They still had over an hour before nine – and besides, only the single ones had headed home. He knew for a fact that Tao planned on taking Raina somewhere a little more private before he went back and it would be safe to assume that Chanyeol and D.O weren't going home either.

It was just Kris taking pity on the couples as usual and dragging the loud, interfering Legends, also known as Chen and Baekhyun, away before they got into trouble. When Kai headed back, it was just him and Tiffany, alone for the first time since this day began.

Not that he minded having Mei tag along because that was way better than leaving her to sob in loneliness of her own room. But an entire day without properly hugging or kissing Tiffany even once was too much for his nerves. Besides, being around so many people made their scents mix and he was beginning to feel a little restless now, itching to have her smelling solely of him again.

'Aren't they sweet?' Tiffany cooed beside him, peering over her shoulder at Mei sobbing all over Luhan's chest.

Sehun grunted noncommittally. He was happy for them and everything but right now, he wanted to be alone with his mate.

'Slow down, will you?' Tiffany panted as he yanked on her hand and started marching away.

He didn't say anything, waiting until they were a safe distance away and the danger of Tiffany turning around and cooing over Mei and Luhan again was over before slowing down. She tugged on his arm when he tried to walk ahead, pulling them to a stop as she tried to catch her breath.

'Wh-at is…your problem?' She finally huffed out, straightening and glaring at him. He smiled innocently, 'I don’t have a problem but you're definitely out of shape.'

'Am not!' she protested indignantly.

He didn't say anything, just teasingly messed up her hair. She put up her hand to stop it from flying about, glaring at him and pouting but she looked too cute to resist. So with another gust of wind, he had her pins thrown all over the place and hair totally messed up, irritably flustered.

'Sehun!' she whined, stamping her foot.

'Tiffany,' he mimicked, laughing when she tried to smack him but catching her hand in his and pulling her in for a much needed hug.

She pretended to resist for a moment but melted against him, head resting on his chest as they stood, oblivious to everything else around them.

The carnival was winding up and the place was actually getting deserted. Even though it wasn't that late in the night, the recent city curfew demanded all commercial areas be closed before ten and the carnival was no exception.

He pulled back from the hug and started heading towards the exit because he had a surprise for Tiffany and he didn’t want to be late. Thankfully, the place was quite near.

Tiffany hadn't said anything to him about the couples' day, except mentioning it in passing once or twice. But she didn't expect anything – both because she didn't put her faith in him for doing something truly romantic, except giving her flowers which she adored, and because they'd brought Mei along, so any thoughts of a special date had fled her mind.

He didn't blame her for thinking like that, not having given her any particular reason to think otherwise – everyone knew that other than hugs and cuddling, he'd rather not do anything corny. But still, it had made him want to do something really romantic to prove her wrong. A matter of principle perhaps… and maybe, just maybe, because he wanted to please her.

They were out in the street and headed toward the river bank when Tiffany realized where he was taking her. She stared at the walkway, lit by fairy lights, for a moment then back at him, eyes sparkling with happiness. He smiled, then tugged on her hand until she was close to his side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they slowly made their way over to the other side.

It had been a while since they'd come here. They'd been attacked by a bunch of abbies and abogs and it had been the first time he'd used his powers properly and revealed his true self to Tiffany, so the place held a lot of memories.

But that wasn't all. The pavilion he was heading towards was also the place he'd kissed her, properly, for the first time and it was their special place. He couldn't think of anywhere better to take her on the couples' day.

A glance at her told him he'd been right because she looked absolutely touched. He suppressed a smirk because he hadn’t even started on the romance part yet.

'Do you remember?' he whispered, bending his head close and she nodded, sniffing a little. He stopped her before the pavilion could come into sight. She looked up at him questioningly and he shrugged, pretending to be cool when in reality his palms were a little clammy with nervousness. 'It’s a surprise.'

She stared at him with big eyes, looking awed before rising on tiptoes and kissing the corner of his mouth. He smiled, turning his head just a little to capture her lips before she could back off, pulling her close and urging her arms around him so he could straighten and kiss her properly.

She was dazed when he put her down and he pulled her close so her back was against his chest, a hand resting on her eyes as he walked them the rest of the distance. The pavilion was as he remembered but with a little exception.

Okay, so he might've asked Baekhyun for a little help – and kissed the man in return because he refused to do anything until paid 'in cash or love, your choice,' – and the otherwise mischievous Legend had outdone himself.

Sehun smiled, knowing Tiffany would be blown away before removing his fingers.

Tiffany gasped in awe and wonder as she took in the sight in front of them. The entire path leading up to the pavilion was lit by little floating lights reminiscent of fireflies, which glowed and rose in little puffs every time their steps landed on the ground. And the pavilion itself was decorated with the same softly glowing lights, wrapping around the wooden structure and dousing the façade in an unearthly glow.

It looked like they were walking among the stars and he could tell Tiffany was absolutely entranced. They walked towards their destination, Tiffany hurrying ahead and stopping every now and then to admire the lights as he followed leisurely.

She seemed so fascinated by the lights, so Sehun conjured a light breeze which lifted all the floating lights in air, swirling them around the couple and Tiffany giggled, trying to catch them in her cupped palms.

With the small glowing puffs stuck to her face and caught in her hair, she looked like a fairy herself and despite himself, Sehun felt his breath hitch. She was so absolutely beautiful. She chose that moment to look at him and their eyes locked, held bound as if by magic.

He slowly walked towards her, closing the distance until he was looming above her and she had to tilt her head back to look at him. He could see the stars reflected in her eyes before they slid close as he lowered his head and caught her lips in a sensual kiss. They swayed against each other for a long moment before finally separating.

She had tears in her eyes. 'Sehun, this is…'

The most beautiful and romantic gift anyone has ever given me…

She didn't finish the sentence, sobbing instead but he heard her alright and he was glad – as her mate, it was only his right to do stuff like this for her. 'Ya,' he flicked her forehead playfully before hugging her close, 'you haven't even seen all of it yet.'

She sniffed before looking up, 'There's more?' She sounded disbelieving, already overwhelmed. To think that Sehun, unromantic extraordinaire ninety-nine percent of the time, who would be hard-pushed to remember even her birthday, had gone this far. She truly didn’t think it could get any better.

He smirked, hearing her thoughts. 'Wait for it.'

She sniffled happily, snuggling into his side as they headed, more quickly, towards the pavilion and she tried not to swoon because it was just so beautiful. This place was special already because it marked their first date and the time they officially got together and now, he'd made it even more special.

If the outside was breathtaking, then the interior was even more so. The same mistily glowing floating lights were gathered inside but in the form a large, intricately patterned column of light, dead center of the place which doused it in an unearthly glow.

She was wowing over the light column but realized that Sehun wasn't beside her, so she turned around to look at him and found him standing by one pillar, tracing his fingers over the wood. 'Sehun?'

 He started and turned around, tucking his hands behind his back in a surprisingly cute gesture, shuffling his feet awkwardly. 'What're you looking at?'

'No-nothing,' he answered, too quickly, moving away from the pillar. 'So, do you like it?'

'I love it,' she replied, not fooled, 'What were you looking at?'

'Oh look, these lights are so pretty…' Sehun tried to drag her along but she slipped out of his hands, running towards the pillar he'd been standing beside. He tried to pull her back but she'd already reached it and…

'Oh Sehun…' she muttered, feeling her heart melt right down to her toes. He was such a sweetheart, such a sweet, sweet corny romantic…

'Don't,' he muttered, sounding embarrassed.

She turned and pulled him down, kissing him soundly on his lips. 'Why not? You are a corny romantic.'

'Am not,' he muttered against her lips.

'Are too…' she pecked his mouth again, 'and I love you, corniness and all.'

 He stared at her impassively for a moment before kissing her again, soft and sweet until her knees were weak and he was the only thing keeping her standing.

'I love you too,' he told her seriously, making tears of happiness spring into her eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment, then she turned to stare the pillar again.

Someone – and she was a hundred percent sure she knew who it was – had painstakingly carved a heart in the wood, an S+T written on it. It wasn't just a simple heart either, he'd obviously taken the pains to carve designs around the border and then, added a little bit of shades here and there so it looked like it was part of the original design, not something spurious. Obviously not something achieved in a day.

'When…?' she asked, tracing a finger over it, noticing the smooth ridges.

He sighed, not wanting to answer but she waited patiently. 'When… I came back to get your teddy bear,' he muttered to the ceiling, not meeting her eyes. 'And afterwards.'

She smiled, genuinely pleased and so touched. He really was the best. 'It's beautiful,' she told him, blinking back tears. 'This really is the best gift anyone has ever…'

'I'm glad.' He smiled, hugging her and she felt like she was the luckiest woman on the entire planet.

……………………………

'So, do you want to know?' Chanyeol whispered, wrapping the light sheet around their arms a little more securely because bundling under the blankets was a little too much but he'd promised – rather, agreed to experiment with – cuddling together as they stargazed and he was a man of his words.

Nara nodded, leaning her head back so it rested against his shoulder, back flush against his chest and if that wasn't enough to burn him up, she picked up his arms and wrapped them around her middle, wiggling around until she was cuddled in his lap.

Their date had been a success, as far as her experiment was concerned. They'd listed down all the objectively verifiable indicators which constituted romance – courtly gestures, flowers, candies, handholding and what not – and Chanyeol had done his best to do everything on the list.

On the instrument – a Likert type affair with seven options, rating each gesture from 0 for 'not romantic at all' to 7 for 'perfectly romantic' – both of them rated the other's gestures. He'd been tempted to give them all a 7 but thought that she mightn’t take that kindly – she really, really wanted her exploration to be as objective and honest as possible, so he'd spoken the truth instead. But all in all, it had been wonderful.

They'd scored each part of their date and then, she'd probably do an in-depth content analysis of their day to gain more qualitative information. The primary objective with this experiment – the one where she was exploring the nature of social relationships – was to see how adding the dimension of romance affected it and if it acted as a moderator variable to lead the relationship along a ual path.

He was also the part of another research, this one solely focused on the acoustics of his voice and its impact on an individual's body – Nara's, to be specific. She wanted to know why his voice had the impact it did and he wanted to know how she knew exactly what to say to get him to burn up in all the inappropriate places but he supposed he could wait until after she'd gotten her answers.

Anyway, after going around, courting her in a manner which made him wonder why he hadn't ever scored with girls before – he sure was smooth, like seriously – they'd ended up at her place. He'd thought she stayed in the dorms but it turned out she had her own apartment, one she shared with Tae but the girl had decided to hang out at the Black Pearl and leave them alone.

This high up, the balcony was quite windy and with the lights turned out, it was dark enough to actually see the stars without having the city lights mess it up. So, he'd set up the area, spreading a sheet and putting floor cushions so they'd be comfortable before adjusting her into his arms and throwing a light spread around them. It was comfy and snuggly and he wanted nothing more than to nuzzle her neck and maybe map the column with his lips – she wasn't the only curious one here, he really wanted to know if it tasted as creamy as it looked.

However, he'd also promised her that he'd answer her questions about himself at the end of their date and since he would be leaving after this, he figured it counted as the end. She hadn't brought up the topic since his promise, trusting him to keep it and well, he supposed it was time.

Wondering if he'd be able to accurately convey everything – he still wasn't very confident about his fluency in Nara-speak – he asked her, 'Where should I start?'

'Um…' she was staring up at the stars intensely, looking as ethereal as one herself. 'At the beginning?'

He smiled because of course it was at the beginning. His Nara was a genius.

When he opened his mouth, he had no idea what to say and he closed it again before starting over. 'Uh… well, I'm not human.'

She straightened and he mourned the loss of contact but didn't attempt to pull her back. She turned around so they were facing each other and crossed her legs, sitting Indian style. 'Hm…' she murmured, leaning forward curiously, 'I thought so too.'

'Oh?' He had no idea what to say. Then Baekhyun's voice rang in his head, she's a genius, she must have working theory. 'What did you think I was, then?' He asked, nervously twiddling his thumbs.

'An alien,' she replied promptly, not sounding the tiniest bit uncomfortable despite the nature of their conversation. 'You don't seem to fit any category of the popular mythical creatures well enough.'

'Uh… mythical creatu..res?' He asked, dumbfounded by the accuracy of her guess.

She shrugged. 'I considered vampire because it's the only category that seems to have some empirical backing but you didn't fit it and I eliminated werewolf as an option because we met on a full-moon and you were behaving as you normally do. Besides, mathematically speaking, the chances of aliens existing are actually higher than anything else.'

So like her to go about it so logically. 'Oh well… you're right, I guess. I am an alien,' It felt weird to say it aloud – they'd habituated and adjusted to earth so quickly, he never really considered himself separate from the people around him.

She leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity and he suppressed a grin because she wasn't afraid in the least. 'So, why do your eyes turn red?'

'There's um… well, it’s a long story actually…' she merely blinked expectantly and Chanyeol fiddled with his thumbs again.

'I have a question.' She interrupted, staring at him intently. 'Are you able to communicate telepathically with others of your kind?'

He shut up in sheer surprise. 'How…?'

'The common theory about intelligent extraterrestrial life forms shows a consistent belief in the advancement of alien brain which expresses itself as telepathic contact with the entire group – group intellect is the only logical step over individual intellect which human brain achieved. Since you appear to have majorly human traits, I thought it might be plausible.'

Chanyeol blinked, unable to believe he was actually able to follow that. And now that she said it, he supposed it was true. Wow.

'Yeah, well, I suppose you're right. In some ways, we do have telepathic contact but I would hardly call it a group intelligence. Normally for my race, it's just limited to the mates… and in our case, with our Shadows.'

'Do you have a single mate or more than one?' Her brain sure worked fast – how did she manage to come up with questions so quickly? 'Only one mate.' He answered, staring at her intently. Had she figured it out…?

'Am I your mate?'

Bingo.

He nodded, curious, once again, as to how she reached this conclusion.

It was obvious by now that she thought quite logically – perhaps the main reason she had difficulty with more abstract concepts and her insistence on incorporating a qualitative aspect to all of her research projects, so she could learn to be more abstract. So naturally, this question was not just a shot in the dark. Surprisingly, she spoke up without him asking the question.

'I can hear your thoughts,' she told him like they were discussing the weather. 'At first I thought they were my own but they didn't seem to be connected to anything I was thinking… and I figured it was you because you're the only alien I know.'

He laughed, amazed by her, absolutely amazed. She was, in a word, awesome.

'Thank you,' she smiled prettily, happy because awesome was good, awesome was Tae and her fun antics, and he gaped because had she…?

'Yes, I heard you.'

His eyes expanded, excitement building inside him. Nara… he tried mentally.

'Yes?'

Holy… he stopped himself from mentally cursing because well, manners in front of the lady. Instead, his excited brain conjured up all the awesome things they could get up to like this.

Try to talk back like this, he suggested, smiling when her brows furrowed in concentration.

Chanyeol…? Her voice sounded unsure but quite present inside his head.

Say something, he replied.

She looked at him for a moment before nodding and closing her eyes. Your eyes are red again. He blinked, not having realized that. But talking about his roots and then, her easy acceptance had excited him.

She was curious, he could hear it in her thoughts and there were so many questions racing inside that magnificent brain of hers and maybe it was her intellect leaking into him through their link – was that even possible??? – but he was struck with a brilliant inspiration, a perfect way to satisfy her curiosity.

He held out his palm, grinning widely when she took hold of it, her hand small inside his and he pulled her close, until she was straddling his lap, her face level with his. He put her hands on his shoulders, urging her to grasp him in case it got too overwhelming.

I'm going to show you something, he told her mentally, tell me to stop if it gets too much. After all, who knew how long her mind would be able to take it?

She nodded assuredly and he set forehead against hers. 'Here goes,' he muttered.

He showed her the entire story – from his own perspective because they were basically going through his memories – from their planet, to the story of the Legends and the Shadow planets, the prophecy fulfilled and arriving on Earth, facing Evil, going through all those tribulations and eventually finding her.

They sat in silence for a while, foreheads resting against each other, as she silently processed what he'd shared and he just cherished having her in his arms. She relaxed after a while, arms wrapping around his neck and her head burrowing under his chin as she snuggled comfortably against him.

They sat like that until she sneezed and he carried her inside, setting her down in her bed and standing up, feeling awkward all of a sudden. 'I…guess I'll leave then.'

She nodded, staring up at him with big eyes and he averted his own because it felt too much. He was almost at the door when she called his name and he turned around to find her behind him. He realized what she wanted and bent his head until she could rise on tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

'I had a wonderful time today,' she told him sweetly. 'Thank you.'

'The pleasure,' he murmured, deliberately tracing his lips up to her ears, feeling her shiver next to him, 'is all mine.'

She swallowed visibly when he backed off and this time, he knew his eyes were red, smoke beginning to curl around his fingers. 'Goodnight Nara,' he told her and hurried out before her big eyes could tempt him again.

Inside the room, Nara lifted a hand to touch the place Chanyeol's lips had lingered, still shuddering from the way his voice seemed to have poured down her spine, lighting a fire in the pit of her stomach.

'Goodnight,' she whispered, 'Chanyeol.'

................................

A/N

hello people. 

first off, i'm really sorry for not updating the past two weeks. life's been hectic and i'm already late in updating as it is. 

i hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. the scene for sehunxtiffany was totally not inspired by tangled lantern scene and sehun's totally not the sap to carve their initials in the wood hehe. well, he's secretly a big romantic, so i think this kind of fit him. 

chanyeol and nara were fun to write... actually, nara's quite unique and i think this makes things a lot easier for chanyeol than you'd expect. she figures out stuff by herself, lol. 

alright then, i'll do my best to update next week as well. until then, ciao.