A/N: I AM INCREDIBLY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. - See more in the footnotes -

C H A M P A G N E - 01

May 19th, 2014

As the days passed by, my usually silent cellphone went on ringing and vibrating almost without interruption; for the first time in my life I was being bombarded with kakaotalk messages from various guys at once. Since I found out  both WooHyun and SungGyu to be extraordinarily impatient, I was replying to their texts even during classes. Else, I would have been sent the same text over and over again.  

It was early morning, and classes were starting to get a little more intense since we were nearing midterms. I should actually have been paying attention to Professor Lee but I was on my phone again, replying to text messages. 

FROM: ROOFTOP BOY


I heard WooHyun and

Hoya talk about you

but they wouldn’t 
explain

why. Did sth happen I

should know about? Gyu

I didn’t even have time to reply when the next message already popped up.

FROM: NUMBER 3


Morning! Did you finally


make plans to meet up


with HyeMi? WH ♥

SeRi nudged my leg under the desk. „Who’s that?“ she mouthed, pointing her chin toward my phone.

I glanced at Professor Lee, making sure he wouldn’t catch us talking in his lecture. Luckily, he had averted his attention from the class, writing something on the chalkboard. „WooHyun.“

Her eyes widened. „Again?“ 

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. „Guess he likes to text." 

SeRi just chuckled and bit her lower lip. ”Give me MyungSoo’s number, will you?“ she then said with a husked voice. „I thought we were friends, come oooon."

I uncomfortably shuffled on my chair. This wasn’t the first time she asked me for MyungSoo’s number. I tried to avoid any Infinite-related topics since this was exactly why I never told anyone I knew SungGyu. I wasn’t keen on giving out personal information to whomever. Not even SeRi. „I don’t have it.“

But of course SeRi wouldn’t take no for an answer. ”Well, whose do you have?“ she whispered back. 

I sighed, double-checking on Professor Lee. Maybe giving in a bit would make her shut up? „SungGyu, WooHyun and HyeMi."

As expected, SeRi pouted. „I’m sure any of those would have his number. Just ask.“

I rolled my eyes. ”Why would I?“

”Because I’m your friend and you want to make me happy?“ she replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. „And MyungSoo’s number is probably one of the things that would make me the happiest on this earth?“

„Uh, I don’t think that’s possible-" I started, but was distracted when just then my screen lit up again. Taking note of it, SeRi raised her eyebrows and looked at me expectantly. ”Who ever it is, ask for MyungSoo’s number now,“ she whispered, sounding weirdly demanding.

When I took a closer look at the message, I was relieved to see that luck was on my side. I victoriously showed SeRi the short preview of the message and announced, ”See, it’s from JaeJin oppa. Nothing to ask there."

At this, SeRi only grunted in disapproval, crossed her arms in front of her chest and directed her attention back to Professor Lee. 

FROM: JAEJIN OPPA

My friend SunWoo invited me to 

this party on the 31^st. Do

you and your flatmate

want to come? Champagne

is on me, so it’s going 

to be awesome! JJ

"SeRi, wanna go?“ I asked after reading, showing her the full message. “JaeJin oppa is inviting us.”

“Where to?” she asked, looking from my face to the phone and back.

I rolled my eyes. “To this party JaeJin got tickets left for.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “This is a message from…Number Three. Isn’t that WooHyun?”

What? I quickly pulled my phone back to take a look at it. Did I get a new message again? I did.

FROM: NUMBER 3

I gave Hoya your number.

He should contact you 

any minute. WH ♥

"Now you even got Hoya’a number,“ SeRi complained, grinning smugly. „Can’t be too hard to ask for MyungSoo’s.“

I shook my head, remembering what a pain it had been to get HoWon’s number. I wasn’t going to go through that again. I wasn’t some kind of idol dating agency. Plus, the boys trusted me with their personal data. Who was I to share it with other people, when they barely even had any privacy left? "It’s awkward. We barely even talked.“

SeRi chuckled. "You just don’t wanna share…“

Oh man, I thought, and decided to ignore her for the time being as I concentrated on replying WooHyun. Knowing his texting habits, he was all set to tell me he had seen the notification indicating that I had read the message, and that he was waiting for my reply. I only managed to send him a quick “thank you”, when the next message already popped up on my screen.

FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER

Hey MinAe. WooHyun

hyung gave me your number.

I heard about your situation

and if it doesn’t clash with my

schedule I’ll try to help you out. 

Where and when do you need me? 

SungGyu hyung will kill all of us if 

he finds out so I don’t feel too good

about this but I owe WooHyun so I’m

at a loss here. HW.

Well, if that wasn’t HoWon. I had a feeling he was a texter with a short patience-span, too. After shortly thinking about it, I saved him under Number Four. If anyone ever found my phone they’d probably think I had the raddest dating life ever, I thought, chuckling at myself. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I replied to him that I didn’t know the exact time of the birthday party yet, but that the date was the 23^rd.

That being done I re-opened JaeJin’s message to finally show it SeRi under the desk. But a new pop-up lit up the screen before she could even finish reading JaeJin’s message. The look she gave me then was judging to the bone. “Isn't that SungGyu?”

This can’t be, I groaned inwardly, pulling back my phone to read the message.

FROM: ROOFTOP BOY

Are you cheating on me?

"Yeah,“ I nodded and stared at my screen. “But…I don’t get his message. At all.“

SeRi snorted loudly. "Well, he’s being pretty straight-forward about it…“

"The ladies in the back?“ Professor Lee’s voice suddenly cut through the room, making both SeRi and me jump in our seats. He was standing a few steps away from us, his hands placed on his hips. I couldn’t help but notice how y his posture was.

"Yes, Lee-seonsaengnim,“ we simultaneously answered, while I hid my phone under my hands by reflex. Luckily, he didn’t seem to either notice or care about my phone. Instead, he just shook his head and sighed. I could already feel the burning of my flushed cheeks. Embarrassing.

After three seconds of painful silence, he finally cleared his throat, fixating me with his eyes. Did he look…disappointed? "Could you please save your personal conversations for after my class?“

„Yes, Lee-seonsaengnim,“ we replied in unison, me turning even a few shades redder than I already was. Curse me and my sense to pick crushes. Professor Lee shortly shook his head, sending me another meaningful glance before turning his attention back to the other students, leaving me to deal with my racing heartbeat. 

After making sure that professor Lee wasn’t checking on us every other second anymore, SeRi whispered, "Did you forget to tell me about something…big?“

"W…what?“ I asked absentmindedly, still trying to get my heartbeat and flushed face back under control. How did people actually deal with crushing on their best friends? Dealing with this rollercoaster of emotions for two hours once a week (during Professor Lee’s class) was more than enough.

SeRi chuckled a bit too loudly, and quickly caught herself. After she checked if professor Lee had noticed, she smirked knowingly. "Are you and SungGyu a thing now?"

Suddenly, Professor Lee was switched with SungGyu in my head. I nearly choked at the thought. „No, how on earth would that happen?"

“Cha MinAe, this is my last warning!” Professor Lee admonished me, looking seriously pissed this time. Shoot. “If you can’t control yourself I ask you to leave my class.”

“Yes, seonsaengnim,” I said, crunching my teeth. All I wanted was to disappear into a hole in the floor. “I won’t disturb your class any further.”

Professor Lee nodded shortly. “I hope so.” Then he continued to explain whatever it was that he had been teaching us. I didn’t even know the topic of today’s class, I realized, suddenly feeling stressed. Midterms were coming up soon, after all.

“So you’re telling me you and SungGyu are…just friends?” SeRi gave me a doubting glance, and then shook her head, when I didn’t answer. „As you wish.“

I decided to leave the topic be and focus on what was left of class, but I didn’t even get a chance because that instant my phone screen lit up yet again. SeRi leant over to also read the message, after warily checking that Professor Lee wasn’t paying attention to us. 

FROM: ROOFTOP BOY

You are obviously texting WooHyun

because he just mentioned you and

pointed to his phone. Why did you

give him your number? He’s such

a greaseball. And why are you

ignoring me and texting him

instead??

SeRi chuckled, and nudged my right side. “He’s so jealous,” she whispered. “It’s somehow cute. It’s like he’s a normal person, and not some kind of idol…”

"He is a normal person,“ I whispered back. "Being famous doesn’t make you less of a human. You should experience him whine about s every other night. But obviously the guys have too much free time at their hands…"

„Free time?“ SeRi repeated.

I nodded. "SungGyu told me they usually barely have time to even text their families.“

My statement left her thinking, and I contemplated whether I had said something I shouldn’t have, because she wasn’t the silent type when talking boys. But my thoughts were interrupted by another two messages.

FROM: NUMBER 4 

Let me know in time. HW.

FROM: JAEJIN OPPA

It’s a dresscode party. You in?

Drinks and all are already paid

for since it’s kind of a private

event…difficult to explain. But 

he’s a really good friend of mine

so don’t worry. JJ

SeRi, who had been reading along, nodded, “Ah, if that’s about the party you asked earlier - I’m in.”

After checking on Professor Lee again – and realizing I didn’t even have a clue what his notes on the chalkboard even were about, I felt stressed.

“I’m not sure I want to go,” I sighed, thinking of all that homework that I had been putting off. In addition, I still had Professor Lee’s daughter’s birthday to deal with and Infinite’s comeback showcase in two days. Not to mention HyeMi. My schedule was kind of packed.

But I stood no chance when SeRi put on her best pouting face. “But I do and I can’t go if you don’t, so please? Go for my sake. We haven’t gone out in ages...”

“Fine,” I finally hissed, when Professor Lee turned to face our way. Honestly, I only wanted for SeRi to shut up. Professor Lee had already admonished us enough, and my heart was still aching from the disappointed look he had given me. I waited for him to turn back to the chalkboard, and replied to JaeJin.

TO: JAEJIN OPPA

We’re in, thanks a lot.

Anything else we need 

to know about that party?

MinAe

I wasn’t surprised when I got the next message even before hitting send on JaeJin’s.

FROM: NUMBER THREE

I guess you’re kinda nervous

about texting HyeMi so let

me help you. I just found out

she’ll be at our 123 showcase,

so maybe ask her if you can 

meet up before? WH ♥

I hadn’t expected this now. The message made my heart drop to my pants. Despite WooHyun’s continuous messages asking me to contact HyeMi, it actually took a lot to muster up the courage to finally do so. Until now I had started endless messages asking her to meet, but I never had the guts so hit sent. And now WooHyun was even helping me on how to approach her because that’s just the coward I was.
I sighed as I replied a “thank you” to WooHyun and opened a new chat window with HyeMi, determined to get this over with now. There was no use in trying to get what Professior Lee’s lecture was about anyways.

TO: LADY X

Hey, this is MinAe. I got your
 number 

from Number 3. Do
 you want to 

maybe meet up
sometime? I’m

going to the 1 2 3 showcase, you?

I would love to, since 
we couldn’t 

really talk during the 
New Life 

For Children event. MinAe

Before I could change my mind or overthink the message, I hit sent without even re-reading it; I silently hated myself for being this incredibly socially awkward with people I didn’t know long enough.

Then, everything happened pretty quickly.

FROM: ROOFTOP BOY


I miss you. 

FROM: LADY X

I’d love to. I’m just really busy. 

Since I’m going 
to have to help

my dad with stage preparations,

maybe we can meet for the 

after
party? I think SungGyu

mentioned you’d be there, too.


Champagne is on me!

Love, HyeMi

FROM: ROOFTOP BOY

What do I have to do for you

to text me back…?

"MyungSoo,“ SeRi suddenly whispered next to my ear, reminding me that she had been reading along. „Number. Now.“ 

What is life, I thought and sighed. Then I opened SungGyu’s chat and started typing a reply.

A/N: Dear subcribers. I am truly sorry. This took so long. University is mad and I have also been travelling a lot and I just couldn't get my together (mainly this though). I don't like this chapter. one of many reasons why I didn't upload it sooner. I revised i about 25000 times and I just can't be bothered with going through it again. But I most probably will after finishing this story...

Next chapter is already halfway done and I hope to upload it this week. It's already insanely long so it's probably going to be the longest chapter to this point. But it's fun to write aaand I have a lot of WooHyun and HyeMi and SungGyu annnnd other stuff prepared for you.

I really hope that you won't lose your patience with me so that I can keep you as readers! :)

xoxo JaeRin