A loud ringing echoes around my head.

"Did you miss me? If you miss me, then open your eyes, and you can see me right away! Get out of bed now!"

"Mmf." I fumble around under my pillow until my fingers find my phone.

The ringing sounds again. "Did you miss me? If you miss me, then-"

"Aish, Lay. Give it a rest." I hit the snooze on my phone, and sigh as my head sinks back into my pillow. Honestly, I would've gotten rid of that ringtone ages ago if it wasn't for the fact it was so perfect...

My eyes suddenly flash open. I gasp as all the memories from last night suddenly hit me like a train. I bolt upright - and promptly fall back into my pillow as my head explodes with pain.

"Ahh." I press a hand to my forehead as the headache spreads through my skull. I never get headaches, what's wrong with me...

Ah. Maybe the wine from last night had something to do with it.

I groan loudly as my brain slowly loads up the events from the night before...

~

I kneel down at the table and fold my hands. I'm sitting just across from Yixing. I could've easily slipped in and sat down beside him, but my heart is already rocketing around my chest, and I want to avoid any more awkward moments if I can help it.

I'm not handling this very well. My mind is like an empty riot, and I'm jumpy to the point where every time Lay moves - usually to put more food on his plate - I flinch slightly.

Grandma is the only one to notice how tense I am. She places a hand on my knee when no-one's looking, and I force myself to try and relax.

Lay, Father and Mother all seem to be getting on really well. They haven't stopped talking since we entered the restaurant. I'm happy to stay out of their conversation; with Lay just a meter away from me, I'm having difficulties remembering what language to speak in and what to say.

I try to focus in on what's being said.

"Wow, Yixing! Your talents don't have an end." Mama compliments him, and Yixing bows his head, humbly.

"He's taken on many roles within the last few years," Father says, proudly. "Everything from TV host to musician to actor. He's got a good company under his belt, and makes us all very proud."

"That's amazing," Mama looks at Yixing, wonderingly. "I should really listen to your music again sometime. Aika," she turns to me. "Why don't you tell your father and brother about your musical background?"

I look at Mama with shock. I start to shake my head, but she indicates with her eyes for me to go on.

"... Ah..." I begin, uncertainly. I can feel everyone's eyes on me - including Lay's. My cheeks start burning up.

I keep my eyes on my plate of food. "I was a trainee in a Japanese idol school for a while. I released a small single when I graduated, but it wasn't too successful. My health was pretty bad back then, so I kind of... faded from the music world." I laugh, nervously. "It was a very long time ago, though."

"Ahh, we're sorry to hear that." Father says. I glance up, and my eyes connect with Lay's.

"Wow, I had no idea." Lay says, his chopsticks poised. "That's really cool, Aika-chan. I'd love to listen to your songs sometime."

Lay spoke to me. He complimented me! AHH.

"Thank you very much," I reply, in a high voice. I find I can speak more easily and act more natural when I don't make eye contact with him. I can't believe he's my brother. I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

"Do you still make music?" Lay asks, picking up some noodles with his chopsticks.

"Ah, no." I shake my head. Don't look him in the eyes. "I haven't made music in a long time."

"I miss your voice, young one." Grandma suddenly speaks up, and we all turn to her in surprise. It was the first words we'd heard her say since we arrived at the restaurant. "A voice like an angel from heaven. It was heartbreaking to watch you leave."

My face goes red. I don't know how to respond to that, and neither does anyone else at the table.

An uncomfortable silence falls over our table, before Father reaches out a hand to stop a passing waiter, and asks him for a bottle of wine.

The waiter hurries away at his request, and quickly returns with the wine. Father takes it from his hands, and offers a glass to everyone.

Mother shakes her head. "Oh, I couldn't. I haven't had a glass in years."

"All the more reason to have one," Father smiles, and pours the dark drink into the glass. "For old times' sake, at least." He passes the glass to Mama, who doesn't object, but actually smiles.

Wow, Mama looks like she's having a really good time. I smile to myself. Right now, I could imagine us as a real family.

But then I remember that my brother is Zhang Yixing, and my fantasy promptly shatters.

I sneak a glance at Lay. I wonder what his real mother is like?

"Aika, care for some wine?" Father offers me a glass.

I laugh and shake my head, but mother interrupts. "Come on, Aika. You turned 19 this year, you should try a glass sometime."

"Well..." I swallow, nervously. "Okay then."

Father hands me the glass, and I take a sip of the dark red liquid. It has a strong taste to it, almost metallic, and I scrunch up my nose. Everyone around the table laughs at me, and I try my best to finish the glass without looking stupid.

I finish my glass within a minute, and Grandma tuts at me. Everyone else is too busy talking to notice me. A warm glow spreads through my body, and I suddenly feel very relaxed.

Ahh. I should drink more often. I'm enjoying this relaxed feeling. I feel like all my nervousness and anxiety has been playfully swiped away. I raise my head - I can look at Lay more confidently now. I should take this opportunity to look at him as much as possible, especially since he said we might not be seeing each other all that often...

I gasp. I need to tell Eunseo about this, she is my best friend after all. She'll freak out.

No. Bad Aika. Lay told you not to tell anyone.

I sigh, sulkily. Lay glances at me briefly, but soon turns back to the conversation.

I absently poke at my noodles with my chopsticks, as I admire Lay's facial structure. Aish, he's so beautiful. So beautiful, so talented. This is why he's my bias.

I suddenly start giggling, and the noodles slide off my chopsticks.

My bias is my brother.

"Aika? Did you find something funny?" Mama asks, as everyone turns to look at me. I'm properly laughing now; I'm not sure if it's from the euphoric feeling in my head, or how funny my situation is.

"Yes! Very funny!" The confused look Lay is giving me makes me laugh even more. I feel myself sway a little, and I lean on Grandma.

"Aish, someone can't handle their wine," Grandma tuts, disapprovingly.

"But she only had one glass..." Father looks at me with concern.

"AISH!" Father jumps as Grandma barks at him. "You wouldn't know, my boy. It runs in the Aoki blood."

"Kaa-san, I think you might have had a little too much as well..." Mama smiles, embarrassed, and secretly takes Grandma's glass away from her. She's hardly touched her own wine.

"I'm curious as to what Aika thinks is so funny," Lay laughs but looks a little unnerved. Probably because I'm staring at him and being silly.

"Do you reeeeally want to know?" I put my elbow on the table and lean my chin on my hand.

Lay glances to one side, but I don't let him answer.

"Yixing-ssi!" I smile, and sing his name in a sing-song voice.

"Yes?" He looks more than a little uncomfortable.

I sigh, happily. "You'll never guess who my bias is."

"Bias?" Grandma looks around the table. "Bias? What is that? Nan desu ka? Doko desu ka?"

"Lay-ssi..." I sing, and yawn at the same time. "Your face watches me whilst I sleep. And your voice wakes me up in the morning..." I suddenly start laughing again. Father turns to Mother, and asks her if he heard my words correctly.

Lay doesn't break eye contact with me, but seems to sigh uncomfortably. "Thank you for your support, Aika-ssi." He says.

"I have your EXO-M profile wallscroll at the end of my bed," I explain to him, gesturing with my chopsticks.

Father says something under his breath - probably some kind of exclamation in Chinese - and looks uncomfortable too.

"You're my bias. You're my favorite. You," I point at Lay with my chopsticks, "Zhang Yixing-ssi, are the most talented man on this planet. I respect you sooo much," I gesture with my arms to show him just how much, and I accidentally poke a chopstick at Grandma's hair.

"Okay Aika, calm down, let's have a little less noise," Mama tries to shush me, and I start laughing again.

"My brother... is my bias," I tell everyone. "My bias is my brother. Ha!" I bury my head in my hands, but quickly go back to looking at Yixing's eyes again. "Sleepy eyes, so sleepy. But intelligent. Yixing-ssi is wise. Serious. SERIOUS." I slap my chopsticks on the table and I make Grandma jump.

"Okay Aika, I think it's time we went back to the car." Mama makes her way over to me and pulls my arm around her shoulders.

"Lay-ssi... Yixing-kun, hontoni suki desu." My brain temporarily forgets Korean, but I feel the need to tell him in some language anyway. "Lay-kun wa hontoni kakkoi desu ne, aieru yo..."

"AIKA! Control yourself!" Mama scolds me in Japanese, and Grandma chuckles madly.

"Hai. Lay-ssi..." I turn to him one last time before Mama pulls me out the restaurant. "Gomenasai. I'm sorry I'm an embarrassment to you. I might be stupid, but I do keep my promises! I promise I'll keep my promises!"

Lay nods, and I smile. The last thing I remember is falling on my Mama's shoulder.

~

"GAH!" I clutch my pillow and kick my legs, as if I could somehow thrash away the horrible, horrible memory.

I had messed up so bad. I've never messed up this bad before, ever.

"Aika, what's with all the noise?" Mama walks into my room and places a hot drink on my bedside table. She takes one look at my face. "Aika, why are you crying? You look awful. Do you have a headache?"

I pull my pillow over my face to hide my tears. "Yes, I have a headache." The pillow muffles my voice.

"Ah, Aika-chan's first hangover." Mama has a smile in her voice. "It'll pass soon. Here, drink this up, it'll help." She leaves the room and closes the door behind her. She didn't mention anything about my horrible behavior.

I slowly pull the pillow away from my eyes. I look over at the mug she'd left me. It was my Exo mug, and it used to be my favorite. Now, I can't even bring myself to look at it.

My eyes travel past my phone, and to the EXO-M LAY wallscroll hanging on the wall at the end of my bed. Lay's thoughtful, sleepy eyes stare back at me.

I feel tears start to fall down my face.

I want nothing more to do with Exo.

With a sniff, I turn on my phone again. I had a lot of notifications, particularly LINE messages from Eunseo, but also Skype messages and text messages too. Weird. People never text me.

My eyes catch the number of messages, and my heart drops. 75 LINE notifications, all from Eunseo. 32 text messages from Eunseo, as well as 27 missed calls and 5 Skype messages.

Oh no. Has something terrible happened?

I scroll through the LINE messages. A lot of them say the same thing, but their words fill me with fear.

"AIKA-SSI. Pick up your phone NOW."

"We need to have a serious talk, sis."

"You've been holding so many secrets from me. I demand an explanation, you little sasaeng."

"Is it you? TELL ME NOW."

"I've never felt so hurt before."

"I'm sorry. If this isn't you, then I'm really sorry. But I think it is you."

"Aika-ssiiiiii. Check your messages."

"Even if it is you... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you that. Please forgive me."

"Look, I know you're probably ignoring me, I'm sorry for calling you a sasaeng. But is this you?"

She had sent me a photo, and I tap on it with shaking fingers. My breath catches in my throat.

It was a photo of me and Lay.

It must have been taken when we were at the picnic spot, and Lay had taken me to one side to tell me something. The picture had three different shots of me and Lay. One of them was of us talking, the second was a snap of Lay giving me a quick hug, and the last picture was of Lay patting me on the head.

But our picnic area was so quiet. How could any photographer have known we were there...?

My face could be clearly seen in each of the snaps. At the corner of the image, the Dispatch logo was clearly watermarked.

My heartbeat speeds up, and I shakily check my other notifications. There was one other message, and it was a direct text message. My breath catches as I read it.

"Hello. My name is Kim Jaemin. I am a member of staff at SM Entertainment, and a manager for Exo-M. You have probably noticed the photos of your reunion with your brother that have been released on the web. We ask you not to worry, and that SM representatives are working hard to put rumors to rest as we speak.

I am contacting you at the request of your brother. SM has a proposal to make with you that will hopefully resolve this incident quickly. Usually, SM representatives would meet you at a disclosed location, but your brother insists that you come to the main headquarters in Seoul. We have arranged for you to have an appointment on Saturday at 6am. If you can make this time, please let us know.

Thank you in advance."

"... Mama...?" I call out in a high-pitched voice. "Please come here, and hurry!"

As Mama comes up the stairs, I shakily scroll through the text messages from Eunseo.

"It is you, isn't it? o_O"

"Aika-ssi. Please be safe. Please let me know if you're okay. Because SM will eat you like kimchi."