Joonmyun was back at it again. Running had become one of her favorite pastimes, especially on cool nights like this where the breeze gently blows off her sweat and she didn’t feel stickily uncomfortable. Her phone was attached onto a black band around her arm and her headphones were securely placed as Power pounded into her ears. Their repackaged title track gave her the energy to keep on running and to ignore the burn in her lower body as she pushed to beat her time in her three mile run. As the backtrack died out and silence filled before the next song started, Joonmyun heard the rhythmic thud of another pair of shoes hitting the concrete and she turned her head to see Kwon Taehyun running beside her, his own headphones plugged in.

She almost tripped from the shock of seeing him but she caught herself and looked straight ahead, Boomerang now playing with Kyungsoo’s smooth voice starting the track. When had the basketball player gotten here? How long had he been running next to her before she noticed? Joonmyun purposefully slowed down just a little bit to see if he would run ahead of her but he slowed down too, keeping up with her pace. Joonmyun felt annoyed by his sudden presence, but decided to ignore him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of shaking her up.

Like always, she ended her run right before the bridge where Yifan had confessed to her. Kwon Taehyun slowed to a stop too and he silently watched as Joonmyun wrapped up her headphones and did some light stretches. She didn’t face him, turning her body towards the wall of the bridge as she stretched her calves. She was wearing one of Jongin’s shirts today along with a pair of track shorts. After she was done stretching she started the mile walk towards the dorm and Taehyun walked next to her quietly. She felt uncomfortable with him there but not to the point where she was scared. It was a weird feeling and she didn’t know how to describe it.

“Are you gonna talk to me?” Taehyun asked suddenly, his smooth voice sending chills up her body.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she responded swiftly. Taehyun might not have given her the creeps but still nothing good would come out from starting a conversation with him.

“We know nothing about each other,” Taehyun . “There’s plenty to talk about.”

“Well then let’s start with why you’re following me,” Joonmyun asked bluntly.

“I’m not following you,” Taehyun shook his head. “This is my running route too.”

“I was here first,” Joonmyun said. It sounded like a childish reply but it was true. She had been running here for weeks now.

“You don’t own the path,” Taehyun laughed lightly. It was true but Joonmyun was stubborn and she didn’t want to admit to it.

“You’re an idol,” Taehyun stated, curiously glancing at her not so subtly. Joonmyun was suddenly very aware of her messy ponytail and the dried up sweat matting down her baby hairs. Her face was completely bare because running with a face full of makeup was definitely uncomfortable. There was no way she gave off any type of glamorous idol persona at all.

“You’re a basketball player,” Joonmyun stated back.

“Is it fun?” Taehyun asked. “Do you like performing?”

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it,” Joonmyun answered simply. It wasn’t that simple in reality though. Even if she didn’t like it anymore she couldn’t just call it quits. She wouldn’t be a Yifan.

“It sounds hard,” Taehyun told her, giving her a sympathetic look as they walked around the bend of the river. Joonmyun was halfway back to the dorms now and she wondered where Taehyun would be breaking off from her path.

“You have to be perfect all the time. I see people tear you guys apart for the tiniest thing,” Taehyun continued.

“It comes with the job,” Joonmyun answered. Was it fair that sometimes she couldn’t even breathe without being criticized? No, but she knew it was coming. She had been prepared for it and she had gotten used to it over the past few years. There were people who were going to love her blindly and there were people who were going to hate her ignorantly. In the end she couldn’t control any of it.

“Aren’t you curious about my life?” Taehyun asked. “You had no idea who I was before and now here we are being all buddy buddy,” he grinned cheekily.

“We are not buddy buddy,” Joonmyun frowned a bit. “And no, I don’t really want to know about your life.”

“What if I want to know about yours?” Taehyun pressed, jogging a bit to get in front of her and then walking backwards so that they were facing each other. His sweaty hair was pushed up and away from his forehead and Joonmyun got a glimpse of his strong biceps and broad shoulders.

“Well get in line with everyone else,” she huffed, ripping her phone off of her arm and scrolling through the messages that had been sent while she was on her run. Sehun was pissed because someone had finished the shampoo and left the empty bottle in the shower. None of the other boys were claiming responsibility for it and they had started a game of nitpicking at everything else in the dorms.

“Will I see you again tomorrow night?” Taehyun asked, a hopeful glint in his eyes as he paused and waited for Joonmyun to walk past him so they could be walking side by side again.

“Don’t you have goals to go shoot, or something?” Joonmyun replied, annoyed. Taehyun laughed, deeply and loudly.

“I’m a basketball player, not a soccer or hockey athlete. We make baskets not goals,” he explained.

“Whatever,” Joonmyun waved her hands, looking at her emails now. “It’s all the same anyways. You run around a set length of area and try to get a ball into a net.”

“Fun fact,” Taehyun said, “I actually really at soccer and I never learned how to skate.”

“Cool,” Joonmyun responded, not really interested at all.

“Well I guess this is where we split then,” Taehyun said, stopping all of a sudden. Joonmyun found herself stopping too and looking at their surroundings. She just had to keep on going straight for five minutes until she reached the dorm. Taehyun was going to take a right though, towards the new apartment complexes that had just been built recently.

“I moved here a few months ago,” he said, slipping his hands in his pockets. “You’re the first other celebrity that I’ve met in this area so far. I hope we can be good friends.”

“I can’t promise you anything,” Joonmyun sighed out, finding herself not able to be rude, “but I hope you like the area. It’s a nice place to live. The residents don’t bother us too much and there are a lot of nice places to eat.”

“I’ll catch you some other time,” Taehyun smiled at her, his boyish grin causing his eyes to twinkle a bit. “Walk safely home.”

“Have a good night,” Joonmyun bid him goodbye. She really wasn’t looking forward to running into him again.

“You should apologize,” Chanyeol told Jongin as they sat in the living room, playing the latest FIFA game.

“For not taking out the empty bottle?” Jongin asked. “I already did. I was just too lazy this morning to replace it. Sehun didn’t need to freak out like that.”

“I meant to Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol clarified. “And dude, it’s the worst when you’re already in the shower and then you realize you have no shampoo left. You have to get out and you’re soaking wet and then you have to walk all the way to the bathroom closet to get more. It’s so ing annoying.”

“How is she doing?” Jongin asked, keeping his eyes on the television screen and his fingers working on his controller. His jaw was tight and his face was stoic but Chanyeol could sense the underlying tension.

“Just go talk to her,” Chanyeol said, attempting to score a goal. “It’s weird not seeing you two talk to each other. And you know that fight was your fault. You should’ve never asked her to reject that role. That really was a move.”

“She won’t even look at me,” Jongin sighed, leaning back against the couch. He did feel guilty about asking Kyungsoo such a ridiculous thing. He would take it all back if he could but it wasn’t that simple. He knew he ed up big time but he didn’t know how to fix it.

“It’s because you stopped looking at her,” Chanyeol told him. “Ever since you got a girlfriend, she’s been one of your top priorities and you’ve kinda pushed away some of your friends, mostly Kyungsoo. We can all see it, that you guys aren’t as close as you used to be. She hangs out with her movie friends all the time anyways.”

“Is she upset that I got a girlfriend?” Jongin wondered. He hated to admit it but Chanyeol was right. Things had changed between them and he didn’t even understand why or how.

“Would you be upset if she got a boyfriend?” Chanyeol challenged him. Jongin’s lips drew into a thin line while he thought about it.

“It would depend on who her boyfriend was,” he answered. “She has to meet a nice guy who’ll treat her right.”

“Well then she wants you to meet a nice girl too,” Chanyeol said.

“Are you saying that Chaeyoung isn’t a nice girl?” Jongin asked, feeling a little defensive.

“I didn’t say anything,” Chanyeol responded, taking the chance to score the winning goal. “She’s cool and stuff. I don’t really know her but she seems like an okay person. What would you do if Kyungsoo and Hyunsik started dating again?”

“Beat his ,” Jongin scoffed, not even missing a beat. “She can’t be with him again. He lost his chance with her.”

“What if I started dating Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asked suddenly. Jongin paused the game and turned to face his roommate, jaw slightly dropped.

“Do you like her?” He asked, his chest rapidly growing uncomfortably tight.

“What if I do?” Chanyeol asked. “Would you support me going after her?”

Jongin couldn’t answer, still trying to process the idea in his head. He had always pictured Kyungsoo with a nice, taller man-someone who could swoop her up in their arms when she was feeling sad and cheer her up with a hundred tiny kisses and lots of cuddles. He saw her with someone who could understand her busy little mind and reassure her that she was one of the most wonderful, perfect, talented, beautiful girls in the entire universe. Kyungsoo deserved someone who was full of life and passionate and would help her shine even more than she already did. Chanyeol fell into all of these categories. He was kind and he was tall. He annoyed Kyungsoo but he was also someone that understood her and he always hyped her up or made sure she was included in things. Chanyeol would be perfect for Kyungsoo but why did it seem so weird to Jongin. The thought of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in a romantic relationship just didn’t sit right with him.

“Relax dude,” Chanyeol said pushing his forehead back with his pointer finger with a small chuckle. “You look like you’re about to have a mental breakdown. I don’t like Kyungsoo that way. She’s like my twin sister, my platonic soulmate that’s fun to annoy. I just wanted to see how you would react.”  

“She has to meet a nice guy,” Jongin reaffirmed, un-pausing the game and busying his fingers again. He would apologize later but Kyungsoo had to end up with the nicest, sweetest guy in the entire universe. It was only then that Jongin’s heart wouldn’t squeeze at the thought of his best friend being completely enamored and taken away by somebody else.

Author's Note: Hi! I'm back! This was a short, rather uneventful update but I wanted to get something out for precious Soo's birthday! Thank you for waiting patiently and hopefully updates will start coming faster again! Send lots of love to Kyungsoo on his special day and stay healthy and happy <3 Also, I'm busy for the next few days so there probably won't be any updates or stuff for kaisoo day or Jongin's special day :(

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