The Girl With The Iron Will

Reunion

"Now the others have their popcorn, waiting to see what happens to us."

 EXO, Lotto

***

"Is your grandmother still selling snacks from her house?"

"Yep. Steamed buns are still selling like hot cakes."

Minseok grinned. "I used to buy those, right? Like, a lot," he said with a sheepish grin, "So how have you been?"

I shrugged. "I've been...well," I said, "Life's good."

It's always easier to stick to neutral answers; people don't really want to know all the details.

Even if that person is a genuinely nice person as Minseok.

Besides, I always got a migraine if anyone even dared to bring up my past. I bumped his shoulder. "Yours is way more exciting, what with the idol lifestyle. Celebrity now and all."

"It's okay too," he admitted with a humble smile, "I get to be with those dorks. We've just reached the million albums mark, and the company decided to let us have some time off to thank fans and stuff. We owe it to them, after all."

"And you owe it to yourself too," I told him, "They just bought the albums; you worked your ass off, sunbae. You deserve that break."

Minseok smiled fondly at me, and I could see he wanted to say something, but then his eyes glanced past me.

Shoot. I forgot Hyeri's still here.

I bit my lip, introducing them to each other.

Hyeri bowed so quickly that her hair flew everywhere.

I gestured to her. "I'm part of the media club, and the editor really wants to an interview with you guys," I explained.

"Why didn't you say so?" he asked.

"I wasn't trying to take it for granted that I knew you... somewhat."

He actually laughed.

"Well, if you want, I could ask our manager." He gave an apologetic smile. "I can't just say yes, you see. There's protocols. But I'll put in a word for you guys."

Hyeri broke into a grateful smile. "You'd do that? Oh gosh," she said, breathless. Nudging me, she jerked her head to the door. "I'm going to head to lunch," she told me, giving Minseok a last glance, "It was really nice to meet you."

He nodded, returning her warm smile with his own. "And you too."

She waved and opened the door.

The spectators outside – upon seeing Minseok so close to the door – began screaming like banshees, startling everyone in the room. Hyeri yelped as she was swallowed up by the fans, making Minseok gasp, his hands outstretched to help her.

I ran to the door, slamming it shut and glancing around at the surprised members of the Chinese Society. "It's cool, guys," I said to no one in particular, giving Minseok a solemn look, "It's like they're a bunch of zombies and you're a piece of meat, sunbae."

He stared at me. Two pink spots appeared on his cheeks.

"I'm joking," I replied, gently steering him away from the door so as not to hear the anguished wails of desire from outside. "So, why isn't the whole of EXO here?"

"EXO-K's at another school, at Ewha Women's University," he explained.

I hummed in response. If Gang-do already was a chaotic place with half the population being female, the women's university was probably a bloodbath.