Damn it, how hard could tying a bow tie be?

Apparently, excruciatingly hard. I’ve been going at it for twenty minutes now, and still, to no avail. I’ve tried tying it this way, and then another, but they all ended up looking like boy-scout knots, or even those first-aid bandage knots.

God, I at this. A necktie would have been easier.

My collar, which was pulled up so that I could tie the bow, has done nothing but choke me and make my neck perspire.

Ugh, disgusting; how will I come to work all sweaty and smelling like salt?

 Speaking of, I rolled my eyes, Why did the Boss come up with such an idiotic idea?

“Starting next Monday, a Rotary Club would be renting the whole place for their weekly gathering. They’ll be here every Monday, so I want all of you to wear your best suits. The members all belong to higher classes of modern Korean society, so you better be at your most polished, decorous behavior. And Lu Han,” the boss turned to me, “I want you to wear a bow tie instead of a neck tie every Monday; it’s more appealing.”

Oh, right.

That’s why.

I let out a sigh of exasperation.

This is for her. This is for her, I chanted mentally, reminding myself why I even bothered to stay in my job.

This is for her, because I—

“See you tomorrow, Kris!”

The door clicked open, and my roommate strode inside, but not before giving a final wave at duizhang. From her profile, I could see how huge her smile was, how ruddy her cheeks were in happiness, and how her eyes sparkled with joy. I also managed to take a peek of Kris’ face from the tiny opening; his eyes made contact with mine, and he smiled awkwardly at me.

“Yeah…See you…tomorrow,” he softly told her, and walked out of my view.

She finally closed the door, and headed straight for her desk where she put down her backpack, her folders, and a bunch of other school-related things that were of no importance to me.

Something—or rather, someone—else bothered me, but I turned to the mirror and decided instead to focus on my task because if I don’t finish and leave in five minutes, the boss would kill me. And my perfectly prompt attendance would be destroyed.

“Yo, Lu Han,” she greeted, but I ignored her, still preoccupied with tying my bow. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously. From the corner of my eyes, I could see a smirk forming on her lips.

“Stop mocking me,” I retorted. “The boss wants me to wear a bow tie tonight.” I fiddled with the strip of cloth around my neck, looping one end over the other; my fingers have grown calloused and stiff because of the experimentation I’ve been doing for the past twenty minutes. My feet felt sore after standing in front of the mirror for so long.

I could not take it anymore.

“Argh!” I shouted in frustration, and threw the piece of cloth at the carpeted floor. I stomped towards my closet, and opened it to look for my necktie. “That’s it; I don’t care if the boss gets mad, I’m going to wear a necktie!”

I heard laughter, and I turned around to see her smiling and chuckling.

You don’t know how much I cherish your happiness.

After calming down, she picked up the satin fabric and gestured for me to go to her. “I’ll do it,” she offered.

I stared blankly at her.

I didn’t know if I was shocked to hear that from her, or if I was delighted because this was one of the very, very, very few opportunities to be physically close to her.

Oh, lord, can you hear the thumping of my heart?

God, I sound like some school girl.

I walked to her and, when we were only a few inches away from each other, she hung the fabric over my neck, adjusting it so that both ends were of equal length.

You don’t know how much I cherish these moments.

I was silent the entire time she worked on my bow tie, too dazed to even say something.

“Lu Han, you idiot,” she laughed, “And you call yourself a man! You can’t even tie a bow tie properly!”

I didn’t answer, because all I could think of was the distance—or lack thereof—between us. She hated closed spaces, and she hated being touched, but she didn’t mind it as much if she was the one who initiated it. She told me that being touched and touching someone are two different things; in the latter, she was well-prepared for the burning sensation that would eat at her whenever she had physical contact, whereas she was completely caught off-guard in the former.

You don’t know how much I cherish you.

When she was done, she stepped back and grinned at me. “All good, dude!” she shot me a thumbs-up, “Man, I’m awesome! What will you do without me?”

What willI do without you?

“I don’t know,” I thoughtlessly murmured. “I don’t really know.”

She stared at me, partially opened. “Umm…Okay…? Dude, are you all right? Has the exhaustion caused by your job finally drove you to madness or something? Lu Han…?”

But I didn’t hear her, because so many thoughts were swimming in my head at that moment.

You don’t know how confused I am over our relationship.

I hate you for being so hard to woo, for being so hard to be with.

I don’t like it when you tell me things I want to hear because I don’t know whether or not you’re being sincere.

Many a times, I thought I could read you, but you’ve proven me otherwise. I know you, but I guess I just don’t understand you fully well. You do things for me, but I don’t know whether it’s because you like me that way or because you just simply value our friendship.

I hate myself for being tongue-tied when it comes to you.

God, Lu Han, stop this!

“Lu Han!” she exclaimed, bringing me back to reality.

Damn it.

“Damn, dude, if tying a bow will make you look and act this stupid, I better buy you a pre-tied one.”

“No,” I blurted, once again not thinking twice. “Just teach me.”

That’s the only way for us to be together.

She grinned. “No problem!”

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone~ Did I surprise you with my sudden update? Well, sadly, this really wil be my last one for the week. I have to prepare for school. /3

Originally, I was planning for this chapter to be a little more of the comedic side, but I've realized that there's one genre I haven't touched on: drama! So I kind of incorporated a little bit of drama via Lu Han's stream of consciousness, so...haha, yes :)) 

Also, I would like to clarify that the line "That's the only way for us to be together" means that her teaching Lu Han how to tie a bow is the only way that he can spend some alone time with her, because, as you can see, she's more or less always with at least one other member of EXO, and it's never just her and Lu Han. 

I could count with my fingers the chapters that only feature her and Lu Han ;))

And I also wrote this chapter because many of you guys miss Lu Han and EXO. Key and Minho sure did get a lot of screen time :))

Again, thank you for reading, subscribing and commenting! 

To happyvirus_didi, haha, your comment made me smile because when I was writing the whole fic, I really was inspired by the jdramas I've watched over the last few years. I just love how jdramas present their stories. 

To Squishy, congrats on graduating! :))

And to all my new and old subscribers, thank you so much for supporting this series! I hope to see you in the spin-off as well :))

Remember to drop in a comment or two; they make me happy 8D

Till next time!

Edit: 

Hey guys! Guess what? I've finally posted a foreword and description to the spin-off entitled Countdown. But as a I said, this would be my last update for the week since school is nearing, so there's no chapter posted in the spin-off yet. 

I hope you guys check it out some time!

Thanks!