Chapter Two
2011 Words
Jae Hee's Pov
"Do I really have to do this!?"
"You need a job, right?"
I stepped out of the dressing room, looking like a 16 year old boy. Incase you're wondering, I'm 21 years old btw.
After my transformation, Lee Soo Man-nim gave a light clap. They even styled my hair like a boy.
"I never said I wanted this kind of job," I looked at myself in the mirror, still couldn't believe this person was me.
It took me years to grow my hair out till' that length, I almost cried when they cut it off.
Lee Soo Man-nim plopped a dashing looking cap on my head, the word BAD BOY was written on it.
"Don't worry. The contract stated that you'll only be apart of EXO for 3 years."
"3 years?! That's too long!" I widen my eyes in shock. It felt like they were going to pop out soon.
"You want the money, right?" His expression turned serious.
The thought of him helping my poor family in their time of need, sent me goosebumbs.
"Your family needs the money and so do you. Are you going to let your parents starve? Or are you going to accept this contract and feed them?"
I looked down at the floor, speechless. I have a younger sister who really looked up to me. We were like bestfriends but related by blood.
Just the thought of her and my parents starve made me sick to the stomach.
"Okay. I'll do it. For only 3 years right? Then our contract will end."
No more playing or joking around. This isn't a game anymore. I need to do whatever I can to feed my family and if it means disguising myself as a guy and go for the risk, then that is exactly what I must do.
"3 years from now," he smiled and handed me an envelope and I think it contains the contract.
I took the envelope and slid the contract out before snatching the pen away from Lee Soo Man-nim and sign my signature. It's going to be a one exhausting 3 years.
After I signed the contract and handed it over to him, he smiled and said, "Let's go meet the members shall we?"
"Wait, so soon? What if they find out I'm a girl?"
"You have nothing to fear. I will inform them of the situation once we meet them. Surely they will cooperate. Don't you think so?" He walked off, leaving me dumbfounded.
I surely hope so or I'm gonna be toast---
= = =
(Outside of the practice room)
We stopped outside of the practice room, my heartbeat pounded hard against my chest when I heard loud music coming from the other side of this door.
Man, I'm so nervous. What if they dislike me? What if they think I'm not worth helping?
Lee Soo Man-nim slide the door open revealing 12 good looking princes dancing outstandingly to the rhythm.
I heard of this song before since they kept playing it in the convenience store.
Right now, I wish I could just run away and hide and forget about this contract and becoming one of the EXO boys.
Lee Soo Man-nim introduced me to the members, "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to someone. This is Lee Jae Hee."
"It's very nice to meet you all." I bowed 90° and so did they. As I looked at each one of them, I noticed Chanyeol who was looking at me so intently, he seemed to recognise me.
"As of today, Lee Jae Hee will be your new member." Lee Soo Man-nim continued.
The members widen their eyes in shock. I could hear my heartbeat pounding so hard.
"What? But 12 is already a big number." Suho spoke up.
I felt a little hurt to hear him say that after he helped me out earlier.
"Suho is right. Besides, Lee Jae Hee will get bash before he even becomes famous." A guy with brown curly hair with the name "Chen" printed on his shirt went to stand next to Suho.
"And he is far behind us. He doesn't know the steps of our songs and it'll be hard for us to change our dancing position or divide parts." Said a tall guy with blonde hair.
Wow, it's like everyone of them disagree of me being their 13th member. I'm starting to doubt this too.
"I think we should just forget about this. They do have a point." I whispered to Lee Soo Man-nim who was in a deep thought.
"I've made up my mind. Lee Jae Hee will join EXO and that's final."
Looks like he really made up his mind. Lee Soo Man-nim turned his gaze towards me and smiled, "Do you mind waiting outside? I'll have a discussion with these boys."
"Um, yeah. Sure." I bowed to them and walked outside. I hope they don't reject me too much.
After minutes of waiting, Lee Soo Man-nim finally told me to join them and so I walked into the room nervously.
The members were sitting on the floor and they no longer looked like the same guys who couldn't stand having another member.
Suho got up and held out his hand to shake mine. "I'm really sorry, for the things that we said earlier. I hope you don't take it to heart." He gave me that sweet apologetic look.
I blushed for a moment but I finally got my head straight and shook his hand "It's okay, don't worry about it."
"I told them you're a girl." Lee Soo Man-nim said to me.
My face turned sour as I looked at him. So the guys here already knows that I'm a girl and I should be relieved about this but somehow I'm not.
"Yeah. We also know about the contract and your family background. We decided to help you." A guy with owl eyes stood next to Suho and smiled at me.
Never in my wildest dream that I expected Lee Soo Man-nim to tell them about my family background. Part of me just want to slap him right now.
"We'll be the best brothers you never had!" A smiley face Chanyeol appeared.
Brother? I never thought about having a brother. Having a younger sister was enough for me.
Someone who looks way younger than the rest called out to me, "Jae Hee hyung. " I turned my gaze to him.
"Are you going to use your real name?" He asked.
"Um, I can't?"
Chanyeol let out a small laugh, "You're not seriously thinking of using your real name, are you? What if someone recognise you? It'll get super ugly. You need a cool nickname."
Kai smiled at me and said,"Chanyeol is right. We need to come up with a stage name for you."
Great. Where is Lee Soo Man-nim when I need him? I didn't even realized he left me here. Geez.
"But I don't have any nicknames."
Suho looked at Chanyeol and Chanyeol looked at the person named Kai. What're they thinking about?
"Should we use that?" Chanyeol asked Suho.
"Should we?" Now Suho's turned to ask Chanyeol.
Use what exactly?
"Lets use it," said Kai.
Both Chanyeol and Suho nodded then turned their gazes on me.
"How about Jay? We've always wanted to name someone Jay but never got the chance. Haha." Suho laughed.
Jay? That's a pretty good name actually and it's a short name. I like short names. I've always thought about naming myself either Kath, Andy, Lya or etc. But Jay is even better.
"That's a really nice name. I'll go with Jay then." I gave a big smile and they clapped their hands.
Kris stood next to Chanyeol and placed his arm on his shoulder, "It'll be hard for you to catch up with us though. Can you handle that?" Kris asked me. I shot him a smile and said, "Don't worry, I have a record of memorizing dance routines of 5 songs in just three days."
Somehow everyone looked rather suprised. It was like they couldn't believe what I just said. Well I couldn't blame them, I couldn't believe it myself.
Normal people would most probably need a week or a month to get dance routines of 5 songs right.
"Wow really? Unbelievable. So, we don't have to worry about you then." Suho let out a small laugh. Damn, I just can't resist this guy.
"One more thing." Baekhyun stood next to Kris. I turned my attention onto him.
Baekhyun looked at me with a smile and asked, " Can you sing?"
"Yeah. I can sing." I said with no hesitation.
"Really? Well let's hear it then!" Suho gave a big smile.
"What?"
"We would really like to hear you sing," said Lay.
It wasn't because I was nervous to sing but because I was shy to sing in front of everyone so suddenly.
"Oh come on, you're not nervous are you?" Sehun looked at me and crossed his arms.
"N-no, I'm not but.."
".....Wait guys! How about we hear her sing tomorrow? She's probably nervous because we suddenly asked her to sing. Let's give her some time to prepare." Chanyeol covered for me.
My heart skipped a beat, the two of us made eye contact for a split second before tearing our eyes away from each other.
"Okay then. We'll hear her sing tomorrow," Kai smiled.
Everybody agreed with Chanyeol's idea, it made me a little relieved.
"Okay guys! Let's get back to practice. Jae Hee, do you want to stay and watch us? Maybe you could learn a few steps," said Suho as he waited for my reply.
I was about to say "yes" when someone stepped into the room.
"Everybody get dress we're going somewhere. Lee Jae Hee shi, come with me," Exo's manager instructed us. I bowed to the members and walked out.
"Um, excuse me..." I said whilst walking behind him.
Before I could continue my sentence, the manager spoke, "You will address me as manager Lee."
"Oh, okay. Um, manager Lee where are we going?"
"To get you dress up."
"Huh? Dress up for what?"
"Stop asking questions and just follow."
"okay.."
Wow, EXO's manager is really scary. So this is what he's really like in real life. He looked so pure and innocent on tv.
"We're here," he stopped in front of a door that read DRESSING ROOM.
= = =
After an hour of getting dress, manager Lee told me to ride in the same car as him.
It felt like he didn't want to expose EXO's 13th member to the world yet.
"Um, manager Lee."
"Hmm?"
"Um, where are we going? And why am I wearing this expensive suit?"
I looked at the suit they gave me to wear. It was a beautiful angelic-white made out of silk, really smooth and comfortable to wear.
"You will see," he said as he kept his focus on the road.
It made me even more curious on what was going on. After the long silent ride, we finally arrived at our destination.
I stepped out of the car only to be greeted by a bunch of reporters surrounding the rvs of EXO.
2 bodyguards were in front of me whilst manager Lee was beside me. Before the reporters could notice me, manager Lee handed me a scarf and a black sunglasses to cover my appearance.
Half of the reporters spotted me and ran towards me and started asking me a bunch of questions like, "Who are you? How are you related to EXO? What is your business here? Are you an important person?"
We quickly walked into the building to avoid them.
When we arrived at the waiting room, I started questioning manager Lee.
"Okay. Now can you tell me what's going on?"
"Hah, you're about to be expose to the world," manager Lee stated.
"Expose? W-what are you talking about?"
"Lee Soo Man arranged a live broadcast to reveal your true identity. That you're the 13th member of EXO."
Holy shi---
- Writer
