I walked up to the SM Entertainment building which I had passed numerous times on my way to work. I had always imagined what it would be like to be inside it. I’m sure it was outstanding. The building had large glass windows which were blue and reflected the sun. It was almost a dream that I would be working here as part of a new group called EXO.

My phone began to ring in my coat pocket. It was my manager John.

“Hello.” I breathed into the phone. I was a little nervous as this was the first time I would be meeting the rest of the EXO members as the original meeting was 2 weeks ago but I could not make it due to my older brother being in hospital as a result of an army incident.

“Don’t be nervous.” My manager assured me down the phone.

I exhaled, “Okay. I’ll call you later.”

After I hung up the phone, I made my way into the huge building in front of me. As I entered the building I was overwhelmed with the sight that greeted me. The inside of the building was mainly made up of glass and everything else was white. Many people rushed around the main entrance and I could see all the way up to the top floor. I began to make my way towards reception when I bumped into something knocking papers everywhere.

I caught my balance before I fell over but when I turned around it seemed that it wasn’t something that I bumped into but someone. He had dark blonde hair and he was wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a vest top which highlighted his toned arms.

“I am so sorry.” I said, flustered by the boy in front of me.

When the boy looked up, I was mesmerised by his eyes. They were a dark, dark chocolate brown and they seemed so kind and happy. His lips turned up into a broad smile.

“Ah don’t worry about it. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The boy said, his voice deep.

I began to help him pick up the scattered papers. I caught sight of the words ‘EXO’ and as I handed the rest of the papers to the boy. We stood up and I had to look up because he was extremely tall in comparison to me.

“I’m D.O Kyung-soo.” I said, introducing myself. The boy’s expression changed and I began to grow worried as his brows furrowed but then relaxed and a large smile grew across his face.

“I’m Park Chan-yeol. It’s so great to meet you. How’s your brother?” The boy rushed, his smile never leaving his face. I stared at him for a few moments. I began to tug at my hair lowering my head as several questions filled my head. I looked back up at the boy and he seemed to be waiting for my reply.

“Sorry, how do you know about my brother?” I asked, bewildered.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Chanyeol from EXO. We were told that you couldn’t make it due to your brother being hospitalised. Sorry for the confusion.” He explained still smiling at me.  

Oh. That makes sense now.

I laughed a little, “Oh, my brother has just been discharged and he’s doing great. It’s nice to meet you too.”

***

I walked with Chanyeol to where the rest of the EXO members were said to be. I was glad that I bumped into Chanyeol before meeting the rest of the members. Whilst we were walking, Chanyeol informed me on all the different aspects of life in SM Entertainment and told me a little about the other EXO members.

Eventually we came to a wooden door which was labelled ‘E.X.O’. Chanyeol opened the door which led to nine boys jumping around, throwing pillows. Chanyeol cleared this throat loudly as we entered and the nine boys stopped a looked in our direction. All eyes were on me and I was beginning to become very nervous again.

“Guys, this is D.O Kyung-soo.” Chanyeol introduced me and smiled down at me.

In seconds I was surrounded by the nine boys and they all began talking at once. I couldn’t make out anything any of them were saying. But they all stopped when I bowed and said hello.

Before anyone could say anything further, another boy walked into the room through a second door. He was wearing a pair of black jeans which finished above his black oxford shoes. He was wearing a light pink top which highlighted his tanned skin and he held a grey coat in his hands.

“Hey Kai, this is D.O Kyung-soo. He just arrived.” Said one of the boys. The boy who had just entered, looked up at me. His eyes were extremely dark, almost black and he seemed annoyed. He threw his coat on one of the chairs and sat down looking away from me, putting on a pair of headphones.

The nine boys and Chanyeol looked amongst themselves. “He just got a call from his father, his mother is sick again,” said one of the boys, who was a similar height to Chanyeol and had light blonde hair.

The rest of the boys sighed. Chanyeol said, “Ah, I heard there was something going on at home Kris but I didn’t realise it was that serious.”

I stared at the boy, Kai, he seemed worried and stressed. The rest of the boys introduced themselves and they all were very welcoming. My attention was focused on Kai however, as I knew what it was like to worry about another family member. My older brother has been in the army for over 3 years and I saw him for the first time in those 3 years due to his hospitalisation. It was great to see him again and thankfully he was okay but it is hard to say goodbye to loved ones and not know if you will see them again.

Suddenly the EXO manager came in and everyone began to grab a seat. I made my way over to Chanyeol who was sitting on one of the many sofas beside Kai. I was going to stand beside Chanyeol but instead he pulled me down beside him so I was sandwiched between him and Kai.

Kai sighed. Crap. I’ve probably annoyed him now.

“It’s finally nice to meet you, D.O.” Our manager said. She had long blonde hair and a fringe which hung above her eyes. She was wearing a light purple dress which had a white line along the bottom of it and it came down to just below her knee. I had only spoken on the phone to her a few times and it was nice to finally meet her in person. “Right. As you guys know, we have an upcoming event in two weeks and there will be 500 people attending. You will be introducing yourselves and preforming a dance routine to three songs which the team has organised for you.”

She began to hand out everyone a folder each. “This is your schedule and it has all the resources you need for the next two weeks with regards to when you need to be somewhere and where you need to be. It also contains your house key which all of you will be living in.”

I took out the key and attached it to my other keys. I was quite nervous that I was going to be living with everyone but I guess it means that we can get to know each other better.

“Finally,” the manager said, “you will be paired up and this will be your roommate.”

I almost froze. Roommate?

“So please pair up with each other and if you can’t choose then I will draw names out of a hat.”

Everyone looked around at each other. I didn’t want to share a room with anyone, not because I didn’t like anyone but because I didn’t know anyone that well. I looked over to Chanyeol and he was staring at Baekhyun. Both of them winked at each other and I took it that they had paired up together. Everyone else has seemed to have a partner and the only person left without one was the person to my left – Kai. I looked around to Kai and he was still listening to his music, his eyes closed.

“Have you guys decided?” Our manager asked, waiting patiently. “If you guys just write down your name and your roommate’s name on this sheet that would be great.”

She handed a sheet and pen to Sehun who was sitting next to her. He began to scribble down his name and his roommate’s name and then passed the sheet and pen on until it finally came to me. I looked at the list.

• Sehun & Luhan                             -      Suho & Lay
• Tao & Kris                                      -      Chen & Xuimin
• Chanyeol and Baekhyun

Only Kai and I were left. I glanced over to Kai who was now staring at me and before I could say anything he took the pen and sheet out of my hands and wrote down both of our names, handing it back to our manager afterwards. He then sat back in his seat and closed his eyes again.

“Great. A car will pick you guys up around 3pm and bring you to your new apartment,” our manager said and then she walked out the door. Chen then jumped up from his seat and grabbed a pillow, firing it at Xuimin and the pillow war began again.

***

When it came to 3pm, we were all waiting outside for the car which was meant to pick us up from SM Entertainment. I had spoken to all of the members during the pillow war and afterwards, everyone except Kai. I wanted to speak to him because we were going to be sharing a room but I felt as if I would be nuisance.

A bus pulled up a little after 3pm and our manager emerged from it. She looked tired and seemed to be on the phone as she approached us but ended the call before reaching us.

“Okay guys. Change in plans. Ten of you will get on this bus and two of you will take a separate car which will arrive in 5 to 10 minutes. Okay?” She said, looking around at the bus. “It would be best if you guys stayed in your pairs so I’ll take the first ten on my list which is: Sehun and Luhan, Tao and Kris, Chen and Xuimin, Suho and Lay, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Leaving Kai and Kyung-soo and you two will go in the car.”

I was standing between Chanyeol and Suho but looked over at Kai who was at the end of the line and he was staring at me. My cheeks grew warm and I looked away. Chanyeol wrapped his arm around my neck, “Looks like I’ll see you later.” As he spoke the rest of the group walked towards the bus and waved to Kai and myself when they were seated. Our manager also got on the bus and so it was only Kai and I left.

I didn’t know what to say.

I heard Kai sigh and glanced over to see him take out his headphones and place them on his head (again). I looked away and began to look around at all the people passing. I noticed a young boy wandering around frantically on his own on the other side of the road and he seemed upset.

I began to walk towards the end of the pavement when I noticed a car driving up the road and so I stopped but when I looked over at the boy, he was beginning to walk into the middle of the road, looking around for something. The car wasn’t slowing down and obviously hadn’t seen the young boy. Without thinking I ran into the middle of the road, knocking the boy and myself onto the pavement. The car blasted its horn as it flew past us and drove on.

The boy lay on top of me and seemed unharmed as I took most of the fall. A woman ran over to us and lifted the boy up into her arms. “Oh my thank you so much.” She said, but left soon after.

I began to get up however I seemed to have hurt my leg and started to fall back to the ground but a pair of arms grabbed me and held me up. I looked up to see Kai helping me up, his arm around my back and he grabbed my arm placing it around his neck. He walked us over to a bench which was a few meters away and helped me sit down.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice quiet. Kai then knelt on the ground in front of me and examined my leg. He rolled up my jeans and it seemed that I had sliced my leg on something. I must have fallen on glass.

“Wait here.” Kai ordered and got up, walking down the street. I looked down at my leg, it hurt a little.

After a few minutes, Kai returned with a bottle of water and a plastic bag which had a green cross on it. He poured water on my leg which stung and then took out a cream and bandage from the plastic bag. Soon my leg was wrapped up and Kai was now throwing away the left overs.

“Thank y – ,” I began to say but Kai interrupted me.

“That was really brave. Saving that boy.” He spoke, his voice low and he scratched the back of his neck.

I smiled a little, “Anyone would have done it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Kai said, smiling a little.

A silence followed, but surprisingly it wasn’t awkward. It was nice.

I turned around to look at Kai but to my surprise he was already looking at me. When I caught his eyes, he immediately looked away and his cheeks grew pink.

“I’m sorry about your mum,” I said, cautiously.

Kai remained silent for a while but finally spoke, “She’s been sick for a while. It’s on and off which is frustrating. I want to be by her side but she says I should focus on my work.”

I could understand him perfectly. “I know what you mean. You want to be beside them during their time of need but you have other demands which force you to place them second. Its hard being away from them because you want to spend every moment with them as you don’t know when their last moment will be.”

I looked down at my hands and my head filled with thoughts and memories of my brother. I could hear a murmur from beside me and I looked around to see Kai rubbing his eyes. Tears ran down his cheeks and caused parts of his pink top to become dark. I reached over to him and pulled him down into my chest.

At first he seemed shocked at my actions but then relaxed into me. I rubbed his back and held him like that for a while. Across the road a car pulled up and I could see our manager standing outside SM Entertainment looking around.

I patted Kai’s back and said, “I think the manager is looking for us.”

Kai sat up on the bench and dried his eyes, “I’ll go get her. Don’t walk on your leg.”

Before I could argue that I was fine to walk, Kai was up and walking across the road toward the manager. He spoke to her for a while and then she nodded. Kai walked back over to me and the car pulled up on my side of the road.

I began to get up from the bench and Kai’s arms wrapped around me, supporting me, “Here let me help.”

Kai helped me get into the car and walked around to the other side, sliding in. When we were both in the car the manager came to the window, “Unfortunately I can’t go with you guys as I have a meeting in 5 minutes. The car will take you to your house which is about 20 minutes away.”

The car began to drive down the street and a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me causing my eyes to droop. I could feel myself drifting off and before I knew it I had fallen asleep. I woke up slightly during the journey and it seemed that my head was laying on Kai’s shoulder. It felt nice.