***

It was an accident.

It was never meant to happen. 

He couldn’t even believe that it was happening still. 

How had it come to this? 

What had happened to his sense of self-control? The one thing he had always been so proud of… 

What even got him to be in a situation like this?

WHAT EVEN IS LIFE?!

With eyes as wide as that of the person who stood a meager few inches away from him, he contemplated everything that had led up to this very moment. 

It was preposterous. Ridiculous. Outrageous. And downright insane! How could he, of all people, suddenly find himself in such a sticky situation?

He nearly groaned when his mind started spinning, filling his head with nonsensical thoughts that he had no control over whatsoever. Try as he may, there was one sentence that he kept hearing over and over again, despite of his efforts to keep it at bay; 

Who would have thought that her lips were this soft?

A FEW HOURS BEFORE IMPACT

Welcome Young Lovers to Cupid’s Playground

’Tis here where true Soulmates are found

Play, cuddle and give Chocolate Kisses

For Eros’ arrow hardly ever misses

Happy Valentine’s Day!

A pair of big eyes looked around the school grounds, seeing the world being paired off in happy couples or in small herds of girls chasing after that one special Valentine. 

D.O. sighed softly to himself as he wondered why he was still here. The local Hanwol high school always created a special festival in honor of Valentine’s Day, knowing and understanding the young hearts of their students. And try as he may, he never was able to get out of it. 

Every freaking year… he thought to himself. It wasn’t that he hated Valentine’s Day or thought the holiday ridiculous- it was just that it made him feel awkward. All these girls showering guys in their affections and chocolates- oh Lord, the chocolates! He pursed his lips together when he felt the weight of his messenger bag. It honestly surprised him each year how he managed to get boxes of chocolates of secret and not-so-secret admirers. D.O. wasn’t used to the attention, though, and always ended up feeling shy and awkward when a girl came up to him to hand him a box of those delectable sweets. 

If it had just stuck to politely accepting chocolate gifts and going about one’s day, D.O. wouldn’t have mind the holiday so much. But no, the school had to set up a festival on the school grounds for young lovers to ‘play’ in. He hummed to himself while rolling his eyes at seeing the countless game stands for people to win their significant other ginormous stuffed animals that really didn’t have a useful function. Then, of course, there were the ‘Love Goes Through the Stomach’ food stands that sold savory snacks and even more chocolate in case people ran out of the stuff. The attractions, D.O. decided, were arguably the worst. 

The Love Tunnel, the Love Maze, the Kissing Carrousel, Spinning the Bottle Ferris Wheel… he scoffed. Talk about cheesy. And yet, the whole student body were enjoying themselves, just having fun. He seemed to be the only one just looking around as though he was lost and pathetically alone. 

D.O. let out another soft sigh and automatically started looking around to see if he could spot his brothers anywhere. They would probably be swarmed by female attention right now, helplessly locked within a herd of love-crazed teenage girls. Shouldn’t be that hard to spot then, he thought a bit sadistically to himself while smirking. He immediately scanned the premisses for large groups of girls squealing and walking around. If he managed to find one of those, one of his brothers was bound to be close by. 

Most likely Luhan-hyung, he thought deviously, maybe Kris-hyung. 

Granted, the twelve of them were rather popular when Valentine’s Day peeked around the corner, but Luhan and Kris seemed to be popular all year round- maybe Kai was as well, and Suho, of course. Lay wasn’t doing all too bad either in the popularity contest, though D.O. doubted whether that particular hyung was even aware of it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he seriously thought the matter over. Maybe all of them were rather popular all year round, if he had to be completely honest, though he couldn’t entirely speak for himself. He actually didn’t know how it was possible that he still managed to catch the attention of a few girls at school. He had always thought that he had ruined his own image just by being himself, which was quiet and aloof, and because of the fact that he was bullied for most of the time at school. 

Guess being a wolf has its perks, he shrugged, still searching the area for any signs of his brothers. D.O. then caught himself searching not only for his brothers, but for a certain young lady as well. He thought he had seen Jae drag an extra bag with her through the halls this morning, and something told him that the bag contained chocolate gifts. Knowing the girl, she probably got all twelve of them a little something to show that she cared, though he was admittedly a bit peeved that it also probably meant that none of them should look into it too much. 

Alright. Maybe he was just a bit cynical about Valentine’s Day. After all, what was the freaking point of celebrating it if he couldn’t spend it with the girl of his choice? He felt a little terrible thinking that, considering that there was a fair amount of other girls that would like to be his Valentine, but it just wasn’t the same. Of course he’d return the favor of having received their thoughtful gifts on White Day, a month from now, to express his gratitude, but right now that wasn’t going to do anyone any good. 

Was it so bad of him to think that he wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with Jae? His brothers probably had the same idea… 

An exasperated sigh escaped through his heart-shaped lips when he finally spotted a familiar, dorky-looking face in the distance. 

Chanyeol wore a bright grin on his face, teeth gleaming proudly, eyes filled with happiness at seeing the chocolate bonbons a girl had prepared for him. Heck, even his ears seemed to have perked up cheerfully at the attention he was receiving. D.O. shook his head as he made his way over, patiently waiting until his brother was finished with his conversation. The girl walked away after giving the chocolates, giggling as she ran back to her group of friends. 

“Chocolate kisses! Awesome! With this latest addition, I’m sitting pretty on eighteen gifts!” Chanyeol laughed to himself, his chest puffing up with pride. 

“Seriously? You’re keeping count?” D.O. remarked as he walked over, smirking when he saw that he had successfully startled the big lug. 

“D.O.!” Chanyeol greeted, waving at him. “Of course, I have to know how many gifts to buy on White Day,” he replied, though something told D.O. that that was not the only reason why he kept score. 

“Hmhm, right,” he answered dryly. 

“Well, how many did you get?” Chanyeol asked, looking far too excited. 

D.O. shrugged as he looked at his messenger bag. “Not that much,” he dismissed, adjusting the strap. He purposely looked away as if he was looking for the rest of the pack before Chanyeol would notice his cheeks-

“Aw, is Kyungsoo-ah blushing? Yes, you are! You’re blushing! Aigoo, kyeopta!” Chanyeol cooed, but immediately jumped back when he heard D.O. exclaiming out of frustration. “Whoa, mercy, mercy!” Chanyeol called out when D.O. grabbed him by the arm. He ruffled the taller boy’s hair and let him go with a disgruntled sigh. 

“Have you seen Jae?” he then asked straightforwardly, surprising Chanyeol. 

“Jae-noona? Uh, I think she was with her friend, Lili. Why?” 

“No reason,” D.O. answered, groaning out of embarrassment when he caught sight of Kris in the distance, surrounded by a group of senior girls, posing for a selca. Nothing strange about that ordeal, were it not for the fact that Kris was wearing a pair of  cat ears that lit up with hearts over his head. There was no doubt that people were crazy on Valentine’s Day. Therefore, he felt no pity whatsoever when Chanyeol pointed out to Luhan in the distance, being swarmed by teenage girls from all classes. Just as D.O. had predicted. 

“Oh man, it’s not fair. Luhan-hyung always gets the most chocolates,” he stated, but D.O. shook his head in disapproval. 

“So what? I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. Stupid lovesick people chasing after you,” he commented, crossing his arms across his chest. 

“Ah you don’t mean that, D.O.,” Chanyeol nudged. “Love is great! Everyone would want to be in Lu-hyung’s shoes on Valentine’s Day,” he declared, but D.O. wasn’t convinced at all. 

“Not me. It’s pointless,” he stated defiantly. “Luhan-hyung is chased by so many girls, but he spends the entirety of Valentine’s Day running away from them.”

“Now, now, D.O.,” Chanyeol started with a chuckle. “Don’t say stuff like that! You might upset Cupid!” he jested. “And just admit it, you’re saying those things because you’re jealous, right?” 

D.O. smacked Chanyeol’s hand away when the taller teen started prodding his cheek. “Whatever,” he grumbled while Chanyeol laughed.

“HA!” someone suddenly called behind them and they turned to see Baekhyun running towards them. 

“Seventeen!” he pointed at Chanyeol, a look of triumph on his face. 

“Eighteen!” Chanyeol retaliated, chuckling madly as D.O. shook his head. He should’ve known that they’d be competing again. 

“What?! You bought one for yourself, didn’t you?” Baekhyun accused. 

“As if! Just admit it, I’m more popular than you!” Chanyeol provoked and D.O. was already trying to escape when Chen joined soon after, leaning annoyingly on him while meddling into the discussion Chanyeol and Baekhyun were having. D.O. tried to move away, but was proven unsuccessful when Sehun and Tao came by, stuffing their faces with chocolate and arguing over who would get more gifts by the end of the day. 

Soon enough the pack had gathered and there was no way for D.O. to leave. Why did he think that it was a good idea to go looking for them in the first place again? 

“Whoa, Luhan-hyung looks exhausted,” Chen laughed, pointing at the guy who had sunk to the ground to catch his breath. Xiumin was patting his shoulder supportively, though he couldn’t help but smirk at Luhan’s fortunate misfortune. 

“It’s not funny. Some of these girls are really intense, you know,” Luhan huffed.

“How terrible it must be for you to have every girl at school be in love with you. Whatever will you do?” D.O. quipped dryly. 

“Aw, did you not get any chocolates, Kyungsoo?” Kris asked after hearing the biting comment. 

“Hey, I get chocolates, alright? This whole holiday is just ridiculous, that’s all,” D.O. waved off, though he wasn’t sure why he said that. Maybe the idea that his brothers were more popular than him kind of irked him. Because if girls were more drawn to them, then wouldn’t that mean that Jae felt the same way? 

“D.O. is waiting for Jae-noona to give chocolates,” Chanyeol suddenly piped up, earning a cuff on the head from D.O.. 

“Oh, Jae-noona! Yeah, I saw her with her friend at the Love Maze. I think Minho-hyung was there, too,” Tao spoke. 

“What? Peasant-hyung?! And you didn’t think to tell me? We passed there moments ago!” Sehun argued, but Tao shrugged. 

“She said she was looking for us so I didn’t think too much of it. Relax will you, Sehunnie?” 

“Aha, of course she’s looking for us. Who else would she give chocolates to?” Kris interjected, smoothing over his hair. 

“Who said she’s going to give all of us chocolates, though?” Chen suddenly smirked. “Maybe she’s only going to give it to one of us.”

An ominous silence fell and D.O. felt a sense of jealousy tense up the air when he looked at his brothers. He scoffed lightly at seeing Lay’s genuinely confused face, while he exchanged glances with Kai, who looked like he really couldn’t give a damn. 

“It’s totally going to be me, naturally,” Kris then said, breaking the awkward silence. 

“Yeah, right, when pigs fly, hyung!” Chen replied. 

“That can be arranged. Luhan, lift up a pig with your mind,” the duizhang ordered, but Luhan shook his head, pushing him away. 

“All of you need to get your heads checked. Jae is totally going to give me a gift, every other girl at school has,” he said smugly, being met by scoffing and sounds of protests from his brothers. 

“I’m going to laugh when none of you get anything,” Suho provoked, but the words of the leader didn’t sound convincing at all. 

“Oh, puhlease, as if you’re getting chocolate from Jae, hyung!” Sehun dismissed easily. 

The boys started arguing rather loudly while D.O. wisely decided to stay out of the silly discussion. He tried to pretend that he didn’t care, but he did secretly hope that Jae would at least give him a box of the sweets as well. As he thought about it, he caught sight of whom he thought to be a little girl, dressed like a cherub, wings and everything. When he blinked and looked for her again, she was lost in the crowd. 

Weird. Since when did the school hire mascots to walk around? 

He was still staring into the crowd when two girls entered his visual field and he tensed up. Jae was smiling and talking animatedly to her friend, Lili, as they approached. Jae seemed to try to calm her friend down and judging by the huge heart-shaped box the girl was carrying with her, he guessed it was because she wanted to give it to Luhan. He recognized Lili to be Luhan’s number one fan. The poor girl was already blushing and nervous, while she hadn’t even spoken to him yet. 

How come girls didn’t act that way around him? The girls that supposedly were into him were always so calm - giddy - but calm and far more collected than he felt he was. D.O. took another deep breath. Was he seriously feeling jealous? 

“…Don’t worry, Lili, you’ll be fine,” Jae whispered to her before she noticed D.O. and waved at him. Lili copied the gesture a bit more timidly and he responded shyly by just lifting his hand to acknowledge them. He turned to his brothers who were still arguing, contemplating to tell them that Jae and Lili were coming, but then he just let out a tiresome huff and quietly walked towards the girls instead. 

“Hey, D.O.,” Jae greeted, holding a dufflebag. 

“Hi Jae,” he replied, feeling relieved to see her. “Hi Lili,” he then greeted the bright girl who smiled back. 

“Annyeong, D.O.-sshi! Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said cheerfully. 

“Oh, yeah, uh, happy Valentine’s Day,” he mumbled. 

“So,” Jae started, “Do you happen to know why the guys are semi-slapping at each other and shouting?” she asked, gesturing behind him to reveal his band of dorky brothers going at each other like little children. 

“It’s Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air so they get crazy,” he deadpanned, smirking when he could tell that Jae got his joke. 

“Oh no, hope they’re not fighting,” Lili said on the other hand, looking genuinely concerned. 

“Nah, don’t worry about it, they’re just fooling around,” D.O. clarified. “I bet you’d like to talk to Luhan-hyung, huh?” he said, making the girl blush. 

“Well, yes…But he seems busy, so maybe later,” Lili grabbed Jae’s arm in response, wanting to walk away. 

“Oh, no, you don’t, Missy. Come on, no better time than the present,” Jae encouraged, grabbing Lili by the arm and pulling her along with her. 

“Wait, Jae-yah-,” the girl objected in vain. D.O. nearly felt sorry for her. Of course he followed from behind to enjoy the show when none of them realized that Jae was approaching until she cleared . 

All of them turned their heads towards her, completely frozen in place as though Tao had stopped time. 

“Hi guys,” she said with an amused smile. 

“Jae!”

“Noona!” they exclaimed, attempting to recover themselves. 

“Hi!” they sang in unison, making both girls chuckle. “So, eh, Lili, you want to take the floor?” Jae suggested, slightly nudging a blushing Lili forward. 

“A-ah,” she stammered, shuffling her feet, but not being able to find her words. 

“Luhan, Lili saw something really awesome that she wants to show you,” Jae started, trying to help her friend along though D.O. could tell that she was feeling just as awkward. She gestured at Luhan with her eyes when Lili wasn’t looking and he finally seemed to catch on. 

“Ah-ah! Oh, I mean, hm, yes. Really? What?” he said and D.O. facepalmed himself. And the Oscar for best actor goes to…not Luhan-hyung, that’s for sure. 

“Why don’t we let Luhan find out in private, if that’s okay with you, Lili,” D.O. suggested, winking subtly when he caught Jae’s grateful look. 

“That would be nice, D.O.-sshi, thank you,” Lili nodded, to which the rest took as a sign to make themselves scarce. 

“We’ll be, uh, over there, somewhere,” Chanyeol muttered before giving a bright grin and walking off. Jae whispered something quickly in Lili’s ear and then joined the boys. 

“Aish, Luhan-hyung looks so uncomfortable,” Sehun noted when they were out of hearing range. “He shouldn’t be so surprised by this, should he? I mean, he knows that Lili-noona has a crush on him.”

“Luhan’s shy, that’s all,” Xiumin explained. “How would you act if girls continuously confessed to you?” 

“I’d be gloating and basking in the compliments,” Baekhyun announced honestly. 

“And that is why you only have seventeen gifts,” Chanyeol quipped, patting his friend on his shoulder. 

“Yah, you only have one more than me, Yoda!” 

“You guys seriously keep track?” Jae intervened, an eyebrow lifted. Chanyeol and Baekhyun froze. 

“What? No, of course not, noona!”

“Yeah, that’s ridiculous and childish, who would do that?” they piped up unconvincingly. 

“But now that we’re on the topic of gifts…” Baekhyun started, grinning at Jae who was taken aback when she gazed at a group of young man staring at her in anticipation. D.O. tried his best to look as aloof as possible, but he just couldn’t keep his eyes off that damn dufflebag. 

Jae laughed while shaking her head. She put the bag down eventually and opened it. “Okay, first of all, I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day, so I’m new at this. Lili explained how you guys celebrate it on the island, though, so- uh, yeah…I kinda tried making chocolates by myself. I wanted to wait for Luhan as well, but I guess it won’t matter much…” 

“Wow, noona, if you’re trying to sweep us off our feet, you’re doing a great job,” Kai deadpanned which made Jae flush furiously. 

“S-sorry, I- uh- yeah, I mean, I never made chocolates before and Lili said that Valentine’s Day was also to give gifts to guys that you care about and yeah, you know… Oh, do you want the chocolates or not?” Jae finally huffed, making them laugh. 

“Yes, please!” they replied and Jae started grabbing boxes of chocolates. D.O. was surprised to see that she actually took the time and trouble to wrap each box individually and distinctly so that she could tell which box belonged to whom. 

“Woah! Little thunderbolts! Thanks, noona!” Chen exclaimed when he greedily opened up his gift. 

“Snowflakes. Cool,” Xiumin nodded in approval, holding the piece of chocolate up. 

“Oh? Unicorns! These are amazing, Jae-yah,” Lay complimented gratefully. 

Jae scratched the back of her neck. “Did they turn out okay? I really at these things…” 

“They’re awesome, noona!” Chanyeol assured. 

“You must’ve taken a long time to make these,” Suho pointed out, holding a chocolate in the shape of a water drop in his hand. 

“I may or may not have turned the kitchen into a mess of chocolate goop, but I actually had fun making them,” she admitted sheepishly as she handed Kai his gift. He opened it immediately to see what kind of chocolates she had given him and D.O. stared into the box as well. He smiled when he caught Kai wanting to grin, but hid it immediately. 

“Poodles, noona? Really?” the stoic youth remarked coolly. 

“As if you don’t like it,” Jae quipped and Kai scoffed, though a tiny smile graced his face as he stared at the chocolate dogs. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, D.O.,” Jae said as she extended a black box with a silver bow. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled, opening it curiously. He blushed when he saw that the chocolates he had received, were in the shape of hearts with a music note stamped in them. He admired the handiwork for a moment while his brothers gushed over how delicious their chocolates looked. 

“Hey, Luhan-hyung! Check it out, more chocolates!” Baekhyun said when the teen joined their group after speaking to Lili. It seemed like Luhan was still recovering from talking to her as the tips of his ears were still red. 

“Really? Jae, you made these?” he asked in surprise, first carefully tucking the heart-shaped box he received from Lili in his backpack before accepting the chocolates from Jae. 

“Yeah, it’s really no big deal,” she mumbled humbly, gnawing on her bottom lip as she watched him chuckling when he held up a chocolate soccer ball. 

“Thank you, these are brilliant,” he said. 

“I hope they taste as good as they look,” Jae stated humbly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear- something that she would usually do when she was nervous or shy. 

“One way to find out,” Kris said, grabbing a chocolate piece shaped like a wing. Soon, all of them grabbed a piece and simultaneously bit into them. Jae was holding her breath as she waited for their reaction, but D.O. felt his eyes widen at the taste. He automatically stopped chewing and did so slowly, noticing that the rest of the pack wore similar expressions on their faces. 

Oh boy, this is awkward… 

“Hmm,” Chen started, attempting to smile while nodding. 

“Hmm, hmm!” Chanyeol chimed in, Xiumin putting up his thumbs while nodding. The boys hummed as if the taste wasn’t killing off their tastebuds and numbing their tongue to not upset Jae. 

“Is it good?” the girl asked almost innocently, biting her lip as she waited almost anxiously for confirmation. 

“Hmm! Hmmhmm!” it sounded in unison, heads nodding, thumbs being lifted up in the air. 

“Oh, good,” Jae sounded relieved while they all smiled at her, making sure to keep their mouths shut as they did so. “Well, I’m going to get something to drink. Do you guys want something?” 

They shook their heads despite needing something to wash away the atrocious taste. D.O. felt guilty thinking it, but he couldn’t help it. He constantly reminded himself that it was Jae that put the hard work into making these things for them in the first place, so he didn’t spit it out on the spot. 

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” she said and walked away. 

The boys waited. 

“Now?” came the muffled question from Sehun’s mouth. 

“Not yet,” Suho said, smiling again when Jae had suddenly turned around, almost as if she suspected something. She gave a hesitant wave of the hand when the boys waved at her and she continued on her errand. 

“Okay, now!” 

When given the clearance, the boys quickly turned around to get rid of the chocolate and coughed at the taste. 

“Aish…well, at least she tried,” Luhan laughed. “It’s the thought that counts, right?” 

“How can you go wrong with chocolate, though?” Chen wondered, still trying to get rid of the taste. 

“At least they’re pretty,” Tao added and D.O. agreed with that. However as they turned around again to pretend like they hadn’t spat anything out, they jumped at seeing a little girl dressed like a cherub looking up at them with wide eyes and chubby cheeks. 

“Whoa, I’ve seen you before,” D.O. prompted, pointing at the smiling child. 

“Hello,” she greeted with a tiny, cute voice, looking up expectantly at her oppas. “Did you know that it’s bad luck to throw away chocolate that was given to you by your Valentine?” she suddenly spoke, giggling at seeing the stunned expressions on the older boys’ faces. 

“Ha ha, she’s cute,” Baekhyun noted, prodding her cheek. “Now, run along, little one, shoo,” he tried to usher her away, but the girl would have none of it. Instead, she gave a bright grin and suddenly showed them a red velvet box which she held with both hands. 

“This is a very special piece of chocolate,” she told the amused group of teens. “Whomever manages to acquire it, will be able to taste something far sweeter than candy,” the little girl giggled. “Do you want it?” she asked the boys. 

“Uh, sure,” Suho answered, mostly to just indulge the kid. D.O. watched as she carefully placed the velvet box in Suho’s hands. 

“Not refundable,” she said in a giggly voice. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” the girl greeted giddily before turning around to skip away. 

Suho opened the box curiously, only to find it empty. “Uh, excuse me, little girl? There’s nothing inside of the box,” he called after her. 

The girl turned around and with a cheeky grin replied, “Guess you’ll have to go look for it then, if you wish to taste that which is sweeter than candy,” she beamed. “Have fun!” she blew them a kiss and skipped away. 

“Heh, weird little kid,” Baekhyun remarked, grabbing the empty box from Suho’s hands. 

“Way too much into the whole method acting, too,” Chen added. 

“You’re analyzing the acting skills of a kid?” D.O. inquired.

“There’s really nothing inside of the box?” Sehun asked. 

“Maybe it’s to point out that it really is bad luck to spit out the chocolate that was given to us,” Lay said, sounding as though he really believed everything the girl had been saying. 

“What do you think she meant, though? ‘Sweeter than candy?’” Tao wondered, looking at his older brothers for an answer. 

“Duh, a kiss of course,” Kai answered instead. 

“What? Really?! Wah, we should look for it!” Tao then chimed like an excited school girl. Honestly, D.O. could hardly believe that they were barely half a year apart in age. He felt like Tao was years his junior- or maybe he was just more mature for his age. Either way, he was incredulous about Tao’s naiveness in the matter. The panda didn’t really think that the girl was being serious, did he?

“You’re joking,” Kai said. 

“Why not? Where’s the harm? It’s like a scavenger hunt or something. I mean, what do we have to lose anyway? You got something better to do?” Tao insisted, getting more excited by the minute. 

“You’re not serious, are you, Tao? You want to find a piece of chocolate- on Valentine’s Day,” Kris emphasized, gesturing around him. “There’s chocolate everywhere, Taozi. We won’t even know where or how to find it, even if we knew what it looks like - which we don’t.” 

“Yeah! Besides, the kid was just joking. Did you hear how she spoke? What kid speaks like that, honestly?” Chen added. 

“So what? It’ll be a fun challenge! If it happens to be true, you get to kiss someone you really like. That’s not bad, is it?” Tao still persisted, arguing with any brother that defied him. 

“And if it’s fake- which it most likely is, we’d have spent our Valentine’s Day chasing rainbows,” D.O. replied. 

“You heard the girl talk, right? When children speak, they mean every word, and this girl was really convincing. I think she might have actually hidden a magical piece of bonbon somewhere.” 

“It’s official. You’re insane,” Sehun told his friend, patting him on the cheek. 

“Ugh, fine! I’ll go look for it myself, but don’t be surprised if there really is a magical piece of chocolate somewhere and I get to kiss a girl to my liking. For instance,” Tao pretended to think about it to tease his brothers. “Jae-noona,” he exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. 

“As if. She wouldn’t kiss you to save her life,” Chen dismissed, smacking Tao’s shoulder, offending the lanky teen. 

“Yah! She totally would! With or without magic chocolate!” Tao huffed. “But if magic chocolate helps, so be it. I’m gonna look for it. If you want to compete against me, go ahead. Those that don’t want to- well, don’t cry when I’m kissing her!” he stated like a petulant child that it made D.O. cringe as he watched his younger brother stalk off. 

The group was left to stare at Tao as he seriously went off to look for the mysterious piece of non-existent chocolate and D.O. sighed again, wanting this day to be over. 

“Can you believe him?” he asked. 

“No. Tao lost it completely,” Baekhyun said, but something in his voice sounded like he was hesitating. 

“Yeah, he’s- he’s uh, ridiculous,” Suho added unconvincingly. The brothers muttered in assent, but D.O. felt like he was the only one left who was sane. 

“Oh my God, you guys are actually considering this!” he stated, rather than asked. 

“What? No, no! Of course not, it’s stupid. Everyone could tell the girl was just fooling around,” Kris chuckled nervously. 

“Yes, indeed!” Chen piped up strongly. “In fact, I think that little girl should be reprimanded. Anyone see where she went?” he asked, searching the crowd though it was painstakingly obvious what he was trying to do and D.O. felt secondhand embarrassment coming up. 

“Maybe we should split up and go look for her,” Luhan then said innocently, but it was all to put up a front and D.O. groaned.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead in mild agitation. “You know that you’re not going to find anything, right?”

“What are you talking about, hyung? We’re just gonna find the girl, you know, to tell her that it’s bad to lie to people and that it’s even worse to hide things so she should just say where she hid it- yeah,” Sehun answered, looking as though he was anxious to bolt off to seek for the magical piece of chocolate. 

“Right, what Sehunnie said,” Kai pointed out, having the grace to look just a bit embarrassed when D.O. gawked at him incredulously. 

“Not you too,” he remarked, making the boy lower his head while shrugging. 

“Someone has to find the cho-girl,” he mumbled before straightening himself. “With my speed, I’ll find her in no time,” he stated smugly before saluting and running off. 

“Someone tell me that this is a joke,” D.O. huffed, looking at his remaining brothers, only to be taken aback when he saw that more than half of them had already disappeared and he was left with Suho, Xiumin and Lay. 

“Well then,” Suho started, fumbling with the empty box in his hands, “I’m going to make sure none of them get into trouble,” he muttered, chuckling as he handed D.O. the box. 

“Hmhm, and who’s going to keep you out of it?” the youth retorted as Suho grinned widely at him before nervously making his escape. That left him with Xiumin and Lay. 

“Maybe I should be the one to keep our fearless leader out of trouble.” 

D.O.’s eyes widened. Xiumin-hyung! No, not you too! 

“I mean, I am the eldest, after all. See ya later,” he casually walked off, leaving D.O. stupefied. 

“I guess you want to look for the so-called magical chocolate as well, huh?” he directed his attention on Lay, who smiled shyly and bit his lower lip. 

“It would be funny if the girl was actually speaking the truth, wouldn’t it, D.O.-ah?” he said honestly. 

“Ugh,” D.O. huffed. “Just go already, hyung,” he gestured for him to take his leave because he couldn’t handle the childlike innocence radiating from Lay’s face. 

“Don’t you want to try to find the chocolate? We could look together, and if you really want it, I’ll let you have it, D.O.-ah,” Lay said in such simple sincerity that D.O. nearly took him up on the offer. He managed a smile. 

“Nah, thanks, hyung. I think I’m going to sit this one out, but you guys go and have fun,” he stated determinedly. 

“Alright. See you later,” Lay greeted with a dimpled smile, waving at him as he left. D.O. returned the gesture heaving another, deep, deep sigh. 

“See? Everyone is crazy on Valentine’s Day…” 

Since he couldn’t and admittedly, didn’t feel like going home, D.O. spend the rest of the day walking around the school grounds, sometimes being stopped by a girl who wanted to give him some chocolates which he gratefully and politely accepted. Though it irked him to realize that each time he looked at chocolate, or even so much as thought about it, he was wondering whether his brothers had found the missing chocolate that was supposed to fit in the empty velvet box he kept in his messenger bag. 

Sometimes he caught glimpses of one of his brothers running around, behaving like they were searching for something. He watched from afar when Tao was asking a stall attendant if he could personally inspect every bit of chocolate she was selling and was of course sent away. When he persisted, the attendant started smacking him with a rolled up newspaper to punish him for his cheeky behavior and to shoo him away, which D.O. found very amusing. 

Sehun was arguably the most entertaining in D.O.’s opinion, since the kid shamelessly asked every girl walking around to give him their carefully prepared chocolate gifts and forced some male students to open theirs so he could take a look at them. 

It was astonishing how the rest of the pack really got into trying to find something that was most likely not even real. D.O. hadn’t even seen the little girl walk around anymore. She probably already left. 

“They can’t be that stupid,” he stated, until he saw Chanyeol and Baekhyun on all fours, searching through the bushes. “Never mind,” he murmured. Things got annoying when the brothers couldn’t find anything that stood out and tried to drag D.O. with them in their stupid game. 

He didn’t want to be a part of any of it. How can a piece of chocolate ensure a kiss from the person their heart desires for? It was absolutely ridiculous, childish! It wasn’t real and it couldn’t be real. 

“Babo,” D.O. grunted after he successfully escaped the clutches of Tao and Sehun who were trying to aegyo him to death so he would help search. “This is so lame,” he complained, walking towards a more secluded area where he hoped he would be left alone. 

“Lame, huh?” a small voice said from somewhere behind him, making him jump when it was followed by eerie, ethereal giggling. 

“Who’s there?” he demanded to know when he couldn’t see anyone remotely close to him. Thinking it was just his imagination, D.O. turned around and started walking towards the woods when another, more solid and pleasant voice called out his name. 

“Jae? What are you doing here?” he asked, though he didn’t necessarily hide the fact that he was happy to see her. Honestly, she was a sight for sore eyes. 

“I went to get a drink and suddenly you guys were gone,” she retaliated sharply, shocking D.O.. 

“Oh, crap! Forgot! Sorry,” he immediately apologized, even bowing to her. She firmly put her hands on her hips and stared him down, but the corner of her lips was twitching which D.O. took as a good sign. 

“You’re all hopeless, just FYI. Just leaving while I went through all that trouble to make you guys your gifts! Rude,” she complained in a playful manner while she slapped him on the arm, making him chuckle. 

“Sorry, it’s Valentine’s Day and all of us huddled at one spot at the same time can be dangerous, you know,” he managed to joke, making her grin in amusement. 

“Poor babies, whatever will you do? Must be so hard to be so popular in high school,” she feigned being dramatic and D.O. could literally feel all the fatigue and irritation from before fade away. Jae made him feel comfortable and at ease and it seemed like he had the same effect on her. 

“It’s agony,” he answered, playing along. 

“Well, if that’s the case,” Jae approached closer until she was standing in front of him and he could honestly not stress enough how much he loved it that she was shorter than him. There was a big smile on his face and he didn’t care who would see it. 

“Tada!” she then announced, holding out a peculiar, heart-shaped piece of chocolate which was pierced by a chocolate arrow. “Here, girls aren’t supposed to eat chocolate today, and since you’re going through so much misery on the Day of Love, you may need this more than I do,” she said, offering it to him. 

D.O. felt like the air was from his lungs. “Jae, where did you get that?”

She blinked at the question and briefly looked at the chocolate, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal. “You know, it was the weirdest thing…This strange little girl was dressed up like a little angel and she just tugged on my skirt and handed it to me,” she explained casually, unaware that D.O. was baffled at the explanation. Jae simply handed him the chocolate after he hadn’t moved for a while and he just stared at it, wide-eyed. 

“Uh, I think you’re supposed to eat it before it melts away, D.O.,” she joked, even tapping his chin up to close his gaping mouth. He shook his head, in disbelief of the situation he was suddenly in and started laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. 

“What’s so funny?” Jae asked, a smile breaking through on her face as well. 

“No, no,” he gestured, “it’s nothing. Just an inside joke,” he said. “Thanks,” he then told her before stuffing the chocolate into his mouth without hesitation. He hadn’t expected much of it, which made the taste of the candy even more spectacular than he had imagined. He hummed and was genuinely surprised at how exquisite the chocolate tasted, as if he had died and gone to chocolate heaven. If his mind wasn’t fooling him, D.O. could have sworn that he heard a choir of angels singing in the distance, a childlike giggle echoing after it. Lame, huh? 

“You look like your mouth is having a party,” Jae chuckled. “Does it taste good?” 

D.O. hummed in assent and was about to reply, when out of the blue he felt someone knock against him from behind, the impact so sudden and so powerful that he stumbled forward, lost his balance and fell- lips first against a stunned Jae who toppled over, thus deepening the accidental lip lock. 

The world stopped. 

His heart stopped. 

The universe broke. 

As did his brain. 

It was an accident. 

They both knew it, they had to! 

Panic, confusion and ice cold numbing fear took hold of his thoughts- WHAT EVEN IS LIFE?! - But they all quieted down when it dawned to him that his lips were literally attached to that of Jae, he could feel her heart beating against his- her lips. Wow… so soft…

Maybe it lasted for a minute, maybe it lasted for three seconds, but to D.O. their connection lasted a lifetime where he was concerned. He didn’t even know which one of them broke the connection - most likely it was Jae because he couldn’t imagine voluntarily parting from her - but the warmth was over too soon. 

Jae’s eyes were probably as wide as his. Her lips were slightly parted in shock and she was panting. “Oh. My. GOD! I’m sorry, sorry, sorry!” she then blurted, cringing and bowing continuously. 

D.O. was still a bit stunned himself, though the most likely reason for his slow reaction would be his brain short-circuiting after sensory overload. 

“D-don’t be- I mean, yeah, uh, s-sorry, hmhm, I mean- it was my fault, I didn’t mean to kiss- that is, ah! Well, I didn’t want to- actually I did- wait what? No- Ah,” he tripped over his words like it was nobody’s business and he quickly shut his mouth before he’d mess up more. 

There was an awkward silence between them and for a moment, panic settled in as D.O. worried that perhaps this would ruin everything for him where Jae was concerned- until he heard her laughing. Softly at first, but gradually louder. She was laughing, partially trying to hide her face out of embarrassment. It was an impressive sight to look at. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized between giggles. “I just thought that that piece of chocolate really did taste good. Stupid, right? I mean, we- you know- and the first thing that popped to my mind was ‘hm, that chocolate really does taste good’,” she shook her head in disbelief, but it made D.O. laugh as well. 

“Well, thank you. That does a lot for my self-esteem,” he jested, pretending to be hurt. They laughed a little harder, ignoring the fact that both of them had blushes covering their skin  that would put the reddest of roses to shame. 

“So, eh, yeah…” Jae cleared when the laughter died down just a bit. “Um, H-Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess,” she chortled, scratching the back of her neck. 

D.O. blushed furiously, though he beamed back. “Y-Yeah, Happy Val-,” he abruptly shut his mouth when he saw a little girl in a white dress with angel wings peek at him from behind a tree. He blinked at her, but she put her finger against and winked at him. Not so lame anymore, huh? The wind carried ethereal giggling into the air, but when D.O. looked back to check on the girl, she had gone. 

Unsure about what just happened, or rather, not wanting to know what happened, D.O. glanced back at Jae. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Jae,” he finished. 

They met up with the rest of the pack later that night in the forest, sitting underneath the light of the stars and the moon while the boys gathered their gifts and decided to share them with each other - Jae included, though the girl didn’t eat any of the chocolate out of respect for the girls that gave it to them in the first place. Instead, she opted to eat the chocolate she had given to the boys. 

“Yuck! Why didn’t you guys tell me this tastes so terrible?!” she complained afterwards, making them guffaw out loud. 

There was a silent agreement between him and Jae, D.O. realized, and he was fine with that. He didn’t want to share that moment with anyone else. That belonged to him. He also knew, however, that from now on, he won’t ever be able to look at chocolate quite the same way again - nor that he’ll ever find chocolate that will taste as good as the one he accidentally shared with Jae. 

He smiled to himself before glancing at the girl who was trying to forcefeed Chen her homemade chocolates and he grinned, popping a bonbon in his mouth. 

Best Valentine’s Day ever.