The second, third and fourth date flew by like passing seasons and it gradually grew more natural between the two of us. We had visited the zoo, took a painting class, went to an amusement park and even grabbed dinner after each date no matter how late it was and at this point, I slowly started feeling the gears starting to change between us.

I took into consideration that we saw each other at least four times a week including our date and not much to my surprise, I wasn't the only one who had noticed the change because the rest of the group recognized the bickering picked up into almost frenemy flirting. A little over a month of constantly seeing one another in another light, we were growing quite close in such a short period despite the two years that we kept each other at an arm's distance. 

It wasn't like we hung out alone besides our dates but when we were with the group, it became second hand to bicker about what to eat for the night, though I always won. Not to mention the little actions like Niki always tending to me first when eating or handing out drinks and boy did I enjoy seeing Yuna strain herself from saying anything. 

It was extremely rewarding to see her eye twitch each time he would burst out a laugh when I said something sassy or when she tried to hop into our conversations that led her nowhere. Going on dates with Niki seemed to annoy her as time passed by but unconsciously, I think I began enjoying time with him alone as well because now I didn’t feel indifferent when we were alone, his presence alone was enough to make me fall into a endless rabbit hole of emotions

After a normal week passed by, Saturday rolled around the corner and it came to my attention that tonight was our half point mark of the dates completed so instead of going out like usual, I had invited him over for a spa and wine night at my place but with the rain pouring down, I was second guessing if we should literally take a rain check. 

The weather seemed as if it was about to cause a power outage and before I could call him to let him know the change of plans, he was already knocking at my door impatiently so I run over and let him in

"I was just about to call you to reschedule" I say, taking his dripping umbrella and placing it in the corner of my entrance but he shrugs, taking off his jacket and hanging it up casually 

"It's fine, the rain should stop by the time I leave" Walking into my living room, he throws himself on the couch as if he owned the place and I just chuckle, showing him the array of wines I had carefully handpicked 

"Which one do you like the best?" He asks knowing that I was usually a meticulous person who did things with careful thinking 
 

I think for a millisecond before tapping on the lid of a white wine bottle "This one. It’s sweet and still gets you pretty tipsy" Smiling bashfully, I pop the lid with a corkscrew and pour half a glass for him which he takes gracefully. 

"So what do you think?" I question, taking my own sip of the drink and he hums after smacking his lips to assess the wine "It's pretty good, I'm glad I trusted your judgment" Taking another sip, he places the glass down to grab a cracker and cheese that I had set up on the coffee table 

"I also have a few face masks that I think you'll like" With a evil look, I pull out the different animal printed face masks and he gives me a defeated look "Do I-" 

"Yes. You didn't come here for nothing did you?" I retorted but quickly changed my tactic in case he would try to resist even more "Please?" With a raise in my tone and juting of my bottom lip, he stares at my face and sighs 

"Fine, fine. They all look ridiculous so pick any one you'd like" I clap gleefully as I immediately pick the tiger for him since it matched his personality oh too well. 

As if he read my mind, he asks me to hand over a headband and I give him my bright yellow bow that will keep all his hair away from his face

Ripping open the package and taking out the mask, he slightly leans his head back, watching my face from up close but I don't pay attention to his stare and delicately line up the mask to his face, smoothing out the creases and giggling while I'm at it. When my fingers brush over his plump lips however, I unknowingly flicker my eyes to meet his own which causes me to recoil 

"Okay it's your turn to pick one for me" At this, he doesn't react for a split second and then sits up to look at the options. In the end he chose the pink pig mask for me and with his long fingers, he placed the mask on me gently as I closed my eyes to avoid getting awkward once again 

"Done" He softly tells me and I open my eyes to laugh harshly at his tiger face, not used to the hilarious sight 

"Picture time~" As if singing a song, I fish out my phone and he leans in close to me as we pose according to our animal. I scrunch up my nose to create the illusion of snorting and he opens his mouth wide to rawr 

"Never share that." He demands but it's too late because I immediately sent it to our group chat which garnered a lot of comments from the others such as

'No invite?'

'I'm coming over'

'Unfair treatment'

We both laughed at their remarks but I eventually put my phone away once Niki and I got our conversation rolling

"I never told you this but I like your place" He says looking around and I realize that he never got an official look at the whole apartment before. I'm sure that he is familiar with the kitchen, bathroom and living room but it was still rude of me to never show him around 

"Come on I'll give you a tour" I stand up and he chuckles at my sudden offer but still follows behind me. My apartment was quite big for just me and even Niki was surprised to see that I had an empty guest room filled with small decorations compared to my own bedroom that had random items everywhere

"Are these your parents?" He asks, picking up a picture frame from my nightstand and I peek around him to see the photo of me as a child and two adults at the beach "No that's my aunt and uncle, they took care of me as a kid" 

"Why's that?" His questions digging deeper and I simply respond to him by saying "I never found out who my dad was and I had an absent mother who gave me away without a second thought" As if it was the normalest thing to say, Niki just turned to me apologetically 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"Don't be sorry” I shake my head assuringly  “Sure I'm probably scarred for life but it has been my drive for wanting to live on my own terms" I take a seat on my bed as he investigates more intimately in my room.

After all, a bedroom holds a person's true colors.

"Any siblings?" Niki asks, still scanning various childhood pictures but I shake my head even though he isn't looking directly at me "No, not that I know of at least. My mom was always busy chasing after men rather than taking care of me so I wouldn't be surprised if she got knocked up along the way" Suddenly, I am too comfortable with telling my backstory that I barely take notice of how disturbing my explanation really was so Niki just sadly pouts

"Thanks for telling me... I always thought you were just a spoiled girl who was too cocky for her own good" He says honestly and I appreciate his willingness to admit that but I shrug "I'm probably too cocky for my own good but I was never spoiled" 

He can only lightly chuckle at my honesty before quickly moving onto another subject "Wow this is a nice camera" Picking up the vintage polaroid camera on the shelf, he turns to me and I smile "Thanks, we can take a photo if you want. I'm sure I have some films left inside" I stand up and make my way over to him and check the number on the camera that shows me I have two films left  

"Sure but can we take these off first?" Niki motions to the masks and I giggle, nodding in the process. We quickly get rid of the masks in the bathroom but only after poking fun at one another about how stupid the other looks

When I take off the mask, I look at myself in the mirror as Niki stares at me through the reflection but I don't tense under his gaze "Wow that felt like Fiona from Shrek when she turns back into a princess" He laughs at the confident statement and takes his off as well 

"Glad to know you aren't lacking in the self-esteem department" Throwing a half hearted compliment my way, I click my tongue and place a hand on my hip "When you look like me and have my brain, you're always secure" I purposely tell him with an attitude but he just rolls his eyes with a smile on his face. 

Going back to the living room with my camera in hand, we sit on the couch once again and I point the lens towards the both of us but it only takes me half a second to figure out how I want to proceed so that he would understand what my intentions of having these dates were again. 

While he was focussed on giving his million dollar smile, ready for the capture, I didn't hesitate to turn my head and give an everlasting peck on his left cheek. It was a long enough pose for the shutter button to go off with my steady hands that ended up shaking after the photo processed through and popped out from the bottom 

Niki looked at me with a mix of confusion, surprise and was even slightly blushing 

"Sorry, I thought it would be cute but if you're unco-" 

"It's fine" He looks away while biting his lip which I'm not sure is because he's angry or suppressing a smile but when he turns back around and states "Let's do another one but the opposite way now... It's only fair"

I know that he liked it. 

Clearing his throat we get ready to pose another time and I am cheesing so hard that I swear my cheekbones touched the ceiling. I wasn't ready for the feeling of his soft lips coming in contact with my cheek so it took me a few seconds to get my stupid thoughts together and click the button. 

Again, the photo came out and he finally pulled away as I placed the photo face down on the table just waiting for them to develop. 

We both stayed silent, not knowing what to say after what felt like too big of a step for the both of us. 

"Should we watch a mo-" My question interrupted by the sound of banging on my door which causes Niki and I to look at each other confused "Are you expecting anyone else?" His tone is serious and the past events totally flying by but I shake my head knowing that I definitely did not allow anyone to come over, especially on our designated date night. 

Instead of asking who it might be, Niki stands up protectively and I follow behind so that he could open the door if it ended up to be someone with bad intentions but before we could look through the peephole, a familiar voice shouts 

"Let us in es!" Jay's voice immediately recognizable and Niki hesitates opening the door but still does and in comes our friends, and Yuna, barging in uninvited and making themselves at home right away 

"Wow I'm so happy you guys are here" I say sarcastically as each of them smile at me innocently while taking off their shoes to pass both of us as if they really did get permission to ruin our date 

"We wanted to hang out, you guys only have Saturdays for dates. You do know that we have nothing to do on the weekends right?" Sunghoon lectures us but Niki and I can only share a look of disbelief that they had the audacity 

"Oh what are these?" I faintly hear someone ask from the living room as Niki closes the front door and my eyes grow big at what they were talking about but right when I yell "Don't look at those!" Jake's loud voice is already shrieking at the top of his lungs when I sprint over a second too late 

"OH MY GOD. YOU SON OF A "

He stares at the photos speechless as I try to snatch the photos away but he quickly passes them around and each time a new person is handed the photos, they all gasp in shock. Even Ryujin looks back and forth between me and the photos as Niki finally stands behind me knowing it was out of our control 

"It was... We- No I-" Attempting to come up with an excuse, I get stuck and stumble over my words helplessly and whine towards Niki to help me but he shrugs "Are they cute?" 

Instead of being concerned about Yuna who also gets to see the photos and has an evident pain in her eyes, she nods 

"Yeah they're really cute" Her words are too honest for my own liking and I almost, almost, feel bad.

"Now that I see you two standing next to one another, you guys actually make a good looking couple" Jay bluntly says with no regard for Yuna’s presence. 

I truly appreciate you Jay. 

When the photos make full circle back to us, I blush and see how great they turned out. It was better than I had envisioned and Niki snatches the polaroid of me kissing his cheek, leaving me with the other "I'm going to keep this one" I chuckle and shake my head 

"Fine but make it your lock screen if that's the case"

Not caring that there are others around us, Niki boldly takes out his phone "That's an easy challenge" He snorts and turns towards me, taking a big step back and extending out the photo at an arm's length with a little space for me to fit in the background 

I automatically pose while he takes the picture and pout when he puts his arm down to set his lock screen "Let me see" I demand with a whine and he allows me to look at it. I look great even though I wasn't prepared and when he is done, he looks at me with a 'what are you waiting for' expression but when I don't get the clue he has to tell me 

"And to think you were smart," He rolls his eyes dramatically "Your turn" I slightly jump in my place with an 'oh' and copy the same exact thing as he did and when he is content with the outcome, we finally turn back to the group who is watching in confusion 

"What?" We both respond simultaneously 

---------------------------------

"Hey, are you coming out tonight?” Jake nonchalantly asks over the phone as the sound of shuffling can be heard “Heeseung said that he would drive the big car so we could all get wasted" At the proposal, I simply hum in thought, trying to think about my plans for tomorrow and when I figure that another night out wouldn't hurt me, I agree easily. 

A few hours later when the sun goes down and party people start to wake up, I finally begin to rummage through my closet and slip on the tightest shirt I owned with a pair of blue ripped jean shorts. 

Having no intentions of making it home tonight, I packed a small duffel bag filled with my things and threw it over my shoulder before proceeding to the boy’s house 

When reaching the said place that was all too familiar, I don’t bother knocking and simply swing open the unlocked front door to announce “I’m here!” 

Short seconds pass and as expected, I am immediately greeted but not as normally as I would have hoped. Instead the first person to acknowledge me was from the one and only “gentleman” of the group

Jay lets out a low whistle as he takes his time staring at me "You sure Niki