t h i r t y t w o

All the group members of Baby Lips were left with their mouths hanging open in surprise. Their first tour as a group, and the the very first concert of that tour, and Sun was going to miss it because Pledis was trying to punish her for dating the enemy in secret. 

Sun didn't even protest the decision made by the agency. The ones who did were Sarang and Minnie. Rin, Juri, and Suk stood by without saying anything. They supported their group mate, but they had prepared so long for that moment, to be able to perform on stage at their first concert as a group. Sun didn't resent the three of them for not protesting the decision, nor would she have resented Sarang and Minnie if they hadn't stood up for her. Her group mates had all worked hard to be where they were, and giving it up for her was one thing she would never ask of them.

"That's not fair." Minnie piped up, her words full of indignation. "Sun has worked just as hard as all of us. She should be at that concert. Baby Lips is a group of twelve in case you forgot."

Bom reminded her. "We used to be just fine as an eleven member group, before she showed up."

Before Sun joined Baby Lips, Minnie and Bom had been best friends. Bom felt that everything had been taken from her by the maknae.

Minnie shot her a glare, but instead Sarang was the one who replied to her. "Without Sun--without any one of us--Baby Lips cannot exist. We are a group of twelve because that is how we debuted. Twelve members, one love." Her words were an attempt to convince Bom and the other members that the most important thing was for them to stick together. They were a group and they were supposed to be a family. 

The BLK maknae rolled her eyes in annoyance at her group leader. "Sarang unnie, can't you see that she lied to all of us? She doesn't deserve you defending her."

The girls standing by her side nodded in agreement.

With a sigh, Lina stepped in to stop the argument before it got out of hand. "Park Mae is not allowed at the first concert because she's a problematic idol who needs to be corrected before she gets more out of line. Pledis has issued a statement, trying to fix the damage. But they assigned a punishment so that our other idols could see that there will be consequences for bad behavior." She explained to the girls. She knew that there were tensions within the group since the evidence of a secret relationship with Zhang Yixing had emerged, but she was just now seeing in person just how much the girls were no longer getting along. There was a division in the group which Lina attributed as Sun's fault.

"I still think this is unfair." Minnie protested, crossing her arms over her chest. "You could have done anything other than this. The first concert will be our most memorable and Sun won't get to be there. It won't be the same."

Her words full of venom, Bom said, "I think its fair. Honestly, I think Mae shouldn't even be part of the whole tour."

Minnie glared at her group mate once again.

Linking arms with Sun, Minnie declared, "If Mae can't go to the first concert, then I won't go either." The group members in the room gasped in surprise. Minnie and Sun were both main vocalists in the group. With both of them gone, that would only leave Ara and Rin as the only two main vocalists. The other members did backing vocals or rap, but the ones with the most lines were often the main vocalists. Ara and Rin would have to pick up the slack during the concert.

Sun gave a quick shake of her head at her group mate. "Min unnie, you shouldn't do this for me. You've worked so hard for your career. You've worked so hard to get to where you are." She told her. She was closest with Sarang because they were room mates whenever they were in Korea, but being the vocalists of their subgroup, Minnie and Sun always dormed together when they went abroad. They were also very close and considered each other best friends. With Sarang it was a friendship--but something more like a siblings relationship. 

Bom spoke up in annoyance. "Oh. Now she's going to act like the martyr."

"Okay. Ya sacaste boleto, hija de tu pinche madre." You just bought yourself a ticket, mother fucker. Minnie growled, rolling up the sleeves of her sweater in anger, her hands rolled up into challenging fists. Her words translated into a threat which she intended to follow through with. She thought her group mate had gone too far--got herself a ticket for a beating as people would say in Minnie's country of birth. "Ya me tienes hasta aqui." She pointed to her forehead. I've had it up to here with you.

There was a smirk on Bom's face as she tried to push her group mate even further. "We're in Korea. Speak to me in a language we can all understand or go back to your country, you foreign shit."

"Maybe you'll understand this fucking fist. I learned the Mexican art of boxing from the legend himself, Julio Cesar Chavez." Minnie said in Korean before lunging forward, her hand connecting with Bom's face, taking her by surprise. She didn't actually think that Minnie would hit her. 

"Mina!" Lina had jumped forward too, trying to stop her. But she had been too late.

Bom fell back and the other girls caught her.

"Lina unnie! You saw what she did to me! Get her suspended!" Bom touched her face in the spot where Minnie hit her.

Their manager was holding Minnie back who thrashed in her hold, trying to get to Bom to finish her off. Sun held her back too, begging for her to calm down. But somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she thought that Bom deserved what Minnie did to her. She had pushed Minnie too far by making her snide comments. Had Sun not been so upset about Yixing still, she might have gotten angry enough to hit her as well.

"You're a fucking savage! This is why we shouldn't let foreign people into the agency. Who knows what kind of crazy tricks you learned in your country." Bom hissed, her eyes glistening with hateful tears that she was trying to hold back. There was already a bruise forming around her eye.

"You say one more thing about Mae, or me, or my country and I will make sure you eat your fucking words. You'll be picking up your teeth on the street, bitch." Minnie threatened, her words echoing in the dance practice room along with the yelling of Bom and the mutters of the other girls who were on her side. They were talking about how they were going to complain to the other managers to get BLM and its members suspended because of their crazy foreigner behavior. 

Those comments made three of her supporters think about their loyalty towards her. They were Yunseo, Hani and Miran. Though Yunseo was born in Korea, she was considered foreign by the managers at Pledis because she was Chinese and Korean. She had been added to the Baby Lips line up to serve as the BLM leader because she spoke fluent Mandarin and could translate for her group members. Hani was Korean and Japanese, but had been born in the United States. Miran was Korean and Japanese, but had been born in Japan. They were all considered foreigners and Bom's words served to make them consider if they really wanted to be on her side when she had just been shown to disapprove of foreign idols.

"Sarang," Lina instructed the group leader. "Take your girls back to the dorms. I'll stay with the other half until things calm down."

The leader nodded her head and ushered her five other girls out of the dance practice room. As Minnie passed Bom, she intimidatingly got in her face, heaving a last warning, "If you continue being such a hateful person, soon you'll be all alone, Bom."

Sarang grabbed Minnie by the arm gently and pulled her out of the room out of fear that she would take another swing at Bom.

-

Of the few members who still talked to Yixing--things had gotten worse with Yifan's departure to the point that the members hardly talked to each other anymore--Junmyeon was one of them and Yixing didn't understand why that was. He was unaware of the fact that his group mate, EXO's leader, was in the same situation that he was in. It was the reason why Junmyeon was his main defender and advocate, trying to convince the other members to talk to him again.

If it hadn't been for their upcoming tour which had taken months of preparation and promoting by the agency, Yixing thought they would have forced the group to go on a hiatus or an extended break because of all the drama that was surrounding them.

Though SM Entertainment had issued statement upon statement swearing that there was nothing between Yixing and Sun from Baby Lips, Junmyeon was beginning to suspect otherwise. There was no reason for them to be so insistent if it was a lie--if Yixing was really dating Tiffany things would clear themselves up on their own. But the EXO leader didn't see Yixing and Tiffany as a couple. They looked more to him as good friends. With Sun, it seemed like the type of thing one would see in elementary school children. The way little boys would tease little girls to get their attention.

Sarang hadn't mentioned anything to him--confirming that the news was real or denying that it was real. He didn't expect her to say anything to him anyway. 

He knew that she and Sun were good friends and she probably didn't want to ventilate her secrets when it was none of his business. What Sarang did tell him about was how frustrated she was now that all of her members were at each other's throats. One of them--the BLK subgroup maknae--had started an uprising against Sun out of spite and jealousy.

Though Junmyeon didn't initially like Baby Lips or any of its members, all the time he was spending with Sarang made him grow to tolerate them, the same way that she had learned to tolerate EXO. The way she talked about them made them sound like they were good people, and he felt for Sun who seemed to be at the center of all gossip involving her group. It was easiest to involve the most popular member in scandals because it brought on more attention.

Jongin and Sehun--the two youngest members of EXO--had shown Junmyeon an article which had been published on allkpop that day. They would have otherwise shown it to Yixing, but they weren't exactly on speaking terms with him.

"Have a look at this, hyung." Jongin said in an amused tone, his eyes lingering on his phone screen for a second longer before he handed his phone off to Junmyeon for him to see. Sehun was with him, since Lu Han and Tao were always together and he no longer felt included when he was with them. He almost felt like they were more than friends, and they always wanted to spend every moment of their day together. The same had been the case for Jongin. He used to spend a lot of time with Kyungsoo, but now they talked less and less because the other was spending all of his free time with Yeo Nari.

"They went from hating us to hating each other." Sehun commented, a glad undertone to his words. "Not that it surprises me. They're all really annoying and hateful."

"Hey--" Junmyeon began to argue, anger rising within seconds. But he stopped himself because he didn't want to fuel more hostilities between the members. He didn't want them to become like Baby Lips, their group falling apart.Clearing his throat, he asked, "Send me that link, yeah, Jongin?"

His group member nodded and clicked away on his phone once Junmyeon handed it back.

Junmyeon left the two to go talk to Yixing. He found the main dancer in his dorm room. They had gotten back from practices earlier that day and soon after Lu Han and Tao went out to get some food. They had invited Yixing, Sehun, and Minseok to go with them. But none of them wanted to third wheel with the two.

"Hey Yixing." Junmyeon greeted him with a small smile.

Yixing sighed and forced a smile onto his lips. "Hey Jun hyung."

"How are you holding up?" The EXO leader wondered, standing by the doorway awkwardly.

Many of them hardly knew how to act around each other anymore. Having conversations with the other members was a thing of the past and every time they talked now, it was full of silences and awkward pauses.

Yixing gave a nod at the same time that he gave his reply. "I'm fine."

"I have no idea if the rumors are true." Junmyeon began with a sigh, "And you do't have to tell me. But I just wanted to let you know that I don't resent you for it. As for the other boys...I think you should just give them some time. They'll come around."

"Thank you." Yixing nodded gratefully. "That means a lot."

Junmyeon looked down at his phone and fowarded the text message with the article link that Jongin had sent him. Yixing's phone dinged with a text message seconds later and he opened it, clicking on the link in the message. He looked at the words on his screen, and then looked up at his hyung. It was the same article Jongin and Sehun had showed him moments earlier, and he thought Yixing would be interested in it if he actually cared about the Baby Lips maknae. In it was explained how the group was divided in two, with half of them showing hostile behavior towards Park Mae.

Yixing read the article and felt bad for Sun. He almost wanted to crack down on his resistance and send her a comforting message. But they were broken up and they needed to put distance between each other. 

Sun was no longer supposed to be his concern.

But he still loved her.

-

the countdown to the end of this story has atarted! eight more chapters plus an epilogue. im very excited, happy, and sad at the same time. excited because i will be able to continue the other stories in this universe, happy because of the support this has gotten, and sad because i don't want it to end honestly.

but all things must come to an end.

thank you all so much for being amazing people, and great friends. the support has really been amazing. i appreciate it so much.

have a wonderful weekend everyone!

-clary xx