~Chapter 7

When they all arrived back at the dorm it was around 7 in the evening, and since they had already eaten, the rest of the evening was free time for everyone. Exo’s mini album would debut tomorrow and it would be the waiting game for almost 24 hours before their schedule picked back up again.

The girls entered the dorm still pretty hysterical over their adventure in the mall. They greeted everyone in the main room while smiling brightly.

“Wow. Look good!” said Baekhyun in English with a thumbs-up.

“Thank you,” the girls replied in unison.

Amy grabbed the bags that Luhan had placed on the floor just inside the door and ran up to tuck them into their room. Paige sat down in one of the chairs in the main room so she could put her foot up. She leaned forward and pulled the bandage away revealing the still healing bruise. It really wasn’t too bad, but putting weight on it still sent waves of pain through her nerves. Thank goodness for all the piggy backing which had turned a trip to a mall an easy afternoon.

Xiumin came from the kitchen with a suggestion that they watch a movie. Sehun, Tao, Chen, and Chanyeol quickly agreed.

“Is it something with English subtitles? Can’t follow along very well without it,” Paige asked.

“I’ll look for one,” said Sehun who was already up the stairs. Paige got up off the chair and followed them up to the third floor. Amy had walked out of the hall when they were heading to the other staircase from the second floor and followed. One of the rooms on the top floor had the TV and comfy looking couches in it. Paige sat down on a couch somewhat off to the left side. Chanyeol plopped down next to her.

Amy sat on the center couch, to which Tao accompanied her. Chen and Xiumin took what seemed to be their preferred spots on the floor with a couple of the couch cushions.

Sehun was still rifling through movies when Suho popped his head in the door. “What kind of movie are you guys going to watch?”

“Something funny, if I can find one.”

“Alright,” Suho sat down on the couch furthest to the right. Lay came in and sat next to Suho. Lay and Suho were joined by Baekhyun who sat sideways and put his legs across the other twos’ laps. D.O. came in and sat on the other side of Suho, avoiding becoming part of Baekhyun’s footrest.

“Perfect!” Sehun exclaimed before popping the disc into the player. He grabbed a remote, turned off the lights, and sat down on the floor with Xiumin and Chen. Paige stared at the screen watching for any familiar actors to be introduced. As promised, she had subtitles to follow, which Amy was also glad for.

Kris entered while just after the few opening credits had passed and sat on the other side of Amy on the center couch. He sat a few inches away, crossed one leg with the other and settled into the couch. Tao inched slightly closer to Amy’s side. She hadn’t been paying much attention though, fully engrossed in reading the subtitles.

Paige looked around the room and did a count in her head. There were ten of them sitting around the room, not counting her and Amy. The two missing were Luhan and Kai. She frowned to herself, but looked back up at the TV.

About 10 minutes into the movie, Paige felt the seat cushion next to her sink. She turned and was seriously surprised to see Kai sitting next to her. She blinked a few times to make sure she didn’t make a mistake like she’d done the first night. Nope, it was definitely Kai. He caught her staring and turned his gaze towards her for a moment. She nodded slightly with a tight-lipped smile and then looked down at the ground and then back up at the screen. She didn’t have it in her to make eye contact with him again and truly hoped he’d looked back at the television as well. She noticed movement from the corner of her vision to her right and turned to see Luhan walking around the couch to sit on the floor. When she saw that he was looking at her, she gave him a smile. He returned it and sat down next to XiuMin. Paige heard Kai scoff and wondered if she’d missed something in the movie so she returned her gaze to the screen and sat further back into the sofa.

The movie they were watching was definitely a comedy. Both Paige and Amy found it rousingly funny. They were ahead of everyone else by a second due to their quick reading of the subtitles. It seemed as if everyone was enjoying himself or herself. Amy, after a fit of giggles bounced back against the couch bouncing into Tao’s arm. “Sorry,” she turned to quickly apologize while laughing. He smiled back and shook his head to indicate that it hadn’t mattered. Amy took a glance at Kris’ very still form leaning back into the couch. Angel is sitting next to me, but Tao is being more fun. Amy leaned back in her seat and let herself settle against Tao’s arm. She didn’t notice him flinching the slightest, so she decided to stay there.

While the movie progressed, Amy let her head tilt until it was resting on Tao’s shoulder. She could feel him turn his head towards her, but then look back at the screen. On her other side she felt the couch move slightly. Kris had finally moved out of his original position and had both feet on the floor and was sitting more upright. She resumed watching the movie.

A few moments later she sat back up overcome with laughter. She was virtually to tears and had scooted forward on the couch while getting control of her laughter. “Oh my God, Paige!” she said as if she thought she needed to remind her friend to watch the movie. She turned to her left, since Paige hadn’t answered her, and sure enough her friend was asleep. She was leaning towards Kai, but not on him. It was the look on Kai’s face while staring at her that had Amy temporarily distracted. Flashes from the screen only highlighted his face on occasion, but she was almost sure that he was essentially memorizing her sleeping figure.

Amy turned her head more to the left to take a peek at Angel. He was glaring, but not at her. She whipped her gaze around to look at whatever he was looking at. Tao was staring straight back at Kris. “What?” she whispered to Tao.

“He’s just being crazy,” he replied. Amy turned her head back to Kris who had resumed his staring at the screen.

“What’s the problem?” she asked him.

“Nothing,” he whispered in reply. Amy shook her head and settled back with Tao. She could feel him look towards her again. She glanced up, but he brought his eyes down to meet hers and the previous scowl he had on his face turned into a smile. Amy looked at him confused. What on earth was going on between him and Kris? Amy decided to ignore it and finish the movie.

When the movie was over, Sehun jumped up and the lights. A few of the guys groaned from the immediate bright light. A few of the ones on the floor had fallen asleep and their friends were having fun trying to wake them up. As soon as the lights were back on Amy had sat up and stretched. 

“Thank you, Sehun. It was very funny.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. Amy smiled at him and then turned around at the two men sitting on either side of her.

“So? What’s the problem?” she asked.

“There is no problem,” Kris reiterated.

“Then why were you glaring at Tao?”

“He thinks I shouldn’t let you lean on my shoulder,” Tao replied. Stifled laughter from other members in the room could be heard.

“Why? He already piggybacked me around the store. Who cares if I sit next to him?”

“So did I!” Chen chimed in.

“Yeah, the three of them,” Luhan pointed at Chanyeol, “had quite the romp around the mall today.” The stifled laughter turned into full out giggles from several Exo members. The only ones who weren’t laughing were Chen, Chanyeol, Tao, Kris, Luhan, and Kai. The other half was trying to stop their laughter and find reasons to leave the room. 

Kris rubbed his forehead. “Did anyone take your pictures? We debut in the morning, remember?”

“I doubt anyone was paying attention,” replied Chanyeol.

“Yeah, no one pays attention to 3 grown men piggyback racing in the middle of the mall,” Luhan dryly stated.

“It’s not like you tried to stop us,” stated Tao. Luhan shrugged.

From the other couch, Paige woke up from the conversation. She opened her eyes to find herself staring at Kai’s torso. She stretched and lifted her head to find him staring at her. She jumped away from his face trying to collect her thoughts. However, he broke into a smile and for a moment she had no idea where she was or possibly what her name was.

“You missed the last third of the movie,” he whispered.

“What?” she asked. She turned her head and noticed everyone standing in the middle of the room. Kai and her were the only ones still sitting. “What’s going on?”

“Kris is about to scold people for piggybacking,” Kai whispered to her. Her heartbeat sped up and she felt uneasy.

She turned back towards him finding that he was thoroughly enjoying whatever conversation had been happening between the others. He still had the smile plastered on his face. She stared at his lips, curious that her heartbeat was accelerating even more. Kai noticed her staring and looked back at her. She looked at his eyes, but she could have sworn that they were looking at her lips. Oh God. Her heart nearly exploded. She frantically spun around to focus on everyone else in the middle of the room. She could have imagined it, but she felt like his gaze was burning into the back of her brain. She stood up and walked over to where everyone else was.

“If anyone takes pictures and any of our managers or agents see that, we’re all in a ton of trouble,” Kris stated.

“Alright, alright. No more piggyback races,” Amy replied.

“It was just a little fun. Aren’t we supposed to be making sure they don’t have a wasted vacation while they’re stuck here?” Tao reasoned.

“It doesn’t mean you need to race through the mall,” Suho countered. “Kris is right. Take them out when we can, but it’s going to have to be with a very low profile. We have no idea how much we can get away with out in the open after tomorrow. Small groups and with nothing that is going to attract anyone’s attention.”

“Yes, mom,” Chen rolled his eyes. “We get it, we’ll be more careful.”

“Thank you,” Suho replied. One by one, the members started to leave for their different rooms in the house.

Paige caught Kris’ arm, “If this is too much. Then we should go just go home. We shouldn’t be disturbing your existence for two missing bags and an accident that was as much my fault as anyone elses.”

“No, we have to find our luggage,” begged Amy.

“If we start making them get mad at each other, I’d rather live without the things in my suitcase.”

“But..” Amy started.

“Besides, they’ve already replaced just about as much as I’d been carrying with me anyway,” Paige continued.

“I really want to find my luggage, and I don’t want to go home yet,” Amy argued.

“It’s okay. I may have overreacted. There’s a lot going on for us tomorrow,” Kris replied.

“It’s after 11. Go relax and we’ll see how tomorrow goes,” suggested Luhan. Paige surrendered and started to walk out of the room with Amy in tow.

“Do you think the luggage will be found or returned?” Kai asked Kris.

“It doesn’t sound good,” replied Kris, honestly.

“What should we do?” Luhan asked.

“Wait, I guess.”

“This whole situation is just, crazy,” stated Kai.

“Yah! Stop being a jerk about it,” replied Luhan.

“That’s not what I meant! Nevermind.” Kai left the room, followed moments later by Luhan and Kris who all went to their rooms.

A/N

It's a little on the short side, but that's why I planned a 2 chapter update this week. Mostly because I'm on a fall break at school so I have some time to get this stuff edited. Enjoy...

And the next chapters a good one! *wink* Stay tuned! :D