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It can’t be...Hyunjae thought to herself, overwhelmed with confusion and shock.  Unable to form words and find her own voice, she stood silent with the phone against her ear for what seemed like an eternity. When she found enough common sense in her to realize she was still on the phone, she forced herself to utter just three words.

 

Three words that would soon change the future of Hyunjae as a trainee and as a full-time college student.

 

“Who is this?”

 

Chapter 6:

 

“Hyunjae..?” The voice asked again. “It’s...It’s me, Jae-ah. It’s appa.”

 

“...What?” She hesitated to reply, almost not believing it was him. “A-appa?”

 

Kris’s ears perked up to the sound of her voice saying “Appa”.

 

Appa? Kris thought, bewildered. He left many years ago...Why is he looking for her again?

 

Kris’s facial features contorted for a couple of seconds, eyes filled with a slightly concerned look before he returned to his poker face. No one caught the slight emotion that flickered on Kris’s face except for the CEO, Youngmin. Youngmin made eye contact with Kris and almost immediately, Kris broke it and averted his eyes to the wall in front of him.

 

However, Kris broke it too late. Youngmin knew. Kris mouthed a curse as he turned away from him, knowing Youngmin got it.

 

“...M-money?” Hyunjae’s voice faded into a whisper as she slowly inched away from the group to finish her phone conversation. “You know I...I don’t have much money even now to live off of..Why would I have enough to give to you?”

 

After a few minutes, Hyunjae awkwardly hung up the phone call and turned around to face the other people in the office. She cleared to get rid of the silence.

 

“So...” She started, looking at all of them.

 

“Kids, can you guys excuse us for a moment?” Youngmin jumped in, glancing at the EXO members. “I have something I have to discuss with Hyunjae...ssi.”

 

“Aw...what do you have to talk about? I wanna talk with her!” Xiumin pouted. “I haven’t seen her in so long!!”

 

“Yeah..you should give us some time to talk to her, Sajangnim. Xiumin’s right!” Chen butted in, backing Xiumin up.

 

The rest of the members slowly added in their murmurs of approval before Kris decided to step in.

 

“Hey, let’s get out. Come on.” Kris said quietly, walking out of the room first.

 

The members all stared quietly at the leader who was walking out of the room. They started grumbling, unhappy with the command but shuffled towards the door anyways, dragging their feet along with them. The members knew as much as to not get on Kris’s bad side on a day like this. Xiumin pouted in disappointment and Chen lightly patted him on the shoulder, letting him know he tried his best. Sehun stared at Kris for a moment, not satisfied with Kris's decision but Luhan shrugged it off, trusting that whatever Kris did, it was for the best. Sehun sighed and begrudgingly followed along. 

 

Youngmin gave Kris a slight nod signifying his gratitude and received a nod in return. He waited until the door clicked shut before he looked over at Hyunjae.

 

“Why don’t we have a...talk? You know...I haven’t seen you in a while since you...quit.” He started, feeling awkward and slightly uncomfortable.

 

He walked over to the coffee table in the middle of the room and gestured Hyunjae to sit down across from him as he took a seat. It took Hyunjae a second’s hesitation before she made a move for the chair.

 

“So...how are you doing now? Are you living together with your dad?” He asked, looking at Hyunjae. He motioned his assistant who walked in with two cups of hot chocolate to put the cups down on the table and leave.

 

“Here, drink some. It’ll warm you up. It’s pretty cold outside; You should have brought a jacket with you!”

 

“T-thanks.” Hyunjae said formally, feeling just as awkward as Youngmin was.

 

She gripped at the cup’s handle and warmed her hands up before taking a sip.

 

“Hyunjae..” He started.

 

“Neh?” Hyunjae said instantly, looking up from her cup of hot chocolate.

 

“Is everything okay?”

 

Hyunjae froze, mid-sip. When she put her cup down, her eyes were glistened with tears. It has been so long since someone had asked her that question, she almost forgot to worry about herself and how she felt about everything.

 

 

 

She stared into Youngmin’s eyes as if she were trying to tell him something but the words wouldn’t come out. Back in her trainee days at SM, she had tried this countless times but never once had it worked with Youngmin. After a minute, she was sure it didn’t work as she watched Youngmin just continuously stare back. She decided to let it go, upset with yet another failed attempt.

 

“U-uh, it, it’s nothing. I’m okay.” She blurted out, cutting the eye contact and staring at the ground.

 

There was a few seconds of silence.

 

Hyunjae looked back up to find the seat across from her empty.

 

“Eh_”

 

Before she had a chance to react, a pair of arms wrapped around her neck and she felt herself being hugged from behind. She sat there unmoving, shocked at the sudden motion. Everything was new to her and after leaving SM, she had never again felt the warmth and security of having a family. Hyunjae bit her lip, trying to stop the burst of emotion she was feeling to show on her face. When the silence was getting too deadening, Youngmin finally spoke up.

 

“It-it worked.” Youngmin managed to choke out.

 

“..What worked?” Hyunjae asked, turning around to face Youngmin.

 

“It...it worked...I could finally read your thoughts, Hyunjae-ah. It worked!”

 

Youngmin’s face was glowing, his smile stretching from ear to ear. Hyunjae took a moment to process what he said before she burst.

 

“Are you serious?!” She exclaimed, grabbing onto both of Youngmin’s hands.

 

Youngmin nodded and Hyunjae eagerly hugged him, too happy to form words. Youngmin hugged her back and they both reminisced in the moment as if this happiness would be gone in a second.

 

Ever since she first joined SM Entertainment, her powers had always been mysterious. She seemed to have a 6th sense, but sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. One of the weird things about her was that Youngmin didn’t seem to have a control over her. He couldn’t read her mind like he could with everyone else’s and he couldn’t tell at all what she was thinking, especially when she isolated herself from everyone. Because Hyunjae always thought of Youngmin as her own father, she tried really hard every day to open up her mind for Youngmin but each time, it never worked. The only reason he knew she was coming was because he also possessed the ability to look into the future. It was the only thing that gave him hope Hyunjae was coming back. It was also the only chance he had to hold onto Hyunjae and keep her from leaving.

 

When the fact that Youngmin’s powers worked on Hyunjae finally sunk in, they both slowly let go of each other. Youngmin gave her a smile and in a snap, returned to his usual self. Hyunjae watched dumbfounded at his sudden change as he walked over to his desk and picked up the trainee forms he had filled out earlier.

 

He's not going to ask about my father? I'm pretty sure he knows everything by now, though....She thought to herself.

 

I'll personally handle things with her and her father later. Youngmin made a mental note to himself. I don't want to bring it up now, or Hyunjae might be put in an uncomfortable situation.

 

He plopped back down onto the chair across from Hyunjae and held out the form and a pen for her to take. He was in no mood for anything else until he was assured that Hyunjae was a part of his company.

 

“All I need is your signature right there where I marked an ‘X’, and you’ll be part of the SM town again.” Youngmin declared confidently.

 

Hyunjae blinked.

 

“Since when did I tell you I would be joining your SM family?” She retorted in an effort to look ‘hard-to-get’.

 

However, in reality, she knew that she was once again attached to Youngmin who she viewed as a fatherly figure. She also knew that once again, she was trying to prevent herself from becoming a trainee but she was losing. She stared at the form and the pen that was placed right in front of her eyes. It seemed to lure her in and reluctantly, she found herself grabbing for the pen and signing on the line marked with an ‘X’.

 

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

 

“Well, now that that’s settled,” Youngmin forcefully pulled the form out of her hands just in case she changed her mind last minute. “Welcome to SM.”

 

He winked at her and held out his hand. Hyunjae blinked cluelessly at his hand. Youngmin rolled his eyes before taking Hyunjae’s hand into his and shaking it. Hyunjae blushed hard as she realized she looked like an idiot.

 

Youngmin laughed.

 

“You didn’t look like an idiot. After all, you’re Hyunjae.”

 

He ruffled her hair playfully and she stuck her tongue out at him.

 

“I think I’m going to regret ever letting you read my thoughts by tomorrow.” She muttered to herself.

 

Youngmin chuckled.

 

“We’ll see about that.”

 

~*~

A/N:

 

Hello, this is Kpopchicken back with a new chapter of “12 United? No, We’re Secretly 13”! I hope you enjoyed this recent update and continue to support, rate, comment, and subscribe to my fanfics! I have my finals and end of the year tests coming up soon, so I apologize in advance for any delayed updates. Also, thank you to all the new subscribers!

 

P.S. I just spent the last 40 minutes doing a countdown till I turn 15. Well...this is it. There's one minute left until I'm 15. So for the last time, I'm going to say...I'M 14!! TT-TT

Edit: it's 12:04AM now...I'm officially 15 on 5/20/13. Happy...birthday to me...[*sobs*]

Love,

Author

 

P.P.S. It would be awesome if you guys checked out my KPOP facebook page, www.facebook.com/kpopme1004. THANKS!!