fourteen

"There. It's private."

Baby puts her phone away, after making her Instagram private, and she looks up to the manager, as he paces up and down the room. They're both waiting in a meeting room, as they wait for Kai to come out of the CEO's office and explain what exactly is going to happen. A while ago she had seen the other members walk past the office and in that direction.

She and the manager had been in there for hours. Apparently the manager that was with her was the new manager for her. Kai's manager was in the office with them, no doubt getting yelled at.

Baby's head hurt, and her heart was still beating out of rhythm. There are so many things she was feeling all at once. She was angry. Angry that the girls would say something to drag his name through the muck or to get their five minutes of fame. She tried to understand where they were coming from, especially if they broke up because they wanted to be public and Kai wouldn't allow that. Then suddenly he was public with Baby. She bet it pissed them off. But pissed enough to go to the media? Baby couldn't understand that.

It also confused Baby. What if Kai had a secret love child? What if it was just a secret from the media and he knew all about it? Was it too early in the relationship for him to tell her that kind of thing, or did he even know if he had a child? Does he even have a child or is the girl lying?

The biggest feeling that she was feeling, though, was fear. She was scared for him. It scared her that his fans might hate him, that his company might terminate his contract, that he'd be left to fend for himself.

A door slams and Baby jumps out of her chair and runs to the door, just in time to see Kai walking out of an office. The other members walk out of the room, but Kai's practically running, and they can't keep up.

Kai doesn't slow as he grabs Baby's hand and she has to keep up with his pace. They're in a van and headed to his place before she even calms down.

"What's going on?" Baby asks, but Kai says nothing. "What's true and what's a lie."

Kai swings around in the chair, face fixed in anger, mouth open like he was going to yell. He takes a deep breath and looks at Baby with a more relaxed face. "Naneun se myongi yojaman sagwiottta dareun gon opssoyo. Jigeumkkaji yonseupssaeng ttae se myongman (I've only dated three girls. None of the other ones. Only three during my time as a trainee until now.)"

"Gu agi (The baby)?"

"I don't know. I… dated her but johante malhan jok opssoyo (she never told me)." He turns straight and slumps back in the chair. Covering his eyes with his hand.

"So… do a paternity test and if isn't your child, then say so. But if it is, then you accept it, take responsibility and you help take care of the child." She nods to herself and she sits back in her chair. There's no other way, and she accepts that as a fact.

"Geurigo... urineunnyo (and… what about us)?"

"We take it one step at a time."

↹

Kai stares down at the paper. It had been two weeks since the article came out. It took his company a whole week to find the girl and agree to do a paternity test. The company had to threaten legal action for her to agree. Baby thought that meant she was lying, but the only way to be sure was to actually be sure.

Neither of them entertained the idea of it not being his baby or it being his. Kai didn't want to think he was a father and get mentally attached and then find out that it wasn't. He didn't want to think he wasn't the father, just in case he was.

Baby didn't even know how to process the thought of either. She stood by the wall as they stood in Lee Soo Man's office, reading the result.

"Geu agineun nae gosi anida," Kai whispers. "geu agineun nae gosi anida (The baby is not mine)," he says even louder.

Baby wasn't relieved. Whether or not it was his baby, his contract and status in EXO was still in question. SM was losing stock because of the situation. Kai and all the scandals made him a liability.

"Okay," Lee Soo Man says. "We put out a press release about which girls you actually dated, that you're not the father of the child. Your fans, however… Most of them seem to really love you, and some have pressed charges on the netizens for the malicious rumors on your behalf. We'll make a statement that we will not agree to a settlement in these cases of defamation." He repeated himself in Korean for Kai.

Baby's phone vibrated, and she looked down at the number. It was unknown, but with a U.S. area code. She knew who that was, and she was not answering the controlling prick. No more how many times she blocked his number, he always found a new one to call her from. And with some sasaengs finding out her number, she was debating getting a new phone number.

At the moment, the only phone calls she was accepting are the members of EXO, her sister, and her mother because with all the scandals, it was taking a toll on her father's company as well.

A text message notification popped up on the top of her screen. She was waiting for a reply from Sarah, so she clicked it.

How dare you embarrass me like this, you stupid bitch!

After all that training, you still can't act right.

Baby wanted to text back, to cuss him out, but she knew the right thing to do was to just block the number and every other number that her ex-boyfriend called from.

"Training". Nicky's idea of training was belittling every single thing she did until she thought she was stupid and that she needed him. He wanted her to be a trophy that he could parade around when he needed to. A quiet, subservient one. And because a merger between his company and her father's, was a great idea, she almost fell for it.

When she found out that that great idea of company merger was Nicky and his family's idea was because their company was failing. When she found out that my Father didn't like his family, and that he was going to buy up their company, regardless. When she found out that she was better without him. She left him, and that embarrassed him. And one thing he didn't like was not to be in control and embarrassed. And when she publicly left him, he was both.

She simply went into the settings and blocked that number, and looked back up to Kai who was bowing goodbye to the CEO. She simply bowed to him as well and left. They were heading to the back entrance when two people stepped in her way. D.O. and Sarah.

"Why haven't you been answering my calls or texting me back?" Sarah yells.

"What do you mean," Baby says back, "I've been waiting on your text."

Sarah holds up her phone and starts calling Baby but her phone doesn't ring at all. Baby goes into her settings and sees that she blocked the number. "I'm sorry," she says to her sister. "I must have blocked you on accident. What are you doing here in Korea."

"It's nice to see you too. I had to come. We have problems."

"Problems?"

"Nicky is here."