“Yah hyung~ Don’t look at me that way. How am I to know we’d end early,” Minho raised an eyebrow at his maknae. He pulled Taemin out of the auditorium.

“So where can Cleo be?” Minho pondered as he eyed around the empty forest. Taemin looked up from his phone.

“Ouh Cleo? She’s with Jonghyun. They’re out for some shopping. It seems like she doesn’t really know Seoul that much..hahhh,” Taemin shrugged his shoulder as he went back to playing the game on his phone. Minho spun on his heels, staring at Taemin.

“What?! Alone?? Just the two of them?? WHY?!” Minho shrieked in a not-so-manly manner which caused Taemin to stumble a few feet back.

“Well how am I supposed to know that we’re gonna end early today. Don’t blame me! I aint a psychic Hyung!” Minho then realized his actions and pulled himself together. He cleared his throat awkwardly as his cheeks burned in embarrassment. Taemin peeked at his hyung’s face carefully, trying to understand what the matter with him was. He never knew that his hyung could react such a way. It was just too not composed of him.

“Wh-why don’t we give them a call and perhaps join them?” Minho suggested sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, avoiding his maknae’s curios eyes. Taemin hesitated for a while but then simply shrugged his shoulders and dialled Cleo’s number out of memory.

                                                                                                                                       XXX

“Why are you guys here again?” Jonghyun asked the two boys sitting across him and Cleo as they waited for their lunch orders to arrive. Both boys displayed two very different facial expressions. Taemin was literally bouncing in his seat whereas Minho seemed to be brooding over something on the surface of the brown table.

“Like I said Hyung, Minho-Hyung and I ended our class extra early today thus we decided to join you guys for lunch. Isn’t that exciting?hmm?!!” Cleo giggled unsophisticatedly at Taemin’s overly-excited being and attracted herself all three pairs of eyes.

“Sorry, it’s just…hahaha…Taemin-oppa is just too adorable!” Cleo laughed even harder when Taemin seemed to bounce even more after hearing what she had to say. Minho’s hand stilled the boy to a stop and earned himself a pout and a whine which he simply brush off with a glance. The waitress finally came over to their table with their food. Cleo could not help but to feel this slight burning feeling in the pit of her stomach when the waitress giggled over Jonghyun’s “Thank you”. Cleo glared at the girl slightly. The hell is she giggling for?

“Errmm…Cleo, is everything alright? Did she give you the wrong order? Should I call her back?” Cleo snapped out of her reverie. She cleared .

“Ah ahh nono this is the pasta! Yup Yup, I ordered this. No need to call her back. Thanks,” Cleo muttered incoherently as she took the spoon and fork that Minho held out for her. Everyone gave her puzzled looks before hunger took over their attention and all four of them dug into their respective lunches.

The four of them walked through the crowded flea market. Thanks to the hats that Cleo helped to buy for them at a random shop, the idol boys were able to roam about freely without having to worry about being recognized. They were after all in an international high school’s uniform. Even if they were to be in a school uniform, they would definitely not be in an international’s one. Thus the four of them were able to enjoy themselves. Cleo swore she had never laughed so much in the entire sixteen years of her life. The boys were literally killing her. She was sure for a while that she might have gotten herself some abs.

“Yah Cleo, don’t you think this looks nice on you?” Cleo turned as Taemin grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her to a stop. As if on instinct, her hand grasped onto Jonghyun’s elbow. He too stopped. Taemin held up a black crystal star hanging onto a thin silver chain. Cleo gasped at the beauty of the necklace. She held out her palm as Taemin placed the necklace onto it gently. Cleo gaped at it.

“Nehh…gosh it’s soo pretty~” Cleo squealed as her eyes sparkled when the shiny black star caught the sunlight. Cleo turned to the lady behind the table of accessories.

“How much is this?” Cleo held out the necklace. The lady leaned forward to look at it clearly before smiling at her gently.

“That my dear is actually a very very special necklace. It’s not just a normal star. There’s a story behind it. So it cost about $13,” Cleo and the boys looked at each other, surprised by the price of it. Jonghyun gave Cleo a nonchalant glance before walking off to look at something the others were selling. Taemin fidgeted about before bouncing after his hyung. Cleo puffed out her cheeks. Boys, their attention span is as equivalent to a teaspoon.

"Ahh...that's interesting.."Cleo end off lamely. She glanced up to her side to see Minho staring right back at her. Her heart sped at the intense stare. She shuffled between her two feet before looking back at the lady and giving her an apologetic smile. She thanked her and placed the necklace back onto the table amongst the other authentic accessories. The price of it was just too out of her budget range. She gave the necklace one last longing glance before turning to head off to where the other two boys had gone. Minho watched as Cleo's right hand his arm casually as she brushed passed him. The touch was brief but it managed to send chills down his spine and slight tinges of pink to his cheeks. It was however not left unnoticed as the sound of someone clearing was heard, earning his attention. He turned back to the lady, her eyebrow raised and gave him a knowing smile. 

"I think you might want to know the story behind that star," she jerked her chin towards the piece of necklace that stood out amongst its other mates. Minho's eyes travelled down towards the necklace before trailing off towards the petite girl with long wavy brown hair bouncing around under the sun. His heart squeezed as his eyes fixed onto that same right hand of hers that was curved, grasping tightly onto Jonghyun's elbow.

"So do you want to hear about it?" Minho stayed quiet for a minute before giving her a sharp nod of his head. The lady gave him a toothy grin.


"Okay..Okay. I think I better pick up her call. It's her ninth call now and I want a long life," Cleo chuckled as they scurried off to stand in the long queue for a taxi just outside the shopping mall that they had explored. She inhaled loudly before answering the call. Her head instantly jerked about a meter away from her phone as soon as she pressed answer. Bell's voice was very loud and clear as it travelled out from the phone's receiver without the need to click “speaker”. Taemin chuckled as he shook his head at Bell's odd and extremely unladylike personality. 

"Yes yes I'm sorry. Gosh! No we're just about to go back now. No we're not gonna meet you guys at the Audi. Why? Well cause it's already half pass 7 in the evening. No, I won't buy you KFC. Why? Well cause I'm going home after this. No! What? Why? Fine. Yesyes. I know. Gosh FINE!" Cleo hung up finally after a very messy conversation with Bell. Taemin, Jonghyun and Minho waited for what she had to say. Cleo sighed dejectedly before giving them a grimace. She her heel, entered the mall once again with the boys tailing after her quietly, towards a fast food restaurant known as KFC.

Cleo stood in line with a slight frown on her lips. She was literally scowling in annoyance. She was tired, and sleepy. 

Why can't Bell buy her own dinner?!

She pulled out her phone with a grunt as it beeped. A text from Bell with her dinner order made her scowl once again. Typing out a quick and rather harsh reply, Cleo felt a familiar presence beside her. Glancing to her side, she was not expecting to see Minho there. She thought the boys went to sit somewhere. Minho's eyes flicked to the girl beside him noticing that she was watching him. Giving her a quick smile he faced forward once again. A smile of her own tugged at the corner of her lips, an unconscious reaction resulted from the flutter she felt in the pit of her stomach.  Still smiling Cleo finally turned to the guy on the other side of the counter and gave him Bell’s order.

“So bye guys. It had been a wonderful day but I’ll go off from here. Gotta send Bell her dinner,” Cleo lifted up the bag of food.

“Alone?” Taemin asked.

“Don’t worry. I can manage it myself,” Cleo gave him a reassuring smile.

“No way are you going home alone. Hyung, go and accompany her,” Taemin tugged onto Jonghyun’s sleeve, pulling the shorter boy forward. Jonghyun shrugged his arm out of his maknae’s grasp.

“Yah, I’m exhausted and busy. She said she’ll be fine, right?” Jonghyun jerked his chin at her. Cleo’s heart thumped against her chest. His words had somehow created something to stir in her. She winced inwardly at the sudden surge of pain she felt shooting up to her chest.  Her eyes quickly turned to her fingers which were twisting the handles of the plastic bag together.

Twisting them over and over again till they were tightly squeezed, not knowing that it was exactly what her heart was feeling at that very moment. Her heart sank further at the weight of his blunt words.

Giving them a curt nod, she waved at the three boys a goodbye.

Taemin waved hesitantly.

Jonghyun waved nonchalantly.

But Minho stepped forward and took the bag from her hand before waving briefly at the other two boys.

The rest simply raised their eyebrows at him, including Cleo.

“I’ll accompany her. See y’all at home,” Minho turned and took hold of Cleo’s hand which was still frozen in mid-wave. Cleo stumbled after him and tried to catch up with his strides. She stared up at him in utter shock at his sudden action. Her cheeks grew warm as Minho did not spare her a single glance but she could see his face was calm and gentle. That same fluttering feeling from earlier returned, tickling the walls of her stomach. With every step they took, Cleo felt her heart slowly loosened up from its tight constraint just like how Minho was undoing the twists of the handles, freeing them. A smile found its way up to her lips as her fingers returned the grip the other boy had on her hand as the two of them walked further into the calm night.

XXX

His phone rang, making the person beside him jump. He quickly dug his phone out from his school blazer’s pocket to see the caller ID. His lips curved upwards instantly as he saw who was calling him.

“Hey,” He answered giddily, the other raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yeah I’m free. Sure I’ll meet you. See you,” He hung up, a grin prominent on his face. The guy beside him waved his hand in front of the other’s face.

“I gotta go. Bye!” Ruffling the younger’s hair; he hopped off to meet the girl who just rang him up a second ago.

“But I thought you said you were tired and busy!!!!!” the boy shouted after the other guy in disappointment. His words reached out to deaf ears.

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It's finally the holidays again. Hope to update this fic as much as possible. 

Gosh.hehehehe Anyways....wanted this chapter to be a birthday chap to celebrate Minho's bdae

but oh well....it's past 12am. Boo~

Hope you enjoyed.