Lay Awake and Think

Chapter One

We all know that EXO is divided into two groups: EXO-K and EXO-M.

They each take care of activities in different parts of Asia. EXO-K is responsible for things in Korea, while EXO-M have Chinese responsibilities.
But, right now, they were together as a whole; eleven members.

Ten of them were sleeping- including their manager, eleven- but one of them was still laying awake, staring into the darkness of the room.

Tao's mind had started wandering into the past about an hour ago. He started thinking about when he was a trainee, that traveled into becoming a member of EXO. After that he remembered all of the fun all tweleve of them used to have. But that was just it.

There weren't twelve anymore, not since Kris left.

Suddenly he couldn't stay still. He had to get up and move.

Tao threw the covers off of him and slowly stood up. There was a creaky floor board that was really loud, so he'd have to be careful.

Stepping lightly, he made it to the door and slowly turned the knob, opening it just far enough that he could slip out.

Just because he was awake, didn't mean everyone else had to be.

He walked into the kitchen and flipped on the lights. Tao went over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

He thought about going down to the basement and practicing, but he wasn't in the best mood for it. He thought it would be better to just go for a walk.

After skillfully sneaking in and out of his shared room again, this time wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he quickly walked over to the door and grabbed his jacket and shoes.

"Tao?" D.O rubbed his eyes, "What are you doing?"

"I can't sleep," he answered, hastily tieing his laces, "I'll be back in a little while," he stood up and left, quietly closing the door.

D.O. shrugged it off and went back into the bedroom.

¢•¢•¢•¢

Tao walked around for an hour, just thinking. Then, when he still didn't want to go back, he went into a convenience store to browse.

They had the normal stuff: medicine, candy, small toys for kids.

Nothing that particularly interested him, well that the store sold anyway.
He had been up and down the aisles a dozen times over, but he only really stayed to try and get a glimpse of a girl who walked in.

She came in about fifteen minutes ago with a couple people who were seemingly her friends, but maybe they were family.

He liked the way she was dressed and, after overhearing two of her conversations, thought she was actually really funny.

It was two in the morning, what else could he do? Sleep?

"Maybe we should get her a card that says happy first birthday, then draw an eight next to it," she picked up a card with a cartoon giraffe on it.

When her wrist came up from her side, he saw a bracelet. It had a name on it, but he was to far away to see it clearly.

"She would kill us for that!" Her friend laughed out.

"Maybe, but wouldn't it be worth all the emeralds in the world?" She smiled and glanced over. She had been watching him move around, but made it seem like he wasn't caught.

"Maybe we should get an anniversary card and tell Kre to give to her," the other friend whispered.

"I'm not doing that! It was a dare and you know it because you told me to do it," the now named mystery girl pointed at her.