The Pont-Marie is known as the "bridge of lovers" and legend has it that if you kiss under the Pont-Marie and wish for eternal love, your wish will be granted.

2^nd September 2020

A series of interviews and press conferences before the concert kicked start the group’s second day in Paris.

SM was a smart and well-organized company, that was what Aleyah thought after she was officially briefed about her job scope for this trip. Although Exo have Kris who can speak fluent English, his job was to only stall time as the other 3 translators –who were planted amongst the 11 others – translate. This allowed them to keep the atmosphere up and not bore the fans or the press.

Whenever the lady hides behind the 12 charismatic men and tries to deliver her job seriously, there would always be people at her front preventing her from doing so. They had been constantly hanging around her for the past few interviews despite the seat change. And they were none other than the man and the guy of course.

To her, Kai was simply just mentally disturbing. He would occasionally turn around to share those lingering eye contacts with her without speaking a word when they were halfway through the interview causing her heart to start doing cartwheels immediately. And she would have trouble translating because her mind would start to malfunction. He was well aware of the effect he has on her due to her evident blush flushing her cheeks everytime he does that. And he would love to by purposely closing up the gap between their faces when he ‘fails’ to hear what she had translated because her words were too ‘soft’ for him. Her reaction was too adorable for him to watch.

As for the latter, who supposedly has the coldest appearance among all, his actions were the exact opposite. Sehun had been complaining to her softly the entire time about how boring the interview was or how hungry he was at that point of time. His cravings for baguette became pizzas before he decided that he wanted spaghetti for dinner later. Not only did Aleyah had to bear with his unlimited grumblings and poutings, she had to literally turned his seat so he could face the cameras because he would be playing with the papers she held in her hand instead.

Although she was feeling exasperated by these 2 childish men, she doesn’t deny that they were the ones that made this boring translating job interesting. Initially she was still doubting herself if she had made the right choice by closing Pollen for a month just to help them, but she knew that she would never say no to Kai’s request. And this was also the first time Sehun had ever asked her for a favour so she agreed to both their requests almost immediately. Come to think of it, touring around Europe and China while getting paid wasn’t a bad thing afterall.

******

“Sehun, they want you to test your mic.” Aleyah stood beside Sehun as she translated what the staff just told him. They were having their final rehearsal before the first concert tonight. The response to their world tour had been so overwhelming in Paris that they had to hold it separately for 2 days.

“Mic test. Mic test. Yoohoo…” The guy did what he was told but he added a tinge of his own playfulness into it, causing the girl to chuckle.

“Yah Sloth. Do your mic test professionally will you?” Chanyeol who was on the other side of the stage scolded him through the mic he was holding. However he just stuck his tongue out at him before turning away.

“Why does Chanyeol always call you a sloth?” The lady asked him curiously.

“Because he is always moving around and doing things so slowly.” A low voice answered. Turning around, she was greeted by Kai who was in his striped sweater and jeans. He was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, “Don’t you think so?”

“Does he?” Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to recall the times she spent with him. The guy’s actions were always sleek and the way he deals with things were just chilled and relaxed. Yes it was true that never did she see him hurry or being flustered before so she thought it was due to his laidback attitude in life but now it seemed otherwise. “Okay, he does.”

She laughed at her own reply causing the blonde guy to roll his eyes at her. Or rather at him too because this man before him just have to appear when he finally got the chance to spend some alone time with her. “Hyung, must you spoil my reputation like this?”

“Do you even have a reputation to begin with?” Aleyah interrupted Kai with a witty remark.

“Hahahahah. Good one.” The man high-fived the lady.

“How dare you to be so rude to an Oppa?” Sehun put his arms on his waist as he his lips angrily. An evil plan formed in his head. “You shall receive your punishment now!”

With a swift action, he caught her by her arms and pulled her in to tickle her as a punishment for her sacarsm. But the lady wasn’t a weak one, she would not give in to him just like that. She continuously hit his arms as she shunned from his fingers that were poking her sides. However, her hits were nothing to Sehun as he showed no sign of pain, so she gave up and decided to look for help instead. Dragging Kai by his sweater’s sleeve, she managed to involve him who was initially just standing at a side staring at them.

“Sehun! No!” She panted as Kai tugged her behind him with his arms spread out as though they were playing a game with a mother hen protecting her chicks from the big bad wolf. He rolled his eyes at the sight before him once again, clearly unhappy about Kai’s intervention in their game.

“Hyung.. move!” Sehun pushed Kai away causing the latter to laugh at his childishness as he joined in the game, totally unaware of his jealousy. None of them seemed to remember that they were still on the stage with at least a hundred pair of eyes observing their every move.

“Get pass the mother hen first, you big bad wolf!” Aleyah stuck her tongue out at the guy standing opposite her, her playful side kicking in too.

“Hyung, you heard it yourself. She’s calling you a mother hen!” The guy was trying to break the bond between the 2 allies to get the chick.

“What? I’m a mother hen?!” The man turned around and asked her in disbelieved as he pointed to himself.

Looking curiously back and forth at them, she asked, “Isn’t this how the game goes?”

“No?” The 2 men answered together with a playful grin on their handsome face as they share an eye contact stealthily.

“Why no? Isn’t Kai the mother hen so he can protect me from the big bad wolf which is Sehun?”

“Who said I’m the mother hen?” Kai asked her cheekily but she was too confused with their words to notice the sniggering eye contact the 2 men were making with one another.

“What are you then?”

“Call me the big bad wolf!” The man howled before Sehun and him ran down the stage to hunt for their lovely prey.

******

“We nailed it didn’t we?” A blonde guy walked towards the lady with unbalanced footsteps.

Holding his arms, she caught him before giving him the same answer for the 10^th time that night, “Yes Sehun, you nailed it, Exo nailed it too.”

“You saw it didn’t you? Fans were so high. As high as that ceiling.” His words were mixed with hiccups as he struggled to point at that low ceiling above them.

“Who the hell let him drink so much?” Luhan came running over and pulled the guy off her. “I’m sorry Aleyah. I know he weighs at least a ton even though he looks he’s just skin and bones.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” She shook her head as she took a good look at the blonde guy once again. His pale face was now flushed red by the alcohol all the way till it reached his ears. This was the 2^nd time she saw him drunk and she learnt that his liquor tolerance was really low compared to the other members. And he always needed someone to send him back and Luhan was around to do the job today.

“Are you okay?” A hot breadth pricked the hairs at the back of her neck as she watched them leave the restaurant where the after party was held. Kai was standing behind her, his hand held her waist protectively. “Why will I not be?”

“I don’t know. I heard Luhan hyung asking you if you are alright so I thought…”

“Something happened to me?” The lady finished the sentence for him.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t be silly.” Turning around to face him, she managed to break free from his touch that was generating heat in her. Almost instantly, the man’s face fell when his palm was left hanging in midair.

“Shall we take a walk?”

By taking a walk, what Aleyah thought was just a short stroll outside the restaurant. However Kai and her were now wandering down Pont Marie; a bridge which crosses the Sein in Paris, a distance away from their hotel. She shuddered at the midnight breeze in this autumn night as she walked alongside with the man, enjoying his physical company in silence. With him around, the simplest thing like taking a stroll became so enjoyable.

“What are you thinking about?” Looking at her, the man broke the silence between them.

“Nothing.” She smiled.

“But you seem so happy.” He stopped in his track as he leaned against the side of the bridge so he could look at her properly. “You have been smiling since just now.”

The lady blushed at his words, realizing that he had been staring at her. “Just.. you know, happy.”

“Happy about?” Kai wanted to know the reason to her happiness. Ever since he found out that he knew so little for her, he seized every opportunity he had to know more about her. No longer afraid that his curiosity and concern may become an unnecessary burden to her.

She stared into his dark eyes as she turned around to face him. His crisp brown eyes reflected the crescent moon that was hanging behind her. Other than the moon, she saw herself in them and she was once again mesmerized by the magic behind those alluring eyes as she said things that were not supposed to leave her lips, “Just happy that we are here.”

The man caught the word we in her sentence. His initial unhappiness about Sehun bringing her to the Eiffel Tower before him vanished. He liked how she said the we word, it was like they were one body and not separate individual souls.

“Me too.” His hand instinctively crawled towards hers as he intertwined his fingers into hers, making them tangle.

“You seem happy too.” Aleyah’s light voice rang in the silent night as her hands responded to his, seeking warmth in his big palm. Her mind only consisted of the man before her.

A force tugged the corner of the man’s lips as they spread to the most beautiful smile the lady had ever seen. His heart was beating irregularly when her hand found her way into his. “I am.”

“Why?”

“Because we are here.” He whispered in an assertive tone after tugging a strand of hair behind her ears gently. “Together.”

The lady froze when she heard the last word. Together. He was happy that they were here together? Him and her, together? By any chance does he have feelings for her too? She felt herself spinning as she frantically searched for the answer in his eyes in hope for the answer she wanted. And she was greeted by those absolute and unwavering brown eyes of his.

“Kai….” The question that she had wanted to know was stuck in and his name was all she could choke out. Useless as she was, she could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes already. However, the man seemed to know what she wanted to ask from her watery eyes. He brought her closer to him, his eyes never left hers for a second. “Sssssh.” Gently shaking his head, he shushed her before covering her lips with his. Slowly and lightly, he kissed every little part of her lips making sure he doesn’t miss out any fragment before breaking away.

“I think I’m in love with you.” 

Oh god, i'm so in love with this chapter because Kai and Aleyah finally kissed!

This scene had been one of the first few scenes that caused me to draft out this story.

And I've changed the foreword. What do you guys think?