Chapter Twenty-One

Your POV

I was tongue-tied, not because I couldn’t reply to his question but I was hesitating, fighting with myself to not let out anything to him. The last thing I wanted would be for him to be aware of what he actually said when he was drunk. If I’d answer him, he’ll probably probe further and force the truth out of me. You know it wasn’t like that. His voice rang at the back of my head again.

I shook my head vigorously, trying to get the voice out of my head.

Sehun looked at me with wide eyes as he was stunned by my sudden actions. Despite my strange actions, he seemed to have caught it as he released his grip. He dropped his hand to the side before putting one hand on his waist as the other pinched his nose bridge. He sighed in exasperation, causing me to jump a little. “I did it, didn’t I?” he asked.

“Then I must have said some strange things too,” he muttered to himself but I could hear it clearly. “N-No, you didn’t say anything,” I added in a hurry, causing him to cast me a suspicious look. He raised a brow before he gave me a light push from the back as a signal for me to go out of the kitchen. I silently obeyed him as I stood at the other end, observing how he carefully picked up all the broken pieces.

He was frowning as he glanced at the pieces, meticulously picking them up with the tip of his fingers to prevent any cut. He went to take the broom afterwards before he swept the remaining tiny pieces and threw them to the bin. I contemplated as I zoned out for a moment, thinking whether I did something wrong. Should I have told him what happened?

Sehun came walking out of the kitchen after having cleared the mess but I suddenly clutched onto the hem of his sleeve without even realizing it myself. He turned around to look at me as he gave me a curious look. “You have something to say?” he asked as if nothing happened before.

“You were scared that night…” I started. “That’s why you held onto my wrist,” I explained―not exactly telling him everything. He looked as if he was trying to recall it, but he seemed to snapped back to reality before he held onto my hand and pulled it away from his shirt, giving me a firm nod to show that he was fine. He walked out of the kitchen just to be greeted by the other members who have returned.

I didn’t even hear the door opening but I guess I was too focused.

It soon turned noisy as the members were all talking and blabbering as they walked in. Lay and Jongin walked in the kitchen as they placed the bags of food they bought from outside on the kitchen table. They were sending each other suspicious looks as Lay tried to refrain a smile on his face. I furrowed my brows at them but Jongin decided to speak.

“Sorry Su Mi, you slept so soundly we didn’t want to wake you up.” Jongin said as Lay nodded in agreement instantly. “Same goes for Sehun,” he added before they both left the kitchen without even hearing my respond. Lay was nudging Jongin with his elbow as they both giggled while walking out of the kitchen. “Did anything happen?” I heard another voice, turning around just to see Luhan as well.

“What could have happened?” I said sarcastically, slightly mad that they would leave Sehun and I alone in the house even having known we had serious issues with each other. We could have murdered each other―as for the worst case scenario. Luhan chuckle at my words as he walked closer to me. “You seemed fine,” he grinned, leaning his face closer out of the blue as he stared at me.

My eyes widened at the close proximity but his fingers went to the side as he tucked a few strands of my hair that fell out from my pony tail to behind my ear. His lips curled into a smile before he leaned back from me. I noticed I held my breath the entire time when he came closer. “Seems like the both of you got a whole lot better,” he commented with a laugh. But actually, that was what I thought too.

“Having both of you alone in a house without any fights…that’s quite an improvement.” He chortled as I glowered at him. I couldn’t believe that they weren’t even worried that we would have killed each other in the dorm. He grinned triumphantly before ruffling my hair again, telling me that our breakfast is on the table as he left the kitchen.

Today would be another tiring and busy day. I heaved a sigh as my eyes scanned through what was in plan for them. I ran my fingers through my hair as I let out another groan. They need to be brought to the company for their music video shooting for their comeback. Since they had been practicing for quite a while on their dance, they would probably do well for their shooting. Or as so I hope. "What's  up for today?" Baekhyun asked with a curious look as he walked closer to take a look at the documents. "We have lots of things today," I said as I casted him a sympathetic look. He shrugged since it was almost similar to any other days they lived. "Tell the other members to prepare themselves..." I told him while taking some of the bread they bought and munching on them.

"We've got shooting today," I added before he nodded and was about to head out of the kitchen when he stopped in his steps. "Photoshoot?" he asked with scrunched up eyebrows. "Music Video," I said. But with those two words, he understood fairly well how important it is and instantly bolted out to inform the other members.

"Where'd we heading?" Luhan asked as I locked the door of the dorm. We were prepared and were moving out of the dorm to go to the vans. Most of them were just wearing casual T-shirts and jeans since they were going to change there into their fancy costumes. "I'm not sure. But for now, we're going to the company," I explained as he made an o shape with his mouth in return. They went up their respective vans as I spotted Sehun, who happened to look up and meet my gaze, looking back down immediately. He was avoiding me. I wondered why but shrugged and told myself to stop thinking about it before closing the door of the van after everyone was inside. 
 

It didn't take long before we reached the company and most of them were nervous and anticipating for the shooting. Being their manager, I was feeling worried for them too but I believe they would do perfectly fine since they had spent many hours and efforts in it. I trudged to the counter before informing the lady in charge about their arrival. She took out some documents and scrutinize them before telling us where we were supposed to go. Some staffs were also here as they followed us from the dorms. We took the elevator to go to the third level as instructed and enter the special room for filming of music videos. Many of their seniors had used the room. My eyes widened as my jaws sagged in disbelief at the number of props placed messily around the place. The floor and walls were plain white and many of the cameras were already prepared with lightings. I brought them to the changing room as the coordinators and stylists in charge passed each of them their costumes and clothes that were prepared.

"See you later, our lovely manager," Luhan smirked as I cringed at the chessy name he decided to use before he took his clothes and left to the changing room. I rolled my eyes with a playful smile before I got called by the director in charge. He told me about the concept and how the music video would be filmed. I was quite impressed with how everything was organized for them months ago. The members were also familiar with the song now since they had recorded their voice for the song a few weeks ago when I took a break and some substitute manager was in charge. 
 

"Su Mi Noona, how do I look?" Tao shouted with his sharp voice, quickly making his way to me with a smile on his face. His costume was really fancy with some feathers hanging around but he looked charming with his make up done. I gave him a thumbs up as my face broke out into a wide smile. "She's not your noona, Tao. She's the same age as Sehun," Baekhyun reminded as he walked out too, dressed in his costume that consisted of some silver material shirt and a white hoodie with designs on it. His hair was styled nicely to the side and his eyeliner was totally on point.

"All of you are looking great," I commented, hoping it could somehow loosen their feelings and motivate them to do better. 

"Get Ready! We're starting the shoot soon," some staff called out with the paper rolled to make her voice louder. The members smiles slightly faded away as they looked even more nervous. They did a final cheer together before stepping onto the filming zone. I stood behind the cameras to observe them as I focused on how they were so different when they give their best for everything. The concept was quite cool―about how they were from another planet and all of them had their own individual and unique powers. The song they were shooting this time round was 'History' and I heard that they were going to use the CG effects for the background. Hence, they were filming on a plain white area. 

After many hours―you can literally call it a day, they were finished with the last scene. Even my eyes were so close to closing as I was exhausted without having much sleep. They stood up with sweat all over as they bowed and did their cheer again. They went around bowing to all the staffs and thanking them while I got called out by the director again. "They did great, the filming went smoothly. Hopefully, we can gather some time for them to rest for a while." the middle-aged man with tiny eyes and a snapback informed me as I nodded in agreement. They were still busy walking around the place when my phone rang. I picked it up knowing that it was from another staff. It didn't take me long before I could comprehend what happened after hearing the news from the call. I dropped my phone before shouting merrily, "The comeback date is confimed!"