His Fake Girlfriend

9. "Who is she!?"

Read a/n at the end, its really important!
I really shouldnt be posting this! If my mum finds out she'll have my head pulled off and sent to the closest butchers. (okay joking aside, read a/n at the bottom please :))


9.

Ah Reum's POV

The drive to the SM building was awkward. I had Chanyeol sat beside me, trying his best to babble and avert everyones attention. I was grateful, considering the thick awkward feeling was ever present between us all.

"Did you guys know.." He said for the millionth time. He'd been dishing us random facts for the past 10 minutes. The ride felt antagonisingly long.

It was awkward but I didn't know why. I had caught Kris taking small glances at me, but I wasn't sure. His head would tilt slightly towards me and I'd see a flash of his eye move in my direction but I wasn't certain he was looking at me.

Finally after a 15 minute ride, we got to the building and pulled up beside the entrance. The doors to the entrance however were littered with tons of people. More specifically, girls. Of all ages and sizes, holding banners and screaming. What they were screaming, I couldn't hear. Their noise was obstructed by the black large tinted windows of the van. There was the flashing of lights coming from every angle as the car slowly came to a stop.

The boys around me were not reacting to it. But I was. They were not acknowledging the people at the entrance or the lights. But I sure as hell was.

I grew self conscious and if possible, got more awkward. Did i really want to go through with this? Was this normal for them? No privacy?

The manager, who was in the passenger seat, turned to me and Kris.

"This is your first test. There's plenty of paparazzi out there so here's what you have to do."

He explained he wanted the boys to all exit the car first, then Kris would come out, holding my hand to help me out of the car and we would walk hand in hand to the door.

Perfect scene portraying the perfect boyfriend. Right?

Wrong.

Kris was livid. We all sat in the car watching as he and the manager argued back and forth.

"What's the point? This'll only start bad rumours. They can only assume and what they assume is always misleading" Kris argued.

"We need a spark before the big fireworks. This'll give them something to question and give to their readers, before we hand them the big story." The manager argued back. Kris huffed but argued no further.

The manager faced Suho, who sat the closest to the door. "Suho, get out of the car and I want you all to follow." He addressed the boys, speaking seriously. I noticed he put great emphasis on the world "all" and glanced pointedly at Kris in particular.

The moment Suho stepped out and was followed by each of the boys, the flashing lights doubled, making it hard for me to watch them as they exited the car. Chen was the last out and turned back quickly to smile encouragingly at me. I smiled back and gave him a thumbs up.

Kris moved to sit in the chair next to me, whispering; "Lets make this quick." through clenched teeth in my ear.

Before getting ready to get out of the car the manager gave us one final instruction. We were told not to answer any questions or stop walking under any circumstances. We just had to hold hands and walk.

The manager waited until the boys had entered the building before telling Kris and I to go. He wanted the paparazzi and the fans to have their full attention on us as we stepped out.

Kris got out of his chair and ducked out of the car. He then turned around and leaned back into the car, smiling forcefully at me as held out his hand. The screams outside grew louder as fans chanted his name when they saw him get out of the car.

They sure as hell wouldn't be screaming once they'd lay eyes on me.

I took Kris's hand and smiled back. He gripped at it and pulled me out, more forcefully than was needed. I gritted my teeth.

This was it.

I got out of the car to be welcomed by the bright repeated flashing of lights. Squinting, I tried to make out where to walk and where to stand.

The screams were deafening as fans caught sight of me.

"Who the hell is she?"

"Why is she stood next to Oppa?"

"Oppa! Who is she!?"

"Oppa can't have a girlfriend! He just can't!" I caught sight of a young girl stomping her feet as she wailed.

The lights had me disorientated. I was afraid of falling. I couldn't see a thing. Kris's held my hand in a tight grip and marched forward, dragging me along with him. I gripped onto his arm, tightly, afraid I would fall if I didn't hold onto the closest solid thing to me. I shut my eyes and just let Kris drag me.

"Kris! Kris! Look here."

"Kris! Look over here."

"Kris! Kris! Is that your girlfriend?"

"Kris! Are the two of you dating?"

"They're holding hands! They must be!"

"Kris. Who is that girl?"

The flashing then stopped and the screaming ceased. I clung to Kris's arm with everything I had and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Ah Reum!" Chanyeol shouted.

Wait... Chanyeol?

Wasn't he in the building already?

I opened my eyes slowly and blinked to focus them. Exo were stood in what looked like a lobby, looking awkward as they looked at me.

Then I realised, I was still latched onto Kris's arm for my dear life and we were still holding hands. I looked up at him and he had a smirk on his face.

"You can let go now." He whispered to me, smirking down at me like a smartass. I leaped back off him, horrified at myself for letting my guard down for a moment. Kris winked and walked away.

-

Finally all 13 of us plus all four managers, were seated in a office style meeting room. It was silent as we waited for the arrival of the Heads of SM. The silence was weird. Even Chanyeol wouldn't whisper a peep. Everyone was just silent.

The door then opened and in walked 3 men. The managers and the boys all stood to bow to them and I followed in suit, bowing low.

"You can all sit." Waved one of the men, before all three took their seats at the long table next to each other.

We all sat down and waited for them to speak.

"Is this her?" Asked the man sat on the right.

The manager nodded his head and the three men looked at me.

"Well, I can say she's a fine lady" the man on the left said, eyeing me behind his glasses. I immediately tensed up. Never had I ever received such a blatant upfront compliment like that. It made me feel insecure. I was up fir inspection. Plus there was the problem with having not even seen the new me. I basically had no idea how I looked right now.

My tense feeling was however erased and replaced with fear when I felt the hand of someone grip into my arm under the table. My eyes traced the hand to make out its owner was Chen who sat beside me. He was trying to calm me down, smiling and nodding calmly when my eyes met his. I exhaled and stopped tensing, throwing him a small grateful smile.

The tiny gesture gave me confidence and I felt a little better.

"Miss Kim Ah Reum." The man sat in the middle finally spoke, addressing else directly.

"My name is Lee Soo-Man and I am the founding chairman of SM entertainment." Oh so he was the main boss. I made a mental note to never cross the line with him. He looked like he meant business.

"The man on my right is Kim Young-min, he is my CEO of SM and the man on my left is Lee Jong-in who is my CFO." He gestured to each of them as he spoke, then sat back looking thoughtful and serene.

"I hope you can understand something like this has never been done before and never have I felt the need to do it, but-" he paused for a moment with a finger raised, carefully selecting his next words. "But.. I feel it is.. necessary." He finished.

"You see, Miss Kim at first, both I and Young-min here" he gestured again to the man on his right then himself. "Opposed the idea right away. We found it both risky and potentially damaging. We both felt it could ruin what we built here at SM. However, Lee Jong-in here" he pointed to the man on his left. "Researched something that didn't cross my mind at first. His job, you see, is finance. He showed me a significant drop in media attention for EXO and the price of their appearances. It didn't occur to me that they had lost so much attention and we were losing money for it. So, naturally, we all rethought what the managers had proposed and I initiated a deal with them."

"We decided together to see this through under one condition." Added Young-min

"If by any chance this plan were to fail, or backfire the managers of Exo who suggested it will be fired." Soo-man continued

Everyone's eyes darted to the four managers who sat with their heads bowed low.

"Is this true?" Kris demanded across the table, outraged. "You put your jobs on the line for this?!"

The managers nodded with their heads low, refusing to make any eye contact.

"We had great faith in this so whatever the outcome we wanted to see it through til the end"

Kris looked like he wanted to shout further but was silenced when Soo-man raised his hand.

"Remember your place, boy." He warned him. "You are not in a position where you can shout in this room or infront of us." His voice was calm but eerily authoritative.

Kris bowed his head and remained silent.

"We assume you have a plan for today." Soo-man addressed the managers, looking expectant. All four mangers raised their heads slightly.

"This is what we want to happen today." the manager started speaking his head now raised fully as he addressed us all.

"Exo have a performance the day after tomorrow, so as usual for one day we'll allow a rest. We want you all to go out into town, making it seem as though all 12 of you plus Ah- Reum are hanging out as normal people. It's when you're in town that we want Kris and Ah-Reum to wander off together."

"Hand on hand, of course." Added another manager.

"Yes. We want the two of you to be holding hands and seeming like a couple in love." he agreed. I felt like gagging. Me and Kris? Couple in love? I mean I know I barely know the guy but he had crossed the line suggesting green hair dye for my hair. That was a stupid move. He was now considered my enemy. But I had a job and I had to play the part.

"It's natural for the company to not want you guys recognised in town, so you'll all have to wear caps and hoodies to hide yourselves. However, we want you all to occasionally let your hoodies slip or make it blatantly obvious that you guys are infact Exo."

"At this point we'll have had someone notify the paparazzi anonymously that exo are in town, so they'll come out of interest. We want you Chanyeol-"

The manager pointed at Chanyeol, who at first seemed startled for being addressed directly then turned serious, no sign of playfulness on his face. It was incredibly out of character for him and weird to see him this way.

"-to scream something like "have fun on your date!" When the two wander off together. So it'll be obvious to the paparazzi watching to follow the two of them."

"If that goes smoothly, they'll probably follow you two. As they follow, we'll have car pull up beside the two of you and you will both get in, making it seem to the paparazzi that the two of you just mysteriously disappeared into thin air."

"This will give them enough time to go back to their companies and print for tomorrow, stories of Kris and his girlfriend's first date." The manager finished, his eyes shining with excitement.

" Ah, I understand." Jong-in spoke. "So you want to give the media a slice to draw rumours from?"

The manager nodded his head.

"Excellent plan. You just have to hope it works." Added Young-min. "What do you think?" He turned towards Soo-man.

"I do agree its a good plan but-" the managers sat forward. As did the boys and I.

"-but how can you be sure they'll not see them enter the car?" That was a very good question.

We all looked back at the manager who seemed in thought.

"For that, we'll have the car parked up and Kris and Ah-Reum will both get in, ducking so they can't be seen."

"We considered tinted windows, but that would make it seem obvious that they were in that specific car, so instead we'll have them duck to conceal themselves." Added another manager.

"At this point, the car will drive off and they'll both be taken home." Finished the manager.

"That clears it up then." Jong- in sat back and sighed. "We just have to make sure everyone is willing. Miss Kim?" He smiled at me. "Are you in favour of this plan?"

I thought fast. I was already given the job of being the puppet for them anyway, so my dignity was out of the question already. This plan would be the first deciding factor for my new 'job'. If I could pull this off, Omma wouldn't have to struggle to provide for me ever again. Plus the four managers had placed their jobs on the line for this. I couldn't let them lose their jobs! If they were that passionate about this I couldn't slap it back in their faces.

Under the table I felt Chen, squeeze my arm gently. I glanced at him and he tilted his head forward slightly. He wanted me to say yes. Squeezing my arm once more encouragingly, he tilted his head again, a second time, urging me.

At that moment, I trusted Chen and soaked up his encouragement, using it to fuel my courage.

"Yes, I am.. in favour of it?" I spoke slowly, testing the words and more persuading myself than actually thinking about it as I said it. It came it sounding more like a question than an answer in my ears. Not confident at all.

Jong-in however, seemed content with my answer and turned to Kris. "And you, Kris?" He asked calmly.

It felt as though everyone in the room held their breaths as they waited for Kris to reply.

He breathed in deep and spoke softly.

"Yes, I am in favour." He half whispered, sounding defeated

Everyone exhaled and smiles erupted on the managers faces. This was part one.

Soon, we would be seeing through the start of the beginning.

------
A/n:

She hasn't seen herself or her hair so I deliberately didn't post it. You'll all see in the next chapter so please bare with me. ^_^

This marks the beginning of the story officially.

Now, if you guys had read my status, you'll already know this but for those of you who didn't here's what's going down.

I went to the doctors the other day and they diagnosed me with Globus Hystericus. (Cool name right? But it's as irritating as a scratch on your back that you can't reach)

It's basically kinda like a psychological error, where my mind tells me there's a lump in my throat when there really isn't. It's happened because the muscles in my throat have tightened and I can't relax them unless I stop stressing.

I got the 'lump' from stressing so much and I believe part of the problem is writing this story. I put a lot of thought and care into building its storyline and brainstorming my other storylines for my coming exo stories (there'll be more info on that soon). But basically, I stress a little sometimes when I read my story back and it doesn't make sense to me or I feel I missed something out. It's incredibly stressful also because I don't know how people react to it as I rarely get comments.

Please do comment! (Even if you have something bad to say at still an opinion and I think I can take constructive criticism) but be nice! :)

As usual,

Ah Saranghaeyo
(Nan neukdego, neon minyeo)