"Something is obviously bothering you, Se Hun."

Huh, what?

I blink a few times, the blurry colors from a while ago morphing into straight edges and solid shapes. The aroma of tea and sugar finally knocks me back to reality, and I am met with Noona's worried face.

"Noona?"

She sighs.

I realize I must have been looking like an idiot for the past 948572 minutes.

My cheeks feel really hot.

Noona takes her seat beside me and pats my head.

It's nice, as always.

"Tell me what's bothering you, Se Hun," she repeats.

Ah, crap. She noticed?

Se Hun, you idiot; of course she noticed. Noona notices everything.

I my lips and start crumpling the receipt she had placed on the table.

"Well."

How do I begin?

Noona, I think you and Hyung are going out, and you've been keeping it a secret from everyone. From me. 

It's bothering me. Really, really bothering me.

"Well?"

I don't want to look up at her face. I hate it when she pulls off her inquisitive stare; it's super effective against me.

;A;

"Umm, I..."

Think, Oh Se Hun, think.

"You and Xiao Lu."

And just like that, the words unintentionally slip out of my mouth.

"Me and Lu? What about us?"

I don't like the way she said 'us.' It's not right--at least, not to my ears.

Does Noona know how much it bothers me?

Sometimes, I don't get Noona. No one does, I suppose. She notices everything, but there are things she also doesn't notice. But I don't know; maybe she's just feigning it? I don't know. Noona confuses me. Noona confuses me so much, but I like it when we hang out. Just the two of us. It's nice, seriously. It's different from when we hang out with the others. It's different from when I hang out with XIao Lu.

It's nice, really.

"Se Hun, why are you suddenly smiling?"

"Huh, what?"

Noona chuckles. Honestly, I envy her voice; it's very suave. Whenever she laughs like that, I have to remind myself that I'm the guy. But I guess, it's fine, too, when I feel like I'm the girl in this relationship. Noona treats me really well, and I feel like I'm special to her.

I like it, really, I do.

She pats my head again, and I can feel her fingers comb through my hair. She twirls some strands, and then proceeds ruffle it.

"You were smiling to yourself again. Please continue with your story."

Oh, right.

"Oh, umm. You and XIao Lu...I mean, Hyung, was..." soon it's just a bunch of lksdifhesl that I start to mumble, "Because, I really think...but I don't know...I don't...I don't want it to...be..."  

I can't look at Noona.

"You're not making any sense, Se Hun."

I know.

 I never make sense when I'm with you, Noona. I always feel like a kid when I'm with you, Noona. I don't know whether or not that's a good thing, because I feel like that's all you will ever treat me as.

"Xiao Lu said he liked iced coffee--that it was his favorite. But I thought taro bubble tea was what he liked the most. He told me that he started liking it because of you."

And that while he was telling me all of that, Hyung had a strange look in his eyes that I didn't like.

"Hmmm, Lu said that, huh?" she muses, her chin. Her face is unreadable, as always. 

"...Yes, kind of."

"So why does it bother you?" she asks, tilting her head.

I did not expect her to say that.

Words swirled in my head as I tried to think of a rationale answer--of any answer. My eyebrows furrow in deep thought, and my lips jut out of nervousness. I them once, twice.

"That's, well...Because..."

"Orders for number twenty-seven!"

Whew. I breathe out a sigh of relief. 

Noona stands up, but stays there. I realize that she's staring at my hands on the table top.

"Se Hun," she says, "The receipt, please."

I give her a lopsided grin, messily flattening out the crumpled piece of paper. I hand it to her, and for a brief moment, I feel her skin against mine. It's only a feathery touch, but Noona notices everything (or doesn't; I'm still indecisive about that), and I'm sure she would have recoiled at the contact.

But she doesn't, and instead, she smiles. She pats me again, then walks off to the counter.

I hope she doesn't remember her question when she gets back.

In a few moments, Noona is back, carrying two plastic cups with identical contents. "Chocolate bubble tea for you," she says, laying it on my side of the table. She returns to her seat beside me. "And chocolate bubble tea for me," she grins, pointing at her own cup.

I blink at her in awe and wonder. I do a double-take at her beverage. I stare at it, up and down, and compare it with my own. Lo and behold, it really is Chocolate Bubble Tea. "Is this...the real life?"

"Yes, Se Hun, it is," she chuckles. She takes a sip, and I'm surprised at her lack of disgust.

"Why?"

She purses her lips. "Because..." Noona shrugs. "You want me to like it. I don't mean to sound like you're forcing me or anything, but think of it as payment. I know you hate green tea, but you've grown fond of it, haven't you?"

I nod.

"It's the same thing here. You're very determined to get me to like it, so I thought, 'Why not?' If you're willing to invest this much effort at something so trivial, then I think I should give you credit for it, and make your life easier. It's sad if it was only one-sided, right?"

Oh, Noona, you have no idea how much I could relate with your last words.

It makes me feel pitiful.

"And besides," she slides a finger down the moist cup, "Lu used the same strategy on me with Taro, and it worked."

Oh.

Xiao Lu, again.

I love Hyung, I really do. But I don't like this at all. Even when Hyung isn't needed, or even when he isn't here, there will always be a way for him to be involved in my conversations with Noona.

I hate it. I hate it so much that I want to throw up, and tell Noona how this moment is reserved for us, and only us. I hate it so much that I feel like I'm betraying Hyung. I hate it so much that I hate myself. But I can't help it. I can't help that I feel so helpess, and horrible, and immature. 

Aish, all this self-loathing is making me tired. 

"Ah but you know," Noona adds, taking a quick sip, "I think I'm starting to like this more than that Taro one. Now that I think about it, this is more refreshing."

And with that, all my worries fade away. There's a seedling of paranoia at the back of my mind, though, but I try to erase it, because what matters is now, and the fact that I'm the only one Noona will like going to a bubble tea store with and for.

We both bring our straws to our lips.

This feels like heaven.

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone! 

I know I marked this "Complete" already, but I personally felt unsatisfied with the very open and depressing ending, so I decided to make a supplementary ending. 

I do realize, however, that Se Hun's thoughts in this chapter are more apparent and jumbled up compared to his thoughts in the previous chapters. What I love about the first five chapters was how disconnected he seemed to be. However, the "disconnected"-ness forgets that Se Hun is still a kid, and I guess this is what I tried to bring here.  I even put in a random emoticon. Personally, I'm against that, but I figured it was appropriate given the circumstances and Se Hun's state of mind. I can actually imagine him doing that face :))

However, in the end, I felt like I was typing up Taemin's thoughts instead of his, because I realized how similar their POVs seem to be. I can't seem to define and portray Se Hun's character that way I originally wanted to. 

Oh, well.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this. 

Thank you for reading, commenting and subscribing! 

Don't forget to comment, because they make me happy. You can also ask questions, if you want, because I do realize that this fic has left a lot of holes and whatnots :-)