“Attention everyone, here are your schedules and everything you need to know about your upcoming comeback.”

“I have to dye my hair… red?” Sehun bemoaned, at this rate, he’d be balled before his thirties.

“That’s nothing” Jongin interrupted as he showed what his piece of paper read. “It says I have to gain at least five pounds of more muscle.”

“Psshh, at least you don’t have to do an extra hour of Wushu practice four times a week!” Tao pouted before Kris s his arm around the younger.

Everyone else was more or less fine with their assignments except for one Exo-m member who was quite flustered by what his paper read, thinking that maybe there was some sort of mix up or that it was a typo.

“Ugh…” Minseok muttered under his breath before the rest of EXO turned around.

“What does yours say?” Jongdae asked.

“I have to lose thirty pounds by the end of next month.” He said before every single pair of eyes in that room bulged out of their sockets.

“What?!” Joonmyun erupted first as he jumped from his seat. Kris following suit in a calmer and more subdue fashion as the rest of Exo started pointing fingers at their manager.

“They can’t be serious right? You realize the comeback is only less than a month and a half away!” Joonmyun jabbed his finger at his usually autocratic manager but this time, the man knew something like this was going to happen.

And he couldn’t blame them, heck, even he was angry that the company decided to push Minseok’s diet at the very last minute but he couldn’t contradict his own boss’s words even though he himself knew that this was an almost impossible feat.

“Don’t you think I already know that?” The manager replied but Exo wasn’t having that lame excuse, not one bit.

“Then do something about it.” Kris said sternly knowing full well that the manager listened to him most of the time.

Their Exo-K manager, Seunghwan, sighed. “I tried but they wouldn’t listen, they told me that Minseok needed to look the part if fans were going to like him more.” He replied as the rest of EXO still weren’t taking that pitiful excuse as a good enough reason.

Minseok silently stepped out of the practice room as he tried to contain his tears that were threatening to spill over.

He ran to the nearest bathroom, ignoring the numerous greetings and bows that passed him on the way. His mind not caring if he might’ve came across rude to those people because all he wanted to do was lock himself inside a bathroom stall and cry.

Minseok pushed through the men’s room and thanked God that it was completely empty.

He stepped inside one of the empty stalls before closing it behind him with a ‘click’ of the lock.

He closed the lid on the toilet before sitting down. He hastily grabbed some tissue as he let the tears finally spill, not caring that his makeup would get ruined since he knew that no one would even care.

Minseok cried until he heard the front door swing open.

He instinctively covered his mouth, trying to emulate the quietness of a mouse as he eyed the person’s shoes from under the stall door.

“Minnie?” A voice called; calming Minseok’s nerves a since he knew very well who that voice belonged to.

“Jongdae, I’m here.” Minseok replied softly but loud enough for Jongdae to hear where he was.

Jongdae smiled to himself whilst marching to the first stall before knocking thrice. “You wanna talk about it?” He asked before he heard something along the lines of an ‘I don’t wanna’.

“Min, are you sure?”

“Chen, I’m fine.” He replied and that’s when Jongdae knew for sure his Hyung wasn’t fine. Minseok never called him by his stage name unless he was angry, on stage, or depressed. And it was starting to worry him.

“Hyung I know you’re not fine, if you want we could ask—”

“—Jong, I’m fine. Could… you just give me a sec?” He asked as he continued to wipe his tear-stained face. Trying to get rid as much of the evidence as possible.

“Okay, but I’m always here if you want to talk.” He replied before exiting the bathroom and leaving Minseok alone with his thoughts.

“I can do this.” He told himself as he scrunched up the crumpled tissue between his fingers.

“I don’t think I can though…”  

“Dinner’s ready!” Kyungsoo yelled through the apartment before eleven eq