‘For the last time, Sunny, it is not a date.’ Mila crinkled her nose up at the word. Her cousin carried on squealing anyway, running from one point in the room to another, flinging various items of clothing around. It was going to be a long, long day. Sun Hee and her parents were the only blood relatives she’d met since coming to Korea, through them she’d managed to find information she could use to find her birth mother. Although admittedly it wasn’t very reliable information, it was better than not even knowing she existed. Sun Hee had been screeching all morning about finding the perfect outfit for her and Mila was honestly regretting staying with them for the past month. Sun Hee was cute but the constant strain of becoming her Unnie was enough to drive Mila into the ground, and more than enough to persuade her to stay there. She’d been more shopping more times in the past month than she had done at any point in her whole adult life. What was worse is since she failed to secure the job in Busan, it looked like she was stuck here for the foreseeable future.

                ‘Mila. Of course it’s a date! You’re going for coffee! How is this not a date?’ Sun Hee sighed exasperatedly, flinging herself down on Mila’s bed, the white cotton sheets bunched up around her as she curled herself into a comfortable ball.

                ‘Sun Hee, I hate to tell you this, but sometimes people go for coffee just for the hell of it. Sometimes they may not even like each other.’ Mila snorted when Sun Hee nodded her head slowly, her chocolate eyes round. Mila was sure Sun Hee thought she was a wise sage when it came to guys, little did Sun Hee know that Mila just as badly at the whole dating thing as she did.

 ‘Anyway, I’m going to wear what I wore when we went shopping last. So stop freaking out, Kid.’ Mila pulled a pair of leather detail leggings out of her wardrobe, yanked a white sleeveless shirt with beautiful crochet hems and a comfy black and white patterned cardigan from her closet. She slipped on a pair of black brogues over her frilly white socks and glanced in the mirror. She looked acceptable. She yanked a brush through her hair and curled the naturally wavy tresses gently. They fell neatly around her pale face, down her past her neck and stopped just below her shoulder blades. Make up was a hassle and she wouldn’t have worn any if Sun Hee hadn’t wrestled her down and executed a quick game of what she called ‘hide the already invisible flaws’.

Kai glanced around the apartment a few times; he had to make sure no one followed him. Sneaking across the laminated floor he nearly regretted not wearing socks, the furiously constricting garments might have helped him move more quickly. The journal was tucked safely into his leather satchel bag and he knelt down by the doorway to locate his shoes. It was at that moment Sehun walked into the dorm, swinging the door open and knocking Kai flying.

‘! Sorry, man!’ Sehun yanked Kai upward, looking him up and down for damage.

‘No worries. Just a bruised ego!’ Kai tried to shake Sehun’s hand off his arm, but his pale grip was surprisingly strong. Sehun’s eyes had locked onto his outfit; Kai knew he was a little overdressed to be going to the studio. Heck, he’d spent half an hour trying to choose the right jumper to wear over his shirt.

‘Where are you going?’ Sehun queried, a small angelic smile lighting up his face. His eye-smile emerged and Kai grimaced at the false sweetness of it. How did anyone find this brat cute?

‘Nowhere. Out! I’m going out.’ Kai laughed, rubbing the back of his obviously styled hair and trying his best to appear natural.

‘Oh. Well I’ll come too!’ Sehun smiled again. This time Kai just sighed forlornly. Looks like Lee Mila was meeting two members of EXO for coffee. His plan was already starting to crumble.

Okay, Mila, don’t panic. It’s just coffee. He knows what you look like. Don’t panic. She repeated the mantra over and over in her head whilst she drank her iced green tea. In the ten minutes that she’d been here Mila had already decided that she never, ever wanted to date if this was what it felt like. How did people deal with this every time they went out somewhere? Sun Hee had insisted on tagging along, as Mila accidentally let slip that the guys from the train were kind of attractive, and was spending far too long choosing what colour straw she wanted in her bubble tea.

‘Unnie~?’ Sun Hee cooed as she poked Mila’s cheek.

‘Sun Hee?’ Mila replied, turning her head away so the younger girl couldn’t poke her anymore. She was seriously regretting not following her initial plan of knocking Sun Hee out and leaving her back at the apartment. It probably would’ve saved her a good deal of trouble.

‘Does this straw match my lip gloss? Oh and when did Oppa say he’d be here?’ Mila practically choked on her tea at Sun Hee’s words. Swivelling incredulously she waved her hand at her cousin threateningly.

‘Yah! Who said you could call him that?’ Mila yelped as Sun Hee patted her back, trying her best to soothe the older girl.

‘Sorry, Unnie.’ Sun Hee almost sounded apologetic, almost. Mila pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She so did no need this right now.

The sound of small bell hung above the café door trilling through the air disrupted Sun Hee’s nearly sincere apology to Mila. It was as though all the sounds of the café had been from the air when two young men entered. They were both quite tall but other than the fact they both looked like they were chiselled by the gods they didn’t look anything alike. The slightly smaller one had skin that was admittedly unusually dark for a Korean, although a healthy sheen seemed to radiate from the warm colour. It suited his dark, dangerous eyes and his pale blonde hair. She coughed a little as she caught the eyes of the other guy, he looked at her, his gentle gaze was blank and his eyebrows rose, exposing his surprise. Suddenly he smiled, puffing out his cheeks at her. Mila couldn’t help a small creep of blush in her cheeks as she nearly laughed at his expression.  It was him, the guy she’d been pulling faces at on the train.

‘Unnie.’ A sharp elbow collided with her ribs; Mila jerked angrily and glared at Sun Hee only to stop when she noticed how wide the younger girl’s eyes were. Her small mouth had fallen open into a gentle ‘O’ shape.

‘What is it, Sunny?’ Mila whispered gently, shaking her cousin’s shoulder. As the two boys made their way through the now noisy café toward their table in far corner, the one she as pulling faces at pulled away and walked over to the counter. Mila followed her with her eyes, before coming to the conclusion that the other guy must’ve been Jong In.

‘Why didn’t you tell me they were members of EXO?’ Sun Hee whispered harshly in her ear as he flopped into the comfy, leather sofa opposite them. He bowed his head once, softly, and smiled a killer smile that pulled at his full lips to reveal his gleaming teeth.

‘Train Girl.’

‘Creeper Jong In.’ Mila replied automatically, flicking the switch in her brain that activated the side of personality that didn’t give a damn how pretty this guy was, but just wanted what she came here for, and that was her journal.