The river was still cold at night but Joonmyun was dressed in track shorts and one of Chanyeol’s long sleeved workout shirts. Chanyeol likes his shirts big so they’re huge on Joonmyun and the sleeves run off her arms, hanging over her bunched up fists like little sweater paws. If anyone pisses her off when she gets back to the dorms she’ll whack them with it.

Jogging along the river was somewhat calming for her. It was a constant in her life. The river has been there forever. It was there a decade ago when she first started training and had to tone up her legs so they would look pretty in heels. It was there when she learned she was going to debut and she and Kyungsoo and stood on the shore and screamed at the top of their lungs. The river was where Yifan had confessed to her on that cold, snowy winter night. It was where she had cried when Yifan left, and then Luhan, and then Taozi. It was where she had run away to when she fractured her leg badly by tripping over one of Chanyeol’s water bottles. Jongin and Jongdae found her back then and took turns carrying her all the way back home while she cried into their necks. God she could be such a cry baby sometimes even though she was supposed to be their leader. She hated that part of her. The seasons would change and people would come and go but the river would always be right there where she left it.

When she finished her three miles, she wiped the sweat off the top of her forehead with Chanyeol’s sleeve and stopped by a drinking fountain for a sip of water. Her legs were numb from the cold and runner’s high but she liked it. It made her feel untouchable. Joonmyun’s walk home would take about another mile. It was nearly one in the morning and she seemed to be the only one still out by the river. That’s why she liked running in the dead of night; it gave her much needed alone time to just think. She asked the other girls every once in a while if they wanted to join in her midnight runs but was usually turned down. Minseok would be up for it if it were a morning run but Baekhyun and Kyungsoo hated any type of cardio that wasn’t dance.

Joonmyun walked underneath a highway bridge, hearing the occasional car rush over the structure, making everything shake and echo. This is where Yifan had confessed to her. They had sat down on the snow dotted grass and he took her small hand into his, carefully intertwining their fingers together. I like you, he had said not looking at her, face red from embarrassment and not the biting cold. Let’s be EXO’s real mom and dad, he muttered out bravely. Joonmyun had burst into laughter at that because it was just so him to say that. She remembered leaning her head on his shoulder and pressing a kiss against his warm cheek. I like you too, she whispered. I will gladly raise ten crazy children with you.

Well now she was a single mom with seven children and she had to say she was doing a pretty good job. She didn’t need Yifan. She didn’t care that there were rumors floating around that he was dating a Chinese Victoria Secret model. She didn’t care that said model was seven inches taller than her and had seven magazine spreads in the past month including a playboy featuring. Well okay, maybe she cared a little bit but none of it mattered. Yifan had left her and she was going to get over it god dammit!

Joonmyun hadn’t realized in her internal monologue that she had walked all the way to the basketball courts. Usually this meant there were only ten minutes left to the dorms but the thudding of a ball on the cement and shadowed figure piqued her interest. She stood there courtside mesmerized as the man dribbled the ball in between his legs against an imaginary opponent and then flawlessly sunk the ball into the net, a gentle swoosh carrying it through.

“Are you just going to stand there?” she heard someone ask, shaking her out of her enchantment. It was the man, and he made another easy basket before letting the ball bounce back to him. He walked towards her and Joonmyun shifted on her feet awkwardly. He was tall, maybe almost a good foot taller than her and his skin seemed to glow with the light sheen of sweat on him. Or it could’ve been the dim lighting coming from one of the street lamps. When he finally stood in front of her, Joonmyun could see how handsome he was with his short black hair and boyish grin. He looked to be about her age, maybe a year or two older. She slowly swallowed, not knowing why she felt so nervous all of a sudden.

“Do you play?” he asked her, chucking the ball towards her out of nowhere. She frantically caught it, stumbling back a bit.

“No,” she told him, holding the orange ball awkwardly in her arms. She at basketball. She was too short and small to properly play. Yifan always told her that she would get run over if she was on the court and she agreed.

“Do you want to learn?” the male asked her, cocking his head to the side. He looked so cute with some of his hair falling into his eyes and Joonmyun felt her heart thud.

“No thank you,” she told him politely bouncing the ball back to him. He caught it in one hand.

“You a runner?” he asked, eyes roaming her body, starting from the tips of her toes and slowly traveling up to meet her eyes. She was glad that she was wearing one of Chanyeol’s big shirts to cover her up more.

“Just a hobby,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and diverting her eyes from his. The wind blew and she could feel her ponytail swing lightly. She wondered if he knew who she was and if there would be a popular internet post about this encounter lately.

“Is basketball a hobby too?” she asked him, not knowing where that surge of courage came from. He chuckled, deep and warmly and Joonmyun shivered and felt tingles all at the same time.

“Do you not know who I am?” he asked, leaning forward, genuinely curious. Joonmyun shook her head. The man was handsome enough to be another celebrity but Joonmyun didn’t recognize him one bit. She was sure that he wasn’t a celebrity though. With a face that gorgeous, he would definitely be popular and she would have heard of him.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked her out of the blue, staring at her hanging sleeves.

“No,” Joonmyun shook her head.

“Guy friends?” he asked instead. Joonmyun nodded, thinking about Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun and Jongdae back at the dorms.

“Ask your buddies who Kwon Taehyun is,” he told her with a slight smirk. “They’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

Author's note: I finally caved in and made a twitter account! Follow me @bubblingsoofoam for writing updates and exo rants! My feed is kinda empty so I'll follow back the first dozen people or so.Thank you for reading!