[No one’s POV]

Yoseob arrived in exactly 9 minutes, as Dongwoon had timed. Emily noticed how congested the traffic was at the other end of the traffic junction, and wondered how he managed to get through the traffic within ten minutes. He pulled up by the curb in front of the shelter she was under. “Come on!” Dongwoon shot up from his seat on the bench and headed to Yoseob’s car even before he could properly come to a stop.

Dongwoon headed for the rear door and forced her to sit in the passenger seat beside Yoseob. Left with no choice, she had to go in the car immediately to get out of the cold wind. She entered the car, properly closing the door after her before facing Yoseob in the driver’s seat. “Hello Emily,” he greeted her with a bright smile.

“Oh, hello Yoseob oppa,” Emily managed to smile at him while buckling in her seatbelt. “Thank you for coming to pick us up.”

“No problem! Glad to be of your service,” he smiled with a genuine nod, then in a much softer voice, “Anything for you, Emily.”

“Am I invisible or something?” Dongwoon suddenly cut in with a grumpy tone. Emily turned around to see Dongwoon slouched against the backseat with his arms crossed on his chest. She giggled lightly as Yoseob drove out of the driveway and into the traffic. Dongwoon narrowed his eyes at her and stuck his tongue out at her.

“So where are we headed to?” Yoseob suddenly said, breaking the tension between the other two. “I checked the weather updates and it’s reported to be snowing heavier by the next hour or so.”

“The next hour?” Dongwoon squeaked automatically as he checked the time in his phone. “With this traffic, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it back to my apartment!” Dongwoon was quiet after that, oddly quiet, and Emily turned around to catch his cheeky glance locked onto her. “If I remember clearly, the closest place right now is Yoseob hyung’s,” Dongwoon said aloud as he winked at her.

Yoseob glanced up at Dongwoon in the rearview mirror and narrowed his eyes at the boy in the rear seat of his car, “What are you trying to say, Dongwoon?”

“Well, since a desperate situation like this call for desperate measures,” Dongwoon began as he leaned forward to grip onto Yoseob’s seat, “why don’t you invite me and Emily over to your apartment, just until the snowstorm ends? How about that?”

Yoseob stiffened slightly but he remained calm and drove the car properly through the falling snow. He briefly glanced at Emily, who was just looking at him from her seat. She lifted her eyebrow slightly and managed a small smile which Yoseob somehow caught it as ‘I’m fine with anything’. With a heavy sigh, he coursed the car towards another lane and said, “Alright then.”

As Dongwoon rejoiced at his victory in his seat, Yoseob drove down a less congested street, closing up towards an apartment building. He led the car into the basement parking lot and parked the car in an empty space before killing the engine. Emily got out of the car, along with the other two boys. She followed Yoseob and Dongwoon as they headed towards the lift lobby. While waiting, Yoseob broke the awkward silence, “What’s so good about my apartment anyway? As far as I know, Dujun hyung is the only apartment that has everything we want.”

Dongwoon chuckled as the elevator arrived, “Yoseob hyung, you have the biggest DVD collection among us.”

“You wanted to come over at my place just to watch movies?” Yoseob’s voice got a pitch higher as he managed to remember to press his level number. “Are you sane, Dongwoon-ah?”

“Yes, and of course I am sane!” Dongwoon furrowed his eyebrows. “I just thought in this weather it would be good to watch some movies. I bet you updated your collection with more.”

Yoseob didn’t bother to answer back to his nonsense – Dongwoon can be rather weird in his head. They arrived at his floor and followed him towards his apartment. He punched in the security number code and the door unlocked. He opened the door and let the other two go in before him. “Welcome to my sanctuary,” Yoseob said in a slightly monotonous tone but with a friendly smile as Emily entered. “Make yourself at home.”

Since Dongwoon had been here lots of times before, he treated like it was his own apartment. He kicked his shoes off and dumped his bag aside as he sprinted for the living room. Emily hesitated as she looked around the place. “You might wanna take your shoes off first,” Yoseob said nicely. “It’s easier to look around.”

Emily smiled slightly as she hid her face shyly while taking off her shoes. As Yoseob headed into the kitchen to make drinks for his guests, Emily hesitantly made her way into the apartment. It was simple and yet cozy. The classy furniture and the soft colour of the walls blended nicely to give off a cozy feeling to the whole apartment. It felt cozy to the extent that Emily felt like sprawling across the couch and taking a quick nap without Yoseob noticing. Of course, she couldn’t possibly do that.

Putting her bag down on the foot of the couch, she noticed a table that had many picture frames standing on the tabletop. There were baby pictures, a family portrait and a picture of a bunch of young males together – she recognized her brother inside that picture. Emily picked up one picture that caught her attention, a really cute baby picture. “That’s me when I was just three,” Yoseob suddenly voiced. Emily almost jumped out of her skin when she heard somebody’s voice right beside here, especially since it was Yoseob.

“Oh, Yoseob oppa! You almost scared me!” Emily said instinctively as she pressed her palm against her chest. Yoseob chuckled and Emily blushed slightly, shifting her attention back to the picture. “You look cute when you were younger,” she said nicely, placing the picture back down.

“I know,” Yoseob agreed proudly, earning a giggle from Emily. Hearing her light laugh made him smile automatically. “This is a picture of me and my family,” he said, pointing to the family portrait in the middle. “I was probably 18 years old at that time. Then over here-“he lifted the picture with six men in it, “-is the time when all of us met for the first time at Dujun’s 22^ndbirthday party.”

Looking into the picture, Emily noticed that all of them looked slightly younger than they are now. She smiled looking at all the men’s smile in the picture. Suddenly, Dongwoon’s outburst made you jump slightly, “Yoseob hyung, let’s watch this one! Kungfu Panda 2!”

Yoseob walked over to deal with the kid excited over the movie he wanted to watch as Emily placed the picture frame back down and followed Yoseob into the living room. As Dongwoon prepared the movie, Emily sat down in the couch while Yoseob headed back into the kitchen. Dongwoon came and sat on Emily’s side, and just as the movie was starting, Yoseob returned with three mugs of hot chocolate. “Drink while it’s still hot,” he said as he distributed among themselves.

Emily got her mug and stared into it – hot chocolate, with no marshmallows. Emily always drank hot chocolate with marshmallows. Even Yoseob began to notice her staring into her mug of chocolate. “Why aren’t you drinking it yet, Emily? Don’t you like hot chocolate?” Yoseob asked with concern.

“I do, I do like hot chocolate! In fact I love it!” Emily quickly defended herself and bit her lip before adding on. “It’s just that… Do you happen to have marshmallows to go along with it?”

Yoseob smiled warmly as he said softly, “I thought you’d never ask. Come with me.” He stood up and Emily followed him to the kitchen. Placing her mug on the island tabletop, she watched as Yoseob stretched for the marshmallows in the top cabinet. He got it from the shelf and went over to her, “Here ya go! Take as much as you want.”

Emily glanced shyly up at Yoseob’s genuine smile and hesitantly grabbed handful of marshmallows and plopped it into her chocolate. “Thanks Yoseob oppa,” Emily smiled politely as she sipped a little of her chocolate.

His smile widened slightly and he leaned forward a little, placing his elbow on the tabletop, “You’re welcome. And has anyone ever told you what beautiful eyes you have?”

Slightly taken aback by his words, Emily stood there frozen with widened eyes. “Well then, let me tell you that you have the most beautiful eyes Yang Yoseob has ever seen,” he said honestly as he walked past her, mug in his hand. Emily just stood there frozen to the ground, not knowing how to react to his words.

---

[Emily’s POV]

Halfway through the movie, it was getting boring. I had watched it already, and even Dongwoon had fallen into a deep sleep after finishing his hot chocolate. “He’s asleep?” Yoseob suddenly sounded as he looked at Dongwoon’s sleeping figure.

“He did quite a lot in school just now. It’s no surprise he’s knocked out this instant,” I explained as I looked over at Yoseob. He was frowning at Dongwoon, and I couldn’t help notice a chocolate stain in the corner of his lips. Before I could get the chance to tell him about it, he stood up and said, “I’ll go get a blanket for him.”

As he walked into one of his rooms, I placed my empty mug on the coffee table and stood up, strolling towards the hallway Yoseob entered. There were two rooms and one bathroom there, and Yoseob exited the room on the north wall, with a blanket in his arms. “Uh, Yoseob oppa, there’s a—” I tried to tell him but he continued making his way towards Dongwoon.

He repositioned Dongwoon’s tall body so that it lay across the couch before spreading the blanket on top of his sleeping figure. “You might wanna--” you walked up to Yoseob, who briefly glanced at me with a warm smile before grabbing my empty mug from the table. He was heading towards the kitchen and he was still unaware of that stain. It was driving me mad – I needed to get rid of that stain! It bothers me so much!

I rushed up to him, grabbing hold of his elbow, making him stop in his tracks. He turned around, a surprised expression on his face as he met my frustrated frown. “Emily?” he sounded worried and confused at the same time. Before he could do anything else, I swiped my thumb across the stained corner of his lips, making sure that the whole stain was gone.

“I was trying to tell you that you had chocolate stain on your lips. Why won’t you listen?” I furrowed my eyebrows at him. He only responded with a chuckle as he casually placed the mugs aside on the kitchen tabletop before looking back at me. There was something in his eyes that was slightly different.

Within a second, he crooked his hand around the nape of my neck and leaned in to place his lips on mine. I froze, shocked by his sudden move. I felt his soft lips part, letting his tongue trace the contours of my lips. It felt so warm I just wanted to kiss him back but I stayed rigid until he was done. I stared at him wide-eyed as he his lips. “Maybe you should check for yourself first if you got a stain too,” Yoseob said with a wink as he headed back in the kitchen.

I let out my breath that I had been holding and rushed to the other side of the living room, where there was a mirror on the wall. I looked at my reflection, at my lips where Yoseob had kissed earlier on. I did have chocolate stains on the corner of my lips. I felt so embarrassed for acting so righteous around him just now. How embarrassing!

Just then I felt my phone vibrate in my blazer pocket. I took out my phone and noticed it was a text message from Dujun.

Dujun oppa: Where are you, Emily? I phoned your home and you’re not there. Are you safe? Please reply ASAP and don’t make me worried.

Me: I’m at Yoseob oppa’s place. We decided to stay here for the meantime since the snowstorm was coming in quite quickly. I’m alright here, with Dongwoon oppa as well. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. How about you, oppa?

Dujun oppa: Currently, I’m stuck in the office, but I’ll get back home once the snow lightens slightly.

Me: What do you mean by ‘get back home’?

Dujun oppa: Oh, seems like I forgot to tell you. Mom’s returning home tomorrow morning.

Mom…

ooh~ another kiss ^^ I hope you liked the update... It wasn't as good as I wanted it.. >w<

I had a writer's block but rn, i think the story is climbing to its peak soon, so do be patient ^^

Thanks for reading and commenting <3