17

Jaemi looked at the hallway and she frowned, nowhere in sight of Chanyeol.

Chanyeol came rushing down the hallway as he panted heavily, while Jaemi frowned. “You’re late,” she said and he nodded. “I k-know. S-sorry.”

“If we’re late for the contest the next thing I’ll do is wring your neck off. Let’s go.”

“Jaemi, relax. You’re treating it like your big day,” he commented casually while she frowned even more and pulled him along. “The thing is that it’s really the big day.”

Chanyeol laughed. “You really can’t claim this event as your big day, Jaemi. Big day for women is the wedding day. Unless you want today to be our wedding-“

“Shut your crap,” she snapped and elbowed him.

Then, she looked at the building where the contest was held at and her eyes lit up. She quickly elbowed Chanyeol again even harder and pointed at the building. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed and pulled him.

They reached the venue and her smile widened. “Chanyeol let’s take a seat!” she said and went up on stage, both of them sitting at a table together side by side with other contestants and she smiled widely.

Soon, the contest began and the emcee walked up on stage. “Welcome to our contest where couples who are fans of football leagues get a chance to win shirts and posters signed by international football players!” his voice blared in the microphone and it reverberated from all corners of the mall.

“Now, let’s give a round of applause to our contestants!” he exclaimed and the audience clapped and Jaemi smiled widely while Chanyeol waved his hand in the air and smiled modestly as he swipe his bangs suavely, flashing a smile.

Jaemi looked at him and elbowed him. “Must you flirt at every time and every minute?” she asked, scoffing.

The emcee’s voice interrupted their conversation as he told about the rules and questions.

“Now, let’s start on the first question. In the Korean football league, who is the football player who is ranked fifth in scoring goals?” he asked while Jaemi blinked, blank.

Chanyeol pressed the buzzer and grabbed the mike. Before he answered, his swiped his bangs again and answered. “Kim Do Hoon,” he replied and the audience cheered.

The emcee smiled. “Correct! One point for this team!” he exclaimed while Jaemi blinked at him. “How did you know?” she asked. “Simple, I did some studying,” he whispered and giggled.

“Next question, in Manchester United, who’s number is ten?” he asked and Jaemi grinned, and pressed the buzzer. “Wayne Rooney,” she answered confidently and the emcee nodded his head. “Correct! Another point for this team!”

Jaemi grinned and high fived Chanyeol while he winked at her and she almost punched him in front of the audience but quickly held herself back.

For the next ten minutes, three questions were asked and Jaemi and Chanyeol could answer none of them, resulting them in a tie with the second team for first place.

“Now, the last question is not related to football. Instead, it will be about how well you know each other. And this question is worth two points,” the emcee announced and Jaemi blinked. *What?!*

“Don’t worry Jaemi, I know everything about you, inside and out.” He grinned mischievously while Jaemi wanted to punch him. She frowned and shook her head. “But I worry because I don’t know single thing about you,” she replied.

“Now, all couples would get a whiteboard and a marker each,” he said and distributed it to every couple. “Now may the female step out,” he instructed. Jaemi slowly stepped out together with two other girls and she gulped. *Please, not a hard one,* she prayed.

“Now, this question is for the female, while the men need to write down their own answer and we will compare in a while. Last question, using a name of the person, state how you two were able to meet,” the emcee said while Jaemi’s eyes widened. “How am I supposed to know,” she muttered under her breath and looked at Chanyeol frantically but was quickly turned back by the emcee. “No peeking,” he warned jokingly. “Now you have thirty seconds. Once you’re down, place the marker down.”

Jaemi gulped. *When did I meet JerkYeol?* she thought and shut her eyes, thinking. More than a month happened. The first time she met him was at the school gate, then he stole her first kiss, she met him again and she was totally shocked that he was a president, until he lied that he had a twin brother.

Twin brother? Bingo.

She opened her eyes and immediately wrote down the answer and placed the marker down before the time was up.

“Now, let’s compare answers with the first team,” he said and looked at the girl who raised her whiteboard up and it was blank, while the man behind him wrote Friend

Next team, the girl raised her board up, and she wrote Sister

While the boy behind her wrote Brother

“So close!” the emcee exclaimed. “Seems like you kind of mixed brother and sister up,” he joked and moved towards Jaemi. “And as for the last team, please raise your board up.

Jaemi took in a deep breath and raised her board up. Park Chansoo she wrote. Chanyeol raised his board up and smiled. Park Chansoo was what he wrote too.

She looked back at him, and then looked at the whiteboard and she broke into a smile.

Two points for this team!” the emcee announced and Jaemi clapped, smiling at Chanyeol. “Now for the last game, it is a perfect game for lovers to play. Now here is a biscuit stick. The pairs will put different ends of a biscuit in their mouths and one person can start eating until the biscuit is no longer than 3.0 cm or you’ll lose and the shortest piece will win,” the emcee explained the game rules and Jaemi gulped.

She turned to face the emcee and gawked while the emcee smiled back at her. “It’s a normal couple game; it won’t be hard for you.”

Chanyeol and Jaemi stood facing each other, and she glared at Chanyeol. “1.5cm just 1.5cm.  Do you get it?” she hissed and Chanyeol shrugged. “If other teams’ biscuit sticks are lesser than 1.5cm we’ll lose. Just sacrifice your lips for the prize, it’s worth it.”

Just then, the emcee came and brought a stick. Jaemi sighed and held one end of the biscuit stick while Chanyeol held the other end. “You may now begin,” the emcee announced.

Chanyeol and Jaemi stared at each other and Chanyeol sighed, slowly inching forward as he bite the stick.

At that moment an announcement was made. “Team C is out with 1.8cm! Ah! So close!”

Chanyeol looked at his own stick and looked up at Jaemi. The length of the biscuit is now ten cm.

He continued biting, inching closer and Jaemi pressed her lips into a firm line. She gulped at how close Chanyeol was inching closer. At 2 cm, their noses touched and Jaemi held her breath.

Her cheeks started to turn red and she gulped.

*Come on, it's not our first time anyway*

*Shut it, will you*

Chanyeol looked at Jaemi who was squeezing her eyes shut and he chuckled.

He slowly held her shoulders and inched closer once more.

At that point of time, their lips touched and Jaemi opened her eyes, looking at Chanyeol and she immediately bit off the stick, looking away.

The emcee came over and squinted his eyes, looking at the crumb on Chanyeol’s hand.

“It seems like we have a winner with 0.8 cm!” the emcee exclaimed. Jaemi looked at the audience and smiled awkwardly, waving her hand and at the same time calming her heart. Chanyeol slung an arm around her neck and pulled her closer to him, smiling at the audience. “At least look happy, we’re an item right?” he said with clenched teeth while Jaemi rolled her eyes and smiled at the audience once more. “Yeah, sure.” She kicked his leg from behind, and he bit his lip, preventing his scream from coming out.

--

They slowly strolled back, with Jaemi screaming and exclaimed excitedly as she kissed the shirt and sighed contently. “Best day of my life,” she whispered softly, and her eyes slowly travelled to the huge white teddy bear on the display shelf of the arcade. “And my day would get even better,” she whispered then pulled Chanyeol into the arcade. “Let’s get that teddy bear,” she said and Chanyeol sighed. “I’m already so tired of the contest,” he replied, pouting while Jaemi chuckled and tugged on his arm. “Come on, Chanyeol,” she said and he groaned, nodding.

Chanyeol squinted his eyes and pursed his lips as he held onto the rifle firmly, aiming at the target and he fired. Jaemi gawked at him and looked at the target. He didn’t even hit the target.

Chanyeol scratched his head and paid another dollar. “Let me try one more time,” he said and this time, the target was even further. He held the rifle firmly and frowned, then fired.

It didn’t hit either.

He sighed and scratched his head, while Jaemi sighed and looked at the huge teddy bear on the shelf, but it was soon taken down and given to a toddler.

“Sorry, I wasn’t born to be a sniper,” he said while Jaemi smiled and patted his shoulder. “Thanks,” she said and broke into a smile.

“Jaemi, I promise you, that I’ll give you this huge teddy bear one day,” he promised, sending an assuring smile to her while she raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay..”

“Let’s go!” Chanyeol exclaimed, leading Jaemi while she blinked in surprise. His temperament changes so fast.

They arrived at the school’s rooftop and sat on the wooden swing as they slowly swing with each creak of the swing. “I didn’t know the rooftop actually had a nice scenery at night,” she said while Chanyeol scoffed. “You spend your nights cooped up in your dormitory of course you won’t know.”

Jaemi ignored him and smiled then took out the shirt and wore it. “I can’t believe it. Signed by Wayne Rooney? It’s a dream come true!” she exclaimed while Chanyeol wore his. “Yeah, a total dream comes true to be able to wear couple shirts with Jaemi,” he said dreamily while she shot him a look. “Sadly, there couldn’t be a cap or else I would wear it every day,” she said, pouting.

They sat on the swing, enjoying the breeze and the night scenery in silence, wearing the Manchester United shirt. “Chanyeol, the poster can’t be split into half,” she said. “I was thinking..”

“Let me have the poster for two weeks and you can have it yours after two weeks,” he said sleepily while Jaemi grinned. “A deal then!” she exclaimed excitedly.

She blinked in surprise and looked at him, who was sleeping while she cracked a smile and shook her head.

Jaemi looked down at Chanyeol and she softly sighed. “Thank you, Chanyeol.” She smiled, his mouth was open and he snored.

At that moment, she slowly saw a halo appearing above Chanyeol’s head. She blinked furiously, rubbing her eyes and shook her head furiously.

She looked at Chanyeol once more, her lips slowly curving up. She softened.  She looked at the shirt, thinking about the incident at the mall, standing in front of the audience, having a biscuit stick between them, and, their lips touched.

She felt shy at the thought of it, but at the same time, she felt, sweet.

She touched her lips and sighed softly to herself. She looked at him. Maybe the kiss, was the best prize?

“Are you done looking at my face? I’m going to open my eyes now,” he said and Jaemi quickly looked to the front, staring at the ground.

Chanyeol opened his eyes and sat up straight, swinging his legs and he looked at Jaemi. “Why? In love with my face?”

Jaemi scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

Chanyeol inched closer to her and smiled. “Don’t fall in love with me unless you want to get hurt,” he whispered while Jaemi looked at him and blinked.

“No love, and there won’t be any hurt,” he said and stretched his arms. “Good night.”

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