"The more you open your mouth

The more you're forcing performance"

It had been a week since EXO's meeting with Ura, and the tensions hadn't lifted in the slightest. After their abrupt introduction, Ura had moved into their dorms the following day, careful not to be seen by paparazzi or the general public. Her presence in the dorms was neither comforting nor unsettling for the members of EXO. Ura seemed quite proficient in the art of being unnoticable.

"I don't get why you have to stay in here, though. Why can't the public see us together yet so we can get this over with?" Luhan asked one weekend when everyone had the day off.

"Because it's too immediate," Ura replied from her perch at the end of the couch. "If you were to have a girlfriend right after saying you wished you had one, that would be both suspicious and detrimental to your image."

"Detrimental to his image?" Baekhyun chuckled.

"Time and consideration should usually be put into a relationship rather than haphazardly diving in." She turned her attention to the brunette with eyes that were both entirely uninterested and utterly involved in the same moment. "What would it say about your friend if he were the type to dive in?"

"I never thought of that..." Baekhyun turned to Luhan now, slight embarrassment in his features.

"Of course you didn't." Ura shrugged. Her words held no malice, but rather complete indifference.

"Who's in charge of this whole operation, anyway?" Xiumin asked from the kitchen as he raided the fridge.

"Me," she answered bluntly.

"Eh?" Xiumin straightened to stare at Ura from behind the refrigerator door as all parties present turned their attention towards her.

She seemed rather unbothered by their shock and continued to look at her phone with  more interest than she had subjected any of the twelve men present to. They all continued to watch her, waiting for some form of reaction or explanation. When neither were received, Luhan took it upon himself to prompt Ura.

"Why are you in charge?" He inquired after clearing his throat.

"Are we still talking about this?" Ura looked up with genuine surprise, a perfectly arched eyebrow raising in question.

"I'm going to go with yes," Luhan replied, mirroring the words Ura had said upon their meeting.

An air of amusement passed through Ura's eyes which was almost gratifying to Luhan. She allowed for a smile to tug at the corners of her lips as she placed her phone down and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I took the job under the one condition that I was in charge of everything," Ura said simply, her words carrying no weight with them.

"Why?" Luhan pressed.

"You're a curious one, aren't you?" She displayed that same almost smile and raised an eyebrow before continuing. "I like being in control. Simple as that. I'm not going to let anyone dictate how I live and what I do."

"But wasn't accepting this job having someone tell you what to do?" Kris chimed in from the other side of the room.

"No," she answered without turning, "I chose this job because I liked the pay. I could have easily denied and your management knew that."

"Is that why they let you be in charge of everything?" Luhan asked, brow furrowed in curious confusion.

"When you're desperate, you're pretty yeilding to negotiations." Ura shrugged, reaching for her phone and indicating that the conversation was now finished.

"Luhan, you can't keep me waiting all day!" Ura called impatiently from the living room.

"I'm stalling!" Luhan called back from his room. 

"And why on Earth are you doing that?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest and stalking towards Luhan's room.

She wrenched open the door to see the man in question pacing the length of his room shirtless. Upon her entrance, Luhan stopped abruptly and wrapped his arms around his torso with a look of indignation.

"Oh, calm down, princess," Ura scoffed and put her hands on her hips as she waited for an explanation.

"I don't know what to wear," Luhan muttered sheepishly.

"We're literally just going out shopping, it's not senior prom." She rolled her eyes.

"But this is important! It's been almost a month of hiding and getting used to each other and you telling me how to answer questions, and now we finally make it public! This is a big deal," he persisted earnestly, resuming his pacing.

"We're going shopping." Ura repeated. "Get yourself together and put a shirt on. We are not a real couple, so you don't need to get your in a knot. Just put up your A game and act convincing."

With that, she turned and left Luhan to stand there. He wished he could be as confident as Ura was in this matter. Rather than being sure that he could pull off a convincing act, he was nervous that the public would see right through their guise. Luhan was nowhere near as fearless as his pretend girlfriend and that worried him. Sure, Ura could make anyone believe anything with her level voice and perfectly selected words, but he couldn't even decide what to wear on their first pretend date.

"Luhan, you're wearing this, now let's go," Ura ordered as she stormed back into his room, grabbed a shirt from his closet, and shoved it into his hands.