~Chapter 21

Tao woke up with several things on his mind. How he had managed to keep things so simple and uncomplicated, he didn’t know. After Paige and Amy had gone to bed the night before, he’d returned to his room only to toss and turn before finally falling back to sleep. He had exactly three days until he would leave Amy behind while Exo traveled to China. After they returned, there would possibly be another day or two before she would leave back to America. He didn’t even have a full week. Over the course of one night, he’d started to realize that there was someone that he wanted to hold on to but he had no idea how to keep her from slipping through his fingers.

Tao made his way downstairs. Halfway down the last flight to the main floor he was already scanning the room for any sign that Amy was already awake. In fact, it had seemed like he might have woken up before most everyone. Chen was in the main room while Lay, XiuMin, and D.O. had already begun eating breakfast in the kitchen. At the bottom of the stairs, Tao turned towards Chen, “Have the girls come down?”

“No,” Chen replied, slightly disinterested and staring at something on his phone. When Tao continued to stand there without moving, Chen looked up from his phone. “What?” he asked.

“I need some advice,” Tao started, sitting in the chair next to Chen.

“And you want advice from me?” he looked at Tao in disbelief. When Tao nodded, Chen shrugged and put his phone down.

“I don’t know what to do about Amy,” he admitted, quietly, not sure he really wanted anyone else to overhear. “I really like her and I want to tell her.”

“Tao, she’s leaving,” Chen stated realistically.

Tao ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I know, but I don’t want her to.”

“After knowing her for a little over a week and half? You’ve got quite the crush.” Chen stated incredulously.

“I know it’s been a very short time since they came here, but I just know that I can’t let her leave without doing… something,” he admitted.

“What exactly do you want to have happen?”

“I know I don’t want this to be over.”

“Are you honestly thinking of having some sort of long distance relationship? That’s quite a distance you know. Our schedules don’t even include the States, with one or two random exceptions,” Chen reasoned.

“If we grow too far apart, so be it. I don’t want it to be for lack of trying,” Tao murmured.

“You have to be careful. You have to keep it simple. If you overwhelm her it’ll only make it harder on both of you,” Chen suggested.

“You’re right,” he replied. Tao sat there for a few minutes trying to brainstorm. Every idea or scenario in his mind was frustrating. None of them were the ideal happy ending that he really wanted.

“Tao, just give her some kind of good memory. In the least, make it something positive that she won’t be able to forget,” Chen suggested.

“A good memory…something she won’t forget,” he repeated to himself. “Like what?” he asked Chen when his mind was drawing nothing but blanks.

“It has to come from you,” Chen laughed.

“But I can’t think straight. I’ve been trying to figure this out since last night.”

“You used to watch dramas, what cute things did they do on those? I’m sure you can scrape together an idea. Besides, Amy is pretty happy with just about anything you do,” Chen stated.

“I don’t have much time. I’m going upstairs to figure this out. If Amy wakes up anytime soon, don’t tell her where I am.”

“And just where are you going?”

“The TV room,” Tao stated as if Chen should have figured that out already.

“Alright,” Chen laughed as Tao rushed back up the stairs.

Amy had felt like she had slept for a week. Every muscle in her body was stiff and the sun was especially bright coming in through the window. She stretched while still in bed and hunted for her cell phone. She turned it on and almost bolted out of bed. It was already 11 a.m. and she and Paige had still been asleep. “Paige!”

“What?” she mumbled.

“It’s like an hour until lunch time. We so overslept!”

“It’s not like we’re on a schedule,” she mumbled and rolled over trying to ignore Amy.

“But, if the boys have been up since earlier than I’ve missed hours I could have spent with them.”

“Oh God. You are not going to start waking up at the crack of dawn just to soak in every second. Obviously, if we slept this long it’s because we needed it.”

“But, now it’s like there’s only two and a half days instead of three,” Amy stressed.

“Then go! Get dressed and go find Tao and let me wake up by myself,” Paige urged.

“Okay!” Amy changed her clothes and then ran across the hall to brush her hair and clean her face. Within about 10 minutes, she was running downstairs. 

“Is something on fire?” Chen asked as Amy came down the stairs.

“No,” Amy replied, confused.

“What are you rushing for?” Chen continued to ask.

“Nothing,” Amy replied scanning the room and the kitchen. “Where’s Tao?”

“Oh, that’s why,” Chen laughed. He took a peek at his phone before answering her. “I haven’t seen him since earlier this morning. He’s upstairs somewhere.”

“Thanks!” Amy squealed and hopped back up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, a barely awake Paige was making her way to the restroom.

“Why are you so bouncy?” Paige asked.

“I’m looking for Tao.”

“Couldn’t you just walk?”

“I could, but I’m not going to,” Amy retorted and skipped to the other set of stairs leading to the third floor.

“TAO!” she yelled.

“Stop yelling!” Paige ironically yelled.

Amy ignored her and made her way to the third floor. She knocked on the door to the room that Tao shared but discovered that it was empty. She pouted and walked back out to the third floor sitting room. “Tao?!” she yelled once more.

“He’s in the TV room,” Luhan stated from the patio door.

“Thanks!” Amy replied promptly turning towards the TV room. Luhan rolled his eyes and returned outside, closing the door behind him.

Sure enough, Amy found Tao watching something on the TV. He was inside the room by himself sitting at the edge of the couch intently watching what was on the screen. The lights were on in the room and it seemed like he was watching a show and not a movie. Instead of interrupting what he was watching, she simply sat next to him.

He hit the pause button on the remote suddenly and turned towards her. “How did you know where I was?”

Amy looked confused for a moment. “I’ve been looking for you since I woke up. There are only so many rooms in this house.”

“You looked in every room?”

“Well no, I went downstairs and Chen said you were upstairs. And I just saw Luhan who said you were in here,” Amy stated, pouting. “Were you avoiding me?”

“No, silly,” Tao replied, realizing how he was coming off. “I was just… I was trying to… There’s something I’d like to…” Tao stuttered through trying to explain to Amy while thoroughly nervous.

Amy sat quietly, trying to figure out just what he was trying to explain to her. She watched him fidgeting and realized that instead of being offended by his obvious avoidance, he looked adorable acting so nervous. She sat back a bit and smiled at him, waiting patiently for him to gather his thoughts.

“Listen,” he said, suddenly more serious. Her eyes widened as she watched him. “I know we’ve only known each other for a very short time, and I really hate that we only have three days before I leave for China…”

“Two and a half,” she corrected.

“Two and a half,” he repeated, suddenly looking even more nervous, if that were possible.  He held her hand as he tried to formulate exactly what he wanted to say. “I am so happy that you came to Korea. I know the circumstances weren’t ideal, but I’m very happy that you came here. Amy, I…”

What sounded like feedback over a speaker, followed by two loud pops, sounded before the electricity in the TV room went off. Amy stood suddenly, still holding Tao’s hand.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Tao said, looking around in the darkness.

“Come on,” she tugged on his hand and pulled him to the TV room door. Out in the sitting room stood Chanyeol, who was laughing so hard that he had to sit down. Kris came walking out of the studio room looking rather annoyed.

“What happened?” Amy asked.

Chanyeol was still laughing, so Kris had to explain. “We were practicing in the studio. Chanyeol hit the control for the microphone. As soon as I talked into it, the feedback blew out the speaker, which blew the fuse and apparently took out the electricity on the third floor.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to fix,” Amy stated. “Well I’m not sure how badly you damaged the speaker…”

“You should have seen Kris’ face!” Chanyeol stated after trying to catch his breath.

“Damn it, it was loud!” Kris defended himself.

Chanyeol continued to double over in laughter. Meanwhile, one of the lights in the hallway flickered before staying on.

“Oh, that was quick,” Amy commented, noticing the electricity.

“XiuMin ran downstairs to fix the fuse,” Kris stated.

Amy nodded and then turned back to Tao. They were still holding hands. “What were you saying?” Amy asked.

“Later,” Tao mumbled looking at his current audience. He still hadn’t formulated a good idea and while he was anxious to tell Amy how he felt, right now wasn’t the right time.

“Okay,” Amy smiled, squeezing his hand.

Paige walked out onto the patio. After finally getting out of bed, she’d suddenly remembered that she hadn’t made the call home yet to talk to her boss about the extra week she needed. She had only hoped that Amy had done the same, but she doubted it. Dialing the number for her supervisor, her stomach worked itself in knots as she dreaded the conversation that was going to follow. She gulped and waited through each ring on the other end until his voice greeted her.

She managed the explanation that they were quite literally stuck in Korea and there was no way she would be back to resume her shift. She was pacing the patio and looking back towards the glass doors at the small group just inside the third floor sitting room. In this moment, she would have loved to forget her life and just stay here. Beyond the inviting promise of that chaotic bliss all of the other complications left her seeking her familiar life back home. She turned back away from the doors as her boss chastised her about her inability to be a responsible employee. She apologized repeatedly and assured that she would be back after one more week and tried to explain that it was a situation out of her immediate control.

She was almost finished with the conversation when the patio door opened. She turned as she thanked her boss for his understanding and hung up the phone. She looked up at Kai as her arm dropped to her side, clutching the cell phone.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“I called back home and spoke to my boss about not being able to come to work for another week. He wasn’t exactly understanding about it,” she explained while fidgeting with the cellphone in her hand.

“It’s not like this is your dream job or something you spend time working on. It’s obvious that it’s not that important to you,” Kai started. Paige stopped all movement with her hand feeling as though she’d been slapped. “Your boss is looking out for himself and doesn’t want someone who isn’t going to do it all for him. You can’t really fault him for having that kind of attitude.”

Paige looked down at her feet trying to not let the flood of emotions show on her face. She wasn’t working in a job that she was hoping to keep her entire life, but it was important that she not cause chaos, regardless. Every job she’d ever been given, be it small or inconvenient she had taken quite seriously. Why did he sound like he was scolding her just like her boss had? Paige took a moment to get her emotions together so that she wouldn’t react negatively. She looked back up at him. “You’re probably right,” she stated. As normally as possible, as to not instigate a further conversation, Paige walked back inside and made her way down to the main floor where she was hoping she could find a quick distraction.

“But you haven’t bought us dinner in a while!” Chanyeol begged.

“And when was the last time you bought dinner?” Suho countered.

“Please?!?!” Chanyeol begged while doing a ridiculous dance.

They had all enjoyed a pretty laid back afternoon and had decided that no one wanted to make dinner, so Chanyeol was currently begging Suho to treat them all. They all knew that Suho was going to cave, but Chanyeol’s antics were worth watching.

“Alright, but you have to come with me to get it,” he caved.

“I’ll come too,” volunteered XiuMin. XiuMin walked out first with Chanyeol basically skipping out the door after him. Suho walked out last rolling his eyes at Chanyeol.

Amy turned to Tao. They’d spent most of the afternoon back in the TV room paying attention to nothing and talking for the most part. They had talked about Tao’s training and the last few years leading up to their debut. They had talked about Amy’s progression into college and still trying to figure out what she was going to do. The biggest difference was in how at such a young age, Tao knew what he was going to try to do while Amy was still figuring it out. At barely 18, she’d just begun to figure out what kind of career she would try whereas Tao had already been training for his. The most endearing was despite the long training and focus, they all acted like any other guys in their age group.

“Are you ever going to tell me what you were trying to tell me before?” Amy whispered.

“Not right now,” Tao restated. She’d been trying to get it out of him out of sheer curiosity since earlier but he hadn’t budged, yet. And every time she asked him, he became really shy. She always let it drop as soon as he answered, even if she was determined to keep bringing it up eventually.

Amy giggled and then pulled at Tao’s hand. Whatever it was, he always seemed more uncomfortable when they were around the others. She led him out of the main room with every intention to head up to the patio and away from everyone else so he could be more comfortable with her.

As soon as they had walked up the stairs, Chen started to laugh to himself. He could have predicted that confessing wouldn’t come easy to Tao, despite how much he’d wanted to.

“What are you laughing about? Lay asked. The two of them had been sitting around the main room playing with ideas for cover songs the next time they were asked to perform something.

“Tao. He wants to confess to Amy before we leave for China,” Chen laughed.

“Seriously?” Lay asked, a little stunned.

“He asked me how he should do it this morning,” Chen continued.

“What did you tell him?” Kris said, having just walked out of the kitchen a moment ago.

“I told him to be careful because she’s leaving soon,” Chen shrugged.

“He shouldn’t do it at all,” Kris murmured.

“I think it’s kind of cute. He may not actually do it. He’s been acting nervous all day,” Chen replied.

“I didn’t realize he liked her that much,” Lay mused.

“He’s just caught up in it. It will change once they leave,” Kris countered.

“What if he’s not?” Chen asked.

“It’s barely been two weeks, how could it be more than that?” Kris justified.

“I guess we’ll see,” Chen stated and returned his attention to the lyrics he’d been looking up.

Paige had spent most of the day in the main room watching other Exo members and participating lightly in conversations. When the guys had left for the store, she had gone to the kitchen and snagged the laptop whose home seemed to be the counter. She tried to lose herself in checking her email and catching up with other social sites. She had her elbows on the counter and was leaning over the laptop when a pair of hands touched her shoulders. She whipped her head around quickly to find Luhan standing behind her, smiling.

“Oh, hey,” she said returning the warm smile. She was genuinely happy to see Luhan. He raises his eyebrows and nodded towards the screen with a slight nudge to her shoulder indicating that she should resume her Internet activity. Paige turned back towards the screen, but couldn’t resume anything as Luhan’s hands begin to work the tight muscles along her shoulders.

“What have you been up to?” Luhan asks.

“Nothing really,” Paige murmurs.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

“Why would you think that?” she asks turning her chin towards her right shoulder.

“Paige,” he starts, implying that she shouldn’t expect any less from him. “You’ve been in your own head all day.”

“I haven’t even seen you today, when were you down here?”

“I have to eat and drink too,” he laughs. “You probably haven’t paid attention outside of your own thoughts.”

“Sorry.” Luhan couldn’t help but laugh at her apology. There was no reason why she should feel sorry.

“So, what’s going on?” he asks again.

“Nothing. Really.” Luhan’s hands were working magic to dissolve the stress she had been under. Kai’s words floated into her brain. She didn’t actually have the level of stress that Exo had. Maybe she just couldn’t handle anything. She didn’t have a career, just a job. She had school, but even some Exo members took classes in between their activities. She had no right to be stressed.

“Hey.” Luhan pulled on her shoulder slightly, jolting her out of her train of thought.

“Hmm?” Paige asked.

“Spill. You’re frowning and you started to tense up.”

Paige let out a sigh, “I talked to my boss and he really got on me about being unreliable. I told Kai, but he said that it was obvious that my job wasn’t important to me. I mean, it’s not like all of you who work so hard for your careers,” she explained.

“Kai said that?” Luhan asked, genuinely surprised.

“It’s true,” she sighed.

“No, not really,” Luhan countered. “I can tell by the way that you worry that everything is important to you. You don’t want to let anyone down, no matter how important or unimportant it may actually be.”

Paige closed her eyes. Her brain simply refused to acknowledge Luhan’s reasoning and she began to lose the battle in her head over her own guilt and stress from the past week. She let her head fall back spilling her long red hair until it almost reached her waist. Luhan’s hand stopped their motion, but stayed on her shoulders. Paige was about to sit back up after a few deep breaths when she felt Luhan’s fingers delve into the hair at her neck and comb down through the ends. He repeated the motion continuously lulling her away from the stress again.

Luhan knew that while he wasn't doing anything forbidden, he was playing a dangerous game. The problem was that the only one he was hurting was himself. He couldn’t resist the obvious relief that he was providing Paige. Meanwhile, he ached to extract Kai from her head as Kai was only adding to her stress and not benefitting her in anyway.

“Luhan,” Paige murmured. The sound from her lips falling on his ears like both fire and ice. His hand stilled and he forced himself to step back and then join her, sitting on the stool next to her.

“What?” he asked.

“Don’t tell anyone, okay?” she asked.

“About what?” he asked, confused about what part of their conversation was worth secrecy.

“I want to go home,” she whispered. She pushed the laptop away from the edge of the counter so that she could cross her arms and lay her head down in its place.

Luhan was quick to blame her homesickness entirely on Kai. If he didn’t continue to put his foot in his mouth, she probably wouldn’t feel like this. “Is it so bad?” he asked her.

“It’s not that. I want to come back to Korea again and explore more. I still have more time since we are staying the extra week for Amy. You guys have all been pretty terrific given the circumstances.” Paige didn’t know how to explain exactly why she felt the way she did.

“Are you homesick?” Luhan asked. All of the Exo members had experience moments of homesickness during training, especially the Chinese members who were farther away from home than the Korean members.

“I guess so. I don’t miss anyone specifically. I just miss my familiar routine. I guess I just miss what’s familiar to me,” Paige elaborated.

Luhan tried to shift her attention, “next time, you should come to China.”

“I only know about 3 phrases in Chinese,” Paige warned.

“There are plenty of places that are tourist friendly.”

“If I were to go to China, would you show me around?” Paige joked.

“Of course,” Luhan promised. What she didn’t realize is how much he both meant and hoped for it.

“Alright. Next time, China,” Paige agreed.

A/N

So Tao really wants to confess.

And Luhan's being quite the good 'friend' .....

And there's only 2.5 days until Exo goes to China.....

However, if you've noticed...quite a bit happens in just one 24 hour period....

Until Next Week! :D :D