“Have you looked everywhere?”

“Yeah. I’ve searched every corner of the school. I haven’t found a thing,” Luhan huffed and caught his breath. Minseok and Luhan had been searching for almost an hour, and still no sign of the members.

Minseok’s eyes widened. A shiver was sent down his spine. A shiver of fear. It can’t be...

“Luhan...” And seems like Luhan was thinking the same thing, too.

“They couldn’t have...been obliterated, right?”

As if to answer the questions they had in mind, a faint melody was heard from building C, third floor. The music room...

Minseok and Luhan looked at each other. With a nod, they headed to the said room. As they got closer, the melody was slowly fading, and as the music stopped. Their running spree ended before they could even reach the music room.

But the tension released when they heard claps from the inside.

“Whoa! That was great!” And Baekhyun’s loud voice was heard again. They glanced at each other and they both let out a sigh of relief. Their greatest fear is now gone.

“Hey guys!” Xiumin entered the music room and they all stared at him nervously. Xiumin was about to ask why when Luhan spoke behind him.

“I think you just interrupted something, Minseok.” Xiumin looked at Luhan to ask ‘what’, but Luhan just pointed at something behind him using his lips. Xiumin looked at his back, only to see someone with a microphone in his hands.

And that someone is glaring at him.

“You just interrupted my performance,” the guy said while keeping his head high. He looked really irritated because of the sudden intrusion.

“What performance?” Xiumin asked. He wanted to say that he’s the eldest one out of all of them, so the new guy better show him some respect.

“My performance. If you’ll excuse me—“

“Well excuse you, but I was looking for my members for about an hour, and I couldn’t care less about your stupid performance that gets in my way.” The new guy had his mouth open and was completely taken aback. Xiumin turned to the other members and he spoke to them.

“You guys should’ve told us that you’re going to be out for a while. Luhan and I were so worried.”

“Uh...hyung...” Suho was the one who got the courage to speak up. The other members got scared because of Xiumin’s sudden outburst of temper. “Chen told us to—“

“Who’s Chen?”

“I’m Chen, mister dumpling.” Now it’s Xiumin’s turn to hang his mouth open at the sudden nickname. He turned around to face the stranger that had the guts to insult him.

“Who are you calling a dumpling?” The stranger rolled his eyes and let out a soft laugh. An evil one.

“Well, who looks like a dumpling here? Isn’t it you?” Suho felt the tension rising up, so he decided that he should get in between Chen and Xiumin.

“Uh...hyung...”

“What?” Suho was taken aback since Xiumin glared at him even if he didn’t do anything.

“You see, Chen called us here for something really important.” Xiumin’s brows creased. What could be more important than the secret meeting they held every dismissal time?

“What is it?” Luhan, who was standing by the door, approached them and decided to speak about it.

“Chen wants to replace Lay as the school band’s vocalist.” The other members were somehow shocked (and relieved at the same time) when Suho spoke Lay’s name properly. He didn’t break down this time.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Xiumin said with a smile on his face. “Him? He’s going to replace Lay?” Xiumin took a seat and faced the others. He threw Chen an amused look. “Let’s see what you’ve got, camel boy.” And a lot of nicknames are made today.

Luhan took a seat beside him and gave Xiumin a meaningful look. It’s the first time he saw his best friend go like this, and he can’t help but feel amused.

P L A Y ! :)

Chen started singing. As he was pouring the lyrics out, he had his eyes closed. His voice is so precious that everyone felt their hearts melt while listening.

Xiumin didn’t want to admit it, but he was somehow moved by the song. He felt as if something sparked inside him, something that felt special while Chen was singing. He felt pure bliss, and he felt as if he was in heaven (ironically). His mind was somehow at ease, and he felt as if his worries were all carried away.

After Chen sang, everyone appreciated him by clapping and saying compliments.

“I can’t believe someone can sing like that,” Tao said with his eyes sparkling in amazement.

“That was something,” Kris said and shook hands with Chen, on which he gladly returned.

“You did great, Chen. Let’s be friends,” Baekhyun said and gave Chen a friendly hug, on which got him a little shocked. Just a little.

“I believe I should take care of you, since you’re already friends with shorty here,” Chanyeol said which earned him a playful punch from Baekhyun, the short one.

“Can I call you hyung? Hi Chen hyung~” Kai said while tickling Chen’s sides, on which he laughed heartily.

“You’re amazing,” D.O said and gave Chen an intimidating look, on which made Chen laugh awkwardly.

“You can definitely become the new member of the school band, Chen.” Chen smiled at Luhan’s compliment.

“Since I’m moved by your song, I’ll let you be one of us,” Suho said as the leader.

And only one didn’t speak.

Luhan decided to tease Xiumin a little, so he asked him a question that made everyone look at him.

“How was Chen’s singing, Minseok-ah?” Xiumin glared at Luhan for giving him the spotlight. After he gave Luhan the what-the-hell look, his eyes landed on camel boy, who looked like he was anticipating Xiumin’s answer as well. Xiumin decided to say something since his heart was moved as well.

“You’re not bad,” he said, on which flattered Chen. Chen felt as if his heart jumped as Xiumin said those words. It wasn’t exactly a compliment, but at least he didn’t say something about his voice, right?

Xiumin stood up from his seat and turned his back. He walked a few steps to the door and made his way out. The other members were quite amused by their eldest hyung’s actions. Nobody dared to contradict Xiumin when he says something, and now someone has brought a new side of him.

They all welcomed Chen and told him about the rules of being in the group. They oriented him like how they oriented Luhan when he first came to this world. Luhan smiled at the new person in front of him. He felt that Chen could somehow make his way to Xiumin’s personality, and bring out something that Xiumin doesn’t want to show anyone. Luhan knows that Xiumin is hiding something, and he somehow knew that Chen is the only one that can bring that out. Hopefully, Xiumin wouldn’t keep everything to himself from now on.

Luhan smiled. This is going to be fun.

**

Hi! Sorry it took so long :( But did you enjoy it? I  hope you did ^^ This is actually a continuation of what happened in sixth beat (supposed to be the last part of the sixth beat) but I decided to elaborate it ^^ AND DID I MENTION THAT I SHIP XIUCHEN HARD HAHAHAHAHA :)

Anyway, hello to new subscribers and readers! I hope you enjoy reading more of this! :) I have other stories if you want other works of mine ^^

Thank you everyone! Saranghaeyo~