/one/

"With all due respect to Junmyeon, of course," Yifan began in a rather bored tone as he glanced sideways towards one of his group mates, the leader of the group. With the same tone of words, he finished up his train of thought which wasn't exactly seeping with, "Why do we have to go to this thing again? Honestly, this girl means nothing to me and now I have to pretend I care that its her birthday?" 

But now his words were directed towards one of the managers from SM Entertainment which had informed them that they were to attend a special--private--meet and greet scheduled for a young woman named Nam Yumi on her twenty first birthday. Not much else was known about the girl, other than the fact that she lived in the rich neighborhoods of Seoul, and was one of their very own's childhood friend. EXO normally didn't do that--attend private shows--but the girl was apparently someone important and they couldn't decline.

The manager gave his explanation for just about the hundredth time that day. "Her father is the owner of Samsung Telecommunications, and he's the one who gave you those phones you use so comfortably, so that you boys could advertise for them." 

So then I don't owe them anything, Yifan almost wanted to say. But he kept the thought to himself.

Of course this had been explained already, but Yifan hadn't paid attention to any of it. Most recently, he had been distancing himself from the rest of the group and everyone seemed to notice. He hardly smiled at them any more, and spent all of his free time alone. Each time they asked what was wrong, each time they tried to reach out to him, EXO-M's leader preferred to keep to himself and had on several occasions even missed practices and vocal rehearsals. The only person he still talked to on occasion was Tao, and even then, he didn't tell his friend everything.

The other boys in the group were worried about him--to say the least--and they feared that the unthinkable was closer than they thought. It was something they already felt was coming.

From the dorm building they were taken out of the downtown area and into the residential streets in a car ride that lasted about a half hour with the lunch time traffic. Their schedule for the day had only consisted of getting up and practicing for a few hours before returning to their dorms for a shower just in time for lunch with the birthday girl. 

In addition to meeting the birthday girl, her family had also promised to provide lunch for the boys of EXO. While Junmyeon was excited to see an old friend once again, many of the other boys were hungry and more excited about the food they would be able to eat. 

When they arrived at the residence, there were security guards already waiting for the cars in which the SM idols were riding. They opened up the gates and allowed them inside after confirming who they were. The cars proceeded up the paved path to the front where there was a small round about in the driveway surrounding a magnificent water fountain with crystal clear water. There was a stair case nearby which led to the front doors of the house, and standing by the doors was a middle aged man, accompanied by a young woman which they assumed were Yumi and her father.

The boys made their way out of the cars and waited at the bottom of the steps with their manager, all except Junmyeon who was delighted to see her. She immediately recognized him in the bunch and raced down the concrete steps to meet him halfway. As though they were the best of friends, she jumped into his arms and he lifted her off her feet, even spinning her around. The other boys in the group were surprised to see them with such familiarity towards each other, since their leader had never spoken of the girl to them before. But then again, there were still so many things they didn't know about each other's personal lives. They knew enough, but not everything.

"Jun oppa." She grinned, barely able to contain her excitement. She then reached out, pinching his cheeks with both her hands as the grin on her face seemed to get even bigger if possible. Though she had called him oppa, the gesture was more of something an older sister would do, even if she was younger than him by nearly a whole year.

"Yumi-yah." He grinned as well, equally happy to see her, adding cheerfully, "Happy birthday." 

"Thank you for coming to see me." She bowed respectfully in front of him once her moment of excitement had died down. She then looked over her friend's shoulder at the other eleven boys who stood by without saying a word. Yumi waved at them confidently and all of them waved back with polite smiles on their faces.

Her father then walked down the steps to her side and greeted Junmyeon who he remembered as a childhood friend to his daughter. Placing a hand on Yumi's shoulder, he added, "Darling, I have to go to work now. But I hope you enjoy your birthday present." Giving her a side hug, he placed a kiss on the side of her head and added, "I love you."

"Love you too, daddy. Thank you." She gushed.

Yifan rolled his eyes at the scene. Of course she got everything she wanted. Rich girl, daddy's girl. She was spoiled rotten.

When her father was out of earshot, Junmyeon teased, "Spoiled rotten, as always."

He had just put into words the very thoughts in Yifan's mind. Though Junmyeon had meant them playfully. When Yifan thought she was spoiled, he was serious.

She blew him a raspberry, but didn't deny it.

-

Once her father had left the house, leaving Yumi alone with the EXO boys, the heiress led them into the house to the living room area where everything was set up to begin filming. The filming crew of SM Entertainment had arrived hours earlier to set everything up. As they waited for the indication that they could start, Yumi called for snacks to be brought which were placed on the coffee table in the living room, in between the three couches. 

Various hands reached for food, some even at the same time, and they had settled with their snacks on little porcelain plates when the camera started rolling. The manager had gone to sit somewhere nearby so that he wouldn't appear in the segment, but would still be able to watch the boys. 

The MC for the segment which would be aired on SM Entertainment's platforms was Junmyeon, who had a prepared series of questions and games for the birthday girl as well as the other EXO members. It was a new segment they were testing out in which SM idols became the interviewers and got to talk to some of the most prominent young people in South Korea. Their first guest had been Nam Yumi--the birthday girl--who was set to inherit her father's electronics empire upon his retirement, since he had no sons to take over. The announcement of the idea was well received by fans, who even sent in questions for the EXO boys to ask her.

The camera eventually started rolling and Junmyeon put on his best smile, which wasn't difficult considering he was with an old friend. The other boys sat there quietly with plates of snacks on their laps. 

"Hello everyone, I am EXO's Suho and I'm here with my group mates to celebrate a very special person's birthday. Her name is Nam Yumi." He paused to gesture to her--the only female in the room, surrounded by twelve handsome boys. Yumi waved at tha camera with a smile and Junmyeon continued, "She is a childhood friend of mine, and the heiress to Samsung Telecommunications, but she's also a big fan of EXO and we decided to have this segment so that she can learn more about us, and we can learn more about her since her family is very important in the industry of technology."

He looked at the cards in his hands which contained the activities and questions. 

"But first thing's first." He said before starting with the planned activities. "Who's your bias, Yumi-yah?"

Junmyeon held the microphone in front of her face and nodded his head proudly before she even gave her answer, as though already thinking she would pick him, no doubts in his mind. When she said happily, "Kris oppa." Junmyeon's smile was wiped clean off his lips.

"Ah." He said in a half groan, half chuckle. "I thought I was your favorite."

"You're like a brother to me." She nodded her head, and once again repeated who her bias in the group was. "But my bias is Kris oppa."

The other boys broke out into fits of laughter and looked at Yifan who sat there with a cold expression on his face. He didn't want to be there, that much was obvious. He was already on the ready end of his time with EXO, as he had decided weeks prior. And Yumi seemed to notice it as well. But she figured that since there were cameras around, he would have to smile and be polite.

"Okay, first activity." Junmyeon said loudly, making the laughter cease. "Yumi has to rank all of us from most handsome to least handsome."

The heiress bit her lip nervously. "You're all very handsome."

"At least we know who'll go first." Chanyeol chimed in.

Yumi nodded in agreement with him. "Kris oppa is first of course."

The other boys forced Yifan to stand up where the camera could see him better. He did, but with the permanent cold expression he had been wearing on his face for weeks now. Rumor had it at the agency that Yifan had asked the managers for some vocalist opportunities, and they had denied him, which was what had made him upset. Others claimed there were health issues that were putting him in such a bad mood.

"Second is Suho oppa, of course." She pointed at him. For Yumi, it was slightly awkward calling Junmyeon by his stage name. But she did it anyway.

Junmyeon smiled proudly once again and went to stand next to Yifan. 

One by one, she ranked all of the boys in EXO. Yifan, Junmyeon, Jongdae, Minseok, Yixing, and Luhan were the top six. As she got to the bottom six, it was more difficult for her to pick because she didn't want to rank anyone last. She ended up ranking them Tao, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Jongin, Sehun, and Chanyeol. 

"But you're all handsome." She assured them with a nervous smile.

They filmed an hour long segment which would be aired on SM Entertainment's youtube page that night. And there would be an edited thirty minute segment which would air on television the next night. The cameras turned off and the crew started gathering everything.

Almost instantly, Yifan got up from his seat on the couch and walked out of the house just as Yumi walked up to approach him. 

She followed him outside in the commotion of everyone chatting and having more snacks.

He was sat on the fronts steps by himself, head in his hands. 

He heard the door open, but he didn't move since he thought it was one of his group mated. "Go away Yena, I'm not in the mood to talk."

Yumi crinkled up her nose and paused in her step, confused. There had been no girl accompanying them when they arrived at her house, unless he had been referring to someone from the filming crew. Whoever he thought was there, clearly wasn't. Then she thought maybe he had just mispronounced her name.

"My name's not Yena." She said a bit shyly. "Its Yumi."

He stiffened at the sound of her voice, knowing he had screwed up. "Tao. I meant Tao. But you're not Tao either." He corrected himself.

She bit down on her lower lip.

Taking a few more steps to close the distance between them, she sat beside him without asking if it was okay. "Kris oppa, is everything okay?" She tilted her head in an attempt to meet his eyes. He kept his head low, long fingers tangling through his strands of dark hair, avoiding her gaze. He was in no mood to talk to anyone or pretend like he wasn't slowly reaching his limit.

"Why would I tell a complete stranger?" He asked coldly.

She was taken aback by his words. He was right, but he had been surprisingly blunt about it. She nodded her head. "I'm sorry. I just thought I could help."

"You helping me?" He asked, his tone full of bitter sarcasm. "What do you know about helping people? You've never struggled in your life."

Yumi said nothing.

But she thought to herself that he was right. She really had never struggled in her life. She got everything she could ever want, whenever she wanted it. Even with EXO. She wanted to meet them as her twenty first birthday present and she had gotten it. The one time she was being denied anything was in that moment with Yifan--as he declined to tell her anything about what was keeping him in such a bad mood.

There was an awkward minute long silence between them before Yifan heaved a sigh. "Can you please leave me alone?"

Still without a word, she got back on her feet and returned to the house where the other boys were still having a good time, eating, chatting about upcoming schedules they had, and other things. 

Yifan didn't return to the small get together. He only stayed out on the stairs until it was time to leave.

-

we're nearing the start of this story. so i thought i would post the first chapter. 

so here we see a certain wu yifan acting bitter and cold af. but no one knows why, only him. because he won't talk to anyone. tsk tsk yifan. keeping things bottled up is bad for you.

but anyway, i hope you all liked this first update. its filler-ish. but its okay. the drama kinda starts early on in this fic.

thank you for reading.

-clary xx