“Since I kind of owe you guys I’ll be nice.” Lay said walking in front of his friends who stood in a line like the culprits they were. Lay had a serious expression as he stood cross armed in front of them. It was weird to see a line six guys standing in front of a café like mid schoolers during a punishment but Lay needed to clear things up before Hana arrived, he didn’t want her to know.

“Whose idea was it?”

They all exchanged glances with their neighbors. Lay looked like a police officer interrogating criminals and reality was somewhat the same.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asked feigning innocence and Lay tilted his head towards him.

“You know exactly what I mean.” Baekhyun gulped and Kyungsoo decided to take a shot.

“If this is about the last minute ditch then we’re honestly really so-“

“Save it Kyungsoo I know there was no concert.” Lay deadpanned and Kyungsoo’s mouth left hung open. Lay moved his eyes to each of the culprits as he repeated their excuses.

“I know there was no free pie offer at any restaurant”, he glared at Sehun and Kai who cleared their throats before turning towards the last two, “and I also know there was no family dinner.”

“Aha…about that…we-“

“I know you guys spied on us.”

“WHAT?!” they chorused with wide eyes and loud enough to attract unwanted attention. Lay twisted his body to smile and apologize to the passersby before glaring at his friends again.

“B-b-but how?!” Jongdae exclaimed and Lay shook his head.

“The next time you guys create a group to ‘Find HanLay’, make sure you don’t add me in it.”

“Huh….” Chanyeol stared wide eyed before immediately pulling out his phone as others did the same. Indeed in the members list there was ‘Lay’ written in bold black.

“What the…..KAI!” Jongdae shouted and the said boy flinched, almost dropping his phone from his hand. He was the one who created the group. He didn’t know how he was careless enough to add Lay in it too. Sehun quickly went through their entire conversation to recall what they had written and the contents Lay had read.

‘Kai: FOUND THEM! Taemin just messaged me!

Sehun: Tae-who?

Kyungsoo: aren’t you guys together? why are you text talking?

Jongdae: we split.

Baekhyun: SO WHERE ARE THEY?!’

The conversation so far was fine and Sehun sighed in relief, getting out of the trouble they were in would be easier. They could make up a story and say they were looking for them for a hang out. But then he scrolled further and his throat constricted. They were screwed.

‘Chanyeol: omg look he’s on stage! He never sings live!

Kai: but now he will since he’s in loooooooove~~

Kyungsoo: lol

Baekhyun: is it me or does hana look petrified XD

Jongdae: OH LOOK! He took her out of the crowd! How romantic ;~;

Sehun: is she crying? Why the fridge is she crying?!

Baekhyun: they look like happy tears tho

Chanyeol: omg are they gonna kiss?!

Jongdae: YES!

Kai: KISS KISS KISS KISS

Sehun: NO NO NO NO NO

Kyungsoo: and they settled on a hug ._. what with this…..

Baekhyun: saw that coming

Chanyeol: true dat

Sehun: thank goodness my eyes

Jongdae: he DID kiss her on the forehead so…..

Kai: tch, so boring.’

Sehun face palmed and gave Kai an intense glare that could probably melt snow. Kai’s hands shook and he gulped hard. Lay glared at each and every one of them. He was more than grateful that they created an opportunity for him but spying on them was what he didn’t like.

“I’m gonna ask one more time. Whose idea was it?” his voice was stern and they all cowered.

“Wh-what will you do if…we tell you..?” Baekhyun reluctantly asked and Lay raised his eyebrows at him.

“I’ll settle that once I know who it was.”

“It was me.” All eyes shot towards the announcer and Lay raised an eyebrow.

“Sehun?”, the said boy nodded and lowered his hand that he had raised. Baekhyun hit Chanyeol and mouthed words while Kyungsoo and Kai and Jongdae gave him looks that said ‘what are you doing?!’. Sehun shrugged with a bored expression stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Yeap, me. It was my idea.” He boldly admitted and Lay narrowed his eyes at him. Kai hit Sehun’s arm and he gave him and the others a glare to shut up. His eyes became neutral when he looked back at Lay.

“And why did you advise the others to follow us?”

“If I hadn’t then my brother would’ve. And honestly that’s something you wouldn’t have wanted.” Sehun shrugged and Lay’s eyebrows knit along with the others.

“You see, Hana’s our sister, we have this defense mechanism thing when it comes to her. The only reason I followed was to keep my brother away and the others just happened to go with my idea.” He reasoned and Jongdae arched his brow.

Lay sighed and uncrossed his arms and places them on his hips as he stared at the floor. He contemplated. Sehun was his girlfriend’s cousin so he couldn’t do much to him besides, he did say it was to keep his brother at bay. Who knows what would have happened if the elder among them came. He peered towards Sehun before completely looking up at him and went towards the boy.

Sehun would be lying if he said that the hit didn’t have his ears ringing but he didn’t complain. Once he looked up Lay was smiling and the boy wondered if there was something wrong with him. Maybe Sehun was just seeing things but the smile on Lay’s face looked too realistic.

“Thanks.” He said and stepped back while the others gaped at his change in demeanor. From being like a military trainer, Lay went back to his original self.

“Thanks for the opportunity, and thanks for trusting your sister with me.” he smiled and Sehun’s eyes turned into moons as he smiled back while still holding his ringing ear. Lay moved back and gave each of them an equally painful hit before standing in front of them once again but this time with a softer expression.

“I owe you guys for the push, I never would’ve been able to get things right is it wasn’t for you guys.”

“And here you are hitting us,” Baekhyun scoffed and Lay sent him a glare. Baekhyun immediately straightened and Chanyeol on his side chuckled.

“No worries bro, that’s what friends are for right?” Jongdae awkwardly laughed, not sure if the boy in front of him would send him a glare as well or not. Lay smiled and nodded and Jongdae settled that they were finally in the green zone. Danger Lay had left the building.

“So do we get a treat or what?” Kyungsoo piped and the others supported his idea. Lay’s eyebrows shot but his smile was still there when suddenly he flinched and almost tripped on air.

“Treat?!” Lay held his heart that was racing from shock while the others laughed at his reaction. He closed his eyes and took some seconds to gather his nerves but rather than calming down, his heart raced even more, this time for a whole different reason.

Hana looked extremely concerned about her boyfriend. The others observed in silence with goofy smiles as Hana carefully placed a hand on Lay’s shoulder and asked if he was alright. Kyungsoo grabbed Jongdae’s arm and squeezed it. Jongdae’s smile vanished as he looked at his arm being crushed as Kyungsoo bit his lower lip with wide eyes in his fanboy mode. Sehun looked adoringly at his cousin and for once Kai didn’t make any remarks and just softly smiled.

Lay looked towards Hana and her concern for him made him feel giddy for some reason. He gave her a warm smile and nodded. Baekhyun looked like he would cry because finally all their efforts paid off and Chanyeol patted his cousin’s shoulder while keeping his eyes glued to the scene ahead of them. Kai’s mature phase didn’t last long though.

“Look at the happy couple being all ‘oh are you alright?’” he cooed and Sehun snorted. Lay and Hana snapped out of it and looked towards the culprit line. Lay awkwardly cleared his throat and stood up straight as Hana awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear. Kyungsoo wacked his cousin for breaking the moment and Jongdae massaged his arm to get the blood flowing again. Lay stepped closer to Hana and placed an arm around her causing her eyes to widen.

“Guys, as of yesterday, Hana’s my girlfriend.” He announced and her cheeks pinked with embarrassment. She ducked her head to avoid anyone’s gaze and felt like hitting Lay for being so open about it. Couldn’t he tell them over lunch instead of announcing it the second she got there?

“Oh we k-“

“CONGRAGTULATIONS!” Kyungsoo announced as he subtly glared at Jongdae who he had elbowed to shut up. They pretended as if they didn’t know to keep their little stalk a secret. Hana was worried about what Sehun would react. When she got home the other night the latter wasn’t there, Luhan was working late and Junmi was already asleep. Lay had walked her to her house and gave her a goodnight kiss on her forehead. Since no one was there she couldn’t tell anyone, and even today by the time she got out of her room Sehun had left, and she didn’t want to break the news to Luhan alone.

They all shuffled inside the café and Sehun grabbed Hana’s arm. She hadn’t made any eye contact with him and he knew why. Hana looked surprised but stayed behind with him, Lay saw them through the window and let them be, they probably needed to talk.

“So. Our little Han got a boyfriend?” Sehun teased and Hana pinked as she bit her lip and looked away. Sehun chuckled and pinched her cheeks and Hana gave him a weird look.

“I’m happy for you Hana. I’m sure he’s a nice guy but be careful ok? If he hurts you, you straight ahead tell me. Understood?” Hana quickly nodded and Sehun smiled showing his teeth as he patted her head.

“Will you help me tell Luhan?” she reluctantly asked Sehun twisted his lips to the side.

“Big Han will be hard to handle….but of course.” She beamed and Sehun’s smile dipped as he pretended to be in thought.

“But….I can’t do it for free you know….what’s in it for me?”

“Bubble tea for the next month.”

“Five months.”

“Three.”

“Deal.”

They shook hands and Hana laughed. She hadn’t been this happy in a long while. The only thing left was telling Luhan. Junmi would be overly excited but Luhan tended to be a little….edgy when it came to boys. He didn’t trust them ever since he saw his father act the way he did. They went in and Hana naturally sat next to Lay. They had moved to a larger round table since they advanced from being four to eight. They had their eyes on the new couple, scrutinizing their every move. It was when they had already ordered and Hana was discussing something about the rhythm of the song with Lay, when Kai huffed began whispering.

“They’re so…normal. They DID start dating right?”

“She’s sitting next to him if that’s anything.” Jongdae added and Baekhyun shook his head.

“She’s been sitting next to him since before.”

“She isn’t wearing black anymore.” Kyungsoo pointed and Sehun chuckled.

“My brother and I threw out her old wardrobe like a month ago.”

“Why aren’t they doing couple stuff?” Chanyeol whisper screamed out of frustration. The new couple was in no way entertaining them. Kai caught a glimpse of the pendant hanging on Lay’s neck.

“Baekhyun, Kyungsoo…does Lay always wear that necklace?” he asked narrowing his eyes towards the boy’s neck. Kyungsoo shook his head as he didn’t recognize it and Baekhyun saw a wing hanging from Hana’s neck as well.

“Oh….my….God…”

“What what what!” Jongdae excitedly latched onto Baekhyun’s right arm.

“Couple necklaces guys.” Their eyes shot to their neck and they saw what Baekhyun meant. Chanyeol squealed and Baekhyun nudged his cousin to keep it down. Hana stopped talking and stared at them as Lay did the same. They all innocently smiled with bared teeth.

“Hey guys could you two go and get us some donuts from that shop down the street?” Baekhyun cutely asked and Hana raised her eyebrow.

“But they have donuts here too…”

“I like the ones from down the street. And Kai just said he craved their cream rolls.” Hana and Lay inquisitively turned towards Kai who playing with the napkin. Kyungsoo elbowed him a little too hard and the boy choked as he nodded. Lay patted Kai’s back in concern.

“You alright dude?”  Lay asked and Kai nodded whilst coughing.

“It’s the cream rolls man. Get me the cream rolls.”

“But th-“

“NOW.”

“Alright! alright!” Lay had his hands in the air up for defense and Kai gave him childish smile. He got up to leave and Sehun protested.

“Yo where do you think you’re going?” Lay’s brows connected and he stared at Sehun.

“To….get the donuts and cream rolls?” he stated it like the most obvious thing in the world and Sehun tsk’d.

“Without your girlfriend?” he asked and Hana stared at her cousin wide eyed. She still wasn’t used to the title. Apparently so wasn’t Lay because his eyes slightly widened at the mention. Sehun took Hana’s elbow and pushed her upwards.

“Go with him. You guys are a couple now, you should do stuff together. Go now.”

“Se-“

“Go I say!”

Lay immediately grabbed Hana’s hand and dragged her out of the café and towards the café down the street. Sehun watched them go with a content smirk and turned his attention towards the crowd on his table.

“You guys would be ruined without me.” he said smirking proudly and others scoffed.

“He’s right though.” Baekhyun said after a while of thought.

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for him, who knows what hell Dimpy the unicorn would’ve let loose.” Jongdae nodded and the others laughed.

“Seriously, a pissed off Lay is the last thing anyone wants.” Kai shook his head as he shuddered at a memory.

“I’m not The Amazing unicorn for nothing you know.” Sehun proudly said and Kyungsoo made a face.

“Guys I thought the unicorn stuff was all a joke…”

“No we were actually serious, just the get together was fake.” Baekhyun cleared and Kyungsoo blinked before looking away and staying silent.

“What were you thinking anyways? When you took all the blame to yourself? It wasn’t even your idea to follow them.” Chanyeol asked curious and others looked towards him in interest.

“I wasn’t really lying you know. If my brother knew that we set them up on a date he would’ve actually spied on them himself. So I just took a scenario that could’ve happened if my brother was involved in the scheme and presented it to him. And yehet he bought it. Besides, I’m Hana’s cousin he won’t do anything to me while he can easily mess with your brains.” Sehun folded his hands on the table and smiled like a corporate person and the others nodded.

“We owe you one now.” Jongdae said as urged the others to nod. Everyone except Kyungsoo who insisted that it wasn’t even in his head to follow them until the others brought it up.

“How long will it take them?” Kai asked and Kyungsoo looked up in thought.

“Ten minutes?”

“Good,” Kai clapped his hands to grab their attention,” who noticed the necklaces? I know I did!” he excitedly spoke and the others nodded.

“But…I’ve seen Hana wear that before.” Sehun announced and the others shot him a look before deflating.

“Well that .” Chanyeol deflated. “ Then it’s a coincidence they both were wearing wings”, Jongdae summed but Sehun shook his head.

“No no no no you guys don’t get it. It IS  a couple jewelry, Hana’s been wearing it ever since she came from the arcade with him.”

“Whoa whoa hold up? They went to the arcade? When?” Kyungsoo asked with a hand in front of his chest and Sehun gave him a weird look.

“Last…month…you guys were supposed to go too but you canceled….right?” he questioned and Baekhyun shook his head with knitted brows.

“No…that never happened. We didn’t even make any arcade plans.” Baekhyun said looking towards Kyungsoo and Kai who nodded with the same expression. Sehun tilted his head and his brows spread in realization.

“Dimpy the unicorn isn’t as slow as we thought…” he said smirking and Kyungsoo raised a brow.

“Meaning..?”

“Hana told me you guys were gonna go too, but Lay told her you guys can’t make it since you’re all busy. So they both went….alone.” he finished and waited until the others got it. Jongdae let out a loud “OOOOOOOOOOOOH” and Kyungsoo and Kai stared at each other.

“I feel offended I wasn’t invited.” Chanyeol sulked and Baekhyun hit his arm.

“You weren’t even here then idiot.”

“Oh. Never mind then.”

“I must say I’m impressed. Lay isn’t as stupid as we thought” Kai jutted his lower lip and nodded with an impressed look. Baekhyun suddenly snapped his fingers.

“What else did Hana get from the arcade?” he asked in an urgent tone and Sehun thought before telling him about her purple unicorn.

“ AH HAH!” Baekhyun snapped “Lay has a blue colored unicorn stuffed toy in his room and I distinctly remember it wasn’t there when I dropped by the sociology notes two months ago.” He said smiling wide.

“Wait….so…they already went on a date?” Jongdae asked confused.

“Hana said it wasn’t a date since it was supposed to be a group jig.”

“The group apparently wasn’t even invited to the “jig”” Kyungsoo air quoted and the others snorted.

“So basically, we  just made them official right?” Chanyeol asked and the others nodded. That was true. If it wasn’t for them, Lay probably would’ve been stuck trying to ask her out again. They sat in silence for a while before Kai spoke.

“You know, now that we have nothing to talk about behind their backs, I kind of wish they come back soon.” He sighed and the others followed. The silence only lasted a little while because just a few minutes later they were engrossed in discussing the tricks of League of Legends. Sehun was clapping and laughing when suddenly a familiar figure of a girl went past the window. The girl seemed to recognize him because she did a double take and almost waved at him before frowning and continuing her way. Sehun stared at her throughout as he tried to dig his memory for a girl that resembled her.

“Why were you staring at Jang Yuri?” Kyungsoo suddenly asked Sehun and his head shot towards the boy.

“THAT was Jang Yuri? THE Jang Yuri?” he asked incredulously and Jongdae nodded.

“Yeah, that’s THE Jang Yuri.”, he said imitating him,” why? You know her?”. Sehun nodded and others looked at him.

“We’ve known her since we were kids. She and Hana were inseparable….what the heck happened to her, she didn’t look like this before….” He trailed off and Baekhyun’s thoughts ran somewhere else. He met eyes with Kyungsoo and shrugged, they were thinking the same thing. Hana didn’t have any friends when they met her and as far as they knew, they were the only friends she had. Baekhyun knew she had a history with Yuri by the way the girls looked at each other but what was it?

“You haven’t seen her in school?” Kai stared and Sehun shook his head.

“I wouldn’t have recognized her if it wasn’t for Jongdae….she changed a lot.” He commented and Baekhyun dunked deeper in his thoughts. Sehun’s remark of them being ‘inseparable’ made his curiosity grow even more. He gave Sehun a questioning gaze and the latter understood what he wanted to ask but lightly shrugged. Sehun was just as clueless, he had no idea what went down between the two females. 

“Food!” Chanyeol announced as he saw the waitress arrive with trays filled with their dishes and the topic subsided, for now. Sehun would surely ask Hana about this.

-

It was the same, but the feeling was surely different. Lay had held her hand before and she felt butterflies then too but this time it was a whole new feeling. They had reached the shop Baekhyun had mentioned and were currently feasting their eyes on the delectable goods. They picked out the donuts they knew others liked along with a few cream rolls for Kai.

“Let’s take two so we can have them on the way, I’m having the chocolate hazel one. Which do you want?” Hana smiled widely, “Same.” He nodded and ordered two more and handed one to Hana. They left the shop, Lay carrying the bag since he refused to let Hana do so.

“Not fair” she unconsciously pouted and Lay chuckled, “What?”

“First you don’t let me share the bill and then you won’t let me help you by carrying the bags.” She huffed as she grumpily took a bite of her donut. Lay playfully collided their shoulders “Do you even know how cute you look right now?”

Hana looked away and Lay smiled wider, he loved it when she blushed because of him.

“I can’t let you pay Hana what sort of a boyfriend would I be then?” He tilted his head towards her and playfully raised his eyebrows.

“You could’ve let me pay half…” she mumbled and Lay held his donut between his teeth so he could pinch her cheeks.

“No can do.”

“Then let me carry that at least.”

“Then people would think I’m a bad boyfriend who makes his girlfriend carry stuff for him.” He reasoned and Hana took another bite of her donut. The melting chocolate and the fluffy donut with the slight crunch of hazelnuts did make her feel a little less grumbly.

“I never really liked this kind”, Lay said inspecting the donut before taking a bite, “but one day my brother got like two boxes of these. They probably grew on me.”

“Really? These ones are my favorite.” Hana informed as she giggled, “Sehun and Luhan always get these for me.”

“Luhan?” Lay never heard the name from Hana before and he grew curious. Not to mention the name sounded oddly familiar to him.

“Yeah, Luhan. He’s my other cousin. Sehun’s older brother.” Hana explained and Lay nodded with an ‘Oh’.

“But…isn’t Luhan a Chinese name? Sehun’s kore-“

“Korean? Yeah they get that a lot. Luhan was born in China. When my aunt got married they moved to China for a while, they came back when Luhan was three and Sehun was on the way.”

“So that means Luhan can speak Chinese right?” Lay asked slightly excited and Hana nodded.

“Wow that’s cool. How old is he?”

“Turned 23 this year.”

“That makes him the same age as Kris!” Lay exclaimed and Hana suddenly stopped. She immediately began walking again though. There could be more than one Kris in the country right? Right?

“Kris?” Hana reluctantly asked and Lay nodded.

“My older brother. He came back from China after doing a cram course for a year.” Lay’s description of his brother was giving Hana an uncomfortable feeling.

“I didn’t tell you we’re Chinese did I?” He suddenly asked with a shocked expression and Hana stiffly shook her head. Lay face palmed and apologized over and over for missing out such an important detail.

“ Our family is from China, we moved here after I was born. My real name’s Yixing but I prefer people calling me Lay since it’s easier.” He awkwardly chuckled, “that’s why Onew called me Yixing when we went to the club house.” Hana’s uncomfortable feeling grew and she recalled Fei’s second son’s name.

“So…Kris’s real name is…”

“Yi Fan. But he says Kris sounds more….Swaggy…whatever that means. But mostly it’s for our friends’ convenience, only our mom calls us with our real names.” Hana felt like she’d choke if she took another bite. She didn’t need any more to confirm the fact that Lay was Fei’s son. What luck. She’d been taking therapy from his mother and brother. Suddenly she felt a little scared. Would they be alright having their son date a person who isn’t even fully stable both emotionally and mentally? What if they told Lay? She didn’t want him to know yet but more over, what if they told him and he found her to be a burden and left? She knew he wasn’t that harsh but there was still a little voice in her head that screamed the possibility. She was improving but even Hana knew she wasn’t fully cured.

Lay saw her troubled state as he took the last bite of his donut. They were standing outside the café and Lay stopped Hana. He stood in front of her and tilted her head upwards with concerned eyes.

“What happened, are you feeling ok?”

“I’m fine…” She half heartedly assured but Lay wasn’t convinced. He put the bag on the ground beside him while keeping his eyes locked on her. Hana was surprised when she felt herself getting engulfed in a hug. Lay wasn’t the bold type but it looked like she really needed someone to assure her she wasn’t alone with whatever it was that was bothering her.

“If there is anything bothering you, you can always tell me ok? Remember what I said that day?” Hana remembered, she perfectly remembered what he told her that day in the music room on her parents’ death anniversary. “ We’re always here for you.”

He felt her nod and pulled away before giving her a tender kiss on her forehead. Hana felt a little assured. Maybe he won’t find her a burden after all? but she was still wasn’t fully healed…

“Hate to break the moment but could you guys come in already? Your food’s getting cold.” Kai interrupted with a cheeky grin that showed how ‘sorry’ he was and went inside. Lay let go of her and lightly laughed before lacing his hand fingers with Hana’s. he picked up the bag and walked in with Hana in tow. Hana shook her head to clear her thoughts, whatever happens, happens, she didn’t want to ruin her now. Because right now she was sitting with her friends, next to the guy she really liked, and that was all she needed to be content.

-