By Day 2 of their trip, Ahri had made considerable progress. She had moved up to the next level after Greens, and as she practised going up and down a small hill, Chanyeol stood at the sidelines sipping a hot cup of tea. It was without saying that Chanyeol had already passed the Level 1 Test, and was simply “tagging along because he didn’t want to leave Ahri alone.”

The truth was, he needed to do some investigating.

Chanyeol suddenly called out to her, “Ahri!”

Ahri was startled by Chanyeol’s voice, and stumbled a bit on her skis. She didn’t fall (she was past that stage), but had to use her poles to support herself. “What?” she asked as she blew her bangs out of her face.

“Do you wanna take a break?” he asked.

“Chanyeol I wanna make it to Black Diamond before tomorrow! I still have a long way to go,” she groaned. “I don’t really have time for a break.”

“And why are you so adamant about reaching Black Diamond?” he asked her curiously.

“Well, it’s an intermediate slope, and I want to go on it,” she replied slowly.

“Even hardworking athletes deserve a break,” Chanyeol started. He decided he would play along with her “excuse”. “Let’s go to the chalet and grab a bite to eat.”

She was about to disagree when her stomach started to rumble. “Fine,” she muttered and skied over in his direction.

When Ahri and Chanyeol reached the chalet, they were greeted by Suho. The leader was sitting in a cozy chair, with a warm cup of coffee in his hands. In fact, a lot of the members of the After School Club were in the chalet. Ahri looked to her left and found Eunji, Sehun and Kai sitting around the fireplace chatting away. Ahri didn’t know why, but the trio somehow looked closer than before.

To her right sat Minah and Minseok, who looked like they were in their own world. The way Minseok looked at Minah made Ahri’s chest feel a tinge of jealousy. It wasn’t just because she wished that one day, someone would look at her the same way. Many individuals who passed by the happy couple glanced at them with a look of envy; he just treasured her that much. Minah told Minseok about her friends at school, the time she got perfect on a test, and how she had recently joined the tennis team. All the while, Minseok gazed at her affectionately, his smile never leaving his face.

Luhan, Yixing, Kris and Jongdae were sitting together at a table and playing a game of cards. Yixing kept asking Luhan how to play “poker”, to which Luhan always told the other, “Yixing, we’re playing Go Fish right now. Poker’s a different game.”

“But in poker, right, what’s a Royal Flush? And why is it called poker?” Yixing asked curiously. Luhan heaved a sigh, but didn’t bother answering his question because in reality, he didn’t know the answer either.

The group had combined two decks of cards, and were playing an upgraded version of Go Fish. In their version, one had to ask for a class and suit of card. Kris asked Jongdae if he had a “King of Hearts”, to which he replied, “Go Fish.” Kris scoffed as he picked up a card from the deck, and said to him, “Of course you wouldn’t have it; you’re not one after all.”

Jongdae gawked at the older student’s comment and muttered, “You’re not one either.”

“But I have the card,” Kris said smugly. Jongdae hit Kris’s shoulder, to which he feigned a very obvious look of surprise and exclaimed, “How dare you hit your hyung? Don’t you know who I am? I’m your hyung!”

“Yeah, well you’re not the King of Hearts, that’s for sure,” Jongdae snickered.

“We all know I am!” Luhan announced as he showed everyone the “King of Hearts” he held in his hands. “I have the card, and I am one in real life.”

“Well, now we all know what card you have,” Kris scoffed.

“Whatever, it’s my turn anyways. Do you have a King of Hearts, Kris?” Luhan asked sweetly. Kris muttered a few inaudible curse words under his breath as he threw the card at Luhan.

The only people who weren’t in the chalet were Kyungsoo, Tao and Baekhyun. “I thought he’d be here,” Chanyeol muttered to himself as he scratched the back of his head. He fished his phone out and began texting Baekhyun. After a few minutes, when he didn’t receive a reply, Chanyeol decided to call him instead.

After a few rings, the other end picked up. “Chan? What’s up?” Baekhyun said through the line.

“Where are you right now?” Chanyeol asked.

“I’m at Vertigo with Kyungsoo and Tao. Why?” Baekhyun replied.

Chanyeol lips turned into a pout. “I’m at the chalet right now,” he started. “Don’t you wanna take a break?”

“Nah man, I’m having too much fun. I’ll eat lunch later,” Baekhyun said. Even though he couldn’t see his face, Chanyeol was sure his friend was wearing a big grin.

“What?! You haven’t had lunch yet? Byun Baekhyun it’s almost 2 in the afternoon! You need to eat!” Chanyeol yelled into the phone.

“Calm down, mother,” Baekhyun chuckled. “I brought a few snacks with me. I hope you don’t mind; I took some of your Doritos.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Chanyeol grumbled.

“And Chan? If this is about me not hanging out with you over the past two days, sorry about that man. Let’s do something fun when I get back, kay? We can play ping pong or something together at the hotel,” Baekhyun offered. Before Chanyeol got a chance to give a response, Baekhyun hung up.

“Wait, no that’s not it!” Chanyeol exclaimed, but the line had already been cut. He glanced over a Ahri, who was more or less oblivious about his conversation with Baekhyun. He had originally brought Ahri to the chalet in order to confirm his growing suspicion about Ahri’s crush on Baekhyun (he was 99.99% sure, but he wanted to confirm that last 0.01%), but with the main star of the show absent, he felt a tinge of guilt.

“While we’re here, let’s grab something to eat, alright?” Chanyeol said with a smile that masked the disappointment he was feeling. He felt bad for having dragged Ahri to the chalet when he knew she'd rather be spending the time improving her skiing skills.

“Yeah, I am kind of hungry,” she replied with a smile.

.::.           .::.           .::.

“And then in the 6^th grade, our moms forced us to go to a summer camp. This guy couldn’t sleep because his dog wasn’t with him!” Sehun laughed and slapped his knee.

Jongin chuckled at the story, and nodded his head. “But you know what was realy hilarious? Seeing Sehun fall off the canoe and wave his arms around because he didn’t know how to swim.”

“That was a traumatizing moment for me!” Sehun exclaimed.

“And how do you think I felt when Monggu wasn’t with me?” Jongin gawked.

“You can’t compare missing your dog to nearly drowning!” Sehun scoffed. “Right, Eunji?”

“Yeah, that’s tru-“ she started, when Jongin cut her off.

“Back then, if I didn’t sleep with Monggu, I’d get nightmares,” Jongin said defensively.

“Yeah, then I suppose that’s also vali-“ she started again, but was interrupted by Sehun.

“You still sleep with Monggu because you’re afraid of getting nightmares,” Sehun snickered mischievously. Jongin slapped the other member’s arm, and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Dude, I so do not,” Jongin exasperated.

“Dude, you think I don’t know? Our windows are next to each other,” Sehun replied in the same voice Jongin had used.

“Can I speak now?” Eunji laughed.

“What?” they asked in unison.

“Oh, I didn’t think you two would actually let me speak. Hm, I didn’t think this far ahead,” she said sarcastically. Then, she grinned and looked at the both of them. “When I was in the 6^th grade, my mom signed me up for ballet lessons. Prior to that, I took figure skating lessons. I needed the dance skills for the skating.”

“Ballet, really?” Jongin smiled at her. “I took ballet too!”

“No way,” Eunji scoffed.

“No, I did! Ask Sehun!” Jongin exclaimed. Eunji looked at the younger member, and he nodded his head. “I also took jazz, hip hop, and breakdance lessons.”

“Holy smokes,” Eunji gulped. “What about now?”

“I mainly dance for fun nowadays,” he shrugged. “I don’t take formal lessons anymore.”

“What a shame,” Eunji said disappointedly. “But I gave up ballet after a year, so I’m not really one to talk.”

“Isn’t someone going to ask about my dancing career?” Sehun asked.

“You danced too?” asked Eunji. Sehun nodded his head, but Jongin rolled his eyes.

“Sehun’s self-taught,” he started to explain. “But really, he just spent all his time watching me dance and picked up on it. I basically gave him free lessons.”

Their entire conversation started when Sehun randomly asked Eunji what her favourite colour was. One question led to another, and before they knew it, they were telling each other about their childhood, fears, and future aspirations. It was the first time she had talked with the two for such a long period of time, and it was also the first time she had felt such a connection with them.

Sehun suddenly stood up and stretched his arms. “Let’s go to the gift shop,” he told them. “My mom told me to get her a souvenir.”

Eunji and Jongin got up on their feet and decided a visit to the gift shop wasn’t a half bad idea. Eunji definitely wanted to buy something to remember their trip together, while Jongin wanted to see if there was anything he could buy for his dogs (that, or something like a magnet for his fridge).

The trio walked to the small gift shop located in the middle of the chalet. The store was filled with all the kinds of goods you’d see in a regular trinket store, except each item either had a snowflake or a snowman on it. Sehun walked towards the stuffed animal section and picked up a stuffed snowman. He turned it around with his hands, and looked at the toy with a look of deep concentration.

“Are you going to get that?” Eunji asked him.

“Maybe. My mom really likes these kinds of things,” he answered. “She has a million stuffed animals but she always wants more.”

“Does she collect them?” Eunji asked.

“Yes, but not because she’s actually interested in them,” he chuckled. “She collects them because she thinks it makes her seem young. My mom has an age complex, but she’s not old at all. She gave birth to me when she was 18 years old, so she’s really just in her mid-30s.”

“Hmm,” Eunji hummed. DAMN SHE’S YOUNG. I BET SHE’S REALLY PRETTY TOO BECAUSE OF HOW SEHUN TURNED OUT, she thought internally.

Eunji left Sehun in the stuffed toy section and walked over to Jongin, who was looking at a variety of fridge magnets. He held a couple in his hands, and looked back and forth between the magnets he had picked out. When he noticed Eunji standing next to him, he asked her, “Which ones do you think I should get?”

“How many are you planning to buy?” she asked him.

“How many do you think I should buy?” Jongin asked. Was 8 too many? Was 3 too few? He didn’t really know, and for some reason he started to feel stressed out.

5; he would get 5 magnets. But there were over 50 options for him to choose from, and once again Jongin found himself feeling overwhelmed. He didn’t let his emotions show on his face however, and was tempted to say something snarky (as Kai) to cover his anxiety. But, he had promised himself he wouldn’t put up a façade in front of Eunji, and bit his lip to prevent him from something out of line.

In truth, Jongin was really just a confused kid who didn’t know what he was doing half the time.

“I’m going to get 5,” he finally answered.

“Well, you definitely need at least 2 with the ski resort’s name. Maybe get another 2 that have your favourite ski slopes on it, then your last one could be one with a snowman on it or something. I think that’d be a good set,” she answered.

What the… how did she decide so quickly? Kai asked himself. He stared at the magnets he held in his hand, and did a quick count. He was already holding 5 magnets in his hand. 2 of them had the ski resort’s name plastered in thick, yellow letters. Another 2 had the names “Polar Bear” and “Snow Lanes” on it, which were the names of his favourite slopes. Finally, the last magnet he held had a drawing of a snowman on it.

“You had already decided,” Eunji said with a grin as she nudged his shoulder.

Maybe he had. He really needed to stop overthinking things.

“Thanks,” he flashed a childlike smile at her. “I’m going to get these, but let’s look around the store a bit more first. The back seems to have some pretty interesting items!”

Jongin and Eunji walked to the very back of the store, which had shelves decorated with snow globes of all sizes. Eunji was instantly drawn to a small snow globe that had a miniature town in it. In the centre of the snow globe was a replica of an open figure skating rink, and she could spot tiny figurines of people skating on it.

“Wow, this is beautiful,” she said in awe. She looked around for a price, but when she saw that the snow globe costed $20, she instantly backed away from the item. Beautiful things do cost a lot. I’m not about to pay $20 for a snow globe that doesn’t even cover the size of my palm, she thought.

“It really is,” Jongin agreed. “Are you going to get it?”

“No,” she replied, but in reality she really wanted to get it. “I was just admiring the details is all.”

“Well I don’t think I’m going to get anything from this section. I’m gonna go pay for my magnets,” Jongin said. “I’ll meet you at the front of the store?”

“I’ll come with you,” Eunji said. “There’s not really anything I want to get anyways.”

As the two walked away from the shelves, Sehun entered the scene. He had already purchased the stuffed snowman for his mother, and was in the process of making his way to the back of the store to call for his friends when he saw the two staring at snow globes.

Sehun walked towards the snow globe Eunji had been staring at, and picked it up. He twirled the object that looked tiny in comparison to his large hands, and admired the detail. When he saw the price, he grimaced. Nonetheless, he took the snow globe with him to the cashier.

For some reason, he really wanted to buy a snow globe; so much that he didn’t mind the fact that he would have to stop buying bubble tea for a week or two.

A/N: Sehun the little booger. Also, send help because I'm suffering from New Story Syndrome. Even though I JUST PUBLISHED A NEW STORY (Pick Your Poison), I had a brilliant idea for another fic recently, so if updates for The After School Club come less frequently from now on, blame it on that. (But this story is still my baby)

\\ xoxo