"Hey let's go to try that one!" Haejung pulled Chen along with her to the racing car game.

Chen smiled. This Haejung had completely opened up to this new experience. And to think she had just been hesitant to enter the arcade before that because she hadn't been here before.

Chen marveled at Haejung's tolerance and bravery.

Nerds didn't ever to go places like arcades. There was a general unspoken rule written in the handbook that was given out to everyone in the society, this imaginary handbook that everyone knew about but didn't outrightly discuss it.

Nerds didn't go to the same places as the popular people did. They were never invited to parties for a reason, they didn't go to beaches, they didn't go shopping or go to the movies unlike the popular ones. It was for the simple reason that popular people and nerds are people from different worlds.

They must never meet.

And when Chen invited Haejung into the arcade like this, he had broken the rules. She had broken them. And Chen knew that she knew, and she didn't care.

There were other handsome guys and pretty girls around, dressed in the latest fashion and playing the games there, flirting with each other. When they saw Haejung walking in, they snickered and rolled their eyes, some of them gaping openly.

What was a nerd doing in a place like that?

Haejung knew, but she was too used to this sort of thing to care. Hell, if Luhan could be dragged off by the other girls to go off somewhere, couldn't she too find some fun somewhere else without him?

She didn't want to care, and she didn't. Chen smiled proudly as he followed behind her towards the racing cars. *She's a nerd, but she's stronger than everyone thinks.* he beamed in pride.

Haejung blinked at him eagerly with a smile and Chen chuckled, ruffling her hair. He took out the tokens from his pocket for the both of them and popped it into the slots of two machines. "Ready to race with me?"

"You bet!" Haejung grinned. "I'm going to win you, Chen. Watch out!" she warned.

Chen chuckled in amusement. *Cute.* he thought. He got on the bike beside hers and blinked in surprise. *What did I just...?* He shook his head. *Babo babo. You're not thinking things right. You can't like Haejung. Not when Luhan hyung seems to really like her.* he thought, feeling a little uncomfortable in response to the thought that Luhan might be in love with Haejung for real.

"You do know how to play this right?" Chen looked over at her. "Just turn the steering wheel to your right when you want to turn right and vice versa. When you want to accelerate just step on the accelerator and when you want to brake you just-"

"Grip the handles." Haejung finished for him. "I'm a nerd but I have common sense, Chen. Don't be such a nag!" she wrinkled her nose. "Omo omo it's starting! Be prepared to lose!"

Chen smiled and turned towards the screen. The race started and they set off. There were only two racers, he and her, and he was very obviously winning even from the beginning.

Haejung, apparently haven't done anything like this before, wasn't reacting fast enough to the turns and twists of the race course. She crashed into the side boards from the very start and even went the opposite direction for a full 100m with the words WRONG WAY blinking in the middle of the screen in bright red.

"Kyaaaaahhh!!!" Haejung tugged the steering wheel hard. "Turn turn turn!! Why aren't you going in the direction I want you to go?" she pouted. "Meanie!"

Chen laughed, shaking his head. He finished the course in the machine's record time and he turned to look at Haejung who hadn't even finished even half the course. "What did you say about winning me just then?" he asked innocently.

Haejung huffed and made a face at him. "This bike isn't working well." she pouted. "Let's have a rematch. We'll change bikes." she bargained.

Chen raised his brows. "And you think you'll win if you take this bike?" he pointed at the one he was sitting on then. Haejung nodded, grinning. "Yeah!"

"Okayyyyy." Chen chuckled and got off the bike. Haejung hopped over to his and he went over to hers. He popped two tokens into the coin slips and the game started again. He looked at Haejung from the corner of his eye as she puffed her cheeks and bit her lip, staring intently at the screen.

She looked adorable.

Not the sort of adorable that was widely recognised. Not adorable like SNSD or the Puss in Boots cat or the little girl in Despicable Me. No not like that.

But Haejung, wearing her overly large glasses and her birdnest hair of hers, concentrating however she could with utmost determination....that was adorable in Chen's eyes. He never thought a girl was adorable before.

Sure there were a few cute ones now and then but there wasn't any pang or sudden thought that hit him, like "WOW THAT GIRL IS DAEBAK." or anything of the likes.

But for Haejung, there was just this affection that simply flowed from him when he was with her. The affection that wasn't present when he was with other girls or other people. The affection that he never felt before.

Chen blinked when Haejung let out a whoop. "HAHAHA I won!" she cheered. "See I told you your bike was better!"

Chen blinked back at his own screen and saw that halfway through his course he had managed to crash to the side of the racing course and he did nothing to manuveur it back to the road. No, because he had been staring at Haejung the whole time.

"Whoohoo!! I won!" Haejung did a happy dance. Chen bit his lip as he watched her, feeling the quickening pace of his heart and willing for it to stop. He shook his head again.

"Babo Chen. Anyone can tell Luhan hyung likes Haejung. You can't think that way of her." he told himself again and again.

"Thanks for today, Chen." Haejung beamed at him.

They had spent a wonderful day together. After the arcade, Haejung had chanced upon a public water fountain where there were kids playing with water and having fun with the water hoses.

Other girls would never have thought that it looked fun. What they would have thought was that it would ruin their LV bags, their prada shoes, their abercrombie shirts. But no, Haejung didn't think twice as she ran to the water fountain like a three year old and joined the kids.

And Chen joined them too. He never had so much fun with kids, he remembered how Haejung bonded with Masen and his own lack of fatherly instincts with Mavin, unlike Luhan who had been good with every single kid around. And he aspired to be Luhan, he wanted to be the guy that stood beside Haejung when she played with the kids.

If Haejung was to be the noona to the kids, he wanted to be the hyung that paired up with her.

Tired out, Chen had treated Haejung to dinner at a street side stall where they ate generously and gorged themselves silly. Chen never felt more at ease when he spent time with a girl and he almost blurted how reluctant he was when the day drew to a close.

"Yeah." Chen nodded at Haejung. "Let's do this again some time."

Haejung smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Next time, we can bring the other EXO-M boys and go to that arcade again! I'll win every single one of them!" she pumped her fist in the air.

Chen's face fell. "Oh. Yeah, right."

Haejung smiled and waved. "I'll be going in now, Chen. Thanks again! See you tomorrow!" she skipped into her house. Chen waved even though she wasn't looking and he sighed to himself.

"See you tomorrow, Haejung." he whispered.

---------

Haejung went up to her room and opened the door.

And was immediately attacked by a ball of red and grey that hurled itself at her. "JUNGIEEEEEEE!" Luhan embraced her as if they were childhood lovers that only got to meet when they were fifty. A dramatic reunion indeed.

"Where have you been Jungie! I've been waiting for you since four hours ago!" Luhan pouted and blew on his hair, making it even more fluffy than usual.

Haejung blinked. "You've been home four hours ago?"

"Yeah." Luhan nodded. "When I got home you weren't around. Omonim said you went to the library but when I went to the library to look for you, you weren't there." He sulked. "I missed you Jungie, where did you go?"

Haejung pinked. "I was out with Chen." she bit her lip. "I met him while i was going to the library until I met Chen, so we went to the arcade and all." she blinked at him, still puzzled. "But didn't your fangirls drag you out? Weren't you spending your time with them?"

Luhan chuckled and pinched her cheek. "Babo. Of course I'll come back." he beamed. "I escaped as soon as I could."

Haejung stared at him. "But....why?"

Luhan smiled and brushed her hair from her face. "Because you're my secret girlfriend, Jungie. Because you're worth it."