On the verge of debuting, the boys were getting busier and for Jamie, the girl had it quite hard as well. Got accepted into the main dance class meaning training would get more intensive and how she found there was barely enough room to breath between different classes. Language was mentally draining and dance was physically draining. Vocal was as mysteriously as ever, at least to the EXO boys.

Though they rarely had time to hang out, the bunch bumped into each other more than once a day. Minus the hair ruffling, Tao still got Jamie into a headlock in a form of greeting between the two. Neither the rest of the boys or the victim herself knew the reason behind such etiquette. The odd part was that Jamie never demand her panda sunbae to stop or Tao would ever realize the girl rosy cheeks as he lung his arm around her. Much to Sehun’s displeasure, his hunch was confirmed correct. But what intrigued him the most was probably how Jamie and Baekhyun was almost best of friends.

The older always patted the young girl on the head while she offered the brightest smile. He caught them on a coffee break ‘date’ several times in the company cafeteria. Despite the sight upset him, he praised her guts for enduring all virtual daggers thrown at her not-so-subtly. Sehun found himself sighing more than usual. Not like those stubborn teenagers, he came to realization not long after their ‘shopping date’. For the duration of 3 and a half months since he knew the girl, he managed to discover many sides to this petite girl. Even though at the first meeting she was one throne in the eye, Jamie began to grow on him. Not once when he would coincidentally saw the girl, did he not feel the butterflies in his stomach. His heart rate picked up and the oh-so-familiar warm feeling coursed though his blood veins. And when she caught his gaze, she would casually raise her hand in greeting. He would quickly turn away and speed walk out of sight without a destination. Usually he would find himself in embarrassing situations like standing stone-faced in a middle of a dance class, oblivious to the stares concentrated on him until the teacher kicked him out.

Yes, Oh Sehun, the flower boy, had his first ever crush.

No doubt the bubbling feeling in his stomach confused him. He had never denied the obvious attractive to the cat girl. The signs were all there; fast heart beats, blushing, getting all shy or ing up his manly pride etc.

Sehun was never the type to think and delve in his thoughts. Simply said, he's a pretty carefree individual. He's the baby of the group, the supposedly not so manly despite his looks. And to make you understand his mental misery, he'd never cared so immersely about anything or more importantly anyone in his whole life. 

He snapped out of it though when a girly yelp echoed through the hallway.

Sehun sighed again like a hard-to-break-habit. Not becauseTao got Jamie into another headlock. Not because the girl, even though, sicked of being harassed by her beloved sunbae, she always broke into a grin when her crush was near. 

It was because he didn't even notice Tao was behind him this all time, that Tao sprinted pass him to get to Jamie when he didn't see her, that Baekhyun who was behind him as well, was now walking towards the bickering duo. 

“Ugnnn, sunbae! I can’t breath!” Jamie flailed her arms around uselessly while Tao continued to grin but never loosen his grip.

Sehun raised an eyebrow when Baekhyun came over and slapped Tao’s head. The boy whimpered and released his grip around the petite girl.

“Thank you Baek sunbae.” Jamie smiled gratefully before turning to glare at Tao.

Baek sunbae? Sehun frowned mentally.

Baekhyun gave Tao a stern look but turned all angel when he shifted his attention to the feline girl.

“Lunch?”

“Not yet.” Jamie pouted.

“Let’s go then.” Baekhyun replied as he turned around and motioned Sehun, who was standing on the sideline, over.

“Where are the others?” He asked Sehun who merely shrugged.

As if on a cue, all three EXO members phones rang. They briefly looked at each other before retrieving their own mobile and realized they all received the same text message.

Baekhyun chuckled as he pocketed his phone and turned to a rather lost Jamie again. “They went out for lunch already. Wanna tag along?”

With little hesitation, Jamie smiled at her sunbae. “Um, I’d love to.”

Baekhyun gave his dongsaengs a wink and draped his arm over Jamie’s shoulder. Tao scowled and scrambled after the duo to pry Baek’s arm off but Jamie kicked his shin instead. Baekhyun chortled along with Jamie as Tao rubbed his ‘oo’. Sehun stilled for a moment before trailing after the bickering trio. The group lunch date was set at a Chinese restaurant 5 mins walk away from the company. While the three continued to bicker, Sehun sulked by himself behind them. Of course he didn’t notice he bumped in a lamp post until he saw Jamie’s face less then 10 cm away from his. Her eyebrows furrowed together in worry as she reached out to brush Sehun’s fringe aside.

“Yah. Look where you’re going. Now you’re getting an ugly bump plastered on your forehead.” She scolded him lightly.

Sehun blushed, again. Ears failed to catch anything beside her smoothing voice.

He’s falling fast. Fast and deep.

And it scared him more than he expected.

So he resulted in pulling himself off the ground, a little too quick. Their foreheads bumped into each other that had Sehun shouted louder than average in pain. There’s a bump on his forehead after all.

“Ow. Are you alright? Don’t stand up so quickly idiot.”

“Y-Yea...” Sehun croaked, cupping his forehead in pain.

“You’re such a klutz.” Baekhyun patted Sehun’s . “Come on we have somewhere to be.”

Sehun frowned as the stinging sensation lingered, pouting to no one in particular. Jamie’s lips quirked into a small smile at the childish behavior.

Such a baby. She fought back a giggle mentally.

They arrived at the small family restaurant not long after. The other EXO members already got themselves settled, chatting animatedly with one another, maybe except for Yixing who’s blanking out at usual.

“Hey guys.” Baekhyun droned as the rest waved back half-heartedly.

“Hello sunbaes.” Jamie bowed as she appeared behind the tall maknaes.

The boys smiled warmly at the young girl as Chanyeol motioned her to sit down next to her. Jamie rubbed the back of her neck at Chanyeol’s enthusiasm and scramble to the seat in small steps only for it to be taken by no one other than Oh Sehun.

“Hey!” Chanyeol protested but before he could get rid of Sehun, Tao already pulled the girl along and plopped down in the seats across the table. The hyungs’ eyes widened at the surprise teamwork between the maknae of M and K but said nothing against the matter. So Jamie was stuck with Baekhyun on her right and Tao on her left while Sehun sat across of her and Chanyeol on Sehun’s right.

Since the eldest hyung complained about his starved stomach, everyone quickly placed their orders. The chaos happened again but this time the group toned it down since they were eating in a relatively smaller and more crowded space. As the waiter scrambled away with two pages of orders, Chanyeol immediately displayed his irritation towards the maknaes.

“I swear maknaes are spawns of the devil.”

Jamie flashed Chanyeol an apologetic look but remained quiet. Suho chuckled at the young girl.

“Get shy all over again, are we?”

Jamie’s cheeks reddened at K’s leader straightforwardness as she sheepishly smile with her head hung low. The boys couldn’t help but wanted to pinch those chubby, squishy cheeks.

“I’m sorry...”

“No no why are you sorry? Don’t be shy. We’re all friends here.” Suho offered her an angelic smile which made Jamie blushed madly.

“Why are you grinning?” Tao poked her cheeks.

Flustered, Jamie stammered. “W-well.. err.... I-I... i-it’s n-nothing... I- err ...just happy y-you’re so kind to me.”

“Ehhh. How cute.” Chanyeol chimed, only made Jamie blushed even harder.

“Stop teasing her guys.” Baekhyun said as he propped his hand on the her left shoulder, playing with her ear.

The rest of the boys’ mouths gaped open as they stared at the scandalous hand. What shocked them the most would be how Jamie wasn’t one bit affected by the intimate gesture. She looked up at her sunbaes when she realized it became too quite.

“What’s wrong?” She titled her head unconsciously as Baekhyun pinched her cheek and cooed.

“Aww so cute.”

Jamie laughed and swatted her sunbae’s hand away playfully. “Stop it sunbae. You ask them to stop teasing me but you’re doing it. How sly.”

Baekhyun pouted before sticking her tongue out at the young girl who reciprocated the childish action.

Sitting across, Sehun was fuming. Not with rage. But jealousy. Tao was enough to make him want to strangle a unicorn. Now if Baekhyun stepped into the game, his chance decreased dramatically. His so-called-chance would not even exist at this point. All the thoughts slowly drove Sehun over the verge of sanity as his hands became clammy and sweaty. He continuously wiped his hands against his jeans more than once a minute. Chanyeol noticed the maknae’s weird behavior but decided not to ask. O

Suddenly Sehun felt a little kick to his foot, he frowned and peered down at the table to see Jamie’s feet settled between his before retracted themselves slowly. He looked up to see Jamie bit her lips and smiled shyly as she mouthed ‘sorry’. The corner of his mouth twitched as small light bulb lit up. Sehun quickly hooked Jamie’s right foot and trapped it under his grasp. He smirked when the girl released a small gasp. Jamie kept glanced up at Sehun with furrowed eyebrows while the said boy sported his usual void of emotion poker face. Glancing at Baekhyun, whose hand went back to fiddling with Jamie’s ear, and Tao who was chatting with Kris, Sehun openly smirked. Jamie glowered before she hissed lowly so only he could hear.

“Sehun. LET. GO.”

“Nope.”

“OH. SE. HUN.”

“What did you say?”

“LET. GO.”

“Nuh uh.” Sehun shook his head like a little child.

Jamie rolled her eyes at the childish male and decided to ignore it all together.

So much for trying to be nice. Jamie groaned.

Sehun smiled triumphantly when Jamie relaxed and her expression became more neutral.

What they didn’t know was that their little interaction didn’t go on the blind eye.

From: Gramps

Our maknae is having a little crush.

From: Bacon

-giggling- He sure is. You know what’s funny?

From: Gramps

What?

From: Bacon

Jamie is liking someone else and apparently our maknae isn’t so dumb not to notice.

From: Gramps

Tao isn’t it?

From: Bacon

As obvious as it could be.

From: Gramps

Jamie isn’t that secretive about it either.

From: Bacon

Tao is too dumb to notice.

From: Gramps

I doubt Tao would ever be this oblivious.

From: Bacon

He is. This going on for a month already and he never react on it? I doubt he knows.

From: Gramps

Maybe you’re right. But how about you?

From: Bacon

What about me?

From: Gramps

You seem quite close to her.

From: Bacon

Hahaha. It’s all in my head hyung.

From: Gramps

Don’t tell me this is one of your schemes?

From: Bacon

You know me the best hyung. Kekekeke

From: Gramps

Ugh, Baek. I swear. If you mess this up, guardian or not I’ll skin you.

From: Bacon

Don’t worry hyung. I like Jamie a lot. I’m not playing around with her. She’s like a sister to me.

From: Gramps

You better not.

From: Bacon

Beside, she’s quite comfortable with me too. She told me I’m like a big brother she always wished to have. It was so cute >.<

From: Gramps

She’s a lovely girl. It’s not hard to understand why Tao let her in.

From: Bacon

Yea. I’m glad Tao open up a little. And Jamie too. Seriously those two are so alike.

From: Gramps

True. When I first met Jamie, she immediately reminded me of Tao when he first meet us.

From: Bacon

Satisfied your curiosity hyung?

From: Gramps

Kinda. Just don’t mess up.

From: Bacon

Don’t worry. Trust me hyung.

The boys smiled knowingly to themselves as they pocketed their phone. The food arrived immediately after and everyone dug in right away.

“Slow down kids. You’ll choke.” Suho reminded the members but of course, like always it went on deaf ears.

Jamie looked at her left and right then across her seat. The boys were stuffing their face with food. They looked like they could explode any minute.

“Sunbae. Slow down. Nobody is stealing your food.” She plead worriedly.

The boys quickly swallowed the food in their mouths before chorused ‘okays’. Suho shook his head in disbelief and went back to devour his food in grief. Meanwhile Chanyeol reached over to ruffle Jamie’s hair.

“Aww worrying about your sunbaes. You’re so cute!” He exclaimed, making Jamie all shy again.

When Tao noticed Chanyeol’s hand lingered too long on Jamie’s hair, he pinched the giant’s hand as he retreated his hand quickly.

“Ouch! Huang Zitao!”

“If you ruffle Jamie’s hair, it would get all tangle up and it is really hard and painful to untangle it so don’t do it next time hyung.”

Jamie scoffed and about to retort but Tao swiftly placed his hand over the girl’s mouth to prevent her from blurting out anything that would potentially embarrass him.

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior but let it slide. “I see. Sorry Jamie.”

“It’s okay sunbae. Just lightly is fine.” Jamie smiled.

“No it’s not okay.” Tao objected.

Jamie glared at the panda boy. “I say it’s f-“

Tao put his hand over again, effectively shut the girl up.

“It’s not fine. Just don’t do it hyung.” Tao said one final time.

Jamie heaved a sigh, glared at the panda one last time before turning back to her own food. Chanyeol smirked to himself as he caught Baekhyun’s knowing look directed to the duo then back at him.

“Interesting.” He muttered between bites.

The bunch finished their lunch 15 minutes later. Noting there’s only 10 minutes left, they all walked back to the company together. Baekhyun and Jamie was attached by the hips as the two chattered to each other. Tao trailed closely behind them with a scowl on his face, upset that his friend was stolen away by his hyung. Sehun watched from a distance, though irritated, hid his discomfort quite well. Not well enough though.

“What do you have after lunch?” Baekhyun asked.

“Language class then vocal training.” Jamie replied as she brushed her long bangs away from her eyes.

Baekhyun eyed the girl’s attempt from moving the hair away but the strands never stay in place due to the blowing wind.

“Do you have a hair clip?”

“Eh? Ummm... I don’t think so. Let me see.” Jamie searched her pockets and beamed when she discovered a pin attached to the pocket of her hoodie.

“Aha! Seems like I stashed one here just in case.” Jamie smiled as she removed the pin to use it and secured the haywire of bangs.

Baekhyun snatched the pin out of her fingers which startled Jamie before gathered her bangs together and pinned them on top.

“There you go.”

Jamie smiled as she thanked her sunbae, oblivious to the dark auras emitting from two certain males. Baekhyun turned back and winked, provoking both boys. He chortled at their obvious jealousy and slung his arm around Jamie. Baekhyun jogged the rest of the way back to the company with a slight confused Jamie who ended up following her hyper sunbae. Hearing Baekhyun laughter and Jamie soft shriek made Tao and Sehun visibly cringed.

Suho and Chanyeol glanced at both males before shaking their head.

Those two idiots.