EXO's new manager

PART 10

In a cozy Caffè .. by the glass wall that gives you a nice view of the streets .. sat Tae Kwang waiting for his friend ..
the door slang open and a man panting hard came in and searched with his eyes for his dear friend .. when he spotted him .. he hurried to him and hugged him tightly " YAH ! what happened ?! you made me so worried by your call ?! "
Tae smiled a little " thanks hyung .. I really am having a problem .. "
min woo sat in front of him with his brows still frowning "okay so ?! "
after 15 minutes .. Tae explained everything that happened ..
min woo was concentrating deeply .. he leaned his cheek on one hand .. " hmm .. so .. what do you think you should do ? "
Tae said surprised after sipping slowly from his mint tea " this is why I called you .. I don't know what to do .. the trip is after 4 days .. and I don't even know what action to take ! the company told me I must go .. it isn't a choice .. "
min woo raised an eyebrow " why wouldn't you go with them ? are you being a coward now ? "
Tae stuttered " w-what ?! No I am not ! "
min woo shrugged while simply stating  " you are ignoring them .. and take every chance to hide .. I thought you are a grown up man you know "
Tae was speechless.. this jerk so called his best friend .. is actually making sense ..
" till when are you going to run away from your problems and not face them huh ? and why assuming that the manager is right ? why not that he is lying ? "
Tae's eyes widened " but .. but he is THE manager .. he is old .. and .. and-"
" and we saw many old people lie through their teeth with no shame "
Tae hung his head low ..
" so .. I ask again .. what do you intend to do huh ? "
Tae looked at him innocently " stay home till they come back from China ? "
min woo's friendly aura turned to a dark scary one " what . did . you . say . Lee . Tae . Kwang ???????"
" I .. I .. I .. meant to go visit them .. and .. and see .. what they have .. to say ????"
min woo came back to his usual self and smiled widely " that's my Tae Tae !! "
Tae sighed " but it is going to be embarrassing .. they would be disappointed with me .. "
min woo shook his head " maybe .. but it is better than letting them go to China and come back without you .. they will get an award ! don't you think they would be disappointed more with that ? "
Tae's shoulders sagged .. that's correct .. specially sehun .. who was starting to depend on him more and more ..
Tae straightend his position and said " okay .. I have to face the results of my anxiety and insecurity ! I will visit them "
min woo smiled " great ! let's go buy something for them and drop you off to their apartment!  "
Tae was taken back " w .. what .. now !? but I didn't prepare my sorry speech ! "
min woo rolled his eyes " seriously ? come on .. move move " he cheered while dragging his dongsaeng who kept whining ..

in front of the door ~
Tae gulped .. he was holding a take away meals and some snacks ..
he heaved a breath and whispered to himself " fighting ! "
he knocked on the door ..
he could tell someone was looking through the small hole in the door and he heard some whispering
" IT IS HIM ! "
" WHO ? "
" THE MANAGER ! "
" WHICH ONE ?? "
" THE NICE ONE ! "
" OKAY OPEN THE DOOR .. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING ?? "

Chen and Baek opened the door and looked at the manager with a blank face .. they kept staring at each other for a  few seconds awkwardly ..
Baek snapped " why are you here ? "
Tae was surprised by the dry tone ..
Chen looked at Baek with wide eyes and whispered harshly " yah ! what are you doing ?! "
Baek folded his hands and said " he didn't talk to us for 2 days .. we were worried to death ! specially suho and sehun ! do you have any idea how he was heart broken by your attitude ! "
Tae's heart broke .. and he looked down in shame ..
Chen said while pushing Baek aside " come in manager hyung so we can talk .. "
Tae nodded awkwardly and came in after giving Chen the bags .. in which the later murmured a thanks ..

the two members sat in a sofa across the other one which tae sat in .. he kept fidgeting in his place ..
they waited for all the members to come ..
one by one .. they came .. all surprised by the sudden appearance of the manager ..
but there was no hugs .. warm words .. or even hot chocolate ..
with this cold attitude .. Tae wished that the floor would open up and swallow him ..

" so .. how have you been .. manager hyung ? "
Tae hated how the ' manager hyung ' rolled out bitterly on suho's tongue ..
" I .. I am fine .."
it was weird to see everyone down .. even chanyeol wasn't smiling as usual ..
Tae took in a deep breath .. " I .. I know that my selfish attitude was so rude towards you guys .. and .. and I know that it was childish to not face my feelings and the facts in front of me .. and I owe you an explanation .. "
the members perked at this .. but they tried to not show much interest ..

and Tae told them everything ..

and their reaction was terrible ..
" so you thought we are a bunch of hypocrite selfish jerks basically ? "
" BAEK ! "
" what ?! I am just translating his worries !"
the way Baek put it made Tae want to throw himself out of the window .. if only he wasn't a stupid ball of emotions ..
" do you have any idea how worried we were ? I mean .. we literally thought those gang of yours got you involved in some big problem .. or you heard something about your mom and sister ! but no .. you have been doubting us instead ! why didn't you talk about it with us immediately? and you didn't want to come with us to China for this reason ?! do you know how much that hurt us ? our kind and nice manager suddenly abandoning us in a very important event ! for a reason that is not even reasonable!  "
Tae didn't meet any one's eyes since he came in .. and now after baek's burst .. he felt how stupid he really was ..
" I .. I was scared .. "
Baek snapped " of what ?! "
suho shushed him " yah Baek .. calm down and watch your talk .."
Baek just sulked ..
suho asked calmly " of what exactly ? "
Tae leaned back on the sofa " that you will let me go once you are tired of me .. and that I am not good enough for you .. I really started to get attached to you like my real younger brothers .. so .. yeah .. "
xiumin sat next to him and rubbed his back " we won't do that hyung .. as much you clutch to us .. we will do the same for you "
lay nodded " the old manager is a big lier unfortunately .. specially If he gets jealous of someone .. he will do everything to destroy them .. "
Kyung soo added " if you only came and talked to us .. nothing of this mess would have happened .. "
chanyeol talked next " yeah hyung .. anything at all happens .. just ask .. okay ? Don't let it all in until it grows more than nacessary .. "
the members slowly broke their cold attitude and forgave him ..
but two didn't even budge ..
Baek kept his cold behavior and kept glaring .. while sehun looked tired and very disappointed ..
Tae sat near them .. " I really understand your situation Baek ah .. I really am sorry .. I promise I won't do such stupid thing like this happen .. "
Baek's frown softened .." you better .."

sehun didn't talk at all .. Tae stood up and held sehun's hand .. " I am terribly sorry sehun ah .. I really understand how much I disappointed you as a hyung .. just like I disappointed from mom and my dongsaeng .. it was an old behavior .. it was selfish and stupid .. I will do anything to be better for you .. can I do something for you ? "
sehun sensed the honnesty in the manager's words so a small smile appeared on his face " you have to play video games tonight and everyday till we go to China .."
Tae's eyes widens while Baek smirks " I like that deal .. "
kyung soo frowned " it is too late already .. Tae hyung looks tired .. "
Tae smiled shyly " no it it okay with me .. this is the least I can do .. can you bring the snacks I brought ? we can have some fun "
kyungsoo smiled " okay hyung .. "
Baek rolled his shoulders as a 'warm up' ..
chanyeol cheered behind him " we all will take turns and play with manager hyung so we can forgive him ! "
Tae's eyes widens " wow .. that would take a lot .. "
Baek sat down on the floor in front of the TV .. " yeah it sucks .. but life is hard hyung!  come on soo.. bring those snacks ! ''
tae smiled softly .. and felt the burden of his actions slip away with the members smiles and cheers .. now he can finally sleep again in peace ..
"  focus old man ! or you will lose ! "
tae smacked the back of bank's head " yah ! who do you call old man huh ! I will beat you up ! "
" BRING IT ON ! "
and that's how the members spend the night .. and were found sleeping on top of each other .. with a satisfied smile plastered on their face ..