Ara ran out of her car even if there was still about an hour to spare, hair flying in the winter breeze that bit at her cheeks. Frenzied laughter bubbled from her lips and she was given curious glances by the other pedestrians who were bundled up in their puffy coats and thick, woolen scarves.

Today had been a harrowing day at work. It had been a waiting game for the approval of taglines and the layouts for the print ads of her latest account project, but a few nights before when he had murmured the request against her red and swollen lips, all she could say was yes, yes I’ll be there, now kiss me again, please.

He had laughed but when their lips crashed again, neither of them found it funny.

It wasn’t the first time she was invited to watch their live performance; but today was different. Kris had asked her to come and see him. She giggled to herself. She was here, but not just as a friend or Junmyeon/Suho’s cousin. Not quite a girlfriend, but that thought she tucked away, to be mulled over on another day. Her heart felt light and her head was in the clouds to be bothered too much by technicalities.

Ara bowed and murmured hurried apologies to an elderly couple she almost knocked over in her haste to get to the studio. The grounds were now clear of most of the fan clubs that she knew have been queuing up since dawn, and that made the trek to the building much easier. She flashed the id that Junmyeon had given her a while ago to the security by huge, automatic doors and swung the lanyard over her head.

It was a mass of people in various states of preparation for their stage. Based from the barked instructions coming out of every open door from the dressing rooms on both sides of the hall, tempers were running high. The boys’ dressing room was further down, away from the maze of chaos that was the studio recording and broadcast of a music show. There was a spring in her step as she dodged artists, old and new and she made her way through, trying to get unnoticed. She bumped into a solid wall of muscle when she made a turn, and strong arms enveloped her before she fell to the ground.

“You okay?”

She was about to bite back that no, you’re an idiot you should watch where you’re going, but she was face to face with the person she had been wanting to see all day.

“Hey,” She breathed out.

He literally looked like an angel, sans wings, his face beaming with a smile that she knew was only reserved for her. His light caramel hair was swept to the side, and she was happy to see that they didn’t cake make-up on his face today, just a hint to hide the tired tinge on his otherwise immaculate skin. It was illegal, and bordering obscene how he could look so good in an emerald-green button down shirt, tucked in tight, dark pants.

“Suspenders?” She croaked.

Kris laughed and grabbed her hand and led her towards their dressing room. Ara thought she would be used to it by now, but it was still hard to ignore the curious looks that were thrown their way. “Don’t laugh. Blame Jongin for wanting to kill fan girls all over, he helped with the choreography and thought it was a nice touch, necessary even. The coordi noonas were more than happy to comply with his suggestions,” He hesitated a little before adding, “Do I look bad? I mean, could be worse, right? Sehun’s been whining about how his pants were showing his family jewels to the world,” He said with a somewhat nervous laugh.

“So hot,” She murmured.

Her free hand clapped to . The warmth now spread to her neck from her cheeks, and she was pretty sure the whimpering noise that can be heard over the din was coming from her. A grin broke out of Kris’ face. He quickly looked left and right before dragging her to one of the empty halls, and peeked inside a small room before pulling her inside.

The room smelled musty, filled with dress costumes from previous years and standees of has-been idols haphazardly pushed to the corners of the room. Ara let Kris drag her to the center where a couple of plastic chairs were. He checked the seat of one for dust and sat, pulling her gently on to his lap.

“Who’s hot?” He asked, his voice low and teasing. She shook her head and tried to stand up, but he just pulled her closer, arms around her waist. Fingertips danced across the side of her thigh and she bit her lips to bite back the moans from .

“You should get back in there!” She whined.

“Just let me hold you for a minute? I missed you…How was your day?” He asked with a smile, his thumb running across her jaw. He cupped her nape with his palm and it was tempting to tilt her head back, a silent invitation for him to run his lips across the expanse of her neck, just like he had done many times before on their few, precious alone time together.

Just a few weeks back she had fought an internal battle, because Kris Wu was not an ideal guy that a level-headed girl like her should fall for. She had always set rules for herself and for him, always mindful of the physical boundaries that would give her away. But right now, perched on his lap, his hands cradling her face as if she was made of the most precious china, the attention was intoxicating, and she wondered what took her so long to allow him to hold her like this, be close to her like this, allow him to turn her life upside down with just the simplest and lightest of touches, just like this.

She smiled and gingerly held his face with her still cold fingertips, careful not to get his make-up smeared on her hands. The smile that he gave her in return made her heart beat a little faster, her breathing irregular, all the stupid clichés that happen when you are so close to the person you care for the most in the world. Their noses were only a few inches apart and her eyes fluttered close as she leaned on his forehead.

“Long. Full of useless meetings and stupid people with big egos I’m surprised they could still get through the door,”

Kris chuckled. “Sounds like my workplace,”

His eyes were so kind when she straightened up and looked at him again, and she wanted to melt in his arms and just bask in the warmth of his presence. It was a wonderful feeling, to be cared for, to be genuinely looked after, even if all he did was ask inquire about mundane things like her job or if she ate her meals on time.

“I want to kiss you,” She whispered shyly.

It was barely there, but the brush of their lips was like a charge that lit her up like fireworks on the eve of New Year’s.

“Sorry, baby, I can’t do it properly right now, they’ll kill me if I mess up my stupid lip gloss,”

She shivered a little at the deep voice that seemed to rattle her very core, every single time. They locked gazes and his eyes shone with mirth, as if they were sharing a joke that was only known to them both. She laughed and sighed. “You need to go, I’ll be at the back, somewhere,”

“Just watch me, don’t look at Jongin or Yixing!”

“You jealous? It’s cute,” She said with a small laugh. He pulled her closer when she smoothed the non-existent rumples on his shirt, “Now let me go, please,”

“Ok, what are you doing after this?” He asked, fingers running through her hair.

“I need to meet up with my realtor,” She groaned, “Nobody told me looking for an apartment is so hard. Maybe I should just stay with my parents forever,”

Kris reached for his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and pressed a forefinger against his lips. His eyes didn’t leave her face while he waited for the call to connect. He frowned and looked at his phone and startled a little.

“Ok, I’ll have to call my godfather for you later. He’s got some contacts with real estate people, but I have to go now,” He gave her a quick hug and ran the pads of his thumbs on her cheeks. “You want to have dinner with me tonight, after this?”

Lip gloss and anger of make-up artists be damned, Ara leaned in and her heart fluttered wildly against her ribcage when she felt the smile on his lips against hers.

Soojung, Kris’ manager, raked Kris with her eyes, as if making sure if there something amiss or out of place, but Ara didn’t miss the dark look that she gave her the moment they stepped inside the dressing room assigned for EXO.

It was a given, she supposed, for managers and the girls that idols dated or were in a relationship with to be in some sort of cold war. People like Ara were a distraction; girls like her caused conflict with already tight and even more complicated schedule, they were another factor that required the whole entourage to be even more alert about overzealous fans on top of everything else that they had to do, and she had even heard of costumes and sponsored accessories getting lost or damaged just as idols were about to go on stage because of getting carried away with their girlfriends in dark dressings rooms just like the one she and Kris were at.

Ara gave the manager a quick nod. It was a decision that she had made a long time ago when she started being friends with Junmyeon’s band mates, to take everything in stride and be as polite as possible. Getting affected or reacting to such treatment only made things worse and it was her own way of helping Kris out, by not adding stress to his already high-strung world.

“I guess she doesn’t like you that much, either, huh?”

Ara turned to look at the person who appeared right next to her. She laughed and gave Cha Young a hug. “What are you doing here?” She asked.

Cha Young blushed and cleared . “Um, Luhan invited me,” She answered. Ara raised her eyebrows and linked her arm with the young woman’s.

The dressing room was bustling with activity, and all the boys were getting ready for their stage. Some were horsing around with the make-up artists begging them to sit still, the vocal line were warming up-and Ara had to smile with the way Luhan tried to subtly throw looks in their direction. He was miserably failing.

Meanwhile, Kris had been herded to a corner by Soojung, and Ara watched with what she hoped was a neutral expression as the manager fussed over him. Fingers lingered longer than what she thought was necessary, because really, Kris’ outfit was wrinkle-free and Ara was pretty sure the make-up artist could have patted his lips with a lip brush instead of Soojung’s fingers.

“No, I guess she doesn’t. Was she the same with you?” Ara asked.

Cha Young let out a chuckle and nodded. “Not even a greeting, just asked who I was and if I could please move out of the way,”

“Rude!”

“I know, but I just had to keep it in. You know how it gets to Luhan when they scold him about the smallest things…I don’t want to add in to the mix,”

Ara sighed. “Why do we do this?”

“I think we both know why, we just refuse to admit it out loud,”

Ara raised her eyebrows and laughed. “Lee Cha Young, did you just confess to me that you have feelings for our Luhan?”

“Yoon Ara, I think you just did the same thing- but then again the way you feel about Kris Wu isn’t entirely a secret,” Cha Young said with a sly smile.

“What? Oh no,” Ara spluttered out. “Is it that bad?”

They both burst out laughing, and had to get out of the room because if looks could kill, they would have been dead on the spot with the way Soojung was glaring at them.

“Don’t tell anyone, even Luhan, please?” Ara begged as they waited out by the door. One of the managers, one of the nicer ones, had promised to take them to where the EXO fans were gathered by the stage. Kris had made her promise to watch with the rest of the audience and even if it meant being with a horde of younger, excitable girls, she had agreed. It was hard to say no when his hand was rubbing the small of her back and his lips were near her ear, asking her to please, please be there and watch because I practiced so hard for this.

“Fine, but you know what? You should just let go already and let him know. You’re killing him,” Cha Young laughed.

“Funny, with the way he looks at me and touches me, I thought it was the other way around,” She said wryly.

“Well then, do yourself a favor and make it official! That way you can swoon and nobody would bat an eye because girlfriends do silly stuff like that,”

“I’ll do it if you date Luhan again,” Ara countered.

Cha Young’s eyes were as big as dinner plates and Ara laughed. “I was joking. But…We’ll see. About Kris, I mean. It’s just really complicated.”

“I know, trust me.” Cha Young sighed, “Well. Should we go and join the rest of the fan girls?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. I’m actually curious as to why they needed suspenders for the choreo,” Ara said.

“Oh, it’s not to hold their jeans up?”

They laughed but quickly walked away when a voice that sounded like it was Soojung’s called from the room to tell them to keep it down.

“Hot. Damn.”

“Those pants are tight. They’re too tight right? Or is it just me? it’s hot in here. Is it hot in here? Or is it just me?”

“They’re hot. Oh . Please don’t tell Luhan I said that! But look at Jongin,”

“I will end Kim Jongin for suggesting this outfit and for helping choreograph this dance. I will end him for existing, period-“

“I want to rip those suspenders off. Wait, , what? Those suspenders are stupid! So, so stupid!”

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