“..So you are telling me that you caught him stealing food from the backroom of the cafeteria and THAT’S how you guys became friends?” Zelo asked raising an eye brow.

“Yeah” you chuckled thinking of what had happened back in grade 3.

The lunch lady had asked you to get the extra mashed potatoes from the pantry and as the sweet little girl you were, you obeyed. The lights were on in the usually dark room but you didn’t think much of it. As you entered the room though, you saw a strange shadow form in front of the refrigerator light. It looked like an animal had barged in gobbling through the available food.

You carefully paced your steps picking up the metal bar that was holding the door ajar. After reaching a safe distance you put both your hands up holding the rod in order to gain momentum for the hit. Just then the beast, as it seemed to you back then, swung up and gagged both your wrists on air, constraining your movements. Unable to keep calm you close your eyes shut and screamed at the top of your voice.

All of a sudden you felt a piece of bread being forced into your mouth while a voice spoke.

“I was just hungry. Can you please keep quiet about this?”

Your puzzled eyes found his as you spat out the unnecessary bread that crowded your mouth. To your amazement, it wasn’t a beast you had thought it was. Rather it was a petit little boy about your age. You recognized him as the new boy who had joined your class just that week. Without thinking much, you placed a punch on his shoulder.

“Yah! Don’t ever steal food again! If you’re hungry just tell me I’ll give you my food” your young naïve self had blatantly stated.

But that was it. Ever since that day you would share your food with him, giving him more than necessary. You’d lie to him about not being hungry cause that meant you get to enjoy his smiling face a little more. Before you had realized, you guys were always together, protecting each other from the hunger, the cold, the loneliness of the world. How can things change in the matter of seconds?

Your stomach gave a little twist as Youngjae broke the silence again.

“Food and crime, yup totally sounds like Dae!”

Quite rightfully it earned him a kick on the shin from Daehyun, reassuring everyone that he was awake and not sleeping. You kept your gaze fixed on him.

“Ouch! You’re a jerk as well!” Youngjae complained.

“Kids let’s stop fighting now, we are here” Himchan announced in a rather motherly tone as the car came to a halt in front of the destined building.

TS ENTERTAINMENT, the sign read. We are here.

Daehyun put his head up and looked directly at the rear view mirror. His gaze momentarily met yours again but you were not going to back down. You kept looking through the mirror at your best friend who was acting like a stranger, hurting you. From the distance you saw him gulp as his manly Adam’s apple moved up and then down.

Youngjae punched Daehyun’s arm signaling him to get off and he slowly turned towards the door before exiting. He held the door open till you stepped out and then shut the door behind. As everyone got out of the car one by one, Daehyun stood right behind you with inches between the both of you. You could clearly feel the heat that left his body and acted as a safety barrier for you.  

O how you had missed his back hugs, you thought to yourself. He would probably be giving you one now had things not gone haywire.

From the distance you saw a boy running towards you, his silver cap shinning as bright as ever.

“Aerum noona-aaaaah!” Jackson ran straight into a hug.

You were not having any of his ‘cute’ acts today. He had left you in the most embarrassing situation you could imagine. Thank god B.A.P was a friendly bunch. What if they were snobby and rude like celebrities usually were? You raised your hand just in time to stop his torso from getting any closer to yours.

“Don’t. Just don’t.” you glared at him.

Your body sent shots of tremor all over as you felt Daehyun’s body getting closer. But, you didn’t move. Every limb on you was so cautious about each movement because you didn’t want to scare him away again. You wanted to let him know that this was fine. You were fine.

“But noona please listen” Jackson pleaded, “I didn’t mean to leave you alone I promise! I just..er..got lost.” The sad look on the boys face made you chuckle.

“Come on everyone let’s go inside” Yongguk’s voice broke through the crowd.

You felt Daehyun’s chest brush your shoulders as he moved from behind you towards the entrance of the building. That invisible safety net around you disappeared.

As you pulled Jackson’s arm making your way towards the door, you noticed Daehyun hand over something to Jongup. The younger boy inspected the materials for a while and then walked over to your direction.

“Here, you guys will need these passes to enter the building. It will be valid till the interview is done, you can of course use it any time during that. Don’t lose it okay?” Jongup said as he handed both you and Jackson couple of ID cards with your details on it.

You held them in your hand as you watched Daehyun’s long lean figure disappear through the door.

Jongup and Zelo led you and Jackson in through the front door and introduced you to everyone.

“It’s good if everyone knows your faces otherwise they’d cause trouble” Zelo said with a cute baby wink.

They took you around the building showing you every corner of the way with the occasional “WOW” or “OMG” or “CAN I LIVE HERE” from Jackson. He truly never shuts up; you on the other hand took notice of everything the two B.A.P boys did. Nearing the elevator, Jongup placed his hand on the sensors so that you could enter first, nodding a slight approval. You nodded back gesturing a ‘thank you’.

When the elevator reached the 6^th floor you guys got down and took the straight corridor ahead. Your head shifted rightwards and you saw a young beautiful girl in a pretty green dress talking to Daehyun. You were sure that is him even in the dark, and your stomach did that twitch again. The girl as you recognized her was a model for another company. Maybe they are just colleagues. Just maybe. But the conversation seemed heated. Still you hoped for the best.

As Daehyun took notice of you and looked over, you turned to look forward. You didn’t want him to think you were prying which you honestly weren’t. Before soon you entered the corridor with both their bodies disappearing behind the wall. Your head tilted downwards with a sigh of exasperation. The source of your anger confused you. Were you really angry at your best friend for talking to another girl? Or was it the fact that he was giving you the cold shoulders? Or maybe you were just angry at yourself for not being able to take a hold of yourself.

It’s not like Daehyun had never had girlfriends before. He had dated plenty of times. The fact that they lasted for a week or two highest was a different story.

Before you could collect your thoughts, you felt a body slightly brush past and join you. You looked up to see the boy you were just thinking of. He did not look back. You thought it would be better not to bother for now.

Nearing the end of the corridor was a wooden door with the words ‘PRAC 2’ embedded on it. Jongup turned the knob for all of you to enter.

You did. So did the man of your distress.