~Chapter 9

When Kai had finished his breakfast, he left the kitchen to run to the room he was sharing with Sehun and Suho. Along his way, he was stopped by Lay, “Hey, did you want to get some practice in today?”

“Sure. I was going to go work on stuff anyway.”

“Where’s Sehun?” Lay asked.

“He was just downstairs with Baekhyun reading comments on the album.”

“I’ll get him and meet you in the studio shortly.”

“Sounds good. Hey, grab a few extra waters, okay?”

“Yes.” Lay walked down the stairs to the kitchen to get Sehun.

Kai continued to the room and grabbed his shoes that he preferred to dance in. He took another moment to switch his shirt for the gray tank top he also preferred while practicing. He walked back down to the second floor meeting Sehun and Lay just before the hallway to the studio.

“We should really work on the routine for the Showcase,” Lay stated.

“We’ve practiced it so many times, Lay. I doubt we could ever forget a step to it, even while sleeping,” Sehun whined.

“It doesn’t hurt to practice it again. It’s different when we have to do it for the video and can reshoot. We’ll be doing this stuff live now,” Kai lectured.

Sehun sighed and opened the door and took a couple steps in. He abruptly stopped. Lay and Kai put the water bottles next to a chair just inside the door.

“Hey,” Sehun whispered tapping Kai’s back. “Look.” He pointed to Paige, who was still sitting in a ball with her head on her knees. Kai looked at her and then smiled. He walked over to her, leaving Sehun and Lay by the door watching.

“Hey,” he said to Paige while staring down at her. She didn’t flinch or move. “Hey,” he tried again.  He crouched down in front of her and shook her arm. “Hey!”

Paige snapped her head up, looking confused. Kai had to stop himself from laughing. “You always sleep at the weirdest times.”

“I didn’t fall asleep on purpose.” Paige said straightening herself out. Her neck was sore from leaning forward so she rotated her neck around to loosen it up.

“Do you not sleep at night?”

“Apparently, not very well,” she admitted.

“Why?”

She couldn’t very well say it was his fault. He would think she was nuts. Instead she shrugged. “I just haven’t been. I’ve been thinking about too many things that have been stressing me out.”

“Would you like a distraction?”

“Huh?” She looked into his eyes. He had a full-blown smile plastered on his face.

“A distraction. Lay, Sehun, and I were about to work on something I choreographed that we’ve been practicing. You can stay and watch if you’d like.”

“You didn’t choreograph the whole thing, Kai.” Sehun walked towards Kai and Paige. “Stay, it’ll be fun to have an audience.”

Paige looked at Lay, who was smiling. “Alright then, I’ll stay.” Paige stood up and moved to the chair where the water bottles had been placed and sat down. She watched them warm up and then start up the music. They had already practiced the routine, she suspected many times before now. However, they still gave each other suggestions and worked on trying to improve it.

Paige had never been a dancer, but she could appreciate every move and the overall design of the dance. She was completely caught up in it and yearned to be able to dance so gracefully. The three of them must have been trained to do this for quite some time. She couldn’t imagine anyone could accomplish the refinement required to dance like that in just a couple of years.

Paige clapped enthusiastically when they had finished getting all the way through the routine. “It’s so fantastic! I love watching all of you dance!” All three of them beamed their gloriously adorable smiles. “It’s really inventive too, but you make it look so easy.”

“I could teach you part of it,” volunteered Kai. Both Sehun and Lay did a double take and stared at him.

“Oh, um, bad ankle. Plus, I’ve never danced before,” Paige replied.

“How is your ankle?” asked Lay.

“Better each day. It only hurts a bit to walk on it. There was a bruise, but it’s begun to fade.” She rotated it to show that it wasn’t as bad as the first day. She still winced.

“You definitely can’t dance on that,” stated Sehun.

“No kidding. It’s okay. It’s still fun to watch.” Paige smiled.

“I’m starving. I wonder if anyone has started making lunch,” Kai wondered while picking up a water bottle. Even Paige knew to laugh. She had noticed Kai’s dependence on everyone else to make him food.

“Do you not know how to cook?” she asked. Kai scowled.

“It’s not that he doesn’t know how, he’s just too lazy,” Sehun stated.

“I’m not lazy.”

“Clearly,” laughed Paige.

“I’m getting some lunch,” Kai stated and walked out of the room. Sehun and Lay followed, smiling with laughter. Paige left after the rest of them, closing the door after her. She turned to head back to her room.

“Are you not having lunch?” Luhan asked from behind her. Paige spun around, not having noticed that he’d even been there.

“Soon. I haven’t seen Amy since this morning. I was going to check and see if she was in her room.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s upstairs,” Luhan glanced at the ceiling.

“Oh? Did you see her up there?”

“Earlier.”

“Then I’ll go look for her there,” she smiled. She took the few steps to the end of the hallway and was about to pass Luhan when he stopped her. He took her shoulders and turned her towards the stairs leading downstairs. 

“Don’t worry about Amy. Come have lunch with me.” He smiled brightly and draped his arm around her shoulder.

“Alright,” Paige answered somewhat nervously. She hoped Amy was okay, but due to Luhan’s request, she decided that she would wait until after lunch to look for her friend.

The two of them walked down the stairs, still with Luhan’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. They got to the kitchen before Luhan dropped his arm and let her walk independently. She could feel herself blushing and shook her head slightly.

Baekhyun was still in the kitchen toying with the laptop. Lay and Sehun had grabbed food and sat on either side of Baekhyun while he was still reading comments on their YouTube videos as well as album release. Luhan had walked over to the refrigerator and was searching for something. And Kai was standing near the sink staring at her. She met his stare and mouthed, “What?” He shook his head and glanced away from her.

Luhan joined her with two plates of food, one for each of them. She began to eat, but couldn’t stop looking up to see what Kai was doing. She didn’t want to stare at him, but she’d already caught him staring at her.

“Hey,” Luhan started directly to Paige. “If our schedule stays clear for tonight, do you want to go out to eat? I can show you this really great restaurant with many variety of food choices.”

She looked at him. He had the warmest smile that she had ever seen. His face looked as though he hadn’t aged past 12 years. However, his talents and physique argued otherwise.

“Hey! I know what place you’re talking about! I haven’t eaten there for a while! We should all go!” Kai interrupted.

Luhan’s warm gaze turned to icy in a second, he snapped his gaze to Kai. “We can’t all go. Big groups in public, remember?” Luhan argued.

“I meant us,” Kai made a sweeping motion with his hand indicating himself, Paige, Luhan, Baekhyun, Lay and Sehun. “It’s less than half of Exo, plus Paige.”

“Oh, that would be fun!” Paige replied. Luhan looked up at everyone. It looked as though he had no choice in the matter.

“Okay, tonight. Just the six of us,” he conceded.

Amy walked out of the studio room and closed the door behind her. She walked a few steps away and then leaned against the wall. She brought her fingertips up to her lips and, in her mind, replayed the moments she had spent in the studio. Her angel had kissed her, twice. She’d been attracted to him the first moment she’d seen him, but never thought he’d actually kiss her. He had promised to find her locket, an impossible task at this time. Amy didn’t want to move, or even breathe. If she could just keep hitting rewind in her head, she’d stay like this forever.

Panic began to sneak in the back of her mind. The hovering dark cloud was that at some point Paige and her would be leaving. She wrapped her arms around her middle and tried to hold on to the happy feelings and not let the dark cloud sink into her brain. She had so flippantly been enjoying her time in the dorm with the boys, but it had just taken a serious turn, for her. She didn’t even know what Kris was like in this regard. Had he kissed her to comfort her? Should she assume it was more than that? No, she shouldn’t assume anything until he said something more concrete to her. That would be the only safe way to get through their stay in Korea and get home without unnecessary anguish.

Amy stood away from the wall and went down to her room. She grabbed her makeup bag and hurried into the restroom. She had to hide all evidence of crying. She dumped her bag on the counter and then looked up into the mirror. Oh boy, I’m a mess. She quickly washed her face letting the cool water take away the redness in her cheeks. She applied her make-up spending attention at covering up her eyes so that she looked normal. When she passed her own inspection, she cleaned up her stuff, and threw the bag into her room. She walked to the top of the stairs and decided to join the others, and hopefully go undetected this time.

“There you are!” Paige shouted. Amy looked up at her friend and smiled.

“Yeah, were you looking for me?”

“Just confused as to where you were,” Paige replied.

“I went upstairs, to be by myself.” Paige left the counter and walked to Amy.

“You okay?” she whispered.

“For now,” Amy smiled reassuringly.

“Hey, Luhan and the guys here asked me to join them for dinner.”

“Just them?”

“Yeah, you know, small groups. There’d be six of us which is already a group.”

“Oh, yeah, if you want to go with them then you should. I actually have no problem staying in tonight. I’m kinda out of it.”

“You sure?” Paige asked.

“Yup,” Amy smiled. She actually didn’t want to go. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she’d enjoy the food or the company. She just knew that she needed some headspace. With fewer members in the house, the likelihood of some mental space greatly increased.

“Okay.” Paige grabbed Amy’s arm and walked back to the counter. Soon they were all talking about how well things were going with Exo’s debut and the oncoming week’s craziness, which would leave Paige and Amy with more time to themselves in the dorm starting tomorrow.

Paige had gone upstairs to do something with her hair. She had let it air dry, turning it into a wavy mess. In the restroom, she worked with her brush and a blow dryer to try to tame it into something that would behave before they all went out to dinner. She managed a straighter wave, which actually looked nice against the contours of her face. She retouched her make up and changed into the outfit that she’d liked the best out of the new clothes they’d bought for her. After being convinced that she was pulling off the best look she’d achieved since arriving in Korea, she went downstairs.

Upon seeing the five of them accompanying her for dinner, she didn’t feel like she’d been as successful as she’d first thought. They, again, all looked liked they’d hopped out of a magazine shoot. She smiled and went down the stairs. At least, for tonight, she was probably the luckiest girl on the planet.

Luhan met her at the bottom of the stairs, beaming. “You look fantastic! Are you ready?”

“Yes, and thank you.” The six of them left the house and got into their two separate taxi’s. Kai, Baekhyun, and Lay went in the first taxi leaving Paige with Luhan and Sehun.

At the restaurant, she sat between Luhan and Sehun. The other three were seated across from her, with Kai directly across. She looked at the menu, recognizing certain items, but not knowing what the rest was.

“I’ve tried some basics, but I don’t know what most of this is. I will leave the ordering in all of your capable hands,” Paige announced. That seemed to do the trick. Each of the guys became set on which dishes were a ‘must have’ and anxiously ordered. She enjoyed silly conversations, mostly poking fun at each other. She’d even enjoyed the few shots of soju that they’d convinced her to do, despite her reluctance to do so in front of them. Still, dinner was quite pleasant and everyone seemed to be enjoying the evening.

At the end of dinner, Paige excused herself to the restroom. Luhan stayed just inside while Kai, Baekhyun and Sehun went outside to wait for the taxis. When Paige exited the restroom she spied Luhan at the door and smiled at him while crossing the restaurant to where he waited.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Of course.” She reinforced her statement with a smile.

“Come on, the taxi’s are here,” he said while grabbing her hand. His hand was soft and held hers lightly. She stared down at their hands as they exited the restaurant.

“RUN!” shouted Sehun.

Kai, Lay, and Baekhyun were almost loaded into the taxi when they heard the unmistakable noise of camera shutters clicking. Luhan looked across the street at the crowd of photographers. For this large grouping, someone had to have called and reported where they'd been. They’d never make it into the taxi without someone snapping their picture. Luhan tugged at Paige’s hand that he already had a grasp on propelling her body to turn towards his. He dropped her hand and put his hand behind her head forcing her face into his shoulder. Her hair spilled over concealing her face from the blast of flickering flash bulbs. Luhan lowered his head to where he could whisper to her. “I’m going to walk slowly towards the taxi. I know you can’t see where you’re going, so just walk slowly with me and try not to trip.” She nodded against his shoulder.

The walk to the taxi was excruciating. A normal walk would have already been awkwardly slow, but navigating the backwards walk with the pain in her ankle was worse. Each shutter click and flash of light accentuated the slow movement.

Luhan made it to the door, blocking view of the inside of the taxi from through the door. He leaned over, causing Paige to sit backwards. From inside the cab, Sehun grabbed her arm, forcing her into the middle back seat. He had already removed his jacket and placed it over her head so that no one would get a clear look at her inside the taxi. Outside, Luhan turned towards the first taxi where Baekhyun and Lay were already sitting in the taxi, but Kai was still standing with his door open. Luhan nodded at him and tucked himself into the taxi next to Paige. Kai sat inside his taxi and closed the door. Both of the taxis promptly left the front of the restaurant to return them to the dorm.

Inside, huddled between Sehun and Luhan, Paige peeked out from under Sehun’s jacket to see that both boys were looking out the windows. Luhan was staring straight ahead at the direction the taxi was taking, while Sehun was busy scanning the streets on his side of the car. She leaned forward pulling her ankle out of her shoe to give it some relief from the confined space after the awkward walking. Paige winced and bit her lip to prevent any sound from escaping.

She felt the side of the jacket lift away and turned to stare at Sehun. “Are you okay?”

“Mhmmm,” she lied. She still had her hand around her ankle, even though it had been pulled from the shoe.

“I think she re-hurt the ankle, Luhan,” Sehun stated, ignoring that Paige had dismissed the pain.

Paige sat up, released her hold on her ankle, and stared at Sehun, “I’m okay. Really.”

“We can ice and re-bandage it back at the dorm,” Luhan stated. “I’m sorry. I had to keep you hidden. I didn’t think about your ankle.”

“Really, I’m okay. It’s just a little sore. I’m sure it’ll be just fine tomorrow,” Paige stated, not wanting any of them to ever feel like they were responsible.

“We’re almost to the dorm. We’re going to have to rush to the door,” Luhan stated.

Paige leaned down and slipped her shoe back on. She then adjusted the jacket over her head and waited.

A/N

Time for some self promotion now... lol. I made this a few months ago... but I still like to watch it... plus, it's just Kai...dancing:

Anywho, Thanks for reading! :D