Quite honestly, my first impression of Baekhyun was that he talked: A lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I had anything against talkative people; I mean my best friend was quite the social butterfly herself, but for Baekhyun, he just felt the need to chatter incessantly about every minor detail in his life. I was pretty sure most people would try to ignore his meaningless rambles, myself included.

 

Surprisingly, I found myself getting along well with him.

 

“So there are actually twelve members that make EXO as a whole.” He had just finished his explanation about the six other members I had yet to meet, the other half being EXO M whom were basically the mandarin speaking half of EXO.

 

At first I didn’t understand it, simply because I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want a twelve member band singing the same songs in two different sub-groups and in two different languages as opposed to having— generally— one main band and having them learn a foreign dialect.

 

But then again, this was S.M Entertainment we were talking about.

 

“Mari, how old are you?” We were already making our way back to the company when Baekhyun’s voice broke my thoughts and instantly my gaze shifted towards him.

 

“My age?” I had to take a couple of seconds to reflect on his question. I was perfectly aware that Korea had a very different aging system. Since I was twenty years old back in America, in this country I would be twenty-one. However I was quite curious myself; what was Baekhyun’s age?

 

“Well, how old are you?”

 

“I was born in 1992.”

 

I gaze at him, incredulous because I had assumed he was younger than me. I guess it may have been due to his baby face and his charisma that threw me off.

 

“Really? Same here.”

 

“Seriously?!”

 

“Yeah,” I replied, nodding in confirmation.

 

Baekhyun gazed at me for a long time, shaking his head, still unconvinced and as we made our way down the hallway, I had to thoroughly explain to him that I was indeed twenty (and in Korea, twenty-one) years old.

 

 “I really thought you were eighteen or something.”

 

What a coincidence.

 

I let out a little laugh. “Nope, we’re the same age,” I assured him. “I actually just graduated college.”

 

Before he could speak any further, our attention was diverted towards a blatant, heavy thumping sound hitting the ground. For a moment, Baekhyun and I eyed one another cautiously until we advanced inside the room. In front of us were Suho, Chanyeol, D.O and Sehun, all huddled around what appeared to be Kai, groaning on the floor. Immediately, I placed the plastic bag on the ground and made my way toward the group in the middle.

 

“What happened?” I heard Baekhyun ask.

 

Instinctively, I knelt down to Kai’s level, regarding how he was clutching onto his wrist, which I soon realized was the source of his pain.

 

“We were all just fooling around…” I heard a voice, Chanyeol, reply. “Kai-ssi fell on his hand.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at him. No matter how persuasive he sounded, there was just no way a person could fall on his or her own hand. They could fall on their arm— maybe— but it was impossible and most certainly irrational for someone to fall on their hand.

 

“Don’t lie.” Suho was speaking now. “You wrestled with Kai and crushed his hand with your knee.”

 

Now that had sounded reasonable.

 

I veered my gaze towards the boy who, after the accusation, merely hid behind D.O. I shook my head at him, absolutely disconcerted, but mostly because I was surprised at their irresponsible actions. Seriously. I could see why they needed another assistant.

 

I shifted my attention toward Kai again as he continued to clutch onto his wrist, visibly still in agony.

 

“Let me see your hand,” I ordered, holding out my palm. He eyed me, skeptical and hesitant. “You can trust me,” I urged him, moving my palm closer to his reach. Kai didn’t say a word but slowly placed his injured hand on top of my hand, but I could tell by the way he swallowed nervously that he was still uncertain about my presence.

 

I shrugged the feeling off, undaunted.

 

I noted how inflamed and swollen Kai’s wrist had gotten. I came to the conclusion that Chanyeol had landed with enough force to mildly sprain it. It wasn’t as serious as they were predicting.

 

“Is Kai going to be okay?”

 

I peered over my shoulder to see Sehun hovering over me, worried for his friend.

 

“He’s fine. It’s just a sprain,” I reassured him. “I think an ice pack and an ace-type wrap around his wrist will be good.”

 

“I’ll go get the first aid kit,” he offered, already making his way out of the practice room.

 

“We’ll go get some ice,” Suho replied, grabbing Chanyeol by the collar. Chanyeol let out a yelp of surprise, and Suho had muttered a very audible “idiot” under his breath.

 

When they returned, I was quick to take a handful of ice from the plastic bowl and place it into one of the emptied out plastic bags from the convenience store. There wasn’t much to go by when I opened up the first aid kit except some ointments, alcohol pads and band aids; luckily, the kit did have what I was looking for and without a second thought, I began to wrap it around Kai’s wrist.

 

I could feel the other member’s gazes bore into the back of my head, watching me intently as I patched up their friend. I swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable with their close proximity. No matter how hard I tried to ignore them, I couldn’t stop the faint blush from forming on my cheeks.

 

“Hey, guys, give her some space.”

 

It was Kai who had noticed my discomfort, and at once, the other members stopped looming over me. I silently thanked him with a small nod for his understanding. He returned the nod and I finished wrapping his arm.

 

I placed the plastic bag filled with ice on his wrist. “Just leave this on for a couple of minutes,” I instructed, standing up and smoothing out my skirt.

 

Kai stood up as well, holding onto the bag of ice and inspecting his injured arm thoroughly. I was lucky that I was already familiar with basic first aid.

 

“Wahh~ Mari, you did a great job.” Baekhyun was grinning at me, practically jumping up and down from his spot next to Suho, while Chanyeol, with a surprisingly large smile on his face, gazed in my direction with an apologetic expression.

 

“I’ll try to be careful next time,” he promised, and then shifted his gaze towards Kai. “Sorry man.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

I smiled inwardly, surprised by their quick settlement. They were all probably pretty close.

 

It wasn’t before long that Baekhyun declared that it was time for us to eat. He clapped his hands together eagerly and I took that as my cue to distribute the snacks amongst the other members. It wasn’t much really, since I was only given a certain amount of cash last minute, but it was enough to keep them going for the next couple of hours.

 

“So, Mari how old are you?”

 

We were all seated around in a circle, with Kai to my left and Baekhyun to my right. Baekhyun burst into laughter, probably because he was the only person who knew my real age. The members gave him an incredulous expression, with Chanyeol and D.O tried to figure out the joke behind it all.

 

“Wait,” Chanyeol replied. “What’s so funny, Baek?”

 

After a moment, Baekhyun finally ceased his laughter, letting out a breath as he grinned at his friends.

 

“Try guessing her age,” he said. “You guys wouldn’t believe it.”

 

The four members in front of me had eyed one another cautiously and from the corner of my eye, I could see Kai’s unreadable yet guarded gaze.

 

“You’re eighteen!”

 

“No way she has to be younger than that. She’s seventeen.”

 

“Wait, didn’t she graduate from college. She has to be at least nineteen.”’

 

I found this all too amusing, watching them in deep thought as they tried to figure out my age; normally, people wouldn’t care about my age, nor would they work this hard to form an answer.

 

I cleared my throat, finally deciding that I should relieve them of their constant deductions. “I was born in 1992.”

 

I saw their mouths open in surprise, and I knew that they were skeptical.

 

“No way! We’re the same age?” Chanyeol exclaimed, shifting his gaze to Baekhyun for clarification. “That’s crazy; I thought you were younger.”

 

“So you’re a noona?” I turned my attention to Kai, who was just as curious as Chanyeol. “I never would’ve thought.”

 

“I get that a lot,” I shrugged— because honestly, I did.

 

“So you’re a year older than me,” D.O concluded, “and two years older than Kai and Sehun,”

 

I nodded again, chuckling. “Yep.”

 

Before I could say more, I heard the door swinging open. My head turned to stare up at a man in his late or mid thirties. He was wearing a black leather jacket and had a backpack slung over his shoulder. I instantly stood up, smoothing my skirt, and the other members followed my lead.

 

“Manager Sunghwan,” Suho greeted with a small smile, “Hello.”

 

“Suho-ssi,” the man replied, “I came here as fast as I could when Manager Noh called. Are the six of you okay? Have you eaten?”

 

“Ahh we’re fine; we actually just ate,” the leader explained, subconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. “The new-“

 

“Who’s this?”

 

I felt my hands tremble nervously as the man eyed me warily. His lips pursed and his eyebrows rose with curiosity, but Suho was quick to reply, immediately recognizing the expression on his manager’s face.

 

“Sunghwan hyung, this is Shin Mari. She’s the new manager’s assistant.”

 

Oh god. I knew I was in deep now, and the guilt in my stomach was not making things any easier.

 

“Manager’s assistant?”

 

Suho nodded at him enthusiastically, motioning me to come forward. Swallowing, I let out a shaky breath and stepped toward the older man, bending to bow at him. “Uh hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“She took really good care of us; she even bought us some lunch and took care of Kai’s sprained wrist.”

 

“Kai sprained his wrist?”

 

His eyes widened,skepticism turning into a look of apprehension.

 

Chanyeol quickly came forward to admit to his crime. “It was uh… my fault. We were wrestling and my knee collided with his wrist.” The taller boy muttered the last part, receiving a frown from his manager and a disappointed headshake.

 

“It’s okay though,” Kai replied, attempting to cover for his friend. “Mari took care of it. She took care of us actually.”

 

For a moment, Sunghwan shifted his gaze from Kai to me and then to the other members. I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling the tight ball in my stomach grow tighter with worry. I was going to be in so much trouble. I was definitely screwed.

 

Sunghwan let out a sigh, crossing his arms against his chest as he shook his head once more. “Chanyeol, you and I will talk later, but for now everyone needs to get back to practice; you have a scheduled performance the day after tomorrow.”

 

The members, in response groaned, begrudgingly getting back to practice.

 

“Mari… was it? Do you think I can talk to you outside for a moment?” he added.

 

I wanted to throw up. Instead, I followed him out into the hallway, expecting a lecture and maybe even some yelling. But my expectations were far from reality, very far.

 

“Thank you so much, Mari.”

 

I blinked at him a couple of times, trying to reel in his words. Did he just thank me?

 

“When manager Noh informed me of his abrupt departure, I tried to get here as quickly as possible, but it seems like you handled everything quite well and for that, I thank you.”

 

I felt the unwanted blush form around my cheeks. Unwanted, because I didn’t deserve his thanks for lying.

 

“Manager Tak picked a very reliable person.”

 

There was no hope for me, really. The hole I just dug for myself had only gotten bigger and I knew that the jig was up. It was time for me to tell him the truth.

 

“I’m not… Well I wasn’t really hired,” I admitted finally. “I’m not the new manager’s assistant.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at me, baffled by my statement. “You’re not the new assistant?”

 

I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t hired. To be honest, this was a misunderstanding. You see, the manager sunbae before you, he thought I was the new assistant. I tried to explain to him that I wasn’t, but he had already left for his family emergency.”

 

I knew from the very beginning that I should have told someone, and I knew how troublesome it was going to be for me. To be honest, I didn’t even know why I had lied in the first place, why I kept up with this little façade, knowing fully well that it was going to come back and bite me in the .

 

I guess it just didn’t feel right for me to have left them on their own, even if I was accidentally entrusted with their well being.

 

“I’ll take full responsibility for my actions.”

 

After meeting with my main employer, the head manager for all of EXO, Tak Youngjun, I was officially hired as the new manager’s assistant. He seemed skeptical at first, seeing as how he was a bit wary about my inexperience. With some persuasion by Sunghwan sunbae, Youngjun reluctantly decided to give me a chance.

 

“I guess I was wrong about you, Shin Mari,” I remembered him telling me in his office. He had his elbows propped against his desk, his gaze still expectant. “However, I will monitor your work ethic.”

 

Which basically meant that he was going to watch if I screwed up anywhere.

 

“This is a very demanding job. You will not only take orders from the managers, but you will also be taking orders from the idols.”

 

He paused, using his hands to motion for Sunghwan sunbae, who was standing next to me, to come forward.

 

“Sunghwan will be your main supervisor. You will go to him for your assignments and if there are any issues,” he continued, before adding, “EXO is mainly a twelve member group, but most of the time you will be working closely with EXO-K unless directed otherwise.”

 

I nodded, taking in the information and the responsibilities that he assigned me.

 

“This is EXO-K’s schedule for the next couple of months. I expect you to memorize it and help the other managers get those boys to their schedule’s on time.”

 

“I will do my best, sir,” I replied, taking the folder he was handing me.

 

“Good,” he declared, pushing himself into his chair. “You’ll get your ID card tomorrow. I still need to put you into the system, but for now you are free to go. Hopefully, you will be an asset to this team.”

 

 

 

Afterwards, with the exception of thanking Manager Tak profusely for the employment, I made my way back into the dance studio to retrieve my purse. When I stepped inside, I abruptly collapsed on one of the benches located by the door. The heels I was wearing were already giving me blisters from the work I had done today, but I was glad that my first day had finally come to a close.

 

Letting out a sigh, I stood up, walking over to where I dropped my purse, and then made my way out of the door, craving to bathe and relax in some warm water when I got home.

 

“Ahh, Mari,” I heard a voice say, “are you leaving for the night?”

 

I turned my head to see Suho and Sunghwan sunbae standing right behind me. I gave them a small nod and a smile, despite how completely worn out I was. “Yeah, I might just grab some dinner before going home.”

 

I saw Suho’s eyebrow quirk up with interest, “Really? We were just about to grab some dinner as well,” he said. “Why don’t you join us?”

 

After spending the majority of my day with EXO-K, I’d come to the conclusion that Suho was a sincere and chivalrous guy. I didn’t know Suho very well, but he was nice to invite me to join them for dinner. However, I had to decline his offer, mainly because I was just exhausted and still felt kind of awkward around them.

 

“Oh no it’s okay,” I started.  “I think I’ll just head home for tonight. There’s a meeting tomorrow I believe…” I shifted my gaze towards my employer, hoping he would just let me go.

 

At least, that’s what I thought anyway.

 

“Aww, I’m sure it’s fine,” he insisted. “We actually wanted to throw you a welcome party, especially after what you did for Kai.”

 

To be honest, what I did for him wasn’t much of a big deal. I was only doing whatever the job required me to do.

 

“Yeah, please join us for dinner, Mari.”

 

I shifted my head to the side and saw Baekhyun poking his head out from one of the other rooms. He had that large grin on his face and I couldn’t help but return his smile with my own.

 

“Uh…”

 

I swallowed hard, staring at Sunghwan sunbae keenly, until he added, “Well, I don’t see any harm in having dinner. You did a good job today after all.”

 

Baekhyun clapped his hands together, happily. “Alright! This is great; please say yes, Mari,” he begged.

 

I wasn’t exactly good at saying no— for any situation, for that matter, but especially right now. Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh of defeat.

 

Goddamn I was so weak.

 

“Okay.”

 

Baekhyun burst out from the other room, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet to the point where Suho had to smack the back of his head to keep him from embarrassing himself any further. I actually found his excitement quite amusing, and I grinned.

 

“Awesome! I can’t wait to tell the others.”

 

Without another word, Baekhyun shuffled down the hallway to inform the other members of my addition to their dinner party.

 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Despite how tired I was, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get to know my employers; they were all relatively nice and I was already finding myself forming a friendship with Baekhyun. Everything would be okay.

 

At least, that’s what I hoped for anyway

 

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A/N: Sorry for the incredibly long wait everyone. school has been keeping me buy and I was on vacation (with minor writer's block) but I'm back now and before my vacation ends I'll try to get another chapter done. Oh yes. If you all haven't noticed my story finally has a banner. Yep! and that banner was made by me. I'm not exactly a graphic designer but I tried my best and all of my efforts had paid off.

 

Anyway guys, look out for the next chapter and remember to subscribe and comment if you like :D