[four years ago]

Seoul, 2015

“OMO! Is that EXO's Kai?!??!?!”

“I should take a photo with him and tell everybody that I took a picture with Kai!”

“I wonder if they are really twins or just simply cloned?”

“KAI!”

“KAI KAI KAI KAI! GOSH, YOU’RE SO HOT!”

“FOLLOW HIM! WE MIGHT GET TO MEET KAI IF WE TAIL HIM HOME!”

“JONGIN!!! PLEASE TAKE A PICTURE WITH ME!”

"OPPA! PLEASE MARRY ME!"

"OPPA! OVER HERE!"

"JONGIN! I LOVE YOU!!!”

Those words above pretty much sum up everything Kim Jongdo hears every day. He never wants fame or shining lights like what his younger-by-two-minutes twin brother aims in life, yet he's getting it effortlessly. He never has any interest in music, still people ask him to sing and dance in front of them. He never likes all kind of spotlight, yet all he receives every day is nothing but the camera’s flashes and people's intense, crazy stares. He hates crowds, yet people always surround him everywhere he goes for his 100% physical similarity with Jongin. He loves his brother and they have a really strong bond with each other, but this is definitely the only thing he hates about his brother, Jongin’s fame and how his popularity affects his privacy. Let's make it two. 

Jongdo slammed the door closed with a really loud bang and locked it immediately. He sweated bullets on his forehead while trying so hard to catch up with his breath with his hand on his knees. He just went outside the building to get something from his car and ended up being followed by some sasaeng fans who managed to find him inside the massive university complex. It’s not his first time experiencing it, but out of all kind of Jongin’s fans out there, sasaeng definitely scares him the most.

Soojung could only laugh and give him some tissues to wipe off his sweats because there's simply nothing she could do about it. It happens at least two times a week, but it’s still fun for her to watch. If there’s something she should pity the most then it must be her best friend’s poor life of being the twin brother of Korea’s number-one-boygroup's y member: Kim Jongin, or known better as EXO Kai. She even avoided going out with him too often to prevent unwanted news because that kind of accident happened once after this stupid Mr. Know-It-All from the media took a picture of them going to the bookstore. He was such a cute innocent reporter who didn’t even know that EXO Kai has a twin brother. That time, he ended up making their photos to the front page with the most stupid headline they could ever imagine: “EXO Kai is out to bookstore with a chic. Kamasutra book, perhaps?”. The headline still cracked both Jongdo and Soojung up whenever they came up with the topic. Jongdo even told her that Jongin fell on his laughing when he saw the news. He clearly was performing live in a music show at the exact time the photo was taken. Due to the severe error, the respective media immediately suffered stocks downfall almost immediately because SM Entertainment sued them for making headlines out of hilarious mistakes.

“What did they do to you now?” Soojung sat beside him and was more than ready to laugh over whatever she was going to hear. It was always a funny story he tells about those crazy sasaengs. They would either ask for a quick make out to witness how Jongin looks like when he reaches his , a kiss on the cheek so they would know how Jongin’s lips feel like, and even broke into Jongdo’s car trunk one day to follow him home. Luckily, Jongdo caught her halfway home because she kept on making low giggles along the way and it was more than inaudible to hear.

“They are seriously sick. If they ever follow me again, I will immediately lead their way to the hospital,” Jongdo showed so much annoyance on his face and Soojung only replied to him with a laugh.

They were now inside the university’s English Club’s room where they hang out often. This place was the safest place for Jongdo since no one is allowed to enter aside from the club members. They are not the type of students who makes a lot of friends and mostly stick together simply because Jongdo wants to avoid Jongin’s fans while Soojung just hates the idea of being in the middle of the crowd. She just sticks around with Jongdo everywhere and would once join the other students from the English Club. Soojung's chic looks might suit the image of those spoiled brats who rules the campus's hierarchy, but she just chose to focus on her study and achieve as much as possible with her superior talent in English debate.

“Let’s eat ice cream before I take you home,” Jongdo broke the silence as he got up and went to get his bag. Soojung also did the same before they headed out and locked the room from outside. Jongdo kept on looking around left and right when they were walking to the parking lot. Both of them immediately went inside the car after he made sure no one was following him and Soojung even checked the car’s trunk before she gets in. Everything was cleared so they could leave the school in peace and headed to their favorite ice cream store near Soojung’s house.

They talked and laughed with each other along the way with their ice cream on hand. They are both quiet people in nature but it’s a different story when they’re together. Jongdo has always considered her a little sister he should keep an eye on, while Soojung sees him as her punching bag and a giant bowl where she could spill out her story and feelings all she wants for how much she trusts him. People call Soojung lucky because she could be that close to a person who similarly resembles Jongin even from the tiniest detail, but it's never something she cares about from him. She simply grooves with him because she found him comforting as a close friend. Never she’d ever taken advantage of him being the biological twin of EXO Kai. She even barely knows anything about EXO if it's not Jongdo who tells her about their existence.

Suddenly, Jongdo’s phone rang in the middle of their talk about the new France teacher and excused himself to pick up the call. His eyes glinted in happiness once he noticed the caller ID because it was no other than his long-lost twin brother, Jongin, who is too busy to even make a call once in a week.

“Yo!" Jongdo answered the phone excitedly with literally grins all over his face. Pretty much shows how much he's fond of his little brother. 

“KIM JONGDO MY BROTHER!!!” Soojung could hear Jongin’s cheery voice clearly since the phone was on speaker and she's once again amazed at how identical their voice was. She had never met Jongin in person–let alone to know him in person–but judging by the picture and the voice alone, she could immediately point why those fans went crazy when they see Jongdo. It's because they're basically the same. Even normal twins still have tiny bit differences but not for these two, except maybe for the hair because the normal citizen Jongdo would never dye his hair in extreme colors.

“Nini!" Jongdo teasingly mocked him by calling him Nini–a cute nickname Jongdo unintentionally gave when they're babies because it's just hard to pronounce Jongin at the time. 

“Shut up, Dodo,” Jongin retorted with Jongdo's baby nickname and they both ended up laughing at each other. “Where you at, Do?”

“On my way to send Soojung home,” Jongdo casually replied while turning the stir. “What’s up? Aren’t you in Japan now?”

“I’ve just got here about an hour ago, but I went straight to the office after,” he paused. “Can you get here like right now? I bought mom’s favorite snacks and cheese and I’m afraid it would expire if I need to hand it myself. I don't think I can come home this week.

“Oh? I’m about five minutes from SM building though,” Jongdo said as he immediately detoured with more than an exciting beam. It was cute how he even turned around for his brother because Jongdo’s not the person who likes getting himself troubled for others. 

“Okay, cool. Just go inside and go to the 5th floor,” he countered. 

“Cool,” Jongdo said as he hung up the phone and continued driving. “Where were we before?”

Soojung shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. Forgot. By the way, are we heading SM?”

“Yeah. It's okay with you, right? Let’s go inside and take a look. I’ve never been there either, so at least I won’t wander alone,” he answered simply without knowing that they’ve arrived in front of the building.

The fans outside the building gasped loudly when they saw Jongdo and Soojung got out of the car together. They were ready to take some evidence to make rumors about Jongin hanging around with an unknown girl, but Jongdo immediately held the reins. “Pardon me, but I'm not Kai. I'm his twin brother," he commanded them and confidently walked to the entrance toward the 5th floor. 

Jongdo really couldn't admire Jongin more for his tenacity and passion. His group has reached its peak already yet all the members never stop practicing for another perfection. He never knows much about the idol industry, but he could guarantee it hearing EXO’s songs and names everywhere as well as how they manage to take over the media headlines with their records time by time.

Jongdo and Jongin might resemble each other's features in every way possible, but when it comes to passion and personality, they definitely turn their backs on each other. While one heads to success through the entertainment industry, the other one aims to build a fintech company in the future. Soojung couldn’t stop looking around in awe as she observed each poster plastered on the wall. She never knows much about idol groups, but those names on SM's walls are indeed the ones she hears about the most. She actually likes Taemin, but instead of music show, she recognized him through a drama where he played as a cameo. She doesn’t even know one song from SHINee. That day, she realized how successful the company EXO came from. No wonder Jongin's group could make it big even just in the span of three years.

“Jongdo!” Soojung stopped looking around and froze when she heard Jongdo’s voice calling his own name that turned out was Jongin's. Jongin ran toward Jongdo and gave him a really tight hug immediately once they united.

“I haven’t seen you in like two months, kid!” Jongdo ruffled Jongin’s hair before he went back squeezing him on his arms. They were too much in their zone at the time that they didn’t even realize tens couple of eyes staring at them in awe. It’s the first time Soojung had ever encounter Jongin and so did EXO members to Jongdo. They had never seen him because Jongdo never came to their place or to join their outings. He once attended EXO’s concert but he didn't go backstage. He didn't even watch it until it ends because he wanted to avoid the fan. Hence, going home when all the mad fans were still cheering inside is the best option for his life.

“Whoa~ meeting you make me miss home so much,” Jongin kept on staring at Jongdo as if he's amazed at how much he resembles each of his features, when in fact he just couldn't believe his brother was really there.

Jongdo patted Jongin’s head and turned around to see Soojung’s whereabouts. He found her behind him with hanging ajar, so she ended up making him laugh because it was appealing to witness. “Soojung, come here. Let’s meet my clone.”

Soojung brought herself back to the world and approached the two clones. She bowed lightly and put a friendly smile on her face. Other than their perfect resemblance, nothing surprised her about Jongin's face since Jongin is just like another version of Jongdo who could dance and seem to enjoy the spotlight. She was expecting him to be more good looking, but he’s clearly the same as Jongdo. The only difference was the hair because Jongdo had his black hair pulled up while Jongin’s bronze hair was down. “Hello. I’m Jung Soojung, Jongdo’s friend.”

“I know,” Jongin bowed back to her and smiled. “Heard about you a lot. Nice to meet you, Soojung.”

Soojung smiled over his friendliness and she’s becoming more even sure that this guy is really Jongdo's twin. They talk in the same way, so there’s no sense of awkwardness in between them even in their first encounter. It’s just weird to see him in sleeveless and shorts since Jongdo has always appeared neat and mature. 

“Oh! Let me introduce you to the members. Come here,” Jongin led their way inside the practice room and when they entered, all she could see was mouths hanging ajar from the huge disbelief of how the twins look identically the same. It’s normal for twins to look the same but it’s not too normal when their voice and speech habit even sounds the same.

“Guys! This is my twin, Jongdo, and it’s his friend, Soojung,” Jongin introduced them to the members and both of them bowed lightly in front of them. They began introducing their names one by one and it was the first time Jongdo has ever found out about the members in person. He knew this beagle named Chen, but he never knew his real name is Jongdae. He knew this pitiful leader who gets bullied every time by the members, but he never knew his face is actually that pitiful in person. He knew there is a good puncher name Kyungsoo, but he never knew he's a midget.

They talked and got to know more about each other while EXO took a break from their tense practice. Jongdo found out that they’re going to hold their second concert and the members personally asked