“Your favourite member… can’t it be me?”

Ga Young stared gaping at the man before her, his eyes unblinking and vulnerable as they stared into hers, and she felt her heart beating fast in her chest. What am I supposed to say? Ga Young didn’t know who her favourite member was, and now… Kyungsoo wants me to choose him?

She was spared from answering him when there were voices coming from the front door, and she broke eye contact with Kyungsoo to turn to the shuffling sound of feet and inwardly sighed in relief when she saw Sehun and Kwang Soo. The two spotted them as well and walked into the kitchen.

“Noona, do we still have coke in the fridge?” Sehun asked as he pointed to the said fridge and she nodded. “Awesome~” he sang and quickly went to grab two cans before passing one to Kwang Soo. Sehun frowned when he noticed Kyungsoo. “Hyung, are you okay?”

Ga Young’s gaze drifted back to Kyungsoo, realizing that he was still staring at her, and quickly turned back to the dishes in the sink where she’d also left the water running.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kyungsoo replied, and Ga Young was confused if he really was or was he covering it all up by his natural acting. “What are you guys doing?”

“I’m showing Kwang Soo around,” Sehun said and she glanced at her brother at that. “I realized not five minutes ago that I have yet to show him our place when I’ve been to his for so many times already. We’re going to play foosball downstairs.”

“You guys better not mess the room again,” Ga Young warned, giving her brother a pointed look at which he made a face at. “I’m serious, Moon Kwang Soo. I just cleaned that place not long ago.”

“Don’t worry, noona. We won’t.” Sehun assured her.

“Also, you need to stop leaving your clothes laying around, Oh Sehun. You have a laundry basket in your room, so dump them there instead of leaving it on the couch.”

“Wow, noona. You’re nagging at an idol, do you know that?” Kwang Soo snorted in amusement before Sehun could respond.

She snorted back. “What idol? He’s just Oh Sehun to me, a brat like you. Now get lost.”

Sehun suddenly threw his arms around her, making her yelp when she got splashed a little by the running water while he giggled and snuggled into her. Kwang Soo laughed as his sister tried to move away, and Kyungsoo watched with a heavy feeling in his chest. In the end, he quietly left for his room, unable to stand the sight of her being super comfortable with his own group member.

***

Later that night, Chanyeol asked his manager to drop him off at the nearby store instead of at home because he wanted to buy ramen and have it there before going home. While he was browsing through the various types of cupped ramen in one aisle, he saw a familiar figure walking past the aisle he was in and disappearing at the aisle beside his, and he randomly chose a ramen cup before following after the said figure.

He had to hold in his laughter when he recognized Ga Young who wore a cap to cover her hair and her eyes, looking around suspiciously before she reached for a pack of tampons on the shelf with lightning speed. She proceeded to hide the pack inside the jacket she was wearing before turning to walk away with her head down, and Chanyeol purposely stood in her way which made her bump into him.

She froze and slowly looked up, looking very much like she’s been caught stealing, and her eyes widened when she realized it was him. Chanyeol bit down his smile and pretended to glance at the bulge in her jacket before raising a brow at her.

“What’s that you got there?” he asked, enjoying the sight of her face reddening.

“N–Nothing! I mean, nothing of your concern. Wha–What are you doing here?” she asked although she wanted nothing more than to just run away from there.

“I was looking for ramen,” he said and showed her the cup he was holding. “I’m thinking of having it here. And since you’re here as well, why don’t you stay and eat with me?”

She would love to, but then…

“No thanks. I, uh… have some things to do at home.” she stuttered and tried to move past him but he held quickly moved aside to block her way again. “Chanyeol, move.”

“Seriously, Ga Young. Why are you acting so weird?” She watched as the guy suddenly leaned down until his face was right in front of hers with a smirk playing on his lips. “Are you embarrassed to be caught buying tampons?”

Ga Young’s eyes widened at that, and she could feel the grown swallowing her up. Her face immediately reddened and witnessing this, Chanyeol could no longer hold in his laughter and laughed loudly, holding onto his stomach when her face turned redder and redder.

“Y–Yah!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.” Chanyeol managed to say between laughter before standing straight up again. “Come on, Ga Young. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s natural, so stop hiding it.” She looked away, flustered and a little flattered. “Hey, let’s get out of here. I’m hungry and I want to eat this ramen,” he suddenly said.

“O–Okay…”

After making their payment (Chanyeol offered to pay for her ‘grocery’ as well, much to her embarrassment), he made her sit outside at the table while he went to fill hot water into his ramen cup and she glanced down at the black plastic bag containing the tampons, blushing red again.

Chanyeol had paid for it, and instead of making fun of me, he understood… That was actually very nice of him.

“Are you sure you don’t want one?” She jumped and looked up to see Chanyeol taking a seat across from her. She blinked, glanced down at his ramen cup, and shook her head. “Okay then.”

Chanyeol placed the ramen cup aside to let the noodle soften and made sure to keep the seal tightly closed before turning to Ga Young. There were still hints of red on her cheeks, and the sight made him smile to himself before he took out his phone. Ga Young watched him as he browsed through his device before placing it face up on the surface of the table, and she smiled when she recognized the song.

“I really like this song,” she told him, smiling at the somewhat nostalgic feeling creeping up her skin. “This is a really good song.”

“I like it too,” Chanyeol nodded, already working on mixing his ramen.

“This song reminds me of someone.” Ga Young suddenly admitted, and Chanyeol glanced up at her to see her staring at a distance with a small smile on her face. “I feel like the song is speaking up for me.”

Chanyeol swallowed at that, feeling his heart beating so fast yet so slow at the same time, making him hear nothing but the sound of it beating in his ears and her voice – her sorrowful voice. Her expression told him that she was thinking of something, or rather someone, and his heart soared at the thought of it being him.

“Who?” he quietly asked, half unwilling to hear the answer.

She turned to him with glassy eyes and smiled wider. “My best friend,” she replied as quietly, making his heart skip a beat. “Someone I haven’t seen and has been missing for years.”

Chanyeol immediately felt guilty at that, but at the same time, he felt super relief knowing that she hasn’t forgotten him and was missing him the same way he did. He immediately made up his mind to reveal the truth, but then she suddenly spoke up again.

“I bet he’s somewhere out there, making a name for himself.” She chuckled quietly to herself and looked at him again. “He told me he was going to join a band and play the bass or drum, and with his band, he would tour the world and become famous. He made a promise to come look for me when he’s made a name for himself too.”

The guilt immediately doubled. She remembered all of the promises he made to her, and even though he had every intention to fulfil them, he had yet to reveal himself to her and the guilt was slowly killing him on the inside.

“Listen, Ga Young,” he started. “I have something to tell you.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I–”

He was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing, and she quickly fished out her phone to answer it with an apologetic look on her face. It was her mother, and apparently she was looking for her. Ga Young immediately hung up and stood up from the chair, making him stand up as well.

“Sorry, but I have to go now.” she said and picked up the black plastic bag. “I’m sorry I can’t stay longer. Bye, Chanyeol.”

“Wait–” Chanyeol could only watch as she ran off to the direction of their house, and only after she’s disappeared down the street did he sighed and sat back down. “At least let me walk you home,” he mumbled.

He ignored his now soggy ramen and picked up his phone that has been playing EXO’s Don’t Go on repeat, feeling the guilt and regret slowing eating him up further.

***

Baekhyun was playing a song by Yiruma on the keyboard when his door opened, and there was only one person he knew who wouldn’t bother to knock before entering, so he didn’t bother looking up as Chanyeol shuffled his way to his bed and threw himself onto the mattress. Baekhyun continued to press onto the keyboard, lightly humming the tune to himself as well, and his fingers paused when he heard his best friend sigh.

Baekhyun turned to the man to find him sprawled on his mattress, taking up the space easily with long legs, with one arm covering his eyes. He turned his body so he could face the bed and crossed his arms.

“Alright, what happened?” he asked, although he had an inkling to what was bothering the other. He frowned when all he got was another sigh. “Yah, Park Chanyeol. Talk, dummy. What happened?”

“Why do I find it so hard to tell her the truth?” Chanyeol asked, hardly moving from his spot at all. “Why can’t I just tell her who I really am?”

“You tell me,” Baekhyun scoffed and shook his head. “Seriously, Yeol. It’s been bugging me as well. Did you do something bad to her before you left?”

“…kinda.”

“Like what?”

He sighed. “I left her, didn’t I?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the respond. “It wasn’t by choice,” he pointed out. “Seriously, Yeol. You were a kid and your parents were the one who took you out of the house. It wasn’t like you left her because you wanted to.”

“She remembers all the promises I made too,” Chanyeol continued like as if he hadn’t heard him. “I could’ve told her just now, but I didn’t.”

“Why didn’t you then? What are you so scared of?”

Chanyeol finally removed his arm and stared up at the ceiling blankly, swallowing painfully before sighing. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s stopping me.” Baekhyun was about to part his lips when he continued, “I don’t want her to be disappointed in me.”

“But why would she be?”

“Because… I forgot about her.” Chanyeol admitted quietly, swallowing hard. “I forgot her, Baek. If I hadn’t lost the necklace grandpa gave me and made the decision to move back here, I wouldn’t have remembered her at all.”

“Chanyeol–”

“And yet she never once forgotten about me. She recalled our promises, she kept the memories we made close to her heart. She misses me.” The last sentence was more like a whisper, but Baekhyun heard him loud and clear. He could tell that Chanyeol was close to tears by now, and true enough, the man’s eyes were already glassy when he came to sit next to him on the bed. “Ga Young had kept her promise; she never forgot about me and waited for me, but I didn’t. I failed her, Baek.”

Baekhyun sighed and reached out to brush Chanyeol’s hair off his forehead before repeating the action like a soft caress, hoping to give him some comfort. “Yeol, I know you feel bad but that was the past. You’re here now, and I think it would hurt her more if you continue to hide this fact from her than the fact that you forgot about her for a few years of your life. Find some time to spend alone with her and tell her then, okay? Don’t let her find out from someone else but you, got it?”

Chanyeol sighed but nodded his head. I have to do this soon…

***

Kwang Soo was hanging out in Sehun’s room one day, playing with the other’s laptop while the latter was on the bed, going through the script for his first Chinese drama. He tried not to make any noise as he played the new game he’s downloaded for the EXO member when a notification popped up on the screen, advising him to charge the laptop as the battery was slowly dying.

He looked around and frowned when he couldn’t find the charger before turning to Sehun, hesitating for a bit when he saw the other so absorbed in memorizing his script, when the laptop made a sound to indicate another low-battery warning.

“Sehun-ah, where’s your charger? The laptop’s going to die soon,” he said and the other blinked up at him before pointing at the desk.

“In my laptop bag, under the desk.”

Kwang Soo peered down the desk and spotted the bag, grinning to himself before quickly pulling out to grab the charger. He pulled the cable out and something dropped onto the floor by his feet, but Kwang Soo ignored it for a bit to quickly plugged it on the laptop first before bending down again to pick up the white paper.

“Oh?” The paper turned out to be a printed out photo and he turned it around to look at the picture, frowning when realized he recognized the kid in the photo.

“Dude, did you find it?” Sehun asked, making him turn to the other.

“Uh, yeah. Dude, what’s with this picture?” he asked, showing the photo to Sehun who placed his script book aside and scooted to the edge of his bed to sit closer to Kwang Soo. “Is this you?” he asked although he’s sure that the boy wasn’t Sehun.

Sehun snorted. “Does it look like it’s me?” he asked rhetorically. “I kept it because I’m secretly a rather sentimental person, and I wanted to keep baby pictures of my members.”

“Or you’re planning to use this as blackmail material,” Kwang Soo pointed out knowingly before frowning again. “Wait, did you say ‘members’? Does this mean this kid is one of the EXO members too?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can’t be,” he muttered.

Sehun frowned, tilting his head at his friend. “Wait, you know who the kid is? That’s impossible because I’m pretty sure he never showed this picture to anyone.”

Kwang Soo frowned and stared long and hard at the photo in his hand. The picture was of a boy and a girl sitting on a wooden swing, face turned towards each other with a noticeable smile on each their faces. Sehun knew that the particular member had been careful not to show this picture in public because of the girl who he claimed to be someone very special to him, even till this very moment. The youngest of the EXO member decided to keep the photo as blackmail material against his hyung in case he wanted something done.

 “So he really is an EXO member?” Kwang Soo asked again, turning to Sehun for confirmation.

Sehun nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do I know him? I mean, have I met him yet?”

“Of course! That’s Chanyeol hyung, you see.”

Kwang Soo’s eyes widened at that. “Chanyel hyung?” Chanyeol hyung is Chan hyung?! “And the girl? Do you know who she is?”

“No, hyung never told me. Why? Do you know her?”

“Of course I do. That’s my sister, Moon Ga Young.”

“…what?”

“And that boy is Chan hyung, my sister’s childhood best friend.”

“Huh?!”