edit (19/04/2013): changed the name of the female character to Sena. :)

~;~

“ – never gets old. I’ve been doing this for a year and I never get tired of listening to all the fans cheering,” Baekhyun was saying from his seat beside her on the bed. “Wasn’t it amazing, Sena-yah?”

Grinning, Sena nodded. “I can’t believe how much people there were, oppa! I had so much fun!” she exclaimed, remembering the concert.

They had successfully wrapped up their SMTOWN concert in LA, the first city for the world tour, and everyone was taking two hours of well-deserved rest before heading to the after-party. Right now, Baekhyun and Sena were in her room in the hotel, trying to kill time since both of them were already dressed and ready to go. Baekhyun was dressed in a plain white shirt and gray skinny jeans, with a black suit jacket over it; while Sena was wearing an asymmetrical top in deep purple, paired with a black skirt.

Baekhyun laughed, ruffling her hair. “And you were so nervous at the beginning!”

“It’s not my fault!” she whined, flicking his hand away. “There were so many people! Don’t tell me you weren’t nervous at all!”

The venue had been filled to the brim with people. Sena could still taste the excitement and nervousness she had felt earlier. It had been a dream come true for her. The whole stadium had been lit up with glow sticks, each one changing to correspond to the color of the group performing onstage. The entire sea of glow sticks had shined golden yellow during SOLAR’s performance; it was one of the most beautiful things Sena had ever seen. And the support all the fans showed had gone a long way to boosting her confidence.

“I was,” he admitted, shrugging. “But as soon as I got onstage, it all disappeared. The fans gave me strength.”

Sena slapped his arm, laughing. “Yah! Ew, oppa! That’s so cheesy!” She continued smacking his arm, refusing to stop until he took his statement back. “Take it back, oppa! That was so weird!”

Blocking her arms easily, Baekhyun laughed with her. “Ani yo! It’s true! I’m not joking, Sena-yah!” he told her, still defending himself.

“But it was so cheesy! Take it back, take it back!”

“Aish, there’s nothing wrong with – ”

“Hyung.”

Baekhyun broke off at the deep voice, still gripping Sena's wrists. He glanced at the doorway; Kai was leaning against the frame, his expression unreadable. “Jongin-ah. What is it?” Baekhyun asked warily.

“Chanyeol-hyung told me to look for you,” Kai replied. Although he was clearly addressing his fellow member, his eyes were boring holes on Baekhyun’s hold on her wrists. “Something about his clothes and you helping him, hyung.”

“Ah, that’s right! I was supposed to help him pick out what to wear!” Baekhyun released her and hopped up, brushing off his jeans. “I’ll see you later, arasso?”

“Neh. See you later, oppa!” she told him, smiling.

Baekhyun suddenly bent down to hug her lightly, making Kai’s expression darken just a bit a more. “He’s not in a very good mood. Good luck,” he whispered before straightening and heading out of the room. “Annyeong, both of you!”

“Annyeong, oppa!”

Kai didn’t bother replying to his hyung, choosing instead to look at Sena. His eyes were unusually dark, his expression unreadable and vague. He was already dressed for the party as well in a black button-down shirt and white jeans, a white tie sticking out of his pocket. Kai’s dark hair was artfully tousled; some of the waves curling over his forehead the way Sena liked it.

Fidgeting under his gaze, Sena looked down at her skirt. She didn’t know what to say to him, not after their argument backstage earlier. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be tense after a joint stage with another artist, especially if the stage involved skinship, but this was the first time they had full-out argued without resolving anything.

“Oppa, don’t be like this!” Sena pleaded, laying a hand on his exposed arm. They were alone in EXO’s dressing room; the members had cleared out as soon as she had arrived, none of them wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

Kai shook her off. “You knew I didn’t like that kind of thing, Sena!”

“It was a stage, oppa! What else could I do? Baekhyun-oppa – ”

“There! There it is again!” he interjected, sounding frustrated. “Baekhyun this, Baekhyun that! I’m your boyfriend! But it seems as though every other sentence out of your mouth always seems to involve Baekhyun-hyung! What am I supposed to think, jagi-yah?”

“He’s my best friend! And yours, as well! You have no reason to be jealous, oppa. None at all!”

“Don’t I?” Kai asked, strangely quiet. “You spend half of your time with him, Sena-yah. Lately, every single time I see you, you’ve been with him. How much of that is for rehearsal? How much of that is just hanging out?”

“Don’t you trust him? Don’t you trust me? Do you really think I’d do that to you?” It hurt. It hurt so much to be accused – no matter how indirectly – of cheating on him. Did Kai really have so little trust in her?

“I’m only telling you what’s on my mind, Sena-yah. I shouldn’t have to apologize for that.”

Tears filled Sena’s eyes. “Well, I shouldn’t have to apologize for doing nothing wrong! Every single time this happens, you always pin it on me! Every single time, it’s always me doing the apologizing. How many times will I have to do this before you finally understand that I love you, Jongin? Baekhyun-oppa, L-sunbaenim, Jongdae-oppa…they were all special stages. Duets. You’re the only one I feel anything like this for,” she added, shaking her head. “But if you can’t – won’t – understand that, I don’t understand what I’m still doing here.”

Sena was shaking by the time she finished, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of emotions roiling within her at the moment. All of that had been lurking inside her for months; she just never really had the guts to say them out loud. It was time he finally understood. They couldn’t keep having the same argument over and over after every collaboration stage.

“Sooni-yah…” Kai began, his expression softening considerably. He rarely ever used her real name, but even that wasn’t enough anymore.

Wiping her tears away, Sena turned away. “Save it. Talk to me when you actually have something worthwhile to say. I’ll see you later.” She didn’t wait to hear his reply, opening the door and exiting the dressing room.

The bed dipped down beside her; Kai had sat down. He didn’t anything, though. She didn’t say anything either. The silence was heavy, oppressive; both of them had so much to say, so much to talk about, but neither could find the words to say them.

Finally, Kai sighed and placed a large hand over her own, stopping her from tugging on her skirt again. “Mianhae. Jeongmal mianhae.”

Sena refused to speak, but didn’t pull her hand away. She wanted to listen to what he had to say.

“Sooni-yah. I…” He trailed off, grimacing. This was difficult for him, she knew. “I was being stupid. And possessive. And jealous. You were right, jagi-yah. I was just feeling so frustrated and stressed. I haven’t been able to see you in weeks because of practices. We’re always so busy and I guess… I shouldn’t have done that, though. I took it out on you,” he finished in a rush. “Mianhae.”

“Nado mianhae, oppa. I blew up at you too,” she mumbled. “It wasn’t right of me to blame you for it all.” They were both stressed. With all the practices and jet lag, it was inevitable that they would break under the pressure.

“Ani. I understand, jagi. I get it.” Kai tugged on her hand, urging her to scoot a bit closer. “I trust you, arasso? You should know that. I trust you,” he repeated.

Sena allowed herself a tiny smile, moving closer and tucking herself into his side. “And I trust you too, oppa.”

Kai wound an arm around her waist, pressing a light kiss to her temple. “I guess we have to work on that, neh? We can’t keep arguing every single time something like this comes up.”

“Neh, we can’t.”

“It’s just…” Kai sighed again, his breath ruffling strands of her hair. “It’s so difficult seeing someone else touch you like that, you know? I know it’s just a stage, but…aish, jinjja. It’s really difficult.”

“You think it’s any easier for me?” she shot back, playful now. It was amazing how quickly the mood had shifted. That was what she liked about making up with Kai; he never dragged it out for longer than necessary.

“Isn’t it?” There was a smile in his voice.

“Ani ya!” Sena shifted a bit, enough that she could see his face. He was smiling, and a really smug smile, at that. “Not with you flashing everyone left and right, and taking every chance to show off!”

Kai chuckled. “Show what off, exactly?”

“You know what I’m talking about, you pabo.”

“Ani.” He smirked. “Show what off?”

“Aigoo. Stop playing dumb, oppa!” she told him, rolling her eyes. “You know what!”

Kai refused to budge. “I’m not playing dumb, aegi,” he insisted.

Sena poked his stomach with a finger, grinning when he flinched a bit. “That. You show that off all the time.” She repeated the action, just for good measure. “I have never seen a performance where you can manage to keep your shirt on properly. Not one,” she added, poking him again.

He flinched; she knew he was ticklish. “Y-yah, stop that!”

“What? This?” She poked him again and again. “Do you mean this, oppa? Or this?”

“Aish, jinjja!”

A tickle war ensued, both of them refusing to give in. Kai was more ticklish than she was, but he was stronger and could easily block her. It didn’t help that he also knew her weak spots; and he took every chance he could get. By the time they were too exhausted to continue, both of them were more than a little breathless.

Sena looked at Kai, who was flat on his stomach beside her.  He was close, only inches separating their faces, but neither of them moved, too occupied with trying to regain their breath. She took the time to observe him quietly, appreciating just how attractive he was. Kai’s dark eyes were looking into hers, his gaze warm and playful, and the corners of his full lips were pulled upwards in a grin.

“Like what you see?” he teased. He shifted, leaning his weight on his elbows, so he could look down at her.

“Pabo,” she murmured fondly, reaching up to comb a hand through his tousled hair.

His playful expression softened. “But I’m your pabo, neh?” he asked, nudging his nose with hers.

“Yeah. My pabo,” Sena agreed, blushing at his proximity.

Kai gave her a boyish grin, his whole face lighting up. “Good.” He bent down and pressed a light kiss to the corner of , the action surprising her. “Because you’re mine, too.”

TRANSLATIONS:

Hyung - the honorific used by a guy to address an older male

Oppa - the honorific used by a girl to address an older male

Sunbae/sunbaenim - the honorific used by a junior to address a senior

*the use of the suffix -nim denotes a more formal or more respectful address

Aigoo - an expression

Aish -  another expression

Ani/ani yo/ani ya - "no"

Annyeong - an informal way of saying "goodbye" or "hello"

Arasso - "okay?" or "alright?" or "got it?"

Jinjja - "very" or "really"; also used as an expression

Jeongmal - "very" or "really"

Mianhae - an informal way of saying "sorry"

Nado - "also" or "me too"

Neh - "yes"

Aegi - a term of endearment normally used for children; "baby"

Jagi/jagi-yah - a term of endearment; "beloved" or "my love"

Pabo - "idiot"; can be used as an insult or as a joke

I will admit, I randomly stuck INFINITE's L in there. Because he is amazing and cute and talented and... Yes, you can totally tell I'm L-biased. Lol.

Comments and criticism would be appreciated. I'd really like to hear what you thought about it.