I open my eyes after an abstract dream, and look at the hotel room’s ceiling. Sunray seeps through the curtain and makes a triangle on the wall, and somehow a memory shoots into my head.

          I cover my face with my hand, and let out a muffled scream. I was only able to sleep at like 2 AM after ‘that’ happened. But I think that was just a dream. Right?

          Was it?

          I glance at my phone on the table, and carefully turn it on. Out of all messages, the newest one is from Sehun, timed an hour ago.

Nana, I’m sorry about yesterday.

I’m sorry if I startled you.

          “Say it to my face!” I groan, and throw myself to the bed again. There are more messages…

Can I see you today?

I’ll be waiting outside the hotel at 9.30 AM

          I look at the clock. It’s 2 hours from now. He asked, but decided on the time himself… Huh. I rub my eyes, and pour myself a glass of water. After drinking, I press my lips together and stop halfway. I’m reminded again.

          I end up making weird sounds to myself as I get ready, and I don’t even want to see the front part of the room because I know what happened last night would just play again and again in my head if I do.

          I blanked out during breakfast, but as the time is nearing, I grow nervous. How am I going to face him? What am I going to say? What is he going to say? We’re not going to talk about last night, right?

          I’m walking through the lobby with pounding heart, and keep my eyes alert through the glass window. It’s 9.30 sharp, he should be here already…

          I spot him near the sidewalk, but my focus is immediately shifted by something next to him. “Oh my God!”

          Sehun is bringing his bichon frise puppy—not a puppy, actually, from afar it looks tiny next to Sehun but as I come closer I realize it’s almost half my body size. The fluffy white fur covers its whole body, and it basically looks like a huge ball of cloud.

          “Oh my God…” I squat right away when I reach them. “Is this the puppy you had in your profile photo? Why is it so big?”

          “Ey, it was months ago, it was taken even before we went to the village.” Sehun says, looking pleased that I’m happy to see his pet.

          “Aigoo, oh my… What’s its name?” I ask as I caress the big puppy.

          “Vivi.”

          “Oh, is it a girl?”

          “It’s a boy actually.”

          “Huh?” I look confused. Sehun laughs, and squats as well.

          “This is Oh Vivi.” Sehun introduces him to me by showing off his ‘hand!’ trick, and I beam widely.

          “Oh my God, he’s so cute. And friendly.” I add after Vivi tries to stand up and climb me. I decide to carry him and stand up. Sehun adjusts the leash, and we walk to sit on the nearest bench. Vivi is very energetic, but he doesn’t go away from my lap. “He keeps showing me his cuteness, what am I going to do?”

          Sehun laughs, and pets Vivi’s head. “He’s good to strangers, but it’s rare that he quickly sticks to someone like this. Are you a glue?”

          I hug Vivi, and cups his head. “The sky’s been empty these days, apparently the cloud is all here.”

          I hear Sehun sighing, and I turn my head to him. “No, nothing.” he says before I could speak.

          “You’re so cute, cute, cute.” I keep cooing to Vivi, and Sehun looks at us in silence. I glance at him, and notice his solemn face. “What?” I ask.

          “Nothing. Just keep going.”

          My eyes divert to his lips for some reason, and I look away. I grit my teeth, and stand up after carefully let Vivi down. “Shall we go for a walk?”

          I can’t keep my eyes off of Vivi as we go around the block, and I can feel Sehun looking at me. “I shouldn’t have brought Vivi.”

          “What do you mean!” I respond in an instant.

          “I want you to focus on me.”

          We lock eyes, and I swallow. “If that’s what you want, you did make a mistake today.”

          Sehun smirks. “I’ll send Vivi home now.”

          “Nooo!” I protest, and we laugh afterwards.

          We stop by a quiet coffee shop, and Vivi is sleeping peacefully on my lap. “It’s warm inside, he must be feeling comfortable.” Sehun says. He goes to the counter to take our orders, and I laugh slowly at our cups.

          “Again, we, non-coffee drinkers, went to a coffee shop.” I comment. Sehun scoffs, and puts my cup closer to me so I could reach it easily.

          “How do you feel?” Sehun suddenly asks.

          “Fantastic. Thank you for bringing Vivi. I didn’t know you remember.” I stare lovingly at Vivi’s sleeping face. “Isn’t he so pretty?”

          “Indeed.” Sehun nods. “He’s our bundle of joy.”

          After some time, Sehun stands up. “He’s heavy. Let me move him to me.”

          “No, no, it’s okay.”

          Sehun still moves to my side anyway and caresses Vivi’s back once. His hand brushed against mine, and I slowly let it down. Sehun takes it back, and I grit my teeth. This is it—his warmth. He examines my hand, and furrows his brows. “What is this?”

          There are a few paper cuts, which are not unusual for me. “Oh… You know, recently I use paper a lot so… Sometimes it happens. Especially when I’m studying for the presentation like yesterday.”

          “You’re always doing something in a rush, you should calm down.”

          “I can’t help it, I was super nervous!” I try to keep voice down so Vivi won’t wake up.

          “Apply some ointment… They’ll leave some scars.”

          “Okay, okay. Will do.”

          Sehun holds my hand tighter, and I clear my throat. “You also should apply some lotion, your hands are—dry.”

          He laughs a little instead. “Do you remember when we visited the kindergarten that time?”

          “Huh? Why?”

          “We were supposed to hold hands but I didn’t. I wasn’t confident with my rough hands.”

          I’m looking at our hands, and recalling that time. We were playing games and needed to hold each other’s hands but he was only giving his pinky finger, so I just held it with my thumb and index finger. Reminiscing it makes me smile and I shake my head.

          “I thought you didn’t like me or something.”

          “No.” Sehun replies. “Sometimes I scold myself for acting weird around you. I guess that’s what someone does near the person they like.”

          My face gets hot. Oh no. I can feel it reddening. It can’t look too obvious—

          Vivi squirms, and we move our hands away. Thankfully he doesn’t wake up and continue sleeping. Sehun and I look at each other, and we giggle together.

          I’m staring at Vivi again, touching his ears. Sehun slowly grabs my hand, and I turn to see him.

          “Stop looking at him. Look at me too.”

          My mouth parts a bit seeing his tilted head and I chuckle. Is he trying to outdo Vivi’s cuteness right now? I squeeze his hand, and nod.

          “Alright. I’m looking at you.”

*

          Sehun and I started dating, and for others it’s just the usual ‘groupmates-turn-lovers-after-community-service’ case. The news reached Yumi and Jinho eventually, and they freaked out.

          “Isn’t this what you guys want?” I say flatly at their excited faces when we hang out again as four nearing Christmas.

          “This is really a double date.” Yumi jumps on her seat. “I can’t believe it’s happening!”

          “She’s still busy with her researches, I think she’s dating her papers, not me.” Sehun says.

          “Bear with it! The competition brought me so many great opportunities.” I smack his arm.

          “Aigoo.” Jinho shakes his head. “You guys finally became a couple but the fights still carry on.”

          Sehun shrugs. “Maybe that’s what the others see. What’s important is what we do in private.”

          “HEY!” I screech, and Yumi looks scandalized. Jinho raises his eyebrows, and Sehun just forms a little smile on his face.

          “Anyway, what about our plan to go to the village again? I really want to go, it needs to go through.”

          “I can’t wait to revisit the places! It’d bring back memories.” Yumi says happily.

          “Yeah, can’t wait to reminisce at every single place I’ve fought with Nana that time.” Sehun chirps in. Yumi and Jinho laughs, and I shoot him a sharp stare but laugh afterwards.

          It’s okay, I’d fight him anytime.