“Alright Mr. Huang, please follow me over to my office and we’ll get started with these kids’ schedules, but first you must head over to Mrs. Wu’s office immediately,” Mr. Seo pushed Tao out of the practice room and shoos him down the hallway to the elevator, “When you come back we’ll get started with the usual routine I go in oh and Mrs. Wu’s office is on the 20^th floor, head down to your right and you’ll see her secretary sitting at the front,” he explains. Tao gave Mr. Seo a nod and bow before making his way down the hallway to the elevator. He pressed on the up button and waits patiently for an elevator door to open.

“Kids,” Mr. Seo calls once he shut the door after Tao’s exit, “now I know that Mr. Huang is rather very young, honestly I have no clue why Mrs. Wu even chose him in the first place and how in the world did she even meet this kid but…,” he took in a deep breath before continuing, “Mr. Huang will be your new manager in a few weeks so please treat him like a manager and not just an acquaintance,” his eyes roamed among the boys until it landed on Chanyeol, “especially you Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol blinked innocently at Mr. Seo and cocked his head slightly to the side, “What do you mean hyung? I just want to welcome our new manager warmly,” he defended himself. Mr. Seo sighed loudly and rubs his forehead, “It’s nice that you’re doing that Chanyeol but please don’t scare Mr. Huang away…at least not right now.”

Chanyeol grinned happily and nods, “Of course hyung, I will never have the guts to scare my dongsaeng away,” he announced.

“He’s not your dongsaeng Chanyeol,” Kris shot back at him, “he’s your…manager.”

Chanyeol pouted and turned to face the older one, “Well I’m sure Tao ah wouldn’t mind me considering him as a dongsaeng instead of a manager,” he argued back. Luhan smacked Chanyeol from behind, “Did you just forget what hyung asked of us? We must refer Tao shi as our manager, nothing more nothing less, right hyung?” Luhan asked proudly. Mr. Seo sighed at the kids before giving his temples a rub, “Oh geez…”

---

Tao knocked on Mrs. Wu’s office door and waited for the noticed, “Come in,” came the older lady’s voice. Tao placed a hand on the door knob, turns it and walks in, “You wanted to see me after my tour with Mr. Seo?” he asked.

“Ah yes,” Mrs. Wu stood up from her seat and walked over to the sofas in the middle of the room, “close the door and come here Taoer,” she instructed. Tao nods and does as he was told then made his way over to the sofas, not taking a seat, “Sit down silly,” Mrs. Wu chuckled. Tao nods again and then quickly slide into the nearest sofa seat. Mrs. Wu eyes Tao for a good second before leaning into the sofa she was sitting on, “Are you nervous Taoer?” she asked and he gives her a nod. Mrs. Wu chuckled a bit and situated herself into the sofa so that she was more comfortable, “Don’t be honey,” she assured him.

“I’ll try..,” Tao said and his voice cracked, “but…I won’t be certain that I will…maybe not until months later though,” he glanced down at his fingers and fumbles with them. Mrs. Wu stood up from the sofa and took a seat beside Tao, “I know what you mean, but don’t worry once you get into this you’ll see how simple it is,” she assured him again. Tao gave her a slight nod still refusing to look up to face her in the eyes, “And I’m sure Mr. Seo would teach you the insides and outside tricks to everything, after all he has been working for me for over 10 years now.”

“I…I hope so,” Tao stuttered.

Mrs. Wu pats Tao on the shoulder and gives him a warm smile, “Taoer,” she softly began. Tao finally glanced up at Mrs. Wu with nervousness running through them, “You will be fine,” she cups his face into her hands, “trust me.” Tao’s lips broke into a smile and he gives her a nod, “I will,” he repeated.

“Now go out there and show those kids who’s boss,” she joked, patting him on the back. Tao chuckled at Mrs. Wu and stood up from the sofa, “Yes ma’am,” he saluted her with his hand against his forehead. Mrs. Wu lets out a loud laugh while clutching onto her stomach, “Oh gosh Taoer.”

Tao slightly chuckled at his dorky action before giving her a bow and making his way over to the door, “Taoer wait,” Mrs. Wu called. Tao stopped midway and spun back around to face her, “Yes?” he asked. Mrs. Wu approached Tao and cups his face into her hands again, then with the lowest octave her voice could go, Mrs. Wu whispers, “You know well that I want you for Yifan,” she began and Tao gulped, his face immediately turning red, “I do not care what you and Yifan decide to do, go on dates, hang out as friends, do whatever you two desire but,” she removes her hands from his face and stepped backwards a bit, “when it comes to work time, the two of you must act as if you guys don’t know each other because I don’t want any scandals surfacing on the internet.”

Tao gave Mrs. Wu a nod of his head signaling that he understood what she said, “Remember Taoer, personal life is personal life and working life is working life, I’m sure you understand what I’m trying to say here correct?” she asked and Tao gave her another nod. Mrs. Wu smiled in satisfaction, “Perfect, you may go,” Tao gave Mrs. Wu a bow before heading out the door. Once he closed the door behind her, he grasps his heart and started to calm down his breathing…

You know well that I want you for Yifan…

Mrs. Wu’s voice continued to repeat in his mind as he slowly made his way back to the 10^th floor.

---

Tao approached EXO’s practicing room and without any hesitation this time, he opens the door and walks in, “Mr. Seo,” he calls. Mr. Seo glanced up from where he was standing and smiled as he saw who walked in, “Mr. Huang,” he called out happily, walking over to the younger one, “glad you survived Mrs. Wu’s talk,” he joked with a laugh. Tao laughed as well and allowed Mr. Seo to pat his back, “Are you ready to learn everything you need to know?” the elderly man asked him and he gave Mr. Seo a nod, “perfect! Alright kids, keep on practicing because you guys have an interview with MBC later on tonight,” he announced to the group members before dragging Tao out of the room.

Right before Tao turned his head away, at the corner of his eyes he can see Kris eyeing him, wanting to speak with him but couldn’t since he was rushed out of the room by their manager. Tao quickly look ahead and followed Mr. Seo out of the room and down the hallway to his office.

Luhan picks himself up from the ground and approached their leader, “Kris,” the older one calls. Kris snapped out from his trance and turned to face the older one, “Y…yeah?” he asked. Luhan glanced at the empty entrance way before glancing back at Kris, “Do you by any chance…know who our new manager is?” he asked.

“W…why would you ask me that question gege?” Kris asked, trying his best to avoid Luhan’s direct question. Luhan frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, “Answer my question,” the older one demanded. Kris sighed loudly, “Fine, yes I do know who he is.”

“Who is he?” Xiumin, the oldest in the group, chimed in.

“Um…he…he’s my childhood buddy,” Kris began, “and his name is Huang ZiTao.”

“Yes we know what his name is already,” Chen called from behind Xiumin.

“So…basically your mother hired a newbie with no experience in this kind of field to help manage us?” Kai asked then scoffed, “oh geez, we’re doomed now.”

Kris frowned at Kai’s response and snapped around to face the younger one, “Shut up Kai,” Kris half shouted. Kai glanced up from where he was sitting and shrugged his shoulders, “I’m serious here, and you can tell that that kid has no clue in how to do these kinds of things.”

“He's older than you Kai,” Kris corrected him.

Kai rolled his eyes and leans back onto the cold wall, “Whatever, my point is, he’s still young and naïve, what if he makes a mistake in our schedules? And when he does, what are we going to do then?”

The room falls into a silence as they all soaked in Kai’s words, “See I told you I was correct,” Kai stood up from his sitting area and dusted off his , “Your mother should just fire him…or more like he should just quit before he digs his own hole.”

Kris glares at the younger one and approaches him, “Kai…shut up,” he threatens in a low voice.

“And what if I don’t hm?” Kai smirked as Kris made his way over to him, “I hope he doesn’t get the special treatment just because he knows you and your mother because if he does…,” he scoffed as Kris got closer to him, “I’m damn sure I’ll reveal who he really is to the public.”

Kris lunges forward and grabs Kai by the collar and shoved him up against the wall, “You will leave Tao alone,” he growls, “and you better not lay a finger on him.”

Kai smirked even more at Kris’s words, “I find it very amusing that you’re very protective about this Tao guy Kris,” he said and averts his eyes behind Kris and lands them on Lay who was watching his boyfriend get angry over his childhood friend, “you didn’t even noticed how Lay tensed up when you protected Tao from Chanyeol earlier.”

“Leave Tao alone,” Kris growled again, practically ignoring what Kai had just said to him, “I do whatever I want and whatever I like, my love life along with my childhood friend has nothing to do with you.”

---

“Since it’s 12 in the afternoon right now, why don’t you round up the kids while I prep up for the ride to MBC, make sure they have their lunch in the cafeteria first before heading out to the car alright?” Mr. Seo instructed. Tao nods and opens the door, “Oh and wait Mr. Huang,” Mr. Seo calls after him, “make sure you have that walkie talkie on at all times, I might need your help on other things as well.”

Tao gave Mr. Seo a nod before heading out of his office. Once he stepped out of Mr. Seo’s office and shut the door behind him, Sooae comes running up to Tao and grabs him by the shirt, “Tao!” she shrieked.

“Yeah?” Tao asked, quite confused as to why Sooae was freaking out.

“They’re fighting in there,” she half shouted, pointing a finger at EXO’s practice room, “I don’t know why but I heard a lot yelling…and I think one of them is Kris.” Tao’s eyes widen, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this,” he pats Sooae on the arm before running over to the room. He opens the room and enters to see Luhan and Sehun trying to hold Kris back while Xiumin and Chen struggled to keep Kai in place so that the younger one wouldn’t lunge at the older one. Kyungsoo and Lay were on the ground and Chanyeol was in between the whole thing “CALM THE HECK DOWN!” Chanyeol shouted, not noticing that Tao had already walked in.

“Freaking let me go guys! He punched me now it’s my turn to punch him too!” Kai struggled.

“Kai, calm down,” Chen shouted at the younger one who practically ignored him.

“Kris hyung, just apologized already,” Sehun told the older one. Kris spat off to the side and turned to glare at Kai, “Never,” he growled, “that bastard stepped over the line when he brought in my family.”

“Kai you shouldn’t have done that,” Xiumin told the younger one.

Kai simply rolled his eyes at Xiumin and stopped struggling, “Alright fine,” he said, “just let me go.”

“Are you sure you won’t beat him up?” Chen asked.

“Yes,” Kai answered, annoyed by now. Chen and Xiumin both glanced at each other and then let go of Kai. Kai smirked at the two before glancing up at Kris who was still being held back by Luhan and Sehun. Without any warning, Kai sprints towards Kris, raised up his fist and shot it towards the older one’s face.

“KAI!” Everyone shouted at the same time. Luhan and Sehun shut their eyes and expected to fly back once Kris got punched in the face but the force never came. Kris too had his eyes closed ready to get smacked in the face but once he heard the gasps, he opened his eyes to see a raven black haired boy standing in front of him, stopping Kai’s fist in his hand, “T…Tao,” Kris choked out.

Tao gave Kai a warm smile and with his other free hand, he brought it up to pat Kai’s fist, “Now now,” he began with his soft voice, “no need to resort to violence when you’re angry,” he brought Kai’s fist down and pats the younger one on the head, “okay?”

Kai’s angry expression disappears as Tao gave him a pat on the head, “I don’t know why you guys started to fight but,” Tao lets go of Kai’s hand and turned to face Kris, “now isn’t the time to fight over kids stuff, right now you guys are assigned to grab your things and meet me outside in the hallway, we’re going to get lunch in the cafeteria first before heading out to the van outside,” Tao explained.

“Tao,” Kris called, pushing Sehun and Luhan away from him. He reached out and grabs the boy by the hand that had caught Kai’s fist, “Is your hand okay?” he asked. Tao simply gave Kris a nod and a smile before pulling his hand out from Kris’s grasps, “Did you forget that I was taught wushu ever since I was 6 years old? Catching someone’s fist is nothing,” he joked, “anyways, I better meet you guys out in the hallway in less than a minute, now hurry,” he clapped his hands together before making his way back over to the door. Once Tao left the room, Chanyeol jumped into the air and shouted excitedly, “AND HE EVEN KNOWS WUSHU!!! Wait...what's wushu?" 

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