~Two and a half years ago~

“Hey, Ai, you wanna go eat some ddeokbokki before we go home today?” Short, jet-haired boy asked as he zipped up his school bag.

“Sorry, Kyung, I can’t. I have club practice today, remember?” The girl with shoulder-length, golden hair responded with a sympathetic smile. The boy blinked in mild surprise, before nodding his head.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. See you tomorrow then!”

“Yup, see ya~” The girl grinned and waved while skipping out of the classroom. She joyfully hummed the tune of a song she was currently obsessed with while prancing down the school hallways. Turning around the corner, she felt up the left side of her chest as her heart beat restlessly. This time of the week was her favourite time to look forward to. Every single week this fluttering and exciting, yet a bit nervous feeling was the same.

When she arrived to the dance club practice room, she opened the door to find a few fellow students inside. They greeted her cheerfully, and she smiled and waved back, only to let the smile fall when she didn’t get to see him. She pouted a bit while strolling towards the changing room to change into the P.E uniform in place of her regular one. Tying up her semi-short hair in two small pigtails, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while observing herself in the mirror. ‘Calm down. Be cool. Act normal.’ She reminded herself for the last time before going back to the practice room.

Kim Jongin from the other class was already there, putting all of his focus into stretching before the practice. Ai smiled a little at the sight before deciding to saunter over to the boy and lightly pat his back. The boy turned around with an excited smile and twinkling eyes. “Oh, hey, you’re already here!”

Ai grinned back and nodded, while squatting against the wall and observing the stretching boy in silence. Kai sent her a confused look. “You’re not gonna stretch?” In response, Ai made a displeased face and shook her head negative. “Nah, can’t be bothered.” The boy scoffed at her cheekiness, and drew closer to the girl. “You need to stretch, Ai. I don’t want to see you getting hurt when we start dancing.” He chuckled and grabbed both of girl’s wrists to pull her up.

Ai blushed vividly at the words and the skin contact, but persisted in her decision not to do any kind of exercise. “No, let me go!” she whined, but let herself be pulled up which resulted in her crashing into the boy’s chest. Staying still for a couple of seconds, Ai couldn’t dare to lift her head and look at the boy’s face since he was now holding her by her waist and was dangerously close. She was afraid for a moment about the fact that Kai might’ve been able to sense her racing heart-beat and see her furiously reddening ears and neck.

Luckily for her, the moment was broken when the leader of the dance club entered the room whilst clapping her hands. “Okay, now, gather up, everyone!” Kai immediately loosened his hold on her and she made a distance from the boy, keeping her head low, to try and collect her wits. “Okay, guys. You know how I’ve been talking about that school festival that is to take place a few months from now on?” The gathered students shouted ‘yeah!’ and the leader smiled. “Well, it seems that we’ve got the main stage and we’ll be allowed to perform whatever choreography we come up with!” The crowd cheered, and the girl clapped her hands.

“What I’ve had in mind is a performance in pairs. Fortunately there’s an even number of us here and we’ll easily be able to pair up and practice that way until the festival. I’ll let you guys choose your own partners and when you do, come and tell me so I can note it all down and we can think up an according choreography for each pair. That’s it!”

‘Performing at the school festival? Oh god, everyone will be able to see me…dance. It’s going to be so embarrassing, what should I do?’ Ai gripped her T-shirt while deep in her thoughts and didn’t notice an approaching existence right in front of her. A gentle hand landed on her shoulder, waking her from her inner monologue. In front of her was blindingly grinning Kai with a hint of a blush on his cheeks, and she hiccuped. “Hey, I was wondering if you could... be my partner?”

“Ai, dear, aren’t you going to change out of your uniform?”

Luhan broke the awkward silence while putting off the groceries and the addressed girl choked on the soda she was drinking. Chanyeol hurried to pat her back and help her regain normal breathing while she coughed into her hand. Luhan turned around to observe the two in complete silence, his face devoid of any emotion with an undefined darkness in his eyes. “Are you okay?” Chanyeol asked worriedly, while now the girl’s back, and she nodded before pausing for a few seconds, realizing that, yes, there were not alone, and it was Luhan who was watching them.

Flusteredly, she brushed off the boy’s hands, huffing, “I’m fine. Stop overreacting.”

Another uncomfortable wave of silence ensued, before Luhan spoke up. “Ai? Your clothes?” Flinching at the voice, the girl didn’t dare to look back at the man, but sent an indicative look to Chanyeol who only blinked in confusion. Don’t you dare reveal something about us to him before I’m back. She stood up while glaring at the boy threateningly, but he didn’t seem to apprehend the message.

The girl soon disappeared from the kitchen, leaving the two silent males behind. Luhan sighed before strolling over to sit at the table across from Chanyeol, having dropped the blank face and replaced it with a small smile instead. “So, Chanyeol, is it? You’re the one who answered Ai’s phone when she went to that house party a while ago?” The man started with a warm, parental tone, prompting Chanyeol into relaxing his shoulders and sitting more comfortably than earlier.

“Ah, yes” Chanyeol chuckled awkwardly at the mildly disturbing memory, “She was completely knocked out that night, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come to pick her up. I didn’t know where she lived or anything.” He continued chuckling nervously while scratching the back of his head.

Luhan hummed with unreadable look in his eyes. “Yes, she did get herself into quite a trouble that night even though I warned her not to do anything stupid. I didn’t even get to scold her for that, yet.” He muttered in a tone less than cheerful, as he traced the outline of the table with his finger. “But, oh well, it’s comforting to know she had you by her side to keep her from harm.” He raised his voice unexpectedly, causing the younger boy to flinch in mild surprise.

Luhan suppressed a chuckle at the innocent reaction and elaborated. “I don’t know why, but I feel like you and Ai have some kind of a special relationship.” At that, Chanyeol stopped breathing and his eyes were blown wide. “I know about all three of her friends and only one of them has visited her here, you know? You’re the second one. But you somehow give me a different feeling from the little Do Kyungsoo. And Ai has never mentioned you to me before. So can you tell me instead, Chanyeol? What kind of relationship do you have with Ai?” Luhan’s youthful face was smiling, but there was a distinct chillness in his words and rigidness on his lips.

Chanyeol gulped, being utterly cornered by the questioning and finding himself unable to answer the seemingly simple question. What was their relationship? They lied to everyone at school they’re dating, so should’ve he said that? Or maybe tell the truth about their pretend dating to avoid Ai’s parents getting called by the principal about the whole ‘’ misunderstanding? But this man surely seemed like some kind of a family to the girl, so maybe the boy should’ve just kept quiet until the girl was back? And when he began wondering why she was not back yet, it was then that Luhan’s interrogation was interrupted by the same girl.

She casually walked into the kitchen, taking her seat in between the two males, whilst intensely glaring down Luhan. “What were you guys talking about?” She asked in a cold biting voice.

Raising an eyebrow at the girl’s attitude towards him, Luhan responded with a soft smile. “Just guys’ stuff. A girly girl like you could never get it, eh?” He leaned in to pinch her cheek with enough force to make it sting. He was obviously being sarcastic, having in mind that the girl was anything but girly and ladylike. If anything, she was wearing an over-sized plain T-shirt and male cargo shorts, sitting with her legs spread widely. Nothing unusual there.

The girl sighed strainedly and leaned back into her seat with her arms crossed and eyes closed. “I know what you’re thinking. So stop with your stupid little interrogation ‘cause it’s not like that.”

The man hummed curiously. “Not like what?”

Annoyed by Luhan’s innocent play, Ai opened her eyes to glare at him once again. “Stop pretending! You think we’re dating or something and you were trying to fish something out of this guy while I was gone.” she shot back, “But you’re wrong, he’s just a friend to me. He came over to play some games. That’s it.”

The two engaged in a short glaring contest, before Luhan yielded and closed his eyes with a sigh. “Okay, whatever you say.” He then shot a glare at Chanyeol. “Just don’t try anything too wild. The walls are pretty thin here and I’m not going anywhere.” The younger boy shuddered at the threatening tone and creepy smile while the girl made a gagging sound.

“Ew, you’re ing gross! You dirty old geezer!” She shot up from her seat, simultaneo