chapter thirteen: xiii. a date?

“Please?” Luhan pouted. “Come on, please?”

“Why would I go on a date with you?” I burst out. “No offence, but like… a) we’re not dating, b) do you even really like me?, and c) I need to study!! So leave me in peace, so I can prepare for my test!”

“You can study afterwards. It’ll only be two hours. And yes, of course I like you! And not just liking like a friend, I like like you. If you hadn’t realized yet. So please?”

I closed my eyes, calculating if I would have enough time to study. Well technically yes. But knowing me and my procrastination… no.

“Okay, here’s the thing. I’m only going with you for one hour, because I need more time to study. A MATH TEST! You know how much I at math.”

His face lit up. “So you’re really coming with me? Just me, right? No one else, promise?”

“Sure, as long as no one follows us or something.” I rolled my eyes, already imagining Chanyeol and Tao secretly following us, their tallness making them stand out and being noticed immediately.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure none of them follow us. After all, they have to listen to me, I’m their hyung! Other than Kris and Minseok, but they won’t follow us anyway. Minseok’s too nice, and Kris… that’s not his style.” Luhan’s eyes glinted. “Oh, and by the way? What’s my nickname? I heard you gave most of the others, if not all, their nicknames. So I have one too, right?”

I grinned. “Of course. You’re Lulu. Because you’re,” I made a circular motion with my index finger, pointing at his head, “you know? Just a bit… coo coo. It rhymes.”

He scowled at me, and I laughed in response. “Nah, it’s because there’s actually another meaning for it. It means an attractive or seductive looking woman, and I don’t know about the latter, but I know the former is true.”

He scrunched his nose up rather cutely, which I chose to ignore, of course. “That’s mean! I’m a man! I’m very manly, thank you very much!”

I rolled my eyes and smirked. “If you say so. But that won’t stop me from calling you Lulu, oppa.”

“Sure then, if I can join Baekhyun with calling you Joo Joo,” said he, smiling triumphantly.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say, Lulu oppa.”

He grinned at me. “It rhymes. Joo Joo and Lulu.” He paused, looking content, before speaking again. “Anyway, let’s go. Wait no, this is a date, you have to dress nicely. Hurry up and dress nicely and then come out!” He ran out of my dorm room and slammed the door shut.

I sighed, before opening my cabinet full of clothes. I had brought quite a lot of clothes, but less than a normal girl, you would say. I had clothes for exercising, for being comfortable, for casually going out, and of course, my mom had forced me to take at least one dress, and a skirt as well. Just in case, she had said, before shoving it in my suitcase.

Luhan’s words echoed in my head. Wait no, this is a date, you have to dress nicely. He was expecting me to look okay. No way was I wearing the dress… so… I guess I was going with the skirt. The skirt was black, thank god, because everything looked good with black. I would wear my white cardigan with black polka dots, and black tights. Also my black flats. I had brought three pairs of shoes with me; my black flats-the only sort of fancy shoes that I would wear, my high tops, because they were freaking comfortable, and my running shoes, for exercise. Thank god for black clothes. They were the saviour to my life.

I dreaded makeup with all of my soul; there was no way I was wearing any. This was the most fancy he would probably ever see me wearing. I was not going to wear that mortifying strapless dark blue dress. No way.

I brushed my hair, just in case, and stepped out of my dorm room, a bit warily. Luhan beamed when he saw me, analyzing my outfit and coming to dishevel my hair. So much for brushing my hair.

“You look really nice! You should dress like this on a normal basis!”

I shook my head. “Not happening. Ever. This is probably the last time you’re seeing me like this, anyway.”

Luhan stood back, as if thinking. “You know, if you met Kai’s sister… she could fix you up real good, you know? She’s really good with fashion and all that. And makeup. You could look really really nice. Even nicer than you do normally, and that’s saying a lot.”

I looked down at my black flats, a bit embarrassed from his compliment. He took my hand, and smiled his beautiful smile at me, before proceeding to walk me to the staircase, down the stairs, and out the door. He breathed the air in, and smiling even wider than I thought his lips could smile.

“The taste of freedom,” he said, grinning, “Today’s a good day for a date.”

It seemed that he had changed too. In contrast to my practically all black outfit, he was wearing white skinny jeans, with a black t-shirt peeking out underneath his white sweater. He had blue-black high tops, as well as a white snapback that went with the rest of the outfit. He looked good.

I rolled my eyes, but breathed in the cool air as well. Winter was approaching, but not yet. It was still the beautiful season of autumn, with leaves tanned in different colours, contrasting with the bright blue sky and white clouds quite well. Breaths of coldness would nip away at my neck, but I loved autumn for it. It was the almost yet not yet season.

“So… where are we going?” I asked, once we were out the gates and beside the road.

I winced, remembering that this was where the accident had happened, a shudder running up my body. It wasn’t a memory that was easy to forget, and not a memory that I liked to remember, either. Whenever I was reminded of it, I could only remember the feelings of anguish and despair that had filled me when I had realized what a predicament I was stuck in.

He turned back, and seemed to know what had just run through my mind, smile fading. He let go of my hand and took a step sideways to stand in front of me. I looked up to face him properly. He wasn’t as tall as Chanyeol or Kris, but he was still very tall, at least compared to me. He crouched down slightly, so that I was looking straight into his eyes. He had a serious expression, one that wasn’t often on his face. He was usually smiling or laughing.

He wrapped his arms around me, still bent down a little so that my chin was on his shoulder. I hugged him back, tightly. Sometimes, actions spoke louder than words did. This was one of those times.

After a while, he pulled away, standing up straight. I looked up, and he smiled down at me. He held out his hand, and I took it, gratefully. Without a word, he led the way, quickly calling a taxi.

“But taxis are expensive,” I complained.

“Hey, I want to treat you because this is a date, okay? Let me do what I want,” said Luhan, smirking at me.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, and got into the taxi after him.

“And you didn’t answer my question. Where are we going?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” said Luhan, whistling innocently and looking away, clearly determined not to let me know until I got there. He told the taxi driver an address I had no idea where it led to. I had only been in Korea for a while, after all.

“Some date,” I muttered, hiding my grin by looking away.

“It’s going to be a good date! You’re going to love it, okay? Besides, there are not many girls who get to go out on a date with the manly and amazing Luhan… you should be really grateful,” he said smugly.

“Oh really? Well in that case, you can choose another girl who’ll actually be grateful. Last time I checked, I was the one being forced into this…?” I raised my eyebrows.

His smug expression fell of his face right away, and he pouted. “Oh okay, I’ll admit it. I’m the one who’s really lucky to have you here. I’m the one grateful. But what I said earlier is true. I’ve only been on like three dates before. I’ve never had a girlfriend in my life.”

I obviously didn’t hide my shock well enough, as a little smile played on his lips.

“Did you honestly never have a girlfriend in your life?” I asked, eyes wide.

“I was waiting for the right person,” he said shyly, squeezing my hand.

I had forgotten that he had been holding my hand, as it felt so… natural to do so. Actually, any skinship with any of them had gotten so natural, as they all loved to do it so much.

“But you had a boyfriend before, didn’t you?” asked Luhan, curiously.

“Well… I had one. In grade eight, one of my band’s members, before I was in the band itself, but I just dated him to make Jungkook oppa mad. That didn’t really work, because oppa’s gay. I mean, he got mad because I was being reckless and he feels protective of me, but not because he’d rather it him. And Hoseok ended up cheating on me anyway, so we broke up. More like, I punched him and then told him we were over. And… Jungkook oppa beat him up a lot when that happened.” I grinned at the memory.

“Oh yeah, Jungkook… how did you meet him in the first place?”

“We met a long time ago… I was in… grade two? He was in grade three, and we were in the same class because of split classes. And we just kind of clung onto each other and it stayed like that. Everyone thought we were siblings or something, because we wouldn’t even let each other out of view.” I laughed, remembering how I had cried when he had gone on vacation for two weeks.

“Anyway, Lulu oppa, how much longer until we arrive?” I asked.

He groaned. “Are you seriously going to call me that? That isn’t manly at all!”

I laughed. “Well it’s better than Fanfan oppa.”

“I personally think that they’re equally as bad. Why couldn’t I have something cool like Hoon or Jun or something?” he complained.

“I have the capabilities of finding a much worse nickname for you, if that’s what you wish,” I grinned evilly.

His eyes widened. “No, it’s perfectly fine. Continue calling me Lulu oppa as much as you want.”

I burst into laughter, and he grinned back at me. “Okay, Lulu oppa.”

“Anyway, we’re almost there. Actually, we’re here now,” said Luhan, taking out a blindfold from his pocket and blindfolding me. “From now on you will be blindfolded.”

He thanked the driver and paid him, and helped me out of the car. I had my hands out, sure that I was going to bump into something. He navigated me somewhere, hands on my shoulders.

“Isn’t this dangerous? Are you sure you’re not going to take me to a strip club or something, or are you kidnapping me or something?”

He chuckled. “How did you guess?”

“Wait, so which one is it? A strip club or you’re kidnapping me?” I asked, smirking.

“Who says it isn’t both? I’m kidnapping you to go to a strip club because that’s headquarters.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “True. But wouldn’t you have gagged me or something, because I might scream and alert someone? And maybe gagged me with alcohol so I’m unconscious?”

“You’ve watched way too many dramas. I’m not kidnapping you, or taking you to a strip club so don’t worry. I’m a good person!”

I snorted. “Whatever you say.”

The hands on my shoulders stopped urging me forward. “We’re here.”

“And where might ‘here’ be?” I asked, amused.

“See for yourself.” I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

His hands left my shoulders, and I could feel his fingers carefully untying the blindfold at the back of my head. He removed the blindfold and I blinked a few times, trying to get used to the light again.

My jaw dropped at my surroundings. I was in a garden. But it wasn’t just any garden. There were beautiful flowers everywhere, the colours of the rainbow mixed up and distributed everywhere, randomly. Yet although it was random, it seemed so purposeful, and just looking at them made me relaxed.

I was standing on a stone path, the kind of stone path in the middle of a garden you’d read about in books. The path led to what looked like one of those hedge mazes.

I turned to Luhan with a giant smile.

“Oh my gosh LULU OPPA THIS IS AMAZING!!” I squealed, going off of the stone path to admire the flowers up close.

I heard him laughing as he followed me. I crouched down, leaning down to smell the flowers. It was my way of trying not to get grass stains on my skirt yet still embrace the nature.

I saw Luhan in my peripheral vision, squatting down beside me and just watching me.

“I have a question. Did you plan this date before I even said yes?” I asked curiously.

“Um… yes…” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

I smiled at how cute he was being. I turned to him, still squatting and hugged him. “Thank you,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

“Hey-hey-hey!!” he exclaimed, realizing that because of me leaning into him, he was tipping backwards.

I tried to stop him from falling and myself from falling, but that only resulted in us falling faster. I closed my eyes, wincing, but my impact was softened by his body.

I slowly opened my eyes, and then realized that his face was literally centimetres from mine. His eyes were on my lips, and I subconsciously found my eyes going to his. They looked so soft and… pink.

I practically flew backwards, apologizing over and over again.

He laughed awkwardly. “It’s okay, stop apologizing!”

“So, what’s next?” I asked brightly.

He smiled mysteriously, before standing up. He held out his hand for me to get up, and I took it gratefully, his hand warm against mine. He didn’t let go of my hand, and led me towards the hedge maze. I followed brushing my off with my other hand; I had landed on my when I had flown back from his lips. My cheeks burned as I remembered how soft his lips had looked. I slapped myself mentally, telling myself to get a grip.

“There’s something in the middle. Now we’re splitting ways, and whoever gets to the middle first wins a prize from the other!” he said Luhan excitedly.

I narrowed my eyes. “But… don’t you already know the maze?”

But I was too late; he had already started off, taking the path going to the right. I could always follow him… no. I was going to beat him, without cheating. I started sprinting, glad that flats were somewhat comfortable to run in, but wished I had brought my running shoes instead.

I took random twists and turns, and after a while, I still hadn’t found the middle.

“Sh*t,” I cursed.

Too bad I had no sense of direction whatsoever. My photographic memory didn’t apply with navigation, and I cursed myself for it. After a few more completely random turns, I found myself in an open space, presumably the middle, with a blanket spread on the grass, a picnic basket on the side and food laid out, as well as a very triumphant looking Luhan.

I gaped, looking at the picnic laid out in front of me. Just in time, my stomach grumbled, and I blushed, before going to sit beside Luhan.

“I thought you’d beat me for sure… but luckily I won. Now I get a prize!!” Luhan cheered.

“But I never even said yes, you left before I could,” I said, finding a hole in his plot.

“But I still won,” whined Luhan, pouting.

I couldn’t help but smile. He must be getting all this whiney aegyo from Tao. “I might comply… depending on what the prize has to be.”

Luhan’s face lit up, and he smiled at me. “You have to go on another date with me later.”

I considered it. Had I had fun today? Yes. But… it would feel like I was betraying the other Exo members…

“You don’t want to?” His face fell.

“Okay, I will,” I said quickly.

He beamed, before handing me a sandwich. “Eat,” he beamed.

I took the sandwich from him, unwrapping it and taking a bite. I smiled, pleased at the taste. It wasn’t Koreanified at all, it was a typical sandwich you would eat in Canada or in the States. It’d been a while, and I missed it.

“I asked Kris for help,” Luhan confided.

I smiled. “Thank you, Lulu oppa… it brings back memories. It tastes really good too, and it’s proper bread!”

Luhan nodded vigorously. “Kris used to mention that he missed Canadian bread sometimes, because in Korea there’s not much of that kind of bread, so I thought you might feel the same.”

We munched on our sandwiches, talking about soccer (the recent Manchester United game against Chelsea) and school. I complained about our hard choreography we had gotten-I was still a beginner in dancing… my injury hadn’t helped me improve at all, either. He laughed and gave me advice, saying practice made perfect. I glared at him, because obviously the I’m-perfect-at-everything boy would say that.

After finishing my sandwich, I started on the fruit, munching happily. When I had finally had enough, I collapsed onto the blanket, lying down and looking up at the sky, too full to move.

Luhan cleared the blanket of what was left, putting them into the picnic basket and lay down beside me, arms folded underneath his head as he looked up. “Hey look, that one looks like Kris.” He pointed at a cloud that somewhat resembled a bird.

I burst out laughing, before pointing at another cloud. “Well that one looks like Kris oppa and Tao and Chanyeol oppa.” It was a long cloud, with no other distinguishing features. The important fact was that it was tall.

Luhan laughed. “Well that one looks like you,” he said, pointing to a very short looking cloud.

I scowled at him, and he laughed even harder, before dishevelling my hair. “Hey!”

“You’re so cute,” he teased.

I tried with all the power in my body to stop my blood from rushing up to my cheeks so quickly, but alas, my Tree of Life powers weren’t strong enough for that.

“Says the one prettier than me,” I shot back, before rolling off of the blanket to avoid his wrath.

“Come back here!” he roared, getting up from his position to chase me.

I let out a surprised very unladylike squeal (but then again, I was never ladylike in the first place) and started running through the maze, away from him. Which wasn’t smart, sure, I was good at sports but no way in hell was I faster than him.

He wrapped his arms around me, stopping me from running any further. “I got you!”

“No you didn’t!” I complained, before putting an imaginary gun to his forehead. “Put your hands up.”

“Kill me if you want, as long as I get to die in your arms,” he said cheesily.

I rolled my eyes. “Well technically, I’m in your arms, you’re not in my arms.”

“Ah, just let me be in my fantasy a bit longer.” He rested his forehead against the back of my head, and I felt his breath ghosting against my neck.

Before I could blush even more, I punched him in the shoulder awkwardly from my position.

“Okay, okay… let’s go back now.”

A/N: Hope you guys liked that chapter!!

[on a side note, have you guys heard lu han's that good good? IT'S SO ING AMAZING OMG IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!!! it's my new jam also the dance practice is like a+ idk i just feel really proud of him]

Also I know I'm late but happy belated birthday to my lovely Jongdae <3 he's so underrated and deserves way more than he has, HE IS SUCH A KIND SOUL AND CINAMMON BUN-anyway stay happy and healthy and good luck on your musical performance today/tomorrow!! :)

~Jinny out