Mei/Myung Soo’s POV

The next morning, I woke up with Lu Han lying on his side looking at me with a smile. Ever since yesterday, I’ve been more comfortable around Lu Han. To me, he’s finally real now, not a distant idol that a fan can only dream about.

“Still sleepy?” Lu Han asks gently.

“Nah, I’m good. Where’s Baekhyun and Chanyeol?” I ask looking around the room.

Lu Han points to the bathroom.

“Oh, I see. Showering again?” I ask, wondering how many showers they take. There was the one last night after swimming and now another?

“I think they might just be changing, fooling around with the mirror. You know how Baekhyun loves making faces for CFs.” Lu Han answers.

“Right.” I start to get up, but Lu Han gently pulls me back down.

“I waited for you to wake up so I could do this.” Lu Han leans closer and gently pecks my lips.

“You could’ve done that when I was asleep you know” I say blushing.

“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to see your pretty pink cheeks.” Lu Han says, making me blush even more.

Lu Han and I were still lying in bed facing each other when Chanyeol walks out of the bathroom.

“Not that close, eh?” Chanyeol say raising an eyebrow.  Lu Han and I both get ready for Chanyeol to ask more questions, but he doesn’t seem to realize yet.

“Relax you guys, Lu Han was the same exact way when he and Se Hun were a ‘thing’, the HunHan couple was HUGE. At first Lu Han, you tried to hide it but in the end it all worked out. Now that Se Hun has Min Young, you are free to be a couple with Myung Soo. It’s only natural. Should we start calling you SooHan? Chanyeol laughs.

“Did I just hear SooHan?” Baekhyun says poking his head out of the bathroom.

“Sure, sounds about right to me.” Lu Han says turning to me, trying not to laugh.

For a second there, I thought Chanyeol surely found out. It was obvious enough, wasn’t it?

…

At the breakfast table, the members are again discussing what the plans for the day are.

“Let’s just all go to the beach” D.O. suggests.

“Yeah, we can’t come to Jeju and not go to the beach, right?” Chen says.

“But it looks chilly today.” Se Hun says.

“Perfect day to dress in layers, so fans won’t recognize us” Kai states. He’s probably thinking about the fan attack yesterday.

“Kai’s right. If we are ever planning on going to the beach, this is the only kind of day we can go.” Xiu Min adds, backing up Kai’s statement.

“Does anyone oppose going to the beach?” Kris asks all of the members. Since everyone seems ok with it, we all agree on going to the beach today.

Everyone was going to their rooms to get ready. As I was walking up the stairs with Lu Han, Kai startles me by grabbing my arm and pulling me to the side.

“Has anyone else found out?” Kai whispers.

“I don’t think so.” I answer. “But I feel like Chanyeol and Baekhyun should know. One minute it’s like they’re on to me, and the next minute they’re oblivious.”

Kai laughs. “Baekhyun and Chanyeol love to mess around. They’re never serious about these things. So do you have a plan with how this ‘contest’ is going to work?” Kai asks.

“Well, I was just planning to wait and see who ends up finding out about me.” I answer.

“So we can play around with the members.” Kai grins. “The beach will be perfect.”

…

I’m not exactly sure what Kai has in mind, but I’m going to go along with it because Kai sure knows how to have fun. Now that I’m not trying to hide anymore, I have nothing to worry about.

All of the members are wearing sunglasses except for me. It wasn’t even sunny, but they sort of had to in case of fans. We all walked down to the beach that was pretty near the hotel we were staying at. When we got there, the members laid down their beach towels and sat down.

“So…what do we do now?” Lay asks.

“We can’t swim because it’s too cold, and that would ruin our disguises.” Xiu Min said.

“Let’s play a game.” Tao says. “How about beach volleyball?”

“Sure, that sounds fun” Lu Han says. The others agree so they start to split up into teams.

This time there’s as even number of people. Now we can do Exo-K vs. Exo-M. I’m on Exo-M’s side and Min Young is on Exo-K’s. The game starts and all I basically do is stand there awkwardly. I can’t really do much, since I don’t know how to play volleyball. I look over at Min Young and she’s not doing much either.

The game continues until there’s a break in which some of the members take a drink of water. I’m standing on the side, when Kai sneaks over to me.

“I got an idea” Kai whispers. “Pretend like you are going after the ball and then land on one of the Exo-M members. Make sure it’s anyone but Lu Han.”

“Wait, you mean like land on top of them?” I ask, wondering what that’ll do.

“You’ll see…well, I guess we’ll all see” Kai says.

When the break is over, the game continues. I’m still standing there acting like a spectator, when Kai purposefully hits a ball in between me and Lay. I guess this is my chance. Lay lunges for the ball, and I jump too, at the same time, in the same direction.  The next thing I know, I’m laying on top of Lay, apologizing. Before I can stand up, Lay helps me by gently pushing me by my chest. That’s right…my chest. At first he didn’t sense anything weird, but when he finally notices, he quickly removes his hands and looks away. His face had a mixture of confusion, shock, and fright. I would’ve fallen back on top of him, if Lu Han hadn’t grabbed me by my waist at just the right time.

Lu Han and I both wait for Lay’s response, but to our surprise, he doesn’t say anything. Lay avoids looking at me and quickly goes back to playing the game. But during the game, he seems to be out of it, not moving for the ball, not even paying attention most of the time.  For the rest of the game, his facial expression is blank. I see that Kai is watching Lay the whole time because Kai doesn’t know if his plan worked yet.

When the game is over, Lay quickly runs over to the ocean. All of the members watch dumfounded.

“Ya, what’s Lay doing?” Chen asks.

“He was acting weird during the game too.” Xiu Min adds.

We all watch as Lay starts slashing water on his face and patting his cheeks. Like he’s trying to snap out of a dream or something. I hear someone burst out laughing. It’s Kai. I feel a little sorry for Lay, but can’t suppress my own giggling. The rest of the members start to laugh too.

Lay starts to walk back to us, soaking wet.

“Ya, what was that?” Chanyeol asks.

“I…I…” Lay shakes his head. “I must be hallucinating.”

“What did you see?” Tao asks curiously.

“It’s not what I saw…it’s…” Lay trails off. Then he looks at me, which makes me jump a little. He stares at me for a long time then looks away. “It’s nothing…I’m fine.”

Kai nudges my side with his elbow.

“See how my plan played out?” Kai whispers in my ear.

“Hehe, yeah” I say, still wondering what Lay’s thinking. Does he know? Is he going to ask me, or tell the other members?  

…

Back at the hotel, the members are all getting cleaned up for dinner.  I’m walking down the hallway when Lay comes out of his room, alone. He jumps back when he sees me. I stand there, waiting for him to say something.

“Annyeong…Myung Soo…” Lay says bowing a little.

“Annyeong Lay” I say. Then I wait for him to say more. He’s quiet, so I starting walking away. Then…

“Myung Soo, wait.” Lay shouts. “Are you…a…uh…who I think you are?” Lay finally finishes.

“That depends. Who do you think I am?” I challenge turning around to smile at him.

“…M…M…Mei?” Lay asks, squinting and looking at me closely.

“Ding ding, correct!” I shout happily. Then I explain EVERYTHING. The whole time, Lay is listening intently. Trying to register every word. When I finish, Lay takes a deep breath.  

“And I thought I was experiencing the symptoms of a drug addict.” Lay laughs a little, relieved. “Well, it’s good to know I’m not going to be the last one to find out this secret of yours.”

“Do you know anyone else who might know, or are starting to get suspicious?” I take the opportunity to ask Lay about the other members that I don’t see as often.

“Well, Xiu Min didn’t know you that well before, so I don’t think he even thought you looked familiar. Tao doesn’t think about these things because he doesn’t pay attention unless it’s a cute girl. Not that you’re not cute, but you know what I mean. Tao’s brain was set in guy meet guy mode.” Lay scratches the back of his head. “But Chen did once mention you looking familiar. I told him to stop overthinking, so he stopped. But since he sings with you everyday, I don’t know what’s going on in his head during that time.” Lay explains.  

“Ok, so you haven’t told anyone yet?” I ask.

“No, I was unsure myself. I would’ve if it was confirmed, but now that you’re making it a contest. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Lay pretends to zip his mouth and throw away the key.

“Thanks Lay” I say, patting his shoulder. I turn to walk away.

“Wait!” Lay shouts. I turn back to him. “Uh…sorry about…you know…”

I raise my eyebrow, not knowing what he’s talking about.

“The beach incident…touching your…uh…yeah” Lay blushes. I finally understand, and blush too.

“Yeah, that’s ok” I say.