My eyes widen at the familiar face.

I was at a restaurant with my best friends, Jaekyung, Gaeun and Mina. Jaekyung wanted to introduce us to her boyfriend so here we were in the restaurant for lunch. While waiting, Mina and I were perusing through the menu, deciding what to order. Halfway reading through the mains, we heard Jaekyung let out a squeal and looked over. We followed her line of sight that landed on a tall man walking towards our table. All four of us were not aware of the other three boys that were following behind. Only when Jaekyung’s boyfriend – who introduced himself as Chanyeol – gestured next to him was when we noticed the other three boys. They introduced themselves individually, and when it was the second unknown boy’s turn, my eyes widen in recognition.

Gaeun, Mina and I introduced ourselves individually to the four newcomers. As we originally were seated at a table for 6 people, all 8 of us had to ultimately move to a bigger table to fit all of us. I tried busying myself with the menu, but I could not help but peek at the boy in front of me.

Sehun was one of Chanyeol’s friend and he was sitting right in front of me.

I kept peeking at him, wondering if he was really the boy who sat next to me on the plane a few weeks ago. The few times Sehun caught my eye, I would immediately feign interest in the menu I was holding or the arrangement of flowers in a beer bottle that was recreated into a vase on the table. The waitress came by our table to take our orders and menus away. Chanyeol started small talk which turned into a conversation that almost everyone was contributing to. I was not a big talker, let alone in front of people I have just met. My eyes constantly darted around our little group, following the conversation. I would nod and laugh but was mostly mum throughout the conversation.

One by one, our meals were placed in front of us and we began feasting. Eating gave me an excuse to not speak and I continued following the conversation with my eyes. Due to my lack of words I was one of the first to clean off my plate.

“Not to be offensive or anything but, are you okay? You haven’t said a word,” one of the boys, Baekhyun inquired with a concerned look on his face. I was in the midst of drinking water and hastily nodded with puffed cheeks. Jaekyung told them how shy I was while I gulped down my mouthful of water and continued nodding along to Jaekyung’s explanation.

“She’s so cute,” the boy on Sehun’s left, Jongin, chuckled.

“Yeah, like a squirrel,” Sehun agreed and I almost choked on nothing. Feeling guilty for not participating in the conversation I added my two cents here and there. As my voice was not very big, Mina would always be catching my little comments and laugh along with me. Both Sehun and Jongin caught a few of my remarks and would chuckle. Once we were all done eating, Jaekhyung offered to foot the bill (so that we would not have to split bill) and everyone could just bank transfer their share. Not wanting to part so soon, all 8 of us decided to head to Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s house to just hang out.

“Would you girls like a glass of water?” Baekhyun, being a good host, offered.

“Why don’t you offer us any water?” Jongin whined after Jaekyung, Gaeun, Mina and I positively responded to Baekhyun.

“That’s because you two come over constantly and know how to get your own water,” Baekhyun sassed while placing four glasses onto the coffee table. As I had warmed up enough, I was starting to get a little familiar with the four boys and contributed more to the conversations that happened. Jaekyung was tattling how Chanyeol would look away, embarrassed whenever she took a sip of her wa