BGM: f(x) - Shadow

"WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!?"

Yesterday was quite eventful and Jung Jihye regretted not being in the bubble tea shop to witness everything firsthand. Determined not to get left out of any interesting episodes today, your best friend skipped out on a day of shopping with her sister in Myeongdong just to be in Apgujeong with you and the boys. When she arrived at the bubble tea shop, however, Jihye couldn't hide her disappointment when she found out that Oh Sehun was the only customer there.

"Geez. Thanks for acknowledging our existence," you scoffed.

Jihye sat on the bar stool beside Sehun. "Hey! Oh Sehun!" she called out, her voice louder than necessary. She then proceeded to annoy him by continuously tugging on his sleeve. "Where is everybody?!?" she repeated. When the Korean boy pursed his lips and looked away from her, your best friend just pulled on his sleeve again. "If you don't answer me right now, I'm going to pester you even more."

Sehun gave in instantly. "They're playing football with SHINee."

"So, how come you're here?" Jihye asked.

It was you who answered her question. "Ji, do you really think he will survive a couple of hours without indulging on a cup of chocolate bubble tea?" Attaching a metal cup filled with chocolate-flavored milk tea into the shaking machine, you added, "To be honest, I'm more surprised that he wasn't able to drag one of his hyungs to come with him."

Jihye tugged on Sehun's shirt again. "Are you going back to see them?"

"Kevin hyung ith not there. He'th taking extra danthing claththeth with Yixing hyung," Sehun grimaced as his annoyance with Jihye increased. For some reason, this also heightened his impatience with your bubble tea-making skills. "Ithn't it done yet?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he stared at the noisy cup-shaking machine behind you.

"Geez. I literally just turned the equipment on," you replied, pointing to the green button that you just pressed seconds ago. "Of course it's not done yet! Why are you in such a hurry anyway? It's not like you're excited to go back and play football with them anyway. Do you have a date or something?"

Sehun didn't answer and just rolled his eyes. It was true that he wasn't interested in going back to play football with his hyungs, but he wasn't particularly pleased with being stuck inside Happy Bubble with you and Jihye, either. However, not half a minute later, he rested his elbows on the counter and asked back: "Are you dating Luhan hyung?"

"Oh look!" you exclaimed, turning your back at him to check out the shaking machine. "I think your drink is ready now," you said, pressing the red button, so you can finally detach the metal cup from the equipment. As you poured the chocolatey concoction into the plastic cup with Sehun's name on it, you added, "See? It was mixed quite well!" with an extra effort to sound perky.

Jung Jihye's eyes lit up at the mention of Luhan's name. "Oh! I just remembered something!" she exclaimed, immediately grabbing her satchel. You and Sehun looked at Jihye with intrigue as she rummaged through the contents of her bag. Jihye only gets this excited when she's about to show you one of her lists and Sehun probably knows this too. After taking a quick peek at her mobile phone, your best friend finally took out her beloved mini-stationery pad from her satchel and happily satisfied your curiosity. "I listed down the reasons why you and Luhan would make a perfect couple!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?"

Oh Sehun raised an eyebrow. "Let'th hear it then," he said, interested.

"Duh. Whether you two like to hear it or not, I'm going to ready it out loud anyway," Jihye admitted as she browsed through the pages of the snowflake-embellished mini-pad. She then cleared and read: "Reasons Why Jaemi and Luhan are Perfect for Each Other - I haven't written a specific number on the title yet because I know I'll come up with more reasons as the days progress because you know, I'm sure there are more, but maybe I just haven't realized them yet, so-"

"Jutht read them," Sehun demanded.

"How impatient!" you commented, finally securing the dome-shaped plastic lid on top of the cup that was labeled '8g of Fat'. "Here," you said, handing him his freshly-mixed drink. "Take a sip. Maybe you'll turn nicer after you get your daily dose of chocolate bubble tea."

"Can I continue reading my list now?" Jihye asked.

"Of course, you can," you answered, contemplating whether to correct your best friend's grammar or not. "But yeah, you may. Go on, Ji."

Jihye flashed you a smile. "Thank you, Jaemi," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear before enumerating her latest list. "Number one: You both have terrible taste when it comes to fashion."

Sehun almost choked on a piece of tapioca.

"Stop laughing!" you ordered, smacking the boy's arm. "I mean it! What's so funny?" When Sehun just went on cackling as if he just witnessed the most hilarious thing ever, you addressed your complaints to your best friend instead. "What do you mean terrible? I may not have a very magazine-worthy fashion sense, but I dress okay. Don't I?"

The boy across from you gave you a quick look-over and started laughing again. 

"Jaemi, you know I love you, right? You're my best friend, but-" Jihye paused to glance at her phone again. "-I'm sorry. Fashion is definitely not one of your strongest suits," she remarked. Jihye was being honest, you know that, but somehow the comment still affected you. Only slightly, but still. "Matching a pair of denims with a random shirt and your favorite pair of sneakers hardly translates to style. When was the last time you wore a skirt anyway?"

"I always wear skirts!" you argued.

When Jihye retorted with "Our school uniform doesn't count," you just heaved out a sigh and dropped the subject. "What about Luhan, then?" you suddenly asked, secretly fumbling with the knots in your black Happy Bubble apron. "Why is he considered a fashion casualty? He dresses fine."

Sehun shook his head.

"And that's another indication that you have horrible taste in fashion," Jihye claimed, putting down her list for a while. "Do you even look at his clothes? The oversized football shirts, the terrible jeans, the funny hats, the varsity jackets, the graphic tees... seriously. Where did he get those T-shirts? Luhan owns a lot of luxury items, I did notice that, but fashion isn't just about wearing expensive brands. He doesn't even know which colors match well. Or that prints shouldn't be paired with prints. The boy is a fashion terrorist. It would be better for everyone if all of the boys in this world share Zhang Yixing's fashion sense."

You sat on the black stool near the cash register and rested your elbows on the counter. "You want everyone to invest on insanely expensive MCM backpacks and undershirts with really, really low necklines?"

"I didn't know you've been checking out Yixing hyung'th chetht," Sehun casually remarked as he took another sip from his already half-empty cup of chocolate bubble tea.

"I wasn't looking at his chest!" you immediately defended, slightly panicking.

Your best friend glanced at her phone again. She must have received a message because she picked it up and started tapping on the screen. "Jaemi isn't a chest person, though," she said, as if such information is okay to share with Sehun this casually. "She refers looking at arms," she added, her eyes sparkling as she read what you assumed to be a text message. "And probably calves too since she watches football all the time. I mean, why would she be so engrossed in a boring game about a bunch of people chasing after a ball if the guys playing don't have nice calves, right?"

"I don't watch football to check out calves!" you argued.

Jihye put down her phone on the counter and gave you a knowing smile. "I saw you staring at a photo of that bald football player flashing his calves. Don't even deny it! He was hiking his shorts up in the photo!"

"But I was reading an injury report!" you insisted, your hands making all sorts of gestures as you tried to explain what Jihye saw. "He suffered a slight tear in the soleus muscle of his left leg, okay? It would take an entire month for him to recover. He's going to miss a bunch of games because of that. I wasn't simply checking out calves!"

"You're really interethted in football?" Sehun asked, trying his best not to sound impressed. He knew you liked football because of the 'Pipita incident' when you first watched a World Cup match with them, but he wasn't aware of just how much you were invested in the sport until now.

You were about to give Sehun a sassy 'I'm offended' remark and probably accuse him of misogyny, but after noticing your best friend giggling like a fourteen-year-old middle schooler reading fluffy fanfiction, you turned your attention to her instead. "Ji, why are you- you're texting him again, aren't you?"

"I hate auto-correct!" Jihye exclaimed, pretending not to hear what you just said. The smile on her face didn't fade as she continued typing what seemed to be an urgent reply to a text message she just received. "Gosh! He's so funny! I didn't know he was so funny!"

Sehun slurped the last piece of tapioca from his cup. "Who'th funny?"

Before either you or Jihye could give him an answer, however, you found yourselves turning your attention towards the bubble tea shop's entrance when a Manchester United jersey-clad Chinese boy almost tripped in the doorway.

"Has he always been that clumsy?"

Jihye and Sehun stared at you in disbelief. "Seriously, Jaemi. In which planet have you been living for the past several months?" Jihye asked, her eyes still locked on the screen of her phone. "The boy has been tripping over floors and bumping into doors ever since you met him and you're only noticing it now? Honestly, I'm quite impressed he's still in one piece."

"How can a guy with such skill and control over a football be so uncoordinated without it? It doesn't make any sense," you mumbled, shaking your head in confusion. Luhan is a walking disaster. You can't believe it took you so long to realize that. 

Luhan went straight towards the counter and sat on the vacant barstool next to Sehun. "Be careful, will you?" you nagged with an umma-like tone. The Chinese boy let out an embarrassed chuckle. "When did you guys change the doormat?" he asked, briefly looking back at the red 'Welcome' rug where he almost tripped. "I think this is my first time seeing it."

"It hath been there thince latht week, Hyung," Sehun stated.

Suddenly feeling like you need to save Luhan from embarrassing himself any further, you immediately tried changing the subject by saying "I thought you guys were playing football."

"We were," Luhan answered, putting his green backpack on the other seat beside him. "Well, they still are. Probably. Our team was already up by four goals when I left, so I'm not really worried about the score. I'm sure Chanyeol's team is going to lose. The punishment we have agreed on will be hilarious!" He then placed a black rectangular box on the counter and slowly pushed it towards you. "These are probably not as good as the ones your mother made yesterday, but the lady at the store told me they're delicious."

You gently lifted the lid to take a peek. It was a box of daifukumochi, the Japanese sweet treats you didn't get a chance to eat last night because of your father's gluttony. Luhan bought them for you. And somehow, just that thought was already sweeter than the red bean-filled glutinous rice cakes.

"You shouldn't have," you said, a bit flustered.

"But I want to," he admitted, flashing a shy yet flirtatious smile. "I accidentally passed by the store on my way here and I remem-"

"Don't believe him," Sehun interrupted as he got up from his seat. He took one last sip from his cup of chocolate bubble tea and threw it into the trash bin. "Luhan hyung hath been pethtering uth all morning athking where to buy mochi in thith part of Theoul."

Jihye giggled. "Looks like Oh Sehun is in the mood to speak today," she said, her fingers still busy composing another text message. "I don't think I've ever heard him talk this much before. I like this chatty side of him more!"

"Well, I don't," you admitted. "I prefer that he doesn't speak at all," you added, sticking out your tongue to do a 'mehrong~' when 8g of Fat scoffed at you. As an imaginary lightbulb apeared over your head, you started taking out a couple of plastic cups. "I'm going to prepare taro milk tea for you," you told Luhan, who seemed a bit surprised by what you said. "Don't worry, it's on me. Consider it as a thank you for the mochi," you added, drawing a smiley face on the first cup. "Maybe I should also get a cup of wintermelon bubble tea for myself. What about you, Ji? Caramel milk tea with jelly cubes?"

Your best friend nodded. "Yes, please~"

"Do I get a freebie too?" Sehun wondered. When you, Luhan, and Jihye chorused with a very firm "NO", the Korean boy just groaned in disappointment. 

Luhan heaved out a sigh. "I didn't buy you mochi, so I you'd give me free bubble tea," he mumbled to himself, touching his sideburns to cope with the awkwardness of the situation. Unfortunately for the Chinese boy, you heard exactly what he just said. "I know that," you told him, scooping sinkers into the cups: pearls and jelly cubes for Jihye, pearls and red beans for Luhan, and lots and lots pearls and crystals for yourself. "Just go with it, please?" you begged sweetly. "Let me do something for you once in a while."

"How about a kithth, then?" Sehun butted in, earning him a smack in the head from his hyung. That little comment gave Luhan so much secondhand embarrassment that he couldn't do anything else afterwards but pull down his beanie - your beanie, the striped beanie he forcefully took from you - to cover his reddening ears.

Determined to change the subject (again) to steer the conversation away from your complicated relationship - or whatever it is - with Luhan, you asked a question that literally caused Jung Jihye to face-palm: "So, how's Jongin Chingu?"

"He's okay," Luhan answered.

"Just okay?" you asked again.

"What did you expect anyway?" Jihye butted in, taking a break from text messaging to check the pictures from Choi Siwon's latest magazine photoshoot. "Jongin is a boy. He's not going to act all emo in public. He's going to endure everything and will only let it all out when he's all alone in his room or something. Crying, in a boy's opinion at least, is not a very manly thing to do. Right, Luhan?"

Luhan nodded. "Yeah. Jongin is mature enough to deal with it like a real man," he said, carefully observing your hands as you continued working on your respective bubble teas. "Besides, what good will it do if he just sulk about it in a corner? Moonkyu's not going to change his mind any time soon."

That last sentence made you sad. "Jongin chingu did cry, though," you reminded.

"And you hugged him," Sehun chimed in.

It took the restraint of a million self-proclaimed celibates to not pour the kettleful of newly-prepared tea onto Oh Sehun's head. Who would have thought you were capable of such self-control?

"YOU HUGGED JONGIN?!?" Jihye exclaimed, immediately putting down her phone even though she was in the middle of scrolling through a post filled with half- photos of her bias. Briefly forgetting that Luhan was also in the room, she frustratingly added: "Han Jaemi, I swear, you always leave out the most interesting parts whenever you tell me a story!"

"It was a friendly hug!" you insisted, stealing a quick glance on Luhan. You wondered why you were so concerned about what he thinks. He's not your boyfriend. But why do you suddenly feel like you need to explain yourself? It's not like you did anything wrong. You were just providing comfort to a friend who needs it. That's completely normal, right? "It was no big deal," you told Jihye, biting your lower lip to control a curiously unexplained and totally unnecessary nervousness. "He was crying like a lost puppy... so helpless and alone. I've never seen him like that before. I panicked, okay? What did you expect me to do?" you added. Suddenly remembering Jongin's revelation last night, you asked Luhan, "Wait. He hasn't sparked up a fight with anyone yet, has he?"

"No, not really," Luhan replied, a bit confused. "Why would you think that?"

You started pouring milk - with only 8 grams of fat, of course! - into the two metal cups with Luhan's and Jihye's drinks. "Nothing," you shrugged. "It's just that he told me that he's going to be mercilessly truthful from now on, so he's bound to offend someone eventually. I mean, isn't that always the case? Aren't we all a bit too sensitive when we hear someone's honest opinions about us?"

"Ith that why you reacted violently when I implied how flat-chethted you are?" Sehun quipped. Luhan, of course, reprimanded the Korean boy by kicking his shin. "HEY! One more inappropriate comment and I'm really going to pour bubble tea on your head."

"I bet he'll love that," Jihye remarked. She was busy tinkering with her phone again, occasionally letting out a few girly giggles that made Sehun roll his eyes. "If rain was made up of chocolate bubble tea, Oh Sehun will have a stiff neck every time it poured outside," she assumed. "Speaking of outside... I'm just going to step out for a minute."

Your eyebrows creased. "Why? Where are you going?"

Jihye scoured through her satchel to find her leather wallet. It was the one you gave her when she celebrated her fifteenth birthday. "I've ran out of cotton pads, so I'm going to buy some right now," she said, finally standing up from her seat to leave.

"You're going to the Nature Republic store by the corner, right?" you asked. When Jihye nodded to confirm it, you said, "Great! Can you please help me pick out a bottle of nail polish?" The simple request slightly surprised the three other person inside the Happy Bubble Tea Shop. You are, after all, not really the type of girl who cares too much about beauty products and such. As soon as you noticed their reactions, you quickly defended yourself by saying that the nail polish was for your mother, not yourself. "No, no, no. It's not for me. Umma asked me to buy it for her, but since you-" you pointed to Jihye "-know more about these things than I do, I figured it's probably best to trust your judgment on this. Besides, you know my Umma. I think you understand her style more than I do."

Jihye seemed to agree with you. "Do you have a specific color in mind?"

"Something pink or red, I guess?" you shrugged as you took out some banknotes from your own wallet. "She recently bought a new dress, so I think she wants her nails to match its