“You did what?!”

“I’m so sorry, it was an accident–” Kyungsoo tries.

“You are so lucky we’re talking about this on the phone,” you hiss, and you like to imagine Kyungsoo is shivering in fear, wherever he is. “Tell me everything.”

“They were talking about relationships, basically,” Kyungsoo continues, and you bark out a short, hysterical laugh. 

“Relationships?” you repeat incredulously.

“Who likes who, who used to like who, that sort of things,” he explains, sounding a little embarrassed by it. “And since we all know you, the conversation turned to you and…”

“What, so you just decided to announce my secret to the whole world?” you ask sarcastically.

“They were ganging up on me!” Kyungsoo protests, his tone defensive. “I had to say something!”

“And clearly lying is out of the question,” you muttered, sighing heavily. “So how did it go?”

“Um, I don’t actually know.” Kyungsoo laughs nervously. “I knew you wouldn’t want me to say anything, so I made a run for it.”

You swallow a few curses before sighing again, wondering what to make of the whole situation. This is definitely not how you wanted Kai to find out – not that you were ever planning on him finding out. You’d seen how he dealt with confessions – calmly, coolly, with a hint of mean amusement, like he can’t believe how pathetic they are. In all honesty, Kai isn’t the nicest guy around, and you didn’t want to ruin the group with your boy drama, even if it involves them a little.

But it’s too late. “I can’t believe you,” you groan, sorely tempted to hurl your phone at the wall. “Kyungsoo, what am I going to do?”

“Why are you so worried?” Kyungsoo asks confusedly, and you can imagine the baffled expression on his face. You roll your eyes in exasperation.

“I don’t ever want to see Kai again,” you mumble. “I don’t want to see any of you ever again, actually. Can you imagine how they’ll react when I’m in the same room as Kai? They’ll never forget this, and it’ll ruin everything between me and Kai.”

“It’ll be pretty hard avoiding us forever,” Kyungsoo says reasonably, “especially since there’s a party at Chanyeol’s tonight.”

“I don’t want to go,” you respond instantly.

“Don’t let my stupidity ruin our friendship,” Kyungsoo says quietly. “I’m really sorry about what happened.”

“I know,” you say, resigned. You could never hate your friends. “But I’m not afraid to punch anyone who mentions it in the face, okay?”

“Okay,” he agrees happily, and you shake your head ruefully, unable to stop yourself from smiling.

The party is as normal as you could’ve hoped for. You have a sneaking suspicion that Kyungsoo mentioned your threat to them, but so far there’s no mention of your crush. You find yourself relaxing in the familiar atmosphere, but you make sure Kyungsoo is always by your side. You don’t want to talk to Kai at all tonight.

Tao, seated next to you, leans in conspiratorially and whispers, “Is it true?”

Your smile freezes on your face. “Excuse me?” you ask icily, hoping that Tao gets the message.

He doesn’t. “That you have a crush on Kai.”

You resist the urge to punch him in the face, knowing that it would only draw more attention to you. “No, so shut up,” you snap.

“But Kyungsoo said–”

To your relief, Chanyeol stands up and announces that he wants to play a game, cutting Tao of mid-sentence. “What game?” someone asks.

“Truth or Dare,” Chanyeol declares, grinning almost maniacally. Instantly, you regret coming to the party because now you know why they didn’t mention your crush before. It’s too late to leave, since Tao is standing right next to you, as if preparing to restrain you if necessary. You briefly consider punching him in the face, and then resign yourself to your fate.

Still, you can’t help but mutter, “Son of a ” under your breath as Chanyeol ushers everyone into a circle. He winks shamelessly at you as he sits you down, but you nab a spot next to Kyungsoo that’s also close to the window. It wouldn’t be too hard to throw yourself out if things took a turn for the worse, you think mournfully.

You hold your breath as Chanyeol scans the circle with eager eyes, but he settles on Baekhyun. “Baekhyun, truth or dare?”

“Dare!”

Unsurprisingly, everyone who follows chooses dare – Baekhyun is recorded dancing to Gee, and the incriminating video is sent to a random number; Yixing does a grand imitation of a horse galloping around the building, while Tao dresses up as a ninja and demonstrates his wushu to the neighbours. Needless to say, they aren’t very impressed.

After Tao forces Kris to dance to Bubble Pop, everyone settles down into the circle once more. Kris makes a big show of choosing, his gaze circling the group once, twice, before they settle on you. You hold your breath in anticipation, dreading what will come next.

“Kai, truth or dare?”

For a moment, you sigh in relief, grateful that Kris has chosen someone else. It’s only as Kai replies that you realise what it means.

“Truth.”

The other boys hoot loudly, since he’s the first to choose it. You glance at Kai, but the only sign of emotion is his signature smirk, which says nothing about how he really feels.  You don’t know where either of them are going with this game, and you’re not sure you want to find out.

“Do you like Soojung?”

You curse inwardly, giving Kris your nastiest glare before you realise that everyone – including Kai – is looking at you. To your dismay, Kris is on the other side of the circle, which means getting up and making good on your earlier threat would take too long.

So you do the next best thing, and walk out the door.

The fresh breeze is like a slap to your face – you hadn’t realised how warm and stuffy Chanyeol’s house had been, and you could feel your red cheeks beginning to cool down. A part of you was curious to hear Kai’s answer, even if it probably was a rejection, but for the most part, escape still sounded like the best plan, even if you have no way of getting home.

You sigh when you hear a door swing open, and the quick footsteps of someone hurrying towards you. “I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”

“It’s me,” Kai says.

“Son of a ,” you mutter, directing the curse in the general direction of the house before turning around. “Kai–”

“Is it true?”

His words remind you of Tao, which makes you think of Kris, which makes you want to punch him in the face. Instead, you feign stupidity. “Is what true?”

To your surprise, he blushes and runs a hand through his hair. “Is it true that you, um, like me?” he asks, his gaze dropping to the ground, then back up to meet yours.

“Oh.” You look away, ignoring the way your cheeks are flushed as well. “I…yeah, it is,” you admit, before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry for making things really awkward, because I didn’t plan on things turning out like this at all. I didn’t really plan on doing anything, really, but Kyungsoo blabbed and…” You shrug, a sharp, nervous gesture, and sneak a glance at him. “I can’t do anything about it, so can we just pretend nothing happened?”

“I, um, I…” Kai clears his throat, ruffles his hair and looks to the ground. His expression may be hard to read, but he’s giving the impression that he’s nervous – which, you conclude, is reasonable considering that this is quite an awkward situation.  But you’ve never seen him Kai so flustered (or so adorable), and you’re debating whether you want to treasure this moment or forget it completely when he speaks again. “Uh, I actually came out here to tell you…”

You give him a strange look, because he seems to be finding it very difficult to finish the sentence.  It’s a little exasperating, seeing as you want to get out of here as soon as possible and maybe go cry and eat ice-cream with your girl friends, but you also want to finish this…thing, get it over and done with forever.

“Um…”

“Did Kyungsoo make you come out?” you ask sharply.

Kai shakes his head, and opens his mouth to say something. When nothing comes out, you roll your eyes inwardly. “Kai, you’re the one who came out here,” you began. “Look, if you don’t…return my feelings, then it’s okay. I won’t hold it against you or anything, I just–”

“No, that’s not it!” Kai interrupts, looking somewhat indignant. “I wanted to…I just…I like you, too!”

In the back of your mind, you wonder if you’ve fallen, hit your head and started hallucinating. “What?” you say intelligently.

Kai looks pained, but he says, very clearly, “I like you. I have a crush on you. And…” He looks away, a tint of red very visible on his cheeks, but continues, “And I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before, but I do like you. A lot.”

“You do?” you ask, still completely dumbfounded. The notion of Kai actually liking you back is one you’ve always dismissed, mostly because Kai never seemed too interested in girls. It’s very, very hard to believe.

“Well, yeah.” Kai looks a little exasperated by this point. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. What, did you want me to prove it?

A dozen things run through your mind, most of them completely ridiculous, so you keep your mouth shut. Kai takes your silence as an answer, and steps closer to you, lowering his face to brush his lips against your cheek. Coming from someone you thought to be rather aloof, the gesture is so gentle and sweet that a ridiculous smile begins to spread across your face.

“Happy?” he breathes, the word warm against your skin. You swallow, because his nearness is overwhelming, and it’s a struggle to look normal and composed before him. But you’re not very successful, because you find yourself smiling – practically beaming – at him. And to your surprise, Kai gives you a genuine smile in return, so different to the smirks and grins you’ve seen on his face before that your heart does a little swoopy thing in your chest.

“Very,” you answer shyly. If anything, his smile seems to get bigger, before he reaches up and ruffles his hair again.

“We should probably get back inside,” he says, holding out his hand to you.  You take it, watching as he slowly, cautiously intertwines his fingers with yours, giving you plenty of time to pull away. Instead, you squeeze his hand, marvelling at how even the most simple of gestures from him gives you butterflies, and lead him back towards the house.

“Yeah, we should,” you agree.

After all, you still have every intention to go through with your threat and punch everyone in the face.