Before the M guys drove to the airport, we all dropped by to rest at the K’s dorm. Sehun and Joonmyun hyung offered to let me sleep in their room while I stay in Korea during my rehearsals with Jongin until the day of the performance. Luhan and Kris gege checked the room out and made sure all things were set and comfortable. Well, that’s what Kris gege did. Luhan was just there ‘cause Sehun gave something to him. The next day when I woke up, the M guys were already gone. I suddenly felt a sense of emptiness within me, like something is lacking.

Our rehearsal is around 9AM. It’s still 7:30 so I got a few minutes to kill time. And killing time in my book is sitting down on bed (or a made up mattress on the floor) with my back resting on a drawer and my head hanging from the dizziness I’m feeling caused by a clogged nose. I forced air to enter my nose by sniffing really loud, which earned me a quick snap from Sehun.

Zombie Sehun has commenced. He sat bolt upright at the sound I made, like someone pushed him to sit up. He then looked at me with droopy eyes, and I at him but with big round eyes that can rival Kyungsoo’s.

He squinted his eyes a few times to get a good focus of the digital wall clock across the room. “7:32…” I heard him mumble to himself. He sat still for a moment and blinked his eyes a couple times before looking at me. “Morning, Tao…” and he lied down to sleep again.

Oh, ‘kay… I’d better get up and eat breakfast, I guess. I got out quietly so as not to wake Joonmyun hyung, too.

Kyungsoo was already up and cooking breakfast for everyone, and Jongin was behind him – peering over his shoulder, checking out Kyungsoo’s cooking.

“Good morning.” I blurted out. They both looked at me and gave me a quick nod.

“What’s cooking? It smells good.” I continued.

“Bacon and eggs.” Kyungsoo replied while still looking at the frying pan and tossing over an egg with a silver fork.

Bacon and eggs… Now why does that sound cannibalistic?

“Ooh! We got bacon and eggs for breakfast!” I heard Chanyeol from behind me. “Baekhyun! Food is almost ready!”

I approached their dining table as Chanyeol pulled open a chair for me to sit on.

“Now why are you up so early?” I asked the four of them as we all sat down together to eat. “Only Jongin and I have dance rehearsals for today. Sehun and hyung are still asleep.”

“I usually get up early ‘cause I cook for them.” Kyungsoo answered first.

“Well, I just got up early today for no apparent reason.” Chanyeol added as he was swallowing a spoonful of rice. “And Baekhyun got up ‘cause I woke him up.”

“Nah… Usually I get woken up by the littlest noise.” Baekhyun answered. “So whenever Yeollie here wakes up, I get up, too. That and I smelled the aroma of breakfast so my stomach started grumbling.”

As if on cue, their manager entered the living room. “Jongin and Tao, be ready in 20 minutes.”

“Yes, hyung.” We both replied immediately. Jongin refused another serving of rice from Kyungsoo as he hurriedly finished the bacon on his plate.

“You need the energy.” I heard Kyungsoo mumble at Jongin, which earned him a slight scoff from the dancer.

“You’re not my mom.” Jongin retorted.

As Jongin stood up to place the used plate on the kitchen sink, beside me I noticed Kyungsoo’s face droop low. A sigh then escaped him and an obvious shrug of the shoulders.

Kyungsoo got owned. Well ain’t that cute.

I stood up from my seat, too. Time to get a move on. But before I made the turn towards my room, I saw Jongin walk towards Kyungsoo’s seat and caressed Kyungsoo’s cheek ever so quickly. Kyungsoo looked up at him and they both exchanged smiles before Jongin entered their room to change.

The rehearsal lasted around 5 hours. As Jongin and I arrived at the SM building, the lead dancers of the other groups were already there except for Hyoyeon noona and Sooyoung noona. They'll be running a little late because of schedule difficulties, as what was told. All in all, we were seven in the group performance - Taemin, Donghae hyung, Yunho hyung, Hyoyeon noona and Sooyoung noona, Jongin and I. And, as usual, I was there for the flips and stuff.

We were expected to memorize a five-minute dance routine in 5 hours, polish it the next day and perform it the day after tomorrow – nothing new. I just hoped we started earlier instead of having us wait for hours because of reasons not disclosed to us – again, nothing new.

As Jongin and I did our last gestures of respect towards our sunbaes, we parted ways and entered our van. Jongin immediately picked his happy spot to sleep. I gotta give it to that talent of his. He can freakin’ sleep anywhere. As for me, I just wanted to be back in my room and wait for Kris gege’s call.

And that’s what I did. The moment we arrived at our dorm, I just waved at the others who were all huddled up at the living room couch watching a movie and I immediately went to my room to turn on my laptop.

Any minute now…

It’s almost nine in the evening. We’ll be having dinner in a while – a very late dinner. Or maybe after Kyungsoo finishes cooking which I think will take a little while longer since they’re still busy watching a movie.

Maybe Kris just arrived at their dorm, too. And maybe he’s about to open his laptop to make the call and…

I plopped on the bed with my chest comfortably against one pillow to support me while I log on to Weibo and do some searching. It was close to an hour after when I started smelling food being cooked from the kitchen. So Kyungsoo started cooking just now. I can hear the sound of garlic being fried on a pan.

Maybe, just maybe, Kris gege is too tired to call and he (maybe) thought I might be too tired from rehearsal, too. So (maybe) he decided not to call anymore despite the fact that it’s his birthday in a few hours and he promised me that he’ll call and…

I heard laughter outside and a loud chanting of “Do it again!” from Baekhyun and Chanyeol. People always ask us what differentiates the K group from the M group. And I gotta say one distinction is how loud the members are. We, from the M group, can be loud when we bicker and share jokes, but we don’t have Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Yep, those two are something else. It’s like-

*beep*

*click*

“Hi, Tao.”

 I just stared at the screen. The person in the video tipped his head sideways, confused in my sudden display of apathy. “Ayo, wassup?”

“I thought you wouldn’t call anymore.” I answered back to the screen.

Kris laughed at my response to him. “Well, good evening to you, too.”

I stayed silent as I continued eyeing him on the video screen. The video feedback seems to be a second delayed.

“Hey, are you mad? I called like I said I would.”

“I ain’t mad. I’m just waiting for it to be midnight so I could greet you a happy birthday, theoretically.” I showed him a shrug of my shoulders.

Kris laughed. His eyes looked a bit droopy like they’re tired; like he’s tired. “How was dance practice?” he started to ask.

“It was okay.” I answered him back with another shoulder shrug.

“Okay sounds interesting. Tell me more.” I saw him stand up, and then a couple of seconds with no one on the screen. Then two legs appeared and I saw Kris lying down with his chest on the bed supported with a pillow, just like how I positioned myself at the moment. “There.” I heard him sigh. “Can’t let you be the only one comfortable here. So… define okay.” He ended with a smile.

I started out telling him how my day went - from waking up to seeing Kyungsoo and Jongin cooking breakfast to going to the SM building for rehearsal.

“And then we started late because the managers had to meet with someone and the SNSD noonas still had their schedule so we couldn’t start without them.”

“Typical all in a day’s work then.”

“Exactly.”

“Sunbaes working hard with their jam-packed schedules and here you are, a rookie who was blessed with precious time, has to adjust to our beloved hard-working noonas and hyungs.”

“Precise in every word.”

“So I guess you had more fun than me.” He waved his hand in front of the screen like his life is the more boring between the both of us.

Two could play at this game. “Yeah.” Hand waving on my end of the video call as well. “My life is a lot better than yours. I’m sorry for being too fun for you. I hope you don’t get intimidated.”

That made him laugh. I like it when Kris laughs. It’s like pots of gold exist at the end of a rainbow. And by hearing his laugh, you can’t help but laugh with him, too.

Kris was coming down from his euphoria. I didn’t know I can be as funny as Yixing gege. But I sure made Kris laugh out loud. “What did you guys do today? Apart from having rehearsal with Jongin.”

Nothing much, I was about to answer him. Because, really, I didn’t do anything much apart from the dance rehearsal. “Well, I did have breakfast with them earlier this morning.” I rested my chin on my hand. “And I’m currently waiting for Kyungsoo to finish cooking supper so we could all eat together.”

“Ah. Kyungsoo’s cooking..” Kris nodded with a smile. “Well the others here, on my side of the planet, are sorting through the fan mails and gifts – my fan mails and gifts.”

Which is pretty much usually what happens every time someone’s birthday is coming up. Fan mails arrive triple the usual number. And then there’d be cake. Lots and lots of cake.

“How many cakes arrived this time?” my curiosity took the better of me.

“Around… 20-ish, I guess” he started counting with his fingers but opted to just give an estimation. “There were probably almost 50 bouquets that were delivered. I’m planning to sleep on them tonight, like a bed of flowers.”

Bang!

A loud noise came from outside my room. What the hell are they doing now?

“What the hell are they doing outside?” Kris asked. You see, this is how great minds think alike.

“Jongin! Tell Tao the food’s ready!” I hear Suho call out from outside.

“I guess the food’s ready.”

I saw Kris blink his eyes a few times; processing how a loud noise can lead to a prepared meal.

“Look, don’t ask me how it happened. It just did.” I already gave him my answer to his unasked query.

“No, no. That’s not what I was thinking.” Kris was shaking his head while blinking a few times.

“What are you thinking then?”

Kris tilted his head on one side, “Why aren’t you outside with them? You always seem to get melancholic when you start missing the K guys. Don’t you want to spend time with them while you’re there now?”

“But…” Good point. I am unprepared with my rebuttal. “But I’m talking with you right now. You promised me you’ll call so I waited patiently for your call so I could greet you a happy birthday!” My tone of voice was rising as I reached the end of my sentence.

He laughed again. “Okay, okay. It’s almost midnight – a few minutes left. But…”

What else now?

“…aren’t they important?”

“Who?”

“Them. EXO-K. Don’t you consider them important enough that you’ll spend time with them instead of talking to me right now?”

What the-? Where is this leading? I gave him a raise of an eyebrow. He’s speaking cryptically again. “Gege, are you okay?”

Kris smiled weakly while looking down. “I’m good.”

“Is this some post-Vanessa depression or something?”

“Tao…”

“I’m sorry!” I was quick with my apology.

“Erase the last 2 minutes of our conversation. Forget I asked.” He trailed away with his last few words.

Is Kris experiencing some rejection issues? Or maybe it’s just some breakup blues. He always has issues to deal with. He’s just good at hiding them. “But…” I started. “aren’t you important?”

Kris looked back at me. More like snapped his head to look at me. And that’s what he just did – look at me in silence.

So I asked him again, “Aren’t you important, too, gege?”

Kris’ lips slowly formed a smile. This time it’s genuine. His eyes becoming soft as he looks at me. “I wish you understand how happy you make me feel, Tao.”

I…

“Happy birthday!” All of a sudden the door of Kris’ room swung open and I saw Jongdae and Yixing carrying a really large, three layered cake towards Kris.

“Hi, Tao!” Luhan waved at me from Kris’ bedroom. He was wearing a party hat. Just him.

Exchange of birthday greetings and How are yous commenced. I saw them slicing the cake.

“I think you’d better eat your supper now, too, Tao. I bet you’re really hungry.” Kris bent down to his laptop so I could see him through his webcam.

“Okay, gege.” I sat up from my prone position.

“And, Tao…”

“Happy birthday, gege!” I cut him off. I don’t think I’m ready for any serious talk at the moment.

“Thank you.” And I think he understood as he just smiled at me again. “Extend my hellos to the guys there. Tell them I’ll be awake by eight later in the morning so all twelve of us can video chat on my birthday.”

“Sounds great.” I waved him goodbye as he turned off the video chat on his end and a black screen welcomed me. I continued to sit there in silence for a few more minutes, just staring at the black screen.

I took a deep breath. “You’re very important to me, gege… And I wish you understand how happy you make me feel, too.”

I looked at the floor of the room as I noticed a shadow of a guy leaning by the door. “How long were you standing there, Jongin?”

“Long enough.” Jongin did that iconic smirk of his. “Food’s ready, by the way.”