Few weeks later…

Mei wondered why so many unrelated people were gathered around her classroom.

On second glance, all the unrelated people were girls, lounging around the corridor, some casting sly glances and posing as if they were modeling, others giggling and whispering under their breath. The reason became obvious as she stepped inside.

Sehun and Kai, her class's most popular guys were there – with Luhan and another guy she'd seen around… Tao, was it? He was their immediate senior and often hung around with Kai and Sehun.

She could see why the girls had gathered.

All of them had a rather impressive number of fans because, frankly, they were quite easy on the eyes. And all of them had a rather impressive skill set – Tao was a martial artist, if she remembered correctly and Kai was a dancer – said to be the best. She wasn't a performance student so she'd never seen him in action. Luhan was, of course, the School's star athlete. And Sehun…

Actually, she wasn't quite sure about Sehun – maybe his skill was looking y and y at the same time since he pulled that off very nicely. She'd heard he was an excellent dancer too, second only to Kai but that was hard to verify.

She put her bag in her seat and had just sat down when down when Luhan suddenly glared at her. Surprised, she turned around to see if he was throwing daggers at someone else but nope. She was the only one sitting there, right at the end of the class. She looked back.

 He was still glaring at her and made as if to move towards her but stopped when Kai placed a hand on his shoulder. It still took him some time to look away, glaring and nearly baring his teeth at her. She swallowed a sudden lump of fear that'd appeared in and tried to make herself less visible – if she didn't know better, she'd think Luhan wanted to attack her.

Kai pushed Luhan back, this time placing himself in his field of vision. For a moment, it seemed like he would attack Kai as well but then, he forcibly relaxed himself, muttered something and nearly ran out, pushing people out of the way.

Sehun, Tao and Kai watched him go and communicated silently, breaking up the meeting. Tao went back to his class and Kai and Sehun returned to their seats.

Kai glanced at her curiously. When their eyes met, he smiled reassuringly; she smiled back, still rather shocked but calming down. He nodded and straightened.

What the hell was that all about? She wondered but just then, their teacher entered. The whispers about Luhan's behavior died and they got busy studying.

Apart for an occasional shiver, whenever she recalled the look in his eyes, she also forgot about it.  Sometime later, she glanced towards Kai's seat again – drawn by something she couldn't really explain, like a movement in her periphery.

His and Sehun's seats were empty, their stuff gone.

………………..

Luhan nearly ran out of the building, mentally cursing himself. What the hell? Why had he glared at the poor girl? He'd have attacked her if Kai hadn't stepped in… She'd just been sitting there, minding herself. He shook his head regretfully. She seemed familiar, though – he felt like he had seen her before.

Anyway, now that he was outside, the sudden urge to growl and bare his teeth cooled, his racing heart slowly returning to normal. He sat in a shaded spot, leaning against the building and sighed. This could be troublesome. Once the beast took over, he wouldn't be able control himself. And he didn't know what was triggering him, so it wasn't like he could put up his guard or anything. He'd been like that before too, too edgy and restless. Luhan wondered if it was the anxiety from bad news or his tough schedule that was doing this or something else.

Among the twelve of them, only Kris possessed his full powers. Awakening the beast was a good thing in that regard. But they weren't completely sure about the trigger – for Kris, it had been his wife, Karen but Suho thought it could be different for all of them.

He rested there for a while, getting himself under control, before he realized he'd skipped the class. He'd been too overwhelmed to care and now…

Great, just what I need… Luhan sighed. Well, since I'm out…

He headed towards the second building, where performance classes were conducted. Lay would be there and he could spend time there – he'd finish his chat with those three later.

…………………

Angel hurried towards the piano room, barely managing to stop her glasses from slipping down her nose as her hands were full of musical sheets and papers. She paused in the doorway to catch her breath and glanced at the clock at the end of the corridor. A minute before nine – she sighed in relief. Not that Lay would scold her being late or anything – he'd be glad whenever she showed up but still, she had to be punctual.

She stepped inside the cool darkness of Music Room number 3, feeling as always like she'd left the world behind. There was something so enchanting about this place, enclosed and filled with nothing but soft melodies and beautiful lyrics. She softly tiptoed inside, careful not to break the magic her partner was weaving.

Lay sat at the piano, utterly lost in the music he was playing, eyes closed as he followed whatever melody he could see. No matter how many times she heard him, he still blew her away. She sighed and thanked her lucky stars she got paired up with him. For their project this year, they had to compose a musical piece in collaboration with one of their class fellows.

She'd never been that good at playing instruments, though she excelled at writing music. Lay excelled at instruments but he couldn't read or write musical notes worth damn. They were the perfect match – he made the music, she wrote it down. For the final project, they were trying to write a classical piece but Lay often got lost in the tunes that took hold of him and she didn't have the heart to stop him – they'd made little progress with their main project and instead, written sheet upon sheet of music that reflected their various moods.

Just then, he hit the final key and the soft, sad music came to an end. She wiped her tears, sighing again. It was just so beautiful. Smiling like an idiot, she stepped forward to sit beside him. Only, she didn't make it because she stepped on the score sheets that littered the floor and her foot slipped. Dropping the numerous stacks she carried in her arms was not an option and she struggled to maintain her balance but she lost it.

She was going to crash when solid arms wrapped around her. 'Are you okay?' Lay asked with concern. She nodded as he helped her straighten. 'Thanks.' They both looked down at the mess of papers and bent down at the same time. 'Here, I'll help.'

'No it's okay… ow!'

Their head banged and they simultaneously bowed to apologize, bumping heads again. 'Sorry!' They spoke simultaneously.

A snort of laughter had them looking at the doorway. Luhan, Lay's friend, stood in the doorway. 'You guys are unbelievable!' Luhan spoke through his laughter. 'I didn't know there was anyone other than Lay who apologized like that.'

Angel blushed, getting flustered and looked down. Lay placed an arm gently on her shoulder. 'I'll pick these, okay? Why don't you get some new sheets while I talk to him?'

She nodded, head still down and went to the small storage room at the end of the music room, glad to be away. Being anywhere near guys made her nervous – except Lay, of course, who was really kind and gentle and understood her shyness.

Lay looked at Luhan. 'Is your class already over?'

Luhan shook his head. 'How can it be over? It's only nine fifteen…'

'Really?' Lay looked really confused. Luhan could've sworn the guy lived in an entirely different dimension. 'Never mind that, wanna have a drink? Let's meet Xiumin, 'kay?'

'Are you skipping class?'

'Kind of.'

Lay looked thoughtful. 'But what about Angel?'

'Angel?' Luhan looked at him like he'd finally lost it.

'Angel.' Lay nodded.

'What angel?'

Lay looked at him like he was an idiot. 'Angel… that Angel!' He pointed at the storeroom the girl was exiting from.

'Wait, her name's Angel?'

'Yes.' Lay gave him another look of abject sympathy – as if he pitied his lack of common sense. 'I can't just leave her here.'

Luhan sighed. Lay, while a great friend, wasn't perhaps the best partner in crime. 'Forget it, okay. I'll find someone else.'

'Wait!' Lay looked really guilty. 'I didn't mean that I don't want to go with you… I just can't leave… her…' he looked like the dilemma might tear him apart. Luhan sighed again. 'No really, it's okay.'

'It's not okay… let me talk to her, okay. I'll go with you.'

Luhan leaned against the doorway and watched as Lay dealt with the girl – Angel, he marveled at the name again – with all the gentleness he would use to deal with a fidgety doe. The girl had looked positively terrified when she'd seen Luhan, which sort of offended him – girls usually fawned over him – but she was talking easily with Lay, nodding and replying to whatever he was saying.

Lay's healing wasn't only in his hands, it was in his personality – he put people at ease, making them feel comfortable and relaxed and encouraging them to share their confidences with him. Maybe that was why Luhan had sought him.  

After a while, Lay straightened, smiling and Angel got up as well. Lay tugged her hand and they walked to Luhan. 'Luhan, please meet my study partner, Angel Merissa.'

Angel, head down and cheeks red, her hand forward and spoke in a rush. 'HIimangelmarissanicetomeetyou.'

Despite himself, Luhan smiled as he shook her hand. 'Nice to meet you too, Angel.'

'Okay, let's go then!' Lay clapped his hands like an excited child. Luhan led them outside, walking towards the ice cream parlor on the other side of the road.

……………………..

Bonus Story: 

EXO Journal : A Voyage through the Galaxy 

Read ahead to take a peek into the most heartfelt secrets of Exo members... and other people who manage to get their hands on the journal. 

Stay tuned...