-

Chanyeol and his mates decided to leave home that Friday night and, as Jongin had put it, see the real world—as they hadn’t in a few days. Baekhyun felt like going to a norae-bang but Chanyeol quickly objected his idea by saying, “Now you’re the one who sounds gay to me.”

Jongin pointed out the idea that they should just go to one of the nightclubs they know of and release the wildness inside them. However, they—as in Chanyeol and Baekhyun—were as stiff as a board and did not have such thing existing inside, let alone know what the word ‘wild side’ actually represents. “You know we’re not the type to get invited to parties to party,” Chanyeol said as he motioned to himself and Baekhyun.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agreed. “You’re lucky with that face of yours.”

“He’s like Squidward who gets even more handsome the more he is hit by a door,” Chanyeol remarked, recalling the said episode in his mind.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jongin asked as they turned the corner. “It’s just you guys who never even try to socialize.”

“Whatever.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes and waved his hand in the air, dismissing the topic. A moment later, he said, “That place seems nice,” as he pointed toward the patio of a black and white café ten meters ahead of the three.

“It seems crowded, though,” Jongin said. “Looks like a place which needs one-week-ahead reservation.”

“It’s just a café,” Chanyeol said, “We can squeeze in.” The trio, with Chanyeol standing behind the other two since he’s the tallest, walked toward the lively café with curiosity in what could have made it as crowded as it was.

“Live music,” Baekhyun remarked, assuming that the other two were too deaf to know. Chanyeol had been to several cafés with live music in it, but he had never seen one that attracted so many people toward it that many were actually standing in line outside the entrance, waiting to get a place.

The beating sound of percussion, the strum of the guitar, and also the thick bass notes filled the whole one-storey building—and even several meters radius outside of it. However, what intrigued Chanyeol the most wasn’t the band’s rearrangement of the song, but the voice that crooned the lyrics out. From the opened sliding glass door that led inside, he could see the owner of that mesmerizing voice standing on stage with 3 of her bandmates he couldn’t be bothered to take notice on.

“We should go inside,” Chanyeol instantaneously said as if the existent of the café itself wasn’t interesting enough.

“I don’t think we can get a table,” Jongin told him, “It’s utterly packed inside.”

“Yeah, he’s right, let’s try another time,” Baekhyun said. “It’s not gonna be crowded forever, right?”

It wasn’t the crowd that drew Chanyeol in—well, yeah, it was, at first—it was the girl who was singing with her astonishing voice on the stage on one side of the room. “But I really want to go in,” he argued. Chanyeol really wanted to get closer to the girl so he could draw that face in his mind.

“Sure thing, bro,” Baekhyun countered, “Try and find us a damn table to sit on because there are no one who are f-ing standing.”

Chanyeol walked up to the entrance and a waitress came up to him. “How can I help you?”

“Table for three,” Chanyeol said.

“I’m afraid that you will have to wait, sir,” the waitress told him as she skimmed a piece of paper clipped on a black leather clipboard. “Number twenty-seven?”

“Ah, okay . . . never mind, then.” He swiveled around and went back to his friends.

“Hey, I got a message from Jongdae,” Jongin told them as he looked up from his phone screen, the light illuminating his dark complexion.

“Who on earth is Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked. He and Chanyeol, being the less-than-ordinary poor souls that they were, had never been invited to any parties so they weren’t familiar with name other than each other’s.

“This guy from my department,” Jongin answered. “He’s got a party at his place and everyone is there.” And by ‘everyone,’ he meant the people around their age who they didn’t even know existed.

“Alright, then, let’s go,” Baekhyun said, “Feeling like testing my luck tonight.” He smirked before trailing behind Jongin toward the train station.

Chanyeol was still nailed on his spot, still gazing at the gripping singer on stage. The lights that were too bright made his visions of the girl blurry, but he knew that she was even prettier up close.

“Yo, Chanyeol!” Jongin exclaimed. “Are you coming with us or what?”

He turned to look at Jongin and Baekhyun, one after the other, and then nodded. “Let’s go,” Chanyeol said.

The three of them then went on to their next destination: Jongdae’s party.

-
Park Chanyeol immediately regretted the decision he made of agreeing on going to Kim Jongdae’s party. Whilst Jongin and some other guys were loudly playing a game of beer-pong and Baekhyun was leaning against the wall on the corner with a couple of Senior-year girls, Chanyeol was sitting alone on the couch with a dixie cup on his right hand—its contain was left unconsumed.

He knew that Jongin had always been an easy-going person who was capable of socializing with anyone from different age groups, genders, and backgrounds, so it wasn’t a wonder if he was blending in just well, like he belonged there.

Though, now, he could see that Baekhyun, the friend who understood what it was like to be less-than-ordinary, was starting to become more likely to be popular—even attracting the noonas.

Yet, he was still feeling no sense of belonging. “Maybe I should call Sooyoung,” he mumbled. Playing with your phone at a party, and even thought of calling someone, is a sign that you don’t belong at a party.

He still received no answer after hearing the fifth ring. ‘She’s probably asleep.’ It was a quarter pass midnight; it’s only normal for a teenager to be asleep around this time. They need hours of night sleep for optimal growth. (Sadly it was something they barely get, even so.)

Chanyeol’s eyes widened when his brain came to realize that it was a quarter to 1. He felt