Leina’s POV:

  “It’s not funny!”

  The idiotic grin on Baekhyun’s face grows bigger, showing the bits of chocolate sprinkles on and in between his teeth. “It is!”

  “Is not.”

  “Is too.”

  “Is,” I throw a napkin at his face, “not.” Not able to hold it in anymore, I laugh.

  He snatches the napkin and wipes his mouth with it. “See, even you are laughing now.”

  “I’m laughing at how childish you look with all that ice cream on your face,” I point out. “Not at the conversation between me and Kyungsoo. How can something that serious be funny?”

  “You two like each other,” Baekhyun deadpans in a sing-song voice. “But you’re just too shy to make any moves.”

  “Kyungsoo said ‘used to’; he didn’t really confirm if he still has those… feelings – “

  “I bet he still does.”

  I frown. “You don’t understand – “

  “I actually do, Leina.” He nods. “And I can help you get him back, if you want to.”

  “You make it sound like he was taken away from me.”

  “He was, wasn’t he?” Turning to a stop of his spinning in his chair, Baekhyun looks straight into my eyes. “He used to be so ‘lively’ and ‘friendly’ as you say, but now he’s not because of all these years of competition between trainees and the harassing of sasaeng fans. I’ll be honest, Leina. Maybe I don’t know much about him like you, but I’ve seen a change in him ever since we debuted. Before the world knew our names, Kyungsoo was shy and cute, but very kind and very patient. Opposite of me, actually; that’s why I didn’t used to have many interactions with him. But ever since that long, 14-month wait before our comeback with ‘Wolf’, and after our popularity kind of boomed… he became more shy, but his patience thinned. And he had never given Yeollie and me those ‘what is wrong with you’ looks until then. I got used to it quickly, but Yeollie was hurt, Deeply, because of Kyungsoo’s sudden change."

  Processing everything he said, I can’t help but feel somber. I wasn’t really a big fan of EXO a few years ago… but I could briefly imagine how crazy some fans could go, especially if their idol hadn’t come back in a long time. 14 months.

  “But,” Baekhyun snaps me out of my thoughts, “I don’t think he’s changed like from an angel to a devil.”

  “Yes, I don’t recall seeing horns and a tail on him.”

  He laughs. “So is it okay? For me to be a matchmaker?”

  I play with the napkin in my hands. “I… I don’t know…”

  “Don’t worry,” he winks playfully, “people I pair up have the 100% possibility to become a loving couple! Take Yeollie and Chohee for example!”

  Is that so? Then why didn’t you succeed yourself, and instead ending up in a miserable state like this?

  “… Don’t.”

  Baekhyun blinks. “Leina?”

  “Don’t play cupid. They… they don’t have partners themselves.”

  I see surprise in his eyes, and before I actually realize what I just said, Baekhyun shoots up from his seat, and crosses over to pull me into his arms.

  I freeze, eyes big and wide, thankful that no one’s in the cafeteria. I try to think, but it’s like my brain has suddenly shut down, and I can’t do anything but stare at Baekhyun’s chest.

  “Leina…”

  His voice isn’t calm and composed anymore. It’s strained and cracked, like one’s whose about to burst into tears. “Leina, I…”

  “Sunbaenim…”

  “Thank you.”

  “Baekhyun – “

  A little bit too quick, he pulls away, the rims of his eyes red. “Gomawo, Leina. For being so… considerate.”

  My heart tugs, at how broken he looks, how he’s still trying to smile, and how… how I ache more for his arms around me. For his heat, his warmth.

  I shouldn’t be thinking this. I shouldn’t, right?

  I gently smile. “Sunbaenim… I’m gonna go get some more ice cream for us. What do you want, more rainbow-flavored?"

  “Ani.” Pain flashes in his eyes although I don’t know why. “No more… no more rainbow.”

  “Baekhyun...?”

  “She and I… she ordered rainbow-flavored ice cream on our first date…”

  Is he referring to Violet?

  “It was the first time she even saw rainbow ice cream…” Baekhyun smiles, but it’s a smile that only appears when you’re recalling a happy memory that’s not… that’s no more anymore. “She was like a kid seeing the amusement park for the first time… Oh, Vi…”

  Maybe it’s the raw emotion in his voice when he says her name. Maybe it’s the look in his eyes. Or maybe it’s the thought that pops up in my head, the one that screams to me ‘no matter how hard I try, he just can’t forget her.’

  Maybe it’s everything about him that makes me start crying.

    Violet’s POV:

  “The company has installed an ice cream stand in the cafeteria, Jung In.”

  I immediately shoot up from my previous dead-flat position on the floor. “OMO! Are you serious?! When? Why? OMO, let’s go get some now, Sehun!”

  Sehun laughs as I hurriedly put on my shoes and bolt out my practice room without saying ‘bye’ to my group members. “Hey,” he breaks into a small sprint behind me. “Wait up!”

  I stick out my tongue and shout over my shoulder. “Last one to the cafeteria gets to pay the bill!”

  “But they’re free!”

  “So?” I laugh, and then shriek when Sehun grabs me by the waist and spins me off the floor.

  “Can the bill be paid with… a kiss?”

  A blush creeps up my face. “In your dreams!” I squirm out of his hands and reach the cafeteria door. “But if – “

  He catches me again and hugs me from behind, kissing my bare neck, but that’s not what stops me mid-sentence. He notices my sudden stop and cranes his neck. “Jung In?”

  “Sshh!” I whisper, pointing into the room. “Look.”

  “Hey, isn’t that – “

  “Baek oppa and Leina unnie.” I smile. “Alone.”

  “Are they – “

  “Ani.” I shake my head. “Leina unnie likes D.O. oppa, remember?”

  “But they look – “

  “Cute together, I know, right?!”

  Sehun slightly hits my head with his. “Stop finishing my sentences!” He hugs me tighter. “But yeah… they look cute together – “

  I feel the both of us hold our breaths the same time, as we witness Baekhyun… as we both see him…

  Hug Leina.

  I see the way Leina’s eyes widen before her tiny body is engulfed by Baekhyun. I see the way her body turns rigid, and a torn emotion flickers in her eyes. And then I see the sudden look of lost on her face when Baekhyun pulls back.

  A bubble of doubt grows inside my chest, as the words Chohee once told me flashes in my mind again: ‘Sometimes, our hearts never work the way we want them to.’ She told me those words when she had realized that although I thought I had a crush on Lay, I had actually already fallen in love with Sehun.

  I think that’s exactly what’s happening to Leina.

  “He just called your name.”

  I blink. “Bwo?”

  “Baekhyun hyung,” Sehun whispers. “I saw him mouth your name; I think he’s talking about you.”

  “He is?” As soon as I see his face, the sadness in his eyes, I know. He must have been talking about me. But why? Why to Leina? And –

  Why is Leina crying?!

  Before I open the door, Leina suddenly drops her ice cream cup and dashes for the door, to where I’m standing. Shock registers on her face when she sees me, and shock appears on mine when I see her tears; but she doesn’t stop. She just swings around me and keeps running away.

  “Leina unnie!”

  I see the pure shock on Baekhyun’s face, but whether because of Leina’s sudden crying or my sudden appearance, I don’t care.

  “Unnie!” I shout again, running to catch up with her. “Wait – “

  “Why?!” Whirling around, Leina starts speaking English, something like I would do when I’m extremely upset or angry; something people would do when they’ve lived their teenage years in some place that’s not in Asia. “Why can’t he stop?!”

  “Leina – “

  “He can’t forget you, Violet! No matter how I try to change the subject, no matter how hard I try to pull him out, he’s always drowning himself back in the memories of you!” Tears are streaming down her face like waterfalls, hitting the floor ferociously and slightly ruining her mascara. “It’s like you live in every shadow in his world, in every corner he turns. It’s torturing him, and he knows, but he just keeps throwing himself into those painful, hell-like pits! Why can’t he let you go?!”

  “I – “

  A dry laughter escapes from Leina’s lips. “And the most ridiculous thing, Violet, is that I actually care. I’m actually crying over a boy who can’t move on from a girl, when it’s not supposed to be any of my business. And I don’t know why!”

  It scares me, how she’s suddenly like this. Emotional, unsteady… blunt. She’s scared of her new, alien feelings for Baekhyun; I can see the panic in her eyes. She doesn’t understand why she’s feeling all this. She doesn’t understand why she’s actually reacting like this.

  But I do. I understand why.

  “You like Baek oppa,” I gently say, looking straight into her eyes. “That’s why you care. Because you’ve… fallen for him, Leina.”

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[Author's Note] ... someone pls throw me into the washing machine. I'm making everyone cry omg.

I WILL UPDATE AGAIN REALLY SOON! COZ like, the of this story is coming yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy wait no actually sobssssssssss. UGH.

P.S. I finally got my poster sobssss. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL AND IT KEEPS REMINDING ME THE FACT THAT I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO MAKE ONE MYSELF /flings myself out the window/