The 31st of December came faster than expected. Still on our winter break, the boys—including Luhan—had planned for an outdoor barbecue at a park beside the plaza just as many other people were. A week in advance, Luhan invited me to come along and I graciously agreed to a night out. I hadn’t made other plans anyway other than to stay home and listen by the window for the countdown, though I figured a barbeque would do me good.

“Where are you going?” I questioned Hyejung from the kitchen as I watched her bustle back and forth between the bathroom and her room, each time with a different set of clothes on.

“Junmyeon invited me to a barbeque for this evening,” she stuck her head out of the room to tell me. Her fingers worked to hook on her earring correctly. “Luhan’s going to be there. Want to come? I’m officially inviting you.”

I opened my mouth to say that I was already invited to go to their barbeque, but shut it as soon as I realized the dilemma of the situation. If Hyejung was coming along then that meant...

Luhan and I were going to be at the same place and time with her. It hadn’t been that way since Yixing’s birthday party. What if the secret slipped? What if she mentioned the bet? What if someone mentioned Luhan and I?

I nodded hesitantly. “Sure, I’ll come.”

“Great! You should start getting ready too! I’m bringing my friend. You should meet him.”

I stared at her suspiciously as she slid into the kitchen. “Friend?”

“Yeah, I think you two look like a good couple actually,” she mused, inspecting me with laser pointer eyes. “And you’re both single so it’s a win-win! Plus, how romantic is meeting during New Year’s Eve?”

I faked enthusiasm with a forced smile. “Sounds fun.”

By 11:30 at night, the barbeque was still spitting fire at the remains of the meat we still had lingering in the plastic bag. Minseok had brought in the soju while Chanyeol was at his tail with the slices of meat to cook. Our group huddled closely together with the occasional raising of our glasses to toast for the new upcoming year. Yixing had to put down his drink after two glasses. Junmyeon joked he became too red in the face too quickly.

“Where do you go to school?” Minwoo asked from beside me.

I awkwardly stared at my bottle. “Yonsei.”

Hyejung introduced me to her friend as promised and deliberately forced us to sit side by side while she situated herself beside Luhan. While I shook Minwoo’s hand after we had exchanged names, Luhan tossed me a look with a raised eyebrow. I hoped that he saw my apologetic expression.

“Oh, I applied at Yonsei to take Computer Engineering,” Minwoo said, wanting to make conversation.

“Really? What happened then?” I wasn’t drunk enough to get past my usual shy bubble and start blabbering without thinking.

“I changed my mind. Computers aren’t really my thing. I’d probably blow one up by accident,” he droned on, leaning to my side a little too close for my liking.

I lifted my eyes at Luhan who sat from across me. He apparently wasn’t too pleased either because of the evident frown on his face as he leaned back on his seat and watched Minwoo intently. It looked like he wouldn’t hesitate to pull us apart if Minwoo did anything too forward. So far we were full of awkward small talk and I doubted he would try anything anyway.

Realizing what Minwoo said a few seconds too late, I added in a dry laugh. “That bad, huh?”

He shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Without any need for my warning, Luhan’s friends thankfully hadn’t said aloud the relationship between Luhan and I with Hyejung present in our group. I figured they got used to the unsaid rule that stated we were supposed to be kept secret and the word wasn’t meant to be spread around like wildfire. Besides, there was no room to mention it anyway when Minwoo and I were practically glued together.

“What kind of movies are you into?”

“Umm, action or horror movies I guess.”

He took another swig of his drink before speaking again. “Want to see The Boy? It just came out. I heard it’s not too bad. When are you free?”

I stared at him in surprise. “I actually—”

“Jinah, could you pass me another drink?” Luhan’s voice interrupted the light chatter that was going through our little group. He had his hand out expectantly.

I more than willingly stood to reach into our stash of soju. Just anything to get away from Minwoo for a while. I held the bottle out to Luhan. “Are you sure though? How many have you had?”

He gave me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine,” he muttered, taking it from me and uncapping it.

“Where’s the bathroom?” Hyejung rose from her seat languidly.

Chanyeol pointed towards the little convenience shop across the street from the park with the mouth of his soju bottle.

“Thanks.” Hyejung hesitated a step away from our group before a thought occurred to her. “Jinah, do you mind if I steal Minwoo away from you for a few minutes? He owes me chips which he can now get at that convenience store.”

“I don’t mind. Go ahead,” I assured.

He laughed and stood from his seat to reach Hyejung’s side. “You still remembered I owe you chips? That was last week.”

They both wandered away. Junmyeon eyed Hyejung until he was sure she wasn’t completely drunk enough to get herself run over. Even if Minwoo was with her. We were all a little hazy with the bottles we consumed by then afterall.

Yixing passed around the meat after personally cutting it. Strangely still hungry, I picked up the cut and lifted it to my lips. The meat fell from my chopsticks to my dismay and I frowned.

I heard Luhan laugh. “Are you okay?” He rose from his seat and circled the barbeque grill in the middle of our group to take Minwoo’s spot beside me. He held up another piece of meat, intending to feed me.

I shook my almost-empty bottle of soju. “I’m a little out of it,” I muttered before eating the piece he was giving.

There was a flash of worry that I saw in Luhan’s eyes. Scooting the chair closer to mine, he laid a hand on my back. “You should take a break for now. Want some water? I’ll get you a glass.”

The circular patterns he made on my back were soothing. “I’m okay. I can hold up, I promise.”

I felt no motion in my stomach that indicated I wanted to throw up at least. Everything was mainly fuzzy. I didn’t even realize my head ended up on Luhan’s shoulder until a minute had gone. Closing my eyes, I didn’t think I’d mind if I missed the whole fireworks show and just fell asleep right then and there.

“I don’t like that guy,” he whispered to me after moments of silence. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“I know,” I mumbled, a smile finding its way to me.

“How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you like him?”

I pulled away to face him and give him a look. We were talking so low that the other boys probably couldn’t hear. They were too caught up with their own conversations to overhear us anyway. I could tell that Chanyeol was making fun of Luhan earlier as he nudged his friend in the ribs and gestured to Minwoo and I.

“No, I actually don’t,” I answered. “I was gonna turn him down, but you interrupted.”

Jokingly, Luhan looked at me as if he didn’t believe my words. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmhm.”

I raised my hand to absentmindedly fix a button on his shirt and in the same process leaned closer to him. My sight zeroed in on his pink, pouty lips. Luhan tantalized me with his gaze, as if daring me. I moved forward to do something I missed during the whole night.

“Where’d I put my purse?”

Hearing Hyejung’s voice approaching, I felt myself automatically peeling away from Luhan