Guts (EXO)

From Now On

Kim Hyerin was not a big fan of participating in activities that exclusively required social interaction. It was a complete waste of time to her, plus the fact that she wasn't very good at it, so imagine her own surprise when she immediately took up Tao's offer to go out that night.

She had a fairly good reason behind it. Baekhyun was going to perform. It may not seem like such a big deal, but this was Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun, the grumpy one. Byun Baekhyun, the moody painter.  Byun Baekhyun, the one who'd bite your head off if you disturb him in his sleep. Byun Baekhyun, the guy who you would never imagine standing on a stage. How could she possibly pass up the chance to see the boy perform live when she knew he would rather die than to let anyone see or hear him sing? She wouldn't miss it for the world.

She found herself excitedly following the four boys inside the local pub Tao himself said he frequented in. The place wasn't that bad - the interior was smoky and dim, reeking of cigarettes and pot. The crowd was a mix of punk kids and college hipsters, mohawks and horn-rimmed glasses and all. It wasn't too bad, Hyerin thought.

They settled on one of the longer tables that provided the best view of the small stage.

"I'm gonna call the others, see if they could come," Tao said before he turned to leave.

Hyerin nodded, turning her attention towards the empty stage where band instruments were already set up. She couldn't find herself taking in the image of Baekhyun standing on that same stage, singing his heart out. It just didn't work out well in her mind.

Deeply immersed in her own thoughts, she didn't notice a new presence plop down on the seat beside her until an elbow nudged her on the side.

"Excited?" Kai asked, raising an amused brow.

Hyerin snorted. "This is Baekhyun we're talking about, of course I'm excited. I've already thought of at least five jokes to bombard him with."

Kai chuckled. "He'd flip out once he finds out you're here. That guy is always so nervous before performing. He's insanely good, though."

"So you've heard him sing before?"

"Oh yeah. After we all got recruited by M-LX, we've spent some time hanging out courtesy of Suho and the older ones who think it's best to get to know each other better," he said nonchalantly.

Hyerin's face fell. She didn't know they were already hanging out with each other back then. But that was probably because she wasn't meant to know about it in the first place.

Which meant she was intentionally counted out. 

A strange sinking feeling in her chest startled her, but she pointed out to herself it was only her feeling bad that she wasn't included in their little get-togethers, but what did she expect, really? She didn't make it a point to be pleasant to them from the moment they were all introduced to each other. Hell, she lied and tricked them. Even after joining M-LX she acted like a bitch, which probably literally scared them away.

Noticing her dejected expression, Kai immediately tried to take it back. "Shit. Sorry. I know we should have told you about that-"

"No. Really, I don't blame you guys," she chuckled. "I was an ass. I'm sure even I wouldn't want to have anything to do with myself." She shook her head in disappointment. "I would have probably done the same thing, really."

Kai ran a hand through his black tresses, looking guilty. "No, Hyerin." He left his fingers in his hair, the other reaching out to capture Hyerin's hand. "Rather than not wanting to have anything to do with you, we were more concerned about how you would feel about us.  You had your guard up all the time. We knew you weren't going to open up to us just like that. We wanted to gain your trust slowly but surely," he explained, eyes fixed on the girl. "And I really hope we finally got that trust."