{THIRTY-ONE}

Month 06 Day 20

Kyungsoo could proudly declare today as the most tender day in his whole adoscelent life. Two weeks ago, when he was sat at his desk after a lunch break, he spotted a piece of paper jutting out of his textbook. Curiously, he took out the folded piece of paper and read it's contents.

20th of August, Namsan. ^^ -MJ

"Go Minjae, you're so brazen." Kyungsoo smiled to himself and folded back the piece of paper before stuffing it back under his desk.

So that was how he found himself waking up a few hours earlier prior two weeks later to their so called 'date' he regarded to as a friendly meetup. He rummaged through his closet for his best clothes. He flung out his neat light blue denim shirt, a plain white shirt and black slim-fit pants to go along with it. For the finishing touch, he looked over at his worn out pair of black converse sneakers. 

He guessed that would have to do for the time being.

"That was fun." Minjae remarked gleefully, walking side by side with him. "We bumped in to your mom while we were walking, looks like she was with some friends."

"Yeah..." Kyungsoo let out a small smile upon remembering how cheerful his mother looked when they coincidentally saw her through a cafe window, chatting with other women her age. His heart warmed up at that, and when his mother saw him through the window, he didn't hesitate to give her an enthusiastic wave. 

"Feels better now that you've reconciled with her, huh?" Minjae shamelessly stopped in front of him, placing her index finger on his soft cheeks. "Remember when you had ice cream all over your face just now? People were staring at you as if you were some baby."

"Did you have to bring that up?" Kyungsoo stopped in his tracks, turning over to the girl to give her an unsatisfactory stare. "It was so delicious I was immersed in it, there's your explanation in case you were going to be your stubborn self and annoy me again." He pushed her forehead back with his palm, and got a gentle laugh in return from Minjae. His heart thumped rapidly at that simple laugh she could give every time. Go Minjae had no idea...

"Whatever." Minjae scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out at him, which he found adorable. She looked behind him. "We're here already..."

Kyungsoo turned around to be greeted by Chanyeol's modernly luxurious house in his view. He averted his attention back to Minjae, who was currently bearing a somewhat sorrowful expression on her face. Normally, he wouldn't be the type of guy to do this sort of thing, but he couldn't hold himself back. Daringly, his hand slowly reached down for her feminine ones. Their palms touched and their fingers interlaced tightly, like knots.

They weren't dating. Heck, neither of them had confessed to each other yet, but they didn't want to admit their feelings were unmistakable. Kyungsoo wondered why he was doing this. Did he even have the right to, considering that this was something romantic to be doing? At this moment, he pushed all of those thoughts to the depths of his mind, focusing on the girl he had his fingers interlaced with instead of worrying about trivial issues. 

Go Minjae widened her eyes. "Y-Yah, you - "

"Let's walk a few more rounds." Kyungsoo suggested with an emotionless face. He glanced at Minjae who was still in her flustered state, and he gave his excuse. "You said, just now, that you still had a ton of things to talk about, right? I couldn't listen to you just now, or all of those other days when I ignored you, so you can tell me now. Unless you don't want to -"

Minjae tightened her fingers tightly enclosed with his. "N-No! I want to. I do have things I want to tell you. Promise you'll listen, okay?"

Kyungsoo nodded softly. "Uh, I'll listen."

They walked down the neighbourhood, hand in hand, unaware of a certain someone who'd unraveled a giant secret in the house.

Kyungsoo was greeted by an unsettling silence once he entered Chanyeol's place. Usually, the giant would be in the living room on this sunny day, fawning over his favourite girl groups. Or in the the kitchen where he would trying to rummage through the fridge for anything savoury he could consume. Basically, the house was never quiet when Park Chanyeol was in. 

"Weird..." Kyungsoo rushed up the stairs, he still wasn't able to hear anything that told him the giant was in. "Hey, Chanyeol?" He shouted and peeked in the taller boy's room. His neglected assignments sat on his bed while his phone was carelessly tossed on the other end. Kyungsoo knew he was in, but he just didn't know where.

Just then, he heard the sound of something falling coming from his room. He opened the door, and Chanyeol was stood next to his bedside table, his eyes widening as if he'd been caught in some sort of illegal act.

"K-Kyungsoo..."

"Hm, what are you doing in my room?" 

At this question, Chanyeol darted his panic-stricken eyes to the stack of documents resting on the study desk. "I came to... take these for my dad. This room used to be his office and he asked me to get these for him. Ha... I-I'll be going."

Was Kyungsoo dreaming, or did he just see a hint of fear on his close friend's face?

"Chanyeol, are you okay -"