THEY stayed on the couch for what seemed like hours, making up on the years they should have been together had they not been afraid to ask questions and braved to explore the possibilities in their relationship.

 

They talked about how they kept their feelings before to each other. Chanyeol talked about writing the Spring song for Eunji and how Eunji missed Chanyeol every day when she left Gangwon. They also discussed the incident with Kyungsoo on the night when Chanyeol was sick. She laughed very hard on that story. 

 

Thankfully, Minseok had messaged Chanyeol that he won't be home for the night and Jinyoung was snoring loudly inside his room so they were able to spend hours cuddling as they waited for the snow to stop. Neither could feel the cold weather as they were both warm enough to comfort each other. It was almost midnight when Eunji felt finally sleepy.

 

"Yeolie, I think we should go to bed now." She murmured still lying on top of Chanyeol.

 

"I don't want to." The giant protested and tightened his hold on her waist, his legs entangling hers. "Can't we just stay here like this, jagi?" He asked dreamily, her hair.

 

"If Jinyoung finds us we're good as dead."

 

They both decided not to tell the kids and anyone else about the thing going on between them. They were too tired to explain how they ended up to this.

 

"Aish! That rascal!" Chanyeol kicked his leg and Eunji pushed herself from him. They finally got up but Chanyeol would not wish to let her go still. He grabbed her by the waist. "I'll walk you to your room, jagi."

 

"It's only a 10 footsteps walk, Yeolie."

 

"Please?" He whined and her heart melted for him right there. "Jagi, please?"

 

Eunji smiled. How funny that few hours back he was his Ji-ah and now he had been calling her jagi. "Fine." She finally said which made Chanyeol jumped a little like a kid he was.

 

He held her by the waist again to lift her high enough for her feet to step on his. "Wow, that's so creative." Eunji uttered as they began walking slowly.

 

"Hehehe," Chanyeol laughed holding her tightly. Eunji grinned and snuggled against his chest.

 

But with Chanyeol's long legs, they reached the room quickly.

 

Eunji jumped off him. "Thanks for the ride, Yeolie." They stood there for a moment. "Do you need anything else?"

 

Chanyeol looked at her then on his feet. "Never mind," He said quietly. "Good night, jagi."

 

Eunji smiled, "Good night, Yeolie." She said and closed the door. She felt very sleepy as she walked to the bed. She had just settled herself when Chanyeol came back with his pillows and blankets.

 

"Can I sleep here?" He asked excitedly after he closed the door behind him.

 

"What?" Eunji asked. "Like right here?"

 

He nodded. "Can I?" He asked again, settling himself on the bed.

 

"You're already here. Why bother to ask?"

 

Chanyeol stopped moving and stared at her sadly. "Jagi..."

 

"What?" She asked worriedly, he looked as if he was in pain. "Do you feel sick?"

 

"Have you changed your mind about me?" He asked suddenly.

 

Eunji blinked, and eyebrows started to form a crease. "Why would you think that way?"

 

"You have been calling me Yeolie and not "My baby..." You did not tell me I love you when I said good night. You did not even kiss me." He was rubbing his thumb while looking down as he recalled all of those little details from their night together.

 

Eunji laughed. "HAHAHAHA! Park Chanyeol, are you being serious?" She inquired in complete disbelief at his childish antics.

 

"Are we breaking up now?" His voice was dead serious and his eyes looked as though they were about to cry. Her hearted melted at the sight of him being an adorable gentle giant. The loud, confident, and annoying man she had known was nowhere near this big lovable squishy baby.

 

"Ohmygod. You need to stop being this adorable. I'm losing my mind." Eunji complained not believing herself that she was actually giving in to his boyish charms. She pulled his hand as she lay down the bed, dragging Chanyeol with her. "No break ups." She promised.

 

Chanyeol laughed as he fell on her side, careful not to crash her small frame beneath him on the process. "So?"

 

"You may kiss me now, Yeolie." She declared and anticipated for his pink plump lips to crash into her swollen one but the guy's smile vanished.

 

"Yeolie?" He repeated and pouted. "Aish. Forget it." He said turned his back against her.

 

Why is he so moody? Eunji asked tugging the sleeves of his shirt. "Hey,"

 

"Don't mind me." He mused, refusing to face Eunji again.

 

"Yeolie..." She called softly.

 

She saw how his body readied to reel back but stopped, "Let's just sleep." He said and sighed.

 

Eunji stretched her arms to wrap around his shoulders. "Are you going to sleep without even throwing me a glance, my baby?"

 

Chanyeol's tensed shoulder relaxed at the mention of her endearment. But he still won't face her. She leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Are you still mad, baby?"

 

No response.

 

"Baby?"

 

Still no response.

 

"Yeolie?" She called again and heard him snore lightly. The guy had apparently fallen asleep in her arms. "Awww. I love you too. " She kissed his forehead and hugged him tightly before dozing off.

 

---

 

The next day, Eunji woke up thinking it was all just a dream that she and Chanyeol cuddled all night until they fell asleep. It was easier to believe that it was a dream because when she woke up, she was all by herself again. There was no Chanyeol and his pillows nor his blanket.

 

She dragged herself outside groggily and noticed that the other tenants of the house were not up yet. Going to the common comfort room of the house, she washed her face and was shocked to find a hickey on her neck.

 

"OHMYGOD." She exclaimed unable to believe what her eyes were seeing. She dragged the neckline of his hoodie only to find two more hickeys planted at the crook of her neck and collarbone. "Holy . Holy ." She panted before hearing knocks on the door.

 

"ANYBODY IN THERE?" A man's voice asked which she recognized to be Jinyoung's.

 

She quickly fixed the hoodie, drawing the strings to hide her neck. She opened the door to find Jinyoung who looked like he just came straight from the bed. 

 

"Noona? Did you sleep here?" He asked eyes widening but not as surprised as he did when he saw her here the first time.

 

Eunji stepped out of the bathroom, "Yes, Jinyoung. I brought you home yesterday when you got drunk."

 

"You did?" He asked, eyes narrowing at his failed attempt to remember what really happened. "Did hyung leave me alone?"

 

"N-no, he helped me with you." Eunji defended. "You should thank him later. The snow fell hard last night so I just decided to stay."

 

"Oohh." Jinyoung uttered and eyed her momentarily. He shook his head and proceeded to go inside.

 

Meanwhile, Eunji turned her back and ran to the kitchen where she found Chanyeol cooking food. She felt her face warmed up at the sight of his back, his hair was messy from behind.

 

Was it true that she hugged the same back to sleep yesternight? She could not believe. She stood there for a moment and when he turned and caught the sight of her, his face brightened up and dropped what he was doing in front of the gas stove and went to where Eunji was.

 

"Jagi, you're up?" He said in a low voice, a big goofy smile plastered on his lips.

 

"Holy Moly." Eunji clasped with both hands. "Did we... I mean... Is this even..." She choked for the words to say. She could not even finish her sentence as Chanyeol stood close to her.

 

He sure was going to kiss her, his hand had managed to find its place on her waist if the bathroom door had not opened signalling the presence of Jinyoung. Chanyeol quickly jumped back to the gas stove and Eunji stood unmoving.

 

Jinyoung marched to where they were and eyed the two of them. Before he could ask anything Chanyeol offered him the hungover soup he made for him. Jinyoung grumpily sat on the table together with Chanyeol and Eunji.

 

"My head hurts a lot." He complained while stirring the soup with his spoon.

 

"Who told you to drink more than a glass?" Eunji asked him judgingly.

 

Jinyoung pouted feeling guilty for consuming alcohol more than his limit and slurped the soup Chanyeol prepared for him. "Thanks, hyung." He managed to say.

 

"Oh, it's fine Jinyoung-ie." Chanyeol uttered he looked uneasy on his seat.

 

Jinyoung felt the awkward tension between the two. "Woah. What's with this atmosphere?" He eyed them suspisciously.

 

"What?" Eunji asked, drawing the strings of her hoodie at the neck tighter. Praying Jinyoung would not see the marks Chanyeol gave her the other night.

 

Jinyoung's small eyes narrowed at them. "You guys are giving me this weird vibe. Did you two fight?"

 

"Who? Us?" Eunji asked. "What makes you think that way, Jinyoung-ie?"

 

He raised an eyebrow seemingly unconvinced, "You sure everything is okay?"

 

"Absolutely!"

 

"Of course!" They answered in unison and threw a glance at each other.

 

Jinyoung shrugged in dismissal. "If you say so..."

 

They ate quietly after that.

 

They did not talk much after breakfast because Jinyoung was already conscious. They managed to stay as casual as they could. Eunji mentioned about preparing things as she was planning to go home to Gangwon. 

 

But Chanyeol reminded her of the outing sponsored by Professor Kwon down south. The guys had agreed to come.

 

"You're coming with us, right?" Chanyeol asked as he walked Eunji to the bus station.

 

"Of course. My dongsaengs will be there."

 

"Your dongsaengs only?"

 

"And my baby..."

 

"Yah, Ji-ah!" Chanyeol protested in an angry tone. "Stop that."

 

"What?"

 

He placed both hands on his flushed cheeks. "Making my heart flutter..."

 

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Eunji laughed. Chanyeol smiled at her too. They waited for the bus to arrive.

 

"Hey, I'll be busy the whole day so please don't disturb me."

 

"So we'll not see each other even later?" Chanyeol asked with wide eyes.

 

"I won't finish any of my tasks if I have you with me within 5 meter radius, Yeolie. Let's just meet some other time."

 

"Aww. That ."

 

Eunji nodded. The approaching bus honked and she immediately prepared herself to board. "Bye, Cha—" Before she could even finish uttering his name, he had planted a quick smack on her lips.

 

"See you, jagi." He waved and waited for her to board. One more second she felt like just coming back to his room and cuddle with him the whole day. She managed to find a seat in the bus by the windows.

 

Eunji watched as he ran back to his place happily when the bus she was riding started to move.

 

---

 

True to what she told Chanyeol, Eunji spent her whole Monday at home packing her stuff to take home to Gangwon. 

 

It was already night time when she finished packing her things. She opened her phone and she immediately flooded by messages from Chanyeol.

 

11:30 AM

Yeol: Jagi, did you get home safely?

 

11:31 AM

Yeol: Oh sorry. I'm not supposed to disturb you.

 

13: 23 PM

Yeol: Did you eat lunch?

 

14:54 PM

Yeol: I just woke up.

 

15:47 PM

Yeol: I feel weird.

 

16: 02 PM

Yeol: Is this normal?

 

17:28 PM

Yeol: I miss you, jagi. 

 

Yeol:

 

19:52 PM

Eunji changed Yeol's nickname to Baby Giant 💕

Eunji: I miss you too, baby.

 

 

She proceeded in reading the exchanges in the group chat about how the night turned out for Sehun, Eunwoo and Jiyeon whom they left. And then there was one message from Jiyeon asking if she had gone home safely.

 

Oh crap. I totally forgot about Jiyeonie. Eunji thought, a guilty feeling shrouded her being. I should go and talk to her tomorrow. The night ended with her messaging Jiyeon to meet up the next day.

 

Tuesday | Yoksei University

 

Eunji and Jiyeon agreed to meet at the Student's Park near the schoolyard.

 

"Eunji-yaaaah!" Jiyeon sang happily as she caught the sight of Eunji sitting under one of the trees in the park.

 

"Jiyeon-ie!" She waved her hands and motioned Jiyeon to come close.

 

Jiyeon slumped beside Eunji. "Aaaah. I missed you, Eunji!" She squealed like a seal and side-hugged her. "What happened last Saturday? You did not reply my message." She pouted and rested her chin at Eunji's shoulder.

 

"Sorry, Jiyeon. I got busy."

 

"Busy?" Jiyeon repeated and detached herself from Eunji. "Why? What else did you do after taking Jinyoung home?" She inquired meaningfully.

 

Eunji paused and realized she could not tell Jiyeon what made her busy that night. She chewed her lip and contemplated what to tell her next. She opted to ignore her query and just get on with her purpose of meeting her.

 

"Jiyeon-ie... about your request to me last time." She started saying quietly.

 

Jiyeon nodded, "Yes?"

 

"The thing is..." She hesitated before meeting her gaze. "I can't help you with Chanyeol. I'm sorry."

 

"Oh," Jiyeon uttered, eyes blinking at her words.

 

"Well, I did the same thing for a friend in high school and somehow things did not turn out so well... I don't want that to happen to us, Jiyeon-ie. You are my friend and I don't want to lose you the same way I lost one few years back. So forgive me if I can't help you at pursuing him." Eunji sighed, feeling guilty at turning Jiyeon down.

 

"Is that so?" Jiyeon muttered in a low voice. "It's okay, Eunji." She proceeded saying cooly.

 

Eunji raised her gaze again to meet hers. "Really?"

 

Jiyeon nodded with a smile, "It's fine... I don't wanna lose you too for that shallow reason." she muttered. "I also thought about my feelings for him over the weekend and I realized that it was merely infatuation. I don't feel like pursuing him any further anyways." She sounded so indifferent this time as they talked about the guy.

 

Eunji could not what she was hearing. "Don't you like him anymore?"

 

"I don't deserve him." Jiyeon shook her head. "I deserve at least someone better..."

 

The glimmer in Jiyeon's eyes told Eunji that she had indeed gotten over Chanyeol and perhaps by the time of speaking, she had transferred her fascination to another human being. Eunji smiled knowing her friendship with Jiyeon was already out of danger.

 

Jiyeon leaned close. "So tell me, Eunji-yah..."

 

"Yes?"

 

"By any chance, is Sehun or Eunwoo single?" She asked curiously.

 

Eunji could only laugh.

 

----

 

After settling everything with Jiyeon, Eunji finally messaged Chanyeol for the meet up. They had not seen each other for more than 24 hours already and she had not heard his voice that long too so instead of messaging him, she opted to just give him a call.

 

He picked up after the fourth ring.

 

"Yeobo..." Eunji greeted with a pause, "..saeyo?"

 

"Jagi..." He whined on the other line, deep voice cracking. "Why did you just call now? I waited for like a day already..." He sounded so sleepy and lazy.

 

"Were you sleeping?" Eunji asked.

 

"Yes,"

 

"Oh, I thought we could meet today." Eunji said regretfully.

 

"Can't. My head hurts a lot. The nights I deprived myself with sleep were now asking me to payback." He complained.

 

"Oh, is that so?" Eunji asked. "Sleep well, Yeolie."

 

"Thank you, jagi."

 

"I would just probably find Kyungsoo and ask him to play." Eunji retorted.

 

"Where are you?" His lazy voice sounded alert in just an instant.

 

"At school."

 

"I'm coming." He muttered without hesitation and truth to his words, he really came to school to meet her.

 

Instead of hanging out in the cafe, the two decided to buy some things for their trip on Friday. They visited a convenience store down town. On the way, Eunji told Chanyeol of what transpired about her conversation with Jiyeon.

 

"She's had a quick change of heart." Eunji commented as they moseyed on the way to the store. "She was totally head over heels for you during the whole term and then earlier, she was like, No I don't like him that much anyway. Like, dude, how can someone waste that much time on you, right?"

 

Chanyeol scratched his cheek, "Aren't you supposed to ask yourself the same question, jagi?"

 

Eunji stopped and stared at him. "Right." She agreed. "What the actual am I talking about anyway?"

 

Chanyeol laughed and reached for her hand. "Hey, you're not wearing gloves?" His eyes widened in concern.

 

"I forgot to bring mine." She replied. Chanyeol removed one of his gloves and gave it for Eunji to wear. "Why only one?" She asked curiously as he fixed the thick fabric of the knitted glove over her wrist. "Can't you be more gentleman and give me both of your gloves?" She demanded feeling disappointed at Chanyeol's insensitivity.

 

The guy ignored her. Then he reached for her hand without gloves and held it with his own big warm hand. "If I do that, I can't do this jagi." He said before finally intertwining their fingers, locking the cold spaces between.

 

They held hands, not letting go, until they reached the grocery where they would be buying their stuff. Chanyeol was pushing the cart and Eunji was putting things inside it. Both were walking leisurely and still holding each other's hand, glancing lovingly at each other until...

 

"Noona?" A voice they both knew spoke behind them.

 

They both froze. Eunji without a word pushed Chanyeol away , like a towel she had just discarded after shower.

 

She turned and confirmed her theory of the voice's owner. "Sehunnie!!!" She cried. Behind his tall figure emerged Eunwoo. "Eunwoo-yah?"

 

"What are you guys doing here?" Eunwoo asked and his eyes darted to Chanyeol. "Hyung?"

 

Chanyeol who was thrown on the floor managed to get up and positioned himself back to the cart. "Hi guys. I'm helping her buy her stuff for the outing. How about you?"

 

"We're buying ours too." Sehun replied. "Can we join you?"

 

"No." Chanyeol snapped.

 

"Yes." Eunji said.

 

Their dongsaengs looked confused. Eunji quickly shot Chanyeol a glare which made him roll his eyes.

 

"Of course, you can always join us." Eunji muttered and just like that, their purchases landed on the cart that Chanyeol ended up pushing.

 

---

 

Saturday | Class Outing

 

Just as promised, Professor Kwon sent them a bus for their ride to his property in the outskirts of Sokcho City. 

 

Chanyeol had imagined to sit beside Eunji during the bus ride but their dongsaengs were quick enough to position themselves beside her which left him taking the seat by the aisle, two guys away from his jagiya.

 

Contrary to Dongryu's word that they were invited to his hanok, Professor Kwon actually owned what looked like a small village of hanoks. The whole place was owned by the Kwon family of course.

 

The residence was just at the foot of Mt. Seoraksan so they were practically surrounded by a huge flora making it a nice place to spend holidays. Eunji thought that if she were Professor Kwon, she would retire too because the place was just so nice.

 

They were welcomed by Professor himself and was toured around the property. They were taught by ladies of the house with the traditional way of preserving foods. Eunji had never seen as many jars as the Kwon Family owned in their yard. They were served fresh fruits and walked by the mountain trails as well.

 

The day ended with the small crowd of the Korean Lit Class student under Professor Kwon gathered around a bonfire with marshmallows, hotdogs, and drinks on their hands.

 

The crowd included Chanyeol and Eunji who had basically ignored each other the whole day as they tried to hide what was going on between them from Sehun, Eunwoo, and the rest of the group.

 

They were playing a game of spin the bottle to kill the night away.

 

"Spin it!" Screamed Dongryu who was in-charge of the night's affair.

 

Jisoo twisted the green bottle of soju. Everyone was paying attention to where its mouth would point into. Three spins and it stopped, pointing to the person who instantly became the center of attraction in the small group.

 

"It's Chanyeol!" Another student exclaimed and suddenly everyone was cheering for Chanyeol's name.

 

"Chanyeol! Chanyeol-aaah!" The tipsy Sehun cried. "Hyung, it's your turn. Truth or dare?"

 

Half of the group howled truth, the other half were claiming to see him do the dare.

 

Beside him, Jung Eunji drank the last of her beer bottle's content. She caught Sehun's eye flickering at her direction maliciously. She suddenly felt an irrational fear washed over her that whatever Chanyeol's choice may be, it would involve her.

 

She wanted to look at Chanyeol so bad to see what his answer would be. She sighed and fixed her gaze on the blazing fire and ignored the feeling that started to build around her stomach.

 

"Ugh. Dare." Chanyeol said.

 

Sehun leaned to Eunwoo who was sitting beside him. They shared a meaningful gaze and smile before announcing Chanyeol's dare.

 

"Fine," Sehun nodded, "Kiss her." He said while pointing towards Eunji's direction.

 

She wished to just have choked on the beer she was drinking but realized that the bottle was empty already. She resorted into staring back to Sehun or more like glaring at him.

 

Chanyeol dropped the idea quickly and laughed, "She's not playing."

 

"But she's here!" Eunwoo immediately protested. "Sunbae's here with us. She's a player too."

 

"Yes." Sehun seconded. "So?"

 

Everyone waited nervously. Everyone included Eunji.

 

"So I'm saying no." His voice sounded playful but the tone was firm. There was no way he would kiss Eunji in front of all these people. "Truth or I'm out."

 

"What a party-pooper..." Sehun kicked the sand beneath his feet. "Truth then," He breathed as if contemplating what question he would like to get a true answer for. "Do you like Eunji sunbae..."

 

"As a woman?" Eunwoo quickly added. One could almost hear the invisible high five the two shared by merely looking at each other.

 

"You guys." Chanyeol tried to ease the tension. For the first time he shifted his gaze to Eunji, who was already looking at him. They broke away from the staring game almost at the same time.

 

"The truth is," He started saying. "We are just..."

 

Everyone in their small crowd anticipated with the next word Chanyeol was going to say. Until Eunji herself could not hold it any longer. She cleared aloud that drew the attention of the group to her side, "He's mine." She announced putting halt at what Chanyeol was about to say.

 

"No." He opposed nonchalantly which had the jaws of their spectators to drop. Even Eunji found herself swallowing an invisible lump on when he denied. Chanyeol looked over her and held her gaze before saying, "I'm yours." He finished with a smile.

 

The small crowd squealed at his cheesy line.

 

"OHMYGOD. Are you guys drunk?" Sehun screamed. He looked like he was about to throw up and Eunwoo was also looking just the same.

 

"I'd like to make an announcement... " Chanyeol uttered while holding Eunji's hand. "From now on, the only woman for me is..." He held her gaze before spitting the line he had taken from a drama he recently watched. "Jung Eunji, my jagi."

 

"His what?" Dongryu asked.

 

"Jagi? Am I hearing things right?" Another one exclaimed.

 

"Is this a prank or something?" One curiously inquired, unconvinced of their revelation.

 

"No." Eunji answered. "This guy's my baby."

 

There was an awkward silence only to be broken by...

 

"I'm out!" Eunwoo announced. "I don't like cheese. I'm lactose intolerant." He said and started marching away from them. 

 

"I think I drank too much. I'll see you tomorrow guys." Sehun followed soon after.

 

And slowly, their classmates started leaving until they were the only ones left by the bonfire.

 

"Look at those guys. They kept on insisting for us to date and now they all looked so disgusted at the fact that we are..." Chanyeol complained.

 

"Let them be." Eunji laughed. "They'll get used to it." She said leaning closer to him. "Like how I got used to you..."

 

Chanyeol smiled happily, the dimple on his cheek showing. He carefully placed his long arm around Eunji's shoulder, pulling her close to his body for the warmth. They continued sitting by the fire. The silence that enveloped them was strangely comforting.

 

She had always known that she was not meant for beautiful things, but having Chanyeol by her side now she chose to believe that this would be the start of the best days of her life.

 

Eunji craned her neck to get a better view of Chanyeol's face. She found him looking at her with a smirk on his boyishly handsome face.

 

"What?"

 

He shook his head softly still smiling. " I love you, jagi. 

 

Eunji smiled shyly, a bit stunned with his sudden and random display of affection. She blinked for a few seconds, then mindlessly cupping his face with her hands and saying, "Love you more, my baby." before kissing him again. 

 

END

 

 

(A/N: And we're doneeeee! I'm glad to come back on AFF with Chanyeol and Eunji as my muses. Thank you to all who read this fic. I am immensely grateful for the time you spared in this story. The epilogue will be uploaded after I get done with SS8 in my country. Hahaha! <3)