Another morning. Thankfully, this morning, you awaken to a phone call. You never thought you'd ever think that. Unfortunately, it's not a call from Tao. You breathe a deep sigh before picking up.

"Hello?" You say into the phone. You're surprised by the sound of your own voice; your Chinese has gotten a lot better

"Ah!" The person on the other line says. "Hi~! I hope you're not busy today!" There's only one person who could be this lively in the morning that would call you while you're in China.

"Luhan, is that you?"

"Yup!"

"How are you so alive in the morning?" You ask, noticeably irritable, as you brush your hair back with your hand. You hear him laugh at the other end.

"I bet you're not busy now!" You look at the clock. It's only 6 AM, of course you're not busy. You grumble a little, not making any coherent words. 

"No..I'm not...why do you ask me this?" Your voice rises a little at the end of the question. It's too early in the morning and your voice is cracking. You cough to clear your voice.

"Do you want to watch us rehearse? We feel lonely today." You're guessing that by "we", he means him and Xiumin, the little kids of the group. You find yourself smiling and you chuckle. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially for a dedicated EXO fan like yourself, so you readily agree.

"Yeah, I'd love to." You reply back while slowly getting out of the comfort of your bed and grabbing some clothes from the closet. You frown as you realize that you'll need to pack these soon. You make yourself a mental note to note be so messy.

"Okay! Kris says he'll come pick you up in the car in half an hour."

"Just Kris? What about you guys?" You're curious as to why they all wouldn't come to greet you, like they usually do. You think that maybe you're getting ahead of yourself, expecting all the members to come see you, but then you hear Luhan cough.

"Oh, well we have to ask our manager if it's okay for our friend to watch.." He sounds a little shy.

You laugh. "Okay! Then I'll see you guys soon." It's as if relief hits his voice, and he says his good bye and hangs up. You're glad you won't be bored today. You wash up and change out of pajamas. You don a pair of worn jeans that are light enough to wear in this heat and a comfortable t-shirt. You look at the mirror that sits on top of the table in the room. You look at yourself. Sometimes you wish that you had your ears pierced so you could wear earrings too. It's a strange thought to have occured to you at that moment, and you shrug it off. You grab the same messenger bag you had worn the first time you'd went around Beijing with Tao, indeed, the only messenger bag you had brought with you, and sling it around your shoulder.

Your grandparents aren't awake yet, surprisingly, and you leave them a note in your beginner Chinese. You put a little smily face at the end. A touch of you that would let them know that your trip isn't something important or dangerous.

You leave the apartment quietly with an orange in your hand (you haven't eaten breakfast yet) and lock the door behind you. You don't want Kris to ring the doorbell and wake up your grandparents, which is your reasoning for leaving early. You head downstairs and wait for him whilst peeling your orange neatly and slowly on the bottom steps outside the apartment complex. It's not long before a car pulls up and the door opens and out comes Kris, looking at you quizzically as you eat another orange slice. You wave at him and say a cheery "hello", then offer him an orange piece. He chuckles as he takes it from you and quickly puts it in his mouth. He tells you that you can sit shotgun and you laugh as you run over to the other side of the car. When you get in, you take one look at Kris.

He's wearing a black t-shirt and sweatpants, obviously trying to keep comfortable for rehearsal. It's strange as you take a look at his new hairstyle, which isn't so new, and the words slip out of you. "I liked your old hair better..." 

He laughs out loud. You had forgotten that he knew English, after all, he is from Canada born and raised. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he replies in Chinese, not English. "But this is more comfortable, I guess." You give him an expression that reads but it doesn't look as good as the last one and he laughs. You laugh too, thinking Kris is very much like an older brother-type of person. The rest of the ride is soothing and you continue trying to wake you up. You really want to ask him where Ace the Alpaca is, but you decide that might not be a very good question, so you keep staring at the window. He doesn't seem to mind the silence, but it's not long before you arrive at the dance studio. He parks the car and tells you to hop out.

It's the first time you've ever even seen this building, so you let Kris lead you inside. He makes a few turns, says hello and bows to a few staff members, goes up some stairs, and then you arrive. It looks like your typical dance studio, the one you could find anywhere.

"Ah!" You hear someone say your name. You look over, and there's Luhan with his bubblegum pink hair waving at you with that little kid face of his. 

"Luhan, hi!" You say as if you haven't seen him in a long time. "You look even younger than before."

"What do you mean? I'm the manliest member!"

"Yes, of course." Chen laughs behind Luhan after he hears your remark. He looks different. You notice that his hair is dyed an orange-y color with almost unnoticeable blond highlights. New hairstyles, again? What the heck is SM doing? You think to yourself.

One by one, you say hi to everyone. Yixing gives you a warm smile, Xiumin gives a little wave, and Chen grins at you.  You look around. There's only five members here. "Where's Tao...?" You ask no one in particular.

Luhan looks a little uncomfortable for a second, then he coughed, "He's uh..he's not here today." 

Xiumin seems to see Luhan in his nervous state. You wonder why he's nervous about telling you where Tao is. Has something happened to him? Xiumin gives you a reassuring smile and you instantly know he's okay. "Don't worry!" He says. 

So you follow his advice and settle down in a corner of the room to get a sneak peak at their dance rehearsals. You're insanely happy to even be here at all, but something feels so off. You put your hand over your heart when no one's watching. 

It feels like something's missing.

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The next day, you wake up but don't get up, and just sit there in your pajamas for a few minutes. Your phone had run out of batteries last night and it gave a feeble beep to alert you that it's fully charged. You walk over to unplug it off the wall and turn it on. No new messages, no missed calls. Yixing had warned you yesterday that they will most likely be very busy today. He had sounded so apologetic. He had known that you'd have no time after today. You had quickly forgiven him, but secretly hoped that they might be able to clear some time for the end of the day. Yixing seemed to have caught this wish and gave you a knowing smile.

"I'll try. Wait and see, OK?" He had said. And you had nodded happily. 

You take a look at the clock. Almost noon. You had slept late yesterday. Today will clearly be a lazy day. 

And it is. The whole day, you laze around, eat snacks, surf the internet, etc. And it's supposed to be a relaxing day too.

Supposed to.