Once EXO left the restaurant, they all went back to the hotel. The minute Cathy entered her room with Kris and Tao behind, Kris grabbed her arm and sat her down on her bed. He looked at her and before she spoke he asked her, “So… you were adopted?”

“I guess you can say it like that” she answered. She gave him a curious look as he continued “And you grew up with Marie-ah?”

She nodded “Her and Bryan."

“Who’s Bryan?”

“For me he’s like a brother. Someone you can count on for anything. He was always there for us and we were bonded to him. For Marie, well… she never saw him as a brother, and so did Bryan towards her. There was always something more." She smiled at the mention of them.

“They liked each other?” Tao asked. She nodded and answered “More than anything. They were planning on being together but I guess things didn’t go as planned” her smile faded and turned into a sad face. Kris noticed it and asked “What do you mean?”

“Never mind, let’s just drop it for now."

After a moment of silence, Kris snapped “Let’s go bug Marie-ah."

“Kris don’t you dare!!” Cathy yelled, running behind Kris who already left the room.

As Kris, Tao and Cathy entered Marie's room, they heard Marie’s shout “I told you I was amazing at this game!" She was playing thumb wrestling with Siwon, who was frowning after losing for the third time. “Ughh… I hate this game."

“Oh, I guess Bryan taught you well” Cathy mentioned to Marie while laughing at Siwon. Marie’s smile faded, making everyone alarmed. “I’m so sorry” Cathy apologized.

“Wait… who’s Bryan?” Kyuhyun asked curiously. Marie hesitated, but Cathy didn’t give up “Marie, why don’t you tell them, I bet that Bryan would be happy for you if you tell them who he was” Cathy suggested.

“Was?!” Kyuhyun and Kris shouted. Marie took a deep breath and began telling the story. “Bryan was our best friend. Not to mention he’s Nana’s nephew too. He grew up with us and taught us so many wonderful things. He was sweet, funny, caring and the most amazing person e-ever” her voice started to crack. She cleared and continued, “Since little, we used to have the same dreams and goals. The three of us used to play around, acting in plays, entering dance competitions, although we only won once on first place.”

“You dance?” Siwon asked.

“Well… not as good as you guys, but we can throw a few moves. Umm… Bryan also was an amazing cook. He used to prepare this special sushi’s for us. He always said that he had a secret ingredient on it, but he never told us what it was. Also he used to be very protective towards us. When we started middle school, bullies came to us, but that was until Bryan defended us once, making those bullies scared." The boys were slightly chuckling. Marie continued slowly, “For me, Bryan was... my first love… just as I was his.”

Kyuhyun smiled at the comment and asked her “Did you guys… umm… we’re you guys ever together?”

Marie shook her head and continued the story, “Unfortunately things didn’t go as we wanted to.”

“What do you mean?” Kris asked.

“Umm... We used to have a tradition every year to throw a little party just for the three of us to celebrate our friendship. Every year ,on June 15, we gathered at my house in Florida and we celebrated our years of friendship. Three years ago, on that very exact day, Bryan was running late….

                                  -Flashback-

“Marie, where’s Bryan? Why isn’t he here yet?” Cathy asked her while checking the clock.

“I don’t know… let me call him." Marie took out her phone and dialed Bryan’s number. “Hey”

-I know I’m late. I’m sorry but I got stuck at the cake shop. Apparently when I came they still hadn’t made the cake yet, so I had to wait for it.

“Oh, alright! Well… Nana, mom and Cathy are here waiting for you, hurry up okay?”

-Alright, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.

“Okay… we’ll be waiting." She hung up and told Cathy what Bryan said.

It has passed two hours already, and the girls grew worried. “Mom he doesn’t answer." Marie yelled while dialing Bryan’s number for the fifth time. Nana was dialing her sister’s number, to see if anything happened. While Nana did that, Cathy went up to Marie to calm her down “Marie, don’t worry. Maybe he just fell on the way and had to return to buy a new cake”

“But he hasn’t called me Cat. What if something happened?” Before Cathy could answer, Marie’s phone rang. She looked at her phone and saw the caller’s id. “Bryan was ar-“

-Marie… Marie, is Sandra.

“Sandra… what’s wrong? Why do you sound like crying?”

-Marie… Bryan… he…

“What? What happened?”

-He had an accident. He was crossing the rode when this stupid drunk idiot hit him with his car. Marie, come quick to the hospital and bring my sister.

“I’m on my way." Marie hung up and took a few deep breaths. Her tears began rolling down her cheeks as she explained the situation to Cathy and Nana.

After they got to the hospital, Sandra, Bryan’s mother, explained what the doctor said “He said that he has some brain injury. He’s in surgery right now. I’m scared." She began crying on Nana’s arms. Marie was silently sobbing on the floor with Cathy beside.

After a few hours, the doctor came and took Sandra apart to explain. The girls stood up once Sandra came back. When Sandra saw Marie, she ran up to her and broke down crying and yelling on Marie’s arms. Marie herself couldn’t hold it anymore; she fell on the floor with horrible sobs while Cathy holds her tightly, crying with her. The doctor came in, after he saw the image, he told Nana what happened. “I’m terribly sorry for your lost. His brain injury was very deep and we couldn’t safe him as fast as we thought. I’m very sorry.”

Once those words escaped from his mouth, the sobbing came louder. It was the most painful experience they ever had. Bryan’s loss was like a knife on their chest. And the worst part is that none of them were able to see him for the last time that day.

                          -End of flashback-

Cathy was sniffling silently on Marie’s bed. She rested her forehead on her knees. Marie, on the other hand, tried very hard to hold her tears. Since she’s always been strong, she didn’t want to show weakness in front of the boys. But talking about Bryan, always made her weak, soon enough she won’t be able to sustain those tears that are waiting to come out from her eyes. Kyuhyun sat beside her, “One thing I learned from life, is that because you’ve been told to be strong all the time, it doesn’t mean you can’t feel weak at some point. Right know, you’re in pain, and you should let it out. Marie-ah, its okay to cry, it’s alright to let out your feelings. Because even though you might feel like the world for you might me gone right now, there will always be someone to clean your tears. And right now, there are five people here to comfort you.”

With Kyuhyun’s comment on her mind, she couldn’t sustain the tears any longer. She rested her forehead on her knees while hugging herself, letting slow sobs out. The boys were also crying. Even the two most ‘evil ones’ were letting tears out. Kyuhyuyn rubbed Marie’s head lightly, while Cathy sobbed on Marie’s shoulder. *So this is why you always challenge yourself? Because you want to be strong in life. Because you want to do it for Bryan* Kyuhyun thought *I’m so sorry*

After a few minutes passed, the crying stopped. Cathy spoke again, “So, he’s the reason why we’re here. We promised him, that one day we’ll make our career big. And by working on SM, or should I say, at the other side of the world, it’s letting us know that we’re still keeping our promise."

Marie looked at the boys, covering half of her face with her knees. She didn’t want to show her Rudolph the red nose reindeer nose she had. “So now you know the story. There’s so much more about him. But to be honest, I don’t have the strength to talk about it now."

“We understand. Thank you for telling us about him.” Kris said softly.

“Cathy, Marie-ah, if you girls ever need to talk to someone about your worries, don’t hesitate to let us know. We are here”, Siwon pouted making the girls chuckle. “And we will also love if you two can trust us with anything. EXO is your family now and I bet that Super Junior feel the same way.” Tao assured while staring at the girls.

“Thanks guys. Well, we should go. It’s getting late." Cathy yawned. Before they could all get up, Marie stopped them, “Just a minute…” she wiped her cheeks exposing her Rudolph nose which made them giggle, after she frowned at them she spoke, “I don’t want you guys to go changing on us. Tomorrow I want to be treated the same way you always do." The boys smiled and nodded.

“Although I don’t mind Kris being nice to me… you know…” Cathy suggested showing an innocent look. “Too  late” Kris frowned making Marie and the rest of the boys laugh.

The EXO boys and Cathy left to their rooms while Siwon went to the bathroom. “Yah, Kyuhyun." Marie called. He turned around and sat on front of her. She gave him a look and spoke “I want you to be the same with me tomorrow. The deal is still on. Arraso?”

He gave her a smile and nodded. “Deal."  He layed down on his bed leaving Marie with wide eyes. *Did he just smile at me?* She wondered, considering it was the first time a smile came out of his lips, to her. She hit her head slightly *No,no,no… Marie no*

Kyuhyun looked at Marie confused. When she turned her head and found him staring at her with confused eyes, she let out a slight chuckle and explained, “He he, I was just doing exercise”

“How is hitting you head exercise?”

“Oh well, you see there are some studies that says if you hit your head a couple of times, you can lose up to fifty calories per minute. So yeah, I was doing exercise." She lied embarrassed by what she did. Still confused, he slowly nodded and laid back at his bed *Such a weird girl*

Marie mentally face slapped herself *Stupid Marie, that’s what you are* She laid back and went to sleep.

At dawn in Cathy’s room, you could hear a horrible sound coming from Tao’s mouth. Kris and Cathy were both wide awake in their own beds trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, Tao’s horrid snore made Kris jump and fall on the floor, “OMO!” He got scared and jumped over to Cathy’s bed. “What are you doing on my bed?!” she shouted.

“Well I don’t want to have that zombie snoring at me the entire night leaving me deaf.”

Cathy groaned and tried kicking him off her bed. Kris was struggling to stay, up to one point where he locked her legs with his own and hold her arms tightly so she would calm down. Both their heart were racing. As Kris held his own breath to control his feelings, Cathy stood still hiding the fact of how close they were. Slowly, they both fell asleep in each other’s arms with their hearts ready to explode.

In the morning, Kris and Cathy woke up at the same time. They weren’t at the same position as they fell asleep, but they were clearly just inches away from each other. They both gasped and jumped back, only to fall on the hard floor. They sat up quickly and with eyes wide opened, they shouted in union, “This doesn’t leave this room!!!”

Tao snored one last time before he woke up, making Cathy and Kris jump. Once he opened his eyes and found them on the floor he asked, “What happened?”

Cathy and Kris reddened; she stood up and left to the bathroom, leaving Tao confused since Kris refused to explain to this Maknae.