Jaein's brain just stops and stares at the person in front of her, veins popping on his temple, neck turning red and sweat droplets shining on his forehead. In contrast with that angry man towering over her, spitting all over her bare face and complaining about his wrongly served tteok-bokki, she was lost in the train of thoughts about what should she eat for dinner. Probably bread. Again.

"ARE KIDS NOWADAYS DEAF OR JUST STUPID!? I asked for a LESS SPICY tteok-bokki, not EXTRA SPICY and this TASTE SO BAD! " the angry man stared deadly into Jaein's eyes.

She lowered her head with both of her hands locked beside her and bowed, looking like a little kid being scolded by their parents. The truth is, Jaein was too tired to even argue that she had put the right order. It's just that her uncle had insisted that the ahjusshi had changed his order and handed her the spicy one, so even before she got to recheck the order, her uncle shooed her to serve it. It seemed like he had a horrible day and just wanted to have a punching bag by scolding someone to find his relief. So after the ahjusshi complained, he snatched the plate away in seconds and stuffed the food in his mouth. Great. Now everyone is looking and her standing there awkwardly, she curses internally.

"Joesonghabnida, let me redo a non-spicy one for you now, ahjusshi. I deeply apologize for my mistake." Jaein faked an apologetic frown and bowed the last time before she ran back to the kitchen. Jaein secretly scanned her surroundings and noticed a few customers had left after the commotion. At the back of the restaurant sat a whole lot of other ahjummas and ahjusshi shaking their heads in disagreement. A strong wave of feeling wronged for something she didn't do hit her so hard that she dropped the ladle used to scoop the Tteok-bokki. Soon enough, Jaein's uncle who was now out serving at the tables gave her a glance of disapproval when he heard the loud clang that came from the kitchen. Jaein can do nothing but grit her teeth to keep scooping the tteok-bokki and add some soy sauce and sugar to the bland food in her hands for the next customer.

After settling the angry ahjusshi who still gave her a nasty stare as she politely placed a free plate dumpling on the table as an apology, tiredness slowly crept onto her and her shoulder slumped further down as she moved to the kitchen to prepare the next dish and another angry customer. Before her foot even touched the kitchen tiles, a series of clings and clangs caused by utensils falling on the aluminum table was heard from the outdoor tables.

"YOUNG MAN, who are you to leave the food uneaten?" her uncle's loud voice traveled into the kitchen. Here we go again, Jaein sighed loudly and rushed to where her uncle's voice came from.

"I paid what I've eaten, I don't see what's wrong with it ahjusshi." A brown-colored boy replied looking at her uncle in disbelief. 

"Not only are you wasting food and now you are giving me disrespectful stares? What a shame on kids nowadays!" Her uncle scoffed and scolded the poor brown-haired boy. The boy was tall, had chubby cheeks with a cute little button nose, and with that unmatching frown on his face. He looks innocent like a puppy but his sharp jawline doesn't cover the manly side profile but he is considered cute for Jaein. Yes, even in this situation, Jaein thinks the boy there looks cute.

"Ahjusshi, I did nothing wrong but just respected my tastebuds. Have you ever tasted your own tteok-bokki yourself?" the brown-haired boy replied matching her uncle's raised voice. Ouch, Uncle Park must have served the dish himself. Regardless, Jaein's mouth fell wide open when she heard what the boy commented. Jaein's uncle took it too personally, then shoved the savage boy out of the restaurant while raising his voice and roared "Unlucky bastard, GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!"

Uncle Park shooed the cute boy causing that boy to tripped over and fall into an ahjumma's arm. Not to mention, that erted ahjumma was ready to catch him in her arms. Somehow a laugh escaped Jaein's mouth looking at how the helpless boy flailed his arms frantically, trying to catch his balance. The cute boy finally managed to slip away the eager ahjumma and return Jaein's laugh with a deadly stare, so she quickly covered her hand over to stifle her laugh. Looking at how the boy stumbled out of the restaurant, she felt bad but the smile still plaster across her face. She quickly followed the boy with a takeaway fried mandu holding in her hands that was meant for another customer.

"Excuse me! Hey, Mr savage! Brown hair guy!" Jaein ran over to the boy who was walking way too fast with his slender long legs away from her uncle's restaurant. The boy stopped abruptly and turned around when he heard a girl's voice calling out. Without warning, Jaein was still straining and literally skipping with her 156cm height and short leg wasn't able to stop in time and slammed hard into the boy's chest.

"OWW!" they both moan painfully.

"I'm so so sorry! Are you okay? So sorry! " Jaein apologized over and over with bows and tilted her head to look at the boy with her big doe eyes.

The boy's gaze shifted from the top of the girl's head to a pair of gentle doe eyes, filled with concern, now focused on him. His hands were holding the girl's shoulder from both sides caused of a knee-jerk reaction to steady her. His heart was at his throat at the sudden closeness and realized that he had never expected to see someone so genuinely concerned about him. Not that he does not have people who cared about him, it's just that most of the girls that interacted with him always is looking for something in return such as falling in love with them instantly, which does not make any sense. But with such an innocent, purely full of concern look from any girl, it's a first for him.

The girl now standing in front of him was a shade darker than normal girls would look, which you can easily understand as working under the sun at times; there are eye bags hanging below her large doe eyes; baby hair flying and strings of hair being pulled out since her hair tie is slightly loose. Nothing about the girl in front of him is crazily stunning or attractive, with no makeup, and no eye-catching accessories but she looks simple but somewhat comfortable. Without waiting for him to come back to his senses, Jaein stepped back and bowed again. Unconsciously rubbing her neck while she initiated the conversation from this awkward situation.

"Erm.. sorry about just now" she pointed to the back of her uncle's restaurant. "Here's some mandu to make up for my uncle's word," she said with a frown and fiddled with the plastic bag then extended the bag towards the guy. "Hope you won't mind about it. He's quite grumpy sometimes" she smiles apologetically. The boy remained in place, his eyes wide with surprise as he gazed at Jaein. Jaein, standing awkwardly, extended her hand for a few seconds. The boy didn't respond, leaving Jaein to realize her uneasiness around boys had reached a new level. She decided to take the initiative by gently grasping the guy's hand and placing the plastic bag into his.

"Please take it as an apology." then she walked up closer to him tipped top and went closer to his ears. "You're not the only one who thinks the tteok-bokki tastes bad." Jaein stepped back and bowed again. "Please enjoy the food. Just to assure you, I made this mandu, hope it's good. I'll go back first." Jaein bowed again and jogged back to the restaurant without turning back. Leaving the guy standing there stunned.

"Hey, Beak! What's taking you so long? Why are you so red?" Chen's loud voice took him back to reality. He touched his ears automatically and only then Beakhyun realize, that his ear was burning hot.

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"Yo, what's with the dumplings? For us?" Chen's high-pitched voice hit Baekhyun's eardrum "Hello? Is her such a sight to see? Let me have a look!" Chen's octave higher voice once again snapped him out of his stare toward the girl jogging away from him. 

"Yah! Watch your mouth and keep your erted mouth to your girlfriend" Baekhyun shoves Chen lightly and turns away his gaze towards the petite girl. "Well, at least I have a girlfriend, to begin with. Stop flirting with every girl you see and find a girlfriend, Baek, not everyone is going to get charmed by your stupid lopsided smile" Chen rolled his eyes and followed behind.

"You nag more than my mom does Chen, where are the others?" Baekhyun stopped to wait for his friend to catch up and slung his arm over Chen's shoulder. 

"Usual place, the arcade," he answered and snatched the dumpling from Baekhyun's slung arm and started to eat it with no shame. He continued while munching the food, "I swear before I left, Yoel and Sehun were having a very intense hoops match and betting on who's going to buy 50 tokens for each of us." Beakhyun snickers and replies, "Any other way, we are benefiting from it right?"  Let's go before I miss out on the free 50 tokens. My hands are itching to break that Jeon Jung Kook's record" Baekhyun growled lowly when speaking of that unknown guy, who had continuously beaten his car racing rank to Number 2. His inner competitiveness ignited and promised himself to break the record with these 50 tokens and kick this guy away from his 1st place. With the goal set in mind, Baekhyun and Chen continued to chat casual things and headed to the arcade. 

Both of them entered the arcade and were immediately greeted by excited back-and-forth shouts, and shrieks like someone had won the lottery. They dive deeper into the arcade, occasionally bumping into people when the player bounces away from their station or seat when they win the game. Baekhyun was not a tad bit bothered by the noise, in fact, he loved the atmosphere, the exhilaration, the liveliness of the place where people can express themselves loud and clear. It doesn't matter win or lose, people around here don't hold back from being vocal when they play. Each player focuses on what they want to achieve in the round of games. As soon the game ends, people cheer if they win, and show their disappointment if they lose, then ask for a new round to hit their target, to achieve what they want to and earn to become the winner. Isn't that enough to explain how he loves the feeling of this? 

Baekhyun's playful cheeky smile slowly crept on his face and spread into a full grin, like he had been infected by the liveliness of the arcade. Both of them walked deeper into the arcade and found a crowd circling the Arcade Hoops Basketball section. Even with the crowd, it's hard to miss who's the center of attention, with Chanyeol's and Sehun's height. Upon reaching the outer circle of the crowd, a cheer erupted along with a deep voice roar of victory. Apparently, Chanyeol won.

"Hyun! You cheated! Let's go for another round!" Baby Sehun's whine can be clearly heard following the cheer. 

"Nuh-uh! I didn't even cross the line, I just simply talked to you, now buy us the tokens!" an evident tease can be heard in Chanyeol's voice as he widens his eyes and the corner of his lips curved upwards.

"Suho hyungggggggg! I'm broke, help meeee!" Baby Sehun strides towards Suho hyung who is standing just beside the machine. Suho's quick reflex was to turn away to escape from his dongsaeng but Sehun's long hand reached the poor hyung's shoulder before Suho even managed to walk his first step. 

"Why it's always me to clean the mess you made Sehun!?" Suha pinched his nose bridge and shut his eyes tights while taking a deep breath, probably trying his best not to smack the dongsaeng in front of him. 

Currently, the view in front of Baekhyun is a very proud Chanyeol, patting his chest and extending his hand to the crowd around them, like how an arm wrestler would do when they slammed their opponent on the floor; while Sehun had his palm rubbing together in front of a very pissed off Suho. Baekhyun dramatically pressed his temple with his middle and index fingers and shook his head in embarrassment.  Just when he is planning to get away from this bunch of kids, he catches Kai flirting even more stupidly with a girl in a strapless top. "Oh god, Why am I friends with this bunch of hooligans," Baekhyun said to himself and sighed internally.

Yes, exactly, these are his friends. Long story short, Baekhyun knew this bunch of guys through music. Oh. There's one more guy named Kyung Soo, who's gladly not in sight Baekhyun was seeing because he has a better brain. So, Baekhyun gladly met those boys through an SM entertainment audition. He was cast by the company 'by accident' but they were all still undergoing training. Since the company hasn't made an official announcement of thier debut, they will still be enrolling in a university nearest SM Entertainment. Surprisingly, an art university. So now, they are already in our 2nd year of university, Sunbae now, Baekhyun can proudly say. They somehow stuck together after they formed group eight, which were rumors from the internal staff to call them EXO. They have been together as real friends and trainers since they know each other. They are the closest bunch of humans Baekhyun has interacted with and he plans to have them with him for the rest of his life even though he just calls them hooligans, but deep down they are brothers to him.

Enough of flashback with the bunch of hooligans, Baekhyun trembled with laughter as he observed the scene, eventually bursting into loud laughter and joining in with a hearty roar.

Heyy lovelies, I've been dying to write a "young and before debut" exo fiction for a longgg time. So bare with me if you feel this story is old school as F, but I hope this brings back memories of us exo-L who were there when they just debuted with the funny hairstyles and dark eyeliner

I didn't wanna press on how EXO met, just assumed that THEY WERE MEANT TO MEET ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

But I hope I'm expressing enough to bring you guys deeper, it's so late now I'm so tired but I need to finish this chapter. I, myself don't even know where is this story going but I'll update soon! 

Hope you guys enjoy and feel free to leave comments to let me know how you feel about the chapter <3