~ Chen's P.O.V. ~

The bike slowly came to a stop, so I pulled over to the side of the road until the engine completely shut off. I turned the key in the ignition, but my bike refused to start. I tried the same thing about five times until I finally gave up and decided to walk the rest of the way home.

With my luck, it began to pour rain about two minutes into my walk. Within minutes, I was soaked from head to toe, and still had at least twenty minutes before I get home. I was just walking past the local park when I saw a familiar face sitting on park bench, hiding from the rain underneath an umbrella. He seemed rather…terrified. The only thing that I could see that could be causing a panic would be the flock of pigeons surrounding him.

Minseok was hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. He looked up and saw me, hope spreading across his face. I grinned at the older boy, unsure if it would be mean to laugh. I asked if he was afraid of pigeons, and, of course, he denied it. But, the look on his face said otherwise. I held in a chuckle as I held my arms up, signaling for him to come towards me. He took me by surprise as he sprinted through the birds, causing them to fly everywhere, and he jumped into my arms, clinging to me for dear life. After a few moments, he let go awkwardly and held the umbrella over both of our heads. As I looked down at him, I realized his cheeks were bright red. I acted like I didn’t notice, and he shyly offered to walk me the rest of the way home.

When we finally got to my front door, Minseok looked around, not sure what he should do. “So, uh, thanks, Minseok.” I thanked him, turning to unlock the door.

“You can call me Xiumin.” I heard him say. I turned to face him again, my mouth turning up into a grin.

    “Alright, XiuXiu. You can call me Chen.” I replied, causing Xiu to blush again.

    He gave a slight laugh. “Okay, ChenChen. See you at school.” He smiled widely, waving excitedly as he took a couple steps back.

    “See ya.”