The great Choi Seunghyun is sweating.

He was sweating while it’s chilly outside.

Sweating while it’s winter season.

He must admit this was a perfectly wrong time to wear his eccentric extra thick reindeer sweater and checkered red and green pants in a heated lobby – but it was his way of adding to the holiday cheer in YG – and honestly who cares?

He was on a mission.

And his chest drummed in dread and anticipation. He had done something out of character – if there could be more out of character than him being him.

He hurriedly went on and about the YG building, checking empty meeting rooms and studios. This mission would cause his life and reputation! He didn’t care that he earned weird looks whenever he pokes his head with a blank face in random doors, eyes turned to him as he interrupts meeting after meeting. He would just stare back, then close the door again. Usually the staffs and artists would snigger, laugh and dismiss it as his usual quirky self. Again, he didn’t care.

When he reached the fifth floor, he finally ended up in a small meeting room, and he plopped disgracefully on a chair. After releasing a shaky breath – he didn’t exercise that much – contrary to popular belief, he brought out the cause of his anxiety – K-SOUL Magazine: the December special edition. Gobsmacked right in the middle was Seungri’s obnoxious face, his stupid smile spread across the cover. In red, bold letters, the title screamed “LET’S TALK ABOUT SEUNGRI! Know what makes his heart go Boomshakalaka!”

He blanched in distaste.

To acquire this piece of junk was no easy feat, he had to get Seungri drunk for 5 hours, let him talk about his narcissistic anecdotes till Seunghyun’s ears bled for another hour, and the youngest member of Bigbang was finally out in the cold.

“Stupid dongsaeng.”

Then he had to intricately avoid questioning looks of the security and janitorial staff when they found him sitting in the midst of cleaning materials halfway through opening the damn magazine.

He was at the basement building – near the garbage shoot.

Hiding in a closet was a brilliant idea in his head when he thought of it the first time. Thus he had to move again, and thankfully the fifth floor was almost empty.

But this was not the real cause of his distress, he wanted to understand himself. Thus, he is seeking answers from the damn magazine.

He wanted to understand why he hears a healthy dose of buzz in his ears, a wild thumping on his chest and a constant churn in his stomach whenever CL passes by. His body would just turn up into an unsynchronized, uncoordinated biological rhythm that suddenly makes him extra clumsy and extra odd whenever she’s around.

He scanned the pages quickly at the article he was looking for. There!

“HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU’RE IN LOVE! Or is it just another crush? 50 Questions that will tell you if it’s the real deal!”

He blushed furiously. He’s getting embarrassed by the second. He, the cool and great Choi Seunghyun is consulting a teen magazine to know if he’s in love or not. He can’t exactly go around his friends sharing his heart out – nope, not his style. He can’t exactly tell his sister about it, she’ll just laugh it off her head. And he’s too embarrassed to tell his mom about it.

He contemplated sharing it with his dog. Though he wanted a valid and coherent response, so Bruno was out of the question.

He was running out of options and he was deduced to this – a magazine love quiz. He knows it’s not the most valid of all options, but heck, he wanted to check out for himself first – before he would shamelessly consult Jiyong or Yongbae over a hundred bottles of whiskey.

He squinted his eyes as he tried to distinguish how to go about the quiz, stupid graphic hearts were glaring at the background.

Name of the Taker: He had decided to leave it blank, he is not a moron, he will not leave any evidence

Name of Beloved: Lee Chaerin

Question number one: How do you feel when she/he looks at you? His face instantly flamed as he scanned the choices.

A) Nothing

B)A sudden jump of the heart but nothing I can’t handle

C)I feel embarrassed and I want to hide

D)I stay rooted on the ground, forcing myself to turn the other direction while my whole body goes jelly

He ticks “D”, he remembers the look she gives him whenever they were in large groups. Nothing malicious but nothing too innocent as well, it kept him guessing and it made his head hurt. From her perspective though, he thought it was just like any other stares that she sends to other people, but damn the effect on him was unexpected.

Question number two: What would you do when you saw him/her kissing another person?

A)Join in the fun

B)Have a pity party

C)Accidentally trip down the stairs and never recover again from the hurt

D)Knock off the life of the one who’s kissing him/her

He ticks “D”, he smirks to himself as he remembered that last week, he “accidentally” tripped Seungri while passing through the studio room. He saw him flirting to Chaerin while at work, and he decided to take matters on his own. It was not exactly kissing, and not exactly knocking off the life of Seungri, but it was close enough. No one touches or flirts with Chaerin, it was the company’s rules right?

Question number three: What do you like most about her?

A)His/her smile

B)His/her hot body

C)His/her personality

D)All of the above

He inwardly groan as he ticked “D” again. Her smile? Really cute – but Choi Seunghyun does not use the word cute, it was ridiculous. Her body? Definitely. Her personality – always a great surprise as she’s also into arts – be it paintings, intricate food, fashion or song writing.

Question number fifteen: If you can decide on your first date, where will you take her?

A)In a movie

B)In a fancy restaurant then some drinks

C)In a secluded spot overlooking the city

D)In my flat, and I’ll personally cook dinner

He ticked “D” again. He thought it was intimate enough and his style, plus the paparazzi wouldn’t know a thing. But he changed it to “B” at the last minute, crossing out “D”. He wouldn’t want Chaerin to get the wrong idea, yes?

He read on and on and he was growing impatient. The questionnaire started to look like doodles of a kindergarten student, full of slashes and emphasized circles. The quiz was just too long and annoying it was starting to be a wrong idea to take it in the first place. Plus, he did not like exams. There were even outrageous questions that wouldn’t even determine if he really is into Chaerin. For instance:

Question number forty five: Where would you have with him/her?

A)The bed

B)The balcony of my flat

C)The beach

D)The bathroom

He felt hot again. He refused, even forbade himself to think of dirty thoughts and this question is simply provoking him! He took a peak at the results. He was sure the writers sort of had a pattern for this. A constant Ds would give him high marks, and constant As are the lowest. He wouldn’t want to see that he was really, really into her. So he ticked “B”, a safe choice.

Question number forty seven: How would you kiss him/her the first time?

A)A gentle peck on the cheek, nothing harmful

B)A smack on the lips, like I mean it!

C)A slow kiss, but no tongue. Just a minute or two

D)I will ravish him/her

He did not hesitate to tick off “D”.

Question number fifty: What would your wedding look like?

A)I haven’t thought of it

B)A simple wedding

C)A summer wedding, during sunset

D)A themed wedding, in an evening setting

He ticked off “D” again. He was quirky, Chaerin was artistic, and there would be no way that it will be a simple wedding. A theme should be in place! Perhaps whimsical? Or perhaps old school, or traditional. Whatever. He hurriedly added everything and took a deep breath as he read the results.

Score: 139 points

130 – 150 points: YOU’VE BEEN SHOT BY CUPID HIMSELF!

You, my friend, are deeply in love. (Seunghyun felt his face drain of any color, including his pink hair.) You can’t stop thinking about him/her. You absolutely adore everything that he/she does and could not simply explain the magnetic pull that you feel. You daydream of the days you could interact with him/her and the adventures that you can take!. Don’t fret! It’s perfectly normal, you are not paranoid, you have just found someone you are totally interested in. You secretly want to be around him/her but you’re afraid this might not be reciprocated. Have a little courage and speak up, it might come a long way!

Yeah right. This was a stupid quiz afterall. He thought and smacked his palm to his forehead, feeling flushed. He did not believe a word it said and his brows scrunched up in annoyance. The results bothered him.  This is typical trash and he was nowhere near the answer he was looking for, it made him all the more confused! He dumped the magazine away and did his best not to even look at it anymore. What a waste of time.

***

Monday strolled in fast and Seunghyun casually entered into YG building. Humming to himself, as a routine. He was headed to the studio to test some mixtapes and get on to work. His mission already forgotten. He pretty much downed a lot of alcohol and he got over the offensive results. He convinced himself he was fine, normal, and maybe he was just hormonal and was looking for a focus of those raging hormones.

He opened the door to their studio, as normally and casually as he did, but the said focus of his raging hormones came into view. He missed a stepped and stumbled awkwardly, again in front of her. .

“Ah, blame it on my dark sunglasses.” He chuckled, trying to be funny. Lame-.

“Hi Tabi-oppa. I always wonder why you even have glasses on inside the building.” She smiled, and there goes his body coordination and his normal, casual Monday.

He half grunted, half sighed as he removed it, hiding his nerves. He can feel himself sweating, again. “What brings you here Chae?”

“Oh, you know, just wanted to hang out.”

“Ah, Jiyong is not here today, I’m sorry. He took a time off.”

“Oh, alright.” She shrugged and pulled out a magazine.

And Seunghyun went to coughing fits.

“What’s the matter?” She smiled at him again, the not malicious but not too innocent smile of hers. Something was off.

And he just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. Damn Seungri.

“I can see you’re reading Seungri’s cover spread.” Good lord, he wanted to rip the magazine away from her. He’s dead, mortified, horrified, and all other adjectives he can think of which pertains to death.

“Oh, but did you know he gave it to me? He made me read interesting things. And did you know he puts serial numbers to his magazine covers? So he’ll know if something is missing. The narcissistic .” She was smirking now, and he bristled.

“What do you mean by interesting things?”

“Oh you know, a certain someone wanted to date me in his flat where he'll cook or maybe date me in a fancy restaurant though I’m not sure, there were lots of doodles on the paper. He also wants to have with me in his balcony and has fancied a theme wedding. But also on top of that he likes my smile, my hot body and my personality. And says here that he wants to ravish me on the first kiss.”

He blanched with every word she said, silently cursing himself, Seungri and… well it, Seungri!!!

“He knows it was you, by the way.” She grinned, when she saw him blush furiously,  teasing him.

He felt the world tilt away of its axis. Damn you Seungri, damn you universe – damn you –

“Would you like to find out?” She was amused now.

“I’m sorry what?” His heart did tumbles. you hormones!

“Would you like to find out then… the first date, the ravishing first kiss, the balcony , and well everything else in between?” She was slightly blushing but he was sure he was in a puddle.

No point in backing out now. “Well, I can’t say no to that… seeing these were my…uhh choices. It does says I can try and see if I’ll come a long way.”

“Oh Tabi-oppa, you’re cute when you blush. You could’ve just straight up ask me out. I'll save you from all the daydreaming of all the adventures we could take.” She teased, quoting the damn magazine again, as she stood from her seat and made a move to the door.

“I don’t blush.”

“Well, you do. And you're cute when you're at it. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get on that first date.” She grinned, he held his breathe, she was so beautiful, and confident, and amusing. He will probably never run out of things to observe of her.

Despite the nerve wracking incident, he managed to muster up a smile and stood up. His jelly knees supporting him. Hell, all he could do now is do his damn well best to get her.  “Here goes my normal, casual Monday.”

And he followed the amused Chaerin out of the studio.

**

THE END

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