EXO's Manager (EXO Xiumin fanfic) (COMPLETED)

18 // "Give them a break"

I walked into the room where the boys were getting ready. They were all dressed in their blue suits with their black tshirt letters underneath. "Oh good," I said, finding Kai. At a glance, they all looked identical. "Your hair doesn't look so greasy this time."

"Did you approve the greasy hair? Because that wasn't really nice, you know." Kai smirked, as if joking with me.

Kai was joking?

This was the first concert without Tao, and as I looked around, the boys didn't seem that upset about it. I found Xiumin. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course," he answered.

"Tao isn't here, and everyone seems just fine. Why is that?" I asked.

Xiumin still smiled. "Oh. Tao will be back. It's rare when everyone goes to all the concerts anyway. And...I mean, Tao is great, but I have more lines with him gone. Aishh, that sounds terrible of me to say that."

"You boys are on in one minute!" The dude exclaimed.

I heard someone shout from across the room. It was in Mandarin, so it didn't take me long to realize it was coming from Lay. Xiumin, Suho, Sehun, and I rushed over to him. "What happened?!" I asked. There was blood coming from Lay's hand.

"You didn't know?" Suho asked me. "Lay has this medical condition where he won't stop bleeding. Even from the small things."

"I just hit my hand on the edge of the table," Lay said, and Sehun gave him a tissue, which didn't really do anything.

"Okay, he won't stop bleeding," Sehun exclaimed, like he was freaking out.

"You boys are on in 10!"

"No," I said. I didn't know what to do. "Lay...I'll be back with ice and a bandage after you perform."

Lay nodded, and walked out.

I didn't get to watch the performance, I only got to hear about it because I was running around trying to find ice and a bandage. Lay would have plenty of camera time, with his new black hair and his reliable, charismatic dimples. Everyone would see the blood.

Kim J was in the room with us at the end of the show. That meant he would be evaluating. "Kai, you're doing very well. Keep it up. Baekhyun, watch your notes. You're a strong vocalist but you still are going flat. Chen, your vocals are out of control. Xiumin, I need you louder. You're taking over for Tao until he returns so I need you to really step up. Lay, you seemed distracted the entire -"

"This is why SM gets a bad rep," I interrupted, and Lay walked over to me and I began taking care of his hand. "Do you pay any attention to any of their medical files?! It's like Kris and Luhan all over again!"

Xiumin gave me a look, and mouthed, "calm down."

"-anyway, Sehun, please look alive. The others are just as tired, if not more tired than you. Suho, you're doing fine. Chanyeol, you did great, the fans really liked you tonight. The team mentioned something about some lip bite? I must have missed that. And D.O, good job." Kim J left, but not without glaring at me before going out the door.

Xiumin walked over to me. "Amy, let's go take a walk."

"Uh, okay." He led me to a balcony in the stadium, overlooking the downtown part of the city.

Xiumin looked at me while leaning on the edge. "You need to calm down. I don't want you getting fired over something like that."

"But you're okay if I get fired because I am involved with one of the members in the band?" I clarified.

Xiumin nodded. "I still need you here."

I looked away. I couldn't help but have a deep feeling in my gut that Tao wasn't coming back.

"Hey," Xiumin said, standing up straight and looking at me, standing directly in front of me. "What's wrong?"

"What?"

"You have that look. Just say it."

"I just feel like Tao isn't coming back. And that kills me - that's my fault! And this whole blood thing with Lay...we're doing it again! We're going to lose Lay too!"

"No we aren't. Tao is strong, okay? He'll be back soon. Maybe even next week. Which is good, because we'll lose Lay to China."

"What?!"

Xiumin laughed. "Lay is leaving to go to China to act in a movie. Hence the black hair."

"He can do that?" I asked.

Xiumin shrugged. "I guess. Don't tell Lay, but Suho is excited for more lines. He really got nothing for this comeback."

I sighed. "Minseok..I don't think you get it. I blame myself for Tao. I could have done something."

"Maybe. But don't beat yourself up over it. Everyone needs a break every once in a while. And Tao liked you. He'll come back."

I nodded, but I couldn't ignore the fact that nothing Xiumin said was making me feel any better about the situation.

I heard voices from a balcony below. "Did you see Lay?" A girl's voice asked.

"Yeah, he looks so good with black hair!" The second voice exclaimed.

"No, I meant his hand. He was bleeding! And he has a medical condition where he can't stop bleeding!"

"I saw that! I mean, the least they could have done is given him a bandage! SM is so abusive to them. They need to give them a break, especially Yixing oppa."

I ran my hand through my hair and looked at Xiumin. He shook his head.

"What's going on here?" Sehun asked, after opening the door to the balcony. He looked at us. "You two aren't a thing, right?"

"Right," Xiumin said slowly. "Why?"

"Because you two are always by each other. Always talking, always looking at each other, and I heard a little story that you two have kissed."

"There's nothing going on between us," Xiumin said firmly.

Sehun nodded. "Okay." He left, and I couldn't help but have Xiumin's words echo in the back of my head.

There's nothing going on between us.

Then what is it?

"So there's nothing going on between us?" I asked once Sehun was far enough away.

Xiumin looked at me. "Oh don't bring it up like that."

"I know, but it's Sehun."

"Sehun? None of them should know. Because it will eventually get back to Kai, and I can't let Kai find out."