~Christmas Eve \(^O^)/ ~

Sunhi’s POV

            “I’m so glad that we get to help you get ready!” said Sulli happily, looking through my assortment of dresses. Sulli, Victoria, Amber, Krystal, and Luna came over early to get ready with me. And Sulli wants to choose my outfit with Victoria’s help, while Krystal and Luna want to do my make up and hair. Amber is going to be my savior and tell them to stop when it gets out of hand.

            “Hurry and pick her dress, Sulli! We need to plan her make up and hair!” exclaimed Luna.

            “We have two hours, guys. Relax a little,” replied Amber, deadpanning.

            I nodded in agreement, laying down on my bed and looking up at the pale blue ceiling. 

            “Got it!” Sulli pulled out a mini, white dress with long sleeves. It had a scooped neckline, the front designed with criss crossing ribbons that tied at my waist. It looked like a velvety material. It cinched at the waist and flared slightly, reaching the middle of my thighs. It would be the first time I wear this dress.

            “She’s gonna be cold, you know. If we go outside,” commented Krystal. “But it’s nice, thick material.”

            “That’s why she’ll wear sheer tights! And boots,” replied Victoria, reaching into my closet and pulling out a pair of white, ankle boots with three inch heels. There were red accents here and there, decorating the shoes.

            “Go get dressed! Then we can start the make up and hair!” said Luna happily, grabbing a pair of clear tights and passing them to me before handing me the rest of my clothes and pushing me to the bathroom. I saw her pull out a red headband with white accents before I closed the door.

            I quickly switched my sweats and sweatshirt for the dress and tights, walking out to find Sulli and Victoria pulling out all the make up.

            “I’ll go quickly change while they’re busy,” said Amber, as she dragged her bag with her into the bathroom.

            “Come on, Sunhi. Sit in this chair!” said Krystal, happily pointing to the make up table’s stool. “You look so cute! Like a little doll.”

            I almost cringed. But she didn’t know any better. It was meant as a compliment.

            “We’ll just do natural make up. Like what you usually do for school, but with a bit more… sparkle!” Luna pulled over my desk’s chair to sit in front of me and start applying the BB cream.

            “I can do make up myself…”

            “But it’s more fun to do each others’ makeup!” said Sulli, sitting down on the floor beside me. “Though, I’m not really great at it…”

            “That’s why I do it for you,” replied Victoria, walking over with Sulli’s make up. “Go change after Amber so I can start your make up!”

            “We should do Amber’s make up for once,” said Krystal in a whisper.

            “No!” Amber walked out in white skinny jeans and a nice, black button down. She had a few fake leather bracelets on one wrist that were red. It suited her, despite it being a boyish fashion.

            “Fine! No make up,” said Victoria, pouting.

            Sulli walked to the bathroom, but not before saying, "Tackle her!”

            Luna, Victoria, and Krystal tackled Amber, forcing her to lay down on the floor.

            “Hell no!”

            “Please, Amber! Just BB cream!”

            “No!”

            “Eye liner?”

            “No!”

            “Lip gloss!”

            Amber pushed them all off of her and stood up, glaring at them before rolling her eyes. “You guys know it’s helpless to try.”

            “Maybe next time?” There was a comical spark of hope in Krystal’s eyes.

            “No.” Amber deadpanned and grabbed a brush from her bag, fixing her short hair quickly before tossing it back. “Are you guys just gonna leave Sunhi like that? Just BB cream is gonna make her look pale as a ghost…”

            “Right!” Luna darted back over to me, with Krystal grabbing eyeliner, blush, and a few other things from the make up assortment on the vanity.

            This was gonna be such a long two hours…

. . .

Kai’s POV

            “Taemin! You were supposed to meet me at my house ten minutes ago!”

            “Kai… relax! The party doesn’t start for another twenty minutes, and you live barely two minutes away from this girl’s house… I doubt they’ll even be ready by the time we get there. “

            I ran over to the mirror in my bathroom and fixed my hair again. There was that one part that would keep getting into my eye!

            “Why are you so panicked?” Taemin walked into my bathroom, and I could see he was barely containing his laughter.

            “Because…”

            “Because this is the first time you’re seeing her since you figured out you like her?” Yeah… I told him about that. It came up somewhere in the catching up part of the week…

            I didn’t answer, continuing to try and get that piece of hair to stay in place.

            He smirked. “Who knew you’d ever act like this for a girl. Last year, you’d just go up and ask them out.”

            “She’s different,” I muttered, finally giving up.

            “How so?”

            “It’s just… Taemin, could you stop with this?!”

            “I think it’s funny!” He smiled happily as he watched me look for my jacket. None the less, he still stopped. Taemin grabbed a jacket from off my chair and tossed it to me. “You look good though. Don’t worry about your appearance.”

            I glanced at myself in the mirror again. Black jeans, red button down shirt, white jacket. I probably looked like the rest of EXO, but with different colors.

            “Just act like you usually do around her. Don’t spazz like you are now…”

            “Are you really trying to be helpful?” I asked, glaring at Taemin.

            “Sure.” He only smirked before glancing at the clock. “Anybody else meeting here?”

            “Luhan, and Sehun.”

            Taemin nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them.”

            “Why didn’t you invite some of your college friends? It’ll be boring with just us kids!” The last sentence was (obviously) full of sarcasm.

            Taemin rolled his eyes. “They all went back to visit their friends and families.”

            “And your friends from high school?”

            “Already have plans… I feel so lame…” He glanced in my mirror, fixing his shirt.

            I laughed. “Thanks for going with us.”

            “It’ll be nice to meet this girl you’ve been talking about. What’s her name again? Sunhi?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Should I be expecting a smile from her?”

            “Probably not…”

            “So she’s only smiled for you so far?”

            “Yeah. Nobody else knows… Except maybe Lay, but I didn’t tell him everything…”

            “I feel so special.”

            I glared.

            Knock. Knock.

            Walking passed a smirking Taemin (who at this point I wish I could punch), I opened the front door to see all of EXO… just awkwardly lining themselves up outside my door.

            “I thought most of you were meeting at Baekhyun’s house! Why are you all here?”

            “Because we didn’t see a reason for going to Baekhyun’s house when yours is so much closer to Sunhi’s,” replied Chanyeol, happily walking in.

            The rest of them followed, soon filling up the small entry way.

            “Taemin’s in my room,” I said, causing a bunch of the guys to howl his name and run in, probably tackling him. I think it’s safe to say that Taemin was one of our favorite upperclassmen.  Only Kris, Lay, Suho, and D.O. stayed out of my room, waiting for the rest of the guys to calm down before greeting Taemin.

            “Hey! I need to breathe, you know!”

            I laughed at Taemin’s desperate yell.

            “Sunhi knows Taemin’s going, right?” asked Kris.

            “Yeah. I called her again yesterday to tell her.” After debating for about two hours whether I’d be able to even talk during the phone call or not.

            Taemin ran out of my room, his shirt slightly crooked. “You guys are crazy…” He then looked to the rest of us, just standing there and watching. “Thanks for helping.” He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “It’s great seeing everyone again.”

            “Did you know Kai’s our only crazy dancing machine now? Beside Lay… He practices more than you did when you were here!” said D.O., smiling as he hugged Taemin, clapping him on the back.

            The other three received the same greeting, with small comments on the differences we had without him.

            “We should get going before we’re late,” said Taemin, looking at his watch.

            “Right, let’s go!” Sehun jumped up in the air before running out the door, with Luhan walking behind, sighing at Sehun’s childishness.

            The walk was way too short for me to even collect myself, causing Taemin to hit my head, trying to knock some sense into me.

            “It’s a party. Just relax yourself. Forget about whatever you’re worrying about and try to make this a happy day for everyone,” muttered Taemin, as Sehun knocked on Sunhi’s door.

            Mrs. Choi opened the door and her eyes opened in surprise at the sight of thirteen boys (I wouldn’t be surprised if Sunhi didn’t mention that more than half of the guests would be guys). But she smiled brightly. “You guys must be Sunhi’s friends! Please come in. Sunhi’s in her room with the rest of the girls and they’ll be down soon.”

            We all followed her into the surprisingly large house, sitting down in the even more surprisingly large living room. The house looked so small on the outside, it was hard to imagine the size on the inside.

            But about five seconds later, Luna ran down the stairs. “Oh, hey guys!” She waved at all of us before seeing Taemin, her eyes widening. “Lee Taemin?! What are you doing here?”

            “Kai forced me along?” I glared at him.

            “It’s great to see you again! But why didn’t you bring the rest of them?”

            And by the rest of them, I assume she meant Minho, Jonghyun, Key, and Onew. Mostly Onew.

            “They had plans.”

            She nodded, proceeding to walk towards us. “So, did Sunhi tell you guys that we’re going to a karaoke house instead?”

            All of us stayed silent. Karaoke house?

            “No? Krystal was supposed to text you all… Well, we’re going!” She smiled brightly at us. “I’ll be right back! Gotta drag down everyone. I bet they’re trying to stall and make you guys wait or something.” Luna ran up the stairs before we could really even speak.

            “Karaoke house? But Kris, Tao, and Kai can’t sing!” said Xiumin, almost screaming. “Our ears are gonna bleed!” He started running in a circle before he caught sight of our glares. “Ahaha… never mind!” He hid behind Chen, trying to pretend as if we couldn’t see him.

            “Like an ostrich hiding their head in the sand,” said Kris, deadpanning.

            “And we can sing!” Tao only pouted at the hiding Xiumin.

            “Of course, Tao-Tao,” said Chen, petting his head.

            “Hey! Don’t call me that!”

            “Maybe we should all stop yelling,” said Suho, trying to calm them down.

            “Are we just too loud for you, grandpa?” taunted Baekhyun, earning a hit from the so-called “grandpa”. Baekhyun glared at Suho, who thus glared back, beginning a little glaring war between them, with poor Chanyeol trying to up the mood.

            “I don’t think we should be hitting either,” said D.O., sweat dropping.

            “This isn’t gonna turn out great,” muttered Lay, leaning back on the couch.

            "Shouldn't we be worried that Mrs. Choi will hear us?" asked Luhan, sitting down.

            And in less than a second, we all felt a dark aura somewhere in the room, causing all of us to turn around to face Kris, who was cold, and still, and scared the crap out of all of us. That shut everyone up.

            “Yay! We’re all ready now!” Luna ran down again, with the five other girls behind her.

            And that’s pretty much when I think my soul left my body. As soon as Sunhi walked down. Yeah… I died peacefully with the amazing image of Sunhi in my mind.

            That is, until Taemin brought me back to life by hitting me square between my shoulder blades, causing me to cringe forward slightly.

            “Don’t act like an idiot,” he muttered. “She’s pretty.”

            “How do you know?”

            “She’s the only one I didn’t recognize.”

            Oh… I’m being pretty stupid today…

            “Hey, Taemin’s here!” shouted Krystal, hugging Taemin. He sweat dropped but hugged back, returning the gesture to Amber, Sulli, Krystal, Victoria, and Luna.

            Sunhi bowed in front of Taemin. “It’s nice to meet you, Taemin. I’m Choi Sunhi.”

            He smiled and bowed as well. “Thanks for letting me come.”

            She nodded, shuffling back to stand beside Victoria.

            She’s really cute when she’s shy… Wait, why am I thinking about this?!

            Everyone broke off into small conversations with each other, and before I knew it, Sehun was talking to her.

            “You look pretty, Sunhi!” He smiled at her and… was that a blush on her cheeks?! Oh my God, he made her blush?!

            “Thank you, Sehun.” He only kept smiling, and when he noticed me watching, gave me a secret thumbs up. He still thinks I’m supporting him in this…

            “Kai… you should make a move before Sehun gets her,” said Taemin, standing beside me for a second before moving to talk to Victoria and Tao.

            And that’s when Mrs. Choi called for everyone to gather for a group picture. A blessing or a curse? Good that Sehun can’t flirt anymore. Bad that I can’t talk to Sunhi!

            In the mess of trying to get into a good position, Taemin grabbed my shoulders and stuck me right beside Sunhi, standing in front of Sehun to keep him from standing by her. Sehun didn’t quite notice the subtle change, talking happily to Luhan for a second.

            I took a deep breath, trying to remember what I would’ve done a week earlier, and wrapped my arm around Sunhi’s shoulders without thinking, holding up a piece sign. We couldn’t all stay smiling for even three seconds at the same time, causing Mrs. Choi to just take a picture of the chaos.

            She smiled brightly at the taken picture, probably thinking it looked funny or something. “Alright! You guys go ahead and have fun at the karaoke house!”

            There was a simultaneous ring of “Thank you, Mrs. Choi!” because she was paying for this, before we all pulled on our jackets, shoes, and scarves, walking out of the house.

            “Thanks, Taemin.”

            “For?”

            “The picture thing…”

            He smiled. “At least you managed to act normal. I thought you’d just freeze.”

            I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t talk to her.”

            “So you better talk to her before Sehun reaches her.” Taemin pointed to Sehun, who was walking towards the front of the group where Sunhi was with Victoria.

            “Maybe I should just hang with you tonight…”

            “You’ve spent the past week with me. Just go,” replied Taemin, shoving his pockets in his pants. “I’ll go catch up with Lay and Suho.”

            I sighed, but nodded, speeding up to reach Sunhi, just seconds before Sehun.

            “Kai…”

            “Sunhi! Are you excited?” What kind of lame question was that?!

            She nodded, her eyes meeting mine. “Yes… I haven’t been to a party in a while. And I’ve never been to a karaoke house before.”

            “Really? Then this’ll be even more fun.” I tried to smile as bright as I could at her. “Do you sing?”

            “I haven’t in a long time…” She knew that I was aware of why she didn’t sing, even play an instrument that she used to love.

            “Will you sing tonight?” 

            “Maybe…”

            I nodded. “Don’t if you don’t want to.”

            “Sunhi!” Sehun cheerfully walked on the other side of Sunhi. “You should sing tonight! I bet even Kai’s gonna sing for once.” Sehun smiled.

            She only nodded, and one of her hands reached to the other, pulling on the opposite sleeve.

            “Have you sung karaoke before?”

            “No.”

            “It’s fun! I’ll sing with you if you want.”

            “Ah… maybe.”

            We were almost there, but it was cold from the snow. Sunhi started to shiver just a bit, yet Sehun didn’t even notice. I quickly took off my scarf and looped it around her neck. It was huge on her, and the dark black contrasted too much to her outfit, but for some reason, I felt like it looked better on her than it did on me.

            “Thank you, Kai.” She was quiet, and about five seconds after, I noticed Sehun’s stare on me. He seemed confused, but shook it off a minute later.

            “Guys, wait out here for a second! I’ll go with Sunhi to get the room,” said Amber. Sunhi nodded, quickly walking towards Amber and into the building.

Sunhi’s POV

            “Hey, isn’t that Kai’s scarf?” asked Amber.

            “Yeah… He thought I was cold.”

            “I would be cold. Look at you! You’re wearing a dress!” She smiled. “Just a random question… but if you could choose one of the EXO guys to date, who would it be?”

            I was surprised. She didn’t usually ask questions like this. It was mostly Sulli, Luna, and Krystal who asked.

            “Why?”

            “I’m pretty sure one of them likes you.” She quickly spoke to the lady at the front desk, who then confirmed the room. “Room 10. I’ll go get the room. Why don’t you go get the rest of them?”

            I nodded. “Okay.”

            “And… text me the answer to my question after the party.” She smiled again before walking to the karaoke room with the lady.

            I quickly walked out, thinking about Amber's question before telling everyone the room number, making sure that everyone went inside before me so nobody was left out.

            But Kai stayed with me, which surprised me as we walked in last.

            “It’s good that they have a room big enough for all of us,” said Kai, laughing. He then looked down at me before asking, “So was this your idea? The karaoke house?”

            “Sulli’s idea… and the rest of the girls agreed. I think it’ll be interesting.” And it was true. I thought, maybe it’d be able to pick up my spirits a bit today.

            “It’ll be fun, trust me.” He smiled. “But don’t force yourself to do what you don’t want to do. Like I said, you don’t have to sing.”

            I nodded. “Don’t worry about me. You should go hang out with Taemin, since he’s been away for so long.”

            Kai shook his head. “I’ve hung out with him enough for the week. After you.” He made a cheesy gesture, allowing me to walk into the karaoke room first. I almost smiled, and I’m sure he caught the slight movement of the corners of my lips, for he smiled back at me.

            I could feel myself blush and pulled up the scarf to try and hide my red cheeks, only to thus realize that “my” scarf was actually Kai’s… “K-Kai.”

            He turned around quickly.

            I was about to take off the scarf when he stopped me.

            “You’re body’s used to the warmth. If you take it off, you’ll get cold again. Take it off when it’s too hot.”

            I nodded. “Thank you…”

            “No problem.” I sat down next to him, noticing that Sehun was looking over at me.

            “Should I go sit next to Sehun?” I asked quietly to Kai.

            He glanced at Sehun and shook his head. “Don’t worry about him. He’ll probably be over here in a few seconds anyways.”

            And soon enough, Sehun really did come over, sitting down next to me and trying to talk about small things like hobbies, favorite colors, etc. Half way through the conversation, I glanced at Kai to see that he was looking at Sehun and me before turning away quickly, trying to get Luhan to talk to him.

            Something was going on with Kai… He’s been acting a bit weirder than usual… The way he talks seems too enthusiastic sometimes. Maybe I’m just over thinking things.

            Everyone seemed very happy, with Xiumin, Chanyeol, Tao, Sulli, and Krystal dancing around, Luna, Chen, Luhan, D.O. and Victoria singing, and Kris, Lay, Suho, Taemin, Amber, Kai, and I sitting and watching, amused by the hyper mood. There was enough food and drinks for everyone to pump energy into themselves, but no alcohol (thank God. I owe Suho and Kris one).

            A couple rounds of singing later, someone grabbed my hand, passing the microphone into it. I literally froze, but everyone was having fun, talking and enjoying themselves.

            “Sunhi, you should sing this song!” Luna pointed to a song in the book and immediately punched the number into the machine.

            I looked over at Kai to see him trying to convince Sulli to sing instead.

            I can’t sing. I haven’t sung in ages. I can’t…

            Memories of my father singing with me while I played piano flashed in front of me as the music began for the song.

            Right when the first words appeared on the screen, a smooth voice next to me sang, sharing the microphone with me.

A bit more fun in this chapter :)

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Thanks so much for reading~~

~DespisedSecret