Long time no see, everyone! :) Sorry for the incredibly long wait! I decided to TEMPORARILY (I need to stress, TEMPORARILY) disrupt the hiatus to upload 1 or 2 chapters to commemorate the addition of the new banner to my story! Hopefully, it looks less bare and empty now! And it's partially due to the fact that I've finished the second-last round of examinations, and I've a few days off!

Here's chapter 9, enjoy :) 

Time stood still as Kai pulled Jiyeon into a tight and possessive embrace.

“Jongin ah...” Jiyeon tried to squirm out of Kai’s grip, but instead, she felt his arms tightening around her with each writhe until she found breathing becoming more difficult.

“Sshh, I’m begging you, Jiyeon,” he murmured pleadingly into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She gulped and remained still.

Kai closed his eyes and buried his head into the nape of her neck. He took a deep breath and inhaled her scent.

That familiar, light scent.

Jiyeon felt her face heating up when she felt Kai’s breath against her neck. Her heart was speeding up and pounding like mad when she felt his warmth engulf her.

Why am I still like this? I’m seriously hopeless, she sighed to herself.

Kai felt his nerves gradually disappearing. For a strange reason, Jiyeon’s familiar scent gave him the comfort and security he needed. Panting heavily as his heart rate sped up (for an entirely different reason), he rested his forehead on her shoulder.

Jiyeon felt the tight clasp around her waist loosening, and she gasped for all the air she could get, having nearly suffocated for minutes.

Kai suddenly sat upright and unwrapped his arms from her waist when he felt her shoulder move as Jiyeon took a deep breath of air. 

“Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” he asked, reaching out to caress Jiyeon’s shocked face gently.

Jiyeon was alarmed by his sudden tenderness and twitched when his thumb her cheek. She stared into Kai’s eyes and flushed deep crimson. For the first time ever since they’d met again, they weren’t distant and cold.

On the contrary, his gaze was loving and earnest – belonging the Kim Jongin that used to be. And whom she used to know.

The moment their eyes met, Kai felt a certain strange fuzzy feeling within. He immediately realized what he was doing and withdrew his hand.

Crap. What was I doing? How could I let my emotions take control over me? Now Jiyeon will totally think I’m crazy.

Kai stopped smiling and his eyes regained their coldness. He stood up and looked away, clearing his throat and silently cursed himself for his lack of self-control.

“Sorry, I just – I don’t know what got into me,” Kai ruffled his hair, looking remorsefully at Jiyeon. He felt his temperature increasing and his ears turned red.

Jiyeon’s heart fell.

Why are you apologizing?

Somehow, Kai had this unfathomable power of getting her hopes up in one moment, and crushing her soul into smithereens the next.  

“Um, it’s okay... If it helps you calm down, I guess it is alright,” Jiyeon mumbled, looking at Kai’s shoes. She had found it increasingly hard to maintain eye contact with Kai, even on a professional basis. Things could only get even more awkward after this incident, without doubt.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened at the sight he just witnessed. He had run off after his performance ended to search for Kai. He eventually did – and was stunned by the spectacular scene displayed before his eyes.

With his mouth gaping open, he watched as Kai forcefully enveloped Jiyeon in his arms.

What the heck is going on? Why is he hugging her like this and how did she find him and fdjal;jfdkl;a why what where how?

Chanyeol’s mind was burning with questions he did not know the answers to. Absolutely perplexed, he hid behind the wall to eavesdrop further, his eyes glimmering with curiosity.

Since when were they close? I thought they hated each other’s guts? Why did she call him Jongin?

Overwhelmed with the debate raging on in his mind about The-Mysterious-Relationship-Between-Kai-and-Jiyeon, a small frown crept up Chanyeol’s face.

“Yeolie! You’re here!” Baekhyun chimed.

“Ssh! Yah! Come here quietly! There’s a scene,” Chanyeol jumped when he heard Baekhyun’s voice. He quickly turned and signaled Baekhyun to hide behind the wall with him.

“Wae? What’s up? Why are you acting so suspiciously?” Baekhyun cocked his head to the side, staring at Chanyeol. Chanyeol gestured Baekhyun to direct his attention to the storage room.

Omona, this is... Now even Chanyeol knows! Baekhyun gasped and covered his mouth in shock.

The two of them watched as Kai brushed his pants and walked swiftly out of the storage room, leaving Jiyeon behind. Chanyeol ducked and pushed Baekhyun further behind the wall to avoid being caught by Kai as he walked past.

“Oh. Em. Gee. What on earth was that? Did you see how he hugged her? It was like some reunion of two long lost lovers or something!” Chanyeol described with a dramatic expression on his face, with hand gestures thrown in as well.

Baekhyun bit his lip and stared at Chanyeol, deliberating on whether to explain everything to him.

“Yah, Byun Baekhyun! Are you zoned out or something?” Chanyeol waved his hands in front of Baekhyun’s face.

“Ah, ani. You see, Kai and Jiyeon, um, have some sort of a history (aha!) which is quite complicated,” Baekhyun explained, scratching his head.

“Eh? What history? They knew each other before? And how do you know?” Chanyeol’s eyes became bigger than ever. Baekhyun sighed and shook his head.

I’m sorry Jiyeon but Chanyeol has to know or else he’d let the cat out.

“Uh, Chanyeol ah. What I say next is to be kept strictly confidential between the two of us, okay?” Baekhyun looked sternly at Chanyeol.

“Ah? Yeah of course!” Chanyeol nodded vigorously.

“Okay. Kai and Jiyeon knew each other since middle school. The reason why Kai’s so awkward and distant around Jiyeon isn’t because they were enemies once. In fact it was the complete opposite – Kai and Jiyeon used to date. They had to end their relationship because Kai entered SM to train with us,” Baekhyun sighed and explained clearly and slowly to Chanyeol, who was momentarily paralyzed with bewilderment.

“Mwoh!!!!! That is unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable, Byun Baekhyun! How ever did you find out?” Chanyeol exclaimed after a time lag of a few seconds. He cupped his small face with his large hands.

“Arghhh I found out at Kai’s birthday party, okay? I noticed his suspicious behavior around Jiyeon for a while and went to ask him straight out.”

“Birthday party? Then, was Kai’s injured hand also...”

“Yeah it was. Kai’s really impulsive when he’s mad,” Baekhyun sighed, shaking his head in disapproval.

Chanyeol tilted his head to one side and thought for a bit, processing all the information he just received.

“Arasso, so this must be kept absolutely secret? Not even Jiyeon must know that I know? Wait – does she know you know about it?”

“Yeah she does, but don’t go ask her about it okay Yeolie!” Baekhyun warned sternly.

“Yah, of course I wouldn’t dare ask her about it! I’m not that dense!” Chanyeol pouted.  

“Aigoo, stop pouting! Let’s go back and look for the rest! After Lay’s and Kai’s dance it’d be the interactive segment already! We don’t want Leeteuk hyung to have to stall for time again!” Baekhyun said, linking arms with Chanyeol.

“Oh yeah! Okay, let’s hurry back!” Chanyeol smiled and both of them ran off to the backstage area to look for the rest of EXO, who were probably anxiously waiting for the missing members to return.

Sehun’s POV

Tao was performing a couple of wushu stunts and somersaults. Luhan and I chuckled as we heard the crowd go “Ooohhh” with awe whenever he did a stunt.

Backstage, Suho (and the rest of us) were pretty flustered as Kai had yet to return. Even Chanyeol and Baekhyun had disappeared after their performances, probably to search for Kai.

I looked around and unconsciously realized Jiyeon was missing too.

Aish, Oh Sehun. Why do you care so much about her? I smacked myself mentally.

“Ahh, first Kai went missing, and now even Chanyeol and Baekhyun are gone! Where could they have run to?” Suho grabbed his hair in exasperation.

“Suho ah, do you need me to stall time again?” Leeteuk patted Suho’s shoulder.

“Ah, i-its alright hyung! I-I think Kai should be back soon, then Lay and Kai can go up, followed by the interactive segment as planned,” Suho stammered.

“Okay, but in any case if you need, tell me alright?” Leeteuk smiled at Suho reassuringly, flashing his dimple and unleashing all his charisma. Suho blushed furiously.

“That poor guy is a bag of nerves when in front of Leeteuk sunbae,” Luhan muttered audibly enough for me to hear. I cupped my mouth with my hands to soften my laugh.

When Suho is shy, he’s kinda adorable. Well, to me at least. (A/N OMG I THINK SO TOO LOLOL!)

“Kai! You little punk, you’re finally here!” Kris thundered, giving Kai his iest -face ever.

I gulped. Uh-oh, Kris doesn’t look too pleased.

“Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!” D.O. ran to Kai and felt his forehead, checking if he was ill. His eyes were huge (bigger than normal) with concern.

“I’m okay, sorry for troubling everyone. I had a slip-up. I’m fine now,” Kai looked at everyone, especially Kris, penitently.

Kris narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

“It’s alright! Everyone’s not mad – we were just worried! It’s good that you’re here now, everything’s okay,” Suho went up to Kai and gave him a man-hug.

“Now... where did Baekyeol go?” Suho sighed and looked around.

“They probably couldn’t find Kai, since he came back by himself. Kai, did anyone find you?” Xiumin asked Kai.

Kai seemed stunned by Xiumin’s question for a while.

“Uh, Ji-I mean, no one did. I came back by myself,” he answered. I frowned at Kai’s shifty eyes, as he daren’t look at Xiumin when speaking. He truly seemed quite suspicious.

Maybe he did meet someone on the way, but didn’t want to say who it was.

Did he have a rendezvous with his secret lover? Scandalous...

I mentally smacked myself (again) to prevent my imagination from running wild.

“I’ll call them,” Kris whipped out his phone. I caught two figures running toward us. One was extremely tall and the other was just... tall.

“Baekhyun! Chanyeol!” I shouted. Kris looked up and frowned, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

“Sorry for the wait!” Chanyeol panted and bent over, balancing his palms on his knees. Baekhyun wiped his sweat and fixed his hair.

“Ah, that’s good! I see everyone’s here!” Leeteuk chimed. The stage crew signaled for Leeteuk to go up as Tao’s performance was drawing to a close.

“I’ll see you boys in a bit. Fighting!” Leeteuk smiled as he headed to the stage entrance.

“We’re up next, Kai. We’re in this together okay, don’t be nervous!” Lay fist-bumped Kai. Kai shuddered when he heard the word ‘nervous’.

“Y-yeah, we can do this, hyung!” He smiled back at Lay.

“Jiyeon’s back!” Luhan grinned and waved at Jiyeon. She was walking slowly toward us.

“Hi,” she smiled. She looked very drained and her eyes were red.

“Uh, hi Jiyeon,” Baekhyun and Chanyeol smiled at her.

“Jiyeon ah, are you okay? Did something happen?” I patted her head and bent down to look at her face. She looked as if her soul had been sapped away.

“N-no, nothing happened. Don’t touch my face Oppa, it’ll give me pimples,” she mumbled and slapped my hand away. Ouch.

“Lay and Kai, you’re up. EXO, standby,” the stage crew announced.

“Fighting,” Jiyeon smiled at Lay as he passed her, pumping her fists in the air. Lay laughed and ruffled her hair.

I was expecting her to do the same for Kai, but when Kai walked past her, she quickly turned to me.

“Oppa, your hair is messy. I’ll help you fix it,” she reached out to adjust my hair for me.

I glanced at her. Her face was too close.

I felt blood rushing to my cheeks and looked away, clearing my throat. Gah, hope she didn’t see me turn red.

“Thanks.”

“Jiyeon, fix my hair too!” Luhan whined and plopped himself in front of her.

Jiyeon giggled.

“Okay, turn around,” she twirled her hand in the air, gesturing Luhan to turn his back to her.

I found myself staring at Jiyeon’s dark, wavy hair. There was something blue that glistened tangled in her hair. I squinted my eyes to see what it was.

A sequin.

I leaned forward to pick it out of her hair when she suddenly turned around.

Oh. Em. Gee.

Her cheek brushed past mine and I swore my heart nearly jumped out of my throat. I quickly untangled the blue sequin from her hair. A whiff of her scent passed through my nasal passage.

Something was weird about her scent. She smelt like... cologne. And it was familiar cologne too. Someone else I knew wore it. But I just couldn’t figure who it was.

“Uh, Jiyeon, there was this thing caught in your hair,” I handed out the sequin to her. Again, the sequin looked vaguely familiar.

She turned a little pink when she saw the sequin.

“T-thanks, Sehun oppa,” she grabbed the sequin from my hand.

“By the way, Jiyeon. Do you wear cologne? Or something that smells like cologne? Just wondering, you know,” I asked.

“Eh? Cologne? No, why would I want to smell like a guy!” Jiyeon laughed.

“Oh, I see. Okay then,” I raised my eyebrows at her.

This is quite strange. Maybe there’s something wrong with my nose. She couldn’t possibly have sprayed cologne on herself, anyway. That’s a little insane.

“Tao! How was your performance!”

I heard Jiyeon chime. I turned to look at where she’d gone. She was chatting to Tao, who had just came backstage after his wushu show time.

“Tiring, I feel super inflexible and unfit right now,” Tao smiled at Jiyeon and leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

Ah, why didn’t she stay longer to talk? Was I that boring?

I felt a little down.

“Sehun ah, are you spacing out? Here’s your mic, we’re going up!” Luhan handed me my mic and helped me fix it on.

“Thanks, Luhan hyung.”

“Good work,” Director Kang slapped Lay’s and Kai’s backs lightly as they reappeared backstage.

“Hey wassup,” Kai came over to me and stood in front of me as we lined up to get ready to go face the crowd once more.

“Hey – ” I paused when I breathed.

That scent.

I looked on as Kai adjusted his blue sequined jacket. I gasped. It was the same shade of blue. And it had sequins on it.

“They probably couldn’t find Kai, since he came back by himself. Kai, did anyone find you?” Xiumin asked Kai.

Kai seemed stunned by Xiumin’s question for a while.

“Uh, Ji-I mean, no one did. I came back by myself,” he answered. I frowned at Kai’s shifty eyes, as he daren’t look at Xiumin when speaking. He truly seemed quite suspicious.

Maybe he did meet someone on the way, but didn’t want to say who it was.

That was when it hit me.

Jiyeon was with Kai. 

There you have it, one more person knows about Kai and Jiyeon!

Apologies if this chapter wasn't as exciting as the previous, somehow we needed a link to the next part. x) I may or may not be uploading one more chapter before continuing the hiatus (and the studying madness to the finals), we'll see how it goes, alright :) 

And once again, subscribe/comment/add me please! :) I'd love to see new comments/subbies/friends whenever I log in! :D And sorry for the wait!