Jiho treks to the club from the nearest bus stop a few blocks away with the biggest ball of nerves bouncing around in his stomach that he can ever recall having. Even Block B’s debut didn’t stress him out this much.

Between worrying that the mystery girl from last night will be M.I.A., and hoping that public transit doesn’t screw him over and leave him stranded when he heads back to dance practice from what’s supposed to be the group’s lunch break, he’s a ing MESS.

Not to mention the fact that the group’s manager caught wind of the after-hours outing (likely because he was within earshot of the door being slammed shut by a disgruntled Jiho) and threatened both boys with a suspension of pay if they continued to disobey the rules written in their contract.

This girl better ing show up... I can’t afford to not get paid..., Jiho thinks to himself, recalling the time he was in Japan and his parents refused to send him money after his grades started slipping -due to a decreased interest in education and an increased interest in his female schoolmates. He’s not about to go hungry for a week just because some chick decided not to return his phone.

I’ll give her five minutes. If she’s doesn’t show up by then, I’ll just head back to practice...hopefully one of the guys can lend me some cash to buy a replacement phone...

Jiho rounds the corner, expecting to take a seat against the wall of the building and wait for those five minutes to go by with no sign of her; So when he sees a girl with long blonde hair and Chanel sunglasses on he’s shocked on multiple levels.

“Hi,” she says in a friendly tone while waving- which takes Jiho aback further.

“Uh, hi,” he responds, completely unsure of the situation at this point. His nerves have disappeared now, and all that remains is confusion- which must be blindingly obvious since the girl lets out a chuckle as she begins digging through her tote bag. He notices her nails are painted with bright colors -a few even have jewels on them-, and she’s wearing an Adidas jacket and he can’t help but feel that he’s seen her somewhere before.

Why does she look so familiar...

As she retrieves Jiho’s phone from her bag and extends her hand out to him he snaps out of his daze and remembers the reason they’re meeting up in the first place.

He reaches into the wide pocket of his hoodie, pulls out the girl’s phone, and makes the exchange.

“Thanks,” she says with a smile and brings her hand out for a handshake.

Something inside of Jiho tells him that he should introduce himself in an attempt to figure out the girl’s name, if nothing else.

“Yeah, thank you, as well,” he says as he shakes her hand. “I’m Jiho, by the way.” He smiles inwardly at how smoothly he transitioned into introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you Jiho,” she says with a laugh. “Sorry I didn’t remember your name, last night is pretty blurry for me...” Jiho detects a slight hint of embarrassment as she trails off and can’t help but find it extremely cute how she turns her head down shyly.

“Oh, don’t worry, things are pretty foggy for me too...Kind of a crazy night overall,” he says with a chuckle.

“Well, I’m glad we got all of this straightened out,” she smiles some more and Jiho thinks he might go crazy over the way she lights up when she’s talking. “I’ll let you be on your way...Thanks again for the exchange, sorry about the inconvenience.”

She starts to walk away and Jiho’s still so in awe of her that he almost lets her go without asking for her name.

Luckily a text from Kyung that says “hurry the back” brings him back to his senses and he calls out, “Hey, I never got your name!”

The girl turns around but continues to walk backwards in the direction she’s going and says “It’s Chaerin!” before waving and turning around again.

“Ah, Chaerin,” Jiho says aloud to himself. The name rolls of his tongue so easily, it’s as if he’s said it before.

And as he sees the blonde disappear into a taxi into the distance he realizes he HAS.

OH. .

***

When Jiho returns to rehearsal, he’s still in a state of bewilderment and has to spend an extra hour after the scheduled time going over the choreography with Minhyuk.

His stupor doesn't ease up much between rehearsal and the group's arrival back at the dorms, and Kyung pulls him aside as the rest of the group returns to their room to fight over who gets to shower first.

"Dude, are you ok? You got your phone back and everything, right?" He asks, staring into Jiho's eyes with a look of concern.

"Yeah, yeah I got my phone back...” he stutters, still attempting to comprehend what took place in his meeting earlier.

“Then what’s the problem? You look really ing lost, Z,” Kyung says, reminding Jiho that his best friend knows him far better than he knows himself sometimes.

Jiho realizes that there’s no sense in trying to hide anything anymore, and whispers into his friend’s ear, “It was CL...”

Kyung takes a moment to process this information, his eyes moving in all sorts of directions. The second that Kyung’s eyes widen and he grips Jiho’s shoulders and says “THE CL??”, Jiho knows the light bulb has . He nods in affirmation.

“Holy in’ dude, do you know what this means?!” Kyung’s voice is rising and, as usual, Jiho has to tell him to keep it down. “Sorry,” he whispers, “but seriously man, this is HUGE. You could actually ask her on a DATE now.”

Jiho rolls his eyes and comes close to telling Kyung he’s being an idiot, but something holds him back. He stands there contemplating the situation and the longer he thinks about it, the more he begins to agree with Kyung.

Calling Lee Chaerin Jiho’s “crush” was an understatement at best. Jiho’s feelings first arose when he saw her almost 4 years ago performing with the rest of YG Family. He still remembered that live performance on SBS Gayo Daejun as if it were yesterday: Big Bang, 1TYM, Jinusean, Se7en, and then finally Lee Chaerin. She was the last person to perform, and the only female amongst her labelmates, but the amount of confidence she exuded onstage had completely blown Jiho away- and that was before she had even made her official debut with 2NE1. He had actually watched every single episode of 2NE1 TV and had fallen head-over-heels for Chaerin’s personality, leadership, and (of course) her looks. Hell, all of Block B, and the majority of their staff were aware of Jiho’s love for the rapper at this point.

Jiho tries his hardest to come back down to Earth, but Kyung’s revelation has left him with a floating-on-air feeling that won’t go away.

This must be what it feels like to be a fan who comes across their favorite idol’s phone number, he thinks to himself. Slightly disturbing thoughts of sasaengs cross his mind for a millisecond and he actually has to shake his head to get rid of them. Jesus ing Christ, I’m so glad I’m not like that...

He takes an audible breath. “You’re right, man.”

“Of course, I’m right,” Kyung snickers. “So what are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna call her.”

“...AND...?” Kyung says, making a circular motion with his hands to get more information out of his best friend.

Jiho gulps, knowing that as soon as the next sentence leaves his lips, he will have no choice but to stick to his word because Kyung would never let him back down from something like this.

“I’m gonna ask her out.”