BGM: H.O.T - Tragedy

"Oh! Chan-Chan oppa!"

Chanyeol crouched in front of Choi Jinri and gasped for breath. Out of excitement, he decided to run all the way up to f(x)'s apartment unit instead of going with what any normal person would do: take the elevator. "Oppa, sit down first and I'll get you something to drink," she suggested, fully opening the door to let him in. Jinri was about to head into the kitchen when the birthday boy suddenly grabbed her wrist. 

"Jinri-ah..." he panted. 

A bit taken aback by the sudden skinship, Jinri just stared at Chanyeol as she waited for him to finish what he was about to say. For all those years she'd known him, Jinri has never experienced any form of physical contact with her Chanyeol oppa - aside from the occasional hair ruffling, of course.

"Put a lot of ice in it, okay?" he requested, finally letting go of Jinri's wrist. Giggling, Jinri nodded once and said 'araso' before disappearing into the kitchen.

Afraid that his heart might jump out of his body from beating too fast, Chanyeol clutched his chest tightly as he settled on the living room couch. He took a quick glance on his wristwatch to check the time. 10:12 PM. "Perfect," he thought to himself, "It's still my birthday." In just a couple of minutes, he, Park Chanyeol, will finally confess his feelings to Choi Jinri and she will officially become his girlfriend before this day ends. It will be, like, the best birthday gift ever.

"Oh, Chanyeol! What are you doing here?"

The birthday boy was giggling as he tried to imagine his first kiss with Jinri when f(x)'s leader suddenly woke him up from his daydream. "What's so funny?" she asked. The way she was puckering her lips as she waited for his response reminded Chanyeol of Yixing so much that he seriously wondered if it's a Chinese thing to do.

"Ah~ Qiannie noona!" He quickly stood up from his seat to greet Song Qian with a 90-degree bow. "I was just... well, I... uhm, I..." he stuttered as he tried to figure out how to say that he was going to confess to her precious roommate without actually revealing anything.

"He's here for a glass of water, Umma," Jinri answered instead. When Jinri handed over the glass of cold water to him, Chanyeol made sure that their fingers brush against each other as he accepted it, surprising Jinri with his sudden liking for skinship.

With both hands on her either side of her hips, Song Qian looked at Jinri and asked, "At ten in the evening?" Before her dongsaeng could even give her an answer, f(x)'s self-proclaimed umma turned towards a slightly-terrified Chanyeol and tilted her head. "Don't you have water in your own house?"

The birthday boy was temporarily saved from Song Qian's interrogations when f(x)'s lead singer suddenly entered the living room. Chanyeol wondered why she hasn't removed the make-up from her face yet when Jinri and Song Qian were already sporting bare faces, but he figured that it was probably rude to ask Sunyoung about it.

"Oh, Chanyeol oppa! Happy birthday!" Sunyoung gleefully greeted, walking towards Chanyeol to give him a friendly hug. "Sorry we couldn't make it to your party. You know, because of our schedule and all. We just got home, actually."

"That's okay," Chanyeol replied with a smile. Of course, he would have preferred it if the girls attended his birthday party, but he understand that as idols, the members of f(x) follow a very strict schedule that disallows them to just hang out with their friends whenever they want to. "I'm actually quite surprised that you girls are already home. The concert ended early, huh?"

Worry was written all over Sunyoung's face as she shook her head. "Oh, no. It didn't. Our performance was just cut short because Soojung fainted in the middle of our performance, so we had to rush her to the hospital. But don't worry. She's okay now. She's actually resting in her room right now."

"Soo... SOOJUNG FAINTED?!?"

"Aigoo~ Jinri-ah, I think you should give Chanyeol a couple of cotton swabs as well. There must be something wrong with his ears," Song Qian joked.

"Seriously?!? Soojung fainted onstage?!?" Chanyeol repeated.

Jinri nodded. "Yeah, Sunyoung unnie was singing the second verse when Soojung suddenly collapsed beside me. It was terrifying! We had no other choice but to halt the performance to give her some medical attention. The doctors said it was only because of her anemia. Thank God, she's okay now. She's resting in the room Qiannie umma shares with Jinri. Her parents are away on a holiday so she has been staying with us for almost a week now."

"Does Sica noona know?" Chanyeol asked.

Shaking her head, Sunyoung answered, "No. She doesn't know yet. We'll tell her tomorrow when she arrives back from Japan. If we tell her about it now, I'm pretty sure she'll just worry too much because she wouldn't be able to take care of her sister even if she wants to."

"I'm sure Jessica will understand. Besides, we're here to take care of her sister. We'll do our best to help Soojungie recover as soon as possible," Song Qian added. She then locked arms with Sunyoung and slowly dragged her towards the direction of the kitchen. "Help me prepare a hot soup for Soojungie, okay?"

As the two girls were heading towards the kitchen, however, Chanyeol called out Sunyoung and told her a piece of information that prompted her to reject Song Qian's request so she could run down a couple of storeys instead. 

"SUNYOUNG-AH! JOONMYUN HYUNG IS IN THE LOBBY!"

"Jaemi Chingu, what are you doing?"

When Youngho told them that Chanyeol had run off with Joonmyun to get himself a girlfriend, Jongin quickly searched for Luhan and begged him to give him a ride to f(x)'s dormitory. What happened after that was quite blurry and the next thing you know, you were already sandwiched between Sehun and Yixing in the backseat of Mr. Park's car while Jongin joined Luhan in the front.

You tilted your head. "Huh?"

"What are you doing?" Jongin repeated. Noticing that you still couldn't comprehend what he was trying to ask you, Jongin decided to just convey his message via body language, so he covered up his chest by forming an X-shape using his arms. "This. Why are you doing this?"

"Ah, well... I, uhm," you stuttered.

"Are you cold, Jaemi?" Yixing asked, unwrapping the bright red scarf off his neck. 

As soon as you realized what Yixing was trying to do, you tried to stop him by asking him to wear his scarf back. "No, no, no, I'm not cold. I'm fine really.  Besides, I already have a scarf," you insisted. "Thanks for the concern, though."

Sehun let out a chuckle. "Bubble Tea ith worried that Yixing hyung and I might accidentally nudge her breathtth or thomething." It was just a guess, of course, but the piercing glare and the quick punch in the shoulder you gave him afterwards only confirmed 8g of Fat's suspicion.

"Don't worry about Yixing hyung. He's a perfect gentleman," Jongin assured, adjusting in his seat to properly look at you. He then took a scrutinizing look at Sehun and said, "I can't say the same thing about Sehunnie, though, I'm afraid."

The maknae returned Jongin's remark with a scowl. Fixing the blue and red baseball cap on his head, he shrugged, "There's nothing to touch anyway." 

Sehun's comment about your s - or lack thereof - didn't sit too well with Luhan for he pulled the brake lever back as exaggerated as he could just so he could hit Sehun's knee with his elbow. The sassy maknae also received a couple of glares from Jongin and Yixing, as well as a second smack in the arm from you.

"What is it about you boys and big s? Why do you like them so much? Can you please enlighten me because I really don't know what the fuss is all about. I mean, they're just s," you remarked.

"I can athk you the thame thing, Bubble Tea," Sehun snickered.

Nudging him, you asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

As it turns out, you were the only person inside the car who didn't comprehend what Sehun was trying to imply because the three other boys couldn't contain their chuckles when the maknae said it. Even Yixing, who usually takes about a second longer than the others to figure out things, understood what Sehun meant before you did.

"What is it? What's so funny?" you demanded.

"Why are you asking us about big s anyway?" Jongin asked back. "Oh~ c'mon, Jaemi Chingu. It's quite obvious that you already know the answer to that."

"I still don't get it," you admitted.

It seemed that none of the boys wanted to be the one to tell you what Sehun originally meant by his remark, so Luhan decided to take one for the team and put you out of your misery by reminding you that "Mimi, your bias is Yunho hyung."

"And so? - OOOH!" When you finally figured out that Sehun was implying that your ultimate bias has big s too, you mercilessly smacked him in the arm. "Ya! You naughty little - you're all just jealous because you probably don't have pectorals yet!"

"Oh, pleathe. Mine ith probably bigger than yourth," Sehun retorted.

"I know I can never compare to Han Chaeyoung or Han Yeseul, but I'm also a girl, you know," you said, instinctively covering your chest again after quickly checking out your disappointing cup size. It was bad enough that the four boys inside the car are all prettier than you, but to be criticized for having a pair of barely-there s actually made you feel quite offended.

Jongin settled properly in the soft cushion of the passenger seat and sighed. "Ah~ Han Yeseul~"

When you asked Jongin if he likes Han Yeseul, Yixing interjected by revealing that the pretty Nonstop 4 alumni is actually your chingu's ideal type. "Really? She's your ideal?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" Jongin teased.

Although Jongin only meant it as a joke, the four boys anxiously waited for your response. Even Luhan, who was supposed to be giving his full attention to driving, was quietly eyeing you through the interior rear-view mirror.

"Oh, please. If there's an actress I'm jealous of, then it's Jeon Jihyun!" you declared, referring to the My Sassy Girl actress who has been repeatedly picked by Dong Bang Shin Ki's U-Know Yunho as his ideal type. "And Go Ara," you added. "The pretty Go Ara. She must have saved an entire civilization in her past life just so she kiss Yunnie bear in a drama... TWICE!"

"Yeah, she's really pretty," Yixing agreed, fixing the scarf he attempted to offer you. "I've seen her around the company several times already. She seems really nice as well."

"You've been very chatty lately," you told Yixing, but the other boys insisted that he has always been this talkative. Luhan even mentioned that Yixing sometimes talk to much that he ends up revealing other people's secrets... especially Kevin's. "Really? How come I didn't notice it before?"

Yixing carefully scratched his nape and puckered his lips. "Maybe it's because you don't talk to me as much as the others," he reckoned with a shrug. "I mean, you hang out with Luhan and Jongin most of the time, so you probably didn't notice me that much."

Luhan stole a glance at you and Yixing through the mirror. "You're wrong, Xing-Xing. It's not true that she didn't notice you that much. Unfortunately for me, you are the one who has caught her eye the most," he thought to himself.

"You know, what? Totoro told me the same thing," you revealed, suddenly remembering your one-on-one conversation with Kevin outside the emergency room of Gangnam Severance Hospital. "He said the reason why we don't talk as often as we wanted to is because I'm always surrounded by these two," you added, pointing to the two boys sitting in front.

"Hey, it's not our fault if we make better company than the rest of them," Jongin retorted, earning him a fist bump from Luhan, who clearly agreed with what he just said.

With Sunyoung spending some quality time with Joonmyun in the lobby, Soojung getting some much-needed rest in the bedroom, and Song Qian busy cooking a Chinese-style soup in the kitchen, Jinri and Chanyeol were left alone together in the living room of f(x)'s dormitory.

"So, Oppa... how was the party?" Jinri asked, placing a pink heart-shaped cushion on her lap as she sat beside Chanyeol on the couch. "I'm sure a lot of people came to wish you a happy birthday. You are very popular, after all."

Chanyeol leaned back and spread his arms over the couch. "Ah, well~ you know me. I can't help it if I'm loved by everyone," he jokingly bragged. Before he could control himself, the birthday boy suddenly blurted out: "It's not as fun without you girls in there, though." The way Jinri beamed after he said that not only saved Chanyeol for mentally cursing himself for having a big mouth, but it also made his heart melt. "And SHINee as well," he quickly added, struggling to stop himself from smiling like an idiot. "Although they did promise to stop by after their schedule."

"Ooh~ they're in MBC right now, aren't they?" Jinri asked and Chanyeol nodded to confirm it.

There was an awkward air of silence after that and Chanyeol figured that it was probably his cue to finally get down to business. "Listen, Jinri, I..."

"You guys are going to SBS tomorrow right?" she interrupted. With a hand covering her chest, Jinri bent down to pick a box of Pepero from the table. "You're going to support Jinho oppa, am I right? He's going to have his official debut, after all. Maybe we can all hang out for a while." She then opened the box of chocolate-covered bread sticks and offered some to Chanyeol.

The mere sight of the well-loved Korean snack instantly drove Chanyeol back to daydream land. He couldn't help but imagine how sweet it would be like to 'accidentally' kiss Jinri after playing a round of the Pepero game with her. 

When he finally got hold of himself, Chanyeol asked, "Will you have time to chat with us then? Aren't you going to be busy with your MC duties?"

"Hmm..." The way Jinri was puckering her lips as she thought about what to say next distracted Chanyeol even more. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he knew he had to wait until the confession to do that. "Well, I'm going to be busy, of cou