-- Back to Hyemi's POV.

I woke up with a massive headache this morning. I stayed in bed, hoping that the pain would stop shooting before afternoon reached. The curtain drapes were already slid open, allowing the sun rays to brighten up the whole room. I noticed a note placed on my bedside table. It read:

We're testing the new bicycle that arrived this morning. Just meet us down at the beach when you feel better.

 -- Sehun

As I examined the small piece of paper, I uncapped the bottle of water that was next to it.

Leaving this note wasn't the only thing Sehun did in my room. He snuck out of it at around seven o'clock this morning too. He slept the night. The smell of his cologne still lingered on my bedsheets. Not to mention he forgot to bring his jacket along with him before leaving.

When he got out of bed, the warmth and comfort I was feeling just disappeared and my sleep was ruined after that. I'm going to kill him for staying the night.

After my headache subsided, I decided to take a shower and make my way downstairs to meet the boys. I immediately spotted Exo-K across the road after walking out of the hotel. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were bickering about who's turn to ride the bike while the rest just sat and watched their tugging of the vehicle. 

"Hi, everyone!" I greeted them. They turned to me with large grins.

"Hyemi, you made it!"

"Yeah. Are you all having fun with that?" I pointed at the bicycle before sitting down next to Sehun. 

"No! Chanyeol hasn't given us a chance to ride it yet!" Baekhyun gripped on the left handle and forcefully pulled it in his direction.

"And look what he did. He broke its bell already!" D.O lifted the silver instrument that was detached from the bicycle.

"That wasn't my fault! It just fell off," Chanyeol protested, leaning the bike on his side by its right handle.

"No, it didn't. You just wouldn't stop ringing the annoying thing!" Baekhyun said. Just then, I felt someone nudge my arm.

"How are you feeling?" Sehun asked me. 

"Not too bad. My headache is going away," I replied. 

"That's good. I was going to check up on you even if you hadn't shown up."

"Yeah, right. You totally forgot about me."

"I kept wondering when you'd come. I was getting bored," Sehun said with a shrug. 

"Oh, by the way. What were you thinking sleeping on my bed last night?" I brought up the issue. He looked surprised for a moment. 

"I didn't know it was your room until I woke up," was his excuse. 

"That's the most ridiculous lie I've ever heard!" I slapped his arm.

"Okay, fine! But you'll get embarrassed if I tell you the real reason."

I scoffed, "Me? No way. It should be you feeling embarrassed."

Sehun chuckled, "Trust me. It's you."

"Just tell me what happened," I demanded. 

"Okay. After I settled you down on your bed, you woke up and suddenly grabbed my arm. You wouldn't let go. I tried my best to get your hands off, but you wouldn't stop begging me to stay and so--"

"Hold on!" I abruptly got up on my feet. "That is so not what happened." 

"How would you know? You don't even remember anything!" he argued. 

"I'm sure that didn't happen at all. I wouldn't beg you!"

"Hyemi, you were drunk. You had no idea what was going on at all. Can I please just continue what I was saying? Don't interrupt me while I tell my story. Gosh."

I rolled my eyes. 

"Anyway, you kept telling me to stay. I couldn't leave until you fell asleep, but by the time you finally lost consciousness I was too tired to go back to my room and so I just decided to sleep next to you," Sehun ended his explanation with a smile.

I remained silent for a few seconds to absorb the information I just heard. 

"So it was your fault," I concluded. 

"What? No! Didn't you listen to the story?!" he said in an obvious tone of voice. 

"Didn't you? You had the chance to return to your room, but you stayed instead."

"Yes, because you clawed my arm so hard that I couldn't escape. Do you know how tiring it was sitting there for at least an hour? Although, it was cute watching you sleep..."

"Sehun! What is this nonsense you're talking about?!" I shouted.

"I'm just telling you what happened. It's your choice if you want to believe me or not. Even ask Baekhyun. He was there when I laid you down last night," he stated, looking so confident.

He was able to display a believable act all this time and I'm almost convinced with his side of the story.

"Whatever," I mumbled. "I'm letting this go for now and I'll find out what really happened later."

"Did I disturb you when I got up to go back to my room this morning?" Sehun questioned.

"Yes. I couldn't sleep properly afterwards," I murmured, looking down at my feet. 

"Oh. Why? Did you miss me hugging you?" 

My head quickly shot up, "No!"

"Don't worry. I couldn't sleep on my own bed as well because you weren't next to me anymore. I know you missed me," Sehun cheekily smiled.

"That wasn't it!" I protested. 

"Anyway, I'm going to find a bubble tea store around here. You want to help me look for one?" he randomly asked.

My ears perked up when I heard him mention bubble tea. I haven't drank one since the day we left for Jeju Island. Thinking about it made me miss my store back home.

"Okay. Let's go!" I said rather excitedly. 

It didn't take Sehun and I too long to locate a store as he knew the directions quite well. I'm sure it wasn't the first time he visited there. When we arrived, I immediately took notice of the swarm of teenage boys outside the place. I grew curious as to why there was a very low number of female customers and only a large crowd of guys.

"What's going on?" I questioned Sehun as I tiptoed to see what was happening inside.

"It's always like this each time I come to buy a drink. Let's go in," he guided me to the enterance.

I finally found the cause of the commotion when we reached the front counter. A small staff of extremely gorgeous teenage girls were working behind the cash registers. 

"Hello, how may I help-- oh, hey, Sehun!" the very attractive female employee serving us greeted Sehun with a bright smile.

"Hi, again," Sehun mirrored her happy expression. I eyed the pair suspiciously.

"Chocolate bubble tea, I know," she spoke before even getting the order.

"You remember," Sehun replied. 

"Of course. How could I forget? You come almost every day since the week started."

Every day? What?

"I just can't get enough of your drinks. Make me another one?" Sehun asked.

She chuckled, "Sure."

I feel so ignored.

To remind Sehun of my presence and end my invisibility, I cleared my throat loudly. They both turned to me.

"Get the same drink for my friend too. Thanks," he ordered for me.

"Of course," the girl smiled at me. "It won't be too long. Just take a seat."

"Hyemi, come on," Sehun lightly placed his hands on my waist and led me to two vacant seats.

"This place is so crowded," he observed the people inside and the long queue beginning to form.

"Yeah, it's crazy," I nodded. I wish business was like this for my family.

"Maybe it's just hot today and they all want cold drinks," Sehun shrugged. 

"Yeah, that's why," I sarcastically said and did my best not to do an eye roll.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you not want to get anything from here?" Sehun's forehead creased at my sudden mood change.

"No, no! That's not it. I want to try their drinks," I tried to show a more positive reaction.

"Well, I'm sure you'll like it."

Despite the busy service we still managed to get our drinks within five minutes. The same girl brought it to our table, smiling much wider at Sehun than at me before walking away to go back to work.

"So you've been coming here a lot?" I questioned Sehun as I took small sips of my drink.

I was drinking a chocolate bubble tea, however this and the same flavor I always make for myself had completely different tastes.

"Yeah. Exo doesn't know about this place yet. I haven't told them," Sehun replied, folding his arms on the table.

"You secretly go here by yourself?"

He nodded, "When I get the chance."

"I can't believe you haven't taken me here until now. You know I love bubble tea," I frowned.

"I planned to, but you were always busy hanging out with the boys."

"You seem to be good friends with that one girl. I think she likes you," I told him. Sehun glanced over his shoulder to look at her.

"Does she? I don't know, I've never noticed. I forgot her name," he tilted his head in confusion.

"As if you don't know. She has a name tag. And she knows yours."

"Yeah, she asked for my name when I ordered for the first time. I only come here for the bubble tea, okay?"

"So you don't come here just to check out those girls like all of these guys are doing right now?" I narrowed my eyes at Sehun.

He geniunely looked startled by my accusation.

"Of course not! Is that what you think? I don't have an inapproriate mind!" he argued.

"Well, I just thought that was it! Look at how many boys there are in here. If you haven't noticed, there are hardly any girls except the employees." 

"Hyemi, do you want to know the real reason why I come here often?" Sehun asked.

"Why?"

"It's because I miss your bubble tea store so much. This place reminds me of it a lot." 

"O-Oh. You miss it? Really?" I wasn't expecting his reason to be that.

"Yeah. Especially your chocolate bubble tea. You know, the one you always make for me? I haven't had a taste of it in a week. I miss it," a pout appeared on his face.

"But you said you can't get enough of the drink here. You obviously like her bubble tea," I nodded towards the drink he was holding.

"Sure. It's nice, but I honestly like yours better. Yours has more flavor, it's more sweeter and just hands down the best. I wouldn't love any other ones. I only buy here to compare and realize how good yours is every time."

I felt my mood escalate quickly. He's so sweet for saying that.

"Plus, you look way more attractive in a uniform than any of those girls," Sehun added.

My lips parted in surprise. "Sehun!"

"What? I'm just stating the obvious."

"And you say you don't have an inappropriate mind. Please," I turned my head and scoffed.

"Hyemi, stop blushing," he poked my cheek playfully.

"I'm not!" I told him.

"Yeah, you are. Stop being so cute."

I groaned on the inside. He's been doing a great job at embarrassing me lately. Seeing him playful like this is so adorable that it makes me want to throw up rainbows.

I stood up from my chair, "I think we should go back now." 

"Oh, you're leaving?" the same girl suddenly came up and placed a hand on Sehun's shoulder to sit him back down.

"Yes. We are. Come on, Sehun," I grabbed his arm and pulled him back up to his feet. I smiled at her, "Bye."

"Um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow! Maybe," Sehun managed to tell her before I briskily pulled him out of the store with me.

"Hyemi, slow down!" Sehun said.

I didn't let him go until we turned to a corner. He then stood firmly to stop us both in our tracks. 

"What was that about?" Sehun was staring at me with a puzzled expression.

"It was getting too crowded," I simply said.

"Oh, okay," Sehun shrugged before brushing past me. "You were jealous."

My eyes widened at his retreating back. "E-Excuse me?!"

"I said the boys are waiting for us! Let's go."  

I hurriedly walked over to him.

"If you're going back there tomorrow, don't ask me to come with you, okay?" I told him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going back there anymore."

Oh, it's not that hard to convince him after all.

"Good. Just don't," I said. Sehun chuckled at how demanding I sounded.

"Don't bother bringing the others there too. They won't like it," I nonchalantly said.

"I'll listen to you if you do one small favor for me."

"What is it?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Hold my hand until we reach the beach and tell the boys that I'm your favorite out of all of us."

What.

"That's not small! And it's two favors!" I pointed out.

"I know. Are you going to do it?"

"No," I firmly said before walking away from him.

Unexpectedly, he grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. I looked back at him, startled by what he just did.

"We're already at the beach and it'll take less than five minutes for us to reach them. You might as well do the first favor for me," Sehun reasoned.

"We're not at the beach yet, genius," I tried to shake my hand free.

Knowing Sehun, he wasn't going to give up easily. I'll probably end up having my hand locked with his the whole day.

"When was the last time you held someone's hand like this?" Sehun questioned.

"With Kris."

"What?! When?! Why?!" he quickly asked, shocked.

I looked at him strangely, "We had to do an exercise for gym class last week."

"Oh," he let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I meant with someone special."

I pondered at the question for a moment.

"Since my last boyfriend, I guess," I shrugged. That was two years ago.

"Well, I haven't done this in a while. It feels kind of nice," a small smile crept on Sehun's lips.

"It feels weird. People are staring at us," I observed.

The stares we were receiving from bystanders made me feel slightly uncomfortable. I never liked being the centre of attention. Sehun, on the other hand, didn't even look like he cared about them looking at us. It was as if he was used to being stared at all the time which made sense since girls drool over him every day.

"Let them stare," he shrugged.

This was totally misleading to anyone who had eyes.

I could feel Sehun's thumb softly caress mine. It was distracting me, to be honest. My eyes were looking straight ahead and I was drinking my bubble tea, but his touch was all I could concentrate on. 

"You better let go when we arrive where Exo is," I spoke up.

"Don't remind me. I don't want to think about it until I actually have to do it."

We just kept walking, retracing our steps back to the boys. I finished my drink and disposed it in the trash can. After a few steps, I felt my shoe loosen on my right foot. I looked down at my feet and stopped. Sehun turned to me when he noticed me halt.

"Hold on. I need to tie my shoelace," I told him. Just as I was about to kneel down and fix it, Sehun grabbed my arm.

"Don't. Let me do it for you," he got on one knee and began tying the knot for me. I watched him, astonished.

After he finished, he stood back up and smiled at me. He's sweet gesture caught me off guard for a second.

"Thanks," I said.

So sweet.

"You're welcome, pretty," he intertwined our fingers again. I haven't heard him call me that in a while.

I constantly stole glances at him to see his reaction with what was going on around us. I quickly looked away when he turned to me.

"Hyemi, I'm surprised you haven't thrown a fit about all of this yet. What's wrong with you?" he joked. I glared at him.

Just when I thought I was softening up to him, he goes and says something like that.

Sehun laughed and walked very close next to me. Our arms were brushing against each other. At that moment, I saw Exo-K in the distance at the beach still with the bicycle.

"Are you going to let go now?" he asked.

"Not yet."

Exo turned our way when they saw us approaching them.

"Where did you both go?" Baekhyun asked.

"Hyemi and I went to buy bubble tea," Sehun held up his cup.

"I don't even care! Look! We fixed the bell! It's a miracle!" Baekhyun excitedly announced as he rang the instrument endlessly with joy.

Chanyeol cringed his nose, "You're right. That is annoying."

"I see that you put the duct tape into good use," I laughed as the bell was taped in a tangled mess.

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna go back to the hotel now," Sehun said, suddenly letting go of my hand. He let our pinky touch for a few seconds before all contact was lost.

"Wait, what?" I looked down at my now free hand.

"This was fun, Hyemi. We have to end it here."

"Oh, um, okay then..."

"See you later," Sehun waved at us, giving me a quick glance and a smile.

He didn't catch the puzzled look I wore as he just turned his back and crossed the road.

I was confused as to why he was the first one to unlock our hands. I thought that that wasn't what he wanted to happen. I didn't think he'd let go so soon.

"Hyemi, what's wrong?" Kai asked me.

"Nothing."

"Tell Sehun to come back. It kind of looks like you don't want him to leave," Kai said.

"W-What? No, thats not it! Just go back to fighting for the bicycle," I told them.

"Oh, that's right. It's my turn!" Kai suddenly shouted and grabbed the bike handles.

The argument started all over again. I sat down and sighed.

Why did Sehun have to let go?