"Sam!!! Ume noona!" The boys cried out when they saw her in the cafe.

Ume shushed them even though the corner she reserved was sheltered from public view. Joonmyun, Kai and Sehun were missing. Manager Park explained Joonmyun wasn't feeling well and the other two had schedules and apologized. 

"Ja-Jang!"

Chanyeol plopped a gigantic blue teddy bear half the size of Ume on the table. She retreated an inch from the sheer size of it. Ume wasn't a big fan of soft toys so she couldn't help but gawked: 

"W-hat is this?"

"Can't you see? It's a bear!" Baekhyun grinned.

"It's for me?"

"Yes! Well, actually, it's a promo gift from our stint in Taiwan to us, but since none of us are soft toy lovers, we figured we should give it to our lovely lady teacher!" Chanyeol clapped excitedly by himself. 

"That's not all actually," Kyungsoo pushed the bear aside. "Chanyeol had insisted giving you the bear but this is what we really wanted to give you."

It was a black box. When Ume opened it, Kyungsoo explained: "The Taiwan sponsors gave us exclusively made bracelets. It's titanium. We've got one each but there was an extra. To thank you for making the trip with us this time, we wanted to gift it to you. You know, as part of the Exo family."

"This is the K's version, so there... " Kyungsoo pointed "...you can see it's engraved on the inside."

Ume turned the intricately crafted gift in her hand, mini hexagons forming a chained bracelet.

"And if you don't like it, you can always sell it." quipped Chanyeol.

"Or give it back to us." Baekhyun joined in. 

It's beautiful.

"Thanks. I will keep it, if you want me to give it back to you anytime now, just let me know." Ume smiled.

The boys laughed. 

"Oh! Jongdae ah... " Manager Park's sudden greeting halted the laughter.

All of them turned towards where manager Park was looking at. Ume eyes widened.  

 How did he find me ?

___________________

"Shinae? That ." 

In the middle of dinner Jongdae asked to be excused to the bathroom, but hinted a look at Ume, who gathered she needed to do something to end this once and for all.

"I need to go too." She announced. Kyungsoo tried to follow suit but Ume gave him a reassuring glance and mouthed "It's alright."

Once out of the group's earshot, Jongdae first started talking about how he found her by calling Shinae.

"I guessed she thought she was just providing information to a close friend of yours when I asked her. She knew we were close even back then." Ume rolled her eyes. Jongdae disregarded it and continued: "I just told her I need to pass you something after the stint and she said you'll be here doing an interview."

"So you have something to pass to me too? Then do it and get going." Ume's voice was tight from anger.

Jongdae ignored her remark.

"Seems like you are not doing an interview after all."

"That's none of your business."

"So what have you been doing with them?" He paused. "With Kyungsoo ssi?" 

Ume glared at him.

"Or do you call him Soo?"

"What is it to you?" she snapped. 

Jongdae switched from his taunting tone to one she was sorely familiar with.

"I didn't know what I missed until I.. I saw you with him like that. The looks you gave him."

Ume was finding it difficult to keep her voice levelled. "Is this a confession now? Cos if you don't already know, I'm not interested in you and whether I've got interest in anybody else is none of your concern."

"Ume... Please." He held her arm. 

"Let go of me."

"I'm really sorry but..."

"Let go, please!" She struggled with the tightening grip. 

"I don't want to lose you, Ume." He pulled her forcibly into a hug. 

Ume writhed helplessly against his deathly hold.

But as suddenly as he hugged her, the grip fell away in a split second. From the corner of her eye, Ume spotted Kyungsoo, who had his arm raised and...

He landed a fist on Jongdae's face.

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