Sehun comes in with Suho and Kyungsoo the next Wednesday evening.

“Hi, Song Isa-sshi!” Suho had waved eagerly at her. “Hello!” She replies with the same amount of eagerness and comes over to their table to take their order.

“Hyung, you know her?”

“I told you just now! I came here last Monday with Emo Bacteria. Hi Song Isa-sshi. This is Sehun. And this is Kyungsoo.”

“No kidding!” Isa laughs.

“Hyung, we know each other. I’m a regular here. Right, nuna?”

Isa nods. “In fact, you’ve never properly introduced YOURSELF to me.” Isa says to Suho. “A-cha! I’m Junmyeon.” They shake hands.

“Nice to meet you, Junmyeon-sshi, Kyungsoo-sshi. What should I give you today?”

After Isa had left their table, Kyungsoo leans in. “So, Sehun, she’s the girl you keep telling us about?”

“WHAAAT? You have a crush on her or something?” Suho’s eyebrows disappear into his hair.

“No, hyung, don’t worry.” Sehun laughs. “She’s always really nice to me, Luhan and Tao everytime we come here. Like a sister. Remember the time Kai hyung dared me to take off my shirt in public? It was when her co-worker had spilled something on the floor. I took off my shirt to wipe it off because how weird would it be if I just take off my shirt without a reason?”

“Isn’t it weirder to take your shirt off to wipe the floor with?” Kyungsoo intervenes.

“Yeah, but I looked really cool, straight out of a soda CF. Anyway, she’d let me use the staff’s bathroom to take a shower and even lent me some clothes.”

Suho bursts out laughing. “She mentioned you! She said a customer took off his shirt just to wipe bubble tea off the floor!”

Sehun looks proud. “That’s me.”

Kyungsoo turns to Suho. “Hold on. Last Monday… That was the day Chanyeol was doing his dare, right?”

Suho nods gravely, remembering the day. Isa comes with their orders and notices that the atmosphere at the table is really awkward. “You guys look like you’ve just been talking about me.” She says with a teasing laugh.

“We were.” Always loyal to his nuna, Sehun’s quick to answer.

“It looks like you guys were talking about something bad… about me.” An uneasy feeling comes to reside in Isa’s stomach. “What is it?”

Suho answers her. “It’s just that last week… I came with Chanyeol. You know him, right?”

“Hyung, please. She’s a fan. In fact, by the way she blushes everytime I mention his name, I’m pretty sure her bias is Chanyeol hyung.” Sehun says with a sly glance at Isa. “Nuna, are you okay? Your face is grey.”

“I’m fine.” And she leaves the table really quickly.

“She’s a fan? And Chanyeol is her bias?” Suho repeats slowly.

“Hyung, your face looks grey too. I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asks Suho.

“Wow.” Kyungsoo said after Suho finishes telling his story. “I can’t believe he did that. How did she react?”

“She seemed okay about it, like she’s used to getting rude customers order her around. But being a fan… That’s different right? To have her favorite member do that to her? What will she think of Chanyeol ? What will she think of us?” Suho says, putting his cold cup to his forehead.

“I’m sorry, guys, I shouldn’t have let Chanyeol do that dare.”

“It’s not your fault that he’s a blithering idiot, hyung.” Sehun says, gritting his teeth. He glances at Isa, who’s serving a customer with a smile on her face. “And guess what? Her bunny died that Monday. That explains why she was so miserable the next day.”

“Her bunny died? Oh, no…” Kyungsoo pouts.

“I feel nauseous.” Suho says. “I apologized to her, and she seemed okay though. Should I say sorry again?” Suho says, getting up.

“No, hyung.” Sehun and Kyungsoo both pulled Suho down. “We’ll call Chanyeol and ask him to come over.” Kyungsoo whips out his phone immediately.

“Chanyeol. Where are you? Oh, that’s just nearby. Good. Hey come here to Black Pearl and hang out with us for a sec. You’ve got GPS on your phone, right? No, you’ve gotta come. We’ve got something really funny to show you. Dude, stop making up stupid lies. I live with you, I know that you don’t have a dying hamster. Oh? Baekhyun and Kai are with you, you said?” Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows, pausing for the first time. “Even better. Bring them both here.” He hangs up. “Do you think he’s coming?”

“He would if he’s a man.” Suho says, sipping his root beer milk tea. “Kai and Baekhyun are both with him? We should text them to drag Chanyeol here just in case.”

Moments later, Chanyeol arrives alone. He peeks from the outside to see if Isa’s inside, knowing that she wouldn’t want to see him. After making sure that she’s not around, he enters Black Pearl and heads towards where his brothers are sitting.

“You liar. Baekhyun and Kai weren’t with you.” Kyungsoo says, punching Chanyeol’s arm.

“Yes, I lied. What’s the funny thing that you guys want to show me? Can’t we go outside? It’s hot in here.” Chanyeol says, glancing around the café anxiously.

Sehun takes out his iPhone and shows the reflective screen to Chanyeol. “Your face. That’s what’s funny. Why do you look like you’re in a rush, hyung? Is that guilt on your face?”

Chanyeol clears his throat and lowers his head. “Guys, I’ve got something to tell you…”

“I’ve got something to tell you too. You’re an idiot! HOW CAN YOU TELL ISA NUNA TO CLEAN YOUR SHOES FOR YOU?!” Sehun put his mouth close to Chanyeol’s ear and screamed in it.

“Sehun, calm down, others might hear.” Suho says. He lowers his head. “I’m at fault too. I should’ve stopped him earlier.”

“Yeah, maybe you should.” Sehun agrees. He turns to Chanyeol. “But do you realize that she’s the girl I’ve always talked to you about?” Chanyeol nods meekly. Once again, his face had turned the color of red wine.

Sehun his lips and cracks his knuckles. “I mean, doing what you did was stupid by itself, but doing it to Isa nuna, MY Isa nuna, is just unacceptable. What did you think? Just because I’ve always told you she’s nice, does that mean she’d forgi-“ Sehun’s sentence hangs mid-air as he bangs his head.

“You thought that she’d forgive you afterwards?” Sehun concludes. “Because of what I said about her?”

“I did.” Chanyeol says.

“Did? Does that mean you came and apologized?” Kyungsoo asks. Chanyeol nods, his eyes b with tears.

“When?” Suho asks, narrowing his eyes. Chanyeol was with him all the time after Monday, except for the time he went missing at the mall and when he went back home yesterday.

“Yesterday.” Chanyeol says quietly, his voice hollow and disturbed.

“I thought you went back home?” Suho asks. “How many more lies did you tell us?”

“I did go back home, then I came here, okay? Ask her if you don’t believe me!” Chanyeol gets up to leave, but Sehun pulls him.

“I’m guessing she didn’t forgive you?” He asks quietly. He didn’t have to ask. It’s written all over Chanyeol’s face. In fact, he’d been stuck in the Emo Bacteria character after their photo shoot Monday. It’s so weird watching him like that. They all thought it was because of the dare, and all the rain they’ve been getting for the past few days. All of them had been kinda grumpy.

But it all makes sense now.

“What should we do?” Suho breathes and look around the café. “Where’s Isa anyway?”

“I saw her going into the backroom just before Chanyeol entered.” Kyungsoo says.

Chanyeol slumps his shoulders. “She must have seen me coming. I should leave.” He gets up again and this time no one stops him. Chanyeol meets Jinyoung on his way outside though, and he bowed ninety degrees to Jinyoung. Several people recognize him, and they start taking pictures. Feeling uneasy because they’re getting too much attention, Chanyeol apologizes to Jinyoung abruptly, with a second deep bow and exits the café.

As he’s walking towards the subway, a hand grabs Chanyeol from the back. “Can we talk for a minute?” It was Jinyoung. He leads Chanyeol to the back alley of the café.

“I’m sorry, manager-nim, for the other day.” Again with a deep bow.

“It’s okay. I’m used to jerky customers. Isa, though… She’s a huge fan of yours. I’m wondering if you can talk to her for a bit?”

“About what?”

Jinyoung raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms. “Did you tell her you’re sorry?”

“I did, several times. She told me to not show up there again. I only came today because my friends told me too.”

Jinyoung nods. He can see that Chanyeol looks like he’s troubled by something, so he doesn’t really want to add salt to his whatever wounds. “Okay, then. That’s really all that I wanted to know.”

“Isa… she’s a huge fan? Of me. Me? Not EXO?” Chanyeol asks with a tight knit brow.

“Well, she loves EXO, too, but you’re her favorite. She’s always going on about how sweet you are, how nice and… Well, let’s just say that she really likes you.” Jinyoung says, afraid to say too much.

“I bet her view of me totally changed after what happened last week.”

Jinyoung thinks back to the receipt, the sad way it fell and how viciously Isa had stomped on it. “Yeah, she pretty much hates you now.”

Chanyeol groans. “Manager-nim. Is there anyway, anyway at all, to change her mind about me? I’m really not a bad guy, I’d never do that on a normal day, it’s just… I made a stupid decision that day, a really really stupid decision. What can I do so that Isa will forgive me?”

Jinyoung narrows his eyes. “Is maintaining your perfect idol image that important to you?”

Chanyeol stares at the ground, his eyes misty. “It’s important for me to be liked by everyone for the person I am. I’d never die peacefully if I know that there’s someone who hates me in this world.”