Chapter 3

            Kai awoke the next morning with a pounding headache and a kink in his neck from sleeping in the fetal position all night.  He walked into the kitchen with his hand on his own shoulder, trying to work the knots outs.  He greeted the members that were already awake and took his seat at the table.

            “You look exhausted,” noticed Chen, “are you okay?”

            “I just woke up…” Kai replied sleepily.

            “Well yeah, but more so than usual.  Maybe you should take it easy today, or else you’ll get sick.”

            “I’m fine…” he wasn’t all that confident in his reply, but it was only one day that he heard and saw his imaginary so far, so he figured he’d be okay for the time being. 

             Sehun came into the room with a yawn on his face and his arms stretched high above his head, “good morning.”

            They mumbled a quick reply and went back to making their breakfasts.

            Once the other members were all awake and seated at the table with food in front of them, Suho went over the schedule for the day.  “I’m so glad our schedule’s short today,” he started, “all we have to do is go to this interview, and then we have the rest of the day to do whatever!”

            “Thank the almighty lord!” proclaimed Chanyeol, “I’ve got so many episodes of Supernatural I gotta catch up on!”

            “Yeah, me too!” added Baekhyun, “but you’re further than I am, so you have to wait for me to catch up!”

            “Jongin, why aren’t you eating anything?” asked a concerned Luhan.

            “I’m not hungry.”

            “But you’re always hungry in the morning…” stated Sehun.

            “Jongin, is something going on?  Are you feeling sick at all?” asked Suho worried.

            “No, I feel okay.  I’m just not hungry.”

            “Well, try to eat a little something,” said Kyungsoo handing him an apple.

            Kai forced himself to take a bite and swallow.  All he really wanted at the moment was coffee from the café down the street.

            Exo followed their leader down the street in the direction of where their interview was supposed to take place.

            “Sehun, Kyungsoo, come get coffee with me,” said Kai.

            “Finally,” said Sehun, “I need some soon or I’m going to crash!”

            “Yeah, same,” said D.O.

            The three of them walked into the café trying their best to remain unseen by anyone who might recognize them.  Luckily, there were only a few people in the coffee house and they could get their coffee and leave quickly.

            After receiving their coffee, they turned to leave, but Kai’s eyes found somebody very familiar.  It was the girl he had run into yesterday.  She had the same cute glasses she had on the day before and a simple black dress skirt and blazer.  She was sitting at a table next to the window by herself reading a magazine.

            Her phone buzzed and she stood up from her seat and gathered up her things.  Kai approached her.

            “Hey, Haelee right?” he said friendly.

            She looked up to see who it was that spoke her name, “Oh, hello again,” she said smiling, “Jongin, right?”

            “Yeah,” he said, “I didn’t think I’d see you this soon.”

            She laughed, “Neither did I.  Sorry to cut this conversation short, but I’m actually on my way to work right now and I need to go.”

            “That’s okay; I’m on my way to work too.  Where’re you headed?”

            They exited the café together and she replied, “I’m actually on my way to the SM Entertainment building.  My boss needs help interviewing an idol group.”

            “Yeah, my idol group,” he laughed.

            She looked at him slightly shocked, “You’re an idol?”

            “Yeah, I’m the lead dancer of Exo.”

            “That’s who she’s interviewing!?  My sister’ll be so jealous when I tell her I’ve met Jongin of Exo and the other members too of course.”

            “You might want to tell her you met Kai.  That’s my stage name.”

            “Oh, right, my sister did tell me about you, that’s why I thought you looked so familiar yesterday.  She has posters of you guys all over her bedroom.  I think her favorite is Baekhyun.  I really like your songs ‘XOXO’ and ‘My Lady’.  I’m sorry; I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

            “No, that’s okay.” They continued to walk together towards the building, “So, are you a reporter?”

            She laughed, “oh god no.  I hate journalism.  I’m actually going to school for Child Psychology but I’m working as an assistant for a reporter from ‘Star Power’ magazine to have an income while I’m a student.”

            “That’s smart,” he smiled.

            They arrived at the building and stepped inside, “hello Kai,” greeted the security guard seated at the front desk.

            “Hey,” he replied.

            Haelee found her boss and met up with her while Kai went with Sehun and Kyungsoo to find the other members.

            “Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible,” said Chanyeol, “I’ve got shows to watch back home!”

            “You’ll get to watch your show,” said Suho, “you just need to be patient.”

            “Alright boys!” said Exo’s manager, “We’re going to start in a few moments, take your seats.”

            All twelve guys sat in their assigned chairs and waited patiently for the camera’s to finish getting set up and for the interviewer to finish getting her make-up on.

            Throughout the interview, Kai could not take his eyes off of Haelee.  He found her so beautiful.  His eyes only ever left her when he was asked a direct question.

            “Kai, how about you, have you ever heard any ridiculous rumor about yourself?”

            His attention was brought back to the interview.

            They boys all laughed, and Kai answered awkwardly, “no, I don’t think so.”

            “Whatever Kai!” said Baekhyun, “what about the one about you being gay for Taemin?!”

            “And D.O!” added Chanyeol.

            Kai rolled his eyes, “none of those are true…there are rumors about all of us being gay for each other…it’s so dumb, because none of us are.”

            The boys all laughed.

            After the interview the boys all stood up and bowed to their interviewer.

            Haelee approached Kai and said, “You kept staring at me.”

            “N-no…I wasn’t staring at you…”

            “That’s okay Jongin, I think you’re cute too,” she smiled.

            “Y-you do!?”

            She giggled, “Yes.  Here, let me see your phone.”

            Kai handed her his phone and she quickly entered in her name and number.

            “Text me, okay?” she said.

            “Yeah, I will.”

            And with that she left.

            “So Jongin,” said Luhan teasingly, “who was that?”

            “Her name’s Haelee.”

            “That the same girl you ran into yesterday?” asked Kyungsoo.

            Kai nodded, “she gave me her number.”

            “Oooohhh,” said Chanyeol, “Kai’s got a ladyyyy!”

            “Shut up…It’s not like that.”

            “Not yet it’s not,” said Xiumin.

            “Yeah, just you wait, you’ll fall in love with her,” giggled Chen.

            “I don’t know about that…” Kai said quietly.

            “You should ask her out,” added Tao.

            “I don’t have time to date…”

            “Well, make time dammit!” said Chanyeol, “one of us deserves to be happy!”

            “We’ll see.”

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