Things had settled back down for Yejin and Jongdae, and after having a pretty successful show as Beth & Chen the previous night, the two were enjoying their Friday afternoon with the school's overpriced cafe coffee. It was still caffeine, and it was still coffee, so they really couldn't complain. Yejin inhaled the scent of the freshly ground coffee beans surrounding them and sighed in content. Even Jongdae was relaxed, humming happily as his fingers traced a pattern into the side of the cup.

"We really came at a good time, it's much less noisy and crowded on Friday." She noted, taking in the calm atmosphere of the cafe. Jongdae nodded, pursing his lips.

"Excuse me?" If it were a normal day, two things would be happening right now. One, girls would be screaming over that voice that Yejin wished she didn't recognize so easily, and Two, she could feign ignorance and slip away in the crowds and chaos. But unfortunately, no such thing could happen both of them turned to see not just Byun Baekhyun, but a tall blonde man looking nervously around the area. Must be his manager, Yejin thought, before turning her attention to the ever eager and bright Baekhyun.

What she wasn't expecting was for the idol to pull on her wrist, forcing her to stand up and stumble after him as he started tug her along. "So, we're officially kidnapping you two! Come on~"

 "B-Byun ing Baekhyun No we will do no such thing --" She looked back at Jongdae, who had also gotten ahold of her wrist and pulled her out of Baekhyun's grasp. That's when his manager stepped forward, nerves practically rolling off of him.

"We just desperately need you guys to follow our lead, please." The man was polite, she'd give him that. But still.

"... Guys I HAVE CLASS. I HAVE A LIFE." She said loudly, stepping out of Baekhyun's reach once more as he grabbed for her arm. The idol frowned a little. 

He quickly reached for her again, nonchanlantly speaking as he did so, "Yes, it's great that you're alive Yejin. Now come along to more important matters--" 

"No!" The quick and loudly spoken response made everyone freeze. Even Jongdae was surprised by Yejin's sudden refusal.

".... What." Baekhyun asked, his brow furrowing and tilting his head. Which would've been adorable if Yejin hadn't been so irritated.

"You heard me." Yejin crossed her arms, and Jongdae nodded, following suit.
 
"Yes, I heard," The idol began, "But I don't understand --"

Yejin sighed through her nose, nostrils flaring as she spoke, "Byun Baekhyun, you've caused me enough trouble to last me the next twenty years of my life. I really appreciate you as an artist and even as an accquaintince, however you keep barging into my own life, where I have my own problems and own friends--"

"That'd be me." Jongdae interjected quickly, waving a little.

"No Jongdae, you don't count." Yejin shot back, but added, "Maybe as a problem, yes." as an afterthought.

"B-but Yejin~" He started to whine.

"Shut the up I am ranting." She side-eyed him, and that alone made the boy shut up and salute her, letting her have her moment.

Yejin rolled her eyes before continuing, not even the slightest bit swayed, "And expect me to make an exception for you just because you're a celebrity??? Guess what, no. I have a choice and I've made mine. Now please respect that decision and LEAVE." She emphasized the last word, pointing her finger towards the exit of the cafe. Both Baekhyun and his manager shared a look and went silent. Yejin's shoulders relaxed, and she groaned at the tense muscles that started to irritate her neck. As she was rubbing her shoulder, another timid, "Excuse me?" came from their direction. She looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"Okay I do respect that decision." Baekhyun admitted, his hands up in defeat. Yejin let out a small sigh of relief.

"Thank you--"

"But can I just say something?" He pleads, and Yejin wanted to say no. She probably could've, too. But since she said her piece, she reasoned, it was only fair that he have his. 

"What?" Despite her intention of sounding polite, she heard Jongdae's snort and knew that it probably came out as more exasperated than anything. It wasn't far form the truth, though.

"I can get you out of class assignments." Baekhyun's own tone was cautious, almost phrased as a question. This caught both students attention, however, and when they looked at Baekhyun's unsure posture, their vision slid over and locked onto the blonde of the duo.

The man looked a little uncomfortable with the stares, but nonetheless answered, "XO Entertainment does make accomedations if you're a student, after all, our CEO is one too." 

"i'M IN." Jongdae jumped, all but actually leaping over to the other two males. Yejin's jaw dropped.

"JONGDAE YOU WEAK ." 

"HELL YEAH I AM AND SO ARE YOU."

"...Dammit you're right." She cursed under her breath, ignoring the childish cheers of Baekhyun and Jongdae as she gathered her bag and her coffee cup. She was going to need coffee if she was dealing with those two for a prolonged amount of time.

The ride to the company's headquarters really wasn't that bad, with Jongdae chattering and being his charming self, which was all right by Yejin, seeing as she needed her coffee in order to even consider another conversation with the idol that currently had them hostage. However, she did notice that the closer they got to the company, the more jittery and nervous Baekhyun seemed to get. She chose not to mention it, though, because who was she to bring attention to someone's anxiety? It usually just made it worse.

Joonmyun, who was his manager after all, pulled the car up to the building, and as the two sat there gawking at its size, Baekhyun spoke up while opening the door and holding it open as they filed out onto the sidewalk, "Okay, don't use your real names, okay? It'll make things easier." He didn't want to tell them that after giving Taeyeon their names, she'd probably set off someone on her production team to research and give a full description of their life stories, even their GPA in high school and their entrance exam scores. "So before we go in let's just make sure we know --"

"Beth." 

"Chen." The response time from the two students was mere seconds, and Baekhyun couldn't help but raise his eyes. Jongdae raised an eyebrow. "What? You act like we haven't used fake identities before." 

"Wait I've got an idea to help, hold on." Yejin perked up, messing with her bag and rummaging around to look for something. Jongdae gasped, his mouth turning into a grin.

"IS IT?" He practically yelled, using jazz hands towards Yejin's bag. As she pulled out another bag, albeit plastic, she wacked him over the head with it. 

"Yes Jongdae it is, stop being so ing dramatic." She rolled her eyes, opening the bag up and beginning to adjust her hair with Jongdae's help. Both Baekhyun and Joonmyun stood there on the sidewalk, watching the two with interest and confusion.

She peeked over, raising her own eyebrows at them. "Jongdae had a point. You act like we haven't used fake identities before. This sort of completes the whole 'Beth and Chen' idea, trust me." and after a few minutes of fussing and a couple of sass spats between the two friends, Yejin's long brown curls had disappeared and been replaced with a fashion forward, sleek blonde bob. Baekhyun had to admit it looked nice and did pull the two together more. 

Joonmyun shrugged when Baekhyun looked over for his opinion. Jongdae's voice startled them, "Now that we're all done having a transformation sequence on the sidewalk, let's go in~"

It took about ten minutes plus a two minute elevator ride to get to the studio that they were apparently meeting Taeyeon in. Baekhyun seemed to be mentally prepping himself before taking ahold of the handles, opening them and revealing a rather normal looking studio, and standing there in the middle was...

"Oh my god it's Kim Taeyeon." Yejin breathed. She was every bit as beautiful as her pictures, slender, every curve and proportion perfect, and the older woman opened and --

"Baekhyun ~" Was the unpleasant, high-pitched and carrying tone that currently rang in Yejin's ears. She had to physically stop herself from flinching, and while Joonmyun went over to greet and explain their tardiness, Jongdae snorted softly.

"Oh hell. Loud and not that pretty when she opens , huh?" He said, jerking his head once over towards the female star.

Yejin fought back a laugh. "Well, at least her projection is working well."

"Yeah but now my eardrums aren't." And that got both of them trying to keep their laughter as quiet as possible, with Baekhyun in the middle of it all.

"Do you gusy always talk like this??" He asked, looking between the two of them with wide eyes.

Jongdae did a full on double take, his eyebrows shooting up. "Uhm, wow. I'm actually offended that he asked that." He looked at Yejin, who was agreeing with him and wearing a similiar expression to her friend's.

"Same though. Like has he even met us?" She quipped, looking at Baekhyun for a reaction or a comeback.

"Sorry???" Was the best he could come up with.

Jongdae scoffed, "YOU SHOULD BE. Christ, and they brag about your compentence on shows. Lies." He shook his head, and that once again both the two cracking up over their own strange little dialogue, while Baekhyun stood there still confused and lost.

"So. Who are these people?" Taeyeon's voice broke the three out of their little banter and sass spat, turning their full on attention to her. Yejin and Jongdae both looked to Baekhyun to take the lead.

"Beth and Chen, my new stylists." A choking noise was heard, and when Baekhyun turned to see what was making that, it was Jongdae, and Yejin patting his back assuringly. 

"We're w h a t--" Jongdae managed to get out between coughs. Taeyeon's eyes narrowed and Baekhyun's expression became panicked.

"Guys."

"OH YES ABSOL-ING-LUTELY WE ARE." Yejin said, a little too loudly, but convincing nonetheless because it could have been interepted that she was conpenstating with Jongdae's coughing still occuring in the background.

Taeyeon's smile was blinding, "Well I'll accept it. Baekhyunnie doesn't like girls who curse anyways~" 

Yejin's glare burned a hole into Baekhyun's head, and the idol stuttered to explain himself, "W-w-well, like, You know what I mean--"

"Yeah I do, it's whatever. That's why you hired me, right?" She shrugged, trying to play off the bite on her language as coolly as possible. Just because she was a firecracker and independent, doesn't mean that Yejin still had a bit of her fangirl living inside her that she was close to Baekhyun's ideal type. Obviously, she wasn't. By now, Jongdae had recovered from his fit and now stood by Yejin's side, his own glare somehow being much more intimidating than hers had been. Best friends. They have your back.

"Whatever," He flipped his hair out of his eyes, "don't you know that girls who curse more are more truthful?" He gave Taeyeon a once over, and the girl flushed. 

"I have a shoot soon, it was nice meeting you two. See you around." She waved, sashsaying off without a second glance. Once her heels' echo had died, Joonmyun and Baekhyun sighed in relief, while Jongdae pulled Yejin to the side for a moment.

"Thanks dude, you're not always an ." She muttered, glancing up through her blonde bangs. Jongdae just grinned down at her.


"Of course not! I'm nice when it counts." He winked, illicting a giggle from his best friend and that was his sigh of relief. She was okay, a bit wounded in the pride maybe, but nonetheless she had recovered for the time being. And that was all he wanted.

"Yeeeeah and that's why I keep you." She nudged his stomach, to which he responded with a small swat to the top of her head.

"Now there's paperwork." Joonmyun annouced as they all sat down, pulling out two files from under the desk and setting it out in front of the two. Yejin blinked down at the file, trying not to realize that it was a rather thick file. She failed, and immediately looked up with her brows furrowed at the manager.

"Excuse me." She asked, while Jongdae just eyed the file with contempt. They both hated paperwork.

"We need you to sign these consent forms saying you're willing to work for XO Entertainment and these explain the terms of your contract, which I can explain to you in five minutes if you'd rather not read all of that legal terminology." Joonmyun further explained.

"YOU DRAGGED US HERE HOW IS THAT CONSENT." Jongdae burst, standing up and looking like he was about to throw the file as far across the office as he could.

"...You're consenting because of the "get out of hell free" cards aka less schoolwork. Sound familiar?" Joonmyun raised an eyebrow, and Yejin wanted to lowly whistle as Jongdae processed the statement. Something told her that he'd fit right in with her and Jongdae, at least.

"Right." Jongdae nodded, sinking back into his seat.  "Right," he repeated, "you gotta point. Let's go." He reached for a couple of pens, handing one to Yejin and start filling out their basics.

An hour and fourty-five minutes later and the two were back at their dorms and Joonmyun was going through their paperwork to see if there were any mistakes that needed correcting before submitting them to their CEO. So far, so good, he noted, looking over Yejin's student profile. Then he came across something interesting.

 "...Huh," He pursed his lips, rereading the information, "Yejin's only here on a student visa." He started reading aloud, to check her grammar and structure, "She's an american citizen... Interesting, but we can help her with that paperwork once the semester starts to end." He nodded, making a note on his planner to check with HR and Employment about the process of a work visa. 

What's this??? Two updates within a few days of each other??? Yes, I got really inspired recently and cranked out not just one, but two chapters of this story for you ^^ So now the real interesting stuff happens, developments, more sass spats, and more to come~ I hope you guys liked this update... I don't have much to say right now, really, haha. As always, comment, subscribe, upvote, because they're nice things to do and I alwasy get excited seeing my notifications turn red! Happy Friday and Happy Reading!!
~Rye (Smile)