Lifting my heavy eyelids, I smiled at the sight I was met with through the window as sleep left with the hours of the night. The soft, dark blue of the sky was barely starting to be lit with the dawning sun. With a light sigh dancing on my breath, I sat up and pushed my hair back. Heaving myself from my bed, I lightly stepped from my room, and into Kris’. I quickly checked to make sure I didn’t disturb his roommate before sitting on the edge of Wu Fan’s bed. My eyes fell onto his peaceful features and I felt a small smile pull at the corners of my lips.

                -- “Penguin!” I yelled back over my shoulder, through my laughter. “Catch me if you can!” Sparing a moment to look back, I beamed at the man. He looked after me with a bewildered expression from where I had pushed him and he landed in the grass. Wu Fan shook his head before smirking and standing, brushing the dirt form his backside.

                “Alright, Cactus, you asked for it.” He called out and broke into a run after me. I let out a laughing scream and tried to run faster through the field. I was breathlessly laughing and sprinting as his arms wrapped around my waist and he easily lifted me. He spun me in his arms before setting me back down on my feet. I turned in his embrace to see his smirking face. “Got you.” He smugly announced and I rolled my eyes. With a smirk of my own, I roughly pushed his chest. He stumbled slightly and slipped back. My smirk disappeared as he pulled me with him. As we toppled to the ground, I clung to his chest. “Ah, are you okay, Ji?” He looked up at me through his wince. I immediately felt bad and placed my knees on either side of him to not lay on his figure.

                “I’m fine. Are you okay though?” Worriedly, I started checking him for any injuries. His hands quickly covered mine and he nodded. I’m great, especially since I got you now.” He smirked, took my face in his hands, and softly kissed me. Realizing what he was doing, I pulled back and slapped his chest. “What?” He innocently met my gaze and I shook my head.

                “ cheese ball.” I scoffed at him and he laughed, bringing my face back to his.

                “You love it though, admit it.” His lips gentl brushed against mine and I felt my breath hitch in my throat.

                “Yes. Yes, I do.” I replied with barely a whisper before lacing my fingers in his hair and kissing him back. --

                Feeling a sudden sting between my eyebrows, I flinched back. Looking around, I noticed Kris was groggily looking at me and his hand was raised. He flicked me.

                “Why are you just watching me like a creep?” I blinked a few times as I rubbed the tender spot and grumbled at him. Pushing him slightly, I lay down next to him and elbowed his side.

                “I was just about to wake you up, and then I got distracted.” I honestly admitted and shrugged.

                “You like staring at my godly face, don’t you?” He propped himself up on his elbow and teasingly smiled down at me. I rolled my eyes and tried to get up, but Kris stopped me with his hand next to my side near the edge of the bed. “Can’t we talk?”

                “For one, we might wake your roommate. For two, I’m grumpy right now because of the past couple of days. I don’t think we should talk about it right now.” He nodded and I averted my gaze. I started to sit up, but I was quickly knocked back against the bed and I felt something against my lips. I opened my eyes to find Wu Fan returning my wide-eyed gaze. He quickly scrambled back and held his hands up.

                “I’m sorry Jihyun. I slipped. I really didn’t mean to do that.” I blinked, looking up at the ceiling, and nodded before sitting up. “Jihyun?” I stood and quickly left the room, though dazed, and locked myself in my own room. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. My heartbeat pounded deafenly loud as I tried to calm it, but with no luck. Unknowingly, I had been tracing the outlines of my lips with my fingertips and slightly grinning.

                “Of course you didn’t mean to do that. That’s definitely not your style.” I chuckled lightly before quickly changing into a pair or long, black skinny jeans, my frilly blue lace tank top, a light grey cardigan, and a pair of light grey ballet flats. “You’re smoother than that, Cheese-Ball Penguin.” I commented slyly as I looked in the mirror to check my outfit, but couldn’t stop staring at my lips.

                Wu Fan and I paused in our walking and looked around. I smiled at how our day had begun. We decided to have a fun, sightseeing day. We had already hit up the Forbidden City Palace Museum for the greater part of the morning, eaten Jian Bing from a street vendor that was actually a man’s bicycle, got freaked out when looking at other street foods like the deep-friend scorpions, and had walked down to the Xicheng District for some shopping.

                “Kris?” The tall male looked down at me and I pointed to the shop we were next to. We had already been in and out of shops all afternoon already, but I was still super excited. “I looked it up online and apparently they have really good deals.”

                “Chungyou Department Store? Eh, why not?” We casually walked into the store, but immediately glued to each other’s side upon seeing the crowd. “Are you sure about this?” I gulped lightly, but took his hand and nodded.

                “I’m an American. I will not be daunted by the crowd when I went to Black Friday in Denver for at least ten years straight.” With a determined look in my eyes and an amused snort from Kris, we walked into the store and started browsing. Despite deal with crowds before, I began to feel claustrophobic and grumbled a lot.

                “There’s a little break in the people sea over there.” He pointed a couple meters away and I nodded before we made our way through the masses over to the somewhat less populated spot. When we stopped, I looked at where we had ended up, and my eyes widened. We were near the perfume and cologne area, but there was a small display of a new set of shoes they just got in. Ladies were emptying the supply for the prettier heels and ier boots, but my eyes stuck on something else. It was something simpler, and more youthful; a pair of feminine, pink, ballet flats.

                “Hey Cactus, do you want a cup of tea before going home?” Kris inquired as I inspected the pretty pair of shoes. Looking up, I smiled and nodded gently. “Is there anywhere you want to go?” I pondered the thought for a moment before lighting up.

                “Eunji was here a while ago, and she went to a nice tea house. Oh, what was it?” I closed my eyes in concentration before looking back up at Kris. “Ah! Yuan Chang Hou Tea House! Have you ever been there?” He shook his head and turned his attention somewhere else.

                “It’s just down the street though. We passed it coming in here.”

                “We did? Oh, I didn’t even see it.” My eyebrows rose as I shrugged and looked around again. We walked around for a few more minutes before I returned to the same pair of light pink ballet slippers with bows at the toes. I nodded and took a pair in my size and went to the cash register. She rang me up and before I could even have a chance to fish out my wallet, Kris handed over his card. “Hey! You shouldn’t buy things like this for me. Spend your money on something worthwhile.” I complained at him and he just smirked as the lady handed him his card back.

                “You are, Jihyun.” I blushed at his comment and looked to my feet.

                “You’re lucky to have such a sweet boyfriend, miss. Keep a tight hold on this cutie, yeah?” I looked up at the girl at the cash register, who must have been only a few years older than me, and bowed.

                “Come on, Jihyun.” Kris bowed at the girl, took the bag, and then took my hand, leading me out of the crowded store. We walked a few shops down before Kris tugged me into another place. I didn’t realize until we were inside that it was the tea house that Eunji told me about.

                “Wow. It’s so pretty in here.” I was amazed at the old, yet fresh feeling the house offered. My jaw hung slightly slack as we were escorted to a more secluded table.

                After ordering our tea, we talked lightly about Exo’s future, and I coached him a little in speak on more variety shows. He learned a little bit from me about how to include the other members; it was fundamentally like actors in a scene, you had to purposefully look at, gesture to, or mention another character. He told me some funny stories about the Exo members from before they debuted, and I let him in on a few of Teen Top’s stories.

                By the time we were done, we had sampled five different types of teas each and were roaring with laughter. I held my stomach as I tried to calm down and Kris wiped his eyes of the water droplets.

                “This is fun.” I smiled brightly at Kris who nodded gently, still lightly smiling.

                “Is there anywhere else you want to go?”

                “There’s one more place, but we’ll have to take a taxi there.” He shrugged and nodded and I bit my bottom lip again, trying to calm myself. He quickly paid for us and took my bags, leading me out to the street and we hailed the nearest taxi. As we got inside, I smiled evilly at Kris. “Please take us to Beihai Park.” The taxi driver nodded and started off.

                “You know, if you wanted water, I can just throw you in the shower.” Kris sarcastically shot at me and I glared at him playfully. Settling against the seat, I sighed, and looked away, blush tinting my cheeks as our fingertips brushed against each other on the seat between us. Neither of us took our hand away, but neither dared to move further either. Sooner than we knew it, the driver startled us as he announced that we were there. Before Kris could do anything, I paid the driver and opened the door with my bags in my hand.

                As we got out of the taxi, Kris took my hand and led me towards the railing between us and the lake. We sat our bags down and then sat next to each other. Silence fell over us and we kept it as the two of us watched the water flow lazily drift by. The sunset soon turned the sky a fiery orange and I smiled to myself.

                “Doesn’t this remind you of that summer?” I softly spoke up as I admired the various shades of orange, peach, and pale pink dancing on the clouds.

                “How long ago did you realize it was really me?” He looked over to me and I met his hard gaze. Sighing slightly, I bit my bottom lip to hold back a smile and I turned my gaze back to the water. I shrugged once before looking back.

                “Since you introduced yourself as the leader of Exo-M.”

                “Really?” He looked surprised and then he shook his head with a heavy breath.

                “Why? When did you know?”

                “Same day. I thought you didn’t know though.” I laughed and nodded at his answer. “But then, why did you yell it in the practice room yesterday if you were in the same boat I was?” I pursed my lips in thought for a moment, trying to come up with a story, but gave up and laid back on the ground, head resting on my arms.

                “Honestly, since our last plane ride together back here.” His brows furrowed as he processed what I was saying and I smiled. “Do you remember how you called me ‘Cactus’ when you thought I was asleep? Yeah, I wasn’t.” He blushed slightly and looked down at his hands as he laced his fingers together.

                “Why didn’t you say anything then?”

                “Well, we didn’t exactly end on the best of terms.” He laughed lightly and I shook my head. “I didn’t want to rush you. I knew you would mention it when you were ready.” Wu Fan looked back and I saw something rare in his eyes. Sadness.

                “I’m sorry Ji. I really am.” Sitting up, I shook my head, but he took my hands and stopped me. “You know, if it weren’t for Chanhee being a total ert, this would’ve gone a whole lot smoother.”

                “I know you; you had a whole event planned, didn’t you?” He shyly looked down and nodded. “What was it?”

                “Huh?”

                “Well, if you went to the trouble of planning something, only to have it ruined, the least I could do is listen to what you would’ve done.” He ran his thumbs across the back of my hands and nodded.

                “Actually, I was going to wait until we went to Los Angeles for the concert. After the concert, I was going to take just you to Café La Boheme.” My jaw dropped at the mention of the place and he laughed lightly.

                “That place is so nice though.” He smiled and nodded, though not meeting my gaze.

                “I had planned on giving you something, and I even had a speech planned.” Wu Fan let go of my hands and pulled an item attached to an antiqued chain. “Close your eyes.” I did as he commanded and didn’t open them until I felt a cold object settle against my skin, just above my s. Looking down, I felt my breath catch. A coppery-brass oval locket was delicately designed with sweet blossoms.  “Do you want to hear the speech? It explains this.” I nodded and he took in a deep breath as I gently traced the curves of my locket. He looked up into my eyes and took my free hand in both of his. “Four years ago, you and your best friend, Eunji, took a vacation up to Canada for the summer.” He closed his eyes, obviously getting nervous, and I smiled as he started narrating our story. “You had a fling, affair, or whatever you want to call it, with a guy who lived up there. You called him a penguin for living in the cold, and he ended up referring to you as ‘Cactus’ because you came from heat. Those two months you spent up there with him were some of the happiest and most memorable moments in his life. At the end of summer, you spent one last night with together, and you accidentally left this on his bed after trying on the silver, heart necklace he gave you. After you left, he promised he would visit you to return it, and to see you, if only for one more time, but with how you two broke it off, he couldn’t bear seeing you again; he’s regretted not seeing you again since the day he left Canada to work to become an idol.” He paused, words catching on his breath. “Honestly, Jihyun, after everything I said to you, I expected that you would remove all thoughts about me. I didn’t expect I would ever see you again, let alone live in the same dorm as you; but I really didn’t expect for it to be this hard. Knowing every day that, if you remembered, you would likely hate everything about me was torture. If you decide to leave us after this, I would understand. You are a cactus; tough on the outside but sweet and soft underneath your armor. I swore, as your Guardian Penguin, to protect you and love you no matter what happened. That was the one promise to you that I broke.” Pausing once more, he lifted his gaze to mine, biting his bottom lip gently. “That’s what I prepared to say to you. And one more thing; I love you.” He leaned forward boldly and pressed his lips against mine. I sat, shocked and speechless, as he pulled away slightly and gently smiled at me. “And, I’m sorry.” He sat back up straight and I blinked a couple of times.

                “You know that’s a real half- apology right?” I shook my head out of my daze and smirked at him as I spoke. He looked down, embarrassed and I wrapped my arms around him. “You cheeseball.” His arms secured around me and I felt him relax against my touch.

                “You know you love it.” I could hear his voice shake and I snuggled closer, burying my face in his neck and taking in the familiar feeling.

                “Yes. Yes, I do.”

---

A/N:

Don’t worry guys! This doesn’t mean Chunji is out of the story. Not by a long shot. We’ve got a bit of a ways to go still. I hope you can handle it and will keep reading.

Thank you guys so much for everything you’ve given me: your suggestions, you love, your encouragement and your well wishes.

I love every one of you so so much!

You are so amazing!

Love always,

~Lynn