A Couple Of Weeks Later,

“Have you seen JYP Party People Special EXO episode, Unnie?”

Jihyo’s voice was surprising Nayeon who was playing games on her phone. “Jihyo-ya, you surprised me!” she complained.

“Sorry, Unnie…” Jihyo put on an innocent face.

Nayeon wanted to pretend like she didn’t hear Jihyo’s question. So, she would have much more time to think how to avoid her question. But Jihyo definitely noticed this.

“Don’t try to avoid my question though!” Nayeon was even more shocked now. Jihyo laughed. “See? I knew it! You’re trying to fool me, aren’t you?”

The older denied it. “I’m not.. I-I just don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Fine, whatever. Hear me out! My sister sent me this video,” Jihyo started talking, “She is one of EXO-L too. So, she watched the show last night. Based on this video, D.O. Sunbae made a statement that he was trying to stop being an idol for a long time ago. Lately, he felt it again that being an idol had pressured him the most. He said, even when walking on the street was so hard to do because people just wouldn’t let him alone. So, he couldn’t enjoy one of his easiest hobby to relieve his stress.”

Nayeon pretended she lost her interest hearing Jihyo’s explanation. She kept playing a game on her phone. She was just not that comfortable to talk or hear anything related to EXO’s D.O. yet.

“You keep ignoring me, Unnie!” Jihyo was upset after realizing the older girl next to her was busy staring at her phone. Jihyo then covered Nayeon’s screen phone, the peach girl was startled.

“Jihyo-ya, you-” she was about to nag at her roommate but got cut faster.

“You-keep-ignoring-me!” Jihyo glared at her.

Nayeon gulped. “Okay, I got it..” she said as she put down her phone and looked at Jihyo seriously. “Now, what is it?”

“D.O. Sunbae is having a hard time now!” Jihyo explained again. Nayeon was trying her best to put a plain face reaction. But she was easily seen too nervous already. And of course Jihyo also noticed this. She then kept explaining, “He said being an idol had pressured him the most lately. He felt like he was being isolated because of his idol status. He found his popularity is not his best part of life yet.”

Nayeon sighed. “So?”

Jihyo gasped in disbelief. “So?? You don’t know what it means??”

Nayeon shrugged slightly.

“He missed you!” shouted Jihyo in desperate.

Nayeon’s jaw dropped. “You’re being ridiculous!” The girl in her pink pajama scoffed.

“I’m being ridiculous?? I’m telling you what I see and think!” Jihyo tried to convince her. Many times.

“I don’t see any relativities of wanting to stop being an idol and missing me at the same time!”

“He feels pressured because he can’t love anyone freely since he is an insanely popular idol! He wants to enjoy his 20’s like any other normal people including in love life! The last person he once in love with was you, Unnie! So, he definitely still loves you and wants to be with you normally! The fact that he just can’t do it because of his idol status has made him stressed out!”

Nayeon listened to all Jihyo’s explanation seriously. At last. She felt the leader was right somehow.

“So, it’s like he gives off warning to all of his fans if they still want to have him as an idol, they better start leaving him alone in private things! He is doing this for you! It’s his sacrifice to get you back!” Jihyo’s last words finally got Nayeon into it. “Do you get me here?”

But Nayeon remained in silence. Unsure how to react. Somehow she started feeling guilty.

“Unnie?” Jihyo wanted Nayeon’s attention.

“Stop talking, you make me into it.” She spilled her thought.

Jihyo furrowed her eyebrows upon hearing Nayeon’s reaction. But then she realized and formed a wide smile. “I see..” she mumbled, “You do still care of him a lot…”

“What?? Non sense..” Nayeon definitely heard it while Jihyo was still smiling widely at her. She then walked away from her to grumble to herself, “Am I being too selfish here? He said happy birthday to me a week ago and even sent me a present. A cute bracelet. Then I only replied him thank you. He called me after my VLive too but I didn’t pick it up. I did it on purpose. I just still can’t have his manly voice tingling over my body all over again..”

“Is that what you feel every time you pick up his phone call?”

“Jihyo-ya! You surprised me again!” Nayeon gasped, “Since when did you stand behind me??”

“I did follow you around when you walked away from me. Hahahahahaha!” Jihyo laughed happily. “I must tell Jeongyeon Unnie about this later. She’ll be thrilled!”

Nayeon quickly grabbed her wrist, “Jihyo-ya, please! I’m begging you, don’t tell her anything you heard earlier!”

Jihyo blinked her eyes cutely, “Why??”

“Look at me here, look at me!” ordered Nayeon.

Jihyo looked at her eldest member.

“She will tease me the whole day! No! Even worse, the whole month until she meets Kyungsoo Oppa and tells on him! Please! I beg you! Don’t do that!”

Again, Jihyo only blinked her eyes multiple times. Playing innocent and replied, “No way. We are your love life supporters. We will never tease you, Unnie. Trust us!” She was convincing the older girl in front. And the girl bought it. She seemed so relieved. Jihyo then added, “Nah.. We will just make fun of you.. Hahahahahahahaha-tease you!”

“Jihyo-yaaa!!!” shouted Nayeon in desperate. Jihyo had run away.

.

.

“Please don’t pick up-please don’t pick up-please don’t pick up-please don’t pick up-please-”

‘Im Nayeon-ssi, is that you??’

Dang! He picks up my call!

“He-hello, S-Sunbae, ah-Kyungsoo Sunbae, ah-D.O. Sunbae!” stuttered Nayeon as the other soft voice was picking up her sudden phone call.

‘Hahahahaha’, laughed the other voice, D.O., out of the blue. ‘What happens to my Oppa title when you call me, Im Nayeon?’

Dang it! I should’ve thought about this too! Now what should I say to make a good excuse?

“Mmm… no-nothing happens. I… I just find that it’ll be inappropriate to me to call you as ‘Oppa’  again now…” Nayeon tried her best to give a nice excuse.

‘What’s inappropriate about it? I still don’t get you about this, but anyway… why do you call me? Is there something important?’ D.O.’s calm voice had tingled her already. Will always be.

Nayeon hesitated long enough. Until D.O.’s sigh voice startled her. “I-I just want to-I mean, I’ve got to-no-I want to- Ahh!” she frustated. She then took a very deep breath to ease her stutter. “I want to say sorry for not picking up your call before. When you called me after my VLive had ended.” There you go I said it normally and calmly!

Silence for a while. Nayeon was waiting his reaction nervously.

‘Cute. You’re still cute as always, Im Nayeon…’ teased D.O. very calm.

Nayeon was nervous half death, but she was unsure about D.O.’s reply either. “I’m sorry, what?” She needed to make sure what she heard earlier.

‘You are still cute as always, Im Nayeon-ssi…’ D.O. confessed suddenly,  ‘And you’re only torturing me here when I still can’t forget your cute yet pretty presence everytime I open my eyes… You're everywhere.’

He’s joking, right? Is he trying to make fun of me or what?

‘Im Nayeon-ssi? You there?’ D.O. called her name since he felt the other person wasn’t replying back his confession.

“Y-yes, I’m here, Op-ah-D.O. Sunbae!”

‘Ah… I’m going crazy!’

“W-Why is that?” Nayeon kept hesitating to reply him. In case she misheard him.

‘Because I miss you.’

Nayeon gulped. “W-What do you mean?”

‘I want to touch you, hold you…’

“W-what??” Nayeon was totally into it. In fact, she liked it!

‘I want to feel you…’

“Have you been drunk, Oppa??” Nayeon tried her best to sound like annoyed.

Again. He seemed like laughing in relief.

“What’s with your laughters? You seem so happy…” She spilled her thought accidentally.

‘Of course, I’m happy! The fact that you contact me now and just accidentally called me as Oppa for twice, don’t you think the same as I do?’

That time, Nayeon found gulping her saliva was really hard to do. “I don’t know what you’re saying, Sunbae.” How she wished her phone call was disconnected in a sudden so badly. “I-I just need to say thank you to you. That’s all. I’m so sorry for disturbing you and-”

‘You know how much I wait for this moment, Nayeon-ah?’

He cut me off again, dang it!

Nayeon couldn’t reply right away. Somehow her lips were too heavy to speak.

D.O.’s sigh voice was heard again. ‘I won’t waste your time. I’ll say this clearly to you.’

Nayeon’s heartbeat was thumping super fast.

‘I still like you. I do still care of you so much until this second. But, this unwanted dating ban.. wrong timing.. unperfect situation.. how can we deal this together?’

She was trying her best to hold her tears as well, but...

‘All I can say is sorry. I just can’t control my feelings for you. It’s the first time ever since my first love back in high school,’ D.O. still talked in a very calm tone. He was sounded sad. And he successfully made her flustered to decide.

‘Well, who can?’ he continued, ‘We were trying so hard to keep this secret love. Between your dating ban and my dating ban... Just like other secret dating idols out there and we should be thankful nothing goes wrong until now. I mean, no one knows this yet, so let’s hope it’ll stay that way forever until good times appear…’

She listened to all his words in an overwhelming feeling. Because of the fact that she was also still loving him so much. She couldn’t hold it anymore. She was trying to sob softly.

But, D.O. heard it. ‘Im Nayeon? Are you crying now?’ he sighed again. He was sure about it, ‘I’m so sorry for making you cry again. I’m the bad guy this time. I definitely am…’

“No, you’re not, Oppa…” finally she spoke her heart out, “I.. the fact is.. I do still love you too!”

Silence for a while.

‘You do??’ asked D.O. He sounded like enlightened.

“I do! All these times, not even once I passed days without thinking of you! I do still love you too!” shouted Nayeon between her sobs.

D.O. laughed again.

“Why would you laugh again? Is this some kind of joke to you?” Nayeon mumbled between her sobs.

‘Because I’m just very happy right now! I love you too, Im Nayeon.. Can we start over?’

There he said it! cheered Nayeon in her mind. She was so happy to hear ILU words from him again after their first date. And she knew he would ask her to start over. Well.. he loved her and she loved him. What would be so wrong by starting over?

“I.. I like the idea…”

‘Nice! You free tonight? Can we meet?’

“Mm.. my dance practice will finish around 9 tonight. I think I can ask Jeongyeon to come with me…”

‘Very well. Usual place, is that alright? I’ll get there around 10. Dress warmly. I heard that it’s going to be colder tonight…’

“Alright. See you at 10 tonight, Oppa…”

.

.

.

“I’ll wait for you two inside. Just call me if you need anything or when he doesn’t show up. Got it?”

Nayeon nodded upon hearing Jeongyeon’s order. But then, Jeongyeon noticed something from Nayeon.

“Unnie…” she called.

“What?” Nayeon responded.

“Don’t you think you’re being too casual and invisible in this outfit?” she asked cutely.

Nayeon frowned.

“You don’t put any make up either.. You’re on a date with your boyfriend! At least put on something even when you only got an hour to date!” Jeongyeon made a gesture about putting some face powder on her face.

“That is the purpose of disguise! He told me to do this!” replied Nayeon while jokingly punched Jeongyeon’s left arm. She continued, “We are idols, when we’re on disguise, we shouldn’t put any make up! That’s how we get invisible to fans. Beside, I’m not scared of his reaction. If he trully loves me then he will love this kind of me. Me without any make up. I’m confident enough about my bare faced! I’m pretty when I’m bare faced!”

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes cutely instead of irritated. “Ohhh.. so confident..” she commented.

Nayeon giggled and said, “One thing, I had his bracelet which he gave me as my birthday present. He should be happy about it, it’s my highlight for tonight..” Nayeon showed her new bracelet. She put it on her left wrist.

“Fine, I’ll watch movie inside. Okay, I’ll go in now, remember what I said, got it?” she reminded her bestfriend.

Again, the older girl in brown long sleeve shirt and black parka jacket nodded. She was on her perfect disguise with addition of her pink nose masker. To meet her secret boyfriend that night.

Jeongyeon then was no longer visible to her. She was alone in cinema’s parking lot. And a bit cold. Luckily, she did follow her boyfriend’s suggestion on the phone earlier. D.O. told her to wear warm outfits and just enjoyably be bare faced to each other.

Well, it wasn’t like Nayeon hadn’t seen him bare faced before. D.O.’s bare faced or on make up are the same. But, somehow she was a bit sad about it. She wanted to be pretty when they meet again to each other for the first time in a while. Instead, she appeared on perfect disguise mode to avoid fans or paparazzis.

“Where is he? Is he here already?” she mumbling to herself again. Had checked the time, it should be around time when her boyfriend showed up. She sighed and decided to lean on the wall. She looked at her screen phone again, opening picture gallery and scrolled down her pictures.

There they were. A picture of him and her together for their first date 2 months ago. D.O. comfortably put his arm around her neck. He was wearing a black long sleeve sweater and a white nose masker while Nayeon was wearing red long sleeve sweater and same color nose masker. They just finished watching a movie that night and decided to take their first picture before going back to their dorms. Both of them were eye smiling happily and brightly. Even when their nose maskers were halfly on.

Again, to avoid paparazzis or fans.

“Have been waiting for me too long?”

Nayeon was shocked when she found D.O. was already standing in front of her. The older guy was wearing a black shirt in bomber jacket with grey skinny jeans and a red cap. He also covered his handsome face in black nose masker.

“Oppa, you surprised me! When did you get here??”

D.O. smiled widely. “Just now,” he said while leaning closer to his girlfriend. He wanted to peek on her lovely twinkling eyes. He would always find them attractive. Also, her cute bunny front teeth.

Nayeon noticed his intention. She showed him her bunny teeth and wide eyes in a glimpse. Later, she was chuckling so hard. She just realized how she was acting silly in front of her cool boyfriend. Yet, D.O. seemed very happy. He gave her a fatherly smile. Nayeon then quickly put on her black cap and nose masker back. She remembered they need to be careful the whole time. They got many tips from other previous dating idols that were still unexposed yet.

After he got what he wanted to see, he asked his girlfriend another important question. “How are you, Im Nayeon?” he asked while looking at her fondly.

Nayeon smiled back. “I’m good, Oppa… Kind of… missing you?”

D.O. blushed in red. “Me too…” he said softly. He restrained his face back to normal and continued, “I’m glad we can make time to meet each other again like this. Have you had your dinner?” He was concerned.

Nayeon nodded. “Oppa?” she asked back cutely.

“I had it when I was on the way here,” he replied with his twinkling eyes, “So.. Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Nayeon confused. And fluttered at the same time. Her boyfriend seemed very happy and compassionate that night.

D.O. smiled. “Taking some walks with me around this neighborhood.” He replied and grabbed Nayeon’s left wrist to follow him. But before, he realized something. “Oh? What is this?” he asked when lifting her left arm. He was smiling happily and widely behind his nose masker.

Nayeon shyly answered, “My birthday present from you, Oppa..”

“Nice!” he praised, “You know exactly how to lighten my mood!” He tightly held her left hand.