By the time I reached the cafeteria with Jae-eun and Yaehee, my heart was hammering in my chest. I was extremely nervous and my mind was flashing with all the possible scenarios of me failing.

“Don’t be nervous.” Chanshik said out of nowhere, and my eyes immediately were drawn to him. Thankfully, both of my friends were walking ahead of me and didn’t notice me jumping in surprise. I nodded and tried to push away the nausea that was crawling up my throat.

“Paran? Are you coming?” My thoughts returned to my friends when Yaehee called out my name. She had stopped to turn back at me and was looking concerned. I forced a smile and walked a little faster to catch up with them.

“There he is.” Chanshik nodded towards the front and I found myself looking for a certain boy whose height usually stood out from the rest of his friends. It didn’t take long before I spotted him sitting with his clique. Park Chanyeol was just about to start eating and that meant that I had no time to waste.

I swallowed and stared at Chanshik wide-eyed, my feet suddenly unable to move.  I could see myself walking up to his brother, all eyes suddenly turning to watch me, speaking in the steadiest voice I could muster. But I couldn’t see him answering me. What if he gets mad at me again? What if he calls me crazy in front of the whole school? I had no idea why I suddenly cared about what people thought about me. Maybe it was the thought of being judged by all these students prevented me from taking even a single step from where I was. Maybe it was because while I’d never really minded what other people thought of me, I’d also never made a scene like I was about to attempt in the next few seconds.

“You can do this, Paran.” Chanshik stepped in front of me, sending me an encouraging look, and I watched as everyone else in the cafeteria blur into hazy figures. I’m not sure how he did it, and whether it was just an effect of his words or something else, but I suddenly gained the courage to approach Park Chanyeol’s group.

“I need to talk to you.” I forced myself to stare only at his face as I spoke, feeling at least a hundred pair of eyes upon me. Here goes nothing. I thought, bracing myself for his outright rejection. Except it didn't come. In fact, for the next few seconds, Park Chanyeol joined the rest of the cafeteria and stared at me wordlessly with an unreadable expression. I noticed that his friends were also eyeing me cautiously, and when my eyes scanned the room in panic, I found that the whole cafeteria had gotten quiet. When my eyes came back to meet his, Park Chanyeol still hadn't spoken. He was going to ignore me until I give up and walk away. The realization hit me like a bucket of ice cold water. I felt myself slowly tearing up from all the pressure, and I could only bite my lip to stop myself from crying.

“Alright.”

I stared at him in surprise through my blurry vision. And for the second time, I watched Park Chanyeol grab my arm and drag me out of the cafeteria. This time, he pulled me gently behind him, only facing in front of us, and I had a feeling he knew I was about to cry back there. The thought of it brought me closer to the verge of tears, and I tried but failed to suppress a sob.

“Shh… It’s okay. You’re doing great, Paran.” I wanted to scream at Chanshik to stop it with the 'encouraging words' because he was making it even more difficult to keep myself from breaking down in tears. But right then Park Chanyeol abruptly turned around, looking at me in complete shock.

I stared back at him in confusion for a few seconds until I realized he wasn’t staring at me, but through me. After following his gaze with my own eyes,  I finally realized what he was looking at.

“Chanshik?” 

A/N: So...what'cha think? Haha! 

And since I really love this story (and you readers, teehee~), I'm probably going to be uploading the next part in a few hours (Also, I'm really eager to finish this because I want to go back to my normal life *cries and laughs at the same time*. But seriously, it will still probably take more time for me to complete this. I can't believe I'd already written seventeen chapters!!!) 

Oh, and this encounter is definitely going to be quite long (more than four parts), so expect more chapters titled Seventh Encounter.

Hope you like it~! :D