If there could’ve been an award for most awkward conversation to date, I would probably take that prize.

Baekhyun must’ve let it slip that he was rejected because of course, Chanyeol had to go all concerned roommate on me about him, cornering me when I was alone and deliberately saying that I was at fault for making his friend all droopy lately.  

He then went off on a tangent about how great of a guy Baekhyun was and how I was making a mistake by letting him go. I guess he was trying to uphold his title of wingman of the year or something because he was never like this.

Eventually I got so fed up and ended up yelling, “Am I not allowed to like someone else?” right in his face.

That made for some pretty awkward air between us as a look of realization dawned on his face, and he flushed in embarrassment.

“O-oh…I didn’t know that was the case…sorry.”

I didn’t know how to follow up to that, so I just chose to nod uncomfortably and avoided eye contact instead. It wasn’t like I could tell him that I was sorry for not choosing his roommate over him. Though it would’ve probably been interesting to see his reaction to that statement.

It was also kind of interesting that Baekhyun seemed to hold less of a grudge than Chanyeol did.

I thought that giving him space for the next few days would probably be the best idea. But only two days had passed, and he wasn’t having any of it.

“You don’t have to pointedly avoid me, you know,” he said, plopping down next to me when I least expected it. That meant I didn’t have much time to get away without him pointedly seeing.

“What are you talking about? I-I’m not avoiding you,” I said, trying to give him a reassuring smile.

But he gave me a deadpan look, nudging me on the head with his knuckles. He saw right through me, something his roommate could never seem to do.

“You’re a terrible liar, you know. I’m surprised you’ve kept your undying love for Chanyeol a secret for this long.”

“I never said it was undying.”

“You never said it all.”

“…Point taken.”

“So why haven’t you?”

This was the point where I scoffed.

“And have him laugh in my face? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Ouch, glad to know you think so highly of me.”

“You know what I meant.”

He nodded, starting at his hands with a look of contemplation on his face.

“I still think you should tell him though.”

I groaned, lolling my head to the side and resting it on his shoulder.

“…I can’t,” I said after a while.

“Why not?” he asked softly.

I sighed, wondering vaguely how many past wounds I had been opening up lately.

“Because I’ve been hurt enough already.”

In a sense, it was true. Even though I loved Chanyeol, the hurtful things he had done kind of outweighed the good ones, much to my disappointment. But I could tell he was making an effort, but maybe that was all our relationship would ever be.

Knowing the kind of guy Baekhyun was, I was glad that he was nice enough to prod me any further. Instead, he chose to just sit there quietly, gently my hair in a soothing motion, putting me completely at ease from my troubled thoughts.

“Thanks Baek.”

“For what?”

And what a question that was. For still choosing to be my friend. For not hating me. For being here for me. For just…everything.

“For being you.”

It wasn’t until later that Baekhyun had to leave, but he had sat with me long enough. He was still the same, always knowing how to be comforting when the situation called for it.

Closing the door behind him, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Chanyeol standing there with the worst look of confusion and confliction on his face as he seemed to stare at nothing in particular.

“Oh, you caught all that?” Baekhyun asked him.

But he didn’t sound all that concerned. He just walked away without giving much of a care.

Because it wasn’t like Baekhyun knew his roommate’s schedule backwards and forwards or anything. Or that Chanyeol was going to be showing up to the lounge room at that exact time or something.

Not at all.

Let’s see what you do now, Channie. She’s all yours.

……….

“What do you all like to do in your spare time?”

I watched as the boys momentarily contemplated the question from the other side of the glass that divided me from them. The radio host started with Suho, allowing him to answer, then moved down the line all the way to Chanyeol who was at the end.

I wasn’t entirely sure why I was needed to hang around while EXO was engaged in a radio interview. Yet here I was, standing quietly next to their manager as he argued with someone over the phone.

Radio interviews tended to drag out for a while, since they could only ask/answer so many questions in between playing songs before it started to seem endless. So while it may have been entertaining to the interviewees, it was more of a drawn out thing for the people on the sidelines.

“And this is the question that I’m sure every girl wants to hear the answer to, what are EXO’s ideal type of girls?”

“Well, my ideal kind of girl is one who likes to read, and I’ve always been drawn towards girls with long and silky straight hair,” Suho answered.

Then like they had done every previous time, they moved on to Baekhyun, then Kyungsoo, then Kai and Sehun.   

And then they finally got to Chanyeol, who seemed to be the only one who hesitated before giving his answer. “Uh, mine’s kind of a list so…”

The radio host chuckled. “It’s okay, we have time.”

As much as I would’ve liked to admit that I was paying attention throughout the whole interview and hadn’t just taken an interest until now…I would’ve been lying. I couldn’t help but be most interested in how Chanyeol would answer.

“Well I just…like a girl who smiles a lot, I guess. One who’s not afraid to be herself and is perfect at being just that, so it’s okay if she’s slightly boyish at times.”

Okay so that was kind of…unexpected. But then again…oddly familiar. Though if I needed any more assurance, I should’ve paid closer attention to the reactions of the other members, especially Baekhyun’s.

“I’d also like it if we could get along like best friends even if we were dating because that’s…how I always want us to be, incredibly close. ”

My heart rate started to pick up. He doesn’t mean…He couldn’t….

I looked at Baekhyun who surprisingly met my wide-eyed gaze with an equally astonished look. Though our eye contact didn’t last for long. Not after what Chanyeol said next.

“And physical appearance doesn’t even matter because…I’d still…love her anyway. Even if she happened to be between 150 and 159 centimeters, I’d still think she was really cute.” He paused, swallowing awkwardly and nodding as he concluded his answer.

There was complete silence in the booth for a matter of moments. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. What he had just said. None of us could, really.

Finally, the radio host broke the silence. “Well, it sounds to me like there’s actually someone like this in your life. Am I right?”

My suspicions were confirmed when Chanyeol made it a point to look right at me as he answered the next question.

“There might be.”

I had to put a hand over my mouth to stifle the audible gasp that passed through my lips.

Oh my God.

Whatever trace of amusement or deceit I was looking for in his eyes was nonexistent. There was only sincerity, which made things all the more confusing.

The eye contact was broken when the radio host announced that it was time for a commercial break and that they would be back in a moment. But I didn’t stick around for whatever would have happened next. I couldn’t.

My mind was completely clouded. Chanyeol’s words kept playing on a loop on my head.

I didn’t know what to think anymore.

So I ran.

….

Chanyeol’s POV

Pulling the oversized headphones off of my ears, I had to flex my fingers a few times to regain feeling in the still slightly trembling limbs. I had a hard time believing I had just done what I did.

I realize that confessing on a local radio broadcast may have been a stupid decision on my part, and fans everywhere would probably be going on a rampage trying to figure out who “Chanyeol’s ideal girl was,” but it didn’t matter. Everything I had just said needed to be heard. By one person in particular.

So one would expect to see her standing in the same spot behind the glass like she had previously been.

But she wasn’t.

Instead, I was met with the confused and slightly pissed off face of our manager. He probably wasn’t going to let me hear the end of it with his scoldings about how I potentially ruined our fan base or something. But he eventually sighed and pointed his thumb towards the studio door, indicating that Mina was gone.

“,” I hissed, gripping my hair in frustration. I blew it. I had to. She wouldn’t have left if that wasn’t the case.

“Go after her Chanyeol,” a voice said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked up from my hands to see Baekhyun pushing his way through the other members, though they kind of willingly stepped aside to let him through.

“What?” I asked slightly appalled. How could he, of all people, be advising me to go after Mina, the girl who had basically rejected him a few weeks back?

“Go,” he pushed, putting his hands on my shoulders from behind so that he could urge me forward. But I was resisting, and he sighed in annoyance. “Now you idiot. Get out of here, before I change my mind.”

Even though he was pretty short, Baekhyun must’ve been stronger than he looked, because he eventually pushed me enough to where I was practically tripping out of the studio door and into the hallway.

For once, I couldn’t say anything because I was too dumbfounded. Instead, I could only look at him, and the others that had congealed behind him, in uncertainty. He smiled, punching me non-to-gently in the shoulder, making me yelp in pain and hold the now sore appendage. I was about to ask him what that was for before I recalled him saying something about how he should be allowed to hit me just once when he came back from confessing to Mina. It was only now that I realized the reason for him saying that.

“Knowing Mina, she couldn’t have gotten too far. So it’s up to you to go find her,” he said.

The other guys behind him smiled as well, and offered their own signs of encouragement and good luck.

I didn’t even have time to think about how long the others must’ve known about my feelings for Mina, because I was already bounding down the hall looking for her, wherever she may be.

……

Mina’s POV

I hadn’t gotten very far in the seemingly endless twists and turns of the radio station building before I eventually gave up, taking refuge one of the many staircases and attempting to calm down my heart rate.

I rested the side of my head on the wall next to me as I became more aware of the dull ache in my chest that I always got when I was about to cry. I wasn’t even sure why I wanted to cry; my thoughts were way to jumbled at the moment to even think about such things.

Though I wasn’t able to sit in peace for long since familiar feeling of my cellphone vibrating in my pocket informed me of an incoming phone call before the ringing started.

I could only stare at the screen in distaste, not at all up to speaking with anyone at the moment. But since it was Chanyeol’s name that stared back at me, I couldn’t not answer it. I needed answers, and he needed to give them to me.

Sliding my finger across the accept call option, I held the phone up to my ear. Immediately, his frantic voice rang in over the line as soon as the call was connected.

“Mina-”

“What the hell was that, Chanyeol?” I asked, fairly glad that my voice was strong and that it hadn’t decided to give out on me yet.

He sighed, “I know I probably have a lot of explaining to do-”

“Yes, you do.”

“-But I need you to hear me out.”

“Why should I? After everything you’ve said and done only to lead up to this moment, why should I listen to you?”

“Because I love you.”

For the second time that day, I wasn’t sure if I had just heard that right.

“What?” I asked, albeit a bit breathlessly and disbelieving.

“I love you,” he repeated without falter, causing my heart rate to pick back up to an uncomfortable rate again, “So you need to hear me out.”

I couldn’t help but scoff.

“No, you don’t.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.”

“Mina.”

“How am I supposed to believe you after everything you said that day!” I yelled, trying my hardest not to sob into the receiver.

He was silent. I didn’t even have to say it; he knew which day I was talking about.

“Do you know how badly it hurt to watch your best friend dump you to become part of the in crowd, and then practically take your heart, and stomp on it a bunch of times? It hurt like you wouldn’t believe, Chanyeol.”

“But I…I never wanted to hurt…”

“But you did. And then you made things worse by basically telling everyone that I wasn’t worth it!”

“Well how else was I supposed to deter them from going after you!” he said loudly.

“What?”

“I knew how those guys were Mina. They were -driven teenage jocks who would’ve done anything to get in a girl’s pants, and I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if you fell for one of them. They weren’t good enough for you.”

“And who was?”

“Me.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that falling for someone else would’ve been completely impossible when my heart already belonged to him. I was too stubborn to tell him that.

“Last time I checked, bullying wasn’t the way to a girl’s heart either, Chanyeol. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘I’m really in love you’ now does it?”

“I had to get you to talk to me somehow.”

“And you thought that was the way to do it?”

“If I do remember correctly, you were the one who told me to never speak to you again. I figured indirect harassment were the next best thing.” 

“You…you’re such a kid.”

“So I’ve been told. I guess that’s why I tend to bully the girls that I like.”

And then it all made sense. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Chanyeol was always just like a big kid. Sure, he made fun of people and messed with them for his own amusement, but he only did it to those he liked. That was the real Chanyeol, not the images he made for himself.

He may act like a child often, but that was probably the reason that I fell for him in the first place.

“I swear, if you’re making fun of me right now-”

“Mina.” He said, effectively cutting me off. His voice sounded oddly close for being over the phone…

And then, there was silence. Not even the sound of his breathing could be heard.

“Chanyeol?”

No response. Instead, I was met with a dial tone, indicating that the call had been ended.

“Yah!” I shouted desperately into the receiver. Staring at the screen in disbelief, I was incredibly confused when four out of the five bars in the top right corner were lit, letting me know that the cell connection was perfectly fine. The call hadn’t been dropped; it had been ended on purpose.

I practically stabbed the screen trying to get to the redial option, hitting the wrong option multiple times and only frustrating myself even further.  

But I was nearly scared half to death when a hand on my wrist pulled the phone away from my face.

I hadn’t even heard his footsteps when he walked up behind me.

“You’re so dense sometimes,” he said.

I barely had a moment to react before the hand that wasn’t gripping my wrist moved to cup my chin gently, and turned my face towards his. I was completely cut off before the noise of surprise could even slip out of my mouth.

His lips were incredibly soft and warm against mine, effectively making my mind go completely numb. The movement shocked me so much that I gasped and instinctively tried to pull away, but my shoulder just came in contact with the wall next to me when I jerked backwards.

He followed me though, kneeling forward and using his other hand to brace himself against the wall, refusing to break the connection between us.

I couldn’t move. I could barely get my mind to grasp my current situation. My eyes were still wide open in surprise, peering into the half-lidded eyes of the boy that was kissing me. But as soon as the hand on my chin moved to entangle into the hair at the nape of my neck, I snapped out of whatever trance I was in. Letting my eyes slip closed, I slowly, tentatively, returned the gesture.

I could feel him smile against my lips before he pressed closer, since that was all the reassurance he needed to continue. Typical Chanyeol, he was always smiling.

I was vaguely aware of my cellphone slipping out of my fingers, hearing it clatter onto the ground between us. But I didn’t care.

Instead, I used the now free appendage to turn my body completely towards his before running both of my hands through his hair, most likely messing up hours of work that a poor cordinoona had put into it. Not that he seemed to mind, since he just used the moment to his advantage and angled his head to deepen the kiss.

I hadn’t even realized that the tears I had felt before had eventually started leaking over until Chanyeol reached up to wipe the wet trails away with his thumbs, breaking the contact between our lips to place his forehead on mine.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered, “I hate seeing you cry because of me. It makes me feel like…a jerk.”

I giggled, smiling as I peered into his relieved eyes.

“You are a jerk,” I joked, laughing at the look of confusion on his face that melted into a look of contentment when I started tracing random patterns onto the back of his neck.

“But you’re a lovable jerk,” I said before pulling him back in for another kiss.

He responded, but then put his hands on my shoulders to pull himself back.

“Wait, was that a confession?” he asked with a hopeful look. I chuckled again.

“Idiot, I’ve loved you since high school. I never stopped.”

“Oh, good,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. He leaned foreword and stopped just before reaching my lips.  

“Because I won’t be letting you go again,” he whispered before connecting our lips for another long-overdue kiss. 

..........................

It's probably too early to give my final goodbyes for this story, but it's not too early to thank you guys.

Thank's to all of you who enjoyed reading this story! Yes, even you silent readers out there!

It hasn't even been that long of a run with this story, but i'm glad some of you took enjoyment from this. 

Also, thanks for putting up with my lack of updates. You know how life get's crazy.

Anyway, this is practically finished, all that's left is the epilogue :D

As always, thanks for reading!