“59 kg” the scale read as you slowly stepped off of it. It was now the summer time, and your weight went down by 5 kilograms thanks to Minseok’s intense exercising and training. You walk back into your room and take a look at your calendar. July 15^th 2012.

The two of you have known each other for around 4 months, and during that time both of you have become quite close. You would talk over video chat, call, or text; always coming to each other when there were problems. Minseok would always come to your house for dinner or just for a short “hello” before going to work. Both Hyeran and your brother took a liking to him, especially Hyeran. She could tell that you had some sort of feelings for Minseok, whether as a really close friend, or a crush.

You plop on the bed, hands and feel sprawled all over the place, and look at your ceiling, “just a close friend…” you sigh and start coughing, “Ugh… becoming sick certainly does not help add to these weird feelings.” You turn on your side, about to fall into a deep sleep, when your phone starts ringing right next to your ear. You jump and grab it, checking the caller ID.

Minseok. You made sure to change his name from ‘Xiumin’ to ‘Minseok’ on your phone as well. You smiled. You were happy to hear his voice because the two of you hadn’t talked for a few weeks. He had been super busy traveling from China to Korea and practicing. But you didn’t mind, it was his job after all.

You pick up, “Hello? What’s up?” you ask, your voice hoarse from all of the coughing.

“HYUNJAE!—oh, you sound terrible, are you sick?” worry in his voice.

Shoot. I don’t want him to know. You chuckle, “No, of course not, I was just tired.”

“Hmm…” He contemplates on whether or not you’re telling the truth or not before continuing, “So today is annual Summer Festival!”

“Oh!” You had completely forgotten it was today. You were surprised you had forgotten because you go to the same festival every year with Hyeran and your brother. “What about it?” You ask, completely oblivious as to what was going on.

“Weeeeell,” he starts off, “I want you to come with me and a few friends from EXO-M.”

You were shocked to hear this. Go with him? Kim Minseok? And some of the members of EXO-M? Usually you would feel grateful and honored to have this opportunity, but something inside told you that you would only be a burden. Besides, although Minseok has been exposed to most of your family, you haven’t been exposed to his—EXO. Never once did you meet EXO, nor did you think Minseok talked about you to them. You thought it’d be awkward for him to, out of the blue, say, “Oh, hey guys! This is Hyunjae. I’ve been secretly hanging out with her behind your backs for the past 4 months.” You thought of some excuse that could get you out of this situation.

“I’m uh… busy…” You stammered.

“Busy? But when I called your brother an hour ago he said you were completely free and would rather me take you than him.” Minseok argues.

You hit your forehead with your palm, now embarrassed. “Um… I guess I’ll go.” You murmur.

“Okay then! I’ll see you in about an hour, get ready fast okay!” He exclaimed.

You then realized that you had completely forgotten the perfect and actually true excuse you had. You were sick.

“W-Wait Minseo—“

The line was dead.

You sighed once more and walk over to your drawer. You rummage through the pile of junk and pull out a mask to prevent you spreading your sickness. “Maybe I’ll use this,” you stare at it, “everyone where’s these, I’ll blend in hopefully.”

You go through your closet and throw on a white collared blouse, black high waisted shorts, black combat boots, and a few bracelets here and there.

 [This but with black shorts]

You slightly curled your hair and tied it into two messy pigtails at the bottom of your head. You put on a slight touch of makeup to lessen the look your sickly face. When you’re finished prepping yourself up you look at the clock. Exactly an hour has passed.

It takes another 10 minutes before you get a call from Minseok, “Hey! Sorry for being so late, I was getting ready. Are you all done?”

You grinned, “Yep! Should I come out now?”

“Yes you should~” He answered. You grabbed your mask and proceeded down the stairs to find your brother and Hyeran sitting on the couch watching a movie.

“Unnie, Oppa, I’m heading out now,” You called to them.

They turned their heads and smiled. “Alright, have fun, kiddo,” Your brother answered back.

“Don’t come back to late, we don’t want to get suspicious of what you two may be doing~” Hyunjae giggled and your face turned red. She teased you so much about Minseok, yet you were still not able to get used to it.

You gave a slight nod and closed the door behind you, “Bye guys!”

You saw Minseok standing in front of the passenger side door, waiting for you with a big smile on his face and arms wide open, practically begging for a hug. For just a moment, you forget about your cold and start to run to him. When you remember, you stop in your tracks, not wanting to get this precious idol sick. Minseok noticed that you stopped, but you were already only a foot away from him that he took this to his advantage. He leaned forward and engulfed you in his arms, pulling you into his warm chest. You couldn’t help but wrap your arms around him. He pulled you in closer and whispered into the top of your head, “I haven’t seen you or talked to you in weeks… I missed you so much…”

With this remark, your face turned almost every shade of red possible. You knew you most likely interpreted this wrong. He’s just saying that because you’re one of his closest friends…right? Obviously he wasn’t saying this for any other reason. You let all other thoughts erase from your head and decided to simply love the moment you two were having.

Until his phone rang.

Both of your eyes shot open, and awkwardly pulled away from each other. “Damnit…” Minseok murmured as he searched for his phone. “Hello? Oh Luhan… Yeah, I’m coming now…. I don’t care if there’s free food, you have to wait! Goodbye.” Xiumin hung up and looked at you awkwardly, tugging at his collar, “S-soo… Shall we go?” He asked, opening up the passenger door. You stepped inside and he started the car.

---

The car ride was quite an awkward one. Neither of you brought up what had happened a few minutes ago… In fact, neither of you brought up anything at all until you decided to break the ice. “So how was China?” You asked with a little smile on your face.

“Pretty good. There were a lot of yummy foods there,” He chuckled.

The atmosphere didn’t seem as awkward as before and the two of you talked the rest of the way there.

---

The two of you stepped out of the car and were immediately blinded by the hundreds of beautiful lights around the festival area. You stood there to bask in the beauty of it all, it was much better than any of the years you went to; kids playing in game booths, food carts, music everywhere, people dancing. It was all amazing. You didn’t move an inch until you felt something warm touching your hand—Minseok’s hand. He grabbed your hand and held it tight. It took you by surprise and you looked up at him in confusion.

“You don’t want to get lost now do you?” He smiled.

“Oh…yeah…” You looked down, worrying Minseok.

“What’s wrong, Hyunjae?”

“Oh!” You waved your free hand in front of you, “Nothing at all! Just thinking about stuff.”

Minseok grinned, “Okay then. Let’s go!” He proceeded to pull you in the direction of the glowing lights.

Your first stop was at a frozen banana stand. You couldn’t get enough of them, and you rarely had the chance to eat one. Buuut, you had no money.

“Hmph…” You stared at the bananas and began to tear your bag apart trying to look for the slightest bit of change inside. Sadly, there was no luck.

Xiumin tilted his head and pulled out a dollar, “Need this?” He smiled and you looked at the money.

“N-no! I can’t take your money! Besides, it’s fine I have to watch my weight anyways,” You pushed his hand away and started to walk to the next stand. After a good few seconds you realized Minseok wasn’t with you. You turned and watched as he came running to you, a frozen banana in each of his hands.

He stopped in front of you and smiled. He handed you a chocolate covered one, “One for you,” he took a bite of the other one in his hand, “and one for me.”

You took the dessert from his hands and took a bite, “You know, you really didn’t have to get me one,” you looked up at him and smiled, chocolate sauce all over your mouth, “but thank you.”

It was hard for Minseok not to laugh. He couldn’t take you seriously with the bunch of chocolate all over your face. You gave him a little slap on the shoulder, causing him to laugh even harder. You pouted, “What’s so funny, huh?”

He wiped a tear and chuckled a little, “You have something around there,” he made a circle-motion with his finger in front of your mouth. You had no napkins, so you un-lady-likely try to wipe the chocolate off with the back of your hand, causing it to spread even more around your face. Minseok covered his mouth to hold back a laugh. “Here, I’ll get it.” Since there were no napkins, he took this to his advantage. He his thumb and brought it to your face, wiping the chocolate from the sides of your mouth and grazing over your lips. Your cheeks turned a pink as his finger left from your mouth to his tongue, off the excess chocolate. He grinned at you and you just stared back, dazed. The two of you stood still until the ringing of a phone was heard.

Minseok answered it, “Hello?”

“YAH! WHERE ARE YOU!?!?” You could hear a loud, angry boy coming from the other line.

Minseok pulled his phone back a little, the boy’s voice was way too loud for him, “Woah there. Tone it down, Luhan.” Oh, so he’s talking to Luhan. You thought.

“Come to the fishing game booth, Tao won’t stop trying to win a dumb fish,” Luhan grumbled.

Xiumin chuckled, “Alright we’ll be over there now.” He hung up and looked at you, “So, how ‘bout that fishing booth?” He linked his arm with yours and began to walk, you followed his footsteps, walking side by side.

After a few minutes or so of walking, you two made your way to the fishing game booth. You could see Luhan, Kris, and Tao all lined up in front of the kiddy pool filled with goldfish as Tao attempted to grab one with a small net. You two walked over and Minseok gave a loud cough, startling the other members.

Luhan stood up first, “Minseok you’re finally he—“ he stopped and took one glance at you, “HYUNJAE!! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” He took your hands into his and smiled brightly.

 Tao stood up with excitement, “Hyunjae’s here!?” He ran over to you, pushing Luhan away, and pinched your chubby cheeks. “Ooh~ She’s so cute!!” He cooed. Resulting in a slap on his hands from Minseok.

Kris stood up after and gave a warm smile, “Hello Hyunjae.”

“Y-you know about me?” You were so confused. Minseok had told them about you? How come you never knew this, though? You were relieved to find out that there would be no problems, though.

Luhan giggled. He was even more adorable in person. “Shh,” he put a finger to his lips and gave you a wink, “You’re still a secret to the rest of the EXO members.” You tilted your head.

“Yeah, we kind of found out by accident,” Kris jumped in. “Here’s how it went…”

[ FLASHBACK ]

Minseok quietly closed the door behind him. He checked to see if there was anyone around before jumping up and down, quietly squealing like a child. Little did he know Kris, Tao, and Luhan had walked in from the other room as he was doing so.

“Uh…” Luhan said awkwardly, “What the hell are you doing?”

Minseok stopped immediately and turned to face the three of them.

Tao covered his eyes with his hands and Kris just stood there wide eyed. “I hope to never witness that again,” Tao murmured.  Kris nodded.

“What’s gotten into you?” Luhan asked.

“U-uh, nothing much. Why you ask?” Minseok replied, slowly inching towards his room when Kris stopped him.

“It’s a girl isn’t it?” He asked sternly.

“W-WHAT—O-OF COURSE NOT KRIS!” Minseok protested.

Kris smirked and pushed Minseok onto the couch. “Hold him down.” He ordered. Luhan and Tao obeyed, each one holding down an arm. Kris inched closer and closer, “So, Minseok has a little crush?”

Minseok’s cheeks turned a bright pink. He puffed his cheeks and looked away, “S-so what if I do?”

The three boys’ faces lit up, each one of them grinning. Luhan and Tao let go of him and Kris messed up his hair, “That’s all I wanted to hear.” All three of them sat down on the couch next to Minseok. “Now, tell us all about her. And I mean all.” Kris ordered.

[FLASHBACK END]

“And so he did,” Kris said, finishing up his story.

You tried to put on your best poker face, although you could feel the burning of your hot cheeks. Did Minseok really admit to having a crush on you? You turned to Minseok for an answer.

He shook his head and mouthed, “He’s lying to you.” Actually he’s telling the exact truth. Minseok thought to himself.

You frowned, a bit disappointed, but you didn’t let it bother you. You two were good friends. He was an idol. There was no time or need for you to be crushing on each other.

It became quite silent until you broke the ice with a sneeze. Uh oh, I forgot about the mask. I left it in the car. You thought to yourself.

Minseok looked at you with concern, “Are you cold? Sick?”

You shook your head. To be honest, you were freezing. Although it was Summer time, this was an unusual cold night.

“Nonsense, you look like you’re about to die,” He said, taking off his jacket and placing it on top of your shoulders.

“Aaw,” Luhan and Tao said in unison. Kris slapped the back of both of their heads to shut them up. He couldn’t help but to also think you two looked adorable.

“Shall we go now?” Kris asked sweetly. You were surprised he was such a gentleman even though he had such a cold-looking face.

---

The five of you hung out for the next 3 hours; playing games, finding new things to eat, and dancing to the music. All of you seemed to be enjoying yourselves, even you, the sick one. All five of you were able to be open about everything since the festival was for mainly small children and the elders, no one seemed to recognized the members of a famous idol group.

When it began get really dark you guys decided to split up and say your good-byes.

“It was so nice to meet you, Hyunjae!!” Tao wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close, rubbing his cheek to the top of your head, causing you to giggle.

“It was nice to meet you too, Tao!” You were released from his embrace and you turned your attention over to Kris and Luhan.

“It was great to get to know you, Hyunjae,” Luhan pinched your cheeks and gave you a warm hug.

You smiled, “Like-wise.” Luhan pulled back, giving you one last smile before pushing you over to Kris, causing you to bump into him. You looked up at him, and he looked down at you.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Hyunjae,” He gave you a quick hug and gave you a slight push towards Minseok.

You looked back at them and waved, “Bye you guys!” They waved back at you, each one with a smile on their face. Minseok locked arms with you and the two of you walked away. Minseok looked back when you weren’t looking to find Kris, Luhan, and Tao silently cheering him on. Minseok gave a glare, but they continued on having their fun.

---

Minseok had led you up a hill. You were so far from the festival that everything was quiet and the only light that shined was the Moon’s. Minseok sat down on a patch of grass that faced the horizon. He looked at you and pat a spot right next to him.

You took a look at him, “Why are we up here?” You asked.

“Why not?” he smirked.

“Just wondering…” You smiled, looking up at the stars.

The two of you sat there for a while until you sneezed a couple of times in a row.

Minseok frowned, “You’re sick aren’t you?”

You couldn’t ignore that question any longer, “Yes… I am. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I know, I’m such a selfish person, not thinking about you possibly getting sick and not being able to attend your job. I just really wanted to come here today and hang out with you because I haven’t seen you in so lo—“ You were cut off by the warm feeling of Minseok’s chest.

He held you so close to him that you could feel his heart beat loud and clear. He rubbed up and down the side of your arm and rested his chin on your head.

“Umm… Don’t mind me asking, but what are you doing?” You were enjoying this moment, but it didn’t hurt to ask for a reason.

“Hmmm?” You could hear his voice vibrating on the top of your head, “I’m keeping you warm Hyunjae. We can’t go home yet, the fireworks are about to start.”

And as if right on cue, the first firework shot up and exploded in the air. You were startled by this and instinctively grabbed on to Minseok’s shirt. He chuckled and began to pet your hair. “It’s okay,” He said gently, “Just the fireworks.”

The two of you sat in this position for about 20 minutes, watching as each beautiful firework exploded in the sky. As the last few fireworks began to shoot up into the sky. Minseok looked up, “You know Hyunjae… I think I’m really starting to li—“ Suddenly, Minseok felt a thud on his lap. It was your head. You had fallen asleep, but something was a little off. He put his hand on your forehead to find you burning up. He furrowed his brow, carefully lifting you off of his lap and into his arms.

He carried you back down the hill, into the car, and drove back to your house.

Minseok made sure to call your brother before you two had come home so that he could prepare a cold towel for your forehead, and medicine to make the fever go down.

When you arrived, Minseok placed you on your bed. Your brother put the towel on your forehead, and left medicine on your nightstand with a sticky note attached that said, “Hyunjae, I hope you feel better, please drink this when you wake up, it’ll make the fever go down.”  Your brother headed downstairs leaving you with Minseok.

Minseok looked at you and frowned, “I’m sorry Hyunjae, I should’ve known earlier.” He brushed strands of hair from your head and began to head out of the room. Before he left, he remembered something. You still had his jacket from the first time the two of you had met. He grabbed it off of your chair and placed it on you, followed by the jacket he gave to you that night. He knew you shouldn’t be too warm, but he wanted to make sure you were all tucked in. He patted your head and smiled before walking out the room.

“Thanks for taking care of Hyunjae today, Minseok, sorry she might’ve caused you trouble,” Chihoon said as he washed the dishes. He was basically the mother of the house.

“It’s no problem, sorry I didn’t realize about her having a fever earlier.”

“No worries, now have a good night,” Chihoon waved as Minseok walked out the door.

“Good night!” Minseok waved, closing the door behind him.

“Now, time to go to the store for soup and magazines,” He cracked his knuckles, grinning, as he got into his car.

Well, that was longer than I expected!!

So i made a poll about who I should write about next, so go check that out under "Chapter 5"

I'll post the results when I finish the next chapter (so maybe in a week?) SO GO VOTE!

I'm happy I was able to update again, but now i'm seriously leaving for finals!

I hope you enjoyed this sappy chapter, filled with my take at "ROMANCE" LOOOL.

don't worry, there will be drama in a few chapters from now >;)

okbye.

HUGS FOR YOU ALL.