, I’ll be fine. I feel honored that you should offer this to a novice like myself, in fact,” I assured him.

“You’re no novice, don’t underestimate your abilities, Jiyeon-ssi. Anyway, could you come by tomorrow afternoon? I’ll get Director Kang to pick you from the lobby,” Kim Young Min said.

“Yep, no problem!” I chirped, smiling to myself. In my head I could see an entire ocean of dollar signs flowing in. Someone’s going to be rich!

“What?! You’re leaving, again? So soon?” Ha Eun bawled in frustration.

“Why do I have to resume work this week? Yah Song Jiyeon!” Woojin whined. I gave him a sorry smile. I guess he hadn’t had his fill of games, yet. But then again, would he, ever? Of all the people I knew, Woojin had the worst addiction to gaming. It’d be life-threatening for him to kick the habit.

“When will you be free again like this?” Hyunjoon inquired.

I thought for a bit.

“Um, I’m not too sure, to be honest. EXO-K has tons of dance practices waiting for them once they return from China,” I said, counting with my fingers. I stopped, realizing my attempt was futile. The number of practices exceeded the number of fingers – and toes I had.

“So I guess we wouldn’t be seeing you anytime soon?”

I looked up at Hyunjoon, who seemed downcast.

“I think so, I’ll try to pop by whenever I can,” I comforted him.

“You had better call me at least once a week, Song Jiyeon!” Ha Eun ordered.

I laughed.

“Araseo.”

“Jiyeon-ssi, aren’t you on leave?” Miss Lee, the receptionist, shot me a confused (and slightly suspicious) glance.

“Um, it’s because I have some extra assignment to do?” I answered, pretty unconvincingly. A frown soon appeared on her face. She looked even colder than when I first met her during my interview.

Don’t get me wrong, Miss Lee’s really nice, but sometimes she gets so legalistic and strict, it frightens me.

“You aren’t pulling a fast one on me, are you?”

“No, it’s just – I, um...”

I stopped. I had no idea what the new assignment was really about, other than mentoring a certain group. Wait – I didn’t even know which group it was! I felt like slamming my forehead against the wall.

Stupid, silly me.

“Jiyeon! There you are!” I heard Jinsoo’s familiar voice and a relief rushed all over my veins.

“Jinsoo,” I called and grinned at him. He mussed my hair with his fingers.

“Director Kang,” Miss Lee nodded. I suppressed my laughter when I realized she was blushing madly – again.

Someone (still) has a bad crush on Director Kang! Ooooohhhhh...

“Sorry to interrupt your girl chat, Miss Lee. Could I steal Jiyeon for a sec? She has some business to do,” he winked at her, grinning ear to ear.

I think Miss Lee’s life ended at that split second. The poor girl was completely helpless, and frozen at the spot. Jinsoo took that as a go-ahead and whisked me away to the safety of the elevators.

There were no qualms as to whom we met in the elevator. (A/N If you read previous chapters, you’d realize there would always be a certain Elevator Man in the lift.)

“Hey, Changmin-ssi.”

“Hello, Jiyeon-ssi,” Changmin smiled.

“Just wondering, why do you always appear in the elevator?” I strained my neck to stare the 190cm tall man in the face.

I secretly hypothesized that Changmin had a peculiar habit of camping in the elevator.

“My sentiments exactly. You constantly seem to be in the lift as well,” he cleared his throat before returning his gaze to me. A small smile was plastered on his face. But something was just not right; for one, his eyes were wide open. Correction – he was glaring daggers at me through that smile of his. 

Oops, seemed like someone else thought the same of me too.

“You guys seem to know each other quite well,” Jinsoo commented, shooting mischievous looks at the both of us.

I nudged him and glared at him. No, Jinsoo. Please don’t do this. Not in front of Changmin, for goodness’ sake.

“You seem to like tall guys, Jiyeon. No wonder you like Sehun,” Jinsoo chuckled, straightening his tie.

“Yah!” I quickly covered his mouth with my palm.

I glanced at Changmin, who merely raised his eyebrows at me, smirking.  

“Interesting, Jiyeon-ssi. Now if you would excuse me, I’ll be alighting to meet Yunho Hyung,” he nodded at both of us and left when the elevator stopped at the next floor.

“Kang Jinsoo! Why did you tell these kind of things to other people?!” I whacked his arm mercilessly.

“You’re hurting me!” Jinsoo whimpered like a little child being bullied.

“Now Changmin-ssi thinks I’m some crazed EXO fangirl,” I rolled my eyes and sighed in frustration.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I just find it so incredibly fun teasing you,” Jinsoo stuck his tongue out at me. No kidding, the twenty-five year old man really did that.

“Hmph, you’re so terrible,” I complained.

We got off at our floor.

“You still haven’t told me which band it is this time,” I reminded him.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that. You’ll be working with f(x),” he answered.

Hmm, f(x)...

Victoria, Amber, Luna, Krystal, Sulli...

Shucks. Did I just hear Sulli?

I really didn’t expect our next meeting to be so soon. To make matters worse, I’d be working with her and we would be in close contact half the time.

With utmost sincerity, I silently whispered a prayer to the heavens.

God help me.

“Yah, I heard we are getting a new instructor for a few days,” Krystal said. The girls were stretching in the dance studio, waiting for their new instructor’s arrival.

“Is the instructor male or female?” Luna looked up and asked.

“She’s a lady,” Krystal uttered in reply.

“Yeah, heard she’s quite good too. Though she’s younger than I am,” Victoria said, twisting her hair into a topknot.

“You mean she’s our age?” Sulli pointed to Krystal and herself.

“Who knows,” Amber shrugged.

It’d be funny if she were younger than Krystal, even. Amber laughed to herself.

 “Sorry to keep you girls waiting,” Director Kang burst through the door (as usual).

“Director Kang,” the girls gathered and greeted him.

“Hey, I would like you to meet your new instructor-nim,” he turned around and beckoned Jiyeon to come up front for the introduction. Jiyeon shuffled nervously toward him.

Gah, this doesn’t feel too good, she thought.

“Anneyonghaseyo, Song Jiyeon imnida. Please take care of me,” Jiyeon bowed.

“She’s cute,” Amber commented to Krystal, who nodded in agreement.

“I’m Amber. How old are you, Jiyeon-ssi?” she smiled warmly.

“I’m 19 this year,” Jiyeon smiled back. She felt less jittery all of a sudden.

Amber’s really someone to break the ice.

“Woah! Like I said, she’s younger than me!” Victoria gasped.

“Younger than us,” Luna corrected her. 

“Hello! Nice to meet you, I’m Choi Sulli!” Sulli stepped up and shook Jiyeon’s hand vigorously, smiling her largest. Her eyes formed thin crescents instantly.

What’s up with her? Is she possessed or something? She’s so unlike her usual self, Jiyeon wandered, shocked by Sulli’s sudden gush of friendliness.

The first half of practice went by smoothly, much to Jiyeon’s surprise. The girls were very cooperative and teachable, and they were a fun bunch too, at that.

“Thank you everyone! We’ll take a 30-minute break!” Jiyeon announced.

“Whoo, thanks instructor-nim!” they chorused, and began sauntering out the studio.

As Jiyeon was walking toward her bag to get her towel, she felt someone’s shoulder brush past hers. She looked up.

Sulli.

Sulli gave her a smirk and leaned in.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten what I told you, Jiyeon-ssi.”

Jiyeon felt chills running down her spine again.

Oh no.

“Sulli! Hurry up!” Luna called.

“Coming! I was just talking to our new instructor-nim,” Sulli immediately switched from mode to angel mode within a second. An impeccably fake smile was stretched across her face.

“You’d better be a good girl,” she said coldly to Jiyeon, giving her a sinister glare before spinning around and running after her group mates.

Jiyeon sighed and collapsed against the wall, placing the back of her hand on her forehead.

Now, what did I get myself into? Aish.

“What did you talk about?” Luna asked Sulli.

“Nothing much, just being friendly!” Sulli grinned, and made a ‘peace’ sign with her hand.

“Ah~ really...” Amber’s voice trailed off as she walked in front of Sulli.

When everyone was well ahead, Sulli wiped off the overly ebullient smile, and a stealthy expression soon snuck up her face.

Some people just need to be taught a lesson. The worst is yet to come, Song Jiyeon. 

Hey guys! :) So here's thirteen! fight has officially begun! 

Comment replies

@thepwahlove HAHAHA so XIAOBAI is Baek and XIAOHEI is Kai? LOL XD Yup Baek's the big brother here ^^

@llamappa Here you go :) 

And once again, subscribe/comment/add me! :D Reading your comments and messages makes me happy ^^ haha. Congratulations to EXO on their win at MAMA! :)