Chapter Fourteen

Your POV

“Well, who do we have here?” Chanyeol clasped his hands together, anticipating how I was going to introduce her to them. He looked like he was mocking me though, having fun with the current situation. All the members looked attentively at me, waiting for me to speak and explain what on earth was happening. Especially Baekhyun, who was terrified by the intruder who was looking for him. I was about to open my mouth to speak when Karen―the intruder whom I had no idea how she got here, interrupted me.

“Is that…” her voice trailed before she stopped, eyes still fixed on Baekhyun. She couldn’t seem to get a hold of herself as she stood in stupefaction. I looked at her, then directed my eyes back to Chanyeol who had walked towards us and was currently standing behind me. I sent them an apologetic look for the ruckus made by Karen on behalf. I caught Sehun snorting after he saw me, rolling his eyes afterwards as he focused on his phone.

“Him?” she managed to complete her question with proper words and not much stuttering. I nodded before turning around, bowing a couple of times as I repeated the word ‘sorry’. Without any hesitation, I pulled Karen out of the dance studio before she could say any more words. As for the explanation, I’ll explain to them after I settle things with her. On the way out to the corridor, we coincidently bumped into some of the members (Lay, Suho and Xiumin) who previously went out during the break. They were surprised to see Karen but nonetheless, they bowed with respect before returning to the studio.

“Okay, I get it. You can let me go,” she whined as she tried to remove my arms. I only released her when we reached the emergency escape area near the staircase. Before I could speak, she explained herself quickly. “Look, I really didn’t know they were inside! It took me a while to even recognise him since he looked different in real life,” she said in a hurry, surrendering herself with hands up. I exhaled before folding my arms and narrowing my eyes on her.

“Now tell me, how did you get here?” I ordered in a stern tone. She shook her head slightly, her hair strands that came out from her bun falling slightly. She grinned triumphantly. “Guess,” she said with that similar smug grin, ticking me off. I was getting irritated since I wasn’t in the mood for games like this now. “No, you tell me.” I demanded before she showed me a gesture, signalling for me to calm down.

“Basically, I wanted to find you here since you worked as their manager” she said with a smile. “But then I met Eun Ji on the way  when I got lost in this huge building and she told me where you were. Also, she gave me the permission to go in.” she added. I scoffed incredulously, thinking of ways on how I was going to murder her once I see her again. Could staffs in the company even allow strangers to just go in anywhere?

“But hey, she didn’t tell me about them practising in the room.” She frowned before I gave her a slap on her arm like she deserved. She scowled at me before rubbing on that area in pain while I figured out what I was going to do with her. “Back to the point,” she said out of the blue, making me snapped my head to her.

“When are you introducing me to Baekhyun?”

I rolled my eyes and decided that I was definitely not going to introduce them to each other today since it would be a ridiculous thing after all that happened just now. Karen held onto my arm tightly as she shook it, whining continuously with her puppy eyes. “When is it? I’ve got to admit, he looked way hotter in real life.” She wailed in desperation as I shrugged impassively.

“Not today,” I mumbled as she shook my arm harder after hearing those words. “Why? I came all the way here and it was so tiring!” she lamented continuously about her plight as I couldn’t tolerate it any longer. I was about to shut her up when I realized it doesn’t work on her. Karen wouldn’t stop anything she starts until she gets what she wanted. After years of friendship, no one has ever successfully stop her from what she’s been doing. So rather than being stupid, I figured out it would be a better solution to give up.

“Alright, after their practice! You can watch them first, but don’t disturb them,” I warned before she did a fist punch in the air for victory, doing another small victory dance. I giggled at her silly actions before leading the way back to their dance studio as she tagged along behind.

When we reached the studio, the members have already continued with their practice since their break was over. Most of them spotted Karen while dancing and were astounded, probably thinking why I brought her back here. Those who knew what happened in the studio had also explained to those who went out and they gossiped about who she was. Baekhyun looked really nervous since he avoided looking at Karen the whole time I noticed him. I couldn’t really blame him since Karen is quite intimidating.

Especially since they met in such a unique way.

I often nudged Karen with my elbow for her to stop eyeing Baekhyun in a fierce way. She shrugged as she took out her phone instead to play games. After hours of what seem like days, their practise was finally done for the day. They did have short breaks but Baekhyun would avoid us, except that he’ll give me a bashful smile as he left the studio. I’ll pull Karen if she tried to get up from the chair to prevent her from pouncing herself to Baekhyun like a beast. The practice occurred for nearly 7hours and it was currently 12am.

“Are you sure your parents are fine with this?” I asked again. Even though I asked her a couple of times before it turned dark, she kept insisting that it was fine. I was suspecting her for lying just to have a date with Baekhyun. She seemed to fancy him a lot.

“Yes! They are busy!” she assured me as she rolled her eyes while focusing on her phone. I frowned as I tried to peer over to see who she was texting since she was busy fiddling with the keyboard on her phone. She quickly moved to the side as she covered her screen slightly with her palms, a grin etched on her face. “Who is it that you have to be so secretive about?” I scowled at her since I was the one who was helping her to get close to Baekhyun. And she didn’t even allow me to see who she was texting.

“The person that you would like to murder so badly, Eun Ji,” she smiled to herself as she continued to message her. She was having fun as she laughed to herself quite some times. I was about to snatch her phone away from her to see what they were chatting about when someone disturbed me.

“She didn’t leave yet?” Chanyeol asked as he walked over with a small towel in his hands, dabbing it on his forehead. I noticed all of them were drenched with sweat as they lay on the ground, exhausted and lethargic. “I’m supposed to have a date with B-“ Karen was shouting it ecstatically when I instantly cupped my palm over before she could spill out anything. But Chanyeol seemed to have understood it as he snapped his fingers with a wide smile that showed all his teeth. “Ah! That friend who’s interested in our Baekhyun?” he asked curiously. Baekhyun immediately looked up at the mention of his name before he looked away, shy when he met her eyes.

“You guys can have your midnight date while we return to our dorms first,” Jongin suggested with a mischievous smirk. “Yea! We’ll return first by ourselves. Don’t worry Su Mi,” Chanyeol beamed at Jongin’s idea as he put his arm around Kris’ shoulders just to get it harshly removed by Kris. “Baekhyun’s free tonight, take him.” Tao snickered, just to receive a smack on his arm from Baekhyun. As they spoke, most of them headed for the exit and left the door.

My eyes caught Sehun who had a frown on his face. He looked different as his forehead was sweating a lot more than the other members even though most of them wiped their sweats off. His hands were in his pockets as he put on his snapback and slung his bag over his shoulder, walking out of the studio after all the others have left. He looked uncomfortable when he sent me a look before leaving the studio.

“Hey, who’s that? He’s quite hot too,” Karen whispered to my ear as she stared at his back figure from the glass door. I smacked her head with the file that I always bring along for their schedules before I decided to talk since Baekhyun must have felt awkward. He slightly bowed his head at Karen for respect which was quite amusing. Karen found it amusing too as she tried to control herself from laughing. “This is Karen, my friend who wants to know you better.” I introduced as she waved at him. He gave her a small smile in return. I felt like I was a working as a matchmaker then.

“Eat up, I’m treating.” Karen said coolly as she wolfed down the sandwich in her hands. The table was filled with plates of cakes of a variety of flavours; having taken one from all the different flavours, drinks;cold and hot, and some bread. We were in a café near the company since it was more convenient to reach the dorm, and Karen could take a cab home easily then. Baekhyun was aghast at the amount of food she bought, and so was I. Furthermore, I forgot to mention to him that Karen was from a rich family; exceptionally rich one. She spends her money on anything that was unnecessary and she’s in a serious case of a shopaholic.

Baekhyun gulped as she gestured for him to start digging in. He awkwardly took a plastic fork from the table before tasting a bite of the red velvet cake. Karen gave him an eye smile as she gestured for him to eat more. After about an hour or so, things progressed and got a lot better. They started to talk and Baekhyun would try his best to mention some hilarious stories about the members as Karen guffawed at his jokes. I joined along but rather, I was trying to get myself distracted.

From thinking of Sehun.

He looked really different and having known him for years, I could sense that something was wrong with him when I saw him heading out of the studio. His face kept flashing in my mind and I couldn’t seem to get it out.

“That was awesome! How did you guys manage to do that?” Karen chortled loudly as she clapped her hands like a seal. Baekhyun was talking to her about some pranks they played on each other. My eyes caught sight of the time from the clock that was hanging on the wall as I told them that we should go. They still have practices in the next morning and it was about 2 in the morning. Karen then nodded, satisfied as she stood up and put out her hand. Baekhyun gladly shook it as they exchanged numbers before Karen left in a cab.

“How is it?” I asked when we were walking back to the dorm. He nodded with a smile, “Not that bad, she’s quite cute. Totally different from my first impression of her,” he stated truthfully as I stifled a laughter at his comment on her. If she finds out, he’ll probably receive another beating. We were talking about the dance practices when I unlocked the door after reaching the dorm. I was expecting it to be dark since they should have been sleeping but instead, it was the total opposite.

The lights of all the rooms were still on.

The door to my room swung open as I heard some murmurs inside. It seemed like all of the members were inside. I threw my bag on the couch as I walked towards Jongin who just came out from the room. He was in  a rush as he quickly brisk-walked to the kitchen and squeezed a towel that was soaked in a basin of water. I frowned as I wondered what on earth was he doing. Baekhyun had the same reaction as me as he stood beside me, bewildered.

Jongin was about to walk back into the room when I grasped onto his wrist. He turned around with an anxious expression as he was breathing heavily. I softened at his expression as I realized maybe it was because of the long hours practice they had just now.

“What happened?” I asked him as he avoided my eyes. He directed his eyes from Baekhyun back to me before exhaling.

“Sehun’s sick, he’s having a high fever.”