"Holiday?" They all asked, responding to the sudden announcement from Mr. Lee Sooman.

Minho blinked, surprised. "What holiday?"

He laughed heartily. "You all thought we were in trouble, right?"

Krystal slowly nodded. Her eyes were wide, mind blank. "No offense, sir, but you've never given us a holiday. On the rare occasion you did, you'll give us camera crews and scripts."

"Have I been that mean to my children?" He asked, blatantly feigning confusion. He then cleared his throat. "Truthfully, the company is falling apart. For now, we can't afford to keep you working."

"Isn't this just laying us off?" One of the oldest, Heechul, asked cynically.

Kangin nodded. "I thought we were doing well with the revenue from EXO."

"Is that why they've been given a break first?" Heechul finished.

"You've been studying well." Their CEO nodded. "They provided the most revenue, but they're also most expensive, you know."

Slightly offended, EXO shouted a number of complaints. All were waved off by Mr. Lee. He held out a hand, and the canteen falls silent.

"I'm sure you're all aware that I'm no longer the sole owner of this agency. In fact, only a small percentage remains mine. To the Enterprise, their research comes first and it seems that they're beginning to find something."

"What is it?" A trainee asked. A chorus of similar questions followed.

Jessica Jung spoke out. "What is it that's so important that they're laying off their biggest source of income?" She said, not without poison in her words.

"It's not permanent laying off." Mr. Lee protested. "Why can't you all just take a holiday? You're always complaining that there's too much to practice. Just relax and enjoy yourself for now."

"WHAT?!" Tao scoffed.

Junghyun twitched in surprise at the sudden loud noise, ruining her design sketch in the process. "Tao-sshi, can't you see I'm trying to concentrate?"

"Just sketch somewhere else." He dismissed her.

"Excuse me, I'm not sure why you're all crowded in my room in the first place." Junghyun protested, looking around the room. The whole of EXO sprawled around her room. Xiumin and Luhan were even playing with her dolls. She takes a deep breath. "Oppa, can't you put them somewhere else?"

Baekhyun looked at her blankly as he clumisly placed one of her awards back down onto a shelf. It took him a moment to reply. "Mum is having a dinner party downstairs, just bear with it for now."

"Why can't they go somewhere else?"

"They can't be seen. Their pictures will go everywhere and you'll be the first one the fans attacked." He approached her to put his hands on her shoulders, in an act intended to comfort.

Junghyun shook them off. "Oppa, why does it have to be MY room? I have a deadline."

But Baekhyun was no longer listening. "It doesn't make sense that we're going on an indefinite holiday."

"That's what I'm saying." Suho explained. "And at the same time he doesn't want us to be too far apart from each other."

"This really doesn't make sense!" Luhan exclaimed. Junghyun noted that as soon as Luhan opened his mouth, his level of attractiveness dropped a notch.

In fact, she was beginning to become disillusioned with the image that they portrayed to the public. She simply cannot think of all their 'beastly' images when they were in her room, playing with dolls which are mostly from her middle school years. Even Kris was having fun with one of her alpaca dolls, attacking her Rarity doll, manned by Lay. She groaned and rested her head on her desk.

Some time during the evening, she had begun to lose focus and now her hand had begun to shake. With another deep breath, she attempted to pick up her pencil, but for some reason it was more taxing an action than she remembered. She jolted, but this time it was not due to a sudden loud noise. In fact, she wasn't sure why she had jolted. But it seemed to have rid her of the shakes. What remained was a new feeling of thirst. Thirst for something she can't quite describe, but was warm and a little... metallic in composition. The strange pounding sounds made their way into her head, but there were too many different rythms, unlike when she had been with Tao the other night. The sounds overwhelmed her, she felt nauseous, claustrophobic. She jolted once again and with that, the world turned black.

"Junghyun-ah..." Baekhyun gently shook his sister. There was no other response but soft snoring sounds. He exchanged a look with Chen and Chanyeol, who both laughed silently.

"Let's go." Chanyeol whispered, the other members already filing out of Junghyun's bedroom.

But Baekhyun couldn't shake the uneasy feeling within the pit of his stomach. Like a deep sense of a calm before a storm. The storm might approach soon, and he couldn't just leave Junghyun. "You guys go ahead. I'll skip tonight." He told them, closing the door behind him as he left the room. "It's past midnight already, and Mum will need help clearing up after the party."

"Okay, we'll leave first then." Chanyeol nodded. "Tell Junghyun we're sorry for disturbing her today."

Chen nodded. "Tell her we'll treat her to a meal as apology."

"In your dreams." He lightly slapped Chen's arm.

Sehun laughed at Baekhyun's response. "Chen hyung would be a little suspicious. I'll take her out instead since we go to the same university."

Baekhyun had to take a wide step to kick Sehun. "You're even worse, completely unpredictable."

"Ah hyung!" he protested. "Even if you don't let me I'm going to have lunch with her everyday at uni."

"Just try." Baekhyun threatened, greeted with laughter from the other members.

"Children!" Mrs. Lee caught them as Baekhyun ushered them out. "When did you guys get here?"

"They got here when you were cooking with Junghyun earlier, but because we had a lot to talk about we couldn't come downstairs." Baekhyun told a small lie. He didn't want to tell her that they had to avoid being seen by her friends.

"Good evening, Mrs Lee." The boys chorused, bowing.

"Would you like a hand before we leave?" Kris offered.

"No, you guys go. We can handle this." She smiled. "Take care."

They bowed as they each left the front door.

"Baekhyun-ah, get Junghyun to come down. She must be tired and hungry from doing her project."

"She was asleep." he answered. "She seemed tired."

"She's hardly eating these days..." She frowned in worry. "Just wake her up and get her to eat, okay?"

Baekhyun nodded and headed upstairs. He still couldn't shake the strange feeling in his stomach, and it was a good thing he couldn't. He would be more prepared for the unexpected.