Jongdae was amused the entire workday, and he only had that motorcycle which crashed into him to thank for it. And of course, the doctors that decided to wrap his arm up in a huge sling cast in the first place. 

He had trailed behind Hyejin a few steps on the way to the office because she was walking incredibly fast. She had been rather silent the entire train journey also, jumping every time Jongdae called her name, then avoiding eye contact when they weren't conversing. 

When he first got to the building in the morning people glanced at his cast before they did at his face, and the security guard, who usually looked half-asleep slumping in his chair, even offered to tap his ID for him (he had politely refused — the security guard seemed to miss that his left hand was still fully functional). People made way for him in the lift, and when he reached his office and the trainees arrived, they attended to him more that morning than they would've in three typical days. Hyejin flew directly to her seat and stayed there, though. 

"Jongdae! Leave this. Go do your work, I'll grab your coffee for you," Taehwan said as he scurried over to the coffee machine after seeing Jongdae there that morning. 

"Taehwan, you know my left —" 

"Bro, look at your right arm!" Taehwan exclaimed, pointing at his cast, then picking out a capsule to place into the coffee machine. 

Jongdae took a step back. "Alright then," he cocked his head, then pointed away from the box containing capsules. "But I want the jasmine tea instead of coffee. The green box there. Thanks, bro." 

He stole a glance at Hyejin, but she was too engrossed in her translating work to have heard. She had been avoiding eye contact with Jongdae the entire morning — it hadn't stopped. Taehwan proceeded to prepare Jongdae's tea, and he thanked him one more time before going to his desk… which Chaeyoung was silently cleaning. 

"Chaeyoung… it's fine…" Jongdae said, bemused. 

Chaeyoung placed his pen holder straight, then swiftly took her hands off the table before squeaking, "I just thought you might want some help with your table, since, you know." She bit her lip, eyes on Jongdae's cast, but flurried back to her table, her cheeks tinted a light shade of pink. 

Jongdae chuckled as he looked down at his desk. There was a ring file on it, and as it creaked open it revealed a post-it with rows of neat writing on it: Hello Jongdae, hope your arm will feel better soon. Meanwhile, I've completed proofreading these documents so you can rest for now – Jinkyung. 

Flipping through the papers, he realised she had scrutinised every single detail of the documents, and although Jongdae did feel a little bit bad, he still felt his heart swell. He was honoured and also felt a little like a king. I could sure get used to this, Jongdae thought. 

Despite this, a small part of his heart wondered when Hyejin would do something special for him too. 

His eyes watched as she stood up and walked out of the office. Jongdae only realised he was following behind her when he reached the door of the female toilet. He felt a laugh bubbling in his throat, teasing his legs for moving by themselves like that, and he spun his body around to lean against the wall outside, clearing his throat. 

Jongdae noticed the smell of jasmine was stronger when Hyejin came out of the toilet moments later.  

"You touched up your perfume?" Jongdae hummed, and Hyejin jumped at the realisation he was there. 

"C-Chen. What a-are you doing here?" Her eyes darted around the corridor. 

"Waiting for you. Let's see, Taehwan has prepared tea for me, Chaeyoung has cleaned my table, Jinkyung has done some proofreading for me, even the security guard offered to help me today. Hmm, aren't we missing something?" Jongdae slid his left hand into his pocket and tilted his right one with the sling cast at an angle it would be blatant to Hyejin, though it wasn't as if she couldn't see it if he hadn't done so. 

"Um, I d-don't know. I'll go b-back to the office," Hyejin stuttered, turning away from Jongdae and walking briskly away. The low heels of her flats clicked as she scuttled off. He chuckled, and found himself beside her again just by taking a few big steps. 

 "The office," he leant down and whispered. "Is in the opposite way." 

Hyejin whipped around and crashed straight into Jongdae. He wasn't sure if he was imagining things out of the excruciating pain, but he thought he heard a crack. It felt as if a bullet shot right into his arm, and he must have showed it because her features immediately shaped themselves into a worried expression. Carefully his cast, she glanced up at Jongdae. 

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Poor arm, it hurts, doesn't it?" Her eyes sparkled as she continued to the cast the same way she would a little kitten, and maybe it was because Jongdae was momentarily distracted but the pain seemed to have magically whisked itself away for a while. 

"You're worried about me, aren't you, Jasmine?" Jongdae teasingly asked. Hyejin's touch faltered. 

"Maybe a bit," she admitted softly, and he felt something leap inside him. He cleared his throat again. 

"Can I make a request today? Since I'm the patient here." 

"Okay." 

Jongdae hid his palpitating, nervous heart with a big smile. "I want you by my side at all times." He was so cheesy nowadays — all Hyejin's fault. 

"I can't possibly —" 

"At least when I need you." Which is all the time, he thought, but he wasn't going to reveal that. 

"F-Fine." 

Jongdae did a double take. "Really?" He would have hugged Hyejin on the spot if his arm wasn't in the state it was in. And if they weren't in the middle of the main corridor of the office. 

"You're injured anyway," Hyejin said in a small voice and looked down as if she was unsure of herself, but Jongdae caught the tone of her voice and it told him she was sure. And his heart flew to the moon. 

"So... can I ask you a question?" He started. 

"Okay."  

"You're being all flustered today because I called you my wife earlier this morning, right?" Jongdae leaned in, and she flushed a bright shade of pink. 

"N-No," Hyejin stuttered, and suddenly scurried off back into the office. He saw her touch her face and fan herself using her hands. This was all so amusing. 

"Take the subway back with me today!" He shouted after her, and couldn't help but grin. 

____________________________________________

For once, the subway wasn't the usual cabin full of people. There were actually seats when Chen and Hyejin boarded it that evening. 

"Must be the magic of my sling cast again," Chen joked as he took a seat beside Hyejin.  

Hyejin yawned. "Nice magic. We're so lucky to have seats today. I'm beat." She wiggled her toes in her shoes and leant back, feeling a wave of lethargy sweep over her. She was too tired for anything, even being her awkward self because she had completely lost concentration. 

"Did you sleep very late last night?" Chen seemed to chide, but Hyejin shook her head no. She was always just tired at this time. No special reason. 

"Come, lie on my shoulder," he continued, changing seats to sit on the other side of Hyejin so that she could lie on his good shoulder instead of the one with the cast. 

"Nah, it's fine," she said as she gestured brushing the idea off. "I'll just sleep like this." Hyejin adjusted herself on the seat and hugged her bag in front of her as she closed her eyes. 

"If you need help with anything because of your arm while I'm alseep, call me up, okay?" Hyejin mumbled as she felt the same wave of lethargy engulf her whole, shutting down her mind, bringing her away from… work… and... 

Then, she felt a soft warmth in her hand. The warmth moved, her thumb, touching the tips of her fingers, slowly, gently. The warmth felt like a hand she knew. And then just as she started to savour the feeling of it in her hand, she felt the warmth slowly slip away, the sudden chill of the air-conditioner in the subway replacing it and making her hand feel raw. 

"I'm sorry." 

The voice made her open her eyes, taking in a sharp breath. She suddenly wasn't tired anymore. She blinked at the man beside her, who seemed shocked that she had suddenly awakened the way she had. 

"Chen? W-What're you sorry for?" She asked. For some reason, she had a feeling it was pretty serious this time. 

He blinked, then looked away from Hyejin. "You're awake." 

"I slept enough. So… what are you sorry for?" Her eyes traced his unsteady gaze. 

"You won't be too upset, right?" 

"What is it?" 

Chen gulped, looking ashamed. "Today's... The last day I'm going to take the subway with you." 

"Y-You're trolling me, right? It's not funny, Chen," she tried, letting out a peal of nervous laughter. 

"No." Chen was hesitant, she could tell. But she didn't know how to react. 

"Why?" After a moment of silence, the only word that cracked out of her dry mouth was shaky. She herself felt shaky, and she didn't know why. Her head flooded with bubbles of thoughts growing, and popping, over and over. It was his choice, wasn't it? It was already a bonus for her that Chen had bothered to accompany her home every single day although his house was in the opposite direction. Was she so used to this she had taken it for granted already?

"I've actually… found myself a girlfriend. I don't think she'd like me following you home every day. Besides, I want to fetch her home now." 

She was momentarily frozen. Then Hyejin felt a strong ache gnawing at her heart. "That's okay," she lied, although she'd meant the opposite. She bit her lip and forced a smile to prevent the sprig of tears threatening to spill over from actually doing so. She'd read somewhere that forcing a smile can help in the most painful of moments. She realised this was one of them, and she had no idea why. 

"B-Be a good boyfriend to her from now on. You can leave the train if you want to." 

Hyejin regretted the words once they left her lips. So she pursed then to prevent any other stupid thing she didn't mean to say from pouring out.  

Chen smiled at her, and she thought he looked blissful, if not slightly sorry. And at the next station, he walked out of the train. She waited for him to turn back. He didn't. 

"Chen," she whispered, realising for the first time she liked the way his name sounded on the tip of her tongue. If she put her hand on the empty seat next to hers, she could still somewhat feel his warmth, even if it was now much colder than before. 

"Chen," she tried again, and then again and again. He wasn't beside her. Would he ever be again? 

"Chen," she said for the last time, closing her eyes, defeated. 

And then Hyejin woke up with a start to something squeezing her to her left. She turned in that direction, and saw a lady wearing the most obnoxious gym wear with a rolled up yoga mat chucked beside her, taking up more space than it should. Her heart was still pounding from the dream. What was that? It was one of the weirdest dreams she had ever had. She was confused, and embarrassed she had actually dreamt of something like that, and also uncomfortable due to the constant hard nudges from the lady beside her. 

Hyejin tried to move away from the yoga mat so she would be more comfortable, but she realised she couldn't. It hit her that the person sitting on the other side of her wasn't the man she was sitting next to when they first got on the train. Where's Chen? 

Feeling a sudden panic, her head whipped to the front… where Chen was standing, holding on to a hand rail, with his back facing her. He was there. He wasn't gone. But why was he standing with his back facing her like that? 

The next stop was hers. As soon as the train doors opened, Chen turned around as if to check if Hyejin was still asleep, and gave her a small smile as she stood up. Her heart thumped. She would think about her dream later — Hyejin had something to clear now. 

"I did something weird when I slept right?" She asked, feeling the dread set in only then. She had the worst sleeping habits. That was probably why Chen chose to get out of his seat. 

His eyes widened slightly, then he hurriedly shook his head no, but Hyejin wasn't falling for it. 

"If I drooled on you or anything, I'm so sorry. I was fast asleep and in a dream just now," Hyejin mumbled. 

"T-The train door's going to close. You should get going," Chen said, pointing behind him, and Hyejin found herself jolted back into reality when she heard the announcement for the doors closing sounding. 

"Take care of your arm!" She cried as she dashed out of the train just before the doors shut. 

Jongdae watched as she left, then blinked for a few before bringing his (good) hand to his heart. It was still beating fast and hard against his chest. 

Yeah, she was in a dream just now. She said so. He tried to reason what had happened, but it made him giddy — in a good way. If she had done that while she was dreaming, was she dreaming of… him? 

Jongdae had to bite his lip in order to conceal a smile that was forming at his lips. 

Just now, Hyejin had ended up sleeping on his shoulder anyway, even though she said she didn't want to. (Jongdae knew she would eventually.) And then things began to get a little insane the moment he tried to go to sleep as well, using Hyejin's head as a pillow. 

"Chen..." Her voice was soft, but it startled him awake anyway. 

"Hyejin, I'm here," he tried to assure. Her face looked just a little pained, but it seemed she couldn't hear him because she had called his name one more time, and this time, it sounded needy… desperate. 

"Chen... Chen..." 

Jongdae swallowed. His heart was racing in his chest, an unstoppable bullet train heading towards his own frenzy. He didn't know what was going on with Hyejin, or why she was suddenly whispering his name like it meant the world to her, but it made his heart go slightly insane. No, scratch that — completely insane. 

He knew it was a mistake the moment he stole a quick glance at her. Jongdae couldn't stop staring. Hyejin looked as if she was going to cry in her sleep now, and he wanted to hold her hand and tell her he was there, but all the systems in his body seemed to have shut down by himself, and suddenly he couldn't even hear his heartbeat anymore. She was the only thing he could see. 

And the worst thing was, suddenly he had an intense urge to kiss her. His insides screamed at him and the moment the longing to kiss Hyejin sprouted in his body, his heartbeat went faster than Jongdae imagined it could ever have. It didn't help to have Hyejin's lips slightly parted, her head on his shoulder, looking as if she was a lost puppy. 

So he stood up. He watched as Hyejin's head jerked up straight, and he thought she was going to wake up, but she still remained deep in slumber. Jongdae felt his face burn red hot and he took a deep breath in with his mouth, then another before he finally felt his heartbeat start to slow down. 

"Kim Jongdae, you jerk. You're not going to do anything to her without her knowing," he mumbled to himself as he turned to face the other direction awkwardly. He knew his face was red — his insides seemed to be churning up a sensation. 

It was funny how Hyejin could just be calling his name and still do things to his heart. He liked it. 

_______________________________________

Joonmyeon loosened his tie, relieved to be able to go home, for once, to his mother's cooking instead of the take-outs he had long grown sick of. It was rare for her to pop by his house just to have dinner together, but when she did, Joonmyeon always felt blessed. 

"Thanks, mum," he grinned, seating himself down at the dinner table as his mother gently placed two bowls of rice on the table and slid down opposite of him. 

"How are things at work recently?" 

"Nothing much — work's been a drag. We've discussed if we should raise the interest rate for our bank loans for weeks, and we haven't decided on anything yet. I don't talk at work because every time I do, I feel the slight intimidation arising from my colleagues and I hate that. First Honours doesn't mean anything, for goodness' sake," Joonmyeon groaned as he reached for some braised meat. "Let's not talk about work. It's kinda stressful to talk about that over the dinner table." 

"Oh dear. Alright, then what about…" Joonmyeon's mum tapped her chopsticks on the side of her bowl, then sprung up, looking excited. "Ah! Hyejin! Did you meet her already?" 

Joonmyeon brightened considerably. "I met her coincidentally a few days back! But I haven't had a chance to tell her because she had some urgent matter to rush off to just when I was about to tell her during lunch." 

"That's sad. What do you think her reaction will be, when you get the chance to tell her?" 

Joonmyeon let out a smile. "She's pretty cute. I think she'd get excited. But I don't think she'll believe me at first, though!" 

"Your aunt can't wait for you to break the news to her. She didn't want to do it because she says Hyejin would think she's joking with her again." 

 "Yeah, she seems like the sort who'd think that," Joonmyeon laughed. 

"It's funny though. You two were college mates, right? And then coincidentally her mother and I met at a sauna and got you two on a blind date without knowing that. How did it turn out that her mother and I are cousins we both didn't even know existed? And how you have your cousin as your first blind date." 

"This is like some sort of wacky drama serial. So Hyejin is my college mate, blind date and cousin. Wow." 

"Hey, Myeon-ie. If my memory is not failing me, it's her birthday in a few days. Do you want to maybe get dinner with her or something? For cousin bonding time." 

Joonmyeon smiled. "That'll be great." 

[a/n: mama voting has started!! let’s all do our best for exo :”)]