~Chapter 10

Amy had successfully spent most of her night in her own space. None of the guys had gone out of his way to bother her, and she’d resisted the urge to see what anyone was up to. She supposed that Paige and her escorts would be back somewhat soon. She was currently looking through more Internet pages of Exo on her phone. She could ask them anything, she supposed, but it was fun seeing what was out there. Amy refreshed her news feed, and stared at a picture of someone that looked oddly familiar.

It was a picture of Luhan, in the same outfit he’d worn out that night. The odd thing is that he looked to be kissing a redhead. A redhead that remarkably looked like…

“PAIGE!” Amy screamed and stood up off of the bed in her room. “PAIGE! THAT’S PAIGE!” she said to no one in particular. She sprinted from her room and went to the top of the stairs and yelled down at the four guys she could see in the sitting room. “PAIGE! WITH LUHAN! ONLINE! PICTURE!” she frantically yelled.

Suho ran up the stairs and snagged Amy’s phone. He stared at the picture for a moment and then mumbled something that Amy couldn’t understand.

“They got caught.” He turned to Chanyeol, Chen and D.O. who’d been hanging out with him for the last hour. Chanyeol rushed up and grabbed the phone from Suho.

“No one will know that it’s Paige. You can’t even see her face,” he stated.

“Do you think it matters? He’s standing right there with a girl. Regardless of who it is, management is going to come crawling over demanding answers. Tonight.” Suho was flustered.

“We should hide everything now before Luhan and the rest of them get back. It’ll be easier if we get a head start,” suggested D.O.

Amy frantically watched their conversation. Sure, hiding was a priority but in Amy’s perspective the picture itself was worrisome. She hadn’t been the only one to kiss one of them. And moreso, they had finally done the damage that Paige was worried they would do.

Chanyeol ran upstairs with D.O. to try and turn his and Kai’s room back to normal. All of the girl’s things were tossed into bags and put into one of the corridor closets. Amy took a seat in the 2^nd floor sitting room, trying her best to stay out of the way.

“What is going on?” Kris asked, having just come down from the 3^rd floor.

Amy stood and whirled around. She whipped out her cellphone and showed Kris the picture. “The boys are trying to hide any evidence that we were here. Suho thinks management will be here any minute.”

Kris was still staring at the picture with a confused look on his face. “It’s Paige!” Amy stated as if Kris needed the help clarifying what he was looking.

“I see that,” Kris replied. He looked up from the phone at Amy’s face. Amy recognized the similar look of ‘we weren’t the only ones to do this’. Kris gave her back her phone and went downstairs to talk to Suho and wait for everyone to return.

It didn’t take long. There was a jumble of voices outside the front door moments later. 

“Amy, hide, now. Even if it’s not our manager, you shouldn’t be seen.” Amy nodded at Kris and went running to the 3^rd floor to find a secure place to hide.

Baekhyun was the first one through the front door. Lay and Kai trailed right behind. Sehun was next with Paige who not only limping but was still cloaked in his jacket in case any photographers had made it to their dorm. Luhan was the last one in the house.

“We’ve already returned Kai and D.O.’s room back to normal. Amy is already hiding. Get Paige upstairs and hide her well!” Suho barked.

Sehun removed the jacket from Paige while Kai took his moment to grab her wrist and urge her upstairs. Everyone else stayed on the main floor.

“Come on!” Kai barked at Paige who was having a tough time climbing up the stairs.

“I’m trying,” she choked out. Her emotions were a mess from causing them so much chaos. She had been grateful that she had spent the entire taxi ride home with Sehun’s jacket over her head. She didn’t want to look anyone in the eyes.

“Try harder!”

“I said, I’m trying!” she shouted. Kai stopped and whipped around to glare at her. She returned his stare with teary eyes.

“I’m not going to carry you around this house like Luhan does!”

“I never said you had to!”

“But it’s what you’d like right now, isn’t it? Instead of me pulling you up the stairs? You probably wish it was him, right?!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Paige insisted. Her ankle was killing her. She knew that the priority was the boys and was trying her hardest, but it was difficult.

“You and him, like tonight when we were leaving,” Kai continued.

“What about me and him? He was hiding me from photographers. There was nothing in it more than that. I don’t know what you’re so upset about. I know I’ve completely disrupted your life this week. I’m sorry!” Paige added.

They had reached the third floor and picked a room where she could hide in. It was not in the same place that Amy was. She would have to wait until after the coast was clear to find her friend.

“Just be quiet, okay? I’ll come get you after everything calms down.” Kai ran his hand through his hair. He was obviously frustrated. He whipped around and left the room turning out the light and practically slamming the door shut. Paige fumbled to get somewhat comfortable. She stretched out her leg to keep from any pressure being placed on her ankle. The throbbing in her ankle matched her heartbeat counting the seconds she would spend waiting.

In two separate rooms, two girls waited anxiously for what would happen next.

When Kai returned to the main floor, there was already a heated discussion going on between Suho and those who had been out to dinner. Kai waited a moment to hear how far the explanations had gone before he added his opinion in.

“Hiding her face was the only way to guarantee that management wouldn’t know, or begin to know who she was. I was not going to make it into the taxi before a photo was taken,” Luhan finished.

“He made the right choice. At this point we can give any amount of explanations we want. In the least, it doesn’t have to go back to us hiding them here after the accident at the airport,” XiuMin reasoned.

“Have you even seen the pictures, Luhan? It’s not just a matter of hiding someone’s identity. You were caught kissing her when we just debuted today,” Suho scolded. Chen had his phone out and found the picture for Luhan to see.

He took the phone and stared at the picture. “I was only whispering for her to try not to trip. I wasn’t kissing her,” Luhan began.

“Not that you didn’t want to,” Kai murmured.

“Yah! The point is, that I didn’t!” Luhan argued.

“But it looks like you did,” Kris countered. “Neitizens are going to go nuts over this. And while I’m sure it’ll be permissible for us to date eventually. As a brand new band, you know our agents won’t like any publicity hinting that we are dating.”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Luhan asked, angry.

“I’m sure we can somehow explain it to management. If he says he didn’t do anything, then they should stick by us,” Tao stated from the side of the room closest to the front door. “For now, we agree that the girls are hidden and so they don’t factor into this whatsoever. The girl in the photo is just someone we know.”

“I can say it was just a friend of mine who came to visit,” offered Luhan.

“Fine, we’ll take it from there. Lets hope this works,” Suho conceded. Within 5 minutes, Luhan’s agent was the first to come through the front door. The lectures and explanations started all over again.

Paige could hear voices carry up to the third floor. She couldn’t make out a single word of it. At times, it was just one person talking loudly. Other times it felt like a roar of voices. If she could make herself any smaller and just disappear, she would. To make matters worse, Kai was mad at her, for some reason. She wished she could change that. She absolutely hated not getting along with someone. Maybe he really was unhappy with the fact that one night had turned into more. He probably wanted his bedroom back, or their already complicated life back. Because of Amy’s locket, she couldn’t leave yet. That would require one of three options. Either they find the necklace, or they confirm that it’s gone, or they just give up. The second option seemed like the only one that would happen. But that meant sticking it out until it was confirmed. They just needed to move into the hotel, but they were still out of money.

She didn’t know what to do, and it was giving her a migraine.

She had backed herself into the closet in the room. If the manager did some kind of search, not that she could fathom as to why he would, she needed to be well hidden. She began to count the minutes until she could get her hands on some pain reliever.

The wait was killing Amy. She was tired of hearing blurred voices. She would kill to creep down the hall and try to listen to the actual conversation. How was Luhan covering the kiss? There was no reason they had to admit that it was Paige, but they had to admit that it was someone. How much trouble would they actually be in? And what was she supposed to do about her own secret kiss? Would Kris never bring it up? Would it disappear into that moment in the studio and mean nothing more? Everything about it had been perfect, except she wished she hadn’t been crying at the time. If only she could meet him under normal circumstances and see if he’d kiss her again. But, would she get the chance to explore that option if they wound up getting caught tonight?

Amy inched as close to the wall as she could and planted her ear against it. She simply prayed that a sentence or two would carry so that she could understand. How long would the scolding last?

The 12 members of Exo sat around in the main room, completely exhausted. They had debuted, and by all accounts, everything was going fantastic. Until photographers had received a tip that about half of the band had been dining at a local restaurant. Management agreed that PR would do their best to say that the picture was just of Luhan hiding a friend and that it was nothing more than that. It didn’t mean that as 12 young men, they hadn’t been lectured about who they go out in public with and how they present themselves. The managers had left in a huff, still knowing they had their work cut out for them.

Exo sat there in the main room, no one really looking at anyone else. No one knew what to do next.

“Lets just go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow,” Kai suggested.

“You’re right. No one is going to figure out what to do right at this time. We’re all too tired from this evening,” Suho agreed. Still, no one moved.

“Where are the girls hiding?” asked Tao.

“Paige is in Suho and Sehun’s room upstairs, temporarily my room too,” Kai responded.

“No one knows where Amy hid?” Tao asked after a few seconds of silence.

“I told her to hide, but we were all down here already,” stated Kris.

“I’ll find her,” Tao offered and walked upstairs.

“I’ll get Paige,” offered Sehun.

“I already told her I’d go back up and get her,” Kai stated.

“But you yelled at her halfway up the stairs,” muttered Luhan. Kai glared at him.

“I was just frustrated.”

“Yeah well she re-hurt her ankle and didn’t deserve that from you,” Luhan bit.

“Knock it off, both of you,” fired Kris. “Sehun, just go get her.

“I’ll help put their stuff back,” offered XiuMin, who was joined by Chen on his way up the stairs.

“Everyone else, just settle in and then try to get some sleep,” Kris suggested. Everyone finally got up and started making their way around the house.

“Amy?” Tao kept repeating. He’d already looked around the 2^nd floor and was up on the 3^rd floor. “Amy?!” he said a little louder.

“Is the coast clear?” Amy asked from behind a door.

“Yes,” Tao laughed. “Come out.” Amy was more than happy to come out from her hiding spot. “Most of us are going to head to bed because of the long day we have tomorrow. You should probably try to get some sleep as well.”

“Wait! What happened?” The curiosity had really gotten to her.

“Our agents are trying to make sure the public knows that it was just a friend of Luhan’s that he was trying to hide and nothing more. We’re still on thin ice right now, regardless.”

“Wow, and they believed that?”

“There’s not much they can do. But the best route is to make sure everyone knows that Luhan isn’t dating anyone.”

“I see.” Tao walked Amy down to the second floor and told her goodnight before heading back to his room. Amy walked into her room and noticed Paige wasn’t there yet. Amy went to wash her face and change into some pajamas while waiting for her friend to return.

There was a knock on the door. Paige pushed open the closet door. “Kai?” she whispered.

“No, it’s Sehun,” he replied while coming into the room and turning on the light.

“Is everything alright?” Paige asked.

“It’s resolved for now. Although they will probably give us a hard time tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry,” Paige apologized while trying to get out of the closet.

“No need to apologize,” Sehun smiled. He held out his hand for her to grab onto, hoping to steady her from stumbling out of the closet. “Woah!” Sehun explained, spying her ankle.

“What?” Paige looked around, alarmed.

“Hold on,” Sehun warned as he pulled Paige up into his arms bridal style and walked from the room.

“What are you doing?!” Paige exclaimed.

“You’re not walking down two flights of stairs with that ankle looking that bad. We’re icing it before you go to bed tonight, just like we promised.”

“Please, put me down?” Paige was mortified to be carried again.

“Nope,” Sehun replied. He made it down to the main floor quickly. Kai looked up as they passed and followed them into the kitchen. Sehun placed her on one of the kitchen stools and put her foot up on the one next to it.

“How bad is it?” Kai asked.

“It’s fine,” Paige replied, stubbornly.

Sehun pulled a couple of ice packs from the freezer and turned to put them around her ankle. Kai intervened and took the packs from him.

“I’ll take care of it,” he stated. Sehun almost laughed, but he put his hands in the air as if surrendering and took a few steps away from them.

“Sleep with that thing elevated, Paige,” Sehun recommended before turning to go up the stairs.

Paige watched him go, somewhat terrified to be left alone with Kai. She had to try hard to not flinch in response to Kai’s touch or the chill of the icepacks on her skin. She had almost succeeded until Kai turned his head to look up at her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Paige shook her head in response, dismissing that an apology was necessary at this time. They sat there in silence for a little while. The swelling started to lessen a bit after several minutes.

Kai jumped up from the stool suddenly, remembering something. He fished around a cabinet, producing the bottle of pain reliever and then grabbed a glass and filling it with water. He placed the water in front of her and took a couple of pills from the bottle holding them out for her.

“Thank you,” Paige murmured. Kai nodded, returning the bottle and sitting back down. Paige gratefully gulped down the medicine and prayed it would numb her system before she fell asleep that night.

Paige took the half melted icepacks from her ankle and moved her foot from the stool. Kai stood, understanding that she was ready to go back to her room. He returned the icepacks to the freezer and took out a fresh one for Paige to bring with her. Without asking, he slid an arm around her back and prompted her to put her arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare step down on that foot,” Kai warned. She nodded and the two of them made it up the stairs and to the door of her room.

“Paige!” Amy exclaimed. “Sehun dropped off an extra pillow for your ankle. Are you okay?”

“Yes. It just swelled up a bit,” Paige replied. Kai let go of her waist when she entered the room. He bowed slightly and then walked away. “What a day,” Paige muttered.

“No kidding,” Amy replied. “It seems as thought the management took the cover story they gave them. I can’t believe Luhan kissed you though. I mean, I knew he had been really nice, but I just didn’t think he was one to do that. It’s not like Kris who did it behind closed doors.”

“Wait a minute! One, Luhan didn’t kiss me. Two, what do you mean about Kris and behind closed doors?”

“Luhan didn’t kiss you?”

“No, he was just hiding my face from the photographers. The picture is when he was whispering for me not to trip while we walked to the taxi.”

“It looks like he’s kissing you!”

“Yeah, I get that, which is why tonight was so crazy. But now back up and tell me what you’re talking about with Kris.”

“Oh goodness, Paige. Everyone was noticing that I wasn’t alright and I was having such a hard time from crying…”

“This evening?!”

“No, no, this morning. After I had taken a shower.”

“Okay, continue,” Paige prodded.

“I ran upstairs to lock myself in the studio room until I’d had enough time for my head to clear. When I shut the door, Kris was in there. I was already crying and a mess and he was just staring at me and then he kissed me!”

“What?!?”

“Yes, but it was really, really good. And then I told him about the locket. When I finished crying, he kissed me again.”

“This morning?!” Paige asked incredulously.

“Yes!” Amy replied.

“But, when did that start?”

“Actually, I don’t even know if it started anything. He could have just been being nice because I was crying.”

“Just being nice? Isn’t that what a hug or a pat on the back is for? I mean, you said it was a good kiss, right?”

“Really good.”

“Oh my God, Amy.”

“I know.”

“I can’t think anymore,” Paige stated after laying down in the bed. She situated her ankle on the pillow with the icepack before pulling the sheets around her shoulders.

“Yeah, we should get some sleep.”

“The guys will be gone for most of tomorrow. We can figure this stuff out tomorrow while they’re gone.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Paige.”

“Night, Amy.”

A/N

Sometimes, it's hard to keep track of 14 characters (12 of Exo + 2 girls). Lol, but it makes for more chaos, which is fun!

Hope you're enjoying the brewing complications!