Sehun was leaning against the wall, dressed in his usual joggers and t-shirt, looking around the lobby with both hands stuffed into his pockets, occasionally staring downward and kicking the floor.

Her head stayed facing the ground as she practically ran towards the lift, but her body hit something hard, stopping her. She folded her arms over her chest when she realised who it was, glared lazily up at him, tapping her foot on the floor. “What do you want?”

“Can we talk?” He asked, their eyes meeting for a second. He looked sincere, but she couldn’t trust him.

“No,” she snapped, shoving past him and stomping towards the lift, wiping her hand hastily under her eye to stop the threatening tear as she stepped inside the empty box.

She jabbed the button to the twentieth floor, and the lift doors began to close. Her eyes moved down to her shoes, arms still crossed, when the lift doors opened again.

He walked in calmly, standing beside her and turning his head in her direction. Sera immediately turned her head the opposite way, away from him, pretending to read an advert on the wall.

“Sera,” he sighed, making her heartrate speed up for no apparent reason. “I’m not leaving you alone until you hear me out.”

The girl continued to read the poster, yet still contemplating his words.

The lift pinged to signify that they’d gotten to their floor. Leaving the lift first, she turned to the boy still inside. “Meet me after your practice in the practice room that’s always empty, just down the hall. You locked me in it remember? You’ll have five minutes, and I’m leaving if it’s just something stupid again,” she stated, spinning on her heel and walking away.

“It’s not anything stupid, I promise,” he answered. She faintly acknowledged his words, but didn’t reply as she continued down the corridor, disappearing out of sight when she turned a corner.

“Why did you lock her in? What were you ing thinking?” Sehun scolded himself as she left, realising now how many stupid moves he’d made since he’d met her. Lazily, he dragged himself out of the lift, though keeping a safe distance between them, and followed her to the practice room.

~~

Sera did not want to meet Sehun, despite what she’d said. But what choice did she have? She was curious about his most probably pathetic excuse for his behaviour, and he looked somewhat genuine, she felt as if she should give him a chance. “I’ll leave straight away if I have doubts,” she promised herself, opening the door and entering the room.

Looking up, Kai was just walking into her line of view, and she automatically gave a fake smile. “Want some bubble tea? I’m getting some again.”

“Oh my god yes. But don’t take too long today, okay? I really need it, and I’ve already warned Hyomi,” she whispered. His mouth turned up into a smile at the sound of his girlfriend’s name.

“Okay, you want vanilla with tapioca pearls, right?”

“Perfect.”

He nodded, and with everyone’s orders in place, he left, saying a quick ‘Hello’ to Sehun as he met him at the door.

Sera forced herself not to turn around to look at Sehun, and instead walked over to Chanyeol when her eyes found him, with Chen just beside him looking as if he was trying to teach him something.

She observed the two carefully as she sat down, eventually raising an eyebrow when she couldn’t figure out what the hell they were doing. She knew it was something to do with cards, but not a game she knew of.

“I’m teaching him a stupid magic trick I learnt when I was six, he suddenly wanted to learn some,” Chen explained, once again going over the rules of the trick to Chanyeol.

“Where’s Baekhyun?” She asked, suddenly noticing the third 92-liner's absence.

Chanyeol looked around the room for a moment. “He’s talking with Sehun about something over there, I don’t know what though.”

The girl nodded, and turned to look at Baekhyun and Sehun, who seemed to be in deep conversation with each other, facing away from the rest of the group, including her.

~~

“She said she’ll meet me in that deserted practice room down the hall, and that I have five minutes. How am I supposed to explain everything in five minutes?!” Sehun exclaimed.

“Jesus, calm down. Do you really like her that much?”

“I don’t like her!”

“Okay, okay. Just explain everything really fast,” Baekhyun suggested.

“This is not a time for jokes, hyung. I’m serious, I need to sort things with her,” Sehun whined.

“You’ll be fine, as long as you don’t do anything stupid.”

Sehun nodded once, still contemplating what to say as he turned around to talk to Luhan and Baekhyun stood up, walking back over to Chen and Chanyeol, and the newly arrived Sera.

“Hey, are you okay?” Baekhyun greeted the girl.

“I’m fine. But can we talk, like right now?” She asked, not even giving Baekhyun a chance to reply as she stood up and pulled him away by the wrist from the two boys.

“So many conversations today,” he said to no one in particular, as he got dragged to a space on the floor, where no one could listen in.

She eventually let go of his wrist as he sat across from her, his legs crossed.

“What’s up?”

“What did Sehun say yesterday when I left?”

“When was that? Because I don’t quite recall-”

“Don’t be like that. I know you saw me, and I know you saw me leave, so what did you say afterwards?”

“I can’t say. He’ll tell you himself later.”

“You know about that?”

“Of course I do. Look, just don’t be too hard on him, okay? Hear him out before you make judgements.”

“Fine, but if it starts getting fishy, I’m leaving straight away, no more questions asked, got it?”

“Got it,” he agreed, as they both stood and walked back over to the two confused boys.

“Uh, is everything okay?” Chanyeol asked suspiciously. “Why is everyone talking to Baek today?”

“Everything’s fine,” Sera replied as calmly as she could to convince her, but it wasn’t enough. Both Chanyeol and Chen looked at her suspiciously, waiting for a proper answer, and Sera quickly thought on the spot.

“We were just talking about singing lessons for me. God, how embarrassing that I have to tell you! There’s nothing wrong with trying to be as talented as your big brother is there?” She exclaimed, feeling proud for making up the excuse, until she wondered how the hell she was going to pull it off. Luckily, Chen seemed more bothered about things other than her lying.

“Ja, why didn’t you ask me?” He pouted, sticking his bottom lip out.

“Oppa, I’m sorry!”

“It’s obviously because I’m a better singer,” Baekhyun laughed, earning a jab in the arm from Chen.

“Byun Baekhyun never say that again!” Chen exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, you can take turns teaching me,” she compromised.

Both boys seemed to be happy with the decision, as both nodded and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least Chen believed it.

Unfortunately, her brother wasn’t so easily convinced, he was still eying her suspiciously, and she began to feel the pressure, until she remembered something. Chanyeol was supposed to be talking to Sehun today, did he possibly break the deal and tell him to apologise? She couldn’t confront him aloud, so she pulled out her phone and decided to text him.

Message to: Chanyeol

Park Chanyeol! Did you tell Sehun to talk to me?

Hearing his phone beep, Chanyeol brought out his phone and read the message. Thankfully, both Baekhyun and Chen were too busy play fighting a couple of feet away to notice anything, and Sera couldn’t help but giggle at them. That was, until Chanyeol texted back immediately.

Message From: Chanyeol

I haven’t even spoken to him about it! Baek told me not to. Why, has he talked to you?

Sera silently cursed herself, realising she’d practically just blown off her own foot in the situation.

Message To: Chanyeol

Of course not! He asked me to talk to him, but I told him to forget it and leave me alone. He said he would.

When he read the text, he nodded approvingly at her, and she let out the breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding since she sent the text, as the door opened revealing Kai returning with the bubble tea.

“Everyone, we need to practice the first snow!” Suho called once everyone had taken their bubble teas and had a sip.

The members groaned, but still obeyed their leader as they all got up and took their positions. Sera sat down comfortably in a corner and gulped down some of her bubble tea. This was one of her favourite songs, mostly because she got to hear everyone in the group sing, including the usual rappers, and it was one of the only songs that made her tear up.

~~
 

Once the song had ended, and Sera had wiped the tears that were about to escape her eyes, everyone began packing up.

“Sera!” Baekhyun called across the room, catching up to her just as she turned to face the sound. “So, do you want to start your singing lessons now?” He asked, making eye movements towards Sehun and Chanyeol, who were watching the two suspiciously. She caught on immediately that he was trying to cover for her.

“Uh, yeah. That would be great.”

Sehun and Chanyeol still looked immensely confused by Baekhyun’s question, but the older boy quickly explained the both of them what was going. Sehun eventually caught on to what he was doing, and Chanyeol eventually agreed to let her do some singing.

“I’ll bring her home, don’t worry. Besides,” he pretended to look around. “She really needs the singing lessons,” Baekhyun whispered, still loud enough so Sera could hear. Chanyeol laughed at the comment about his sister, and he finally seemed to relax. She, on the other hand, laughed a little, then glared at the boys. Baekhyun simply shrugged in response, the gesture only adding to her annoyance.

After everything was sorted, everyone apart from Baekhyun and Sera left the room.

“Sehun’s already gone to the room. Just don’t be too hard on him, okay?” Baekhyun repeated from earlier.

“Fine.”

“When you’re done with whatever, I’ll be in here, and I’ll take you home.”

She nodded, and walked towards the door, before turning around. “If he says one bad thing or tricks me, I’m leaving and never giving him another chance."

“Fair enough,” he answered, watching her open the door and leave.

~~

Before she knew it, she was stood outside the practice room. She’d hoped it would take longer, despite the room only being down the hall, but she realised quickly that thinking while walking only sped up how long time passed. Her thoughts suddenly redirected to doubting, if he wasn’t even here and he was just going to lock her in again. But, she had her phone, and if something happened, she’d easily be able to call Baekhyun, so she dismissed the thought, although still was cautious.

Opening the door and entering, the first thing that she thought was that it was so small, no wonder no one ever used it. It might’ve been an individual practice room, made for only one person, as it felt much bigger when she was locked in. However, the feeling of being cramped was probably due to the other person in the room.

“I didn’t realise it would be this small, sorry,” she mumbled to him.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s only five minutes, right?” He smiled at her, and she turned from his gaze, not wanting to imply that she was comfortable with him.

“Time starts now,” she said, folding her arms.

“Uh, okay,” he began. “Look, I’m really sorry about everything. I really am, I do- The truth is that-” he kept cutting himself off, like he had no idea himself  what he was trying to say. “It-It’s because I don’t know how to act around you, okay? What I mean is, I don’t know how to act around girls like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You know what, whatever, I don’t care. This is ridiculous. I knew you'd make an excuse but you could at least make one that I understand. I’m leav-” Her hand landed on the door handle, ready to open it when he pulled her back by the hand, spinning her to face him.

“Don’t leave,” he pleaded.

“What are you-”

His lips landed on hers in a rush, stopping her from continuing her question. The room was silent save the sound of their rapid hearts as she closed her eyes, getting lost into the kiss. Her hands that were once on his shoulders ready to push him off, now dropped to her sides, letting Sehun continue what he was doing. All her senses came back at once as she remembered who she was kissing. Oh Sehun. The bane of her trips to SM, her worst enemy. And eventually her arms did as her brain commanded and shoved him off of her.

“Sera, I-”

“Y-Your- Your five minutes are up,” she breathed, flinging the door open behind her and dashing out, not looking back.