Lu Han and I watched the other two vans pull up into the parking area and waved at them to attract their attention. They soon drove over and parked. The EXO and staff members spilled out and stretched out.

“Where are the other three?” Daesuk Oppa asked.

“They already went inside.” Lu Han told him.

“Well let’s get going then.” The manager said and started making his way up to the entrance. I was following him when Chanyeol came and put an arm around my shoulder. I blushed and smiled at him shyly. This was the first time he had come near me.

“So, Sirrah, are you any good at bowling or ice-skating?” He asked. My head was securely tucked under his armpit. Thank god he didn’t smell sweaty. I looked up at him. Bleh…Tall guys… He smiled and waited for my answer.

“I’m…not bad.” I replied modestly. Ice-skating I was not very good at but I was pretty impressive at bowling. None of my friends could beat me. Either way, no need to give away my game. He smiled at me good naturedly, a ‘yeah-sure-I-believe-you’ look on his face. The poor boy, he didn’t know what he was in for.

“What about you? Any good?” I asked him.

“I’m ok,” he said, winking at me. “But Kris hyung is the best out of us.” He added. I raised an eyebrow. This was going to be fun. We got inside and I led them to the reception. I told them we needed 22 tickets for bowling and 23 for ice-skating. One of the stylist unnie’s said she had hurt her wrist so she wouldn’t be able to play bowling. They tried to pay for my tickets but I stopped them – although it wasn’t much. I showed them the membership card I had which meant I could go in for free. Once we got down to the bowling alley, we traded in our shoes for the ugly bowling ones and then split up the teams. We split into two sets of seven and one team of eight. EXO split themselves evenly into three teams, giving each team four EXO members.

I ended up in a team with Kris, Tao, Chanyeol, and Lay along with two staff members. The second team had Lu Han, Se Hun, Suho and D.O and three staff members. The last team had Kai, Xiu Min, Chen, Baekhyun and the manager went into their team as well as their ‘stylist noona’ and two other staff members. Most of the people tried to avoid getting into Kris’ team since they knew they would lose. Chanyeol set himself a challenge of beating Kris at least once in his lifetime, and he would make that today. Kris started typing our names into the monitor.

“How do you spell your name?” He asked me.

“S-I-R-R-A-H.” I told him. He nodded and typed it in after his name.

“Aish!! How do you work this thing?!” Kai yelled from the aisle next to mine, poking the buttons on the keyboard. I laughed and went over to him. I was typing their names in for them when one of the staff members from the bowling alley went up to Lu Han and started asking if he needed any help. Lu Han stood there looking at the guy with a panicked expression on his face. I giggled.

“No….no english!” I heard him tell the man and I laughed out loud. He looked over at me with a ‘help’ expression. I finished typing in Kai’s team’s names and went over to where Lu Han was standing with the confused looking staff member.

“It’s ok, I’ll help him,” I told him. He looked at me, heard my British accent and seemed relieved that there was someone he could communicate with amongst their new customers. He smiled at me.

“Sure, Mam, if there’s anything you need help with, just let us know.” I nodded and he walked away.

“Well that was embarrassing.” Lu Han said. I laughed.

“Don’t worry. It’s not your fault, and he will forget in a little while anyway.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

Soon we were all typed into the monitors and ready to play. I went back over to my aisle. Chanyeol had his turn first. My turn was last, just after Kris. I sat down on one of the seats and watched Chanyeol shake his neck and shoulders to warm up. He then picked up the heaviest ball he could find and walked up to the lane. He judged his angle, swung the ball and let go. It swerved as it tumbled towards the pins. It collided with them and he toppled over nine pins. One stood in the middle, untouched. Chanyeol cursed under his breath and walked back to get another ball. He went back and threw the ball again. Unfortunately he missed. 9 points for Chanyeol in the first frame. It was good enough. He Hi-5’ed me as he went past.

The others went through with their turns, getting average marks. Lay had gotten 7 points and Tao got 5. They weren’t too bad considering they probably didn’t do this very often. Kris’ turn came around. He looked serious as he picked out a ball. Chanyeol came up to me and bent down to reach my eye level. “Watch him now.” He said quietly.

Kris stood in front of the lane, positioning himself in the right angle. Our whole lane was quiet as we watched him prepare. I saw the muscles of his shoulders tense and then in one swift motion, he swung the ball forward and let it slip off of his fingers. The ball rapidly spun down the lane, straight towards the centre, knocking every single pin down as it collided with them. STRIKE! It read on the monitor. The other two lanes had been watching and everyone cheered for him. He turned around and smirked at me as he went back to his seat. I looked forwards and smiled.

I hadn’t played bowling in a while, but I was certain I wouldn’t be too rusty. I went to the ball roller and pushed my fingers into the holes of the first ball I saw. I tried to pick it up except dropped it back down onto the roller. It was too heavy but I tried to pick it up again. I sighed as my team laughed at my struggle.

“Don’t push yourself into doing things you can’t.” I heard Kris’ voice say behind me in English. I ignored him and picked up a lighter ball. I moved to the lane. Need to aim for the middle. I lined up my ball and then rolled it out, hard and fast. It crashed into the pins. 9 pins. Damn it. I looked back and saw Kris grinning. I rolled my eyes. I went and picked up another ball. The pin was to the side. I lined myself up again and threw the ball. It went directly to the pin, and knocked it over.

“Yay!” I yelled.

“Noona, jjang!” Kai yelled from the other lane. I smiled at him and walked back to the seats.

“Don’t underestimate people without knowing what they are capable of.” I said quietly to Kris as I walked past him. I heard him chuckle. I walked to the back and Chanyeol gave me a HI-5 again as he moved forwards to take his next turn. And so the game carried on.

I looked over to the other aisles. In Kai’s team, Daesuk oppa was currently at the lead. I looked to the other side. Se Hun was winning in Lu Han’s team. He had a determined look on his face as he swung the ball out towards the pins. It was a change from his usual, shy expression. He’s still so cute. Everyone was so happy and relaxed, it was fun to watch. Kai took his turn and came sat next to me.

“Having fun?” I asked him. He nodded his head excitedly.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been out without any sort of schedule to do. We don’t get to come out to play like this often.” I laughed. I caught him staring at me from the corner of my eye and I looked at him.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking that noona is so nice.” He said, giving me a flirty smile. I blushed. It seemed that was what he was trying to do when he gave a satisfied smile and went back to his teammates. I shook my head and turned around. That kid is dangerous!

Kris and I were taking turns taking the lead. We would always be only a few points apart. Finally the last frame came up. I was 9 points behind Kris, who was currently winning. That meant I would have to knock down all of the pins to win. Kris was smirking at me. I could tell he thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. The other lanes had already finished their games so they crowded around to watch. I felt extra nervous. I squared my shoulders and grabbed my ball. Carefully, Sirrah. I warned myself. I just had to win. I lined up my ball as everyone cheered me on, telling me I could beat Kris. The encouragement helped.

I took a deep breath, cleared my mind, and rolled the ball out rapidly - 9 pins. NOOOO! I turned around with a scowl on my face and picked another ball. I saw Kris smiling in satisfaction. I rolled the ball out again. The last pin was near the left side and the ball headed towards it. And then it started moving towards the gutter...

“No!!” I yelled. Everyone was silent. The ball was just about to fall into the gutter, when it lightly tapped the pin. It started to wobble. Everyone was holding their breath. “Come on…come on!” I said. The tipping slowed down, and I was convinced it wouldn’t fall when suddenly it toppled over. “YES!!!!” I screamed. EXO came running over to me and I was soon being squished between eleven amazingly hot bodies.

“Noona, you did it! You’re the best!” Kai yelled.

“Someone actually beat Kris hyung!” Chanyeol added. The staff were gathered around us clapping as well.

“Looks like you’ve finally met your match, gege.” Tao said to Kris. I looked towards the seats. Kris was sitting on one of them. I thought he would be angry and moping, but he was actually smiling at me. He seemed…impressed? He grinned at me and help up his thumb as if to say ‘well done’. I smiled back at him. 

“This calls for celebration!” Lu Han declared as the guys finally calmed down and gave me some space to breathe.

“It does?” I asked, Kris rolled his eyes.

“Of course it does. How we will celebrate, I don’t know. But we will.” He said.

“So who won in your teams?” I asked them.

“I did!” Kai said. I laughed at him.

“Wow, I thought Daesuk oppa would beat you.” I . He glared at me. He scowled even more when I ruffled his hair. Have a taste of your own medicine, you patronising noona-teaser.

“What about in your team?” I asked Lu Han. He pointed at Suho. I gasped. I wouldn’t have expected him to be good at bowling, but clearly he was. He smiled shyly. Ahhhh, so smiley!!!

“So…time for round two?” I asked them. We had bought tickets for two games. The all nodded and we started again, in the same teams! This time round, Lu Han finally won out of his team. In Kai’s team, one of the stylist unnie’s, called Na Ra, took the trophy…well the imaginary one, anyway - much to all of our surprise. She blushed furiously when we all congratulated her. For our team, the results went much the same way as the last time, except that this time Kris won against me…by 2 points.

“I guess we are even now, huh?” I said as I walked back to the seats, after failing to get a strike.

“I wish I could agree with you…but you won by one point, whereas I won by two – that puts me in the lead.” He teased me with a smirk on his face. I pouted. The other boys laughed at me.

“Well…it’s only one point.” I said, flipped my hair over my shoulder and walked away. I heard him laughing behind me. I smiled to myself and then went up to Kai, linking arms with him. He looked a little surprised but he smiled down at me. “TO ICE SKATING!” I shouted. I got quite a few stares due to my sudden outburst. “Oops.” I said.

 We got our shoes back and made our way to the other side of the sports centre, where the ice rink was. We traded our shoes out…again…and got the skates on.

“I’m really not sure about this.” Lay said, standing up from the bench and wobbling on his skates.

“You’ve never been ice skating before?” I laughed. He shook his head. “Oh well I’m sure the rest of you can skate, right? So someone will be able to help you.” I said and looked back at EXO. Most of them were unsteady on the skates, as they walked around to practise. My hope dropped like a rock and I looked at Daesuk oppa with a troubled expression.

“What?” He asked.

“Uh…maybe this isn’t such a good idea.” I said.

“Why not?” He asked.

I pointed at the boys. Do you really have to ask? “They might hurt themselves.” I explained.

“No, they’ll be fine. Besides Kris and a few others can skate, so there will be plenty of help around.” He said. I rolled my eyes. Tell me one thing that Kris ISN’T good at. Chanyeol got up off the bench and trotted towards me. He didn’t look shaky as he walked. Thank God.

“Ready to go?” He asked me, all hyped up. I smiled up at him. Dear, lord, so cute. I remembered he had just asked me a question. I nodded.

“Let’s go, gentlemen!” I called out. They all followed me like little ducklings to the door. Kris moved past me and glided out confidently onto the ice. Lu Han followed him, as did Chanyeol. I looked behind me at the rest of EXO who were looking at the ice with wide eyes.

“Come on, guys. Don’t worry too much. Just stick to the side and you’ll be fine! …I think.” I added the last part under my breath. Their ego obviously wouldn’t even let them live their wimpiness down because one by one, they all stepped onto the ice, holding securely onto the railing. Xiu Min seemed to be a little more confident, skated a little way off from the edge and started making his way forwards like a big, cuddly penguin. The staff members seemed to be doing ok as well, so they took some of the boys’ hands and led them around the rink. I noticed teenage girls around them, all giggling and whispering to their friends while looking at them. I grinned. They don’t even need fans to attract attention.

I was just about to step onto the ice when a woman glided past me, slipped and fell forwards onto her stomach. She was wearing a skirt which flapped upwards. Luckily for her she was wearing leggings underneath. I looked down at myself. I wasn’t. Yeeaaaahhh, let’s keep our dignity in one piece in front of EXO, my brain said to me. I was stepping backwards when someone came and slammed into the wall next to me. I looked up. Kris…with a wry smile on his face.

“Not coming in?” He asked. I just shook my head. “Why not?”

“I just don’t skate very well. Plus my ankles hurt.” I wasn’t exactly about to tell him that I was scared of putting myself on display if I fell over. Somehow, he could tell I was making up excuses.

“Oh come on, I’ll help you.” He said. I raised an eyebrow and started to move back, when he suddenly wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto the ice. I squealed as he spun me around and started moving forwards, and my feet hadn’t even touched the ice yet.

“Put me down!” I squeaked, placing my hands on his chest and trying to push away…I say try, because I forgot. His chest was strong and firm to the touch under my hands and his face was only a few inches away from mine. Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe… And then abruptly he loosened his grip on me and I slid down onto the ice. Phew… I moved back and wobbled, almost falling over. Kris grabbed me again and pulled me to his body, to stabilize me. I looked up at him and gulped. He smirked, letting go, and skated away, leaving me standing there with wide eyes. Lu Han skated over to me.

“You ok, mei-mei? Having a hard time?” He said, looking over in Kris’ direction. I cleared my throat.

“I’m fine! Just got scared because I was about to fall over.” I said to him.

“You sure that’s the only reason?” He asked, grinning. I turned as red as a cherry.

“Of course that’s the only reason, oppa!” I whined. Calling him ‘oppa’ seemed to make him forget all about his teasing, and he smiled angelically at me. He took my hand and led me around. We paused in front of D.O who was clinging onto the side bar for dear life. I laughed and removed my hand from Lu Han’s and skated up to him. “Having fun?” I asked. He moved his eyes up to mine, looking terrified. Awww, adorable!

“I didn’t- this wasn’t what I had in mind.” He said.

“Haha, well, you’re the one who insisted on coming bowling and ice skating.” I .

“I know, I know. I just didn’t think it would be this hard and…scary.” He said. I smiled and held my hands out to him. He looked at me questioningly.

“I’ll help you.” I said to him. He looked skeptical. “Don’t look so scared. Have some faith! I’m not that bad.” I laughed. He gulped and slowly took my hands. Keeping away from the main flow of people, I slowly led D.O across the ice. He still looked scared, but he seemed to be having a little more fun now. He slipped and wobbled quite a few times, but I managed to keep him upright.

“This isn’t too bad,” He said. I smiled and nodded. Of course that was when everything had to go wrong.

KRIS’ POV

I was crouched in one of the doorways to the ice rink, tying up my laces again. I stood up and looked across the rink and saw Sirrah taking hold of D.O’s hands and leading him away from the side. He looked scared, but she kept smiling and reassuring him, even stopping him from falling over a few times. That’s… kind of her. I smiled and stepped onto the ice, gliding around the rink. Lu Han came up beside me, smirked and shot off rapidly. I sped up to catch up to him. Suddenly, in front of me, Tao moved away from the edge and into my path.

“Tao, no!” I yelled. His eyes widened as he saw I was heading in his direction, except he wasn’t fast enough to move. I swerved around  to avoid colliding into him. I lost my balance and stumbled across the ice…towards D.O and Sirrah. D.O’s eyes went as round as saucers as he realised what was about to happen. 

Sirrah had her back to me, so she didn’t even see me. “.” I cursed as I fell onto her, pushing her into D.O. They both yelped as we collapsed into a small pile, with Sirrah sandwiched between D.O and me.

“Oww…” she whimpered. I quickly rolled off and knelt beside her.

“Sirrah, are you ok?” I asked her. I quickly scanned her – she didn’t look like she was hurt.

“Yeah, I think so.” She mumbled. I helped her get off of D.O who looked stunned lying under her. Poor innocent boy, I thought. Chanyeol and Daesuk hyung slid up to as and helped D.O up. I was pulling Sirrah up, when she looked at D.O with a concerned expression on her face.

“D.O, I’m so sorry! Are you ok?” She asked the boy, who nodded and smiled. She was asking him if he was ok before worrying about herself, and apologising even though it wasn’t her fault. As I pulled her onto her feet, her right leg gave way and she buckled to the side. I caught her as she winced.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her. I could hear worry in my voice.

“I think it’s my ankle.” She grimaced. She was clutching my jacket firmly to hold herself up. She only came up to my chest. She's so small...

“Can you walk on it?” Daesuk hyung asked her. She slid away from me on her left leg and tried to put weight on her right one – she wobbled. I still had her arm in my hand, so I pulled her towards me and held her. “I’ll take that as a no. Kris, bring her outside the rink.” Hyung said. I nodded and dragged her towards the door. I looked down at her, she was blushing.

“I’m sorry.” I said.

She looked up at me and smirked. “You should be.” She said. I felt my eyes widen… and then I realised she was joking and relaxed slightly.

“Honestly, I’m sorry about your ankle. I promise we will get you checked up and pay for any expenses as well.” I told her as I lifted her out of the rink and stepped forward to join her.

She looked up at me with a confused expression. She opened to speak but stopped when one of the skating instructors came up to us. “Are you ok? I saw you guys fall over.” He asked.

“I… I think I’ve hurt my ankle.” Sirrah said to him.

“Oh, I see. Why don’t you come with us to the first aid room and we’ll check you up.” He said starting to lead the way but the he stopped and turned around. “Should I get a wheelchair for you?”

“No, that’s ok, I’ve got her.” I said to him. He nodded and started walking again. I looked down at Sirrah who was holding my arm and balancing on one leg. I took her arm and tried to put it around my shoulders but quickly realised that it wasn’t going to work as she yelped. She was stretched so much, she was about to get lifted off of the ground. I smiled and put her arm down again. Instead I moved behind her and wrapped my hands around her waist, lifting her up and carrying her forwards.

“Kris! What are you doing?! I can get there!” She squeaked.

“What…you’re going to hop there?” I asked her as the manager came up beside us.

“Are you ok, Sirrah? Why are you so red?” He asked. She’s blushing? I heard her sigh and she hung her head down in defeat. Hyung looked up at me and I shrugged, smiling. We walked into the first aid room and the instructor told me to put her down on the chair, which I did and stood back. He took her skating boots and sock off and took a look at her ankle. She looked bored - I smiled at her expression. The instructor poked and prodded her ankle for a few minutes then stood up.

“It’s not broken or anything, just a sprain I think. Just rest it for a few days, avoid putting weight onto it and it should be as good as new.” He said smiling down at her. “Although you might want to keep this sleeve on, it will support your ankle.” He reached into a cabinet on the side and pulled out a stretchy white thing, which he pushed onto her ankle. “There we go.”

Sirrah looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you.” He told her to take care and told us we could take her, then walked out of the room. I looked down at Sirrah.

“How you feeling?” I asked.

“I’ll survive.” She said and smiled up. I liked the fact that she wasn’t making a fuss. I stepped up to her and helped her stand up. We made our way out of the first aid room and saw Kai, Lu Han, D.O and Chanyeol standing outside waiting for us. They all rushed up to meet us.

“Give her some space, boys.” Daesuk hyung told them.

“Are you ok, noona?!” Kai asked. They all had worried expressions on their face.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” She told them with a smile. “Luckily, D.O cushioned my fall so I’m ok. You haven’t hurt your head have you?” She turned to look at D.O who shook his head. “Good.”

“You’ve injured your ankle?” Chanyeol asked looking down at her bare feet, especially her right one with the white sleeve on it.

“Just a bit, but I’ll be ok.” She said to him.

“Come here and sit down, mei-mei.” Lu Han said, taking her hand from mine and leading her over to the bench. She hopped over to it and sat down.

“I’ll go get your shoes.” Daesuk hyung said, who was holding her skates in his hands, and disappeared as she nodded.

“Does it hurt?” Lu Han asked her.

“Not much.” She said and smiled to assure him. He nodded but didn’t look convinced.

“What happened anyway?” He enquired. Sirrah looked around hesitantly.

“I was helping D.O and we fell over.” She said, not even mentioning my name.

“I fell into her.” I told Lu Han. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Tao got in my way, and I moved to the side to not hit him and bumped into her instead.” I explained.

“I thought we were going to die!” D.O exclaimed and Sirrah laughed.

“You wouldn’t die from falling over on ice, silly…well you could…but…” She stopped when D.O’s eyes widened. “Never mind.” She looked to her left and we followed her gaze to see Daesuk hyung coming towards us with Sirrah’s shoes.

“Here, hyung, give them to me. I’ll put them on for her.” Lu Han said, reaching for them.

“N-no! It’s ok, I’ll do it myself!” Sirrah protested, her face was turning a bright shade of pink. She looks cute when she blushes. Hold on…what am I thinking?... I coughed and looked away. Lu Han and Sirrah turned their face up to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Han asked, smirking at me. What’s going on in his head?

“Nothing at all.” I said, giving him a poker face. He smiled and turned his attention back to putting Sirrah’s shoes on. He gently slipped the pumps on and stood up.

“We should take you home.” He said, looking down at her.

“What? No! I’m perfectly fine!” She exclaimed.

“You need to rest, Sirrah.” Chanyeol said.

“Look guys, I’m going to sit at home, and I’m going to sit here too – there’s no difference. You all came here to have fun, and that’s what you’re going to do. Now get back on the ice before I push you all on myself instead…” She ranted. I felt a smile crawl onto my face at how outraged she was.

“If you haven’t noticed…you can’t.” I said, pointing down to her ankle. A little teasing would do no harm.

“I was speaking metaphorically.” She made a poker face at me. I grinned at her.

“Don’t after you’re the reason she can’t actually push us onto the ice, Kris.” Lu Han said to me. My smile disappeared. He’s right.

“But won’t you get bored, noona?” Kai asked.

“No, Kai, I’ll be fine. Now go and enjoy yourselves.” They all nodded and reluctantly made their way over to the ice again. I started to follow them but then turned back.