The whole day, Hyejin had been glancing at Jongdae from time to time, and Jongdae had to glue his eyes to his computer to prevent himself from making eye contact with her. He knew Hyejin was curious — and maybe even a little worried — about Jongdae's phone call to her last night, but Jongdae didn't know how to answer her when she asked about it. 

 

Come lunch time, and Hyejin and Jongdae were left in the office alone as usual, it got even harder avoiding Hyejin's gaze, especially when she had walked over to Jongdae's desk and bent down to take a closer look at Jongdae. 

 

She stared for a while, using her two propped arms as a rest on the desk, and Jongdae eventually found himself looking straight at Hyejin. 

 

Hyejin smiled at Jongdae reassuringly. "I'll be here if you need to talk. You're obviously not okay, so I won't ask." 

 

Jongdae was touched — extremely touched, but this wasn't the time to accept Hyejin's thoughtfulness. He had to be strong for Hyejin, not the other way round, for goodness' sake. He needed to come up with something — fast. Then it struck him. 

 

"If I tell you what the phone call was about, will you be mad?" Jongdae asked, keeping a look of pitifulness on his face. 

 

"Nope." 

 

"Are you sure?" 

 

"I promise, Chen." 

 

"Okay..." Jongdae began. "Actually the phone call yesterday night and me being hysterical was..." 

 

He stopped, and Hyejin waited. 

 

"...Was?" Hyejin pressed gently after Jongdae didn't say anything for a while more. 

 

Jongdae breathed in, "A troll." Then he grinned as wide as he could. 

 

Hyejin blinked at Jongdae, and he found her eyes widening again (this habit of hers was adorable). 

 

"A troll," she repeated, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Jongdae nodded, still grinning. His lie had worked, and he realised that day that, hey, he wasn't all that bad in fibbing. 

 

"Kim Jongdae, I swear I'm going to kill you. Do you know how worried I was last night?" Hyejin kicked Jongdae under the table, then stood up from where she was to attack him even more. 

 

"Ouch! Wait, I haven't heard you call me by my real name in very long- ouch!" Jongdae laughed as he dodged Hyejin by running around the office. "The troll king reigns — I told y- ouch!" 

 

"You're the epitome of evil," Hyejin said, punching Jongdae on the arm. 

 

"Hey, if you're going to attack me can you at least not look like you're having so much fun?" 

 

Hyejin laughed as she hit Jongdae one last time. "You know I'm bad at acting."

 

"So you're saying you are having fun hitting my soul out of me?" Jongdae asked incredulously. Hyejin couldn't keep a smile from forming as she shrugged slowly.

 

"'Maaaybe." 

 

"Wow, Jasmine. You're too much!" Jongdae exclaimed as he walked to his seat to take something from beneath his desk. "Fine then, I'm not going to give you the lunch I prepared." 

 

"You prepared lunch?" 

 

"Okay, honestly I bought it before coming to work, but that's because I have a reason," Jongdae said, bringing out two boxes of food. 

 

"What's the reason?" Hyejin asked curiously, stepping over to his desk. 

 

"A movie," Jongdae grinned. 

 

The night before, he had searched online for the best movies with messages on how to have more confidence in oneself and to improve self-esteem and so on. Since Jongdae couldn't sleep, he had found all types of movies — from chick-flicks to action to mystery — so that Hyejin could choose from them, since he didn't know what she liked. 

 

"A movie? Why all of a sudden?" Hyejin sat herself on the chair Jongdae had dragged over. 

 

"Because I felt like watching one," Jongdae lied (again — he was getting really experienced at this). 

 

Hyejin laughed. "Okay, so what are we watching? And what food did you get?" 

 

He pouted childishly and moved the bag in his hands away from Hyejin. "You won't get any since you were being so mean just now." 

 

"Excuse me! Who was the one who trolled me at 3 in the morning?" Hyejin laughed. 

 

"Still!" 

 

"Never mind, I know you'll still give me one since you bought two anyway. So, what did you get?" 

 

Jongdae's lips curled themselves into a smile as he opened up the two boxes and slid one over to Hyejin. "They're pork cutlets. I went all the way to Myeongdong to get the really famous ones, so they should taste quite good. And as for what we're watching, you can choose the genre and I'll choose the movie." 

 

 "Wait, how did you know I was craving for pork cutlets today?" Hyejin gasped in glee. "Thanks, Chen." 

 

His face flushed bright pink. "Telepathy," he joked. "And no problem. Now, what genre do you like?" 

 

"Disney," Hyejin replied without hesitation. She seemed to be in a good mood today — Jongdae was glad. 

 

"People are going to judge you if you tell them that, you know," Chen laughed, opening up  movie clip of Wreck-It-Ralph. It was the best Disney movie with the underlying theme of self-confidence, he felt. 

 

"But I know you won't judge." 

 

"How can you be so sure?" 

 

"I just am," Hyejin beamed, moving her chair closer to Jongdae. The biggest screen Jongdae could find was his computer's, and even if they watched the movie from there they wouldn't be able to see the screen fully if they didn't sit close. 

 

Still, Jongdae felt a little strange with Hyejin approximately ten centimetres away from him. His heart... Wait, no. Why was it beating so fast? What was happening? 

 

"T-Tuck in," he stuttered, digging into his food so that his hands would stop being sweaty. Was he being nervous now? Gosh, what was wrong with him that day? 

 

Hyejin's right arm rubbed against Jongdae's left one a few times as she moved her hand to eat, and each time they had physical contact he felt like he was being electrocuted. No, it wasn't painful, but... Electrocuting. No, that wasn't exactly it, but... Okay, he gave up. Jongdae's brain was a little too screwed up by thoughts of Hyejin to think straight about how it felt. 

 

It wasn't as if he could help it. The scent of Hyejin's usual Jasmine perfume was just so strong that day (for some reason it smelled especially good), and her hair, pulled into a casual ponytail, was so... luscious. And the way she laughed at scenes, the way her eyes brightened... Hyejin's smile just seemed magical that day. Jongdae realised he had never noticed the small dimple on her right cheek. Or the little freckle near her nose. But now that they were just ten centimetres apart, and Jongdae couldn't concentrate on the movie, he certainly did notice them. In fact, he noticed every little detail on her face. 

 

And they were beautiful. 

 

Crap — Now he felt nauseous. 

 

He couldn't kid himself that the nausea was caused by indigestion. Jongdae had hardly touched his food, for goodness' sake, and besides, indigestion didn't cause an erratic heart rate or random bursts of nervousness. He needed to get rid of them, and fast. 

 

Maybe Jongdae should get up. Maybe he should just use Hyejin's empty food box as an excuse to stand up so he could throw it away. Maybe he should — 

 

Before he could think of any other ways, he found the head of luscious hair he had been staring at the whole movie on his shoulder. Jongdae gasped softly as strands of Hyejin's hair blew across his arm. No, no, no. His nausea and unsteady heart rate was just getting worse. Had Hyejin fallen asleep? She did seem to be using Jongdae's shoulder as a pillow. Jongdae peeked carefully at her face, and he smiled gently at her closed eyes. 

 

So she had. 

 

Slowly, Jongdae moved his free hand to close the still-playing movie, and at once the office was engulfed in a tranquil silence. 

 

"You said you liked Disney, silly," Jongdae whispered. "And then you fell asleep right after finishing your food — on my shoulder at that." 

 

His heart was still pumping fast, and his head felt like it wasn't on properly, but his nausea had turned into a type of 'walking-on-clouds' type of feeling. He felt mostly lightheaded — yes, that was it. 

 

Jongdae tried not to think about how close Hyejin was, because every time he did so, he would feel himself getting jittery again. It was hard, though, espcially since Hyejin's head was on Jongdae's shoulder the whole time. 

 

Jongdae smiled peacefully as he placed the jacket initially strewn at the edge of his seat carefully over Hyejin's body to keep her warm. 

 

"You make me feel strange, Jasmine. Very, very strange." 

 

 

_______________________________________________________

 

 

 

"Bro, you look like Manchester City just won the Premier League or something. You've been extra bouncy and happy the whole day," Taehwan said as he packed a last file into his haversack and zipped the bag up. He and Hyejin were the last trainees left in the office that day, and since he returned from lunch Taehwan had been finding Jongdae weird — the guy was chuckling to himself as he made coffee, skipping to his table as he came back from the Budget Team's office (who did that in their workplace?), and even treating the trainees to bagels and other treats from the coffee shop near the office near to tea time. 

 

"I don't even support Manchester City," Jongdae bubbled. 

 

Taehwan flung his haversack onto one shoulder and scratched his head. "Seriously, Jongdae —" 

 

"Chen," he corrected, then turned a light shade of pink as he smiled foolishly at his computer for the thousandth time that day.  

 

"...Chen?" Taehwan questioned, confused. 

 

"Never mind. Sorry," Jongdae chirped as he flipped through an invoice. 

 

"See! I told you you're weird today!" Taehwan insisted as Jongdae shrugged. 

 

At that moment, the phone connecting the receptionist at the lobby and the trainees' small office rang, and Hyejin picked it up. Glancing at Jongdae, she held the phone slightly away from her face. "There's three guys at the lobby now who want to come into the office to look for you." 

 

"Let them in," Jongdae said cheerily, and Hyejin blinked at him questioningly before passing the order to the receptionist and hanging up soon after. 

 

"Bro, you don't even know who the three people are," Taehwan said. 

 

"I like surprises," Jongdae smiled, then threw Taehwan a stick of gum from a pack he always kept on his table. Taehwan barely managed to catch it, and he looked at the gum as if he was afraid Jongdae would have spiked it or something. 

 

"I feel like doing something good today, so you can have this gum on your way home. Oh, I can even send you home if you'd like! You've been a great friend and junior, Taehwan." 

 

Taehwan mock-shuddered. "Cheesy. Thanks though, for the gum, I guess. And see you tomorrow. Bye, Jongdae. Bye, Hyejin." He waved to the both of them, unwrapped the gum and popped it into his mouth before strolling out of the office. 

 

"Jasmine, I can send you back too!" Chen said, grinning at Hyejin. 

 

"It's okay, thanks," Hyejin replied. "You really are strange today." 

 

"What do you mean? I'm always happy and nice." 

 

She gave a light chuckle in response. "If you say so. But I'm not denying it." 

 

The short silence that followed right after was broken by a loud voice traveling though the corridor. One man burst into the office, followed by two others not far behind him. 

 

Jongdae looked up, and immediately his mouth dropped open. "Baekhyun? What the hell? Chanyeol? Kyungsoo?" 

 

"JONGDAEEEEE!" Baekhyun shouted as he ran towards Jongdae with his arms extended to hug him. 

 

"Byun, you're suffocating me," Jongdae said as Baekhyun wrapped his arms right around Jongdae's neck. He let go at long last and Jongdae stared at the three of them. 

 

"How in the world did you get into the office?" 

 

Chanyeol snorted. "You let us in, idiot. We were at the lobby." 

 

"So you guys were the three men that wanted to come in?" 

 

"Which other three men would care so much about you to come all the way to your office?" Chanyeol continued, helping himself to Jongdae's gum. He popped a piece casually into his mouth while scavenging for more food around Jongdae's table. 

 

"Don't give that crap, Yeol. Admit it — why did you come all of a sudden? Are you here to steal snacks from the pantry again?" Jongdae joked. 

 

"We missed you," Chanyeol said, still looking for food. "You keep saying you're busy nowadays and you even skipped the last match we wanted to watch all together so we came to your office instead." 

 

"That's rubbish. You all can't be that nice," Jongdae scoffed casually, but inside he knew he didn't mean it. In fact, he was touched — for the second time that day. 

 

"But it's true!" Baekhyun insisted. "We even prepared something for you today. Okay, Kyungsoo did most of the things but we chipped in to pay and stuff." 

 

Jongdae smiled, then suddenly remembered Hyejin was still in the office. She was probably feeling awkward to the max, since she had to listen to guys (or rather, just Chanyeol) say mushy things like that.

 

"By the way, guys!" Jongdae cleared his throat, then grinned as he gestured to Hyejin, who had looked up at that moment. "Meet Hwang Hyejin. She's one of my trainees. Jasmine, meet Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun." 

 

"Woah, she's pretty," Kyungsoo commented as he walked over to give Hyejin a handshake. Hyejin blushed and looked embarrassed — Jongdae figured she probably wasn't used to accepting compliments, and he had a small thought of giving her loads just so she would stop feeling flustered at every little compliment. Chanyeol and Baekhyun did the same, and as Baekhyun did so, he turned back and wiggled his eyebrows at Jongdae. 

 

"Jasmine?" Baekhyun seemed to mouth as he raised his eyebrows, but Jongdae ignored him and pretended to look through a piece of paper. It wasn't as if he didn't have work to do — he had loads. Jongdae just hoped his friends wouldn't cause too much trouble round the office while they were here. 

 

"What's Jasmine?" Baekhyun then asked loudly when he realised Jongdae probably wouldn't give him a reply if he asked subtly like he did, and Jongdae glared at him. 

 

"Shut up, Byun." 

 

"Jasmine, like the Disney princess?" Kyungsoo then asked, playing along with Baekhyun. Chanyeol gave him a high-five. 

 

"Princess? Jongdae, you find her really that pretty, don't you?" Chanyeol mused. Jongdae felt his face burning, and he opened his mouth to shout at his friends, but was interrupted by Hyejin's voice. 

 

"No, Jasmine like the flower," Hyejin explained shyly, then laughed. "It's because of my perfume." Jongdae's mouth curled into a small smile as he marked out notes on his document. She was always so awkward and shy with new people. 

 

"Ah, so that's it. Yeah, you do smell like a flower," Chanyeol said, then turned to looked at Hyejin brightly. "Hey, do you want to come with us later?" 

 

Wait, what? Jongdae looked up. "Go where?" He cut in.

 

"None of your business, idiot," Kyungsoo said. "We're asking Hyejin, not you, since you were such an ungrateful idiot just now." Then he pretended to give the matter some thought. "But… you can just tag along if you want to." Jongdae wasn't dense to the point that he took everything Kyungsoo said literally — he knew the boys had come for him, well, at least initially. 

 

"Jerk," Jongdae muttered, but made it loud enough for Kyungsoo to hear him. 

 

"We're going to play basketball! Well, at first we wanted Jongdae to play too, so that he could release a little bit of the stress he's facing… but seems as if he sees us as vagrants who come here just to steal food, so… Anyway, Kyungsoo over there booked a court but he's not playing because the idiot sprained his finger yesterday," Chanyeol said. "Okay with you?" 

 

"Yeah, okay, I'll come," Hyejin beamed at Chanyeol, who gave her a high-five in return. 

 

Jongdae couldn't believe his ears. Did she really say she would go? What happened to her being a totally awkward human with new people? 

 

"Hey, aren't you afraid it's going to be awkward? There're new people!" Jongdae tried to remind her. "Totally new people!" 

 

No, it wasn't that Jongdae didn't want Hyejin to join the boys, it was just that... That was the thing: the boys were guys. And Hyejin was a girl. And to Jongdae that was a serious problem. 

 

"You're going to be there, it'll be okay," Hyejin shrugged. "And besides these are your best friends — you've mentioned — and they're really nice, so it's probably not going to be that awkward." 

 

"Ha! Heard that, Kim Jongdae? Hyejin said we were nice! She has sense — unlike someone in particular who has known us for more than a decade and claims to be our best friend," Baekhyun gibed. 

 

Hyejin chuckled. "You all sound like mortal enemies instead of best friends." 

 

Chanyeol grinned in a cheesy manner. "Insults are the best way to show our love." 

 

The rest gagged, and Chanyeol looked indignant. "What? What did I say wrong?" He pouted, and Hyejin laughed, and Kyungsoo stood beside her. 

 

"So, Hyejin. Since Jongdae is not coming do you want to go somewhere else? We can bring you to anywhere you want, you know. It'll be us and you," Kyungsoo said, as he turned to face Hyejin completely. 

 

"Jerks. I'm coming too," Jongdae suddenly announced, standing up as he started to pack up his work and switch off his computer. 

 

Kyungsoo smirked at Baekhyun, and Chanyeol grinned at the two of them. "I thought you were busy? It's okay, we have Hyejin now..." 

 

"You came all the way here for me, of course I have to come! And besides, Hyejin may feel awkward without me around," he said, pretending he didn't care. He packed his final document to be brought home to complete into his haversack, zipped it up with the quick swipe of a hand, and carried it steadily on his two shoulders. "Okay, let's go." 

 

"Four of us are finally together again," Chanyeol said with satisfaction while he slung his arms around Kyungsoo and Jongdae's shoulder, and Baekhyun pulled Hyejin over. 

 

"And today we have great company," Baekhyun beamed, and Jongdae didn't try to resist the smile toying with his lips. He felt blissful. 

 

__________________________________________

 

 

Baekhyun dragged Hyejin by her arm, leading her to the basketball court, and Jongdae stared. Since when had the two become so close? They were even laughing and joking with each other like they were childhood friends or something.

 

He silently watched as Baekhyun did a spontaneous silly dance, and his eyes almost popped out when Hyejin started dancing along. Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows. He knew had danced like that in front of Hyejin too, the first time she asked him if he could go out for lunch with her, but she didn't even join Jongdae in dancing! He remembered that she had just laughed and continued trying to persuade Jongdae to go out for lunch. 

 

Hyejin was so unfair sometimes. 

 

Jongdae heavily stomped his foot down onto the ground, ignoring his loose shoelace, and strode towards the court, standing straight and tall. 

 

"Stop dancing and let's settle on our teams, guys. Two on two — I'll take Hyej-" Jongdae started, but got cut off. 

 

"Hey Hyejin, wanna team?" Baekhyun asked, grinning at Hyejin, who smiled back. 

 

"Sure," she agreed readily, and Jongdae wanted to scream at her. He silently shot daggers with his eyes at Baekhyun, but he didn't seem to notice as he linked arms with Hyejin. 

 

"Hey, Byun. How can you do this when you just met Hyejin? She's a girl, you know," Jongdae scowled. 

 

"Do what?" Baekhyun blinked innocently at Jongdae, and he didn't know if Baekhyun was just acting or if he was really that dense. 

 

"That, duh!" Jongdae couldn't help but point an accusing finger at their linked arms. When Hyejin saw what Jongdae was referring to, she tried to loosen her arm away, but Baekhyun gripped on tighter. 

 

Byun Baekhyun was such an idiot. 

 

"What's wrong?" Baekhyun asked, raising his eyebrows at Jongdae. He seemed to be smiling slightly but Jongdae didn't bother finding out if he was. 

 

Had Hyejin forgotten she was here because of him? And now they had hardly talked! And she had agreed to Baekhyun so readily! What on earth happened to the awkward Hyejin? Jongdae decided he preferred Hyejin when she was still awkward with people on their first meeting. And Baekhyun! The nerve of him, seriously. 

 

"Anyway, Yeol and you are in the other team, then," Baekhyun said, wiggling his eyebrows at Jongdae. "We're going to trash you so bad. Yeol at basketball despite his height being an advantage. I think even Kyungsoo with that sprained finger of his plays better than that giant." 

 

"I heard you, Byun! We're going to trash you," Chanyeol said as he walked over and flung an arm over Jongdae's shoulder. Jongdae was still staring at Hyejin and Baekhyun's linked arms, and Chanyeol followed his gaze, curious. But when he saw what Jongdae was looking at, he burst into peals of short laughter, clutching his stomach and slapping Jongdae on the back. 

 

Jongdae stared at him. "Have you gone crazy?" 

 

Chanyeol tried to curb his laughter, but that only resulted in his face turning a bright red. Jongdae punched him on the side. 

 

Kyungsoo appeared out of nowhere (like he always did) holding a basketball and rolled his eyes. "Are you guys starting or what? You made me the referee and then you're not even playing." 

 

"We are!" Baekhyun grinned as he took the ball away from Kyungsoo and started dribbling it at a fast pace. It was obvious to Hyejin that Baekhyun was experienced in the sport. "Here, Hyejin!" Baekhyun tossed the ball over to her, who caught it and attempted to dribble it as well. She was slow and crappy, she knew, but oh well — it was ages since she played basketball for physical education classes back in school. 

 

"Nice going, Hyejin!" Baekhyun encouraged, and while Hyejin got slightly distracted Chanyeol appeared right in front of her. He stole the ball out of Hyejin's hand, smiling meekly as if he was offering a silently apology, and gave it a bounce to start a dribble, but he was Park Chanyeol after all — so the ball went flying out of his reach, and right into Baekhyun's hands. 

 

"Ha! Park Chanyeol, you ," Baekhyun grinned as he moved steadily through the court. Jongdae blocked him once, successfully stealing the ball and pivoting quickly so Baekhyun wouldn't be able to get it back, but Baekhyun stuck close and tried to steal the ball at every opportunity, but it wasn't that easy. It wasn't long, though, before Baekhyun had the basketball back in his possession. He sped across the court, and shot the ball in a smooth arch when he had come close enough to the net. The basketball swooshed through the net swiftly, and Hyejin was so amazed he found herself clapping. 

 

"Score!" Baekhyun pumped his fist in the air, and jogged over to give Hyejin a high-five. Jongdae watched again, his gaze following Hyejin more than anything. 

 

"Seriously, that was a flawless three-pointer!" Hyejin exclaimed in awe. "Baekhyun, were you one of those flower boy basketballers back in school? I bet you were," she joked. 

 

Baekhyun smiled smugly. "Well, I guess you could say I was..." He rubbed his neck as though he was embarrassed but it was clear he was actually pleased. 

 

"Hey, Hwang Hyejin," Jongdae cut in, squeezing in between the both of them. "I was one of them too!" Jongdae pat his chest and pouted slightly. "I was the real deal: the Legend. Girls chased me all the way back home but I never once dated any, you know. Why did you only ask Baekhyun and not me?" 

 

"You mean the legend...ary troll," Chanyeol said suddenly. "And girls chased you all the way back home because you placed rubber cockroaches and lizards in their pencilcases and on their seats, you idiot." 

 

Hyejin laughed. "That sounds more like you, honestly." 

 

Jongdae pouted a bigger pout this time, and for some reason Chanyeol burst into laughter again, and Baekhyun gave him a weird look and shook his head. 

 

"I still was a flower boy, though," Jongdae muttered to himself, then picked the basketball up from the ground and began dribbling it round his legs, standing in a steady stance. "Who's up? Come on, let's play." 

 

Baekhyun and Hyejin got into action, and Chanyeol tried to curb his laughter once again as he ran across the court and stood in his position. 

 

"Somebody's grumpy," Chanyeol snickered to himself. "And over a girl, at that."