BGM: Juniel - My Lips

Zhang Yixing has been in front of his laptop ever since they arrived from COEX Mall a few hours ago. Sitting on his lap is his most prized possession (next to his insanely expensive MCM backpack, of course): an acoustic guitar, which he strums from time to time as he tried to figure out which chords go well with the lyrics he has been working on right now. He was in the middle of comparing E-maj7 and E-6 when he suddenly picked up an interesting scent.

"What's that smell?" he asked.

Turning to his right, he found his friend Kevin sitting beside him. The thick-eyebrowed Chinese boy, who was busy examining his gorgeous reflection through an oval desktop mirror with golden rims, was gently applying some kind of skin care product on his face.

"BB cream," he answered, not taking his eyes off the mirror.

Yixing noticed the tube of BB cream on the table and took it to read the Korean characters printed on its back. "...offers a no... novel skincare concept with BB cu-curi-cuream... ah! Cream! BB cream, which lightens skin tone by healing vi-si-ble wrinkles and blemishes with ex-ce-llent skin-cover ability, and prevents skin aging through effective whiten... whiten... whitening! Whitening and anti-wrinkle properties," he recited, still having difficulty when it comes to reading Hangul.

After musing over it for a while, Yixing asked, "So why does it smell like baby wipes?"

"BABY WIPES?!?" Kevin exclaimed, slightly appalled.

Yixing leaned closer and took a quick whiff off Kevin's face. "Yeah, that's what it reminds me of," he confirmed, nodding. "It smells like baby wipes."

"Are you trying to imply that my face smells like a baby's ?" Kevin accused, wiping his fingers with some Kleenex. "Is that it?"

"Of course, not," Yixing denied, but he couldn't help but giggle at this. "I was just saying that the smell of your BB cream reminds me of baby wipes. I never said anything about your face resembling a baby's . Although, if you consider-"

The noise created by an opening door interrupted Yixing from comparing the texture of Kevin's face from the smoothness of a baby's . Luhan, with a couple of paperbags in hand, finally returned to their dormitory after sending you over to your house in Dogok-dong.

"Hello, you two!" Luhan cheerfully greeted.

Scratching the back of his neck, Yixing started nagging his friend about the latter's late arrival. "Hey! What took you so long? We've been waiting for hours! I couldn't even prepare dinner yet because I didn't know-"

"Is that chicken?" Kevin interrupted, eyeing the paperbags in Luhan's hand.

"Yeah, I passed by Nene Chicken on my way home, so I decided to buy dinner," he said, taking out five boxes of chicken from one of the paperbags and setting them on the table. "I didn't know which flavor to get, so I bought one box for each one: fried chicken with mixed onion and Asian sauce, snow chicken, shocking hot sauce chicken, tender low fat chicken, and the classic fried chicken." He then shot Yixing a look and added, "I chose mild, by the way, since you can't eat anything that's too spicy."

The three boys had a shock when they heard a wild rapping by the door. Someone - hopefully a person - was knocking on the door so hard they were worried it might break soon. Since he was nearest to the door, Luhan took the liberty of opening it. As soon as he turned the knob, Luhan was shoved into the wall when Zitao harshly pushed the door just so he could enter the room as fast as he could manage.

"I smell chicken. Do you guys have chicken?" he asked, his eyes lighting up upon noticing the boxes of chicken on the table. "CHICKEN!"

Luhan tapped Zitao's shoulder. "Aren't you going to apologize to me first?"

"Oh! Sorry Lu zhi!" he replied, occupying the first seat on the table. His apology may come off as insincere, but since the boy was obviously too excited about the food to think about anything else, Luhan decided to just shrug it off and forgive him.

"I was just about to suggest calling you over for dinner, but since you're already here..." Yixing trailed off, finally realizing that Luhan still had that stupid grin on his face. Normally, if a situation like that occurs, Zitao would be 'punished' with playful punches until he promises not to do it again, but for Luhan to just shrug it off like that...

It was Kevin, however, who finally asked the question. "Why are you so happy?"

"Yeah," Yixing echoed. "What happened at the Hans'?"

Luhan, trying a bit too hard to wipe the smile off his face, just stared at his friends and shrugged. "What? Mrs. Han gave us some kimchi," he answered instead, checking out the contents of the second paperbag before keeping them in the fridge. "There are some yellow radishes in here too. Would you like to eat them now? I'm sure they'll taste better than the side dishes that come with the chicken."

"You can't be that excited about food," Yixing figured.

"Yeah, something is really fishy..." Kevin noticed. "Could it be..."

Yixing looked at Kevin and nodded. "I think so too..."

While Kevin and Yixing were sending telepathic messages to each other as they try to figure out why Luhan was such in a gleeful mood, Zitao took advantage of the opportunity to eat as many chickens as he pleased. He was about to take a bite of his third chicken leg of the day when he finally spoke: 

"It's obvious, isn't it? He finally kissed her."

You attempted to skip supper, but your mother cooked dalkkangjeong for tonight and it would be a terrible idea to come up with some lame accuse just to excuse yourself from the dinner table. Besides, your parents know just how much you love your mother's specialty sweet and spicy chicken that rivals the ones they sell in Bonchon - and passing up the chance to eat it would only make you even more suspicious.

By the time you reached your room after dinner, you immediately lay down on the soft mattress of your bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on your ceiling. Luhan kissed you. Your cheeks automatically turned red and even though no one else was around to see you right now, you somehow felt embarrassed for remembering it again; so you covered your face with your hands, peeking through the spaces between your fingers to stare at the ceiling and concentrate on the different-sized star stickers to distract you from thinking about the kiss.

The kiss. Your first kiss.

Before you know it, the glow-in-the-dark stickers on your ceilings were replaced by an image of Luhan smiling brightly after he kissed you. The crinkles near his eyes more evident than you could ever remember. And his eyes... you weren't certain if it was the streetlight or the moonlight, but his eyes were shining radiantly not unlike those of an animated mouse who just discovered a block of cheese. You extended your arm near the headboard of your bed and reached for something to cover your face with.

It was your Bambi plushie.

You engaged yourself in a staring contest with the deer plushie for a while and when you finally realized that there's no way you'll win against an inanimate object, you got up from your bed to turn on the radio. Almost immediately, Tiffany's voice started filling the room, followed by Hyoyeon's, as So Nyeo Si Dae's 'Kissing You' played on: 

♫ When I kiss you while closing my eyes~ my cheeks turn red~ ♫

Pressing a button to switch to a different station, you heard the biggest hit from American band, Sixpence None the Richer next:

♫ Oh~ kiss me beneath the milky twilight~ ♫

"Seriously?!? This is too creepy to be a coincidence! Stop making fun of me, universe!" you said out loud, switching to another radio station. Although it didn't contain the word 'kiss' like the two songs that played before it, the lyrics to 'Flower Lady' that was being sung at that exact moment coincidentally featured a reference to a person's lips:

♫ Your bright smile and even your soft lips~ ♫

Normally, you wouldn't skip on a song by Dong Bang Shin Ki, but since you realized that it wasn't such a good idea to drown yourself with more 'feels' at a time like this, you reluctantly pressed the button again, so you could tune in to a different radio station. When the jingle of Super Junior's Kiss the Radio started playing as soon as you switched to the 89.1 frequency, you decided to just give up and finally turned off the radio.

"Maybe watching television is a better option," you thought to yourself. Upon pressing the 'Power' button on the remote control, you were shocked when the first thing you saw was the Cass Beer CF of 2NE1's Dara and Boys Over Flowers' Lee Minho. The theme song for the ad, after all, was titled 'Kiss'. You turned off the TV almost immediately and jumped back to your bed in a fashion that would remind old folks of the Nestea commercials of the early 90s.

You put your hands on your chest and felt your heart beating so fast. It reminded you of how Luhan's chest felt like earlier. Maybe that's why God created ribs... He knows how stubborn the human heart can be and He is aware that it has the tendency to burst out once it is filled with a mix of indescribable emotions, so he decided to confine it in a prison of skeletons without any possible means of escape. Except for surgery, that is.

At that moment, your mobile phone rang.

Afraid that it might be Luhan who was calling, you ignored it for a while. "Jaemi-ah, you can't talk to him right now," you said to yourself, unconsciously clutching the Bambi plushie closer to your chest. "What are you going to say? Something stupid, that's for sure. It's best not to talk to him until you've calmed down. Yes. You're not going to speak to him unless you're able to think straight again."

A couple of minutes after your mobile phone stopped playing Kim Jongseo's Beautiful Restriction, the landline phone in your room started ringing. Once you realized that Luhan doesn't know what the number to your landline phone is, you lazily reached for the receiver and pressed it against your ear.

"Hello?" you asked.

"WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING YOUR MOBILE PHONE?!?" Jihye shouted from the other end of the line. "I'VE BEEN TEXTING YOU FOR HOURS!!! DID YOU LOSE YOUR PHONE OR SOMETHING? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!? YOU JUST SPENT AN ENTIRE AFTERNOON WITH YOUR CRUSH AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO CALL ME TO TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!!!"

Jihye's rant went on for some time. Honestly, you had no idea what she was telling you. You could hear her, of course, but you couldn't understand a single word she was saying. It wasn't because you weren't paying attention. You were listening... well, at least you wanted to; but every three seconds or so, your gaze will travel to the glow-in-the-dark sticker-laden ceiling again and your mind will wander back to the kiss you shared with Luhan earlier.

"HAN JAEMI! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!?" Jihye nagged.

"I, uh, well I... I..." you stuttered.

Jihye was getting impatient. "WHAT?!?"

Without you realizing it, you have brought your left index finger to your lips, causing you to them slowly, as if you were trying to remember what happened to them earlier. Closing your eyes, you took another deep breath before breaking the news to your one and only best friend:

"Luhan... kissed me."

"YOU KISSED JAEMI?!?"

The thought of Luhan finally kissing you has crossed both Kevin's and Yixing's minds, obviously, but they were still shocked when Zitao blurted it out for all of them to hear. It wasn't really that surprising; on the contrary, they have been anticipating it for a while now, but somehow, the two of them still needed to hear Luhan confirm it before they can actually believe it.

"Would you guys like some soda?" Luhan asked instead, but the wide smile that was still plastered on his pretty face already gave away the answer. "I saw a few cans of Chilsung cider in the fridge."

"A man who refuses to kiss and tell..." Kevin stated, quite impressed. He then bumped his own fist to his chest twice and pointed his index finger at Luhan. "Respect, man. Respect!" he said, in straight English.

Yixing and Zitao simultaneously mimicked their tallest friend's actions and chorused "Respect, man. Respect!" in English. Upon realizing that they coincidentally did it at the same time, the two of them burst into laughter. They were cracking up so much that Zitao almost choked on a piece of yellow radish while doing so.

Luhan quickly removed the pull-tab on one of the cans. "Take it easy, will you?" he nagged, handing Zitao the lemon-lime softdrink. "And don't get too greedy on the chickens. There are more than enough for the four of us."

"Thanks, Lu zhi," the younger Chinese boy smiled.

"So~ about Jaemi..."

Luhan's face lit up as soon as Kevin mentioned your name. When the three other boys erupted into fits of laughter upon seeing his face, the baby-faced Chinese boy just reached for a can of Chilsung cider and chugged down about one-third of its contents.

"I don't think he'll admit anything tonight," Yixing figured.

Kevin thought so too. "Yeah," he agreed, picking up another piece of the shocking hot sauce-flavored chicken. "With that said, I think tomorrow is going to be a very interesting day."

"I bet it's going to be entertaining as well," Yixing added.

"Please don't tomorrow," Luhan requested, half-pleading. "I know she looks extra adorable whenever she panics, but I don't want to pressure her about this. I don't want to stress her out. Promise me you're not going to bombard her with any questions about what happened tonight. No questions. No teasing. No knowing looks. No mischievous smiles. Alright?"

"Okay, if you say so," Yixing shrugged.

Kevin nodded. "Alright," he submitted, passing Yixing a paper napkin to wipe his fingers with. "Besides, this is Jaemi we're talking about. Even if we don't confront or about it, she's  probably going to accidentally blurt it out anyway."

"Yeah," Luhan concurred. "I like it when she does that," he said, and before he knew it he was grinning to himself again. The way his smile gets wider and wider every second only hinted that he was replaying a very special moment in his mind.

"He's smiling like an idiot again," Kevin noticed. "Five thousand yuan says he's imagining Jaemi's face right now."

"I don't have yuans," Yixing replied, referring to the Chinese currency. "I only have wons in my wallet. Okay, maybe I have yuans, but they definitely won't amount to five thousand. Besides, what you said is obviously true. Just look at him!"

At that moment, Luhan had no idea what his friends were talking about. While Kevin and Yixing were making fun of him, the baby-faced Chinese boy was busy re-living your first kiss in his mind... from that moment he grabbed your hand to that point when you closed the door behind you. He felt like floating on air.

He was too happy to care.

After a series of frustrating yet exhilarating almost kisses, Mr. and Mrs. Lu's only son has finally managed to plant one on your lips. It was too good to be true. At one point, Luhan seriously wondered if the kiss actually happened in real life and not only in his imagination, so he pinched himself to confirm it.

"You're not dreaming," Kevin teased.

"You're just daydreaming," Zitao quipped.

Yixing placed three pieces of fried chicken and some yellow radish on Luhan's plate. "And by the time you wake up from your happy thoughts-" he paused, passing the Asian sauce to his best friend, "-there wouldn't be any chicken left on the table because Zitao would have eaten everything."

Even though there were only four people eating, the boxes of chicken that Luhan bought before he came home were finished in a flash. Luhan himself didn't even get to eat as much as he would have liked because he was spacing out every minute or so. He was constantly distracted by thoughts of kissing you, which was perfectly fine by Zitao since it meant more chicken for him to wolf down.

His gluttony didn't end there, though. After a satisfying burp that earned him light punches from the three older boys, Zitao started to crave for something sweet. There is, after all, always room for dessert in that non-existing tummy of his.

"Do you have anything for dessert?" Zitao asked, grinning with expectation.

"I do," Luhan replied. "But I'm not giving them to you."

"Why? What else did Mrs. Han give you?" Kevin asked, collecting the empty boxes of chicken to throw them in a trash bin. "Ginger cookies? Persimmon? Rainbow rice cake? Gelatin? Twisted donuts?"

Luhan chuckled. "Nope."

"I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it was something that Jaemi made," Yixing assumed as he wiped the surface of the table with a washcloth. "Otherwise, Xiao Lu wouldn't be so possessive over it."

Zitao's eyes lit up. "Is it chocolate?"

"If it's the same as the chocolate Minseok hyung has been raving about since Valentine's Day, then I really would like to try some," Yixing announced. "Only the four of us didn't get to taste it."

The four boys were locked in an eye contact for about five seconds before Luhan dashed off to the refrigerator. Kevin, Yixing, and Zitao, now aware of the fact that the bedimpled Chinese boy's guess was right, hurriedly went after him; but by the time they made it to the kitchen, Luhan had already retrieved the Tupperware from the fridge.

"Just let me have these, please?" Luhan pleaded.

"Why? Did Jaemi make those especially for you?" Kevin asked.

Still clutching the plastic container close to his chest, Luhan paused to think. "Well... not really," he admitted. "She made the chocolates for her parents, but since she prepared a lot, Mrs. Han gave me some..."

"I bet Mrs. Han told you to share those with us," Yixing claimed.

Luhan squirmed. "Yes, she did. But..."

"-but since Jaemi made them, you want all those chocolates for yourself so you could pretend she gave them to you on Valentine's Day, am I right?" Kevin interjected, and judging from the abashed expression on his friend's face, he knew that his assumption was spot on.

"Alright. I'm going to share," Luhan gave in. "But we're going to divide these evenly." He then looked at Zitao and added, "-and you can't play the maknae card. No aegyo. It's an unfair disadvantage for Jiaheng."

"What are you doing here?"

Immediately after you told her the news about your first kiss, Jung Jihye hung up the phone and pestered her father for a ride to your house - insisting that she needs to speak to you personally about a homework she was currently struggling with. Conveniently forgetting the fact that the semester ended last Friday, Mr. and Mrs. Jung believed their eldest daughter's story and not even half an hour later, your best friend came barging through your bedroom door with a 'Little Miss ELF' tote bag and two random textbooks in hand.

"YOU JUST HAD YOUR FIRST KISS AND-"

Afraid that your parents might hear her, you quickly got up from your bed and covered your best friend's mouth with your hands. "Sssssssh! If Umma and Appa hear you, I swear..."

Raising both of her arms in surrender, Jihye begged for you to let her speak again by using her big, round eyes to seek for your mercy. When you didn't budge, your best friend did a sign of the cross near her heart to let you know that she's going to keep her promise.

As soon as you let her go, Jihye squealed. "OH. MY. GOD! Finally!"

"YOU PROMISED!!!" you reminded.

"Fine, fine, fine," Jihye agreed, exerting extra effort to calm herself down. "When did it happen? How did it happen? Was it awkward? Was it amazing? How did it feel? Was it good? Did you kiss him back? Did you see through space and time for a moment? What happened after? Did you talk? Did you smile? Did he confess? Did you envelope each other in a warm and sweet embrace and promised to stay together until the end of time? Are you guys officially dating now? Have you decided on pet names yet? Tellmetellmetellmetellme!"

You threw a bunny plushie at her. "You ask way too many questions."

"What do you expect me to do?!? My best friend just had her first kiss! Of course, I'm going to ask you about a million questions!" she reasoned, throwing the plushie back to you. "So, tell me. Tell me everything from the beginning," she demanded, sitting down on your bed like a dutiful student who's ready to listen to her teacher's next set of lectures.

"Well... so I went to a movie with Yixing, right?" you started.

Jihye nodded. "Yeah! How did Luhan fit into the picture anyway? Did he go with you?"

"More like spied on us," you replied, setting a big, fluffy pillow on your lap. "He, Totoro, and Tao-Tao followed us all around COEX Mall and even watched the same movie with us. They were seated several rows behind us, but, c'mon. The three of them were so tall! Especially Totoro. It's hard to miss him even in a crowd of people."

"And he looks so damn good too," Jihye added. "It's impossible not to notice him."

You threw her another plushie. This time, it was a toy giraffe. "Anyway, as I was saying, the three of them were following us and eventually, we caught them red-handed. To make a long story short, the three boys had this alibi that they need to go shop for groceries and left me alone with Luhan, who was delegated to take me home."

"Where's the kiss part?!?" Jihye asked, clutching the giraffe plushie.

"Geez. Wait a little, will you?" you scolded, leaning back on the headboard of your bed. "Well, it was before he left..." you started, staring at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers again as you held your Bambi plushie closer to your chest. "Umma gave him a paperbag filled with chocolates and side dishes and she asked me to walk Luhan out to the gate. I was about to go back to the house when he suddenly grabbed my hand-"

Jihye squealed.

"Sorry!" she apologized, trying her very best to contain her squeals and her giggles by covering her own mouth with both hands. "It's just that... listening about the real thing is so much better than reading a fanfic or watching a drama. Sorry, I'm babbling again. Go on. Tell me all about it. Oh, please do..."

You took a deep breath. "He suddenly grabbed my hand, whirled me around, and the next thing I know, his lips..."

Jihye squealed again. Only this time, she decided to match her chosen medium of spazzing by continuously stomping her feet on the floor and harshly grabbing both of your shoulders to shake your soul of out your body.

"Cut it out! You're making me dizzy!" you complained.

"OHMYGOD! He really kissed you! OHMYGOD!" Jihye exclaimed, still struggling to contain her 'feels'. "So what happened next? Did you slap him? No, that's stupid. Why would anyone do that after getting kissed by Luhan?!? The only way to react is to kiss him back. Wait- did you kiss him back?"

You bit your lower lip. Jihye forced you to look at her straight in the eyes, as if she was trying to read the answers through them, and not even three seconds later, you slumped over your bed and covered your face with the Bambi plushie just to conceal the blush that was quickly forming on your cheeks.

"OHMYGOD! YOU TOTALLY DID!!!" she figured.

"Oh my God~" you murmured, still covering your face. "I don't know what happened. I didn't know what I'm supposed to do. Oh my God~"

Jihye poked your side continuously. "Jaemi-ah. Jaemi-ah," she called out, attempting to snatch the Bambi plushie away from your face. She didn't manage to take it away, though, for you shooed her away as you held on to the stuffed toy for dear life. 

"So..." Jihye drawled, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. "...do you want to kiss him again?"

You answered your best friend's question by snatching another plushie - a baby chick one - to cover your face with. Jihye's big eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their sockets. "OH. MY. GOD! YOU DO WANT TO KISS HIM AGAIN!" she exclaimed, smacking your with one of your pillows.

"I don't know, okay? I seriously don't know," you insisted, your face still covered with a pair of plushies. "Maybe, maybe it's just a side-effect you know. Maybe I feel this way because it was my first kiss," you figured, slowly removing the stuffed animals from your face. "Yeah, that must be it. Maybe that's the reason. I mean, I've always read that kissing has this certain effect on people that makes them wanting more, so-"

"That's not true," Jihye argued, her tone quite serious now. "Just because you've kissed someone it doesn't mean you want to do it again."

You sat properly on the bed. "How would you know?"

Jihye shrugged. "Well, I..."

"YOU DIDN'T!" you quickly accused, gaining a little satisfaction after you managed to hit your best friend with another pillow. "You've already kissed someone, didn't you?"

"It was an accident!" Jihye quickly defended.

Your jaw dropped. Upon realizing this, you quickly covered your mouth with both hands as you squealed in a manner that was similar to what Jihye did earlier when you first confirmed that Luhan has, indeed, given you your first kiss. "Oh, my God! It's true! You've had your first kiss before I did!"

"But I told you, it was only an accident!" Jihye insisted, forcefully smacking a frog plushie against the mattress. "I didn't mean for it to happen! Kyungsoo and I-"

Your eyes widened. "IT WAS SUNBAE?!?"

"It wasn't really horrible," she admitted, avoiding eye contact as she tried to recall that particular scenario inside a convenience store. "I mean, it was okay, his lips were thick, so I really felt it when they pressed against mine-"

"Eeew~ I don't want to hear about Sunbae's lips!" you complained, throwing a Teddy bear towards her direction. "That's too much information. Just