As I have mentioned in the previous chapter, I might share another photo of how I visualize Emma... so here it is! And so far the girl who came closest to Emma's image in my head is....

*drum rolls*

Wendy from Red Velvet! Let's pretend the girl on the photo is not her haha >//< I honestly thought of Joy at first, but for some reason I could imagine Wendy acting out Emma's bubbly and slightly playful personality more than Joy even if both of them are such happy pills~ And she really seems like a friend that could also be an older sister figure from all the pep talks she gave Tarin. Anyways here's Chapter 3! I would like to know your thoughts so comments are very very much appreciated! :)

P.S. I'm sorry if this chapter seems to be more focused on the side characters but this is just a part of the build up and it's getting close to the center of the story so I do hope this would still be worth a read! Also I apologize this has been roughly written I kind of rushed it so I could update before I go back to school again ;;

It was a day before the party and Joon didn't know what to give Emma. He felt stupid for not remembering to buy something in Thailand before they flew here, much more when they were already in a mall yesterday. Today's her birthday, and Ten watched as his friend beside him typed keywords in the search bar which he kept on deleting.

"Bro what is wrong with you would you like me to press the enter button instead?" Ten snorted. He then stopped scrolling through his phone which was bombarded with messages.  At that moment he felt as if he wasn't yet in the mood to reply to them except those from his parents and sister, which he always considered urgent.

The taller boy did not face him but replied absentmindedly. "I don't know what to give Emma I'm panicking. She might think I didn't remember her birthday."

Ten gazed at his friend's laptop screen. "Were you just trying to... ask help from google?" He felt laughter erupting from his throat. They've been friends for almost a decade and he find it funny Joon was still relying on google for aid when he should've known Emma enough to know what to get her.

Joon was in the middle of typing a phrase when he stopped with "what to give a twenty-three year old girl for her birthd" to glare at his friend.

"Hey you Eleven don't laugh at me. You'll understand how I feel once you have to look for a gift for a girl friend."

There was a pause before Ten's enthusiastic high pitched laugh filled the room.

"Ohmahgad." Ten clapped his hands. "Ohmahgad I would have asdfghjkl-ed but I'm having a verbal conversation with you." He spoked swiftly. "But I'm speaking to you in all caps with burning feelings: SO IT'S OFFICIAL?"

"What do you mean official? I didn't say anything like that though?"

"You just called her girlfriend bruh?"

"A girl that is a friend. It has a space! Get your facts straight shorty."

Ten gave him a straight face. "Call me shorty one more time I'm going to tell Emma you like her."

The taller boy's eyes widened.

"You should've seen your face." Ten cackled once again and held his stomach. "Ouch my stomach hurts."

"I would've replied to you that if you do that I would reveal your identity but it would probably do you more good than bad. Emma might like you so I'm not risking it." Joon pouted.

The conversation suddenly switched with seriousness and it felt strangely fulfilling to Ten as he started blurting out things he least expected would come from him. "Well... I don't think she's that kind of person. And I don't think she'll like a person like me? Like what? Chittaphon Leechaiyakul? She probably wouldn't even be able to remember my real name." He laughed. "But kidding aside, we don't know if the feeling is mutual but to tell her how you feel is worth a shot. I just hope that wouldn't change a thing and I do believe you're too important to her for her to allow your friendship to end if ever confessing would result to the worst case we've been considering. It I can't advice a lot of things because I've never really liked a girl at that extent? But I'll be supporting you from the sidelines if you ever need back up from me." He smirked and gave Joon a flirty nudge on his shoulder.

"Why don't you ask Tarin? She might give you better and more specific answers than google could ever give."

Joon's face lit up, as if the Holy Spirit suddenly went down and enlightened him. "Bro what would I do without you." He kissed Ten's cheek and hastily stood up to grab the keys of the car he rented last night. It was a playful bromance affection that even s in the dorms would do sometimes, although it was mostly him and specifically two of his group's members Yuta and Taeyong who usually would do it to show their love for the rest of the boys in the group.

"I know you love me." He joked. He stood up then and thought of bringing the sweater he had yesterday as well, just in case they would visit a mall that was as cold as the one they last visited. And then he remembered it.

Ah right, it's with her.

Ten fished for a clean face mask inside his duffel bag before they both left the hotel room.

"Tarin Toshika Dee Kwon!"

Tarin sat bolt upright on her bed, or rather Emma's bed, when she heard her full name being called. At first she thought it was her mother who called out to her, which explains why she immediately woke up. But then she remembered that she came to have a sleepover at Emma's house last night. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest from the loud voice that woke her up from her sleep, and she was ready to fight when she realized it was only her friend who screamed her name.

"Emma! I could've died of heart attack what is wrong with you?" Tarin laid back down again and groaned.

Her friend swiftly approached her and tugged at her arm, demanding her to stand up. "Wake up! Joon asked if you could tour Eleven around the city!"

At that moment she suddenly wished she did not wake up at all. She felt her face heating up but tried to hide it by scratching her nose. "What?! Why me? Like between us? In this economy? Hey are you sure you're not setting me up again?"

"What the hell Tarin what does the economy have anything to do with this. I'm busy remember? I can't leave these papers now, my boss needs the final output tonight, and I can't have things running inside my head tomorrow during the party." She frowned. "And hey, this time I swear I don't have anything to do with this. What if this is like lowkey Eleven's way of asking you out?"

Wait what? Eleven? Ask me out?

"Don't you think that would be escalating too quickly we haven't even exchanged 'hi's or 'hello's and I don't even know how he looks like? What if he looks like Chewbacca?"