BGM: SNSD feat Key of SHINee - Boys and Girls

You still went to work.

Despite your protests and alibis, Jihye did everything in her power to stop you from calling in sick today. Aside from threatening to divulge the details of your first kiss to your parents, she also listed down several reasons why skipping out on work just to avoid Luhan is such an immature, and not to mention irresponsible, thing to do.

It was annoying, but even if you don't want to admit it, she was right. Your evasiveness would not solve anything, and hours later, you found yourself standing in front of the Happy Bubble Tea Shop... struggling to pluck up the courage to push the front door and let yourself in.

"Are you coming in or...?"

When you whirled around to find the owner of the voice, you saw your dear 'ol friend Totoro standing behind you. "You've been standing there for at least three minutes," he said, piercing a piece of takoyaki with a stick. "Want some?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass," you declined, not really in the mood to try the yummy-looking Japanese street food. "Go in," you urged, pointing to the door. "I'll be right behind you."

Kevin shrugged. Walking past you, he pushed the front door of the bubble tea shop and held it for you. "Ladies first," he insisted, leaving you with no other choice but to enter before him. As soon as you stepped inside Happy Bubble, you were welcomed by a very familiar voice:

"You're late!" Luhan jokingly scolded.

Still terrified to look at him, you quickly scanned the room for the wall clock and discovered that you came in three minutes later than you were supposed to. "Wait - what? How did it happen?!? I was so sure I-" You were on the verge of panicking when you decided to glance at the timepiece on your wrist and realized that you were actually two minutes early. "Hey! Did you-"

"-set the time five minutes in advance?" Luhan finished, a victorious grin on his face.

In that moment, Ahjummeonie, in her favorite yellow sundress, emerged from the tiny Happy Bubble kitchen, her leather handbag swinging in her arm. "Luhan! Change back the time!" she ordered, patting your shoulder as she passed you by on her way outside. "Take care of my shop, Jaemi-ah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, Ahjummeonie," you bowed. "Take care on your way home!"

Ahjummeonie nodded. "Luhan, the clock," she reminded.

"Yes, Ahjummeonie!" Luhan cheerfully obeyed, immediately standing up from his seat. He then pulled out another chair, stood on it, and took the clock from the wall to adjust the time. You looked up to him and stared at his focused expression as he turned the key to bring the longer clock hand a few points backwards. When Luhan let out a chuckle to let you know that he was aware that you were checking him out, you turned away and rushed to the counter to grab a black apron from the rack.

After hanging the wall clock back in place, Luhan jumped off the chair and sat on one of the stools across from you. He then rested his elbows on the counter and smiled. Before you could even control yourself, you smiled back at him and the two of you stayed like that for a while... just awkwardly smiling at each other.

"They're not speaking," Yixing whispered to Kevin.

In an equally soft voice, Kevin replied, "At least they're smiling-"

"-like a pair of idiots," Zitao quipped in Mandarin.

It was Luhan who broke the silence between you. "Your hair looks different," he noticed, and in an instant, your cheeks turned into a faint pink color.

"Jihye's fault," you replied, avoiding his eyes and pretending to be busy by fumbling with the already-tied black apron on your waist. "She slept over at my house last night and has been experimenting with my hair since then. That's why it's a bit curly - no wavy. It's just a bit wavy. She'll probably kill me if she finds out I tied it up in a ponytail again."

"It suits you," Luhan complimented.

You automatically scrunched up your nose in flattery.

"Yeah, Jihye will def-" Baekhyun never got to finish what he was going to say because Chanyeol immediately covered his mouth with his hand. Kyungsoo, who was seated on Baekhyun's left, leaned in closer to his ear and whispered: "Right now, only the two of them are inside the bubble tea shop. The rest of us are invisible."

Your gaze fell on the boys who were already huddled around their usual table at the corner of the shop. Aside from Minseok and the Chinese boys, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo, you noticed, were already there as well.

"How come the four of you are here already?" you asked.

"First of all, my dear hoobae, in case you have already forgotten, it's already spring break," Kyungsoo reminded, his Keroro-eyes about to bulge out of their sockets. "And secondly-"

"-the four of us have already graduated from high school," Chanyeol finished, wiping his palm on Baekhyun's sleeve after taking his hand off the latter's mouth. "Just last week! We're officially adults now, Jaemi-ah. We are now free to do whatever we please."

You mentally kicked yourself in the for forgetting that important detail. School's out. You should have remembered that especially since you arrived at the bubble tea shop directly from your house and not from your school. "So where are the other four pabos?" you asked, noticing that Sehun, Youngho, and the pseudo-twins were nowhere to be found.

"At the arcade-" Chanyeol answered, pausing to take a sip from his honeydew-flavored bubble tea with tapioca pearls. "-you know, doing kid stuff. You don't need to worry about those toddlers, though. Joonmyun hyung-"

Although Jongdae exclaimed 'Jja-Joonmyun!' upon hearing Rich Kid's name, Chanyeol just ignored him and carried on by saying that Joonmyun "-volunteered to babysit them-" before he was interrupted again... only this time, it was Minseok and not Jongdae who made a comment. 

'-and get some tokens," the Baozi-cheeked boy quipped.

Jongdae nodded. "Yeah, you need an adult to get those tokens."

"Hey! How come the rest of you is allowed to talk?!?" Baekhyun complained.

At that moment, the front door of the bubble tea shop was pushed opened and when you all turned to find out who it is, you saw Moonkyu forlornly dragging himself into the shop. "Lost a game to Sehunnie," he informed before anyone even had the chance to ask him why he came back earlier than the rest. "Came here to get him a cup of chocolate bubble tea as punishment," he added. Jongin's pseudo-twin was about to sit down on the barstool next to Luhan when Chanyeol and Jongdae immediately pulled him back to their table.

"You can't sit there," Chanyeol said.

"Why not?" Moonkyu innocently asked.

It was Zitao who answered. "Luhan Jaemi romance drama filming."

"We are not filming a drama!" you quickly retorted, your hands resting on your hips. "Don't listen to him, Moonkyu. You can sit anywhere you want," you assured, casually forgetting your mental note of avoiding Luhan's eyes when you turned to him to say: "Tao-Tao's been hanging out with 8g of Fat too often."

Luhan laughed. "He has always been like that," he claimed, toying with the straw dispenser. "You just didn't notice it before because he can barely speak Korean when you first met him."

You and Luhan were talking. Actually talking. Sure, it was still a bit awkward and you can barely stare into each other's eyes without blushing or smiling like a pair of fools, but at least the two of you are calm enough to form coherent sentences while having a conversation. A decent conversation. Everything was normal. Everything was fine.

Everything was alright until Zitao suddenly asked: "Two you dating official?"

"Yes," Luhan happily replied.

"No," you awkwardly denied at the same time.

Almost immediately after you simultaneously gave conflicting answers to poor Zitao's question, you and Luhan turned to look at each other and chorused "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?" with absolute disbelief on your faces. Luhan assumed that the two of you were already a couple since you've already shared a somewhat passionate kiss last night, but you thought it wasn't a done deal yet since you haven't really discussed anything about dating and stuff.

Yixing and Kevin shot Zitao a look that could only mean "Did you forget what Luhan said last night? He made us promise not to tease Jaemi or ask her questions. What were you thinking?!? He clearly asked us not to pressure Jaemi into anything. You better pray that this turns out well or you'll be in deep trouble".

"Ooh~ this is going to be interesting," Kyungsoo commented.

Chanyeol nudged Minseok with his elbow. "Hyung, buy us some popcorn!"

"How shameless!" he responded, folding his arms against his chest to imply that he wasn't going anywhere. "I can't miss this. I'm not going anywere. If you want popcorn, go buy it yourself."

"Don't look at me!" Jongdae immediately chimed in. "Try Baekhyun," he suggested, pointing at the boy who was already engrossed in the scene before him. "He might buy you some."

Baekhyun almost hit Chanyeol's face when he raised his hand to stop him from asking him a favor. "Be quiet!" he hushed, not taking his eyes off you and Luhan. "This is a very crucial scene! Whatever happens today will have a huge impact on their future!"

"What makes you think we're already a couple?" you asked.

"What makes you think we aren't?" Luhan countered.

Moonkyu retrieved the mobile phone from his pocket and started browsing through his contact list to search for a particular number. "I'm going to give Jihye a call," he informed, despite the fact that no one asked him what he was doing with his phone. "She can't miss this. I'm going to make her listen to this via speaker phone."

Upon hearing Moonkyu's plan, Minseok scooted over to his dongsaeng's side and offered to do the call in his place. "Give me your phone," he demanded, and Moonkyu instantly obliged. "I'll call her for you. Just focus on them for now," he added, referring to you and Luhan. As soon as Jongin's pseudo-twin looked away, Minseok took out his own mobile phone from his pockets and copied Jihye's number from Moonkyu's contact list.

You let out a frustrated sigh. "Can we just talk about this later?" you asked Luhan, your eyes almost pleading. "I really need to work right now and-"

"I'll sub in for you!" Kyungsoo suddenly volunteered. He sprinted to your side of the counter and took a black Happy Bubble apron from the rack. "I'll take care of the shop while you're talking to Luhan hyung. What kind of sunbae would I be if I don't help out my hoobae once in a while?"

"A very gossipy one?" you quipped.

Your retort made Luhan laugh so much that he raised his palm for a high-five - and despite the reality that the two of you are sort of arguing about the state of your relationship right now, you returned it enthusiastically by slapping his hand with yours.

"They were just arguing a couple of minutes ago, weren't they?" Baekhyun wondered, quite surprised at how you and Luhan managed to set aside your misunderstanding for a while just to share a high-five. "I mean, is that it? Are they okay now? Because if they are, I surely missed the part where they're supposed to kiss and make up. I was really looking forward to it."

Kevin slouched in his seat. "Trust me. They're not done yet."

"Yeah, they still need to talk," Yixing agreed, stirring the pearls and crystals in his hazelnut tea latte. "They clearly have some issues to settle."

Chanyeol, who was getting more and more frustrated about the lack of progress in the current Luhan-Jaemi scenario before him, finally gave in to his meddlesome nature and left his seat to occupy the stool beside Luhan's. "I'm a little confused here. Jaemi-ah, if you're not Luhan hyung's girlfriend, then what made him think otherwise?"

You took a deep breath and forced yourself to be brave for at least three seconds. Looking straight into Luhan's eyes, you asked, "Yeah, what makes you think that I'm already your girlfriend?"

"Do you really want me to answer that here?" Luhan asked back, a hint of mischief in his eyes. When he noticed how you panicked as soon as you heard his answer, Luhan realized that it's probably not a good idea for the two of you to talk in front of your friends like this. "I think it will be better if we discuss this inside the kitchen instead," he suggested.

"The... kitchen? Just the..." you drawled. "...just the two of us?"

Luhan nodded. "Why? Are you scared to be alone with me?"

"Of course not!" you quickly denied. "Why would I be scared?"

Luhan's gaze fell on your hands and he noticed that you were fidgeting with your fingers. He instantly knew that you were lying. "If you're not scared, then what are we waiting for?" he asked, offering his hand. "Let's go inside and talk."

"Okay. If you say so..." you casually replied. Instead of accepting Luhan's hand, however, you went over to the other side of the counter and walked towards the boys' favorite table. And, to everyone's surprise, you pulled out Kevin's hand and forced him to get up from his chair.

"What are you doing?" Kevin questioned.

"You're coming with us," you told him, dragging him towards the kitchen.

With creased eyebrows, he asked Luhan, "But why?"

"Because she's scared to be alone with me," the baby-faced Chihnese boy replied, slightly chuckling.

"No, I'm not," you denied.

Luhan briefly touched your chin and chuckled. "Of course, you are," he maintained, keeping eye contact as he helped you push the very tall Kevin Li towards the tiny kitchen inside the Happy Bubble Tea Shop. "-and I think I know why."

The tiny kitchen inside the Happy Bubble Tea Shop was covered in silence. As soon as you entered the room, Luhan swiped a finger over the kitchen counter to check whether or not it was wet (or dirty) before settling down to take a seat. He figured that you'll probably be stuck in there for a while, so he decided to make himself comfortable. Kevin, who still has no idea what the heck he was doing in there, was just standing in the middle of the room. With one of his thick eyebrows arched up, he tried to observe your moods by constantly shifting his gaze between you and Luhan. And you...

...well, you positioned yourself near the doorway... resting your back against the door to guard it just in case Kevin makes an attempt to leave you in the kitchen alone with Luhan.

"Am I really needed here?" Kevin finally asked.

"Yes," you insisted.

"No," Luhan answered at the same time.

Kevin heaved out another sigh. "I'm not going to lie. This set-up makes me really uncomfortable. Whatever it is that's going on between the two of you is really none of my business. I'm curious, of course, I'm not even going to deny that, but I also know that my presence will only hinder you from discussing anything important," he confessed, prompting Luhan to nod twice in agreement. "Besides, me being here just makes this situation even more awkward than it already is."

Taking a deep breath, you stubbornly maintained: "But I need you here."

"Fine. If you really need me here, I'll stay," he submitted, ily combing his hair with his fingers. "But why me?" Kevin questioned, folding his arms across his chest. He then looked at you, straight in the eye, cocked and eyebrow and added, "-and don't say it's because I'm big and tall."

"Well... it's not because of that," you denied, biting your lower lip. When you noticed the two boys observing your fingers, you blurted out: "Fine! I admit it, but that's not the only reason. I also chose you because aside from being one of the oldest-"

Kevin cut you off. "-why not Minseok, then?"

You chuckled. "Are you kidding? Baozi's crazy about my best friend. Of course he's going to be slightly biased towards me even if he's also Lulu's football buddy," you reasoned, holding back a smile when you noticed how Luhan beamed upon hearing you refer to Minseok as 'Baozi' again. "Besides, you're also the most fair-minded in the bunch so-"

"-I think Yixing's more fair-minded than Jiaheng," Luhan interjected.

Kevin agreed. "Yeah, I think so too."

"No, it can't be Yixing," you maintained, oblivious of the fact that you made Luhan nervous when you lowered your head and started fidgeting with your fingers. "Yixing is too biased towards you. I mean, he is your best friend and-"

"Why do people always forget that I'm best friends with them too?!?" Kevin complained, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Just because I'm taller and I look older-"

"I didn't forget! I know that you are Lulu's best friend too, but I'm also your girlfriend number two-" you paused, quickly panicking as soon as the words came out of your mouth. "Wait! That came out wrong. I didn't mean girlfriend, girlfriend. I meant girl-friend. A friend who is a girl. I'm not Totoro's - wait! Why am I explaining myself?"

A mischievous smile formed on Luhan's lips. "I don't know," he shrugged cutely. "I perfectly understood you the first time, so I really don't know why you started explaining yourself. I'm really glad you did, though. It was adorable."

He probably did it unintentionally, but Luhan was being cheesy with you again. You tried to think of something else to say just to prevent him from making you smile again, but no words came out. So, when the two of you fell silent again as you exchanged flirtatious looks as if there's no one else in the room, the uncomfortable Kevin decided to break the ice with a question.

"What happened between the two of you, anyway?" he asked.

"DID YOU KISS OR SOMETHING?!?" Chanyeol shouted behind the door.

Your eyes widened in shock. "YOU TOLD THEM?!?"

Luhan covered his face with his right palm. Kevin was right. Even if he and Yixing were unsuccessful in luring Luhan into uttering even a single word about what happened between the two of you last night, you will still put all his hard-work and self-control to waste by just randomly blurting it out for all of them to hear.

"So it's true! You two did kiss!" Kevin exclaimed.

You slid down the door and found yourself sitting on the floor... your hands covering your face in shame. Your naughty little tongue gave you away again. "Han Jaemi, you babo!" you told yourself, forming a fist with your right hand to lightly knock your temple. Then, you pressed your knees together and buried your face on them.

Luhan jumped off the counter and sat beside you on the floor. He lightly nudged you with his elbow, urging you to look up, but you were too embarrassed to oblige. "C'mon, you can't stay like that forever," he teased. "If you don't look up at the count of three, I'm going to pick you up and carry you-"

"Ooh~ I hate you!" you quickly interjected, causing Luhan to chuckle when you accidentally looked up just to weakly smack his arms. As soon as you made eye contact, he flirtatiously retorted with the usual "I know you don't".

The flirting was apparently too much for Kevin to handle. At that moment, all he wanted was to disappear. Kyungsoo may think otherwise, but Kevin was certain that there's nothing fortunate about being in the same room with you and Luhan right now. The two of you, who were subtly doing skinship by alternately nudging each other with your elbows, were so cringe-worthy that the thought of hiding inside the refrigerator has actually crossed his mind.

Too bad he won't fit in there.

Luhan had an inkling that you told yo