“Minji?”

I awoke with a start, realizing that sometime last night while reliving my memories about Taemin I’d drifted off to sleep. Minho was knocking on my door, calling my name.

“Minji? Are you up?” He slowly cracked the door open, peeking inside, and then opened it fully when he saw that I was awake. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” he grinned, coming to sit by my bed.

“’Morning,” I yawned, stretching my arms over my head. (It has to be said, I’m not much of a morning person.)

“You’ve got a date this afternoon, at the park,” Minho informed me. “I’ll give you a ride.” He got up and left to give me some privacy.

I sighed and rolled out of bed, walking into the bathroom to observe the rat’s nest sitting atop my head. I sighed again, wondering how Jonghyun had ever found anyone willing to go on a date with me.

The morning passed quickly, and after a quick brunch I changed into what I hoped were cute, casual clothes. Minho dropped me off at the park. “I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours,” he called to me as I got out of the car. “Have fun, Minji.”

“Thanks, oppa.” I threw him a smile and waved as he drove away, before turning to observe the park. It was a nice spring day and the area was fairly quiet, with a few kids and their parents occupying the playground. I peered around for anyone who looked about my age and saw a boy with a guitar slung around his back sitting by himself on a bench. Walking over, I awkwardly tapped his shoulder. “Hi,” I said, as he turned around. “Um—I’m Minji. Are you…?”

“Lay,” he said, smiling—and good Lord, he had a dimple on the right side of his cheek. Why do I find dimples so adorable?

“Nice to meet you, Lay,” I said politely. He scooted over to make room for me, and I sat on the bench beside him, folding my hands in my lap. What should I do now? I thought, peering at him sideways—to see him looking back at me. We both quickly looked away, and I blushed, embarrassed.

“Um—“ Lay began, and I turned to look at him expectantly. He cleared his throat, seeming a little hesitant. “I…I wrote a song for you,” he said at last, his cheeks tingeing red a bit in embarrassment. When I didn’t respond right away, he stammered hastily, “I’m sorry. Is that creepy? I know we just met and all but I like writing songs and…”

“No, it’s not creepy at all,” I interrupted, smiling. “In fact, it’s very sweet.” Exactly the kind of thing Taemin would never have done for me.

I winced at this thought and tried to expel any thoughts of Taemin from my head. After all, here was a beautiful boy sitting right in front of me, who wrote songs for the heck of it. And said boy’s gorgeous face was brightening at my words, seeming slightly relieved as he replied, “Oh. Okay, well, just give me a second.”

Lay slung his guitar over his head and onto his lap, and then looked around. “I’m kind of self-conscious about my voice,” he admitted. “Do you mind if we move somewhere else?”

“Of course not,” I said good-naturedly. “Where should we move?”

“How about that hill over there?” Lay suggested, pointing to a slightly secluded area where there were little patches of grass and just-blooming flowers surrounded by a cluster of trees. We made our way over and sat in the grass, me across from Lay. He pulled out a sheet of paper with some lyrics and chords scratched onto it, laying it in front of him on the grass, and then got out a pick. “Are you ready?” he asked, smiling at me, and I nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Lay began picking at chords, filling my ears with a pretty, mellow tune. When he began singing, I was surprised—the lyrics were in Chinese. I’d studied some Chinese in school so I understood most of the words, and they were very sweet and romantic—just like Lay. I felt myself closing my eyes, swaying slightly to the music. His voice was soft, lovely and pleasant to listen to.

When the song ended, I opened my eyes to see Lay peering at me expectantly. “Was…was it alright?” he asked hesitantly.

“It was beautiful!” I replied enthusiastically. “You have a really nice voice. And did you seriously write that yourself?”

“Yes,” Lay answered, a bit bashfully. “I really enjoy writing music.”

“That’s awesome,” I said admiringly. There was a pause, and then I remarked, “I didn’t know you were Chinese.”

“I moved to Korea when I was eleven,” Lay explained, “so I still write most of my songs in Chinese.”

“Oh, I see. Well, it was really nice of you to sing that for me; thank you, Lay,” I smiled, and he turned a bit red as he looked down at his knees, muttering a “no problem”.

We spent the rest of the date just sitting in the grass, talking. Lay even let me experiment a bit with his guitar, though all I managed to master were a few simple chords. Soon the sky was showing hints of evening pink, and I stood up, brushing bits of grass off my legs.

“I’d better get going—Minho oppa will be here soon to pick me up,” I said regretfully. Lay got up too, and together we walked back towards the front of the park. He turned to face me, smiling, and proffered a Hershey Kiss in his palm. I took it, returning the smile, and noticed something about the little ribbon sticking out of the top.

“It says Yixing,” I commented, looking curiously up at Lay. He nodded. “That’s my Chinese name. Lay is just a nickname my Korean friends gave me when I moved here,” he explained.

“Ah, I see,” I answered, glancing back down at the little silver candy sitting in my hand. “Thank you, Yixing. You’re a really cool guy—and please, keep writing music.”

“I will,” Yixing replied, blushing a little. “Thanks, Minji.” I opened my arms for a hug, and he complied a bit shyly, stepping hastily back as Minho’s car pulled up in front of us. I smiled and gave Yixing one last little wave before getting into the car.

“Quite the attraction these days, aren’t we?” Minho commented as he pulled away. I turned to stare at him, but his face was devoid of expression. I sighed.

“Oppa. That quite possibly may have been the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”

A/N: Aww Lay is so cheesy cute <3

Oh and in case you were wondering, the song that I imagined him singing for Minji when I wrote this was "My Lady" by EXO-M, but you can pretend whatever you'd like. ^^