The court was obviously on Kris’s side. He stood up, shook the judge’s hand and left the court. He had a feeling of happiness but sorrow and guilt at the same time. He was glad to be able to escape the cruel contract of SM, and to step out into the world for a new destiny. However, as he was the leader of EXO-M, he had left his brothers behind for a better life for himself. He didn’t stick to his promises, and he felt guilty for doing this.

“1…2…3…We are one! Hello we are EXO!”

“We’ll be together forever.”

“As EXO-M’s leader, you should go in the water too.”

“….”

“….”

Those memories flooded back in his head. He knew EXO won’t be one without him, and his heart ached at the thought of it. Without realising, he had miraculously arrived at EXO’s dorm. There was nobody there, as they were all at a concert rehearsal for the next day. He took out his old suitcases and began gathering his belongings.

It was almost half an hour, and he was close to finishing his packing. Suddenly, a photo caught his eye. It was a framed picture of EXO’s first day together, yelling “WE ARE ONE” for the first time.

We were young back then…

He remembered his first day in SM. He remembered the hours he spent training every day. He remembered the dances they had to practise. He remembered the songs they had to record. He remembered the raps that he had always mastered. He remembered the concerts they had. He remembered the music videos they filmed. He remembered the awards they won. He remembered them always shouting “WE ARE ONE EXO!!” to the crowd of fans. His tears were rolling down, dripping onto the picture. He had carried it everywhere he went, and kept it in perfect condition. There was a stampede of people coming from behind him. Turning around, it was his fellow brothers.

Quickly wiping up his tears, he turned around to face them.

“Yifan! How was it? Did you win?” Suho asked hastily and worriedly.

EXO had hoped that Kris didn’t win. They wanted him to stay with EXO and be together forever. However, they also hoped that he won, because then he could find a new life for himself rather than being stuck in a company with the worst bosses ever. They hated their boss as well.

The room froze. Nobody moved, nobody breathed, nobody dared to make a sound. They were waiting for Yifan’s answer.

Just tell them.

“I won the case. I’m going back home,” he said with no expression, but he was obviously trying to hold the emotions in. The rest of them froze and stared at him. Suddenly, all of them burst into a fireworks of anger and grief. Kris could see Tao pushing through his hyungs towards him.

“Hyung! Why do you have to leave? Who will shower with me when you’re gone? Who will buy me Gucci? Who will be the one to protect me from humility?” Zitao cried, grabbing onto Kris tightly. Yifan put his arms around the boy and whispered:

Don’t worry, you will see me again when you come to China. I’ll come and watch your concerts, I’ll visit you often, and I’ll call or text you every day, is that not enough?

Even though Kris was the one who whispered these words, he couldn’t help crying. Suho grabbed his hand after Tao was pulled off Kris by the older Hyungs.

“Kris, you have been such an awesome leader for EXO-M. I know you have to go, but how I wished that you could’ve kept your promise and be together forever?” Joonmyeon said calmly, his eyes watery with tears. Suho was a big fan of Kris’s. He enjoyed his company and his dedication to his job as a leader.

“If you leave, who will help me look after the kids? Who will watch over EXO-M? Who will be the dad of EXO?” Suho sobbed, finally letting his tears out. “I wish we could run into the water one more time before you left.”

“Why don’t we?” Kris replied, forcing a smile to his face.

So off they went to the Winter Sea. On the way, he saw the pain in the other members’ eyes, the awkward silence in the car, and Tao clinging onto him, not willing to let go.

“Kris Hyung,” Chanyeol spoke up, breaking the silence. “Do you have to go? Please stay with us! You don’t have to go! We can change the contract!”

Great. Even the happy virus was going flat.

“Channie, I can’t,” Yifan sighed. “SM will never agree. Besides, I’m flying back tomorrow anyway, I have the plane tickets already.”

For once in his life, he saw Chanyeol’s face filled with hot tears. Baekhyun turned to wipe them, and also spoke up.

“Please, Yifan Hyung, you know how much we love you! We are one! Without you, we won’t be one anymore…” he said, trailing off at the end.

It was a grave situation.

Sehun was crying on Luhan’s shoulder, saying: “Otoke? Luhan Hyung? Why does Kris Hyung have to leave us! I thought we were going to be together forever.” Luhan sighed. He didn’t know the answer to the magnae’s question either. He was depressed, sunken in his own thoughts about Kris.

Yixing had no expressions at all. He just cried and cried and cried, and Jongin cried along with him, also trying to say something, but he couldn’t make out the words. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, wasn’t crying, but he was ignoring everyone and buried his head in his lap. Minseok and Chen were together, asking Kris a million questions.

“Kris, can you not leave?” Xiumin asked.

“I must,” he replied.

“But why? I promise I won’t troll anymore…” Chen’s voice trailed off. He broke down and Minseok had to calm him down. The scene was unbearable.

They arrived at the Winter Sea. It was the last time Kris was going to be here with EXO. Without hesitating this time, he took off his outer wear along with Suho, and holding each other’s hand, they sprinted into the freezing waters of the sea. With tears streaming down their faces, but their smiles never disappeared. They remembered that first time Kris ran into the water, and how they told him that it was the coolest thing he’s ever done, and now he was doing it again.

“EXO saranghaja!” they cried. Running back out of the water, the whole of EXO hugged Kris and wished him luck. They yelled into the distance all their wishes for Kris.

“I hope Kris finds a better company in the future!” Minseok cried.

“I hope Kris has a better life in the future!” Luhan shouted.

“I hope that Yifan Hyung will never forget us!” Sehun exclaimed.

“I hope that our galaxy will always come back and visit EXO planet!” Chen shouted.

“I hope that Kris Hyung will always be happy and healthy!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“I hope Yifan Hyung will live a long life and live up to his dreams!” Jongin cried.

“I hope Kris Ge will get stronger and stronger every day!” Yixing yelled.

“I hope Kris Hyung will always have us 11 brothers in his heart!” Kyungsoo cried.

“I hope Kris Hyung will get better and better and achieve his dreams soon!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

“I hope Yifan Ge will always enjoy life and remember me when he’s showering!” Tao shouted.

“I hope our galaxy will always remember, that even if he isn’t a part of EXO anymore, and no matter how far apart we are from Kris, all 12 of us will still shout WE ARE ONE EXO!” Suho concluded, leaving everyone with hot tears down their cheeks.

When they arrived back at their dorm, EXO crowded around Kris and begged him not to go. But of course, they all failed.

“Here, take this chicken, to remind you that chicken is not your style,” Jongin passed a toy chicken to him, with a picture of him.

It was basically all pictures of them for presents, except when it got to Suho and Tao.

Tao handed Kris a bag with Gucci imprinted on it.

“Kris Hyung, have a look inside,” Tao sobbed. Kris opened the bag, and pulled everything out. There were clothes from Gucci, and the one at the bottom made him drop to the ground with tears dripping onto the ground. He finally revealed what it was. It was a special t-shirt that Tao had asked a special designer to make. It had a picture of EXO as well as the signatures of every single person. Without hesitating, Kris put it on right away and gave Tao a big hug, letting Tao’s tears soak his clothes. Suho walked over and patted their shoulders, giving him a thick notebook.

“I need you to have this,” he said calmly. Kris opened it slowly, reading the neat writing of Suho’s, the pictures that he had stuck in there, and he read through the days from when they just debuted, until the day they had their comeback for Overdose.

“This is my scrapbook. Keep it with you, and continue it throughout your life, and always remember us, because we are one EXO!” Suho explained. Kris grabbed on tight to it, and carefully placed it in his backpack.

“I will take it with me everywhere I go,” he promised to Suho. It was almost 11pm, so they all went to their rooms and slept.

Kris woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He dreamt that SM staff were treating EXO really badly. Suho was being kicked, Kyungsoo had bruises all over him, Sehun was scarred in a lot of places, Baekhyun being slapped for hiding his phone to contact Kris, Tao and Lay and Xiumin crying in a corner, Luhan hiding behind the SM building trying to hide away from the SM staff forcing him to tell them his computer password, Chanyeol being pushed around and eventually to the ground, and Jongin being rushed to the hospital for no certain reason. Even though it was a dream, he heard them crying, he heard Baekhyun scream from the third floor of the SM building, he heard the SM staff members shout at Luhan, and he heard the painful moans of those injured.

Are they doing all of this because of me?

He stood up and checked on all of the members. He found scars on Sehun, bruises on D.O. and Suho, and the damaged face of Baekhyun. He could feel his tears coming down his faces as he checked fan websites to see what had really happened to his 11 brothers.

He hated the fact that he didn’t do anything about it. He cried and cried until he fell asleep. After all, it was his last time in this dorm…

The next day, Kris woke up early to check if he had left any of his belongings behind. EXO was amazingly silent today, but one sound broke the silence.

“Yifan Ge, must you go?”

It was Tao. He had been crying this whole time, from the second he was awake his tears streamed down his face. Kris hugged him again, while the other members watched with watery eyes and faces. Nobody spoke when they had breakfast, and all of them were picking at their food, even though there was chicken.

“Chicken is not my style,” Kris suddenly exclaimed, just like he did in EXO’s Showtime. The whole of EXO laughed again, but they remembered that they were going to lose one of them soon, and their smiles disappeared very quickly.

It was time to leave for the airport. Kris made his bed for the last time, tidied up EXO-M’s messy dorm, and stepped out the door. This was it. He was going to change his life. EXO came with him to the airport to bid him farewell, but they didn’t want to farewell. They wanted to lock him in the dorm and keep him there to be with them.

“Kris Hyung! Why don’t you stay! We can always change the contract and everything…” Baekhyun spoke up. The whole car began to go on about the same thing, but Kris remained silent. Until the end…

“It’s too late to do anything now,” he said calmly, getting out of the car with the EXO members. He wanted to spend the last moments with his brothers on important things. He didn’t know how many pictures he took of himself and the rest of them.

All of a sudden, Kris didn’t want to leave anymore. All the memories came flooding back, the happy moments, the glorious moments, the sad moments, and most importantly, the moments they spent together, shouting “WE ARE ONE! EXO SARANGHAJA!”

But you have to go. You must escape the cruel rules of SM.

After checking in, he walked towards the security checks. He felt someone grab his shirt.

“Yifan, good luck in China,” Luhan said in Chinese, his eyes shining with tears. “Don’t forget to eat a lot of chicken.”

“Ge!” Tao cried. “Don’t forget me, please!”

“I promise I’ll be a good leader of EXO-M!” Lay shouted.

“I’ll smile every day and pretend you are next to me every time we’re standing in our line,” Chanyeol said with a forced smile.

“Don’t forget to rap a lot when you’re bored,” Baekhyun whispered.

“Do some dance practice, it’s good for your health,” Jongin added.

“Always remember my trolls, and have a good laugh over them,” Chen smiled.

“I know you are the best! Don’t forget us galaxy hyung!” Sehun cried.

“Take care of yourself, and find a good company, don’t let contracts ruin your life again!” Minseok shouted.

“Listen to the sounds outside, you might even hear me sing!” Kyungsoo joked.

“Yifan, you’ll always be EXO-M’s leader. Wherever you go, we are always one, and even though we are not together, our hearts always will be,” Suho said. “And don’t forget to take vitamins every day,” he joked, and they both laughed.

They put their hands on top of each other, and for the last time as the 12 of them, they cried: “EXO SARANGHAJA!” Kris hugged the 11 of them once more, tears rolling down their faces. Kris was no longer Kris. He was Wu Yifan.

Turning around, Kris walked slowly into the doors of the security checks. But he turned around, looked at his brothers in the eye, and shouted “1…2…3….”

The answer was obvious.

“We are one! Hello, we are EXO!” they all shouted back to him. Kris waved once more, had a good look at his brothers, and turned back around, leaving Korea for the last time. His new life has begun.