“Wait. He asked you to prom?” Jungah asked. “And you failed to tell me?!”

“I just didn’t think it was that important.” Areum reasoned. “Plus, we’re just going as friends.”

Jungah had to stop herself from screaming, as the two were currently in the school’s upstairs library. “Areum, I love you, but sometimes I want to smack you until you regain some sanity.” Jungah muttered.

“Why are you saying I’m insane?” Areum was slightly confused, as she flipped the page of her history textbook.

“Who is saying my dear Areum is insane?” A husky voice is heard behind the two girls. The figure slips into a chair next to the girl in question, slipping his arm around her shoulders. She smiles.

“Hey, Jongin.” She greets, continuing to take notes from her textbook. “What brings you here?”

“Nevermind that. What were you girls talking about?” Jongin gestures to Jungah.

“Chanyeol asked her to prom yesterday.” Jungah tattled.

“Already? Well it was about time.” Jongin chuckles.

“What do you mean?” The girls questioned.

“He’s been planning it for a while now. I guess he forgot to tell us last night?” He reasons.

“What?! Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything? Sehun didn’t even tell me this.” Jungah complained.

Areum raises an eyebrow in confusion, so he’s been planning to ask me to prom for a while?, she ponders. The thought made her feel giddy inside.

“So have you guys planned anything? What color you guys are going to wear? The limo arrangements? The after-prom party?” Jungah gushed, excited for her best friend.

“Um…” Areum blanked. “I just know that I’m going with him. That’s all. Nothing planned yet.” She felt embarrassed all of a sudden. Prom was in a week, and she was totally unprepared.

Jungah almost face-palmed. “Okay, enough studying. I don’t even know why we’re in the freaking library. It’s Friday and school ended an hour ago. Areum, you’re such a nerd.” Jungah closed all of Areum’s books and shoved them into her backpack. “Let’s go.”

Areum was flustered, to say the least. “Where are we going?”

“Dress shopping. Where else?”

“But- Shouldn’t we ask Chanyeol about this first?” Areum asked.

“I’m pretty sure he’d be fine with whatever your dress color is. Come on, let’s go.” Jungah dragged the hesitant girl out of the library, waving goodbye to Jongin in the process.

Jongin laughed, reaching out for his phone.

To: Chanyeol

Your girl just left with Jungah to go dress shopping. You should probably call her.

To: Jongin

She isn't "my girl"; we're just going to prom as friends. Is that so hard to believe?

To: Chanyeol

Whatever makes you feel better at night. We all know you'd die for her.

To: Jongin

Shut up.

“Hey. Are you home?” A deep voice asked over the phone.

“Um, yeah. Did you need something?” A soft voice replied. The sweet sound of her voice never failing to make him smile.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go over the stuff for prom next week.”

“Oh, yeah! Are you in the neighborhood?” She questions.

“I’ll be at your place in five.”

“Okay. See you then.” Areum hung up the phone, smiling to herself as she recalled the conversation she had with Jungah earlier today.

“People just don’t ask other people to prom as friends. That’s weird, and prom is too romantic for just friends.” Jungah reasoned. “Come on Areum. The boy likes you.”

“Maybe he just didn’t want to go alone. I mean, everyone else is going with dates, even you and Sehun.”

“That’s because Sehun and I are dating, you idiot.”

“So maybe Chanyeol thought us two single people could go together? I don’t know. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me like that.”

“You’re too dense and innocent for your own good. He likes you, I’m sure of it.”

Maybe he does like me, she reasons.

Areum was lost in her thoughts for a while when she was suddenly startled by the abrupt ring of the doorbell. Chanyeol.

She walked towards the front door, smiling at the tall man standing in front of her. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but Jungah already forced me into buying a dress.”

“Oh, that’s not problem. What color is it?”

“It’s sort of a light blue. Here, let me get it, it’s in my closet.”

Areum stood up from her bed where she and Chanyeol were sitting, walking towards her closet to pull out a garment bag. She laid the garment bag across her bed, ping it slightly as to not reveal the dress in its entirety. 

Chanyeol smiled. “So I guess you aren’t showing me the whole dress?”

“Why would I? Isn’t that bad luck? And I’m just showing the color so you can match me.”

“Why would that be bad luck? I’m pretty sure that only applies for wedding dresses.” Chanyeol chuckled.

Oh. Areum scrunched up her nose in shyness. “Well maybe I want it to be a surprise then.”

“It is a nice color. You would look nice in it. Then again, you’d look nice in anything.” Chanyeol looks up at her. Areum blushes at the compliment, but nevertheless zipping the garment bag back up, storing it away in her closet.

“Thanks.” She says shyly, not sure how to reply to him.

“Anyways, it’s late, I should go.” Chanyeol stands up. Areum checks the clock on her bedside table, 11 p.m.; has Chanyeol really been here for two hours?

“I should probably walk you down to the bus stop then.” Areum suggests, as she follows him outside of the house.

“It’s almost midnight, it’s not safe. It’s okay, I’ll be fine.” Chanyeol reassures.

“Oh, hush. Just let me walk you.” Areum shushes him, smiling. “Do you not like my company?”

“What? No – I just want you to be safe, that’s all. I don’t know what I’d do if something bad happened to you.”

Areum doesn’t reply, lingering over his words, making her feel happy inside. He cares about me.

The two walk closely on the small sidewalk, heading towards the late night bus. Areum slightly shivers from the chilly temperatures surrounding her, which did not go unnoticed by Chanyeol. Without another word, he pulls off the sweater he was wearing, revealing another t-shirt underneath. He slips the sweater over Areum, flustering the said girl.

“I don’t want you to get a cold the week before prom.” He smiles. Her heart starts to race from his actions.

Areum mumbles a quiet “thanks” before slipping into the sweater. She was immediately engulfed in his scent, discreetly sniffing the collar of the sweater, enjoying the smell of Chanyeol, the lingering cologne stimulating her senses. “But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine, stop worrying about me. Plus, the bus is here already.” He said, gesturing toward the bus’s headlights heading towards them.

“Okay. Be safe going home.” She says, about to turn to leave, when she feels his hand grab hers.

“Don’t die on your way home.” He jokes, hugging her from behind. “Then I wouldn’t have a prom date.”

Areum shakes her head playfully as she looks up towards him. “You always expect the worst. See you later, Yeol.”

Chanyeol’s eyes perked up from the nickname as he walked towards the bus, not even bothering to cover his smile.

Areum watched the bus drive away, before walking towards her house, feeling a bit paranoid as she walked in the dark alone, with a few flickering light posts here and there.

She almost jumped when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, quickly answering it.

“Hello?”

“Oh, good. You’re still alive.”

“Chanyeol we just saw each other like one minute ago.”

“Like that’s reassuring.”

“I’m almost home. Was there something you wanted to say? Did you forget something at my house?”

“Not really. I just forgot to say goodbye. Plus, I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Areum blushed. Why was he being so cheesy all of a sudden?

“Okay, I reached my doorstep. Should I hang up now, or…”

“Maybe you should go inside your house first, so no one is lurking around your house.”

“You watch too many crime shows, Yeol.”

Chanyeol smiled at the nickname again, thoroughly enjoying it. “I just want you to be safe.”

“I’m inside now, and the doors are locked. See? Safe and sound.”

“I guess I should probably hang up now since you seem rather annoyed.” Chanyeol chuckled.

“Oh. I didn’t mean it like that, I-“

“I was just joking, Reumie.” Chanyeol reassures.

Areum noticed the nickname he gave her, making her blush for the millionth time that day.

“I should get to bed. Good night, Chanyeol.”

“Good night. Sweet dreams.”

The girl hung up the phone as she plopped down on her bed. She realized she was still wearing his sweater, which was two sizes too large on her.

She was way too tired to take it off, and soon fell asleep, unconsciously wondering if his embrace would be as warm and comforting as his sweater.

(a/n): just wanted to write some interactions between Areum and Chanyeol :)

also, it's really late where I live, so I'll finish writing the second part of this in a couple of hours. thanks for reading this so far! xx <3