The sixth spin was done by Kyuhyun.

When he spun the bottle, Taeyeon got up and her laughter finally died down. “I… uh… I have to go.”

Stephanie got up almost simultaneously and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll go with you.”

Kyuhyun just focused on the spinning bottle.

Siwon got up third, gesturing towards the door. “I have something on. We can leave together.”

Before the bottle finished spinning, the three were halfway out the door.

=

Taeyeon got up a cab the minute one appeared by the corner of the road down Jongwoon’s house. Stephanie and Siwon couldn’t catch up in time, given that Taeyeon had sprinted her way there.

The two were left staring at the empty space where Taeyeon stood earlier, and then they looked at each other.

“Tonight…” She began.

“…wasn’t really smooth-sailing.” He finished.

She nodded.

“Kyuhyun… wasn’t kidding, was he?”

Stephanie realized that out of everyone today, four already knew. Four wasn’t a good number. Four was never a good number.

She smiled a bit and started walking. Siwon was left to figure out that enigmatic message.

Before she got too far away, Siwon held her back. “Wait, Fany!”

Stephanie spun around to find Siwon already an inch in front of her. Her heartbeat started to increase, until Siwon his lips. That spelled trouble.

“I, um… Taeyeon told me that you had a crush on me.”

Stephanie was sure that she had reddened in that second, but the night sky kept her blush hidden. “Oh.”

“Is it true?”

“…”

=

When the bottle spinning came to a halt, everyone’s eyes were fixated on Donghae and Jessica; the prey and predator.

Jongwoon clapped. “Yay! Let’s look for a dare for you guys!”

Yuri did a time-out gesture. “Honey, remember… All our dares are the same.”

All faces fell. Kyuhyun remained stoic from just now. Hyoyeon and Hyukjae had on tentative smiles. Yuri and Jongwoon seemed to be the only ones who were remotely interested in this at all.

Donghae was breaking out in a severe case of cold sweat. Jessica was staring into space.

“I guess… You guys have to make out in the storeroom now?”

=

“…”

“Is it?”

“Yes. It’s true. I do like you.”

Siwon shifted his weight to another foot, then back to the original foot. “Listen, I…”

“I know you don’t like me.”

“What? No—I do—I—“

“No, you don’t have the same feelings for me as I do for you. And I understand it, completely.”

“That’s good, but… I just…”

“I don’t know if I know what you’re going to say, and even if I do I don’t want to know, but whatever it is, I just want you to hear me out. Hear my plea.”

Siwon nodded.

“Just… Please. Don’t take away my right to have feelings for you.”

Siwon stared.

=

Donghae and Jessica found themselves in the storeroom just a flash after the dare had been announced. Hyoyeon stood outside, wielding a stopwatch.

“Okay, seven minutes, then we’ll end the party and everyone can go home!”

Jessica stood straight up before Donghae, a smile on her face. She shrugged. “I guess we’re going to have to kiss.”

Donghae gulped. “Wha—what?”

“That’s the whole point of this seven minutes in heaven thing.”

“Oh. But—but—we—“

“Well, it’s not like we haven’t kissed before.”

“But… You kissed me that time.”

“Come on, Donghae! It’s just a dare.”

He flinched. “Hey, you got my name right.”

“Oh. Yay! So I guess this is your cue to kiss me then?”

“I—I don’t know… if it’s appropriate.”

She sighed. The jacket she had been holding all night long, Donghae’s jacket she might add, slipped from her grip onto an empty chair that was beside them. Then she looked at him and smiled again. “Okay, I’m just going to stand here with my eyes closed. It’s your call.”

=

“Look, Fany, I…”

Siwon didn’t know how to put this into words. Stephanie just wanted to go home.

“You should know I don’t have any feelings for you,” he whispered.

No matter the amplitude of the message, Stephanie felt her heart breaking anyway. She nodded, but she didn’t really feel herself nodding.

“And… I don’t want to be the reason why my best friend can’t go all out for his girl. So… I just think that if we cleared us up, then you can just… Consider Kyuhyun, I guess.”

Stephanie turned and walked away the moment Siwon finished.

=

Donghae recalled all the times Krystal had chipped in to help, and his own enfeebling dedication to this girl.

It was now or never, and he knew it better than anyone else.

And so he leaned in, trying his best not to knock himself over, and as he approached the zone of proximity between him and her, he knew it was only now, and no never.

So he leaned in further, and the next thing he knew, their lips had touched.

Instead of pulling away as he intended to, he stayed. He didn’t know why, it was just a compelling desire that made him stay that way.

His eyes were shut, too. So it didn’t come as a surprise when he flinched upon feeling the contact of two warm hands touching his face, snaking around his neck, and then situating themselves behind his nape. They weren’t his.

The hands that weren’t his then pulled him in closer towards her.

Call it a of fate, but as their lips parted at the exact same moment, the kiss became something more.

His hands were around her waist now, pulling her in closer than they already were. And when he pulled her in, she pulled away for a momentary breath. They didn’t make any eye contact, but they might as well have, considering the quick moment of electricity both felt upon separation.

She didn’t take too long to match their lips once again. The gap closed up between them, from an inch to nothing more than a zero, and he was left trying to figure out whether he was still conscious, or if he was in dreamland already.

Their grips on each other only got tighter by the second, and as the time ticked away, they could only wish that they weren’t only given seven minutes.

=

Hyoyeon put the stopwatch on the table. Hyukjae went over to her with all their belongings and grinned a bit. “Seven minutes have passed already?”

She smiled back at him. “Eight wouldn’t hurt. Nine wouldn’t, too. And ten is perfect.”

=

Before the tenth minute, Jongwoon and Yuri were standing by the storeroom door.

“Um, should we tell them that the party’s over?”

“I don’t know… Should we?”

“Let’s flip a coin.”

So Jongwoon flipped a coin, and heads was up. “Okay, heads!”

Yuri frowned. “What does ‘heads’ mean?”

“We… Oh.”

“Okay, heads equates to we open the door. Tails, we don’t!”

“Okay.”

Jongwoon flipped the coin again. It hit the air and went down, out of Jongwoon’s range, and he struggled to catch it.

The coin went under the storeroom door instead.

=

Donghae felt something small hit his foot. He would brush it off, but he didn’t want this thing with Jessica to get too far ahead.

So he took it as his cue to pull away, and he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes that pretty much mirrored his, he’d say. Then they both smiled a bit, but their hands never came close to leaving each other’s body warmth.

“I guess seven minutes are up?”

=

Krystal was lounging in her couch again, once again downing another bottle of milk. When she drained the bottle, she held it up against the light and squinted, as if observing something.

“Man, where did he get this milk? It’s so addictive.”

=

Donghae and Jessica were on the same pavement walking home as they did two days ago from the pizza parlor. She had his jacket in her hands, both of them, unfortunately for Donghae. He was trying to lessen the gap between them, but he gave up after a while because he felt that this gap was perfect.

“So, about that jacket…”

He looked up abruptly, almost cracking his neck in the process. She grinned and held it up for both of them to look at. “About the jacket,” she repeated.

“What about it?” he squeaked.

“Remember when you said it might fit my outfit for today?”

He scratched his nape and chortled. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Do you think it does?”

Somehow, Donghae felt that there was a second layer to her words. He didn’t know if he was right.

“I think… I think that’s your choice,” he responded, a light grin playing on his lips.

She giggled and put her hands down, bringing the jacket along with her hands. Looking away into the moonlight, she took a deep breath. “So it’s my call?”

He recalled her telling him that it was his call earlier on in the storeroom, and couldn’t resist letting out a huge grin at that. Then he looked at her, and saw the thoughtful look hanging on her face. “Yes. It’s your call.”

By then, they had reached their neighborhood already, and they were both standing in the middle of their houses. He felt a bit unwilling to let her go now, so he tried to prolong their time together by clinging onto the topic. “So… Does the jacket fit, or not?”

She turned around to face him, and her eyes twinkled even under the moonlight. She looked right into his eyes, and then put the jacket on. “I say… It does.”

=

Krystal was leaning by the windowsill again. She peered out into the window without attracting any attention, and saw the two familiar silhouettes standing by the pavement. She smiled.

“No photography needed this time.”

=

They were left standing there for a moment or two, until she put her hands out slightly.

He didn’t quite get the motion, until she tilted her head a bit. “O—oh.”

He grabbed her hands tightly and closed the gap up, just as he wanted to the whole walk back.

“So… Do you understand what it means?”

He his lips and let loose a gratifying smile. “This time, I think I do.”

He let go of her hands and took a step forward. Now the gap was really closed up, as he wanted it to. He brought his hands up and cradled her face gently, silently waiting.

He didn’t know what he was waiting for, but when Jessica gave him a small smile, he realized… That all he had been waiting for was her.

And the waiting could end now.

They leaned in and let their lips meet again.

Neither would admit it, but this time, the way their lips had matched each other’s perfectly in a harmony of warmth and well, love, it felt way better than the storeroom kiss.