t w e n t y o n e

The boys of EXO-M were all gathered in the dorm Minseok and Lu Han shared while in China. They had been instructed to gather their belongings because they would be returning to Korea, after spending only three of the fourteen scheduled days in the neighboring Asian country. Before doing as they were told, they all sat on the dorm beds together, visibly shaken by what they had seen earlier that day.

They had been at the game show, filming for three episodes which they would be guests in. The filming was going to take place over the course of two weeks in which the participants would have to take part in extreme challenges in order to accumulate points. Each challenge had a theme to it, and they had gotten to a challenge in which the members of EXO-M were supposed to be incarcerated and had to devise a plan to escape from jail together. All six members needed to make it out without getting caught in order to fulfill the challenge.

As they were being moved to their cell for the start of the challenge, Jongdae had managed to pick pocket one of the guards without getting caught. They were up against a team of actors and actresses who watched in awe as the six boys slipped out of their cell without much of a struggle.

By the time the other team got free, the members of EXO were almost near the exit. They were forced to retreat when they saw a crowd of police men by the entrance and the boys ran back further into the false jailhouse. Out of nowhere, the doors to each section started closing, starting from the one furthest from the exit. They dashed back in the direction of the exit together, but in the midst of everything, Tao ended up falling right as the door was closing. 

His leg was caught in between the automatic door which continued to exert pressure on his leg. Yifan returned for him and urged the other boys to continue without them. Though that was the last thing they wanted to do, they listened to their leader. 

Tao tried to stand up, to pull his leg from in between the closing automatic door. The door continued pushing to a close until there was a cracking sound heard and Tao let out a scream of pain. Yifan cursed loudly under his breath and pushed back against the door with all his strength, trying to help the subgoup's maknae to free himself. He was finally able to loosen up the door and Tao pulled his leg back, writhing on the ground in pain.

A worried EXO-M leader called out for help, but the others were gone and the commotion outside was too loud for anyone to hear them. He helped his friend get back on his feet and half-carried him out to the front of the building. Yifan didn't want to look at the damage, but he knew it was bad just from the cracking sound, and from the way Tao was crying out in pain. 

An ambulance arrived within minutes, but their managers from SM gave specific instructions to get him on a private plane back to Korea after stabilizing him. The rest of the members were worried sick, but were forced to continue filming for the show. The entire rest of the afternoon, the members couldn't concentrate, and ended up losing most of the remaining challenges. But that didn't matter to them anymore. What was most important then was how their group member was doing.

Yifan chewed on his lower lip in worry. 

"I really hope Tao's okay. It sounded really bad from what I heard when the metal door closed on his leg." He said to the other boys. Though he hadn't gotten a look at the damage out of fear that he could have started panicking, and he wanted to keep calm for Tao. 

Yixing's cellphone vibrated in his pocket and he brought it out to check the caller ID. 

Jagiya, the contact read.

Nodding to the rest of his group mates, Yixing excused himself from the room, saying, "I'm going to return to my room to pack up my things."

The other boys only nodded back, but remained speechless.

Yixing hurried back to his suite which he was sharing with Jongdae. He expertly slid his room card key into the slot--he seemed to live about fifty percent of his life in hotels due to all the travels--and he pushed the door open before he clicked on the answer button. "Hey jagi." He greeted into the phone.

"Baobei, I literally just have a minute to talk." She greeted in a hurried voice whisper. "I just called to make sure you're okay. I heard about your friend and I hope he has a speedy recovery." In her voice he could hear her honesty.

He pointed out. "I thought you hated my mates."

"I do." She admitted without a hint of remorse. "But that doesn't mean I wish him an injury or anything. Its one thing to be rivals in this industry and another to wish him harm, Yixing."

He sighed into his phone. "I know, jagi. I'm just so worried I'm not thinking straight."

"I bet." She replied. "You just have faith. You'll see he'll be okay."

Sun wasn't sure just how much Yixing knew about the injury since she heard that the other members were forced to stay behind in order to finish filming. She didn't want to be the one to give him the bad news that his group mate's injury seemed to be more severe than any of them thought, especially when it wasn't yet confirmed.

"I hope so." Yixing said in response to her words.

From the other line, he heard a background noise that sounded like a knock. Sun seemed to cover the mouth piece on her phone because her voice sounded muffled as she yelled, "Seriously, Aron! I told you to wait for me in the fucking lounge room. I have explosive diarrhea and need a private moment in the toilet. Geez." Aron already knew that Sun and Yixing were dating, and had used that information to his advantage. But he didn't know the extent of their relationship or how long they had been together. Sun wanted to keep that information from him. 

Even through his worry, her excuse managed to pull a small smile onto his lips. When she returned to their phone call, he teased, "Explosive diarrhea, jagi?"

She replied in a playful tone. "I needed an excuse to be left completely alone. But then he showed up and now we have to go out on a charade of a date." Her second statement was full of dread and annoyance at the things she was forced to do if she wanted to keep her relationship with Yixing hidden.

"Just don't kiss him." He begged. Seeing another guy kiss his girlfriend had been enough to bother him an entire lifetime.

"I'll push him away." She promised.

"Good." He nodded, satisfied by her answer.

"Love you, baobei." She said to conclude their conversation.

"Love you more." He replied.

When their phone call ended, he grabbed his luggage and packed it up. Jongdae entered the room about ten minutes later and did the same. The remaining five members of EXO M headed for the airport for their return to Korea.

-

♥49K likes

lagosdmoreno: mexicanos al grito de guerra <3 finally got to see this guy again in person @brizuela27_cone after like a billion yrs :*  #backhome #jalisco #lagosdemoreno #soundsofmycountry

& petty rivalries aside (for the moment)...i heard what happened to EXO's tao @hztttao. @babylips_mk, my bf isaac, and i wish him a speedy recovery and send plenty of good vibes his way. he will be back before we know it so 12vs12 can bicker against each other once more! #BeStrongTao #FuerzaTao #onelove #weareone

comments...

blm_sunshine: that's right. we support huang zitao in his recovery. a music rivalry doesn't mean we wish him any injuries. #bestrongtao

exowolves12: yh right. she's probably happy about the injury.

blm_sunshine: @exowolves12 excuse me, but do u just wait around our pages all day just to criticize? thats such a waste of your time tbh.

lagosdmoreno: @blm_sunshine boo just ignore the haters

minnieunnie: she and isaac look so cute together #minsaac

load more comments...

Sun closed out of her instagram app and placed her phone in her pocket as she left the dorm building with Aron that afternoon.

With the official announcement of their relationship scheduled for that weekend, Sun and Aron were asked to spend as much time together as possible. Under the excuse that they were having dinner with her parents, Sun took Aron to her family's house. His real motives were to ask for any updates on the investigation regarding his former girlfriend. 

There were special photographers sent by Pledis Entertainment on the outside of her parents house, waiting for them only to snap publicity photos. The two Pledis idols followed her parents into the house together, where Sun's younger sister was waiting. Rae was sixteen years old and a fan of BigHit Entertainment's group BTS. Nu'est was one of her favorite Pledis groups in addition to her sister's group. 

"Hi Mae!" Her sister greeted with excitement, jumping into her older sister's arms.

She was still dressed in her school girl uniform, since she had probably just gotten back from school. Sun hugged her sister back and smiled wide at her. It had been weeks since she last saw her sister, and she even seemed taller to now. 

"This is my boyfriend Aron." Sun gestured to the boy standing next to her when she and her sister pulled back from their embrace.

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her father asked, "I thought his girlfriend was this Allisson Lugo person he wanted me to find?" 

Sun quickly gave a shake of her head. "They used to date. Not anymore."

"So he's you boyfriend, but he wants us to help him find an ex?" Her father stated from what he had gathered in her words. As the words left his mouth, Sun also realized that it didn't make sense either. But she couldn't tell her family that she and Aron were only pretending to date. Her managers had asked her to make everyone believe it, even the people closest to her. That included her group members and her family.

The two had dinner with Sun and her family, after which they followed her father into his home office. He informed that he had searched all his sources and had found no one with the name Allisson Lugo. Even with the photograph Aron provided--it was a picture of him and Allisson with smiling faces--it had been impossible to find a lead.

But he assured that he would keep working on the case and he was confident that he would find the girl in a matter of time.

-

For ten days, the members of EXO were in the dark about Tao and his condition. All they knew was what they had been told by SM Entertainment--that he had gotten surgery even if it wasn't a very serious injury, and that he would be ready to return to the group within ten days. No one knew which hospital he was at, no one had heard from him. Only his family who had been flown in from China to see him, and after the ten days passed, they returned to their home country going completely unnoticed by anyone.

The group was nervous as they piled into the company cars which would transport them to the hospital. Yifan was the most nervous, since he had experienced every bit of the injury as it happened. He had been there when the doors shut and fractured his leg, and he had been there to help him make it out of the building to safety. 

He was the only one who had really been there to see Tao's pain.

The cars dropped the group members in font of the hospital entrance where they were followed by cameras from SM Entertainment and led to one of the top floors, to the room where Tao was staying. 

When they opened the door, Tao was already dressed in his regular clothes, sitting on his bed waiting for them. An impossible amount of people crammed into the tiny hospital room and the first of the boys to cut the distance between himself and Tao was Yifan. He pulled the younger member into his embrace, saying with a tone full of mixed emotions. But the most prominent was relief to see him better. "We missed you, dongsaeng. We tried to visit at least three times, but they wouldn't tell us which hospital you were in. And they told us you had gotten surgery anyway, and weren't allowed to see anyone. We were so worried about you."

Yixing stood closest to the door, silently watching everything. He was also relieved that Tao was okay. But something seemed off about him. In his eyes were no emotions reflecting fondness or even care for the other boys. It was like he was meeting them for the first time.

"I missed you too, hyung." Tao replied to Yifan stiffly.

One by one the other boys hugged him and offered him warm words of welcome for his recovery. It had all been filmed for a special segment which would air that night to reassure the fans that Tao's injury had been nothing serious. 

When the cameras stopped rolling, one of the manager helped Tao gather his things.

It was time for their band mate to return home with the rest of his brothers.

-

im so hungry guys. 

but im kinda too tired and too lazy to cook anything. so idk what i should do. but here's an update for this story. we have minnie (with her bae af boyfriend the cone brizuela) and sun publicly showing their support for tao.

will this go down well with their managers? 

who knows. only me. lol

thank you loads for reading and supporting this story, as well as the others in the series. it won't be long (yeah, yeah, yeah *cue beatles music*) before i can continue updating sasaeng and replacement again. im looking forward to that. 

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

-clary xx