Chapter 18

Luhan grabbed Jiyoon’s hand and dragged her downstairs as soon as he saw that she had finished brushing her hair. She was already dressed and presentable, but even then, Jiyoon looked confused and tried to pry her hand from his grip. “What are you doing?!” She asked, half-stumbling, half-tripping down the stairs.

“We have somewhere to go. A full day today!” Luhan replied, grinning at her.

“Oh god, no. Please, not something weird,” Jiyoon said with a roll of her eyes. Her glasses were slowly slipping down her face and she quickly pushed them back up.

“No, silly. Anyways, WE’RE GOING OUT TODAY!” He shouted towards the living room as the two of them dashed out the front door. Jiyoon could just about hear her mother say, “Be careful, children.”

He continued to pull her towards his car, hurrying her along before getting himself and driving off. Jiyoon just stared at his profile and crossed her arms, annoyed. “So, where are we going and why?”

“Did you forget?” Luhan asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Forget WHAT?” Jiyoon honestly had no idea what he was talking about. He can be so mysterious and vague sometimes like right now.

Luhan just shook his head and continued to drive. She recognised the roads and remembered that they had driven along them before, that time when he had brought her to see EXO. That went down well, she thought, Could have been better for a first impression but oh well. She fiddled with her seat belt, squeezing every so often as her nervousness came again. Jiyoon has only met them twice and both times were major events, at least for her so she was still not used to being in the presence of idols. Luhan didn’t count.

When Luhan parked behind the building this time, she guessed that he was most likely trying to avoid the fans for her sake. Last time had been extremely frightening because she absolutely hated crowds of screaming people – especially fan girls. They can be extremely scary when they want to be. She was just lucky that Luhan had protected her and her face was covered or else she would see her face plastered all over SNS and the TV. Not exactly the kind of publicity she wanted.

They both got out of the car and he came over to link his hand with hers, intertwining their fingers together. Luhan led her all the way to the practice rooms, pushing open the familiar glass doors, almost like déjà vu. The boys were all practicing, scattered about the room. Some of them weren’t there – the vocalists who were mostly likely practicing their singing. Luhan pulled her inside with him, closing the door behind them and smiled when he saw Xiumin walking over to them.

Jiyoon looked around, watching with fascination as they all practised. They had sweat patches on their shirts and looked normal, unlike their stage presence. It was different and she liked seeing that they were at least enjoying themselves while working hard. She saw Sehun turn his head and notice them before following Xiumin and coming over as well. She waved to them both, and only Xiumin waved back. It seems Sehun had some sort of a grudge against her. HunHan might just be real, she thought and inwardly rolled her eyes.

 Luhan greeted them both cheerfully, “Hey, how are you?”

Xiumin crossed his arms and made a face, “We’re doing well, except you should be practising too!” He poked Luhan in the shoulder causing them both to laugh.

“Yeah, shouldn’t you be practising instead of always hanging around me?” Jiyoon said, raising a questioning eyebrow. She did wonder if he was always at home or something.

“No, I practice from evening until early morning usually. Now that I have you,” Luhan pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist, “I practice during the time you’re at school. That’s more than plenty.”

Xiumin pretended to gag while Sehun just watched on in silence, his expression blank as always. Luhan saw the maknae looking bored and pulled him close