It was complicated trying to find a day where everyone’s schedules lined up. If it wasn’t Sehun with another exam, it would be because Kyungsoo had a date and apparently he went on many.

Not only that, if it wasn’t Chen who was busy taking care of his grandmother, then it would actually be Sunghye with her work.

But finally after much squabble plus the fact Sunghye had to explain why she wanted them to meet, everyone listed the days they were free online in Arceldia, and the group was able to find a day on the weekend when they’d all meet at a café that Kyungmi had suggested.

On that day, Sunghye was surprisingly not the first person to arrive but instead she saw Kai already there and sipping a coffee with an air of someone at ease as shown by the way he leaned back and the open collar of his shirt.

“What time did you even get here?” Sunghye asked immediately as she slid into the booth so that she was across from him.

“About an hour beforehand,” Kai said sheepishly, wiping the table a bit with a napkin. “I had to do some errands anyways so here I am.”

Sunghye raised her eyebrow at Kai’s answer. She could tell that he was lying and it was then she realized that maybe he was nervous as well.

At that moment, a waiter came by to take her order and without another thought, Sunghye placed an order on a chocolate cheesecake. Once she was done relaying it, she turned to see Kai smiling at her.

“You really have to stop doing that,” she said.

“What?” Kai questioned, smiling even harder.

“Looking at me like that.”

It was silent between them and Sunghye felt her cheeks heat up at the implication in the air around them. The moment was only broken when a greeting of high volume invaded their ear drums and the duo glanced away from each other just in time for Chen to saddle in with the twins in tow.

Sunghye knew that there would be a difference between their characters and how they all appeared in real life but it was interesting to see that Kyungmi was a body double of herself with the same purple dyed hair and heavy black eyeliner. Kyungsoo however had dawned on round glasses and had on the spiffiest outfit with a button up shirt and bowtie.

Like several times before Sunghye was reminded of how she couldn’t believe those two were siblings.

Instantly when they all met at the table, Sunghye was pulled out of her seat and hugged right away by Chen. Afterwards he spun her around into Kyungmi who scrambled to catch her as the male launched himself at Kai.

Kai in response let out an outlandish squeal just as Kyungsoo greeted them all and slid into the spot where Sunghye previously was. During that time, Kyungmi soon had to pull Chen off of Kai and stop him from frightening the poor boy and somehow in the end, Sunghye was shoved by someone until she was sitting right beside Kai with Chen on her other side. The twins were across from her and as everyone relayed their own orders to the waiter who came by once again, Sunghye tried not to react weirdly as she was squeezed between the males in the booth and Kai was insanely close to her.

As everyone got settled, it was then that Sehun burst through the doors of the café looking a bit frazzled with blonde dyed hair that wasn’t even combed back.

Coming up to their table, Sehun slid into the booth right beside Kyungsoo and ran his fingers through his hair before he rubbed his face.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said slightly out of breath. “I overslept.”

“School?” Kai asked right away.

Sehun nodded and everyone made collective sympathetic noises probably remembering their own experiences. Chen especially expressed his distain with a few fake tears.

At that, it was then the waiter came back with all their orders, excluding Sehun’s who mumbled something about needing a minute before getting something.

The waiter shot them a look, seeing as they were getting rambunctious by the minute as conversation flowed as easily in real life just like in the game, before slinking away with a sense of irritation.

Sunghye honestly would have felt sorry but considering how their group was meeting for the first time and the café food was actually pretty tasty, it was bound to get loud.

There was no awkwardness among them and even though Sunghye was the one with ulterior motives for getting them together, it seemed that no one minded.  In fact, when she chatted on PM about their master quest and why she felt they needed to grow closer as a team in order to win, everyone actually agreed and now here they were laughing and bonding as friends.  

The more Sunghye focused on interacting with the others, the more she forget about the fact she was touching Kai and how once in a while their fingers would brush against each other throughout. The blush that was coming from her cheeks was just the heat inside the café, obviously.

After a while, Sunghye was