“I—“ I tried to think. What the hell is he asking about. Seungri wallpaper on my phone? Like I change that every week. and this week is Seungri's week. Last week was Jo Insung. What.

“Did you know him from before?” his other hand crawled to my back as he attempted to pull me closer.

I—could seriously kiss this guy now. And do many more things I have imagined to him: like cuddling in his embrace, or cooing into his ears. I smiled a little remembering our moments in the cinema. I liked that. 

But no.

My useless conscious had to remind me of why I left the EXO room earlier on. Why my heart was aching, before he made it pumped and hyped again. What made me stand here in this deserted hall with him, Do Kyungsoo. 

A smirk formed on the side of my lips, disgusted by the fact that I almost made myself an easy . Okay, so I may have tripped and fell into some feelings. I’m okay now, I thought to myself. I brushed that off. Well, maybe not all of it.

I may have alarmed him by subtly pushing him off me. Praising my composed and calm self, I made sure to look at him in the eye.

“Oh. You noticed?” the in me answered. But some part of me wanted to know why the sudden interest? Did he want to know where I downloaded it? Well, it was from ing tumblr, Do Kyungsoo. No, that can’t be it. Lol..

I was brushing off whatever it was in my hair when I noticed that he was just standing there in front of me. So I gave him a look, like nothing was a big deal. He just blinked a few times and said that our special stage will be starting soon and we better head down to get ready.

“Okay,” I agreed, short. It wasn’t necessary to show aegyo or fluster, because deep down, I still feel hurt thinking that he might have played with my feelings all along. Or was it just me.

So the special stage happened. And it wasn’t named special stage for no reason. The props were amazingly cute. I did feel special indeed. Both D.O and me sang just like we rehearsed, and fans loved it. I spotted a handful of ‘D.Omi’ and ‘MiSoo’ signs and poster and thought it was cute. It’s a bit shocking to see fans rooting for us. Well, sorry to disappoint all your lovely hearts. Do Kyungsoo isn’t interested in me. He’s just—nice. To everybody. I guess. 

“Where are you going?” Kyungsoo grabbed my hands to stop me in my steps once we finished our song. I was going to my group’s waiting room. Where else would I go? The last thing I want to do as of that moment was to face him. I did a lot of thinking. A lot of it while we were on stage just now. And from there, I decided on my own that I have to avoid this guy. I know I’ve told myself so many times that he is a dangerous guy. Why won’t I listen to myself? ‘I told you,’ I said to myself..

“Going away from you,” I shot him a careless look and pulled my hand free from him. Not going to lie that pulling away from him is so hard. Damn harder than saying no to Nutella. I mean—look at that face of his. Can you please not make those eyes of your any wider, Do Kyungsoo? Kill me now.

“Ah, oppa~,”  somebody’s voice made an appearance. Both of us turned to face this person, and who could it be? The same girl idol he was with this morning? I just watched in awe as this girl literally threw herself at him, saying that she loved his performance just now and how she wished to do a duet with him.

No it wasn’t the same girl from before. It’s a different one. Where the actual are these girls coming from? How come I’ve never seen them before? SM breeding girl trainees or what?

Seriously, it ain’t my business and if Kyungsoo is keeping himself busy with these girls, perhaps taking them out for dates, asking them to call him ‘oppa’, then I’ll just let him be. I don’t want to be one of ‘his’. That’s not my style. And if any one of my eonnies know about this, I will never hear the end to this.

So I guess excusing myself was the best thing to do. And just as I was about to leave..

“Hiyomi eonnie! You are my new favourite eonnie now!” the girl proclaimed in a very loud shrieking, it almost triggered my migraine sensors. I cringed a little and looked towards Kyungsoo in confusion.

“Oh,” he pulled me closer by my arm. “Meet Yun Ae, my lil sister from another mister,” he said as he patted Yun Ae’s head.

“Y—your step sister?” I was lost and confused, as both of them started to chortle. No?

“No, eonnie!” the overly friendly Yun Ae grabbed my arms away from Kyungsoo. “I’m just a friend to Kyungsoo oppa and I’m a trainee from SM. But he likes to say that to practically everybody, so basically I’m just like his sister,” she gave me a grin and I thought that it was rather cute.

Okay. So this one is like a sister. How about the other one I saw earlier? No Hiyomi, stop giving yourself false hope. Stop hoping.

Yun Ae left, saying that she has a schedule and that she purposely came to show support to D.O and me. As soon as she left, Kyungsoo looked at me and smiled a soft and kind look.

. First layer of concrete wall crumbled like a lousy fort.

“I have to –“ I quickly made an attempt to scram away from him, afraid if this frail heart of mine would skip to his beat again. You’re so easy, Hiyomi, I scolded myself. Be still my heart, for only to Do Kyungsoo will I allow this.

I looked at myself in the mirror in my own room and thought I looked like the brave girl I thought I was. Although there were tears in my eyes, my face was emotionless. It was hard. Ignoring Do Kyungsoo has been hard and tiring unlike before. I used to ignore all his snarly comments and s, like they never existed. And that didn’t even take up an ounce of effort. But this..

I looked to my phone, lying helplessly on my bed and stared at the five miscalled notification from ‘DoDoDo’. That’s him.

Now you’re looking for me, huh?

“Well, too late for that. I have a party to attend,” I scoffed and looked into the mirror as I dabbed my teary eyes with a tissue.

True enough. My friend from college called earlier and asked me to come over to her house for a mini-scale party, and I thought, what the , I might as well be out and enjoy myself instead of caving-in my own room weeping about how hard it is to forget Do Kyungsoo and that stupid smile of his. 

"Welcome, Hiyomi! I'm so glad you came!" my friend welcomed me as soon as she opened the door to her apartment. Wow. This ain't no mini-scale party. There were at least fifty people moving about in the dimmed-lit room. "Come on and let's party!" She pulled me in. Ohorat then.. Let's par-tay!

Opposite of how my friend welcome me, was how she freaking left me alone as she scurried over to the mini bar to help out her other friends. Well, playing hostest is not easy and I just can't stand around and hope to be treated like royalty here. Besides, I don't think any of these potentially drunk people even recognise me. And this could be a good thing. 

I schemed around, looking for a space for my own self. I certainly didn't come here to mingle, just trying to forget some things. But hey.. I did spot a couple of godly-looking guys. Maybe I should mingle. Just a bit.

"Are you alone? Can I get you a drink?" I nodded and smiled at the guy, who I thought looked like Kim Rae Won if I weren't wearing my contact lenses. Not bad, and has a friendly smile too. Urgh. Right when I'm adapting so well, my brain was reminded of Kyungsoo's kind smile he gave me that evening. I bit my lips, trying hard to not sulk. The guy who offered me a drink just now is back, walking beside him was my friend, the hostest. 

"Oh my god!" She shrieked and covered . " looks like you've met Jae Won, my fiancé!"

Wait what. Okay then. 

So it looks like I missed the memo. This was a bachelor/bachelorette party for the couple. They're getting married soon. Wow. 

"Congratulations, Min," was all I could say, putting on a happy face. And as I was busy listening to Min recapturing every romantic moment they ever had, Jae Won, the fiancé suddenly cut in.

"Oh. I have to introduce you to my friend," he chirped. He bent over to Min and I heard him whisper to her 'he's here by himself too' and I thought, . He's gonna match-make me with one of his single buddies. "Where is that guy.." He peered around the room, and "ahah. Come here, Hiyomi ssi. Follow me," he started pulling me into a direction. Please stop being so excited playing Cupid, was what I intended to say to him, but I didn't want to ruin the celebrated couple's moment, so I just gave in. 

He tapped on a guy who was wearing a black cap, and as he turned around, Jae Won said, "Hey bro, meet my fiancé's friend."

"D.O?"

"Hiyomi?" 

"D.O? Hiyomi?" Jae Won peered his face closer to me to get a closer look. The dimmed-lit room made it hard for him to recognise that it was me, Hiyomi the girl idol. "Oh ! It is you!" he exclaimed and I wondered was there a need to be cursing. Well maybe there is. "Sorry I didn't recognise you back there. I thought you were just one of Min's pretty friends," he chortled. "So you guys do know each other, right. From that show, that dating show, thing," he fumbled, trying his best to remember the name of that stupid show. 

Jae Won finally left, and told us to enjoy ourselves and not to worry because people could hardly recognise us here thanks to the poor lighting and loud music. 

Despite the chaotic atmosphere of the party, it was pretty quiet between the two of us-- awkwardly standing there, whilst the rest of the world seemed to be moving about and dancing to the beat. And then I thought of what Jae Won said a while ago. His friend was alone too? So.. Kyungsoo didn't bring his girlfriend or a partner? 

"I tried to call you on your phone," he finally broke our silence, leaning in a bit closer to me since the music was loud. I noticed that his attire was as simple as , plain black T with plain black jeans. Now, I feel overdressed.

'Jyeah, like five times,' I murmured to myself, pulling the hem of my short skirt, attempting to make it magically longer. "Sorry, I was busy with something else," I lied. But I thought that it was a much more better respond than actually telling him that I intentionally missed his call. And that I had to refrain myself from answering it and I did wanted to, so much. 

'Are you here alone?" He asked as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. 

"Yeah, well, I don't date, you know that, that's not my thing," I replied, trying to sound as cool as , but ended up sappy as I was trying to tugg the hem of my skirt, again. 

"Why not. Didn't you like your first dating experience?" He raised his stupid brows. "Well, that was kind of text-booked and boring." 

It was? Did I make you bored on our date? No wonder you weren't interested in me. 

"Come," he whispered to my ears and started walking. I looked at my hands, locked with his. "I'm dating you tonight."