xiii.

 Dayeon eyed him for quite a while. The two were still sitting on the exact same floor of the hallway. His reddish face and pursed lips seemed too irresistable to not look at. She tilted her head for quite a few times while Zelo avoided eye contact with the curious girl. "Er, Zelo?" The doe-eyed girl neared him even more, which made him avert his eyes and backed out a bit. "What's up? You're red again... Are you okay?" Dayeon blinked twice. Zelo flinched, "N-No!" Zelo shook his head in denial, "I-It's just too... Hot?" The man reasoned as Dayeon raised her eyebrow, "Are you sure?" She sighed, "...Okay then, it seems that you're overheating." She put a hand on his forehead, making Zelo flinch once more with the sudden action. His whole body was tense and numb, more like it was burning. Eh? I feel hot inside... Zelo bit his trembling lips. Why is that?

 "I-It's nothing, really! I-I'm just surprised that you actually accepted my request..." The young man scratched the back of his neck while lowering his head. Dayeon sat back on her spot, "Oh... Well, who wouldn't?" Dayeon pouted, "...Especially when it came from you." She whispered. "What?" The very low-spoken sentence made Zelo curious as he raised his head with large eyes, "N-Nothing...! I just thought that it would be rude if I didn't give a reply, yes?" Dayeon forced a smile as Zelo nodded in agreement. At that time, he wasn't sure if he was actually nodding in agreement. His mind was still so messed up. "And by the way, I didn't think that you'd join these kinds of things yourself." Dayeon wondered, "I mean, you're a robot, and it takes time for you to adapt to be able to mingle with humans, but I guess you're different." She shrugged her shoulders, "And you're the first one to ask, I'm quite surprised myself." Dayeon stood up and dusted the dirt out of her clothes, especially at her bottom since she just sat on the hallway.

 "I'm... Surprised myself." Zelo stood up on his own, doing the same as to what Dayeon did a few milliseconds ago. "For what?" Dayeon tilted her head again. Her natural aegyo was spreading all over the place, which Zelo didn't really like for that matter. He's going to feel hot again for sure. It was his first time for a person to make him feel like this - His whole body was tense and warm, especially his pinkish cheeks and his blood was rushing so much. There were also lots of butterflies flying all around of his stomach; and for some reason, he couldn't talk properly and ended up stuttering. The young man also couldn't look at people in the eye, especially Dayeon. Not this again... He gulped, he was starting to warm up again, literally. Was it the sun's fault? No, scratch that, the sun's innocent. 

 I didn't know you had this side of you... Zelo blinked for a while. Is this the "Real Dayeon" Himchan-hyung was talking about? He forced himself to look at the girl straight in the eye. They were sparkling and... Just sparkling. They were so round and dark; it was like a black hole that kept on him in every time he would stare at the young lady. It was kind of alluring. "What is it?" Dayeon asked as Zelo snapped out of his staring competition, "Is there something on my face?" Dayeon searched for anything stuck on her face, but there was none. Her flawless, cream-colored skin was like something owned by the government that you couldn't ever vandalise. 

 "Anyways..." Dayeon coughed, Zelo got back to his senses once more. Aish! Snap out of it, Choi Junhong! He took a deep breathe and mustered up the courage to finally talk straight with her, "D-Dayeon-ssi!" He placed his hand on top of her shoulders, making her flinch for a moment. What's with the formal talk? Dayeon raised an eyebrow, "Himchan-hyu... Ah! Himchan-ssi told me that w-when you miss someone that bad, you tend to be out of character." Zelo blurted out that one long sentence in one breath, which made it hard for Dayeon to understand. But she did catch up with it. The girl pinked after the sentence finished, "Wha... What are you - " Zelo left her hanging, "Is that true?" Zelo attacked her with those puppy and pitiful eyes, they were craving for the truth. It was even cuter than Himchan's, no offense. 

 "Wha..."

  Attack.

 "Z-Zelo... Stop that!"

 Attack.

 "W-Wae?! Why are you so forceful?"

 Attack.

 Zelo kept on attacking and attacking using his puppy eyes until Dayeon lost it. He held her by the wrists and she kept on struggling, "Y-Yah! Fine!" She stomped her feet with her eyebrows furrowed, "I-It's true... Okay?!" Dayeon averted her eyes with her reddening face. I think I hit a nerve there. It was as red as Zelo's favorite cherry tomato. She's so cute, I want to bite her. Zelo grinned to himself, "So you really did miss me?" For a moment, he felt his whole body lit up just by the thought of having Dayeon miss him. Why am I so opstimistic...? And why am I only happy when she misses me? Weird. "I..." Dayeon gulped the lump that was forming in , for some reason, she wouldn't want Zelo's hands, the hands that were gripping her wrists oh so tightly release her already. Her lips trembled, she slightly parted them, but the fact of saying such an embarrassing thing to a person stopped her. "Come on~" Zelo encouraged, slowly and not noticing it, his hands went down and it got intertwined along with Dayeon's hands.

 They're kind of... Small and tiny. He gazed at the girl in front of him. So small... I want to protect her. His eyes softened at the sight in front of him, it was also sparkling and glistening. He was beaming inside so much, so much that he couldn't handle it anymore. "...Dayeon-ssi, I want to tell you something." Zelo spoke. I think it's the right time to say it. He took a very deep breath. I don't want to waste anymore time saying lies. I was a liar from the start, a liar to her - The person who considered me someone very important in her whole life. I need to say it. I must tell her that I'm not the robot she made, but the person she loved all along... 

 "I do miss you..." Dayeon finally blurted out, gripping on his hand ever so tightly like it was the most precious thing in the world. Well, it is, for her. Zelo softened once more, his eyes droopped and the feeling of lying on clouds overpowered him once more. He got into the same level as Dayeon and put his forehead on top of hers as he closed his eyes. A grin popped up on his face, "Me too..."

 No, not yet. I'll do it later... Let me cherish this moment for a while.

 The streets of Myeongdong was jam-packed and busy like usual. Zelo sighed as he put his hands on his pockets and casually walked along the big crowd of people. He sighed. Why did I end up doing this? He scratched his head and kept on complaining inside his head. Just by the time he woke up, Himchan called and gave him an erran to run, and he woke up because of that call, actually. What does he want now? Zelo kept on walking, just wishing that he wouldn't want to bump unto people he knew. Aish, I won't do it! He turned his head around and to his left, he saw a bookstore. Oh well, I don't care~ I'll go read a comic book, yeah~! He grinned and went in the store. 

 He passed by lots of aisles of books - The novels, children books, sci-fi, and of course... There would always be the "Only for Adults" ones. Zelo averted his eyes and pinked while passing by that aisle, pretending to fix his bangs to not look like a ert. "Ah, here we are~" Zelo beamed as his curious and wandering eyes browsed at all the titles of the comic books. There were dozens that he couldn't count! There was a lot for him to read. I wonder what's new... He studied every cover and title of every book. Oh, I've never heard of this one. He reached for a book that caught his attention, but then, another hand was reaching for the same book. He got his hand back and bowed a bit, "Ah, I'm sorry..." He lifted his head up again and glanced the person who also wanted it, "I didn't know you... Eh?" He blinked twice, the latter did so, too. 

 "Zelo?"

 "Dayeon?"

 They stared at each other, "What are you doing in here?" The both asked in sync. 

 "Oops, you go first." Zelo lowered his head once more with a grin and offered her to ask a question first. "N-No, I... Himchan-ssi told me to go do something for him. That's about it." She let out a small smile, "How about you?" She asked the other. "Well, Himchan-hyu... Himchan-ssi also told me the same thing, too. What a coincidence meeting you here." Dayeon nodded after hearing what he just said. Wait, he told us both? His eyes squinted in thought. In movies, if that happens, doesn't that mean that he's plotting something? "I wonder what it is..." Dayeon eyed the book in front of her. "I think it's for the meat." Zelo suddenly blurted out, "What meat?" She asked the young boy. "Well, it's Golden Week next week, right? So that means there must be barbeque~" Zelo grinned at the thought of food. What kind of outing would it be if there's no barbeque? "Meat is important in these kinds of events, more like in our daily lives! I mean, everyone likes meat. And we need food on the trip, so meat is a standing operating procedure already~" Zelo kept on blabbering until his breath ran out. Usually, Daehyun would be the one to lecture about meat and food and all. His virus was all over the place.

 "...Yeah." Dayeon's expression changed and she stared at the outside, Zelo noticed this. "What's wrong?" He asked with worried eyes, only to see that Dayeon's back was facing him and not her front. "N-Nothing." Dayeon turned around and forced a smile. Zelo frowned, "Are you sure?" I don't like it when you lie to me. Psh, speak for yourself. He rolled his eyes, "Is it Dayeon's first time to do something like this?" "Well..." Dayeon cleared , "Himchan-ssi is always the one to invite me to these kinds of things. It's nothing new, really. But the fact that I would actually join such occassion was a first for me." She explained. "Ah." Zelo mumbled as he noticed something, "By the way, can I ask?" Dayeon bit her lip while nodding. 

 "Why is it that you state Himchan-ssi's name, there would always be a honorific "-ssi"? You didn't want to call him "Oppa"?" Zelo tilted his head in wonder while Dayeon kept silent.

 Maybe too silent.

 Two minutes passed and Dayeon didn't answer his question, but instead, she lowered her head. "Ah! I'm sorry if I suddenly asked that kind of question! The maknae of B.A.P faked a smile and scratched the back of his neck, "I-It's okay, you don't have to answer it - " He was cut off when Dayeon finally decided to speak, "I... I had decided to not call him "Oppa", never ever." She shook her head. What?! Zelo was taken aback. C-Could it be that Dayeon... Hates Himchan-ssi? But why? "W-Why is that?" He was too afraid to continue the conversation on, but he wanted to know why. You couldn't stop a curious Zelo from talking. "Well... It's kind of complicated, actually." Dayeon muttered, "It was in High School, as you may have known now, I didn't attend any classes except when I started college. I was supposed still supposed to be in middle school but my mother told me that I was too smart. So she decided that I need to skip levels." She gulped, too nervous to keep on talking, but Dayeon insisted.

 "I was finally attending my first day of school when one thing stopped me. Himchan-ssi... Oppa's classmates knew that he was the son of another woman. The teasing then started... Umma halted me from attending the ceremony since she didn't want me to get involved. In total, I didn't attend High School level no more. I didn't care, though. After a few weeks, a lot more people knew of this, and they started bullying my brother." Dayeon bit her lip as Zelo kept on listening oh so attentively, "It stinged my heart to find out that my brother was being bullied and teased at just because of our relationship. The others kept on pointing out that he was another woman's son. Though he already knew that from the start, it still hurted him more than all those severe scars and bruises her got." Dayeon let out a sigh, "I didn't want to cause any more trouble for him, and it irked me so much we made a deal. To stop all the bullying, we've decided to not call each other "Oppa" nor "Donsaeng" proof that we have no relationship. We also agreed to act like we don't know each other. Himchan-oppa opposed at first, but it was for the best."

 Zelo made a look - That look of pity and worry. He didn't know that it was something that, I dunno, complicated? He couldn't imagine something like that. Removing the right of not treating your sibling as, well, your sibling? What a pity. The situation was unimaginable... But well, believe it now, the person who just experienced it was in front of him. The other victim was also a person he knew for years. You may have thought that Zelo knew Himchan so well since they were together for a very long time, well, you're wrong. There was this side in Himchan's life that he didn't know. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't know." He lowered his head with a sad expression plastered on it. He didn't know how to react after hearing their story. "Oh no, don't be!" Dayeon smiled at Zelo, "It's not your fault! You don't need to apologize." 

 "Okay..." He slowly nodded his head.

 Just after buying the comic book the two wanted so much, they got out and of the store only to find out that their beloved, naggy mother-like person was in front of them, along with the gluttonous one. "Well, well, well~" The raven-haired man blurted out with a smirk on his face, his arms crossed by his chest, index finger and his right foot tapping, "Did you enjoy your little date?" Daehyun nodded, answering his hyung's questions while the two clueless maknae's stared at each other. "Jung Daehyun. Kim Dayeon. I didn't know you'd just ditch out a very important errand like that! I'm very disappointed in you guys." Himchan complained. I knew it. He was planning something. How'd he get here? Zelo rolled his eyes.

 "Very." Daehyun emphasized. "Well then, let me teach you something about manners." Himchan grabbed Zelo by the arm, leaving Dayeon standing alone on her own. She was still wearing a cute, yet curious and idiotic face. She looked like Jongup for a moment there. "What are you..." She asked a half-spoken sentence. "I'm just going to borrow your Zelo-bot for a while. While you prepare on your date." Himchan grinned, "It's not fair if you get your share of Zelo-bot. Don't be greedy, Dayeon-ah~" Daehyun added. "Look who's talking." Zelo argued while trying to escape from Himchan's evil hands. "Excuse me?" Dayeon raised an eyebrow.

 "You heard right, you're going on a date with Junhong-ah. The real one." 

 Dayeon and Zelo both stared at one person, and that is the "Evil Princess Himchan".

 "WHAT?!"