Your POV

“Father had an accident.” The voice over the phone explained. From his voice, I could tell that he was not joking. In addition, oppa never really like joking. He’s the cold, serious type. And even if he was joking, why would he joke on something like this? I stared at the empty wall upon me. I dragged my feet towards the elevator. The thought of suddenly dashing out of EXO’s party didn’t bother me at all.

“Haerin?”

My father’s a leading businessman in Busan. He’s nice towards me and I would always do aegyo to appeal to him every time. He spoils me with all kind of luxury and there wasn’t not a single time did he ever let me down. After accidentally overheard his workers’ conversation a few days ago, I just found out that I’m not his biological daughter. My world crushed. To think that I only knew the truth from someone else’s mouth hurt me even more. He and my mother were not even planning to tell me the real story. That hurts the most.

“Hae—”

“Oppa, he’s not my father.” My voice trembled. For no reason, the journey towards the elevator seemed longer than before. Silence took place. Few seconds felt like hours.

“What are you talking about, you fool?!” I gulped. Oppa never actually raise his voice towards me. I was the only exception.

“I-I’m not his daughter.” I stuttered. The words that I spoke myself cut me like a knife.

Before he could reply me, I ended the phone call. ‘Yup, this is for the best.’ I pressed the button for my floor. The door started closing and—TUPP! I looked at the suddenly stopped door. It reopened and I saw the hands that held the door, preventing it to close.

“C-Chanyeol Oppa,” My eyes widened. ‘What is he doing here?’ He was catching his breath. I assumed that he actually ran all his way here from the room. All the worries that covered me were gone immediately. He stopped gasping for air and entered the elevator as well. The door finally closed and the elevator moved. I looked at his eyes and he stared at mine. I froze.

We stayed like that until the door reopened. A few people boarded the elevator and our eyes broke off. I noticed that we had arrived on my floor. I stepped out to give space for the others and he followed me. All the way to my room, we kept quiet and just walked. I did steal some glances at him but his eyes; they were totally fixed on mine. I stopped in front of my door and so did he.

“I-I need to make sure that you’re okay.” He flashed me a nervous smile. I nodded slowly and thought about my irresponsible action from dashing out of the room without explaining anything to the boys. They must’ve been so shocked seeing me stormed out like that.

“I’m okay.” My heart fluttered. It never crossed my mind that my bias would ever talk to me, let alone asking about my condition. My phone rang again and the ringtone filled the entire empty corridor. I glanced on the screen and I could feel that Chanyeol did it too. Haejin oppa—

Chanyeol’s POV

Haejin Oppa? Who is it—h-her boyfriend?

I looked at the petite girl in front of me. Her ringtone, which apparently is my voice, stopped ringing after a few seconds. Her face changed into a hurtful, worried expression. I frowned. ‘Why is she so sad?’

I quietly observed her again. Her long dark hair, pinned into a messy bun fits her. The military style jacket that she wore caught my attention as well. Her skinny jeans covered her slim, short legs. I chuckled. The sneaker that she wore looked cute with wings attached to it. Everything she wears and does amaze me. How could this small girl attract me so much?

“I’m fine.” She said as she stared into the door to her room. She looked at me. “I just received some bad news from home.” That explained everything.

The pain in her eyes, for no reasons, drew me closer. I could totally relate to her pain. My heart ached so much that I started to pat her head, hoping that it would lessen her worries. She seemed surprised and tried to avoid me. I stopped and looked at her. She touched the part where I patted her and blushed. I walked closer to her, closing the gaps between us. She just stood still.

“Thank me later.” I whispered to her ears. She froze like that for awhile before nodding. I saw her curving a sweet smile on her lips as she disappeared into her room.

‘Our first skinship,’ I stared at my hand—the hand that touched her. I smiled to myself. I was quite surprised at my own actions. And to think that it calmed her down, I felt very proud of myself. As I walked back to the room, I thought about her. If she received bad news from home, that mean the guy calling her is somewhat family-related to her, right? Of course! I clapped my hands in delight.

Haejin, Haerin. Haerin, Haejin. Yup, that must be it. He’s obviously her oppa then.

I laughed at myself for worrying about something ridiculous. That evening when I returned to the room, I found myself being interrogated by my fellow members. I explained to them every single thing that happens—skipping the part where I patted her head, of course. They totally understood and felt sorry towards Haerin as well.

That night, after finishing our ‘party’, I stayed around at Kris’ room. Back in my own room, Baekhyun was being nagged by D.O for not arranging his stuff yet. I tried to avoid him too as me, myself, haven’t done that yet. I sat on the edge of Kris’ bed while he’s putting on his night cream.

“Chanyeol-ah,”

“Yes?”

“Do you by any chance, really like that girl?” Kris asked.

I stayed quiet. The cold night air filled the room with tension. It was just the two of us there and it’s better this way. I thought about what he asked and came out with no answer as well.

“I-I don’t know.” Realizing the awkwardness around, I tried to flee myself. “I’m up. D.O might look for me and he’ll nag on me more if he sees I’m not around.”

“No.” I was pulled down by Kris. I was surprised and looked at him with confused eyes.

“We—” he pointed at himself, then at me and back at him again, “—need to talk.” I laughed at his over action. He looked at me with disbelief. “As MEN,” he continued. I could actually felt the seriousness in his tone and nodded slowly.

“What for, duizhang?”

“Your feelings, of course,” he replied.

“Why do you need to apply make-up in the middle of the night?” I asked, quite bothered by him for taking too much care on his looks. Well, this counted as a man to man talk too, right?

“Do not try to change the topic.” He snapped, “—and this is not make-up. It’s my night cream.”

“Fine, fine,” I crossed my arms, pouting. “What is it that you want to know?”

“Do you really like her?”

“Who? Haerin?”

“Then who else? Baekhyun?” he joked. Even though he was joking, but I could see him looking as serious as ever. I went quiet. I looked at my feet and started playing with it.

“I-I don’t know.” We stayed in silence. I looked at Kris’ face. He placed his hands on my shoulders and started to shake me.

“Chanyeol-ah,” He stopped. “If you like her, then go for it.” I stared at him. “You’ll never know if this vacation might be the last time you ever see her.”

“But I just met her today. It’s not enough to be counted as liking her.”

“You know Chanyeol,” Our manager hyung interrupt. Both Kris and I stared at him. He entered the room with his hands on his pockets. “This feeling called love, it’s a scary one.” Kris nodded and manager hyung sat next to him. “What you’re experiencing know is completely normal. I have been through the same situation and believe me; I’ve been experiencing it a lot. In fact, I experienced it when I was probably a lot younger than you are now.” He pulled out a proud face and Kris high-fived him.

I chuckled. “It is?” I bravely asked.

“It is. Now tell me, what do you feel when she stormed out of the room, leaving us yesterday?” I thought hard. “It feels like my heart is ripping,” I slowly said. “Like, the scary feeling that I won’t ever get to see her again,” Kris and manager hyung smiled. I cringed at my own answer but it was the truth.

“You’re in love, Chanyeol,” D.O called out from the door. He and Baekhyun entered the room as well.

“He went to hunt you but we overheard this heart-warming conversation,” Baekhyun smiled and sat next to me. “You do realize that you haven’t arranged your stuff yet, don’t you?” D.O warned me. I playfully nodded my head and he let out a small sigh. “Ne, ne, mom... I know,” I pinched his cheeks. D.O too sat next to us and joined the conversation.

“You know,” Baekhyun started, “If Chanyeol really has feelings for that girl—”

“He does.” Manager hyung corrected him.

“Okay, if Chanyeol does have some feelings for Haerin, this must’ve been one of those cases of love at first sight, eyy?” He teased me. The others cracked into laughter. And so did me.

But…come to think of it…is it?