.fourteen.

Yixing left the apartment soon after changing into some jeans, a shirt, and a leather jacket. He said goodbye to Sun, assuring her he would be back later that night. She half-smiled and said that he didn't have to be worried about her. She could manage on her own, and as soon as he was gone, the first thing she did was to message Ernesto to see if he was awake. With her being in China and him being in Mexico, she was fourteen hours ahead of him. 

It was six in the afternoon where she was at the moment, and it was eight in the morning where he lived. He had explained to her that on a typical weekday morning, he would wake up at five in the morning to get ready for football practice at six. It was already eight there, but he had also mentioned to her that they took little fifteen minute breaks every two hours. She had grabbed her phone in her hand and opened up their text conversation on kakaotalk. It was the best way for them communicate. They had tried text messages, but since they were on opposite sides of the world, the messages didn't always go through.

A smile broke out onto her lips when she saw that he replied almost instantly to her message.

mae: hola neto :)

neto: hola hermosa :)

mae: u on ur break?

neto: yeah. i have like ten more minutes. 

Their conversation quickly hit off and she told him about her day. His day had just started and all he had done so far was to wake up and go to football practice. But he listened to what she had to say perfectly and he congratulated her on finishing up with filming for the movie. He was also a bit hesitant when she mentioned that she was staying in Yixing's apartment for the night because there was a leak in her apartment. She quickly reassured him by explaining that he wasn't even in the apartment at the moment.

"I don't know." He had told her after they moved onto talking on the phone for the last few minutes of his break. "When you guys were here in Mexico I got the feeling he wasn't completely over it. And I also felt like he didn't really like me." The footballer crinkled up his nose from his end of the phone. Nearby, Sun could hear his team mates chatting about the upcoming games before moving onto talk about their personal lives. 

Sun smiled to herself. "You really don't have to worry about him. Xing and I are over, and he just went out with a woman. So I'm here in the apartment alone."

That seemed to calm him down and he heaved a sigh of relief. "I guess that's good then." Someone tapped him on the shoulder, signaling that they had to get going and he said into the phone in his slightly broken English, "Hey, I have to get back to practice, Sol. But we can talk later if you're still awake. Or you could call me when you wake up in the morning. Have a good rest of your day, okay? Love you."

His words made her heart sink because she felt like he was starting to move too fast. She was just starting to get over Yixing. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even wait for her to reply to him and soon the line went dead. Sun held the phone to her ear for a good minute, still in shock that he had told her that he loved her. What if he said it to her next time, when he had more time to wait for her response? Would he want to hear it back? Or would he understand that she just wasn't ready.

-

As soon as Yixing arrived at the party, he wanted to turn around and leave. All the rest of the cast and crew were there, and they all greeted him happily. But he was a bit upset by the fact that no one had thought to invite Sun or even wonder why she wasn't there. No one asked him if she would be coming by. They were just happy to see him there. It was as though she didn't exist to them. She had been just an accessory to make the movie more interesting for the viewers. A supposed real life couple playing a couple in a movie. Perhaps some of them were still upset that Xiaolu, the previous actress, had been replaced by a Korean pop idol.

He walked around, greeting everyone, until he found Coco near the back of the venue. She was all smiles as she pulled him into a hug and got on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. 

"I'm glad you could make it, Lay." She said, calling him by his stage name. 

It wasn't that it bothered him, it was just that he quickly learned that everyone there was not a familiar of his. They had all called him Lay. If he had been somewhere where he felt comfortable with everyone, they'd have called him by his real name--Yixing. 

He nodded his head and offered her a polite smile. "I did not want to be rude and turn down your invitation noona." He told her, taking her by surprise. 

Her smile dropped in an octave and she crinkled up her nose at his choice of words. "We're not in Korea, you don't have to call me noona."

Yixing felt himself go red in the face. "I'm sorry."

For the rest of the night, she clung to his arm and paraded him around like he was her boyfriend. When he told her he was ready to leave, long before the party was over, she gave a big pout of her lips. "You can't leave now. The night is still young." She said to him over the blaring music at the venue. 

He informed her quickly. "Sun is alone at the apartment and I don't want to get back too late."

Her lips came together to form a tight line. Everyone seemed like they had been close at filming, but she was proving otherwise. But that was exactly what she was, a good actress. She had made everyone think she and Sun actually got along. Now Yixing was seeing the truth.

"Oh please, Lay." She scoffed, also simultaneously rolling her eyes at him. "Everyone knows your relationship with her is all show. No one on set really liked her that much, especially after she took Xiaolu's spot in the movie. Xiaolu is an accomplished actress, while we all had to settle for working with some amateur wannabe."

Her words were quick to get the EXO member heated. Even though he and Sun were no longer together, he couldn't just stand by while others talked bad about her. Sun, despite everything that happened between them, was a good person. She genuinely cared about people and it was easy for them to fall in love with her. He knew that the others were just resentful of her because of Xiaolu, but that hadn't been Sun's fault. She had just been called for the movie and decided to participate in it. 

"You're wrong." He said to her, words full of anger as he jumped to Sun's defense. "Sun and I are together and stronger than ever. No wonder she wasn't invited to this party and no one asked for her. I don't want to be where the woman I love is not welcome."

He then turned to leave and she didn't even try to stop him. He called an Uber to get him back to the apartment, and he was still visibly upset when he went past the front door. Sun was still sat on the couch, but this time wrapped in a warm blanket and with a bowl of popcorn on her lap as she watched a movie. She looked up from the television and offered him a small smile. 

"How was the party, Xing?" She wondered curiously.

He gave a shrug of his shoulders, attempting to appear nonchalant. "It was pretty boring, honestly. I had to leave early because I didn't know what else to do."

-

Once their last week in China was behind them, the two idols went their separate ways and went back to Korea. Sun had gone back to group practices with the remaining eight members of Baby Lips, while Yixing had gone back with EXO. There was still no word from Sarang and Junmyeon was still actively searching for her. He had even given up side solo projects to use his free time in order to find her. Sun felt bad for him. Exo had gone through so much and Junmyeon had been their pillar through it all. Now that he was breaking down, he needed the other boys to do the same for him.

Following a week after their return to Korea, the girls of Baby Lips and the boys of EXO were gathered into a conference room at SM Entertainment. Whatever the reason may be, Sun knew she wouldn't be entirely fond of the idea. She didn't like the fact that she and Yixing had to spend so much time together when they were no longer in a relationship. 

They all sat at a long conference table with one manager for each group and a few SM executives. There weren't enough chairs for everyone to sit on, with over twenty people in the room. The boys had let the girls take the remaining free chairs. There was a projector in the room and the screen had been pulled down on one end of the room, which meant that they had a presentation for them to see. That also meant they were going to pitch and idea to the two groups and Sun was almost sure she knew what it was.

Before they even started speaking, someone dimmed the lights in the room and the projector was turned on. Then a presentation started playing. The two best selling KPOP acts in 2015, a voice boomed in the room. It went on to show video clips of the two groups--Baby Lips and EXO. They had been very careful to show clips and pictures where only the nine remaining members of each group appeared. 

Sun thought about how fleeting fame was. A few years back, when she was just starting out, the top group had been SHINee, and before them, there was that huge rivalry between Super Junior and Roser-lo, which bled into the current rivalry that had taken place between both groups in the room. Now there was another group on the rise. BTS was doing very well for themselves and it was anticipated that it would knock both groups off their perch in the upcoming years. But Sun saw it coming. The rise to the top was slow, but the decline was always fast. She wanted to enjoy the time they still had.

Millions of fans, the video continued.

A super merging between the two. A giant tour around Asia. The Peace Tour.

The lights then came back on and the executives and managers looked to all of them for a response. The collective atmosphere that Sun saw in the room from the other idols were looks of confusion. They had been at each other's throats, and encouraged to do so just months prior. And now they were supposed to love each other. The people of SM and Pledis had clearly realized that they got views and money out of having them pitted against each other, but they gained more by having them at peace with one another.

"So..." Baekhyun spoke up after what felt like an eternity to everyone. "We're going to tour Asia together, in a peace tour?"

The managers nodded their heads.

Do we really have a choice? Sun thought to herself.

"It's going to be a month long." Another executive informed them. He was from SM Entertainment, since Sun had never seen him at the Pledis building before. "I know you all have other commitments in between, but this tour will work around that."

"It will be fun." Lina tried to encourage them.

They all smiled awkward smiles. They knew they really didn't have a choice, so they instead nodded their heads in agreement with this new task they would be assigned. It would be very much like the SM Town concert, except it would be just two groups. One from SM and one from Pledis.

-

another update for this story because i'm feeling inspired. in another half hour more i'm going to get in the shower because i have to head to my new job at the office. im going to be training these first few weeks.

but im very excited because if all goes well, i will be making part time the same amount of money that i make full time at my current job. they said i will be working part time in the beginning, then later i can start working full time if i want to. but i really am liking this new job so far. 

anyway, thank you all for reading and supporting.

-clary