broken |exo x male|

26 - Thanksgiving

(Yes, I know Thanksgiving has passed but I still felt like writing about it because
'Chapter 24: "...hunger beats everything >:("' - Su Ju in a time of crisis

Su Ju's POV

As we drove back to the SM building, everyone bombarded me with questions.

"So what exactly happened?" Kyungsoo asked, all of the members were curious after all.

"Are you okay?" Chanyeol asked, worry spreading across his face.

"Did you pick up any hot girls?" -Chen

I looked over to Chen who had the biggest grin on his face.

"Just kidding. But for real, are you okay?" Chen asked.

"Ne..."

Everyone was a bit silent after that because I guess they could tell that I didn't really want to talk about it. I decided to break the silence. I had to apologize; the other members were so hard working for this concert, and so was I. But I just ran off. If it were EXO, I bet they'd still perform the best they could even if some crazy saesang was hanging onto their leg.

"I just wanted to apologize." I said, taking a deep breath. "It was completely irresponsible for me to run off the stage like that. You guys should be mad at me, and I am truly grateful that you are so forgiving for me botching up this performance."

"Yah, don't be so hard on yourself." Kai grumbled from the back.

I smiled to myself.

"But next time, perhaps handle it in a more civil way. I mean it wasn't like that crazy fan was going to physically hurt you or anything." Kai said in a monotone voice.

I guess that was true, that saesang couldn't have done a lot of or any physical damage because the security guards were there.

However, I was more afraid of the mental damage.

~

"So, what happened out there Su Ju?" Manager Hyun asked, taking a large bite out of a blood red apple.

"Mianhe...I just...freaked out. This was my first in real life experience with a saesang. I should've handled it it a better way. I am prepared to accept any consequences." I said. I saw the other members make shocked faces after hearing that I would be prepared for the punishment. After all, Manager Hyun was so cruel to them already. After this messed up performance, what would he do to me?

"Hmm. Maybe I should take away one of your paychecks."

Well crap. The one thing I didn't want him to do, he did.

I didn't want to beg in front of the members. I didn't want them to see how desperate I was. But I needed this money. I needed to take care of my entire family, even if I despised some of them.

"Manager Hyun, I will do anything else. Just please don't take away my paychecks."I said, keeping my head down. I was embarrassed that I was asking this of Manager Hyun. I felt as if I was giving away my soul for this one paycheck. But what could I do?

"That's my decision. That's your punishment." Manager Hyun declared.

"With all due respect, Manager Hyun, I don't believe you have the authority to do that." Suho said, stepping in.

"Yeah, this was just one performance and that reaction was completely normal for Su Ju." Chanyeol agreed.

"There really shouldn't be such a strong punishment." Baekhyun admit from the back.

I watched as EXO and Manager Hyun had a stare down. The tension was so thick, I felt as if I couldn't breath.

"Fine. Dismissed. Oh, and don't expect a day off for Thanksgiving." Manager Hyun practically growled.

We made our way to the practice room. We were to resume our normal practices.

"T-Thank you..." I said. They all just stared at me with something new in their eyes, something I hadn't seen a mix of. Pity and...anger? 

"I'm going to use the bathroom." I said. I needed to take a breather. Just to relax for a moment. And I needed someone to talk to. And I knew that one unknown person would follow me into the bathroom and talk to me.

So, I sat alone in a bathroom stall like a loser for ten minutes before I heard someone come in.

"Waiting for me?" I heard him say.

"Maybe." I chuckled. "I just wanted to ask...why did you guys stay silent when I said sorry? I'm sorry, I know my question sounds a bit bratty, but I mean...you were all just...silent." I asked from my bathroom stall.

"It's hard to explain." The guy admit. "I mean... I guess when I heard you and your request, I felt....disappointment, some sort of mild anger."

"But why?"

"Because, well, EXO works not exactly for the money, but for our passions for dancing, singing, and rapping. When we heard you pleading for your paycheck, I guess it painted an impression on us that you only worked for SM and joined EXO for the money."

"Whoever you are, I know this will sound really bad...but I did do it for the money. Sure, I enjoy dancing and singing, but the true reason why I accepted SM's offer and auditioned for them was because I needed the money."

It was silent after that. I heard a deep sigh and footsteps walking out of the bathroom.

Great.

~

A few days passed and all of EXO's relationships with me went back to normal. Mostly just mutual, or dislike. Except Chen.

Chen was always there for me.

But anyways. Thanksgiving was coming up and unfortunately, we didn't have the day off. But we were able to end practice four hours early to have a Thanksgiving dinner because Manager Hyun had to go have dinner with his own family and all the staff members had to go as well.

So once we finished up practice, we decided to host an EXO dinner. Most of the members were cleaning up while Kyungsoo and I were making a bunch of American dishes.

To be honest, I was really surprised with how much Kyungsoo knew about American cuisine, I was actually impressed.

We decided to bake a turkey, bake some ham, make some mashed potatoes, bake some potatoes, make salad, and some Korean dishes even. It all smelled super good and Chen kept on sneaking into the kitchen and stealing potatoes for some reason.

Then, D.O. and I would hear the EXO members asking why there were so many potatoes laying around the dorm such as in the couch pillows and on the stairs, followed by running after Chen. Except when Suho was chasing after Jongdae down the stairs, he tripped on a potato and everyone had to stop what they were doing in order to see if he was okay.

Eventually we got everything together, and soon everyone was sitting around one gigantic table. We began to dig in, talking to each other about the most random things, but it was still fun. I sat in between Chen and Suho, which was actually a pretty bad pair.

For starters, Chen kept on flinging mashed potatoes at me and throwing pieces of garlic from one of our dishes at me, and Suho kept on telling the worst Thanksgiving knock knock jokes ever. But I laughed anyways because when people didn't laugh at his jokes, he got really sad.

Like spaghetti falling onto the floor sad.

Suho clinked on his glass.

"As the leader of EXO, I am thankful for all of the memories we shared in the past years. I want to thank all of you for putting up with my jokes and I just wanted to say that we are all each others' brothers.

...

I also want to thank myself for bringing this really expensive bottle of wine." Suho said, taking out a giant bottle. The EXO member cheered. Even the maknae.

So of course the night ended with complete chaos.