When he offers to give her a ride, her stomach does a backflip.

She is not quite certain what that means. During their time as school mates, there was never much of a connection in the realm of spurring any sort of romantic feelings, but they were neither exactly close anyway. They only knew of each other because they shared a great deal of mutual friends. They only hung out when there were others around. It was only recently where their title of peers turned to that of being friends.

So it came as a surprise when he insisted on picking her up. Just the two of them with him driving and her sitting shotgun. Something about even thinking of such a scenario made her anxious.

Every now and then at least once a year, they would hold a meetup, a gathering of old SOPA friends to catch up on life. Sehun, Kai, Zelo, Juniel, and herself had kept this tradition going ever since they graduated. Hayi would always take matters into her own hands when it came to planning their meetups, but this time around, they had forbid her from stressing out about details (her friends were often the indecisive type that would only confirm their attendance at the very last moment). Moreover, this time they announced it as being a post-birthday celebration for the girl--even if it was one month too late.

She was pretty much annoyed when Sehun proposes to go to a cafe out of town. He knows very well that she doesn’t drive, nor does she have access to a car during these outings. She had to beg her company to let her out on her own--solo, no manager, nothing. She would hate to go back on her word and request the help from YG. And yet she cannot seem to straight out reject his preposition. Instead, she dances around the plan, hinting nicely that she’d prefer elsewhere. But the others don’t pick up on the clue. Kai is obviously no help. He jumps in agreement to the other member’s suggestion. Knowing that Sehun had once worked there adds to free perks that the dancer is too satisfied with to turn down. As always, Zelo remains silent. He figures that there’s no reason to oppose it. Usually Juniel would be the only one who would side by her, but ever since the guitarist started dating Kai, she’d been slowly in cahoots with the boy. Similarly to Hayi, she too lived rather far from the cafe, but Kai would obviously be there to fetch his girl.

This left Hayi in a rut. Even if the far location was bothering her, she just could not bring herself to challenge Sehun upon it because their friendship was just not at that level. Their friendship in general, was hard to describe. They never argued, never really disagreed with the other so doing so now seemed like such a foreign thing to do. She sulked by her lonesome, fingers ghosting along her keyboard wondering how to go about the situation. But thankfully he understood her dilemma.

I’ll pick you up if you’d like, he typed.

There’s a bit of hesitancy on her part, but Hayi eventually accepts the offer. Had it been anyone else (Kai or Zelo), it would have been nothing out of the ordinary, but this was Sehun. Being alone together was unheard of.

She finds herself getting dolled up a bit more the day of. Or perhaps she’s just paying more attention to such small details, but it’s nothing too different that strays away from her normal routine. She stands at the meeting point, waiting for the blonde haired boy to pull up. She even made sure to arrive earlier than the agreed time just to ensure that she would not be late. She can’t imagine how awkward the ride would be if she ended up making him wait. Even if Sehun had offered, the fact still was that he was doing her a favour.

She’s nothing short of confused when a different blonde boy shows up. Zelo motions her to get in his car and Hayi readily follows along. She’s not upset nor relieved by the change. She does not bring up the topic of the sudden switch either. She’s likely certain that it doesn’t matter, but there’s a slight bitter taste knowing that she wasn’t informed about it.

“He’s getting a ride from someone. He’s not driving today,” Zelo announces, breaking the silence.

“Alright…” she casually replies, not really interested in knowing the details.

The two end up arriving much earlier than the others and so they play the waiting game. It’s Zelo’s stubborn idea to do so. He’d rather sit in the comfort of his car with music to his preference blasting with maximum bass without a care than to sit in a quaint small cozy cafe with god knows what is currently on their stereo system. Hayi doesn’t mind. Thankfully, she shares the same music taste with the tall boy so she hums along to the familiar tracks and even cackles at the foolish dance moves he busts out.  

It’s around their 6th song when another vehicle pulls up and a slender blonde boy emerges. Zelo automatically goes off and honks at the figure twice, ready to scream out to his friend, but Hayi stops him from rolling down the windows.

“That’s not Sehun you idiot,” Hayi slaps the other on the shoulder, melting in her seat from embarrassment.

Even with her adamant proclamations, Zelo is still set on calling out to whom he assumes is their friend. Afterall, the guy was dressed how the other idol would do so with practically matching heights. “Sehu---”

“That’s not him!” Hayi cuts him off. “Sehun has broader shoulders and he wouldn’t put so much product if any, in his hair.”

Zelo freezes as he finally catches a glimpse at the victim to his screams. Indeed, it is not Sehun and the revelation is almost flabbergasting. He falls into a stupor of uncontrollable chuckles as he recounts his actions just minutes ago. “Wow, Sehun has a damn twin then! How the hell did you know that aint him? They look the same.”

“No they don't. It’s quite obvious…” Hayi whispers out quietly. She doesn’t know why Zelo couldn’t spot the difference as it’s clear like night and day. Even the way the stranger before them walks was nothing alike, the way his arms would swing by his side was just not Sehun at all.

“Maybe you like him~~.” He teases. It was a long time running joke that he would pull on her and just when it would die down, the rapper would somehow bring it back to life.

“Shut up,” she rolls her eyes at her friend’s stupid comment. She’s convinced that playing third wheel in a car with Juniel and Kai would have been better than the situation she found herself.

It’s awkward once more when they all finally gather. Everyone drifts off one by one to find a seat and there’s a strange shuffle that follows. Sehun joins in later after taking care of the bill, a tray of assorted drinks at hand. Even if he doesn't work there anymore, no one stops him from roaming around and doing employee tasks (after all, it takes off a ton of workload from them). The boy places it down along the table and just stares for awhile. Thinking. There’s a vacant seat to Hayi’s side and so she shifts her bag to make some room, but he doesn’t move an inch close. Instead, he pulls another chair and drags it to the table. Everyone makes a fuss at his actions.

“Why don’t you just sit beside Hayi?” They're all grunting because the things Sehun does were often complicated, when they shouldn't be.

She does not say one word. Something about him sitting elsewhere made her feel embarrassed and there’s a slew of questions that fly in her mind. Was he avoiding her? Would it really be that awkward to be beside her? She doesn’t know what’s going on in Sehun’s head and she’s somewhat hit with the fact that that's because she doesn’t really know him that well...even if they were so called friends. 

It’s these things that he does or does not do that makes Hayi question their friendship. She tries and sometimes she believes that they’re slowly getting closer, but Sehun is unreadable. He’s unpredictable and often only shows one stoic expression that does not spill any details towards how he feels. And that’s when she feels like it’s all for nothing and whatever progress is rewinded.

But then he goes off and does something.

Like the moments when he spotted her coughing and fetched a glass of water for her to soothe it. Like when he offered to buy her another drink when he noticed that hers was done. Like when he seemed to be amused when she drops by to watch him make the drink. Like when he laughs at how excited she is when he allows her to try mini samples of random beverages he whips up. Or when he steps in to interrupt when some other barista comes over and stirs a flirty conversation with her.

And then that is where there’s a crazy thought that creeps in her innocent mind that wonders may