[New Beginnings]

“Hyun~ I’ve got a present for you~”

The girl winced and turned her head around to find her boyfriend holding out a shopping bag with a branded logo. She clicked her tongue at the sight, eyes roaming over the boy’s figure like a distressed school teacher.

 “Yong, I’ve told you so many times.” She sighed, “Don’t spoil me.”

He pouted, his lips jutting out cutely. JooHyun raised an eyebrow at him since he was way beyond the appropriate age to do so. “But, Princess, it’s not like that. I swear. I only bought it because I’m taking you out tonight.”

“And where is this ‘out’ you are talking about?”

“Somewhere formal.”

She snagged the bag from his hands, “Limit down the gifts, I don’t feel too good without giving you anything in return.”

YongHwa’s smile radiated off his face, “You know… If we were married you wouldn’t have to feel that way. It would be our money after all.”

“Yong-” she sounded frustrated.

“Just kidding,” He laughed, “Don’t worry, Princess I won’t be rushing you off into another marriage. I value your opinions most anyways. Probably someday, but I doubt it’d be this early.”

JooHyun tried covering her blushing face with her hair and turned around to inspect the dress he got her. It was a blue sapphire gown with a sweet-heart neck line and a mermaid cut. It wasn’t so bad, considering that a guy had picked it.

“You chose surprisingly well.” She murmured as she lifted the dress up with her hands.

“I thought it’d be gorgeous on you,” he commented from behind her, hugging her waist. She could feel his chin resting on her shoulders and flinched. It tickled.

“Yong, stop that.” She shrugged her shoulders.

On the other hand, he was smiling and wiggled his chin instead, sending a forced laugh out of the girl. She began hitting his arms and he finally let go, rubbing the marks she had left on his skin.

“Yah, why are your nails so damned sharp?” he complained, pointing at  the red scratches along his arms.

She smirked victoriously, “I didn’t manicure them for nothing you know.”

“Manicure? More like weapon making.”

JooHyun chuckled at the thought and patted his hair as she folded the dress back to its original state, smoothing out the wrinkles on the fabric.

“Oh, and what’s up with ‘Princess’?” she asked, “Didn’t we agree on calling each other Yong and Hyun?”

YongHwa hummed his reply, “I guess I liked the first one better. Couldn’t get used to the latter.”

“You’re hopeless.” She muttered, remembering all the cringe-worthy moments when the male had called her with that nick-name in public.

“Oh, come on Princess, are you embarrassed of me?”

“You have no idea.”

The boy chuckled a genuine laugh and winked at her in return, making JooHyun sigh deeply. She placed the dress on her bed before sitting down next to YongHwa near the piled up cushions.

She leaned back on his shoulder, a habit she had developed whenever he was around. JooHyun had no idea if there was a psychological benefit of using another person as a pillow but this seemed much more comforting than a hug to her.

Or maybe the thought of making Jung YongHwa her pillow was the reason.

“So-” she initiated a conversation, “Where are we going tonight?”

YongHwa contemplated the answer for a few seconds before replying, “It’s my grandfather’s 71st birthday.”

Her eyes gradually widened at the prospect of meeting his family.

“Everyone’s going to be there…” he said, his dry lips as he continued, “And I wanted you to meet them. They’ve been interrogating me non-stop anyways.”

“They’ve asked about me?” she questioned, sounding a tad nervous.

YongHwa smiled fondly at her reaction, “Don’t worry. They’ll love you.”

“How come?” JooHyun blurted.

“Because I do.”

*****

Everybody was splayed across the floor of the practice room.

Their new choreography was by far the most challenging, since the person who made it felt like EXO had to stand out from the other groups.

Honestly, Yixing had had enough of this concept.

It was beginning to tire out his body- and his hips hadn’t even fully recovered. He stared at the ceiling of the room, steadying his breathing as his chest heaved up and down.

The boy felt somebody stir next to him and found Yifan sitting there, cross-legged on the floor. He was holding a towel to his forehead to wipe out the sweat.

“Oh, ge,” he sat up slowly, minding his hip, “What is it?”

The other boy cleared his throat, “Well- uh- Yixing. I was thinking… Are you and JinHee free this Saturday?”

“JinHee?” he repeated, scratchin