Tao stared at LuLi, blinking. Was this really happening? Fate was working in his favor! He didn’t even know what game he was going to play with her, but he was glad that he was the one that got picked. If it would have been any of the others, he would have died of envy.

Tao stood up and walked over to where LuLi and the MC were now standing, staring at a table full of what looked like snacks. He had no idea what the MC wanted them to do with snacks. Have an eating contest? He didn’t understand it. LuLi on the other hand looked at the snack and knew exactly what game they were going to play. Her heart started to beat faster and she became nervous. How could the MC make them play this game? Of all games, why this one?

“Ok! You will be playing the pocky game as the beauty and the beast.” The MC said happily. The crowd went crazy. Cheers of happiness and cries of envy could be heard throughout the studio.

Tao just stared at the table of snacks. “The what?” he had never heard of this game before. Surprisingly, he had never even eaten this snack before. Maybe in was a Korean thing, but he never heard of this back in China.

“Oh! You’ve probably never heard of this game before. Well what you do is both of you take an end of one of these and then one of you eats it till you get to the other end where the other person is.” The MC explained. “You can’t eat the whole thing though. The whole point of the game is to see how close you can get to the other person and how small of a leftover you can get without eating the whole thing.”

LuLi rubbed her forehead and sighed. She didn’t want to play this with him. Out of all twelve members, how was it that she picked him? She would have gladly done it with someone else. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Tao, it was that it was awkward. He had already kissed her not too long ago and now she had to play this game with him. Talk about awkwardness.

Tao on the other hand was now smiling. He liked this game already. This was his chance to get her to swoon over him. He had already kissed her once, so this game shouldn’t be such a big deal.

“Go ahead and pick which one you want to eat and then who is the one that will be the one eating it.” The MC said before backing up a bit to let the two decide what they wanted to do. Back at the seats, the other eleven boys had various emotions. Some of them found this to be hilarious. Chen and Suho couldn’t stop themselves from laughing. Kris didn’t like this one bit. He went straight to overprotective big brother mode. Lay and D.O. worried about how LuLi was going to handle doing this. Chanyeol was jealous that he wasn’t picked to play the game. He thought he could make it way more fun than Tao could.

“I’ll eat it.” Tao said to LuLi. The two of them were looking at the table at the different kinds.

“How about this one?” LuLi pointed to the pink strawberry flavored one.

“No.”

“Why not?” LuLi whined.

“I’m the one that has to eat it, not you.”

“Oh yeah…”

Tao picked out the plain chocolate one, not wanting to go too fancy with it. The MC stepped forward again and grinned. He was having too much fun with this. He knew that they’d probably be awkward with each other. He was happy though, because he knew that viewer ratings for this episode will skyrocket just because of this game.

“Ok! Let’s start!” The MC yelled. The crowd went berserk. So many emotions could be heard throughout the studio. This will definitely be a moment to remember.

Tao stepped closer to LuLi and put one end of the pocky in his mouth. He bent down a bit so LuLi could reach and he waited for her to bite the other end. LuLi stared at him for a few seconds. This was bad, really bad, she kept thinking to herself. Since she knew his feelings for her, this just made it all the more difficult. She didn’t want to play this game with him. She was afraid that she’d like it.

Finally, LuLi bit the other end and waited. Her heart started beating like crazy and she felt nervous. She looked up at Tao and noticed that he was slightly smirking at her. She didn’t like that expression that he made. It just made her more nervous.

Tao took the first bite towards her. LuLi jumped slightly, freaking herself out. She looked at Tao again and noticed him laugh a little at her reaction. He winked at her playfully and bit down on the pocky again. LuLi decided not to look at him and just focus on the pocky stick.

He bit down again and again. Slowly getting closer and closer to her end. LuLi took a step backwards and he took a step forward. She put her hand on his arm, refraining him from stepping any closer to her body. Tao got to a certain point where he was just two inches from her end. He stopped biting the snack and looked into her eyes. LuLi looked up at him when she noticed that he had stopped. She gasped at the nearness of his face. Looking into his eyes, she noticed how handsome of a boy he was. People always complained and laughed at him for his dark circles, but LuLi kind of liked them. They made him look unique and different from other boys. They were a part of him. She looked over his face quickly before returning to his eyes. Tao quietly gave her a message. He was asking her permission if he should continue or not. When LuLi made no move or rejection, he shrugged and continued on.

Closer…Closer…Closer…

LuLi held her breath. He was now so close that she could feel his soft breathing. Tao was no longer looking at her, but at the remaining stick and her lips. LuLi on the other hand was now staring at him. The crowd was quiet now, everyone waiting. Tao was so close now. He bit down again.

LuLi knew what would happen if he moved much closer. Their lips would touch. The crowd would go crazy and it would definitely be caught on camera for millions to see.

Tao glanced up at LuLi’s face and saw the panic in her eyes. He didn’t want to embarrass her on camera. Tao took one last bite. He bit a smaller amount than he had been biting previously. He bit down, a centimeter away from touching her lips. Pulling back, he couldn’t help but smile at LuLi’s expression. She stood there stunned with the remaining snack sticking out of . She blinked a few times, trying to calm herself and come back to reality. She had been so close to kissing him again.

“WOAH!!!” The MC jumped up and clapped, walking towards them. “That was great! Everyone or beauty and our beast!” the MC gestured to the two as they both walked back to take their seats. LuLi was still stunned. She was having a hard time getting what just happened out of her head. “Tao I have a question for you. Why did you stop halfway through?”

“I wanted to ask her permission to continue.” He stated simply.

“What a gentleman. Most guys would have just continued, not caring if the girl didn’t want them to.” The MC laughed and the crowd did with him.

LuLi turned in her chair slightly to look at where Tao was sitting in the back row. She had no idea what to make of all this. She had almost kissed him again. They were so close to touching. It made her feel nervous and scared and anxious. But she knew one thing. She regretted him stopping.  

After their schedules for the day, LuLi went off by herself to think. She had avoided Tao the whole day after that interview. She couldn’t get that game out of her head all day. She kept thinking about how close he had been and how close she had been to kissing him. She felt embarrassed with herself for wanting him to kiss her. She didn’t know what was going on with herself or why she was now having these wants.

LuLi was walking around outside of their building where their dorm was. She looked up at the sky and gave out a loud sigh, breathing in the fresh night air.

“You know, I don’t think someone like you has the right to be in a relationship. Especially when it’s a wolf.” Came a voice from in front of her. LuLi stopped and stared at the person in front of her with fear in her eyes. She clenched her fists and took a step backwards, prepared to run if she had to.  

“What do you want G-dragon?”

Ok so I decided to make this chapter a little more lighthearted because I plan to have a lot of intense scenes coming up. So enjoy!