I managed to stop him from proceeding with the next part of his agenda.

“I have enough clothes, Baek,” I told him as I tugged his arm, away from the clothes store he was about to go into.

“I just want you to try a few things,” he said, tugging his hand out of my grip and grabbing my wrist instead. “I’ve never seen you in anything but shirts, jeans and shorts. I think you’d look good in a dress.”

“I have a dress –dresses –in my closet,” I told him as I tried to drag him back.

He paused, glancing at me with a surprised look in his eyes.

“My mother likes to dress me up,” I explained. “She bought those when she went shopping after work. I just rarely wear them. Really, Baekhyun,” I pleaded to him, “it’s unnecessary.”

“Alright,” he said after a moment’s consideration, turning away and heading down the opposite direction. “We can skip the clothes then.”

Heaving a sigh of relief, I followed him.

“So where are we going to now?” I asked, matching my steps with his.

“Well, seeing that we’re skipping the shopping part of the plan, why not we just hang out? And you help me shop for clothes.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You want my input?”

“I want to buy something that Soojin will think I look good in. You’re a girl, so you two would probably have the same point of view so...”

“Alright, alright,” I gave in with a sigh. “Lead the way.”

It ended up being a full-blown shopping trip. At first, Baekhyun was serious, trying on shirts and hats and asking me if he looked good on them. He bought a few things that I had chosen and given my approval to, and sometimes, he would try to convince me to try a few things that he thought looked nice from the shop windows, all of which I refused.

When he finally admitted defeat and declared that he couldn’t win with me, he started fooling around, plopping silly hats onto his head, putting on funny masks he found inside a party store. We laughed over the funny elf suit in the window of a costume store, and Baekhyun made me laugh even by wearing the hat and pointy ears and then jumping in front of me to surprise me.

We had a good time, Baekhyun and I. Moments like this had been scarce over the past few weeks, and with Baekhyun’s constant unavailability due to all the time he spent to woo Soojin, we rarely hung out together anymore. Not that I was upset; I knew he wouldn’t abandon me for the sake of another girl. But I also knew that now, I couldn’t have him to myself, that Baekhyun would have to alternate his time between us.

“Did that really happen?” I asked in disbelief as we were ice cream, taking a break from walking.

“Yup,” Baekhyun said with a grin. “Ran straight into the basketball pole. That’s what he gets for staring at too many girls.”

I chuckled and my strawberry and chocolate flavoured ice cream. “The one time where Kim Jongin loses his cool. I can’t believe I missed that.”

Baekhyun laughed with me and continued to his chocolate mint, trying to staunch its flow down the cone and onto his fingers. He looked up, and his eyes twinkled. A grin began to spread across his face.

“Looks like we got company. Your prince is coming in.”

My eyes widened and I whirled around to look at the door. Baekhyun caught my face gently with his hands and turned my head, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“No. Don’t look. I want you to act normal. Pretend that you’re here alone. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on you.” He smirked. “Good thing you kept the make-up on, huh?”

“Baekhyun, I –”

“Sit still,” he ordered. “Look thoughtful, occupied, as if you’re living in your own little world. Pretend that you haven’t seen him. He’ll come to you, I’m sure of that.” Without another word, Baekhyun slunk away, turning his back on me and pretending to wash his hands.

I took a deep breath and did as I was told. I leaned back and my cone, letting the coolness of the air conditioner calm my nerves. I picked up my phone and began scrolling through the e-book I had downloaded. An image of the school player, Kim Jongin, running into a basketball pole flickered through my head, and a smile spread across my face.

“Hey.”

The sound of his voice made me look up. Luhan was smiling at me, holding a cone with a scoop of vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream. I blinked up at him for a while, unable to say anything. I hadn’t expected him to actually come and talk to me, regardless how sure Baekhyun was. I was surprised that his prediction was right.

“Hi,” I said, my head clearing and my voice returning to give him a response. “Your ice cream...” I pointed to his cone.

“Oh!” Luhan quickly brought the cone to his mouth and bent his head to the tiny drop dribbling down the side. “Didn’t see that,” he said with a sheepish laugh. “Anyway, do you mind if I sit here?”

I blinked in surprise again at his request. I was expecting him to say hi and then excuse himself to leave. My eyes flickered towards Baekhyun. His back was still turned to me, but I could him watching us from the mirror above the sink, a small smile on his face as he winked at me.

“Go ahead,” I said to Luhan.

He pulled out the seat and settled into it. For a moment, everything between us was silent. I my ice cream thoughtfully, too aware of Luhan’s presence and the fact that he was only an arm’s length away. I did my best to not stare at him, diverting my gaze to the tables, chairs, ceilings, and Baekhyun’s figure as he sat at the table at the far corner of the shop, watching us. Our eyes met, and he did a quick motion for me to talk to Luhan.

I was fortunate, for it was Luhan who began to speak first. “Are you here alone?”

I tore my eyes away from Baekhyun, turning to look at Luhan and his gentle, curious smile. “I was here with a friend; he already left.”

“Was it Baekhyun?”

Once again, I was surprised. How did Luhan know Baekhyun? My eyes flickered nervously towards Baekhyun, who was doing wild motions with his hand for me to turn and face Luhan again. Thankfully, Luhan sat with his back facing him.

“Yeah. How’d you guess?”

“I always see you with him,” he explained as he dabbed a tissue over his mouth to wipe the smear at the corner of his lips. “You’re always with him, and I always see him with either you, or that Soojin girl. Are you three close?”

I bit into my cone and swallowed as I decided what I should tell him. “Baekhyun and I are close friends, but I’ve just met Soojin. She’s a new acquaintance. As for him and Soojin...” I trailed off, my eyes darting up to the ceiling as I tried to find the words to explain the start of their courtship. “He, um, finds her to be very fascinating.”

Luhan laughed, catching the meaning of my words easily. “Meaning he likes her.”

I cracked a smile. “Yeah. You can say that.”

Luhan nodded and munched on his cone. I nibbled on mine, feeling the butterflies surface in my stomach.

“That means you’re not together then,” he said.

I swallowed with a gulp. The butterflies were flying around in circles in my stomach now. “Together with whom?”

“Baekhyun. Since he’s interested in another girl, I take it you’re not dating, right?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head somewhat feverishly. “No we’re not.”

Luhan flashed a dazzling smile that made my heart stop. “Good to know.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and munched on what was left of my cone. Luhan popped his into his mouth.

“You done?” he asked, standing up. “Would you like to hang out with me?”

I glanced at Baekhyun, who was practically jumping up and down in his seat while gesturing wildly to instruct me to accept Luhan’s offer. Thank goodness there weren’t any people in here besides the three of us; they would have mistaken him for some sort of deranged boy who was seeing monsters coming through the walls.

“Sure,” I said to Luhan. I saw Baekhyun slump down in his seat, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“So, how was your date?” Baekhyun greeted me the minute I passed his house, joining me.

“It was not a date,” I said, glaring slightly at him from the corner of my eyes. I could see that he was smirking.

“How do you know it wasn’t?”

“Luhan specifically said the word ‘hang-out’,” I said firmly.

We were walking to school, as was our custom for the five weekdays of every week. The sky was still a brilliant blue, giving enough light to let us see by, but not enough to colour everything into its vibrant brilliance. Soft glows of light emitted from the street lights, creating a trail down the road.

“Maybe it’s for your sake. Probably the word ‘date’ is still too new for him to use as a term when he decided to ‘hang-out’ with you.”

“Exactly why it’s not a date.”

“How about I rephrase it to ‘unofficial date’?”

I sighed in exasperation. “Baekhyun we weren’t going out. Heck, we didn’t even go there together. He just happened to invite me when he saw me.”

“You know, guys don’t just invite any girl they see out in the streets to hang out with them,” Baekhyun said.

“I’m not a girl he met on the street. I know him,” I said, feeling indignant.

“Exactly why we should call it a date.”

I gritted my teeth and glared at him.

“Alright fine. Unofficial date.”

I sighed in exasperation and pressed my lips together, determined not to answer any of his questions any more. My broiling anger and the fact he was smirking at me made that resolve fade away, and I immediately snapped back at him:

“In that case, we should call those times you hang out with Soojin dates too.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth, about to argue, but sputtered a few incomprehensible words before pouting and crossing his arms over his chest. I took it as mark of my victory.

“Alright, fine. Those weren’t dates, but I’ll admit that I want them to be.”

“It’s an unofficial date then.”

Baekhyun laughed when I used his phrase and shook his head. “More like a one-sided date.”

“That what you think. Maybe she counts it as an unofficial date too.”

Baekhyun’s eyes twinkled. He grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me to face him. “Really? Did she say anything about it to you?”

“No, she didn’t say anything,” I said with a mysterious smile.

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at me. “But she told you something.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t want to jump into conclusions. Let her tell you herself.” I shied myself out of his grip and jogged away.

“Yah, get back here! Tell me what she said!” Baekhyun yelled as he ran to catch up with me.