The wind whipped around her, lifting her hair. Screams filled the chilly winter air, drowning out the clatter of the rollercoaster as it made another dip. The ground rushed up to meet them, and Kuri screamed in excitement, a sound that was mirrored by her seatmate.

Lay sat beside her, his eyes half shut against the wind. His hair was as messy as a bird's nest as it whipped around him, obscuring half his face.

Behind her, she could hear Luhan whimpering about how he hated heights, and Kris and Tao, who were behind him, yelling at him to "shut up and enjoy the ride".

When at last the ride ended, they all stumbled off of it, giggling insensibly about how fun it was. Luhan, however, was pale and trembling, and still whining about how scared he had been on the ride.

Kuri caught sight of even Baekhyun laughing and teasing Luhan for being so weak, to which he retorted that he was manly, and left it at that. But Baekhyun wouldn't let up on him, continuing to poke fun at him by imitating his whining in an exaggerated female's voice. Luhan merely rolled his eyes, deciding not to pay attention to the noisy beagle trailing at his heels.

"It's alright, Luhan. Being scared of something doesn't make you any less manly." Kuri tried to fend off the insults, and it had an immediate effect.

"What is it to you what I say to my friend, miss Rookie Journalist?" Baekhyun sneered, looking visibly irritated.

"It is when you don't stop teasing him and it crosses the line to outright bullying." Kuri retorted, feeling her face grow hot as people looked over at them.

"Kuri, it's fine-" Luhan tried to stop her, but Baekhyun's face had taken on an expression of pure rage.

"In what way was I bullying him? Don't go around falsely accusing people." Baekhyun rolled his eyes and stalked away, leaving the rest stunned. Kuri was tempted to walk away too, but she couldn't. Not when an article was at stake.

"... I'm sorry you had to see that, guys." She mumbled, trying to sink deeper into her coat.

"That's alright, but just know that we can stand up for ourselves, though I appreciated what you did for me back there." Luhan patted her shoulder, before looking around, trying to see where Baekhyun went.

"Ah, should we grab a snack?" Tao interrupted, in an obvious attempt to try to diffuse the sudden awkwardness in the air.

"Yeah, let's go." Kris spoke for the first time, already looking for a restaurant. Kuri looked around too, but not for a restaurant. She was trying (and failing) to spot Baekhyun in the crowd, already ashamed for her sudden outburst.

Damnit. I really have to fix things with that boy before I go all out and ruin my reputation forever. Even if it's his fault in the first place, I shouldn't have snapped at him. Tsk, this is turning out to be more difficult a trip than I expected.

While she was considering this, she hadn't noticed that the rest were already heading in the direction of a small cafe Kris had pointed out, and she appreciated the fact that Tao and Lay had turned back and were gesturing for her to follow them.

Hurriedly running to catch up with them while trying not to trip, she caught sight of a resentful- looking Baekhyun walking with Nessa and Kai, all the while whining about something.

It's probably about me, aish...

She shrugged this off though, and followed the others into the warmth of the cafe gratefully.

Soon, their little group was gathered around the table, sipping from hot cups of tea and munching on sandwiches.

Tao, Lay and Luhan were catching up on life, with Kris only adding the occasional comment as he took scalding sips of his tea and gazed out of the window at the rides.

Kuri and Chanyeol merely kept quiet, and she could tell he felt somewhat out of place.

I should try to talk to him.

But what should I say?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the tinkling of the bell over the door, as three figures stepped into the cafe. They brought a gust of cold air with them, making Kuri shiver slightly in the sudden cold.

The three figures turned out to be Kai, Nessa, and Baekhyun, who immediately tried to turn and leave when he caught sight of the others.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kai grabbed Baekhyun's sleeve as he turned, looking at him questioningly until he turned in the direction his friend was looking in... And caught sight of the other girl, sitting there and sipping her tea.

"Ah..." He murmured, before dragging his friend over. "Here, Chanyeol. I brought your wife for you." Kai snickered and winked, pushing Baekhyun so that he nearly wound up on Chanyeol's lap, to the amusement of others. Chanyeol merely looked surprised to see Baekhyun suddenly (nearly) on his lap, nearly spilling his tea in his shock.

Kuri stared down at her tea, watching the sugar she had just poured in dissolve in swirls as she stirred the brown liquid.

Please don't say anything about me oh my god.

All of a sudden, two high pitched voices invaded her senses, making her cringe as she looked up slowly.

Two fangirls were in the process of well, fangirling as they asked for autographs, to which the boys happily complied.

Realizing she probably would be like that too if dealing with them wasn't her job, she sighed in disgust and buried her face in her hands, unnoticed by the others who were busy interacting with their fans.

"... Who is she?" She heard one voice say in disgust, and looked up in dread to see one of the girls looking down at her with a disdainful expression. She looked around for Nessa, hoping she could give her some direction on what to do- after all, shouldn't she be experienced in dealing with fangirls? Not that they'd be disgusted with her; she would be prettier than all of them anyway.

Nessa turned out to be at the counter, too engrossed in ordering her food to notice the commotion happening at their table.

Kuri felt her face grow warm, but before she could reply, Baekhyun spoke first.

"She's a little pet of ours." He smirked, reaching over to pet her head in a patronizing way that annoyed her.

She smacked his hand away without thinking.

"I'm not your pet." She muttered, looking back down at her tea, visibly irritated.

"She's just a friend of ours." Luhan interrupted, his emotionless expression a clear sign for the girls to back off, which they did, with much muttering over how she wasn't pretty enough to be in their company.

As the girls left the cafe, several pairs of eyes turned to look at her, with the exception of Baekhyun's.

"Ni hai hao ma? (Are you alright?)" Tao was the first to ask, forgetting for a moment and speaking in his mother tongue in his worry.

"Wo hai hao; bie wei wo dan xin. (I'm fine, don't worry about me)" she sighed, watching the silhouettes of the girls disappear towards the rides.

"What they said was true after all."

[A/N hello! First of all, I would like to apologize for not updating as frequently now (though I have taken even longer breaks before, technically... Ahaha ^^") but I probably won't be able to write anytime soon :< I've been busy recently, with some issues... So yeah. Basically rushing to places right after work and only returning home pretty late :/ that means I'll be too tired to do much except shower and sleep :< so yeah... I'm sorry in advance for the delays in posting and I'll try my best to be more active yeah >^< once again, reads/reviews/votes are always appreciated and thank you for stopping by <3 I'll see you guys in the next chapter yeah <3]