One gloomy autumn day, in EXO’s dorm, Sehun was lying on his bed, playing a game on his cell phone. The door opened. Kai and D.O stepped in noiselessly and gazed at Sehun.

            “Sehun…” Kai whispered. “Did you hear?”

            Sehun looked up at Kai.

            “Hear what?” he asked.

            “Luhan…he’s leaving SM.” Kai choked on his voice.

            There was a moment of somber silence. The meaning of the words seemed to echo and fill the room.

            “What?!” Sehun gasped. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

            “Sehun, he’s leaving,” sighed Kai. “Luhan’s leaving.”

            Sehun swallowed and stood up, and his heart began beating quickly. He looked at D.O, who was looking at the floor.

            “But…he wouldn’t…” Sehun began choking on himself. “Luhan…”

            “Sehun…”

            “Where is he?” Sehun’s voice squeaked, as tears began welling in his eyes.

            “Sehun, wait.”

            “Where is he?!” Sehun almost yelled, his voice cracking anxiously.

            “He’s already terminated his contract and packed his stuff. You can’t stop him.” Kai started crying and sniffling. Sehun burst out with tears and a choked moan, and he ran through Kai and D.O, pushing them aside as he ran to leave the dorm.

            At the SM building, the 7 members of EXO gathered in front of the door with Luhan. Sehun, Kai, and D.O joined with them. Every member was already crying, except for Luhan. He stood stone-faced, trying hard to suppressing his tears. The members said their final goodbyes.

            “Luhan, I always thought of you as the handsome prince of EXO,” Suho said. “I wish you could have stayed. We know you don’t really want to go.” Luhan nodded, and they hugged.

            “Luhan, um…we’ll miss you,” said Chanyeol. “We won’t forget the time we spent together as EXO.” Luhan gave a small smile, and they hugged.

            “Luhan, I’ll miss you,” said Baekhyun. “I don’t know what else to say. I never thought this day would come to be.” He sniffled and hugged Luhan.

            “I thought Kris leaving was just an unfortunate incident,” said Chen. “But you leaving surprised me. We’ll really miss you. We’ll keep going on from here.” Luhan looked at the floor, and Chen hugged him.

            “Goodbye, Luhan,” D.O said. “I wish you good luck.” Luhan put his hands on D.O’s cheeks, squishing them affectionately. He pulled D.O close for a hug.

            “It was fun,” Kai said, trying to make a smile through his tears. “I hope we can still hang out some other time. As EXO.” He hugged Luhan.

            “Luhan, we won’t be on stage together anymore, but…” Xiumin swallowed and took a deeper breath. “That doesn’t mean we can’t play soccer again sometime in the future, right? And we still have Instagram! We can still be friends even after this.” They hugged affectionately, and tears welled in Luhan’s eyes.

            Tao started crying.

            “Luhan, please don’t go. Kris already left us. I can’t…” He couldn’t finish what he wanted to say, instead falling into Suho’s tender embrace. Luhan patted him on the back, with greater sadness growing inside him.

            Lay stepped up, tears already dripping from his eyes. He put his arms around Luhan, and they hugged warmly. “When we see each other again, I hope we can sing again, together,” he said. “We’ll always be best friends, right? No matter what happens, we’ll always support one another.” He let out his built-up sadness as he buried his face in the side of Luhan’s shoulder and just cried. Luhan patted him on the back and rubbed the back of his head. Tears began falling from his eyes too, as he realized what he was leaving behind. Lay let go of Luhan and stepped back to the others. Luhan turned his gaze toward the last member, who stood silent and frozen behind the other members, looking at the floor. He was so still that time seemed to have stopped for him, almost as if breathing and heart beating had halted.

            Luhan stepped toward him, the other members moving aside. Luhan moved close, until the boy’s solemn eyes were looking directly into his own. Their faces were separated by only inches, as they stood there, silently, with eyes locked on one another. Luhan grasped both of the boy’s cold hands with his own, feeling only a slow, faded pulse. The boy remained still and quiet. Luhan gently squeezed his hands. There was no reaction. Luhan let go for a moment to wipe the tears from his eyes and cheeks. Luhan looked at the boy’s eyes again, to see they had not shifted their stare. He wrapped his arms around the boy’s head and neck, pulling his face closer to his. Luhan pressed his lips and nose into the boy’s cheek, giving a final, quivering kiss. Luhan pulled his face away and let go, feeling he could not handle the moment anymore. He turned away and took a few steps away from the group, all sniffling and crying. He stopped and turned his face to look back at the boy. The boy’s eyes had risen and were now staring at him. Luhan wiped his face again, and saw more clearly the tears that had welled up in the boy’s eyes.

            “Goodbye, Sehun-ah,” Luhan said in a resigned voice. “I will always love you.”

            The boy’s eyes shut quickly, and two large tear drops rushed from them. His body began trembling, and a sharp gasp escaped from his mouth. His legs collapsed, and he fell with his knees and palms on the floor. His head bowed down, unable to hold itself up any longer. He finally burst out in a single, echoing cry, followed by tears pouring from his eyes to the cold ground below. He gasped and shuttered and sobbed uncontrollably. Luhan decided he could not bear the sight and walked away, never looking back. His legs carried him weakly but surely away from the group of boys. The boys attempted helping the fallen member back onto his feet, but his legs could not hold under the overwhelming weight of his broken heart.

            “What are we going to do now?” A standing man looking out the window on the top floor of the SM building asked, as he watched the boy turning and walking away from the group of sullen boys. “First, the tall one left. That was not too serious; he was just a rapper with a couple lines. But now, he leaves.” The man put a hand weakly on the window, as if grieving over the loss, and sighed heavily. “He was perhaps the most popular member in the group. And he was a powerful singer and dancer, with looks few girls could resist falling in love with. He surely brought in a lot of revenue. But now…EXO-M only has 4 members.” The man turned around from the window to face an aged man sitting in a chair behind a large table, who was clearly contemplating. “Kim Young Min, what will we do about this?” he asked again.

            The sitting man took a deep breath, and let the air out slowly through his nose. He spoke with a somber tone, staring at his reflection in the glossy wooden table.

            “There is only one thing we can do about this,” he said. “Look through our male trainees. Look through our Chinese trainees. We will need another singer and another rapper, and they will need to be able to dance well.”

            The standing man gasped silently.

            “You mean…we replace them? That quickly?” he asked, worried. “How will EXO and EXO-L react?”

            “We have little choice otherwise. And the fans will certainly be angry at us.” Kim Young Min looked up from the table with a slight smile. “But they should blindly redirect their anger and hatred at the new members, as they had done in the past.”

            “I…hope you are right,” the standing man replied. “I will get on it right away.”

            “Yes you will,” said the sitting man. The standing man left the room. It became quiet. “What am I going to say to the media and fans?” he spoke to himself. “I can’t take the blame. That wouldn’t be good for SME. I’ve already lost huge amounts of stocks and investments. I’ll have to be creative. How do I disperse their attention from me? Hmm…I’ll need an official statement by tomorrow.” Kim Young Min went on his computer and began typing.

            We learned of Luhan’s lawsuit through his lawyer…