“Ehm….ehm…. Attention everyone! The organizing committee for tonight have decided that we will have a small game to celebrate Pepero Day” suddenly Himchan made an announcement. Hyosung and Zinger clapped and cheered excitedly. The others looked interested and quickly gathered around the three of them, including Jongup and Zelo who have just finished their chores.

Himchan smiled widely, feeling satisfied. “We will have pepero eating competition….. “

“Yeaah!!!” Daehyun exclaimed.

“….. but not eating by yourself, sorry Daehyun-ah. The peperos must be eaten in pairs. Everyone must join the game and we will decide the pairings” Himchan continued, waving his hand to Daehyun.

Everyone else was protesting the seemingly unfair rule, but Himchan, with the help of Hyosung, shut them up.

“Alright, let’s start now. The basic rule is still the same: whichever pairing get the shortest remaining pepero, wins. We will let you know the prize after that. The first round pairing is Jongup and Junhong.” Hyosung said. She took turn with Himchan as the ‘MC’ for that night.

Jongup looked up to Zelo and sighed “Looks like we’re stuck together for tonight”. His face looked bored, but strangely he still managed to give a smile. Zelo only shrugged his shoulders.

The two youngest persons in the room positioned themselves, sitting opposite to each other. The others were cheering for them. Youngjae was massaging Jongup’s shoulders, while Daehyun was doing the same to Zelo’s.

Zinger gave them a piece of chocolate covered pepero while Hyosung was holding up a ruler, ready to measure the pepero remainder.  Jongup and Zelo put each end of the pepero stick in their mouths.

“Ready?” Himchan gave a sign. “…. And START!”

The cheers got louder as Jongup and Zelo started to munch the pepero. Their faces were getting closer and closer as the stick shortened.

Zelo was the first to break away and Hyosung took the pepero remainder and measured its length.

“Two point four centimeters!” she finally shouted out the result.

“Woohoo…. that would be difficult to beat! You guys set the bar high! Please take a note of it, noona” Himchan shrieked.

“OK, next contestants are Zinger and Youngjae.”

Youngjae laughed and Daehyun laughed even harder. “Zinger noona is a much better option than Daehyun” Youngjae gave out a tongue to Daehyun, who was snickering.

The new pairing was getting ready in their respective position and once again, a pepero stick was given to them. Youngjae’s face looked flushed as he held the pepero with his teeth. Meanwhile, Zinger showed a poker face. “You’re so cute” she said before joining him biting the pepero, making him tittered.

The second round started and this time it was Zinger who broke away first. She giggled, “I can’t take it. His face was too funny” she held her stomach, still laughing.

“How long is it, noona?” Youngjae asked Hyosung curiously.

“Three centimeters.”

Youngjae’s head hung low. He took the baseball near his feet and squeezed it hard. He hated losing.

“Chill out. We can play another round together” Daehyun comforted him and laughed.

Youngjae stared at him “As if! Pfffttt….”

“Yah yah, let’s postpone the lover’s quarrel until later, OK?” Himchan scoffed at them, earning death glares from both of them.

“Next round is……. me and Hyosung noona. Yeayyy!!!” Himchan hit the table repeatedly, full of excitement. Yongguk sneered at him.

“Don’t get your hope high. I might break away once we started” Hyosung threatened Himchan and laughed evilly.

“Ohoho… this would be interesting to watch” Sunhwa could not hold her laugh and scooted nearer to Hyosung.

“Do your best, unnie” Jieun cheered Hyosung and clasped both her hands.

Zinger now became the judge and handed them a pepero stick. They positioned themselves and each took the pepero ends.

“GO!!!” Zinger’s voice marked the start of the third round. Everyone cheered loudly when Himchan made a steady pace towards Hyosung’s face. They were getting closer and he started to tilt his head because their noses were already touching.

Hyosung chuckled and let go first. She smacked Himchan’s head lightly. “Yah, I didn’t sign up for this!”

“Hahahaha…. Daebak daebak!!” The amused Sunhwa clapped her hands and laughing crazily. All the other girls and boys were also laughing.

“Why did you hit me, noona? We need to provoke the last two contestant pairings” Himchan defended himself and scrubbed his head. A naughty smile was plastered in his face.

“One point two centimeters!” Zinger shouted clearly.

Both Hyosung and Himchan cheered and lifted their fists to the air. Hyosung seemed already forgotten about what had happened before.

She turned to Sunhwa and smirked. “It’s your turn and Daehyun’s now. Busan’s visuals”    

“Mwo? Are you serious, unnie?  Yeaaah, finally! Let’s go Daehyun-ah!” Sunhwa quickly agreed and eagerly asked Daehyun to start right away. Daehyun was a little taken aback by her surprising reaction, but he giggled away.

Meanwhile, Jieun nervously glanced at Yongguk, who was also looking nervous. She knew they would be paired, since they were the last ones who haven’t played the game. She tried to suppress her nervousness by playing with her nails.

Once again, a pepero was given to the two contestants. Daehyun pinched his cheeks, “I’m ready, noona” he challenged Sunhwa.

“Ooooh, be prepared, OK?” she replied playfully.

When the cue was given, both of them started to munch. Unexpectedly, Daehyun ate so fast that he was approaching Sunhwa in no time. When their noses were touching, Sunhwa got panicked and broke away.

“What the hell was that? I didn’t expect you to eat that fast!” she pointed her finger to him, who was laughing his out.

“I really love chocolate, noona. Please don’t blame me” he pleaded cutely to her, putting on the most charming smile Sunhwa ever saw of him.

“Himchan must have taught you that, right? Great job, eh! Whatever” Sunhwa finally gave up and laughed along.

“Alright, the official result is out. It’s one point three centimeters!” Hyosung read out the result.

“Damn, I shouldn’t have broken away too soon” Sunhwa muttered.

“What? I wanna win too” she retorted when everyone looked at her strangely, considering a minute ago, she was pissed off because of Daehyun’s aggressiveness.

“And, the last pairing is Jieun and Yongguk!” Himchan gave a wide smile while looking at them.

Jieun felt like running from that place, but she forced herself to stay. She could not be chickened out because all the girls have already played the game. Both Jieun and Yongguk laughed nervously when they took their position facing each other.

Zinger gave her a pepero and whispered “Fighting, Jieunnie. You can do it.” Jieun smiled at her and nodded.

Himchan patted Yongguk’s shoulder then squeezed it, “Do your best, bro. This is your chance.” He looked directly into Yongguk’s eyes and smiled assuring. Yongguk furrowed his eyebrows, confused. Suddenly, it came to him. This was Himchan’s idea, since the beginning, to play this game. He and Jieun were the main show and put in the last round for some reason. He shot a questioning look to Himchan, but the boy only smiled wider.

“OK, let’s start this round. Contestants get ready.” Hyosung’s voice averted him from thinking further. He turned to face Jieun who sat in front of him and met her beautiful brown eyes once again. That familiar beats returned to his heart. He took a deep breath and gave his gummy smile to her.

Jieun felt like she was floating and she also tried to calm her racing heart by smiling back at him. She gave out the pepero for him to bite while she bit the other end.

“Ready? 3………2……….1……..GO!” Everyone cheered loudly and clapped noisily.

Yongguk munched slowly while keep fixing his gaze to Jieun. Her eyes were so bright and he felt he could stay like that forever, just looking into them. As their faces were getting nearer, his gaze turned to her luscious lips, the lips that have been teasing him since early tonight. Something was building up in his stomach, his excitement.

Jieun could not take her eyes off of him. His deep gaze locked hers and she felt like drowning, but at the same time, floating. They were getting closer and Jieun finally could not keep up her eyes to his, his face was blurring. Their noses were already touching each other and she closed her eyes. She was now feeling his soft breath on her face and chocolate flavor in . Her mind went blank and she was anticipating something.

Yongguk was surprised seeing Jieun closed her eyes and that cancelled out his intention to break away. His excitement grew bigger and something inside his head told him to just screw with everything. He closed his eyes and felt her soft breath tickling his face.

He continued munching forward until he felt a soft skin on his lips and paused. Receiving no rejection from her, he moved his lips slowly and was surprised when she replied his kiss. The world around him did not exist anymore. All he felt was her soft and warm lips touching his. He got bolder and tilted his head to deepen his kiss, tasting the chocolate flavored lips. He them clean and both of them smiled in their kisses.

The room was deadly silent, no one cheered. Youngjae dropped the baseball that he had been playing with and the others dropped their jaws.

When Yongguk finally pulled away from the kiss, he opened his eyes only to see that Jieun was still closing hers. He smiled and bit his lip to stop himself from kissing her again because now he came to his senses and realized that the others were staring at both of them.

“And the winner is ………. Yongguk and Jieun, with the remaining pepero of minus one and a half centimeters!” Himchan broke the silence and laughed hard.

The cheers broke and Jieun was like waken up from her sweet dream. She shyly looked around her, and then to Yongguk. The boy was also smiling sheepishly and scratched his head. She felt really hot on her cheeks and ears.

“I ….. I……. need to get some fresh air” Jieun stood up and headed to the door. She left their dormitory in a hurry.

Zinger turned to Yongguk, “Go fetch her, Yongguk! And don’t forget to bring her coat. It’s already cold outside”

Yongguk nodded and rushed to the front door to follow Jieun, grabbing his own coat, and also hers.

“Confess like a real man, will you?” Himchan yelled at him. Yongguk made an ‘OK’ sign with his fingers before closing the door.

When Yongguk already left, Himchan shouted “VICTORY!!! Mission accomplished!” Hyosung and Zinger joined him and did a high-five.

Youngjae smirked, “Aaah, so it was your idea all along. I already guessed it since the start of the second round, when you paired me up with Zinger noona”. He took the baseball again and squeezed it violently.

“Let’s celebrate it, then. Anyone wants some pizzas? I do” Daehyun got up and brought the pizza boxes from the kitchen.

Everyone else soon joined him, having a second food party.