“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, ZHOU MI!!!”

I jumped on him as soon as he walked through the door.

“Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi!” I buried my face into his shoulder.

“Yes, Mi-”

“ZHOU MIIII!” I cut him off.

“Ye-”

“ZHOUUUUUUUUU MIIIIIIIIIII!”

He just stood there, holding me and blinking. Awkwardly, he began my hair as if I was a child clinging onto his torso.

“I love you,” I finally said. “I love you so much.”

“Aw, I love you too, Honey,” he chuckled.

“Thank you…”

“For the song?” he guessed.

I nodded, still hugging him tightly.

“You don’t have to thank me… You’ve done enough for me. And all of us, really. You deserve it,” he said softly, still my hair.

“Zhou Mi-ah…”

 

“Are you done yet?” a new voice jumped in.

“No,” I responded stubbornly, not bothering to look to see who it was.

“Well you better be done,” he said, pushing Zhou Mi aside, making me stumble backwards. “You’re blocking the doorway.”

“Yah!” I let go of Zhou Mi to confront this rude idiot. I don’t even have to say that it was Heechul, now do I? “You interrupted our beautiful moment!” I yelled at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he gasped sarcastically, raising his hands up, pretending to be guilty.

I shot him a scary glare.

“Aigooo, you’re so cute, Mina~!” Zhou Mi pinched my cheek.

WHAT? I was trying to be scary… NOT CUTE!

Heechul chuckled at my fail. “I’m gonna go take a shower,” he walking away.

“NOT IF I GET THERE FIRSTTTTTT!” Sungmin ran into the dorm, throwing his belongings onto the couch, and dashing towards the bathroom. He slammed himself against the bathroom door, only to find that it was locked. He turned the knob a few more times.

Sigh, he’s adorable. Hehe, if only I could have a tiny Sungmin to put in my pocket and take him everywhere I go…

“Alright, who’s in there??” Sungmin yelled.

Everyone stared at Sungmin in complete silence.

It was so quiet, that I could hear someone loudly singing in the shower from all the way in the living room... It was a familiar tune.

“Yah, Teuk hyung!” Sungmin shouted at the door. “Hurry, so Minnie can take a shower too!”

“Nope, I’m going next,” Donghae shoved him over.

“I already asked him to go next,” Siwon bumped in.

“But you guys know I can take the fastest shower,” Shindong stated.

As they began babbling and arguing, Yesung stepped out of his room in nothing but a bathrobe... Nothing but a bathrobe... NOTHING BUT A BATHROBE.

Oh lord, what is he doing… Trying to kill me?

His dark, tousled hair was still wet, as if he didn’t blow dry it. He turned his head towards the four guys who were huddling by the bathroom door.

“There’s a shower in my room, if you guys wanna use it,” Yesung said.

“I call dibs!” Sungmin exclaimed, getting ready to run into Yesung’s room.

“Just kidding. Ryeowook’s already in there,” he smirked.

“Aish, you jerk,” Sungmin pouted.

“Looks like you lost your spot,” Donghae laughed, getting as close to the door as possible.

Sungmin groaned, “Fine, I’ll just go to bed without showering.”

“Not in the same room as me,” Kyuhyun shoved him back towards the bathroom.

“But Kyuuuuu,” Sungmin whined.

“Shhhh,” Kyuhyun hushed him, going straight for the kitchen. He quickly came back down the hallway with a bottle of wine in his hand… And two wine glasses. Hmm, I wonder who that other glass is for. His computer?

“Mina,” a voice whispered.

I turned left to suddenly see Yesung beside me.

O-Oh, hey,” I stuttered. He had me by surprise.

“How’d you like our show?” he asked.

“It was really awesome,” I replied. “I wish I coulda been there to see it in person though.”

“Haha, it would’ve been much more amazing if you were there,” he said, leading me into the kitchen. “What did you do all day, aside from watching TV?”

“I ate and slept. The usual, haha…”

“What’s this?” Yesung pointed at the plate of leftover kimbap.

“Kimbap,” I said. “I made it earlier this afternoon.”

“Really? It seems like you’ve made a whole lot more than you could eat.”

“I guess I did,” I shrugged.

“And what’s this?” he looked at the cup sitting on the counter.

Surprisingly, the ice was still in there. Wow, I didn’t realize that winter was that cold in Seoul. “That’s an iced caramel macchiato.”

“Did you make that too?”

“Ermm…” Oh no, if I say that Meela made it, he’ll find out that I had someone over here while they were gone… “Yeah, I made that too,” I lied.

“Can I take a sip?” he asked.

“Umm… Sure,” I decided.

After drinking a little of it, he made a face that seemed a bit confused. He set the glass back down. “That’s funny… It tastes just like the macchiato that we make at my mom’s café.”

“R-Really?” I laughed nervously.

“Yeah… Where did you learn to make this?”

“My friend taught me!” I quickly said.

“And who’s your friend?”

“My… Friend.”

“Your friend?”

“Yes. My friend,” I stated.

He chuckled.

I looked at him, smiling shyly.

He took a step closer and we were face to face. Nervous, I looked down at my feet. His hand moved up to brush the hair out of my face, then back to caress my cheek.

“I have a feeling you’re lying to me,” he whispered.

“L-Lying? I would never,” I laughed.

“There’s no way any other macchiato could taste like this one. It has a distinct taste… My mother adds a special ingredient that makes it taste that way. Only my mother knows the recipe and the workers at my mother’s café. My mother couldn’t have come to visit this morning. She knows we had a concert today… So it must’ve been an employee.”

Goodness, his power of deduction is amazing… But Meela doesn’t work at his mother’s café, I don’t think. Well that doesn’t even matter. Gahhh, he’s close to figuring me out!

“You had someone over today, didn’t you?” he whispered into my ear.

Before I could answer, he pressed a finger against my lips.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone,” he said, ending with a charming smile.

 

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

We both turned around to see Leeteuk with his arms crossed, leaning against the doorway. He squinted his eyes at us in suspicion.

“Nothing, nothing!” I quickly said. “We were just talking!”

“Oh really?” he raised an eyebrow. “What do you have to say, Yesung?”

“I was just talking to her about this macchiato, hyung…” Yesung responded. “And this kimbap here.”

“Oooh, kimbap? Where?” Leeteuk grinned. “I’m still hungry. Where is it?” he made an aegyo face. “Where? Where? Where?”

Wow, even as the oldest one here, he has some aegyo to him. Haha, Teuk oppa is supposed to be setting the example as leader, isn’t he? He can’t start acting like Sungmin.

“Here,” I handed him the plate.

“Thanks, Mina~ Oh! There’s more than enough for me. Here, have some!” he offered some to me and Yesung.

“It’s alright, I’m about to head to sleep,” Yesung yawned.

“Mina~?” Leeteuk asked.

“No thanks. I’m about to head to sleep too.”

“Aw, okay… SHINDONG, WANT SOME KIMBAP?!” Leeteuk yelled.

 

“Well… I’ma go to bed now,” Yesung said to me.

“Me too…” I rubbed my eyes as we walked down to the hallway.

He walked me all the way down the hall to my room, where we stopped to awkwardly stare at each other.

“Good night,” I said.

“Good night,” he came close and placed a kiss on my cheek, making me turn pink. “See you tomorrow.”

 

You can say that I went to sleep smiling like an idiot.

 

 

*HEECHUL’S POV*

“I think I like the nice Heechul a lot better,” I remember her saying…

 

“Don’t you remember her saying that too, Mr. Cuddles?” I spoke to the bear. He stared back at me with a blank expression. Oh, why am I talking to a bear? I put Mr. Cuddles back in the corner of my bed.

Sigh, I’m all sore and tired from yesterday… Though it was a great show we put on. We have a few days off before we get back to practicing. I could really use some nice relaxation time right now.

 

Hmm… She says she likes the nice Heechul more.

 

*MINA’S POV*

“I’m bored,” I puffed my cheeks.

“Get over it.”

I narrowed my eyes at Heechul. His ignorant remarks are always so annoying.

“What? Admiring my beauty?”

“Nope,” I simply answered.

I looked away, but my eyes somehow found their way back to his face… He seems like he’s deep in thought… Like he’s thinking about something. Suddenly, he smiled.

“Wanna go somewhere?” Heechul asked.

“With you? No thanks.”

“Well then…” he got up from the couch. “I guess you’re gonna be stuck here… Bored. FOREVER.”

My eyes lit up at his emphasis on “FOREVER”. I mean, FOREVER is a pretty long time. I don’t like being bored at all. I suppose this is an opportunity to go out instead of sitting here all day… Even if it’s with the smart-mouth Heechul.

“Erm… Where are you going?”

“Changed your mind?”

I nodded, blinking innocently.

“We’re going to…” he paused to think. “A café.”

My stomach rumbled just as he said café. I guess a café sounds good right about now… Breakfast didn’t really fill me up this morning anyways.

“L-Let me come with you…”

He chuckled at me humiliating myself. “Come on,” he waved with the keys in his hand.

I followed him out the door and into his car.

 

*                          *                          *

We were standing in front of a café called “Handel and Gretel”… And for some awkward reason, it all feels like de ja vu.

“What’s wrong?” Heechul looked at me. “You don’t like it here?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “It just that… I feel like I’ve heard of this place before. Or I’ve been here before… I don’t know,” I blinked.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Whatever, let’s just go in.”

 

“Hi, what would you like to order today?” the cashier asked.

“Can I get an iced vanilla latte?” Heechul turned to me. “And what would you like?”

“Umm…” I quickly skimmed over the menu. “An iced caramel macchiato?”

“Alright, that will be 7,600 won,” the cashier said.

Heechul pulled out a big bill that made me wonder if they even had enough change for him…

“You don’t have to pay for me,” I said, handing him my money for the drink.

“I owe you,” he shoved my hand back into my pocket.

Owe me…? For what? Well, a lot, I guess. I just can’t seem to pinpoint an exact situation at the moment. Weird.

 

 

“It’s funny… I had an iced caramel macchiato yesterday… And it tastes JUST LIKE THIS ONE.”

“Where’d you go yesterday?” he asked.

“I was at home all day.”

“Then where’d the macchiato come from…?”

“Oh… Oh! I… Er… I did go somewhere yesterday! I went to the café right outside our dorm,” I laughed nervously. “It was so early in the morning that I forgot, haha.” Darn, he was THIS close to figuring me out! Phew. Great save, Mina, great save.

He looked at me as if I was a potato.

 

…Geez, I’m not a potato.

“It’s kind of stupid that we’re drinking cold beverages in the winter,” Heechul stated.

“Not to mention it’s only 18 degrees out,” I added.

“We should get some warm, toasty hot chocolate next time.”

 

Hold up, who said there was a “next time” to this?

My phone vibrated on the table. The text was from Meela… Huh, Meela never texts me at a time like this. Shouldn’t she be working or something? I opened the text.

“I SEE YOU.”

Wha… I see you? What on earth…

I looked and stared around with my big eyes. Left, right, up, down, straight, and back.

 

“Are you looking for something?” Heechul tilted his head at me.

“No…” I looked back at Heechul.

Turning my head back to my right a split-second later, I encountered a pair of eyes staring straight into my soul.

“EEEEEK!”

“LOVEEEEEEEE~!”

“What are you doing here??” I pushed Meela away. “YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH, YOU CREEPER!”

“Aw, I’m sorry, baby~” she hugged me.

Heechul looked at us weird.

“But what do you mean, ‘what are you doing here’? I work here, silly!”

“Whaaaat? This is the place you work at?”

“Yup. Nice, hmm?”

I did a double-take at my surroundings. It seems like a typical café she’d work at.

“I knew the name of this place was familiar…” I thought aloud.

“Omo!” she gasped.

“What?” I turned to her.

She stared at Heechul with round eyes, looking all giddy.

“Oh…” I glanced at Heechul.

“Oh?” he responded.

“Oh, it’s just plain old Heechul,” I clarified myself.

“Hey!”

“Well, my friend here admires you,” I told him. “Meet your Mr. Simple, meet my best friend,” I gestured them to each other. “Have fun getting to know each other.”

“Hi, I’m Meela!” she introduced herself, with a wide grin.

Heechul just stared at her... With somewhat of a death glare.

Meela gripped onto the sleeve of my shirt. “He’s scary…” She pouted.

“Puahaha, SCARY?” I busted out laughing. Kim Heechul? SCARY? Are you kidding me?”

“Laughing in the face of danger, are you?” Heechul brought his glare upon me.

I childishly stuck my tongue out at him and turned back to Meela.

“So where’s this…” I looked left to right. “Jongjin?” I whispered.

“Oh,” she blushed. “He’s-”

 

“MEELA!”

A boy, about the same age as me walked up next to Meela. He looked quite familiar. As if I’ve seen him somewhere before…

He put an arm around Meela. “What are YOUUU doing out here? You’re supposed to be in there!” he pointed behind the counter, where the drinks where being made. “Oh hey, hyung!”

“Hey, Jongjin.”

Oh, so this was Jongjin!

“What are you doing here? And who is this?” Jongjin looked at me.

“I just wanted a vanilla latte… And this is Mina,” Heechul said.

“Mina, huh? Hmm… I feel like we’ve met somewhere before,” Jongjin cocked his head.

“That’s weird. I do too…” I admitted.

We stared at each other awkwardly.

“Maybe I just saw someone who looked like you,” he shrugged.

“Same, haha.”

“Now, YOU have to get back into the kitchen, missy! Come on, let’s go!” Jongjin pulled Meela.

“Hehe, okay,” she laughed nervously, her face still flushing with color. “BYE MINAAAAA!”

 

*HEECHUL’S POV*

I guess that “coffee date” went well…

We came home to see that none of the guys were in the dorm. Except Kyuhyun, of course. That boy is always on his laptop.

“Kyuhyun, when are you going to get off of Starcraft?” I asked.

“Never!” he exclaimed, followed by an evil laugh.

Aigooo, this is all he really does all day. Even during practice. And before a performance. Every minute of his free time is spent on Starcraft. I don’t know how he does it.

“Where’d all the guys go?”

“Out to celebrate,” he replied.

“Where?”

“They said something about dinner, I think.”

“Really? But it’s just past lunch-time…”

“I coulda heard them wrong. I don’t know. I’m sure I heard dinner though.”

“Not even inviting me? I see how it is,” I scoffed.

Kyuhyun shrugged with a laugh.

I left Kyuhyun’s room, shutting his door behind me. I suppose the guys aren’t coming back until after 10:00pm again.

So this is another chance to make her smile?

 

*MINA’S POV*

“Where is everyone?” I frowned.

It’s been about five hours since Heechul and I got back from Handel and Gretel. They weren’t home when we came back, and they’re still not home. I wonder where they are…

“I don’t know,” Heechul shrugged.

“Whatchu want for dinner?” I asked. I was a bit hungry, myself.

“Let’s go out to eat.”

“Huh?”

“I wanna go out to eat,” he repeated himself.

“Already tired of my cooking, aren’t you?”

“That’s right,” he said sarcastically. Well you can’t say “sarcastically”… Heechul’s always speaking in this tone of voice. So I can’t always tell if he’s being sarcastic or not.

“Who’s coming?”

“You.”

“And…?”

“Me.”

“And…?”

“Just you and me.”

“J-Just me and you?” I sputtered.

“Yup.”

“What about Kyu-“

“Go get dressed,” he cut me off before I could ask about Kyuhyun. “Put on something nice,” he ended our conversation by getting up and leaving for his room.

He’s acting awfully weird… Nicer, I suppose.

 

*                          *                          *

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know,” Heechul responded.

“You don’t know??”

“I’m craving pasta.”

“You could’ve just asked me to make pasta for you at home, pabo…”

“FANCY pasta,” he articulated.

Is this how celebrities are…? I mean, FANCY pasta? What’s the difference between pasta and FANCY pasta??

 

We arrived at an exquisite Italian restaurant. Kind of like the one Yesung took me to that other time… We were seated by the window, where the bright city was beautifully visible. Our menus were brought by a posh waiter. Flipping the menu open, my eyes widened at the numbers before I could look at the words.

“Whoa, everything here is so expensive…” I fiddled with the hem of my red dress.

“I’ll pay for you,” Heechul said.

“No way! It’ll take eight of my paychecks to pay you back! I’ll… Just get a glass of water,” I looked down at my fingers. Even a glass of water was pricey.

When the waiter came back around, Heechul ordered two plates of his “FANCY pasta”. He must be real hungry if he’s ordering TWO plates.

 

 There was an awkward aura around me. I felt like I was being watched… Or someone was calling my name… Or…

“Minaaaaaaa!” a voice whispered loudly into my ear.

Instead of squealing like a dying hamster, I calmly turned my head to the person who creepily whispered into my ear… Sungmin.

“Sungmin?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, squeezing my arm. “And what is Heechul doing here?”

“Getting dinner,” Heechul responded.

“Dinner?” Sungmin raised an eyebrow. “Waaaiiiiiit, I thought you didn’t like Heechul!”

“I don’t,” I bluntly stated.

“Then why are you guys here...? TOGETHER?” he squinted at us suspiciously.

“He wanted FANCY pasta,” I shook my head at how ridiculous it really sounded.

“OH REALLY?” Sungmin narrowed his eyes at Heechul.

“Really,” Heechul said.

“Oh, Mina! Heechul!” Leeteuk came by. “You’re here too?”

“Yeah, I heard you guys left to celebrate without me,” Heechul pouted. It was unusual to see Heechul pouting cutely… Maybe he only does it to Leeteuk, since Teuk is the only one who’s older than him. Hee-aegyo gives me the shivers…

“You weren’t home,” Leeteuk said. “But you’re here now! Care to join us?”

“NO THANK YOU!” Heechul exclaimed. “Go on, enjoy your little celebration!”

“You don’t wanna come? Okay, what about you, Mina?” Teuk asked.

“Nope, you didn’t invite Mina either! She’s staying here with me.”

“Aw, I want Mina to eat with us,” Sungmin whined.

“Too bad.”

“If that’s what you want,” Leeteuk laughed. “Come sit back down, Sungmin.”

“But I wanna-”

“Time to gooooo,” Leeteuk pulled him by the wrist.

They trailed away to the other side of the restaurant. Just as they left, Heechul’s pasta came. The waiter placed one plate in front of Heechul and one plate in front of me.

 

“Why aren’t you eating?” Heechul questioned.

“Huh? This is your pasta, isn’t it?” I blinked at the plate in front of me.

“No, potato head… Who do I look like, ordering two plates of pasta for myself?”

“FANCY pasta,” I corrected him amusingly.

“Right, FANCY pasta.”

“What’s so fancy about this pasta anyways?” I poked at it with my fork.

“It’s made of organically grown ingredients from Italy,” he said.

“Really?” I stared at the pasta, amazed.

“Yeah, so eat and enjoy.”

I carefully stabbed into a piece of this delicacy and brought it to my mouth. I couldn’t help but to remember the numbers on the menu.

“This is like eating money!” I sobbed at its deliciousness.

“You’re not eating your own money, so it’s fine.”

“But I’m eating YOUR money! Money that I’ll never be able to pay back,” I said, guiltily.

“You’ve done more than enough to pay me back,” he assured me. “Actually, I’ve done a lot more to you than this pasta is worth. So eat up.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know…” he pursed his lips. “Dumpster diving, dorm flooding, fan chasing…”

“Oh,” I let out, remembering those tragic events. My hunger took over and I started picking up more on my fork to feed my angry stomach.

“I should repay you for all those times.”

“It’s okay. The past is the past, right?” I let him off.

Before continuing our sincere conversation, he paused to laugh. “You’re sucha messy eater.”

“No, I’m not!” I exclaimed. “…Am I?”

“You have tomato sauce on your face,” he pointed out.

“Huh? Where?” I wiped my hand all over my face.

“It’s still there, potato head.”

“Yah, stop calling me a potato head!”

Sighing, he took his own napkin and reached over the table to wipe it off. He chuckled, putting a smile on his face.

 

He just smiled… A happy, sincere smile. The moment was forever preserved in my mind.

“You gonna say thanks?”

“Thanks,” I pouted.

 

I don’t know if it’s just me… But he has been different lately.

 

 

I don’t know… But I like it.

 

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CHAPTER 34 PREVIEW:

“JAPAN??”

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And Meela finally meets Heechul! >:D
Wasn’t what we all expected, but yeah lol.

It’s only been a week since my last update. Feelin like I’m on a roll lmao. I should keep up with these weekly updates. o:

Today is me and my significant other’s four-month anniversary. He doesn’t know about this story I’m writing, so he’ll never see this paragraph dedicated to him lol. If he could read this, I’d want to say that he’s the one I’m always looking forward to seeing at 6:50am. He’s the one that motivates me to get up in the morning and make myself look pretty for him. This month, our anniversary is on a Sunday, so I won’t be able to see him in person. But that doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, I just want to hear a simple “I love you” and everything will be alright. I can see now, that I’m happiest when I’m with him. Even through our awkward height difference LOL… He’s 6ft 4in and I’m 5ft 1in. Funny, huh? :’)
Happy 4-month anniversary. [01-27-13]

Okay, I’m done. Excuse my cheesiness.

Recently, my beautiful new readers have been reading and voting on each and every one of my chapters as they go. I appreciate every single vote, and THANK YOU VERY MUCH! <3 [Wattpad Readers]

Also, I want to thank those of you who go and share my story to your ELF friends. (Oh, yes, I be reading yall’s comments. You guys know who you are!)

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this semi-long chapter. Please subscribe and leave comments down below!

PS: Distant Embrace – Zhou Mi   <<< New favorite song <3