“What the are we supposed to do?” Chanyeol sweared loudly.

“How could they leave just like that!” Wendy screamed out in frustration. Her mind was going on full speed: thinking of how to fake-date Chanyeol discreetly-but-they-should-still-be-caught, anxieties on getting caught, and overall disbelief with what she just heard.

“Does your manager know about this?” Chanyeol asked.

“He hasn’t told me anything,” Wendy said. “We’ve been too busy with the comeback.”

“And me with the concert,” Chanyeol added. His phone then suddenly buzzed with message notifications from his manager.

“It’s my manager,” Chanyeol said, scrolling through the messages on his phone. “, the heads did talk to our managers before they sat down with us.”

“What did they say?” Wendy asked nervously. Chanyeol handed his phone to her and showed the messages: “Dispatch photos of you and Wendy needed soon. Preferably next week. I think they’re trying to hype the next Red Velvet comeback, and get you on some shows or something. Please don’t ask me any more questions, it’s the top people’s decision. They talked to me and Wendy’s manager earlier.”

“What do we do?” Wendy’s lips slightly quivered. While it felt good that the public liked them around a month or two ago, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting another round of hate mail when they get caught again. But then again – she wasn’t someone who disobeyed orders. She’s always been the good girl, following her seniors.

“, does that mean we have to get caught making out or something?” Chanyeol suddenly asked out loud. Wendy flustered and hit him on the back of his head.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Wendy shouted.

“Ow! Holy , that hurt! I was joking!” Chanyeol exclaimed, looking at his best friend in pain, and holding onto the part of his head where Wendy hit him.

“Can we please be serious now?” Wendy glared at Chanyeol.

“Could you also please stop hitting me?” Chanyeol fired back.

“That’s only ‘cause you deserve it,” Wendy scoffed. “Anyway, what do we do?!”

“I just don’t get how the public loves us that much? How the ? I’m annoying as hell,” Chanyeol wondered out loud.

“Good thing you know how annoying you are,” Wendy rolled her eyes. “Maybe it’s because of the glooming recession, the impending doom that climate change will bring to the world, and not to mention, our anxieties about the increasing tensions in North Korea that people need to resort to mindless entertainment of two people acting like they’re in love with each other, which can ease their minds a bit and distract them for a while.”

“Thanks for the lecture, Professor Son,” Chanyeol answered sarcastically. “But I’m serious, that was actually a pretty good explanation, holy .”

Wendy ignored Chanyeol’s comment. “Let’s just list down ideas,” she took out her notepad and started writing furiously.

“Is this how you go on dates with people?” Chanyeol said, laughing. Wendy glared at him and stopped writing.

“Well why don’t you write your ideas? Since you’re the expert here,” Wendy fired back.

“We don’t have to write them down, let’s just do what we want to do and go out together,” Chanyeol quipped. “We can finally hang out – as in outside – without people questioning us. We never did that before, and , we’re best friends.”

“We can’t just do whatever! We have to plan this out,” Wendy exclaimed in frustration.

“Fine, whatever. You take the lead. What do we do?” Chanyeol asked.

“First, it shouldn’t be that crowded, since people might think we are doing it for the publicity,” Wendy said. “Although that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

“Go on,” Chanyeol said.

“So it can’t be a park. We have to go out at night too, since going out in the day might be too in-your-face,” Wendy added.

“You’ve really thought this whole dating thing with me through, haven’t you?” Chanyeol winked teasingly. Wendy hit him on his head a second time.

“What’s gotten into you? You never teased me like that before,” Wendy said, annoyed.

“It’s just fun. I feel like I discovered a whole new way of annoying you,” Chanyeol smiled, trying to show all of his teeth to his best friend.

“Anyway, we can go watch a movie,” Wendy said.

“What? But I’m pretty sure the paparazzi don’t hide in movie theaters,” Chanyeol furrowed his brows.

“Fine,” Wendy replied.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asked.

“I just wanted to watch a movie at the theater that’s not with Seulgi or Irene! And the two of us always watched in the practice room on our laptops. Never did it with Sunggyu too,” Wendy sighed.

Chanyeol frowned. He had no idea his best friend was craving for that small freedom so much.

“No, okay, let’s watch one,” he said. Wendy tried to hide her smile.

“Then we’ll have dinner after,” Wendy added. “Can’t be too fancy, since we don’t want to appear too stand-offish. Can’t eat at some random stall too, no matter how much I want to eat ttukbokki.”

“I’ve already said it, but you’ve really planned this through,” Chanyeol said with eyes wide.

“It’s just better to plan things so that when things go wrong you know what to do. And it’s me,” Wendy answered.

“I know,” Chanyeol responded. “Anyway, where will we have dinner, Miss Wendy?”

“I think a small restaurant near the movie theater is enough. With not much people, but not secluded,” she replied.

“I’m sure you already have a particular one in mind, so just spill it,” Chanyeol quipped.

“There’s this small restaurant near the movie theater – the one near our apartment – that serves the best jajangmyun I’ve ever tasted,” Wendy said, making a slurping sound after. “Just the right amount of space. And it’s around four blocks away from our apartment building, so the chances of encountering paparazzi are quite high.”

“Mmhmm,” Chanyeol prodded her on.

“And we’ll go to the last full show, around 10, so it looks like we’re trying to avoid photographers and the crowd,” Wendy continued.

“It kinda amazes and creeps me out how good you are at this planning the fake dating thing,” Chanyeol commented.

“It’s nothing, just plans that never came to fruition before,” Wendy said, shrugging. Chanyeol frowned once again. He really wasn’t saying the right things today.

“Are you okay now? I mean, we haven’t talked about him in a while,” he asked worriedly.

“I’m better. I mean, with the comeback and everything else that’s been going on, I haven’t really had the time to think, thankfully,” she answered truthfully. “Anyway, let’s meet at the theater at around a quarter to 10 this... when are you free? I have Wednesday and Thursday night next week free.”

“No weekends?” Chanyeol asked.

“Dating on weekends means more people. I don’t exactly want to get hounded on by your fans, no matter how kind they usually are,” Wendy answered.

“Okay. I’m free Wednesday night next week,” Chanyeol said after looking at his schedule on his phone. “It’s a date.”

“Will you stop—“ Wendy was about to hit Chanyeol when he started running around the room. Wendy tried to catch up, but his steps were too goddamn long. “You are such a freaking child.”

Chanyeol finally stopped running, right in front of where Wendy was standing. He was breathing heavily but he couldn’t help but laugh. While he was distracted, Wendy hit him on the back of his head.

“HEY! What the hell was that for?!” Chanyeol exclaimed, eyes widening.

“You are so annoying,” Wendy rolled her eyes. “Anyway, are you sure you’re free Wednesday night? No scheduled EXO activity? No hangouts with your other guy friends? No other dates?”

“Yeah, free,” Chanyeol said while fixing his hair. “Why? Were you worried that I was two-timing you?”

“Oh my god. You really won’t stop, huh?” Wendy gave up. “It’s like your mom’s antics of wanting us to end up together rubbed off on you.”

Chanyeol suddenly straightened up. “Uhm, no way,” he scoffed. “I love her, and you’re my best friend, but uh, no offense, I don’t want us to end up together.”

“Same here,” Wendy said, lo