+ twenty five 

Narda had gotten so drunk at the party the previous night that Nari and Chanyeol wouldn't let her leave the SM building. With the press waiting for them downstairs, they knew things would get difficult and there would be pictures in the morning if they let her leave. Instead, the two girls were encouraged to stay the night. 

Nari stayed in Kyungsoo's room, while Narda stayed in Chanyeol's room. Their two room mates, Jongin and Baekhyun were asked to stay in the empty room on their floor. The one that had belonged to Yifan and Tao. When Lu Han left EXO, Tao started dorming with Minseok, leaving one room to gather dust on their floor. 

It was about a half hour past one in the morning when Baekhyun entered his dorm room. Slowly, everyone started leaving the party, and the EXO members waited until everyone was gone so that they could clean everything up. Baekhyun had disappeared for a while, after Taeyeon asked him to walk her back to her dorm which was a few floors down. When he returned, he was surprised to find a passed out drunk Guti in his bed. Chanyeol was nowhere to be found, probably still helping with clean up duties.

Baekhyun took one look at her and sighed.

He walked over to Chanyeol's bed instead and plopped down in it. He had only been there for a few minutes when the door opened to reveal Chanyeol. As soon as he saw Baekhyun in his bed, he informed, "You're sleeping in the empty room with Jongin tonight."

His room mate scoffed and gave a roll of his eyes. "Why me? You're the one inviting people to sleep over. This is my room too."

"Fine." Chanyeol gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. He quickly started removing his clothes, since most of the boys slept in their underwear. "I'll just sleep in the same bed as Guti, then." First his coat and his shirt came off. His hands went down to remove his pants and Baekhyun's eyes widened in horror at the thought of letting Chanyeol in the same bed with Guti, while still being in the room.

"No!" Baekhyun yelled, getting out of Chanyeol's bed and waving his arms frantically to stop him. "Just take your fucking bed. But I don't want to see you and her together."

"Why does it bother you so much?" Chanyeol eyed him, already knowing his answer in the back of his mind. "You said so yourself, that you weren't interested in her. So back off and stop bothering us."

Standing in the middle of the room now, Baekhyun shot his room mate a glare. "Don't try to act like she's yours. She's not in love with you. You can't force someone to love you." Cutting the distance between himself and his bed, he reached for his blanket, which Guti was comfortably wrapped in, and yanked on it. "Give her your blanket if you care so much. I'm taking mine since there are no blankets in the empty room." He pulled on the blanket with more force, but found Guti pulling back in her sleep. He made several attempts, but got nothing. Baekhyun complained, "This girl is stronger than I thought." He let go of his own blanket, giving up. Now stomping over to Chanyeol's bed, he grabbed the blanket and walked towards the door. "You just lost your blanket."

He left the room and went to the end of the hall, near the stairwell. The empty room still had a bulletin board and sign near the door with the names Tao and Kris written on them. The name Tao had been crossed out and in its place the name Xiumin was written, from when Yena asked to change rooms with him to be with Lu Han over a year prior. Now even Yena was gone and so many things had happened. On the bulletin board were pictures of the two boys together, Tao and Yifan, both with smiling faces. A few pictures of Minseok and Lu Han had been tacked on most recently, and a few of Minseok and Yifan as well. Lastly, before changing rooms, Tao had tacked on pictures of Yena with the rest of the boys.

The bulletin board had become a shrine to the friendship they shared when they were twelve members. Many times the managers had warned that they would soon remove the board and its pictures, but the members always protested. They didn't want it to be removed because it was like removing those three people that they loved so much, from their memories.

Baekhyun heaved a sad sigh at the sight of those pictures. It was hard to accept that two of their members were gone now. And though he didn't communicate with them, he was happy for them, and proud of their achievements. Still, during interviews, he was the one who most ended up falling into the mistake of saying they were twelve members. He would then remember they were ten now and had to apologize for mentioning the two that had left.

He pushed the door open and found Jongin already asleep under the covers, in the bed that belonged to Tao, and later to Minseok. Yifan's bed was still empty. 

He dragged the blanket over to the bed and laid down in it, pulling the covers over himself. He tried not to think about everything, and the way he had blamed Narda for their problems. But the thoughts circled in his mind until he finally managed to fall into the comfortable clutches of sleep.

-

*quick a/n: this is a picture of baek and taeyeon in taeyeon's car. just pretend its not in a car. its supposed to be that picture taken at the sm building by the press. and the girl is narda, but people speculate its taeyeon*

Narda woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and parched, her mouth dry and bitter. She was disoriented as she sat up and looked around at her surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar room and she began to panic until she saw another bed. Chanyeol was fast asleep in it.

"What happened last night?" She asked no one in particular.

She reached into her pocket for her phone to check the time. It was only seven in the morning. Every time she drank, most people that she drank with ended up sleeping in, but Narda was always awake bright and early. Her body was not used to sleeping for long periods of time. 

In her notifications she saw a message from her best friend back home, Oriana. Since moving to Korea, it had been more and more difficult to communicate with the people back home. Most of her difficulties were a result of the time differences. In Korea, she was seventeen hours ahead of everyone back in California. Whenever she wanted to talk to someone, they were usually asleep or busy with something else.

oriana: guti!

oriana: have you seen the gossip articles?

oriana: your baek is DATING. Tae. fucking. yeon.

oriana: allkpop.com/baekhyun-makes-out-with-mystery-woman

Narda's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she clicked on the link that her friend sent her. She immediately saw the article. EXO's Baekhyun Spotted Making Out With Mystery Woman At SM Dorm Building--Speculated To Be Label Mate SNSD's Taeyeon. Narda felt her heart break in an instant as she remembered that it was probably true. Taeyeon was Baek's date to the party that was thrown in Narda's honor.

But as she further looked at the photograph, she was able to make out something in the darkness. A red and blue woven bracelet that only Narda had. It was a bracelet her father had gotten for her when her family made a trip to Veracruz one winter. She knew it had to be unique. There was no way Taeyeon could have gotten her hands on a red and blue bracelet with a Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz charm on it. 

She gasped at the realization that she and Baekhyun kissed, and she didn't remember any of it. But she was sure she was the girl in the picture even though it was barely visible and her face was concealed.

Narda quickly grabbed her cellphone and typed away a response.

narda: omg ori u will not fucking believe this but

narda: i think the girl in the pic is...me

oriana: lol narda

oriana: ur such a bullshitter

oriana: no wonder chanyeol calls u the
little liar

narda: im not joking pendeja

narda: look at her wrist

narda: who else in korea has a tibu bracelet??

oriana: no mms...

oriana: how

oriana: maybe taeyeon somehow

narda: yh bc taeyeon knows what tibu is

*tibu is the nickname for the team tiburones rojos of veracruz*

oriana: omg narda 

oriana: get it ;)

oriana: im so proud of u!!

oriana: one day that'll be me and sudaddy <3

narda: sorry to burst ur bubble

narda: but junmyeon is happy with sarang

narda: and i know her. she's a wonderful

person. i just don't want u getting ur hopes upjust bc im close to them...

oriana: sigh. a girl can still dream.

Narda was snapped out of her thoughts and her text messages with Oriana when she heard an urgent knock on the door. She decided to ignore it, since she was only a guest there and she didn't want to wake Chanyeol. But when the knocking didn't cease, she reluctantly got out of bed and walked over to the door slowly. Her pounding headache was making the room feel like it was still spinning around her.

She opened the door to find on of EXO's managers, accompanied by a fuming Taeyeon. The moment she saw Narda she shot her glares that Narda returned. Having forgotten the previous night's events, Narda did not remember why Taeyeon seemed to hate her so much already. But Narda had reasons of her own to dislike her.

"What are you doing in my Baekhyun's room?" Taeyeon hissed. 

Before Narda could respond, the manager asked her a question as well. "Is he still asleep? Is he dressed?" He asked, assuming the worst of them after seeing the picture in the gossip article.

"He's not here." Narda said groggily.

Still, Taeyeon pushed the door open and pushed past Narda, colliding her shoulder with her purposefully. She stomped into the room and was surprised to find an empty bed. As though he could be hiding from them, she got onto her hands and knees and even checked under the bed.

"I told you he's not here." Narda said a bit more loudly.

She was ignored again as Taeyeon went over to the bathroom door and opened it. The bathroom was also empty. Narda and the manager stood by the door, watching her as though she were insane. The last place she thought to check was the closet, where once again she turned up with nothing. 

Standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips, the SNSD member demanded, "Where is he then?"

Narda shrugged. "I have no idea."

The two left the room, and before heading down the hall in search of Baekhyun, the manager gave Narda a warning. "Because of you, now we have to fix this mess and give out announcement sooner than we wanted." Narda figured that the announcement he was talking about was the one about Baekhyun and Taeyeon supposedly dating. He finished with, "I knew we shouldn't have hired you. Get your things and get out of here. From now on, you're banned from entering the SM Dorm building."

Behind him, Taeyeon smiled victoriously.

The two walked away without another word.

-

She stayed in the building until everyone else woke up. For one, because she wanted to say goodbye to the boys since she didn't know if she'd be seeing them again. Also, she didn't know where her purse was and she needed to find it before leaving. When she found it, it had been thrown in the garbage and she figured it had been none other than Taeyeon who did it.

Before walking her to her apartment with Kyungsoo and Nari, Chanyeol promised her that he and the other boys would work hard to convince the managers to allow her back in their lives. Narda thanked him, but she knew it would be difficult, considering that she had caused a problem for them and they were on Taeyeon's side. 

As they walked to the staircase that led to the back door, they passed the room labeled Kris and Tao. When the door opened, she realized Baekhyun had been sleeping there. His eyes met with Narda's for a brief instant before he looked away. She found genuine pity and sadness in his eyes. No doubt, the manager had already told him about Narda and how she was no longer allowed to be close to EXO after the kiss that had been caught on camera. 

She left the SM building for what would probably be the last time, knowing that it would be a difficult battle against them if she wanted Baekhyun's love.

-

a dramatic ending to this chapter because i haven't updated in a while. as of now, there are about fifteen more chapters until this story ends. that seems like a lot, but it really isn't. after this story ends, i will post the blurb for the sequel, and will start writing for "twelve" which is kris' story.

since they take place around the same time, i will also be able to periodically update "distance" the sequel to lu han's story, and "talk about boys" the sequel to yixing's story, which has been much anticipated ^.^

thank you all loads for reading, and i hope you have an awesome day!

-clary xx