I walked into the cafeteria for dinner like usual, and sat in the corner that I've been sitting at for quite a while. Today's dinner consisted of a hard-boiled egg and a sweet potato, again. Was there ever any variety here?

"Hey," a voice said. I jumped a little in my seat, pulse quickening immediately. Calm down, you're just startled.

"Hi," I managed to respond. He sat down across from me and I already found myself glancing at him for too long.

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while..." Chen said as he took a piece of sweet potato from my tray and started peeling the skin.

"Yes...?" I started to peel mine too, avoiding his gaze.

"Do you have any lessons this Saturday?" He looked at me expectantly but all I could hear was the pounding of my heart. Why was he asking this anyway?

"Um...only for the first half of the day." I answered.

"Oh great, then let me take you out on a fancy dinner." He said, as a smirk appeared on his face. I froze, not sure if I was hearing it right. "A fancy candle-lit dinner with some romantic music in the background and a glass of French red wine."

The piece of half-peeled sweet potato in my hand fell back into my tray and along with it, went my jaw. He must have seen the flustered look on my face for he burst out laughing.

"Don't worry, I'm just kidding! There's this trip to the beach happening on Saturday, and you should definitely come." The mischievous gleam in his eye was still present, his lips curled up at the corners into his usual grin.

I let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. "The beach?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Is there anyone else you want to invite? A few EXO members as well as some of the girls from your group are going." He beamed, the corner of his eyes crinkling as he brought a piece of the sweet potato in front of my mouth. I looked at it hesitantly, not sure what I was expecting, but ate it anyway, and then he went to peeling another piece.

So it wasn't just the two of us. Hearing that, my heart sunk the slightest bit, but then again, it wouldn't have made sense if it was just the two of us hanging out. On the other hand, I was also very relieved because it wouldn't be the two of us. It didn't really matter who was going because I was just happy to be invited. But...

"Uh, I'd love to go but I don't think I can." I said slowly.

"Aw, why not?" He asked, his grin immediately disappearing and being replaced by a concerned frown. He gazed at me with his clear eyes, seeming genuinely disappointed that I couldn't go.

Please don't pretend to be so disappointed that I'm not going... I'd rather not have false hope.

"Um, I planned to practice for the rest of the day, you know, work harder on the choreography." I didn't need to pretend that I was saddened by not being able to go. As much as I wanted to spend more time with him, I couldn't afford to get any more attached...especially when he already had someone else.

"Ah, just choreography? Come on, Rachel, I could help you with that later if you want. Just come with me on Saturday." He pouted while adding just a hint of aegyo as he fed me another piece of the sweet potato.

I sighed; how could I possibly say no? Even if he hung out with Minnie the whole time, it'd be okay. There's always something to do at the beach right?

"Hmm, fine, sure I guess." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Really? That's great!" His lovely eye smile quickly reappeared. "The manager hyung will be driving us there at around 2pm Saturday. Your lessons will be done before then right?" 

"Y-yeah." I squeaked.

I stared out the window of our bus, watching the bustling city of Seoul go by. I had one ear bud in, listening to one of my favourite EXO songs, Black Pearl. Chen sat on the other side of the bus, a few rows in front of me, with the other EXO members that came. Luhan and the other EXO-M members I had met last time didn't seem to be here so it was mainly EXO-K and Chen. I could tell that he was really close with the K members though, by the way they interacted.

The trainees mostly flocked around them, leaving me with the window seat at the very back. Minnie was sitting beside Chen, and they were chatting very energetically the whole time. I couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable, like I'm such a burden to him, especially when I noticed him glancing back at me every once in a while, as if checking up on me.

I eventually fell asleep on the bus, but woke up a couple of hours later, when we arrived at a rest stop. I thought everyone got out of the bus to stretch their legs, but it seemed that they all went inside animatedly to get food, and they almost seemed more excited for that than the actual trip. I followed along to a food vendor where they had these delicious looking sausages and soups. 

"Which one looks the best?" A voice said right next to my ear. I jumped a little, surprised to see Chen so close to me.

"That one," I pointed at this bowl of what looked like beef stew, the delicious aroma making my mouth water already.
Chen said something to the lady behind the counter, then went to the cashier, paying for it. I walked over to admire the desserts they had, wishing that our cafeteria could have these too. The little pieces of cake all looked really pretty, the colours ranging from soft creams and pastel strawberry pinks to--

"Here, it's for you," Chen said, handing me the stew that he just bought. "Let's go sit over there."

"Wow...thank you," I was genuinely taken aback that he bought it for me. He placed his tray down on a table, and I noticed that he had gotten the same stew as the one I had picked. I sat down across from him just like how it was in our own cafeteria.

"Oppa!" A high pitched voice said as a tray was put down on our table, right beside Chen's. I looked up to see Minnie squeeze in next to him on the booth seat, Miyoung and Kai sitting down at the sides. I sipped my stew slowly, savouring each mouthful. I was grateful for the taste of finally something other than our cafeteria's bland diet foods.

I occasionally snuck a few glances at Chen and Minnie, but it felt as if I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to see. They were sitting so close to each other, and the way they smiled at each other was so...intimate.

"Oppa," she said, holding up a piece of meat in her chopsticks in front of his mouth. He took it and chewed it deliciously, giving her a thumbs up.

I focused intensely on my soup, trying to block out the sound of their voices before I became more of an awkward third-wheel.

Several minutes later, as people started finishing, we stood up and got ready to go. Chen seemed to be focused intensely on something, his eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. Minnie asked him something in a worried tone, hooking her arm on his. I slightly adverted my eyes and then pretended to fix my shoe laces. He said something back, flashing a smile at her. She then bounded off to the bus happily with the others, while Chen's face returned to the worried expression he had on before.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

"I think I lost my wallet," he answered, searching on the seats around us.

"Really?" I helped him search around our tables.

"Don't worry, Rachel, you can go with the others first. I don't want to hold you up." He said hesitantly.

"Oh, it's no problem; I'll help you look for it." I answered. Besides, it's not like I really wanted to go to the beach anyway. "Maybe check that food vendor here you last used it?" I suggested.

We walked over and Chen asked the cashier in Korean before getting interrupted by a phone call. His ringtone, Growl, started playing loudly and he quickly cut it off by answering.

"Yobseyo?" He paused as the person on the other side said something in really fast Korean.

He answered with something, probably explaining the situation, then hung up the phone after his manager replied. "I told the rest of them to go first; didn't want to hold everyone up. It's not far from here so when we're done, we can just catch up with them." He caught my eye for a second but I quickly looked away, stomach flipping a little.

I guess that I hadn't really understood his words, but it was then when I fully realized that the others had just left the two of us alone here.

Inspired by that EXO Showtime episode~  
Ooh did you guys notice the awesome poster on the foreword? Extra special because it's made by Yoonmi-ssi ;) THANKS GULLLL