“We fall in love by chance and we stay in love by choice.”

“We should go back,” I say, without sparing him a single glance. I let out a heavy sigh of anxiety. “I don’t think I can do this. It’s really pressuring me.”

Jongdae slides the car into the left lane, and once he spots an empty side of road, he presses the brake with his foot and the car stops at once.

His head swivels at me, a confused look on his face. “Why all of a sudden?” he asks calmly and rests a hand on my lap. “You know we can’t do that, right?”

Finally, I bother looking at him. He would be able to see the obvious worry and nervousness spread across my face. “I’m scared of meeting them. What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m such a burden? And what if… what if I don’t live up to their expectation?”

“Yoona, listen here.” He cups my face with both of his hands. “Stop thinking about ridiculous things. They will like you. So please, don’t be pessimistic, okay?”

I still am anxious, though, as if it can get off my stomach. 

“Trust me this time, okay? They’re going to like you so much,” he says, caressing my cheek lovingly. “I mean, if they didn’t like you, they wouldn’t have asked me to bring you along. I would have just gone to dinner on my own.”

I sigh again.

“I am serious, Yoona.” He gives me a small nod, and suddenly grips my hand tightly. “I tell you, if they don’t like you when we arrive later, let’s just go home then, okay?”

I mull over his words for a few moment as I look down at my outfit. I’m wearing such pretty dress and I even had my hair done in the hair salon—if I back off now, wouldn’t I look so pathetic?

“We’re going there, okay?”

“Okay.”

Maybe I should put my trust in him this time.

“Are you ready?”

Taking a deep breath, I nod in approval and reach his hand. We later walk inside the restaurant while holding hands. I can see a few of the customers are goggling at us as we pass by them, but Jongdae does nothing. We’re walking straight to the second floor.

He told me that this restaurant is well-known among celebrities—a lot of them come over here to dine. The owner of this restaurant is even a celebrity himself, but I don’t recall what his name is. For the record, the second floor is mainly reserved for celebrities and the owner’s close friends—that’s why we’re heading upstairs.

I can see two members of EXO sitting at the left corner of the restaurant and talking to each other so heartily. They don’t even notice us when we reach at their table.

Jongdae lets out a shrilling cough, and both of them instinctively look up in astonishment. They rise from the seats at once and greet us in embarrassment.

“Sorry for not noticing you two,” Baekhyun tells, his face stains crimson red. “We were so focused on each other that we didn’t notice you two just now.”

“We thought you were going to be late,” Kai adds and beckons us to sit in front of them.

“I’d be doing to do the same way if I were to meet your girlfriends in future,” Jongdae says, posing a threatening smirk at his former members. They soon burst into big laughter.

“By the way, this is my, uhm, girlfriend, Im Yoona,” to which Baekhyun fakes a cough at the word ‘girlfriend’.

I bow at them and greet them officially. “Hello, I’m Im Yoona. It’s indeed a pleasure to meet you two tonight.” I glance a little at Jongdae when he holds my hand tightly. I guess he knows that I’m shaking right now.

“Finally we’re meeting Yoona sunbae-nim.” Baekhyun glances at . “We’ve been waiting to meet her for so long, right, Kai?”

The slightly dark-skinned idol nods in agreement. “We were so glad when Jongdae hyung called us to meet up tonight.”

The mentioned guy just laughs and turns to me. I raise an eyebrow at him. “You know, they were so persistent to meet you, so I had no choice.”

“Oh, I see.” I smile in response, locking a strand of hair behind my ear. “By the way, why aren’t the other members here?”

“They have schedules to attend tonight,” says Kai. “We’re the available ones, Yoona sunbae-nim.”

“Just call me comfortably, guys,” I say.

“That’s right.” Jongdae nods. “That’ll make us less awkward and become close quickly.”

Kai seems dubious. “Can we?”

“Sure, you can.”

“Then, I’ll call you ‘Yoona noona’!” Baekhyun chirps happily.

“Me too!”

As we’re dining, Baekhyun and Kai talk to us a lot. Jongdae would chime in at times. Me? Well, I prefer to be just a listener. Plus, they look as if they haven’t met in a while.

“May I know how old you are?” I ask.

“I’m the same age as Jongdae—23 year old and Kai’s 21 year-old,” Baekhyun says, shoving a wrapped samgyupsal into his mouth.

“Do you guys live together?”

“Of course no,” Kai lets out a chuckle. “Baekhyun hyung and I live together in a dorm with the other members while Jongdae hyung lives on his own.”

Does he start living on his own after his withdrawal? I’m itching to ask them that particular question, but I halt the intention. The question’s kind of sensitive, isn’t it?

“I missed my bunk bed,” Jongdae says all of a sudden. I look at him in bemusement. “No one’s slept there ever since I left, right?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Lay hyung dumps a lot of his things on your bed, though.”

“Oh, really?” His jaw drops. “I’d better go check it out later!”

“Yoona noona, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” I gaze at Kai questioningly. “What is it that you are curious about?”

“What does Jongdae hyung call you?”

I jerk my head in surprise and Jongdae, on the other hand, almost spits on his drink.

“Well, he calls me by name,” I reveal, red-faced. “He calls me ‘noona’ at times.”

Baekhyun puckers his lips. “Shouldn’t couples call you each other such sweet endearments like ‘yeobo’, ‘jagiya’ or something like that?”

“God, I can’t stand that.” Jongdae cringes in embarrassment; his face heats up.

I look up and laugh. “That’s why you don’t call me by one of those endearments?”

“It’s too cheesy for me,” he says honestly, nodding.

“When did you start officially dating?” Kai asks further.

“After the music video ended, wasn’t it?” Jongdae answers and glances at me in confirmation.

“I wouldn’t say so,” I say. “He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him.”

“What? You did that, Jongdae?” Baekhyun gawks at him. “Why did you do that? Shouldn’t have you called Yoona noona first instead?”

“I was too embarrassed to call her first.” He looks down—bashful, perhaps? “But I’m glad she called me a few days later.”

“He asked me out after that, but—” I break off. “Oh wait, can I tell them this?”

A toothy smile graces his lips. “Sure. Go on.”

I continue and the two members listen to me attentively, “I said yes, but it was abruptly called off because something inevitable came up. He then didn’t text me for days. I thought he was upset or something, but it wasn’t true. He was just busy with his packed schedule. We later went on a real date… and I’d say we started going out officially on that night.”

Our finger entwine as soon as I end the short story. I turn to him, and he just beams at me and tightens the grip.

“We had no idea Jongdae was dating someone until the news broke.” Baekhyun sips his glass of beer. “We called him right after we heard about the news and he confirmed that it was true. He’s going out with you, Yoona noona.”

“We were jealous as well,” Kai adds. “Jongdae hyung’s got himself a girlfriend despite being busy with a lot of things.”

“I wonder when on earth he got some time to meet Yoona noona. I mean, he’s busy all the time, isn’t he?”

Jongdae and I exchange furtive glances—only both of us know the secret.

The moment Jongdae gets to his feet and excuses himself to the washroom, the two members of EXO look at me as fast as lightning, as though they’ve been waiting for this chance to come.

“What’s the matter?” My eyes widen. “Do you guys have something to ask me?”

Baekhyun shakes his head, smiling. “Aren’t you curious about Jongdae? Ask us away, noona. We’re at your se