Chanyeol took a deep breath, avoiding Milan’s gaze for a moment. “Oppa?” Milan tried calling for his attention. “What if I do, Mil-ah?” Chanyeol then looked at her with sincere eyes that could melt any of his fans’ hearts. Milan looked down first, contemplating the fact he just confessed to her. “Don’t say that,” she said after a few seconds.

“But, Mil-ah, I love—“

“You’re lying, oppa,” Milan said, still not looking at him. She was shielding herself from Chanyeol’s gaze. She was hurt saying these words. She was hurt when Chanyeol confessed to him. She was hurt by the fact someone fell for her. “I’m not,” Chanyeol said sternly. “Neo issieyo (You are),” Milan told him. “You are! Tell me you are lying, oppa,” she finally looked at him with some tears in her eyes.

“You can’t fall for me. I’ve told you all that since Day 1. You can never fall for your composer. Never ever!” She shook her head quickly. “So please, you’ve gotta be joking, oppa,” she looked like she was begging and Chanyeol’s chest tightened as he watched her like that. She looked so vulnerable. If his feelings only did this, he shouldn’t have confessed. “I won’t stop loving you, Mil-ah. Milan de Vega, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I won’t tell anyone I confessed to you but at least think about my feelings. I’ll even wait for you to return from Europe and if you reject me by then, I won’t stop. I’ll love you until my last breath leaves my body,” Chanyeol said before standing up and leaving Milan thinking about what happened.

The next day, the other members noticed something peculiar between Milan and Chanyeol. It was their third day in Japan and surely, they need to catch their flight to Indonesia, where their next concert will be held. First thing in the morning, EXO ate breakfast in the hotel but Milan didn’t go with them, saying she has some unfinished business but she was clearly lying. When Luhan asked if something happened last night, she was obviously lying with her answer but the older let it go.

Chanyeol was lifelessly stabbing his chopsticks unto the fried egg prepared before him. He was sharing a table with his co-members in the beagle line so it composed of Baekhyun and Chen. “Yah, did you confess?” Baekhyun asked, clearly annoyed Chanyeol was playing with his food. “Can I have some of your eggs if you won’t eat that?” Chen asked, preparing his chopsticks for the taking. Baekhyun hissed at Chen and then looked at Chanyeol.

“Did she reject you?” Baekhyun asked. Chanyeol bit his lower lip and shook his head. “None of the kind,” he muttered. “Can I have your egg now?” Chen asked. “Stop it, Chen,” Baekhyun glared at him before looking at Chanyeol again. “What happened?” Baekhyun asked. “I don’t want to talk about it. Here, Chen, take it. I’m not hungry. I’ll be in my room if you need me,” Chanyeol said with a smile and pushed the plate towards Chen who gladly accepted it. He then stood up and went directly to the elevator to get back to his room.

Baekhyun sighed. “I’m sure she can’t reject him,” Chen said in the middle of his bites. Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” He asked. Chen then put his chopsticks on top of his empty plate and looked into Baekhyun’s eyes. “Milan’s soft. She can’t hurt Chanyeol but she won’t of course easily accept him because of the tradition she grew up with. Aside from that, can’t you see how much she smiles when she’s with Yeol? She must like him back!” Chen explained.

“Then why are they like that? Milan didn’t even think of glancing at Chanyeol and greeting him a good morning like she usually does,” Baekhyun asked, tilting his head a bit. “SM Entertainment is strict with their personel right? Milan surely doesn’t want to lose her job. She simply has no choice,” Chen said. “How sure are you about your assumptions?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “Fifty percent maybe,” Chen smirked.

By noon, EXO was already settling their things and even souvenirs that they’ll bring to Korea. The next time they saw Milan was when they were already in the airport. She was waiting ahead of them, sporting a black cut-out shoulder shirt and a black circle-type skirt. She was also wearing white wedges which the members were shocked to notice since Milan rarely wears anything with heels except if she was forced. The black outfit was already her fashion statement that sometimes, she’s teased with Kyungsoo.

“Mil-ah,” Suho called out. Milan turned her head and smiled a bit at the leader. Suho told the members to wait there while he went to get the young composer. “We were worried about you! Why didn’t you text us?” Suho said with a worried expression. “I told manager-oppa I was going ahead of you. Didn’t he tell you? Aish, I should scold him,” Milan said with a frown. “Want to accompany us then?” Suho offered his arm. “Aniyo, don’t want to touch the leader,” Milan said, pushing his arm away and making Suho chuckle. “Whatever you say,” he said.

Milan and Suho went to the other members and seemed to be talking about Indonesian culture. They were excited to see what Indonesia looks like, especially the young girl. Chanyeol kept glancing at her and Milan tried her best not to glance back at him. It was awkward now, Milan knew. Chanyeol didn’t have a clue what awkward was though.

When they were aboard the plane, it ended up as Milan and Chanyeol beside each other. “Erm…” Chanyeol tried striking a conversation but Milan was obviously distracted by her tablet. She can’t sleep of course with that confession on her mind so she decided to use games as a distraction. And it was working until Chanyeol decided to talk to her. “Mil-ah, notice me,” Chanyeol was obviously begging for her attention.

Milan looked out the window of the plane and Chanyeol finally got her hint that she doesn’t want to talk to him. Either that or she wasn’t prepared to talk to him. “If I knew we’ll end up like this, I shouldn’t have confessed,” he muttered. “Yah, oppa, let’s have a deal,” Chanyeol suddenly smiled when he heard her voice. “Bwo?” He asked as he turned at her. She had her head resting on the palm of her hand while staring out of the window as if she wasn’t afraid to be so high up.

“If you forget all about your feelings about me, I’ll forget about your confession and we can return to how we were before.”