"Hey Jongdae." 

Chen turned at the sound of his name, "Yo Lu Han. What's up?" He casually raised a hand in greeting, walking over to where the older male was standing. 

"Are you free after school today?" 

There was a short pause as Chen tried to remember if he had anything to do, "No, I'm pretty sure I'm free. Why?" 

Lu Han replied seriously, "I need you to help me buy a gift." 

"Oh sure! Who for?" Chen raised a brow at the solemn deer, "Man, lighten up a bit. Why are you in such a gloomy mood? I heard from Kris that your anniversary with Kyungmi went well, so why the long face?" 

Lu Han bit his lip, if he could cheer up he would. He had tried to be happy, but couldn't. The fact that he had left Nayoung alone on her birthday was weighing down on his heart. The guilt was almost unbearable. Every time he thought about it, he would end up repeating the same question over and over: Why was he feeling so terrible about it? 

The girl had acted like nothing happened. This morning, she had trudged down the stairs in her usual manner, scarfed down her breakfast and pestered him like she usually would. The queenka wasn't even angry, or annoyed. He had come to breakfast with a full apology scripted into his head. He was waiting for her to come down raging at him, telling him he was the worst human being on the planet, yelling at him for hanging out with Kyungmi. But none of that happened. Heck, she even asked him why he was so 'stoned' and looked like he 'had just found out the world was going to end'. It was like the whole incident hadn't happened at all. And that was what made everything worse for him, because he knew he let her down, and he knew she had waiting for him until she was too tired to even stay awake. So why wasn't she yelling at him? Why wasn't she blaming him? He deserved it. 

"It's for a friend. And it isn't about Kyungmi." He sighed for the umpteenth time that day. 

"Yeah okay, I'll help you find a gift. Would that make you feel better?" Chen grinned at him, his face radiating rainbows and sunshine. 

"Yes, immensely. Thanks Jongdae." 

__________

Lu Han met up with Chen after school. Despite the fact that he had a tonne of homework to do, and stacks of essays, and a test tomorrow, he still decided against productivity and went to look for a present. The right thing to do would be to go home and do some work, to forget about Nayoung's birthday and actually do what he was supposed to. But he couldn't. He just couldn't bring himself to pretend nothing was wrong, to pretend it didn't happened.

"Hey Lu Han, I heard from Tao that you have a stack of homework thats still unfinished. Are you sure your supposed to be looking for a gift at this point in time?" 

Lu Han shrugged, "Yes, I need to. It's important." If he went home now he wouldn't have been able to concentrate anyway.

Chen clasped his hands together, "So what type of gift are you looking for?"  

Lu Han stopped walking for a moment, finally realising that he had no idea on what Nayoung liked. "I have no idea." 

"Well, is this person a girl?" 

"Yes." 

"I see, okay maybe we'll just go looking around until you find something you think she'd like." Chen looked at Lu Han suspiciously, a girl other than Kyungmi? Who was this girl? 

_________

"Yah Lu Han. What about this?" Chen pointed to the azure necklace in the display window of an expensive jewelry store. 

"Hmm," Lu Han's eyebrows pulled together in a thoughtful frown, "Nahh, she never wears jewelry anyway." 

"What about new clothes?" 

"She's got too many." 

"A book?" 

I've never seen her read." 

"Make up or skincare stuff?"

"Doesn't wear any and her skin's already perfect so she doesn't need it." 

Chen narrowed his eyes at Lu Han,the suspicion growing as quickly as a forest fire.  "This girl is just a friend right? Because you seem to know an awful lot about her."

The male was too distracted by the bracelet in the display window to think about his reply. The words left his mouth before he even realised what he was saying. "Well if you live with her, it's kind of hard not to notice those things." 

"Wait you live with her? You mean this is for Nayoung?" Chen threw his arms up in the air half in disbelief and half in exasperation. 

"What? Who?" The older male asked, still staring at the display window. Chen sighed, not replying and waiting for Lu Han to snap out of it and pay attention to what he was saying. It took several seconds for Lu Han to respond. The deer turned to him with wide eyes, "did I just reveal that the present was for..."

"Yeah you did. Why didn't you tell me it was for Nayoung?" 

Lu Han cursed silently under his breath. He didn't reply, but Chen knew what he was thinking. "Yah, Lu Han. I'm a friend, I'm not going to assumed things. Geez, if you had just told me who it was for in the first place it would have made things so much easier." 

The older man blinked at Chen a few times, registering what the younger had just said. He was expecting something like a 'why are you getting a present for her?' Or a 'does Kyungmi know?' But all he got was a grin and Chen's signature laughter. Completely not what he was expecting. 

"So.. What does Nayoung like?" 

"... I have no idea." 

"That's helpful." Chen's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He blew a sigh, like the way a teacher would when a student hadn't completed their homework, "why don't we just keep looking around until something catches your eye." 

~~~~

"What about we buy her food? Like chocolate or something." Chen suggested after an hour of futile searching. 

Lu Han furrowed his brows, "but that doesn't really seem like a very thoughtful present." 

They walked into a small gift shop on the corner of the road. Chen picked up a crystal butterfly that was on the shelf. He handled it carefully, watching as the light reflected off of the glass in beautiful rays of colour. "This is nice." 

"Hmm, but she doesn't like butterflies." 

"Why don't you get her an album? Doesn't she like that boy band B.A.P or something?" (N/A: ermagahd B.A.P <3)

Lu Han placed a hand on his chin, his non existent beard in thought. That would be a pretty good present, but it seemed too average. He really wanted to get Nayoung a present that she would be blown away by, or else this guilt he was feeling would never go away. He needed to get something worthwhile to make up for his giant mistake. 

"I guess that's okay..." Lu Han trailed off slowly, his voice being drowned out by the street noise outside. It was obvious he wasn't completely happy about Chen's suggestion though. 

"Nayoung would probably be ecstatic even if you give her a lump of coal. It doesn't really matter, she'll probably be overjoyed by anything you give her." 

Lu Han bit his lip, looking away uncertainly. It was nearly 6 in the evening, and he felt terrible for dragging Chen around for so long, but he wanted to keep looking. There was bound to be something amazing in Myeongdong right? "Can we just look around one more time?" He looked up sheepishly, holding up one finger to emphasise his point. 

The beagle line member rolled his eyes, but complied, "Okay fine." Chen let himself smile a little when Lu Han turned toward another row of shops. Sure, he was tired from the present hunting expedition, but the fact that Lu Han was putting so much effort into this made him glad. Although Kyungmi was a close friend, and Nayoung was a bully, he was secretly glad Lu Han was starting to show a little care toward the girl. He was happy that they were becoming closer, but of course he would never admit that to anyone except himself. Was it wrong that he kind of secretly shipped the two together? 

Chen was pulled from his train of thought by Lu Han's yell from a few metres away, "Jongdae-ah! I found something!" 

_______

The sun was already beginning to set by the time Lu Han and Chen got on the bus home. The sun was slowly beginning to hide behind the horizon, causing lilac, amber and crimson streaks of colour across the clouds. It seemed like someone had just splashed bunch of paint into the sky, it was picturesque, but Lu Han was to tired to even notice the pretty sunset, he didn't even know it was almost dusk. 

Chen nudged him, "Why were you trying so hard to find a present for her? You look completely exhausted now." 

Lu Han had pretty much run around all of Myeongdong for three hours straight. He looked at the giant teddy bear on his lap. It was a fat, brown, fluffy bear, almost the same size as him, and had a red love heart stitched on one of it's paws. He had seen it in the display window of a small shop on the corner of the street. The large size instantly caught his eye, and the soft toy's large innocent eyes kind of reminded him of Nayoung, so he naturally had to buy it. The bear was rather expensive, and had reduced his wallet to nothing. It was a pain in the to lug around, and it didn't help that he was getting strange looks from the public either. He rested his head on the window pane and sighed, "I don't know either." 

There was a short moment of silence, "Maybe you've begun to care for her without even noticing it." 

The elder laughed tiredly, "Haha, you're funny. That's impossible. I'm just repaying a debt that I owe. That's all." 

Chen raised an eyebrow, "You must owe her a lot to have bought her a giant teddy bear that's so expensive." 

He nodded with a solemn smile, "Yeah, I do. I owe her a lot." 

___________

It was almost seven in the evening when the door bell rang. Nayoung shot up from her position on the couch and frowned in puzzlement. She immediately assumed it was Lu Han, but began to doubt herself when she realised Lu Han normally used his own house keys. And whenever Lu Han went out, he's never come back until later into the night. She sneered, he was probably out with EXO again. 

The doorbell rang again. Who was at the door? Why would anyone come to visit at a time like this? She cautiously peered through the living room window to see if she could recognise the person outside, but was only met with an ugly green hedge she couldn't see over. The girl bit her lip, contemplating whether or not she should open the door or let the visitor leave by themselves. 

When the doorbell rang for the umpteenth time, It was clear that the visitor wasn't going to leave anytime soon. Nayoung could feel the uncertainty and tight tension drag on. What if that guy was some ? Or a burglar? She grabbed a glass full of water in her left hand and one of her shoes from the floor, slowly making her way to the door. Hopefully she would be able temporarily blind the person by throwing water on them, and then she'd have enough time to kick whoever was out there in the gut or something. If not, she'd have her shoe as a weapon. 

______

"Why the hell isn't she answering the door? Goddamnit Nayoung." Lu Han poked the button again, sighing in frustration when the door did not open despite the fact that he had rung the bell twenty times. Was she going to leave him out here the whole night or something? He shifted the giant teddy bear in his arms, adjusting the weight more comfortably in his grip. 

The male rung the door bell again. He was about to give up and call her when he heard the door knob rattling. He turned his attention toward it in an almost shocked relief, whispering under his breath, "Finally." 

"Happy Birt-" 

Splash. 

Lu Han words were lost when he felt the sensation of cold water being thrown in his face. His mind temporarily went blank for a few moments, not quite understanding what had just happened. He could feel his fringe clinging to his face, and he used a clumsy hand to wipe away the annoying dampened hair.

"Yah, Nayoung. What are you doin-" 

His words were cut off once again when his cheek got slapped by the rubber sole of her shoe. The shoe flew a few metres away, landing in the patch of grass in their front yard in silence. He just stood there dumbly for a few moments, feeling the stinging sensation spread across his cheek like  fire. The silence stretched on a few seconds before he heard Nayoung's voice. 

"Oh. It's just you."  

The taller male groaned in pain, bringing a hand up to his cheek and rubbing his swelling face with a glare. "Well of course it's me. What was that for?" 

Nayoung didn't even look apologetic, she straightened her posture and stared defiantly back at him, "Well I thought you were a or a burglar or something." 

Lu Han slapped a hand to his face. "And you think a glass of water and a shoe can stop a ? Geez, you're such a stupid, clumsy idiot. You know I spent the whole day running around Myeongdong to get a present for you? I come home and I have to wait outside because you don't even open the door, and when you finally do, I get cold water thrown at my face, and then a shoe comes flying too?" 

Nayoung pouted—dare he say it— cutely and glared up at him in what seemed like an attempt to be intimidating. 

She turned her eyes to the giant teddy bear and crossed her arms in scorn, "Tch, you go around all of Myeongdong and all you can get is a giant teddy bear? Some present that is, It won't even fit in my room, so impractical." 

Nayoung 'hmmfed' and turned away so that her back as facing him, but Lu Han still saw the grin that she was desperately trying to mask in feigned annoyance. She stormed up the stairs, and he watched her with an amused smile until she disappeared into her room. Lu Han had to suppress a grin himself. He let out a low chuckle, silently climbing up the stairs and placing the teddy bear in the corridor opposite to her bedroom. He watched the girl jump around silently through the gap in the door. She had forgotten to close the door behind her. 

She was running around the room with such excitement you'd think she'd have won the lottery. Lu Han stifled a laugh when she jumped on her bed and started to roll around with a high pitched squeal, completely messing up her bed sheets. That teddy bear was expensive, it was a pain to carry around, and he had wasted a whole lot of study time to get it for her, but when he looked at her bight eyes and cheerful smile, he knew that it was totally worth it. 

Nayoung was so.. Weird. And he was so confused.  The male couldn't stand the girl, she drove him completely insane with her loud whale noises and demanding personality, and he couldn't stand being with her for more than a few minutes. But at the same time, he couldn't help but worry about her when she wasn't around. He'd end up wondering if she ate her meals properly, if she was doing okay in school, if he parents were treating her well, and then he'd find himself pondering over whether or not he should go check up on her. There were also those very few rare times when he'd see a new side to her, those few times when she'd let her guard down and he'd be able to see the girl inside, and he couldn't help but feel his heart leap, however slightly. 

Lu Han shook his head, forcing himself to look away. He was barking mad, completely bonkers. He stole a fleeting look at the ecstatic girl before entering his own room, Chen's words ringing fresh in his mind. 

Maybe you've begun to care for her without even noticing it

Pfft. 

Impossible. 

_______

Finally chapter 16! 

Wow, I never expected to get such a reaction from the previous chapter. I guess that means that my story is doing okay XD. Thankyou for all the comments, they're very encouraging and make my day <3 

thanks for subsribing reading upvoting etc. bai bai ~