Exactly seven days before the music video drop. The third teaser was released last night and the final one would be on D-3. Even though I knew that Sehun had a very, very high dependence towards Luhan hyung, his sleeptalking in the van was not something I liked hearing. It degrades you greatly as a man if you fail becoming the aid for the person you love.

I have to take Sehun back.

I kissed Sehun’s hair and tried very carefully to find the ladder down. I climbed and left the room, then opened the door to my old room very, very slowly. Both Kyungsoo and Joonmyun were asleep. It was only four in the morning, the darkest part of the night.

I knelt beside the bed facing the team guardian. “Joonmyun hyung,” I whispered. He did not budge.

“Hyung,” I called softly and started patting, then he started to stir. I yawned and turned around so I could lean on the bed. Maybe I should just ask him later at breakfast.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo shook my shoulders. Hm? I looked around and it was my old room. I remember planning on waking up Joonmyun hyung and ended up sitting asleep on the floor. “What are you doing here?” he asked out of concern. It was his time of waking up.

“I was trying to wake up Joonmyun hyung but I decided not to,” I said, when it sounded more like gargling. I cleared my throat to throw away the clouding sleepy voice.

“Let’s go find something in the fridge for today,” Kyungsoo persuaded. “Go wash your face and come to the kitchen.” I rubbed my eyes and watched Kyungsoo leave the room. I turned my head and Joonmyun hyung was still fast asleep. Oh well.

I don’t understand a bit about cooking and I guess I would just make everyone sick if I mess up Kyungsoo’s food, so I only sat at the dining table with my head resting on it. I yawned again.

I watched Kyungsoo wash the dishes we left last night, then he opened the fridge and tried to find something to cook.

I decided to go back to Joonmyun hyung’s room and sleep where I slept again.

And to my surprise, he was sitting on the bed already, with an empty face as he tried to recollect soberness.

He looked at me entering his door. “Hey,” he gave a sleepy smile.

“Oh, hyung wait! Don’t move. I forgot something.” I scurried next door and took my tiny leather pouch on the desk. Then I hurried back to Joonmyun hyung’s room and sat beside him on the bottom bed.

“Okay,” I said, with catching breaths. “We don’t have any schedule tonight right?”

“No. Only practicing.”

“So, um, is it okay if I go out with Sehun?” I asked with a cute smile.

“No, I guess. We need to practice.”

“Come on hyung, we won’t have much time when we promote.”

“We don’t have much time preparing the promotion either,” Joonmyun hyung played on my words.

“Just for tonight, hyung?”

“Maybe next time, Jongin. I’m sorry.”

“Please?”

“Not at times like this,” he gave a sorry smile. “Okay? Maybe later.”

“I have some chocolates for you,” I searched inside the tiny pouch and showed him his favorite bar. He didn’t expect me to go this far.

“Jongin it’s—“

I showed another fat bottle. “And some banana milk too…”

“Okay, okay! Go and be home before midnight.”

“Yesss! You’re the best, hyung!” I pecked Joonmyun hyung’s cheek in excitement and rushed to the door. “Love ya!”

“Kyungsoo I want my breakfast!!” I called happily. He turned to me with a scary glare because I woke up early but did not help him cook anything. Heheh.

We had our breakfast, got ready, and went to the company building to practice. I asked further permission from Joonmyun to finish practicing at six.

“I’ll go home now, ok?” I knelt in front of Joonmyun hyung when the tape was off and the guys were about to have dinner. He nodded with his post-dancing catchy breath and I smiled my gratitude. I stood up and came to Sehun. “We’ll go out,” I said, clinging an arm on his shoulder.

Sehun looked at me with a bit of surprise. “We all will have to change first.”

“It’s just us, Sehun. I asked permission already.” I smiled and sniffed his sticky cheek.

When we opened the door, Baekhyun asked where we were going. “Dinner,” I said.

Chanyeol gasped and protested. “No fair!” he exclaimed, but I closed the door.

We went back to the dorm then took turns taking a shower. When I got in the room wanting to change, Sehun was sitting on my bed waiting for me to dress. I turned around and faced the dresser.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, popping my head into the shirt I was going to wear. “Anywhere close. You can pick.”

Seeing me done, he opened the door and gestured me to follow.  We covered ourselves to avoid recognition; I wore a zipped hoodie and Sehun wore a thin jacket and a cap. I locked the door and we made our way towards the place. I guess I knew where I was going now.

I took Sehun’s hand and placed it inside my jacket pocket tangled with mine. We crossed the street and entered our favorite noodle shack close to our tailor’s workshop.

We ordered our bowls of noodles and sat there looking at the pantry waiting for our order. “Why do you suddenly ask me out for dinner? That was pretty random.”

“You know we won’t have much time after we start promoting,” I smiled. “Besides, I really miss this place. We used to go here so much when we were still trainees right?”

He smiled. “You remember.”

Our bowls arrived and we ate with the joy and laughter I had not felt so filling for a long time. I would sometimes turn my head only to watch Sehun eat or admire the little things like the way the skin of his fingers wrinkled when holding a chopstick, or his eyelashes, or his soup-stained lips, or the way he smiled at me while chewing when he knew I was looking.

After our stomachs were filled, I paid for the meal and we shouted our gratitude to the cooks before we went outside. I told Sehun I still wanted to take him somewhere else.

“Cool,” he laughed as we walked our way. When we turned at the end of the block, I guess he knew where we were going. “Are you taking me to the park?” I turned to him and nodded smiling.

After walking the whole other side of the block, we arrived at the said park. Both the park lights and the street lights gave us a very nice, dim atmosphere. I was only planning to sit and have some silent conversations; I didn’t know that the park would look this good at night.

I sighed upon our arrival. “So here we are. Nice, isn’t it?” We both sat down on the bench and looked around the scenery. The bench we sat on was placed right beside a lamppost.

I turned casually with one foot folded so I could face Sehun. I gave a heartfelt smile because I’m not quite sure what to say to express this ball of feelings beating inside my heart. Sehun smiled back and scratched his head sheepishly.

“When was the last time we really went out?” he asked.

I shrugged. “When we were practicing for the second album I guess. We only sneaked out without permission right?”

“Exactly! And when we got home the hyungs were all so mad at us.”

Sehun looked up to the clear black sky, then to his surroundings. “The park’s really empty and peaceful at night,” he mumbled. I was only watching him. I loved watching his mischief. Then Sehun looked at me in the eyes. “I’m glad we met,” he said, taking my fingers. My small laughter of gratitude came out in a breath.

“I’m grateful that you saw me,” I replied. Sehun’s hair was a bit of messy, so I fixed it, combing bits by bits of hair with my fingers.

Sehun was silent. I wondered why and looked at him, but he was blushing. I smiled of his cuteness and traced his tinted cheek. This wonderful man.

Sehun gathered enough pieces of his soul to look at me and softly pinch my nose. “You know… I love you,” he smiled as he said softly. I ruffled his hair back and drew him close for a soft kiss.

I chuckled. Sehun didn’t seem to understand what was going on, eyebrows knit. Why the laugh. “Gosh Sehun, you taste like ramyun,” I laughed. He laughed with me and kissed me again, this time with greater force. Our hands held tight on each other as if it would help nailing us to the ground.

Pulling back, he chuckled the way I chuckled, still laughing at the fact that our mouths both taste like noodles. But he smiled, talking to my lips.

“I don’t bother tasting like ramyun everyday as long as you like it.”

“You ramyun boy. So cheesy,” I knuckled his head, then kissed him again.

We broke the kiss abruptly for a rustling sound on our left, from the direction we went from. We turned our heads.

The air stiffens into a depressing silence for we were waiting for anything possible to jump at us.

I slowly turned to Sehun and whispered as silent as possible in great alert, "What was that?"

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A/N: I literally wrote this chapter smiling like an idiot the whole time, so many cute things happening inside my headdd <33333