For the rest of the night, the two groups had gone their separate way ending up on the opposite side of the hall. 

Of course, Seungcheol sulked about the lack of interaction between his secret text mate but he couldn't hide his goofy smile. She smiled at him. She smiled while looking at him and it was especially just for him. You know what that means, its meant to be.

To the other members, they had all agreed that the smile was more of an awkward and uncomfortable face expression. Of course, they dare not pop their leader's blissful bubble, they didn't want to get hurt.

The party was grand all right. The famous SM Entertainment had provided the guests with the very best eat all you can buffet. Hoshi muttered about something he had heard from the Sunbaes "They said that the parties in SM are always eating all you can because they eat for the entire Korean nation (HAHA JYP reference)." 

The rest of the Seventeen members were surprised. As a large group from a small company, they had always been short on food and everyday supplies. However, here it seems like they were flowing with milk and honey, like literally. 

The boys had already greeted their Sunbae and gave him a gift that he would probably never use in his life. What, their company is broke.

As the party died down from the endless dance battles from the hyper Sunbae who apparently hadn't drunk a sip of the oddly coloured champagne, a certain person stepped on the spotlight on the stage. 

"May I have your attention please," Eunhyuk spoke to the mic, "We will now begin our games! now to the people who have not been invited to an SM party before I will explain to you what will be happening." 

"SM has this tradition wherein every birthday part, a bunch of games will be played. This night, we had consoled with our birthday boy and created a brand new game based on his past favourite games. During games, there are no group members or Sunbaes, feel free to make alliances. We welcome any sort of underhanded tricks if I were you play as dirty as you can because I know some people would." Eunhyuk eyed some of the SNSD members.

"So the game is a mix of sardines and running man but we have an hour time limit," This caught Seungcheol's ears, he loves physical games, "Everyone needs to hide separately and wait to be found. The selected few who are the seekers must find people to hold hands with using this paper chain," Eunhyuk lifted 2 paper handcuffs. "The group with the most people at the end will win and get a prize each. You can kill off other groups by separating their linked hands and breaking the chain. Once your chain is broken your whole group will then be out." 

The boys whispered together, telling their foreign members about the intricate rules. 

Getting a large box, Eunhyuk drew out the names of the selected few who are to find people, "Leeteuk, Luna, Tiffany, Kangta Sunbae, Kyuhyun, Sunny, S. Coups, D.O, Wonwoo, Xuimin, Jonghyun, Chanyeol, and Hoshi. Those people called please step forward and wait until all the people are gone."

Thus, those who were called stepped in front of the stage and watched as the rests of the guests had left the hall. Waiting for the cue from Eunhyuk, Seungcheol had his mind already wandering towards a girl who he was desperate to find. 

"This is it," he softly breathed, while looking at his trembling palms "This is my chance to hold her hand."

He was snapped back to life when Eunhyuk had instructed the seekers to leave. 

Others bolted straight out of the room while others had preferred to have leisurely walked out. The Seventeen members selected had formed a pack to never intervene with each other's groups. Eunhyuk had overheard their conversation and snickered, "Yeah right, this game right here is a friendship breaker."

The boys had exited from separate doors and headed to their own separate ways. Seungcheol had quickly moved to a seemingly deserted level and slowly found people. He had first found Onew Hyung who had given his hiding spot away by tripping over his own feet. Onew occupied Seungcheol's left hand. His right was reserved. 

Meanwhile, Hoshi found Ryeowook behind a rubbish bin and had been leisurely walking the halls...until Jonghyun and Amber sprung from one of the rooms and ambushed them. Hoshi's team was ousted and it was broadcasted through the building, "Hoshi and Ryeowook out."

Tiffany and Sunny had gone together creating an SNSD alliance. First, Tiffany found Irene, Yoona, and Shindong while Sunny had collected Yuri, Heechul, and Taeyeon. While Tiffany was not looking, Sunny's group had coordinated an attack, killing off Tiffany's unsuspecting group.

One by one the groups are being caught. By the end of 45 minutes, the only group remaining are Seungcheol, Jonghyun, Kyuhyun, Wonwoo, and Chanyeol.

By now, Seungcheol has 5 members, Onew, Yeri, Siwon, Victoria, and The8. s are connected with Seungcheol's left hand, his right remaining free for someone to hold. HIs group had been responsible for killing off 3 other groups such as Kangta, Luna, and Leeteuk. It was useful to have The8 at the other end of the chain, he is really strong, deceiving others by his innocent looks. No wonder there were rumours that he used to be a trained assassin in the past life. 

Out of pure luck, Wonwoo had avoided any other groups. His group was rather sly, his left hand was linked to Irene who was linked to Sungmin who was linked to Amber.  The group had managed to sneak past far stronger groups by stealthily sneaking around the corridors. 

In one of the dark rooms, Wonwoo's group had temporarily barricaded themselves away from Chanyeol's superior group. In the room, a black haired head had popped out from on the desks. Amber squinted and whispered quietly, "Joy? Is that you?" 

Joy stood from her hiding spot and walked towards the hiding group. She smiled and bowed to each player present before complaining, "I have been waiting for almost an hour under that table." 

Amber tapped her back reassuringly then pointing to Wonwoo who stood there awkwardly, "Go hold his hand, we're leaving soon. Chanyeol's group just ran passed chasing Kyuhyun's little army. So this would be the best time to escape."

Joy flashed Wonwoo a smile before offering her hand out. Wonwoo shakingly placed his larger hand around the tiny cold hand of Joy. 

"Coups is gonna kill me," Wonwoo whispered under his breath, "I won't make it to my 20th birthday."

"Hmm?" Joy turned to Wonwoo, "Did you say something Wonwoo-chingu?" 

"A-aniyo," He curtly replied. 

During their quiet escape, a message was delivered through the speakers, "Chanyeol's team and Kyuhyun's team out."

A sigh has escaped their lips when another message was delivered, "If we can, please let's all gather back to the hall where we can have the final showdown between the two remaining groups. During the walk to the hall, the groups are not allowed to fight the other group." 

As Seungcheol had not wandered off too far from the hall, his group was first to arrive. His group consisted of Onew, Yeri, Siwon, Victoria The8 and himself. They did not want to have another member as they felt that if another member was added to the end of the chain then they lose some power as The8 and Scoup's tandem were rather strong. 

Wonwoo had been shaking in his boots as the group leisurely walked back to the main hall. In his right hand was the hand of the girl that Seungcheol had been eyeing for a couple of months now. If he doesn't die from the brutality of Seungcheol's anger during the final showdown, Wonwoo was sure that he will be flogged once he had arrived at the dorms. No matter what happens in the future, he was so sure that he would be hurt one way or another. 

As the remainer of defeated Seventeen members huddle out of the hall waiting for Wonwoo's group to return a sudden yell was heard. The boys had ran to the source of the sound to be met by Wonwoo's group who had been laughing at Joy who was on the ground utterly surprised by Amber's prank. Apparently she was easy to scare. 

Once the boys had noticed the connected hands of Wonwoo and Joy, the members had all laughed. The older boys had shaken their heads in pity, someone is going to get killed tonight. 

Patting Wonwoo's back, Woozi uttered his deepest condolences, "It is nice meeting you Wonwoo, I hope I see you on the other side." 

One by one the members had patted the extremely nervous member. They had also offered their words of encouragement before leaving to enter the hall. 

"I am gonna die," Uttered Wonwoo, "He will punch me, then skin me alive, then cut me into pieces and cook me to serve to his hungry evil pet dogs."

Joy had laughed at the boy and said, "Who are you so scared of?" She flashed him a smile as the group walked into the hall, "Do you want me to help you? What do you need Wonwoo chingu?" 

In his panic, he smiled back at the girl group member without realising that they had already entered the hall. 

Big mistake. 

He could feel a heated laser-like gaze at the back of his head. he turned around fearing that the boy had already noticed them. 

Big mistake. 

If Seungcheol looked angry before due to the interaction between the two then he was furious now. Seungcheol had seen Wonwoo's hand grasping Joy's tiny hand.

Big mistake. 

"Hyung," Wonwoo gave his best pleading eyes to his leader, "I didn't mean to."

 He had to keep his emotions in check before turning to look at Eunhyuk Hyung to signal the beginning of the final showdown. He wanted to be given the free opportunity to injure the tallest member for his unforgivable sins. 

Wonwoo looked to s, begging for help from anyone. However, the boys had all laughed in response. No one sane enough would stand in front of an angry Scoups even if the other party was the adorable Maknae, so what more the awkward Wonwoo. He should have just committed a felony and oust his own group to avoid such confrontation. 

So technically it was his fault.

---

As the whistle was sounded to signal the beginning of the game, Scoups had automatically targetted Wonwoo, tackling him to the ground which in turn dragged the unsuspecting female down with them. 

After some squirming, both Joy and Wonwoo had escaped Seungcheol's tackle and proceeded to retreat with his group. The8 and Seungcheol were brutal as the edges in Wonwoo's team were both girls. 

In the final seconds, Wonwoo had once again been tackled by Seungcheol who had dragged Joy down also. While this was happening the other side of Wonwoo's chain was broken as The8 pulled some b-boy technique and sneaked passed Amber's left hand, breaking the paper chain in her right. 

A whistle was sounded to inform the groups that a winner was chosen, however, the other side of Wonwoo's group was in complete stand still. Somehow, as Joy began to fall, Seungcheol had been sandwiched between Joy and Wonwoo with Joy fallen on top of his back. 

From the momentum of her fall, Joy had uttered a high-pitched squeak as she had fallen on the rock-hard back of the Seventeen's leader. However, that didn't stop her from brushing her small lips onto Suengcheol's right ear, planting a small accidental kiss on his now blushing red ear. 

Joy had taken a few seconds to gather her sense before quickly getting off the emotionally shaken boy. She had helped Wonwoo to push Seungcheol off his body. Apparently Seungcheol was in deep shock that he can't even comply with basic actions.

Replaying what had happened, Seungcheol had tightly grasped his right ear while wearing a -eating grin on his blushing face. 

Scoups smiled at Wonwoo who automatically cowered behind the ex-Maknae of Red velvet, "Wonwoo might have held her hand first but she definitely kissed me first."

See, maybe it was all meant to be.

---

Upon their arrival, the members had suspected their leader to lash out almost immediately. Surprisingly they were met with an extremely satisfied leader who had paid extra attention to Wonwoo, showing his undivided affection to the younger boy who had helped make the impossible a reality. 

Hoshi had approached the tallest member, 'Yah, what did you do to Seungcheol Hyung? look at him," Hoshi pointed to the guy with a large disturbing grin plaster on his face, "Why is he like that? I think you broke him." 

"I didn't do anything," Wonwoo replied in his defence.

The members along with Wonwoo were confused. Never the least, the Maknae as happy that the Hyungs were all friends. He hates to be the one cleaning after their fights, blood stains don't easily come off the floor boards after all. 

---

That night, Seungcheol couldn't wait to text her a sweet goodnight. 

Unknown number: I hope you had a good day! 

I had a tiring but enjoyable day. 

Have a good rest tonight, tell me all about Donghae Hyung's birthday tomorrow after you've had a good dream about me.

Good night my angel.

Before he could reread his sent message a hastily written reply was received from the girl. 

Joy: How did you know I was in Sunbae-nims party today? 

Where you there?

His grin was no longer visible, he had never imagined he would slip on something like that. 

All this time he had been careful to always made sure that his identity was hidden from the unsuspecting girl because if she had known that it was him behind the messages, he was sure that she would never replied back to him. After all this was the only interaction that they have, of course, he would cherish it.

Another message was received. 

Joy: Ah, it's okay I will interrogate you tomorrow morning. 

Just go to sleep.

Thankfully, she was much nicer in text than in person.

A/N: 

sorry for the long delay. I had exams this week and had only finished today. 

I promise I will update as fast as I can. I will also try to make longer chapters. 

Please comment on what scenarios you would want me to write about in the future. Please inspire me!

Thank you for everyone who had asked to make sure that I am alive, I feel such a failure as an author. I hope I can update faster in the future.

Hopefully this is cute enough to atone for my neglect for this chapter.