You tried your best to not make things awkward for the rest of the day. Even though it was kind of hard not to. You desperately wanted to be like Chanyeol, how calm and collected he was and how content he was walking beside you as if it was something he had done in a long time. He even stayed as cool as a cucumber when he asked to buy you ice cream—c’mon, just let me do it!—and of course, you couldn’t deny his offer.

How could you, though, when he looked at you with his big, clear eyes that showed his emotions clearly and a slight pout across his face?

You just couldn’t.

So, you indulged him. You let him buy you ice cream as a token of his gratitude for helping him shop. You even let him try your ice cream and tried your hardest to calm your heart down when his eyes went so wide and his smile was so big after trying your ice cream as if it was the tastiest food he had eaten in his life. Even though your heart clenched, you still let him hold your hand for a little bit when he pulled you closer to him so you didn’t bump into other people. The aftermath of that was you became painfully aware of how there was so little space between his and your hand.

As time passed and the day bled into the night, Chanyeol’s smile was getting smaller but you didn’t miss how it still stayed across his face and lit up his entire being. It was as if he was feeding off the feelings he experienced the day and it gave him the power to get through the whole day. You kept the memory of the countless smiles he flashed you throughout the day in a drawer inside your brain that kept strictly for all things related to him. It was still unclear how the day might really end, so you did all the things you had to do just in case it ended badly and this became the last good memory of you two spending time together.

“So…” he trailed off, the car was already parked in the basement and he turned to face for the first time since you both left the mall.

“Let’s take a walk at the park out front,” you suggested with a small smile, masking the nervousness that you were afraid would slip out of your body and show on your face clearly.

“Okay.” Honestly, you didn’t think that it would be easy to get an ‘okay’ from him. A couple of questions and a raise of eyebrows were what you were expecting.

The silence as you made your way out of the apartment building was not as awkward as you thought it would be. Both of you still walked pretty close to each other and even smiled at the security guarding the front door.

“Do you wanna walk or just sit on the bench?” He considerately asked as you both walked through the entry of the apartment's park which only consisted of some weird looking bushes with flowers blooming from it as the welcome gate.

“Is it okay if we walk? It’s just, I’m tired of sitting.” Chanyeol easily agreed.

For a moment, both of you didn’t say anything as you walked side by side. The silence between you both was filled by the sound of the cars passing on the road nearby and sometimes you could hear the sounds Chanyeol’s shoes against the ground. You took that moment to collect your thoughts and bravery, to make sure that you’re really doing this whether his response would be good or not—you had overlooked this part, but at this point, you didn’t even care anymore. You’re really going to tell him whether it would make you happy (if the response was good) or make you hand over your resignation letter to Junmyeon next week.

“So, do you listen to the office gossip a lot?” You spoke before you could even think twice about it.

“Well, not really.” You had expected that. Of course, he wouldn’t have the time to listen to office gossip. He’s way busier than you expected before. “I don’t like hearing it. I just… I don’t like knowing that kind of thing. Is there something I should be aware of, though?”

You pondered a correct way to tell him about this. Where should you start, though? Should you start from the story about your silly crush since high school or about the office gossip? There was no clear indication of how he’s going to react to the news and it started to stress you out. You had half a mind to refrain from telling him about this, but you had already gotten this far. If you didn’t do it now, then when?

“People have been talking,” you started, pausing for a split second to swallow down the lump in your throat. “They’ve been… making some comments about how close we are these days.” There was an overwhelming urge to turn your face to take a good look at his expression, just so you could read the situation, but you couldn’t do it.

Chanyeol was still silent, so you took that as a cue to continue your words. “I don’t know how long they’ve been doing that, but… it’s inappropriate, the comments they’ve been making. Although it’s good, though, that you’ve been not hearing about—”

“Is that why you said you had lunch plans with Junmyeon yesterday? Is it because of the gossip?” His words did not only cut your own words but also stop you from walking. “I try to not pay attention to that kind of stuff, but I noticed it yesterday. Is this what you meant when you told me that people were watching?”

Braving yourself to turn and look at him, you took a deep breath. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pressed in a thin line. He looked impatient and in disbelief like he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of his mouth. Staring into his eyes, you still couldn’t find the right words to say. What would be better?

“Yes.” You decided to come clean to him. “It’s because of that and the things they’ve been saying lately. It’s really annoying because every time I was about to forget about them, you always showed up and it’s like you brought their words with you.”

You remembered that one time where it was particularly bad for you. Just like a scene straight out of a teen movie, it happened in the toilet. You were still inside one of the stalls, still getting ready to go out after finishing your business there when you heard them talk. At first, you thought it was about some other girl in another department, but when they mentioned Chanyeol’s name, you knew they were talking about you and their words were worse than the ones you heard at the pantry.

Waiting inside that stall was all you could do until those girls walked out of the toilet. You didn’t know how long it took, but every passing second felt painful to you and holding back your tears was a challenging thing to do as they kept on talking and blowing it out of proportion as if it was the truth. It certainly didn’t help when the first person that caught your eyes when you walked out of the damned toilet was Chanyeol’s face.

Never in a million years had you thought this would happen to you. You had actually thought that this was something that only happened in high school or even college. But even when you were in high school and college, it was a rather peaceful experience—expect the stressful final year—for you. You had never been in the center of the rumor mill and you had never even thought that this would happen to you.

Shutting your eyes and taking a deep breath, you tried to block that memory out of your mind. Once you opened your eyes again, you kept them on him as he stared at you with those eyes—those wide, clear eyes—and let the words sink in. It felt like things moved in slow motion. His hard