After playing another couple of songs, Lay eventually put the guitar away and carefully placed his arms around your shoulders. “Are you nervous?” he asked.

You tried to glance up at him, but couldn’t see his face properly. “Yeah, kind of.”

“So you’ve made your decision?” he asked, without it sounding as a question. You nodded slowly, realizing you probably had. “I think I have.” you could hear Lay sigh slightly.

“It’s not me, is it? I mean, you don’t have to answer! I’m just… I’m assuming it isn’t since… You know, we haven’t been that close.” Lay rambled on and you smiled slightly to yourself.

“I understand it’s difficult to ever get anything said when Chanyeol, Chen and Baekhyun are in the room, but don’t worry, Lay, I’ve noticed you.” you assured, now practically lying on his lap.

Lay chuckled slightly. “Good.” he breathed. “Are you afraid people are going to get hurt?” he then asked.

“Maybe… I hope not.” you mumbled, realizing really how nervous you were.

“Well, don’t worry about me, I’ll except it, whoever you pick. And I’ll still be here for you, ready with my guitar whenever you want to hear a song.” Lay said and caused you to smile brightly as you sat up and looked at him.  

“Thank you, Lay, you’re wonderful.” you stated as you reached your arms around him and hugged your dear unicorn.

~~~

“Oh my God, they’re here.” Baekhyun exclaimed. And he as well as the other 10 aliens in the room quickly got up.

“Hi guys.” you smiled slightly at them, followed by a deep breath. A couple of hi’s and hey’s came from around the room and then, the main bosses appeared out of nowhere.

“So it’s time.” the shortest of them said with a smile, as though he was enjoying this, seeing the incredibly worried faces of the 12 young aliens.

“Sir, could I talk to you in private?” you spoke up, glancing at him and then back at the aliens.

“Sure, come with us.”

You gave a last look at the aliens over your shoulder before following the bosses to another room.

“So, Julia, have you decided?” the female boss asked, eyebrows raised.

You nodded. “I believe I have. However, I’m not sure you’re going to be very happy about my choice.”

The bosses looked at each other with slightly furrowed eyebrows. “What do you mean? Don’t tell us you’ve decided to not pick anyone?” one of them asked, looking worried.

You shook your head this time. “No. Actually, rather the opposite.” you mumbled.

“Excuse me, what are you trying to say?”

“Well, I was wondering…” you awkwardly glanced back and forth between the eyes that were staring at you, realizing how stupid what you were about to ask sounded. “…if there’s any chance I can…pick all 12…?” you finished, right away feeling your request would get declined.

One of the bosses chuckled slightly. “Julia, I don’t have to tell you how outrageous that sounds. I realize that is what we made you and all of them except for Kris think, but that would be…ridiculous. How would you live with the 12 of them? It’s not like you can keep telling people they’re your cousins. Besides, that apartment is way too tiny for all of you. You’d go crazy.”

You nodded, realizing he was right. “But…then, if I decided to refuse to pick anyone, wouldn’t it be better if I chose all of them?” you asked, carefully testing the limits.

“Julia, why don’t you just pick one? It’s anyone’s dream to be able to pick like this and yet you’d rather decline the offer all together than do that?” the female boss raised her eyebrows, clearly not understanding how you felt about this.

“I know it sounds crazy, but you have to understand, I care about all of them equally. They’re all family to me and just like how I wouldn’t be able to pick between my mom and my dad, I can’t pick between those 12 aliens.” you declared.

The bosses glanced at each other again.

~~~

“What are they talking about in there? I’m going crazy!” Sehun exclaimed, pulling at his hair.

“Maybe she’s just bailing on us. Maybe there’s too much pressure so she just leaves.” Luhan said, staring straight ahead.

“Stupid, she wouldn’t do that.” Kyungsoo muttered but suddenly realized it’d might be a possibility.

Just then, you and the bosses stepped inside the room.

“We’ve reached a decision.” you started but then cracked up. “Sorry, I’ve just always wanted to say that.” you joked and then got serious again.

“Seriously, Julia, don’t joke about this. We’re all going insane from this wait.” Kai muttered.

You nodded, realizing you were being mean, but it was quite funny, knowing you had this kind of control. Okay, that sounded psycho.

“Now, Julia’s decision is not…What we had expected, but anyhow, we’re letting her go her way.” one of the bosses spoke up.

“So who is it?” Chanyeol asked, staring right at you.

“Tell us right away. I swear if you just stand there like you’re announcing the winner of American Idol…” Baekhyun muttered and stared at you too. Looking around the room, they were all staring at you, looking worried and you ended up… Just laughing at them.

“Seriously Julia. This is not funny.” Chen stated, feeling uncomfortable at your sudden chuckle.

“I’m picking all of you.” you said while still laughing.

“What? Come on, seriously, Julia, tell us.” Tao spoke up and you stopped laughing as you gathered yourself. “I just told you. I chose all of you.” you stated.

Nobody moved and it seemed as though they didn’t breathe either.

“What…Are you talking about?” Kris was the first one to speak as he furrowed his eyebrows. He looked over at his uncle. “Can she do that? Is this true?” His uncle just nodded.

“Wait a second. Are you seriously telling me, that after all of this, we all get Julia anyways?” Baekhyun asked, eyes wide.

“That’s exactly what we’re saying.” The #1 boss nodded.

And at that, the cheers started. Xiumin was the first one to hug you, lifting you in his arms and spinning you around before Chanyeol took over.

“Now, now, I’m sure you’re all interested in how this is all going to go down.” #1 boss broke the cheering.

“Julia will come to live here on EXO. But she’ll still attend school until she graduates as that is her wish.” another boss began. You nodded in agreement for him to continue. “She’ll be able to visit her parents easily too as it’s so simple to go between the planets if she uses our brand new tunnels, like the one she and Taemin got here with.” the boss continued.

“Julia may not tell her parents about our world, and so I suggest Suho should be the only one you tell your parents about since they already know him and they can attend some kind of ‘wedding’ between the two of you in a couple of years.” #1 Boss took over once again.

“This is amazing!” Kai exclaimed as pulled you close.

“I’m so jealous of you Suho, you know how much I love it when moms love me and Julia’s mom would have loved me.” Baekhyun muttered but then it was his turn to hug you, and the frown was immediately turned upside down.

You smiled brightly as you hugged alien, after alien. You knew things weren’t going to be easy just because you had gotten out of choosing one of them. You’d have to get used to living on a completely different planet and from now on, the plan was that you’d live with the 12 aliens for the rest of your life. That sounded exhausting. But right then, in that moment, all you could feel, was happiness.