Back in college, you were a pretty active student union member who helped around when it came to making plans for MT. You remembered Junmyeon trusting you to be the person who planned out the main event for the whole thing and you ended up not having peaceful sleep until the whole thing was done and over with. The preparation was a pain in the and you used up all your free time to come with Junmyeon and the others—including Chanyeol too—to check the places and overall to discuss everything.

There were a lot of limits back then; whether it was the accommodation or the funds—mostly the funds because you were only a college student. That kind of stuff caused a lot of headaches because everyone had to be quick to solve the problems, whether it was to cut some fundings on one side or to come up with creative solutions to earn more money. It was hard and so draining, but you realized now that it helped you in the long run.

It certainly helped you now as you and Chanyeol scouted the potential places for the company workshop. While Chanyeol did the most talking with the marketing person from the hotel you visited, your brain automatically did the calculation if everyone would fit in the ballroom or if there is an outdoor space that’s enough to do the outdoor games. You weren’t the person in charge to do that, but you just couldn’t help it.

“Jongdae should’ve come with us,” you spoke up for the first time once Chanyeol had finished talking with the marketing manager of the hotel. He had left you and Chanyeol alone in the lobby after showing you both around.

“Huh? Why?” He asked casually, eyebrows shooting up in confusion.

“Because he’s the person in charge for the main event?” Hearing your words, the man in front of you blinked his eyes and the realization finally hit him.

“Oh, right…” he trailed off. “Should we ask him to come the next time?” Next time? There’s a next time?

“Well, yeah, I think that would be wise.” You couldn’t help but say. It felt like it was a proper thing to say since you couldn’t just back out on a thing you just said not even a minute ago. Jongdae really should’ve come with you and Chanyeol since he would be the one who organized the whole team-building games.

When the two of you finally left the hotel, it was already dark outside. Checking the time on your phone, it was almost eight p.m. You had spent almost six hours, but had only visited two places—and only one place that really tickled both of your interests.

“How many places should we visit actually? Do we still need to go to another?” The walk to the parking lot was quiet, the sound of your heels against the road was the one you decided to focus on. Chanyeol was quietly walking beside you, leaving quite a space between the two of you that gave you enough room to keep your head clear.

“Well, we have two more places to check, but we can do that another time… Preferably this weekend, if you’re not busy?” You hummed, trying to remember if you had some plans for the weekend.

“I have lunch plans with my parents this Saturday. We can do it after lunchtime if you’re okay with that,” you decided, turning to flash him a small, unsure smile which caused the man beside you to nod rapidly.

“Ah, okay, then.” Chanyeol unlocked his car and you both got in, eager to be finally sitting again after standing and walking around the hotel for so long. He calmly started the car and put on his seatbelt—you did too—and you couldn’t help but watch him from your peripheral vision, still not getting used to being in the same car with him. Just the two of you.

“So, uh, how are your parents?” Chanyeol asked, catching you off guard, once he finally started to drive.

“They’re both fine. Healthy, most importantly.” A surge of warmth flooded over you at the memory of your latest phone call with your parents—which was last week. Knowing that your parents were healthy and happy was the only thing you had ever wanted.

“Good, good,” he mumbled over his breath. “They’re still pestering you to give him grandchildren?” You frowned over his question, trying to remember if you had mentioned your parents or anything related to your family before, and once you did, you remembered it was really a while ago. A while ago as in about three months ago when you sat on the same table with him during a company dinner.

You remembered you were a bit tipsy that day—Junmyeon bought a good, expensive wine that you couldn’t pass up—and while you couldn’t remember much other than complaining to Junmyeon about the blind dates he made you go through, you clearly had talked about your family too.

(And their question about life partner—their words, not yours—and grandchildren might have slipped out of your mouth too.)

“Unfortunately, yes,” you breathed out with a chuckle. “Just the other day they asked me about a date I went to a while ago. I don’t know how they found about, or who told them about it, but gosh. It’s hard when you’re the only child in the house.”

“How were those dates, though? Anyone got you interested?” You couldn’t help but glance at him for a second, not believing that he just asked you that question.

“To be honest, none of them really left an impression to me, you know?” You leaned your head back on the headrest and let out a sigh.

“It must be frustrating,” he commented and you nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly.

“I mean, those guys were really nice… and really nice-looking, but none of them got to me. I couldn’t find a connection with them. And there are times where I got so annoyed because I wasted my time and energy and still couldn’t get what I want, but on the other hand, I kind of felt glad that I went because at least I managed to get a few friends out of it.”

Your mind drifted back to all those dinners you had gone to. Junmyeon and your roommate might have made you go to dinner with men of their pick, but none of them really stood out in your eyes. It might be cliche, but you didn’t find a connection with them. Some dates left you feeling annoyed for wasting your time and money on things that irritated you, but some dates left their marks in your phone, labeled as friends.

“What kind of guy you’d think you could find a connection with?” The question was unexpected and really, you had never really thought of an answer fitting to that question.

All this time, all you felt during those dates were either how you felt uncomfortable or how you decided things wouldn’t work out between you and whoever sat across the table. You also realized that although you had a tiny crush on Chanyeol, you had never thought of him whenever you had gone to those dates—probably because deep down you knew he would never be the one who sat across the table. You also never thought of what kind of man you’d find a connection with too.

“I don’t know. I never really thought about it, actually,” you ended up saying. “I guess I just want to be with someone who gets me, someone who makes me comfortable enough so I can be myself around him.”

It was quiet after you spoke. The words you just let out of your mouth spun around in your brain, mustering up endless scenarios of things you could do once you found this man—whoever he was.

“What about you? Have you ever gone to those kinda dates?” You asked, eager to shift the topic away from you.

“I tried, but stopped after a few times.” Glancing at him, you saw him flexing his grip on the steering wheel. “It’s just… Somehow it didn’t feel right. There’s this one girl who was really brave and bold and she kind of invited me for, uh, you know,” you didn’t need to be a genius to guess what he meant by that, “and I just knew there would be no dates whatsoever after that. I decided to wait and let fate works on its own.”

You shouldn’t be surprised, really, that of course, someone would invite him to stay the night and do something. Chanyeol was a clean-cut, good-looking man who never failed to show up looking nice to the office. It seemed like a habit, so of course, he would clean up real nice for dates and of course those women couldn’t resist asking him that.

“I mean, well… I know I have, uh, needs too, but it’s just— It didn’t feel right, you know?” You knew exactly what he meant, but too bad your moral compass was a bit more ed up than him. You didn’t exactly decline it when you got the offer to do it after the date. Sure, you had your own criteria too—it wasn’t like you said yes to everyone, you were smarter than that—but you clearly were lacking the self-control that Chanyeol had.

And you admired him for it. You wished you had better self-control than that.

“Yeah, I know exactly how you feel,” you spoke in a small voice. “Sometimes it’s hard, but yeah…” you trailed off.

The rest of the drive back to your apartment was quiet. Well, no, not really. The radio filled in the comfortable silence and sometimes you or Chanyeol would hum when a song you recognized came on the radio. Every now and then you would glance at the man next to you only to catch him flexing his hands over the steering wheel or smiling to himself as if he just thought of something. Your heart—the damn thing—was slightly out of control when you heard Chanyeol humming or catching him smiling to himself. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but your heart was really trying to make it into a big deal.

It felt nice, though. His humming was calming enough that you almost drifted off to sleep if your phone didn’t vibrate and ring loudly, interrupting the calm atmosphere in the car.

Chaeun’s picture was flashing across your phone screen and you let out a sigh, catching Chanyeol’s attention. You were contemplating whether you should answer the call or not—you weren’t in the mood to talk on the phone, especially with her—but Chanyeol gave you the push.

“Go on, answer your phone. It’s alright.” Flashing him a small, grateful smile, you swiped on the phone screen.

“Hello?”

“My dearest cousin-in-law, where are you? Why aren’t you home yet?” You held the urge to let out a sigh at her question, instead focused on what she just called you. Chaeun sounded way too perky to you that you hoped she could tone it down a little bit.

“Are you marrying Jongin? Oh my God.” When the words were out of your mouth, you could actually feel the goosebumps rising on your skin. The thought of having Chaeun as your family member officially kind of threw you out of the loop a little bit.

“Huh? No, I’m not. Or not yet. Whatever,” she sounded confused as if she just didn’t make you confused with her words before.

“You just called me cousin-in-law. What the , Eun?” From your peripheral vision, you could see Chanyeol turning his head a little bit to glance at you with furrowed eyebrows before putting his focus back on the road.

“Forget it, I was trying to be sweet.” You could hear her scoffing from the other line. “Where are you, though? Why aren’t you home yet?”

“I am on my way home, actually.”

“Oh, good, good,” she murmured. “Hey, could you buy me some pads? I’m running out of it and I think my period is coming tonight.”

You let out an audible sigh. “Just grab some from my drawer. I’ll buy it tomorrow, I’m planning to go grocery shopping anyway. Or just tell your boyfriend to buy it for you.”

“Jongin might freak out for a second, but I’m definitely gonna try that. Thank you, boo.” You hummed out a ‘no problem’ before hanging up the call. Letting out a sigh, you locked your phone and kept it in your grip as you turned your head to watch the road passing by. Gratitude washed over you because the traffic wasn’t really bad.

“Do you need to buy something from the convenience store? We can—”

“No, no, it’s alright. It’s all handled,” you cut him before he could finish his words. As much as you wanted to do your grocery shopping at this very moment, your desire to be back home as soon as you could rival out the opportunity of spending more time with Chanyeol.

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s just some pads, anyway,” you breathed out.

“Huh?”

“I said, it’s just some pads, anyway.” You turned your head to watch him, trying to gauge his expression. For a few seconds, he kept furrowing his eyebrows and jutted his lower lip out a little bit as if he was trying to solve a complicated problem.

It took him a moment before he realized what you meant. “Oh, right. Nevermind, then.” The way he blinked his eyes rapidly and fumbled in his seat was adorable you couldn’t fight off the smile to stretch across your face. If only it was still bright outside and the sun