‘Hi Butterfly,’ Baekhyun winked at her as he made his way over to her, prompting Chanyeol to look down at him sharply, with a deeply disturbed look on his face. 

‘Can you stop with that,’ she smiled at him, mildly annoyed as he came closer.  Grabbing his wrist to stop him walking directly past her she hissed in his ear ‘You didn’t mention Kyungsoo on the phone.’

‘I know, it’s more entertaining this way.’ He hissed back, kissing her cheek and unlocking his wrist from her grasp carefully and filing around the table towards Ella. 

‘Kitten.’ He nodded in her direction, with a smug look plastered on his face.

‘I will murder you while you sleep,’ She managed to sound menacing even though Alex could tell she was having a hard time focusing now Kyungsoo was with them. 

‘Hi Alex,’ said Chanyeol quietly, still frowning with his eyebrows trying to connect, making Alex feel slightly awkward like he still had their last meeting on his mind. 

‘Hi Chanyeol,’ She breathed, unaware her lungs had temporarily contracted, or why.  He moved to sit next to Ella, who had taken the opposite seat next to her, leaving an empty space between Alex, and himself but seemed to think better of it as Baekhyun cleared his throat and moved around the opposite side of the table, as he smiled at Ella and introduced himself. 

‘Kyungsoo, I wasn’t aware you were coming now.’ Alex said stiffly, knowing it wasn’t his fault.  He had been just as set up as Ella and Alex had. 

‘I wasn’t aware you would be here either, I just thought we were grabbing something before going drinking,’ The sides of Kyungsoo’s mouth twitched slightly, as his large eyes moved around the table slowly landing on Ella.  He didn’t seem upset, in fact, if you had to guess, by his tone, as his stiff stance, he seemed to have expected something like this.   

Alex smirked subtly, turning around to the table, ‘This is my sister, Ella, you met once before.’ She said.

‘Hi,’ his lips formed a heart shape as he smiled, his eyes softened a little, as he gave her an awkward wave, taking the seat next to her. 

Alex had not noticed the seating arrangement until she was faced with the only seat left, between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.  She frowned deeply at Baekhyun, not because she was jealous he had a new plaything, but because this left her awkwardly stuck with Chanyeol, knowing how Baekhyun would do anything in his power to be involved in Kyungsoo and Ella’s conversation. 

.

‘Hi,’ Ella managed to get out to Kyungsoo as Alex took her seat.  She was staring at him intently, Baekhyun watching her, Kyungsoo looking mildly uncomfortable as his eyes darted around the table and Alex watching them all.

‘Can I your hair?’ Ella asked Kyungsoo in a faraway voice.  He turned to her slowly, his eyebrows gently rose in mild surprise, but his heart-shaped smile grew a little wider.

Baekhyun snorted, at the same time Chanyeol snapped his head up with his lips parted. 

‘Er, sure?’ Kyungsoo said, sounding like a question. 

Ella looked mortified as Kyungsoo stiffly bent his head forward slightly for her.  He turned slightly, his eyes fixing on Alex as she coughed a laugh at the whole thing.  Only Ella would manage to say something so insane. 

Flicking her eyes up to Ella, she could see how humiliated she was with her self as she asked with her eyes ‘what the hell do I do now?’  Alex looked pointedly back at Kyungsoo as if to say, ‘You asked him, so get to it.’

Baekhyun and Chanyeol watched captivated as Ella reached out her hand and ran her fingers through Kyungsoo’s soft hair.  Alex watched Kyungsoo’s face break into giggles as her fingers locked into his hair.

His laughter filling the silence shattered the intense mood around the table as everyone began laughing along with him.  It was the first time in a while Alex had witnessed Chanyeol truly laugh at something, noticing the way his eyes scrunched up and his teeth flashed, he seemed a lot younger than he had been when he first walked in. 

Ella tentatively removing her hand from Kyungsoo’s head, had turned bright red.  Kyungsoo straightened back up, composing his giggles at her, she whispered ‘Thank you.’  Chanyeol and Baekhyun broke into fresh waves of laughter. 

‘You’re welcome,’ the strange America Lilt in Kyungsoo’s voice came through as he addressed her.

Ella sank back in her chair, clearly devastated.

‘You’re something, first, you slap me, then you pet Kyungsoo.’ Baekhyun giggled next to her. 

‘You want another?’ She snapped at him, causing Kyungsoo to laugh at her scolding him.

‘You slapped him?’ Kyungsoo asked her, looking impressed.

‘He keeps calling her kitten, she doesn’t like it,’ Alex explained, then his eyes narrowed at Baekhyun, who was pouting innocently.

‘Ok let’s eat,’ Chanyeol piped up, calling the waiter over. 

Ella and Alex had ordered several plates to share together, but now they were separated, Ella ended up sharing most of the dishes with Kyungsoo, after finally getting over, or else hiding her ungainly awe of him better.  She was free to eat off the plates in front of Baekhyun but chose mostly not avoid more interactions wit