BGM: f(x) - Let's Try

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?"

The words that came out of Sehun's mouth were barely audible, but you heard him just fine. What he said, however, was not only incredibly shocking, but also quite impossible to believe. Mr. 8g of Fat himself just asked you if you wanted to go out with him. How are you supposed to answer that kind of question? 

Sehun rolled his eyes and groaned, quite annoyed that he had to repeat what he just said. With a cocked eyebrow, he stared at you again as he fixed the California Angels baseball cap on his head. "I'm going to Happy Bubble. Do you want to go with me?"

You mentally patted yourself for successfully managing to hold in whatever assumptions you might have devised inside that little head of yours, despite the fact that you actually misinterpreted what 8g of Fat said the first time you heard it. If he was here right now, Joonmyun would have probably smacked you in the head already for being so assuming.

With a hand on your chest, you took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. "Geez. For a moment there I thought-"

"You thought what?" Sehun asked.

"Nothing," you quickly replied, pulling down your striped knitted beanie so that it was covering your ears. They really should turn off the air-conditioners inside the Everysing building and turn on the floor heaters called ondol (온돌) instead. The air during autumn, after all, gets a bit colder as the evening approaches.

"Tho, are you coming or not?" he asked again, sounding more impatient than ever.

You considered his offer for a while.

The truth was, despite the cool autumn breeze, a nice cup of wintermelon milk tea with lots and lots of pearls and crystals seemed like a good idea right now. You have been inside noraebang Room 306 since early this afternoon and although you didn't sing as much as the others did, somehow, your throat felt like it was going to dry up really soon. So, although you kinda felt bad for Kevin, you know, for temporarily ditching his party, you agreed to leave with Sehun for a while.

"Your treat?"

After paying for his chocolate bubble tea and your wintermelon milk tea, Sehun bid Ahjummeonie farewell and headed towards the exit of the Happy Bubble Tea Shop. Just when you think he was going back to the Everysing building, the poker-faced boy went on to take a sit on the curb outside, removing his red and blue California Angels baseball cap to rest it on his right knee.

"There are chairs inside, you know," you told him.

Sehun looked up to you and stared, making you feel slightly uncomfortable. As soon as the jumbo straw of his favorite drink left his lips, he remarked, "Tho?"

Sighing in submission, you rolled your eyes as you sat down on the curb beside him, making sure there's enough distance between the two of you. While taking a sip of the wintermelon milk tea with lots and lots of pearls and crystals that was prepared by Ahjummeonie a few minutes ago, you stared at the boy beside you and tried to figure out what was bothering him at the moment.

Oh Sehun is a very persnickety person - he complains about the smallest details such as the amount of fat in his milk or the way people sing his beloved BoA noona's songs, so to see him prefer the cold concrete of the curb over the soft cushions of the chairs inside the shop was not only worrying, but also quite intriguing.

"What's wrong?" you asked.

Without even taking a quick glance at you, he replied with "Nothing."

"Liar," you muttered, fixing the striped scarf that was wrapped around your neck. "It's quite obvious that something is bothering you right now," you added, slightly stirring your drink to make sure that the sinkers don't accumulate at the bottom of the cup. 

"Why are you even athking me if you already know?" he asked back.

You took another sip of your wintermelon milk tea before answering him. "Well, I just know that something's on your mind, but I have no idea what it is," you reasoned, giving him a weak nudge in the arm. It startled Sehun a bit, since he wasn't expecting you to have even the slightest form of physical contact with him. "I know we're not really close friends and all, but you can always talk to me if you have a problem or someth-"

"The waffleth thmell nice," he interrupted, gently pointing the jumbo straw of his chocolate bubble tea towards the yogurt waffle stand across the street.

He was right. The smell of freshly-baked waffles mixed perfectly with the cool autumn breeze. And to be honest, you were also a little hungry. You haven't eaten anything since lunch and since you all agreed to have dinner together after Kevin's noraebang party, nobody has touched anything edible for the past few hours.

Yes. Not even the cake.

"Haha! Nice try. I'm not going to let you get away that easily, though," you maintained. Tugging on the sleeves of Sehun's jacket, you tried your luck once again by asking him what's bothering him right now. "8g of Fat~ what's wrong? Tell me, tell me, please?!?"

Sehun's response to your insistence took you by surprise. 

"Do you like Luhan hyung?" he asked.

"You know what? I think I'll buy some yogurt waffles for us," you said instead, gently dusting off your pants as you stood up from the curb. "You also like the one with mango syrup, right?" you asked, but didn't wait for Sehun to reply as you hurried off to cross the narrow street of Rodeo.

With slightly closed eyes, Sehun just wiggled his eyebrows in response as he took another generous sip off his chocolate bubble tea. When his gaze settled on the yogurt waffle stand across from him, Sehun couldn't help but laugh when he noticed you tiptoeing as you tried to read the food items on the menu board posted high up in the wall.

They were playing BoA's latest album in the yogurt waffle stand and you found yourself following the beat of the song by tapping your fingers on the stainless countertop. You were already half-way through the first line of M.E.P. when somebody suddenly pulled off the violet tie that was holding your hair up in a ponytail. "HEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!"

"Didn't I tell you to thtop ruining BoA noona'th thongth?" Sehun scolded.

"Geez. I didn't even finish a line!" you argued, taking off the striped beanie off your head to fix your hair. "Give me back my hair tie!" You tried snatching the violet-colored elastic back, but Sehun kept extending his right hand upwards - making it quite impossible for you to reach it.

Shaking his head, Sehun hid his right fist behind his back and secretly placed your violet hair tie in the back pocket of his jeans. "Why do you alwayth tie up your hair, anyway?" He was about to mention how much he preferred to see you wear your hair down instead of a ponytail, but Sehun ultimately decided against it.

"Wearing it down is too much hassle for me-" you replied, tucking your hair behind your ears. "-especially during windy nights like these. I hate it when the strands of my hair get all messy on my face. That's why I always wear it in a ponytail - if I tie it up in the morning, I can forget about it for the rest of the day."

"Tho lazy," Sehun grunted. 

Although it would be quite embarrassing, you mustered up the courage to sing in public just to annoy Sehun - purposely messing up the pitch and the tone just to piss him off even more. ♫ I say, heeeeeeeeey! I say, heeeeeeeeey! It's me, hey, M.E.P.~ I say, heeeeeeeeey! I say, heeeeeeeeey~ ♫

With an exaggeratedly disgusted look on his face, Sehun threw his empty cup of bubble tea into the nearby trash bin and covered his ears. "AAAAARGH!!! STOP IT, BUBBLE TEA!!!" he begged, but his plea only encouraged you to continue pestering him. 

♫ Dasin malhago sipji anha neoege baibai, geureon mal dasin~ ♫

"AAAAARGH!!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO?!?" Sehun yelled, his hands still covering his ears.

His question did the trick. The moment he asked you if knew how to play the piano, you stopped singing and just stared at him with a very confused look on your face. The question was so sudden and so random that it caught you off-guard. "No, not really. Why did you ask?"

"The thong you were thinging ith about an electronic piano-" Sehun pointed out, pausing briefly just to furrow his eyebrows. "-didn't you know that?"

You tilted your head in bewilderment. "A piano?!? Really?!?"

"That'th why it'th called M.E.P. - it'th a made-up acronym for My Electronic Piano," he said, a matter-of-factly, quite surprised that you had no idea what the title of the song actually stood for. He was about to make a snarky comment about this when the ahjussi at the other side of the counter finally handed out the yogurt waffle pies that you ordered.

"Thank you, Ahjussi." You passed the first yogurt waffle to Sehun and placed yours on the countertop as you searched your pockets for your wallet. "Uh oh~"

Sehun cocked an eyebrow. You looked at him straight in the eyes and flashed him a guilty smile. "I left my wallet... in my bag... upstairs... in the noraebang..." you admitted, biting your lower lip in shame. "I know I said I'll buy them, but-"

Instead of letting you finish, Sehun just took out a few banknotes from his own wallet and handed them to the ahjussi. "Thank you, 8g of Fat~" you smiled, taking a bite off the yogurt waffle pie with mango syrup that Sehun just paid for. 

"I promise to treat you next time."

"OH! THERE YOU ARE!"

When Luhan finally found you and Sehun, the two of you were back on the curb again, enjoying a second helping of yogurt waffle pies. The evil maknae, who managed to finish his drink even before the ahjussi across the street was done making the first batch of waffles that you ordered, was also on his second cup of chocolate bubble tea.

"I have your bag," Luhan informed as he took a seat beside you. The smile of gratitude you gave him after he handed you your satchel immediately faded when a cloud of suspicion suddenly appeared on Luhan's head. When he noticed you crease your eyebrows and purse your lips, the baby-faced Chinese boy immediately assured you that he didn't go through any of your stuff. "I didn't touch anything, I promise!"

"Good," you nodded, placing your satchel on that tiny gap between you and Luhan. "Would you like some?" you asked, extending your arms to offer him your yogurt waffle pie with mango syrup. "It's really delicious."

Luhan didn't even have to consider your offer. He gently held both of your hands and slowly leaned in to take a bite off your yogurt waffle pie. When Luhan briefly closed his eyes as he indulged himself on a generous helping of your snack, you noticed that he has very long and thick eyelashes.

"Hmm..." he mumbled, nodding his head repeatedly. "It is good!"

"See? I told you," you replied, trying a bit too hard not to sound nervous after that unexpected skinship. "It was delicious, wasn't it?" you asked, but instead of responding with words, Luhan took another bite off your yogurt waffle pie to confirm that it actually tasted really nice.

You let out a laugh. When he asked you what was so funny, Luhan couldn't understand it when you tried explaining that he has a bit of mango syrup left on his lower lip. "What is it?" he repeated as he watched you touch your own lips with your index finger. "Are you asking for a kiss?!?"

His question earned Luhan a smack in the arm. "No, silly! You have a bit of mango syrup in there," you clarified, pointing to his lips this time. Even after his lips a couple of times, Luhan was still unsuccessful in rubbing the mango syrup off his face, so you decided to remove it for him by wiping it off with your own fingers.

If it wasn't for the maroon-colored beanie that he was wearing, Luhan wouldn't be able to conceal how red his deer-like ears have gotten. So, to prevent himself from smiling like an idiot, Luhan decided to shift his attention towards the boy on your left instead. 

"Sehun-ah!" he called out.