5. I'm Lay

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~~~~~~~~~Lay's POV~~~~~~~~~~
Two years had passed, it was January 2014. I was starting to forget about my Chinese girlfriend, since I was forced to do so... we couldn't have any relationships for two years, so I didn't speak to her during that time. I tried to focus all my energy on becoming a better artist, I didn't have time for relationships anyways.

I was told that my group EXO and I would be doing our first solo tour soon, so I decided I wanted to do something special. I asked Lee SooMan seonsaengnim personally if I could compose a song to perform at the tour, and he told me that it had to be something short, since it would be only a solo introduction stage. I was very happy, I had many ideas in mind, until I had an even better idea... why not write something entirely in English? I could barely speak English at that time, but I really wanted to show my appreciation to our international fans.

Lee SooMan seonsaengnim thought it was a good idea, and told me he would find a good English teacher for me, so I could keep on composing. I told him maybe Kris* could help me with that, he sure wouldn't mind that; but Lee SooMan seonsaengnim said a teacher would be better and could focus on me solely. I waited a few days, until he told me he found a teacher.

-Ni hao, I'm Aly, your English teacher- She said hello in Chinese when she greeted me, her voice sounded familiar.
-Ni hao, I'm Lay...nice to meet you- I replied -I'm sorry, but have we met before? - I asked her twisting my lips.
-I don't think so... but maybe we've seen each other at Kasper's studio? I'm dating one of his Chinese students... - She replied with a big smile.
-Oh... that might be it- I told her nodding my head.

Since I already knew some English basics, it wasn't hard for her to teach me. She said my pronunciation was amazing, I felt shy for a moment, but then I told her about my ideas for the song. It was great that Lee SooMan seonsaengnim found someone who could speak Chinese to teach me, that way I could ask her more things if I didn't understand something in English.

But as always, while something good was happening, something bad was happening too. Kris had been feeling ill the past months, so during New Year's break, he went to China to see the doctor. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with myocarditis, a condition of the muscles of his heart that made him get tired faster and he sometimes couldn't breathe properly. I was so worried about that, when he came back to Korea he talked to Lee SooMan seonsaengnim about it, they stayed in his office talking for so long, but he didn't want to say anything to us when he came out, he just said everything was alright.

Some months passed, and our tour was officially announced on April 7, 2014 with tickets going on sale on April 16, 2014. I was very excited, I finished the final arrangements for the song, I only had to add the vocals. In the end, I told Aly that I wanted to write the lyrics by myself, with my English knowledge, and that she could help me with the fan letters and other songs. So I ended up writing this:

Haha! 2014!
I'm Lay. I'm Lay.
Put your hands up.
One step, gotta make you high
Two step, gotta make you cry (Shout Loud!)
I'm Lay. (Shout Loud!)
Put your hands up.
My name is.

When I added the vocals to the song, I showed it to Lee SooMan seonsaengnim, at first he said it was too simple, but he liked the music, so he gave me thumbs up to use it for the concert.

-Aly!- I said running to her, giving her a warm hug -Mr. SooMan said it was alright! They're gonna let me use my song!- I added as I released her, I noticed that both of us were blushing. - Oh, I'm sorry-
-Oh Lay, that's amazing! Didn't he say anything about the English being too simple?- She asked trying to avoid my eyes, still slightly red cheeks.
-Yes, but he said he hoped you could help me with more future songs and public speech- I told her trying to be less awkward. Why was I feeling shy in front of her? It had never happened before. She just nodded and smiled.

Our tour was going to begin in May, I was really, so so excited. But then again, more bad news to kill the good mood. One week before our tour began, we found out Kris had filed a lawsuit against our company to leave the group. At first, I was angry at him for not talking about it with any of us... he was the leader of our sub-unit EXO-M, I thought he should've talked about his plans to at least one of us... but I wasn't as angry, disappointed and sad as Tao was. He was basically his best friend, and he didn't know anything either. Then I was angry at myself, for not noticing how hard it must have been for him to make that decision, how hard it must've been for him to deal with his illness and our schedules. I also had to take care of my health, I suffer from a blood coagulation disorder, so if I hurt myself I could have an hemorrhage, but for some reason, Lee SooMan seonsaengnim always paid special attention to me.

All of us were beyond sad when Kris left the group. We started our tour Exoplanet #1 – The Lost Planet and we tried to stay joyful for our fans. Trying to cheer them up. I asked Aly to come with us to the countries were they didn't speak Korean or Chinese, and she was more than happy to come with us and help us.

At least our fans were still supporting us, that was all that mattered to me.

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A/N: *Kris is not referred as "Kris-hyung" or "Kris-Gege", because first, Lay is not Korean, so I didn't want to write his POV speaking like a Korean to another Chinese person (as you see, I did use the honorific for Lee SooMan). And second, in China is not mandatory nor traditional to use honorifics, they use "Gege" as we could use "brother/bro" to talk to our friends, but not in an honorific way.

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