You and I, we don’t want to be like them; We can make it till the end.

 Nothing can come between you and I

Right after the awards in Hong Kong, all artists went back to Korea almost immediately, gladly because the weather had been cooperative for today. With the sun b in the boys' plane windows, and the crowd of fans and paparazzi that welcomed the group, today's morning had already been exhausting for the gang.

EXO was sent back to the SM building a few hours after their flight landed in Incheon. This week, they were scheduled to practice for their upcoming album to be released in the second week of December.

For the last Sunday of November, (and barely three days before Chanyeol’s birthday), right after their dance practice, Chanyeol and the other members were cooped up in their recording studio, to put on the final touches of ‘Christmas Day’, one of the songs from their upcoming album. While the other boys were too busy with their own work (the kids were mostly eating, and playing around), Chanyeol had grabbed his phone to call Dara, only to find out it has no battery. Chanyeol’s face scrunched, “What? I just charged this before we left?”

Chanyeol sees the first guy he could blame, “You drained my phone, Kai.” Chanyeol instantly tells the younger guy, who on the other hand, is oblivious to the blame.

“What? Me?” Kai shakes his head, “It wasn’t me, it was Sehun-ah.”

Chanyeol has no time to listen to whatever Kai’s excuse could be, grumpily, Chanyeol nudges on the guy seated beside him, Lay, “I need to call someone, lend me your phone, please.” He begs.

“Call someone? Who?” Lay asks with curiosity, although he lends him his phone nevertheless.

Chanyeol grabs the phone immediately, and then types the number on the iPhone’s keypad, digits he had clearly memorized by heart (from the first day he knew her number). The phone rings four times, before the call gets answered.

“Dara noona!" A smile creeps on Chanyeol’s face, but it turns to a frown when a guy answers the phone instead, Chanyeol swears that he got the number right, though. “Is this, Chanyeollie?” The guy on the other line answers, recognizing the big guy’s voice.

“Ah, nae nae.” Chanyeol hesitantly answers.

Chanyeol could hear shuffling on the other line, and then hears a faint “It’s just Chanyeol” being said by the guy on the other side.

Chanyeol tries to hide the smile that erupts from the side of his lips when he hears the voice he wanted to, “Noona!”

“Chanyeollie~~” Dara adorably calls, Chanyeol widely grinning at her tone of voice, someone seems really happy.

“I am so so sorry about Jjangmae oppa, he answered my phone. I didn't know whose number was this so I wasn’t the one who answered my phone.” Dara reasons out, and Chanyeol understands Dara’s dilemma.

He nods understandingly, although Dara wouldn’t even see the act, “Are you busy? I wanted.. to meet you before you and I become busy soon.” Chanyeol hesitantly says.

“How about right now? I’m not busy, are you?” Dara asks on the other line and this time the smile on his face turns to a curve with his eyes, too.

"Not really, we just finished with work, do you want to get some ice cream?" Chanyeol suggests, and Dara breaks in to a laugh all of a sudden.

Like minds in sync, Dara breaks into a wide smile to what Chanyeol had just offered; "I was actually craving for ice cream right now."

They set to meet up in the closest Natuur Pop ice cream parlor, as requested by Dara. Chanyeol waits for Dara outside the store before he comes inside, (gentleman’s instinct). He checks on his watch, it was nearing two in the afternoon – perfect for ice cream, right? The sun is shining bright, too bright that Chanyeol’s eyes accidentally squint from the heat.

He then hears someone call for him, seeing Dara who was walking towards his way. Dara was wearing a black-and-white dress, cut short at the front, but hid her legs from the back. She was wearing her stage outfit for her comeback on Inkigayo.

Chanyeol’s mouth went agape at the sight of Dara, fully dressed up, and pretty (as always), "Y-you could have told me, we could have scheduled our date some other time." Chanyeol huffed the air from his cheeks, if she was so busy, she could have said no.

"What?" Dara asks, a smile forming on her lips.

"We—Whaf-- What I meant was we could schedule it at another date." Chanyeol corrects what he just said right after he realized it.

"Oh, I thought I heard it the wrong way." Dara innocently shrugs her shoulders. Dara breathes out a silent sigh, because she knows she heard it different the first time, Chanyeol had just asked her for a date, right? Dara couldn’t help but smile, but keeps it at bay, not to seem too excited for their supposed-‘date’. She pushes the door, and they both go inside.

"Anyway, I wanted to meet now too, since you're going to be busy with your Christmas promotions together with your upcoming show, too; and I would be busy with my Missing You promotions. So we would not know when we would meet again."

Project Chanyeol 2A: Make time for him.

Chanyeol sighs silently, he would want to meet up with her again soon, but if work is in the way.. Sigh.

“What Is your favorite flavor?” Chanyeol asks Dara, the way her eyes lit up at the sight of the cold treat hints Chanyeol that it’s her favorite shop.

“PS. I love you!” Dara beams.

“Wha--?I I love yo—“ Chanyeol stops when Dara points to the flavored ice cream in the tub.

Ah, it was a flavor, the embarrassment makes Chanyeol blush, “I love that too.” Chanyeol says instead to divert his previous statement (again). Chanyeol should stop assuming things, really.

“You do? I love strawberries.” Dara tells Chanyeol as they wait in line to order.

“But I’m going to order something different, since I could always eat yours.” Chanyeol teases her.

Dara orders her “PS. I love you” in a cone, and Chanyeol orders a “Bling Bling Sky” for himself. Chanyeol grabs his wallet and pulls out a few papers of cash.

Project Chanyeol 2B: Subtly give hints.

“Since I owe you for losing the bet.”  He charmingly says, and then adds a wink. Dara isn’t fazed by Chanyeol’s wink; she prefers the cute Chanyeol rather than the cool-bad one. Dara thanks Chanyeol, and then starts munching on her two-scoop ice cream.

“Speaking of the bet, we haven’t talked about your consequence, mister.” They talk leisurely by the side of the store, seated at the bar stools situated all over the shop.

“Well then, what do you want me to do, miss?” Chanyeol asks.

“I was thinking of something embarrassing, or something different, real different. Would you scream my name on one of your performances? Or maybe hold a Dara fanboard?” Dara suggests.

“Ah~ That’s toooo easy, noona.” Chanyeol the side of his ice cream cone.

“Oh really?”

Chanyeol nods.

A sudden flash gets Chanyeol’s attention, he turns around to see where it came from, and he sees shuffling from the bushes right outside. Chanyeol’s eyes turn to slits, and he sees two men holding cameras, faced towards them. He recognizes one of the cameramen; he knows how sly the stranger could get, but he doesn’t mind the guy, maybe after a few photos he’d go away.

“How about you sing to me your new song, ah, Miracles in December?”

“But noona, Baekhyun and the others sing that song, not us – definitely not me.” Chanyeol shakes his head.

“Even just a bit?”

“I’m struggling to find you who I cannot see.. I’m struggling to find you who I cannot hear.. I see things that I couldn’t see before.. I hear things that I couldn’t hear before.” Chanyeol stops by the first verse.

“Ah! Unfair.” Dara playfully slaps Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol sees the guy from the outside move to position his camera again – he sends him a glare but the cameraman takes a photo of him instead.

“I don’t have a great voice, noona. The song goes higher from that point.” Chanyeol explains the sudden stop from his singing. He wasn’t confident singing in front of Dara, either.